"Snap judgment," the instructor admitted. "Your word only. Still, you
alone were bested, Jorak of Gyra--and, hah, that makes twice, doesn't
it?"
"Once with psi," said Jorak.
"You sure?"
"I ought to know what hit me! He held me rigid, I tell you, and then he
struck me. What could I do? I ask you, what?"
Smith knew that the instructor could read minds--with limitations. He
knew the psi-power had been used, but he did not know who had used it.
* * * * *
Jorak wiped the blood from his face with the back of one hand. "Listen,"
he confided, "Earthsmith is a savage, really and truly, of the planet
Earth. Terribly barbaric. Obviously, he'd have no compunctions against
dirty fighting."
"Well--" said the instructor.
"There's only one thing wrong with all this," Smith told him. "Nobody on
Earth uses psi-power."
Jorak slapped his hand against the mat. "Then you admit that there are
psi-powers on Earth?"
"Yes," Smith said. "There are psi-powers on Earth." Things were
happening to Smith. He felt vague stirrings inside of him, and he
dampered them.
"There. He admits it," Jorak said. "The men of Earth are not without
their psi-powers, and Smith or Earthsmith--I still don't know the
barbarian's name--used them on me." He shook his fist. "You just can't
trust these barbarians."
The instructor still did not seem sure of himself, but there were angry
mutterings in the crowd, and the albino woman who had almost but not
quite joined the fighters said, "Let me try a fall with him. Probably I
would lose, but we of Nugat can perceive the psi-powers readily."
Smith stormed away from her, felt hot anger rushing through him. "I
wouldn't fight with a woman."