ion of coronary clotting as I
figured I would get in nontechnical terms. What her words mean to me
was that Maragon's coronary artery, as in many men his age, was
somewhat choked with deposits of cholesterol. In a couple places the
deposit had broken away, exposing the raw surface of the artery. But
instead of scar tissue forming to heal the open spot, clotting had
taken place. And if either of those clots broke loose, and plugged one
of the minor arteries in the heart, we'd see a coronary attack as that
part of the muscle was starved for blood and died.

The information was useless, in a medical sense. There is no surgery
for the condition. There was, however, something untried that could
possibly be done.

"Where is it going to happen?" I asked her. "The heart attack?"

"In the hospital," she said.

"And what will I have you do?"

She frowned for a moment. "You want me to cure it," she said. "I'm not
sure I understand how."

"I do," I said. "That's enough. From here on I just want to work a
two-horse parlay. The old goat can't help but be convinced by the
demonstration you are going to give him. The thing that I want is for
him to agree that your PC powers exist at the same time. We'll whipsaw
him good."

* * * * *

In the morning, after the first surgery was over, I went downstairs to
the heart clinic. Doc Swartz was in his office. He's the best heart
man at Memorial, and I figured that Maragon would have gone to him.

"What's up, Lefty?" he asked as I came in to his office and shut the
door against some of the smells of the hospital. "How is your scalpel
work coming?"

"I'll be doing my own cutting any day now," I said. "I came on another
errand."

"So?"

"Did you give Maragon's heart a checkup in the last couple of weeks?"
I asked.

"None of your business," he smiled. "You know I can't talk about my
patients."

"This is Lodge business, Doc," I protested. "I know you aren't a Psi,
and thus aren't subject to our discipline, but I think it's time we
exchanged some information."

"Exchanged?"

I nodded. "You know--or do you know--that I've been working with a
girl, giving her some training."

"No," he said. "I don't hear much about the Lodge. You folks are
pretty tight-mouthed around Normals."

"Sure," I said, not wanting to appear uncomfortable about it. Doc was
all right--he never showed any resentment that he didn't have Psi
powers. Quite sensibly, he was sat