The Dark Lady

concept,” I said. “In fact, a man who invites death with no hope of financial gain might very well be more attractive to the Dark Lady than, say, a circus daredevil. Do you agree?”
    “I have no opinion, since the Dark Lady is your hypothetical creation.”
    “Then, for the purpose of this exercise, please consider as a given the fact that she would find such a man more attractive.” I paused. “Let us next consider what categories this group would include: mountain climbers, amateur athletes who practice martial arts... ” I sighed dejectedly as dozens of similar interests and hobbies occurred to me. “The list is endless.”
    “The two examples you named are both avocations,” noted the computer. “You must, by your definition, also include mentally and emotionally unstable men who possess a death wish.”
    “No,” I replied. “Such men do not voluntarily place themselves in life-threatening situations. They are psychologically compelled to do so.”
    “Are not all men who willingly place themselves in life-threatening situations psychologically compelled to do so?” asked the computer.
    “It is possible,” I admitted. “Nevertheless, we must draw the line somewhere. I wish to consider only those men who are clinically sane.”
    “Registered,” said the computer. “Have you some reason for choosing this criterion?”
    “I do not believe that the Dark Lady, who is sane, would be attracted to a madman.”
    The computer did not contradict me, and I realized with a sense of growing excitement that I had taken yet another step, however small, toward identifying the man I sought.
    “So we have narrowed down our list to those sane men who voluntarily risk their lives without thought of remuneration,” I said. “Now, among these men, who must number in the hundreds of millions, there must be risks of greater and lesser magnitude. After all, a father who enters the room of a child that possesses a contagious disease is voluntarily risking his life with no thought of financial reward, yet the act itself is of a lesser magnitude than the man who hunts dangerous game with primitive weapons for the love of sport and excitement. Are you capable of making such distinctions?”
    “Not without more data than can be provided by any source to which I have access.”
    “Including the Central Census Bureau on Deluros VIII?” I asked.
    “That is correct.”
    “All right,” I said. “Do you recall that I once asked you what the various artists who had painted the subject known as the Dark Lady had in common?”
    “They possessed no common link,” said the computer.
    “But there is a common personality profile, is there not?”
    “Yes,” responded the computer. “It is a very broad profile, but it exists.”
    “Then we shall eliminate all those men who do not fall into the parameters of that profile.”
    “Registered.”
    “Next, eliminate all drug addicts, who almost certainly risk their lives every time they indulge in their addictions, but are frequently incapable of comprehending the risk they are taking, or at least do not consider it to be a life-threatening risk.”
    “Registered.”
    There were probably still tens of millions of possibilities... but I had begun with billions. It was yet another step.
    “Furthermore,” I stated, “the Dark Lady has never, to my knowledge, appeared to a child, so we will declare an arbitrary minimum age of sixteen years.”
    “Registered.”
    “And the man must still be active.”
    “I am unclear on this point,” said the computer. “Must he be physically active, or active in a death-inviting manner?”
    “What is the difference?”
    “A man in a wheelchair can still risk his life, just as a healthy, vigorous man can decide to stop risking his life.”
    “He must still enter life-threatening situations with regularity,” I replied.
    “Registered.”
    “He need not be handsome or physically attractive,” I added, for many of the men who had known her were unattractive by any known standards.”
    “Registered.”
    “She does not take physical form for those who risk their lives only once or twice, so let us further assume that the man we seek has been placing himself in life-threatening situations for a considerable period of time.”
    “'A considerable period of time’ is too inexact,” said the computer.
    I tried to imagine how long the Kid, who was one of the youngest of her known consorts, had been an outlaw.
    “Let us say a