“You’ve all been through the general orientation, so there’s no reason to waste time with that here.” The sighs of relief were audible enough for her to hear. She schooled her expression to suppress a smile. Heaven knows, she’d felt the same way when she’d been in their shoes.

“One thing I will reiterate, however, is the importance of the work we’re doing here. It is not an overstatement to say that, if we succeed in our assignment, we could save the lives of many of our troops, including, I’m certain, people near and dear to your hearts.” As she said it, she made eye contact with every person in the room. From the looks on their faces, it was easy to tell which of the girls had loved ones in the fight.

Her eyes alit on an ethereally pretty girl in the third row. She was a petite brunette with light gold-brown eyes and an aquiline nose. Who was on her heart? Was it her father? A brother? A husband or fiancé? The girl smiled up at her and Nora’s heart stuttered. Something about her reminded her of Anna. Quickly, she turned her attention elsewhere.

“As I was saying…” What had she been saying? Focus on the job. But all she could see was the girl in the third row. Her appearance was so different from Anna. Maybe it was the curiosity in her eyes… “You are here because you care about your country. You’re here because your country needs you.” You’re repeating yourself. Get on with it. “While you’re sitting in front of that cubicle, nothing else matters beyond manipulating the knobs and levers so that the needles on the dials in front of you remain in the maximum production zone you’ve learned about in the training process. I know the hours are long and staring at the machines can be hypnotic and tedious. Keep your minds sharp and your full attention on the task at hand. Nothing you do during this war could be more important than that.”

Her gaze strayed again to the girl in the third row. She was staring up at her, full lips slightly parted, hands folded on the desk. Nora blinked. “Let me… Let me also remind you that what we do here, stays here. Do not speak of it with your friends or loved ones, or even each other. Do not write home about it, do not offer information, or participate in idle gossip or speculation. Trust your floor supervisors to help you if you run into trouble during your shift. They are your first line of inquiry to solve problems with the machines.” She nodded to Richard. “I’m going to leave you in Mr. Honeycutt’s very capable hands. But before I do, does anyone have any questions for me?”