said.

"Why do they do it?" Redman asked. "We're just as human as you are."
He shrugged. "At any rate," he finished, "I was at the end of my rope
when you came along. But you have a ship--you can fly--and you'll take
me back to Earth."

"I will?" I asked.

* * * * *

He nodded. "I can make it worth your while," he said.

"How?" I asked.

"Money. You'll do anything for money." Redman looked at me soberly.
"You're a repulsive little weasel, Cyril, and I would distrust you
thoroughly except that I know you as well as you know me. That's the
virtue of being human. We understand each other without words. You are
a cheap, chiseling, doublecrossing, money-grabbing heel. You'd kick
your mother's teeth out for a price. And for what I'm going to offer
you, you'll jump at the chance to help us--but I don't have to tell
you that. You know already."

"What do you mean--know already?" I said. "Can I read your mind?"

"Do you mean to tell me--" Redman began. And then a peculiar smile
crossed his face, a light of dawning comprehension. "Why no," he said,
"why should you be telepathic--why should you? And to think I kept
hiding--" he broke off and looked at me with a superior look a man
gives his dog. Affectionate but pitying. "No wonder there were no
psych fields protecting that dice game--and I thought--" he started to
laugh.

* * * * *

And I knew then why the Patrol had sealed Earth off. Mutated by
radiation, speeded up in their evolution by the effects of the Blowup,
Earthmen were as far ahead of us mentally as we were ahead of them
technologically. To let these telepaths, these telekinetics--and God
knows what else--loose on the Galaxy would be like turning a bunch of
hungry kelats loose in a herd of fat sloats. My head buzzed like it
was filled with a hive of bees. For the first time in years I stopped
thinking of the main chance. So help me, I was feeling _noble_!

"Just take it easy, Cyril," Redman said. "Don't get any bright ideas."

Bright ideas! Ha! I should be getting bright ideas with a character
who could read me like a book. What I needed was something else.

"If you cooperate," Redman said, "you'll be fixed for life."

"You're not kidding," I said. "I'd be fixed all right. The Patrol'd
hound me all the way to Andromeda if I helped you. And don't think
they wouldn't find out. While we can't read minds, we can tell when a
man's lying."

"Hav