‘Is that big enough to get the ship inside?’ asked Dorothy.

Will studied the instruments for a moment then shook his head. ‘Tolerances are too close. If we get stuck then we might never get back out again.’

‘Then I guess we’re going in on foot.’

‘Now hang on a minute,’ said Sam firmly. ‘I passed you as fit to fly, not to go on an improvised EVA.’

‘And if we’re not going to make a proper investigation of this thing then what the hell are we doing out here?’ said Dorothy angrily.

‘I have to agree, Control,’ said Will. ‘There’s only so much we can do out here, and you can be damn sure that when the Russians and the Chinese arrive they’re not just going to sit and look at it.’

Dorothy nodded at him, grateful for his support.

‘OK …’ Even over the radio, it was clear that Sam was far from comfortable with the decision but was aware that there was no other option. ‘But I want the two of you in constant radio contact, and if there is so much as a hint of trouble, you will get the hell out of there, understood?’

‘Understood,’ agreed Will. ‘No heroics.’

‘Then you’d better get going. I’m sending data to the autopilot that will match Virgil’s orbit with the UFO, but if that ship starts to change trajectory then you’ll need to get back on board pronto.’

‘Roger that control.’ Will turned to Dorothy with a grim smile. ‘So, fancy a stroll outside?’

CHAPTER EIGHT

Dorothy had forgotten just how disorientating a spacewalk could be; the lack of a clear sensation of up or down, the inability to judge scale or distance, the total absence of anything solid to cling on to … Will had insisted on tethering them together before they had stepped out of Virgil’s airlock and, although she had protested that it was an unnecessary precaution at the time, she was now grateful that he had refused to take no for an answer.

She choked back bile as another wave of nausea washed over her, unsure if it was still the strange effect that the ship was having on her or the mere fact that she was floating, weightless, with nothing but infinity below her.

Determined that she was simply not going to disgrace herself by throwing up in her expensive spacesuit, she focused on the strange, puckered entranceway to the ship towards which they were heading. Will controlled their approach with bursts from a hand-held thruster unit.

Up close, the alien ship was even more unsettling than it had been when viewed through the cockpit window. The flesh-like hull seemed to possess a strange life of its own, ripples occasionally passing along its length in slow waves, as if the entire ship was reacting somehow to some unseen stimulus.