Recently, however, it has been given the new responsibility of producing a list of crimes predicted to be carried out by individuals, ranging from murder to domestic abuse.

Murder has been largely eradicated and, though it is impossible to stop all crime across the planet, the increased capability of the government has led to a drastic decrease in offenses.

In spite of the arrest, Multivac reports that the odds of the crime happening increased because of the government's actions, and it continues to rise with every change.

Even though the suspect is in custody and a psychic probe reveals he doesn't intend to commit any crime, the probability of success as given by Multivac continues to rise.

As the government begins to wonder if Multivac might be mistaken, the police holding the family ask if they are to continue allowing the other members to come and go as they please.

The government soon realizes that the murderer might not be Joseph, but his son; as a minor, the boy's information is part of his father's forms, so Multivac treats the two as one person.

Ben is found and arrested just as he is about to follow the final instruction: closing a certain lever, which would result in burning enough circuits in Multivac to render it inoperable for months.

Multivac, Othman realizes, is tired; for years, it has had all the troubles of the world upon its shoulders, analyzing and predicting war, famine, and crime, and now, the government is planning to foist the responsibility for preventing disease upon its already stressed mind.