He was much too likely to be right about that. Even so, Jerry said, “Not like our hands are clean. Some of the generals who’ve run South Vietnam, Franco, South Africa, all the tin-pot dictators in South America … C’mon, man. You know all this way better’n I do.”

“Democracy,” John P. said. Jerry laughed in his face. The other CIA man stirred again, this time like an attack dog waiting for Sic ’im! John P. ignored him, continuing, “You think we’re bad, wait till you find out about your new friends.”

“Oh, I know about them. Bet your balls I do. But you guys were gonna kill me,” Jerry said. “Like, what can they do that’s worse than that?”

He thought he’d asked an unanswerable question. But John P. said, “They’re liable to start a thermonuclear war. If you live through it—which isn’t likely—you can put that on your conscience. Jesus, when I make a mistake I don’t do it halfway.” He looked disgusted again, whether at Jerry or himself Jerry couldn’t say. Then he turned. “Come on, Andy. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Out they went. Andy tried to slam the door, but the pneumatic gadget at the top foiled him. The door clicked shut instead of banging.

Jerry sank into a chair. His legs didn’t want to hold him up anymore. His hands shook, too. He’d never done confrontations worth a damn.

He still wasn’t sleepy, either. He started to pick Have Space Suit—Will Travel up off the rug, then looked at the nightstand clock. It was a few minutes before eleven. Somebody would be showing news at the top of the hour.

A couple of stations were, in fact. Both opened with the same robbery and shooting at a liquor store. Yellow journalism was alive and well on color TV. It had been alive and well on black-and-white TV, too.

But then a newsman with almost-long hair sprayed firmly into place said, “In foreign affairs, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has received what he described as an ‘alarming call and note’ from Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. Sources speaking off the record say this has to do with the Hughes Glomar Explorer, the so-called ocean-mining ship that’s been in the news a lot lately. Some of the other things those off-the-record sources say seem too bizarre to be believed.”

He went on to talk about a bad crash on the Beltway that afternoon. Jerry didn’t know whether to laugh or to scream. No one wanted to believe any of this. It seemed too much like sci-fi.