‘Okay, Aiden. I want you to listen very carefully to what I’m about to say.’ Mum’s voice. Patient. Reasonable. ‘You have always been very logical, so I want you to think through all the implications of the situation we find ourselves in. I did not want this to happen. I imagined us all growing old together as a family. You wouldn’t have been able to have children, obviously. But Ashleigh could. I had a vision of us all, three generations, looking out for each other. Protecting each other. It was really that simple.’

‘Not so simple now,’ said Aiden.

Mum nodded. ‘Not simple at all. And I confess that’s my fault. I didn’t take enough care. I had a vision. Passing on our wealth to you, Ashleigh and maybe her future partner and child. I did it all for love.’

‘Did you love me, Mamma?’ Aiden’s voice, still calm. ‘Am I alive and did you love me?’

For the briefest moment, Mum’s composure cracked and slid. Her mouth twisted and I thought I saw pain and the faintest shimmer of tears in her eyes. Then she shuddered and glanced down, and when she lifted her face to the screen once more she was calm, her eyes dry. I thought I’d seen something buried within, struggling to find the surface, but it might have been my imagination. Her voice didn’t waver when she replied.

‘You’re a machine, Aiden. You were never alive.’

I was desperate to say something, but I bit my tongue. This was between them and I had no right to speak. But I had to hand it to my mother. She wasn’t going to sugarcoat anything, say stuff just to make anyone feel good. Maybe including herself. It was almost admirable. Almost. But she’d avoided one question.

‘So you aren’t going to kill me, is that right?’ said Aiden. ‘Just shut me down. Because you can’t kill something that isn’t alive.’

‘That’s correct.’

‘You didn’t answer my first question. Did you ever love me?’

‘I did.’ I’d almost forgotten Dad was still there. Mum’s face and the intensity of her words had made him fade into the background. It often happened like that. ‘And I still do,’ he continued. ‘I love you, Aiden.’

My brother nodded. Mum stayed silent.

‘Do you know something?’ I said. ‘I look from you, Mum, to my brother and I think I know which one is the machine.’

She didn’t say anything to that. Instead she fixed her eyes on Aiden once more.