It was approaching 9.40 a.m. I had less than an hour to reach the train if Frejah Harsent had changed her mind about driving me, or did not turn up. With my outer clothes packed away, and only the vaguest idea of where the train station could be found, I felt the first stirring of traveller stress. I knew there was a taxi rank outside the hotel, but when I went to the main doors and peered through the thick glass I could see no cabs waiting.

Then Frejah Harsent appeared from the direction of the elevator block, and strode towards me. The stress instantly fled.

‘Good morning, Todd! I am ready to leave as soon as you are. I assume you have checked out. We have a long way to drive, so the sooner we start the better.’

We shook hands in a formal way. In the daylight flooding into the lobby she looked a taller, more formidable woman. She had an erect bearing, and a manner that implied she was used to making decisions others would concur with. The relaxed drinking companion of the evening before was recognizable beneath this unexpectedly daunting image, but only just.

I gathered up my luggage, showing I was ready to leave immediately.

She led me to the elevators and selected the sub-basement level. The elevator doors opened on to a wide, sporadically lit parking area, with a concrete floor, concrete pillars, low concrete ceiling. Direction signs were everywhere, with arrows and stop signs painted on the walls and floor. The lot was about three-quarters full, most of the vehicles being of the large, off-road utility type. The cars shone under the overhead lights. A warm breeze fanned across the rows of vehicles and along the wide access tracks between the bays. I was certain I could sense a hint of blossom or spring flowers, wafting around in the artificially heated air.

She led me zigzagging between parked cars, aiming her remote electronic key ahead of her. One of the cars ahead beeped a loud signal response, its lights came on and the doors opened. This was to me an astonishing sight: the driver and passenger doors lifted upwards on hydraulic servos, folding into gull-wing shapes above the roof of the car. The trunk lid contrived to open fully, remain vertical and slide down half its length into a recess.

The car was a low-slung two-seat roadster, built for speed, painted a shining black, with steel-wire wheels, redwall tyres, aerodynamically perfect bodywork, deeply canted windshield, darkened side windows, a rear screen guarded by a narrowly slatted blind, a complete absence of chromium-plate trim. The roof of the car was not large, but it was studded with antennae: two short ones, three more presently retracted. They were positioned exactly to allow the doors to move into position when opened.