Telzey Amberdon

MEET TELZEY AMBERDON 
-SHE'S NOBODY'S TOY

Telzey Amberdon was only in her teens when she discovered that she was a telepath. Not only a telepath, but a xenotelepath, able to communicate mentally not just with humans, but with alien intelligences. And she turned out to be one of the most powerful telepaths in the history of the galactic civilization called the Hub.

First she had to deal with an alien race that humans hadn't realized were intelligent, and who were about to eliminate those troublesome humans who thought they were colonizing an uninhabited world. Then, she had to fend off the secret psi agents of the Psychological Corps who took a dim view of any telepath, let alone one with Telzey's powers, operating outside of their control. Next, she stumbled across a telepathic serial killer, who used an unstoppable predator, under his mental control, to hunt and kill his victims-and Telzey was to be the catch of the day.

It was fortunate for the human race that she survived, since she next found herself in the middle of a secret war between two hidden races of genetically engineered humans. They called it the "Lion Game," and they made the mistake of thinking that in this clash of predators, Telzey was just a harmless kitten. But when the dust settled, Telzey would be the only one purring....

"Take my advice and buy TWO copies of this book! You'll want to lend it to friends and (trust me on this: I have years of experience to back up the observation) once people get their hands on a Schmitz book, they don't let go!"  --Janet Kagan, Hugo-Winner and author of Uhura's Song

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.baen.com

First printing, April 2000

Typeset by Windhaven Press
Auburn, NH

Electronic version by WebWrights
http://www.webwrights.com

ISBN: 0-671-57851-0

"Novice" (c) 1962, first appeared in Analog, June 1962; "Undercurrents" (c) 1964, first appeared in Analog, May 1964; "Poltergeist" (c) 1971, first appeared in Analog, July 1971; "Goblin Night" (c) 1965, first appeared in Analog, April 1965; "Sleep No More" (c) 1965, first appeared in Analog, August 1965; "The Lion Game" (c) 1971, first appeared in Analog, August 1971; "Blood of Nalakia" (c) 1953, first appeared under the title "The Vampirate" in Science Fiction Plus, Dec. 1953; "The Star Hyacinths" (c) 1961, first appeared in Amazing Stories, Dec. 1961; all copyright to THE ESTATE OF JAMES SCHMITZ ??

Afterword, (c) 2000 by Eric Flint; "A Short History of the Hub," (c) 2000 by Guy Gordon.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

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