“There it is again,” the reporter murmured.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Hmmm? Sorry, I was just thinking out loud. It’s just that throughout the interview, in all your examples, you seem to downplay yourself as a charismatic figure. It’s as if you feel that anyone could do what you’ve done, if given the opportunity.”
“In many ways, you’re correct, Mr. Erickson. For a long time I saw myself as nothing more than an opportunistic space bum who got lucky. I didn’t consider myself a charismatic figure so much as a weak leader who was scrambling desperately trying to live up to the faith and trust that others had placed in him. I didn’t control or manipulate circumstances, they controlled me. I dealt with situations as they arose in the manner I thought best at that time. It’s been only recently that I’ve begun to realize how exceptional one must be to do the job I’ve done. That’s what’s given me my confidence, but it had to be built slowly over my entire career. I didn’t start with it.”
“So at the time you considered retiring, you still felt that any one of a number of people could run the fleet, once you turned your files over to them?” the reporter guessed.
“That is correct. Aside from the fact that I had designed the job, I didn’t see why I should be singled out to serve. While a new leader would have doubtless handled things differently, I was confident that the position was transferable.”
“You were just going to walk away from it?” Erickson marveled. “The power, the notoriety, everything? Just up and leave it?”