The mirror-like sentence construction (beginning successive paragraphs) compares
Decoud and Nostromo as having opposite types of "audacity" -- intellectual
vs. physical. But the result, whether it be considered retribution or reward,
is the same: fatigue and the surrender of purpose. Decoud, obviously, will be
intellectually audacious no more, but neither will Nostromo be physically audacious,
turning instead to a life of theft and telling Captain Mitchell that he is "too
tired to work just yet."