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There were no guns. They were going in without weapons of any kind.

They were going to get their butts kicked.

The group had finished their check. Isaac was following their progress in a big, skinny book of roadmaps, talking to Albinex. Ms R and Jacqui were joking about something. Ms Randrianasolo reached up and tapped her hologram generator, and suddenly wasn’t there. Jacqui laughed and thumped her on the invisible arm.

On the other hand, thought Roz, this bunch of amateurs knew what they were doing. The van hadn’t even broken down once.

* * *

It was very dark by the time Tony announced they were nearing the base. The Doctor had slowed down as they negotiated the smaller roads. Benny had changed places with Roz, peering out of the window with a frown on her face.

‘I’ve been here before,’ she said.

The Doctor didn’t take his eyes off the road. ‘Yes,’ he said softly.

In the back, Jacqui was dozing, leaning on Roz. Joel was fidgeting with his seatbelt. Her father’s eyes were closed, as though he was trying to sense their surroundings, build up a diagram of danger and opportunity, a tactical map inside his head.

The Doctor pulled over to the side of the road and switched off the engine. The sudden silence rang in Benny’s ears. Jacqui came awake, blinking.

‘It’s about half a mile down the road,’ said Tony. He switched his hologram back on, changing from Casper the Friendly Ghost back into the bearded cook from the Pyramid.

‘Two teams,’ said Isaac. ‘Doctor, take Roz and Jacqui to the main gate. Joel, Albinex, Tony, Ms Randrianasolo, Benny and I will cut the fence and search for Graeme. Once we’re in, we’ll split up into pairs.’

‘What’s our cover?’ said Ms R.

‘Peace protesters,’ said Isaac. ‘Don’t fight, just make a lot of fuss. We’ll need all the distractions we can get.’

The Doctor had been rummaging in his pockets. He brought out a couple of passes in plastic wallets. ‘These are reasonably up to date...’ he muttered, examining them. ‘If nothing else, we can take up some of their time arguing the point.’

Benny looked at him. ‘You’re sure about this.’

‘Oh yes,’ said the Doctor.

‘Let’s do it,’ said Isaac.

Woodworth was running an eye down the clipboard, looking for anything interesting. She glanced at the man in the dentist’s chair. He had started to cry, and the tears were running up his temples.

Jacobus was waiting impatiently for her approval, fiddling with the buttons of his lab coat. He always wore that spotless white thing, for some reason. If you really had to do quarantine work, Woodworth knew, you had to wear a lot more than a white coat. Thankfully, the path work was all negative. Very negative.

‘He’s a little too healthy,’ said Jacobus, trying to peer over the top of the clipboard. ‘Don’t you think?’

‘Maybe he was born without an appendix,’ she commented, without looking up. ‘It happens.’

‘It’s not only the appendix. It’s a lot of little things.’

Jacobus tried to reach over the top of the clipboard. ‘He’s never had chickenpox, for instance. We can’t find any scar tissue on him that’s more than a few years old. His only health problem at the moment is the concussion your clumsy troopers managed to give him.’

Woodworth looked down at the man again. He was blinking in the violent light of the dentist’s chair, eyes cloudy with tears and confusion. He pulled at the straps holding him down, fitfully, and the dentist swore as his probe poked into the gum.

‘Is he human?’ Woodworth asked.

‘There are some genetic questions I want cleared up before I decide that,’ said Jacobus. ‘And then there’s his teeth and nails .

Woodworth put down the clipboard, crouching beside the man, and snapped on a latex glove. She took one of his hands. The skin was cold and clammy. The nails were — like a woman’s nails, she thought. No, thick like a man’s, but sharp. Shaped wrong.

The dentist caught her eye. ‘I want these,’ he said, tapping a probe against the man’s teeth. ‘If you’re not planning on keeping him.’

Woodworth consulted her clipboard again. ‘They