Laurence M. Janifer

“ Upstairs, in Room 1212, the superman sat in a comfortable chair and tried to relax. He wasn't a trained telepath but he could read surface thoughts if there were enough force behind them, and he could read the red thoughts of the man downstairs. They worried him more than he wanted to admit, and for a second he considered sending out a call for help. But that idea died before it had been truly born.
Donegan had told him he could handle the situation. Without weapons, forbidden to run, faced by a man who wanted only his death, he could handle the situation. ”

“ It was important that Fredericks go up against the Operative thinking he was completely protected—in that way his final defeat would be most effective. He'd have guarded against every possible failure—so, when he failed, there would be nothing to explain it.
Except the "fact" that the Psi Operatives were supermen.
He gritted his teeth. It would be nice, he reflected, to be a real superman. But any talent has its limits. And, even allowing for that, only Donegan and a very few others could handle the full theoretical potentials of their talents. ”

“ But Fredericks had a shield. And in case the shield didn't work, he was coming with a blindfold.
The Psi Operative had no weapons, no reinforcements, no chance to run—nothing except his psi talent, which Fredericks had defenses against, and his brains.
But there had to be a way out.
Didn't there?
he desk clerk looked young and comparatively innocent. Fredericks ambled over, taking his time about it. The clerk looked up and smiled distantly. "Yes, sir?"
"You've got a man registered here," Fredericks said, in crisp, official tones. ”

“ Fredericks knew enough of general psi theory to know when somebody was handing him a snow job. And the equipment was no snow job.
A force shield, that was the basic thing. A shield with no points of entrance for anything larger than air molecules. Sight and sound could get through, because the shield was constructed to allow selected vibrations and frequencies. But no psi force could crack the shield. ”

“ Then the power had to be controlled carefully enough so that you moved just what you wanted to move and not, for instance, shift the Empire State Building while trying to lift a molecule out of its topmast. ”