below, the last
furious thrusts from the two Leiters and their soldiers.

Then they were away, above the trees, high in the air, gaining speed
each moment, leaving the knot of Martians far behind.

"Toward Marsport," Jan said to Erick. "Right?"

Erick nodded. "Yes. We'll land outside the field, in the hills. We can
change back to our regular clothing there, our commercial clothing. Damn
it--we'll be lucky if we can get there in time for the ship."

"The last ship," Mara whispered, her chest rising and falling. "What if
we don't get there in time?"

Erick looked down at the leather case in his lap. "We'll have to get
there," he murmured. "We must!"

* * * * *

For a long time there was silence. Thacher stared at Erickson. The older
man was leaning back in his chair, sipping a little of his drink. Mara
and Jan were silent.

"So you didn't destroy the City," Thacher said. "You didn't destroy it
at all. You shrank it down and put it in a glass globe, in a
paperweight. And now you're salesmen again, with a sample case of office
supplies!"

Erickson smiled. He opened the briefcase and reaching into it he brought
out the glass globe paperweight. He held it up, looking into it. "Yes,
we stole the City from the Martians. That's how we got by the lie
detector. It was true that we knew nothing about a _destroyed_ City."

"But why?" Thacher said. "Why steal a City? Why not merely bomb it?"

"Ransom," Mara said fervently, gazing into the globe, her dark eyes
bright. "Their biggest City, half of their Council--in Erick's hand!"

"Mars will have to do what Terra asks," Erickson said. "Now Terra will
be able to make her commercial demands felt. Maybe there won't even be a
war. Perhaps Terra will get her way without fighting." Still smiling, he
put the globe back into the briefcase and locked it.

"Quite a story," Thacher said. "What an amazing process, reduction of
size-- A whole City reduced to microscopic dimensions. Amazing. No
wonder you were able to escape. With such daring as that, no one could
hope to stop you."

He looked down at the briefcase on the floor. Underneath them the jets
murmured and vibrated evenly, as the ship moved through space toward
distant Terra.

"We still have quite a way to go," Jan said. "You've heard our story,
Thacher. Why not tell us yours? What sort of line are you in? What's
your business?"

"Yes," Mara said. "What do you do?"

"What do I do?" Thac