‘Yes,’ said the Praetor, a trifle sulkily, Albert thought. ‘If you agree, then tonight it must be.’

Father nodded. ‘Very well. Go and tell Vail that he may have what he wants. Tonight it is.’

Gideon smiled. ‘As you say … Father.’

He turned, still beaming, nodding to his cronies. A moment or two later, they were gone, melted into the crowd.

Father was looking at Ucho. ‘Ucho, you know what you must do.’

Ucho nodded. ‘I’ll have the men ready to do their bit.’

Albert felt a tap on his shoulder and turned, and saw Colby looking at him. ‘Let’s go.’

Getting back out was a lot easier than getting in, as most of the crowd was already leaving. They made their way out of the Square, moving to the side to let people pass them. Here they stood.

‘I think I should go back,’ said Albert frowning. ‘I want to finish listening to what Father was saying.’

Colby laughed, running a hand through his hair. ‘Fat chance! Didn’t you hear, man? There’s to be a reckoning tonight. You won’t get near him or the commander till it’s done. Nor June actually, now that she’s on the Council. They’ve got their hands full now. No, you’ll have to wait for your storytelling session for a while.’

Albert scowled, feeling the frustration well up inside him. ‘He didn’t even get to the part about this Code business, or what Theo has to do with it.’

‘What did he tell you, then?’

‘About the Epidemic. And the City.’

‘So you know, then?’

‘Yes.’

Colby nodded silently. Then he said, ‘That’s it?’

‘No. He was telling me something else, about Robert discovering something. He didn’t get round to telling me what, and then Ucho came and they all rushed out. So I still don’t know what these Seekers want with Theo, though I’m guessing it’s something to do with what her grandfather discovered.’

‘You could say that.’

Albert stared at him. ‘You know, don’t you?’

Colby nodded.

‘Well, don’t just stand there, Colby! Tell me. What is it?’

‘Now, I don’t know the story like Father, but from what I’ve heard it was like this. So the good doctor, he had his suspicions all along that everything that happened wasn’t above board and—’

‘Yes, Father mentioned that.’

‘Well, to cut a long story short, he did some digging, accessed all the data he could lay his hands on. When that didn’t work, he sat down and went over the code, you know—the code he had written, the engine of the entire device, or something like that. So when he went over that, everything was exactly as he remembered it being, but there was also something extra.’