Rogue psi

By JAMES H. SCHMITZ
Illustrated by FINLAY
How do you trap a man who has the entire world at his mercy?
Shortly after noon, a small side door in the faculty restaurant of Cleaver University opened and a man and a woman stepped out into the sunlight of the wide, empty court between the building and the massive white wall opposite it which bordered Cleaver Spaceport. They came unhurriedly across the court towards a transparent gate sealing a tunnel passage in the wall.
As they reached the center of the court, a scanning device in the wall fastened its attention on them, simultaneously checking through a large store of previously registered human images and data associated with these. The image approaching it on the left was that of a slender girl above medium height, age twenty-six, with a burnished pile of hair which varied from chestnut-brown to copper in the sun, eyes which appeared to vary between blue and gray, and an air of composed self-reliance. Her name, the scanner noted among other details, was Arlene Marguerite Rolf. Her occupation: micromachinist. Her status: MAY PASS.
Miss Rolf's companion was in his mid-thirties, big, raw-boned and red-haired, with a formidably bulging forehead, eyes set deep under rusty beetle-brows, and a slight but apparently habitual scowl. His name was also on record: Dr. Frank Dean Harding. Occupation: marine geologist. Status—
At that point, there was an odd momentary hesitancy or blurring in the scanner's reactions, though not quite pronounced enough to alert its check-mechanisms. Then it decided: MAY NOT PASS. A large sign appeared promptly in brilliant red light on the glassy surface of the wall door.
WARNING—SOMATIC BARRIERS! Passage Permitted to Listed Persons Only
The man looked at the sign, remarked dourly, The welcome mat's out again! Wonder if the monitor in there can identify me as an individual.
It probably can, Arlene said. You've been here twice before—
Three times, Frank Harding corrected her. The first occasion was just after I learned you'd taken the veil. Almost two years now, isn't it? he asked.