midnight
Then the voice said : `` Any questions ? '' `` No , Sire , '' said the colonel , replacing his thumb . `` Very well . I 'll be expecting your report sometime between eleven and midnight . '' The colonel nodded , brought his hand down from the side of his jaw to pick up his fork and begin a concerted attack on his lunch . * * * * * Hawaii , with its beauty and its perfect climate , had been the obvious choice for the center of the Terran Empire . For centuries before the coming of interstellar travel , the islands had been used to a mixture of tongues and races , and the coming of the Empire had merely added to that mixture .