were wrong. You’re an earthman. I am an earthwoman.”
“That’s a lie! I’m not an earthman!”
“You are now. How are you different?”
“That’s a lie. I’m, I’m . . . .” He fought against the tentacle-like strips of sheet.
“Is it a lie, Walt?”
He continued to struggle.
Smiling, she taunted him: “When I was a little girl, I used to get mad and throw rocks . . . . It never did any good. Lie still.”
I shouldn’t tease him, she thought contritely.
She felt very sorry for him. How frustrated he must feel! How hurt and puzzled and helpless and betrayed!
He’s like Samson shorn.
“I know how you feel,” she said softly. “I felt that way when you were chasing me. You’re going to listen to me. After I’m through talking to you, maybe I’ll let you up.”
Glaring hotly, he relaxed.
“I saved your life,” Julia said. “Don’t forget that. You could thank me.”
“You had a reason then. You’re a traitor. You had your reasons to.”
She slipped to the end of the bed. Gently she unlaced his shoes and slipped them off.
His face purpled with impotent anger.
She peeled off his socks.
Then, one by one, Julia compared the footprints on the birth certificates with Walt’s feet.
Hot tears of defeat brimmed up within Walt; indignant rage filled his eyes.
Julia turned to put the birth certificates back on the dresser.
None of them corresponded to his prints.
*
Walt wanted to bite down on something. He gritted his teeth. Then, as Julia was turning away from him, he felt once again the weird blending of his mind with Calvin’s. He realized that it was some exclusive power given to Calvin that caused the blending: he was not even any longer a, a Lyrian!
Joy vibrated in his body. Drawing on the new power in his mind, he hurled a picture from the wall at the back of Julia’s unprotected head.
She half turned. The heavy wooden frame hit her in the temple. With a little despairing sigh of surprise she sank to the carpet.
I’ll kill her this time, Walt thought. He displaced the binding from his right hand.
And Calvin’s mind withdrew.
Walt tried desperately to tear loose his other hand; the knot would not yield. He tried to reach Julia. He tried to reach something to throw at Julia. He could not. He let out a roar of baffled rage.
Julia was struggling to her feet.
Standing uncertainly, she shook her head. Her eyes cleared. She let out her breath. The recuperative powers of a mutant were in action. “That was an awful wallop,” she said calmly. “How did you manage it?”
Walt said nothing.
Julia wrinkled her forehead. Her mind was steady and alert. “I felt another mind just before I turned. Someone called Calvin, wasn’t it?”
Walt was sweating. How smart is she? Can she guess everything?
“Somehow he gains rapport with you.” Her fingers tapped restlessly on the dresser top. “If you could maintain contact with his mind all the time, you would; that’s obvious, isn’t it? He must make contact with yours, then. You don’t know just when he’s going to contact you, do you?”
Walt licked his lips.
“He must be abnormal. A normal mutant couldn’t do that. I’ll have to find some way to seal his mind off from yours, I guess. I’ll have to interfere with that sort of thing. In the meantime, I’ll have to keep a sharp eye on you.”
Walt glared at her. “Damn you,” he said.
“Why don’t the aliens do the fighting for themselves?”
The question was unexpected. “You got it wrong,” he said automatically. “They are helping Lyrians out of the goodness of their hearts.” It was as if he were speaking to Calvin; it made him feel, momentarily, superior to her. He grasped the opportunity with pathetic gratefulness. “They’re afraid!” he cried triumphantly. “We’re not that far advanced yet!”
Julia paused to consider this. “Yes, that figures,” she said. “But suppose for a minute that you’re not a Lyrian. Suppose they’re using you to fight for them.”
“No,” Walt said.
“But why not?”
“No,” he repeated. He tried to keep doubt out of his voice. His anger was gone. He felt uncertain and confused. He could not think clearly.
“You’re a mutant,” Julia said. “Like I am. Our parents were earthlings. The aliens are using mutants. The aliens changed our parents’ genes—”
“I don’t understand that word.”
Julia smiled twistedly. “Think how ignorant they kept you, Walt. Isn’t that proof enough for you?”
Walt said nothing.
“ . . . Genes are the substances which transmit characteristics from generation to generation. If you wish to change hereditary characteristics, you must change the genes. The aliens changed our genes so we would be able to use all of our brains. The normal earthling is just like you are right now: unable to use more than one sixth of his brain. The aliens collected all the mutants; all of them but me. They overlooked me.”
Walt twisted uncomfortably.
“But they still control us,” Julia said. “There is a bridge that is held closed by a special frequency. That’s why we’ve just recently been able to use our full powers. They just recently turned the frequency on.”
“But—”
“The frequency that controls my bridge is different from the one controlling yours. There are two groups of mutants on the ship. The female you saw, the one you thought was a Lyrian, was a mutant from the other group. I’m on the frequency of that group. It’s the group that’s going to attack Earth first. They are the ones that are going to cause the war your Forential told you about.”
*
Walt’s mouth was dry. Stop! he wanted to cry to her. Please, stop!
“ . . . keep birth records,” Julia continued. Walt had missed some of it. “No two sets of prints can be identical. A group
