All the blood drained from Brandt’s face. Blanding knew then. But how--how-- “How? Very simple.” Blanding motioned Brandt into a chair and handed him a cigarette. “It’s all here,” the big man said, tapping his forehead. Brandt made no attempt to light the cigarette. He simply stared, his pallor almost frightening. “You’ve done a remarkable job of logging and extrapolation, Neville,” Blanding went on. “But you made one serious mistake--a normal one under the circumstances. You should have used your unique talent as an aid in a search for other telepaths who might have helped you to develop.” Blanding pushed his bulky frame out of the chair and walked to the window. “But children are always selfish with a new toy.” He turned to Brandt. “Do you realize that because of your selfish attitude, it took Cartwright and myself six months of quite needless speculative analysis to arrive at the truth about you. I mean, with absolute certainty--” “So that’s it!” Brandt leapt to his feet. “Ellen’s one of us!” Blanding smiled tolerantly. “Yes, that’s it. But don’t look so startled. We’re both master telepaths. Our ability goes far beyond your present stage of development. But once you are caught up, once your attacks disappear--” “How long have you known?” Brandt asked, cutting him short with an urgent gesture. “Almost from the first. But I was not absolutely sure, as I’ve just told you.” “And Ellen?” “We’re a team, Neville. It’s our job to find new telepaths and determine their potentials.” Brandt crushed his unlighted cigarette between his thumb and forefinger. “You mentioned _two_ societies of telepaths. Which one do you belong to?” Blanding turned back to the window and spoke slowly. “There’s a small but powerful group of master telepaths within the government, whose task is to smoke out men and women who are determined to develop a new and totally different form of society. The government knows the capabilities of free-thinking telepaths, and what a threat they are to the status quo. The people in control of the government don’t want our present institutions changed. They don’t want to lose their power over the people. “You see, the average citizen today has been conditioned to accept the almost divine power of the State. His thinking is done for him by those in office. He gets what he needs and never needs what the government doesn’t allot him. Only the telepaths question the government’s authority, and only the telepaths have the ability to do anything about it.” Blanding paused an instant, then went on: “But the government isn’t concerned with what may happen a hundred years from now. Oh, they know telepathy is undoubtedly the next step in human evolution. They know that you and I and all the rest are just the advance guard of the future. But their immediate concern is with the present.” Brandt sat down slowly. “How many known telepaths are there?”