Chapters 17 and 18 Summary

Bayta and Magnifico are in the home of Ebling Mis. Mis wants to learn what Magnifico knows about the Mule. As they wait, Magnifico seems frightened, and Bayta continually reassures him. Mis provides Magnifico with a Visor-Sonor - a type of instrument no longer used but one on which Magnifico is proficient. Mis tells Bayta to applaud Magnifico's playing but he needn't have bothered - Magnifico plays beautifully. When he's finished, he tells Bayta that the music was of his own composition.

Mis then asks the clown if he can use the psychic probe to discover what he knows about the Mule. Magnifico is reluctant but agrees, as long as Bayta holds his hand. Mis tells Indbur that he learned little and that "the little freak" is too afraid of the probe to go farther without damaging his mind. Meanwhile, the...