Eleanor Folsom hesitated, shook her head. "No," she said. "Go on. I'm
sorry I interrupted."
"That's all right." Dr. Al gave her a warm smile. It had been, he
continued, a successful exercise, a very promising first attempt, in
spite of the lack of an immediate materialization, which, of course,
had been only a remote possibility to start with. He had no fault to
find with the quality of the group's effort. He had sensed it ... as
they, too, presently would be able to sense it ... as a smooth flow of
directed energy. With a little more practice ... one of these days ...
Cavender stifled one yawn, concealed another which didn't allow itself
to be stifled behind a casually raised hand. He watched Ormond move
over to the prop table, put the wooden plate down beside the red
suitcase without interrupting his encouraging summary of the exercise,
hesitate, then pick up something else, something which looked like a
flexible copper trident, and start back to the center of the room with
it.