Freddie turned away, as though Sebastian had hit him, and then he walked slowly away, not looking back.

“That was cruel,” I said to Sebastian.

“Have to be cruel to be kind,” Sebastian said briskly. “Now go away. I have nothing else to say to you. If there’s anything else you want to know about being a drone, ask Molly. Of course, you may not be able to trust her answers . . . as time goes on.”

He laughed at us. I took Molly by the arm and pulled her away, and we walked back through the isolation ward. All the drones came forward to the front of their tanks, and watched us intently through the steelglass, and all their expressions were exactly the same. They watched Molly, not me. She was staring straight ahead, lost in her own thoughts, and I don’t think she noticed. I hoped not.

“I didn’t know Sebastian and Freddie were gay,” she said finally.

“I don’t think Freddie’s ever been that discerning,” I said, glad of a chance to talk about something else. “He’d stick it in mud, if he thought it would wriggle. And Sebastian . . . would probably do whatever he thought was necessary. Freddie was always a serial romantic, couldn’t stand not to be in a relationship with someone. Anyone. Sebastian just used that, so he could use Freddie as cover. Poor bastard.”

“Sebastian knows about me,” said Molly. “Sooner or later, he will talk. When he thinks it’s to his advantage. And sooner or later, someone will listen, and believe. You know that.”

“That will take time,” I said. “And we only have three, four days till the Invaders come through. The family is going to be too busy to care about Sebastian’s ravings.”

We stopped as one of the armed guards approached us. Molly tensed and grabbed my arm. I did my best to look casual and unconcerned.

“We’ve had word from the man guarding Sebastian,” said the guard. “Apparently he has something else to say to you. Something important. But he’ll only say it to you two.”

“Probably just a trick,” said Molly. “Distract us with false information. ”

I could tell how much she wanted out of the isolation ward, but I couldn’t just leave. Sebastian did know things; there was always the chance he could be manoeuvred into saying more than he intended. So we went back to Sebastian’s isolation cell, with Molly walking stiffly at my side. When we got there, he smiled sweetly at us, leaning at his ease on the heavy steelglass wall.