"Lance Corporal Jones!" The Voice of the Sergeant Major boomed across the hall to where Lance Corporal Alice Jones was sitting "The Colonel will see you now"
She snapped to her feet and placed her beret carefully on her head, tucking her Auburn hair tied into a severe underneath. She was small at 5'3 with a slender frame, she had what might be considered a stern and serious expression, and her delicate facial features made it seem strange. She wore no makeup, yet her skin was perfect, an observant eye would be able to tell it was from a careful skin care regime not just a blessing of youth.
She didn't feel nervous, as she walked towards the office, rather a mixture of confidence and elation. She didn't know what was coming yet she felt an optimism that her hard work, her dedication and commitment to the army was about to be rewarded.
She had been chosen! She had been pulled out of her unit, and given the opportunity to volunteer for a secret assignment. She hadn't hesitated, she had thought that approaches like that only happened in the movies, yes it was for a year, and yes, she would have limited contact with home. She didn't really care though, she had no family, a half-hearted relationship with a boyfriend, good friends but nothing that would hold her back.
Instead of feeling apprehensive at the idea of being pulled out of her current life for a year, she felt excitement, and her mind raced at what possible deployment necessitated such restrictions.
She marched into the office, halted in front of the desk of Brigadier General Percy Shelta, and then saluted smartly. The Brigadier looked up at her, he looked apprehensive she thought, and was either unwilling or unable to hide it. He motioned to a chair.
"Please take a seat Corporal" he said kindly "take off your headdress and make yourself comfortable."
She sat down removed her beret, but still sat with her back rigid, and not touching the wonderfully padded chair.
"Corporal I'm now going to brief you on why you're here." his tone was odd, sympathetic as if he was breaking bad news.
Alice didn't understand, but she wasn't a stupid woman, her optimism started to fade, for the first time she started to feel a sense of foreboding.
"Corporal, this camp is your duty assignment for the next year." he said simply "You will be confined to this facility during that time, and be allowed to leave under only the most limited circumstance."
"Yes Sir." Alice said simply, she didn't question why.
The Brigadier smiled, he seemed happy with her resolution, he took a breath then carried on "There are two possible roles for you here, one that I will brief you about momentarily. The second which you will only fill if you decline the first role, is an admin role working in the unit office, the job is not demanding, however for security reasons once you are briefed on the other role..." he paused "the role for which you were asked here... security concerns dictate that you remain here, even if you choose to decline, as you are entitled to do."
"Yes Sir, I understand." Alice said, while wondering how horrible the assignment must be to account for his apparent guilt in asking and making it voluntary. This was serious, and Alice was both excited that she had been selected and frankly scared to find out what was needed of her.
The Brigadier smiled "That's good... That's good."
He stopped a moment then began to speak in a rather emotionless voice "Corporal Jones this is a place of Scientific research. It's also a place of confinement, a Prison if you like. There are 5 men in this facility who while they have not committed a crime, simply cannot be allowed to walk free. "
Alice said nothing, she sat there calmly but her mind was racing, she forced herself to focus on what the Brigadier was saying, she didn't want to miss some detail, and be caught out later.
"The men..." he paused, and she could see his face grimace when he referred to them "have been here for some time, and are undertaking work for us, however recently there have been issues, and they've decided to cease that work"
He's explained this before Alice thought, he's almost practiced at it "While they can't force us to release them, we can't force them to perform the work we so urgently need them to do"
The Brigadier paused, and Alice felt the need to say, "Yes Sir I understand so far."
He smiled at her and almost hesitated before continue "Corporal... Alice. May I call you Alice!"
Alice was momentarily thrown "Yes Sir... Of course, Sir." She didn't need to be reminded that the first name terms was only one way, but she was surprised that he had asked her permission to use her first name.
"Alice, we need the work to continue, it is absolutely Vital! I ahmm... I insisted on being the one to brief you, it may have been better coming from someone else, but I am the senior officer at this facility and it's my responsibility"
Alice was struggling to keep her calm, she just wanted to know what was expected of her, but all she knew so far was the Brigadier couldn't bear to put it into words. Eventually it came into head, they wanted her as a test subject! But why? She had images of herself being strapped to a table, maybe they wanted to impregnate her. She started to feel ill.
"Alice over the last months, the detainees have stopped work repeatedly always making demands, those demands that we could meet, we did. However, one demand, a demand made most vehemently, we felt we could not meet... Until now."
She looked at the Brigadier while he finally got to the point of why she was here "They've been here for some time and have been denied access to relationships, to the ability to interact with the opposite sex, there were incidents some time back." His face clouded "with some of the female personnel. This time however, they've waited until a key moment, to withdraw their cooperation and..."
It finally dawned on Alice, before he got to the end "This time however they've waited until a key moment, to withdraw their cooperation and..."
"Is it just me?" Alice asked. She heard the words come out of her mouth without thinking.
"Excuse me...!" The Brigadier was startled. For all his discomfort there was a massive disparity in rank, and in any other situation he would not be taking questions mid conversation from a Lance Corporal.
"You said there's 5 of them Sir" Alice said quietly, surprised at herself for how her thought process was working "Will it just be me?"
The Brigadier bridled a bit, but then composed himself, he took a moment and then his tone changed again, this time it was a little more relaxed, he seemed almost relieved.
He didn't use any more euphemisms "We'll control how much time they get to spend with you." he said, "We've warned them that we won't order you to do anything, and that, if for whatever reason you can't continue that's it!"
"But their work is vital" Alice didn't intend it as a question, she was pointing out the obvious flaw.
The Brigadier smiled at her sadly, "Yes it's vital and they've stopped."
"I'm ready now." Alice heard herself say.
The Brigadier looked surprised "Thank you, Corporal," he said, with an initial note of shock "I would like to give you some time to become settled but... You're needed now." Finally with a sad tone he added "I'm sorry that this wasn't the posting that you hoped for."
Alice said nothing, the Brigadier got to his feet, and led Alice out of the office.
