Torrence, who was a lot less of a churchgoer than Stanley, found that he’d lived in the past and would live in the future. He saw the view from the longhall in Dublin and felt the bones of a roe deer between his teeth as the sun rose over Ethiopian plains. He saw Torrence continued, his name and his cell memory, across generations. He saw that he would have children and that they would prosper. And here he was, as yet unmarried.

He fell from the barrier, his mind blinking off like a speck of static, dead.

Wrightson flashed upwards through the atmosphere, yelling as he encompassed the globe of the Earth inside his body.

Suddenly he stopped. Great stellar teeth flashed at him. ‘Is it time?’ enquired a surprisingly soft voice from a bright star that flashed past. He was left stumbling in its trail.

‘I don’t know. Is it?’

Whatever was associated with the object turned, and Wrightson caught a look of agonised imprisonment from it… from her. And then she was gone.

Earth returned like a knot in his stomach. He took his palms off the barrier, and looked down to see Torrence lying there. He would have done something, but Stanley was running towards the barrier again. This time he wasn’t alone.

A young man was holding his hand.

The soldier and the boy ran right through the barrier. Stanley collapsed into Wrightson’s arms.

Timothy looked around at the soldiers. ‘More of you? Well, don’t do anything rash.’

‘Now, wait a moment,’ Wrightson began, ‘what…’

‘Actually,’ Tim interrupted him, ‘don’t do anything at all. Especially to this wall, whatever it is.’ With a grin of accomplishment, he turned on his heel and ran back through it.

The soldiers watched him go. Wrightson got a stretcher party together for the unfortunate Torrence.

‘Sir,’ said Stanley, grabbing his superior by the forearms, ‘did you see it? Is it the Lord, sir?’

‘If it is,’ Wrightson spoke loudly, so his men could hear, ‘then he’s got the Artillery here to guard him. We’ll form a perimeter round this thing, one man every hundred yards. Keep an eye on your neighbour, don’t touch the wall. Meanwhile, I’ll try to get a wire through to HQ.’ He lowered his voice again and disengaged from Stanley’s grip, patting the man gently on the shoulder.

They shared a long release of breath. ‘In short,’ muttered the major, ‘holy flaming cow.’

Benny and Alexander ran through the forest, carrying the big metal sheets on their backs.

‘How far is it to this blacksmith of yours?’ Benny panted.

‘It’s over the hill.’

‘So am I. This is the sort of thing they tried to make me do when I was in military training.’

‘You were going to be a soldier? Do they let ladies do that in the future?’