An Awfully Big Adventure by Bartimeus — Read

We sailed two days later, and I did not see Milsom again before we left. He had walked part of the way back with me when, somewhere in the sma' hours, that hectic guest night drew to a close. We parted at the head of a dry dock, where a Light Cruiser was lying shored up in the midst of an abyss of shadows, and for a moment Milsom leaned over the guard rail and stared down the tiers of smooth masonry into the darkness beneath us.

"Hornby," he said, "I wish I had my mother's clearness of vision. I feel somehow that you and I are on the eve of something -- an awfully big adventure of sorts."