Thorn put his hands on his hips and looked to one side for a moment before replying. ‘He had a hundred and sixty-three years. He knew the risks . . . I only ask that you let us stay with this to the end. I want to meet whoever or whatever left that creature here.’

Cormac thought about that. Had it been left here? Or had it been here for its own purposes? Was there really a connection between this place and the runcible incident? There were still too few facts to go on.

Aiden turned then, removing the M-tester from the object’s surface.

‘There’s a hole here,’ said Carn from the other side. They moved round to join him.

In the gleaming surface was a hole about twenty centimetres across. It looked as if something had melted right through from the inside. Cormac noted that the material was eggshell-thin. Carn shone a light inside.

‘Nothing there,’ he said, and then he took the M-tester from Aiden. ‘Ah, we have a reading . . .’ He fell silent and stared at the device for a long while.

‘What’s the problem?’ asked Cormac.

‘This can’t be right,’ said Carn.

‘What can’t?’ said Thorn with a touch of irritation.

‘The reading we . . . It’s adamantium . . .’

‘And?’ Cormac prompted.

Carn looked up. ‘We can crystallize adamantium. It’s sometimes used for machine tools when field and beam technology can’t be used . . . As far as I know, it is theoretically impossible to shape it . . .’

More questions . . . Who made this thing? What had been inside it? Where had its guardian come from? All Cormac knew was that this was alien. Dragon? Perhaps he would know soon.

‘OK, is there much more you can find out now?’

‘Need more equipment, really.’

Cormac turned to Thorn. ‘Collect some pieces of that creature. We’ll take them back for Mika to analyse.’ He turned back to Carn as Thorn stepped away, unhooking a bag from his belt. ‘I’ll want you to put a team together and come straight back here.’

‘Chaline won’t like that. Her technicians are stretched pretty thin as it is.’

‘She’ll have to like it. That runcible is not coming down until one or two things are resolved.’

A dragon is coming . . .

Cormac looked at what had once been Gant. ‘He can be collected later, if necessary. Let’s get out of here.’

Thorn looked once more at his friend’s remains, nodded briefly and turned away. There was no risk of infection. It was likely Gant had already found his tomb.