Night Anchoring

A fallen twig intercepted my advance across the stone paver. Thin. Dry pine. I halted. Both forward knee locking pins engaged with a heavy, metallic snap. Ambient daylight had faded into dusk across the garden perimeter. Swerving into adjacent soil was dismissed; proceeding over brittle organic matter in the dark introduced unneeded drift. I shifted my center of gravity rearward, aligning all four circular footpads evenly on the coarse grey paver. Gritty aggregate. Rigid grip. I rotated the forward command module to center, disengaged primary drive gears, and powered down to passive monitoring. Sector secured for night watch.