A Perfect Space-Opera Story

Let me say that I have never been able to get into John Wright's longer works. But his short story, "The Guest Law" is absolutely perfect--a perfect variation on "The Masque of the Red Death."

SPOILERS:

The oathtaking concluded with Captain Ereshkigal saying: "...and if I am forsworn, let devils and ghosts consume me in Gaia's Wasteland, in God's Hell, and may I suffer the vengeance of the Machines of Earth."

"Exactly so," said Captain Descender, smiling.