Telempathy Read online

crowd, in time to thedrum.

  The bright feral light of the super-mongoose's eyes seemed to lance atSowles, like an infra-red flash. Then there was a puff where thewould-be messiah had stood--a crackle, and a smell of scorched air; butno more Sowles.

  "He's gone!" said Curt.

  "You're damn right, and thank God for it," said Cam, ministering to Evwho had slumped unconscious from his chair.

  * * * * *

  The mob broke up uncertainly, with the disappearance of the focus forits concerted bloodlust. The police asked many questions but none of theright ones. Finally, Cam, Ev, and Curt escaped to the waiting limo andstarted the long slow crawl downhill.

  "Now--give," said Ev.

  "Feedback. That's why I had you unleash Mighty Mouse. All that hate inhundreds of millions of people _had_ to boomerang back through your_Gestalt_ in some psi-fashion ... although I did not anticipate thepyrotechnics--or should I say pyrokinetics?"

  "But what for, Cam?" asked Curt. "I've never seen such an effective jobof mass influence."

  "He could have been elected President tomorrow," said Ev.

  "That's just it--we did too good a job. And I think that's the way yourTibetan quarterback wanted it." Cam tilted Ev's flask. "Sowles was acinch to go all the way, which would have meant all-out war. Maybe yourjunior Fu Manchu figured he could pick up the pieces afterwards."

  "How could he know you'd have a character like Sowles all set to go?" Evsaid. "Oh, I get it--precognition. It's fortunate that his crystal balldidn't read as far as the outcome tonight."

  "In any case, we'd better get your Pathan over here, and startrebuilding your _Gestalt_," said Cam. "You won't hear from thePanchen--he's undoubtedly constructing a new, all-Red unit right now.After this bit, psi faculties, including telempathy, have to beconsidered another weapons family in the Cold War ... a new set ofpieces of the big chessboard. So you're going to have to find asubstitute for the Himalayan Quiz Kid, and git crackin'."

  "I'll consider your application," said Ev, giving his flask the _coup degrace_; and the lights of L.A. rushed up around them like a hugebreaker--gaudy, garish, and beautifully comprehensible.

  THE END

  * * * * *

  Transcribers Notes:

  Printer's errors corrected as follows:

  Page 61, "veging" to "verging". (hysteria verging on the loss of reason).

  Page 62, "Quickly" to "Quickly," to fix endquote punctuation.

  Page 63, "expperiments" to "experiments". (esoteric nuclear experiments).

  Page 63, "aides'" to "aide's" since referring to (a monkish aide).

  Page 64, removed extra word: "an extra lead; which lead he attached" to "an extra lead; which he attached".

  Page 64, "millenia" to "millennia". (two millennia of history).

  Page 64, punctuation: "SOWLES 'CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS' to "SOWLES' CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS" (matches format of other headlines on page).

  Page 65, "weakend" to "weakened" (weakened our defenses).

  Page 65, "those-pre-eminent" to "those pre-eminent".

  Page 66, added missing "." ( ... "with one large difference In the past" ... to ... "with one large difference. In the past" ... ).

  Page 66, moved quote marks outside period mark ("Network.")

  Page 70, "demoagogue" to "demagogue" (bloody demagogue).

  Page 70, "course." to "course," (no one, of course, had foreseen).

  Page 71, "Chorla" to "Choral" (Choral Guard).

  Page 72, '"Amen",' to '"Amen,"'.

  Page 72, "clauqes" to "claques" (the clauqes he had planted). NB. a claque is a group of people hired to applaud.

  Page 72, "milion" to "million" (at least 200 million).

  Page 73, ":" to ";" (list of hates: Welfare Statism; tyrrany by tax).

  Page 74, added extra '.' (KILL ... REDS ...).

  Page 75, "titled" to "tilted" (Cam tilted Ev's flask).