are flipped one way or the other to record data. I will demonstrate. Do you
have a database I can copy?"
"Far too much in one of them. In the computer, filed under KAIZI."
He hummed to himself as he connected the two computers and hit a button.
There was a quick crackling sound and the hairs on the back of my neck
lifted up. James peered at the screen and smiled.
"Done," he said. "And less than one-hundredth of one percent of the memory
in this computer has been used. Now what do you want done with it?"
I told him about our encounter in the forest and Kaia's problems. He nodded
understandingly and his fingers skipped over the keys. He smiled when I
mentioned the daily transfer to my bank account, shook his head when I
mentioned how easily my employer had found this same account.
"We will have to do something about that. Find a secure place for your
hardearned income." He leaned back and cracked his knuckles while the screen
before him flared and crackled. "I've started a search program, really a lot
of search programs running at the same time in a neural network. But- we
sure have a lot of material to search for. What I have done is I have tapped
into the interstellar web. We are now recording every detail of every
occurrence of any kind, in any city where a robbery took place. All of the
details of activity before and after the time that one of the banks was
robbed. Then comparisons of all the data will be made. Such as, let us say,
a spacer with the same name left every one of these cities exactly one day
after each of the robberies . . ."
"We have them! Find that spacer and we find the thieves!"
"Easier said than done. And that was just an imaginary example. I think the
real tracks are going be a lot harder to find. But let us get all the facts
first, then try to relate them. I'll leave the program running since it will
take some time to produce any results. In the meantime why don't you open a
bottle of champers so we can celebrate your new job-and the first real test
of my 68X."
Even as he spoke Angelina brought a tray with bottle and glasses and we
drank the toast. A moment later Sybil arrived, which made the parry all the
merrier. But James was still working while he sipped.
"Dad," he asked, "what do you know about banks?"
"That is where the money is!" I said happily.
"I mean more than that. What do you know about fiduciary bonds, roll-over
percentages, PEPS, short-term interest-bearing investments, treasury bills
and bank certificates of deposit?"
