"I asked if I would capture a cargo-ship on Tralee--"
"And I said I didn't know! Of course I said so! How could anybody know such a thing except by pure accident? A precognizer might think of nine hundred and ninety-nine ways in which you might try to capture that ship. They could all be wrong. He might say you wouldn't capture it. But you might try a thousandth way that he hadn't thought of! All he can know is that some idea he has concocted matches--some instinct stirs, and he _knows_ it's true! That's why one man can precognize dirty tricks. His mind works that way! We've got a woman who knows, infallibly, who's going to marry whom! That's why the ship-arrival precognizer can say a ship's coming in. His mind works on such things, and he has a talent besides!"
"What is there that's real and hasn't limits?" demanded Morgan.
The door opened and Gwenlyn came in. Bors rose, looking pleased.
"I'm telling him the facts of life about precognition," Morgan told her. "I think he understands now."
Gwenlyn said amusedly, "Two of our Talents want to talk to you, Captain. You might say that they want to measure you for rumors."
"The Talent who predicts dirty tricks," said Gwenlyn, "is going to work with the woman who broadcasts daydreams. They'll be our Department of Propaganda."
Bors said uncertainly, "But there's no point in propaganda! It's determined."
"I know!" said Morgan complacently. "The high brass has made a decision. A perfectly logical decision, too, once you grant their premises. But they assume that Talents, Incorporated, given some co-operation, of course, lacks the ability to change the situation. In that they're mistaken."
"Father hopes," said Gwenlyn amiably, "to modify the situation so their assumptions will lead logically to a different conclusion. Apparently they're going to change their minds!"
Bors objected. "But you can't know the future!"
"Our precognizer--our Precognizer for Special Events," said Gwenlyn, "got the notion that a year from now King Humphrey should open parliament on Kandar, if everything is straightened out. The notion became a precognition. We don't know how it can come about, but it does seem to imply a change of plans somewhere!"
Bors found himself indomitably skeptical. But he said, "Ah! That's the precognition you mentioned on Kandar--that the fleet wouldn't be wiped out and everybody killed."