Securing the door of the darkened workshop, she unlocked the car, opened the boot and placed the flight case containing the propulsion unit and the Squidget next to the overnight bag already nestled there. She went nowhere without being prepared these days. Slipping back into the driver’s seat, she made her way back down the snaking drive and before too long she was back on the motorway heading west.

CHAPTER FIVE

It was approaching noon when she finally pulled into Devesham, the village as picturesque as she remembered it, despite the drab winter weather. As she drove through the village square with its battered stone cross and old-fashioned phone box, she glanced over at the Fleur de Lys pub with a wistful smile. She’d stayed there with Will during her first visit to the Space Defence Centre just after they’d started dating. It had been a good couple of nights.

She turned into the private road that led to the Defence Centre, the low, concrete buildings and towering radio telescope dish in stark contrast to the chocolate-box charm of the village itself. Dorothy smiled to herself. Only the British could decide to locate a state-of-the-art space facility within walking distance of a sleepy, rural hamlet.

As she approached the main gate, a security guard emerged from his hut, eyeing the Hypergreen with undisguised admiration. As soon as he had confirmed that Dorothy was expected, he directed her to a car park space that had been reserved for her outside the main building. As she pulled into the space, the twin glass doors to reception slid open and Will emerged, making his way towards her with a huge grin on his face.

He was every inch the Boy’s Own comic book cliché of what an astronaut should look like – tall, blue-eyed, with a floppy fringe of dark hair and a toned physique that would make a professional tennis player envious. As Dorothy stepped out of the car, he swept her up in an enormous bear hug, and she got a whiff of expensive cologne. She really had enjoyed dating him.

‘It’s good to see you, Dorothy.’

She kissed him on the cheek. ‘You too, Will.’

‘You made good time.’ He glanced at the Hypergreen. ‘I guess your new wheels helped with that.’

Dorothy smiled. ‘Play your cards right and I’ll take you for a ride.’

Will raised an eyebrow at that. ‘You’re the one who wants the ride, if I recall …’ He frowned, looking at the tiny boot on the sports car. ‘And I thought that you were meant to be bringing something with you?’

‘Do I ever disappoint?’ Dorothy opened the boot and carefully lifted out the box containing the propulsion unit and the Squidget.

Will jerked back in alarm as the thing in the box gave a loud chirrup.

‘What the hell …?’

‘Before you ask, it’s easier if I just show you.’ Dorothy grinned. ‘Now where’s this spaceship of yours?’