“Is something wrong?” That was Count Godfrey’s voice. Duke Harald raised his eyes, to see a look of sheer bewilderment on Master Elwyn’s face.
“This,” said the Terran adept slowly, talking rather to himself than to the others, “is incredible! Incredible,” he repeated, looking at Duke Harald oddly. “May I ask another favor of your grace?”
“Why,” said the Arkadian, as excitement suddenly possessed him, “yes, by all means. But what has happened?”
“I would like you to delay your journey home to Arkady,” said Master Elwyn in some agitation. “I would like you to come to the Institute for thorough scientific study!”
“But why? Have you detected traces of the esper skill?”
“On the contrary.” The old man stood erect, began to pace the floor. “Not that. But—I cannot read your mind!”
The two Arkadians only stared. Not being Terrans, for a moment the full meaning of that statement—from an adept!—did not register.
“I think,” said Master Elwyn finally, “that I can guess what happened. But it will take the full resources of the esper laboratory to elucidate the details. However, here is what I think: To overcome your psychosis of last night, you had to rebuild all your mental barriers. That, I explained before. But now, it seems, you have gone further and installed new ones. For the first time in the history of the Esper Institute, a mind has been encountered which is completely screened!”
Events had been happening too fast for Duke Harald. He was still a little fuzzy-minded from exhaustion. It remained, therefore, for old Count Godfrey to seize upon the other implications of the situation.
“Completely screened?” he asked. “No one can read his mind?”