I glanced at Aiden. It seemed like a strange question. Well, not so much a strange question, but one that seemed … I don’t know. Inappropriate. Mum obviously thought so too, because she stopped stirring for a moment and looked at her son.

‘I didn’t see any poverty, Aiden,’ she said finally. ‘I stayed in a very good hotel. But the whole reason I was there was because of poverty and starvation and how my company can help.’ She went back to stirring, head over the pan. ‘As you may or may not know,’ she continued, ‘India suffered more than most as a result of climate change and the resulting destruction of arable land. Many millions of people starved to death. My company is producing thousands of worker bots that will tend land and grow crops in places that people can’t. We’re feeding that nation, Aiden.’

‘Made good profits on those bots, did you?’

This time, I couldn’t help myself. I gasped. Mum threw down the wooden spoon into the frying onions and spice mixture, put her hands on her hips. The expression on her face was thunderous and I took a step back. Aiden didn’t.

‘The Indian government bought about half. We donated the others.’ Mum was speaking slowly and clearly, as if trying to keep her words under control. I couldn’t remember seeing her this angry. ‘Why didn’t we give them all away, Aiden? Is that what you’re asking? Because we need money to continue our research into ways of helping people. Without funds going into AI, the world will slowly but surely die. That’s what my company is doing.’

‘Wow,’ said Aiden. ‘Saving the world. Impressive.’

They stood there for the best part of a minute, mother and son facing each other in a stand-off I didn’t understand. In the end, it was Mum who blinked first. She picked up the spoon and continued stirring.

‘Have a shower, prepare for dinner,’ she said. ‘It’ll be ready in half an hour. I don’t want to see either of you until then.’

Z was overjoyed to see Aiden. He whined, he whimpered, he jumped up my brother’s legs, he rolled on his back on the floor.

‘Boy, you’ve been doing a lot of training,’ I said. ‘Getting emotionally needy, Aiden, or what?’

Aiden knelt down and rubbed Z’s belly. The dog squirmed in obvious ecstasy and almost twisted himself in two trying to lick Aiden’s hand.

‘He doesn’t worship me like that,’ I added.

‘Because you haven’t put in the training,’ Aiden replied.

‘Because he will only sleep in your room,’ I said.

‘Because you haven’t put in the training.’