Stranger in a Strange Land

back from the window; I want them to think the house is empty. Jill, you stick close to Mike and don't let him make any hasty moves. Mike, you do what Jill tells you to."
                "Yes, Jubal. I will do."
                "Jill, don't turn him loose unless you have to. To keep one of us from being shot, I mean. If they bust down doors, let them-I rather hope they do. Jill, if it comes to scratch, I'd much rather he snatched just the guns and not the men."
                "Yes, Jubal."
                "Make sure he understands. This indiscriminate elimination of cops has got to stop."
                "Telephone, Boss!"
                "Coming." Jubal went unhurriedly back to the phone. "All of you stay out of pickup. Dorcas, you can take a nap. Miriam, note down another title for later: 'I Married a Human.' " He slid into the seat as Miriam vacated it and said, "Yes?"
                A blandly handsome man looked back at him. "Doctor Harshaw?"
                "Yes."
                "Please hold on. The Secretary General will speak with you." The tone implied that a genuflection was in order.
                "Okay."
                The screen flickered, then rebuilt in the tousled image of His Excellency the Honorable Joseph Edgerton Douglas, Secretary General of the World Federation of Free Nations. "Dr. Harshaw? Understand you need to speak with me. Shoot."
                "No, sir."
                "Eh? But I understood-"
                "Let me rephrase it precisely, Mr. Secretary. You need to speak with me."
                Douglas looked surprised, then grinned. "Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you? Well, Doctor, you have just ten seconds to prove that. I have other things to do."
                "Very well, sir. I am attorney for the Man from Mars."
                Douglas suddenly stopped looking tousled. "Repeat that."
                "I am attorney for Valentine Michael Smith, known as the Man from Mars. Attorney with full power. In fact, it may help to think of me as defacto Ambassador from Mars . . . in the spirit of the Larkin Decision, that is to say."
                Douglas stared at him. "Man, you must be out of your mind!"
                "I've often thought so, lately. Nevertheless I am acting for the Man from Mars. And he is prepared to negotiate."
                "The Man from Mars is in Ecuador."
                "Please, Mr. Secretary. This is a private conversation. He is not in Ecuador, as both of us know. Smith-the real Valentine Michael Smith, not the one who has appeared in the newscasts-escaped from confinement-and, I should add, illegal confinement-at Bethesda Medical Center on Thursday last, in company with Nurse Gillian Boardman. He kept his freedom and is now free-and he will continue to keep it. If any of your large staff of assistants has told you anything else, then someone has been lying to you . . . which is why I am speaking to you yourself. So that you can straighten it out."
                Douglas looked very thoughtful. Someone apparently spoke to him from off screen, but no words came over the telephone. At last he said, "Even if what you said were true, Doctor, you can't be in a position to speak for young Smith. He's a ward of the State."
                Jubal shook his head. "Impossible. The Larkin Decision."
                "Now see here, as a lawyer myself, I assure you-"
                "As a lawyer myself, I must follow my own opinion-and protect my client."
                "You are a lawyer? I thought that you meant that you claimed to be attorney-in-fact, rather than counsellor."
                "Both. You'll find that I am an attorney at law, in good standing, and admitted to practice before the High Court. I don't hang my shingle these days, but I am." Jubal heard a dull boom from below and glanced aside. Larry whispered, "The front door, I think. Boss- Shall Igo look?"
                Jubal shook his head in negation and spoke to the screen. "Mr. Secretary, while we quibble, time is running out. Even now your men-your S.S. hooligans-are breaking into my house. It is most distasteful to be under siege in my own home. Now, for the first and last time, will you abate this nuisance? So that we can negotiate peaceably and equitably? Or