"All right. Just what can the Order do? Specifically, what is this Talent we hear stories about? I need facts, not rumors." "You mean the individual members?" "For a start, yes." "Urrr . . . telepathy, of course, and--" "Reliable telepathy?" Sherman broke in skeptically. "That's never been proven." "Then I must do so, at least to your satisfaction." Corina turned to the Ranger. "If I may do so without dishonor?" "There's no dishonor involved; that's what you're here for. Go ahead." Corina turned back, probed gently into the Medical Officer's unscreened mind. "You are familiar with the Rhine reports some four centuries before the Empire?" "Yes, but they're no more proof of telepathy than your guessing I'd read them." "They should have convinced you. Since they do not, I must probe more deeply. I do not wish to distress you, but belief is essential. I have been aboard only a short time, not long enough to learn anything about you in the so-called `normal' way. Would you agree?" Sherman nodded. "Very well. Your middle name is Jean. Your hobby is pre-Empire science fiction." Corina paused, contemplating. "That appears interesting; I shall have to look into it. To continue, your favorite stories are the Lensman series, and your only regret is that--" "That's enough!" Sherman interrupted in a near shout. "I'm convinced. You don't have to go on." Corina, satisfied that she had made her point, continued to the entire group. "Telepathy is the most common aspect of Talent, and by far the easiest to develop; all of the Order has it, in varying degrees. A mind screen or shield is almost as common; it seems to go with the telepathy, in all but rare cases." She noticed a slightly raised hand. "Yes, Colonel Greggson?" "That mind screen--does it occur without telepathy? It could be very useful, in my field." "Not in Irschchans, but it apparently does in humans. I noticed earlier that you, Ranger Medart, and Captain Hobison all have excellent ones, among the best I have felt." Greggson smiled grimly. "Thanks. That's good to know." He went on more softly, muttering to himself, but Corina's hearing made his words clearly audible. "All the most sensitive positions. Damn lucky . . . if the kitty's not lying." Corina's ears flattened slightly at that uncalled-for slur, but she forced herself to say nothing about it, responding instead to the Chief Engineer's slight gesture. "You wish to ask something, Commander Jensen?" "Please. Can a mind screen like that be generated electronically?" "To the best of my knowledge, Commander, such a thing has never been attempted. There are those who would consider the electronic imitation of Talent an obscenity, and they have much influence." "What else?" Medart asked.