He could take it? Well, if he was going to be that callous about it, perhaps it wasn't as important as he had thought. Unless it was some sort of trap, maybe he wanted to transfer the responsibility onto someone else and that certainly would be a bad situation to be in. "Well... first of all, before I go taking anything from anyone, I should like to know what exactly it is and the sorts of responsibilities it involves," he said firmly; he wasn't going to spend time taking readings that he didn't have to be taking.
The next words took him by surprise, and any interest he'd had in the television was pushed aside for the time being. "What? Isn't that in.. in... the unified stations?" he asked, finding something peculiar about the words. United States! Listen to reason, would you man? Joe said irritably. "Yes, United States. My father is here. Or at least, I think he was," he thought aloud, a strange feeling washing over him. No. You made that part up Joe interrupted once more. The conversation with his conscience wasn't doing him any favours in the sanity department.