Time Is the Simplest Thing (Collier Nucleus Fantasy & Science Fiction)

The story opens in a distant future on earth - so distant, in fact, that space travel is only a memory of the past. After countless attempts, man has begrudgingly acknowledged itself defeated by the insurmountable difficulties of travel to the stars. But, in the attempt, mankind has rediscovered and refined a long-lost talent - paranormal kinetics, a form of telepathy by which gifted individuals - called "parries" - can "travel" to the stars and experience with their minds all that other worlds have to offer. Fishhook, a corporation set up to develop, market, sell and profit from the myriad wonders the telepathic travelers find has succumbed to the greed of a monopoly. It now secretly works at promoting a global belief that these abilities are somehow abnormal, twisted or, even worse, represent a perverted, evil magic as opposed to a normal but seldom used human talent.