‘You know, like in our guts. That’s not part of us, it’s other living beings. But without it we’d get sick and couldn’t digest things properly. There are lots of parasites in the world that help the creatures they live on.’

‘Here’s the science part,’ said Einstein sarcastically. ‘Bacteria in our guts can’t turn us into living mobile phones.’

‘Not bacteria,’ said Maxie, refusing to be fazed by Einstein. ‘The disease. The disease, that you and everyone else know sod all about.’

‘Are you saying the disease might be some sort of parasite?’ said Einstein.

‘It could be, couldn’t it?’ said Blue. ‘It came out of the jungle with them Stone Age tribesmen, the Inmathger. You saw the show. They passed it on to the people who were studying them, the Promithios scientists, who brought it back here, only they didn’t realize because it was a new disease they’d never come across before. Nobody knew they had it for ages. So what if it was some new sort of parasite, and it’s the parasites that are talking to each other, you know, the way some insects can communicate with each other?’

‘If it was a parasite it would have shown up,’ said Einstein. ‘We’d have seen it under the microscopes.’

Blue looked at the bench where Einstein had been working. He recognized the transparent plastic box that Einstein had used to pick up some of the grey stuff that had come out of Seamus when Ollie killed him. The stuff had stopped moving and looked just like grey sludge.

‘You could be wrong,’ said Blue. ‘You’re not the real Einstein after all, are you? Face it. You’re just a kid, mate.’

‘It’s not possible,’ Einstein protested. ‘It can’t be. I mean, it’s a great story. You should sell it to Hollywood. Oh no, I forgot, Hollywood doesn’t exist any more. That is not how the world works.’

‘Well, the world has changed, geek-boy; it has jumped up and bitten us in the arse. You said it yourself, Hollywood don’t exist no more. Who saw that one coming? Before all this, would you have said that every adult in the world was gonna get wiped out? No. Except the ones that fancied theirselves as cannibal zombies? No. Nothing’s real until it happens. And this has happened and we’ve got to get on it. We’ve got to solve the problems it’s given us before it’s too late. So maybe you need to keep a more open mind.’

Before Einstein could respond to Blue they were interrupted by the arrival of Maeve, who had Ella and Monkey-Boy with her.

‘Whassup?’ said Blue. ‘Everything all right?’

‘Yeah.’ Maeve sat at the workbench and the little kids climbed up on to stools on either side of her. ‘Can I talk to you about something?’

‘Sure. What?’

‘Maxie knows about this.’