‘Yeah, well, so what if I did? Mebbe ’stead o’ countin’ what I’m sayin’ yer should be listenin’ to me an helpin’ me!’

‘Help you? Help you with what? Look, Theo, this isn’t a game, all—’

‘Well, I ain’t playin’ games, so stop behavin’ like yer got sand in yer—look, jus’ help me figure it out.’

‘Figure—figure what—’

‘Figure out where this Third Quadrant place is!’

He blinked. ‘Third—it’s across that—how do you even know that there’s a place called the Third—’

‘’Cos I know, all right!’

‘Yes, but how?’ He looked at her accusingly. ‘You told me you didn’t know anything about—’

‘Nope, I said I’d never been ’ere ’fore. Big diff, Mac. Just ’cos I ain’t been here don’t mean I don’ know nobody ’ere, do it?’

‘You know somebody here?’

‘Well, duh!’

‘How—’

‘Well, you din’ expect me ter talk ’bout it with Domechildren, didja?’ said the girl scornfully. She looked at him for a moment, then began again, her voice slower, softer, as if she was talking to both of them now. ‘But thing is, now the other Domechildren’re out ter get yer, so mebbe yer not so much one yerself no more. And yer did help me that day, an’ Grandad always tol’ me, yer ain’t worth anythin’ till yer pay yer debts. So now I’m gonna take you to her.’

She nodded firmly, as one coming to a well-thought-out decision. ‘Yes, I’ll take yer to her, an’ she’ll help yer, an’ then we’ll be even, see? Although I din’ wanna go there cause she’s jus’ gonna make me go back an’ I don’ wanna go back, but there ain’t nothin’ else fer it, so we’ll havta go there. Thass all.’

Albert looked at her, and looked some more, not even sure where to start. He settled on the operative part of her little monologue. ‘You know someone who lives in the Third Quadrant?’

‘Well, that’s what I’ve been sayin’ innit, or ain’t yer listenin’?’ said Theo impatiently.

‘Who is this person? And more to the point, why should she help me?’

‘’Cos that’s what she does. She helps people. And yer helped me, so I’m gonna ask her to help yer.’

‘How exactly will she help me? There’s nothing anybody can—’

‘Well, I’m gonna ask her, an’ you’ll see. But first we gotta get there, which means yer gotta help me find this Third Quadrant place.’

‘I know where it is. It’s over past the—look, I know where it is. Where in the Third Quadrant? Do you know the address?’

Theo wrinkled up her nose. ‘You mean the letters an’ numbers, right?’

‘Letters and—so you do know the address.’

‘I know them letters an’ numbers, yeah. They’ll help us find her.’