"Do you, Lee Bennet, solemnly renounce all allegiances previously held by you and pledge your allegiance to the North American Government?"
"I do," she said.
There was a choked little cry from Martha. "Hell's fire," she said. "Like breaking a leg!"
"What are you talking about, little girl?" Lee asked, coldly alert.
"It's all right," Charles said wearily. "Don't you know my voice? I'm Orsino. You turned me in back there because they don't give, citizenship to women and so your de-conditioning didn't get triggered off. I managed to break for the woods. A bunch of natives got me. I busted loose with the help of Martha here. Among her other talents, the kid's a mind reader. I remember the triggering shocked me out of a year's growth; how do you feel?"
Lee was silent, but Martha answered in a voice half puzzled and half contemptuous: "She feels fine, but she's crying."
"Am not," Lee Falcaro gulped.
Charles turned from her, embarrassed. In a voice that strove to be normal, he whispered to Martha: "What about the boat?"
"Still there," she said.
Lee Falcaro said tremulously: "Wh-wh-what boat?"