SOE AGENT NOVEL - CH 1
February 5th, 1942 (02/05/42)
For the second time today, Priya Chawla disassembled a prototype Merlin V12 Rolls Royce engine. At 11,000 parts, these powerful engines propelled the Supermarine Spitfire and Avro Lancaster aircraft which were crucial in the ongoing war with Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
She was the only woman out of the 20 people in the test disassembly area, a slim figure with chestnut brown shoulder length hair and soft dark brown eyes.
Sweat beaded on her forehead and under her armpits as she carefully unbolted a fuel line. She wiped her forehead brushing a few loose strands of hair out of her eyes.
The warm and stuffy conditions inside the testing warehouse made any physical movement toiling. Unfortunately there wasn’t any sort of air conditioning to cool down.
Priya was looking forwards to the end of her shift which gratefully, was in less than ten minutes.
She couldn’t however be too caught up in how uncomfortable she felt.
Her job at the Rolls Royce factory in Derby, England required a rugged hands on approach with precise and sometimes delicate movements to disassemble the mammoth aircraft engines.
One reckless or hurried move could damage or break a part costing thousands of pounds and a strike on her job record. Plus it was important to ensure no tested part was altered or damaged during disassembly in order for an accurate assessment by the engineers.
Priya set down the bolts and fuel line on the designated table nearby. There were over fifty of these large tables all lined up inside the vast warehouse. Everything from pistons, to crankshafts, to bearings, to fuel pumps. Anything that went on the engine was there.
Priya pulled off her oil soaked gloves and walked over to a man dressed in a grey jumpsuit who was surveying several bearings and casings on a table. The man was Brandon Tiller, one of the supervising engineer for the disassembly of the tested Merlin engines. Brandon was a well built, handsome looking man, half a head taller than Priya.
“The crankshaft assembly is fully disassembled now,” Priya said.
“Good work,” Brandon said nodding with a friendly smile. Priya flashed a forced smile back. She had a fleeting interest towards her job. To her it felt like grunt work which repeated day after day without change. Little to no brainpower was required.
She looked over across the way where a overhead crane was lifting a new Merlin engine onto the testing stand. She could see a few engineers in the control room watching and taking notes on their clipboards. A sense of longing and wishfulness overtook her. Their jobs looked much more interesting, worthwhile, and meaningful.
Priya looked at the assortment of different items she had to label and write down. She sighed quietly.
“Bored?” Brandon asked amusedly.
“Oh…no, I’m fine,” she said her cheeks reddening.
“It’s ok you can be honest.” Brandon said with a smirk. Priya shrugged embarrassedly. Truthfully she was bored. She wanted to ask for a better job, but without any type of degree she felt discouraged from doing so. Maybe someone else could talk their way into a better job, but Priya had a difficult time thinking she could.
“Here take a look at this bearing for me” said Brandon, holding out an arch shaped hunk of lubricated metal in his gloved hand. “Tell me what you see,” Brandon said.
Priya’s face brightened.
“Oh ok,” she said, an excitement now rising in her chest. She took the bearing and held it up to the lights overhead.
She always enjoyed analyzing the parts.
“What do you see?” Brandon asked after a few seconds.
“Hmmm…” she hummed, examining the underside of the bearing, an arc shaped hunk of metal. There appeared to be a small grouping of scratches. “It looks like some minor chaffing from the shaft.”
Brandon nodded. “Yes I saw that too. Second batch of those today.”
“Was it from the max load testing?” Priya asked curiously.
“Mhmm most probably.”
Priya paused looking towards the ground in thought. Interesting.
“Well…that would be a serious problem after 10,000 or more cycles. It must be coming from some sort of excessive vibrations,” she said pursing her lips in concentration.
“What was the max oil pressure?”
“It was about 82 psi,” Brandon said, watching her mull things over.
Priya frowned.
“hmm…well that could be the cause then,” she said thoughtfully. A pulsating excitement was building in her body. “At max load the higher engine temperatures could lower the viscosity of the oil…” Priya said, pausing to consider her words “…leading to a thinning of the liquid and less coverage on the bearings.”
“Pretty good,” Brandon said, thoroughly impressed, “Tommy actually came to the same conclusion.”
Priya couldn’t help smiling a little.
Tommy was the head quality assurance engineer at the factory.
The idea that she perhaps was knowledgeable enough to make things better and more efficient was deeply satisfying.
‘What have you ended up changing?” Priya asked curiously.
“Well, we’re recommending a less viscous oil, but the issue isn’t life threatening to the engine, so nothing may change for now.”
Priya nodded. “Have you been able to figure out the pressure carburetor yet?” Priya asked.
“Not quite,” Brandon said, “we still haven’t quite dialed in the air/fuel ratio. It’s coming along though,” He said putting down another part on the table.
Priya nodded and turned back to the table in front of her, rearranging the parts in their proper order for inspection.
“Hey, any word on that scholarship come in?” Brandon asked. “I’d imagine you’d get an answer soon.”
“Oh…no, nothing yet,” Priya said dully, lining up a few parts on the table. A familiar hollow feeling flooded her body. She felt the overwhelm her body. For years now she had been applying to the few scholarships open to women as she needed more money saved to enroll in an engineering program.
“I’m sure you’ll get it. You too smart not to.” Brandon said cheerfully.
Priya cheeks tinged pink.
“Oh I don’t know…” she said uncertainly.
Brandon smiled, continuing to write on his clipboard.
He flipped his pencil over and began erasing a line.
“So have you given talking to him some more thought?” Brandon asked.
“Who Tommy?” Priya asked, straightening some bearings on the table.
“No Mr. Salton remember?”
Priya felt her stomach drop.
“Oh…right…” Priya said rather lamely, “…yeah a little bit.” Mr. Salton was the manager of their plant and the person she would have to talk to if she wanted a promotion or raise. She had seen him before, but always at a distance. He had always appeared intimidating to her, a plump, gruff looking man who often gave a mean looking stare to his employees.
“Now why don’t I believe you?” he said playful look.
“I—I don’t know if I could do the job…all the responsibilities and such…I mean I don’t even have an engineering degree.”
“Oh Priya come on,” he said as if she was talking nonsense. He shook his head while picking up a different part, “you don’t need a degree to make a difference. You told me yourself that you’ve been studying the appropriate subject matter. And you’ve already proven to me many times that you know what you’re talking about.”
Priya’s cheeks went pink. “Well…”
“You at least deserve better pay,” He said.
“Well…yes I—I suppose,” Priya said, her stomach twisting nervously. She had wanted to do this ever since she started here, but at the same time she was deathly frightened of being turned down or yelled at. Maybe I should just be grateful for what I have.
“Well then go do it,” Brandon said with a sly smile. He checked his watch. “It’s 6 o’clock, so you’re done for the day aren’t you?”
Priya stared at him blankly, her feet going cold. “Um...well I…yeah I suppose.”
“Ah...come on you can do it,” Brandon said trying to edge her on.
“I--” Priya struggled searching for a way to get out of this, but she really did want to ask for a raise or a more technical job.
“Um…I dunno,” she said reluctantly. “I’ll…I guess I could try talking with him.” She felt as if her stomach was in a pretzel.
Brandon nodded. “It won’t be as bad as you think,” He said giving her a reassuring smile. “Oh, but you should start by talking to him about horses. He owns a few of them and he’s big into horse racing. Nearly talked my ear off about them the other day.”
“Oh…ok,” Priya said uncertainly, not knowing if it was worth pointing out since she knew next to nothing about horses and horse racing.
Priya pursed her lips and nodded reluctantly. “Good luck,” Brandon called after her. Priya walked away from the disassembly area towards the main hall which was bustling with huge hydraulic press machines bending sheet metal in tubular form.
She glanced at a group of ladies who were attaching rubber o-rings to pistons.
Priya’s body felt hollow, her stomach bubbling with nerves. She imagined scenarios where Mr. Salton yelled at her that she was fired. She imagined him asking her a complicated question she had no idea how to answer. What if she just stood there dumbfounded.
I could just put this off. I don’t really need to improve my job. Priya looked up at the stairs leading to the office on the second floor. A large paned glass window overlooked the factory floor. Inside she could see a middle aged, pot bellied man in a grey suit hunched over documents on his desk. It was Mr. Salton.
A worker sidestepped in front of her. “Excuse me,” the worker said, walking onwards in a hurry.
Priya exhaled, her stomach bubbling in nervousness.
But I’m going nowhere doing what I’m doing now. The thought ignited a burning desire in her chest. Priya bit her lip, looking back up at Mr. Salton in his office. Ah…he just scares me though…what if he does yell at me?
Priya made her way to the women’s restroom which doubled as a locker room. The room was fifty paces long and less than half that for its width.
Dark green lockers lined the walls, sandwiching the long marble countertop where the sinks were.
On the opposite side of the room were the toilet stalls which had walls from the floor to just short of the ceiling.
A newspaper on the countertop caught Priya’s eyes. She read the headline.
NAZI ARMY REMAINS 20 MILES FROM MOSCOW
A pulse of fear rushed through her body.
If they capture Moscow, perhaps the entire Soviet Union will fall apart. Then the invasion of Britain truly would be next. It had been an ever drastic fear in everyones’ minds for the past few years. Priya put the paper down and went to her locker. She opened it and looked inside. A white envelope with her name written on it sat on her folded civilian clothes.
Priya picked up the envelope and looked down at it grimacing. It was her paycheck. A raise would help me get to that goal so much faster… Priya bit her lip again. Oh damn it I have to try. She stuffed the envelope in her coat’s pocket and grabbed her clothes. She changed in a toilet stall and headed back out onto the factory floor.
She reached the foot of the stairs. Her heart pounded against her chest. Come on you can do this Priya…
“Excuse me everyone,” said a voice behind her. Priya turned. One of the younger workers still in his tattered, grease covered blue-grey uniform, stood in the middle of the room. He was a mousy young man with red hair and freckles whom she had seen only in passing. “I’m looking for a Priyanka Chawla,” the young man said loudly. Priya felt a jolt to her stomach. “Yes, yes that’s me,” Priya said raising her hand, her eyes wide in surprise.
The young man turned to her. “What is it?” Priya asked politely.
“There’s someone here to see you,” the young man said, “Said his name was Linton, a Captain from the army I think.”
Priya’s brows furrowed. “A Captain?” she asked with confusion.
“Yeah, he’s waiting for you near the entrance. He said wanted to discuss something with you,” the young man said.
Priya’s stomach lurched. A captain? Why would an army person want to see me?
“Oh…ok thanks,” Priya said to the young man, “I’ll um…I’ll go meet with him then.” The young man nodded turning back away.
Have they come to arrest me? Priya thought wildly. Her hands began sweating. What on earth could I have done?
For the second time today, Priya Chawla disassembled a prototype Merlin V12 Rolls Royce engine. At 11,000 parts, these powerful engines propelled the Supermarine Spitfire and Avro Lancaster aircraft which were crucial in the ongoing war with Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
She was the only woman out of the 20 people in the test disassembly area, a slim figure with chestnut brown shoulder length hair and soft dark brown eyes.
Sweat beaded on her forehead and under her armpits as she carefully unbolted a fuel line. She wiped her forehead brushing a few loose strands of hair out of her eyes.
The warm and stuffy conditions inside the testing warehouse made any physical movement toiling. Unfortunately there wasn’t any sort of air conditioning to cool down.
Priya was looking forwards to the end of her shift which gratefully, was in less than ten minutes.
She couldn’t however be too caught up in how uncomfortable she felt.
Her job at the Rolls Royce factory in Derby, England required a rugged hands on approach with precise and sometimes delicate movements to disassemble the mammoth aircraft engines.
One reckless or hurried move could damage or break a part costing thousands of pounds and a strike on her job record. Plus it was important to ensure no tested part was altered or damaged during disassembly in order for an accurate assessment by the engineers.
Priya set down the bolts and fuel line on the designated table nearby. There were over fifty of these large tables all lined up inside the vast warehouse. Everything from pistons, to crankshafts, to bearings, to fuel pumps. Anything that went on the engine was there.
Priya pulled off her oil soaked gloves and walked over to a man dressed in a grey jumpsuit who was surveying several bearings and casings on a table. The man was Brandon Tiller, one of the supervising engineer for the disassembly of the tested Merlin engines. Brandon was a well built, handsome looking man, half a head taller than Priya.
“The crankshaft assembly is fully disassembled now,” Priya said.
“Good work,” Brandon said nodding with a friendly smile. Priya flashed a forced smile back. She had a fleeting interest towards her job. To her it felt like grunt work which repeated day after day without change. Little to no brainpower was required.
She looked over across the way where a overhead crane was lifting a new Merlin engine onto the testing stand. She could see a few engineers in the control room watching and taking notes on their clipboards. A sense of longing and wishfulness overtook her. Their jobs looked much more interesting, worthwhile, and meaningful.
Priya looked at the assortment of different items she had to label and write down. She sighed quietly.
“Bored?” Brandon asked amusedly.
“Oh…no, I’m fine,” she said her cheeks reddening.
“It’s ok you can be honest.” Brandon said with a smirk. Priya shrugged embarrassedly. Truthfully she was bored. She wanted to ask for a better job, but without any type of degree she felt discouraged from doing so. Maybe someone else could talk their way into a better job, but Priya had a difficult time thinking she could.
“Here take a look at this bearing for me” said Brandon, holding out an arch shaped hunk of lubricated metal in his gloved hand. “Tell me what you see,” Brandon said.
Priya’s face brightened.
“Oh ok,” she said, an excitement now rising in her chest. She took the bearing and held it up to the lights overhead.
She always enjoyed analyzing the parts.
“What do you see?” Brandon asked after a few seconds.
“Hmmm…” she hummed, examining the underside of the bearing, an arc shaped hunk of metal. There appeared to be a small grouping of scratches. “It looks like some minor chaffing from the shaft.”
Brandon nodded. “Yes I saw that too. Second batch of those today.”
“Was it from the max load testing?” Priya asked curiously.
“Mhmm most probably.”
Priya paused looking towards the ground in thought. Interesting.
“Well…that would be a serious problem after 10,000 or more cycles. It must be coming from some sort of excessive vibrations,” she said pursing her lips in concentration.
“What was the max oil pressure?”
“It was about 82 psi,” Brandon said, watching her mull things over.
Priya frowned.
“hmm…well that could be the cause then,” she said thoughtfully. A pulsating excitement was building in her body. “At max load the higher engine temperatures could lower the viscosity of the oil…” Priya said, pausing to consider her words “…leading to a thinning of the liquid and less coverage on the bearings.”
“Pretty good,” Brandon said, thoroughly impressed, “Tommy actually came to the same conclusion.”
Priya couldn’t help smiling a little.
Tommy was the head quality assurance engineer at the factory.
The idea that she perhaps was knowledgeable enough to make things better and more efficient was deeply satisfying.
‘What have you ended up changing?” Priya asked curiously.
“Well, we’re recommending a less viscous oil, but the issue isn’t life threatening to the engine, so nothing may change for now.”
Priya nodded. “Have you been able to figure out the pressure carburetor yet?” Priya asked.
“Not quite,” Brandon said, “we still haven’t quite dialed in the air/fuel ratio. It’s coming along though,” He said putting down another part on the table.
Priya nodded and turned back to the table in front of her, rearranging the parts in their proper order for inspection.
“Hey, any word on that scholarship come in?” Brandon asked. “I’d imagine you’d get an answer soon.”
“Oh…no, nothing yet,” Priya said dully, lining up a few parts on the table. A familiar hollow feeling flooded her body. She felt the overwhelm her body. For years now she had been applying to the few scholarships open to women as she needed more money saved to enroll in an engineering program.
“I’m sure you’ll get it. You too smart not to.” Brandon said cheerfully.
Priya cheeks tinged pink.
“Oh I don’t know…” she said uncertainly.
Brandon smiled, continuing to write on his clipboard.
He flipped his pencil over and began erasing a line.
“So have you given talking to him some more thought?” Brandon asked.
“Who Tommy?” Priya asked, straightening some bearings on the table.
“No Mr. Salton remember?”
Priya felt her stomach drop.
“Oh…right…” Priya said rather lamely, “…yeah a little bit.” Mr. Salton was the manager of their plant and the person she would have to talk to if she wanted a promotion or raise. She had seen him before, but always at a distance. He had always appeared intimidating to her, a plump, gruff looking man who often gave a mean looking stare to his employees.
“Now why don’t I believe you?” he said playful look.
“I—I don’t know if I could do the job…all the responsibilities and such…I mean I don’t even have an engineering degree.”
“Oh Priya come on,” he said as if she was talking nonsense. He shook his head while picking up a different part, “you don’t need a degree to make a difference. You told me yourself that you’ve been studying the appropriate subject matter. And you’ve already proven to me many times that you know what you’re talking about.”
Priya’s cheeks went pink. “Well…”
“You at least deserve better pay,” He said.
“Well…yes I—I suppose,” Priya said, her stomach twisting nervously. She had wanted to do this ever since she started here, but at the same time she was deathly frightened of being turned down or yelled at. Maybe I should just be grateful for what I have.
“Well then go do it,” Brandon said with a sly smile. He checked his watch. “It’s 6 o’clock, so you’re done for the day aren’t you?”
Priya stared at him blankly, her feet going cold. “Um...well I…yeah I suppose.”
“Ah...come on you can do it,” Brandon said trying to edge her on.
“I--” Priya struggled searching for a way to get out of this, but she really did want to ask for a raise or a more technical job.
“Um…I dunno,” she said reluctantly. “I’ll…I guess I could try talking with him.” She felt as if her stomach was in a pretzel.
Brandon nodded. “It won’t be as bad as you think,” He said giving her a reassuring smile. “Oh, but you should start by talking to him about horses. He owns a few of them and he’s big into horse racing. Nearly talked my ear off about them the other day.”
“Oh…ok,” Priya said uncertainly, not knowing if it was worth pointing out since she knew next to nothing about horses and horse racing.
Priya pursed her lips and nodded reluctantly. “Good luck,” Brandon called after her. Priya walked away from the disassembly area towards the main hall which was bustling with huge hydraulic press machines bending sheet metal in tubular form.
She glanced at a group of ladies who were attaching rubber o-rings to pistons.
Priya’s body felt hollow, her stomach bubbling with nerves. She imagined scenarios where Mr. Salton yelled at her that she was fired. She imagined him asking her a complicated question she had no idea how to answer. What if she just stood there dumbfounded.
I could just put this off. I don’t really need to improve my job. Priya looked up at the stairs leading to the office on the second floor. A large paned glass window overlooked the factory floor. Inside she could see a middle aged, pot bellied man in a grey suit hunched over documents on his desk. It was Mr. Salton.
A worker sidestepped in front of her. “Excuse me,” the worker said, walking onwards in a hurry.
Priya exhaled, her stomach bubbling in nervousness.
But I’m going nowhere doing what I’m doing now. The thought ignited a burning desire in her chest. Priya bit her lip, looking back up at Mr. Salton in his office. Ah…he just scares me though…what if he does yell at me?
Priya made her way to the women’s restroom which doubled as a locker room. The room was fifty paces long and less than half that for its width.
Dark green lockers lined the walls, sandwiching the long marble countertop where the sinks were.
On the opposite side of the room were the toilet stalls which had walls from the floor to just short of the ceiling.
A newspaper on the countertop caught Priya’s eyes. She read the headline.
NAZI ARMY REMAINS 20 MILES FROM MOSCOW
A pulse of fear rushed through her body.
If they capture Moscow, perhaps the entire Soviet Union will fall apart. Then the invasion of Britain truly would be next. It had been an ever drastic fear in everyones’ minds for the past few years. Priya put the paper down and went to her locker. She opened it and looked inside. A white envelope with her name written on it sat on her folded civilian clothes.
Priya picked up the envelope and looked down at it grimacing. It was her paycheck. A raise would help me get to that goal so much faster… Priya bit her lip again. Oh damn it I have to try. She stuffed the envelope in her coat’s pocket and grabbed her clothes. She changed in a toilet stall and headed back out onto the factory floor.
She reached the foot of the stairs. Her heart pounded against her chest. Come on you can do this Priya…
“Excuse me everyone,” said a voice behind her. Priya turned. One of the younger workers still in his tattered, grease covered blue-grey uniform, stood in the middle of the room. He was a mousy young man with red hair and freckles whom she had seen only in passing. “I’m looking for a Priyanka Chawla,” the young man said loudly. Priya felt a jolt to her stomach. “Yes, yes that’s me,” Priya said raising her hand, her eyes wide in surprise.
The young man turned to her. “What is it?” Priya asked politely.
“There’s someone here to see you,” the young man said, “Said his name was Linton, a Captain from the army I think.”
Priya’s brows furrowed. “A Captain?” she asked with confusion.
“Yeah, he’s waiting for you near the entrance. He said wanted to discuss something with you,” the young man said.
Priya’s stomach lurched. A captain? Why would an army person want to see me?
“Oh…ok thanks,” Priya said to the young man, “I’ll um…I’ll go meet with him then.” The young man nodded turning back away.
Have they come to arrest me? Priya thought wildly. Her hands began sweating. What on earth could I have done?
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