The fan spun lazily overhead, doing little to break the suffocating tropical heat.
Outside, the rustle of palms in the breeze clashed with the static hum of a nearby radio set, transmitting recent headlines from Bangkok.
"…Siamese Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram to inaugurate naval expansion at Songkhla… German military attachés to observe the exercises…"
Governor-General Hendrik van Daalen poured himself a glass of gin and looked up at his New Zealand counterpart seated across the table, Sir Edwin Cartwright, on temporary assignment from Wellington.
"You hear that?" Van Daalen asked, voice edged with anxiety. "Two decades ago, they couldn't keep the British from carving off their coastline. Now they've got drydocks larger than anything we've got in Surabaya."
Sir Edwin nodded, lips pursed.
