The Hotel du Mauna Loa was a dilapidated hotel bar that functioned as a gathering point for the Pathfinders. It also catered to a few other survivors whom the Authority had contacted on other alternates, such as Tony Nuyakpuk. The Authority staff, by contrast, tended to keep clear of the place. I had a feeling, based on what I’d heard and seen, that they were under orders not to fraternize with us. Maybe their bosses were afraid they’d let something slip about the Authority after a couple of drinks.

On that particular day, however, the bar had been deserted, apart from one man who turned out to be Tony Nuyakpuk’s cousin. Jim Nuyakpuk’s job, it seemed, was to cook and clean as well as tend the bar – although it was clear from his conversation with the other two that he sometimes went on missions himself.

‘We give the Authority ten years’ service,’ Yuichi explained as we sat down, his hands cradling an Irish coffee made for him by the Inuit barman. ‘Then they let us go retire to some nice, safe alternate – some place just like where we all came from, but whole and unharmed. That’s the other reason we’re as happy to do whatever they ask us as we are.’

‘Exactly like where we came from?’ I asked.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Nadia had said. ‘No, nearly the same, but not identical.’ She cocked her head at me. ‘You were married, right? Don’t get your hopes up about finding her, if that’s what you were thinking. Even if there was some version of your wife out there, chances are she’s not the same person you knew. She might be married to someone else – if not to some other version of you – or have never met you. Or maybe that version of her got killed in a car crash, or her life worked out completely differently so she’s a stranger.’ She shook her head. ‘When we retire, we don’t literally go home – that’s impossible. But some place that’s hospitable, and close enough to being like home to fit, where you don’t live in fear or have to risk your life on a daily basis.’ She shrugged. ‘That’s where you get to go.’

‘And how long have you got left before you retire?’ I asked her.

‘Four years,’ she said, without hesitation.

I looked at Yuichi. ‘Five,’ he replied.

‘And how many Pathfinders have retired so far?’

They glanced at each other. ‘Well, none, actually,’ said Yuichi. ‘None of us has been working for the Authority long enough to actually retire.’

I looked ahead. It was, indeed, getting brighter. ‘What’s causing it?’ I asked, with no little alarm.