Free Operation Sherlock by Bruce Coville

doesn’t add up.”
    â€œGood grief!” cried Roger. “That’s it!” He looked around the table, as if expecting the others to get it as well. “We’re trying to do the adding up ourselves,” he said. “Don’t you see how silly that is?”
    The others looked back at him blankly. But Roger was on his feet now, pacing back and forth in his excitement.
    â€œAdding up. That’s the whole point of having computers: to do the adding up! They’re made to handle the drudgery—sorting, storing, comparing—so the human mind can be free to do more creative things—free to do the thinking!
    â€œNow, here we sit, beating our brains out trying to sort through these clues, and what’s in the next room?” He answered his own question before anyone else had a chance. “I’ll tell you what’s in there: a terminal linked to what may be the most powerful computer in the world! Will be, by the time our parents are done with it.”
    Ray tried to speak, but Roger cut him off.
    â€œSo with that available, why are we sitting here like a bunch of cavemen piling up stones to keep track of our sheep? We should be writing a program—a sort, store, and compare kind of thing. Let it handle the data while we work on the real problem.”
    Trip broke in. “You mean we should write a deduction program? A sort of computer detective thing? I think you’re on to something.”
    â€œOn to something?” cried Roger. “You bet I’m on to something!” He stopped, and a strange expression crossed his face. He looked around the table, his eyes shining. “Stand back,” he said. “I think I’m about to be brilliant.”
    â€œUh-oh,” said Wendy.
    Roger began pacing again, then forced himself to hold still. His fists were clenched and he was almost trembling with excitement. “Why make a drudge program?” he asked softly. “Why not go all the way?”
    â€œRoger?” It was Rachel. Her voice held a question that was almost a warning.
    â€œI mean it!” cried Roger. “Hwa and our parents yanked us out of our homes and dragged us to this flyspeck in the ocean so that they can work on artificial intelligence. I say, what’s to stop us from designing our own A.I. program? We’ve got the brains. We’ve got the background. And we’ve got what no other kids have ever done more than dream of: the world’s greatest computer at our fingertips!”
    He looked around the table, locking his gaze with each of the others. When he spoke again his voice was husky with the thrill of his idea. “Let’s see if we can beat our parents at their own game. Let’s try to make a crime-solving program that can think for itself . I’ve even got a name for the project,” he added with a smile. “We’ll call it ‘Operation Sherlock!’ ”
    For a moment no one said a word.
    Finally Wendy put down her burger, which she had been holding halfway to her lips since Roger started his speech.
    â€œLet’s do it!” she whispered.

    Â 
    Collision Course
    Suddenly everything was different. It was as if, in an instant, night had turned to day, or winter become spring. Anza-bora Island no longer seemed like a prison. Rather it was now a giant laboratory, where the kids could work out the kind of program each of them had always dreamed of creating.
    Unfortunately, not everyone on Anza-bora shared this state of bliss.
    While the gang was celebrating the moment of inspiration that had led them to their new project, three other people, each less than a mile away, were planning things less pleasant.
    One was Black Glove. Beads of perspiration stood out on the spy’s forehead as the final adjustments were made.
    A sigh of relief.
    Success!
    Before midnight tomorrow, if all went well, every keystroke the scientists on Anza-bora Island made would be electronically