“The shield started growing stronger,” Malone said. “Sure. Her Majesty told me that, though she didn’t know why.”
“Right,” Burris said.
“But, wait a minute,” Malone said. “How could I do all that without knowing it? How would I know that some of my thoughts were safe behind a shield if I didn’t know the shield existed and couldn’t even tell if my mind were being read?” He paused. “Does that make sense?” he asked.
“It does,” Burris said, “but it shouldn’t.”
“What?” Malone said.
“Two years ago, you had the answer to that one,” Burris said. “Dr. O’Connor’s machine. Remember why it did detect when a person’s mind was being read?”
“Oh,” Malone said. “Oh, sure. He said that any human being would know, subconsciously, whether his mind was being read.”
“He did, indeed,” Burris said. “And then we came to the fourth step: to put you in rapport with some psionicist who could teach you how to control the shield, how to raise and lower it, you might say. To learn to accept other thoughts, as well as reject them. To learn to accept your full telepathic talent. That was Lou’s job.”
“Lou’s ... job?” Malone said. He felt his own shield go up. The thoughts behind it weren’t pleasant. Lou had been ... well, hired to stay with him. She had pretended to like him; it was part of her job.
That was perfectly clear now.