human
Well, now, Sir Kenneth, he said.
gpt
Let's put everything together and see what happens.
human
Indeed, said Sir Kenneth Malone,
gpt
Let's start from the beginning, Malone said.
human
We know there's confusion in all parts of the country--in all parts of the world, I guess. And we know that confusion is being caused by carefully timed accidents and errors. We also know that these errors appear to be accompanied by violent bursts of psionic static--violent energy. And we know, further, that on three specific occasions, these bursts of energy were immediately followed by a reversal of policy in the mind of the person on the receiving end.
gpt
You mean, Sir Kenneth put in,
human
Correct, Malone said.
gpt
I refer, of course, to the firm of Brubitsch, Borbitsch and Garbitsch, Spying Done Cheap.
human
Indeed, Sir Kenneth said.
gpt
Then the operators of this strange force, whatever it may prove to be, must have some interest in allowing the spies' confession?
human
Maybe, Malone said.
gpt
Let's leave that for later. To get back to the beginning of all this: it seems to me to follow that the accidents and errors which have caused all the confusion throughout the world happen because somebody's mind is changed just the right amount at the right time. A man does something he didn't intend to do--or else he forgets to do it at all.
human
Ah, Sir Kenneth said.
gpt
We have done those things we ought not to have done; we have left undone those things we ought to have done. And you feel, Sirrah, that a telepathic command is the cause of this confusion?
human
A series of them, Malone said.
gpt
But we also know, from Dr. O'Connor, that it takes a great deal of psychic energy to perform this particular trick--more than a person can normally afford to expend.
human
Marry, now, Sir Kenneth said.
gpt
Meseemeth this is not reasonable. Changing the mind of a man indeed seems a small thing in comparison to teleportation, or psychokinesis, or levitation or any such witchery. And yet it take more power than any of these?
human
Sure it does, he said.
gpt
I'd say it was a matter of resistance. Moving an inanimate object is pretty simple--comparatively, anyhow--because inert matter has no mental resistance.
human
And moving oneself?
gpt
There's some resistance there, probably, Malone said.
human
But you'll remember that the Fueyo system of training for teleportation involved overcoming your own mental resistance to the idea.
gpt
True, Sir Kenneth said.
human
Next, Malone said,
gpt
And why else?
human
They've also got to know exactly when to make this victim of theirs change his mind, Malone said.
gpt
Right?
human
Correct,
gpt
We've got to look for a widespread organization of telepaths, Malone said,
human
A difficult assignment,
gpt
Well, Malone said,
human
I shall wait, sir Kenneth said,
gpt
Without what?