“A series of them,” Malone said. “But we also know, from Dr. O’Connor, that it takes a great deal of psychic energy to perform this particular trick—more than a person can normally afford to expend.” “Marry, now,” Sir Kenneth exclaimed, “such a statement does not seem to have reason in it. Changing the mind of a man seems a small thing in comparison to teleportation, or psychokinesis, or levitation. And yet it takes more power than any of these?” Malone thought for a second. “Sure it does,” he said. “I’d say it was a matter of resistance. Moving an inanimate object is pretty simple— comparatively, anyhow—because inert matter has no mental resistance.” “And moving yourself?” Sir Kenneth said. “There is some resistance there, probably,” Malone said. “But you’ll remember that part of the Fueyo training system for teleportation involved overcoming your own mental resistance to the idea.” “True,” Sir Kenneth said. “Quite true. Then let us say that it requires enormous power to effect these changes. What is our next step, Mr. Malone?” “Next, Sir Kenneth,” Malone said, “We have to do a little supposing. This project must be handled by a fairly large group, since no individual can work it. This large group has to be telepathic, and not only for the precise timing O’Connor specified.” “There is another reason?” Sir Kenneth said. “There is,” Malone said. “They’ve also got to know exactly when to make their victim change his mind. Right?” “Absolutely,” said Sir Kenneth. “Now, Sirrah, where does all this leave us? We have had the orderly presentation of the case; where, Sirrah, is your summation?” “Coming up,” Malone said. “We’ve got to look for a widespread organization of telepaths, with enough mental discipline to hold a mental shield that Her Majesty can’t crack, and can’t even recognize the existence of. We thought she’d found all the telepaths. She said so, and she obviously thought so. But she didn’t. These are strong, trained—and sane.” “Aha,” said Sir Kenneth. “Her Majesty,” Malone said, “found us only the crazy telepaths, the weak ones, the nuts.” “Fine,” said Sir Kenneth. “And this, Mr. Malone, leaves us with only one question. Her Majesty—may God bless her—stated that she first spotted these flashes of telepathic static by listening in on our minds.” “Our mind,” Malone said. “I hope.” “Very well,” Sir Kenneth said. “This means that some force is being directed in this way, toward us. And how do we know that all the deduction, all the careful case-building we have done, hasn’t been influenced by this group? That might mean, of course, that we are miles, or even light-years, from the solution.” Malone said: “Yeep.” The sound was echoed by Sir Kenneth, and the two halves of the coruscating mind of Kenneth J. Malone were once more one. _Your Majesty_, the minds thought, _I’d like to talk to you._ Nothing happened. Evidently, Her Majesty was temporarily out of mental contact with him.