“Understood,” said Susan looking squarely at Bellows. “I’ll do that, if you do something for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Pull out these articles and have them Xeroxed. I’ll pay you later.” Susan tossed her list of references to Bellows, jumped up from the table and breezed out of the room before Bellows could respond. He found himself looking at a list of thirty-seven journal articles. Since he knew the library like the bones of his hand, he located the volumes with ease, marking each article with a piece of paper. He took the first group over to the desk and told the girl to copy the indicated articles and put it on his library charge. Bellows knew that he had been manipulated again, but he didn’t mind. It had taken only ten minutes. He would get them back with interest.
And he had been right; she had a dynamite figure.
Monday, February 23, 5:05 P.M.
As she had been telling Bellows that the incidence of coma following anesthesia at the Memorial was one hundred times the national incidence, Susan had realized that she was basing her calculations on the six cases Harris had mentioned in his outburst. Susan had to check that figure. If it was actually higher, she would have more ammunition to base her commitment to the project. Besides, she needed the names of the coma victims so that she could obtain then” charts. What she needed more than anything else, she recognized, was hard data.
Susan knew that she had to get access to the central computer. Harris would be unwilling to supply the names of the patients. Susan was certain of that. Bellows might have been able to get them if he were sufficiently motivated. But that was a big if. Susan felt that the best route was for her to try to get the information herself. So she was thankful she had taken the introductory course in PL 1 computer programming as a junior in college. Already it had paid off in surprising ways, and her need for the information at hand was just another example.
The computer center in the hospital was located in the Hardy wing, occupying the entire top floor. Many people joked about the symbolic aspects of the computer being above everything else in the hospital, and it had added a new meaning to the phrase “with a little help from above.”
As the elevator door slid open on the foyer of the eighteenth floor, Susan knew she was going to have to improvise if she were to be successful. Beyond the foyer Susan could see through glass partitions into the main computer reception area. The place had the appearance of a bank. The only difference was that the medium of exchange here was information, not currency.
Susan entered the reception room and walked directly to a counter top that ran the length of the room along the right wall. There were about eight other people in the room, most of them sitting in comfortable-looking blue corduroy chairs. A few were at the counter top bent over computer request forms. All looked up as Susan traversed the room, but they quickly returned to their own affairs. Without the slightest hint of uncertainty Susan took one of the computer request forms. Ostensibly concentrating on the form, Susan had her real attention on the room.
In the back of the room, about twelve feet from Susan, was a large white Formica desk. Above it hung a sign: “Information.” It was so appropriate that it brought a smile to Susan’s face. The man at the desk sat motionlessly, a slight proud smile on his face. He was about sixty, pudgy but neat. Behind him, visible through another glass partition, were the gleaming input-output terminals of the computer itself. While Susan was pretending to be absorbed in the form in front of her, the man at the desk accepted several computer request forms. Each time he went over the form, converting the request to computer language and writing it on the lower portion of the form. He also checked the authorization by calling the department involved, unless he knew the requesting individual personally. Finally he placed the form—or several stapled together—in the “in” box on the corner of the desk. The requesting individual was told when to expect the information, depending on the priority assigned to the request.