"No. They have alternative meanings for everything, just in case someone asks. But everyone on the job knows the truth."

Spatters on the window became washing rain, then hissing jets of water as the flash storm intensified. Josh nodded toward the gla.s.s.

"Good job you don't need the Tube to get back."

"They're getting better. It might be OK."

Most lines had overground sections which flooded during flash storms. London Underground had spent millions of euros on drainage tunnels and elevating barriers, with some success. But every summer, the storms grew more frequent.

"Come on." Suzanne tapped Josh's upper arm. "Let's take a break."

They walked out to the corridor, leaving Richard at the bedside.

"He needs to tell Opal how he feels," she said. "I'm not sure how she'll respond later, because for now the drugs are dulling her mind. But Richard needs to verbalise his thoughts."

"What do you mean about responding later?"

"Once she's a bit more compos mentis compos mentis, she'll remember his words. I've no way of telling what they'll mean to her. Maybe she'll blame him for her being here."

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. But won't she be more worried about social services carting her off to some home? I mean, she's young and living in a squatters' commune."

"Maybe." Suzanne looked back toward the ward. "I'm not sure what we can do for her."

"Are you trying to save the world, Dr d.u.c.h.esne?"

"One person at a time. Fractal salvation, my new theory. Save one, save all."

"You have an interesting mind, Doctor."

"Whereas you're a thug whose major a.s.sets are physical."

"I may not be intelligent, but I can lift heavy weights. That's the Navy Gunners' motto."

"It's not so much your muscles I was thinking of."

"Dr d.u.c.h.esne. Tsk, tsk."

"Hmm." Once more she looked back at the ward. "What are we going to do about Richard and his father?"

"Philip and I had an interesting chat."

"Excuse me? Did you just refer to Broomhall senior as Philip?"

"Actually, I did."

"Tell me. All of it."

Richard felt someone tapping on his shoulder.

"are over," she was saying.

"I'm sorry?""Visiting hours," said the nurse. "All done. Our patients need their rest, you know?"

"Yes." He touched the back of Opal's hand, avoiding the inserted tube. "They do."

"Your folks are waiting out on the corridor."

"My? Oh. Right."

He walked alongside the bed, touching the warm metal of the bedframe as though it could keep him linked to Opal; and then he went out. Dr d.u.c.h.esne, Suzanne, was there.

"Josh is checking his car and the roads. It's quite a storm, isn't it?"

"Storm?"

"Look, there's some kind of waiting room for patients' families, just round the corner. Shall we go in and sit down? Hang on for Josh?"

"OK.".

White-and-blue corridors and a sharp chemical tang: this was a strange place, almost dreamlike. In the waiting room, Suzanne sat him down, then took a chair at right angles to his. If she was going to put him into trance again, that was all right with him. Anything to forget the bruises on Opal's face that were all his fault; except that was wrong, he needed to keep her in his mind, every detail.

"You know," said Suzanne, "when I was a student, a friend asked me to cure her phobia of snakes. She lived in the middle of Paris, so I asked her if it really was a problem."

There was a pause. Some distant part of him wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"Well," Suzanne went on, "she said if she just walked into a room where a screen was showing a scene with gra.s.s, she'd have to leave the room in case she saw a picture of a snake. So she really did need to feel comfortable about what used to be a problem."

His eyelids were blinking.

"In this country," she continued, "arachnaphobes used to be in no danger at all, but over time things change, and you know about copperlegs being sighted in London?"

"Um, Ms Cole in biology showed us a newsclip from Kansas, this church guy saying copperlegs are another sign of the, er, apocalypse, is that right? The Final Days."

"Not Josephson, President Brand's pastor?"

"Yeah, that's him."

"So what did you think?"

"She also showed Sharon Caldwell saying that visible speciation, black widows turning into copperlegs, is evolution in action, right before our eyes."

"So do you think the TechDems can win the general election here?"

"I guess."

Father thought otherwise. He had said he would support the TechnoDemocrats if he thought they could win, but since they couldn't, he was forced to work with Billy Church's LabCon cronies.

"Tell me about visible speciation."

"You get pure black widows in Arizona," said Richard. "And pure copperlegs in Illinois. They're a new separate species, the copperlegs, and they can't, er, mate with black widows."

He was beginning to blush, but carried on.

"The thing is, if you start around Phoenix and travel

up to Chicago, you see the black widows slowly becoming different. Like halfway along the journey, you get spiders that can mate with black widows or or copperlegs. They're kind of a transition, you know? Ms Cole said speciation is a.n.a.logue, not digital, if you look close enough." copperlegs. They're kind of a transition, you know? Ms Cole said speciation is a.n.a.logue, not digital, if you look close enough."

During his days on the streets, he had not been able to think like this, not even in the workshop with Brian.

Suzanne touched his shoulder, and he felt calmer.

"There can be things in the world," she said, "that are safe so long as you take care, like some spiders that you have to handle carefully, while others you can do anything with. You can feel safe without overconfidence because you can relax..."

Here came the trance, and he slid into it with a smile. He drifted, allowing the process to happen, for what seemed like days. Then it was time to leave the imaginary star-cave and ascend to the normal world, the real world. He rose to the surface and opened his eyes.

"Welcome back," said Suzanne.

Josh was standing inside the doorway.

"Interesting," he said. "What was that about copperlegs?"

Richard answered: "They're proof of either Armageddon or evolution and climate change, depending on who you talk to."

"Are you sure you're only fourteen?"

"I'm sure."

"Good. So, look." Josh pulled out a phone. "You're staying with Suzanne for as long as you want. You know that, right?"

"Er..." Richard looked at Suzanne.

"You're fine." She touched his shoulder. "See?"

"Yes."

"I talked to your father today," said Josh. "In person. He was"

"Is he all right?"

Suzanne smiled at him. So did Josh.

"Yes," he said. "Now he knows you're safe, he's much better."

Richard looked down. The floor design seemed to swirl, matching the feeling inside his stomach. Finally, he raised his chin. "But he's worried about me?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to say it. Not to you."

"Oh." Richard looked down at the floor again. "Maybe..."

"What?"

The words just seemed to creep out by themselves. "Perhaps I should talk to Father."

Suzanne was smiling.

"Well, perhaps you should."

Josh found PB PB in his contacts list and made the call. As soon as Philip's image appeared, Josh said: "Someone to talk to you." in his contacts list and made the call. As soon as Philip's image appeared, Josh said: "Someone to talk to you."

He handed the phone to Richard.

"Richard? Oh, my G.o.d, Richard. You're all right. You're really all"

"I'm sorry, Father," said Richard, and began to cry.

Josh looked at Suzanne, who nodded. He a.s.sumed she meant leave them to it. leave them to it.

So this was what reconciliation looked like. But in his case it would never happen: Sophie was not coming back, and Maria had nailed down the coffin of the marriage that he had killed through neglect, and that was that. He left the room, knowing Suzanne would remain, in case she needed to intervene.

"I don't know what the f.u.c.k I'm doing," he said to the wall.

At the far end of the corridor, a nurse glanced at him, then walked through a doorway and was gone, used to visitors in odd states of mind.

I know what I want to do, but not how to do it.

Forget the flash storm outside. His nerves were dancing, electrified, like every op before the start, but there was no Regiment to back him up; and just because he needed to fight, that did not mean he could succeed.

He prowled until the waiting room door opened, and Suzanne waved. Inside, Richard was finishing up his conversation with a soft "Goodbye, Father."

"Well," said Suzanne. "You won't believe what Richard just did."

"What was that?"

"Er, I got Father to show me his knife. In the phone."

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," said Josh.