Albert did not reply. The porcine mouth opened again, and then shut as the Head thought better of whatever he had been about to say.

Then with a final harrumph and a ‘Tosh!’ thrown in for good measure he was gone, and Albert was left staring at a blank screen.

He held his position for a moment or two, then turned and went back to his spot against the wall. Although his face was expressionless, the worry lines on his forehead betrayed his consternation. He hadn’t broken the law, that was true, and a point in his favour, but how much in his favour, it was hard to say. At best he had probably bought himself some time. The Gross One had been clearly put out at his refusal to fall in line, and no doubt wouldn’t wait long to reprise his ultimatum. He’d be back sniffing around again soon enough, and next time Albert wouldn’t be able to avoid giving him an answer.

He sat there, hunched forward in his chair, chin resting in his hands, thinking of one plan after another, all of which he discarded as useless, until he heard the buzzer ring and the doors opened and he filed out with everyone else towards the transport pods.

Slouched in the pod, he gazed out of the side, watching the world fly by—although he wasn’t looking at it as much as focusing his eyes on an external object, forcing his mind to concentrate on something other than his predicament. After a few minutes of failing miserably, he decided to give up and focus on brooding full-time.

The priority now was to get the girl back to wherever she came from, and as quickly as possible. What with the authorities now nosing around him, her staying was just too risky. For both of them, although more for her than for him, he had to admit. At least he’d be interrogated and then tried before they passed sentence on him. With her, they’d probably skip straight ahead to the sentencing bit. And though he was not naïve enough to assume that either SUE or the Head were going to fade into the background just because the girl was gone, at least no further damage would be done. Right now, the first thing he was going to do was talk to her again, and if he couldn’t get some sort of answer out of her, then he would just have to take her to—to—to somewhere! Even that abandoned lot! He leaned forward in his seat, now anxious to be home, hands on his knees, head craning to look out the side of the pod.