2150 A.D.

At first I was hurt and angry that Karl couldn't appreciate my great and unselfish work with Neda. I sent a telepathic command to Neda to come to our apartment so that she could help me refute Karl's accusation. By this time I had so attuned Neda's mind to mine that I was confident she would soon be with us. My one disappointment was that I had not been able to develop any Macro powers in Neda, for while she would respond to my telepathic suggestions she didn't recognize them as coming from me, so true telepathic communication between us had been impossible.

As I waited for Neda to join us I tried to be as fair as I could in considering Karl's accusation. It was possible, I thought, that perhaps I had gone a little too far with my desire to protect Neda from unhappiness. But surely I wasn't treating her like a puppet. I felt that this accusation was over-dramatized and exaggerated. Particularly after all I had done for Neda. I decided to tell Karl about some of my other selfless Macro activities.

"Karl," I said, "last week I went to our university hospital and successfully practiced my PK healing powers on two cases of terminal cancer. Unaware of my efforts, they underwent surgery-mostly because they would rather take the chance of dying swiftly under the surgeon's knife than slowly under the attack of cancer. Guess what? Two miraculous. recoveries. However, some of the skeptical medics are now claiming that their tests must have been wrong because no one could completely recover from that much cancer so soon."

Karl shook his head slowly and gave me a weary smile. "You're trying to convince me that you only do good for others. I suppose you feel there is no disease you can't cure with your Macro powers."

"You're right, Karl," I said. "I've walked through every ward in that hospital and have healed dozens of the most challenging cases. Why in just a few minutes I completely healed a patient who had been shot through a lung and a kidney just the night before. He was dying when I found him waiting for surgery. I almost completely healed cases of diabetes, tuberculosis, arthritis, pneumonia, epilepsy, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, syphilis, cerebral palsy, and kidney malfunction as well as an impressive list of fractures."

"Okay, okay," Karl injected, "I believe you, but Neda has been standing here in our doorway and I think we ought to invite her in."

Karl walked over to Neda – and invited her to come in. Then he asked if she had come up to get more material to type.

"Oh, no," she replied, "I've got plenty to keep me busy. After all, you run down to bring me more material every hour or so, so I'm pretty well supplied for the rest of the week."

"Yes," I laughed, "I think dear old Karl here has developed a passion..." I paused and then continued "... for getting out at least three or four books full of material on our research."

Karl looked a little flustered as he said, "You know we were terribly backed up on our typing, and I've really enjoyed having the services of a full-time typist."

I laughed again. "I've noticed your growing enjoyment and I've got to admit that I've rarely seen you so filled with joy as you have been during the past few days."

"Yes, well, I-I..." Karl began lamely, then looked at Neda and forgot what he was going to say.

"You wanted to ask her," I prompted, "why she had come up here."

"Oh, yes," Karl nodded gratefully, "that's right, Neda. Is there something we can help you with?"

"Oh, no," Neda answered, flashing her now lovely smile which revealed the stu

"Oh, you did, huh," Karl said, giving me a suspicious look. "You were just suddenly overwhelmed with this idea in the midst of your typing."

"That's right, Karl," Neda replied with another dazzling smile. "I couldn't concentrate on my typing and felt I just had to come up here and see what Jon wanted."

"Okay, Svengali," Karl said, glaring at me, "I want to thank you for providing the evidence to support my earlier comments. At least you can now remember a past lifetime as a slave master, so we know where you got the practice!"

"Now, Karl," I said, "that isn't fair. I just wanted Neda to tell you in her own words how she feels about her new life."

"Oh, Jon," Neda exclaimed, "you know I never dreamed I could be so happy. In fact, it's all so impossible -my new appearance-my new life with you and Karl. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not all a dream which will end with my waking up as the ugly creature in that nightmare life I lived before we met."

"Well," Karl replied, "if you're so happy, Neda, why is it that you haven't once left this apartment building since you came here? Why did you stop attending classes? You've just about resigned from the human race."

"But I haven't wanted to go out," Neda answered. "You and Jon have brought me everything I've needed. As for my classes, I thought my work on your research was much more educational and important right now."

"After all, Karl," I added, "it was you who kept loading her down with enough work to keep her busy twenty-four hours a day."

"Okay," Karl nodded, "I apologize for that, and I'll admit to you both that most of the time when I was bringing you all that work, Neda, I just wanted to see you. I never saw anyone as beautiful as you've become. I just couldn't stay away. But now that I've admitted this, you won't feel like you have to type all the time. You can go out and get some exercise."

"But I get lots of exercise," Neda replied. "Especially since Jon bought me all of that exercise equipment and encouraged me to use it regularly."

"Yeah, I know," Karl said, "but Neda, don't you have any desire to see somebody besides Jon and me?"

"Are you saying I should want to see others?" she asked. "Because if you and Jon want me to go out and see other people, I'll be glad to."

"Oh, God," Karl groaned. "Do you hear that, Jon? She doesn't have any desire except to do what we tell her to do, and that's mostly what you tell her to do either telepathically or in words:"

Suddenly I felt a chill run through my body. "Neda," I said, "I may have to go away and never be able to return, so what would you do then?"

Karl and I watched her beautiful face slowly congeal in fear, and we recognized the light of terror well up in her eyes. She began shaking her head and moaning her disbelief piteously while I watched Karl cast an accusing glare at me as he took her in his arms and murmured soft reassurances to her. Great tears dotted her ebony cheeks and she shook her head back and forth refusing to consider the possibility that I might someday leave her life.

I tried to send her positive happy thoughts but my mind seemed to have become numb, and I slowly realized that my telepathic contact with her was futile-I was too upset to be able to control my mind. I kept thinking over and over-what have I done? What have I done?

It was some time before Karl and I could sufficiently reassure Neda so that Karl could take her comfortably back to her apartment. By the time Karl returned, almost an hour later, I had done some hard thinking and come to some painful conclusions. The first thing Karl said was that he wanted to talk to me some more.

"And I want to talk to you, Karl," I replied. "I realize now that what you were saying about my being a puppet master or slave master was true. I couldn't stand the thought of failing to make Neda happy, so I took over almost complete control of her mind. I-I didn't realize until this evening how completely dependent upon me she had become. No, not how dependent upon me she had become. Rather, how dependent upon me I had made her!"

Karl shook his head slowly. "You were having fun playing God," he said. "You know the old saying that power corrupts. According to your account of 2150, power doesn't corrupt Macro man, but it sure as hell corrupts micro man, and that's us, Jon-you and me."