‘I understand and sympathise with your pain, Parrish. Shall I alleviate it by drafting you into Lt Grint’s team?’

‘That’s very kind, but I’m fine, thank you. Ma’am.’

‘Then we’ll get started.’

She waited.

They stared at her.

She stared back. ‘You will want to take notes. Why am I repeating myself?’

Matthew and Luke scrabbled for their scratchpads. Jane pulled out her trusty notebook.

North cleared her throat. ‘Now. 1837. South Australia has been declared a free settlement. Work has started on the capital city, Adelaide. You will find yourselves just outside where Adelaide will one day be, on the site of a small – a very small – settlement, not far from the River Torrens.’

She tapped away at her scratchpad. ‘I can flash all relevant information on flora, fauna, weather and population directly to the pod. Or to your scratchpads if you prefer.’

‘Scratchpads,’ said Luke, quickly.

‘Still working on your relationship with the AI, Parrish?’

‘The bloody thing hates me.’

‘It is a remarkably intelligent unit, yes.’

‘Um . . .’ said Jane, blushing slightly. ‘You said, “you”.’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘You said, “You will find yourselves”, not we’ll . . . Does this mean you’re not coming with us?’

‘No.’

‘You are coming with us?’

‘No. It means I’m not going with you. This will be your first solo jump. Do not screw it up.’

Perceiving Lockland to be near speechless with astonishment and Matthew just as speechless as usual, Parrish took on the responsibility for information gathering.

‘So what’s this all about then?’

North continued. ‘According to information laid – it’s not clear by whom at this moment and another team is on that – someone has taken a rabbit . . . to Australia.’

It might be fair to say the response to this dramatic announcement was underwhelming. Before Parrish could become fluent in sarcasm, Lockland interceded.

‘I don’t understand. Why is this a problem?’

‘It is a huge problem, Lockland. A potential ecological disaster. Australia is the last place on earth without rabbits. Our entire planet is infested with them. They’re everywhere. These days they’re even living in Antarctica. Australia is the last country in the world to be rabbit-free. Australians are hugely proud of this status and will go to enormous lengths to keep it that way and today, so will you. Just to complicate matters further – the rabbit was raised in a lab and, as part of an environmental experiment, is immune to super myxomatosis.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means it’s immune to the normal chemicals used to keep down rabbit numbers. And, as if that’s not bad enough . . .’

‘Yes?’

‘It’s pregnant.’

‘Ah,’ said Matthew, enlightened. ‘So presumably all its offspring will be immune, too.’

‘And their offspring and theirs after them. So – to sum­marise the point of this mission – do not come back without that rabbit.’

‘Why would someone do that?’ enquired Luke.

‘Do what?’

‘Attempt to bugger up an entire ecosystem with a rabbit.’