The Final Flight

16 WEDNESDAY 22ND JUNE

Millie smiled when he saw the annotation U/S appear next to Vulcan XH441 on the admin board. The jet was unserviceable while they looked at the tape recorder.

It wasn’t much, especially as Rob and Red were headed up north to ferry back the new Vulcan. But it all helped to stall the project’s completion while Belkin ran the comparison figures.

Millie busied himself with unrelated paperwork. Kilton appeared by his side.

“Shouldn’t you be flying?”

“Jet’s on the blink. Engineering are looking at her now.”

Kilton grunted but didn’t pursue the issue.

AFTER LUNCH, a gleaming white Vulcan sat on the apron.

“Are any of these left on the squadrons?” asked a passing pilot. “Or has TFU commandeered them all?”

Millie shrugged. Adding a second Vulcan to the TFU fleet was a sign of the project’s importance. And Kilton’s growing influence.

Rob appeared from Kilton’s office, still in flying coveralls. He marched directly up to Millie.

“What happened with the tape recorder? Why wasn’t it fixed yesterday?”

“I’m not sure, Rob. I guess they’re busy.”

“Didn’t you tell them this is top priority?”

“I’m sorry, Rob, are you running this project now?”

“No, you’re supposed to be.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

Rob didn’t reply but moved off to the tea bar. Millie thought about following him, but Red appeared by his side.

“He’s just had to tell Kilton the new Vulcan needs a hundred-hour service before we can use her. So Kilton kicked him and he kicked you. Sorry, pal.”

“How long will the service take?”

“Tomorrow, apparently. They would do it this afternoon, but they’ve got to reinstall your tape recorder first.”

“Rob’s never spoken to me like that before.”

Red nodded. “He’s moving up the ladder now. Things getting more serious for him. He’ll adapt. Not everyone’s a cool cucumber like you, Millie.”

“I don’t feel cool, I can assure you. This whole thing, it just worries me.”

“What does?” Red asked.

Millie turned back to look at the American, and wondered how far he could go.

“What’s the bloody rush? When did we go from being careful and thorough to moving at such an indecent speed?”

Red patted him on the back. “I guess when anti-nuclear campaigners learn about the existence of our secret new system.”