“In my opinion, if I may say so,” Pembroke said, “release of this information will topple the entire structure of our society.” “But it is amusing,” Nicole persisted. “Isn’t it? Rudi is a dummy, an ersatz creation of the cartel system, and yet he’s the highest elected official in the USEA. These people voted for him and for the der Alte before him and so on back for fifty years—I’m sorry, but it has to be funny; there’s no other way to look at it.”
