But it was too late. A rolling tide of mental force came thundering out and held him frozen. * * * * * There were three people in the room. One was Klon Darra, lying on a table, his hands and legs strapped down with metal binding. The other two were Mordargans. One was tall and fierce-looking, with bright white eyes glaring authoritatively from his gray face. The other was small--no taller than an Earthman--with an abnormally large, grotesque, swollen head. The head was light blue rather than the usual gray and was covered with the pulsing striations of veins--the telepath. The telepath was staring at Mason and holding him immobile. "Now we have both the spies," said the big Mordargan in a rumbling voice. "Well done, Senibro. Very well done indeed." Mason struggled to move, to muster enough coordination to fire the blaster he still held in his hand. But despite an effort that brought sweat to his face he was totally frozen, statuelike. The big Mordargan approached and casually relieved him of the blaster--and his other weapons as well. Impotently, Mason glared at him. "All right," the big man said to the telepath. "You can relax the controls now. He's weaponless." Mason went limp as the mental force-field blinked out around him. He said, "What the hell is this? Who are you, and by what authority are you holding a citizen of the Solar System prisoner here?" The big Mordargan grinned. "I'm Levron Clargo. You may know me: I'm head of Security in Mordarga City. I'm holding this Venusian here by authority of my position, and you too. The Venusian was apprehended on suspicion of spying two days ago. We interrogated him and learned he had a partner at large on Mordarga. It was simpler to bring you here by a ruse than go looking for you." "Ruse? But--" Levron Clargo smiled coldly. "We've been in possession of the mind of your Venusian aide since Senibro, here, interrogated him late yesterday." Mason was stunned. The messages from Klon Darra today, the selfless plea that Mason leave Mordarga immediately and save himself-- A ruse. A trap. A hoax. They had used reverse psychology, played on his Earthman nature, knowing that if they told him to leave he'd first try to rescue his partner. And now they had both. Mason felt like four kinds of idiot. "Senibro, we can now interrogate both of them. But be very careful. I want to learn the mechanism of this linkage between them. Such a linkage would be very useful to know." Tensely Mason waited as the mutant telepath approached him. He looked away, avoiding the penetrating eyes. He glanced at the sleeping form of Klon Darra on the table--Klon Darra whose mind had probably watched helplessly as it had been manipulated to snare Mason. "Look at me," the telepath ordered.