Long John stood in the faux-oak-paneled courtroom on Attike. He could see that it was a serious courtroom, not one of your fly-by-night, pop-up courts but one that took crime and its consequences with stern solemnity. That did not make him happy, but it did impress him with the danger he was in.

  He had known his career could not last forever, but had hoped for a longer run. Although he felt some guilt over introducing the spiders to lives of crime, he was enjoying his time with them.

  A man robed in black entered through the back, his ring of white hair emphasizing his age and wisdom. “All rise,” said the bailiff. “Judge Elston Whist presiding.”

  Everyone in the crowded courtroom rose. There were few empty seats; most of the audience was human, but he saw a smattering of aliens. He glanced at the large guards on either side of him. Making a break for it now was out of the question; he would not get two feet. He resigned himself to the ordeal that was to follow.

  An angry looking man in a black suit rose after everyone had been seated. “Richard Renquist for the prosecution, Your Honor.”

  A second man with a weak chin and tousled red hair came to stand near Long John and said, “Michael Peters for the defense, Your Honor.”

  “Excellent,” Judge Whist said. “What is your name and occupation, sir?”

  Peters nodded at Long John. He drew a deep breath and said, “Long John Queeg, Your Honor. I’m—uh—captain of a cargo ship.”

  “Right.” The judge cast a sardonic eye at him and shuffled papers. “You are charged with piracy, murder, theft of a space ship, blackmail, extortion, kidnapping . . . anything else, counselor?”

  “Not at this time, Your Honor.”

  “How do you plead, sir?” The judge peered at Long John from under bushy white brows.

  “Not guilty,” he said promptly.

  “Hm. Just out of curiosity, how did you get into piracy? Allegedly, that is.”

  “I was adopted by the cook on a pirate ship.” Long John shifted uneasily.

  “Really? Where did he adopt you from?”

  “I was found on the Esperanza after it exploded.”

  The judge raised his head. “You were a survivor of the Esperanza, that disaster where five thousand Spanish colonists were lost?”

  Long John shrugged. “So they told me. I was four years old.”

  “But your name wasn’t Long John Queeg?”

  “No. The pirates named me. They thought it was funny, and I just got used to it.”

  The judge leaned to the side and engaged in a whispered conversation with a man there. Long John caught the whispered words, “. . .sole survivor . . . “ When he straightened up again, the judge said, “Moving on to the matter at hand: your trial is set for tomorrow at ten AM.”

  “Thank you, Your Honor,” Peters said.

  As Long John turned to leave with the guards, Crystal Aris came up to them. Long John caught his breath. She looked like an avenging angel in her silver armor, with her black hair flowing down her back. “Excuse me,” she said to the lawyer. “Are you the defense attorney?”

  Peters seemed equally stunned at her appearance, but he managed to get words out. “Yes, I am.”

  “I’m Captain Crystal Aris of Bragazza. I’d like to be a character witness for your client.”

  The lawyer’s eyes widened. “That would be fine. But aren’t you slated to leave soon?”

  “That is a problem. What are his chances for release, do you think? Can you get him off?”

  Peters shook his head, glancing at Long John. “Did you hear the charges? I’m afraid the chances are that he’s going to spend the rest of his life on the planet below.”

  “I see.” Her gaze wandered to Long John. “What do you think, Captain? I’d really like your help with this expedition to check out the force.”

  “Wish I could help. But as you can see, I’m kind of tied up right now.” He glanced at his cuffed hands.

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  She nodded. “I’ll see if Colonel Limpet has any suggestions. See you tomorrow.”

  Peters turned to Long John. “We should discuss your defense. I’ll come by your quarters this afternoon.”

  As the guards took him out, he wondered whether Limpet knew of his sudden promotion, and what ideas the spidery colonel might come up with. The thought brought a smile to his lips.

  After an unsatisfactory discussion with his attorney, Long John flung himself into the chair in disgust. He had told the attorney that his previous crew had been blaming him for their crimes, claiming they were still under his command. But the fellow was set on discussing plea bargains for murder and the other nefarious activities he was accused of.

  Afterwards, he spent a desultory afternoon reading the Galactic Encyclopedia. It grew late, and he became drowsy. He wished he knew what was going to happen. He was pretty sure he was going to be sentenced to life on Galatia, the planet below the space station. His feeling of unease reminded him of how he had often felt aboard the Indomitable, the pirate ship where he had grown up.

  The crew had rescued him over the pirate captain’s objections, chiefly due to the kind offices of the cook, Peter Brickner. He let Long John stay in the galley most of the time, a warm place full of good smells. When they asked him his name, he was too frightened to say it, as he was only four, so they called him Long John and told him he’d be a ferocious pirate someday.

  At first he liked that idea. Peter gave him a ladle to play with, and he pretended to swordfight with it. But as he grew older, he began to see that piracy was not the romantic career he had imagined. Peter taught him to read and to bake cakes and cookies, which he loved. But he kept Long John away from the less savory aspects of the Indomitable, until one day when he was twelve.

  The pirates had captured a cargo ship named the James Garfield, and Long John came out of the galley in time to see the crew of the Garfield being forced to haul crates from their ship to the pirates’ cargo hold. He had grown lanky and slim, tall but not yet his full height. When one of the crew caught a glimpse of him, he waved the boy off. “Get back to the galley,” growled Snake Eyes, one of the meaner pirates, who was skinny and had a bad eye. “’Less you want to be put to work too.”

  Long John for sure did not want to work, so he moved out of sight. But he watched from hiding behind the galley door, while the dispirited crew of the Garfield walked in a long line, bent under the heavy crates, down to the cargo hold. He counted eighteen of them. Snake Eyes was supervising them.

  A thin man in a blue striped shirt stopped abruptly and dropped his crate. “Why should I work for you? Carry your own loot.”

  Snake Eyes punched him. When he fell to the ground, the pirate kicked him. He hauled the man to his feet and said, “Either work or you’ll get spaced.”

  “What’s going on?” said Pierce, captain of the Indomitable, who appeared just then. Long John stayed away from Pierce as much as possible.

  “This fellow doesn’t want to work,” Snake Eyes said.

  “Would you rather take a walk in space?” asked Pierce.

  “You’re going to space us anyway,” said the fellow.

  “Why would you think that?” Pierce put an arm around the fellow’s shoulders. “As soon as the cargo is stowed, you can get back on your ship and be on your way. That’s a promise.”

  The fellow looked hopeful as he backed away from the captain. “All right, all right.” He picked up the crate and got back in line.

  But Long John had heard Pierce lie before, and he recognized the signs: the shifty eyes, the fake smile. He felt sick to his stomach.

  Once they were all inside, Snake Eyes slammed the bolts shut on the hold door. Pierce leaned over and said, “Wait a while, then vent the air. It’ll take care of them without fuss.”

  Long John was horrified. He couldn’t get the terrified, despondent faces of the Garfield’s crew out of his mind. He was only twelve, but he decided he was going to do something about it.

  He ran back to the galley and saw that his mentor Peter was back in the pantry and wouldn’t notice what he did. Long John started a small fire on the stove. Then he activated the fire alarm.

  To the pulsing scream of the alarm he ran back to the cargo hold. As he suspected, Snake Eyes had deserted his post to check on the fire. Long John hauled back the bolts and opened the door to the hold. “Come out!” he called to the crew members inside. “They’re going to vent the air in here. Get back to your ship.”

  The crew of the Garfield jumped to their feet and ran out of the hold, heading back the way they had come. The airlocks were still connected, and they hurried through to their ship. The last man, the Garfield’s captain, stopped.

  “Come with us, boy,” he said, and held out a hand.

  Long John hesitated. Later, he always wondered how his life would have turned out if he had gone with them. But he shook his head. The captain turned and slid through the airlock. Within moments the Garfield had disconnected and shot off into space.

  When they discovered that their prisoners had escaped and figured out what had happened, the pirates hauled Long John in front of Captain Pierce. He looked down at the boy with cold fury. “Just what did you think you were doing?”

  Long John shrugged. He figured they’d take it out of his hide. He could see Peter Brickner among the crowd of pirates, looking worried.

  “I asked you a question, mister,” growled Pierce.

  “It’s not right, killing people,” said Long John.

  “Who told you that?”

  “I just know.”

  “Well, you’re wrong. We’re pirates! We take what we want, when we want, from who we want, and we don’t leave witnesses! Got that?”

  Long John shrugged again.

  Pierce backhanded him and he flew against the bulkhead. He looked up at Pierce and said through gritted teeth, “You’re a lousy captain. The crew all hate you!”

  Pierce glared at him. “Get your kid under control, Brickner, or I’ll space him!”

  When Pierce had gone, Peter helped Long John to his feet. “You’ve got to keep your mouth shut. You can’t go around saying stuff like that.”

  “I don’t care.”

  Peter looked at him with frustration. “Nothing like a teenager. You’re gonna get yourself killed for sure.”

  Two weeks later, when they stopped to refuel at Frilkin’s Planet, Peter woke him at midnight. “Get your stuff together. We’re going.”

  They left the Indomitable without fanfare. By the time the ship was ready to lift off, the two of them had disappeared into the maze of dilapidated huts that was Frilkintown. That was the last Long John saw of the Indomitable, although a couple of months later he heard that it had been captured by the Space Force and the crew sentenced to life on a prison colony.