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the same. Telepathy isn't a psychic power. The mechanisms in the right parietal lobe are well mapped. They just don't work for most people."
    "Telepathy was once thought to be a form of psi. Now you claim that luck is not."
    "Luck is luck." The situation would have been funny, as funny as Teela thought it was; but Louis realized what she did not. The puppeteer was serious. "The law of averages swings back and forth. The odds shift wrong and you're out of the game, like the dinosaurs. The dice fall your way and --"
    "It is thought that some humans can direct the fall of a die."
    "So I picked a bad metaphor. The point is --"
    "Yes," the kzin rumbled. He had a voice to shake walls when he chose to use it. "The point is that we will accept whom Nessus chooses. You own the ship, Nessus. Where, then, is our fourth crewman?"
    "Here in this room!"
    "Now just a tanj minute!" Teela stood up. The silver netting flashed like real metal across her blue skin; her hair floated flaming in the draft from the air conditioner. "This whole thing is ridiculous. I'm not going anywhere. Why should I?"
    "Pick someone else, Nessus. There must be millions of qualified candidates. Where's the hang-up?"
    "Not millions, Louis. We have a few thousand names, and phone numbers or private transfer booth numbers for most of them. Each can claim five generations of ancestors born by virtue of winning lottery tickets."
    "Well?"
    Nessus began to pace the floor. "Many disqualify themselves by obvious bad luck. Of the rest, none seem to be available. When we call, they are out. When we call back, the phone computer gives us a bad connection. When we ask for any member of the Brandt family, every phone in South America rings. There have been complaints. It is very frustrating." Taptaptap, taptaptap.
    Teela said, "You haven't even told me where you're going."
    "I cannot name our destination, Teela. However, you may --"
    "Finagle's red claws! You won't even tell us that?"
    "You may examine the holo Louis Wu is carrying. That is the only information I can give you at this time."
    Louis handed her the holo, the one that showed a baby-blue stripe crossing a black background behind a disc of blazing white. She took her time looking it over; and only Louis noticed how the angry blood flowed into her face.
    When she spoke, she spit the words out one at a time, like the seeds of a tangerine. "This is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. You expect Louis and me to go charging out beyond known space with a kzin and a puppeteer for company, and all we know about where were going is a length of blue ribbon and a bright -spot! That's -- ridiculous!"
    "I take it, then, that you refuse to join us."
    The girl's eyebrows went up.
    "I must have a direct answer. Soon my agents may locate another candidate."
    "Yes," said Teela Brown. "Yes, I do refuse."
    "Remember, then, that by human law you must keep secret the things you have been told here. You have been paid a consultant's fee."
    "Who would I tell?" Teela laughed dramatically. "Who would believe me? Louis, are you really going on this ridiculous --"
    "Yes." Louis was already thinking of other things, like a tactful way to get her out of the office. "But not right this minute. There's still a party going on. Look, do something for me, will you? Switch the musicmaster from tape four to tape five. Then tell anyone who asks that I'll be out in a minute."
    When the door had closed behind her, Louis said, "Do me a favor. Do yourselves one, too. Let me be the judge of whether a human being is qualified for a jaunt into the unknown."
    "You know what qualifications are paramount," said Nessus. "We do not yet have two candidates to choose from."
    "You've got tens of thousands."
    "Not really. Many disqualify themselves; others cannot be found. However, you may tell me where that human being fails to fit your own qualifications."
    "She's too young."
    "No candidate can qualify without being of Teela Brown's generation."
    "Breeding for