Swiftly, Father rose to his feet and walked out. Exchanging glances, Ucho and Castor followed him. Albert and June and Theo watched them go, before hastily scrambling to their feet, and hurrying out of the tent.

Looking around, Albert saw the rest of the group clustered in front of them. Another soldier, who had been standing outside the tent, came to stand beside Ucho. Surrounding them, in a wide semicircle, were about fifteen or twenty men and women. It was they who were making all the noise.

Castor took a step back, hands raised in a placatory gesture. ‘Please! Please! Calm down!’

The howls from the crowd continued unabated.

‘Please be calm! What is it you want?’

The answers came thick and fast, dripping with vitriol.

‘You got Domechildren in here!’

‘No scum!’

‘Throw ’em out!’

‘Our place for us!’

‘No place here for Domechildren scum!’

Castor took another step back, hands still raised. ‘Please! We shall hear you all! Only speak one at a—’

‘Aw, shaddup!’ growled a man at the centre of the crowd. ‘We don’t wanna hear nothin’! We just here to scrub out the scum!’

Around him the crowd took up the chant. ‘Scrub out the scum! Scrub out the scum!’

‘Just listen to me!’

‘Scrub out the scum! Scrub out the scum!’

A bottle went whistling past Albert’s ear, bouncing harmlessly into the tent. Ucho stepped forward, his face blazing red, eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

‘Oi!’ he shouted. ‘Oi!’

He wasn’t a commander for nothing. His voice boomed out like a sonic blast, cutting through the crowd. Albert wouldn’t have been surprised if he had been told that aliens had used the sound to echo-locate the planet. As it was, standing not two feet away from the epicentre of the roar, he spent the time reconciling himself to the fact that henceforth he would have to manage things with just his left ear.

It had the desired effect though. Almost as one, the crowd quietened down.

Ucho nodded. ‘That’s better. Now clear off, the lot of you, or I’ll have you all detained for the night!’

That however, was pushing it too far. An angry ripple ran through the crowd. ‘Oh yeah?’ shouted a man’s voice. ‘You can’t oppress us any more!’

‘Down with oppression!’ screamed a woman. ‘Down with scum!’

Like clockwork, the chant went up again. ‘Scrub out the scum! Scrub out the scum!’