He was shown into a large room. It was mainly white. Expensive bookshelves lined one wall. Most of the floor was bare pine, but varnished and polished to show that they could have afforded carpets if they’d wanted them. There was a harp standing by a chair in one corner, and music scattered around it on the floor.

Johnny picked up a sheet. It was headed ‘Royal College, Grade V’.

‘Well?’

She was standing behind him. The sheet slipped out of his fingers.

‘And don’t say “um”,’ she said, sitting down. ‘You say “um” a lot. Aren’t you ever sure about things?’

‘U— No. Hello?’

‘Sit down. My mother’s making us some tea. And then staying out of the way. You’ll probably notice that. You can actually hear her staying out of the way. She thinks I ought to have more friends.’

She had red hair, and the skinny look that went with it. It was as if someone had grabbed the frizzy ponytail on the back of her head and pulled it tightly.

‘The game,’ said Johnny vaguely.

‘Yes? What?’

‘I’m really glad you’re in it too. Yo-less said it was all in my head because of Trying Times. He said it was just me projecting my problems.’

‘I haven’t got any problems,’ snapped Kirsty. ‘I get on extremely well with people, actually. There’s probably some simple psychic reason that you’re too stupid to work out.’

‘You sounded more concerned on the phone,’ said Johnny.

‘But now I’ve had time to think about it. Anyway, what’s it to me what happens to some dots in a machine?’

‘Didn’t you see the Space Invaders?’ said Johnny.

‘Yes, but they were stupid. That’s what happens. Charles Darwin knew about that. I am a winning kind of person. And what I want to know is, what were you doing in my dream?’

‘I’m not sure it’s a dream,’ said Johnny. ‘I’m not sure what it is. Not exactly a dream and not exactly real. Something in between. I don’t know. Maybe something happens in your head. Maybe you’re in there because – because, well, I don’t know why, but there’s got to be a reason,’ he ended lamely.

‘Why’re you there, then?’

‘I want to save the ScreeWee.’

‘Why?’

‘Because . . . I’ve got a responsibility. But the Captain’s been . . . I don’t know, locked up or something. There’s been some kind of mutiny. It’s the Gunnery Officer. He’s behind it. But if I – if we could get her out, she could probably turn the fleet around again. I thought you might be able to think of some way of getting her out,’ Johnny finished lamely. ‘We haven’t got a lot of game time.’

‘She?’ said Kirsty.

‘She started all this. She relied on me,’ said Johnny.

‘You said “she”,’ said Kirsty.

Johnny stood up.

‘I thought you might be able to help,’ he said wearily, ‘but who cares what happens to some dots that aren’t even real. So I’ll just—’