Igor smiled to himself as he glanced at the clock.

Diana would be back by now. Time to give her a call.

He sat down at his desk and dialed the phone.

"Thought I'd find you in. I've just been thinking about our little project and taking a lot of comfort from it."

He listened briefly, then said, "Just thought it was too bad that most young folks waste their efforts so. Not like those two young women upstairs. They are exceptions."

Listening again, he answered, "Yes, they are good friends and just as upset as me over the SmurFF fiasco. Well, we have begun something that will have an effect for some time to come.". . .

"Me? I'm tickled pink to have had a part in an endeavor which, in the Baconian sense, allows, '. . .a kind of wild justice' to prevail. . .

"Well, yes, I am still angry at the way Dan Field acted when the students came to him on your behalf, Diana. This guy claimed to be so strong for human rights, claimed to represent the blacks and other down-trodden and he c.r.a.pped out. No doubt about it, he had the position and the clout to have stopped this thing in its tracks. He was the administrations's visible token black.

"And that brother in the EEOC. Surely, as head honcho, he should have checked the facts before blindly bowing to political pressure. . .

"Well yes, thank you. I, Igor have made up for both of those Oreos.

I have made Afro-Americanism stand for something positive at Belmont."

Smiling now, he reviewed with her the culmination of the combined efforts of those two women upstairs, Diana and himself.

Pooling their knowledge of computers, they had formulated and introduced a harmless virus into the library computer which had already spread throughout this library and beyond.

And it would continue to spread. The contents of his sc.r.a.pbook, along with all the originals of the doc.u.ments Diana could produce, had been incorporated into the viral computer program so that whenever anyone queried information on any relevant topic, the SmurFF Affair at Belmont would be targeted. The true facts of the good ol' boy conspiracy against Diana Trenchant could no longer be hidden by the administration.

Any interested person would be able to access all of the letters and doc.u.ments relating to it. The entire transcript, attorney briefs, Attorney General's LOD and all the shady meetings and despicable planning engaged in by the power structure of Belmont University would be instantly available in menu form on their computer screen. The virus would see to that and good old human curiosity would do the rest.

Still smiling, Igor said, "So long and take care. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Picking up his jacket, he turned off the lights.

Another day--well, it would seem good to get home.

Upstairs, as he pa.s.sed between the desks of Roz and Andrea, the women who had made such fantastic use of the contents of his sc.r.a.pbook, he paused.

Holding up both arms, palms flat out, he said, "Good night, my friends.

Have a nice evening. . .and thank you."

Slapping his palms in unison, with grins broad enough to span the universe, they returned the greeting and the emotion.