 Why does Joe call Citizen Temple-Tracy Chief?
A gun is an interesting weapon; it can be hired, of course, and naturally doesn't care who hires it. Something much the same can be said of the gunman, too.... The evening was dark, it was unlikely that the other even saw the circle of steel that was the mouth of the shotgun barrel, now resting on the car's window ledge. And at that moment, the universe caved inward upon Joseph Marie Prantera. A door slid open in the wall in a way that Joe had never seen a door operate before. The other spoke precisely and slowly, the way a highly educated man speaks a language which he reads and writes fluently but has little occasion to practice vocally. Salviati happened to be Joe's mother's maiden name. Joe had been born in Naples and his mother had died in childbirth. It opened on his approach, the door sliding back into the wall in much the same manner as the room's door had opened for Reston-Farrell. Joe Prantera stared at him, said finally, flatly, "What's it all about?" Reston-Farrell, the one Joe had already met, was tall and drawn of face and with a chainsmoker's nervousness. He wondered, all over again, if this was some kind of pressure cooker. The maternal linage was almost universally ignored." Whatever the something else was, a slot opened in the middle of the table and a glass, so clear of texture as to be all but invisible, was elevated. Reston-Farrell said, "Suffice to say, you are now one hundred and seventy-three years after the last memory you have." Joe Prantera's mind suddenly reverted to those last memories and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Reston-Farrell said, "Mr. Prantera, we have brought you from your era to perform a task for us." "That is why we brought you here, Mr. Prantera. Joe Prantera's irritation over this whole complicated mess was growing. Joe snapped: "Everything you guys say sounds crazy. More than a century and a half ago our society eliminated the reasons for international conflict. Your ancestors found, Mr. Prantera, that it is difficult for a man to be free so long as others are still enslaved. Today the democratic ethic has reached a pinnacle never dreamed of in your own era." "O.K., O.K.," Joe Prantera growled. "So everybody's got it made. What I wanta know is what's all this about me giving it ta somebody?
 Joe wants Temple-Tracy to know Joe regards him as superior.
 Temple-Tracy is the Chief of Police.  Temple-Tracy is the head of the Fire Department.  Temple-Tracy is the head of the Time Travel Bureau.  Joe wants Temple-Tracy to know Joe regards him as superior.