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An idea dropped neatly into Tameka’s head. It was crazy and suicidal and she didn’t like it at all. ‘Don’t you move a muscle, Bernice.’

Bernice looked up at her out of the corner of her eye. ‘Are you serious?’

‘You bet. That’s a crash position. Avoids whiplash and getting thrown out of the windscreen.

Which control did you hit?’

‘Top left on the panel, I think. Tameka, I just want you to know that crashing was high on my list of things to avoid.’

‘Is Emile’s chair the same?’

‘Yes, I think so.’ Bernice wagged a finger in the air above her. ‘Why do you ask?’

Tameka adjusted the microphone. ‘Emile?’

‘What can I do for you, ma’am?’ Comrade 7 replied in a husky whisper.

‘Top left switch on your chair. Press it.’

‘OK, ma’am,’ he said in his put-on butch voice.

Bernice frowned, ‘I thought Comrade 7 was a girl superhero.’

A moment later Emile gave a high-pitched yelp of surprise.

Tameka covered the microphone on her headset with her hand. ‘You were saying.’ Then she told Emile to stay lying down.

‘If you wanted me on my back you only had to ask,’ came the tinny reply.

‘Who is he kidding?’

They hurtled through an empty square and out on to a wide stretch of road. They were speeding through the edge of the city now. The buildings on either side of the road were generously spaced. The driving was easy – there were few vehicles, only the odd bus which was easily dodged. Tameka glanced at the rear-view monitor. The three vehicles behind her fanned out and began to accelerate. One of the cars was directly behind them, the other two flanking the first.

The gap between their car and lead vehicle began to close.

‘Keep your legs bent or your femur will be driven through your knee joints. Oh, and try to relax!’ Tameka added, as an afterthought.

And then she did an emergency stop in the middle of the road.

There was a vicious squeal of brakes and suddenly they were stationary. Tameka moved her seat into a crash position. The engine stalled and died. For a few seconds there was a terrible silence.

The car in the middle had nowhere to go. The driver tried to avoid them but only succeeded in colliding with the vehicle on its right, which careered off into a low building and exploded.

From her prone position, Tameka glimpsed the middle glowing blob hurtling towards them on the rear-view monitor. The vehicle was completely out of control. For a second she thought it might miss them but then she saw that it was going to clip their rear wing.

She closed her eyes.

The impact smacked into her and she felt every joint in her body shudder as their car was pushed violently off the road in a crazy arc. The harness bit painfully into her armpits and groin.

She tried to estimate how far away the nearest buildings were but her head filled up with bright painful light.

She felt the car slide sickenly to a halt with a muffled crumping sound. She allowed herself to stay lying down for a few seconds. She didn’t have much choice. When she opened her eyes all she could see was the ceiling lurching gently above her like a cheap virtual image.

Tameka clicked her seat upright. She was thrown against her harness and for a moment she thought she was going to throw up. Paisley spots swirled before her eyes.

‘You all right, Bernice?’ she managed.

‘Can we go back to the driving centre, please, Ms Vito.’

‘Did I pass?’

Bernice muttered something under her breath which Tameka didn’t quite catch. Well at least she was still in one piece. Tameka adjusted her microphone. ‘’Meel, you OK?’

Static.

Shit.

‘Emile?’

Nothing.

Come on. Come on.

After what felt like an age her headphones crackled. ‘I feel sick,’ a tinny voice said weakly.

Tameka relaxed. The spots stopped rushing in front of her eyes. Outside she could see the rear end of the first car protruding out of the front of a one-storey, flat-roofed building. Orange flames billowed up into the night.

No one could have survived that. Not even the Sunless.

The second car, the one that had collided with them, was closer.