"I want a job," Mark said stubbornly. "Something to do besides—well, some kind of mark to aim at, I guess. This point business is just putting in time. I'm not creating anything. Even if I could fasten zippers on feather-beds, I'd be doing something worth while, because it'd be used. But this way of living is like digging a hole and then filling it in again. Why, you don't even dare to get into a fight. Somebody would collect a thousand points every time you hit him. The standard price of a black eye is three thousand. You have to be pretty careful about things like that. And there's always Conley."
"Well," Penelope said, "I'm going to make you a proposition. I'll hold up your slip for sixty days, and in the meantime I'll teach you how to get ahead of the game. I'll teach you the tricks of the trade, just as old Point-a-Minute Charlie taught me. They say he averaged a point a minute all his life."
"Where is he now?" asked Mark, interested.
The old lady pondered. "Come to think of it, I don't know. I remember the last time I talked to him his credit balance was 98,000." She frowned at the tremendous, low-lying dome that covered the horizon in the distance and marked Central Audit Bureau. "I haven't seen him since then."
"Hm," said Mark.
"Well, now," Penelope said briskly. "I'll make you a regular business deal. I'll teach you, and for all you get, you give me twenty per cent. See how many you can get. Try for ten thousand. That'll give you something to shoot at."
"Maybe I can beat the Machine," Mark said eagerly.
Penelope swallowed. "They say you can't beat the Machine. But I guess it won't hurt to try."
Mark did well. At first he just walked down the street stopping people as fast as he could get to them. "You didn't recognize me, sir," he would say indignantly. "I met you at Central concourse two years ago. Remember? You stood right in front of me in line for three hours, and we talked about our new suits. Remember? My feelings are injured because you ignored me just now. Fifty points. Will you sign my slip, please?"
His credit reached the black the first week. He was netting five hundred points a day, and it was fun, but Penelope said, "We'll go for bigger stakes. This is kindergarten stuff. Now here's the way you start...."