Barnes' wife was waiting by the administration building in the new yellow car that Barnes had been quite proud of. Waiting to take him home, and Joe would have to tell her that her husband was never coining home again.
O'Conners was there, too. The three men climbed down from the ship, their suits still on. O'Conners advanced towards them.
"Mr. Williams - ?" He laughed faintly at the blank steel faces. "I presume one of you gentlemen is Mr. Williams."
No one said anything. Joe hated him because he had been so right about the regulations.
"There'll be serious consequences from you admitting this ship without clearance," said O'Conners. "Our report from Nerane IV shows that this ship has been stolen. We will have to commandeer such of your facilities as are necessary to impound the ship and the crew. As for your breaking regulations, there may be some amelioration in the fact that you made possible the capture of the ship and the thieves —"
"They're dead," said Joe tonelessly. "One of our boys is dead, too."
O'Conners seemed taken aback. "That's very serious. It greatly complicates matters. Regulations provide for an investigation by the Mission in the case of dealh of one species aboard the commercial vessel of another."
"I said one of our boys was dead," repeated Joe. "Don't regulations provide for any sympathy or consolation? Don't they allow you any expression of human feeling whatever?"
"Of course," said O'Conners hastily. "The department will express official condolence to — the next of kin. I'll have to check with central, however, to determine if I'm authorized to speak in the name of the department or if it must come from higher up. You know how rigid organization is."
"Yes — I know," said Joe.