_Joyce, tell me--did you, to your knowledge, tip off the BEB psis?_
_Yes. Inadvertently, of course. I had a nightmare. I'm afraid I'm
sometimes unstable, anonymously so, when asleep. Only then, though,
thank Heaven!_
_And, Joyce, why aren't you in service?_
_For the same reason you can't be._
Confusion.
_What do you mean?_
_Your mother knew._
_My mother?_
_Yes, Marty, don't you realize that only unstable psis are taken into
service? Stability is the mark of the superman. Do the majority of men
want the minority--the supermen--running their world even though the
supermen are their brothers, sisters and children? And they must
surely realize that all mankind will evolve to psis one day. Marty,
you were in psi school. So was I. Did you complete Stabilization?... I
see you didn't. No psi does! They let you think you're getting away
with something when you skip classes, but you're not!_
_Fortunately, if you are strong enough, you stabilize on your own.
Perhaps you'll realize now that your mother gave you the incentive:
the thirty percent angle, realizing that an uncle you definitely did
not like would inherit if you didn't strive to the utmost. It worked._
_They can't touch me, Marty, and they can't touch you! We can elude
them mentally and physically. They know they can't touch us; so they
just have to tolerate us! I can read in your mind that you've
stabilized. You can fit physically now. Why don't you try? Lawrence is
waiting...._
Black's consciousness sped back to his body. His body lifted and sped
to a hospital room.
Lawrence was awake. He viewed Black's materialization with
incredulity.
"The deal is closed," Black said.
"But--you--" Lawrence stammered. "Closed?"
"Yes. And, considering the shares I hold, I guess that makes me
something of a psilent partner of yours!"
A brash young man, Lawrence thought. A very brash young man!