‘Sadly, that hasn’t made him any friends. And then there was that incident when he was younger. When he brought the Map crashing down.’

She sighed. ‘No one wants to work with him, do they?’

‘They find him . . . disconcerting. And his background is against him. He’s tainted by association with St Mary’s.’

She said firmly, ‘That will not be a problem. He’s destined for IT and the Time Map and I’ll happily sacrifice the other two – indeed, the entire intake – to keep him here. So again, he does his gruntwork and then straight to the Map Master for our Mr Farrell.’

Captain Farenden said nothing.

She sighed. ‘It’s only six months, Charlie. In six months, Farrell can be transferred to the Time Map where he can really do some good. Jane Lockland will either have succumbed to terminal anxiety or grown a set, and Parrish . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘I suspect we’ll have discharged him long before six months are up, let alone his two years. Whatever his father says.’

He began to put his papers away. ‘As you say, ma’am, only six months. We just have to get them through their gruntwork. Which brings us back to the original problem. The missing fourth man.’

‘Yes,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Could you ask Major Ellis to step in, please.’

Five minutes later he was ushered into her office.

‘Good morning, Major.’

‘Ma’am.’

‘Congratulations on your promotion.’

‘Thank you, ma’am.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Would I be correct in assuming I’m about to pay the price?’

She smiled. Only half her face moved. As a young officer, Commander Hay had fought in the Time Wars and there had been an accident. During an emergency extraction, their pod had lost its door in mid-jump. Commander Hay had survived but by the time they could get to her, one half of her face was older than the other. She was the lucky one. Everyone else had died. It had not been pretty.

‘Your promotion was on merit, Major, and well deserved. However, before you take up your new duties, I have an assignment for you. One which you may refuse if you wish. There is no obligation.’

‘You want me to take on Matthew Farrell and the others, don’t you?’

‘For the six months of their basic training, yes. I can’t waste three potential officers and they have to do their gruntwork like everyone else – but that’s all. After that, I’ll break up the team. They can all go their separate ways and you can return to normal duties.’

‘I was Matthew Farrell’s mentor for some years, ma’am, and I’d have no problem overseeing his gruntwork, but surely it would be better for him to have someone new.’

It was very obvious from the silence that no other officer would take on Matthew Farrell. Or any of his fellow trainees.