The day ahead awaits and framed thoughts are gaining concentrated attention in Valentine Bone's brain. Gradually forcing the inner screen clear of the myriads of flooding images, begging and pleading for his urgent attention. The Director-General and the upcoming mission are being hard-wired into the mind...Steeling himself to be catapulted out from the sanctity of this apartment. The order of unbroken chaos beckons.....

You live with it and it's never going to end. You stop expecting anything. Any hopes or dreams have long since disappeared. Each day brings the totally unexpected and is the same. False reports. Little hinted-at canards to dupe the duplicitous...The sand eats into your young bones and you feel as old as the Universe. Nothing ever happened before this...no end in sight...Bravery isn't an act you even contemplate...Everyone shitting themselves before they go into action...You may not fear, but you are still afraid.