"Oh, yes. I'll send a man out as soon as I can clear one."
Saem's tone was deferent. "Thank you, Mr. Commissioner." The connection was broken and the screen went dark. "Pretty obliging guy, Commissioner Crawford. He doesn't forget a thing. Never has. That's an impressive record." The controlman nodded his head; his hair swung down over his eyes; and he fumbled in the drawer for the scissors again. "Now I'd forget my head if it wasn't dogged down."
"It can't be that bad," Herl objected.
"Right again," the other admitted. "That's a joke around here at any rate. You can't afford to forget anything around here."
"I won't forget," smiled Herl.
"You'd better not. It would be awkward as hell if you did and got stuck here."
"They couldn't hold me here just for forgetting something. I'm an employee of Galactic Coordination, you know, and not a local citizen."
The brown locks swung from side to side. "I don't know but I wouldn't risk it. It might be a good many years, from what you tell me, before anybody came out from the Sol system looking for you if they're as understaffed as you say."
"I'll be careful, then." And Herl Hofner patted his pile of applications and turned back to the chess game.