Telzey first uncovers her telepathic (or "psionic") powers through a relationship with her pet, Tick-Tock, a kittenlike creature she had found as a stray and taken in. As the years pass she has discovered that she can pick up mental images and feelings from her pet, now grown much larger and mentally more mature — less a pet and more a companion. It is the question of Tick-Tock's fate as a possibly intelligent creature and a friend in trouble that motivates Telzey to push onward through strange, new and even frightening experiences to expand what had simply been a telepathic form of child's play into the means to save her catlike friend.

As the novel progresses, so does Telzey's scope. She ventures far beyond the resolution of Tick-Tock's problem and into the arena of government agencies such as the Psychology Service and private investigative firms such as the...