No one was hurt, but someone was missing – Wizzie!

Dot looked around. She felt afraid. Because she couldn’t see where Wizzie might be. The search zone stretched away for miles and miles in very direction, under the strange searchlights playing up into the sky (where did they come from – what were they for?) – and there was nowhere, absolutely NOWHERE, for a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel to be lost or to hide.

All she could see were the millions and millions of little lights flickering on and off and changing colour as the search engines flew overhead, picking up the information people needed. The sky was a dark blue colour, and there wasn’t any light in it, just what came up from the search zone floor – but strangely you could see quite clearly as the little engines flew up and down on their mission to search the Net.

Adrienne clicked a little button on the front of her jacket, which was on a wire leading up to one of those earpieces like you have on a mobile phone. It was clipped onto the edge of one of her tufty little ears rather like a kind of earring. 

“Searcher Adrienne in Sector QP0099887ZB calling” she said in a worried voice, looking at Dot and Mr Mouse as she spoke. “Search partner down – search partner down! I need a sector track for one virtual King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, answers to name of Wizard or Wizzie. Last seen in Sector QP0099887ZB at 167.097XX net-time! Please advise A-SAP!”

“A-SAP?” said Mr Mouse crossly. “Who’re you calling a sap? That’s mighty rude talk, where I come from!”

“No no Mr Mouse” said Adrienne, still looking worried. “ASAP means As – Soon – As – Possible! We need to find Weezie ver’ quick, if ze Baron is out here!”

“So who is this Blackshanks the Baron guy?” replied Mr Mouse, hopping up onto the roof of the cab of Adrienne’s search engine. “But don’t you have no worries – Dot can handle him!”

Thanks Mr Mouse, thought Dot!

“Well” said Adrienne. “ ‘E is a pest! ‘E is what we call an Information Inverter! ‘E turns what we do upside down…instead of giving information out, ‘e takes it back! So if you are searching, and you find. ‘e will take away what you find – so you cannot see it any more! And now, ‘ere on ze Net, Wizzie of course is not a real dog – ‘e is a virtual dog, a lot of computer information, as long as ‘e is net-voyaging – just like you and Dorothee – so I fear ze Baron ‘as inverted Wizzie… zat is why we cannot see ‘im anywhere!”

Dot gulped – she felt like she was going to cry. Wizzie! Poor Wizzie!

“It’s why” went Adrienne “you lose things you thought you had found on ze Net – it’s people like ze Baron zat do these things. They are PESTS, as I say!” She looked over and Dot and smiled. “But do not worry Dorotheee – we will find your friend!”

Suddenly the little loudspeaker in the cab of Adrienne’s search engine came to life. “Alarm in Sector QP0099889ZB!” it said. It was Heinz the hedgehog! “Alarm in Sector QP0099889ZB! Information Inverter alert!”

“A-HA!” said Adrienne excitedly. “Come on Dot and Monsieur Mouse! I think we have a trace of ze Baron! Now we’ll teach him a lesson!”