It was frightening. Here was a Lyrian whose mind had pierced even the wheel's shielding! How could he hope to kill her?
He stared at the approaching planet, and his hands tightened beneath the pressing layers of the acceleration cocoon that enfolded him.
But I, he thought: I was able to contact her through the shielding, too. I was the only one who did; nobody else reported her. It's all right: she's no stronger than I am.
I know you're there, she thought.
I'll wait to answer, he thought; he tried to hold his mind shut.
You're traveling very fast: Much too fast!
The ship lurched a bit, slowing down. Then—for several seconds—he was as much in Calvin's mind as his own; their minds blended. The shielding did not stop that. Calvin was waiting at the foot of the ladder for him to return. Don't wait, Walt thought; I'm—And as unexpectedly as it had commenced, the blending ceased; he was once again alone. Calvin! Calvin! he thought. No answer. Calvin's abnormal, unpredictable mind remained inaccessible.
Hello, Julia said sweetly. The complacency she conveyed, the assurity of her thought, the self confidence, the self reliance—these things troubled him.
The ship touched ground, bounced once and was still. The switch above him flipped over with a nasty, metallic snicker. In a fever of haste, he ripped out of the cocoon. He had less than twenty seconds to get outside before the molecular reaction set in.