“HALT-AND-STOP!”

Lucia the Tracboat gave another one of her shudders, as if she was hearing something she didn’t like. With a great heave she tried to speed up – but instead, slowed down with a sort of whurlllllllllllllllllllll sound.

“Trojantrash!” growled Walpurgis. “He has us on his slowbeam!”

And sure enough, from the direction of the Zonemaster’s voice, there came a kind of mist, shaped like netting, rolling over itself like waves on the sea coming down to a beach. It hadn’t even touched them yet, but Lucia was losing speed, despite bending herself forward so that her bow started to curve downwards with the effort.

But it was no use. And now, curving round with his glistening wings extended, Trinth came into sight, dark eyes glinting in triumph. It was as if he was following the misty net – and indeed he was, except that it was rolling out of a small pouch on his shiny black belt, starting as tightly twisted kind of rope and then extending itself out towards like a very fine fishing net.

“HALT-AND-STOP!”

He didn’t really have to say it – now the slowbeam had found Lucia, and the mist was slowly growing over them all, dimming out the net-sky, and closing in round her like a grey cocoon.

With a final shudder and last whurllllllllllllll, the Tracboat gave up and rocked to a stop, floating uneasily high above TZ66.

Splink! Now another one of the little screens broke, not melting this time, but spitting showers of plastic all round it. Dot leaned over the side to look at the opticons, the golden globe opening eyes on the outward side of Lucia. They were all over the place: some shut, some half open, one or two actually hanging down by the cables that secured them through Lucia’s hull – clearly, all broken or damaged. And all had dirty smeary scorch marks, as if someone had played a flame over them.

Dot shivered. She felt afraid.

“Barkbark!” went Wiz. “What is going on?”

“You may well ask!” murmured Eldenbeam. He was peering away in to the distance, where the dark speck they’d seen was slowly growing larger. “We’ll know in a moment!”

Breaking through the slowbeam net with a soft hiss, Nascarbalone Trinth swooped into the Tracboat, folded his wings and slowly looked round at Lucia’s crew, as if he was noting them down very carefully one by one. His eyes were hard and cold, and his hooked beak looked sharper than ever.

“Now… ” he said. “Where were we? Ah, yes! I think we were discussing some Tzone rules you might have broken, and what the penalties might be. Let’s just run through them one by one, shall we?”

He gave them all one of his ice-cold smiles. He was clearly settling down to enjoy himself.

“IMMEDIATE removal of ALL present visit and searching privileges. SURRENDER of all data absorbed. For re-securing a TZ device, namely, one Buzby, A FINE of 5,000 netcredits!”

“Nascarbalone… ” said Walpurgis quietly.

”BANISHMENT from the affected Tzone for 2 netcades.”

“I think you should look… ” said Carmeramalita.

“A FINE of 5,000 netcredits for re-securing a TZ device, namely, one Buzby. RESETTING of access accounts.”

PLinkplinkplinklplinkplinkplink! Now all the little revolving screens behind each of the opticons were either melted or broken, fragments of plastic showering down inside the Tracboat. Katzilow put his head in his paws and groaned.

Grrrrowl went Wiz – his warning sound. GRRRROWWWWWL! The fur behind his head bristled up. Dot stared at her pal, her mouth open.

“NO further access until - ”

Hombellyton was the one who broke the spell.

“For server’s sake, Trinth - SHUT UP!” he shouted. “And look behind you!”

Trinth’s dark eyes widened in rage, and he took a deep breath to speak – but then a chill wind swept over Lucia, rustling his feathery back and tearing open the misty net of his slowbeam.

Nascarbalone Trinth swung round, his beak open. Then in his deepest, grindiest voice, he roared:

“A Zeensucker! In my Tzone!”