…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

"Yeeowwlll..." Dot recognized that noise but she couldn't remember from where. It was kind of friendly, and somehow reminded her of home.

Very slowly, she drew back her foot from where it had touched that something soft, furry and warm under the huge pile of old magnetic tape. A cloud of Void dust came up from where her trainer had been, and just for a moment before it settled back down again, she saw brown and white fur, long and silky.

And the bracelet was completely still, just twinkling up at her.

She'd FOUND Luis de la Zarpana, the Borzoi dog Searcher who Blackshanks had sent into Void (by accident he said...)

"Yeeowowowowll..." came the funny yet familiar sound once again. Of course! It was the sound of a dog yawning! It was quite like the noise Wizzie made when he woke up from a long, long sleep - but his was more of a "Nyawwwllll..."

As Dot watched, a kind of pillow shape by her foot she could just make out started to move under the piles of tape. It was very slow, just like when you're trying to make yourself get out of bed on a Monday morning at the start of a school week in the winter term... but it was moving.

Then a long pointed head and one sleepy eye poked out from under the tape - with the biggest yawn so far, and the longest, pinkest tongue Dot had ever seen curling out and then going back into a smiling mouth.

"Buenos dias, senorita!" said Luis de la Zarpana. "I am... so sorry you see me... like zis... so sleepy..."

"Dot, Dot!" came Cursor's voice from the bracelet. "We're getting good news here - our scanner says you've found Luis!"

"Can you see him Dot? Can you? Oh PLEEEEEZE say you can!" That was Luis' best friend Louise D, sounding very happy, really excited and totally nervous all at the same time.

Dot smiled as she looked at her friends in the little TV picture shining from the bracelet onto her wrist. "He's here!" she said. "Now - how do I get him back? He's a very sleepy dog!"

"Zat is normal" said Adrienne through the bracelet picture. "Zat will not be better till we have him back in full Net Life - right now his power 'as gone down to nearly zero, because of Void! Zat is what it does! 'Orrible!

She shook her little squirrel head and went on. "Now, Dorothee, what you must do is to put your hand onto Luis' back, in the middle, and 'old it zere while you count to ten. Zat will give him enough power to come out of Void wiz you. But when you 'ave counted to ten, you MUST take your 'and away - immediatement!" Dot could see through the screen that Adrienne was looking very serious indeed now. "Straight away! Because if you leave it there longer, you will lose the NetForce you need to bring both of you back out of Void." Dot felt her heart go jump.

"BUT" said Adrienne in her strictest voice - Dot could see she was wagging her finger - "as you count to ten, you will begin to feel sleepy and warm and lazy, just like Luis does now. You will not WANT to take your hand away. You will begin to think you want to stay in Void. You MUST fight zis feeling Dorothee - do you understand?"

Dot took a deep breath. "OK!" she said. "Now?"

"Yes, now!" said Adrienne. "You 'ave only three pages of datastream time left. You must 'urry!"

Dot bent down and looked into Luis' eye. It was already half-closed - he was nearly asleep again. She slid her hand under the coils of brown magnetic tape till she could feel his back. She pressed her hand down, took a deep, deep breath - and started to count...

One, two, three... that was OK...

Four, five... getting a bit tired...

Six, seven... must be bedtime soon...

Seven, eight... it was so hard...

Nine... just need to rest a while, thought Dot...