He glanced at the clock on his desk, then reached out to grab his hat.
"Better take another look at the guard while I'm at it," he told himself.
He strode out of the office, hooking his sidearm belt from a hanger as he went by.
It would be a good idea, he decided, to check post number four first this time. The landing pad guard had been a little less than perfectly alert tonight.
"Probably worrying about last night," he told himself. He smiled reminiscently.
Moresma had been pretty worried and scared when the patrol had brought him in. They'd gotten him out of the jam and kept him out of trouble, but it had been close. The local authorities didn't seem to have much sense of humor when it came to Federation personnel. In fact, they seemed to welcome incidents that could——
"Funny," he told himself. "There are plenty of Galactics here, too. They get along fine, but let one of our guardsmen drop a chewing gum wrapper—— Oh, well. One of those things, I guess." He walked around the corner of the building and strode down a hedge bordered path.
As he walked, he looked about at the dark Commission buildings. It was a large compound. There were several posts and it took a large security guard detachment to give it adequate protection. He glanced up at the sky.
A blue-lit flier was coming toward him, flying rather low. Suddenly, its lights blinked out.
Hense looked at the suddenly dark shape incredulously. It seemed to be arcing down, toward the compound. He started forward at a run.