‘Must’ve been. Aquillon’s been hunting all trace of the Wraiths. And she’s been using Wraith star charts, knows the wormholes they’d have navigated. The portal by Obsidian is actually closest to the Astingir’s own system …’

‘I don’t get it.’ Graham looked so bitterly disappointed. ‘How’d they find the first in the chain after clobbering the last?’

‘A chain doesn’t have to be a line, does it?’ said Yaz. ‘It can be joined up too. Like this.’ She reached for Graham’s collar and gently fished out the frog necklace he wore around his neck. ‘Circular, you know?’

‘So the first in the chain is next to the last in the chain,’ Graham concluded. ‘Leaving us stuffed!’

‘Maybe not.’ The Doctor stood, a slow smile spreading over her face. ‘At least we know the location of that final stepping stone.’ She started fiddling with the console. ‘Perhaps we can’t find a sub-atomic needle in a hundred thousand, million, billion haystacks, but now the odds are reduced …’

‘Ryan’s lost his tag!’ cried Graham.

‘But Ace has found her bat. Ha!’ The Doctor pointed up as a small red light began to pulse in the dark shadows above the console. ‘There, you see? That’s it! The energies that bled into the atomic structure of that bat are some of the oldest in the universe …’

‘Shining like a star.’ Yaz felt hope and excitement climb a helter-skelter inside her. ‘Where?’

The Doctor squinted at the controls. ‘Peerie Canto: an insignificant rock of a planet in an unremarkable triple star system. And if Ace was taken there … Ryan, Chantelle and Kim must be there too!’

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Ryan felt kitten-weak and weary with the worst travel sickness he’d ever known. When the ground grew solid under his feet again he collapsed to his knees – and yelled as he realised how sharp it was.

The pain brought strength to his senses. He was kneeling in a desert, the light from three suns failing as they sank behind distant dunes. A large building, part factory, part citadel, stood dominant on the near horizon. No one else was around.

I’m not expected, Ryan realised. Let’s use that to our advantage shall we?

He carefully stood up on trembling legs and started towards the citadel. The rugged soles of his shoes couldn’t shield him from the stinging sands, but Ryan walked purposefully and as fast as he could. He hadn’t gone too far before he saw signs of struggle in the sand.

He scanned the scene and his eyes widened at what he saw.

‘Where the hell did that come from?’ Ryan breathed.