orth their while.
You're not very likely to advertise the claim that you're a psi,
are you?"

"No," I admitted.

"And," she said wearily, standing up. "There's always the angle
that they'll con you by letting you into their imaginary 'Lodge'
and extract some kind of dues out of you in return for keeping
quiet about your so-called psi powers when you gamble. That would
serve you right," she concluded.

[Illustration:]

"For what?" I demanded, beginning to feel pretty icy.

"Being such an easy mark, for one thing," Shari said. "And for
seriously thinking that you might be a PC! That, I must confess,
I find the most comical of all. You, Tex, a PC!"

"Why is that funnier than being a TK?" I demanded, getting up.

She waved her hand impatiently. "We see a little TK here in the
lab right along," she said. "At least, there are those who seem
to have a small genuine edge on the cards that we can explain no
other way. It's small, but apparently exists. But precognition?
That's not simply mechanical or kinetic, like TK. PC is something
terrifyingly different." Her voice hushed as she said it. "It's
a kind of sensitivity that has nothing to do with mere kinetics.
It defies time!" She looked back at me. "I simply find it comical
that you thought of yourself as sensitive to that degree."

"So I've been a fool," I mused.

"In a word, yes. You're a Normal. They suckered you, if you want
the jargon."

"Wait till tonight!" I seethed, beginning to feel my anger grow
as my fear dwindled. "Let them try to pin the psi label on me!
I'll call their bluff!"

The TV-phone on Shari's desk rang, and she pressed the Accept
key.

"Let me speak with Tex," a familiar aggressive voice said. It
didn't sound as if it would stand for much nonsense.

Shari still had another look of surprise in her. "For you," she
said, arching her romantic eyebrows, and turning the instrument
around so I was facing the 'scope and screen.

Sure enough, it was Wally Bupp. "Don't do it, Tex," he warned me.

"Don't do what?"

"Don't play tonight. It won't be practical. We mean business."

"So do the laws of libel," I said. "One crack about my having psi
powers--"

"Yeah, yeah," he interrupted. "You told us about the lawsuit," he
said. "You've got six more days." I could see his hand come up to
cut the image.

"Hey!" I said. "How'd you know where to reach me?"

His sharp face split in that vicious grin. "I forgot to tell
you," he said. "Maragon is