After their meeting with Dawson, they took the elevator down several stories to the fourth floor. It was eerily quiet, and William didn't speak as he purposefully strode down the hallway; Nova followed him, unsure of what to say. Presumably they were going to his headquarters office, as he had said earlier.

Indeed, they stopped at a door that was marked with a small bronze plaque reading William Masterson, Cmd. He took out his ID card and swiped in.

The lights flicked on automatically, but it was evident the room hadn't been used in a long time; there was a thin layer of dust over everything.

The room had fewer personal affects in it than Dawson's. Even the paper books on the standard issue shelf were, on closer inspection, just printed copies of Sector 27's legal code. There weren't any photos on his desk.

William went behind the desk, and yanked open a drawer, mumbling under his breath; he threw what looked like a small metal bead on the floor, and then slammed the drawer shut, turning to rifle through the books. His brow was furrowed deeply.

" It's as I thought," he said, with no further explanation.

" Is that so?" Nova remarked dryly. It seemed that he hadn't been exaggerating about the excessive surveillance.

William pressed down a rather old-fashioned looking comm switch on the desk.

" Excuse me, this is the Commodore General William Masterson," he said. " I've come back planetside, so could I have my office put back into the janitorial rotation?"

Nova could faintly hear someone quibbling that of course it would be, and he didn't need to call about this, and it would be done right away.

" Right, thank you," William said, and hung up on them. He turned to Nova. " Shall we go out, then?"

Return......Next