The bus had entered the vast slum region, the tumbled miles of cheap hotels and broken-down tenements that had sprung up after the mass THE MINORITY REPORT 2113 destruction of the war

An innocent man is framed by one of those cards. Maybe there've been other innocent people--right

Obviously, "Jerry's" report superseded the majority report. Having been informed that he would commit a murder, Anderton would change his mind and not do so. The preview of the murder had canceled out the murder; prophylaxis had occurred simply in his being informed. Already, a new time-path had been created. But "Jerry" was outvoted.

This is explained by the theory of m11ltiple­f11t11res. If only one time-path existed, precognitive information would be of no importance, since no possibility would exist, in possessing this infor­mation, of altering the future.

Anderton sighed. At that point he wasn't certain, himself. Perhaps he was trapped in a closed, meaningless time-circle with no motive and no beginning. In fact, he was almost ready to concede that he was the victim of a weary, neurotic fantasy, spawned by growing insecurity. Without a fight, he was willing to give himself up. A vast weight of exhaustion lay upon him. He was struggling against the impossible-and all the cards were stacked against him.

Leopold Kaplan, General of the Army of the Federated Westbloc Alliance." Begrudgingly, he added, "Retired, since the end of the Anglo­Chinese War, and the abolishment of AFWA."

Rapidly, he made his way to the ramp at its far end. He was striding down the outside stairs toward the public sidewalk, when Lisa appearedbreathlessly behind him."What on earth has come over you?" Catching hold of his arm, shemoved quickly in front of him. "I knew you were leaving," she exclaimed,blocking his way. "What's wrong with you? Everybody thinks you're-" She checked herself. "I mean, you're acting so erratically."

Startled, Anderton backed off. What were the chances of his wife'sfriendliness being benign, accidental? Witwer would be present the balanceof the evening, and would now have an excuse to trail along to Anderton'sprivate residence. Profoundly disturbed, he turned impulsively, and movedtoward the door

The criminal escaped our teams. We had his name-in fact, we had all the details of the crime, including the victim's name. We knew the exact moment, the location of the planned act of violence. But in spite of us he was able to carry it out." Anderton shrugged. "After all, we can't get all of them." He riffled the cards. "But we do get most."

In the gloomy half-darkness the three idiots sat babbling. Every incoher­ent utterance, every random syllable, was analyzed, compared, reassembledin the form of visual symbols, transcribed on conventional punchcards, and ejected into various coded slots. All day long the idiots babbled, im­prisoned in their special high-backed chairs, held in one rigid position bymetal bands, and bundles of wiring, clamps.

"I have the information publicly available,"

Witwer met his gaze guilelessly. "Private and public. The Senate's pleased