‘How long?’ I asked. The asteroid was clearly visible, even with the naked eye, as a dark smudge near the noonday sun.

He shook his head. ‘Not long. This is going to be short, sharp and sweet. It’s due for impact any minute now.’

I felt my skin prickle, and wondered how Mayer’s audience would feel if something went wrong with the transfer stage, leaving us stranded here.

‘Just how big is it?’

‘Twenty-five kilometres along its widest axis,’ Yuichi replied. ‘A real planet-buster.’

I shook my head, feeling fatigued from death and disasters, then followed Yuichi across the rooftop to join our fellow Pathfinders. I felt tense, wound-up; I’d hardly seen most of the others since storming off in a jeep just days before, but I needn’t have worried. They all acted like nothing at all had happened – and for that I was grateful.

I nodded to them, exchanging greetings, then discreetly gestured towards the tourists. ‘Anybody have any idea exactly who they are?’

‘Vultures,’ Casey muttered. ‘That’s about all you need to know.’

Winifred laughed. ‘Maybe the Authority sent them here on a junket to find out where all their taxpayers’ money is going.’

‘But why the hell bring their families?’ I asked. ‘I mean, surely that’s a hell of a risk?’

‘Sure it is,’ said Casey. ‘But look at them. Why do you think they’re really here, except for the fucking thrill of it all?’

The children were clearly excited, pointing up at the mountain falling towards them from out of the sky. Why they weren’t pissing themselves with fear instead was beyond me. I couldn’t hear what questions the adults were asking Mayer, but a few of them were taking turns peering upwards at the rock through a single pair of high-powered binoculars.

‘Until now, when you said they were tourists, I really thought you must be kidding,’ I said to Yuichi.

‘In fairness, sometimes we end up babysitting teams of scientists collecting observational data,’ said Yuichi. ‘Something like this doesn’t really happen so often.’

‘You know what this is, right?’ chuckled Casey. ‘Bramnik’s got Kip Mayer over there, leading a charm offensive on his behalf. Bramnik’s so shit-scared he’s going to lose his job to Greenbrooke, he’s making sure his bosses hear all about what a really fine job he’s been doing.’