"Maybe I should go out and take the next one apart. I'm still willing to bet my life against a bunch of Martians." Then he looked at Jenna. "I'm sorry, Jenna." "Don't be," she said. "I may be Martian, but it's in ancestry only. I gave up my heritage when I set eyes on Ralph, you know." Then she stood up. "I'm definitely NOT running out," she laughed. "I'm going down to put on more coffee. I think this may be a long, cold winter." She left, and Ed Garrard looked up at Lindsay, sourly. "Well?" asked Ralph. "Look, Lindsay, I may be speaking out of turn." "Only the Gods know," chuckled Grant. "Shut up, you're banal and out of line again," snapped Lindsay. "Look, Ed, no matter what it is, out with it." "Lindsay, what do you know about this rumor about Martian mind-reading?" "Very little. It is a very good possibility for the future, I'd say. It's been said that the ability of certain Martians to mental telepathy is a mutation. After all, the lighter atmosphere of Mars makes bombardment from space more likely to succeed." "Mutation wouldn't change existing Martians," mused Grant. "The thing, of course, may either be a mutation that is expected--in which case it may occur severally--or an unexpected dominant mutation in which case its spread will occur as the first guy inseminates the race with the seeds of his own being." "Right." "You don't know?" "No," said Lindsay. "I don't know which and furthermore it is unimportant." "Might be," objected Grant. "How many are there and what is their ability?" "There are about seventy Martians known to be able to do mental telepathy under ideal circumstances. Of the seventy-odd, all of them are attuned to only one or two of the others. So we have an aggregation of seventy, in groups of three maximum, that are able to do it." "Is any of Jenna's family--?" "Not that I know of. And besides, Jenna's loyal." "They might be reading her mind unwittingly," said Garrard. "Impossible." "Know everything?" said Garrard, instantly regretting the implication. "Only that Jenna's father was a psychoneural surgeon, and I've read plenty of his books on the subject. They're authoritative." "Were, before the war." Lindsay nodded. "You're thinking of some sort of amplifier system?" Garrard nodded. "I doubt it," said Lindsay. Lacy looked up and shook his head. "It would have to be gentle," he said. "According to what I've heard, the guy who's doing the transmitting is clearly and actually aware of every transmitted thought that is correctly collected by the receiver. Couple a determined will to transmit with certain knowledge of reception, and then tell me how to read a mind that is one, unwilling; and two, unaware." Lacy snorted. "Seems to me we're getting thick on this." He arose and left, slowly. * * * * * Lacy wandered into the galley and spoke to Jenna. "Mind?" "Not at all," she said brightly.