ingered operators
in the country, but nothing to compare with this! Just let me see
you match this charade in _my_ laboratory! With _my_ apparatus!"
She meant her playing cards.

Wally was sweet and reasonable. "You dealt and shuffled most of
the hands yourself," he reminded her. "I never touched the cards.
How could I control them?" He grinned a little more sharply. "And
you can't call it TK," he went on. "Did you feel the cards move
or twitch or resist you as you shuffled them? It has to be PC."

She blew her top on that one. It's sickening to see someone you
love goaded past all endurance and break down into screams and
wild gestures.

"Aah!" she cried, shaking her head blindly. "Before I believe
that Tex Robertson can feel things that I can't feel, I'll accept
_any_ other explanation. What are those cards of yours? Small TV
screens? Is this more electronic hokum?"

Wally quietly tore one of the cards in two. "Now I understand,"
he said. "That's the real reason."

I looked my surprise at him, and Shari quieted down just a
little. "Relax, Dr. King," he advised her. "The possession of psi
powers isn't a mark of moral superiority. Part of the problem in
the Lodge is that psi powers are possessed as often by evil and
stupid people as by the good and intelligent. Yes, I know that
you think you _deserve_ precognition, Dr. King. But that ain't
the way the ball bounces. You're a Normal, Dr. King, and that's
all you'll ever be."

He got a face full of fingers for his trouble. Shari leaped to
her feet and really slapped him in the kisser. She stormed out of
there. I started to follow, but a tug at my earlobe signaled me
to stop.

* * * * *

"Hold on a minute, Tex," Wally said sympathetically. "You're one
of us now."

I had to go after her. "I love her," I said hopelessly. "I can't
see her hurt and upset like that. I've got to--"

But he was shaking his head. "You haven't got a chance," Wally
said. "She'll never forgive you for having precognition. _That's_
why she made the study of psi her life-work. She's wanted PC for
herself, and was sure she was pure enough of heart to deserve to
have the power. Well, she doesn't have it, and she'll hate you
for having what she thinks she deserves. Forget her."

Talk about your cup brimming over! Well, if I had to get used to
being cut off from the human race, perhaps Shari was the place to
start. That's what happens to superhumans!

There