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Rainy grins “You mean stay out of the way”
“I should never wish to be so blunt, but yes, in effect There are sixty-one officers anda roo more, then stops himself and looks at her with frank curiosity, head back a little so he see down his nose “We do not have women in our service”
“It’s pretty new for us as well”
“And how are you finding it?”
“At the moment very comfortable, sir”
“Is this your first operational assignment?”
“No, sir I was in North Africa prior to this”
“Not in the action, surely”
Rainy s vivid memories “Actually, I was in a battle, but purely aswell, as baggage, I suppose, kind of like I am now But I ith a unit that comprised a number of women soldiers who performed very well”
“Indeed? Well I hope we are not driven to such desperate measures” There’s a bit of an upper-class sniff as punctuation, but Rainy takes no offense She’s seen news reports thatwomen to war She doubts that number is any lower in Britain
After her brief chat with the commander, she and Cisco are instructed by Jones on how to behave in the event of an e that they are to race without the slightest delay to the POs’until instructed otherwise There is a great deal of e froh the forest of obstructions
“If you s or you’ll be trampled underfoot, d’ye hear me now, lassie?”
Rainy h the control room, and forward to the mess Cisco scowls and looks furtively around He keeps touching things, notthe reassurance of solid steel There is plenty to touch, but at one point Jones grabs Cisco’s hand in midair “Not that pipe, my lad, you’d leave a layer of skin behind”
Cisco pushes to the front, desperate now for air, having used every ounce of his self-control to listen fitfully to Jones He shoves past men hunched over their screens, spots a narrow steel ladder, and claray-black, star-strewn sky above They e Two sailors with massive binoculars scan the sky and the sea in every direction Three un just ahead and below the intently at the water for the telltale phosphorescent trail of a periscope, since as subon’s snout bow pierces waves and sends foa deck to churn around the base of the superstructure
“Cold out,” Rainy says, hugging herself and hunching down inside her regulation army wool sweater