She arrived late to Frank’s hut, coated to her knees, mud splatted all the way up to her chest. His hutmates, men in her wing, pilots all, had stopped at the muck by the front door, which had a slash of red tape across it. She wished she’d missed them. They should have been getting breakfast by now. The mud had probably stopped them. They had the look of people trying to figure out the best path where there really wasn’t one. The driver she liked least, Huck, saw her first.

“Extra,” he said.

“Huck,” she said.

Others wolfed out their greetings. She’d forgotten how deep men’s voices together could be. Frank had to have been shortest among them. She felt comfortable near him, but these towered when they got close to her. They were unsullied by any bilge. They put out a hand, one by one, respectful, polite, each good enough or fine-looking, eyes unclouded, minds at ease. Their processing of Frank’s escapade and injury had left all undisturbed. He’d done something stupid, which he often did, and paid a price, which might be high or low. As to her appearance to process his personal effects, it made sense, since anomalies such as her were often connected to anomalies such as Frank. These pilots were regular guys, the healthily dominant genes. She and Frank were recessive alleles.

They made room for her, and she went up the two steps to the hut’s door, giving it a quick knock that sounded too soft. She tried again.

The sicmo was another giant. He had to bend his head to put it outside the hut’s door to greet her. They exchanged salutes, and she followed him inside.

He led her to Frank’s bed, in the back, on the left. The empty foot-lockers were open on the floor beside it. Piles of freezer bags, garbage bags, permanent markers, index cards, reinforced tape, bubble wrap, padlocks, and serialized metal seals were piled on the bed.

“Captain, as specified by Lieutenant Partnoy, you are to take possession of all documents. I am to verify that it is documents only that you are removing.”

“Understood.”

“In addition, you’ll be placing all other personal effects in these lockers while I take inventory of each item. Each item will be identified and taped with its box and item number. Do not attempt to sort out or destroy what may or may not be pornography. List it and ship it. JPED has the manpower to screen and remove. Do not attempt to clean soiled clothing. We will remove war souvenirs, illegal drugs, or alcohol.”

“Yes, sir.”