hings better attended to in person.

* * * * *

He got to his feet and strode angrily out of the study, sending a
peremptory summons before him. As he entered the wide hallway, an
elderly slave came toward him. Barra looked at the man imperiously.

"My cloak," he demanded, "and the cap of power."

He projected the image of his fiber cloak and of the heavy gold
headpiece with its precisely positioned crystals, being careful to note
the red, green and blue glow of the various jewels. Meticulously, he
filled in details of the gracefully formed filigree which formed mounts
to support the glowing spheres. And he indicated the padded headpiece
with its incrustation of crystal carbon, so his servitor could make no
mistake. The man was more sensitive than one of the village slaves, but
even so, he was merely a pseudoman and had to have things carefully
delineated for him.

As the man walked toward a closet, Barra looked after him unhappily. The
heavy power and control circlet was unnecessary in the Residence, for
amplifiers installed in the building took care of all requirements. But
outside, in the village and fields, a portable source of power and
control was indispensable and this heavy gold cap was the best device he
had been able to find.

Even so, he hated to wear the circlet. The massive crystals mounted on
their supporting points weighed a couple of pounds by themselves and
though the gold insulating supports were designed as finely as possible,
the metal was still massive and heavy. It was a definite strain on his
neck muscles to wear the thing and he always got a headache from it.

For an instant, envy of the powerful psionics crossed his mind. There
were, he knew, those who required no control or power devices, being
able to govern and direct psionic forces without aid. But his powers,
though effective as any, required amplification and when he went out of
the Residence it was essential that he have the cap with him.

Proper and forceful handling of the things of the Estates, both animate
and inanimate, demanded considerable psionic power and this made the
large red power crystal at the center of his cap most necessary.

Besides, simultaneous control problems could be difficult--sometimes
even almost impossible--without the co-ordinating crystals which were
inset at the periphery of the headband.

And there was the possibility that he might meet some trespassing
lacklander wh