But Kalyakin took it seriously. “We must, I think,” he said. “This is dangerous step. Everyone recognizes step is dangerous. If step proves to be mistake, we must do all we can to fix mistake. If all we can do is not enough … In that case, mistake is bigger than we thought.”

“Do you already have permission from your government to go ahead and try to wake the aliens, or do you need to get in touch with Moscow so people there can give you permission?” Jerry asked. Learning Russian had also involved learning something about how Soviet society worked. He’d seen very clearly that the Russians used way more top-down control than Americans did.

“I have permission to ask authorities for permission when I think time is right,” the astronomer answered. “I have talked with Doctor Neuwirth, your American leader here, about this matter. He has same arrangement, or one very much like ours.”

“That’s interesting,” Jerry said. So much for the Americans being less top-down than their Soviet counterparts. Well, it wasn’t as if this wasn’t important. No less than the general secretary, the president would want to make the final decision. Jerry found another question: “Did Dale pull out some of the liquor he has in his cabin?”

“He did. He told me why he had it, too. He is clever man.” Nikolai Kalyakin smiled. “I drank some. I drank not much. However clever is Dr. Neuwirth, he belongs to odd religion that does not let him use liquors. Maybe he is virtuous, but how can he be happy?”

“I don’t know. I don’t drink to get drunk—not very often, anyway—but a little every now and then is nice. Takes the edge off the day, if you know what I mean.”

The way Kalyakin looked at him said he was almost as naive as the Mormon mission director. Jerry had the feeling days in the USSR needed a lot more edges taken off them than days in the States did. His eyes went for a moment to Kalyakin’s mutilated hand. How much did you need not to think about what might happen to you when you charged into battle against the Nazis?

His father might have been able to answer the question. He couldn’t. Till now, he hadn’t really thought about how lucky that made him.

“We will do what we can do,” the astronomer said. “If our luck is good, we revive an alien and he is friendly. If our luck is not so good, we die a few minutes later, but it is quick and we know nothing of it. If our luck is very bad … They tell me you are man who writes nauchnaya fantastika.”

That meant scientific fantasy or fantastic science. Jerry needed a second to get it. “We say science fiction in English.”