attention. The ambassador was losing small sums steadily at
seven-and-silver and seemed to be impatient. Probably waiting for Jason
to begin playing seriously. He smiled and strolled on slowly.

Jason settled on the dice table as he usually did. It was the surest way
to make small winnings. _And if I feel it tonight I can clean this
casino out!_ That was his secret, the power that won for him
steadily--and every once in a while enabled him to make a killing and
move on quickly before the hired thugs came to get the money back.

* * * * *

The dice reached him and he threw an eight the hard way. Betting was
light and he didn't push himself, just kept away from the sevens. He
made the point and passed a natural. Then he crapped out and the dice
moved on.

Sitting there, making small automatic bets while the dice went around
the table, he thought about the power. _Funny, after all the years of
work we still don't know much about_ psi. _They can train people a bit,
and improve skills a bit--but that's all._

He was feeling strong tonight, he knew that the money in his pocket gave
him the extra lift that sometimes helped him break through. With his
eyes half closed he picked up the dice--and let his mind gently caress
the pattern of sunken dots. Then they shot out of his hand and he stared
at a seven.

It was there.

Stronger than he had felt it in years. The stiff weight of those
million-credit notes had done it. The world all around was sharp-cut
clear and the dice was completely in his control. He knew to the
tenth-credit how much the other players had in their wallets and was
aware of the cards in the hands of the players behind him.

Slowly, carefully, he built up the stakes.

There was no effort to the dice, they rolled and sat up like trained
dogs. Jason took his time and concentrated on the psychology of the
players and the stick man. It took almost two hours to build his money
on the table to seven hundred thousand credits. Then he caught the stick
man signaling they had a heavy winner. He waited until the hard-eyed man
strolled over to watch the game, then he smiled happily, bet all his
table stakes--and blew it on one roll of the dice. The house man smiled
happily, the stick man relaxed--and out of the corner of his eye Jason
saw Kerk turning a dark purple.

Sweating, pale, his hand trembling ever so slightly, Jason opened the
front of his jacket and pulled out one of the