u can't do that, though. Strictly illegal. An alarm goes out whenever
someone gets more than six inches from his transmitter, and he's picked
up on suspicion. It's an automatic cancellation of your work card if
you try to fool with your transmitter--or if you're Free Status a fine
of ten thousand credits."

"And if you can't pay the fine?"

"Then you work it off in Government indenture, at a thousand credits a
year--chopping up rocks in the Antarctica Penitentiary. The system's
flawless. It _has_ to be. With Earth as overpopulated as it is, you need
some system of tracking down people--otherwise crime would be ten times
as prevalent as it is now."

"There still is crime?"

"Oh, sure. There's always somebody who needs food bad enough to rob for
it, even though it means a sure arrest. Murder's a little less common."
Hawkes fed the requisition slip into the slot. "You'd be surprised what
a deterrent the televector registry system is. It's not so easy to run
off to South America and hide when anybody at all can come in here and
find out exactly where you are."

A moment went by. Then the slot clicked and a glossy pink slip came
rolling out.

Alan looked at it. It said:

TELEVECTOR REGISTRY
21 May 3876
Location of Donnell Steve, YC83-10j6490k37618
Time: 1643:21

There followed a street map covering some fifteen square blocks, and a
bright red dot was imprinted in the center of the map.

Hawkes glanced at the map and smiled. "I thought that was where he would
be!"

"Where's that?"

"68th Avenue and 423rd Street."

"Is that where he lives?" Alan asked.

"Oh, no. The televector tells you where he is right now. I'd venture to
say that was his--ah--place of business."

Alan frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"That happens to be the address of the Atlas Games Parlor. Your brother
Steve probably spends most of his working day there, when he has enough
cash to get in. I know the place. It's a cheap joint where the payoffs
are low but easy. It's the kind of place a low-budget man would
frequent."

"You mean Steve's a gambler?"

Hawkes smiled. "Most Free Status men are. It's one of the few ways we
can earn a living without getting a work card. There isn't any gamblers'
guild. There are a few other ways, too, but they're a lot less savory,
and the televector surveillance makes it hard for a man to stay in
business for long."

Alan moistened hi