…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

ZIIIIIIISH!

Adrienne's search engine rose gently off the floor of the Search Zone. Dot clicked her seat belt in place and put her arm round Wizzie - who had his own special King Charles Spaniel type set belt. How did Adrienne know about doing that for him, thought Dot. Oh well... the magic of the Internet again!

Mr Mouse made himself comfortable under the collar of her T-shirt, tucking himself in with a tickly scritch-scratching on Dot's shoulder. But not for long!

As the little red search engine rose higher, turning slowly to the left, Adrienne glanced back. She shook her head and wagged a little red squirrel paw at Canada's coolest rodent.

"Tut, Monsieur Souris!" she said with a smile. "You must be in your own seat with your belt on, s'il vous plait!"

"Aw c'mon!" said Mr Mouse. "It's warm and comfy up here - I ain't gonna fall out, no way!"

"Not if I do something like zis?" said Adrienne, tapping sharply on the 'Esc' button of her purple keyboard.

The search engine lurched sharply to the right, then came back again. Mr Mouse let out a squeak. "OK, OK!" he said. "I get it! Gimme a moment!" He scrambled down Dot's arm and hopped onto his own seat, clicking his seat belt on, muttering to himself.

"Ca va!" (which means "OK!") said Adrienne. "Let us go to our search area!" She tapped her keyboard. "M for Munchenmeat!"

Now began one of the most fantastic flights of Dot's life as an Internet voyager. The Search Zone sky was its usual deep dark blue, criss-crossed with white, orange and gold shafts of light like searchlights. It seemed to stretch away for ever into the distance - and everywhere she looked, there were search engines - each one seeming to be in a weirder shape than the last.

There were search engines shaped like the rockets in 'Thunderbirds', the old TV puppet show... or like old racing cars, with big big bonnets and huge steering wheels (one of the drivers even wore an old-fashioned flying helmet and a silk scarf)... or like fighter planes from war movies... or like helicopters with big whirling rotors.

Then there were the really wild ones, which were nothing like planes or cars or trains. There was one shaped like a giant seagull, being flown by a guinea pig wearing a motorcyclist's helmet. He waved at them and went "Ola Adrienne!" as he zoomed past.

There was one that looked exactly like the rather out-of-date mobile phone used by Dot's dad (she was always teasing him about it, but he always said he knew how it worked and couldn't be bothered to learn all the fiddly bits on a new one!) The Searcher in that one - a Shetland Pony - sat in a tiny cockpit in the middle of where the phone "keys" were. He had a hands-free earpiece in each ear and was talking into a microphone as he went past. On the side of the "phone" was a long number and the words "PHONE ME!" Dot waved at him but he was too busy talking to wave back. Adrienne laughed above the gentle hissing sound of her Search engine. "That's Neil - they call him Voicemale!" she said. "Phone him? You can never get through, he's always on his mobile!"

What surprised Dot was how many of the search engines were shaped like things to eat. There was one big yellow one shaped like a banana, with its pilot - a parrot with a red and blue and gold head, and a big curved beak - sitting in a cockpit in the middle of the curve of the "fruit". There was one which looked exactly like a huge triple cheeseburger - at first Dot couldn't see the pilot, but then she noticed a long, narrow window in the middle where the second burger should be, and saw the friendly eyes of a golden retriever looking out at her. As it flew past she saw it even had a bag of French fries attached to the back, with a couple of sachets of spicy sauce sticking out of the top. All make-believe of course - the search engines seemed to be made out of some kind of strong, light metal with extra bits on them made out of a special plastic.

Finally there was one shaped like a giant pizza covered in pepperoni, with its pilot sitting right in the middle. He gave them a big thumbs-up as he passed, grinning all over his face (that one was a chimpanzee!)

But however different they were, when they were in search mode all the engines had the same little stubby wings sticking out at each side, with the bright red lights underneath sparkling as they looked for what they'd been asked to find.

The strange thing was, no matter how close the search engines flew to each other, they never crashed. Again and again Dot felt her heart jump as they seemed certain to hit another search engine - but every time the approaching engine missed them, curving gently away without anyone seeming to do anything. Wizzie had got so used to it he never even gave his warning bark any more - just a little "Woof" as each search engine passed. Mr Mouse seemed to be asleep! Still Dot couldn't help jumping again, as a search engine shaped like a carrot went flying past.

Looking in her rear view mirror, Adrienne smiled. "Eet ees OK Dot. Every machine must have Negative Collision Capability - it means we cannot hit each other. If we do not have this loaded on our computers, our search engines cannot even take off!"

Suddenly a signal came out of the loudspeaker by the screen in front of Adrienne - the purple one. A soft woman's voice spoke. "Data Zone - located. Data Zone - located", over and over again.

"Ah, bon!" said Adrienne. "Ver' good! We are 'ere! Now we can go to work!"