Dan Houston, bowed down by all these hard facts, has already given up. He still comes into the office, but he’s not really thinking anymore. He’s useless. One day McPherson can barely keep from shouting at the man.

That afternoon, after Dan has gone home early, his assistant Art Wong talks to McPherson about him. “You know,” Art says, hesitant under McPherson’s sharp gaze, “Dan’s having quite a bit of trouble at home.”

“What’s this?”

“Well, he made some bad investments in real estate, and he’s pretty far in debt. I guess he might lose the condo. And—well—his ally has left. She took the kids and moved up to L.A. I guess she said he was drinking too much. Which is probably true. And spending too much time at work—you know he never came home in the evenings when he first started on this program. He really put in the long hours trying to get it to work, after we won the bid.”

“I’ll bet.” Considering the tests that won it. Ah, Dan …

“So … well, it’s been pretty hard on him. I don’t think…” Art Wong doesn’t know what else to say.

“All right, Art,” McPherson says wearily. “Thanks for telling me.”

Poor Dan.

That night at the dinner table Dennis watches Lucy bustle around the kitchen telling him about the day’s events at the church, which as usual he is tuning out entirely; and he thinks about Dan. McPherson has spent much of his life—too much of it—at work. On the weekends, in the evenings … But he can see, just by looking at her, that it has never even occurred to Lucy to leave him because of that, no matter how sick of it she may have gotten. It just isn’t something she would do. He can rely on that, whether he deserves it or not. As she passes his chair he reaches out impulsively and gives her a rough hug. Surprised, she laughs. Who knows what this Dennis McPherson will do next, eh? No one. Not even him. He gives her a wry grin, shakes his head at her inquiries, eats his dinner.

And at work he tries to treat Dan with a little more sympathy, tries to lay the eye on him a little less often. Still, one day he can hardly contain himself. Dan is moaning again about the impossibility of their task, and says in a low voice, as if he has a good but slightly dangerous idea, “You know, Dennis, the system makes a perfectly fine weapon for fixed ground targets like missile silos. We’ve worked up its power so much for the rapidly moving targets that stationary ones wouldn’t stand a chance. Missile silos hit before they launch, you know.”

“Not our job, Dan.” Strategy.…