old night air. They walked back to the teenager's car. Clay
went to the rear of the disabled car and unhooked the warning light
while Martin went to the driver's window. He had his citation book in
hand. The youngster in the driver's seat went white at the sight of
the violation pad. "May I see your license, please," Ben asked. The
boy fumbled in a back pocket and then produced a thin, metallic tab
with his name, age, address and license number etched into the
indestructible and unalterable metal.

"Also your car registration," Ben added. The youth unclipped similar
metal strip from the dashboard.

The trooper took the two tabs and walked to the rear of the patrol
car. He slid back a panel to reveal two thin slots in the hull. Martin
slid the driver's license into one of the slots, the registration tab
into the other. He pressed a button below each slot. Inside the car, a
magnetic reader and auto-transmitter "scanned" the magnetic symbols
implanted in the tags. The information was fed instantly to
Continental Headquarters Records division at Colorado Springs. In
fractions of a second, the great computers at Records were comparing
the information on the tags with all previous traffic citations issued
anywhere in the North American continent in the past forty-five years
since the birth of the Patrol. The information from the driver's
license and registration tab had been relayed from Beulah via the
nearest patrol relay point. The answer came back the same way.

Above the license recording slot were two small lights. The first
flashed green, "license is in order and valid." The second flashed
green as well, "no previous citations." Ben withdrew the tag from the
slot. Had the first light come on red, he would have placed the driver
under arrest immediately. Had the second light turned amber, it would
have indicated a previous minor violation. This, Ben would have noted
on the new citation. If the second light had been red, this would have
meant either a major previous violation or more than one minor
citation. Again, the driver would have been under immediate arrest.
The law was mandatory. One big strike and you're out--two foul tips
and the same story. And "out" meant just that. Fines, possibly jail or
prison sentence and lifetime revocation of driving privileges.

Ben flipped the car registration slot to "stand-by" and went back to
the teenager's car. Even though they were parked on the service strip
of the police eme