II. “A MAN OF THIS PLANET…”

John lectures a small group of students on mathematics.  A messenger interrupts his class to announce a transmission from Arlington.

A government official introduces Fitzpatric Boyde, President Pro Tem of the United States, who addresses the nation on the menace of Mars.  Recalling the steep economic toll of maintaining a presence beyond Earth, Boyde reminds his viewers of America’s decision twenty years early to sever ties with its extraplanetary colonies.  He warns against messages beamed to Earth by the Martians and announces a series of educational counterprogramming.

John visits with the Trees, and they tune into the government’s broadcast.

Finding their signals routinely jammed, the government dispatches an Education Team to the central square of White City.  There they display a brightly painted truck, a cage, and a massive crane.

The Captain needles John about ARES, a clandestine group of Martian sympathizers, revolutionaries, and saboteurs.  Feeling maligned, John spars with the Captain over the state of the country. 

The pair discuss the Education Team’s upcoming demonstration, and the Captain lauds the ingenious design of their new truck.  John undercuts this praise, noting that the vehicle is a decades-old model repainted for the occasion.  The Captain urges John to take caution in his assessment of the government.  A member of the Peaceguard approaches and delivers a packet of papers to the Captain.