"In that cage?" I cried angrily.
"I assure you she is—"
"Kindly forego the lecture on metabolic stasis and raise the damned thing, will you?" I interrupted.
The Martian warped and sparkled in a dizzying movement that I could only interpret as a shrug, and then the huge parabolite cage came rising up from that not-quite-there flooring.
"Jery!"
"Snow, baby!"
We clung to each other awkwardly, and our lips met between the columnar bars. I pulled back and called, "Can't you open this thing up, now?"
"Your mission is not quite accomplished, Jery Delvin," said the Martian. "The man Philip Baxter is within our realm, but as yet undestroyed."
"You mean I've still got to—"
"As told you repeatedly: Physical contact between our races is impossible, Jery Delvin."