“Uh huh,” she acknowledged.

He rose from the bed and went over to the door, which still worked on automatics from the bedroom side. It was free, though, and he opened it a crack, saw no one, then opened it a little wider. He stepped into the hall, turned, and almost closed the door.

“One hundred, Nikki,” he said, and closed it all the way.

Satisfied, he walked down the corridor almost a hundred meters, meeting no one and noting with satisfaction that all the doors were closed. He entered the elevator, and the door to the capsule closed.

“Yulin, Abu Ben, YA-356-47765-7881-GX, Full clearance, Lab 2 level, please,” he said. The elevator checked him visually, checked his ID number and voice prints, then descended rapidly to the lab floor.

Once on the balcony, he walked over to his control panel and switched it to active mode.

He flipped the switch to Obie.

“Obie?” he called.

“Yes, Ben?” came that soft, friendly reply.

Yulin punched some buttons on his keyboard.

“Unnumbered transaction,” he responded with a calmness he didn’t feel. “File in aux storage under my key only.”

“What are you doing, Ben?” Obie asked curiously. “That is a mode even I can’t use. I had no idea it was in there until you used it.”

Ben Yulin smiled. “That’s all right, Obie. Even you don’t have to remember everything.”

What Obie had discovered, and Ben was enjoying, was the mode by which he could use Obie and then have Obie file the record of what was done in such a way that even the great computer couldn’t get at it. Obie would still perform normally, but have a case of total amnesia not only about what Ben was about to do but about his even being there.