Douglas was smoking a cigarette.

He rarely smoked, but now there were at least a dozen cigarette butts in the ashtray in front of him. Smoke billowed up, making the scene before him seem illusory. Douglas was distracted, even though he was in the conference room of the Asgard Command.

Right in front of him, on both sides of the long table, a dozen or so high-ranking military officials of Asgard were loudly discussing. Seated on the left and right side of Douglas ...