‘So when the disease came into the world I looked on helplessly, wishing there was something I could do, some way I could help. Be careful what you wish for, that’s what they say, and they’re right, because the disease worked its evil magic. Doctors were dying, scientists, researchers, nurses … everyone except the very old and the young. Hospitals and laboratories were having to close down because there was nobody well enough to work in them. That’s when I got the call. Me and hundreds like me. Retired scientists, and doctors, and nurses.

‘It wasn’t publicized. Imagine the panic if it got out that the future of the world was in the hands of a bunch of rickety old-age pensioners. But it was the only way they could keep the labs going, keep the hospitals going; they had to bring us out of retirement. They asked for volunteers at first, but when it got completely desperate they made it clear that we had no choice. I was here when they came for me, looking after Dot. I hated to leave her, but there was no way round it.

‘When I went into the laboratory, I was shocked by what I found. It was desperate, simply desperate: sick and dying people trying to carry on working. And it was all no use: several of them went mad and did terrible damage to people and to equipment. It got so that if anyone showed even the slightest signs of illness they were barred from the labs. I tried to keep up – so much had changed since my day, there had been so many advances in technology and knowledge – but even so nobody had the faintest idea where the disease had come from, how it worked and how we might stop it.

‘The basic techniques were unchanged. We took blood samples and tissue samples. We worked with rats and guinea pigs and monkeys, and one by one we died. It was a race against time and we lost. The younger ones among us were the first to go. It was like a sort of ripple effect, working upwards through the ages. Until there were only us old crocks left. There were five of us in the end, all over eighty-five, all women, trying to run the laboratory. We didn’t stand a chance. We knew that even if we somehow did find a cure there were no doctors left, no nurses, no infrastructure. What could we do? We five old crones?’

‘And did you find a cure?’ asked Kyle, leaning forward now, looking hopeful.

‘No, dear. We did not.’

Kyle slumped back in his seat.

‘Did you find out how it worked even?’ he asked.