Picking up his thoughts the slime mold cautioned, "Remember Mr. Rittersdorf, Miss Trieste is a member of the Ross Police Department."

Joan Trieste said, "So I am." She had obtained the slime mold's thoughts but not Chuck's. "Why did you think that to Mr. Rittersdorf?" she asked the slime mold.

"I felt," the slime mold said to her, "that because of the fact that you would not countenance amorous activity on his part."

The explanation seemed to satisfy her. "I think," she said to the slime mold, "that you ought to mind your own business more. Being a telepath has made you Ganymedeans terrible busybodies." She sounded cross.

"I am sorry," the slime mold said, "if I misjudged your desires, Miss Trieste; please forgive me." To Chuck it thought, "Apparently Miss Trieste will entertain amorous activity on your part toward her."

"Chrissake," Joan Triests complained. "Mind your own business, please! Leave the whole topic alone, OK?" She had turned pale.

"It is difficult," the slime mold thought morosely, to no one in particular, "to please Terran girls."

Clans of the Alphane Moon, 1964