Voices came back over the waters.

‘You know, an outboard motor on this and it’d go like a bird.’

I LIKE IT THE WAY IT IS, MR STICKERS.

‘What’s the pay like?’

SHOCKING.

‘I wouldn’t stand for it, if I was you—’

‘I’m not sure where he’s going,’ said the Alderman, ‘but he’s certainly going to reorganize things when he gets there. Bit of a traditional thinker, our William.’

There was a click and hum from further along the bank. Einstein and Fletcher were sitting proudly in some sort of – well, it looked partly like an electronic circuit diagram, and partly like a machine, and partly like mathematics would look if it was solid. It glowed and fizzled.

‘Good, isn’t it,’ said Mr Fletcher. ‘You’ve heard of a train of thought?’

‘This is a flight of the imagination,’ said Solomon Einstein.

‘We’re going to have a good look at some things.’

‘That’s right. Starting with everything.’

Mr Fletcher thumped the machine happily.

‘Right! The sky’s the limit, Mr Einstein!’

‘Not even that, Mr Fletcher!’

The lines grew bright, drew together, became more like a diagram. And vanished. Just before they vanished, though, they seemed to be accelerating.

And then there were three.

‘Did I see them waving?’ said Mrs Liberty.

‘And particling, I shouldn’t wonder,’ said the Alderman. ‘Come, Sylvia. I feel a more down-to-earth mode of transport would be suitable for us.’

He took her hand. They ignored Johnny and stepped on to the black waters of the canal.

And sank, slowly, leaving a pearly sheen on the water which gradually faded away.

Then there was the sound of a motor starting up.

Out of the water, transparent as a bubble, the spirit of the dead Ford Capri rose gently towards the sky.

The Alderman wound down an invisible window.

‘Mrs Liberty thinks we ought to tell you something,’ he said. ‘But . . . it’s hard to explain, you know.’

‘What is?’ said Johnny.

‘By the way, why are you wearing a pink sheet?’

‘Um—’

‘I expect it’s not important.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well—’ The car turned slowly; Johnny could see the moon through it. ‘You know those games where this ball runs up and bounces around and ends up in a slot at the bottom?’

‘Pinball machines?’

‘Is that what they’re called now?’

‘I think so.’

‘Oh. Right.’ The Alderman nodded. ‘Well . . . when you’re bouncing around from pin to pin, it is probably very difficult to know that outside the game there’s a room and outside the room there’s a town and outside the town there’s a country and outside the country there’s a world and outside the world there’s a billion trillion stars and that’s only the start of it . . . but it’s there, d’you see? Once you know about it, you can stop worrying about the slot at the bottom. And you might bounce around a good deal longer.’

‘I’ll . . . try to remember it.’

‘Good man. Well, we’d better be going . . .’