"That," Hawkes continued, "is where the Company's Secret Service
comes in. It never lets up on the effort it will make to solve a
robbery and bring the perpetrators to justice. And it never quits,
once it begins an investigation. That policy has proven very effective
in discouraging thievery. During the Company's entire tenure there
have been less than a dozen unsolved thefts--and two of them occurred
right here on Marlock."
"I was a clerk with the Company at the time of the second," Johnson
said reminiscently. "Been with them about three years then. That must
have been over twenty years ago. I...." He paused and looked down. "I
remember," he said. "The picture without the beard.... That's the
thief. The photograph was taken by one of the automatic cameras set up
for just that purpose; we still use them. But they never found the
man."
"That's right," Hawkes agreed. "That robbery occurred a little over
twenty years ago. And the other picture you have was taken at the time
of the first robbery--approximately twenty-five years before that."
"But it isn't possible," Johnson protested. "These pictures are of the
same man. And there's obviously no twenty-five year spread in age
between them. Unless...."
"Unless one is the other's father, or a relative that resembles him
very closely?" Hawkes finished. "Look at the pictures again. There's
the same scar on both foreheads, the same pock-mark on the right
cheek; our special section has even made measurements of the
comparative sizes of the nose, ears and other features. There's no
possible doubt that the pictures are of the same man."
* * * * *
"How do you explain it?" Johnson asked.
"I don't," Hawkes replied quietly. "That's one of the things I'm here
to learn. But did you notice this? The man we encountered this
afternoon was not only the same as the one on those pictures: he still
looks the same. We might, for the sake of argument, grant that a man's
appearance would change only slightly in twenty-five years. But when
you add another twenty-three on top of that--and he's still
unchanged...?"
"If you're certain that he's the man, why don't you arrest him?"
Johnson asked.
"Can we arrest a man apparently about thirty years old and accuse him
of a crime committed forty-eight years ago--or even twenty-three years
ago?"
"I suppose not," Johnson agreed. "What do you intend to do?"
"I haven't decided yet. First I'll have to learn more about the
situation here. You can help me with that. Right now I'd like to know
something about the native customs--especially in regard to legal
matters."
"Their laws are fairly simple," Johnson began. "There's no law against
stealing or taking by force anything you can get away with. That
sounds absurd by Earth standards, it prevents the amassing of more
goods than an individual needs, and makes for fairly equitable
distribution. If a native somehow acquires a sudden amount of
wealth--goods, in their case--he must hire guards to protect it.
Guarding is a major occupation. They do an especially big business
during the tourist seasons. In time the pay of the guards will eat up
any native's surplus. Either way--by loss or guard pay--the wealth is
soon redistributed."
"Can they even kill one another with impunity?"
"No. Their laws are rigid in that respect. In the process
of--relieving another of his property, they must neither break a major
bone, nor inflict permanent damage. If they disobey, they are tortured
to death in the public square."