"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 04 - Kalin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

It was like the spread fingers of a hand. Five pictures,
sometimes more, but only five were of any real use. The others
were too vague, too hopelessly indistinct.

"The strongest one is the future," Kalin explained. "I
concentrate and there it is. Like cards," she said. "I wanted to
win so I looked to see which pack would win and chose that one."

And because she chose it, it won; because it won, she chose it.
A closed cycle to ensure that the visualized future would be
correct.

"The other pictures?" asked Dumarest. "Are they alternates?"

She frowned. "I think so. Like the cards again. Two showed
different packs which lost. Two, very vague, showed no cards at
all."

Alternate universes, thought Dumarest. Or rather alternate
futures in which they had not played cards or had stopped
playing them. Unless?

"The time element," he said. "Can you determine it? Can you
select how far you will see into the future? An hour, a day, a
year?"

She shook her head, frowning. "No, not with any great
accuracy. Some things are big and stand out even though the
details are vague. Others, smaller and closer, are very clear. I
could see the cards without trouble. I can see other things," she
said. "One of them is very strong. You are kissing me," she told
him. "That and something else." Her hand reached out for his
own. "We are going to become lovers," she said quietly. "I know
it."

"Know it?"

"It is there," she insisted. "When I concentrate about us and
look into the future it is there and it is very sharp and very
strong." Her eyes searched his face. "Earl! Is something wrong?"
 He shook his head.

"Is the prospect so distasteful?"

He looked at her and felt her attraction. The biochemical
magic of her flesh transmitted through sight and sound and
smell. She was beautiful! Beautiful!

Beautiful and the possessor of a wild and wanton talent which