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happened to its face?" Lit asked in horror.
    Siri took hold of the concrete lid of the accidental tomb and heaved it back to study its interior. The mold was completed there, providing an almost perfect concave mask of the head. Where the mouth had attempted its muffled cry for the last time, a tube of cement curled downward. Embedded at its base were the missing teeth.
    "I think this explains the hole," Siri said, not looking up. The others came over to peer within. "It would appear the final breaths of our friend here were of liquid cement. When it hardened and the body began to shrink, the teeth remained in their original position. I wouldn't be surprised if we found more cement in the lungs."
    "My God," Lit said. "You mean he was alive when he went into the concrete?"
    "It looks that way," Dtui confirmed.
    "What a terrible way to die. Who could have done such a thing?"
    "I'd have to suppose, judging from the size of the original body, that it was somebody of enormous strength," Siri replied.
    "Or several people," Dtui added.
    "Yes, indeed. Good point. Comrade Lit, do you think the president would object if we used the meeting room in his house as a makeshift morgue?"
    "I have the key," Lit told him. "But he'll be here next week for the concert."
    "If we haven't worked this out by then, we never will, son. It doesn't take me that long to concede defeat."

    Judge Haeng came back from another half day of fussy domestic disputes in his courtroom. A city whose criminals and potential criminals had all been incarcerated, in which crime had been abolished, was a dull place for a magistrate. He walked past the desks of the Justice Department clerks, who sat sweating into their clunky typewriters. They nodded with little enthusiasm as their young boss went by. In the year since he'd taken up his position fresh from Moscow, he hadn't spoken to any of them civilly. Usually he addressed them through Mrs. Manivone, the senior clerk. When he approached her desk, she stood politely and smiled her meaningless smile. She wore a neatly ironed khaki blouse and a black pasin ankle-length straight skirt. Usually, she was equally unruffled.
    "Good health, Judge Haeng."
    "Has he gone?"
    "Who?"
    "The freak at the morgue."
    She sighed. "If you mean Mr. Geung, they collected him last night. He should be there on Wednesday."
    "Good. Excellent." He set off for his office.
    "It's just ..."
    He turned back. "What?"
    "Well, I'm not sure I understand, Judge. Everybody's very fond of Mr. Geung."
    "Fond? Fond? Are we running a government department or a home for social outcasts? I'm very fond of my grandmother"--Mrs. Manivone didn't believe that--"but I wouldn't give her a responsible job in the national morgue. What image would foreign visitors take home if they came and saw a moron working for the state?"
    She had a number of possible responses to that but, under her breath, all she managed was, "One of compassion?
    "What was that?"
    "I don't think Dr. Siri's going to be very pleased about it when he returns."
    The judge sauntered back to her. "Oh, you don't?"
    "No."
    He leaned on her desk and raised his voice so the others could hear. "And remind me--does Dr. Siri work for the Justice Department?"
    "Yes, Judge Haeng."
    "And am I the head of the Justice Department, missy?"
    Manivone once again reminded herself she had three children to feed. "Yes, Judge Haeng."
    "So, does he do what I tell him, or do I do what he tells me?"
    "Well, neither, in fact, as I've seen, comrade." It was a rash comment, albeit true. She knew there was a Party slogan on its way.
    "Now, don't get fresh, Comrade Manivone. Every bee in the socialist hive is as important as the next. But if the worker doesn't show respect to the queen, the honey does not flow as sweetly. Remember that."
    "Yes, Judge Haeng."
    He looked around at the clerks, whose heads snapped back to their work. He smiled and walked smugly to his office. It would have been a spectacular exit had the door handle not