We giggled, we gossiped, we chatted.

Eventually, we fell asleep, our words slurring and blurring into nothing.

I have no idea why I woke at two-thirty in the morning. Maybe a sound startled me, though as I lay in the darkness listening, I couldn’t hear anything at all. I strained my ears but there weren’t even the normal sounds of a house creaking and groaning as the cooler night air made the building bend and twist.

Then Charlotte farted in her sleep.

It wasn’t very loud, but it was high-pitched, and I knew that I was going to burst out laughing. So I hopped out of bed, bottling up my laughter as best I could – it was a real strain, and I knew I’d have to let it out soon because the pressure was building. Then I thought that was probably what had caused Charlotte to fart in the first place, which only made things worse. I could feel the laughter coming down my nose, but I made it out of my bedroom, shutting the door before letting out a yelp that was almost hysterical.

There was a light on in Aiden’s room and I tapped gently on his door when I’d recovered a bit, but there was no reply. Maybe he’d fallen asleep with the light on. I thought it would be a good idea to sneak in and turn it off. Mum and Dad were always going on about conserving energy, even though we generated huge amounts through our solar sail and stored it in a massive array of batteries. But, to be honest, that was just an excuse. I knew Z was in there, lying on Aiden’s bed, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to give him a cuddle.

Aiden was awake and sitting in the wheelchair, with that strange contraption still framing his skull. He was due to go into the clinic in the morning to have it removed. He’d also been promised that he could leave the chair behind and walk to the waiting car when all procedures had been done. I could only imagine how much he was looking forward to that. His eyes were open and fixed on the wall. He didn’t even turn his gaze to me when I came into the room.

‘Hey, Aiden,’ I said. He slowly moved his entire head to face me and smiled, though that was small and faded almost immediately. ‘Can’t you sleep?’ I continued.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he replied.

I sat down on the edge of his bed. Zorro stirred and uncurled himself from a pile of Aiden’s pillows. I ran a hand through his fur and he rolled onto his back. I knew Aiden had been teaching him about belly-rubbing.

‘What about?’

‘All sorts of things,’ he replied.

‘Give me an example.’

‘Is it possible to love a machine?’

‘What?’

He scratched himself under his right eye. He had to do it carefully because of the framework.