In other words," Malone said, "we know absolutely nothing new."

"I'm afraid not, Sir Kenneth," Her Majesty said. "But Willie and I do
intend to keep working on it. It is important, isn't it?"

"Important," Malone said, "is not the word." He paused. "And now, if
your Majesty will excuse me," he said, "I'll have to go. I have work
to do, and your information has been most helpful."

"You may go, Sir Kenneth," Her Majesty said, returning with what
appeared to be real pleasure to the etiquette of the Elizabethan
Court. "We are grateful that you have done so much, and continue to do
so much, to defend the peace of Our Realm."

"I pledge myself to continue in those efforts which please Your
Majesty," Malone said, and started back for the costume room. Once
he'd changed into his regular clothing again he snapped himself back
to the room he had rented in the Great Universal. He had a great deal
of thinking to do, he told himself, and not much time to do it in.

* * * * *

However, he was alone. That meant he could light up a cigar--something
which, as an FBI Agent, he didn't feel he should do in public. Cigars
just weren't right for FBI Agents, though they were all right for
ordinary detectives like Malone's father. As a matter of fact, he
considered briefly hunting up a vest, putting it on and letting the
cigar ash dribble over it. His father seemed to have gotten a lot of
good ideas that way. But, in the end, he rejected the notion as being
too complicated, and merely sat back in a chair, with an ashtray
conveniently on a table by his side, and smoked and thought.

Now, he knew with reasonable certainty that Andrew J. Burris was wrong
and that he, Malone, was right. The source of all the confusion in the
country was due to psionics, not to psychodrugs and Walt Disney spies.

His first idea was to rush back and tell Burris. However, this looked
like a useless move, and every second he thought about it made it seem
more useless. He simply didn't have enough new evidence to convince
Burris of anything whatever; psychiatric evidence was fine to back up
something else, but on its own it was still too shaky to be accepted
by the courts, in most cases. And Burris thought even more strictly
than the courts in such matters.

Not only that, Malone realized with alarm, but even if he did manage
somehow to convince Burris there was very little chance that Burris
would stay convinced. If his mind c