led his value as an
agent. Nothing was safe from his investigation. The most secret hiding
places were open to his probings. Nothing could stop him, for command of
hyperspace made a mockery of material barriers.

He chuckled happily as he removed his pajama jacket and reached for the
first-aid kit. From the gash in his sleeve, there should be a nasty cut
underneath, and it startled him a little that there was no greater
amount of hemorrhage. He cleaned off the dried blood--and found nothing
underneath except a thin red bloodless line that ran halfway around his
arm. It wasn't even a scratch.

Yet he had felt Shifaz' blade slice into his flesh. He knew there was
more damage than this. The blood and the slashed sleeve could tell him
that, even if he didn't have the messages of his nerves. Yet now there
was no pain, and the closed scratch certainly wasn't the major wound he
had expected. And this _was_ queer, a fact for which he had no
explanation. Albert frowned. Maybe this was another facet of the psi
factors that had suddenly become his.

He wondered where they had come from. Without warning, he had become
able to read minds with accuracy and do an effective job of
teleportation. About the only things he lacked to be a well-rounded psi
were telekinetic powers and precognition.

His frown froze on his face as he became conscious of a sense of unease.
They were coming down the hall--two IC guardsmen. He caught the doubt
and certainty in their minds--doubt that he would be in his room,
certainty that he would be ultimately caught, for on Antar there was no
place for an Earthman to hide.

[Illustration]

Albert slipped into the first suit that came to hand, blessing the seam
tabs that made dressing a moment's work. As the guards opened the door,
he visualized the spot on the Lagash road where he had encountered the
Bandersnatch. It was easier than before. He was standing in the middle
of the road, the center of the surprised attention of a few travelers,
when the guards entered his room.

* * * * *

The bright light of Antar's golden day came down from a cloudless yellow
sky. In the forest strip ahead, Albert could hear a faint medley of
coughs, grunts and snarls as the lesser beasts fed upon the remains of
yesterday's garbage. Albert moved down the road, ignoring the startled
natives. This time he wasn't afraid of meeting a Bandersnatch or
anything else, for he had a method of escap