by Sam Merwin
threat to the crockery in the china shop that wasEarth.
"They can do it," Maria said simply. "Zale, these people have becomeabsolutely dependent upon their computers. They aren't going to lettheir entire creed be wrecked by one Martian."
"What do you want me to do?" he asked simply.
"Come with me--now," she said, once more gripping his hand. "A group ofus want to talk to you, to find out _how_ you have done it."
He looked at her, found her adorable in her earnestness. He said, "Andif I play guinea pig with your friends, then you and I...?"
"Of course--as soon as there's time," she told him.
"You _are_ a little bundle of fanaticism, as well as of sex," he toldher. "I should think at least, since you seem to have such an insidetrack, you could manage to get my recall deferred."
"That's just _it_!" she exclaimed bitterly. "I see everything, I heareverything--yet I can _do_ nothing. Papa thinks I'm merely a foolishfemale creature and his attitude blocks me at every turn." Lindsayrealized again how fundamentally frustrated she was, wondered if shewould ever find a completely satisfactory release.
Lindsay decided to play along. "All right," he said. "Shall we go?"
"Thanks, darling," she promised. "We'd better go separately. There willbe a blue copter-cab waiting outside when you leave." She leaned acrossthe table to brush his lips briefly with hers, squeezed his hand andglided off.
* * * * *
He wondered, while he waited for the check, just how foolhardly he wasbeing, allowing himself to be summoned to a meeting of palaceconspirators. It could very easily be a trap, whether Maria knew it ornot. It could be a ruse to add fuel to the fire being lit under him forhis recall as a _legate persona non grata_ on Earth.
"You _haven't_ forgotten our date, have you darling?" The voice wasthroatily reproachful above him and he looked up in surprise at aglittering female figure, who seemed to be clad entirely in blazingbrilliants.
She was tall and blonde, her hair an ocean helmet of gold, sprinkledwith gems. Her face was beautifully boned, with broad cheeks andforehead pierced by a decided widow's peak. Light green eyes slantedupward beneath brows like the wings of some tiny graceful bird. Nose,lips and chin gained fascination from the perfection they skirted butjust escaped. Face, arms, upper bosom and shoulders wore the even tawnygolden tan that only some blondes can achieve.
Her figure, ashimmer with gems, was lithe of waist, firmly full ofbreast and pelvis, moved with the enticing grace of an Indonesian templedancer as she slipped into the seat Maria had so recently vacated.
"Sorry, your highness," he said with a look of honest admiration. "Ididn't know we _had_ a date."
"We have now," she stated. She laid a handbag solidly encrusted withdiamonds, emeralds and rubies on the table, said to the dwarf waiter,"Bring me the usual, Joe--and give Ambassador Lindsay another ofwhatever he's drinking."
_At any other time_, Lindsay thought. He said, "I regret this more thanyou'll ever know, my dear, but I've got a copter-cab waiting for meoutside."
"It will keep." The girl pouted prettily, then leaned toward him andsaid huskily, "We'll have just one here. Then we can go to my place.It's just outside of Biloxi, almost on the Gulf. We can watch the dawncome up over the water. We can--"
"Stop twisting my arm," said Lindsay, trying to keep his thoughts infocus. Who had sent _this_ girl and why? And what, he wondered, awaitedhim in Biloxi.
He got up, tossed a twenty-credit note on the table. "This will pay thecheck," he informed her.
"Not so fast," said the houri, rising with him. Trying to ignore her, heheaded toward the door as fast as he could.
She kept after him and his ears burned as he plunged out into the night,saw the blue copter-cab waiting with its door open at the curb. But whenhe tried to plunge toward it he was halted by an arm whose sharp-facetedjeweled adornments cut his adam's apple. He gasped but the girl got infront of him, waving her bag.
There was a faint popping noise as the door closed and the copter-cabswiftly and silently darted away. Stunned by the swiftness of events,Lindsay was utterly incapable of resistance when his decorativetormentor thrust him into another vehicle. As they took off he said, "Isuppose this is the prelude to another assassination try."
"Night soil!" said a familiar voice. "What the hell do you think I justsaved you from, boss?"
* * * * *
Lindsay uttered one word--a word which, he thought later, was singularlyrevealing as to his native flair for diplomacy. He said, briefly andsuccinctly, "_Huh?_"
"Listen, my fine unfeathered Martian friend." She sounded like a primaryschool teacher addressing an overgrown and somewhat backward pupil."Somebody fired a glass bullet at you from that cab."
"How do you...?" he began helplessly.
For answer she turned on the copter-cab light, revealing the back of auniformed chauffeur, and showed him her handbag. There was a slight tearin one side of its begemmed surface and, when she shook it, bits ofglass fell to the floor. "Careful," she warned when he reached for thebag. "It was probably packed with poison." Then, "Can you think of abetter shield than diamonds?"
He said, "_Ulp!_" Unquestionably, now that she had revealed herself,this glittering creature was his slovenly office Nina. Seekingdesperately to recover what had at best been a shaky boss-secretaryrelationship, he said, "Where are you taking me?"
"Out of the city, boss," she informed him. "We really are going to myplace in Biloxi. You're much too hot a property to be allowed to wanderaround loose. Two tries in less than twenty-four hours."
"Then Maria..." he said, wonderingly.
Nina picked his thought up crisply. "We don't know whether your littleplaymate put the finger on you consciously or not. But she did it. Someof that sweet little crew she pals around with are desperate. They don'tbelieve they can lick the computers and their only hope is to fomentincidents that will lead to an interplanetary war. Nice kids!"
"But why pick on me?" he asked. "From what Maria said tonight I'm theirone hope of beating the machines."
Nina shook her head at him sadly. "And you're the best brain our Martiancousins could send us. Here it is in words of one syllable. Maria's mobwants war. They believe they can light the powder train by arranging theassassination of a Martian Plenipotentiary.
"Meanwhile your speech yesterday and your fouling up Doc Craven'scomputer this afternoon, and whatever you did at the tennis tonight,have the Computer crowd screaming for your recall before you upset theirlittle red wagon." She paused, added, "Naturally Maria's crowd wants tohave you killed before you become a mere private citizen of Mars. Onceyou're removed from office you aren't important enough to cause a war."
"Good God!" said Lindsay as the double pattern became apparent. Then,curiously, "And just whom do you represent, Nina?"
She eyed him steadily, mockingly for a moment. Then she said, "Let'sjust say for now that I represent the Model's Union. We don't want anywartime austerity wrecking our pitch. Will that do?"
"I guess it will have to," he said. Then, plucking a diamond-and-emeraldnecklace from among the half-dozen about her throat, "You certainlydidn't give poor Anderson much for his money."
"Stop it!" she snapped. "Do you want my eyes to swell up again? In a waywhat happened tonight was all your fault. Fernando and I were going tokeep close tabs on you but you fouled me up with your beastly remarkabout my business at Doc Craven's and then put poor Fernando out ofcommission by getting mixed up in that riot at the Colosseum. I barelymade the Pelican in time."
He thought of giving Nina the receipt from Zoffany's in his pocket,decided not to take the chance. So he said, "Is Fernando working for theModel's Union too?"
"Stop trying to be funny," she told him. "Night soil! You make me sodamned mad. Letting that little tramp Maria nail you."
"At the time there wasn't much alternative," he said. Then, eyeing herclosely, "How come you're mixed up in UW politics? I thought models werestrictly for
fun and games."
Nina said matter-of-factly, "I won top model rating when I wasseventeen. I still hold it and I'm twenty-six now. A girl can get tiredof being and doing the same thing--even in my profession. Besides, I'vegot brains. So I try to use them."
"How come you decided to be my secretary?"
"We drew lots and I lost," she informed him.
* * * * *
The