‘By its nature, the multiverse is full of parallel universes where the Earth never formed out of the cosmic dust, or where the universe itself evolved to have different laws of physics in its first moments of existence. Or maybe if you program a null sequence, you just wind up in some void between realities. The main thing is, the chances of winding up anywhere remotely hospitable to human life are infinitesimally small.’

‘But maybe that’s just what the Authority tell you. Maybe . . .’

‘Hey.’ Nadia waved a hand towards the hangar entrance. ‘You want to test it out, be my guest. But nobody’s volunteered yet.’

About then, I could sense the adrenalin start to fade, and it was obvious the other two were feeling the same way. Since it didn’t look as if there were going to be any immediate repercussions for Nadia, the three of us piled into a jeep outside the barracks and drove back into town. I made my way inside my allotted home and fell asleep within seconds of putting my head down on the bed, still fully dressed. I dreamed of finding myself lost on frozen tundra and struggling to breathe as smoke choked my lungs.

I woke at dawn, when two men wearing neatly pressed dark suits broke into my bedroom and hauled me into the back of a jeep parked outside on the street. Nadia was already in the back of the jeep, looking tired and puffy eyed, and from the way she was leaning forward in her seat, I guessed she was wearing handcuffs. I was still trying to blink away the fatigue when they twisted my own arms behind my back and slapped the cuffs on before pushing me in next to her.

Before long, the jeep was bumping along the cracked and weed-infested road back to the base compound on the edge of town. Our route took us past the island’s single, disused airstrip, and I saw the conning tower up ahead, the great dark bulk of the Rano Kau headland in the other direction.

‘Nadia . . .’

She hadn’t even looked at me since I had been pushed in next to her. ‘Don’t say it,’ she muttered tonelessly under her breath. ‘Don’t say “I told you so” or, I swear, I’ll knock your goddam lights out.’

‘I just want to know what’s going on,’ I replied sotto voce. ‘What about Rozalia? Have they . . . ?’

She finally wrenched her eyes around to look at me, and I saw she had been crying. ‘Yeah, they got her and took her away on her own in another jeep.’

‘But who are these guys?’ I whispered. ‘They don’t look like soldiers . . .’

‘They’re not soldiers,’ she whispered back. ‘They’re Patriot agents.’

‘What the hell is a—’

One of the two men in front turned to stare at us. I closed my mouth again, and Nadia gave me a tiny shake of the head: Not now.