“Vacation? This is no vacation,” Spencer rumbled. “I happen to be celebrating my birthday.”
“So? Well, congratulations. I try not to remember mine,” Leoh said.
“Then you must be older than I,” Spencer replied, allowing only the faintest hint of a smile to appear.
“I suppose it’s possible.”
“But not very likely, eh?”
They laughed together and said good-by. The Star Watch commander tramped through the hills until sunset, enjoying the sight of the grasslands and distant purple mountains he had known in his childhood. As dusk closed in, he told his aide he was ready to leave.
The aide pressed a stud on his belt and a two-place aircar skimmed silently from the far side of the hills and hovered beside them. Spencer climbed in laboriously while the aide remained discreetly at his side. While the commander settled his bulk into his seat the aide hurried around the car and hopped into his place. The car glided off toward Spencer’s personal planetship, waiting for him at a nearby field.
“Don’t forget to assign an officer to Dr. Leoh,” the commander muttered to his aide. Then he turned and watched the unmatchable beauty of an Earthly sunset.