The dimensions of this trap were so vast that Hackworth's mind was still 
reeling through it, bouncing haplessly from one wall to another, when he was 
hauled before the district magistrate twenty minutes later. They had set up a 
courtroom in a large, ancient garden in the interior of Old Shanghai. 
It was an open square paved with flat gray stones. At one end was a 
raised building open to the square on one side, covered with a 
sweeping tile roof whose corners curved high into the air and 
whose ridgeline was adorned with a clay frieze portraying a couple of 
dragons facing off with a large pearl between them. Hackworth 
realized, dimly, that this was actually the stage of an open-air theatre, which
enhanced the impression that he was the sole spectator at an 
elaborate play written and staged for his benefit. A judge sat 
before a low, brocade-covered table in the center of the stage, 
dressed in magnificent robes and an imposing winged hat decorated 
with a unicorn emblem. Behind him and off to one side stood a small 
woman wearing what Hackworth assumed were phenomenoscopic spectacles. 
When Constable Chang had pointed to a spot on the gray flagstones 
where Hackworth was expected to kneel, he ascended to the stage and 
took up a position flanking the Judge on the other side. A few other 
functionaries were arranged on the square, mostly consisting of 
Dr. X and members of his retinue, arranged in two parallel lines 
forming a tunnel between Hackworth and the Judge.