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all I told them to aim at. But they never do. Most times, it doesn’t make it to the first ten seconds — like just now. I never said anything about competing, or somebody having to win. But people always assume it. It’s ingrained from the culture.”
    Even though the game had gone the way Shearer said it would, he had no illusions that Rogelio would be convinced that easily. The objection would be either that it didn’t mirror the real world, or yes, that was the way things were, but human nature wasn’t going to change any time soon, and to imagine otherwise was unrealistic. Sure enough, “Okay, it went like you said. But it’s still just a game. Contrived.” Rogelio swung his head briefly as they walked, hand thrust in the slit pockets of his windbreaker. “You’re not telling me that’s how the free market works.”
    “Oh, I know how it works in theory,” Shearer agreed. “But what we saw was how people act in practice. They don’t trust each other. And that’s why they can’t figure out that everyone being rational about it would result in more for everybody. Because if somebody tries to do the sensible thing and hold back, he just gets creamed by the others.”
    “I think that Duke was maybe thinking something like that — right up front.”
    “Oh, you saw that, did you?”
    Rogelio nodded emphatically. “Yes. And look what happened to him. You see. It makes my point.”
    “That most people won’t react rationally,” Shearer said. “But since your free-market theory is premised on everyone rationally pursuing their best interests — that’s even supposing they know in the first place what their best interests are — I’d argue that no, it makes my point. In the world of people that we’ve got, a free market isn’t going to exist. Or at best, it’ll be too unstable to last.”
    “How do you figure that?” Rogelio asked.
    Shearer waved a hand briefly. “Okay, suppose that somehow a system comes into existence that works just the way your theory says. It all interacts, and as things work themselves out, you’re going to see differences. For whatever reason, whether it’s because of ability, hard work, being born in the right place, or plain luck, some people are going to do better than others.”
    “Okay.”
    “And this is where your human nature comes in, Rog. Wealth buys power. The ones who are raking in a bigger share will use it to influence the political process in ways that benefit themselves and penalize their competitors. The pitch gets tilted,” Shearer snapped his fingers, “and as soon as that happens, a free market ceases to exist. And what you just saw is what you get.”
    They walked in silence through the gathering dusk while Rogelio chewed it over. Even if it took until the next time they met, Shearer knew he would find an angle to come back from; but that was what made friends interesting. A panhandler approached them from a doorway. He looked despondent, weary, his face a mask of hopelessness. Not a scam artist. Rogelio fished some change from his pocket and dropped it in the scrawny hand. Other eyes followed them from groups lounging on corners or squatting on front steps as they passed. A police surveillance drone came lower to direct a spotlight beam at something in the next street. On a vacant lot where some offices had been demolished, a group of derelicts were warming themselves around a fire built from the debris. Did all roads converge on the same inevitable end in those other worlds out there too? Shearer wondered again as they came within sight of the razor-wire-topped fence and gate through to the subway terminal. Or had some of them found a different way? Perhaps the answer depended on having a nature that wasn’t “human.”
    He saw Rogelio on his way, and then stepped up his pace to walk the remaining block and a half to the house. A strange car was parked in front, with a third seat that folded down to provide extended luggage space in the