r down to--if I may say so--the slightest
detail. In emergencies, a simple photograph will do. Our skilled
craftsmen can deliver a finished model to your offices in a matter of
hours. Android construction guaranteed throughout at rock bottom
prices. Why, a child could follow the simple instructions enclosed
with every...."

But already the Chief had turned back to the map of North America; he
had smiled politely and told the salesman to leave any literature he
had with his secretary.

Mrs. Mimms made a decision.

She picked up the telephone and dialed a number. Even before the
Resident Destinyworker had time for a greeting, Mrs. Mimms said:

"George, I want to send a message to Central. Make it a flat
Priority-to-Present; there's no time to waste with a Zonal Relay
Letter. ATTENTION: CHIEF, DESTINYWORKERS, INC...."

* * * * *

It was early evening when Eighty-One (Female, Duplicanical Pat.
Pending U17809) entered the apartment and carefully set down the two
black suitcases. For an hour she had been seated on the bus which had
carried her from the address in New York out to Greenlawn. All the
while she had been smiling faintly as per Similarity Instruction 3.

Eighty-One's cybertechnic brain hummed smoothly as she unpacked the
bags and set up the Destiny apparatus (Work Instruction 17). Although
she was neither cold nor hot, she removed the plain brown coat (Human
Function 55). From Eighty-One's chest there came the nearly
imperceptible ticking of her rotary stabilizer; it lessened slightly
when she sat down at the desk as the take-up tension relaxed on key
bearings.

From one of the black suitcases she took a copy of _The
Destinyworker's Manual & Guide_ and also a photocopy of a notebook
marked ACTIVE. She opened both books simultaneously and began to read.
Without a glance at the bed behind her, she turned the pages slowly
and uniformly until next morning when the books were finished.
Word-for-word copies of them were now lightly etched on the tape reels
behind her deftly molded Pigma-Foam forehead, and even now were being
fed into the Action-and-Motion Editor at the base of her Myoplastic
skull.

Satisfied, Eighty-One raised her hand in Female Instinctive Function
14 and smoothed her graying Spun-Tex hair, feeling the hard stitching
on the scalp beneath.

Then the telephone rang and Eighty-One picked it up.

"This is Clair Howard in C-12, Mrs. Mimms. I'm so shamed to ask o