‘I don’t think you are dry as dust,’ Cassy said and there was a ring of sincerity in her voice that made me believe that she genuinely liked and respected the gruff older woman. But there was something else in her tone when, after a slight hesitation, she said, ‘Besides, the more time I spend with you, the more I realise that there is poetry in science too. I mean, your Eden Project …’ She stopped and then went on diffidently, ‘I was hoping I could persuade you to let me see some of the animals.’

The older woman shook her head. ‘Even if the cams were not operating, I’m afraid you’d be out of luck. All of the test animals are gone.’

Cassy swallowed and looked aghast. ‘Gone?’

The other woman laughed. ‘I should have said, the experimental pods have been relocated with their subjects intact to the Eden Facility. You know, of course, that all of the projects here are in developmental phases. If they are successful, they are put into practice in one way or another out in the real world. The government may not see much value in putting animals into suspended animation, but it seems someone has decided the process will have significant public-relations benefits. They even like the name. It seems Erlinder was right to suggest the Eden Project.’ She smiled at Cassy. ‘I thought it was unscientific, but the spinners think it sounds romantic and optimistic. Their use of such words is incredible given how pragmatic and pessimistic their breed is. But I don’t care what they call it so long as the government sets aside funds to allow its work to continue. In fact the whole reason for shifting the pods is because the government wants me to move into the next experimental phase of my research.’ For a moment she looked troubled.

‘Did you … send the flamebirds to the Eden Facility?’ asked Cassy, making a visible effort to seem nonchalant.

Doktaruth gave her a sympathetic look. ‘Only the two that were put into cryosleep pods at the suggestion of Petr Masterton. I think he saw them as no more than the product of a failed experiment that could be useful. But he could not say so after all the publicity about flamebirds being virtually extinct got into the feeds.’ She gave a small grimace. ‘Naturally once the public learned there were flamebirds here being experimented on, there was a huge outcry. The government explained that it was because they were in danger of extinction that experiments had been conducted. Not a mention of them wanting to find out if paranormal abilities could be stimulated in the flamebirds because of their unusual cortex structure. The spinners claimed that the multiple brain tumours that killed off so many birds were the reason for the experimentation, not the result of it. Which stopped anyone pointing out that if the government had not taken so many flamebirds from the wild in the first place, they would never have been in danger of extinction. Anyone trying to poke into it was shown your drawings, which were presented as symbolic of the genuine concern the government has for such rare and irreplaceable creatures …’