She put the ship on autopilot, then swiveled her seat around to face us. She was as pretty as I remembered. I wished she weren't wearing that helmet. I liked looking at redheads. "I'm Colonel Tirelli," she said. "You're Captain Anderson?" Duke nodded. "And Lieutenant McCarthy, of course."

I nodded. "Congratulations on your promotion, Colonel."

She ignored it. She looked to Duke. "I know you're probably surprised at the suddenness of your transfers. I specifically asked for the two of you to be reassigned to me."

"Eh?" That was Duke.

Colonel Tirelli explained, "I like your statistics. You're effective. The Rocky Mountain District is controllable today because of the way you martialed your resources last year."

"That job isn't even begun," said Duke. I could hear the stiffness in his voice. I didn't know if the Lizard could.

"I know what shape that territory's in. I read your reports. But somebody else is going to have to take it over. You're needed here."

Duke looked unhappy, but he didn't say what he was thinking. He didn't have to. Apparently, the Lizard could read minds as well as she could fly. She said quietly "I know, Captain-but this is one of Uncle Ira's jobs."

"Oh," said Duke. The subject was closed.

I'd met Colonel Ira Wallachstein-the day before he died. I'd brought down the worm that killed him. I hadn't exactly liked "Uncle Ira," but he'd been the Godfather of the Special Forces, so I respected his memory.

The Lizard let herself drop into a friendlier tone. "You'll be acting as spotters for this mission. You've been briefed?"

Duke said, "We got the mission book last night."

"Did you read it?"

Both Duke and I nodded.

"Good. I'm sorry you didn't have more time with it. Be glad you got it at all. Communications are lousy-and they're going to stay that way until we secure the rest of our ground stations. God knows when we'll do that." She looked strained and frustrated, but not defeated. She continued without hesitation: "Okay, we've got what looks like a major infestation in the lumber regions of Northern California. We're going to take them out-but we've got some anomalies. Second- and third-stage nesting-"

"Third stage?" Duke said.

Lizard looked annoyed at the interruption, but she nodded grimly.

Duke and I exchanged a glance. It was that bad? We'd seen skyball pictures of second-stage nests: hexagonal dome clusters, six around one. Any child with a compass could draw the floor plan. But third stage? I couldn't imagine

Lizard said, "You'll know when you see it. Captain, you take the left bubble; McCarthy, you take the right. You see anything red, fire a beacon. The cleanup crew will be thirty seconds behind us. They'll be dropping the appropriate detergents. Also short-life radioactive particles, taconite dust, poison vectors, selective Xagents, and degradable biocides. We are not using fire. We will use targeted explosives on medium- to large-scale dome clusters. These will be delivered by the second wave of ships, following sixty seconds after the first. Any questions?"

Duke said, "How far north?"

"An hour and a half "

Duke looked surprised. "That close?"

"It's worse than that. We also have renegade activity in the area."

"Near a heavy infestation?" Duke raised an eyebrow.

Lizard nodded. "It happens."

Duke scratched his head. "If you say so, but I find it awfully hard to believe."

"Most people do," said Lizard. "It started last year. We started finding Tribes in Oregon. Tribes with a capital T. There're pockets of survivors all over. We should have expected that some of them would bounce back at an odd angle. People do whatever they think they have to do to survive. But a couple of these groups were setting up their own governments.

"This one in particular," Lizard said, "had nearly three hundred members. They declared themselves an independent entity. They said the United States was now an `invalid agreement."' There was scorn in her voice. "That's what they call a government, `an agreement of intention.' They said the intention of the United States was no longer valid, so it was their purpose to create the agreement for a new one."

"Did they say what the intention was?" Duke asked.

"It became obvious after a while," Lizard replied.

"It sounds like they were succeeding at something," I said. "At least to the degree that three hundred of them agreed with it. That's a lot of agreement." I was interested in spite of myself.

Lizard shrugged. "Yeah-well, that crap always sounds good to the simple-minded; but I don't buy that jargon. My uniform is still United States green-that's who signs my paycheck. I haven't seen any better offers."

"So you had trouble, right?"

"Both times." Lizard scowled. She rubbed her nose distastefully. "We asked them to move out of the area. For their own protection. They refused. We told them they didn't have any choice. They said that they refused to recognize the authority of the United States. Listen-" Lizard interrupted herself. "I don't care what people want to believe in. My parents were Shamists-Spiritual Harmony Among Mankind-so I've got `space' to accept just about anything. If people want to paint themselves blue and mate with dwarves and elephants, it's all the same to me. And I tell you truly, you wouldn't believe some of the things these Tribes were up to. The problem was they had 'liberated'-read `helped themselves'-to the United States property. `In the name of the people' they said. Naturally, they were `the people' they were referring to."

"What kind of property?"

"Military, of course. It was not a pretty operation. Somehow they'd gotten ahold of some very sophisticated ordnance. We had to call in a major air strike to take them out. I took in the first cleanup crews."

Duke looked startled. "There was no alternative?"

"They had ground-to-air missiles! And tanks! And they were moving toward a nuclear silo!"

Right. No further explanation was necessary.

"I'd heard the Tribes were gaining strength," I said, "I hadn't realized how bad it was getting. It must have been a difficult situation."

"You should have been there," said Lizard. "They'd taught their children how to use machine guns. Have you ever seen the effect on a soldier when he realizes that his enemy is a twelve-year-old girl? It's devastating."

Duke looked startled by that. He looked like he wanted to change the subject. He asked quickly, "Uh, why do they base themselves near Chtorran infestations-?"

Lizard said, "We think it's possible they're using the worms for cover. "

"You mean they've found a way to coexist?" I couldn't help myself, I had to ask.

Duke snorted at me. "There's only one way to coexist with a worm: from the inside."

Lizard said, "It's very simple. The infested areas are no-man's land, effectively beyond the jurisdiction of the United States government-at least for now, and probably for a long time to come. The Tribes know that if they come in out of the cold, the minute they step across the barriers and enter a Safe City they're accepting not only the protection, but the authority, of the United States government as well. And that means giving up their `independence,"' she finished.

"But how do they defend themselves from the worms?" I asked.

"That's one of the things we'd like to find out," she said.

"Didn't you interrogate the survivors?" Duke looked puzzled.

"There weren't any." She said it like a door slamming.

Duke looked at her with new respect. She met his gaze coldly. It was obvious she didn't like talking about the subject; it made her hard. Duke dropped his eyes and studied the floor thoughtfully. He knew what she was going through. He'd been through it himself. But I knew he didn't know how to say it.