text: The elevator door opened, emerging was Maggie Strout, young blond woman, with round red glasses. She was wearing a dark grey skirt suit and holding a big folder between her arm folded across her chest. She readjusted her glasses and walked out of the elevator as the door closed. Walking in the white hallway looking at the door numbers. She obviously didn’t know the place well, checking almost every doors. She finally stopped at door 111. She readjusted her suit and glasses, then knocked softly. *“Hu... it’s Miss... hu Agent... Agent Strout...”* she said in a really low voice. *“Enter.”* replied a voice behind the door. She opened the door and as before Colonel Carty was sitting behind his desk, with barely any light. Writing documents. He looked at her, and said ; “*Close the door and sit Strout.”* She nod and executed. As she was closing the door her folder felt on the floor, single page papers flying all over the place. *“I’m... I’m so sorry Sir. I’ll pick them up.”* As she nervously bend over to grab the papers, the Colonel started staring at her, his glasses covering his eyes completely as the desk light was reflecting on them, creating a mirror-like barrier. *“Agent Strout, do you think this is an appropriate attire for a mission of this importance?”* the Colonel said, still staring at her. She turned around, and looked at him, his glasses directed at her. “*I will change before the mission, Sir, this is my office cloth-“* *“Very well, I’m just trying to help.”* Replied the Colonel as he went back into writing on his document. Maggie finished to pick the paper, and rearranged the folder. She stood up and pulled her skirt down as she walked toward the chair. “*Sit please.”* the colonel said. And without taking his eyes from his document he continued ; “*Have you been briefed on Frank and the recovery mission for Entrance 38?”* *“Yes Sir, I am just a bit confused as to why Agent Dallay is still on the mission... or even in the Brigade, Sir. It seems as he had many reports filed against him.”* *“The reports are just because he is a drunk.”* *“But Sir, isn’t that an iss-“* *“It’s not, Agent. This is not your common Military Operation. We, well, we can’t be too picky in choosing our Agents. As you might know.”* The Colonel took his sight from his document and looked at Maggie. And he added : *“I would have thought that someone in your position would especially know, Agent Strout.”* She looked down. “*As I can read from your report, you weren’t even in the military when we found you.”* The Colonel moved some document that were on his desk, and looked at them. “*I was made aware that you barely passed the physical exam. If it wasn’t for your immense ratio for connectivity, we would have never found you. Or even brought you aboard. Isn’t that right?”* “*That is correct, Colonel.”* replied Maggie as she was still looking down. *“Frank was ALREADY in the Military, in addition to that he was one of the pioneer in developing the Sneeze Program.”* *“Yes, Sir.”* *“He went a bit off when he lost his daughter. But we still have use for someone like him. His ratio is even higher than yours. He can connect to well over 90% of Openers.”* *“I read his file. It is indeed impressive. Definitely one of a kind.”* said Maggie as she now stared at the folder she was holding. *“Yes, Agent, and that is why we need you to make sure we can still count on him.”* *“From his file, Sir, it seems that only Entrance 38 has been a problem in term of mission. But he hasn’t been getting along with most of the Agent he was associated with.”* *“Frank is a good Agent when it comes to connectivity to an Opener, that is why we NEED him, but he is not the most easy person to be around, and we need to make sure we can still make use of him. That is why you are here, you understand that, right?”* *“I see from his file that all the agents that were assigned to him asked for a transfer after only a single mission. That is until-“* *“Until Agent Clobet, yes. That is quite a tragedy. We had finally an Agent that could control Frank drunkenness’ and put up with him. Tragic indeed.”* *“There isn’t much in the file about what happened during Entrance 38.”* *“Frank has been vague, that is the first mission where Frank lost an Agent.”* *“Well, physical test after Agent Dallay was back show an extreme high alcohol level, I mean, Sir. It’s pretty obvious that at some point-.”* *“Frank is always drunk, something else happened with Entrance 38.”* *“But, Sir, most likely the level-.”* *“Something else, Agent Strout.”* *“Yes, Sir.”* Maggie open the folder, and looked at some papers and then said ; *“Colonel, it seems there was also a possibility of contamination. But nothing was found.”* *“Yes, that is something else we need you to look into.”* *“The Opener felt something coming back with Frank, they are rarely wrong. But nothing was found. Did the office was searched?”* *“It was, but nothing was found. It does happen that sometimes if only a fraction of the traveler are back - in this case Agent Clobet didn’t come back - the Opener feels something is off. After the search the scientists down there, thought it was just that.”* *“And you don’t?”* *“Call it a gut feeling.”* *“Noted, Sir.”* The Colonel started writing again. Then, without looking at her, said ; *“Your job, is to keep an eye on Agent Dallay while you both go back to clean up Entrance 38, and report anything suspicious.”* *“Aside from his drinking problem.”* *“90% Agent Strout.”* *“I beg you pardon?”* The Colonel stopped writing. Put his pen down, and looked straight at Maggie. *“Agent Strout, 90% is the connectivity compatibility of Frank. Let me be extremely clear, we need him. I don’t care if he is a coke-head, wife-beater, drunken bastard that can barely speak. What we need you to do is just go back to Entrance 38 with Frank, grab the body of our lost Agent while keeping an eye and find out if there was some kind of foul play with Agent Clobet and if Frank somehow managed to bring something over from Entrance 38. Are you up to the task, or should we bring someone else?”* Maggie stayed silent for a moment. Looking at the Colonel mirror glasses. She took a breath and finally replied ; *“I am, Colonel.”* *“Great then, if there is nothing else?”* he replied while showing the door. “*Thank you for your time, Sir.”* Maggie stood up and started to walk to the door. As she opened it, the Colonel said a last thing ; “*68% isn’t bad, Agent Strout, but it’s not 90%.”* Maggie nodded and left the room.