to take the regularly scheduled aircraft off the run and
substitute another while the regular ship was carefully inspected. But
it was the replacement ship that came to pieces in midair.

The anonymous predictor, whoever he was, was a man of no mean ability.

Then letter number seven had been received by the United States
Department of Space. It predicted that a meteor would smash into
America's Moonbase One, completely destroying it.

Finally, a non-anonymous letter had come to the S.M.M.R. requesting
admission to the society, enclosing the proper fee. The letter also
said that the writer was interested in literature on the subjects of
prescience, precognition, and/or prophecy, and would be interested in
contacting anyone who had had experience with such phenomena.

Putting two and two together only yields four, no matter how often
it's done, but two to the eighth power gives a nice, round two hundred
fifty-six, which is something one can sink one's teeth into.

Brian Taggert cut off the phone connection. "That's it, Mike," he said
to the senator. "We've got him."

Two of the Society's agents, both top-flight telepaths, had gone out
to "Dr. Joachim's" place on Coney Island's Boardwalk, posing as
customers--"clients" was the word Dr. Joachim preferred--and had done
a thorough probing job.

"He's what might be called a perfectly sincere fraud," Taggert
continued. "You know the type I'm sure."

The senator nodded silently. The woods were full of that kind of
thing. Complete, reliable control of any kind of psionic power
requires understanding and sanity, but the ability lies dormant in
many minds that cannot control it, and it can and does burst forth
erratically at times. Finding a physical analogy for the phenomenon is
difficult, since mental activities are, of necessity, of a higher
order than physical activities.

Some of the operations of tensor calculus have analogs in algebra;
many do not.

* * * * *

Taggert gestured with one hand. "He's been in business there for
years. Evidently, he's been able to make a few accurate predictions
now and then--enough to keep his reputation going. He's tried to
increase the frequency, accuracy, and detail of his 'flashes' by
studying up on the techniques used by other seers, and, as a result,
he's managed to soak up enough mystic balderdash to fill a library.

"He embellishes every one of his predictions to his 'clients' with all
kinds