‘We don’t have time for you to evolve, David,’ he said. ‘You need to be better than this. You need to be a scientist. Follow the evidence. How do you think I’ve done this?’

I looked through the window to see my former self holding my wife’s hand. I watched the moment of her death all over again, and my eyes brimmed with sorrow. The loss was brought back to me, and I lived through that awful anguish twice. I hated the man I’d once considered my best friend, but while I was suffering I could only sense excitement and anticipation from Ben.

I saw myself being led from the room by Dr Jackson. I watched them go through a side door, followed by Ben. On his way out of the room, the Ben who was from the past glanced in our direction and gave an almost imperceptible smile. The gesture sent a shiver down my spine and I looked at my companion in astonishment.

‘What is happening?’ I asked, but he just freed himself from my grasp, pulled the door open, and rushed into the room.

I followed and approached the bed in awe. I had never expected to see Beth again. She looked so fragile, so empty. I felt my grief rising, but with it came anger.

‘Why did you do this?’ I demanded. ‘How could you be so cruel?’

There was no answer. Instead, Ben ducked under the bed. I glanced down to see him disconnecting cables and tubes.

‘What are you doing?’

‘We have to take her,’ he replied.

‘We’re taking her—We took Beth?’ I staggered back in disbelief. ‘We took her?’

I steadied myself against the bed and looked down at Beth. I stroked her face. She was still warm. I tried to make sense of what was going on, but my brain fizzed and buzzed with raw energy and countless questions, a jumble of ideas that led me nowhere.

Ben stood and continued disconnecting lines and tubes.

‘Don’t try to get your head round this, David. Now is not the time,’ he said. ‘It will only slow us down. This is going to be difficult for you to accept, but we can save her.’

I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

‘We can do it, David, but I need your help.’

Voices approached, and we both froze as a couple of medics flashed past the side door. Once they were gone, Ben leaned in and whispered, ‘No one can see what happens here. It would jeopardize everything.’

He finished disconnecting Beth’s tubes.

‘Hold her hand,’ he said.

I looked down at Beth’s fingers. They were skeletal, so different from the colourful soft digits that had clasped my hand countless times over the years. I remember thinking, If there’s a chance I can have you back, I’m willing to do whatever it takes.

What a fool I was.

I slipped my fingers under hers and took hold of her hand.

‘Good,’ Ben said.

He produced one of the spheres from his pocket and crushed the glass, which shattered to tiny slivers. The stars ran down his arm and coursed over him, and then travelled over Beth and me, accelerating as they swept over all of us. They expanded into hexagons and covered us in the geodesic mesh of energy, which flared brightly.