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"You like the Air Force?"

"Maybe it can save us," he said. "Maybe." He finished his drink, rose, and stretched. When he stretched, his arms seemed too long for his frame, and altogether he seemed too large and unwieldy for the apartment. His eye took in the opened books on her desk, the notebook and pencils, and the fact that she still wore the gray suit. "Katy," he said, "why don't you relax for twenty-four hours?"

"Do you by any chance have a place in the mountains?" she asked.

"No," he said, looking puzzled. "I don't have anything but an apartment no bigger than this. But I do have a car and I can take you out to eat. I hate to eat alone."

"Just wait a minute," she said, "while I comb my hair."

After that, for more than a year very little happened. It was an era of comparative peace, with no shooting wars such as the half-forgotten wars of Korea and Indo-China. There was much talk of disarmament, although no nation actually disarmed. There was much talk of neutrality, although few governments were actually neutral. Russia was quiet except when internal convulsions, hidden like earthquakes at the bottom of the sea, ruffled the flat surface exposed to men's eyes.