Compare Decoud's remark that Charles Gould would not "believe his own motives"
without first translating them into an ideology.
In this openly skeptical dialogue between the cynic and the amoralist, it is suggested
that idealism serves to conceal from a person his own predatory motives and necessity
of combat. To the chief engineer this combat is a "game," but one that
must be played out whether or not its true nature is ever acknowledged.