‘Me?’ said Nina. ‘What, you think I know a way to extend your life?’ She tried to cover her unease. In her adventures, she had indeed discovered not one but two separate means of prolonging the human lifespan: one was a rare yeast found in the Pyramid of Osiris deep beneath the Egyptian desert, and the other the Fountain of Youth, hidden behind a trail of clues left by Alexander the Great.

Eleanor, however, had something else in mind. ‘No, no,’ she said. ‘But I believe you can help me suspend it.’

‘What do you mean?’

The old woman turned the wheelchair to gaze through the windows. ‘I realised that prolonging life is worthless if you’re going to end up living through hell. So I began an alternate line of research: suspended animation.’

‘Like cryogenics?’ Nina asked, surprised. ‘Freezing people?’

‘That was one avenue, yes. There have been numerous recorded cases where people were revived from a state of effective death at low temperatures. But the problem is that no repeatable techniques have been found. The risk of cell damage during freezing is too high. I also tried chemical stasis using anaerobic gases, but again, the process is unreliable – at least in any form we’ve yet developed. It is basically filling every cell in the body with poison, after all.’

Nina’s unease returned as she remembered the toxic yellow gas that had escaped from the sarcophagus in the frozen fortress. Was that what Eleanor was after? ‘But you think you’ve found a new approach, right?’

‘I have.’ The wheelchair turned to face her again. ‘Several years ago, I was approached by a Chinaman who knew about my interests in suspended animation. He offered me a deal: if I helped him get out of China with a new identity – and a large sum of money, naturally – he would provide me with technical details of China’s research in that area.’

‘And he gave them to you?’

‘He did.’

‘But I’m guessing the information wasn’t any use, since you still need me.’

‘On the contrary, it was very useful. So useful that I haven’t gotten him out of China yet.’ A mean little smile. ‘He’s far too valuable where he is.’

‘I’m sure he’s delighted.’

‘There’s nothing he can do about it. If he raises a stink, he’ll be arrested – and boy, is China hard on traitors! But I keep my promises. I’ll get him out . . . once I’ve got everything I need from him.’

‘So if he’s supplying you with the technology to put yourself in suspended animation,’ said Nina, ‘why do you need me?’

‘Because the Chinese are in the same boat: they can’t make it work.’ Eleanor’s expression became almost conspiratorial. ‘They didn’t build the technology. They found it. Those coffins you discovered in the iceberg? The Chinese found some too. They’ve had them for nearly fifty years.’