s
consequences. Meanwhile, stay with this girl and do what you must do
to make her talk. It might be important."

Pirum bowed. "Yes, ladyship," he said, and watched the others depart.
Then, when they were alone, Ylia surprised him by flying at him, nails
bared, like a wildcat. He fought off her attack and struck her a
savage open-handed blow, and she fell back. At least this, Pirum
thought advancing on her, might be an interesting assignment.

* * * * *

"... hit by that cab, mac."

"You all right?"

"He's getting up, ain't he?"

"Jeez, I swear," the sweating taxi driver said to the crowd which had
gathered about the prostrate man, "he popped up outa nowhere. One
second I'm driving along, looking for a fare, the next, he's standing
right in front of me. I almost pushed the brake through the floor,
honest, but--"

"Ylia," the stricken man said.

"Hey now, take it easy."

"What he say, anyhow?"

"... be going to a costume ball or something. Lookit that outfit he's
wearing, willya? What's he supposed to be, a man from Mars or
something? I read in the papers where Mars was pretty close a while
back. My kid thinks there are...."

"Aw, shudap about your kid."

"Need any help, mister?"

"No. No, thank you. I'm all right."

"... got a nasty crack on his head, is all. See? See the blood?"

"He's getting up."

"... a cop. When you don't want 'em, they're around. Now you need
them, where in heck are they, that's what I wanna know."

"The bracelet!" the stricken man said in sudden alarm. He stared at
his own right arm in confusion, then his left. His arms were bare.

"You wasn't wearing no bracelet, mac," someone said.

"No bracelet," he said. "No bracelet." His eyes looked vague,
confused.

After a while a policeman came and took in the situation at a glance.
"All right, all right," he bawled. "Step back and givemair, givemair,
will you?"

The crowd dispersed slowly, and the policeman talked for a while with
the taxi-driver, then with the stricken man.

"My name?" the stricken man said in answer to a question. "Bram
Forest. Yes, Bram Forest. But I don't have the bracelet. The bracelet
is gone, forever. Without the bracelet I can't...." his voice trailed
off.

"He drunk?" the policeman asked the cab driver.

"Search me."

"'A prison without bars,'" the man recited. "Earth is my prison,
forever. Ylia. Ylia!"

The driver made a circular motion with his forefinger, i