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?"