When they got to the car, they found Nettie squinting through the lens of a single-reflex Minolta that she had placed on its roof.

'What on earth d'you think you're doing, Bozo?' When Nigel sounded playful he was always at his most dangerous.

'Sh!' said Nettle. 'I'm taking a photo of the house. Don't jog the car.'

'I don't know whether you've noticed, Einstein...' there was sheer joy in Nigel's voice. He loved ridiculing his girlfriends. 'But it's night.'

''Sright!' replied Nettle, not moving her blonde head so much as a millimetre. 'I'm taking a photo called "Dan and Lucy's Hotel Beneath the Stars". It'll look great in the album! Maybe you'll frame it and hang it in the entrance hall?'

'You can't take photos at night unless you've got a flash, Dumbbell.' Nigel opened the car door.

'Hey! You've jogged it!' Nettle screamed out.

'Get in, Brainbox, I'll drive,' said Nigel.

'I guess it was long enough,' said Nettle to Dan. 'Terrific,' said Dan.

They were all just about to get in the car, when a sudden wind swept across the rectory lawn and the trees blew almost as if a hurricane had hit them - except that they blew in all directions.

'Jesus!' exclaimed Dan, gripping the side of the car, 'What was that?'

'Look!' breathed Lucy. She was pointing up in the sky. 'A falling star!'

'Make a wish!' shouted Nettle.

'Holy Moly!' growled Nigel, who was the sort of person who had always preferred Captain Marvel to Superman. 'Will you look at that?!'

Above them, a most extraordinary thing was happening. A ring of cloud had suddenly formed immediately overhead and then spread out - like a nuclear explosion - until the entire sky was covered by a broiling layer of evil-looking cloud. Nigel went weak at the knees; Lucy shuddered; Dan felt his stomach jump and Nettle simply gaped.

But there was more to come.

The four Earth-folk heard a ghostly roar, as if of seas beating on a distant shore that lies beyond the horizon of thought, and then hugely, magnificently, and without warning a vast metallic prong descended from the cloud and sliced their elegant former Victorian rectory (with planning permission for commercial development) in two.