ned back at Gerri Kin. "Whole town's down there." Then his grin
faded. Nice-looking, nice-talking girl like this probably cared a lot
more about dying than he did. Why the hell didn't they give him a chance
to let her out? Maybe he could do it now.

Cybrain said no. It said the second he dropped his force-screen, they'd
blast this room to hell. Poor girl from Mars, she didn't have a chance.

Gerri Kin put her hand to her forehead. "Why did you have to pick my
room? Why did they send me to this crazy city? Private soldiers. Twenty
million people living under a Shell like worms in a corpse. Earth is
sick and it's going to kill me. What's going to happen?"

Lane looked sadly at her. Only two kinds of girls ever went near a
Trooper--the crazy ones and the ones the city paid. Why did he have to
be so near getting killed when he met one he liked? Now that she was
showing a little less fear and anger, she was talking straight to him.
She was good, but she wasn't acting as if she was too good for him.

"They'll start shooting pretty quick," said Lane. "I'm sorry about you."

"I wish I could write a letter to my parents," she said.

"What?"

"Didn't you understand what I said?"

"What's a letter?"

"You don't know where Mars is. You don't know what a letter is. You
probably can't even read and write!"

* * * * *

Lane shrugged. He carried on the conversation disinterestedly,
professionally relaxed before battle. "What's these things I can't do?
They important?"

"Yes. The more I see of this city and its people, the more important I
realize they are. You know how to fight, don't you? I'll bet you're
perfect with those weapons."

"Listen. They been training me to fight since I was a little kid. Why
shouldn't I be a great little fighter?"

"Specialization," said the girl from Mars.

"What?"

"Specialization. Everyone I've met in this city is a specialist.
SocioSpecs run the government. TechnoSpecs run the machinery. Troopers
fight the wars. And ninety per cent of the people don't work at all
because they're not trained to do anything."

"The Fans," said Lane. "They got it soft. That's them down there, come
to watch the fight."

"You know why you were kept in the Armory, Lane? I heard them talking
about it, at the dinner I went to last night."

"Why?"

"Because they're afraid of the Troopers. You men did too good a job out
in Chi. You are the deadliest weapon that has ever bee