Chapter 22

‘Tilly thinks we're made from space dust?' Doctor Lang asked.

‘According to her, after the Big Bang there were only light elements like hydrogen and helium,' Poe said. ‘Over billions of years, like cosmic lint, they clumped together into ever-denser masses. Some of these masses formed stars, and apparently converting light elements into heavy elements is what stars do.'

‘She explained all this to the bishop?'

‘And more. She said stars are essentially giant hydrogen furnaces and the intense heat causes atoms to collide, creating new elements like iron and gold and oxygen. After billions of years, tens of billions sometimes, most stars have used up all their hydrogen fuel and they collapse. The outer layers explode, and this fires the elements they forged into the universe. Earth started with hydrogen and helium but now has ninety-two elements, all of which have landed as cosmic dust. Tilly says forty-thousand tons of this space dust still falls to Earth every year.'

‘And these star-forged elements are the building blocks of life,' Doctor Lang said. ‘I think I remember this stuff from university.'

‘Not only life,' Poe said, ‘they're the building blocks of everything. My phone, my cottage on Shap Fell, Tilly's Harry Potter glasses, everything.'

They were an hour into their session and Poe had been talking for most of it. His throat was beginning to dry up and he looked longingly at the empty plastic cup. Another lukewarm tea would have been welcome.

‘How did he take the cornerstone of his religion being challenged?'

Poe put his dry throat aside and said, ‘He took it in his stride. He's forward-thinking enough to publicly state that science and religion aren't diametrically opposed positions. He believes they can and should coexist.'

‘Which makes me wonder why he bothered asking about your beliefs at all.'

‘I think he wanted help fixing the church roof.'

Doctor Lang peered over the file. ‘You do this a lot, don't you?'

‘What?'

‘Use humour to deflect things you aren't comfortable talking about.'

Poe shrugged. ‘I hadn't realised.'

‘You make light of things you shouldn't and you dismiss emotion as weakness.'

‘It's what we do in District Twelve.'

Doctor Lang frowned. ‘I don't understand the reference?'

‘It's what Tilly calls Cumbria. Usually when there's a bad internet connection or she hasn't been able to buy the right kind of lentils. It's got something to do with a book called The Hungry Games. I think that's what it's called.'

‘I haven't read it.'

‘I haven't either,' Poe admitted. ‘But my point is this: I'm a cop in my forties and I'm from the north of England; pushing down emotions is what we do.'

‘That doesn't sound healthy, Washington.'

‘Oh, it's not healthy at all. But it doesn't last long; eventually we keel over from heart attacks.'

‘If I had a pen I'd underline something at this point,' Doctor Lang said.

Poe grinned. ‘Now who's making jokes?'

‘Anyway, we've got off topic. Why did the bishop ask about your religious beliefs?'

‘He had his reasons,' Poe said.