ter Ten

On Omega, so the saying went, you couldn't fit a knife blade between the
trial and the execution of the sentence. Barrent was taken at once to a
large, circular stone room in the basement of the Department of Justice.
White arc lights glared down at him from a high, arched ceiling. Below,
one section of wall had been cut away to provide a reviewing stand for
spectators. The stands were almost filled when Barrent arrived, and
hawkers were selling copies of the day's legal calendar.

For a few moments Barrent was alone on the stone floor. Then a panel
slid away in one curved wall, and a small machine rolled out.

A loudspeaker set high in the reviewing stand announced, "Ladies and
gentlemen, your attention please! You are about to witness Trial
642-BG223, by Ordeal, between Citizen Will Barrent and GME 213. Take
your seats, please. The contest will begin in a few minutes."

Barrent looked over his opponent. It was a glistening black machine
shaped like a half-sphere, standing almost four feet high. It rolled
restlessly back and forth on small wheels. A pattern of red, green, and
amber lights from recessed glass bulbs flashed across its smooth metal
hide. It stirred in Barrent a vague memory of some creature from Earth's
oceans.

"For the benefit of those who are visiting our gallery for the first
time," the loudspeaker said, "a word of explanation is in order. The
prisoner, Will Barrent, has freely chosen the Trial by Ordeal. The
instrument of justice, which in this instance is GME 213, is an example
of the finest creative engineering which Omega has produced. The
machine, or Max, as its many friends and admirers call it, is a murder
weapon of exemplary efficiency, able to utilize no less than
twenty-three killing modes, many of them extremely painful. For trial
purposes, it is set to operate upon a random principle. This means that
Max has no choice over the way in which it kills. The modes are selected
and abandoned by a random arrangement of twenty-three numbers, linked to
an equally random time-selection of one to six seconds."

Max suddenly moved toward the center of the room, and Barrent backed
away from it.

"It is within the prisoner's power," the loudspeaker voice continued,
"to disable the machine; in which case, the prisoner wins the contest
and is set free with full rights and privileges of his station. The
method of disabling varies from machine to machine. It is always
theoretically possib