They waited in awkward silence for another fifty minutes, then Dokal jumped. “Bloody hell. The core portal is activating. He did it!” She hurriedly opened both of the van’s rear doors. Yuri watched the half-meter portal in the middle of the threader turn a midnight black, then its surface twisted inward, falling away to leave a gap. Air started to gush through. “Threading now,” she told him.

The rectangular solid-state slab in the first section of the threader split neatly along its narrow length, producing a set of entangled portals. Actuators separated the twinned segments and pushed one through the core portal Callum had opened. A different set of actuators flipped its remaining twin vertical. The airflow through it increased noticeably, making the marquee sides flap about excitedly.

“Help me,” Dokal said, and jumped out of the van.

Yuri joined her as the threader’s largest portal, a meter-wide circle, divided. One went through to Zagreus. Yuri helped Dokal as the threader turned its twin vertical. Air charged through the opening so fast Yuri had to brace himself to avoid being pulled in. He caught a glimpse of dull, rocky ground surrounded by a weird curving wall of torches. There was a lot of elated cheering going on.

A surprisingly strong impulse gripped him. If I slip through, I’ll be standing on an exoplanet. It’s centimeters away, that’s all. An alien star! It was difficult to resist. Then the chance vanished.

Callum was crawling through on all fours. He flinched badly when he saw Yuri, and glanced at Dokal, who shrugged.

“Get on with it,” Yuri said impassively.

Callum turned around and started pulling at something heavy on the other side. Yuri’s jaw tightened as he saw the state Savi was in.

“Contact the emergency services,” Yuri told Boris as his lost agent was manhandled through the portal. “I need a paramedic team here immediately.”

Moshi followed Savi, then Raina, who gave Yuri a savage scowl when she saw him standing above her.

“Call Kohei,” Yuri told Boris.

Henry came through the circular portal. Then it was Alana blocking the blaze of torchlight. Colin made up the rear.

Yuri squatted down and looked through at Zagreus. Akkar was on his hands and knees, centimeters from the portal.

“Kohei, kill the power,” Yuri ordered. “Now.”

Akkar screamed in fury, flinging himself forward, his hand reaching toward Earth.

The spatial entanglement between Earth and Zagreus ended. Akkar’s fist landed on the paddock tarmac, splattering blood as it rolled to a halt.

“You bastard!” Raina shouted, staring at the severed hand in revulsion.

“Why?” Yuri asked levelly. “Did you want two thousand terrorists living here again, and madder than ever before? Maybe some of them could move into the flat next to yours; I read in your file it’s available to rent. This you would welcome?”

“I promised them,” Callum said, aghast. “I gave them my word they could come back.”

“I didn’t,” Yuri said.