A thick bored looking guard stood with his prisoner, waiting to send another criminal into exile. If this one was the infamous Bondar, what of it?

“This isn’t right. You know it’s not.” The condemned pleaded.

Guard 6601 yawned and rubbed a speck of dirt off his badge before answering. “Shut up. You’re lucky they chose a planet with atmosphere. No one who saw your trial feels sorry for you.”

Bondar rubbed his hands together excitedly. “If you watched it, then you know I didn’t do it.”

“You mean that you believe you didn’t do it. That’s not the same thing at all. Hence the ninety-three percent guilty vote, which might be a record.”

Bondar’s slender frame wilted. “Ninety-three percent?” he asked hoarsely. “Are you sure?”

The guard was genuinely surprised. “They didn’t tell you?”

“I knew the public had cast the guilty vote, yes, but no one had told me it was so overwhelming.”

Bondar let himself be guided into his pod and watched powerless, as the door slid shut behind him. There was no going back now.