"But there's the matter of payment."
"Pay me at your leisure."
"You mean you'll trust me, even though you don't know me?"
"Most certainly," Wonderson said. He smiled archly. "Trying out your Opinioner's methods, aren't you? Well, even a child knows that our civilization is based upon trust, not collateral. It is axiomatic that even a stranger is to be trusted until he has conclusively and unmistakably proven otherwise."
"Haven't you ever been cheated?"
"Of course not. Crime is nonexistent these days."
"In that case," Barrent asked, "what about Omega?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Omega, the prison planet. You must have heard of it."
"I think I have," Wonderson said cautiously. "Well, I should have said that crime is almost nonexistent. I suppose there will always be a few congenital criminal types, easily recognizable as such. But I'm told they don't amount to more than ten or twelve individuals a year out of a population of nearly two billion." He smiled broadly. "My chances of meeting one are exceedingly rare."