It is a smooth landing, without splashes. Philip takes us to the jetty and we step out as if we’re getting off a ferry. The snow is thick on the jetty’s boards and crunches beneath our feet as we get out.

‘Philip,’ I say, ‘are you going to be all right?’

‘In what sense do you mean “all right”, Ethan?’

I think for a moment and realise that I do not really know.

‘Have you forgotten,’ he goes on, ‘that I am just a bunch of data? I am not real.’

‘Oh, but you are,’ protests Tammy. ‘You are to us!’

‘That’s what I love about you humans. You can believe anything is real if you use your imaginations.’

There is a thing that has been bugging me, and I guess now is my last chance. ‘Philip,’ I say, ‘did you ever sing ‘The Chicken Hop’ song with Hellyann? Only, she knew it and, well …’

‘No, Ethan. That is not a song I am familiar with at all. Is it any good?’

I say nothing. I am thinking about what Gran said. Somewhere out there in the I-don’t-know-what there’s a connection …

‘One more thing, Philip,’ says Iggy, interrupting my thoughts. ‘There are still humans on Anthalla. What about Carlo? Will he be coming back?’

‘And that’s another thing about humans: you care. I guess it all kind of depends on Kallan, and what else has happened when I get back. Wish me luck!’

I smile. ‘You don’t believe in luck!’

‘After the last few days, I may have changed my mind.’

I feel like I want to give Philip a hug, but I have to settle for patting the side of a spaceship that I can’t even see. And with that, there’s a loud whining and a column of steam rises off the evening-blue reservoir.

We wait till the steam has dispersed, then we turn and start the walk back along the jetty towards the village, Suzy flapping her charred wings, and Iggy striding ahead, his hands deep in his shorts pockets, his eyes squinting because he never recovered his glasses.

We are silent for a bit, then Iggy stops and says, ‘Are you thinking about her as well?’

Hellyann.

Tammy and I look at each other and we both nod. It feels like a ‘twin thing’, both of us thinking alike. Then she links arms with me.

‘She did her best,’ I say.

‘So did you,’ says Tammy, squeezing my arm, and that feels good – as though I really have my sister back now.

There’s a bit of a ‘moment’ between Tammy and me as she looks at me and says, ‘Thank you’, and poor Iggy watches us, looking a bit embarrassed.

We walk on through the snow. After a while, ahead of us, we see the forecourt of the Stargazer crammed with vehicles and lights and TV cameras, and we stop.

‘Are we going to tell them everything?’ says Iggy eventually.

‘I dunno,’ I say through a grin. I unlock my eyes from Tammy’s and add, ‘What do you reckon?’

She doesn’t say anything, but hugs me again, and that’s when I feel something hard inside her jacket. It surprises her as well. Frowning in puzzlement, she brings out Hellyann’s healing stick.

‘Well,’ she says. ‘I guess if we do decide to tell them, we’ve got proof.’