‘Yeah, K, R, B, 4, H, 9, 7, D, W, 1. After he found it out, Lambourne made me memorise it in case he ever got caught…’

Ewan pressed the ‘OK’ button and the computer accepted the password.

‘OK, logged in as him. Thanks a lot. And I’m sorry I brought up your ex.’

‘He’d have wanted you to do this. Trust me.’

‘Fair enough. You doing alright?’

‘I’m fine. Lorraine is too. Stay safe, Ewan.’

‘Yeah, I will. Take care.’

‘Bye.’

Ewan hung up the phone and took a long breath.

‘That wasn’t a moment, was it?’ Alex asked at his side. Ewan wasn’t sure whether it was a real observation or just general Alex mockery, so he didn’t bother with a response. He put his phone back in his pocket, as subtly as he could with the CCTV camera watching, and got to work as Richard Unsworth.

The folders had odd labels, mostly named after dates, odd scientific terminology or staff members. They probably made sense to science-minded people, but not to Ewan. He performed a database search for the phrase ‘Atmospheric Metallurgic Excitation’, grateful to himself that he’d managed to memorise the words, and hoped for the best.

The search yielded disappointing results. Ewan clicked the only file with a decipherable title, and found the central report into the development of AME. It was a ten-page summary of the entire project from beginning to end. Not useful in the scheme of things, but it was his best starting point.

The entrance door swung open without warning. Ewan’s instincts told him to pounce forward and retrieve his assault rifle from the desk, but Alex remained quiet and kept working as if nothing was unusual. Ewan noticed his friend’s strategy just in time, and got back to work as the five clone soldiers marched inside. Ignorant to the humans in their lair, they occupied one computer terminal each and started clicking away.

Ewan would never know what the group cared about so much that it took all five of them to work on it, but their work was not his priority. Just as long as none of them peeked over his shoulder.

Ten minutes passed in the crowded room. Nine o’clock on May 19th.

Ewan had been the worst student in his drama class – with the sole exception of Jack, who had never known how to act like anyone but himself (or perhaps a range of dinosaurs as a child) – but he and Alex were doing a good enough job of pretending to be clones. Good enough to still be alive, anyway.