Epilogue

Colonel White and Amanda Wainwright: Caesar and Cleopatra

The photo-shoot was now over and the party had moved on to the Amber Room.  The theatre was dark and quiet, just a dim glow of indicator lights gleaming through the window of the control gallery providing illumination.

A door beside the stage swished open, and a figure dressed in swirling robes entered.  The dim light gleamed off golden jewellery and embroidery as the figure swiftly looked around, then returned to the door.  Her low whisper sounded remarkably loud in the excellent acoustics of the auditorium

"It's all clear, Charles.  Although I really think you are being a bit of a stuffed shirt about this."

A second figure entered.  This one also wore flowing robes, but of a darker shade.

"It's all a matter of discipline, my dear.  Can you imagine how my authority would slip if any of them saw me and you like this?  Besides, apart from the Flight Deck Officer, who knows much better than to tell tales, no-one but me knows you’re here.  And I’d rather it stayed that way for the time being." 

Sweeping his cloak of Imperial Purple around him, Colonel White strode into the control gallery, and removed a very un-Roman memory stick from a fold of his toga.  He slotted it into the projection computer, selected the appropriate picture, and started the recorder.  Swiftly, he returned to the stage and sat down, Imperial Caesar on his throne.  Amanda, the regal Cleopatra, stood behind him, resting her arm lightly across his shoulders.

They held their pose for a moment, then White hurried back to the gallery to remove any evidence of their visit.  These pictures would be theirs, and theirs only.

A few moments later, the theatre was once again dark and quiet.

But perhaps Colonel White should have remembered that Halloween was also the time for Trick or Treat, and that on the senior staff were at least two people more than capable of, for instance, hacking his email, and setting up a remote-recording facility…

Unseen, up in the projection room, a dark hand operated the camera one last time...

Notes and acknowledgements
CADS – Cloudbase Amateur Dramatic Society – was invented by Marion Woods, and is used by kind permission.

Amanda Wainwright, Symphony’s mother, is a character invented and owned by Chris Bishop, and is used by kind permission.