Hans stared out the window of the car in utter silence. Rain pelted the vehicle as it descended from the mountains and into the city of Kufstein below, and yet the boy had barely taken notice. His mind was a storm of thoughts.
Most boys his age would be worrying about their final exams. But not him. No, Hans was a particularly exceptional child, one who had graduated from high school at the age of ten, and college at the age of fourteen.
He had just received his diploma from the prestigious Aerial Warfare Academy in the field of mechanical engineering. This was the university of choice for students wishing to join the Luftwaffe. For the next eight years, he would be deployed around the globe where it was unknown whether he would survive. Yet it was not this sense of impending doom that troubled him.