Delores gave Rosie one last look and then she moved to the door. All the tins and jars of Thea’s mind had now rolled loose from their shopping bag and she was just left with the floppy plastic, so thin you could poke a finger through it. Through her. Her shoulders sagged.

At the doorway, Delores turned to Thea. ‘Naturally, due to the unusual circumstances today, we will not expect your answer until tomorrow. Take the time to, shall we say, sleep on it.’

For a few seconds, Thea was confused. Answer? Then she remembered: the sleep study. The Sleepless Elite. Of course, that was why Delores had come! To check on her. To check she still had her little guinea pig.

Not for Rosie.

Thea stood straighter, each beep of the machine behind her matched by the pulse throbbing in her temples. When she spoke, it was light and pleasant – but there was steel glinting under her words.

‘Oh, I’ve already made up my mind, Delores,’ she said. ‘Thanks for the offer, but, once the boat starts operating again, I’ll be leaving.’

Delores’s face set, a stone expression with flinty eyes.

‘With Rosie.’

Chapter 20

Nearly one week had passed since Thea had told Delores that she had decided to leave.

She had decidedly not left.

Snow had fallen. Waves had risen. Boats and search parties had been rescheduled. The machine kept beeping at Rosie’s side, October turned to November and Phase Two had started without her.

It had been a week of sitting next to Rosie, the hours melting away in a sludge of time that lost meaning, so much so that she had to be dragged away for meals and only left willingly to try and phone her mother. Frustratingly, the telephone rooms were nearly always fully booked whenever she tried to use them and then there was a problem with the line so that, once the number was dialled, all Thea got was static. Due to the bad weather, so she was told.

‘I have something of a treat for you.’ Delores spoke to the crowd below her on the walkway at breakfast. ‘A rather rare and special treat. There is someone here that I thought you would all like to meet.’

A murmuring rippled through the people gathered together in the morning light of the cafeteria. Harriet had marched Thea to breakfast, promising, yet again, that the telephone line was due to be fixed.

Delores continued, ‘This is someone you may want to give a huge round of applause to, for creating the tech that has gone into helping you feel the way you do this morning—’

At this, Harriet gasped. ‘No! It can’t be! No one’s seen him for decades—’

‘May I introduce …’ – here Delores stretched out her arm, beckoning someone – ‘Moses Ing!’