"Riva, this is serious!" He forced her hands down again. "I'm in trouble. I need help." "It's to help you I've been trying all along." "I've got to get in touch with the authorities--your government." She looked blank. He simplified it, "Your leaders." "Oh, it's easy that is. There be Aline and Clio and Leah and--but that Leah! It's the cake she takes! Thirty chasers she led on the best drag-out of all. Two whole days it lasted!" "No, Riva! Not _that_ kind of leader. I mean--well, someone who gets things done. The kind who gets behind things and--" "That be Leanc. Behind those floating cars he's getting all the time. And how he can throw so many rocks I'll never know!" He mussed his hair in frustration, then composed himself. "How do I get to the city?" "That crowded place with all the big houses?" When he nodded, she went on, "It's never been there I have. _Now_ we play?" He drew in a hopeless breath. "All right. Now we play. You go hide." She radiated a warm eagerness as she initiated the game all over again with a kiss and then went sprinting toward the front of the house. He watched her disappear through the next room, then went out the nearest door, heading for the fence and his ship beyond. It had required no small degree of restraint not to go racing off after her. At the corner of the manor he was bowled over by a shouting Papa who was in full flight as he shot out around a hedge, heading for the guest house. "All your fault it is!" he cried, recovering his balance and plunging on. "You it be who caused this! that I'll remember!" Cassidy sat up, arms resting on his updrawn knees, and stared after the old man. "Ow! Riva! Ouch!" Papa clutched his rear as he neared the cottage. "Help! Oh, my aching back!" * * * * * Cassidy found Mason frozen in the shadow of the ship, fascinated by another girl chase that was in progress nearby. The swirl of action swerved toward him and Mason tensed, shifting from one foot to the other. With the wind pressing her clothes in revealing tightness about her, the flaxen-haired sprite swept past and he lunged for her. "Mason!" Cassidy shouted. "Seemed like a good idea," Mason explained, checking himself. "Wonder what it takes to get in on that chase." Cassidy forced a fetching thought of Riva out of his mind. "What we ought to be wondering is how soon we can blast off." "But if we get spaceborne before the stabilizer's working, we'll only be floundering around again." Cassidy started for the ladder. "There's one thing we _can_ do--patch up the hatches and jump over to another spot on this planet. Maybe we'll find somebody who's normal, at least." But Mason caught his arm and pointed toward Riva's estate where a skimmer car was now parked on the side of the manor opposite the guest house. "Anybody who can drive one of those things," he suggested, "must know something about the city and how to get there. Maybe he'll even give us a lift."