."

Malone sighed again. "I mean, maybe there are some books on the
subject," he said quietly, hoping he sounded tactful. "Maybe there's
something I could look up."

"Mr. Malone." The temperature of the office, Malone realized, was
definitely lowering. O'Connor's built-in freezer coils were working
overtime, he told himself. "The field of psionics is so young that I
can say, without qualification, that I am acquainted with everything
written on the subject. By that, of course, I mean scientific works. I
do not doubt that the American Society for Psychical Research, for
instance, has hundreds of crackpot books which I have never read, or
even heard of. But in the strictly scientific field, I must say
that--"

He broke off, looking narrowly at Malone with what might have been
concern, but looked more like discouragement and boredom.

"Mr. Malone," he said, "are you ill?"

Malone thought about it. He wasn't quite sure, he discovered. The
chill in the office was bothering him more and more, and as it grew he
began to doubt that it was all due to the O'Connor influence. Suddenly
a distinct shudder started somewhere in the vicinity of his shoulders
and rippled its way down his body.

Another one followed it, and then a third.

"Mr. Malone," O'Connor said.

"Me?" Malone said. "I'm--I'm all right."

"You seem to have contracted a chill," O'Connor said.

A fourth shudder followed the other three.

"I--guess so," Malone said. "I d-d--I do s-seem to be r-r-rather
chilly."

O'Connor nodded. "Ah," he said. "I thought so. Although a chill is
certainly odd at seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit." He looked at the
thermometer just outside the window of his office, then turned back to
Malone. "Pardon me," he said. "Seventy-one point six."

"Is--is that all it is?" Malone said. Seventy-one point six degrees,
or even seventy-two, hardly sounded like the broiling Nevada desert
he'd expected.

"Of course," O'Connor said. "At nine o'clock in the morning, one would
hardly expect great temperatures. The desert becomes quite hot during
the day, but cools off rapidly; I assume you are familiar with the
laws covering the system."

"Sure," Malone said. "S-sure."

The chills were not getting any better. They continued to travel up
and down his body with the dignified regularity of Pennsylvania
Railroad commuter trains.

O'Connor frowned for a second. It was obvious that his keen scientific
eye was sizing up the phenomenon, and re