She nodded generally around the restaurant. ‘It was a bet, who got to talk to you first.’

‘Talk to me first!’

‘The mysterious and famous foreigner publicly known for his work on the genome project!’

‘And you won?’

‘I’m here talking to you, so I guess I did.’

‘I’m English, which is hardly mysterious. And a lot of people are known for what they did on the genome project. It was an international effort, involving many people.’

Rebecca nodded to the closed magazine. ‘It’s you everyone wrote about.’

‘What’s your prize?’ Parnell wished he could go back to Science Today.

‘Who knows?’ It wasn’t a coquettish remark.

‘What section are you in?’ If he had to talk, it might as well be professional.

‘Back of the bus stuff, co-ordinating and cross-referencing overseas research with what we’re doing here, where it’s applicable. Flagging up stuff that might be worthwhile our pursuing further, concentrating upon.’

‘I’d say that makes you a pretty important person, too.’

She sniggered. ‘There are a lot of units. I don’t do it all by myself!’

‘Any breakthroughs?’

The girl hesitated. ‘Not yet. Ever hopeful.’

‘Still quite a responsibility for someone who considers themself at the back of the bus.’

‘There’s a line manager checking me and a section head checking him. It’s all very structured. Haven’t you appreciated everything’s run here to a tightly ordered and controlled set of rules?’

‘I’m beginning to get the idea.’

‘I told you my secret. Now tell me yours.’

Parnell looked blankly at her. ‘I don’t know what you’re asking.’

‘How come you got shifted so quickly from the back of the bus?’

Parnell no longer regretted putting his magazine aside, trying to separate the discordant echoes of this exchange from the earlier one with Russell Benn. ‘How can you imagine there’s something secret about it, just like that?’ He snapped his fingers.