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Chapter 42 - Be brave Dot!
"Me?"
Dot gulped. She didn't like the sound of this at all.
Neither did Wizard. He growled in a muttering sort of a way, and moved in
front of Dot as if to take care of her. "Haven't we had enough of all
this for one net-voyage?" he said, looking round angrily. "First of
all we crash-land… then I get turned inside out" - he snapped his jaws
towards Blackshanks, who nervously hopped back out of the way - "then
Mr Mouse becomes a sunflower seed, and now it looks like you've all
got some crazy plan for Dot because she's a nearofat… a newnyflight… a neyo…
GRUFF!! WHAT's that silly word?!"
"A Neophyte" said Adrienne quietly.
"Whatever!" said Wizard crossly. Dot had never seen him so annoyed
- but then that was Wiz, the only time he ever got angry at all was when he
felt someone was going to hurt her. He was such a lovely dog, she thought.
"We've got a real job to do" Wiz went on, shaking his head so his
silky ears flapped up and down. "We're meant to be helping Dot's Dad to
find the companies who could take part in the Munchenmeat Awards, and we
haven't got anywhere!"
"Oh, eet will be OK. Once I begin we will 'ave Meestair Com's list in no
time at all" said Adrienne carelessly. "And do not forget Weezie -
you may feel you 'ave been 'ere many days, but in ze real world - no
time 'as passed at all."
"So - what is it with this… this Neophyte thing, anyway?" said Mr
Mouse suddenly. He'd come out of his hiding place under Dot's T-shirt, and
had set himself down comfortably on top of one of the C-drives that dotted
the search zone floor. He popped a piece of his favourite sugar-free gum in
his mouth.
Louise D smiled. "A talking mouse - too cool, Dot!" she said.
"Well. A Neophyte is someone who's totally new to the Net… they have a
kind of magic that can survive in Void. Someone like that might be able to go
into Void, and rescue my friend Luis from what Blackshanks here did to him -
and, what's more important, get back out again. But a Neophyte has to have
less than 100 pages Net-time." She looked down to the bottom of the page
you're reading. "Just like you, Dot - you're still on page 95
here." She smiled again - a gentle, sad smile. "But… no… it's too
much to ask. Too dangerous - because time runs out double fast when you're in
void, and you only have 5 pages to go. Don't worry - I'll find a way to
rescue Luis. One day…"
Dot swallowed hard. She was scared - but looking into Louise D's eyes, she
felt she had to help. She just had to - whatever the risk.
"So… what would I have to do?" she said.
Wizzie barked his short warning bark. "Dot!" he said in a worried
way. "You can't - "
Dot smiled down at her best friend and stroked his silky head, tickling him
behind his ears the way he liked best. "I've got to, Wiz" she said.
"When it's only you that can do something to help someone in trouble,
you must do what you can. Anyway" - she took a deep breath "I'll be
OK, you'll see!"
She turned to Louise. "All right - what do I have to do?" she said.
Louise padded softly over and stood up, putting her paws on Dot's shoulders
and looking straight into her eyes. "Are you sure?" she said
gently.
Dot nodded. Louise sighed, and with another long look into Dot's eyes, got
down and padded over to Adrienne's Search Engine. "Can you show Dot what
Void is like?" she asked. "She's being really brave but she ought
to know before she finally decides."
Adrienne looked doubtful. "Well you know what Net Law says" she
replied. "You're not even meant to look… and as for going in…" She
put her head on one side and shrugged. "But for you… and for Luis…"
She reached into the cabin of her Search Engine and tapped on her control
keyboard. A panel on the outside slid down, creaking a bit as it went past
where the shiny red engine had been damaged when they crashed. It flickered
into life as Adrienne tapped more keys, with one arm inside the cab, stretched
out as she leaned round to look at the screen. Then suddenly it went blank
and black, and a big message "Access FORBIDDEN" came up.
Adrienne looked at Blackshanks who was sitting down with wings folded in a
sulk.
"Today's password and user name for Void?" she asked.
"How'd I know?" whined Blackshanks. "We don't - "
"Oh yes you do!" said Adrienne. "I 'eard your friend Zinfangel
laughing about it on Net-Loop just a little moment ago. And if you want to
get back…"
Blackshanks scowled angrily. "We had a DEAL!" he snarled.
"It's on hold" said Adrienne sharply. "We 'ave another of your
messes to clear up now, remember?"
Blackshanks said nothing. Then Cursor spoke up. "Wanna go BOBBLE?"
he asked, his yellow eyes gleaming.
Blackshanks jumped. "All right all right!" he said. "Gimme a
moment! It's… it's… Cayenne. C-A-Y-E-N-N-E, User name is Strangfellow."
Adrienne tip-tapped on her keyboard again. There was a pause, then the screen
of the side of her engine flashed and went to "shash", those fuzzy
grey lines like what happens to your TV when the aerial get unplugged.
"SCREEEEEEEYOWWWLLL!" A horrible sound burst out of the screen.
Then suddenly the picture jumped into life.
And what they could see looked HORRIBLE!
JOIN US EVERY MONDAY FOR THE NEXT
CHAPTER!
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