The girl noticed the dark swell of the force-globe. "What's that out there?" "Force-screen. Nothing gets past, except maybe a full-size blaster-beam. Keeps cops out. Keeps you in. You anybody important?" "I told you, I'm an ambassador. From Mars. I'm on a diplomatic mission." "Yeah? Mars a big city?" She stared at him, violet eyes wide. "The _planet_ Mars." "Planet? Oh, _that_ Mars. Sure, I've heard of it--you gotta go by spaceship. What's your name?" "Gerri Kin. Look, Lane, holding me is no good. It'll just get you in worse trouble. What are you trying to do?" "I wanna see the Mayor. Me and my buddies, we just come back from fighting in Chi, Gerri. We won. They got a new Mayor out there in Chi. He takes orders from Newyork." Gerri Kin said, "That's what the force-domes did. The perfect defense. But also the road to the return to city-states. Anarchy." Lane said, "Yeah? Well, we done what they wanted us to do. We did the fighting for them. So we come back home to Newyork and they lock us up in the Armory. Won't pay us. Won't let us go nowhere. They had cops guarding us. City cops." Lane sneered. "I busted out. I wanna see the Mayor and find out why we can't have time off. I don't play games, Gerri. I go right to the top." Lane broke off. There was a hum outside the window. He whirled and stared out. The rounded black hulls of the two police paragrav-boats were nosing toward the force-screen. Lane could read the white numbers painted on their bows. A loudspeaker shouted into the room: "Come out of there, Lane, or we'll blast you out." "You can't," Lane called. "This girl from Mars is here." "I repeat, Lane--come out or we'll blast you out." Lane turned to the girl. "I thought you were important." * * * * * She stood there with her hands together, calmly looking at him. "I am. But you are too, to them. Mars is millions of miles away, and you're right across the Square from the Mayor's suite." "Yeah, but--" Lane shook his head and turned back to the window. "All right, look! Move them boats away and I'll let this girl out!" "No deal, Lane. We're coming in." The police boats backed away slowly, then shot straight up, out of the line of vision. Lane looked down at the Square. Far below, the long, gleaming barrel of a blaster cannon caught the dim light filtering down through Newyork's Shell. The cannon trundled into the Square on its olive-drab, box-shaped caterpillar mounting and took up a position equidistant from the bases of the three towers. Now a rumble of many voices rose from below. Lane stared down to see a large crowd gathering in Tammany Square. Sound trucks were rolling to a stop around the edges of the crowd. The people were all looking up. Lane looked across the Square. The windows of the tower opposite, the ones he could see clearly, were crowded with faces. There were white dot faces on the balcony that Gerri Kin had pointed out as the Mayor's suite.