The next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by a strange lieutenant. It took him a moment to realize that a superior officer was waking him, but then his mind stepped into gear, and he rolled off the couch, stood up in a somewhat wobbly manner, and managed to salute, after a fashion.

“You’re Harris, right?” The Lieutenant said rather than asking him.

“Sir.”

“Come with me.” The Lieutenant clearly didn’t want to waste any time, but as the officer turned to head out of the room, Andrew queried the immediacy.

“Be all right if I take a leak first, sir. I need to go pretty bad.”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

That task was quickly accomplished, and he followed the Lieutenant out of the building where there was a car waiting. It was clearly a civilian car that had been requisitioned for military use and given a quick dab of olive paint here and there over its black base color. As they came down the stairs, he could see some kind of white design painted on the roof, but because of the low angle, he couldn’t make out what it was. They turned left and drove back up Grant Street until they reached the hospital, where they pulled up at the front entrance, having gone past the helipad that was covered in men doing something. He wasn’t exactly sure what.

He was taken inside the hospital and soon discovered that some of the outer buildings had been taken over for military use. He was shown around the corner to one where he found Captain Greaves reclining in a bed with her right leg all bandaged up. He came into the room to the end of the bed and came to attention.

“How are you, Captain? What happened to your leg?”

“Harris. I hear I have you to thank for the hospital not getting overrun by the Japs yesterday.”

“I wasn’t on my own, Captain.”

The Captain nodded. “No. But without you, we wouldn’t have held once I was injured. You did a damn fine job. The officer in charge of the defense is putting you in for a metal.”

“Um, I don’t feel I am due a medal, sir.”

The Captain nodded. “Those that earn them usually feel that way. Anyway, you’re going to be tasked with the defense of this whole section of the front. At least as far as countering enemy mentalists are concerned. Do you think you can handle it?”

“All I can do is try, sir.”

She smiled from her bed. “Good man.”

“Any idea of when you’ll be getting out, sir?”

“Probably another week yet, maybe longer. The doctors aren’t sure.”

“Well, I hope you get better soon, sir.”

The Captain nodded with a smile. “I will try, I will try. Anyhow you do your best; that’s all anyone can ask.”

“Sir.”

He left the room to find the Lieutenant still waiting for him. They returned to the car and proceeded up Grant Street to the roundabout, where they turned right, took the first right, and then pulled up in front of the RACV center, which had been taken over to be used as the Battalion headquarters. He was taken to an office just inside the front doors, where he sat and waited for nearly an hour before being ushered into the presence of Lieutenant Colonel Grey. The weathered, tough-looking officer was on the phone with someone when he was shown in, and he was waved to sit in the chair at the front of the desk so the battalion commander didn’t have to interrupt his listening to whatever the other person was saying. Whoever was speaking on the other end of the phone finally stopped, and the Lieutenant Colonel spoke for the first time.