Chapter TenI hesitated a moment too long.
‘Oh!’ he said in raw delight. ‘You’re the first customer to get to us. Come, quickly!’
‘No, come with me,’ cried the woman next to him.
‘Do you wish you could fly?’ said the third person.
I turned to her at once, pushing my goggles up onto my forehead. ‘Lead on.’
She turned at once and hurried up the wide aisle. Her shoes tap-tapped on the metal floor. Like everything else in Melbourne, the Grand Expedition was brimming with metal. The price had dropped so far the locals used it like bricks. I barely noticed as the other exhibitors fell away, disappointed.
‘My name is Miss Xiniwe,’ said my guide, and I wondered at her accent. She clearly read my face, saying, ‘I was born on the shores of the Gambia River, then taken to the North American fron
