“His research,” the Nissa woman croaked. Her hands were crunched into fists like cudgels.

“I have some of it, if that’s your bloody priority,” Khan said.

“All right now!” Not-a-policeman stepped forwards, carefully. “Kay, you know me, but for the sake of your companions and your…”—he gave a flinching glance at the translator and its entourage—“companions, I’m Julian Sabreur, MI5. And I am asking everyone to stay calm and cooperate. There is transport on its way that will take everyone to where they can be debriefed, and we’ll take it from there. You’ll appreciate this is something of an unprecedented situation, but—No.” This was directed to the Nissa woman, who had taken a step towards Dr. Khan. “Thank you for helping recover Kay from…wherever, but we’ll take it from here.” Some guns had moved subtly to bring the big woman back into their sights.

Lee knew shifts between worlds could happen without warning, and she kept expecting everyone to vanish off to some Nissa safehouse. Julian “Not-a-policeman” Sabreur could easily be left with an office full of empty air. So either there was no convenient breach to exploit or the Nissa had other plans.

Satisfied that his tenuous authority was holding, Sabreur said, “If you’d all form a line, I’m afraid there are quite a few stairs to the ground floor. And only one lift.”

“No,” the Nissa woman said. “Up.”

He stared at her—everyone did. “Why would we go up?” Sabreur asked.

“They are coming.”

Lee went cold all over and grabbed Mal’s hand again. Sabreur was in the process of demanding what the hell she meant when someone shouted, “Spiker!” A woman burst in, a woman Lee had last seen at the museum, as the Nissa’s prisoner.

“I’m getting intrusions all over,” she reported, eyes wide. “I can feel it…coming through, lots of them.”

“Let me guess, below us?”

“Must be the bottom eight floors at least. Two dozen separate breaches.”

And Lee thought about the rat city they’d seen and how various Earths differed. Maybe their ground level is our eighth floor…unless something’s coming through from the airship.

“Up,” the Nissa woman repeated implacably.

To his credit, Sabreur just nodded. “Get the things moving then,” he said. “Head for the roof.”

“There will be more,” she told him. “Your people should be ready.”