t concerned Geria. What
actually had happened yesterday on the crags? He could remember,
remember--but he couldn't at all, not really, and somehow he knew that
the most important item of all remained tantalizingly close, yet just
beyond his immediate reach.

He said, "Just what is this dream empathy?"

"Now you _are_ joking."

"No. I don't know a thing about it."

"What do you people of Earth do for entertainment?"

"Well, we talk, or we dance, or we play games, ride horses, take walks
in the country, see a show--anything anyone else does, I guess."

"No one else does any of that, because d.e.'s a lot better. You know
anything about dreams, Smith?"

"A little. Very little. They've always been something of a mystery on
Earth."

"Well, do you read or watch the telios on Earth?"

"Of course. But it's strictly local stuff on Earth. That's why I'm
here."

"Well, if it's fiction, why do you read?"

"Excitement I guess. Interest, suspense. I watch the hero, I struggle
with him, succeed when he does if the book's a good one--"

"Exactly. You go into empathy with him. Smith--how would you like to do
that--with me?"

"Hunh?"

"Take a dream. I dream it, not you. It's a good one, under control. A
vivid dream, more real than life itself in a lot of ways, emotions
highlighted, maintained, increased--and exactly what I want to dream
because I know we'll both like it.

"I dream it, not you. But you feel it with me. You grow tired of your
own thoughts, so you switch in on someone else's. Control there.
Gorgeous dreams, fantastic dreams, even horrible ones, if both would
like it. Complete empathy--in a dream world.

"Then later, when you're experienced, you dream and I emp. How does it
sound, Smith?"

He smiled. "Not much privacy. But I'd be a liar if I said I wouldn't
want to take a peek at your dreams, Geria. It sounds fine."

Geria laughed softly, a lilting feminine sound. "It's a little more
private than that, provided I know what I'm doing. There's a control. I
can dream what I want, and can restrict it. You'll see."

Smith very much wanted to see. Almost, he forgot about Jorak and the
psi-power. But briefly in his mind he saw the black uniformed giant from
Wortan, felt again the flailing Kard raised high overhead, saw
accusation in the woman of Nugat's eyes....

* * * * *

They lay on two adjacent couches, Smith and the woman of Bortinot. A
bare cubicle of a room with just