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who can understand me, so will Minc have someone. After eighteen years alone,
he must be desperate, too. I was, when I was his age. Minc needs me and I need
him, and
Stams is pushing me too far this time."
"That's an impossibility," Stams's voice said from behind him. "You're
stronger than all the rest of us put together, Counselor."
Minor whirled about, expecting to see Stams and Minc standing there together,
but Stams was alone, his figure too familiar short, round and graying.
Stams said in his habit of condescension, "A thing like this takes time,
Counselor.
It has to be handled delicately. You'll meet the boy soon enough, but first
you have to hear from the man who raised him."
"Why?" Minor demanded. "Put Minc and me together and well know all about each
other instantly. Total-PSI power means that, Dr. Stams. If the cloning worked,
and he is my exact duplicate " Minor spoke his haunting fear of eighteen
years.
"He is," Stams said. "He has every ability you have. He lacks only your
experience in using it. That's why, barring a real world emergency, I'm
allowing you an extended leave to tutor him and bring him up to your level
without waiting for him to learn through trial-and-error."
"You're making us both sound like machinery, Stams," Minor complained, "and
I've never appreciated " He was cut off by the opening of the door.
Another man stepped into the office. He was short and youngish, with brown
hair and a faint smile that betrayed a grudge when it fell on Minor. Allowing
himself one instant of ethical lapse, Minor delved into him slightly and came
up with his name Bates, Ph.D., M.D. The grudging smile stemmed from Bates's
unwillingness to turn over his coveted Clone to other hands.
With guilt nudging him for intruding on the doctor's mind uninvited, Minor
shook
Bates's hand and nodded his sticky way through the flattering words about
being
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futurelove honored to meet the PSI Counselor of the world. He didn't want
flattery. He knew who and what he was. Right now, he wanted only his Clone.
But he wouldn't demand to see him. He seldom demanded anything. He could
easily have taken anything he wanted through his PSI powers, but he kept close
restraints on himself and always had. "A character fault," Ellis forever told
him, saying he clung so hard to his own sense of decency that it blocked him
from being all he could be. Ellis was probably right, but Minor couldn't help
it. He preferred to follow his own way.
Bates was saying, "& and so the boy has been raised carefully and in the best
surroundings. He's been allowed to grow and experiment as he's seen fit. I've
had an amazing eighteen years, watching over him. He's astounded me almost
daily with the things he can do. He's even frightened me at times, if you'll
excuse my saying so. And meeting you, Counselor Minor the fully mature and
experienced prototype of Minc well, a man can be forgiven some uneasiness,
wouldn't you agree? Your powers are tested and tried. You're a real force to
be "
Minor blocked the words out again. Bates was afraid of him, but so was
everyone else, at first. He supposed they never got over it entirely, no
matter what he did to make them feel secure around him.
"& and this is a momentous occasion," Bates was continuing when Minor tuned
back in. "It doesn't happen often, you know."
"I'm aware of that," Minor told him, holding down his impatience.
"Cloning is seldom practiced with human beings. Since we want our population
stable, it's illogical to duplicate people. Cloning is only allowed with food
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animals, the best of them. The best animals and the really unique men. Such as
you."
"You don't have to pat my ego anymore, Dr. Bates," Minor said, becoming rude.
"I believe you came to fill me in on Minc's background."
Bates went slightly pale at Minor's severe tone. "Yes, of course I did. I'll
tell you
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futurelove how each power developed in him, and at what age, and "
"Excuse me," Minor interrupted, "but, Dr. Bates, will you permit me to enter
your brain and extract the information for myself? That way, I can have it in
a few seconds, and we can proceed with our main purpose."
Bates shifted from one foot to the other and glanced apprehensively at Stams.
With Stams's nod of assurance, Bates agreed to the probe. "But take only the
information on Minc," he put in nervously.
Minor dove into the man's brain headfirst and found the data to be what he had
expected. Paralleling his own development, Minc had shown his first signs of
thought-reading at two years; empathic emotion-and-motive sensing at three;
telekinesis at five; and
Minor straightened sharply. Why should Bates's mind rattle on with "hypnosis
at eight" and "thought control at nine"?
But of course! Minor smiled to himself. The cloned boy had discovered those
side powers and tested them as Minor had, but because Minc was so closely
observed, he had been caught at it before he put them aside of his own accord
as too dangerous and unethical for use.
Minor spoke to Bates. "Thank you, Doctor. I have it all. His childhood was a
duplicate of mine, except that I thankfully didn't find any hint of his being
in danger of a nervous collapse such as the one I suffered at eighteen. That
was due entirely to my environment, then. I hoped that would be true. He's
been accepted from the beginning, while I spent those years cringing." He
cleared his throat. "I
do have one question. You were hesitant to let me into your mind, yet I
clearly saw that the boy probes you all the time, no? Am I right to think
you're still allowing him a free ride through the minds of your staff?"
"Naturally! How can he be stopped?"
"Only by himself and that means me. I'll be sure that one of the first things
I
teach him is that an individual's mind is sacrosanct unless consent is given
to
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futurelove probe it. He'll learn quickly."
"He always has." Bates smiled, back on familiar ground. "He's a brilliant
student."
"He'll learn even more quickly now, Doctor, because he'll clutch concepts and
the reasons behind them directly out of my brain. I don't like the idea that
he's using his PSI powers so freely, but it won't be hard for him to
understand why he has to restrain them unless they're requested."
Stams put in, "Counselor Minor learned all of that harshly out of fear of
giving himself away. His Clone will be able to undergo those bad experiences
second-
hand. Less painfully, but just as decidedly. Right, Counselor?"
"Exactly. And, now?" Minor left it hanging. He was keeping himself from
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