The mayor smelled of anise and rosewater. He led us by foot to a broad, high dome near the station’s outer wall. Inside were pillows and fine carpets woven on Earth, wash basins cut in stone for the faithful, displays of the Hay amulets of departed brothers.

I squatted on a pillow, stomach acid with tension.

Crown Niger entered, his walk even more catlike than before. His eyes darted around the large dome, and he squatted with a break in grace that spoke volumes. He expelled his breath with a small groan. “Excuse me, Madam Vice President,” he said. “I’m very tired. I’m sure you know why. All of our important files seem to be open to prying eyes. Whatever happened to Martian honor?”

I smiled. “What can I do for you, Mr. Crown Niger ?”

His nostrils flared. “I’m going to be completely open. I know you can’t be, but my situation is different. I’m a small jackal running with wolves. I’m going to tell you what has happened, and let you judge what it means. I’m frightened.”

He was not lying, that much was obvious. He even smelled sour. “I will be completely frank. You have suspected these things already, but I tell them to you now… openly. We made many mining claims before the Freeze, on orders from our major partner on Earth.”

“GEWA,” I said.

He shook his head. “Above GEWA. Alliance of Alliances. You have heard rumors?”

“Not of that,” I admitted.

“It is a fact. Most of the claims were denied, but some we opened to Earth interests, about ninety that we acquired or already controlled. They were seeded with locusts, factories to make destructive nano machines.”

My face must have crimsoned. My hands began to shake with rage.

“We did not know this would be done, but… To you, our complicity cannot be excused. This is not why I call you here. I tell you this because we now have no more protection from these locusts than you.” He paused,

“I’m listening,” I said.

“I had hoped to speak with the President.”

“She’s busy,” I said.

He sighed. “We’ve made some breakthroughs at Cailetet. Nothing as impressive as moving moons. Communications… Important work, very lucrative. A week ago, we passed this information to our contacts on Earth. We sought to license new technology. We hoped to conduct business even in this climate of crisis. The answer was unexpected. They asked us to disband our research team. They asked us to send our scientists to Earth.”

I had felt superior and in control at the beginning of the conversation. All I felt now was horror. “You told them?” I managed to say.

“We had an agreement with the Alliance of Alliances. I have never made so great a miscalculation in my life.” He clasped his hands under his chin and rocked back and forth on his pillow. “They do not speak with me now. I fear they will take some horrible action. I strongly believe they were behind the Freeze. It’s necessary for us to join forces. Together, we may survive.”

“What have you learned about communications?” I asked, my mind racing far ahead of my questions. We would have to leave soon, get back to Kaibab; I would have to confer with Charles and alert the President.

“We can communicate instantaneously, across great distances,” Crown Niger said. “Petty stuff compared to what your people can do… But we consider it significant, and we’ve had no reports that you’ve made this particular breakthrough.”

“What else have you discovered?” I asked.

“On Earth, they seem to think there’s much more… Because of you and your damned exhibitionism!” Crown Niger shouted. He lowered his eyes and sighed again as if with great impatience. “I have worked hard to create a sanctuary away from these insanities. The insanity of Earth, and now of the Republic. I have put my life and soul into standing apart, giving my people the choice of independence.”

“You sold your services to Earth. I don’t call that independence.”

His lips drew tight; he seemed about to spit. “I do not care what you think about me. It is clear you have no honor. There is nothing truly Martian about you. You would threaten the mother of us all for political gain. To use such weapons… Insane!”

“Martians have died because of Terrie force. Nobody on Earth has died,” I said.

“So naive! To even display such power, such abilities, in itself must lead to violence. And now Cailetet is put in the same basket with you, by our former friends. Martians think they understand the politics of nations, but Mars is just a spread-out village, full of simpletons.”

“You’ve put a new element into the equation,” I said. “They think you’ll soon be as powerful and as capable as we are.”

“Will we?” he asked, face pale. “Are we on this same track?”

Whatever Cailetet might discover in another few months or years was actually irrelevant at the moment. “They wanted to bottle this genie from the very beginning, years ago.”

“What must we do?” he asked.

I stood and said, “The game is out of our control. Do you sense that?”

He shook his head. “Yes, but — ”

“This Alliance of Alliances must know your history. Disturbances in Africa — linking up with Dauble. They can’t possibly trust you. Once you were useful to them. But now…” I shook my head. “I have to leave.”

Aelita Two broke her link with the Cailetet thinker. I walked away, the thinker following on her carriage. In the middle of the dome, Achmed Crown Niger got to his feet, raised his arms, and shouted, “What can we do? Tell me! There must be something!”

Dandy, Meissner and D’Monte joined me in the corridor outside the dome. The mayor of Lai Qila followed, asking questions, trying to understand our sense of urgency. Dandy pushed him back gently, hand on chest. The mayor’s mouth fell open, shocked by this rudeness. We left him and his assistants near the entrance to the dome. Within the dome, Crown Niger ’s shouts and pleas echoed hollow.

“We’re returning to Preamble,” I told Dandy. “I have to speak with the President as soon as possible.”

“What’s wrong?” Dandy asked.

“There isn’t any time,” I said.

No time, no distance, no chance.

The final crisis had come. As clear as Martian night, I knew Earth would feel it had no choice but to extinguish the accumulating threats and bring the, new technology under its total control. All of Earth’s progress and therapy and sophistication would come apart like wet sizzle in fear of our power and unpredictability.

Once in the air, departing from Lai Qila, I sent an emergency message to Ti Sandra and put Preamble on alert. Ti Sandra replied that she would meet with all her staff and advisors at Many Hills to examine our options.

“The box of troubles is wide open and will not be closed,” she said. “Cassie, nothing we can do is as effective as Preamble. Tell Charles I may call upon him soon, and that he must be prepared.”

Her infinitely weary face has stayed with me in sharp clarity all these years: the face of just and caring power placed in a killing squeeze. I am haunted by that face, so little like the Ti Sandra I had first met and had come to love.

The pilot thinker guided the shuttle across the Kaibab Plateau, engines droning monotonously. The two hours spent soaring over Mars seemed endless; I stared but saw nothing through the window, feeling what a mother must feel for an endangered child.

“What do you know about the Alliance of Alliances?” I asked Aelita Two.

“I was most intrigued by that name,” the thinker said. “We have no record of it.”

So Point One and Lieh, with all of their data flies and searches, but not penetrated to the top authority. How much could I rely on Crown Niger ’s words? Had he been deceived, as well? Or was the Alliance of Alliances our multi-minded thinker-enhanced bugbear ruler of Earth, riding high above the plebiscites?