He looked up and smiled as confidently as he could. "I'll be glad to take your case, Mr. Radcliffe. Of course you want me to spare no expenses," he added hopefully. At Radcliffe's harassed nod, he relaxed. Next came the most dangerous part of the job. It was a part which had eliminated several competent detectives from their jobs--the Probe phase. This involved plunging into the subject's mind, and sorting out relevant details which could furnish extra clues. Several Probers had got themselves trapped in the subject's mind, unable to get out because of a mental block or insanity. It might, however, be unnecessary. He flashed a thought to the girl in the adjoining room: **Sal, should I give him the H-R treatment?** Answer: **Emphatically! He's hiding something. Not intentionally, but it needs to be uncovered. A superficial scanning of the preconscious doesn't get the job done.** Keller sighed. The Probe (also called the H-R treatment, because a certain amount of hypnotism was involved) was trying on not only the subject but also the scanner. He said: "Now, Mr. Radcliffe, I'm going to go into your subconscious mind and get your impressions of last night. I want you to concentrate on ... let's say ... the moment when you saw your wife." He shut off all of his five senses, and took the plunge. The image formed: Shrieking terror. A tinge of ozone in the air. The Creature creeping up from behind. A beheaded teddy bear lying full length on the floor. A hole in the air near the door, colored red. Floating demon--where? Nonononono! The Creature bending over him. Terror--heat. No! THE MAN WHO FLEW. Melting walls. The door (now violet) disintegrating. The teddy bear shriveling now--turns into a snake-- He emerged. Before he could take full control of his body, a thought came: **Rick? How did you come out?** He flashed her the image. **Lousy. I can't get a true impression-picture to save my life. Just a lousy nightmare, fantasy-symbolism deal. But I did get something out of that mess. I'll let you know about it as soon as I verify it.** * * * * * To Radcliffe, since the time when Keller had stopped talking until right now, as Keller opened his eyes and frowned in thought, no time had elapsed. In actuality, the time taken was one and one-half microseconds. Keller flashed: **Sally, tune in on this conversation, please.** "Radcliffe," he said slowly, "When did you lose your sight?" The other man sat up rigidly, then relaxed. "How did you find out? Did you scan it?" "No. When I was receiving your impressions, I caught an idea of melting walls. Then there were nameless creatures and demons floating around. I examined your senses when I came out, and saw that you were blind. What is it--sort of a sight perception-tuning sense?"