Kiley has spent his life slipping through locked doors and security grids, always one step ahead—until the day a psionic alarm lands him in a prison cell deep beneath Alpheraz VII. There, in the darkness, a voice enters his mind with an offer no thief could refuse: freedom, flawless hypnosis, and a partnership that would make them unstoppable.
With telepathic power guiding him, Kiley walks through palaces and vaults without resistance. Guards salute him. Emperors step aside. Jewels worth fortunes spill into his waiting hands. For the first time, the galaxy feels easy. Too easy. And when the final haul is complete, he sets course for the distant world of his mysterious partner to divide the spoils.
But Kiley has always lived by a simple rule—never trust anyone who shares the loot. As he steps onto an alien planet of towering mountains and monstrous vegetation, he realizes that rules cut both ways. When the true scale of his partner is revealed, the question is no longer how to divide the jewels. It is whether he can survive long enough to regret the deal.
Robert Silverberg began publishing science fiction in the mid-1950s and quickly became one of the most prolific voices in the field. His early work appeared in magazines such as Amazing Stories, Galaxy Science Fiction, and If, where he demonstrated a sharp sense of irony and a talent for tightly constructed twists. Over the course of his career, Silverberg would go on to write landmark novels including Dying Inside, Lord Valentine’s Castle, and Nightwings, earning multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards. Stories like “Never Trust a Thief!” showcase his early flair for clever reversals, moral snap-judgments, and the dangerous gap between ambition and reality.
