rowed it down to a
four-block area when the telephone rang to report a fight at the Red
Antler Grill. The controller dispatched a beat cop already in the area.

Twenty minutes later, two very large--and very obedient young toughs
stumbled in, followed by an angry officer. In addition to the marks of
the fight, both had a lumbering, off-balance walk that showed that the
policeman had been prodding them with his riot club. It was called an
"electronic persuader"; it also doubled as a carbine. Police no longer
carried sidearms.

He pointed to the one on the left, "This one hit me." He pointed to the
one on the right, "This one kicked me."

The one on the left was certain he would never hit another cop. The one
on the right knew he would never kick another cop.

"Book 'em," the sergeant said. He looked at the two youths. "You're
going in the can ... you want to argue." The youths looked down. No one
else said anything. The younger reporter came over and took down the
information as the cop and the two toughs gave it to the sergeant. Then
he went back to his seat at the card table and took a minityper from his
pocket. He started sending to the paper.

"You ought to send that stuff direct," the card player said.

"I scribble too bad," the reporter answered.

"Bat crap," said the older man, "that little jewel can transcribe
chicken scratches."

The cub scrunched over his minityper. A few minutes later he looked up
at his partner, "What's a good word for hoodlum?"

The other reporter was irritated. He was also losing at gin. "What are
you, a Steinbeck?" He laid down his cards. "Look kid, just send it, just
the way you get it. That's why they pay re-write men. We're reporters.
We report. O.K.?" He went back to his cards.

At 11:40 a light at the end of the second row turned pinkish but no
reading showed on the dial below. It was only one of a dozen bulbs
showing red. It was still pinkish when the watch was changed. Blaney
was replaced by King.

"Watch this one," Blaney said to King, indicating an entry in the log.
It was numbered 8:20:18:3059:78:4a. "I've had it on four times now, all
in the high seventies. I got a feeling." The number indicated date,
estimated area and relation to previous alerts in the month, estimated
intent, and frequency of report. The "a" meant intermittent. Only the
last three digits would change. "If it comes on again I think I'd lock a
circuit on it right away." The rules called for any con