Hart certainly looked like he’d earned the rank. He had a tough, competent look and the deceptively lithe bulk of a man who kept himself fit out of necessity.

We headed off down the corridor, although I didn’t miss the two nonchalant yet armed guards who were standing outside. The major did not join us.

“Sorry about that back there, Reckall. Major wanted to test your reaction time, that was all. Nothing personal.”

I shrugged, trying to make it seem no big deal. He grinned.

“How’d I do?”

“Not bad at all. Go for the inside next time.”

We made our way down into an underground hangar bay where the shuttle was waiting, an angular arrowhead with bulges for weaponry and sensors and a single thrust-vectoring nozzle at the back.

The inside was more cramped than I expected, featuring inward-facing rows of seats with restraints and some overhead equipment lockers. It might have fitted eight, but we were the only passengers.

We had barely taken our seats before the engines throttled up to take us away.