Stranger in a Strange Land

anybody and the Federation High Court was not all powerful in those days-but it was a compromise everybody could swallow. It resulted in some tight rules for colonizing planets, all based on the Larkin Decision and intended to avoid bloodshed. Worked, too-it's a matter of history that World War Three did not result from conflict over space travel and such. So now the Larkin Decision is solidly a part of our planetary law and applies to Smith."
                Jill shook her head. "I don't see the connection. Martinis-"
                "Think, Jill. By our laws, Smith is a sovereign nation in himself-and sole owner of the planet Mars."

    V

                JILL LOOKED ROUND-EYED. "I've certainly had too many martinis Ben. I would swear that you said that that patient owns the planet Mars."
                "He does. He maintained occupation of it, unassisted, for the required length of time. Smith is the planet Mars-King, President, sole civic body, what you will. If the skipper of the Champion had not left colonists behind, Smith's tenure might have failed. But he did, and that continues occupation even though Smith came to Earth. But Smith doesn't have to split with them; they are mere immigrants until he grants them Martian citizenship."
                "Fantastic!"
                "It surely is. Also it's legal. Honey, do you now see why so many people are interested in who Smith is and where he came from? And why the administration is so damned anxious to keep him under a rug? What they are doing isn't even vaguely legal. Smith is also a citizen of the United States and of the Federation, by derivation-dual citizenship with no conflict. It's illegal to hold a citizen, even a convicted criminal, incommunicado anywhere in the Federation; that's one of the things we settled in World War Three. But I doubt if Smith knows his rights. Also, it has been considered an unfriendly act all through history to lock up a visiting friendly monarch-which is what he is-and not to let him see people, especially the press, meaning me. You still won't sneak me in as a thumbfingered electrician?"
                "Huh? You've got me worse scared than ever. Ben, if they had caught me this morning, what do you think they would have done to me?"
                "Mmm ... nothing rough. Just locked you in a padded cell, with a certificate signed by three doctors, and allowed you mail on alternate leap years. They aren't mad at you. I'm wondering what they are going to do to him."
                "What can they do?"
                "Well, he might just happen to die-from gee-fatigue, say. That would be a fine out for the administration."
                "You mean murder him?"
                "Tut, tut! Don't use nasty words. I don't think they will. In the first place he is a mine of information; even the public has some dim notion of that. He might be worth more than Newton and Edison and Einstein and six more like them all rolled into one. Or he may not be. I don't think they would dare touch him until they were sure. In the second place, at the very least, he is a bridge, an ambassador, a unique interpreter, between the human race and the only other civilized race we have as yet encountered. That is certainly important but there is no way to guess just how important. How are you on the classics? Ever read H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds?"
                "A long time ago, in school."
                "Consider the idea that the Martians might decide to make war on us-and win. They might, you know, and we have no way of guessing how big a club they can swing. Our boy Smith might be the go-between, the peacemaker, who could make the First Interplanetary War unnecessary. Even if this possibility is remote, the administration can't afford to ignore it until they know. The discovery of intelligent life on Mars is something that, politically, they haven't figured out yet."
                "Then you think he is safe?"
                "Probably, for the time being. The Secretary General has to guess and guess right. As you know, his administration is shaky."
                "I don't pay any attention to politics."
                "You should. It's only barely less important than your own heartbeat."
                "I don't pay any attention to that, either."
                "Don't talk