‘All done!’

‘Good. Now we’ve got to do the same thing for the others. Only we’ll be setting those to stasis.’

Sal looked down at the open case on the floor, and the other vials containing growth candidates. Then she looked at Liam, still out for the count, his face resting against the cold concrete floor amid a small pool of spittle and vomit.

‘Great. Thanks for the help, Liam.’

‘Blfff ifff wheeeelly gloob!’ said Liam, his mouth full to bulging.

Both girls looked at him. ‘What?’

Liam chewed vigorously for a moment, then finally swallowed. ‘I said this is really good! What is it?’

‘Lamb korma,’ replied Sal. ‘It’s nothing like how Mum used to make it back home. You have it much sweeter over here. I suppose Americans like their food really sweet?’

Maddy nodded. ‘Sweeter the better. I could live just on chocolate.’ She reached across their table and pulled a carton of mango chutney out of the brown paper takeaway bag.

Liam hungrily loaded another forkful of korma into his mouth.

Across the archway, music streamed from the computer. Maddy had an Internet radio station playing music she remembered her parents listening to: the Corrs, REM, Counting Crows.

‘It’s kind of weird just us three, though,’ said Sal. ‘I miss Foster.’

‘Me too,’ said Maddy.

‘We’re never going to see him again, are we?’

She shrugged. ‘Probably not. He had to go.’

‘Why?’ asked Liam.

She hesitated a moment. ‘He was sick.’

‘Yeah,’ said Sal thoughtfully. ‘He didn’t look well.’

‘What was wrong with him?’

Maddy played with the rice on her plate for a moment. ‘Cancer. He was dying of cancer. He told me that.’