‘And I want to be non-executive Pope, with fifty per cent of global revenues,’ said Hunter.

‘I offered them ten per cent,’ said Saul.

‘And?’ said Hunter.

‘Holy indignation,’ said Saul.

‘Go up to fifteen in exchange for a vigorous advertising campaign, and twenty if they also market the Equanimity helmet, which we can rebrand for them without changing the algorithm: The Peace that Passeth Understanding, Blessed Mother of Tranquillity, whatever works for them.’

‘Father Guido told me they were having problems with their Stations of the Cross virtual reality program,’ said Lucy. ‘He became quite confessional over lunch. I think he thought the Espresso Martinis were just iced coffee, but in any case, please don’t do anything to get him into trouble; he’s such a sweet man.’

‘We’ll say that the only reason we’re considering profit sharing is thanks to his superhuman negotiating skills,’ said Hunter.

‘With Avatar, we’ve got the technology to help with that,’ said Saul.

‘No more profit sharing,’ said Hunter. ‘This techno-religion is going to be huge.’

‘How about less profit share and we fix the Stations?’ asked Saul.

‘That could work,’ said Hunter.

‘The beautiful thing is that whether it’s the Bhagavad Gita, or Golgotha, or Mara v Buddha under the Bodhi Tree, we can totally nail the journey with a combination of the scans we’ve already made and the VR from Avatar – which, by the way, turns out to be helping with the schizophrenics they designed it for.’

‘Yes, I was happy to see that,’ said Lucy. ‘I mentioned the good results to Martin Carr last week, Olivia’s dad, and he thought that exposing patients who are radically confused about what is real to an experience which is designed to seduce even the most robust realist might not be what is making them feel better.’

‘Maybe it helps precisely because it’s a known unreality,’ said Saul.

‘I ran the same sort of argument past Martin, but he was sceptical that the beneficial effects were taking place at that kind of cognitive level. He’s worked for years with paranoid schizophrenics and knows that if one of them, for instance, is terrified of getting on to a crowded train, that taking them into a basement, attaching heavy equipment to their heads and inducing hallucinations of simulated train passengers could easily be experienced by them as a satanic ritual designed to drive them mad.’

‘So, why the good results?’

‘Because often these patients have been so maltreated and are so frightened that being taken seriously, treated sympathetically, told there is a solution, looked after by experts, encouraged to share their responses, and so on, has a strong salutary effect.’

‘Another placebo,’ said Hunter.

‘Yes,’ said Lucy, ‘in the widest sense that we were talking about earlier: being cared for by people who know what they are doing. Once that trust is established, then all sorts of other things might come into play: the simulation could act as a way to externalise an inner voice, to place it in a narrative, letting out the evil element and projecting it safely.’