"It would appear, sir," said one of the handful of men scattered around the table in Under-secretary Ingram's office, "that we've lost him. We haven't the details yet, but someone got to Wells before we did ( Read more... )

Wells made sure to enter Milliways through a nice safe door, since he expected to return to London with some assistance at his side. 'Safe', in this case, means the door to his back garden. There should be just enough room for the giant dog contingent; the humans may have to back into the house, though ( Read more... )

Drayson leaned back in his booth, letting out a long, shaking breath. He felt like he'd been holding it since the morning news, frankly. The image of Washington collapsing in a shower of darkness wasn't the sort of thing you put aside easily. That spectre'd been hanging in front of him every time he closed his eyes today. Even now, with his new ( Read more... )

Susan Kearney- Harry Wells' granddaughter- is a cheerful little thing, for all that she's less than a month old. She gets on quite well with people so long as they don't poke her unduly. At least, most of the time she does; it's the rest of the time that's a problem. Her tendency to scream bloody murder in the middle of the night goes well beyond ( Read more... )

The desk wasn't nearly big enough for Washington's liking. The pictures from the surveillance birds at Gruinard- the pictures from the Ministry's roof cameras- stills from the cameras at the Virgin store- that took up most of the left-hand side of the desk, and he was all right with that. Photos could overlap without losing the really vital stuff. ( Read more... )

Gordon Rouse was never what you'd call the most employable man in the world.

No, scratch that. Rephrase it. Gordon Rouse was never what you'd call the most persistently employable man in the world. There was always work for someone with Gordon's proclivities, but it wasn't the sort that lasted very long or needed him to come back more than once ( Read more... )

"Evening, Captain ( Read more... )

Say something enough, and all the meaning goes out of it. Especially if the words are short, simple ones. You'd think it would be the complicated words that had the meaning drain out of them first, but no- it's the ones you'd expect to know almost as instinct that lose it first. Little things. One-syllable words. Like these ( Read more... )

There is an envelope in Captain Washington's quarters when he returns from his session before the Inquiry Board. Not in the mailbox, nor under the door, but between the trash bin and the wall, as if someone had meant to chuck it away and missed. Not he; he'd remember that, the act of being so careless as to miss. This is someone else's trash, even ( Read more... )

Another resignation, thought Captain Darren Washington as he eyed the news with some distaste. They'll be expecting mine soon, I shouldn't wonder.Ever since the assault on Gruinard, there had been such a blizzard of resignations up and down the Ministry's ranks that it would take a blinded idiot not to notice something was going on. Some of them ( Read more... )