"Your guilt is both evident and admitted. Are there any extenuating circumstances that have not been presented at this hearing?"
"No," Bob said.
None had been presented all day for the good reason that there was not a single factor of the circumstances that the Tharnarians would consider extenuating.
"Your guilt was evident from the beginning," Vor-Dergal said. "We have spent the past one hundred and eighty days in studying the books and tapes in your ship. What we learned of your history and your form of civilization leaves us no alternative in the sentence we must pass upon you."
The chain clinked faintly as Virginia lifted her hand to lay it on his arm and she gave him a quick glance that said, "Here it comes!"
Vor-Dergal pronounced sentence upon them:
"Tomorrow morning, at thirty-three twelve time, you will both be put to death by a robot firing squad."
Virginia's breath stopped for a moment and her hand gripped his arm with sudden pressure but she gave no other indication of emotion and her eyes did not waver from Vor-Dergal's face.
Vor-Dergal looked past her to the guards. "Return them to their cell."
The guards produced another chain, to link their free arms together behind their backs, and they were marched across the room and out the door.