and
re-entered the tower wall just below.

Now the girl.

He turned back to the room. "Wake up, outa-towner." He gave the blonde
girl a light dose of the vibray to slap her awake.

"Who are you?" she said, shakily.

Lane grinned. "Trooper Lane, of the Newyork Special Troops, is all." He
threw her a mock salute. "You from outa-town, girlie. I ain't seen a
Newyork girl with yellow hair in years. Orange or green is the action.
Whatcha doing in the Mayor's room?"

* * * * *

The girl pushed herself to her feet. Built, Lane saw. She was pretty and
clean-looking, very out-of-town. She held herself straight and her
blue-violet eyes snapped at him.

"What the devil do you think you're doing, soldier? I am a diplomat of
the Grassroots Republic of Mars. This is an embassy, if you know what
that means."

"I don't," said Lane, unconcerned.

"Well, you should have had brains enough to honor the flag outside this
window. That's the Martian flag, soldier. If you've never heard of
diplomatic immunity, you'll suffer for your ignorance." Her large, dark
eyes narrowed. "Who sent you?"

"My cybrain sent me."

She went openmouthed. "You're _Lane_."

"I'm the guy they told you about on the 3V. Where's the Mayor? Ain't
this his place?"

"No. No, you're in the wrong room. The wrong building. That's the
Mayor's suite over there." She pointed. "See where the balcony is? This
is the Embassy suite. If you want the Mayor you'll have to go over
there."

"Whaddaya know," said Lane. "Cybrain didn't know, no more than me."

The girl noticed the dark swell of the force-globe. "What's that out
there?"

"Force-screen. Nothing gets past, except maybe a full-size blaster-beam.
Keeps cops out. Keeps you in. You anybody important?"

"I told you, I'm an ambassador. From Mars. I'm on a diplomatic mission."

"Yeah? Mars a big city?"

She stared at him, violet eyes wide. "The _planet_ Mars."

"Planet? Oh, _that_ Mars. Sure, I've heard of it--you gotta go by
spaceship. What's your name?"

"Gerri Kin. Look, Lane, holding me is no good. It'll just get you in
worse trouble. What are you trying to do?"

"I wanna see the Mayor. Me and my buddies, we just come back from
fighting in Chi, Gerri. We won. They got a new Mayor out there in Chi.
He takes orders from Newyork."

Gerri Kin said, "That's what the force-domes did. The perfect defense.
But also the road to the return to city-states. Anarchy."

Lane sa