"But, John. " 
   Koenig, who was a step above the others, and to 
maintain the drill and the rigid observance of 
bureaucratic regulations, cut off his words with a 
swift hand movement. He was being consciously hard to 
his friend, because he wanted to set a clear example, 
in order to stop any further lack of discipline by 
anyone in the base. 
   "Keep your privacies to yourself, Mr. Verdeschi! 
And in the future, keep in mind that we are not in a 
tavern here." 
   The expression of the head of security froze. "Very 
good, Sir", he said formally.
   Then he rose and left the Command Center. 
   The Commander looked again on the Big Screen, which 
was as black and hopeless as before. Deep down he asked 
himself whether Tony Verdeschi's bottle was, perhaps, 
the best solution for all problems. 


                          II

   "Commander!" 
   John Koenig quickly snapped away from his thoughts 
when he was called by Pandit Madhva. 
   "Yes, Pandit?" 
   The Indian computer engineer was responsible for 
the monitoring of the mass scanners, highly sensitive 
detection instruments, which could spot matter in space 
from a distance of many millions of kilometers. 
   "I have something here, Commander", announced Madhva.
   John Koenig was immediately at his console. Yes, 
there was something.

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