‘Now, I hope you’ll understand that, given the nature of this facility, you will not be permitted to leave these rooms without an escort. I apologise if that sounds a little draconian but it’s for your own safety as much as anything.’

And telling them that she would return at 9am the following morning, she wished them a good evening and left.

‘Right, well, here we are then,’ said his father after the door had shut behind her. ‘Why don’t we go and get ourselves sorted out and then meet in that living area in a bit? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting kind of hungry.’

Agreeing, Arthur opened the door to his room. Small and lightly furnished, it had a built-in wardrobe on one side and a double bed and side tables on the other. A window at the far end looked out directly onto a concrete wall opposite. Dropping his pack on the floor, he flopped heavily on to the bed.

‘Ouch! Hey – watch it, will you! I’m not a sack of flower, you know.’

‘Oh my God, sorry,’ he replied, rolling over and unfastening the top of it to let the cat out.

‘Go on, admit it, you forgot I was in there, didn’t you?’ meowed the cat, jumping out and stretching himself.

‘Well no, not really. Anyway, I said I was sorry, what more do you wa… ‘Woah! Cat—we’re back!’ he cried. ‘We can talk!… And it has to be because we’re close to the box again, doesn’t it? What do you think?’

‘What do I think!? I think that first thing tomorrow morning you need to get yourself over to wherever it is that they’re keeping it, and offer to buy it off of them! And don’t take no for an answer, either! It can’t cost much – it’s only small. And if they ask why you want it, you’ll just have to explain to them that you’re not very useful without it.’

‘Me? Nice one, Cat. But I seriously doubt that the box is for sale. There’s no way they’ve gone to all this trouble to simply let us take it away again. Ah! Which reminds me, you’re going to need to remember to stay out of sight from now on. No one knows you’re here, and we should probably keep it that way. I can’t imagine what they’ll do if they discover I brought you with me.’

The cat, who’d just started cleaning a paw, glanced up at him.

‘So, why did you bring me?’

‘What do you mean, “why did I bring you?” I told you. It was a feeling, like you needed to be here.’

‘What do you mean you told me?’

‘When we were in my room. When we were all about to leave. I told you that you needed to come, too.’

‘And what, you thought that I somehow magically understood you?

‘Well, I don’t know – yeah, I guess. Why’d you get into my backpack, then, if you didn’t?’

‘Because I saw you were going somewhere with that general and wanted in on the action.’

Arthur gazed at him and then shrugged.

‘Fair enough, I suppose,’ he said, getting up. ‘Well, now you’re in on it, just stay quiet and hidden, ok?’

‘So, first impressions of the T8 facility?’ said his father, as Arthur joined him in the living area. He had just finished warming up the rice and fish that had been left for them, in the microwave. ‘Mmm, yum… tastes pretty good actually. Here, this one’s yours.’

Taking the plate he was offered, Arthur sat down at the little square table, which his father had already laid.

‘I don’t know. Pretty cool, I guess. It’s much bigger than I thought it would be.’

‘You can say that again. Did you get a look at those towers on our way in? I reckon they must be where they assemble rockets and such like. You know, ever since I was your age, I’ve always wanted to see a real space rocket.’

‘Do you reckon they’ll let us see one?’