It was the gun Ethan had taken from the security chief, Len. There was another one somewhere, the one from the guard who had been standing outside the lighthouse when they first arrived, but Thea had no idea where Ethan had put that.

‘Sorry,’ Moses said, still pointing the gun at her. ‘I don’t even know if this thing is loaded. I like you. I think. Both of you. But this is my chance. I need to speak to Delores.’

It had to be loaded, Thea thought with dismay. Why would Ethan have bothered having the gun on him if it hadn’t been loaded?

‘You’ll have to uncuff me,’ Moses said. ‘Can’t do it while holding a gun.’

Thea was suddenly hyper-aware of everything. Ethan, on his hands and knees, retching and trying to get to his feet, the scrabble of his boots against the wooden floor as he attempted to stand up. A sound outside, like the crunch of snow on tyres, but it couldn’t have been that. The tiny jangle of the keys in Moses’s hand.

‘Now!’

She moved around Ethan and gingerly took the keys from Moses, that sour smell of rank, unbrushed teeth engulfing her as he breathed on her. But his face, when he pushed it closer to hers, softened surprisingly for a moment.

‘I don’t want to hurt you. I just have to get to the Centre.’

Thea opened up her hand and showed the tablets to Moses.

‘Ah. You found them. Not the cleverest of hiding places but I didn’t have a choice.’

‘How long have you been off the sedatives?’

‘Long enough for them to wear off. Mostly. I’ve done enough sleeping. I’m not dangerous—’

‘You hurt Rosie.’

Moses’s face crumpled. ‘I thought she was a guard, I thought – I don’t know – I was confused, and I just wanted to get free. But I’m not confused anymore. If I can talk to Max, she’ll listen to me. They shouldn’t tamper with the tech – you know what it can do, don’t you?

Thea nodded. Dreams. Control. Then out of control: hallucinations and finally an empty shell of a person. Unless Moses had fixed that? Thea looked into his eyes. They were bloodshot and puffy, but clear. She felt she could see a person in them, not just a scramble of neurons and some medication. He definitely wasn’t an empty shell.

‘See?’ he said, reading her thoughts. ‘I can talk to Max. I know her … or, at least, I knew her. I loved her. She loved me. I can help. I could try to stop all of this—’

‘Destroy it?’

He almost flinched and there was a definite pause before he answered, ‘Maybe.’

Was “maybe” good enough? Thea looked at the handcuff key in her hand. She thought of dreams and madness, of dribbling wrecks and sleepless soldiers. Ethan groaned nearby.