Dorothy grinned. ‘I told you I’d get you here before the Chinese.’

There was another long pause and then, to her credit, Sam returned to the matter in hand.

‘Can you see the UFO?’

Will too had finally recovered from the culture shock of the journey. ‘Sam, it’s Will, I’m getting a mass reading 300 metres off our starboard side. I’m going to roll us over, see if we can get a view through the cockpit window.’

‘Roger that. Attitude thrusters only please, Will. Now we know what that Squidget is capable of I don’t want you two ending up in orbit around Saturn.’

Will grinned and started to make the preparations to turn the ship. There was a brief burst of power from the thrusters and they started to roll. Dorothy craned her neck, eager to catch a glimpse of the alien vessel out of the starboard window.

Slowly the dark, unsettling, thigh-bone shape of the alien spacecraft slid into view. As when she had first seen it on the television in Chantelle’s flat, Dorothy felt a ripple of unease wash over her. There was something about the ship that felt horribly familiar, like some half-forgotten nightmare …

‘Are you getting this, Control?’

Will had activated Virgil’s cameras and every screen was now filled with close up images of the strange, silent behemoth.

‘We’re getting it, Will. Can you put some light on it?’

Will pressed a control and searchlights suddenly lit up the alien ship’s hull. The surface was unlike any material that Dorothy had ever seen. It was less like metal and plastic and more like flesh; dark, twisted rolls of slick, oily flesh. It made her stomach churn.

‘We’re getting nothing from your sensor readings that make any sense, Will. Is there any sign of a hatch or entranceway?’

‘Nothing that we can see. Do you want me to get closer?’

‘Affirmative, Virgil. Confirm that we’d like a slow fly past. But no heroics.’

Engaging the manoeuvring thrusters once again, Will started to edge Virgil towards to the alien vessel. As they got closer, Dorothy suddenly felt a cold sweat prickle on her skin and she had to supress a surge of panic. She felt like she was going to be sick.

‘Dorothy, are you OK?’ There was concern in Sam’s voice again. ‘Your vital signs just spiked.’

‘I’m fine.’

‘That’s not what my instruments are saying.’

‘I said I’m fine,’ she snapped.

There was a sudden cry of excitement from Will. ‘I think I’ve found something!’

Grateful for the distraction from the nausea she was feeling, Dorothy looked to where Will was pointing. There was a depression, a dark shadow on the side of the hull, the strange skin-like surface puckering and stretching around the edge. As they glided closer, it became obvious that it was an entranceway of some kind.