The Status Civilization

402 called after him, "Wait! You can't just leave me like this, you have to tell me something. What happened to me? Why am I in this hospital?" "Hospital?" the guard said. He turned toward 402 and grinned. "What gave you the idea this was a hospital?" "I assumed it," 402 said. "You assumed wrong. This is a prison." 402 remembered his dream of the murdered man. Dream or memory? Desperately he called after the guard. "What was my offense? What did I do?" "You'll find out," the guard said. "When?" "After we land," the guard said. "Now get ready for assembly." He walked away. 402 sat down on the bed and tried to think. He had learned a few things. He was in a prison, and the prison was going to land. What did that mean? Why did a prison have to land? And what was an assembly? 402 had only a confused idea of what happened next. An unmeasurable amount of time passed. He was sitting on his bed, trying to piece together facts about himself. He had an impression of bells ringing. And then the door of his cell flew open. Why was that? What did it mean? 402 walked to the door and peered into the corridor. He was very excited, but he didn't want to leave the security of his cell. He waited, and the guard came up. "All right, now," the guard said, "No one's going to hurt you. Go straight down the corridor."