thing puzzles me, Jaeger. Why did you have notes in the planetarylanguage in your communications room?"
Jaeger stirred uneasily. "I started doing that some time ago, sir," heexplained. "You see, their language is quite dissimilar to either my ownor to Galactica, and I have yet to learn to think in it. I wanted toavoid any possibility of lapsing away from it, so I translated myinstructions and notes, hoping to keep myself constantly reminded torefrain from using Galactica at any time." He spread his hands. "Isuppose--"
Kweiros waved. "Logical, I presume," he admitted. "Anyway, that's done,and we can't do much about it now. Now for another thing." He glanced atthe tape reels. "I noticed that the villagers in your area regarded youas a sorcerer. What cause did they have to form such an opinion?"
"None, sir, that I know of." Jaeger shook his head.
Kweiros looked at the boy. "Elwar?"
"Why, all the village knew it, Master." The boy shook his head. "One hadbut to be near Master Jaeger for a time, and he could feel the power,just as I can feel it now." He shook his head again. "But it is verystrong, Master. You must be one of the ones of truly great power."
Kweiros looked speculatively at Jaeger.
"I understood they were nontelepaths. All the reports agree on that."
"Definitely, sir, they are. They're absolutely mute. Not a trace ofradiation, even when they're close. And they don't receive. You can tryit now, sir. It's just like punching into space itself. No resistance,no reflection, just nothing."
"Shield?"
"No, sir. Just no indication. Makes me feel as though I were in freespace with a dead drive."
* * *
Kweiros looked for a moment at Jaeger, then sent out a probing thought,searching for some indication of mental activity from the boy. But therewas nothing. It wasn't anything like a shield, he thought. It seemedmore like an infinite baffle.
But there was some reaction. The boy shrank back in terror.
"Please, Master," he begged. "Do not place me under enchantment." Heheld up his hands in a peculiar gesture.
"What made you do that?" Kweiros raised a hand slowly, palm out. "I haveno intention of harming you."
"But I could feel you, trying to cast me under a spell."
"You ... felt me?"
"To be sure, Master, just as I have felt the same power from my master,Jaeger. But this was far stronger. It hurt. And it seemed as though youwanted me to do something."
Kweiros nodded. "I think I'm getting an idea," he remarked. "And itscares me a little. They're not really nontelepathic, any more than theKierawelans, for example, are nonvocal. I think we've got something herethat's almost unique in the galaxy." He rubbed his neck. "Excuse me afew minutes. I want to check something in one of these tapes."
Jaeger nodded and leaned back in his chair, looking curiously at the boybeside him, then back at his superior, who had selected a tape reel. Hethreaded it into the playing heads, put on a headband, and snapped aswitch. Jaeger and the boy watched as Kweiros leaned back.
The officer's face became vacant, then twisted, seeming to reflectpainful mental effort. Slowly, he leaned forward again, touching anotherswitch. Then, he sank back, to concentrate on his thoughts.
Jaeger looked again at the boy, who was sitting tensely, his handsgripping the arms of his chair, his eyes fastened fearfully on theofficer before him. As Jaeger watched, Elwar half rose from his chair,then sank back, his face appearing to mirror Kweiros' efforts.
At last, Kweiros sat up. Shakily, he removed his headband and snappedthe playback off.
"Long time since I checked that tape," he said. "Pretty rugged stuff,and highly speculative. Always gives me a headache." He shook his headas he looked at Elwar.
"And this makes it even worse. It was bad enough as pure speculation,but we've got something real here. Something rough. For one thing, wehave got a planet where no one but native operatives stand a chance ofworking. For another we--" He cupped his chin in his hands and examinedElwar closely.
"Do you really want to learn the secrets you looked for in the books,youngster? Do you still want the secrets you first thought you mightlearn?"
The boy seemed to withdraw a little. "I have a great fear," he admittedtremulously.
"You haven't been injured or mistreated, have you?"
"No, Master, but--" Elwar looked toward the door.
"And you won't be," he was told reassuringly. "Now you just go ahead onback to your quarters."
* * *
As the door closed, Kweiros turned to Jaeger.
"Think we'll put you on special assignment. For the next few cycles,you'll act as a private tutor. Then you can go back to Main Base withElwar while they give him his training."
Jaeger raised his eyebrows. "Yes, sir," he said doubtfully. "You thinkthe boy will develop?"
Kweiros nodded. "I'm quite sure of it," he said. "And he's got a big jobahead of him. He may be instrumental in preventing a major disaster." Hewaved at the tape reels.
"I got that little tape out just on an off chance," he added. "Didn'treally expect to find anything, but--" He flipped his hands out."Anyway, I pulled it." He leaned forward, looking at Jaeger.
"We may have run into a second, or even third growth culture," he saidslowly. "Once, before some ancient war of destruction, the people ofthis planet might have been normally telepathic." He closed his eyes foran instant. "Possibly they were unable to use their telepathic power.And equally possibly, they could have had a highly developed mechanicalcivilization. Something went wrong." He waved at the tape reel.
"In this reconstruction, there's an hypothesis on just such a situation.Here, a race reaches high development and wrecks itself--leaving notrace of its accomplishments. Growth starts over from the most meager ofbeginnings. Survival becomes a matter of the most bitter conflict, witheveryone becoming a hunter and being hunted in his turn. In thissituation, detection of an enemy becomes vital." He grinned wryly. "Canyou imagine what would happen to someone who radiated his thoughts?"
Jaeger ran a finger over his lips. "He'd be easy to locate," he mused."And he'd have a hard time evading an enemy."
"Precisely." Kweiros nodded. "And he'd never be able to approach hisprey. In short, he'd fail to survive. Complete telepathic blanknesswould have a high survival value. But an ability to detect mentalradiation would still be a big help." He waved a hand.
"So, a race like this one could evolve. And the author of this tapeextrapolated from there. A normal telepathic reception will beaccompanied, by a slight feedback. A completely black body, however,will neither radiate nor feed back. It merely absorbs energy and, unlessit's super-imposed on a reflective background, it leaves no trace. Sincenothing in nature other than a telepathic mind can reflect telepathy, nobackground would survive for long." He frowned a little.
"Of course, no mind we are familiar with could act as a telepathicallyblack body, but this author hypothesized a race that could do justthat--plus. There's a further hypothesis of an ability to detect andlocalize radiations as such, without bothering to resolve them."
"Sounds like just what we have here," Jaeger admitted.
"It does, doesn't it?" Kweiros nodded. "And there's a furtherextrapolation. Some of the members or the elder races have speculated ona sort of second-order telepathy, undetectable to the normal telepath,but capable of noting normal radiation. And some of the speculationsseem to make sense--though they're a little confusing. If you don't havea specific sense, it's difficult to visualize it, or even to speculateon its presence." He drew a deep breath.
"That leads us into a real problem. Our people roamed around this planetfor several cycles this time. And there may have been others before us,who didn't record their visits, other than in the minds and legends ofthe natives. And there may be other legends from that other, olderculture." He shrugged.
"We picked up what we could on the culture, but we didn't get the fullstory on them. And we've probably left a thousand legends behind us,including that
beautiful mess at your station." He grinned.
"Right now, their folklore is loaded with sorcerers, warlocks, wizards,and what not. After all, whatever their past is, they're primitive now.So those stories are going to grow and continue. Eventually, long beforethey really develop a stabilized ethic, someone's going to collate thatwhole mess. And do you know what he'll come up with?"
"Us?"
"Us, yes. Us, in a distorted