noon
Beyond the spaceport gates , the men of the Kharsa were hunting down a thief . I heard the shrill cries , the pad-padding of feet in strides just a little too long and loping to be human , raising echoes all down the dark and dusty streets leading up to the main square . But the square itself lay empty in the crimson noon of Wolf . Overhead the dim red ember of Phi Coronis , Wolf 's old and dying sun , gave out a pale and heatless light . The pair of Spaceforce guards at the gates , wearing the black leathers of the Terran Empire , shockers holstered at their belts , were drowsing under the arched gateway where the star-and-rocket emblem proclaimed the domain of Terra . One of them , a snub-nosed youngster only a few weeks out from Earth , cocked an inquisitive ear at the cries and scuffling feet , then jerked his head at me .