The stage had been crammed into the available space on top of a crude platform, constructed from yet more tarpaulins, stretched across a rough wooden framework about three metres across. Most probably Casey and Wallace had scavenged the wood for the platform from one of the town’s many abandoned houses. I pressed my hand against it, and found to my surprise that it was a great deal sturdier than it appeared. I saw one of the rugged laptops normally used to control the portable stages sitting to one side of a field-pillar, connected to it via a cable. Yuichi stepped towards the laptop and tapped at its keyboard; the screen sprang to life in response.

‘Well?’ I asked. ‘Does it show the last programmed coordinates?’

Yuichi looked at me, his expression strained. ‘I don’t know why, Jerry, but he’s gone back to where Nadia got killed.’

I closed my eyes and listened to the sudden, terrified pounding of my heart.

Because the stage by necessity was so small, we had to transfer across to the bee-brain alternate in pairs, rather than all at once.

I went first, along with Yuichi, both of us with our weapons levelled in case we found Casey waiting on the other side. But once the shimmer of transition faded, I saw we were all alone.

In fact, everything looked just the same as it had the last time I had been here with Rozalia, except that it was now just before dawn, if I remembered the time-deviation between this alternate and the island’s.

I stepped out of the stage’s perimeter and saw a drone drop slowly out of the sky and settle onto its charging station. A light on its undercarriage switched from green to red as its central rotor fell silent.

The air smelled damp, moisture beading the grass. It must have rained sometime in the last couple of hours. The air shimmered around the stage as Rozalia and Oskar next arrived from the island. I continued to keep my rifle at the ready, wary of any surprises. The SUV I had last ridden into the city with Rozalia was still there, along with the EV truck.

‘Casey was here no more than a few hours ago,’ said Rozalia, stepping away from the transfer stage and towards the SUV. ‘Look.’

She pointed at a square of dry grass next to the SUV, barely visible in the dim light of dawn. The jeep had been parked there and had kept the patch of grass dry from the rain. Casey had obviously driven it into the city and not yet returned.

She stepped back, peering into the distance. ‘Guess it’s not much of a leap to assume he’s gone north, into the city.’ She looked at me. ‘Not really anywhere else he could be going.’

Yuichi headed for the SUV. ‘Well, at least we can take this—’