Galactic Keegan. Scott Innes

      CLUES

      Mustering all my reserves of patience I watched and paced while Caroline scanned the barcode of each book onto the system.

      ‘Right,’ said Caroline. ‘That’s all of Rodway’s books done. We’re getting there. Now let’s cross-check them with… I’m so sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.’

      ‘HELLO, CAROLINE KELLY. I AM BARRINGTON12. I AM FLUENT IN OVER SIX MILLION FORMS OF FOOTBALL FORMATIONS AS WELL AS—’

      ‘All right, put a cork in it, she doesn’t need to know your life story,’ I said, a little more grumpily than I’d intended. Barrington12 paused while he processed this request.

      ‘KEVIN KEEGAN, PLEASE REPEAT AND SPECIFY WHERE THE CORK MUST BE INSERTED,’ he said quizzically. ‘ALSO, BARRINGTON12 DOES NOT OWN A CORK. PLEASE ADVISE.’

      ‘Just be quiet a minute,’ I said with a sigh. Immediately, he stood frozen in place staring at the bare wall opposite, as though a switch had been flicked.

      ‘Wow, a 12-series model,’ Caroline said, staring at him with great interest. ‘I thought they’d been scrapped years ago.’

      ‘They were,’ I muttered, ‘and he most definitely should’ve been.’ But then I felt bad. Barrington12 had given up his Friday to help us find the spy – I owed him better than that. ‘He’s just tired,’ I said, more sympathetically. ‘He’s not been charged up all day, so his batteries will be running on air.’

      ‘Actually I saw him using one of the library charge points while we were book-hunting earlier,’ Rodway said.

      ‘There’s normally a fee for that,’ Caroline muttered under her breath. Little wonder she and Gillian got on so well – both such sticklers for the rules. Mind you, I’m one to talk. I once heard a commentator describe a relegation scrap as ‘a real six-pointer’. I was disgusted – it’s three points for a win; you cannot just go about changing things like that so late in a season. The FA never even replied to my letter about it, which tells you everything you need to know about that shower.

      ‘Right,’ Caroline said when she was logged in. ‘What’s the next title?’

      Rodway handed over one of the books Barrington12 had found – The Unexplored Country by Bartholomew Modge. I frowned.

      ‘What’s this when it’s at home?’ I asked.

      ‘It is at home,’ Rodway said. ‘It’s about our home. Part of it, anyway. It details the geography of several planets in this nebula, including Palangonia. Good call, Barrington12.’

      The robot didn’t respond as he continued staring into space as instructed.

      ‘Professor Modge’s speciality is documenting the more forgotten and overlooked areas of the galaxy,’ Caroline explained. ‘And prior to the establishment of this human colony, Palangonia was certainly one of those. This might have some important info on escape routes and points of expansion, underground tunnels and caves, that kind of stuff.’

      I was distracted – there was still no sign of Gerry. I clicked my fingers at Barrington12 and told him to go and retrieve him. Dutifully, he woke up and clanked away.

      Methodically, Gillian worked through the rest of the list – Weapons of the Alliance by JB Pilfer, Camouflage Techniques by Liz Lassiter, Hiding in Plain Sight: My Life as an MI5 Operative by Craig Revel Horwood, several others. The names were a blur and Caroline scrolled down too quickly for me to get a handle on anything.

      ‘Well, there are a lot of names who only appear once with no duplication,’ she said, jotting the last few down. ‘So we can put them right at the bottom of the maybe list. If our spy has indeed been using the library to advance their knowledge, I’d say it’s unlikely to be any of those.’