1. I. What an inertial is3
2. II. The talents4
3. III. Measure first5
4. IV. Conduct6
5. V. The client7
6. VI. What cannot be done8
7. VII. The future9

Printed for the clients and staff of Runciter Associates. Not for sale, and not to be left on trains.

An inertial is a person in whose presence the faculties of telepaths and precognitives fail. Within a certain distance, which differs from one inertial to another and can be measured, a telepath cannot read the people present, and a precognitive cannot see what they will do.

The inertial feels nothing, does nothing and in most cases has no idea that they are doing it. Inertials are not rare, but they are seldom noticed, which is in the nature of the thing. Most go through life known to their friends only as people who are hard to get to know.

A telepath reads the thoughts of those near them. A precognitive sees, imperfectly, what is about to happen, and in business that usually means what someone is about to decide.

Both are lawful, both are for hire and both are increasingly employed by companies that would not like their clients to know it. This pamphlet does not concern itself with the morality of that. It concerns itself with the remedy.

No inertial should be placed in a room that has not been measured. Measurement shows where the field is strongest, where it comes from, and how large an inertial is needed to cancel it. An inertial placed without measurement is a hope, and the firm does not sell hopes.

Inertials themselves are measured when they join the firm and every year after. Fields change, usually a little, sometimes a great deal, after an illness, a bereavement or a change of circumstances.

1. Arrive before the meeting and leave after it.
2. Sit where you are put. Your position has been measured.
3. Do not speak unless spoken to, and then briefly.
4. Take no notes. What you do not write down cannot be read by anyone, including you.
5. Do not discuss one client with another, or any client with anyone.
6. Dress for the room. An inertial who is noticed has failed at the easier half of the work.
7. If you feel unwell in a room, say so. It may be you, or it may be a talent who is trying very hard.

The client should understand that an inertial protects a room, not a person, and not a telephone.

They should be told where the inertial will sit and why, and asked not to move the furniture. They should not attempt to tip the inertial, who is paid by the firm.

An inertial cannot protect a conversation held elsewhere, a letter that has been posted or a secret that has already been told.

Nor can an inertial stop a microphone.

We expect the means of listening to multiply, and some of them may not be people at all.

If that happens the inertial profession will not be less necessary, but it will no longer be enough on its own, and firms like this one will have to learn other trades as well. We intend to be ready.

G. R. and E. R.
New York, 1971

Runciter Associates was established in New York in 1962. It measures the fields of its clients’ premises, places inertials where they are needed, and keeps its clients’ names to itself.

Enquiries are received at the firm’s offices at 409 Madison Avenue, New York, on weekdays. Telephone callers should ask the operator for Runciter Associates and will be put through.

This page is left for the reader’s own notes, which the firm recommends be kept to a minimum.