Jeremy looked at the two young men in civilian dress. The colonel said, “Give him a slight demonstration, boys.”
Paul Swanson said, “Think you could use a beer, Jeremy?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Coming up.”
Jeremy watched wide-eyed as the full glass of beer sailed in from the kitchenette at waist height, made a sweeping left turn, and halted directly in front of him. He reached out hesitantly, half-afraid the whole thing was an illusion, and there he was holding a glass of beer in his hand.
“Ed,” said the colonel, “what’s going on next door?”
Clark characteristically cocked his head to one side. “Male voice saying, ‘Why not?’ sir,” he reported.
“What’s going on?”
“Just a second.” Clark listened, and then grinned, getting a bit red-faced. “Well, sir,” he said. “There’s a major in that suite.”
“Yes?”
“And a WAF Lieutenant, sir.”
“Oh. Demonstration ended.”
“Yes, sir.”
The colonel turned back to Jeremy. “You see? And I have thirty-seven more of them. You bring the strength up to an even forty.”
“I never even heard of such a thing,” said Jeremy.
“I’m not surprised. This is just about the first secret weapon any nation has ever had that has a chance of staying secret. The whole thing is locked up inside your head. No plans to steal, nothing. And nobody would believe the truth, anyway.”
Jeremy shook his head. “I don’t… I don’t get it. How did you know about me? I mean, in the first place, before I was even sure of it myself. How did you know?”
The colonel smiled. “I screened you,” he said. “I ran you and a few hundred thousand other boys through a sieve, and you’re one of the forty who didn’t just slide on through.”
“A sieve? What kind of sieve? When?”
“The tunnel in your case,” the colonel told him. “The drainage pipe, where you made your first jump. That’s one of my sieves. Look, I’m in about the best position you can imagine for screening a big chunk of the human race for psi. I could screen for anything I wanted. Did you ever know anybody with his heart on the right side instead of the left?”
Jeremy shook his head.
“Of course not,” said the colonel. “There’re few of them. But the enlistment or induction physical comes up with one every once in a while. Practically every male American citizen goes through that physical. If you were looking for people with their hearts on the right side, there’s your screening center, all set up for _»» you.
“I see,” said Jeremy doubtfully.
“It’s the same with me,” the colonel told him. “I’ve got my screening center, and it’s called basic training. It puts the stressed on, it louses up your equilibrium, it rattles you like nothing you’ve ever been through before. Then it runs you through my sieve, that drainage pipe, which is as completely bugged as a movie set. I’m like a prospector panning a stream. Most of what washes through my pan is silt, but every once in a while a little piece of gold shows up. Like Paul there, who couldn’t find his gas mask with his hands, so the mask just came up to his face of his own accord.”
“And me,” said Jeremy.
The colonel nodded. “And you. And thirty-eight others, so far.” Clark laughed suddenly and the colonel turned to him. “Ed, stop listening! Leave the major alone.”
“Yes, sir,” said Clark. He sat down and looked attentive to the things going on in this room.
The colonel turned back. “You’re going to be useful, Jeremy,” he said. “We’ll have to find out your range limitations, if any, and poke around after that other talent of yours—”
“Other talent, sir?”
“You came to me,” the colonel reminded him. “You’d never heard of me, didn’t know who or where I was, and yet you came straight to me. What did it? Telepathy? Whatever it is, we’ll find it.”
“I doubt it’s telepathy, as such,” said the major. “Some kind of increased sensitivity on the emotional level, I imagine.”
“I imagine so,” said the colonel sardonically. “What other kind of sensitivity do you know?”
“My psychological training coming out,” said the major, grinning. “Reduce everything to jargon.”
“Sir,” said Jeremy hesitantly.
The colonel turned back to him. “What is it?”
“Sir, I’ve… well, it’s been a long time since… well, if I’d gone on through basic training, I’d have had a leave home by now, and… well, I was just wondering if I could get home for a few days and—”
“No,” said the colonel, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, but no. We have too much to do, and too little time to do it in. We’ve lost weeks already.” Major Grildquist cleared his throat. “Jim, it might be a good idea—”
“I know, Ben, but we just don’t have the time. Besides, Jeremy, I’m afraid you’re classed as a military secret, at least for the time being. Not even your parents are to know about this ability of yours.”
“Yes, sir,” said Jeremy.
Paul Swanson chuckled. “Colonel,” he said, “what are you going to do if Jeremy goes home anyway? Put him in the guardhouse?”
The colonel opened his mouth, and left it open. Then he shrugged and grinned and said, “All right, Jeremy. Go on home.”
Jeremy’s face lit up. “Thank you, sir! ”
“But, Jeremy. Take the train, boy. You’re a military secret now, remember that.”
“Yes, sir,” said Jeremy happily. Major Grildquist heaved himself out of his chair. “I’ll go arrange for the papers,” he said, “and have your clothing sent to your room.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Jeremy.
“Be back here in five days,” said the colonel. “Noon on Wednesday.”
“Yes, sir.” Jeremy grinned and disappeared.
The colonel sat down heavily in an armchair. “Paul,” he snapped, “stop playing with that lamp. And Ed, leave that major alone.”
The lamp clunked onto the table, and Ed Clark stopped looking attentive.
“Forty of them,” muttered the colonel to himself. He shook his head, sighed, and carefully unwrapped a cigar. “Forty of them.”
The Earthman’s Burden
Mighty Earth was master of all the stars. Trouble was — nobody had told some of the inhabited worlds!
I
Helmut Glorring, Commander-in-Chief of the TSS(E&D) Lawrence, Vice-Marshal in the Imperial Fleet, Primate Representative of the Empire of Earth and the Protectorate, D.A.S. (Hon.), D.I.L. (Hon.), D.Lib.A. (Hon.), smiled and took the hand of Marine Captain Rink. He then turned, twisted, lifted and hurled Captain Rink over his head and into the wall.
The captain screamed, and when he rolled away from the wall his left arm was twisted.
The assembled officers dutifully cheered, beating their palms together. Glorring grinned and nodded, flexing his muscles as his two dressers hurried forward with towels and patted him dry. Rink, weaving a bit, got to his feet and staggered away to the infirmary.
“Still the best,” muttered Glorring in satisfaction.
The dressers chorused, “Yes, sir!”
Still the best, he thought. The shape he was in, he could even take the Triumvirate, one at a time. But he knew better than to voice that thought aloud. He still wasn’t sure which of his officers was the Loyalty Sneak.
As the last of them trailed out of the gym, headed for their duties in other parts of the ship, Chief Astrogator Koll came in, trailed by SSS Citizen Ehlenburgh. “Sir,” said Koll, jabbing a thumb at Ehlenburgh, “the Scientist here says we’re passing near a Sol-star. He says the charts don’t list it, and it might have planets.”