"That's understandable. In my time, we've been able to produce medical treatments for snakebites- antivenom does exactly what it sounds like. But you need the venom itself to produce the medicine," he says, as he selects a particularly chilled (literally, he's keeping them in a fairly cool (but not cold) environment to make them more sluggish) snake for Altaïr, showing him where and how to hold it in order to support its weight.

The scales are smooth, and even in a non-heated enclosure, it's retained enough heat to still be warm as any other living thing to the touch. Alex talks him through prying the jaws open to encourage its needle-like fangs into the membrane atop the jar.

"This is part of what we do where I work back home. We keep the snakes on display to educate the public, but we're a research facility as well. We extract venom for people to manufacture antivenom, and a few experimental drugs. It's not unheard of for snake venom to have medicinal uses." This is how Alex keeps himself calm when faced with danger. Science is reliable and safe and full of things he knows to be either provable fact, or at least very educated guesses.

"This is actually the part of the job I like better. Dealing with the animals, I mean. Giving tours to schoolchildren is... less in my area of expertise."