“Sorry, yes.” Franny giggled. “I used to know a Maxine at school, it’s sort of stuck in my head, she was really into horses, she’s probably dead now, poor girl, but what was I saying? Oh yes. The world. Think about it. The oceans are no longer being polluted, the fish aren’t being wiped out, they’re breeding now, multiplying like mad, in a couple of years there’ll be more fish in the seas than there have been for centuries, and it’s not just fish, there’s whales, dolphins, turtles, wild animals everywhere. Think of the forests growing, the trees no longer being cut down. The world is going back to how it should be.”

“But I’ll never see any of those fish,” said Maxie. “Or those whales. Or any lions or tigers. I’m never going to set foot in a rain forest now, am I? I won’t even be able to watch any old DVDs of them without electricity. What does the future hold? It’s like going back to the Middle Ages. Nobody knowing what was going on beyond their front doorsteps. All I’ll ever know is this. This little bit of London.”

“So?” said Franny. “As long as you are happy. And if the world is happy, we can be happy. The world will heal itself, the damage that man did will be repaired, future generations will maybe look after it better.”

“Future generations?”

“Of course.”

Ollie leaned over. “How do you know when we get old we won’t all get the sickness?”

Franny made a face and shrugged. “David will think of something,” she said.

“You reckon?”

“Let’s not talk about gloomy things like that,” said Franny. “Not tonight.”

“Whatever.”

Ollie looked around the room. He noticed that not every palace kid was eating with them. Some of the boys in uniform were sitting by the doors, still clutching their rifles. He didn’t like the atmosphere it created. As if David and his friends were trying to recreate the days of royalty. The enemy was outside roaming the streets, not in here. What were they trying to prove with this display?

He could understand it if they were patroling the grounds—which he had no doubt they were, given the level of David’s organization—it just about made sense to have sentries on duty out front, though even that had looked a bit much to him. They would have been a lot more useful watching from the roof. Whatever. They certainly didn’t need these poor sad sacks in uniform watching them eat.

There was something military about the boys’ behavior. They didn’t speak. They stayed very still. It was creepy.

Ollie got up from the table and slipped out of the room. Kids had been coming and going all the time. Some using the toilet, some bringing in food or clearing away dirty dishes. Nobody noticed him leave.