Wu turned away without answering. ‘Finding the fortress is a matter of the highest national security,’ his daughter replied instead. ‘You will get him to tell us where it is.’

‘And then Eddie, Macy and I can leave, right?’ Now it was the younger Wu’s turn not to answer. ‘Y’know, I’m not exactly overflowing with trust for you guys right now.’

Macy emerged from the conference room. ‘Mom, what’s going on?’

‘We’re just . . . debating what to do next, honey,’ said Nina, putting a protective arm around her shoulders.

‘I would let you go home,’ Hui assured her. ‘But getting Gadreel to tell us the location of the fortress will be the best way to persuade the colonel, I am afraid.’

Nina reluctantly made a decision. ‘Colonel Wu!’ The commander turned. ‘I’ll do it. I’ll ask Gadreel where to find the fortress.’

For the first time since their meeting, he smiled, though the expression did not suit him. ‘Good. Do it.’ He gestured towards her seat at the window.

‘He’ll be more cooperative if it’s just me and him again,’ she said.

‘Professor Wilde,’ said Hui, collecting a headset like Zan’s. ‘If you wear this, we will be able to hear you more clearly – and we will also be able to speak to you.’

Nina donned it. ‘Just don’t have everyone gabbling in my ear at once, okay?’

Hui smiled, then told the others to return to the conference room. ‘Come on, love,’ Eddie said to Macy. ‘We need to let your mum work.’

‘Mom,’ mother and daughter corrected as one.

He grinned. ‘We’re in China, talking to a five-hundred-year-old man who looks like a space alien . . . and my family still find time to take the piss out of me.’

‘You’d miss it if we didn’t,’ Nina replied.

‘Yeah. I would.’ A moment of utter seriousness behind his grey eyes. ‘Let’s make sure we can keep doing it, eh?’

‘Yeah,’ she replied in kind, before turning to Macy. ‘Go with your dad, okay?’

Macy gave her an unexpected but welcome hug. ‘I’ll watch you on the big screen.’

‘Thanks, honey. Hope I give a good performance.’ She went to Zan’s station, finding him already speaking quietly to Gadreel. ‘What’s he saying?’

‘He was . . . asking if we had agreed to help him,’ came the hesitant reply.

‘What did you tell him?’

‘Nothing! I thought I’d leave that to you.’

Nina got the feeling that the conversation had been more involved, but Hui’s voice in her ear pushed further questions aside. ‘Professor Wilde? We are ready.’

‘Okay,’ she replied, taking her seat. Gadreel still rested on the sarcophagus; he had leaned forward while talking to Zan, but now sat up straight and imperious. ‘Gadreel, I’ve spoken to the other people here, and they’ve agreed to help you revive your people – if you tell us how to find them.’