“Thanks,” Malone said. “Of course, I didn’t know it was you.”
“It was Her Majesty too,” Burris said. “Everybody.”
“Good old Malone,” Malone said. “The human peep-show.”
“Now, that’s what we mean,” Sir Lewis broke in. “Subconsciously, you disliked the idea of leaving your thoughts bare to anyone, even a sweet little old lady. To some extent, you still do. But that will pass.”
“Goody,” Malone said.
“The residue is simply not important,” Sir Lewis went on. “Your telepathic talents prove that.”
“Oh, fine,” Malone said. “Here I am reading minds and teleporting and all sorts of things. What will the boys back at Headquarters think now?”
“We’ll get to that,” Burris said. “But that first case did one more thing for you. Because you didn’t like the idea of leaving your mind open, you began to develop a shield. That allowed you some sort of mental privacy.”
“And then,” Malone said, “I met Mike Fueyo and his little gang of teleporting juvenile delinquents.”
“So that you could develop a psionic ability of your own,” Burris said. “That completed your acceptance. But it took a threat to solidify that shield. That was step three. When you discovered your mind was being tampered with—”