Two days later, Jasso burst into Tern's office highly excited, a section of tape from the Calculator trailing from his grasp.
"Chief, this is unbelievable!" he cried. "We have an individual here whose probability tests 82.371 per cent to solve the problem, projecting a life expectancy of 50 years!"
Tern whistled and rolled his eyes.
"Pretty high probability!" he said delightedly. "Pretty doggoned high! Baby, I suppose?"
"Yes," said Jasso. He paused, and added slowly and with emphasis: "The child's name is Nina Mattin."
"Mattin?"
"The daughter of Lao Protik and Alina Mattin! Now the adopted daughter of Grida Mattin."
"What!"
"The strange thing about it, Chief, is that Alina Mattin was one of the higher probability mothers we found first. But we checked her against Lao, and the probability for an offspring of their marriage was extremely low. Do you suppose the Calculator has gone completely haywire?"
Tern did not answer at once. He sat, lost in deep thought, for several minutes. Then he began laughing.