‘Just wait one second,’ said Mitchell. ‘How can we be sure that Saul is on our side?’

Olivia stared at him incredulously. ‘Oh, come on. You know him as well as we do.’

‘It’s been a long time since I last saw him,’ Mitchell replied tightly. ‘You’d be amazed how much people can change.’

She shook her head. ‘Sure, but not that much. It took me a lot of effort to even get him to listen to me. When he said he’d help, he was being sincere. I’ve always been a good judge of character. You must know that.’

Jeff snorted in derision, and Olivia glared at him.

‘So he offered to help,’ said Mitchell, ‘but what exactly did he do?’

‘He went up to Montana to find Jeff, but he missed him by a couple of days. When he took a look around, he found the files Jeff told me he’d brought back from Tau Ceti. He didn’t know how to break the encryption on them, so I told him he should talk to a man called Farad Maalouf.’

Mitchell nodded. ‘I know Farad.’

‘He went to Newton to look for Farad, but that was the last I heard from him. I’ve tried to get in touch, but no luck. I don’t know if that means he’s gone the same way as Dan Rush and the others, or not.’

Mitchell drummed his fingers on the table top. Olivia guessed they were both thinking the same thing. She tried to pretend to herself that she wasn’t responsible for what might have happened to Saul, but the sense of guilt insinuated itself even more tightly around her, regardless.

She decided to change the subject, more to avoid thinking about Saul than anything else. ‘I have a question for you: how do you know the ASI won’t target your ship before it can land? A rocket landing on the Moon won’t exactly be inconspicuous.’

‘Lester and Amy Rose have been running sub-orbital fights for nearly half a century,’ replied Mitchell. ‘And lunar flights for nearly as long. There’s no reason for them to be targeted. And, since Jeff used to work for them and still knows them both well, he’s been able to swing us a berth.’

‘People get hurt,’ remarked Olivia. ‘There’ve been accidents.’

Mitchell shook his head and laughed. ‘Like we’d be safer staying here?’

She felt her face redden.

‘Look,’ said Mitchell, pushing his plate aside and leaning towards her, ‘the VASIMRs are a proven safe technology. Even the Apollo Saturn replicas they fly are a hundred times safer than e originals. It’s not just that this is our best chance of getting away – it’s our only chance.’

‘And what about the people here? What about the billions we’re leaving behind?’

Mitchell shook his head. ‘There’s nothing you can do for them.’