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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....

Table of Contents:

• Novice - (1962) - novelette
• Undercurrents - (1964) - novella
• Poltergeist - (1971) - short story
• Goblin Night - (1965) - novelette
• Sleep No More - (1965) - short story
• The Lion Game - (1971) - novella
• Blood of Nalakia - (1953) - novelette
• The Star Hyacinths - (1961) - novelette
• Afterword - essay by Eric Flint
• The Federation of the Hub: An Overview - essay by Guy Gordon

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction -> Science Fact, April 1965. The story can also be found in the anthologies On Our Way to the Future (1970), edited by Terry Carr and The World Turned Upside Down (2005) edited by Eric Flint, Jim Baen and David Drake. It is included in the collections The Best of James H. Schmitz and Telzey Amberdon (2000).

Telzey Amberdon, at age 15, had enormously developed psionic powers. She could read, as well as change, human minds! In part I, she enjoys an extraordinary telepathic rapport with a feline non-human.

Then her dreams become nightmares dominated by a weird "psionic traffic cop," and she realizes that further exercise of her powers could lead to trouble. Somehow, the interstellar government had found out about her, and had planted that "cop" in her mind to destroy her.

Expansion of 2 previously published stories - "Novice" (1962) and "Undercurrents" (1964).

The future of earth and control of the universe is at stake when a highly intelligent fifteen-year-old becomes involved in a game played by her protean kidnappers.

Expansion of 3 previously published stories - "Goblin Night" (1965), "Sleep No More" (1965), and "The Lion Game" (1971).

Table of Contents:

• Company Planet
• Compulsion
• Resident Witch
• The Telzey Toy