At once there was a flurry of motion at the roadside where he had tossed the peel. Two children-a girl about eight years old and wrapped in a ragged, faded sari, and her brother of about five who wore only a man's sleeveless shirt-dived after the banana skin. They had been watching Spence from a distance and when he threw the peeling, they pounced.

The girl brushed the dirt away from the peeling and pulled a small square of frayed cloth from the folds of her sari. She spread out the cloth neatly and she and her brother sat down.

With patience and care she began pulling the long stringy soft portion of the inner peel away from the skin. When she was done she discarded the outer skin and divided the remains with the boy.

They ate them slowly and with deliberation as if they were munching a great delicacy best enjoyed at leisure. Spence was so moved by the sight that he went to the children and held out the other banana.

The girl's eyes grew big and round and the little boy cowered at his sister's shoulder. Spence smiled and offered the banana more insistently; he could tell by the way they looked at it that both wanted it very much. They were simply too shy to accept it.

So, Spence put the banana down on the dirty square of cloth and walked back to the car and sat down. As soon as his back was turned the girl snatched up the banana, peeled it, and broke it in half. Both were slowly chewing the fruit when Spence returned to the car.

Adjani and Gita returned and they began discussing their plans for the immediate future. They heard the soldiers call out and the pop of the jeep firing. As they were climbing back into the car Spence felt a tug at his elbow.

He turned to see the little girl and her brother. He started to gesture to them that he had no more bananas when the girl smiled prettily and with some ceremony presented him with his banana peel.

Spence grinned and gave the peel back. Both looked at each other as if unable to believe their good fortune and then scampered off to devour the rest of their prize.

The happy look in the children's eyes warmed Spence the rest of the day.

"It's just a little thing," he replied to Adjani's knowing glance. "It's nothing."

"It's more than you think, my friend."

Thereafter he always made it a point to buy three bananas.

5

… You'RE IN AL0T of trouble, Packer. Care to tell me what this is all about?" Elliot Ramm, Gotham security chief, crossed his long legs and leaned on the edge of his desk. A penitent Olmstead Packer sat facing him with his hands between his knees and his face long and unhappy. There was a note of smoldering indignation in his voice when he spoke.

"To tell you the truth, Chief Ramm, I don't know myself." He jerked a thumb toward the two guards who stood watching him with cool disinterest. "Maybe you should ask your men. I was just talking to a friend when they came in and grabbed me."

The security chief nodded to his men, dismissing them. "I have your report. You can return to duty." He turned to Packer. "I also have a statement from Dr. Williams. He says that you obtained entrance to his infirmary under false pretenses after you were told you could not see the patient Kalnikov. He claims you were endangering the life of his patient."

Packer grinned sheepishly. "I guess I may have overdramatized a bit."

"Hmph." Chief Ramm picked up a white folder from his desk. "He's pressing charges against you."

"He's what?" Packer suddenly became very red. "He's nuts! This is all crazy. Let me talk to him. I didn't mean any harm. It was that nurse of his-she acted too snippy and fresh; I just decided to take matters into my own hands."

A faint smile crossed Ramm's lips; he nodded and shoved a lock of his black hair away from his forehead. "All right, I believe you. You scientists hate to be told 'no' to anything."

"Then I can go?" Packer asked hopefully. He had been in detention for over three hours, and was getting tired.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Whether I believe you or not doesn't really make a lot of difference. You see, Williams has filed a formal complaint. It's up to the director to review it and decide what to do."

"Director Zanderson's gone. No telling when he'll be back."

"I'm sorry. You'll have to stay here until he gets back, or-"

"Or what? If there's another way to settle this I'm all for it."

"Or Dr. Williams could agree to drop the charges."

"Then let's talk to him by all means. I'm sure he'll listen to reason.

Ramm held up a hand. "Not so fast! He was pretty steamed up over this. I'd let him cool off a little first."

"But I've got to get out of here. I'm a busy man; I've got an experiment running."

"It'll just have to run without you for a while. You should have thought of that before your performance of Swan Lake in the sick bay."

"All right, I guess I had that coming."

"I'll talk to Williams after a bit and see what I can do."

"I'd appreciate it, Chief Ramm." Packer rose and shuffled to the portal. "You know, there's something funny about this whole thing. I never knew anyone to have to be sedated after getting buzzed by a taser. I thought those things were fairly safe, if you know what I mean."

"I'm sure there's an explanation. I'll check into it. In the meantime you can wait in the outer office until I get this cleared up. I won't put you in the tank."

Packer nodded and left. Security Chief Ramm returned to the chair behind his desk and picked up his officers' report and glanced over it. He tossed it down on the desk, laced his hands behind his head, and leaned back in his chair. He frowned as if deep in thought and then shoved his chair back, rose, put on his red and black cap with its gold emblem, and went in search of the physician. …

ARI HAD NEVER SEEN her father so shaken. He sat slumped in the seat beside her, face white as the pale sliver of moon that shone in the jet's small oval window. His eyes were closed, though she knew he was not asleep. He was shutting out the reality of what was happening around him.

The plane was not large; their captors sat all around them and watched them incessantly. Although they had not forbidden them to talk to one another, their close proximity tended to limit the exchanges between father and daughter to mere whispers and nods.

She knew there was more to what was happening than she had as yet been told, more than their kidnapping and the trouble with Spence, though he was certainly central to the whole escapade. Her father seemed to know more than he let on, and the way it had affected him was not explainable in terms of his normal behavior. Ari was seeing a new side of her father and it scared her.

She went to sleep wondering what it was that he knew and would not, or could not, tell her.

The plane flew on through the night, stopping only once for refueling at a hoverport in Germany. Ari roused herself and peered sleepily out the window. She saw a golden-gray dawn sky and a ground crew of men in blue overalls wheeling orange machines around the wings of the jet. Across the field she saw a building with signs on the roof in German and guessed they were somewhere in the middle of Europe at least.

When she woke again the blue sky held a fierce white sun above a lumpy landscape of gray and white clouds. She could not see the earth below and had no idea where they were or which direction they were heading. Not that it mattered at all.

Shortly after that she and her father were given a simple breakfast: orange juice and a dry roll. No one else seemed to be eating, so Ari thought they were at least being shown some small courtesy. She hadn't eaten in almost a day, and wolfed down the food in several large bites, then turned to her father.