“But if that is all there is to crime, or rebellion against the system-where does that leave you and me?” “I thought you would never ask. These dropouts I have described, whom you have associated with in prison, comprise ninety-nine point nine percent of crime in our organized and dandified society. It is the last and vital one-tenth of one percent that we represent that is so vital to the fabric of this same society. Without us the heat death of the universe would begin. Without us the lives of all the sheep-like citizenry would be so empty that mass suicide to escape it would be the only answer. Instead of pursuing us and calling us criminals they should honor us as first among them!” There were sparks in his eyes and thunder in his voice when he spoke. I did not want to internipt his fulminatory speech, but there were questions to be asked.

“Please excuse me-but would you be so kind as to point out just why this is so?” “It is so because we give the police something to do, someone to chase, some reason for rushing about in their expensive machines. And the public-how they watch the news and listen for the latest reports on our exploits, how they talk to each other about it and relish every detail! And what is the cost of all this entertainment and social good? Nothing. The service is free, even though we risk life, limb, and liberty to provide it. What do we take from them? Nothing. Just money, paper, and metal symbols. All of it insured. If we clean out a bank, the money is returned by the insurance company who, at the ehd of the year, may reduce their annual dividend by a microscopic amount. Each shareholder will receive a millionth of a buck less. No sacrifice, no sacrifice at all. Benefactors, my boy, we are nothing less than benefactors.

“But in order for us to accomplish all this good for them we must operate outside their barriers and well outside of their rules. We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It was easier in the old days of course, and society had more rats when the rules Were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the buildings now as well. Now that society is all ferroconcrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps between the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings. Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment.” I broke into spontaneous applause, clapping until my hands hurt, and he nodded his head with gracious acceptance of the tribute.

“That is what we are,” I enthused. “Stainless steel rats! It is a proud and lonely thing to be a stainless steel rat!” He lowered his head in acknowledgment, then spoke. “I agree. Now – my throat is dry from all this talking and I wonder if you could aid me with the complex devices about us. Is there any way you might extract a doublecherry oozer from them?” I turned to the maze of thudding and whirring machinery that covered the inner wall.

“There is indeed, and I shall be happy to show you how. Each of these machines has a testing switch. This, if you will look close, is the one on the drink dispenser. First you must turn it to on, then you can actuate the dispenser, which will deliver the drink here instead of to a customer on the other side. Each is labeled-see, this is the cherry oozer. A mere touch and... there!” With a whistling thud it dropped into place and The Bishop seized it up. As he began to drink he froze, then whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

“I just realized, there is a window here and a young lady is staring in at me!” “Fear not,” I reassured him. “It is made of one-way glass. She is just admiring her face. It is the inspection port to look at the customers. “ “Indeed? Ahh, yes, I can see now. They are indeed a ravenous lot. All that mastication causes a rumble in my own turn, I am forced to admit. “ “No trouble at all. These are the food controls. That nearest one is for the Maebunnyburger, if you happen to like them.” “Love them until my nose crinkles.” “Then here.” He seized up the steaming package, traditionally decorated with beady eyes and tufted tail of course, and munched away. It was a pleasure to watch him eat. But I tore myself away before I forgot and pushed coins into the slot on back of the armored coinbox.

The Bishop’s eyes widened with astonishment. As soon as he swallowed he spoke.

“You are paying! I thought that we were safely ensconced in a gustatorial paradise with free food and drink at our beck and call, nigh’t and day?” “We are-for all of this money is stolen and I am just putting it back into circulation to keep the economy healthy. But there is no slack in the Macswineys operation. Every morsel of porcine tissue, every splinter of ice is accounted for. When the mechanic tests the machines he is responsible for every item delivered. The shops computer keeps track of every sale so that the frozen supplies are filled exactly to the top each time they are replenished. All of the money collected is taken away each day from the safe on the outer wall-which is automated as well. An armored van backs over it just as the time lock disengages. A code is keyed in and the money disgorged. So if we simply helped ourselves, the records would reveal the theft. Prompt investigation would follow. We must pay for what we use, precisely the correct amount. But, since we won’t be coming back here, we will steal all the money on the day we leave. “ “Fine, my boy, fine. You had me worried there for a minute with your bit of forced honesty. Since you are close to the controls, please trigger another delicious morsel of Lepus Cuniculus while I pay. “

Chapter 15

I suppose that there have been stranger places to go to school, but I can’t think of Shy. At certain times of day it was hard to be heard above the rattle, hiss, and roar of the dispensing machinery. Lunch and dinner were the busiest times, but there was another peak when the schools got out. We would eat then as well, since it was so hard to talk, working our way through the entire Macswineys inventory. Countless Maebunnyburgers hopped down our throats, and many a Frozen Fomey followed. I liked Dobbindogs until one too many cantered past my gums, and switched to jellied porcuswinetrotters, then to felinefritters. The Bishop was very catholic in his tastes and liked everything on the menu. Then, once the crowds had gone, after we had patted the last trace of gravy from our lips, we would loll back at our ease and my studies would continue. When we started on computer crime I discovered what The Bishop had been up to for the past couple of decades.

“Give me a terminal and I can rule the world, “ he said, and such was the authority of his voice that I believed he could. “When I was young I delighted in all manner of operations to please the citizens of this planet. It was quite a thrill to intercept cash shipments while en route, then substitute my calling card for the bundles of bills. They never did find out how I did it...” “How did you?” “We were talking about computers.” “Digress just this once, I beg of you. I promise to put the technique to good use. Perhaps, with your permission, even leave one of your cards.” “That sounds an excellent idea. Baffle the current crop of coppers as thoroughly as I did their predecessors. I’ll describe what happens-and perhaps you can discover for yourself how it was done. In the Central Mint, a wellguarded and ancient building with stone walls two meters thick, are located the giant safes filled with billions of bucks. When a shipment is to be made, guards and officials fill a bullion box, which is then locked and sealed while all present look on. Outside the building waits a convoy of coppers all guarding a single armored car. At a,given signal the car backs up against the armor-plated delivery door. Inside the building the steel inner door is opened, the box placed inside the armored chamber. This door is sealed before the outer one can be opened. The box then travels in the armored car to the linear train, where an armored wagon receives it. This has but the single door, which is locked and sealed and wired with countless alarms. Guards ride in a special chamber of each car as it shuttles through the linear network to the city needing the bucks. Here another armored car awaits, the box is removedstill sealed-placed in the car, and taken to the bank. Where it is opened-and found to contain only my card. “ “Marvelous!” “Care to explain how it was done?” “You were one of the guards on the train...” “No.” “Or drove the armored car...” “No.” I racked my brains this way for an hour before he relented and explained. “All your suggestions have merit, but all are dangerous. You are far more physical than I ever was. In my operations I always preferred brains to brawn. The reason that I never had to break into the box and extract the money is that the box was empty when it left the building. Or rather it was weighted with bricks as well as my card. Can you guess now how it was done?” “Never left the building,” I muttered, trying to stir my brain to life. “But it was loaded into the box, the box put into the truck... “ “You are forgetting something.” I snapped my fingers and leapt to my feet. “The wall, of course it had to be the wall. You gave me all the clues, I was just being dense. Old, made of stone, two meters thick!” “Exactly so. It took me four months to break in, I wore out three robots doing it, but I won out in the end. First I bought the building across the road from the mint and we tunneled under it. With pick and shovel. Very slow, very silent. Up through the foundations of the building and inside the wall. Which proved to have an outer and inner stone wall, and as is the building custom, it was filled with . rubble in between. Our diamond saws were never heard when we opened the side of the armored vault connecting the inside of the mint with the outside. The mechanism I installed could change boxes in one point oh five seconds. When the inner door was closed, the lock had to be thrown before the outer door could be opened. That was enough time, almost three seconds, to allow for the switch. They never did find out how I did it. The mechanism is still in place. But the operation was basically misdirection, along with a lot of digging. Computer crime is something else altogether. Basically it is an intellectual exercise.” “But isn’t computer theft almost impossible these days, with codes and interlocks?” “What man can code or lock, man can decode and unlock. Without leaving any trace. I will give you some examples. Let us begin with the rounding-ofi’ caper, also called the salami. Here is how it works. Let us say that you have 8,000 bucks in the bank, in a savings account that earns eight percent a year. Your bank compounds your account weekly in order to get your business. Which means at the end of the first week your bank multiplies your balance by . 0015384 percent and adds this sum to your balance. Your balance has increased by 12. 30 bucks. Is that correct? Check it on your calculator. “ I punched away at the sum and came up with the same answer. “Exactly twelve bucks and thirty centimes interest,” I said proudly.