At first, the sudden shift from late evening to warm sunshine had sent my senses reeling, but I recovered quickly. From the position of the sun, I could see that it was morning. I knew by now that just because it happened to be evening in one alternate, it didn’t mean it would be the same time in any other. And until I had a better idea of exactly where in the world we were, I had to also consider the strong likelihood that we were in an entirely different time zone from the one that Easter Island occupied.

So far, so post-apocalyptic. But what really caught my eye was a jarringly alien-looking structure that rose up higher than the skyscrapers next to which it stood. The thing was vast. It looked like a patchwork egg, its outer surface a mottled canvas of grey, silver and brown. There was something tumbledown and rough-edged about it, as if it had been assembled from random found materials. Even from this distance, I could see what appeared to be enormous angled struts enmeshing and supporting the structure’s lower half.

I looked around until I saw a second, apparently identical, structure, rising above the treetops in the other direction, and separated from the first by a distance of maybe ten or fifteen kilometres.

Oskar carefully guided the SUV out between two of the field-pillars, then parked next to a full-sized EV and a second SUV. A standard-issue jeep stood nearby, along with a charging station used for powering and storing aerial surveillance drones. I also saw a tent crammed with crated supplies next to the charging station.

We got out and went to join Casey, Nadia and Winifred, who were studying a map spread out on a fold-down table. A couple of Major Howes’ troops from the Easter Island compound stood gathered in a knot by the jeep, smoking and chatting. Casey wore the same floppy leather cowboy hat, and the same gun holster strapped to his thigh, as when I had first met him a week before.

‘What are those things?’ I asked, pointing to the nearest of the skyscraper-sized eggs as we joined the others.

‘Those are Hives,’ said Casey. ‘Now, apart from Jerry,’ he continued, looking around, ‘most of you have already made multiple exploratory trips on this alternate. This time out, however, we’re solely concerned with data retrieval before the bee-brains have a chance to demolish our target locations.’

‘Just out of curiosity,’ said Oskar, ‘do we have any more idea yet whether the bee-brains are even aware of us?’

‘Can’t tell you,’ Casey replied, and rapped the map with the knuckles of one hand. ‘But remember, they’re hostile with sufficient provocation.’

‘Somebody,’ I said, ‘is going to have to tell me why we’re here, and what the hell a bee-brain is.’

Casey’s eyes narrowed. ‘They briefed you, right?’