The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You by Harry Harrison

Author:Harry Harrison [Harrison, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Science Fiction, General, Adventure, DiGriz; James Bolivar (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780722105788
Google: zidJPgAACAAJ
Amazon: B000SC4A3S
Publisher: Spectra
Published: 1978-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

All he had to do was turn his head a bit to spot me. I could see him clearly, even in the dim light, the gray clothes, long greasy hair--even the flecking of dandruff on his shoulders. He closed the door, still with his back turned, inserted a key and locked it.

Then he walked away from me down the corridor and was gone.

"It's almost time you stopped leaning here and thought of something to do, you rusty stainless steel rat," I encouraged myself in a throaty whisper. "Don't stretch your luck. Get out of the corridor. Why not through that door? After he locked it that way the chances are good that no one else is inside."

Good thinking, Jim. Except what do I do for a picklock? Improvise, that's what. I pulled off the gloves and tucked them into my jacket along with the fur hat. Though it was probably chill and dank inside the building it felt like a furnace after the outside. Life, as well as a certain amount of tingling pain, was coming back to my blue fingers. I took up the dangling end of the cable that hung from the metal collar still locked around my neck. Wires inside. Small but possible. I chewed them into a pointed mass with my teeth, then probed the lock.

It was a simple lock, the keyhole was very big, I have great burglar's skills. Well . . . I was lucky. I pushed and twisted and grunted and did everything but kick the door until the lock sprung open. Darkness beyond. I eased through, closed and locked it behind me--and breathed a very deep sigh of relief. For the first time since I had made my break I felt that I had a chance. With a happy sigh I slumped to the floor and fell asleep.

Well, almost. Tired and exhausted as I was, even as my eyes were closing, I realized that this was definitely not the right thing to do. To have come this far--and to be recaptured because I fell asleep. That was ludicrous.

"To work," I told myself, then bit my tongue. It worked fine. I lurched to my feet, muttering uncouthly at the pain, and felt my way through the blackness with outstretched bands. I was in a narrow room or corridor, little wider than my shoulders. There was nothing to be accomplished standing there so I shuffled forward to a bend where there was a dim glow of light. Still wary, I poked my head around it carefully to see a window set into the Wall beyond. A small boy was standing on the other side of the window, looking directly at me.

It was too late to pull back. I tried smiling at him, then frowning, but be did not respond.

Then he raised his fingers and ran them through his hair, patting the hair into place afterward. A bell rang dimly in the distance and he turned his head to look, then walked away.

Of course. One-way glass.

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