Free Worlds in Chaos by James P. Hogan

same system by leaking inside knowledge that might help its opponents and compensate its victims. It seemed to be his private way of getting even with the forces that throughout his own life had deceived and then entrapped him. He also had one of the oddest senses of humor that Keene had ever encountered.

    The restaurant was at the rear of the hotel, looking out over lawns sloping down to the tree-shaded riverbank. Keene had found a window table and was sipping a Bushmills while watching a flotilla of ducks on inshore maneuvers, when Cavan appeared through the entrance from the lobby. He spotted Keene and came over. Keene stood to shake hands, and they sat down. A waiter came to the table to inquire if Cavan would like a drink, and Cavan settled for a glass of the house Chablis. “I assume you wouldn’t risk your reputation by fobbing us off with a bad one,” he told the waiter. “Or have the accountants taken over writing the wine lists these days, like everything else?”
    Cavan couldn’t have been far away from retirement. Everything about him suggested having been fashioned for economy, as if over the years the idealizations of his profession had infused themselves and ultimately found physical expression in his being in the way that was supposed to be true of owners and dogs. He had thinning hair and a sparse frame, on which his plain, gray suit hung loosely, a thin nose and sharp chin formed from budgeted materials, and a bony, birdlike face that achieved its covering with a minimal outlay of skin. Even his tie was knotted with a tightness and precision that seemed to abhor extravagance of any kind. But the pale steely eyes gave the game away, alive and alert, all the time scanning for new mischief to wreak upon the world. Of his private life Keene knew practically nothing. He lived somewhere in the city with a Polish girlfriend called Alicia whom he described as crazy without ever having said why, although sounding as if they had been together for years.
    Cavan had followed Friday’s event, of course, and added his own congratulations. He pressed for details that hadn’t appeared in the news coverage, enjoying immensely Keene’s descriptions of the spaceplane’s robotlike commander and the splutterings of the Air Force brass, and expressing approval that the media reactions were not all hostile. The wine arrived and was pronounced acceptable. For the dinner order, Keene had worked up enough appetite after traveling to try the prime rib and a half carafe of Sauvignon to go with it. Cavan settled for Dover sole. “And I see they’ve been keeping you busy since,” Cavan resumed when the waiter had left. “I saw that clip that Feld did with you while you were still up on the satellite, and then the press coverage of all of you together yesterday. You came over well there, Landen. That should give a lot of people something to think about.”
    “I got the feeling that for once we were getting through,” Keene said. “You can say the same thing to reporters for months, spell out all the facts, and nothing will prise them away from the official line they’ve been given. But this time we got them listening.” Cavan nodded, but without seeming as gratified as Keene would have expected. Keene could only conclude that what Cavan had wanted to talk about offset the good news.
    “And are you still finding time in all this for the ladyfriend?” Cavan inquired, evidently choosing not to go into it just at that moment. His eyes were twinkling.
    “You mean Vicki?”
    “Of course.”
    Keene sighed. “Leo, you know very well we’re just business partners. And sure, over the years we’ve become good friends as well. Why do you keep trying to make something more out of it?”
    “Well, it’s none of my business, I suppose, but a fellow at your stage of life could do worse than consider stabilizing things a little.” Cavan sipped his wine. “She has the young son, and does ad work, yes?” Probably through habit,