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GLOBAL
EDITION
Technology in Action
Complete
FIFTEENTH EDITION
Alan Evans
Kendall Martin
Mary Anne Poatsy
Evans_15_1292311886_Final copy.indd 1 16/05/19 9:14 AM

Power Management and Ergonomics............................................................................................................... 102
Power Controls and Power Management............................................................................................................ 102
Objective 2.13 Describe how to manage power consumption on computing devices.
BITS&BYTES: Sleep Better and Avoid Eyestrain: Use Less Blue LIght............................................................... 104
Setting It All Up: Ergonomics.............................................................................................................................. 105
Objective 2.14 Define ergonomics, and discuss the ideal physical setup for using computing devices.
SOLVE THIS: Technology Wish List................................................................................................................... 115
Chapter 3
Using the Internet: Making the Most of the Web’s Resources................................... 116
Part 1: Collaborating and Working on the Web................................................................................................................ 118
Learning Outcome 3.1 You will be able to explain how the Internet works and how it is used for collaboration,
communication, commerce, and entertainment purposes.
The Internet and How It Works.......................................................................................................................... 118
The Origin of the Internet.................................................................................................................................... 118
Objective 3.1 Describe how the Internet got its start.
How the Internet Works...................................................................................................................................... 120
Objective 3.2 Explain how data travels on the Internet.
Collaborating and Communicating on the Web................................................................................................ 121
Collaborating with Web Technologies................................................................................................................. 121
Objective 3.3 Evaluate the tools and technologies used to collaborate on the web.
BITS&BYTES: Secure Messaging Apps............................................................................................................. 123
SOUND BYTE: Blogging....................................................................................................................................................... 123
Communicating over the Web............................................................................................................................ 126
Objective 3.4 Summarize the technologies used to communicate over the web.
Conducting Business on the Web...................................................................................................................... 129
Conducting Business Online............................................................................................................................... 129
Objective 3.5 Describe how business is conducted using the Internet.
DIG DEEPER: How Cloud Computing Works.................................................................................................... 130
BITS&BYTES: Looking for Extra Money? Try a Side Hustle................................................................................ 131
E-Commerce Safeguards................................................................................................................................... 131
Objective 3.6 Summarize precautions you should take when doing business online.
HELPDESK: Doing Business Online...................................................................................................................................... 132
BITS&BYTES: Bitcoin: A Form of Virtual Currency............................................................................................. 133
TRY THIS: Use OneDrive to Store and Share Your Files in the Cloud................................................................. 135
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Web-Capable App......................................................................................................... 136
Part 2: Using the Web Effectively....................................................................................................................................... 137
Learning Outcome 3.2 You will be able to describe the tools and techniques required to navigate and search the web.
Accessing and Moving Around the Web........................................................................................................... 137
Web Browsers.................................................................................................................................................... 137
Objective 3.7 Explain what web browsers are, and describe their common features.
URLs, Protocols, and Domain Names................................................................................................................ 139
Objective 3.8 Explain what a URL is, and discuss its main parts.
Navigating the Web............................................................................................................................................ 140
Objective 3.9 Describe tools used to navigate the web.
BITS&BYTES: Maintain Your Privacy While Searching the Web.......................................................................... 141
Searching the Web Effectively............................................................................................................................ 142
Using Search Engines........................................................................................................................................ 142
Objective 3.10 Describe the types of tools used to search the web, and summarize strategies used to refine search results.
6 Contents
BITS&BYTES: Digital Assistants and Predictive Search...................................................................................... 143
Evaluating Websites........................................................................................................................................... 145
Objective 3.11 Describe how to evaluate a website to ensure it is appropriate to use for research purposes.
SOUND BYTE: Finding Information on the Web..................................................................................................................... 145
HELPDESK: Evaluating Websites.......................................................................................................................................... 145
TRENDS IN IT: Linked Data and the Semantic Web.......................................................................................... 146
BITS&BYTES: Why Isn’t Wikipedia Good to Use as a Source for a Research Paper?........................................ 147
Using the Web Ethically...................................................................................................................................... 147
Digital Activism................................................................................................................................................... 147
Objective 3.12 Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical issues regarding digital activism.
Geolocation........................................................................................................................................................ 148
Objective 3.13 Demonstrate an understanding of the ethical issues regarding location tracking applications and devices.
BITS&BYTES: Human-Implanted Data Chips: Protection or Invasive Nightmare?.................................................149
ETHICS IN IT: Cyber Harassment...................................................................................................................... 150
SOLVE THIS: Create a Report: Conducting Research on the Web..................................................................... 157
Chapter 4
Application Software: Programs That Let You Work and Play.............................. 158
Part 1: Accessing, Using, and Managing Software........................................................................................................... 160
Learning Outcome 4.1 You will be able to explain the ways to access and use software and describe how to best manage
your software.
Software Basics................................................................................................................................................... 160
Application vs. System Software......................................................................................................................... 160
Objective 4.1 Compare application software and system software.
Distributing Software.......................................................................................................................................... 160
Objective 4.2 Explain the differences between commercial software and open source software, and describe models for
software distribution.
BITS&BYTES: Finding Alternative Software........................................................................................................ 161
Managing Your Software.................................................................................................................................... 161
Purchasing Software.......................................................................................................................................... 161
Objective 4.3 Explain the different options for purchasing software.
TRENDS IN IT: Mobile Payment Apps: The Power of M-Commerce.................................................................. 162
HELPDESK: Buying and Installing Software........................................................................................................................... 163
Installing and Uninstalling Software..................................................................................................................... 163
Objective 4.4 Describe how to install and uninstall software.
BITS&BYTES: Ridding Your Computer of “Bloat”............................................................................................... 163
Upgrading Software........................................................................................................................................... 164
Objective 4.5 Explain the considerations around the decision to upgrade your software.
DIG DEEPER: How Number Systems Work....................................................................................................... 164
SOUND BYTE: Where Does Binary Show Up?...................................................................................................................... 165
Software Licenses.............................................................................................................................................. 166
Objective 4.6 Explain how software licenses function.
ETHICS IN IT: Can I Borrow Software That I Don’t Own?.................................................................................. 167
TRY THIS: Citing Website Sources.................................................................................................................... 169
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A More Powerful App........................................................................................................ 170
Part 2: Application Software.............................................................................................................................................. 171
Learning Outcome 4.2 Describe the different types of application software used for productivity and multimedia.
Productivity and Business Software.................................................................................................................. 171
Productivity Software.......................................................................................................................................... 171
Objective 4.7 Categorize the types of application software used to enhance productivity, and describe their uses and features.
Contents 7
BITS&BYTES: Productivity Software Tips and Tricks.......................................................................................... 171
BITS&BYTES: How to Open Unknown File Types.............................................................................................. 172
BITS&BYTES: Going Beyond PowerPoint.......................................................................................................... 176
SOUND BYTE: Programming for End Users.......................................................................................................................... 178
Business Software.............................................................................................................................................. 180
Objective 4.8 Summarize the types of software that large and small businesses use.
BITS&BYTES: Need to Work as a Team? Try These Collaboration Tools............................................................ 182
Multimedia and Educational Software............................................................................................................... 182
Digital Multimedia Software................................................................................................................................ 182
Objective 4.9 Describe the uses and features of digital multimedia software.
Digital Audio Software........................................................................................................................................ 184
Objective 4.10 Describe the uses and features of digital audio software.
HELPDESK: Choosing Software............................................................................................................................................ 185
App Creation Software....................................................................................................................................... 186
Objective 4.11 Describe the features of app creation software.
BITS&BYTES: Mirror, Mirror…........................................................................................................................... 187
Educational and Reference Software.................................................................................................................. 187
Objective 4.12 Categorize educational and reference software, and explain their features.
SOLVE THIS: Analyzing Benchmark Data.......................................................................................................... 195
Chapter 5
System Software: The Operating System, Utility Programs, and
File Management..................................................................................................... 196
Part 1: Understanding System Software........................................................................................................................... 198
Learning Outcome 5.1 You will be able to explain the types and functions of operating systems and explain the
steps in the boot process.
Operating System Fundamentals....................................................................................................................... 198
Operating System Basics................................................................................................................................... 198
Objective 5.1 Discuss the functions of the operating system.
Operating Systems for Personal Use.................................................................................................................. 199
Objective 5.2 Explain the most common operating systems for personal use.
BITS&BYTES: Why Isn’t Everyone Using Linux?................................................................................................ 200
BITS&BYTES: Operating Systems for the Home................................................................................................ 201
Operating Systems for Machinery, Networks, and Business............................................................................... 201
Objective 5.3 Explain the different kinds of operating systems for machines, networks, and business.
ETHICS IN IT: The Great Debate: Is macOS Safer Than Windows?................................................................... 203
What the Operating System Does...................................................................................................................... 204
The User Interface.............................................................................................................................................. 204
Objective 5.4 Explain how the operating system provides a means for users to interact with the computer.
Hardware Coordination...................................................................................................................................... 205
Objective 5.5 Explain how the operating system helps manage hardware such as the processor, memory, storage,
and peripheral devices.
SOUND BYTE: Using Windows Task Manager to Evaluate System Performance................................................................... 205
Software Application Coordination...................................................................................................................... 207
Objective 5.6 Explain how the operating system interacts with application software.
TRENDS IN IT: Are Personal Computers Becoming More Human?................................................................... 208
Starting Your Computer...................................................................................................................................... 209
The Boot Process............................................................................................................................................... 209
Objective 5.7 Discuss the process the operating system uses to start up the computer and how errors in the boot
process are handled.
8 Contents
HELPDESK: Starting the Computer: The Boot Process......................................................................................................... 211
TRY THIS: Using Virtual Desktops in Windows 10............................................................................................. 214
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Notification Alert............................................................................................................. 215
Part 2: Using System Software.......................................................................................................................................... 216
Learning Outcome 5.2 You will be able to describe how to use system software, including the user interface, file
management capabilities, and utility programs.
The Windows Interface....................................................................................................................................... 216
Using Windows 10............................................................................................................................................. 216
Objective 5.8 Describe the main features of the Windows interface.
BITS&BYTES: The Snipping Tool....................................................................................................................... 217
File Management................................................................................................................................................. 219
Organizing Your Files.......................................................................................................................................... 219
Objective 5.9 Summarize how the operating system helps keep your computer organized and manages files and folders.
BITS&BYTES: Save Files in the Cloud............................................................................................................... 221
BITS&BYTES: Tips for Organizing Your Files...................................................................................................... 222
HELPDESK: Organizing Your Computer: File Management.................................................................................................... 223
Utility Programs................................................................................................................................................... 225
Windows Administrative Utilities.......................................................................................................................... 226
Objective 5.10 Outline the tools used to enhance system productivity, back up files, and provide accessibility.
DIG DEEPER: How Disk Defragmenting Utilities Work....................................................................................... 228
SOUND BYTE: Hard Disk Anatomy....................................................................................................................................... 228
SOLVE THIS: Mobile Operating Systems: Changing Market Share..................................................................... 237
Chapter 6
Understanding and Assessing Hardware: Evaluating Your System..................... 238
Part 1: Evaluating Key Subsystems................................................................................................................................... 240
Learning Outcome 6.1 You will be able to evaluate your computer system’s hardware functioning, including the
CPU and memory subsystems.
Your Ideal Computing Device............................................................................................................................. 240
Moore’s Law...................................................................................................................................................... 240
Objective 6.1 Describe the changes in CPU performance over the past several decades.
Selecting a Computing Device............................................................................................................................ 241
Objective 6.2 Compare and contrast a variety of computing devices.
Evaluating the CPU Subsystem.......................................................................................................................... 243
How the CPU Works.......................................................................................................................................... 243
Objective 6.3 Describe how a CPU is designed and how it operates.
BITS&BYTES: Liquid Cooling............................................................................................................................ 247
Measuring CPU Performance............................................................................................................................. 247
Objective 6.4 Describe tools used to measure and evaluate CPU performance.
DIG DEEPER: The Machine Cycle..................................................................................................................... 249
Evaluating the Memory Subsystem................................................................................................................... 250
Random Access Memory................................................................................................................................... 250
Objective 6.5 Discuss how RAM is used in a computer system.
Adding RAM....................................................................................................................................................... 252
Objective 6.6 Evaluate whether adding RAM to a system is desirable.
HELPDESK: Evaluating Your CPU and RAM.......................................................................................................................... 252
SOUND BYTE: Installing RAM............................................................................................................................................... 253
Contents 9
TRY THIS: Measure Your System Performance.................................................................................................. 255
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Location-Aware App...................................................................................................... 256
Part 2: Evaluating Other Subsystems and Making a Decision........................................................................................ 257
Learning Outcome 6.2 You will be able to evaluate your computer system’s storage subsystem, media subsystem,
and reliability and decide whether to purchase a new system or upgrade an existing one.
Evaluating the Storage Subsystem.................................................................................................................... 257
Types of Storage Drives...................................................................................................................................... 257
Objective 6.7 Classify and describe the major types of nonvolatile storage drives.
SOUND BYTE: Installing an SSD Drive.................................................................................................................................. 258
DIG DEEPER: How Storage Devices Work........................................................................................................ 259
Storage Needs................................................................................................................................................... 260
Objective 6.8 Evaluate the amount and type of storage needed for a system.
BITS&BYTES: How Much Storage to Buy?........................................................................................................ 262
Evaluating the Media Subsystems..................................................................................................................... 263
Video Cards....................................................................................................................................................... 263
Objective 6.9 Describe the features of video cards.
BITS&BYTES: Graphics Cards with SSD on Board............................................................................................ 265
TRENDS IN IT: USB 3.1 and USB-C................................................................................................................. 266
Sound Cards...................................................................................................................................................... 267
Objective 6.10 Describe the features of sound cards.
HELPDESK: Evaluating Computer System Components....................................................................................................... 267
Evaluating System Reliability and Moving On.................................................................................................. 269
Maintaining System Reliability............................................................................................................................. 269
Objective 6.11 Describe steps you can take to optimize your system’s reliability.
Getting Rid of Your Old Computer...................................................................................................................... 271
Objective 6.12 Discuss how to recycle, donate, or dispose of an older computer.
ETHICS IN IT: Free Hardware for All.................................................................................................................. 272
SOLVE THIS: Laptop Alternatives...................................................................................................................... 279
Chapter 7
Networking: Connecting Computing Devices........................................................ 280
Part 1: How Networks Function......................................................................................................................................... 282
Learning Outcome 7.1 You will be able to explain the basics of networking, including the components needed to
create a network, and describe the different ways a network can connect to the Internet.
Networking Fundamentals.................................................................................................................................. 282
Understanding Networks.................................................................................................................................... 282
Objective 7.1 Describe computer networks and their pros and cons.
HELPDESK: Understanding Networking................................................................................................................................ 283
Network Architectures........................................................................................................................................ 284
Network Designs................................................................................................................................................ 284
Objective 7.2 Explain the different ways networks are defined.
BITS&BYTES: The Rise of Wearable Technology............................................................................................... 286
Network Components......................................................................................................................................... 287
Transmission Media............................................................................................................................................ 287
Objective 7.3 Describe the types of transmission media used in networks.
SOUND BYTE: Installing a Home Computer Network............................................................................................................ 287
Basic Network Hardware.................................................................................................................................... 290
Objective 7.4 Describe the basic hardware devices necessary for networks.
Network Software............................................................................................................................................... 291
Objective 7.5 Describe the type of software necessary for networks.
10 Contents
TRENDS IN IT: How Smart Is Your Home?........................................................................................................ 292
Connecting to the Internet.................................................................................................................................. 292
Broadband Internet Connections........................................................................................................................ 292
Objective 7.6 Summarize the broadband options available to access the Internet.
Wireless Internet Access.................................................................................................................................... 294
Objective 7.7 Summarize how to access the Internet wirelessly.
BITS&BYTES: Net Neutrality.............................................................................................................................. 294
BITS&BYTES: 5G Is Coming—Is It Worth the Wait?.......................................................................................... 295
BITS&BYTES: Is Dial-Up Still an Option?........................................................................................................... 296
ETHICS IN IT: Ethical Challenges of the Internet of Things................................................................................. 296
TRY THIS: Testing Your Internet Connection Speed........................................................................................... 298
MAKE THIS: MAKE: Networked Devices........................................................................................................... 299
Part 2: Your Home Network................................................................................................................................................ 300
Learning Outcome 7.2 You will be able to describe what is necessary to install and configure a home network and
how to manage and secure a wireless network.
Installing and Configuring Home Networks...................................................................................................... 300
Planning Your Home Network............................................................................................................................. 300
Objective 7.8 Explain what should be considered before creating a home network.
Connecting Devices to a Network...................................................................................................................... 301
Objective 7.9 Describe how to set up a home network.
BITS&BYTES: Mesh Networks: An Emerging Alternative................................................................................... 302
BITS&BYTES: Analyzing Network Problems...................................................................................................... 305
Configuring Software for Your Home Network.................................................................................................... 305
Objective 7.10 Summarize how to configure home network software.
DIG DEEPER: P2P File Sharing......................................................................................................................... 307
Managing and Securing Wireless Networks..................................................................................................... 307
Troubleshooting Wireless Network Problems...................................................................................................... 307
Objective 7.11 Describe the potential problems with wireless networks and means to avoid them.
Securing Wireless Networks............................................................................................................................... 308
Objective 7.12 Describe how to secure wireless home network
SOUND BYTE: Securing Wireless Networks.......................................................................................................................... 310
HELPDESK: Managing and Securing Your Wireless Network...................................................................................... 310
SOLVE THIS: Home Networking Guide.............................................................................................................. 317
Chapter 8
Managing a Digital Lifestyle: Media and Ethics.................................................... 318
Part 1: The Impact of Digital Information......................................................................................................................... 320
Learning Outcome 8.1 You will be able to describe the nature of digital signals and how digital technology is used to
produce and distribute digital texts, music, and video.
Digital Basics....................................................................................................................................................... 320
Digital Convergence........................................................................................................................................... 320
Objective 8.1 Describe how digital convergence has evolved.
Digital vs. Analog................................................................................................................................................ 321
Objective 8.2 Explain the differences between digital and analog signals.
Digital Publishing................................................................................................................................................. 323
E-Readers.......................................................................................................................................................... 323
Objective 8.3 Describe the different types of e-readers.
Using e-Texts...................................................................................................................................................... 324
Objective 8.4 Explain how to purchase, borrow, and publish e-texts.
HELPDESK: Managing Digital Media..................................................................................................................................... 324
Contents 11
Digital Music........................................................................................................................................................ 325
Creating and Storing Digital Music...................................................................................................................... 325
Objective 8.5 Describe how digital music is created and stored.
BITS&BYTES: Digital Music Creation................................................................................................................. 327
Distributing Digital Music.................................................................................................................................... 327
Objective 8.6 Summarize how to listen to and publish digital music.
BITS&BYTES: Need Money for Your Band? Try Crowdfunding.......................................................................... 328
Digital Media........................................................................................................................................................ 328
Digital Photography............................................................................................................................................ 328
Objective 8.7 Explain how best to create, print, and share digital photos.
BITS&BYTES: Photo Edit on Your Phone........................................................................................................... 330
SOUND BYTE: Enhancing Photos with Image-Editing Software............................................................................................ 330
Digital Video....................................................................................................................................................... 331
Objective 8.8 Describe how to create, edit, and distribute digital video.
BITS&BYTES: Fly-By Drone Video..................................................................................................................... 332
TRENDS IN IT: Digital Asset Managers Needed!............................................................................................... 334
TRY THIS: Creating and Publishing a Movie....................................................................................................... 336
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Video-Playing App......................................................................................................... 337
Part 2: Ethical Issues of Living in the Digital Age............................................................................................................ 338
Learning Outcome 8.2 You will be able to describe how to respect digital property and use it in ways that maintain your
digital reputation.
Protection of Digital Property............................................................................................................................. 338
Intellectual Property............................................................................................................................................ 338
Objective 8.9 Describe the various types of intellectual property.
Copyright Basics................................................................................................................................................ 339
Objective 8.10 Explain how copyright is obtained and the rights granted to the owners.
HELPDESK: Understanding Intellectual Property and Copyright............................................................................................ 341
Copyright Infringement....................................................................................................................................... 342
Objective 8.11 Explain copyright infringement, summarize the potential consequences, and describe situations in which you
can legally use copyrighted material.
BITS&BYTES: Software Piracy: It’s More Than Just Downloading and Copying................................................. 344
BITS&BYTES: Your Tax Dollars at Work: Free Media without Permission!........................................................... 346
Living Ethically in the Digital Era........................................................................................................................ 347
Plagiarism.......................................................................................................................................................... 347
Objective 8.12 Explain plagiarism and strategies for avoiding it.
Hoaxes and Digital Manipulation......................................................................................................................... 349
Objective 8.13 Describe hoaxes and digital manipulation.
SOUND BYTE: Plagiarism and Intellectual Property............................................................................................................... 349
Protecting Your Online Reputation...................................................................................................................... 352
Objective 8.14 Describe what comprises your online reputation and how to protect it.
BITS&BYTES: Celebrity Photographic Rights..................................................................................................... 354
ETHICS IN IT: Acceptable Use Policies: What You Can and Can’t Do................................................................ 355
SOLVE THIS: Intellectual Property and Copyright Basics.................................................................................. 363
Chapter 9
Securing Your System: Protecting Your Digital Data and Devices........................ 364
Part 1: Threats to Your Digital Assets................................................................................................................................ 366
Learning Outcome 9.1 You will be able to describe hackers, viruses, and other online annoyances and the threats
they pose to your digital security.
Identity Theft and Hackers................................................................................................................................. 366
12 Contents
Identity Theft...................................................................................................................................................... 367
Objective 9.1 Describe how identity theft is committed and the types of scams identity thieves perpetrate.
Hacking.............................................................................................................................................................. 367
Objective 9.2 Describe the different types of hackers and the tools they use.
BITS&BYTES: Hacking for Security................................................................................................................... 368
Computer Viruses................................................................................................................................................ 371
Virus Basics........................................................................................................................................................ 371
Objective 9.3 Explain what a computer virus is, why it is a threat to your security, how a computing device catches a virus,
and the symptoms it may display.
SOUND BYTE: Protecting Your Computer............................................................................................................................. 372
Types of Viruses................................................................................................................................................. 373
Objective 9.4 List the different categories of computer viruses, and describe their behaviors.
Online Annoyances and Social Engineering..................................................................................................... 375
Online Annoyances............................................................................................................................................. 375
Objective 9.5 Explain what malware, spam, and cookies are and how they impact your security.
Social Engineering.............................................................................................................................................. 378
Objective 9.6 Describe social engineering techniques, and explain strategies to avoid falling prey to them.
BITS&BYTES: I Received a Data Breach Letter … Now What?.......................................................................... 378
Scareware.......................................................................................................................................................... 379
ETHICS IN IT: You’re Being Watched … But Are You Aware You’re Being Watched?...............................................380
HELPDESK: Threats to Your Digital Life................................................................................................................... 380
TRENDS IN IT: Spear Phishing: The Bane of Data Breaches............................................................................. 381
TRY THIS: Testing Your Network Security.......................................................................................................... 383
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Password Generator...................................................................................................... 384
Part 2: Protecting Your Digital Property............................................................................................................................. 385
Learning Outcome 9.2 Describe various ways to protect your digital property and data from theft and corruption.
Restricting Access to Your Digital Assets......................................................................................................... 385
Firewalls............................................................................................................................................................. 385
Objective 9.7 Explain what a firewall is and how a firewall protects your computer from hackers.
HELPDESK: Understanding Firewalls.................................................................................................................................... 387
Preventing Virus Infections.................................................................................................................................. 387
Objective 9.8 Explain how to protect your computer from virus infection.
Authentication: Passwords and Biometrics......................................................................................................... 390
Objective 9.9 Describe how passwords and biometric characteristics can be used for user authentication.
BITS&BYTES: CAPTCHA: Keeping Websites Safe from Bots............................................................................ 391
Anonymous Web Surfing: Hiding from Prying Eyes............................................................................................. 393
Objective 9.10 Describe ways to surf the web anonymously.
BITS&BYTES: Multi-Factor Authentication: Don’t Rely Solely on Passwords!..................................................... 395
Keeping Your Data Safe...................................................................................................................................... 395
Protecting Your Personal Information.................................................................................................................. 395
Objective 9.11 Describe the types of information you should never share online.
SOUND BYTE: Managing Computer Security with Windows Tools........................................................................................ 395
Backing Up Your Data........................................................................................................................................ 396
Objective 9.12 List the various types of backups you can perform on your computing devices, and explain the various places
you can store backup files.
Protecting Your Physical Computing Assets.................................................................................................... 400
Environmental Factors and Power Surges........................................................................................................... 400
Objective 9.13 Explain the negative effects environment and power surges can have on computing devices.
Preventing and Handling Theft............................................................................................................................ 400
Objective 9.14 Describe the major concerns when a device is stolen and strategies for solving the problems.
DIG DEEPER: Computer Forensics: How It Works............................................................................................ 402
SOLVE THIS: Computer Security....................................................................................................................... 411
Contents 13
Chapter 10
Behind the Scenes: Software Programming.......................................................... 412
Part 1: Understanding Programming................................................................................................................................ 414
Learning Outcome 10.1 You will be able to describe the life cycle of a software project and identify the stages in the
program development life cycle.
Life Cycle of an Information System.................................................................................................................. 414
Importance of Programming............................................................................................................................... 414
Objective 10.1 Describe the importance of programming to both software developers and users.
System Development Life Cycle......................................................................................................................... 414
Objective 10.2 Summarize the stages of the system development life cycle (SDLC).
BITS&BYTES: Let Them See Your Work............................................................................................................ 416
Life Cycle of a Program....................................................................................................................................... 416
The Program Development Life Cycle................................................................................................................. 416
Objective 10.3 Define programming and list the steps in the program development life cycle (PDLC).
The Problem Statement...................................................................................................................................... 417
Objective 10.4 Describe how programmers construct a complete problem statement from a description of a task.
SOUND BYTE: Using the Arduino Microcontroller.................................................................................................................. 417
HELPDESK: Understanding Software Programming.............................................................................................................. 418
Algorithm Development...................................................................................................................................... 419
Objective 10.5 Explain how programmers use flow control and design methodologies when developing algorithms.
BITS&BYTES: Hackathons................................................................................................................................ 422
DIG DEEPER: The Building Blocks of Programming Languages: Syntax, Keywords, Data Types, and
Operators...................................................................................................................................................... 424
Coding............................................................................................................................................................... 424
Objective 10.6 Discuss the categories of programming languages and the roles of the compiler and the integrated
development environment (IDE) in coding.
Debugging......................................................................................................................................................... 431
Objective 10.7 Identify the role of debugging in program development.
BITS&BYTES: Many Languages on Display....................................................................................................... 432
Testing and Documentation................................................................................................................................ 432
Objective 10.8 Explain the importance of testing and documentation in program development.
TRY THIS: Programming with Corona................................................................................................................ 434
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Notepad........................................................................................................................ 435
Part 2: Programming Languages....................................................................................................................................... 436
Learning Outcome 10.2 You will understand the factors programmers consider when selecting an appropriate
programming language for a specific problem and will be familiar with some modern programming languages.
Many Programming Languages......................................................................................................................... 436
Need for Diverse Languages.............................................................................................................................. 436
Objective 10.9 Discuss the driving factors behind the popularity of various programming languages.
SOUND BYTE: Programming with the Processing Language................................................................................................. 436
Selecting the Right Language............................................................................................................................. 437
Objective 10.10 Summarize the considerations in identifying an appropriate programming language for a specific setting.
BITS&BYTES: Coding for Zombies.................................................................................................................... 437
ETHICS IN IT: When Software Runs Awry......................................................................................................... 438
Exploring Programming Languages.................................................................................................................. 439
Tour of Modern Languages................................................................................................................................. 439
Objective 10.11 Compare and contrast modern programming languages.
BITS&BYTES: Your Software Portfolio............................................................................................................... 443
TRENDS IN IT: Emerging Technologies: Unite All Your Video Game Design Tools.............................................. 447
Future of Programming Languages..................................................................................................................... 447
Objective 10.12 State key principles in the development of future programming languages.
14 Contents
HELPDESK: A Variety of Programming Languages................................................................................................................ 448
SOLVE THIS: Time Sheets................................................................................................................................. 455
Chapter 11
Behind the Scenes: Databases and Information Systems.................................... 456
Part 1: Database Fundamentals......................................................................................................................................... 458
Learning Outcome 11.1 You will be able to explain the basics of databases, including the most common types of
databases and the functions and components of relational databases in particular.
Database Advantages......................................................................................................................................... 458
The Need for Databases..................................................................................................................................... 458
Objective 11.1 Explain what a database is and why databases are useful.
HELPDESK: Using Databases............................................................................................................................................... 460
Advantages of Using Databases......................................................................................................................... 461
Objective 11.2 Discuss the benefits of using a database.
Database Types................................................................................................................................................... 462
Relational Databases.......................................................................................................................................... 463
Objective 11.3 Describe features of relational databases.
Object-Oriented Databases................................................................................................................................ 464
Objective 11.4 Describe features of object-oriented databases.
Multidimensional Databases............................................................................................................................... 464
Objective 11.5 Describe features of multidimensional databases.
TRENDS IN IT: Emerging Technologies: Can Your Business Partner Deliver the Goods? Enhanced
Databases Can Help You Decide!.................................................................................................................. 465
Database Basics.................................................................................................................................................. 465
Database Components and Functions................................................................................................................ 465
Objective 11.6 Describe how relational databases organize and define data.
SOUND BYTE: Creating and Querying an Access Database................................................................................ 469
BITS&BYTES: Music Streaming Services Use Databases.................................................................................. 469
Inputting and Managing Data.............................................................................................................................. 470
Objective 11.7 Describe how data is inputted and managed in a database.
DIG DEEPER: Structured Query Language (SQL).............................................................................................. 475
BITS&BYTES: Data Dashboards: Useful Visualization Tools............................................................................... 477
TRY THIS: Using Excel’s Database Functions.................................................................................................... 479
MAKE THIS: MAKE: A Family Shopping List...................................................................................................... 480
Part 2: How Businesses Use Databases............................................................................................................................ 481
Learning Outcome 11.2 You will be able to explain how businesses use data warehouses, data marts, and data
mining to manage data and how business information systems and business intelligence are used to make business
decisions.
Data Warehousing and Storage......................................................................................................................... 481
Data Warehouses and Data Marts...................................................................................................................... 481
Objective 11.8 Explain what data warehouses and data marts are and how they are used.
HELPDESK: How Businesses Use Databases....................................................................................................................... 481
BITS&BYTES: Data Warehouses Are Going to the Cloud.................................................................................. 483
Data Mining........................................................................................................................................................ 483
Objective 11.9 Describe data mining and how it works.
BITS&BYTES: Hadoop: How Big Data Is Being Managed................................................................................. 485
ETHICS IN IT: Data, Data Everywhere, but Is It Protected?................................................................................ 486
Using Databases to Make Business Decisions................................................................................................ 487
Business Information Systems............................................................................................................................ 487
Objective 11.10 Describe the main types of business information systems and how they are used by business managers.
Contents 15
BITS&BYTES: Virtual Agents: Expert Systems Replace People on the Web....................................................... 488
SOUND BYTE: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI Suite................................................................................................ 492
TRENDS IN IT: Mobile Business Intelligence...................................................................................................... 493
SOLVE THIS: College Database......................................................................................................................... 501
Chapter 12
Behind the Scenes: Networking and Security in the Business World.........................502
Part 1: Client/Server Networks and Topologies................................................................................................................ 504
Learning Outcome 12.1 You will be able to describe common types of client/server networks, servers found on
them, and network topologies used to construct them.
Client/Server Network Basics............................................................................................................................ 504
Networking Advantages..................................................................................................................................... 504
Objective 12.1 List the advantages for businesses of installing a network.
Comparing Client/Server and Peer-to-Peer Networks......................................................................................... 505
Objective 12.2 Explain the differences between a client/server network and a peer-to-peer network.
Types of Client/Server Networks......................................................................................................................... 506
Objective 12.3 Describe the common types of client/server networks as well as other networks businesses use.
BITS&BYTES: Your Car Network Can Be Hacked.............................................................................................. 509
Servers and Network Topologies....................................................................................................................... 510
Servers............................................................................................................................................................... 510
Objective 12.4 List the common types of servers found on client/server networks.
HELPDESK: Using Servers.................................................................................................................................................... 511
TRENDS IN IT: Virtualization: Making Servers Work Harder............................................................................... 512
Network Topologies............................................................................................................................................ 513
Objective 12.5 Describe the common types of network topologies and the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
SOUND BYTE: Network Topology and Navigation Devices.................................................................................................... 515
TRY THIS: Sharing Folders on a Home Network Using Windows....................................................................... 520
MAKE THIS: MAKE: An App That Shares.......................................................................................................... 521
Part 2: Setting Up Business Networks.............................................................................................................................. 522
Learning Outcome 12.2 You will be able to describe transmission media, network operating system software, and
network navigation devices and explain major threats to network security and how to mitigate them.
Transmission Media............................................................................................................................................ 522
Wired and Wireless Transmission Media............................................................................................................. 522
Objective 12.6 Describe the types of wired and wireless transmission media used in networks.
BITS&BYTES: Go Green with Mobile Apps........................................................................................................ 524
Network Adapters and Navigation Devices...................................................................................................... 524
Network Adapters.............................................................................................................................................. 524
Objective 12.7 Describe how network adapters help data move around a network.
MAC Addresses................................................................................................................................................. 526
Objective 12.8 Define MAC addresses, and explain how they are used to move data around a network.
Switches, Bridges, and Routers......................................................................................................................... 527
Objective 12.9 List the various network navigation devices, and explain how they help route data through networks.
HELPDESK: Transmission Media and Network Adapters....................................................................................................... 528
Network Operating Systems and Network Security........................................................................................ 528
Network Operating Systems............................................................................................................................... 529
Objective 12.10 Explain why network operating systems are necessary for networks to function.
BITS&BYTES: Smart Lighting for Smart Homes................................................................................................ 529
Client/Server Network Security........................................................................................................................... 530
Objective 12.11 List major security threats to networks, and explain how network administrators mitigate these threats.
DIG DEEPER: The OSI Model: Defining Protocol Standards.............................................................................. 531
SOUND BYTE: A Day in the Life of a Network Technician...................................................................................................... 532
16 Contents
ETHICS IN IT: How Should Companies Handle Data Breaches?....................................................................... 534
BITS&BYTES: Are Your Photos Helping Criminals Target You?.......................................................................... 535
SOLVE THIS: Cyber Security Flyer and Mail Merge............................................................................................ 543
Chapter 13
Behind the Scenes: How the Internet Works......................................................... 544
Part 1: Inner Workings of the Internet.............................................................................................................................. 546
Learning Outcome 13.1 You will be able to explain how the Internet is managed and the details of how data is
transmitted across the Internet.
Internet Management and Networking.............................................................................................................. 546
Management...................................................................................................................................................... 546
Objective 13.1 Describe the management of the Internet.
Networking Components.................................................................................................................................... 547
Objective 13.2 Explain how the Internet’s networking components interact.
Data Transmission.............................................................................................................................................. 548
Objective 13.3 List and describe the Internet protocols used for data transmission.
BITS&BYTES: A Free Cloud-Based Server for You............................................................................................ 548
Internet Identity.................................................................................................................................................... 551
IP Addresses...................................................................................................................................................... 551
Objective 13.4 Explain how each device connected to the Internet is assigned a unique address.
HELPDESK: Understanding IP Addresses, Domain Names, and Protocols............................................................................ 551
BITS&BYTES: What’s Your IP Address?............................................................................................................ 552
BITS&BYTES: Internet of Things Goes Shopping............................................................................................... 552
SOUND BYTE: Creating Web Pages with Squarespace........................................................................................................ 553
DIG DEEPER: Connection-Oriented Versus Connectionless Protocols............................................................... 554
Domain Names.................................................................................................................................................. 555
Objective 13.5 Discuss how a numeric IP address is changed into a readable name.
BITS&BYTES: Server in the Cloud..................................................................................................................... 556
TRY THIS: Ping Me............................................................................................................................................ 559
MAKE THIS: Make: An Earthquake Detector..................................................................................................... 560
Part 2: Coding and Communicating on the Internet........................................................................................................ 561
Learning Outcome 13.2 You will be able to describe the web technologies used to develop web applications.
Web Technologies............................................................................................................................................... 561
Web Development.............................................................................................................................................. 561
Objective 13.6 Compare and contrast a variety of web development languages.
BITS&BYTES: CodePen: An Editing Community for Web Designers.................................................................. 562
SOUND BYTE: Client-Side Web Page Development.............................................................................................................. 565
Application Architecture...................................................................................................................................... 565
Objective 13.7 Compare and contrast server-side and client-side application software.
BITS&BYTES: Free Code Camp........................................................................................................................ 567
Communications over the Internet.................................................................................................................... 567
Types of Internet Communication....................................................................................................................... 567
Objective 13.8 Discuss the mechanisms for communicating via e-mail and instant messaging.
BITS&BYTES: Google Inbox.............................................................................................................................. 569
Encryption.......................................................................................................................................................... 570
Objective 13.9 Explain how data encryption improves security.
BITS&BYTES: Numbers: We Wouldn’t Have Encryption Without Them!............................................................ 571
ETHICS IN IT: Do We Really Want Strong Encryption?...................................................................................... 572
HELPDESK: Keeping E-Mail Secure...................................................................................................................................... 572
Contents 17
TRENDS IN IT: Cognitive Computing................................................................................................................ 573
SOLVE THIS: Creating an HTML Document...................................................................................................... 581
Appendix A
The History of the Personal Computer................................................................... 583
Appendix B
Careers in IT............................................................................................................ 595
Glossary........................................................................................................................................................................ 609
Index............................................................................................................................................................................. 627
18 Contents
About the Authors
Alan Evans, MS, CPA

aevans@mc3.edu
Alan is currently a faculty member at Moore College of Art and Design and
Montgomery County Community College, teaching a variety of computer science
and business courses. He holds a BS in accounting from Rider University and
an MS in information systems from Drexel University, and he is a certified public
accountant. After a successful career in business, Alan finally realized that his
true calling is education. He has been teaching at the college level since 2000. Alan enjoys attending
technical conferences and exploring new methods of engaging students.
Kendall Martin, PhD

kmartin@mc3.edu
Kendall is a professor of Computer Science at Montgomery County Community
College with teaching experience at both the undergraduate and graduate levels at
a number of institutions, including Villanova University, DeSales University, Ursinus
College, and Arcadia University.
Kendall’s education includes a BS in electrical engineering from the University of
Rochester and an MS and a PhD in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. She has industrial
experience in research and development environments (AT&T Bell Laboratories) as well as experience
with several start-up technology firms.
Mary Anne Poatsy, MBA

mpoatsy@mc3.edu
Mary Anne is a senior faculty member at Montgomery County Community
College, teaching various computer application and concepts courses
in face-to-face and online environments. She enjoys speaking at various
professional conferences about innovative classroom strategies. She holds a
BA in psychology and education from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA in
finance from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Mary Anne has been in teaching since 1997, ranging from elementary and secondary education to
Montgomery County Community College, Gwynedd-Mercy College, Muhlenberg College, and Bucks
County Community College, as well as training in the professional environment. Before teaching,
she was a vice president at Shearson Lehman Hutton in the Municipal Bond Investment Banking
Department.
About the Authors 19

Dedication
For my wife, Patricia, whose patience, understanding, and support continue to make this work possible …
especially when I stay up past midnight writing! And to my parents, Jackie and Dean, who taught me the
best way to achieve your goals is to constantly strive to improve yourself through education.
Alan Evans
For all the teachers, mentors, and gurus who have popped in and out of my life.
Kendall Martin
For my husband, Ted, who unselfishly continues to take on more than his fair share to support me
throughout this process, and for my children, Laura, Carolyn, and Teddy, whose encouragement and love
have been inspiring.
Mary Anne Poatsy
Acknowledgments
First, we would like to thank our students. We constantly learn from them while teaching, and they are a continu-
al source of inspiration and new ideas.
We could not have written this book without the loving support of our families. Our spouses and children made
sacrifices (mostly in time not spent with us) to permit us to make this dream into a reality.
Although working with the entire team at Pearson has been a truly enjoyable experience, a few individuals
deserve special mention. The constant support and encouragement we receive from Jenifer Niles, Executive
Portfolio Product Manager, and Andrew Gilfillan, VP, Editorial Director, continually make this book grow and
change. Our heartfelt thanks go to Shannon LeMay-Finn, our Developmental Editor. Her creativity, drive, and
management skills helped make this book a reality. We also would like to extend our appreciation to Pearson
Content Producers, particularly Laura Burgess, and the vendor teams, who work tirelessly to ensure that our
book is published on time and looks fabulous. The timelines are always short, the art is complex, and there are
many people with whom they have to coordinate tasks. But they make it look easy! We’d like to extend our
thanks to the media and MyLab IT team—Eric Hakanson, Becca Golden, Amanda Losonsky, and Heather
Darby for all of their hard work and dedication.
There are many people whom we do not meet at Pearson and elsewhere who make significant contributions
by designing the book, illustrating, composing the pages, producing the media, and securing permissions. We
thank them all.
And finally, we would like to thank the reviewers and the many others who contribute their time, ideas, and
talents to this project. We appreciate their time and energy, as their comments help us turn out a better product
each edition. A special thanks goes to Rick Wolff, a wonderfully talented infographic designer who helped by
creating the infographics for this text.
20 Acknowledgments
Letter from the Authors
Our 15th Edition—A Letter from the Authors

Why We Wrote This Book
The pace of technological change is ever increasing.
In education, we have seen this impact us more than
ever recently—the Maker movement, MOOCs, touch-
screen mobile delivery, and Hangouts are now fixed
parts of our environment.
Even the most agile of learners and educators need
support in keeping up with this pace of change. We have
responded by integrating material to help students develop
skills for web application and mobile programming. We
see the incredible value of these skills and their popularity
with students, and have included Make This exercises for each chapter. These exercises gently bring
the concepts behind mobile app development to life. In addition, there is a Solve This exercise in each
chapter that reinforces chapter content while also applying Microsoft Office skills. These projects help to
promote students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which employers highly value.
We have introduced eight new Helpdesk training modules and two new IT Simulations to continue to
provide students with an active learning environment in which they can reinforce their learning of chapter
objectives. In addition, in this edition we have focused more on artificial intelligence and its impact on
how we will use technology ethically. We also continue to emphasize the many aspects of ethics in
technology debates. Some of the new Helpdesks and IT Simulations support instruction on how to
conduct thoughtful and respectful discussion on complex ethical issues.
Our combined 50 years of teaching computer concepts have coincided with sweeping innovations
in computing technology that have affected every facet of society. From iPads to Web 2.0, computers
are more than ever a fixture of our daily lives—and the lives of our students. But although today’s stu-
dents have a much greater comfort level with their digital environment than previous generations, their
knowledge of the machines they use every day is still limited.
Part of the student-centered focus of our book has to do with making the material truly engaging to
students. From the beginning, we have written Technology in Action to focus on what matters most to
today’s student. Instead of a history lesson on the microchip, we focus on tasks students can accom-
plish with their computing devices and skills they can apply immediately in the workplace, the class-
room, and at home.
We strive to keep the text as current as publishing timelines allow, and we are constantly looking for
the next technology trend or gadget. We have augmented the text with weekly technology updates to
help you keep on top of the latest breaking developments and continue to include a number of multi-
media components to enrich the classroom and student learning experience. The result is a learning
system that sparks student interest by focusing on the material they want to learn (such as how to
integrate computing devices into a home network) while teaching the material they need to learn (such
as how networks work). The sequence of topics is carefully set up to mirror the typical student learning
experience.
As they read through this text, your students will progress through stages and learning outcomes of
increasing difficulty:
1. Thinking about how technology offers them the power to change their society and their
world and examining why it’s important to be computer fluent
2. Understanding the basic components of computing devices
3. Connecting to and exploring the Internet
4. Exploring application software
5. Learning the operating system and personalizing their computer
Letter from the Authors 21

6. Evaluating and upgrading computing devices
7. Understanding home networking options
8. Creating digital assets and understanding how to legally distribute them
9. Keeping computing devices safe from hackers
10. Going behind the scenes, looking at technology in greater detail
We strive to structure the book in a way that makes navigation easy and reinforces key concepts. We
continue to design the text around learning outcomes and objectives, making them a prominent part
of the chapter structure. Students will see the learning outcomes and objectives in the chapter opener,
throughout the text itself, as well as in the summary so they understand just what they are expected to
learn.
We continue to structure the book in a progressive manner, intentionally introducing on a basic level
in the earlier chapters concepts that students traditionally have trouble with and then later expanding
on those concepts in more detail when students have become more comfortable with them. Thus, the
focus of the early chapters is on practical uses for the computer, with real-world examples to help the
students place computing in a familiar context.
For example, we introduce basic hardware components in Chapter 2, and then we go into increas-
ingly greater detail on some hardware components in Chapter 6. The Behind the Scenes chapters ven-
ture deeper into the realm of computing through in-depth explanations of how programming, networks,
the Internet, and databases work. They are specifically designed to keep more experienced students
engaged and to challenge them with interesting research assignments.
In addition to extensive review, practice, and assessment content, each chapter contains several
problem-solving, hands-on activities that can be carried out in the classroom or as homework:
• The Try This exercises lead students to explore a particular computing feature related to
the chapter.
• The Make This exercises are hands-on activities that lead students to explore mobile app
development.
• The Solve This exercises integrate and reinforce chapter concepts with Microsoft Office skills.
Throughout the years we have also developed a comprehensive multimedia program to reinforce the
material taught in the text and to support both classroom lectures and distance learning:
• The Helpdesk training content, created specifically for Technology in Action, enables students
to take on the role of a helpdesk staffer fielding questions posed by computer users.
• Exciting Sound Byte multimedia—fully updated and integrated with the text—expand student
mastery of complex topics.
• IT Simulations are detailed, interactive scenarios covering the core chapter topic. As
students work through the simulation, they apply what they have learned and demonstrate
understanding in an active learning environment.
• The TechBytes Weekly blog delivers the latest technology news stories to you for use in your
classroom. Each is accompanied by specific discussion topics and activities to expand on what is
within the textbook materials.
This book is designed to reach the students of the twenty-first century and prepare them for the
role they can take in their own community and the world. It has been an honor to work with you over
the past 15 years to present and explain new technologies to students, and to show them the rapidly
growing importance of technology in our world.
22 Letter from the Authors

What’s New
Technology in Action, 15th Edition

Welcome to the Fifteenth Edition of Technology in Action!
The best-selling Technology in Action continues to deliver an engaging approach to teaching the topics and skills students need
to be digitally literate. Using practical content, hands-on projects, and interactive simulation lessons, students are engaged in
learning.
For Technology in Action 15th edition, we have added innovative and important content updates, including new coverage of emerg-
ing technologies and artificial intelligence, especially in Chapter 1. The technology used throughout the text has been updated and
expanded, including 8 new Helpdesk training modules and 2 new IT Simulations. Each chapter now has two Helpdesk trainings, two
Sound Byte lessons, and one IT Sim to provide students with a consistent learning experience from chapter to chapter.
Using these resources and the practical content, students will be prepared for academic, professional, and personal success. And,
if they are using MyLab IT, they can earn the Digital Competency badge to easily demonstrate their skills to potential employers.
Highlights of What’s New

• New and updated content throughout
• New Helpdesk modules in Chapters 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 ensure that each chapter offers two Helpdesks for a consistent
learning experience
• New IT Simulations for Chapter 1 and Chapter 12 to ensure all chapters have one
• Updated content with new artificial intelligence and emerging technologies coverage
• New images and updated quizzes throughout
Explore the Hallmarks and Features of Technology in Action, 15th Edition

INSTRUCTION: Engage all types of learners with a PRACTICE: Hands-on resources and simulations
variety of instructional resources allow students to demonstrate understanding
• Pearson eText is mobile friendly and students can access • Try This Projects are hands-on projects students complete
it 24 * 7. to practice and demonstrate proficiency with important
• Chapter Overview Videos provide students with a quick topics. Each project is accompanied by a how-to video.
look at what they will learn in the chapter. • Solve This! Projects put the concepts students are
• PowerPoint and Audio Presentations can be used in learning into action through real-world problem solving
class for lecture or assigned to students, particularly online using Microsoft Word, Access, and Excel. Grader versions
students, for instruction and review. of some of these projects are in MyLab IT.
• TechBytes Weekly is a weekly blog that helps you keep • Helpdesks are interactive lessons based on chapter
your course current by providing interesting and relevant objectives. Students play the role of a helpdesk staffer
news items and ready-to-use discussion questions. assisting customers via a live chat, decision-based simulation.
• Make This! Projects provide activities where students build • Sound Bytes provide an audio/visual lesson on additional
programs that run on their mobile devices. Most of the topics related to the chapter, including a brief quiz at the end.
chapters use App Inventor to build Android apps that can • IT Simulations provide 13 individual scenarios that
be installed on any Android device or emulated for students students work through in an active learning environment.
using iOS devices. Each project includes instructions and a
REVIEW: Self-check resources keep learning
how-to video.
on track
Instructor Chapter Tabs provide teaching tips, homework
• Chapter Overview Videos for Parts 1 and 2 of the chapter
and assessment suggestions, brief overviews of each
provide an objective-based review of what students should
chapter’s Try This, Make This, and Solve This exercises, as
have learned. Videos have a short quiz and can be
well as select Sound Byte talking points and ethics debate
accessed from mobile devices for a quick review.
starters.
What’s New 23
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
“Go back,” he said. “Go back. Get away from here, now!”
It was all returning to me ... I knew why he looked so strange, why he
spoke so flatly, why that interest watched us from his eyes....
I didn’t know. The knowledge brushed the edges of my awareness
and withdrew. I stumbled forward, Fitzgerald beside me excited and
eager, calling out a question to the man.
He made no answer. He took one last look at us, blank, intent,
impersonal, his eyes as blue as the water in the lake. And then he
dropped straight downward, without stooping, without seeming to
move a muscle. He vanished behind the knee-high ledge of rock.
We reached it together, shouldering one another in our eagerness.
We bent over the ledge. The man had disappeared, leaving no sign
behind him. Nothing but a little hollow in the rock where he had
stood, a hollow no bigger than a saucer, in which blue water swayed.
We stood there half stunned, for the time it took the water to gurgle
downward and vanish in the hole and surge up again twice from
some action of subterranean waters.
Memory was battering at the closed doors of my mind.
I knew the answer. I knew it well—but the door stayed shut. The time
to remember was not yet.
They were watching us from the edge of the water by the time we
had come within hailing distance. One by one we saw them wade up
from the blue depths and take their stand in the edge of the water,
ankle deep, rivulets running from their hair and clothing—drowned
men and women, watching us.
They weren’t drowned, of course. They looked perfectly healthy and
there was more intelligence and animation in their faces than had
looked at us from the vanished man of the ledge.
These were real people. The other had not been. I thought that much
must be evident even to Fitzgerald, though it was a subterranean
knowledge running through my mind that told me so.
“Wait, Jim,” Fitzgerald said suddenly, catching my elbow. “I—don’t
like ’em. Stand back.” He was watching the silent people in the
water.
I let him stop me. Now that I was here I wasn’t certain what came
next. The terrible urgency still rang its alarm in the closed room of
my brain but until I could gain entry into that room I wouldn’t know
what was expected of me.
Fitzgerald waved to the people in the water, a beckoning gesture.
They stared at us.
Then they turned and talked briefly together, glancing at us over their
shoulders. Finally one of the women came up out of the lake and
picked her way toward us over the lava-like rock.
Finally one of the women came up out of the lake and picked her
way toward us
She had long fair hair sleeked back from her face by the water and
hanging like pale kelp across her shoulders. Her blue dress clung to
her over a beautiful, supple body, water spattering from the dripping
cloth and the dripping hair as she came.
Belatedly I remembered that crashed air-liner and its vanished
people. Were these the passengers and crew? I thought they were.
But what had induced them against all reason to come this far into
the deadly air of the Ring? The lake? Up to that point the thing was
possible, but it was sheer madness from the moment I imagined
them entering the water.
The lake, then? Was there something inexplicably strange and
compelling about the lake itself that had drawn them in and sent
them out again like this, alive, unharmed in the singing air that made
our counters clatter?
I looked out over the waters for an answer, and—
And I got my answer—or part of it.
For out there on the rippling blue surface a shadow moved. A long,
coiling shadow cast not from above but from below. Deep down in
the lake something was stirring.
I strained my eyes and in the sealed deeps of my mind terror and
exultation moved in answer to that coiling darkness. I knew it. I
recognized it. I ... The recognition passed.
The vast shadow moved lazily, monstrously, moved and coiled and
drew itself in under the cliffs.
Slowly it disappeared, coil by coil, shadow by shadow.
I turned. The fair-haired woman was standing before us; gazing into
our faces with a remote, impersonal curiosity. It was as if she had
never seen another human creature before and found us interesting
but—disassociated. No species that might share relationship with
her.
“You’re from the liner?” I asked, my voice reverberating in my own
ears inside the helmet. “We—we can take you back.” I let the words
die. They meant nothing to her. They meant no more than the clatter
of our belt-counters or the patter of drops around her on the rocks.
“Jim.” Fitzgerald’s voice buzzed in my earphones. “Jim, we’ve got to
take her back with us. She’s out of her head. They all are—don’t you
see? We’ve got to save them.”
“How?” I tried to sound practical. “We haven’t got room. There’s a full
liner load here.”
“We can take this one.” He reached out and took her arm gently. She
let him, her eyes turning that remote, impersonal gaze upon his face.
“It’s probably too late,” he said, looking at her with compassion, “but
we can’t leave her here, can we?”
I was watching his hand on her arm and a thought came to me out of
nowhere, a fact that seemed to slip through the closed doors in my
mind as they opened a tiny crack. This girl was flesh and blood. A
hand closed on her arm met firm resistance. But I knew that if I had
touched that first man my hand would have closed over the smooth
instability of water.
I looked at the girl’s face where a passing breeze brushed it, and a
shiver went down my back. For it was a warm breeze, drying her hair
and cheek where it blew—and I saw dark, wrinkled desiccation
wherever dryness touched her skin. The sleek fair hair lost its
silkiness and turned brown and brittle, the satiny cheek darkened,
furrowed....
I knew if she left the lake she would die. But it didn’t matter. I knew
there was no actual danger, either way. (Danger to what? From
what? No use asking myself that yet—the door would be open in its
own time.)
I took her other arm. Between us she went docilely toward the
waiting copters, saying nothing. I don’t think Fitzgerald noticed what
that drying breeze was doing to her until we were nearly at the edge
of the Ring.
By then it was too late to take her back even if he had understood
what the trouble was.
I heard Fitzgerald catch his breath but he said nothing and neither
did I.
We lifted her into his copter. I took off behind him and the visors were
silent between our ships as we flew back toward Base. What could
we have said to each other then?
CHAPTER III
Living Lake
Thirty minutes after we hit the Base the girl was in a jury-rigged
hydrating tank, wrapped in wet sheets, with a slow trickle of fresh
warm water soaking them. Even her face was loosely covered, and I
was glad of that. It was an old woman’s face by now, drawn tight and
furrowed over her skull. Only an arm was bare, shriveled flesh
beneath which the tendons stood sharply etched.
The arm was bare for the needle that fed sodium pentothol into a
vein, slowly, under the watchful eye of Sales, one of our best Base
medics. We knew that presently, when the drug began to cloud her
mind, Sale’s skillful questions would start drawing out the memories
of what had happened to her, reconstructing the basic scenes which
had led to—this.
Or—we hoped they would.
“It looks like aphasia,” Sales murmured. “No brain injury so far as we
know yet, but—”
“Chief!” It was Davidson, touching my arm. We all turned in the half-
darkness that was part of this narcosynthesis treatment. “Chief, the
Mobile Staff’s on its way down here. They vised after you left.”
“What for?” I asked sharply, a nervous dread knotting my stomach.
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t say. You’re the boss, after all.”
But I wasn’t the boss of Mobile Staff. They were bigger than I, the
bureau of specialists that controlled the administration of all the
Rings. They were the bosses. And if they came here now ...
I caught Davidson’s eye in the gloom. Very slightly he shook his
head. The secret of Williams’ death was still safe, then. But not for
long. And if the Staff talked to Fitzgerald about the lake ...
I made an enormous effort and fought down the rising panic.
Information first. Then action. I had to keep that order.
Sales grunted and I looked back, forcing my attention to the
business at hand.
“She must have the tolerance of an elephant,” Sales said, eyeing the
tube through which sodium pentothol still fed into the girl’s arm. “Or
else there’s some chemical metamorphosis—I don’t know. I’ve given
her enough to put a dozen men to sleep. But look at her.”
I didn’t like to look at her. It was obvious to me that she was dying.
Yet when Sales pushed the wet sheets back from her face the
impersonal, disinterested attention still dwelt upon the ceiling, fully
awake, uncaring, hearing nothing we said, feeling nothing we did.
Fitzgerald said, “How could she have breathed under water?”
“She couldn’t.” Sales scowled at him. “There’s no physiological
change at all. Her respiratory system’s normal.”
“She must have,” Fitzgerald said stubbornly. “I know what we saw.”
“Anything’s possible in a Ring,” Sales admitted, voicing an aphorism.
“But I don’t see how it could have worked.” He looked up at me.
“How important is this, chief?”
I told him.
“Give me an hour,” Sales said briefly when I had finished. “I’m going
to try something else. Several other things. Maybe one of ’em will
work.”
“One of ’em’s got to,” I told him, getting up.
In that hour a lot happened. Sales found what he wanted, for one
thing. For another, the Mobile Staff arrived. Williams’ body was
found. And as for me—it was the hour that marked the turning point
in my life.
Williams’ death was reported on my private visor as soon as I got
back to my office. I could feel Davidson’s silence like a tangible thing
as he listened to the exclamations and incredulity of the others.
All I could do was order the usual investigations got under way
immediately. At that moment I decided not to speak of my own
presence when he died. I couldn’t let myself be diverted by useless
questions on a subject only distantly related to my own terrible
problem.
Worse than ever that deathly fear was stirring restlessly behind the
closed doors of my unconscious. I knew the doors would swing open
soon. Little by little they had let facts escape the barrier, and the
barrier itself would be ready to fall.... Soon, I thought, soon.
Looking back now I lose my time-sense about that eventful hour. I
think we were still lost in dismayed wonder over Williams when the
visor flickered and then framed the grim, creased face of Mobile
Staff’s chief, Lewis.
There was a hunted, nightmare quality about this piling of crisis upon
crisis, I thought, as I went down to the reception hall to welcome my
superiors. If only I could find five minutes of peace to try again those
slowly opening doors!
Mobile Staff wears black uniforms. If all Bio employees are carefully
tested then Mobile men are screened with such stringent care that
there is reason to marvel how anyone ever passes their tests. All of
these men in their severe black looked taut, nervous, keen with an
edge almost ruthless in its steely temper.
“What about this lake development in Ring Seventy-Twelve?” was
the first thing Lewis said to me as we walked back toward my office.
It couldn’t have been worse, I told myself. If they had timed
themselves deliberately they couldn’t have chosen a worse time.
“Three of us have seen it closely,” was all I answered. “You’ll want to
discuss it with us in detail, I suppose.”
Lewis nodded crisply. We didn’t speak again until we were settled in
my office, Davidson and Fitzgerald ready for questions beside me.
We told what—overtly—we knew. It was Lewis, of course, who
spoke with decision.
“I think we’d better destroy the thing pronto.”
“Frankly, sir—” this was Davidson “—frankly, I’d think that over first.
The thing’s isolated, whatever it is. We’d run the risk of scattering it
abroad.”
“I incline that way myself,” I said quickly. “Isolation. Ring it off, reroute
air traffic. Leave it alone and study it ... study it?” I suspected that
was wrong. A warning bell had clanged in my brain.
Lewis sat there silently, shifting his keen glance from face to face.
Just as he drew his breath to speak my desk visor buzzed.
“Report ready on Williams’ death, sir,” an impersonal voice said.
“All right. Hold it awhile,” I began. But Lewis bent forward and gave
the face in the visor a narrowed glance.
“No, let’s have it right now,” he said. Despairingly I wondered how
much he knew and how much that abnormally keen brain had
guessed already of the undercurrents running swiftly beneath the
surface of events here.
The face in the visor glanced at me. I shrugged. Lewis was boss as
long as Mobile Staff remained here.
“Body of J. L. Williams, assistant to chief, was found in a locker in his
own office forty minutes ago,” the report began. “The shot was fired
from....” The voice went off into medical and ballistic details I ceased
to hear. I was turning over in my mind crazy questions about how I
could prevent an immediate close study of the lake at the very best,
and at the worst its destruction.
“. . . revolver of this caliber possessed only by Chief Owen himself,”
the visor declared. I woke with a start. “Last men seen with the
deceased were Robert Davidson and Chief Owen. Chief Owen
subsequently suppressed a report from Ring Station 27 and ordered
a copter for immediate departure. He then took off for—”
The visor buzzed suddenly and the monotoned report blanked out. It
was an emergency interruption. Very briefly Dr. Sales’ face flashed
upon the screen.
“This is urgent, Chief,” he said, looking into my eyes significantly.
“Could you spare me five minutes in my lab right now?”
It seemed like a heaven-sent relief. I glanced at Lewis for
permission. His gaze was cold and suspicious but he nodded after a
moment and I got up with a single look at Davidson’s deliberately
blank face and went out.
Something prompted me to pause at the door after I had closed it. I

was not really surprised to hear Lewis’ harsh voice.
“See that Chief Owen doesn’t leave the building before I’ve talked to
him again. That’s an urgent. Give it priority.”
I shrugged. Things were beyond my control now. All I could do was
ride along and trust to instinct.
Although Sales had asked for only five minutes of my time, he
seemed oddly reluctant to begin. I sat down across the desk from
him and watched him fidget with his desk blotter. Finally he looked
up and spoke abruptly.
“You know the girl died, of course.”
“I expected it. When?”
“Half an hour ago. I’ve been doing some quick thinking since then.
And a lot of quick analyses. There hasn’t been time yet to check, but
I think she died of psychosomatic causes, chief.”
“That’s hard to credit,” I said. “Tell me about it.”
“She was a perfectly normal specimen by all quantitative and
qualitative tests. I think suggestion killed her.”
“But how?”
“You know you can hypnotize a subject, touch his arm with ice and
tell him it’s red-hot metal. Typical burn weals will appear. Most
physical symptoms can be induced by suggestion. That girl died of
dehydration and asphyxia as far as I can tell.”
“We gave her moisture and oxygen.”
“She didn’t know it was oxygen. She didn’t think she was breathing
at all. So her motor reflexes were paralyzed and—she died. As for
the hydrating apparatus ...” Sales shook his head in a bewildered
way. “This sounds crazy but I think our mistake there was in giving
her water as a hydrating factor. Chief, how closely did you see that
lake? Do you know that it’s water?”
Again that bell seemed to ring in my head. Water? Water? Of course
it isn’t water, not as we’ve known water up to now.
“Until I thought of that,” Sales went on, “I couldn’t understand her
apparent breathing under water. Now I think I’m beginning to
understand. A liquid can’t be breathed by human beings, but there
could be—well, artificial isotopes that would do the trick. Also,
something drove that girl insane.
“I think she was insane. You might call it a variant of schizophrenia.
Or possession if you prefer. Her mind was completely blanketed and
subjugated by—something else.” He drummed on the desk. Then,
looking up sharply, he said, “I got samples of the lake’s—water. From
her body. It’s not water.
“Maybe it once was but now it’s mixed with other compounds. The
stuff seems half alive. Not protoplasm but close to it. I can’t
evaporate or break it down with any chemical I’ve yet tried.
“There are traces of hemoglobin. In fact, the stuff has many of the
attributes of blood. But—and this is important, Chief—I couldn’t find
traces of a single leukocyte. You see what that means?”
I shook my head.
“One of the primary results of exposing an organism to radioactivity
is a reduction of the number of white cells, making it subject to
infection. The proportion of polymorphonuclear white cells goes
down relatively. That’s axiomatic. But surely you see what it
suggests!”
Again I shook my head. A deep uneasiness was mounting in me but
I had to hear him out before I acted. I knew I’d have to act. I think I
knew already what I would have to do before I left this room. But I
wanted to hear the rest of his story first. I signaled him to go on.
“Another thing I observed about the—call it water,” he said carefully,
“was the presence of considerable boron and some lithium. Of
course the whole Ring area is subject to constant radiations of all
kinds, but the important ones just now are the hard electromagnetic
and the nuclear radiations that produce biological reactions.
“I suppose you remember that boron and lithium both tend to
concentrate the effects of a bombardment of slow neutrons, so an
organism like the lake would get a very heavy dose of the radiations
that have the greatest effect on it.”
“The lake—an organism?” I echoed.
“I think it is. Up to now we’ve come into conflict only with evolved and
mutated creatures that were recognizable as animals even before
genetic changes took place. One reason might be that mutated
genes divide more slowly than others and tend to lose out in the race
for supremacy.
“A complete mutation like—this lake—is something nobody really
expected. The odds are too heavy against it. But we’ve known it
could happen. And I think this time we’re up against something
dangerous. Big and dangerous and impossible to understand.”
I leaned forward. I knew what I had to do. Now? No, not quite yet.
Inside my mind the closed doors were moving slowly, swinging wider
and wider, while behind them pressed the crowding memories of
danger which would burst the barrier at any moment now.
“Forget all that for awhile,” Sales said with a sudden change of
expression. “I talked to the girl before she died. I’m taking cross-
bearings on my conclusion, Chief. One line I’ve already indicated.
The second is what the girl said. They check.” He looked at me
thoughtfully.
“I had to blank her mind clear down to the lowest articulate levels,”
he said, “before I could cut back under whatever compulsion it was
that killed her. She didn’t know she was talking. I hadn’t much time—
she was dying as she spoke. But from what she said I’ve pieced a
theory together.” He paused. “Tell me, did you see anything at all
during your experiences with the lake to make you suspect it might
be—alive?”
CHAPTER IV
Voice of the Lake
With stunning suddenness, out of my memory came the vision of a
great eye staring up at me through the pale fog as I maneuvered our
copter above the Ring when Davidson and I first visited it.
The Eye was the lake, a vast translucent lens that had caught us like
birds in a nest and drawn us down. The power of its compelling
summons pouring from the lens into our brains, like sunshine into a
darkened room.
“No,” I said thickly. “No, I saw nothing. Go on.”
“What its origin was I can’t even guess,” Sales said. “But originally
some molecule like a gene, out of a million other molecules in that
Ring area, suffered a liberation of energy when a secondary ionizing
particle shot past and it changed from a gene to—something else.
Something that grew and grew and grew.
“Most of the development must have taken place underground. I
think the organism was complete when that cave-in occurred that
exposed it to the light and to our attentions. It developed amazingly,
into forms so complex we may never understand them exactly.” He
smiled grimly.
“If we’re lucky we never will. I can tell you this much, though—it
recognized its danger. Perhaps electric impulses from our own
brains struck answering chords in the—the organism. And it knew it
had to defend itself, fast.
“Now the lake has one fatal weakness. By that I think we can destroy
it. I believe the organism is quite aware of this because of the way it
chose to combat us.” He paused, looking at me so strangely that I
almost acted, in that silent moment. But just as I was gathering my
muscles to rise, he began again.
“The girl told me what happened when that air-liner came down. It
must have been sheer accident, its making a forced landing at the
edge of the Ring. Radioactivity blanked out their communications
and of course the air itself was close to deadly. There didn’t seem
any hope at all for the people in the ship.
“The girl said many of them complained of feeling—well, call it
attention—focused on them. I know now it was the lake itself, that
gigantic organism, studying them, slowly working around to a
decision about its next move. Then it came to a conclusion that may
not yet have reached its final equation.
“The passengers saw a man stand up from behind a rock near them.
The girl said he looked familiar. He shouted and waved them away.
He warned them it would mean their death if they came closer. He
vanished. But the passengers were still trying to get a message out
and they stayed in the ship. The man appeared three times in all,
each time warning them away in stronger and stronger terms.
“Finally he rose from behind a rock very near them and this time he
invited them into the Ring. They were surprised to find that when
seen this close he was a mirror image of one of their crew members.
The image beckoned and ordered them in. They didn’t want to obey.
But they went.
“That image, as you may have deduced, was a water-figure created
by the lake itself, no one knows how completely. It may have been
ninety percent illusion, shaped in the minds of the watchers. But
you’ll notice the lake had to imitate one of the crew. It didn’t at that
time know enough about human bodies to improvise.
“It did know a lot, though, about human minds. In fact, its power over
them and its amazing selectivity make me suspect that the original
gene from which the organism developed might once have been
human or close to it.
“The water image was the lake’s first attempt to fight off mankind.
The attempt failed. In other words an imitation wouldn’t do. But the
real thing was close at hand for experimentation.
“What happened next no one will ever know. Logically the organism
must have moved forward another step in its defense against
invasion by mankind. In effect it created antibodies. It was
inoculating itself with the virus of humanity in an effort to immunize
itself against a later attack.
“But it had to effect a change in the humans before it could absorb
them. Physically they must be changed to live under the lake and
mentally they had to alter radically to stay there of their own will. It
was their will the lake attacked. You saw that.
“I said before that something had apparently been washed from the
mind of that girl we saw and some other basic drive substituted in
her. I believe now I was nearer the truth than I guessed.” He looked
at me keenly, almost speculatively.
“If I were in a spot like that,” he said, “with the problem of altering a
human being’s whole emotional outlook, I think I’d strike straight at
the root. It would be much simpler than trying to blanket his impulses
with anything like hypnotism, for instance.
“I think that for the instinct of self-preservation those people now
have another drive—instinct for the preservation of the Organism. It
would be so simple, and it would work so well.”
There was a roaring in my ears. For a moment I heard nothing of

what Sales said. The flood-gates had opened and through the
backflung doors all my memories were pouring.
“But it hasn’t worked perfectly,” Sales was saying from far away.
“Unless the lake goes a step further, we can destroy it. Perhaps it
has. Perhaps it realizes that static antibodies which can’t exist
outside its own bloodstreams won’t help much.
“Do you think, chief, that it might have captured still other humans
and worked its basic change in their minds? Could it have implanted
in men like yourself a shift in instinct so that you know only one basic
drive—the Organism must be preserved?”
The idea had struck him suddenly. I could see that in his face as he
leaned forward across the desk, half rising, his features congesting
with the newness and the terrible danger of the thought.
I didn’t even get up from my chair. I’d had my revolver out on my
knee for the past several minutes, though he couldn’t see it from
where he sat.
I shot him at close range, through the chest.
For a moment he hung there above the desk, his hands gripping the
blotter convulsively. He had one thing more to say but it was hard for
him to get it out. He tried twice before he made it.
“You—it’s no good,” he said very thinly. “Can’t—stop me now. I’ve
sent—full report—Mobile Staff—reading it now.”
Blood cut off whatever else he wanted to say. I watched impersonally
as it bubbled from his lips and he collapsed forward into the scarlet
puddle forming so fast on the desk top. I saw how the blotter took it
up at first but the fountain ran too fast and finally a trickle began to
spill over the desk edge and patter on the floor with a sound like the
dripping of lake water from that girl’s garments as she crossed the
rocks toward us.
The lake was blue and wonderful in the sunlight. It was the most
important thing in the world. If anything happened to destroy it I knew
the world would end in that terrible, crashing moment. All my mind
and all my effort must be dedicated to protecting it from the danger
threatening it now.
A knock at the door banished that vision. I sprang to my feet and
blocked off the desk from sight.
Davidson lunged into the room, slammed the door, put his back to it.
He was breathing hard.
“They’re after you, Jim,” he said. “They know about Williams.”
I nodded. I knew too, now. I knew why my mind had gone blank
when the need to silence Williams was paramount. At that time it
wasn’t safe for me to remember too much. It wasn’t safe for me to
know too much about my own actions, my own motives. Oh yes, I
had killed him, all right.
“You knew all along?” I asked him. He nodded.
“You’ve got to do something quick, Jim,” he said. “I tell you, they’re
coming! They know we were there together and they’re almost
certain you did it. Fingerprints, bullet type—think of something, Jim! I
—”
There was a heavy blow on the door behind him. He wasn’t
expecting it. He jolted forward into the room and the door slammed
back against the wall. What looked like a tide of black uniforms
poured through, Lewis at the front, his granite face set, his eyes like
steel on mine.
“Want to ask you some questions, Owen,” he began. “We have
reason to think you know more than—”
Then he saw what lay across the desk behind me. There was an
instant of absolute silence in the room. Davidson had been hurled
past me by the slamming open of the door and the first sound I
heard was his gasp of intaken breath as he leaned over the chair
from which I’d risen.
My mind was perfectly blank. I knew it was desperately imperative
that I clear myself but I’d had too many shocks, one on another, all
that day. My brain just wasn’t working any more.
I had to say something. I took a deep breath and opened my mouth,
praying for the right words.
Davidson’s hand closed on my arm. It was a hard, violent grasp, but
very quickly, before his next move, he pressed my biceps three
times, rapid, warning squeezes. Then he completed his motion and
hurled me aside so hard I staggered three paces across the rug and
came up facing him, stupid with surprise.
He had scooped up the revolver which I had dropped in my chair. I
saw his fingers move over the butt as if for a firmer grip. But I knew
what he was doing. His prints would have effaced mine when the
time came to test it.
“All right, Lewis,” he said quietly. “I did it. I shot them both.” His
glance shifted from face to face. When it crossed mine I recognized
the desperate appeal in his eyes. It was up to me. I couldn’t refuse
this last offer of aid from him, in the service of a cause greater than
any cause men ever fought for.
I knew the truth of that as I knew my own name. There could be no
greater cause than the protection of the lake.
A look of wildness which I knew was deliberate suddenly convulsed
his face. He lifted the revolver and fired straight at me.
Except—it wasn’t straight. Davidson was a good shot. He couldn’t

miss at this range unless he meant to. The bullet sang past my ear
and shattered something noisy behind me. And I saw the look of
deep satisfaction relax his face an instant before Lewis’ bullet
smashed into it, erasing his features in a crimson blur.
(He had to fire the gun at someone—I think he remembered that
wax-tests would otherwise prove he hadn’t fired one recently. And it
might as well be at me, to clear me of suspicion. Perhaps too he
knew he couldn’t make his story stand under close questioning. So it
was suicide, in a way, but suicide in a cause of tremendous,
unquestionable rightness. That I knew in the deepest recesses of my
mind....)
“All right, Owen. You give the word. Where would you say it’s most
vulnerable?” Was Lewis watching me with irony in his keen eyes as
he asked it? For that question of all others was the one I could not
answer. Physically could not, even had I wished. I think my tongue
would have turned backward in my throat and strangled me, if need
be, before I could tell them the truth.
“Make another circle,” I said. “I’ll look it over once more.”
Five hundred feet below us the lake lay blue and placid. Seen from
this height the majestic cliffs above it were foreshortened into
insignificance, but I knew that deep beneath those rocks lay the vital
cavern which no bombs must touch.
There was no sign of the mindless men and women which It had
used and discarded. The antitoxin premise was no longer valid. But
the next step, to a bacteriophage which would seek out and devour
the virus of attack—that must not fail. I well knew what my task was.
“Try the shallows over here,” I said, pointing. The ship circled and
Lewis presently raised his hand.
The depth-bombs floated away behind us in a long, falling drift. They
were not, I knew, merely depth bombs. Sales’ memorandum had
worked its recorder’s will too fast for me. I had silenced the doctor
but I could not silence the records. I watched the falling bombs with a
sickness in my heart that was near despair.
“The Organism has no white blood-cells,” Sales had reported to the
Staff, his dead voice speaking the words of my own destruction in
the very moment I killed him. “I believe it can be eradicated if we
infect it thoroughly with a culture of every microbe and bacterium we
can pour into it. The chances are something will take hold.
“If it doesn’t, then we’ll have to try until something does. I would
suggest depth bombs. What tests I have made so far indicate the so-
called water of the lake is in effect a thick skin which has so far
protected the Organism from the entry of ordinary infection.
“The depth charges would serve the purpose of a hypodermic needle
in introducing our weapons where they may take effect. Down there
under the surface something must lie which is the heart of the
dangerous being, something we have not yet seen. But destroy it we
must, before it mutates any further, into a thing nothing could cope
with.”
When the first bombs burst, they might have been bursting in my
own brain. Only dimly I saw the blue water fountain toward us.
We circled, watching. The water poured itself over that terrible
wound. Ripples ran sluggishly out around it toward shore. It seemed
to me there was a flush in the water where those death-laden
charges had fallen, but if there was, something working in the lake
effaced it, washed out the toxins, healed and soothed the danger
away.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where next, Owen?” Lewis demanded relentlessly and I knew my
ordeal had only begun. Desperation was welling up in me. How long
could I drag this out? Sooner or later we would work our way around
to the danger-area and this helpless being below us would die in an
unimaginable agony—unimaginable to all but myself.
“Try over there,” I said, pointing at random, seeing my hand shake as
I held it out. I shut the fingers into a fist to stop their trembling.
How long it went on I could not remember afterward. There comes a
point when flesh and blood can record no further and, mercifully for
me, I reached that point after a while. By then I knew what the end
must be, no matter how long I postponed it. I had done what a man
could but it wasn’t enough. The lake and I were helpless together
and I knew—it was soothing to be sure—that we would in the end
die together.
Round after round we made above the shuddering blue water.

Charge after charge dropped, splashed, vanished, fountained up
again. From shore to shore the lake was racked by interlocking
ripples from those dreadful wounds. Sometimes the poisons the
bombs carried were washed out and dissolved, but as time went on,
more and more often they started great spreading circles of infection
that traced iridescence upon the water.
Yellow virulence rippled shoreward and crossed ripples running from
circles of angry crimson. The color of bruises mingled with the color

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Something prompted me to pause at the door after I had closed it. I

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