Maragon gave us an appointment when I assured him that I wanted to
show him some aspects of Pheola's healing powers and that PC wasn't
going to enter into the discussion. His spooky clairvoyant let us in
with a knowing smile and we found the old goat pouring over some
papers in front of him on the big slab of walnut.
He was really quite nice to Pheola. "Well, well, young woman," he
said, "Lefty tells me that you are coming along."
"I hope so, Mr. Maragon," she said.
"Well, Lefty," he said, after he had shown us both into the handsome
chairs he had drawn up in front of his desk, "you were going to have
Pheola give me some kind of a demonstration."
"Sure," I said. "First off I want you to know that she can qualify as
a TK. Her healing powers are a subtle form of that. But as proof,
she'll give a demonstration with weights."
I drew the carrying case from my pocket and laid four pith balls on
his desk, as well as a ten-gram standard TK weight.
"Ten grams?" he said, interested.
"Maybe," I grinned. "We haven't tried this outside our own company.
Pretty big emotional quotient here, you know."
He shook his head. "It has to be reproducible, Lefty," he said, but in
a kindly tone. "Let me see it, Pheola."
She was really pretty good, and the pith balls behaved quite well. The
first time around, the ten-gram weight stopped her cold, but by laying
it on my palm, she got a good grip and thereafter was able to make it
perform.
"Very nicely done," the old goat grumbled. He hadn't expected anything
of the kind. But I was only half through with him.
"Now," I said. "The more important part of the demonstration. Do you
object to a little minor pain?"
"I certainly do," he growled, bringing his bushy brows down.
"Well, the only way you can tell that Pheola is able to employ her TK
within you is to give you a little sensation. It will only be some
twinges," I said.
He wanted to argue about it, and I dragged the conversation out until
I felt a little tug on my ear. Pheola had completed her scan of
Maragon's heart.
"Oof!" he said as she hit him lightly in the diaphragm. Then she made
his hands jump, first one and then the other. None of it felt real
good, I could see, from the flinching and lip biting that was going on
across the desk.
"That's enough!" he exclaimed as she went to work on his throat. His
hand flew up to massage his larynx. "Quite convincing, young woman.
But what is it good for?"
I laughed at him. "What are most Psi powers good for?" I asked him.
"All that we require for membership is that a person be able to
display them under standardized conditions."
"Yes," he agreed. "Yes, I guess that's so. Well, I gather you'll be
ready to go into your act at the next Chapter Meeting, then?"
Pheola nodded. "I hope so," she said.
"I do, too," the old goat agreed, getting in the last word. "It would
be nice if you could figure out what to do with your ability to snap
my nerve-strings!"
* * * * *
We were silent in the ride down the elevator to our apartments. I took
the chance that Pete wasn't having us peeped, and spoke as soon as we
were in my study.
"What did you find out, Pheola?" I asked her.
"I could feel something, Lefty," she said. "When you had the heart
model over at the hospital, you showed me the coronary artery, you
remember?"
"Yes."
"There are two little bumps in his artery, one about three times as
large as the other."
"Bumps?" I said, frowning. "I'm not sure I know what that means,
Pheola."
"Well, remember how I told you that your own arteries were nice and
clear?"