“A month is long enough. Listen, if I were you I’d enjoy my time on Ascension, get some good research, explore a few extraordinary geological formations, and not worry too much about the other humans or anything else.”

“Okay. I hope the other humans allow me to do that.”

“I’m sure they will. I mean the thanks. You might have saved his life. If there’s anything we can do for you just let us know.”

“Actually, there is one favor. I need to pick up a car. I was told I needed to get to One Boat.”

“Old Terry.”

“That’s right.”

“Sure, we can drive you. Carina’s already late for a dance class, and she’s the boss around here, but I can drop you off. It’s the least we can do.”

10

Kane got the front seat, with the mum and kids squeezed in the back. The car was crowded with boxes of leaflets and equipment labeled ASCENSION ISLAND CONSERVATION CENTRE: clipboards, torches, welcome packs. The clipboards held surveys: Seabird Survey: Pillar Bay and Coconut Bay. The packs were titled Beach Cleaning for Green Turtles and Landcrab Monitoring. Alongside the papers was equipment for a boat: life jackets, safety lines, a navigation light. They set off into the island’s interior, past mounds of purple scoria.

“Where are we going?” the girl asked.

“Just need to drop Edward at One Boat, then we’ll get you to the class,” Thomas said. “Don’t worry, pumpkin.”

“We’re late.”

“We’re not late.”

“Do you sail?” Kane asked.

“Part of the work. Got a little motorboat. We can take you out sometime.”

“What does that involve?”

“The island’s just got itself a marine conservation area. Means a two-hundred-mile exclusion zone around the island, prohibiting any commercial fishing vessels from entering. Which means the only fishing that takes place is by local rod and line. So, I’m going to be keeping an eye on that and how it affects things in the water. See the rocks there?”

Thomas pointed at the nearby scenery where lava-flows like calcified rivers swelled toward the sea.

“That’s one of the newer formations. The colors tell you the age. You can see successive eruptions. The older rocks have all weathered and oxidized; they’re the orangey, rust-colored ones. The latest flows are still black. You can see they’ve spread more slowly, right?”

“Right. Kind of beautiful.”

“That’s not beautiful,” Carina said.

“Who says what’s beautiful, honey?” her mother asked.

“It’s ugly.”

“To you maybe.”

“Is the island always this hot?” Kane asked.

“This is particularly hot, even for Ascension. But it’s always dry. A couple of times a year, if you’re lucky, you might see some rain evaporating before it hits the ground. The rocks make it feel hotter. Rocks and the lack of shade.”