he sprawled men, the shrieks of
the crowd floating up to him. Then he raised his glove to his lips. He
made contact with Manhattan Armory.

"Colonel Klett, sir. You said if we captured the city government we
might have a chance. Well, I captured the city government. What do we do
with it now?"

* * * * *

Lane was uncomfortable in his dress uniform. First there had been a
ceremony in Tammany Square inaugurating Newyork's new Military
Protectorate, and honoring Trooper Lane. Now there was a formal dinner.
Colonel Klett and Gerri Kin sat on either side of Lane.

Klett said, "Call me an opportunist if you like, Miss Kin, my government
will be stable, and Mars can negotiate with it." He was a lean,
sharp-featured man with deep grooves in his face, and gray hair.

Gerri shook her head. "Recognition for a new government takes time. I'm
going back to Mars, and I think they'll send another ambassador next
time. Nothing personal--I just don't like it here."

Lane said, "I'm going to Mars, too."

"Did she ask you to?" demanded Klett.

Lane shook his head. "She's got too much class for me. But I like what
she told me about Mars. It's healthy, like."

Klett frowned. "If I thought there was a gram of talent involved in your
capture of the Mayor, Lane, I'd never release you from duty. But I know
better. You beat that analogue computer by sheer stupidity--by
disregarding your cybrain."

Lane said, "It wasn't so stupid if it worked."

"That's what bothers me. It calls for a revision in our tactics. We've
got a way of beating those big computers now, should anyone use them
against us."

"I just didn't want her to be hurt."

"Exactly. The computer could outguess a machine, like your cybrain. But
you introduced a totally unpredictable factor--human emotion. Which
proves what I, as a military man, have always maintained--that the
deadliest weapon in man's arsenal is still, and will always be, the
individual soldier."

"What you just said there, sir," said Lane. "That's why I'm leaving
Newyork."

"What do you mean?" asked Colonel Klett.

"I'm tired of being a weapon, sir. I want to be a human being."

END

* * * * *

Work is the elimination of the traces of work.

_--Michelangelo_

Transcriber's Note:

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