Under the warm glow of the gas lamp, Angel read the book filled with various "taboos" and their associated penalties. Only when faint light appeared beyond the window did she close it and let out a long breath.
The good news was that, in the few hours since she had arrived, she had not violated any of the listed taboos and would not be held accountable or punished afterward.
The bad news was that this code of law, revised dozens of times and with almost its entire final third devoted to supplementary provisions, had closed nearly every loophole she could think of. It even covered many undiscovered loopholes that only occurred to her upon reading the clauses, making her think, You could actually do that?
For example, Angel had considered refusing an assigned identity to avoid becoming a "resident," but a revision many years ago had closed that loophole. Guests entering Dream City who did not meet the consul and receive an assigned identity within twenty-four hours would commit the crime of "illegal entry." This was a serious offense, and offenders would be sentenced to death directly, without a trial.
The description of this penalty also caught Angel's attention. Most serious offenses had to be heard by an institution called the Tribunal, which imposed various punishments according to the severity of the violation. Only a very few specifically stipulated immediate execution without trial.
Angel suspected that this "death penalty" most likely involved the Hand of Order characteristic sustaining the city activating some power to kill the target directly. Otherwise, for an offender intending to flee the city, the threat of execution would be insignificant and difficult to carry out.
Of course, there was an obvious loophole here: leaving by any means within twenty-four hours of entering Dream City, before becoming