Traveller Probo

Hurley sighed and rubbed his temples. He had not been sleeping well, and having to drive to London had not helped his mood. Despite his every effort, morale in the Ukrainian camp continued to deteriorate and, while the individual team members’ skills were fine-tuned, there was an enduring concern that Kiev Traveller was dead in the water.

The Ukrainians trained with an underlying fury, as if they suspected they had been forgotten or their nation had been conspired against. They had not seen or heard from Professor Yumashev, yet there had been no details regarding any continuation of the Ukrainian project, a project that had originally been lauded as having enormous research value. To make matters worse, there were rumours. All knew that the Americans had a Traveller mission planned to visit the Mississippi Valley. Mississippi Traveller was slated to commence after Kiev Traveller, yet the rumour of progress on another operational Transporter resulted in more lobbying on reprioritising Traveller missions. Hurley heard the Americans were hoping to make use of any new Transporter while the Ukrainians were to wait until the completion of the Byzantine mission, which was ludicrous. Yet, like most rumours, there might be a grain of truth in it.

Now, Hunter found himself in urgent need of medical care. Hurley knew his friend had been completely unprepared for their return to the 21st Century. With Hunter and Tatae’s arrival, Hurley found himself under pressure of a different sort. There had been talk of how Hunter had been precious and unhelpful, how a few important dignitaries wanted to meet with Tatae but her husband worked to stop any such interaction. Hurley now had the odious task of convincing Hunter to be more cooperative.

Hurley winced at oncoming headlights and shook his head in frustration. Since when was it his job to be a bloody politician? All he wanted to do was train his team and complete the mission to Kiev. The people of the Ukraine were resting their hopes on this mission and he would no doubt be held partially responsible if anything prevented his Travellers from completing their project. To make matters worse, the Ukrainian team had been strangely silent. There was a fury in their sword and spear training that could not be concealed.

Murdoch had also been concerned. His wife had been privy to conversations never made public. Something was going on and Hurley suspected it might have consequences for the Kiev Travellers. Professor Balanchuk had also been strangely noncommittal, as if waiting for something to happen. When Hurley asked he how could assist, the academic had been unresponsive, even dismissive.

Bloody politics! No, Hurley did not care for it at all.