‘First-stage detachment complete,’ confirmed Sam. ‘Orbital insertion accomplished. She’s all yours, Will.’

Will slid his chair forward and adjusted the flight controls. ‘Roger that, Control. Intercept course to UFO laid in. Stand by.’ He turned to Dorothy. ‘Right. This is it. Do I need to do anything to activate this Squidget of yours? Any special command phrases, stuff like that?’

Dorothy shook her head. ‘No, just operate the ship as usual, the Squidget will do the rest.’

‘OK,’ he said dubiously. ‘If you say so.’

As he reached for the controls, Dorothy laid her hand on top of his. ‘Will, just take it easy on the throttle, OK?’

Will nodded, then took a deep breath.

‘Mission Control, this is Virgil. Initiating prototype propulsion system on my mark. Five, four, three, two, one. Ignition.’

Time seemed to stop.

There were none of the vibration or acceleration effects that had accompanied the take-off, no G-force or suffocating pressure; the probe just transitioned from being stationary to suddenly moving very fast.

Very, very fast.

The stars became a blur – streaks of brilliant white against the blackness. On the rear-view monitor Dorothy could see the Earth receding at an astonishing rate. Will’s mouth dropped open, the astronaut scarcely able to believe how fast they were travelling.

‘Oh, my God …’ His voice was barely a whisper.

Dorothy could only imagine how he was feeling. Even she was staggered by the power that the propulsion system was generating, and she at least had already experienced something of what it was capable of. All around them the thin tendrils from the Squidget were glowing with a deep indigo light, brilliant pinpricks of sparking energy pulsing along each strand.

Through the cockpit window Dorothy could see the pitted grey shape of the Moon getting larger by the second.

‘Will … Will! You might want to think about slowing us down a bit.’

‘What?’ Will looked up from the controls, his eyes widening at the sight of the cratered surface looming in front of them. ‘Holy …!’

He eased back on the throttle and, miraculously the ship was suddenly stationary again. In her earpiece Dorothy could hear the frantic voice of Sam back on Earth.

‘Virgil! Virgil! This is Mission Control. Respond, please. Will, we’ve lost you from our scopes. Will! Will, come in, please!’

Dorothy glanced across at Will. He was ignoring the radio and was obviously in a state of shock. ‘Sam, this is Dorothy.’

‘Dorothy, thank God.’ The relief in Sam’s voice was palpable. ‘Are you two OK?’

‘We’re fine. Will’s just going to need a moment to process a few things, that’s all.’

‘Where are you? You simply vanished from our detectors!’

‘Your detectors might be looking in the wrong place. We’re in Moon orbit.’

‘That’s impossible …’ There was a long pause then a gasp. ‘I don’t believe it! You’ve just travelled almost 400,000 kilometres in less than a minute.’