…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

Chapter 49 - Goodbye Void, at LAST!

Only five data lines left... Dot felt herself go hot and cold all over. Only five... she knew how fast they could run out on a computer. And when they did, she wouldn't be a neophyte any more - she wouldn't have the power as a newcomer to Net World which meant she could go into Void and come out again.

And save Luis! The Borzoi looked up her with his big gorgeous eyes. She couldn't let him down now!

"I'm a-gonna be 'ere forever now!" sobbed the little doll in her hand.

"No - no - no we won't!" said Dot fiercely. "Adrienne - quick - what do I have to do?"

"OK Dorothee" replied Adrienne, her voice still sounding scared as it came through the little loudspeaker on Dot's bracelet. "First you must put your 'ands together wiz ze fingers between each other - and then push your arms as far away in front of you as you can. Good, just so. Now - empty your mind again - zink of nothing! Nothing at all! Do it NOW!"

I can do this thought Dot. I CAN do this! She pushed her hands out in front of her till her arms ached - closed her eyes and thought of Fred's white painted wall at school.

"Bon, très bon!" said Adrienne. "Very good! I am getting a nul reading 'ere! Hold zat Dorothee! 'Old it!"

Dot concentrated fiercely. She made herself think more and more about the wall - she could see all the bricks, one by one, even the one with a little chip on the corner near the bottom...

"Non, non Dorothee!" came Adrienne's voice again. "Too much! Just be BLANK! Only 3 data lines left now!"

Dot took a deep breath and screwed up her eyes even harder. (Well it's not easy thinking about nothing! You just try it for a second or two... see? Well then!)

"OK good now!" said Adrienne. "Now - fill your mind with a picture of Luis! Do it now!"

"Hey! What abouta me?" said the little doll, wriggling about in Dot's hand. "PLEEEASE! You gotta help!

"Non non Dorothee I do not zink you 'ave ze power!" came Adrienne's voice, sounding more worried than ever. "It ees too risky, to try to Void-rescue two Netpeople at ze same time! No-one 'as ever done eet! Only two data lines left now!"

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!! Oh PLEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!!"

Dot hesitated. She had a lovely picture of Luis all ready in her mind - and then suddenly, an image of the doll and his big droopy moustache popped up, sitting on the Borzoi's silky back, just behind the Searcher's long pointed head. She just had to help the little Net-creature, whatever the risk!

"No Adrienne!" she said, surprised at herself. "We're all coming!"

"Oh - ZUT!" went the little red squirrel. "Very well! Password 'Cayenne' - logged in! Switching off - NOW!!"

"SCREEEEEEEYOWWWLLL!"

Again came the horrible noise of Void - the right way round this time - as Adrienne shut down the power on her Search Engine without logging off first. Very bad for it!

Dot kept her eyes squeezed shut, looking looking looking at the picture in her mind of Luis de la Zarpana with the little doll riding on the Borzoi's back. She knew she mustn't stop seeing that picture for a single second or none of them would ever get out of Void with its disgusting smell and its endless rain of grey dust and its soft, muffled silence and its wrecked and abandoned computer hardware and software.

Then, suddenly, she felt a soft shuddering and, once again, the peeling feeling all over her skin just like when you take sticky tape off your fingers.

On and on went the horrible SCREEEEEEEYOWWWLLL noise.

She felt a sort of sucking, a sort of sliding, a giddy tumbling. STILL she kept her eyes shut, fiercely looking at the picture of Luis in her mind, smiling up at her with his Borzoi face.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the horrible SCREEEEEEEYOWWWLLL noise stopped completely. So did the sucking, peeling, shuddering tumbling feeling. The musty, clammy smell of Void had gone too, and she felt a cool breeze on her cheeks.

Slowly... as slowly as she could... Dot opened her eyes...