Albert nodded, and once again repeated the story he had told June and Ollie. He watched the three men in front of him as he spoke—Castor smiling at him with that look of condescending mockery on his face; Ucho alternately scowling and tugging at his straggly beard and Father, whose steady, serious blue eyes never once left Albert. He told them about his discovery of Theo and their escape to June’s apartment and what came after.

When he got to the part where SUE had contacted him at home, Castor shook his head. ‘You might as well stop,’ he said. ‘If you’re going to tell us fairy stories, then I know better ones. I put it to you, Father, can you really credit a word of this—this—fabrication?’

‘Just because it is unusual does not make it untrue,’ replied Father. ‘I think we should hear the rest of what he has to say.’

‘Why, when he’s clearly lying to us? And what blatant lies! Does he really expect us to swallow this? That machines want to kill themselves and he helps them and then they help him! What is he, the Robot Whisperer?’

‘There is no proof that he is not telling the truth. Strange things happen.’

‘Maybe, they do, but can they be quite this strange, Father? What about the rest of this tale? That the Keeper took a break from running the City to persecute him over a meaningless Citizen’s petition? No, he’s lying!’

‘I am not!’ said Albert angrily. ‘And if I were, I’d come up with something a little less wild than this! I’m not stupid, you know?’

‘No, I don’t know!’

‘Peace, all of you,’ said Father. ‘Yes, it does sound odd in places, Castor, but it is possible that it is as he says. Don’t forget, Ollie met him and believed him well enough to send him here. That should be enough for any of us, at least till we have evidence to the contrary. Let him speak.’

Albert continued, until he reached the part about the Renegade attack and the appearance of the huge, savage beasts. Here he stopped, looking around at everyone.

‘And then those creatures—they—they …’

‘I believe we all know what happened next,’ said Father. ‘There is no need to dwell on it.’

‘What were those things, anyway?’

‘They are called Horrors,’ said Father.

‘But what are they?’

‘We do not know. They come up from the depths of the earth, from places no man has ever gone. Once there were far more of them, and they wandered these tunnels freely, devouring anything they found. But times have changed, and now they have been mostly driven back. I have no doubt that what you encountered was one of the few nesting colonies that remain. But enough about them. Go on, Albert.’

So Albert went on with his story, culminating in their last desperate flight through the tunnels.