“That’s what you say. Hey, I know I’m irresistible.” Naturally, his friend didn’t want to let him off the hook, not when he’d hooked himself. Then Tim asked, “Were you watching TV just now?”

“Afraid I was.”

“What do you think?”

“I think it sucks. How about you?”

“The same, man. The same. Other thing I think is, if you’re a fat cat it doesn’t matter what you do. They threw Nixon out of the White House? Big fucking deal. He’ll write a book full of bullshit about how it wasn’t his fault, and then he’ll laugh all the way to the bank. Wanna bet?”

“You really think I’m that dumb?”

“Since you’re asking…” Tim said. They both laughed this time. Sometimes you had to. If you didn’t, you’d pound your head on a table or against the wall till your forehead bled or your brain fell out through your nose. Tim added, “Don’t we live in a great country?”

“Oh, at least,” Jerry said. “It’s better than most other places, but it sure isn’t as good as it ought to be.”

He wondered what the centaurowls would think of the United States of America. How long had they lain at the bottom of the Pacific? Since 1964? 1954? 1554? 1554 BC? He had no way to know. He also had no way to know whether Dave or one of the other CIA guys had pushed one of those big yellow buttons. Maybe they were trying to talk with an alien right now.

If they were trying to wake the centaurowls, they’d be smart to rouse only one of them and keep the other as hostage for good behavior. Jerry was sure they didn’t need him to tell them that. All the spy games they’d played since the end of World War II would have taught them those lessons.

“We’re trying to get better, but there sure as hell are times I wish we’d try harder,” Tim said.

“You and me both. I think everybody our age does,” Jerry said. And no matter how hard we try, we’ll still look like savages to those things inside Humpty Dumpty. Dangerous savages, maybe, but savages.

“You think we’ll be any better when we’re old enough to run things? I don’t. The guys who get in power, they get in power ’cause they make you think you can trust ’em, but you can’t trust any of those assholes. Not a fuckin’ one.” Tim spoke with great conviction.

Jerry’d thought he was cynical about politics. Tim left him in the dust. “You do defense work, too,” he said.

“The Russians aren’t better’n we are. They’re even worse. You know that.”