human
I see, Burris said with a disappointed air.
gpt
But what do you mean, it won't detect a telepath? Have you ever actually worked with a telepath?
human
Certainly we have, Dr. O'Connor said.
gpt
If we hadn't, how would we be able to tell that the machine was, in fact, indicating the presence of telepathy? The theoretical state of the art is not, at present, sufficiently developed to enable us to--
human
I see, Burris said hurriedly.
gpt
Only wait a minute.
human
Yes?
gpt
You mean you've actually got a real mind reader? You've found one? One that works?
human
I'm afraid I should have said, Mr. Burris, that we did once have one, he admitted.
gpt
He was, unfortunately, an imbecile, with a mental age between five and six, as nearly as we were able to judge.
human
An imbecile? Burris said.
gpt
But how were you able to--
human
He could repeat a person's thoughts word for word, Dr. O'Connor said.
gpt
Of course, he was utterly incapable of understanding the meaning behind them. That didn't matter; he simply repeated whatever you were thinking. Rather disconcerting.
human
I'm sure, Burris said.
gpt
But he was really an imbecile? There wasn't any chance of--
human
Of curing him? Dr. O'Connor said.
gpt
None, I'm afraid. We did at one time feel that there had been a mental breakdown early in the boy's life, and, indeed, it's perfectly possible that he was normal for the first year or so. The records we did manage to get on that period, however, were very much confused, and there was never any way of telling anything at all, for certain. It's easy to see what caused the confusion, of course: telepathy in an imbecile is rather an oddity--and any normal adult would probably be rather hesitant about admitting that he was capable of it. That's why we have not found another subject; we must merely sit back and wait for lightning to strike.
human
I see your problem, he said.
gpt
But what happened to this imbecile boy of yours?
human
Very sad, Dr. O'Connor said.
gpt
Six months ago, at the age of fifteen, the boy simply died. He simply--gave up, and died.
human
Gave up?
gpt
That was as good an explanation as our medical department was able to provide, Mr. Burris. There was some malfunction, but--we like to say that he simply gave up. Living became too difficult for him.
human
All right, Burris said after a pause.
gpt
This telepath of yours is dead, and there aren't any more where he came from. Or if there are, you don't know how to look for them. All right. But to get back to this machine of yours: it couldn't detect the boy's ability?
human
No, I'm afraid not. We've worked hard on that problem at Westinghouse, Mr. Burris, but we haven't yet been able to find a method of actually detecting telepaths.
gpt
But you can detect--
human
That's right, Dr. O'Connor said.
gpt
We can detect the fact that a man's mind is being read. He stopped, and his face became suddenly morose. When he spoke again, he sounded guilty, as if he were making an admission that pained him.
human
Of course, Mr. Burris, there's nothing we can _do_ about a man's mind being read. Nothing whatever. He essayed a grin that didn't look very healthy.
gpt
But at least, he said,
human
Dr. O'Connor, how sure can you be of all this?