Retief And the Rascals
“He could see no light; in total darkness he paced off the dimensions of the featureless cell. Twelve one way, nine the other, with an alcove in one corner.
It occurred to him this was the approximate size and shape of the Chancery in the Embassy of Groac, which he had seen a few days before on a goodwill tour arranged between Ambassadors Swinepearl and Shinth. On tiptoe, he could just touch the ceiling—of rough planks, he concluded from the unplaned texture. He found a stout wooden bench bolted... to the wall and floor at one side of the stuffy room. Insofar as he could determine, there was no door or window. "Still," he mused, "I got in here somehow." The floor was an unbroken slab, reasonably clean, even. The silence was total. And while he languished here, poor Ben was doubtless getting in deeper with every utterance.
The ceiling seemed to be the only possibility.
Retief noticed that in the corner occupied in the Chancery by the big Fortress £3 model safe, the ceiling sagged minutely.MoreLess
It occurred to him this was the approximate size and shape of the Chancery in the Embassy of Groac, which he had seen a few days before on a goodwill tour arranged between Ambassadors Swinepearl and Shinth. On tiptoe, he could just touch the ceiling—of rough planks, he concluded from the unplaned texture. He found a stout wooden bench bolted... to the wall and floor at one side of the stuffy room. Insofar as he could determine, there was no door or window. "Still," he mused, "I got in here somehow." The floor was an unbroken slab, reasonably clean, even. The silence was total. And while he languished here, poor Ben was doubtless getting in deeper with every utterance.
The ceiling seemed to be the only possibility.
Retief noticed that in the corner occupied in the Chancery by the big Fortress £3 model safe, the ceiling sagged minutely.MoreLess
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