Eusebio said, ‘So the Peerless itself is still out in the void, and the other travellers just let you come down here alone?’

‘There was a lottery for the privilege,’ Clara replied. ‘I walked empty-handed into Zeugma because that seemed like the right spirit in which to come: no showy artefacts, certainly no weapons. I thought I’d end up engaged in some spirited debates at the university for a couple of days, outraging the physicists with my claims about luxagen waves until astronomical events finally proved my credentials.’

‘Arrest for trespass wasn’t part of your plan.’

Clara said, ‘I hold no grudges against anyone for my own mistakes. But I would be lying to you if I didn’t admit to some disillusionment. If you have no thanks for me, I can promise you that you owe them to my forebears. When I tell you their history, you’ll understand your debt.’

Eusebio began shivering. Before Valeria’s eyes, his composure disintegrated.

‘Forgive me,’ he pleaded. ‘Let me deal with your chains, then we’ll find a place for you to rest. If you’ll accept my hospitality—’

Valeria was confused. ‘Why do you believe her now?’

Clara turned to Valeria. ‘You still need to see the rocket?’

‘I’m afraid so.’ The woman had managed to prick Eusebio’s conscience, but his guilt over the travellers’ ordeal had no bearing at all on her story’s credibility.

‘Then let’s go for a ride.’

Silvio drove the three of them out into the desert. Gemma was setting, but four long Hurtlers lit the sky.

‘Why would anyone want to put the sun out?’ Valeria demanded.

‘We’re planning to turn half the surface into an engine.’ Eusebio had had Clara’s hands separated; she gestured as if she were cupping a globe. ‘Moving the sun is the safest way to move the world. There’ll still be some seismic activity as it tugs you along, but not as much as if we put the engines here on the ground.’

‘Tugs us along?’

‘You have heard of gravity?’ Clara joked. ‘And we’ll be bringing Gemma as well, for light. It will end up closer when the new orbits settle, so it will do a better job than it does now.’

‘But where would we be going?’ Valeria was furious that she had to conduct the whole interrogation herself. Eusebio was huddled beside them in silence, apparently too ashamed to speak. He’d wanted to get Clara ensconced in the largest guest room of his father’s mansion immediately, but she’d insisted on making the trip first.

‘This planet needs to match velocities with the Hurtlers,’ Clara explained.

‘Which would just turn everything else around us into Hurtlers!’ Valeria protested. ‘You didn’t research this fraud well enough. The Peerless went into a dust-free corridor, but it doesn’t stretch on for ever. If we followed the mountain’s route, what would we do at the end?’