A Spaceship Named McGuire Page 11

tell you yet. But we need young women like you, and you'll betold soon enough."

  "Evidently they need men like you, too," she said. "You don't react toan emotional field, either."

  "Oh, yes, I do. Any human being does. But I use it; I don't fight it.And I don't succumb to it."

  "What do we do now?" she asked. "Go back to Ceres?"

  "That's up to you. If you do, you'll be accused of stealing McGuire,and I don't think it can be hushed up at this stage of the game."

  "But I can't just run away."

  "There's another out," I said. "We'll have a special ship pick us upon one of the nearer asteroids and leave McGuire there. We'll besmuggled back, and we'll claim that McGuire went insane again."

  She shook her head. "No. That would ruin Father, and I can't do that,in spite of the fact that I don't like him very much."

  "Can you think of any other solution?"

  "No," she said softly.

  "Thanks. But you have. All I have to do is take it to ShalimarRavenhurst. He'll scream and yell, but he has a sane ship--for awhile. Between the two of us. I think we can get everythingstraightened out."

  "But I want to go to school on Luna."

  "You can do that, too. And I'll see that you get special training,from special teachers. You've got to learn to control that techniqueof yours."

  "You have that technique, don't you? And you can control it. You'rewonderful."

  I looked sharply at her and realized that I had replaced McGuire asthe supermind in her life.

  I sighed. "Maybe in another three or four years," I said. "Meanwhile,McGuire, you can head us for Raven's Rest."

  "Home, James," said Jack Ravenhurst.

  "I am McGuire," said McGuire.

  THE END

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