Joel pressed the indicated button. The panel folded out like a secretary, revealing sanitary food containers which had been delivered via a slot.
He ate slowly. When he had finished he dropped the empty containers down the disposal chute and stretched out on his bunk.
All at once, he sat up snapping his fingers. Why hadn't that occurred to him earlier?
From the wall above the foot of his bunk, he pulled down a screen about a metre square, dialed a number on the prison intercommunicator.
A pale rose glow spread through the screen. Then the prim starched figure of a girl sprang out in three-dimensional reality.
The girl was working at a desk in the warden's office. Joel felt as if he were looking at her through a window in his cell.
She said, "Yes?"
"May I be connected with the film library?"
The girl opened a file, glanced at a card. After a moment, she said, "That will be all right." She dialed a number and said, "Here's your party."
The screen went agitated like the surface of a pond, then cleared again, disclosing a dry thin woman.