"I ... I don't understand at all, sir."

The admiral leaned forward and spoke impressively. "Do you think, Cadet
Hanlon, that we would let any man get to within weeks of graduation
without knowing all about him?"

The young man's eyes widened, and his hands clutched at his knees in an
effort to keep them from shaking.

"Oh, yes, we know all about you, George Spencer Newton Hanlon," and the
cadet's eyes opened even wider at that name. "We know about your talent
for mind-reading as a child, and how you suppressed it as you grew older
and found how it got you into trouble. We know all about your father's
disgrace and disappearance; your mother's death; your running away, and
your adoption by the Hanlons, whose last name you assumed."

"How ... how'd you learn all that, sir?"

"The Corps has its ways. And that's why you're here now. Oh, all the
Fifth Year Cadets will be interviewed by myself or my assistants this
coming week, to determine their first assignment after graduation. But I
called you in today for a very, very special reason. And your ability to
read minds is part of it."

The cadet drew himself up stiffly. "I'm through with all that, sir,
definitely!"

The commandant regarded him enigmatically for a moment. "Just what do
you expect to do in the Corps, Mister?"

"Why, whatever I'm assigned to do, I suppose, sir. Or whatever I can
do."

"And just how far will you go for the Corps?" The admiral leaned forward
and eyed him critically.

"All the way, sir, of course."

"Don't you believe a Corpsman should use all his abilities in his
service?" The question was barked at him.

"Certainly, sir." But his eyes showed he realized he had been trapped by
that admission.

"You're one of the few persons known who have ever actually been able to
read another's mind. That's important--very important--to the Corps. _It
must be used!_"

Hanlon's eyes were still stormy, but he kept his lips tightly closed.

The commandant's face grew kindly again. "We know how it got you into
trouble when you were a boy, because the other children resented it, and
avoided or abused you for using it on them. But now it will be a great
assistance to you--and to the Corps. We know you will use that talent
wisely, for it has been proven time and again, by test after test, that
you are scrupulously honest. You've lost your allowance several times in
card games, when you could have read what cards your opponents held, and
so won. You