n made. You.
Single airborne infantrymen!"

Lane said, "They told us in Trooper Academy that it's the men that win
the wars."

"Yes, but people had forgotten it until the SocioSpecs of Newyork came
up with the Troopers. Before the Troopers, governments concentrated on
the big weapons, the missiles, the bombs. And the cities, with the
Shells, were safe from bombs. They learned to be self-sufficient under
the Shells. They were so safe, so isolated, that national governments
collapsed. But you Troopers wiped out that feeling of security, when you
infiltrated Chi and conquered it."

"We scared them, huh?"

Gerri said, "You scared them so much that they were afraid to let you
have a furlough in the city when you came back. Afraid you Troopers
would realize that you could easily take over the city if you wanted to.
You scared them so much that they'll let me be killed. They'll actually
risk trouble with Mars just to kill you."

"I'm sorry about you. I mean it, I like--"

At that moment a titanic, ear-splitting explosion hurled him to the
carpet, deafened and blinded him.

He recovered and saw Gerri a few feet away, dazed, groping on hands and
knees.

Lane jumped to the window, looked quickly, sprang back. Cybrain pumped
orders to his nervous system.

"Blaster cannon," he said. "But just one. Gotcha, cybrain. I can beat
that."

He picked up the black box that generated his protective screen.
Snapping it open with thumb-pressure, he turned a small dial. Then he
waited.

Again an enormous, brain-shattering concussion.

Again Lane and Gerri were thrown to the floor. But this time there was a
second explosion and a blinding flash from below.

Lane laughed boyishly and ran to the window.

"Look!" he called to Gerri.

* * * * *

There was a huge gap in the crowd below. The pavement was blackened and
shattered to rubble. In and around the open space sprawled dozens of
tiny black figures, not moving.

"Backfire," said Lane. "I set the screen to throw their blaster beam
right back at them."

"And they knew you might--and yet they let a crowd congregate!"

Gerri reeled away from the window, sick.

Lane said, "I can do that a couple times more, but it burns out the
force-globe. Then I'm dead."

He heard the 3V newscaster's amplified voice: "--approximately fifty
killed. But Lane is through now. He has been able to outthink police
with the help of his cybrain. Now police are fee