‘Really?’ Ace did her best to sound innocent. ‘I guess that he must have been tired after a trip to the Moon and back.’

Realising that he wasn’t going to get any more out of her, Will turned his attention to the rest of the workshop. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the deformed alien corpse in the laboratory. ‘You’ve been busy.’ He peered at the corpse with interest. ‘So are those the things that built the ship?’

The Doctor shook her head ‘No, I don’t think so. The technology on board that spaceship was incredibly sophisticated, Ratts aren’t capable of building something like that.’ She gave a sigh of frustration. ‘I wish we had more info about it …’

‘Well, I might be able to help with that.’ Will reached into his jacket pocket and removed a sheaf of paper. ‘I thought that there was something about our mysterious alien ship that seemed familiar. Sam did a bit of digging into the Space Defence Centre records and found this …’

He handed the piece of paper to the Doctor who quickly scanned its contents.

‘It’s been here before,’ she said, quietly. ‘Over 30 years ago.’

‘Thirty years?’ Ace felt her stomach lurch.

Will nodded. ‘It appeared out of nowhere in an identical orbit around the Moon, and then vanished just as suddenly, leaving a weird energy signature that has been baffling scientists ever since.’

‘Ace …’ The Doctor glanced over at Ace, her expression serious. ‘I think you’d better have a look at this.’

Heart pounding, Ace took the paper from her, already knowing what she was going to see. She glanced at the date on the top of the memo.

14 September 1987.

‘That’s the day before I was taken from Earth.’ She stared at the Doctor in disbelief. ‘It’s all connected. The station up there, the abducted girls, the time-storm that took me to Iceworld. Everything is connected.’

‘Hang on,’ Yaz had been listening to every word. ‘Are you saying that you know where the abductees have been taken? This Iceworld place?’

‘Sounds like a supermarket chain,’ chipped in Ryan.

The Doctor shook her head. ‘Iceworld was just where Ace was taken to. The ship … the collector … is some kind of booster relay. Maybe … once the target has been scent marked by the creatures, it can lock onto them and beam them to their final destination. Given the size and power of the collector, the final destination could be anywhere in the universe.’