‘Yes, but that was different. You could come home any time you liked. You were a sort of guest there. This is something else completely. You’ll be one of them. You’ll belong to them and they could have you doing anything. Do you honestly think you could kill someone?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said, because I didn’t. ‘I suppose there’s training for that sort of thing. I might not get through. In which case . . .’

‘Are they making you do this?’ demanded my mother. ‘Have they been putting pressure on you to join them? Because if so, then just tell me and I’ll shoot off and have a quick word with Commander Hay.’

‘No, no,’ I said, meaning no, they weren’t putting any pressure on me and no, for God’s sake, don’t shoot off and have a word with Commander Hay. Mum and Commander Hay frequently had far too many words together and the results were never happy for anyone. ‘Look, you said yourselves, you’d support any career choice I made and this is it.’

She seized at another straw. ‘But you’re too young, surely?’

‘Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? No one knows how old I am. The Time Police have chosen to believe I’ve reached the minimum age.’

‘But . . .’ she said, because she never goes down without a fight.

Dad put his hand on hers. ‘Max . . .’

‘I know,’ she said, ‘but even so . . .’

‘I was never going to come and work here,’ I said as gently as I could, because she really was upset and I felt a little guilty. They’re my parents and I love them.

‘I know you weren’t,’ said Mum. ‘And I wouldn’t have encouraged that, anyway, but I thought . . . Oh, I don’t know. It’s as if they’ve been . . . grooming you. That’s it, isn’t it? They’re like a cult and you’ve fallen under their influence.’

I shook my head. ‘Of course they’re not and I haven’t.’

‘But that’s just it,’ said Mum. ‘You wouldn’t know, would you? But don’t panic – there are people out there who can de-cult you and . . .’

‘They’re not a cult,’ I said. ‘And if it makes you feel any better, I approached Captain . . . no, he’s a major now . . . Major Ellis some time ago and said I’d like to join and he said because I was so young, I had to think about it for at least six months before he’d put my name forwards and I have. Waited six months, I mean, and I still want to do it. Now it’s time.’

‘Will they accept you?’ said Dad.

Mum rounded on him at once. ‘Why wouldn’t they?’