‘They are safe. Follow me,’ the man said. Without waiting for an answer, he turned around and began walking down the passage. Was it a trick? Maybe not. Considering he was armed and, by the looks of it, dangerous, and Albert was neither, he had no need to resort to deception. Not knowing what else to do, Albert scurried after him, down the corridor, back towards and into the opening that June and Theo had dashed into a few minutes earlier.

Almost instantly he saw the body on the left; it was the weaselly-looking Renegade, now missing the outer half of his chest. Albert’s rescuer saw him staring at it. ‘We ran into them on the way out,’ he said mildly. ‘Come, now. This way.’

The man walked so briskly that although Albert was doing everything but running he still couldn’t bridge the gap between them. The man walked on, never slowing, glancing behind him every so often to make sure Albert was still behind him, through first one opening and then another, until Albert had completely lost count. They went on for a few minutes, and then the man took another right, down yet another passage, which ended at an opening bathed in a yellow light. Here he stopped, waiting for Albert to catch up with him.

Albert was beside him a moment later, a question on his lips that died instantly, as he learnt what it meant to have your breath taken away as his jaw dropped open and he stood there, staring through the opening, goggling like an idiot.

They stood on a shelf of rock overlooking an unbelievably massive clearing, like a valley, miles across. It was a breathtaking sight, the vast clearing nestling within the towers of rock all around, the sort of unnaturally beautiful scenic image dormant screens displayed. Albert barely noticed it. He was too busy looking at the city—no, not city, civilization.