condensed master

Will Bonner
Taking a well used pipe from his mouth he replied. "No Brenner, there are
people here to see you, they are waiting in the boardroom."
"Very well, Sir." Taken aback, Will turned towards the alleyway leading to the
boardroom, which was tucked away behind the bridge house adjacent to the
captain's quarters. Anticipating the worst, he approached the polished entrance
door, hesitating long enough to try and pull himself together, before knocking.
After a few seconds the door opened, revealing a high ranking army officer
partially blocking his view of the room, but he was aware that there were others
inside.
"Brenner, Sir." The officer stepped aside to let him in, and for the first time
Will was able to get a full picture of the room. It was about 20 ft or so long and
10 to 12 ft wide with portholes on one side. For some reason unknown to Will
at that time, the deadlights had been lowered covering the porthole windows and
curtains drawn over them. A large, heavy looking rectangular mahogany table,
dominated the centre of the room, surrounded by twelve swivel type upholstered
chairs. All the furniture was bolted to the floor which was carpeted in red,
matching the chair seats. The walls were lined with smoothly polished mahogany
panelling. Immediately above the table was a lowered ceiling, containing indirect
lighting, combined with vents for air-conditioning. The lack of natural light in the
room gave the atmosphere a sense of night-time, in contrast to the full daylight of
the bridge.
Three men were sitting at the far end of the table and the officer who had let
him in had now joined them. One of them was also wearing army uniform, the
other naval, all fairly high ranking officers. The uniformed men, appeared at first
sight, to be clean cut and distinguished looking.
The fourth man was wearing plain clothes, the rumpled dark suit highlighting
his soiled shirt collar. Slightly balding, and of small stature, he seemed completely
out of harmony with the rest of the group. One of the officers pointed to a chair at
the opposite end of the table. "Sit down Brenner." Will noticed that they all had
papers positioned in front of them.
His attention was constantly drawn to the little man in plain clothes probably
because he looked so out of place, but there was something more compelling
about him. He had very pointed features, his thinning hair was slicked back,
accentuating the sharpness of his face. He moved his head in short quick
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