Cazaray pushed a hand through the disorder of his blond locks. ‘There was never going to be an easy way to bring it up. You’ve probably heard that the last recruit didn’t quite work out.’

‘This is . . . what was her name?’ Adrana asked.

‘Garval.’ Cazaray came alongside us, speaking of the woman on the bed as if she were somewhere else entirely, not listening in and understanding every word. ‘She came from Prevomar – it’s a spindleworld, not a bad one, in the eighth processional. The other side of the Old Sun from us right now, but after we’ve cracked a bauble or two, stopped at Trevenza Reach . . .’

‘You’ll take her home? In that state?’ Adrana asked.

Cazaray looked diffident. ‘Given time, she may heal.’

‘May?’ I said.

‘She was never right for us, Arafura. She was caught up in something . . . some bad business with her family over a marriage. She wanted to leave Prevomar so badly that she bribed someone to make it seem she was a better talent than she was. I thought she was strong enough to take full engagement at the very first attempt . . .’ He shook his head, and if ever I was certain of anything it was that his remorse was genuine. ‘She lied to us,’ he carried on. ‘But I don’t hold that against her. We’ve all bent the truth once or twice, and she had every reason to leave Prevomar.’

‘I didn’t lie,’ Garval said. But the words came out more weakly than before, as if she had nearly used up whatever energies she’d pent up for conversation. ‘Didn’t lie.’ Some wave of exhaustion passed through her and I sensed a sort of easing, the first since we’d set eyes on her.

‘Whether she lied or not,’ Adrana said, ‘what guarantee do we have that we won’t end up the same as her?’

‘None,’ Cazaray said. ‘And that’s the sharp end of it. We’re speaking of an alien technology none of us properly understand. Just because we use it doesn’t mean we know it.’

Cazaray went to a fixture in the wall. He dampened a cloth, and dabbed it over the woman’s brow and cheeks.

He turned to us. ‘She has bad hours and good hours. If she seemed lucid then you caught her at a good time. The exposure she received was relatively short, so I’m optimistic – hopeful, at least – that her neural wiring will eventually find other pathways.’

‘Good luck to whoever was going to marry her,’ Adrana said.

‘I doubt that marriage will be uppermost in anyone’s thoughts,’ Cazaray answered, returning the cloth to the wall, and then leaving the room.

Adrana was rattled, I knew. So was I, a bit. But I wanted to make Cazaray think I was feeling bold and fearless and ready for what was ahead.

‘I’d like to see the bones.’