Jill Meyers looked up from her computer screen. Despite the fact that she had not been a member of the U.S. Senate for nearly six years now, her private secretary still called her 'Senator'.

"Who is it?" she asked warily.

"The President," he replied, in his usual near-whisper.

Jill grinned at her oldest assistant, "I guess I can make time for the President."

Almost instantly the face of an intense young man appeared on her desktop screen. "Justice Meyers? One moment, please, for the President."

His image disappeared and the screen showed the seal of the President of the United States on a royal blue background. The American eagle held a sheaf of arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other: war or peace.

It took more than a moment for the President to come on, of course. The power trip. The President doesn't get on the horn until she's absolutely certain that the party she wants to talk to is already on the line. No flunkies.

Jill glanced up at her private secretary and realized with a pang that he'd been a fresh-faced kid just out of law school when he'd first come aboard as a senatorial aide. We're all getting old, she thought, catching her own reflection in the phone screen. Her face was round and ordinary as a pie pan, she thought, with mousey brown hair as straight and limp as overcooked spaghetti. And still that scattering of freckles across her snub of a nose, like a tomboy version of Huck Finn.

"Jill," said the President, "You're looking very pensive today."

The President looked elegant, as usual. Silver-gray hair swept back stylishly, bright blue eyes sparkling. Her latest facelift had tightened the sagging flesh beneath her chin and made her seem ten years younger.

"What can I do for you, Mrs President?" Jill asked, genuinely curious about the reason for this call. It had to be nearly 7.00 a.m. in Washington, early for her.

"It's this request for extradition-"

"Oh. The Killifer business."

"Yes. I don't understand what you've got to do with it."

"I've been asked to intercede, in my official capacity as a justice of the World Court.' Jill said.

"Asked? By whom?"

"Joanna Brudnoy."

"I see.' The President's tone went decidedly frosty.

"The Justice Department has apparently refused to extradite the man to Kiribati."

"We have no treaty of extradition with that nation," the President said.

"That's why the World Court has been asked to intercede," said Jill.

"I see."

"Killifer was identified as the man who raped and murdered Tamara Bonai, yet the American government has refused to extradite him to Kiribati to stand trial. The victim was Kiribati's head of state, for God's sake."

"That's a very serious charge," said the President.

"There's an eye-witness."

"Douglas Stavenger, I know. But he's on the Moon and his so-called eye-witnessing was done through a virtual reality link. Any competent defense lawyer will make mincemeat of that."