IEUTENANT KHAKI, whose name was actually Lieutenant Morgan, sat at her desk, reading Lieutenant Colonel Palmer’s report. Every once in a while she looked up at us sharply, as if she were having trouble believing it. Finally she put it down and laced her fingers together.

“So you’re saying these children can easily run four miles carrying heavy packs?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said the lieutenant colonel, looking straight ahead. The flock and I were lined up against one wall.

“They outperformed the rest of the cadets in every way?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“The eight-year-old beat your best cadet in hand-to-hand combat?”

“So did the six-year-old girl, ma’am. Actually, she beat the instructor also.”

I tried not to grin. The self-defense instructor had given all of us a pass, but the hand-to-hand combat instructor had been more stubborn. For a while.

“So, like, we want to thank you for this great experience…” I began, shifting from foot to foot. “But now

that we’ve gone through all your BS, can we go rescue my mom?”

The lieutenant looked at me. “Yes,” she said finally, and my heart leaped. “Tomorrow.”

“What?!”

“We’re putting you on the USSMinnesota, ” she went on smoothly. “Which is a state-of-the-art, Virginia-class nuclear submarine with many enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities. It’s on its way here now from San Diego. It will arrive here at oh-three-hundred hours tomorrow, will refuel, and be ready to deploy at oh-six-hundred hours. You will be waiting on the dock at that time. If you are two minutes late, it will leave without you. In addition, while on board the USSMinnesota, you will obey every senior officer without question, you will comport yourself with decorum and maturity, and you will do nothing to endanger the ship, its cargo, or its personnel.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but the lieutenant plowed on. “Failure to follow these rules to the letter will result in your being disembarked at the closest possible location, and the mission will be scrubbed. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

Her icy blue eyes raked each of us one by one. I prayed that the others would stifle their trademark lack of respect and intolerance for bull and, for once, keep their mouths shut. My mom’s life was riding on this.

Then, a miracle happened. No one said a word. I heard cautious, even breathing as each of us bit our lips and struggled mightily against our true natures.

Don’t wait too long,I begged the lieutenant silently.Please dismiss us before we blurt out something bad, against our will.

“Oh-six-hundred hours then,” she said curtly. “Dismissed.”