‘You and my family.’ Flowers shifted a chair next to the one he was using and sat down. He touched the mouse, and the oversized LED monitor sprang to life.

‘Wow! Look at the colour.’

Buoyed by her excitement, Flowers picked up his headset. ‘Hold still,’ he said, careful not to pull her hair as he placed the cushioned headphones over her ears. He turned back to the monitor. ‘Now, this is a first-person shooter game,’ he said, knowing she’d be listening to the rousing symphonic score coming through the headphones. ‘This is the one I’m testing now, and we’re on the side of the law, so we are the good guys, just like in real life.’

She nodded enthusiastically.

‘Can you hear me over the music?’ he asked.

She gave him the double thumbs up, blue eyes shining.

‘Okay then.’ Flowers showed her which character he’d chosen, and the weapons he had at his disposal. ‘As I move though this historic building, which has multiple floors and balconies, bad guys will come at me from everywhere. I’ll start the game and we’ll choose to do level five,’ he said.

The game began and Flowers pointed to his character. ‘Okay, here I am walking through this room and someone’s going to come out from behind that wall real soon. There he is!’ He shot the enemy and moved on, already looking for the next one. ‘Around this corner, we’ll see a guy on the staircase. There!’ he said, glancing across at Sterling before he shot the guy.

Flowers worked the mouse and keyboard simultaneously, striking deftly at the keys, his eyes focused on the screen. He’d played this game so many times he could imagine the music and audio effects that Sterling would be hearing through the headset. He played for another five minutes, pointing out distinctive features along the way.

‘Watch this,’ he said, glancing over at her before taking down five enemy soldiers in a row. ‘Bam!’ he said, and then exited the game before he really started showing off. It was a lot of stimulation for someone who’d never played video games before.

‘You’re amazing,’ Sterling said, taking off the headphones and handing them back to him. ‘I don’t know much about gaming but even I can see you’re pretty pro.’

‘Thanks.’

‘How did they find you?’

‘From my gamer handle. I’ve competed for years.’

‘I’ve seen the stadiums packed out with people watching gaming competitions.’

‘Oh, that’s the league. Those guys are really young, in their late teens. This would be all desk work for me.’

She put her hand over her mouth to hide a yawn. ‘That’s incredible. I’m still kind of stunned.’

‘Go and lie down in my room, Nerida. I’ll put my alarm on for six. I’ll stretch out on the lounge.’