Black began to doze--and felt something ever so softly probing at his mind. _A probe!_ Probably a service psi checking on him. _Why?_ Just the usual check? No, it wasn't due. He knew what to do. He had been probed before. Probing was part of the training at psi school but he had never revealed--and his tutors had never guessed--that he could create a block that could not be sensed by the prober. A block which could close off whatever thoughts he wished to conceal. He blocked his thoughts of Lawrence and the deal now, and opened freely that part of his mind which held the routine thoughts of the law offices. He felt that feather of thought brushing lightly through his brain, then it was gone as quickly as it had come. There was a cold sweat over him but he knew that he had passed the test. Why the probe? Perhaps a BEB psi had wind of Lawrence's deal and by probing Lawrence's mind--or the mind of someone in the West Coast realty outfit--had somehow learned of Black's association with the industrialist. If that were the case there would be more probes. One time or another a probe might come at a moment of nervous tension or stress and the information would be gleaned from his mind before he could block! He must work fast. He arose and went to the visiphone, placed a person-to-person call to Los Angeles. "Dick Joyce?" he asked before the visual contact was complete, and only his voice went out. The face that came in sync on the screen was round, jovial. "Well, hello, Marty!" _Lawrence must have called him, or else he plucked the name from my mind. But he didn't probe--or did he?_ "Dick, do you register?" _With the mind now--cautiously!_ "Yes, Marty." _Pretend you're my personal friend, Dick. There's no psi on us but we may be wiretapped by BEB--lots of law offices are and trainees connected with them. Can a definite date be set for the picking-up of the options?_ "It's good to see you again, Marty! When will you be coming out for another visit?" _Yes, the options are in the bag. My agents have them all lined up. Confidentially, they couldn't miss. The only trouble they ran into was that some of the landowners thought they were insane to be interested in the property and one of them actually suffered a sprained wrist from the hand-shaking of an overly thankful owner._ "Soon. That's why I called you. Thought we should get together after all these years." _What's the latest date for signing?_ _Tomorrow night._ _Tomorrow night! That doesn't give much time! Since I'm acting for Lawrence I have to see what we're getting._ _Well, Lawrence told us to work fast. But I agree that it's a good idea that you see the properties._ "How about this weekend?" His voice was casual. _Tomorrow evening local time it is then. But where will we make psi-contact?_ A mental picture of a map. Desolation.... Oklahoma.... "Okay, Dick. See you then. Regards to the family!" "Goodbye, Marty." He rang off.