Ben watches them. The sudden seriousness of it all slamming home at the sight of the weapons. Real guns with real bullets. Safa attaches the holster to her belt, puts a magazine into the pistol and slides it in as Harry pockets a load of the bullets before slinging the rifle across his back.

‘You not loading it?’ Safa asks him.

‘In here?’ Harry asks. ‘I’ll load it outside.’

‘Ben,’ Safa says, holding out the binoculars. ‘You get these.’

He takes the black binoculars without comment but feeling incredibly inadequate. Malcolm and Konrad watch from a short distance, both silent and obviously nervous of Safa. Malcolm shifts position and clears his throat, getting ready to tell them they shouldn’t really shoot dinosaurs because the bullet could be found later. He doesn’t say that though. Instead, he opens his mouth but stays quiet.

‘Ready,’ Safa says, looking at them both.

The two workmen lead them from the main room through the corridors to the back door and the stainless steel panels that form the porch effect.

‘That it?’ Safa asks, as blunt as ever. ‘Looks like a metal detector.’

Malcolm nods as Konrad presses a switch on the right side panel. Lights come on. Small blue LEDs on all three panels.

‘They use them in labs,’ Konrad explains. ‘Like computer labs and places that need to be sterile.’

‘This isn’t sterile,’ Ben says quickly.

‘Works though,’ Konrad says, pressing another switch. A low hum sounds from the panels with the noise of air hissing. Like a much quieter version of the hand dryers in public bathrooms. Ben goes forward, holding his hand towards the door and feeling air being blown from the three panels.

‘That’s it?’ he asks with a frown.

‘That’s it,’ Konrad says. ‘Go through it on the way out and same when you come back in.’

‘You know what happened when Columbus landed in America, right?’ Ben asks. ‘They killed millions with diseases. What if we do that here? What if it’s us that ends up wiping out the dinosaurs with a bloody head cold virus?’

‘We’ve been outside,’ Malcolm says. ‘Loads of times. We had to when we built the bunker . . . the meds we took and that thing stops anything on us hurting anything out there.’

‘Fuck me,’ Ben says, shaking his head. ‘That is the least scientific thing I have ever heard. Have we got those meds in us?’ Malcolm nods. Konrad looks down at his feet, actively avoiding looking anywhere near Safa. ‘Do we have to take more meds or is it just once?’

‘Um . . . just that one time,’ Malcolm mumbles.