out the same as he'd looked on the FBI
tapes. Malone closed the door of the office behind him, looked for a
chair and didn't find one. In Dr. O'Connor's office, it was perfectly
obvious, Dr. O'Connor sat down. You stood, and were uncomfortable.

* * * * *

Malone took off his hat. He reached across the desk to shake hands with
the telepathy expert, and Dr. O'Connor gave him a limp and fragile paw.
"Thanks for giving me a little time," Malone said. "I really appreciate
it." He smiled across the desk. His feet were already beginning to hurt.

"Not at all," Dr. O'Connor said, returning the smile with one of his own
special quick-frozen brand. "I realize how important FBI work is to all
of us, Mr. Malone. What can I do to help you?"

Malone shifted his feet. "I'm afraid I wasn't very specific on the phone
last night," he said. "It wasn't anything I wanted to discuss over a
line that might have been tapped. You see, I'm on the telepathy case."

Dr. O'Connor's eyes widened the merest trifle. "I see," he said. "Well,
I'll certainly do everything I can to help you."

"Fine," Malone said. "Let's get right down to business, then. The first
thing I want to ask you about is this detector of yours. I understand
it's too big to carry around--but how about making a smaller model?"

"Smaller?" Dr. O'Connor permitted himself a ghostly chuckle. "I'm afraid
that isn't possible, Mr. Malone. I would be happy to let you have a
small model of the machine if we had one available--more than happy. I
would like to see such a machine myself, as a matter of fact.
Unfortunately, Mr. Malone--"

"There just isn't one, right?" Malone said.

"Correct," Dr. O'Connor said. "And there are a few other factors. In the
first place, the person being analyzed has to be in a specially shielded
room, such as is used in encephalographic analysis. Otherwise, the
mental activity of the other persons around him would interfere with the
analysis." He frowned a little. "I wish that we knew a bit more about
psionic machines. The trouble with the present device, frankly, is that
it is partly psionic and partly electronic, and we can't be entirely
sure where one part leaves off and the other begins. Very trying. Very
trying indeed."

"I'll bet it is," Malone said sympathetically, wishing he understood
what Dr. O'Connor was talking about.

The telepathy expert sighed. "However," he said, "we keep working at
it." Then he looked at