Stranger in a Strange Land

Secretary General: Well, your thumb print will do. I want to read a paper to you. This paper has a lot of lawyer talk, but stated simply it says that you agree that in leaving Mars you have abandoned — I mean, given up — any claims that you may have there. Understand me? You assign them in trust to the government.

Smith: (no answer)

Secretary General: Well, let's put it this way. You don't own Mars, do you?

Smith: (longish pause) I do not understand.

Secretary General: Mmm…let's try again. You want to stay here, don't you?

Smith: I do not know. I was sent by the Old Ones. (Long untranscribable speech, sounds like a bullfrog fighting a cat.)

Secretary General: Damn it, they should have taught him more English by now. See here, son, you don't have to worry. Just let me have your thumb print at the bottom of this page. Let me have your right hand. No, don't twist around that way. Hold still! I'm not going to hurt you …Doctor! Doctor Nelson!

Second Doctor: Yes, sir?

Secretary General: Get Doctor Nelson?

Second Doctor: Doctor Nelson? But he left, sir. He said you took him off the case.

Secretary General: Nelson said that?Damn him! Well, do something. Give him artificial respiration. Give him a shot. Don't just stand there — can't you see the man is dying?

Second Doctor: I don't believe there is anything to be done, sir. Just let him alone until he comes out of it. That's what Doctor Nelson always did.

Secretary General: Blast Doctor Nelson!

The Secretary General's voice did not appear again, nor that of Doctor Nelson. Jill could guess, from gossip she had picked up, that Smith had gone into one of his cataleptiform withdrawals. There were two more entries. One read: No need to whisper. He can't hear you. The other read: Take that tray away. We'll feed him when he comes out of it.

Jill was rereading it when Ben reappeared. He had more onionskin sheets but he did not offer them; instead he said, «Hungry?»

«Starved.»

«Let's go shoot a cow.»

He said nothing while they went to the roof and took a taxi, still kept quiet during a flight to Alexandria platform, where they switched cabs. Ben picked one with a Baltimore number. Once in the air he set it for Hagerstown, Maryland, then relaxed. «Now we can talk.»

«Ben, why the mystery?»

«Sorry, pretty foots. I don't know that my apartment is bugged — but if I can do it to them, they can do it to me. Likewise, while it isn't likely that a cab signaled from my flat would have an ear in it, still it might have; the Special Service squads are thorough. But this cab — » He patted its cushions. «They can't gimmick thousands of cabs. One picked at random should be safe.»

Jill shivered. «Ben, you don't think they would …» She let it trail off.

«Don't I, now! You saw my column. I filed that copy nine hours ago. You think the administration will let me kick it in the stomach without kicking back?»

«But you have always opposed this administration.»

«That's okay. This is different; I have accused them of holding a political prisoner. Jill, a government is a living organism. Like every living thing its prime characteristic is the instinct to survive. You hit it, it fights back. This time I've really hit it.» He added, «But I shouldn't have involved you.»

«I'm not afraid. Not since I turned that gadget back to you.»

«You're associated with me. If things get rough, that could be enough.»

Jill shut up. The notion that she, who had never experienced worse than a spanking as a child and an occasional harsh word as an adult, could be in danger was hard to believe. As a nurse, she had seen the consequences of ruthlessness — but it could not happen to her.

Their cab was circling for a landing before she broke the moody silence. «Ben? Suppose this patient dies. What happens?»

«Huh?» He frowned. «That's a good question. If there are no other questions, the class is dismissed.»

«Don't be funny.»

«Hmm … Jill, I've been awake nights trying to answer that. Here are the best answers I have: If Smith dies, his claim to Mars vanishes. Probably the group the Champion left on Mars starts a new claim — and almost certainly the administration worked out a deal before they left Earth. The Champion is a Federation ship but it is possible that such a deal leaves all strings in the hands of Secretary General Douglas. That could keep him in power a long time. On the other hand, it might mean nothing at all.»

«Huh? Why?»

«The Larkin Decision might not apply. Luna was uninhabited, but Mars is — by Martians. At the moment, Martians are a legal zero. But the High Court might take a look at the political situation and decide that human occupancy meant nothing on a planet inhabited by non-humans. Then rights on Mars would have to be secured from the Martians.»

«But, Ben, that would be the case anyhow. This notion of a single man owning a planet … it's fantastic!»