Their landing was successful. It was the nearest they’d ever got to a team effort. Jane had sat at the console and calculated the coordinates, Matthew laid them in and initiated the jump and Luke had watched them. Apparently, it was called supervising.

‘We’re exactly where we should be,’ said Jane, consulting the read-outs in front of them.

‘Which is?’

‘Australia.’ She stared at the screen. ‘I’ve never been to Australia.’

‘Haven’t you?’ said Luke, getting to his feet in a leisurely manner. ‘I’ve been here several times. Surfing usually.’

Matthew surveyed the vast, surfless landscape. ‘That should come in useful.’

Jane began to shut down the pod. Matthew rolled up the net and stuffed it into his backpack.

Parrish flicked from camera to camera. ‘Well, I can’t see it.’

Jane looked up. ‘What – Australia?’

‘Don’t you start.’

‘Can we go?’ said Matthew. ‘It’s probably had about ten babies while you’ve been faffing around.’ He shouldered his pack, Jane opened the door and they exited the pod.

Once outside, they paused to take stock and get their bearings.

It was a beautiful day. A brilliant sun shone from a cloudless sky. Early morning, decided Jane to herself, looking about her. Hot, and certain to become even hotter.

Green, silver and blue were the colours she saw around her. Blue sky, green grass and silvery blue-green foliage. Low bushes grew everywhere, interspersed with groves of tall, graceful trees. The air smelled faintly of dust and menthol.

‘Roofs,’ said Jane, pointing. ‘Over there. Behind those trees.’

‘We’ll try over in that direction, then,’ said Luke, consulting his scratchpad.

‘Why? Won’t it avoid human contact?’

‘It was brought up in a lab. It will look to humans for food.’

‘Oh. Yes. Good thought.’

Luke was staring at his scratchpad again. ‘Tread carefully, everyone. I’ve just brought up a list of the most dangerous animals on the planet and nearly all of them live here.’

Jane stared nervously about her. ‘What, right here?’

‘In this country, yes.’

‘Continent,’ said Matthew.

‘Shut up.’

‘Such as?’ said Jane. ‘What sort of dangerous creatures should we be looking out for?’

‘Jellyfish.’

Matthew ostentatiously looked about him.

‘Sharks.’

‘Both well-known rabbit predators,’ said Matthew to Jane. ‘Our lives are in peril. We must take great care.’

‘Crocodiles. Funnel spiders. Eastern brown snakes.’

Matthew sighed. ‘Are you going to go on all day?’

‘Just saying.’

‘Well, don’t. Jane – which way?’

‘This way, I think,’ she said, and they set off. Cautiously and in single file.

‘Right, team,’ said Parrish, crisply. ‘Remember, it’s a tame rabbit. Born and bred in a lab, so it’ll probably just lollop up to the nearest person and demand lettuce with menaces.’

‘Or, alternatively,’ said Matthew, ‘it could be sixty miles away and accelerating and we’ll never find it and it’ll give birth and Australia will be overrun by rabbits by next Thursday.’