e at
the same time would be more than a coincidence. It would be a
miracle."

"More so than the 'coincidence' of the freighter headed straight for
Mars's only industrial area?" I asked.

Goil thought it over for a while. Then he said, "Yes. More than I can
imagine. We have the rock and the freighter, two moving bodies,
meeting in space by pure chance. Space is too vast for that sort of
thing. It can't happen."

"Mars and the freighter are two moving bodies in space that are going
to meet," I pointed out.

"Yes, but the ship was originally headed on a course to Mars. And Mars
is much bigger."

"True," I conceded. "But the asteroid is also on an interception
course with the freighter. And it is a lot bigger than the freighter."

Goil sat silent and thoughtful for quite a while. Finally, he said:

"I'm not gullible, Mr. Weston. Nor am I a fool. I have enough interest
in Mars to want a miracle to happen, aside from a natural desire to
see disaster averted. But what about you; what are you after? What are
you trying to prove?"

That was what I had been waiting for.

* * * * *

I told him about the Research Institute of Human Influences, for which
I was a field psychologist, and how they located accident prones and
safety prones, among other types of odd personalities, and how we
observers gathered data in efforts to learn ways to nullify the
accident prones' influence, and to learn the whys and hows of the
safety prones, as well as ways to expand their fields of influence.

Goil just sat there, his face indicating neither belief nor disbelief.

"Willy has no idea he does what he does, nor why. He's completely
unaware of his influence. I can't imagine how his mind works to
rationalize for his behavior. I'd do just about anything, Mr. Goil, to
keep Willy from learning all I've told you. It would make him aware,
and that might sour things, probably even nullify his influence."

Goil said, "I'm not at all convinced that this is not some sort of
lunatic hoax. But as long as there is nothing I nor you can do for the
time being, I'm going to hold any further action in abeyance. Let's
see what happens. Even if by some miraculous coincidence the rock and
the ship should meet, that's not proof that your yarn is true."

"No," I said. "But other things have happened before. Nothing this
big, though. But always, there is this synergism of Willy's; a
compulsion to do some crazy thing, or to