It ended at last, and they all rushed off to send their stories out into the world. The journalists who had decided to stay away would soon feel the regret Dr Morton had predicted.

Mr Jordan turned to Dr Morton and embraced her, and gave her a kiss. I think he was overwhelmed with emotion.

‘This is it,’ he said. ‘This is our moment. There’s no turning back now. We’re going to change the world forever.’

John

I walk into the kitchen where Charlotte is preparing food.

‘How was it?’ she asks, without looking up.

‘You won’t believe it.’

I wait, and she finally makes eye contact.

‘What? Stop messing about. Tell me.’

‘There was a presentation. From the guy who runs the care home now.’

‘Sounds riveting.’

‘This guy is something else. I mean, he looks like he’s made of money. Slick. A bit orange. Like he’s just off his yacht.’

‘There’s money in battery-farming geriatrics, I suppose.’

‘That’s my ma you’re talking about.’

‘Sorry. Go on.’

‘He made this speech about how shit care homes are, and how he’s going to change it all, and he had this woman with him. A scientist. An ice queen.’

‘They sound like they’re from a Bond film.’

‘Yes, I know.’ I pause again. What I’m about to say sounds ridiculous now.

‘What about your mum?’

‘I saw her, of course. But first, they introduced a new team of carers. One of them spoke. Totally different from the previous crew.’

‘No tattoos?’

‘No. And she spoke well. She was committed, and she was full of how they were going to work with the residents and make things much better for them.’

‘She would, wouldn’t she? In front of her boss. We’ll see.’

‘That wasn’t all though.’

Did this really happen? Did I dream it? No, I didn’t. I know I didn’t.

‘She’s a robot,’ I say, as casually as I can.

‘A robot? What are you talking about?’

Charlotte’s looking hard at me now.

‘A robot. She told me – us, all of us – she’s a robot.’

She’s put down everything she was doing, and she’s staring at me. She thinks her husband’s lost the plot. She’s thinking, get him sectioned.

‘Like R2D2?’

‘No. Like C-3PO. But not gold.’

‘She needed to tell you this? Did you not notice?’

‘No. I was joking. She – the robot – wasn’t at all like C-3PO.’

Charlotte’s still staring at me. I’m not making it better with humour.

‘What then?’

‘She was exactly like a human. They showed us a film about developments in robotics. How they got to this point. They said they’re “convincing artificial humans”. They call them Helpers.’

‘And they’re not gold?’

‘No, I told you, no.’

‘How come we’ve never heard of this?’