"Martin H. Greenberg & Mark Tier - Visions of Liberty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Greenberg Martin H)

were edible plants, berries, and fruits. There were game birds and animals for those who had the skill to
catch them. Most Llayless residents had no time for that sort of thing, but prospectors usually had little
money and in any case didn't want to take the time for a long trip back to a commissary. There was
nothing unusual about a man being missing for almost a year.

Before leaving for the Shangri-la mine, Dantler paid another call on Jeffrey Wallingford Pummery. The
factor greeted him courteously and asked how he could be of service.

Dantler described his investigation to date. "A man was murdered," he said. "There are witnesses who
saw it done. No report was made to anyone on the management level of the mines where Lefory
worked, or to the smelter where he worked, or to world management because no report was required.
The murderer was left free to drift from job to job. Now he has gone prospecting and may be difficult to
find. This represents a flagrant violation of the Inter-World Federation's constitution—failing to protect
the lives of your citizens by providing no mechanism for taking action against a murderer. I'm going to
recommend that your world's status be changed immediately from 'Unnullified' to 'Nullified.' I'll get a
spacegram off today. As the law requires, I am giving you written notice of that fact so you can prepare
your defense. There will be a hearing, of course."

Pummery glanced at the paper Dantler handed to him and then handed it back. There was a faint smile
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on his face. "I suggest that you hold off with your report—and with your notification—until you have
completed your investigation. You haven't visited the Shangri-la mine, yet. Surely your investigation will
be incomplete without evidence from the last place Lefory is known to have worked."

Dantler studied him warily. He scented a trap. After a moment's thought, he said, "Certainly, if you
prefer it. It probably won't delay things more than a day."
***

The Shangri-la was just as promising a mine as the Laughingstock, its manager—one Pierre
Somler—told Dantler, but it was still in an early stage of development. Thus far its profits had been
invested in machinery; the dwellings were shacks, and so was the office.

The manager vividly remembered Lefory. "The record said he was lazy. He was spectacularly lazy. On
my visits to the diggings, I rarely found him working. He was always taking a break."

"But you kept him on because of the labor shortage," Dantler said wearily.

Somler nodded. "That, and because we always hope that a poor employee will change his habits.
Usually that happens when dividends are paid and everyone else receives a tidy bonus. A poor
employee's long list of demerits results in his receiving nothing. He immediately decides to be at the top of
the list when the next dividends are declared. But it didn't happen that way with Lefory. Shiftless he was;
shiftless he remained.

"Then there were his complaints about his fellow workers. He kept saying they were trying to 'get' him.
He had the darndest accidents, some of them almost unbelievable. He wanted to be a heavy machine
operator, but on his first try, a freak short circuit nearly electrocuted him. After that he wouldn't go near