…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

Dot watched her friends on their way - to success in InterNetRap (though of course she didn't know that just then!) Then she turned back to Adrienne.

"Can we help my dad now please?" she said. "He's so worried about these Munchenmeat awards - if he doesn't get it right he could lose his job. Mr Elms is SO strict! And then we wouldn't have any money... and we might have to leave our house... and we'd have to sell Wilhelmina our car... and how would we pay for Wizzie to have the food he needs and his visits to the vet... and... "

Dot suddenly felt her mouth trembling as she spoke. She bit her lip, she wasn't going to cry. She wasn't! She felt guilty though - she suddenly felt she'd spent so much time helping everybody else that she'd almost forgotten about her dad... but of course this was Internet time, so no time at all had passed at home. But still...

"Don't worry about me!" said Wizard, putting his paws up on Dot again, and looking up at her with his big brown eyes, his feathery tail wagging so hard you could hardly see it, it was just a blur. Dot could feel his little claws through her jeans - it was kind of scratchy but nice too, It reminded her of what a good friend Wizzie was to her.

Adrienne hopped down from her search engine and came over to her. She smiled in her kindest way, her tufty little squirrelly ears standing straight up on top of her furry red head.

"Now Dorothee" she said kindly, laying a soft paw on her hand. "You know, I will NEVER let you down... or my ver' good friend Samson ze Server. Your papa will be A-OK, this is my promise! And when Adrienne makes her promise - she keeps it!"

"Yeah sure" said Mr Mouse. "So - what'cha gonna do to help this kid then?"

"A-ha!" said Adrienne. "Just you wait! We are going to do a LEVEL 9 SEARCH!"

"A Level 9?" said Mr Mouse, scratching his head doubtfully. "It's the best for sure, but it means..."

"Oh sure, I know" said Adrienne quickly. "It means using a trillion megabytes. And I know what you are thinking - can she fit all zat information in her search engine without a BEEG system crash? Well, eet is all in ze timing. If I can get all that Dorothee's papa needs and 'old it for a micro-second, zen I can compress eet and - "

"Wait a minute, just a minute!" said Dot, her head whirling. "How do you mean, "compress"?"

"Well" said Adrienne "It's like you know when your mama asks you to tidy up your room?"

Dot nodded. She did - very well! (AND, she remembered, she'd promised to do just that before she came on this net-voyage. Oh well... there'd be time when they all got back... but when would they all get back?)

"OK, so" Adrienne went on. "You try to fit stuff in your drawer but it's too full. But zat can be because eet ees not tidy. IF you fold up all the clothes you are trying to put away, fold them up properly I mean, zen zey will all fit in ze drawer. Sometimes with extra room to spare, too. Ze same number of socks and vests and all zose things are there BUT zey are taking up less space because they are folded up - 'ow do you say? - neatly. Comprenez?" (which means, do you understand? You say, "Comprennay" by the way!)

Mr Mouse chuckled. "No good asking this kid about that" he said, digging Dot in the side of her neck with his elbow (he was back in his favourite position standing on her shoulder, nice and close to where he could disappear under the collar of her T-shirt if there was any danger.) "Lost count of the number of times her Mom's asked why she don't store her socks and stuff in her drawer and NOT on the floor!"

Dot went red. "Do you MIND Mr Mouse!" she said, spluttering. "That's meant to be PRIVATE!"

Adrienne giggled. "Never mind!" she said. "Anyway, compression in computer information is a little bit like that... it means finding more space for information by organizing it in a different way, a more clever way. Just like your clothes in ze drawer Dot! So, I think if I do that I can fit all the information we need for your papa even if I use a Level 9 - and, as Meestair Mouse says, it is ze best way."

She stopped, and frowned. "En effet" (which is French for "in fact") "I zink it is ze only way... because zis information you need to find ees vair' old, now. A year old, at least..."

Dot looked up at the dark blue of the Search Zone sky, still full of the search engines going backwards and forwards looking for information. All around her sparkled the little multi-coloured lights on the zone floor, changing to red whenever they beamed up what the engines were looking for.

Dot moved her foot away from a little pink search light right next to her, in case she was blocking a search again. To help her think, she scratched Wiz behind his ear and he gave one of those "That's nice!" yawns that dogs do.

It was such a lot to have to understand, Dot thought. And now she was going to have to make another big decision. Should they take a chance on this Level 9?

"But... I mean... a trillion megabytes - it's such a lot!" she said. "If your... your "compression" doesn't fit all this information in your search engine like you think it will Adrienne... what then?"

Mr Mouse craned his neck round to look Dot in the eye. "You really wanna know?" he went.

"Er... yes..." replied Dot.

"Well BOOM!" went Mr Mouse. "You're toast!"