"Well, where do you get it? I don't know how many of you are here, but if you have as many as a hundred, keeping this place supplied calls for some doing." He was fishing for information on the number of people hidden in this old mine. "Actually, very little food is needed." "How come, don't they eat?" "Are you reading my mind?" the girl demanded. "If so, you might as well learn right now that this is not considered good manners here!" Momentarily, she was angry. "And besides, if you do it again, I'll close off my thoughts to you." Zen, with a forkful of mush halfway to his mouth, was so surprised that he tried to speak and to swallow the mush at the same time, with the result that he choked. The inference back of her words opened up wide horizons of speculative thought. Was mind reading actually commonplace here? "I'm sorry you choked," Nedra said. She pounded him on the back. "Why don't you put me over your shoulder and burp me?" Zen complained. "Lay off with that pounding." "Do you feel you really need burping?" "Aw, shut up," Zen answered. If she thought he had read her mind, did this mean that she was actually capable of reading his thoughts? Could all of these people read his mind? Had the nude bronze girl going through the rhythmic exercises known what he was thinking about her. Zen felt himself coloring. It was one thing to have the normal libidinous impulses of the male but it was quite another thing to have every woman know what he was thinking about her. "Colonel, I do believe you are blushing," Nedra said, a twinkle in her eyes. "I am not," Zen said. "Actually I was wondering--" "Whether or not I could read your mind? I told you it was not good manners here." "Good manners or not, you seemed to know what I was thinking." "It isn't necessary to read your mind to know what you are thinking if a pretty woman is concerned," Nedra said, primly. "Your thoughts are written on your face." "Uh!" For a moment, his confusion grew. Her understanding was much too acute. Was she playing games, making fun? If so, this was a game that two could play. "In that case, since you already know about me--how about it?" he said, looking boldly at her. She understood his meaning. For a moment, the violet eyes showed sadness. They seemed to indicate that she was disappointed in him, that she had hoped for much better from him. Then a sparkle came into them. "I told you once before--" "Yeah, I know. You are going to wash out my mind with soap. But let's not do it right now. I'm still hungry." "You are one of the most perplexing men I have ever met," Nedra said, as she rose to fill his plate again. "Also one of the fastest--" "I thought we were going to stay away from that subject," he protested. "I intended to say fastest on his mental feet," she answered. "And if you don't stop interrupting me to make a play on words, I'm going to give you a hit on the head. After that, Sam wants to see you."