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13

‘I certainly would like to leave the White House,' Richard Kongrosian said peevishly to the NP men guarding him. He felt irritable and also apprehensive; he stood as far from Commissioner Pembroke as possible. It was Pembroke, he knew, who was in charge.

Wilder Pembroke said, ‘Mr Judd, the A.G. Chemie psychchemist, will be here any minute. So please be patient, Mr Kongrosian.' His voice was calm but not soothing; it had a hard edge which made Kongrosian even more unstrung.

‘This is intolerable,' Kongrosian said. ‘You guarding me like this, watching everything I do. I simply can't tolerate being watched: I have paranoia sensitiva; don't you realize that?'

There was a knock at the door of the room. ‘Mr Judd to see Mr Kongrosian,' a White House attendant called in Pembroke opened the door of the room, admitting Merrill Judd, who entered briskly, official briefcase in hand. Mr Kongrosian. Glad to meet you face to face, at last.'

‘Hello, Judd,' Kongrosian murmured, feeling sullen about everything which was going on around him.

‘I have here with me some new, experimental medication for you,' Judd informed him, opening the briefcase and reaching within. ‘The imipramine hcl -- twice a day, 50 mg each. That's the orange tablet. The brown tablet is our new methabyretinate oxide, 100 mg per -- ‘

‘Poison,' Kongrosian broke in.

‘Pardon?' Alertly, Judd cupped his ear.

‘I won't take it; this is part of a carefully laid plot to kill me.' There was no doubt of it in Kongrosian's mind. He had realized it as soon as Judd had arrived with the official A.G. Chemie briefcase.

‘Not at all,' Judd said, glancing sharply at Pembroke. ‘I assure you. We're trying to help you. It's our job to help you, sir.'

‘Is that why you kidnapped me?' Kongrosian said.

‘I did not kidnap you,' Judd said cautiously. ‘Now as to -- ‘

‘You're all working together,' Kongrosian said. And he had an answer for it; he had been preparing for the exact moment when the time was right. Summoning his psychokinetic talent he lifted both his arms and directed the power of his attention towards the psych-chemist Merrill Judd.

The psych-chemist rose from the floor, dangled in air; still clutching his official A.G. Chemie briefcase, he gaped at Kongrosian and Pembroke. Eyes protruding, he tried to speak, and then Kongrosian whisked him at the closed door of the room. The door, wooden and hollow-core splintered as Judd swept against it and through it; he disappeared from Kongrosian's sight then. Only Pembroke and his NP men remained in the room with him.

Clearing his throat, Wilder Pembroke said huskily, ‘Perhaps -- we should see how badly he's hurt.' As he started towards the ruined door he added, over his shoulder, ‘I would think that A.G. Chemie will be somewhat upset by this. To put it mildly.'

‘The hell with A.G. Chemie,' Kongrosian said. ‘I want my own doctor; I don't trust anybody you bring in here. How do I know he was actually even from A.G. Chemie? He was probably an impostor.'

‘In any case,' Pembroke said, ‘you hardly have to worry about him, now.' Gingerly, he opened the remains of the wooden door.

‘Was he truly from A.G. Chemie?' Kongrosian asked, following him out into the corridor.

‘You talked to him on the phone yourself; it was you who called him into this initially.' Pembroke seemed angry and agitated, now, as he searched the corridor for a sign of Judd. ‘Where is he?' he demanded. ‘What in the name of God did you do with him, Kongrosian?'

Kongrosian said, with reluctance, ‘I moved him downstairs to the subsurface laundry room. He's all right.'

‘Do you know what the von Lessinger principle is?' Pembroke asked him, eyeing him tensely.

‘Of course.'

Pembroke said, ‘As a member of the higher NP, I have access to von Lessinger equipment. Would you like to know whom you'll next mistreat by means of your psychokinetic ability?'

‘No,' Kongrosian said.

‘Knowing would be to your advantage. Because you might want to stop yourself; it will be a manoeuvre you'll regret.'

‘Who's the person?' Kongrosian asked, then.

‘Nicole,' Pembroke said. ‘You can tell me something if you want. Under what operating theory have you refrained, up until now, from using your talent politically?'



‘ "Politically"?' Kongrosian echoed. He did not see how he had used it politically.

‘Politics,' Pembroke said, ‘if I may remind you, is the art of getting other people to do what you want them to, by force if necessary. Your application of psychokinesis just now was rather unusual in its directness ... but nevertheless it was a political act.'

Kongrosian said, ‘I always felt it was wrong to use it on people.'

‘But now -- ‘

‘Now,' Kongrosian said, ‘the situation is different. I'm a captive; everyone's against me. You're against me, for instance. I may have to use it against you.'

‘Please don't,' Pembroke said. He smiled tightly. ‘I'm merely a salaried employee of a government agency, doing my job.'

‘You're a lot more than that,' Kongrosian said. ‘I'd be interested in knowing how I'm going to use my talent against Nicole.' He could not imagine himself doing that; he was too awed by her. Too reverent.

Pembroke said, ‘Why don't we wait and see.'

‘It strikes me as strange,' Kongrosian said, ‘that you'd go to the trouble of using von Lessinger equipment merely to find out about me. After all, I'm utterly worthless, an outcast from humanity. A freak that should never have been born.'

‘That's your illness talking,' Pembroke said. ‘When you say that. And down inside your mind somewhere you know that.'

‘But you must admit,' Kongrosian persisted, ‘that it's unusual for someone to use the von Lessinger machinery as you evidently have. What's your reason?' Your real reason, he thought to himself.

‘My task is to protect Nicole. Obviously, since you will soon be making an overt move in her direction -- ‘

‘I think you're lying about that,' Kongrosian interrupted. ‘I could never do anything like that. Not to Nicole.'

Wilder Pembroke raised an eyebrow. And then he turned and rang the elevator button to begin his trip downstairs to search for the psych-chemist from A.G. Chemie.

‘What are you up to?' Kongrosian asked. He was highly suspicious of the NP men anyhow, always had been and always would be, and particularly so ever since the NP had shown up at the jalopy jungle and seized him. And this man impelled an even greater suspicion and hostility in him, although he did not understand quite why.

‘I'm just doing my job,' Pembroke repeated.

And still, for reasons he did not consciously know, Kongrosian did not believe him.

‘How do you now expect to get well?' Pembroke asked him as the elevator doors opened. ‘Since you've destroyed the A.G. Chemie man -- ‘ He entered the elevator, beckoning Kongrosian to join him.

‘My own doctor. Egon Superb; he can still cure me.'

‘Do you want to see him? It can be arranged.'

‘Yes!' Kongrosian said eagerly. ‘As soon as possible. He's the only one in the universe who isn't against me.'

‘I could take you there myself,' Pembroke said, a thoughtful expression on his flat, hard face. ‘

If I thought it was a good idea ... and I'm not very certain of that, at this point.'

‘If you don't take me,' Kongrosian said, ‘I'll pick you up with my talent and set you down in the Potomac.'

Pembroke shrugged. ‘Doubtless you could. But according to the von Lessinger equipment, you probably won't. I'll take the chance.'

‘I don't think the von Lessinger principle can deal properly with us Psis,' Kongrosian said irritably as he also entered the elevator. ‘At least, I've heard that said. We act as acausal factors.' This was a difficult man to deal with, a strong man whom he actively did not like. Like -- or trust.