Albert could feel a slight throbbing at his temples. He gritted his teeth and breathed heavily, trying to calm himself. ‘Please answer me, Theo. Whom do you live with?’

‘Nobody.’

‘Nobody?’

‘S’wat I said!’ said Theo, with a nonchalant shrug.

‘Yes, I know that’s what you said. But you’re telling me you live on your own?’

‘Yep. Yeah. Yo.’

‘You expect me to believe you lived on your own in that lot—’

‘Well, I wasn’t on my own, was I? I was with my friends—’

At this she fell silent, staring down at the table, her little face darkening.

Albert looked at her, wondering what to say, unable to think of anything. ‘I’m sorry. About your—’

‘Jus’ forget ’bout it!’ she said fiercely, without looking up.

He said nothing, looking down at her in silence. He waited for a long time before speaking again. ‘Theo,’ he said, as gently as he could, ‘What about before that? You can’t always have been on your own.’

She didn’t reply.

‘I mean, where were you before you came there? Is there someone else we can—’

‘No, there’s no one, all right!’ she said looking up at him angrily. ‘An’ I dunno why yer keep on an’ on ’bout this parents thing! I was with my grandpa, all right? An’ after that I was with Fath—’ She stopped abruptly, looking down again, biting her lip.

‘With?’ he prompted.

She didn’t say anything.

‘What’s that? With your father? But I thought you said you didn’t know—’

Theo reddened. ‘Not mine. He’s everyone’s!’

‘Excuse me, did you say everyone’s? I don’t understand.’

‘That’s ’cos you can’t, Mac! You’re a Domechild!’

‘Domechild?’

The girl made an impatient sound. ‘Yeah, Domechild. You’re all Domechildren, right? People who live in the Dome. City folk.’

He leaned forward, elbows on the table, regarding her carefully.

‘I see. But if we’re all Domechildren, then what are you? Do you live outside the Dome?’

She made a rude noise. ‘Outside? There’s nothin’ outside! Everyone knows that!’

‘So if you’re not from outside, and you’re not from in here, where are you from?

She gazed wide-eyed and innocently at him, as if she hadn’t understood. A little too innocently.

‘Well?’

‘Well, what?’

‘Where are you from?’

‘Oh, somewhere,’ she said, waving a hand airily.

He looked at her, and took a deep breath. ‘All right, fine. Tell me then, wherever you’re from, how did you get here?’

‘With you.’

‘I think you know what I mean, Theo. How did you come to be among … ah …’

‘Domechildren?’

‘Yes, and more specifically, in that place yesterday. How did you end up there?’

‘Generally.’

‘I see. You generally happened to leave your home and journey here for the express pleasure of mugging people in that lot.’

‘No.’