The nurse touched part of the forest and a small patch of wall returned to its normal state. A plastic panel opened to reveal a robotic arm and a tiny reactor. It looked like an advanced version of peptide synthesizers I’d come across in the genetics lab at Keele. The robot’s tiny octopus-like metallic tendrils could be seen through a reinforced window in the small machine as it finished creating a dose of Kryopeptide. A green light flashed and a hatch opened at the top of the reactor.

‘It’s matched to her genotype,’ the nurse said as he extracted a vial from the device.

‘Good. Let’s administer,’ the doctor said.

The nurse attached a needle-less syringe to the vial and returned to Beth. He pressed the device against her neck and pushed a button, and the liquid in the vial permeated her body.

I edged closer and watched in amazement as her eyelids started to flutter. Was she regaining consciousness?

The hologram showed the Kryopeptide spreading through her body.

‘She’ll be in remission within an hour,’ the doctor said. ‘It will take a couple of days for the damage to be repaired at a genetic level, but after that she’ll be completely cured.’

Colour started returning to Beth’s face. I staggered and the nurse caught me.

‘I’m sorry,’ I sobbed. Never had I dreamed such a thing would be possible.

I wondered if I was hallucinating, if this was all a delusion brought on by grief. I turned to Ben for reassurance and confirmation.

But he was gone.

Chapter 57

I stepped into the lobby and caught sight of him crossing the glass bridge to the other building. What was he doing? He had to see what he had made possible. He had to be there when Beth woke so he could experience the joy of the life he’d saved.

‘Ben,’ I called out.

He glanced back, his face expressionless, as though he’d been hailed by a stranger. The aperture on this side of the bridge closed, obscuring him.

I ran across the lobby and the lens opened as I approached. There was no sign of Ben, so I hurried across the bridge, through the aperture at the other end, and into the corridor beyond. He was nowhere to be seen, so I jogged on and finally, when I reached the isolation room where we’d arrived, I saw him through a window in the air-sealed door. He had his back to me.

I ran over and touched a small panel on the wall beside the door. I pressed the open button, but a red light flashed, informing me it was locked. I banged on the window.

‘Ben?’ I said. ‘Open the door.’

There was no response.

‘Ben? What are you doing?’

I wasn’t even sure he could hear me through the thick door, so I hit the glass again, and this time he turned around. His eyes shimmered like the endless sea. They were full of rich, heavy tears. I saw the last of the three spheres in his hands. He was studying it intently.