housand;
the woman didn't recognize Mark, because Mark's features were changed a
little.

Then Mark spotted two others who had made threatening noises and
collected five hundred from each, and from another who expressed doubt
that he was really hurt, Mark got a thousand points. There was nothing
to it, really. Most people had regular beats, and all Mark had to do was
sit at one side in Penelope's wheel-chair and wait for them to come by.
He would have collected more if he could have remembered more faces. He
saw Conley go by once a day but now he wasn't afraid. He thought Conley
looked at him disappointedly.

A couple of weeks later he got his card back from the Machine at Central
and looked at it with great satisfaction. He had a hundred and thirteen
thousand points to his credit. He met Penelope and they went to her
apartment for dinner. Jubilantly Mark got all the fancy food--even some
synthetic meat--that he could get on his card, and they prepared for a
feast.

"The only thing is," Penelope said as she punched the dishes on the
table, "I'm scared. I have a feeling you shouldn't have gone over a
hundred thousand."

"Is that why you never cashed my slip for thirty-five thousand?"

She nodded. "That's mostly the reason. My balance is over eighty
thousand and I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"I don't know. Just afraid."

"Well," said Mark, "I'm not. I don't see what Central can do to a person
for getting points. There's no rule against it."

"It's dangerous," Penelope insisted.

"Nevertheless, I have made a decision. A hundred thousand points--that's
nothing." His head was high. "I'm going after a million points!"

Penelope gasped. "Mark, you mustn't do anything like that. You have no
use for a million points."

"No," Mark said complacently, "but it's a lot of fun getting them. And
it gives me something worth while to do. We'll sit up till three o'clock
every morning and play bridge, and I'll stay in bed till noon, and dream
up new stunts. I'll pull one a week. Life is going to be worth living."

The announcing light showed at the door. Penelope pressed the admittance
button. A tall, thin man came in a moment later. "Mark Renner?" he
asked.

Mark jumped. "Conley!" Mark's stomach had a funny feeling in it.

"They told me I would find you here," Conley said.

Penelope had recovered enough to gasp. "What do you want?"

"I'm from Central Audit Bureau."

"That's just lovely," Penelope said, "but it