n't like it; it's unnatural," Atherson said.

"No one asked you to like it," someone said.

Another called: "Do you think three world wars in fifty years _is_
natural? Let's take a vote."

A vote was taken, and it was decided to add an extra class for those
children whose parents wanted them to attend. After a month, the council
would expect a report on what progress--or lack of it--had been made.

* * * * *

A few weeks later, when my math class was over, I hung around to watch
the new class. It was divided into small groups, each training on a
different psi talent. One group was lifting pencils and gently returning
them to desks by telekinesis. Another was sitting quietly, once in a
while breaking into shouts of laughter; probably telepathy. There were
other groups, but I didn't know enough about the talents to identify
their work.

During the time he was teaching, he met a girl. They spent quite a bit
of time together, and she joined the special class. By the time the
report to the council came due, it wasn't hard to tell they were in
love.

Just about everyone in town turned out for that meeting. The boys and
girls who were taking the class were seated at the front of the hall.
The report was first on the agenda, so the kids could go home to bed.

"When we started," he said, "I asked those children who weren't
interested, or who were--um--unsuited to the work, to leave. Then we ran
through a general training exercise, and after a week, I split the class
up into groups. Each group was to concentrate on one talent, but general
sessions for the entire class give everyone practice in all talents. I
think we've made fairly good progress. Some of the older teen-agers have
shown an interest in the talents (he glanced at his girl), and although
progress has not been as rapid as with the younger children, they are
sufficiently developed to help instruct. Now your children are going to
demonstrate what they have learned."

For the next half hour we watched Tommy and fourteen other boys and
girls work. Tommy and the others who had concentrated on telepathy read
silently to us from books and talked to each other, projecting their
thoughts so we could also listen in. The telekinesis group all worked
together to build a small table. All the necessary materials were
stacked at the front of the room. The kids sat in a half circle, their
brows furrowed in concentration as lumber, nails and ha