“Thank you, sir.”
“I take it there is nothing else left to discuss,” said Hill, reaching for some papers on his desk.
Shaw got the hint and stood. “I’ll brief Duncan on his reassignment. I think he should hear it from me.” With that, Shaw turned about and left the room.
He found Bruce enjoying a beer in the makeshift mess that Bag Hall had set up for its people in the dining hall. A young soldier, seeing Shaw enter the room, poured him a pint of beer and then placed it on the table beside Bruce.
Taking a seat, Shaw took a sip of his warm beer and then let out a deep sigh. He was tired and was looking forward to some time off. He somehow doubted that he would get much rest in London and began to wonder where else he could go for some peace and quiet. Shaw had heard that there were quite a few good spots on the West Coast of England that catered to people on holiday.
“So what was all that about?” Bruce asked as he took a sip of beer from his glass.
Shaw looked over at the teenage soldier as he dried off a couple of glasses and then placed them on the bar. He doubted that the young man had a top-secret qualification, so he waited until the soldier left the room to fetch something before speaking. Leaning forward in his chair, Shaw said, “How does a couple of weeks leave sound to you?”
“It sounds smashing. I haven’t been home to see my parents in months. How did you manage that?”
“I asked Professor Hill to have you posted here with me.”
“Pardon?” blurted out Bruce, spraying a mouth full of beer all over the table
“I said, I asked Hill to have you reassigned from your current job to one here.”
“As like what…a photographer or some kind of analyst?”
“Yeah, something like that.” Shaw smiled to himself. He didn’t have the heart to tell Bruce that he had just volunteered him to join a world where people counted their life expectancy in months, not years.
“This place is pretty cozy. Nobody seems to care how you dress, and the food is truly spectacular. So sir, do you think they’ll have something interesting for me to do when I move down here from Scotland?”
“Who knows,” replied Shaw, shrugging his shoulders.
Getting up, Shaw walked over to a window and peered out into the night.
“Do you think there’s many more of them out there?” asked Bruce.
“What does your gut tell you?”
“It tells me that this isn’t over, not by a long shot.”
“Then you have your answer.”
“I wish I didn’t,” gripped Bruce as he headed back to his seat to finish his beer.
Shaw took a deep breath. If they could travel through the vastness of space, there was no telling what else they could do. With a resigned sigh, he knew that he would never look up at the stars without knowing what was out there. Shaw knew right then and there that they had barely begun their struggle.
END
Incursion Page 28
