…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

" 'Ere we go!" said Deirdre the Mopple.

And not a moment too soon! The horrible slimy black band of unwanted ZITS data, coiling round and round inside the bucket, was starting to come outside the ORF bucket, just as Dot had feared. It looked like it was going to go completely out of control. And as well as the smell, there was a hot wind coming off it - like the heat you get when you open a tumble dryer in the launderette or at home. Only worse than that - Dot could feel the sweat coming on her forehead straight away. It was getting noisier too - the grinding noise was getting louder and louder. Wizzie barked again, angrily - his special "Rowff Rowff!" bark that meant, "Get away from us! RIGHT now!" Dot held him back, with her hand firmly on his collar - she could feel him growling and grumbling to himself, which usually meant one thing: he was about to attack, to protect her!

But neither Dot nor Wizzie had anything to worry about...

"We're OFF!" went Deirdre. With an expert flick, she spun her old fashioned mop so that it started to turn round and round like an aircraft's propeller, It went so fast it kind of blurred as it turned, tucked away under her big strong wings. It was impossible to see how she did it - but soon it was going round so fast, that all Dot could see of the old fashioned mop head with its long grey stringy bits was a silvery blur.

Then Deirdre plunged the mop straight into the middle of the black oily stream of ZITS data now spiralling out of her ORF!

Dot gasped. The black band of mucky, useless information coiling towards Deirdre looked strong enough now to knock her off her feet - but the Mopple seemed totally relaxed. So was Ron. He'd settled down in the corner of Adrienne's cockpit with a cup of tea from a Thermos flask he'd got out of his work bag, a big thick ham sandwich, and his paper, the 'Daily Net'. 'SEARCHER GOES A BYTE TOO FAR' read the big headline on the front. Catching Dot's eye, he gave her a wink. "Got to keep me strength up!" he said in a loud voice, over the "zeeoowwwwng" noise of the ZITS data.

And now something magic was happening to the horrid-smelling coil of ZITS coming out of the bucket - sorry Deirdre, Overload Reclamation Facility! As the string of mucky black "leaves" hit Deirdre's spinning mop head, it instantly turned into a kind of ball of foam like washing up liquid - sparkling and clean. It smelt nice too - kind of clean and spicey. The foam ball got bigger and bigger as Deirdre neatly moved the mop to catch the black gunge as it snaked out of the ORF. First it was the size of a football... then it was the size of a basketball... then a beach ball... then it was as big as the old fashioned globe of the world that stood in the corner of the Coms' local library! And STILL it kept growing! And STILL the black data was pouring into the bucket through Ron's pipe, before coming out and heading straight for Deirdre! WHAT would happen next??

What happened was a huge sneeze from Ron (luckily he'd just finished his latest mouthful of ham sandwich!) "AH - CATTA -TA - TISHOOOO!" he went. Dot felt Mr Mouse jump under her T-shirt and mutter to himself - he'd obviously gone to sleep, as usual. Adrienne jumped too, then sighed and turned the page of her magazine, still doing her best to look very cool, calm and collected.

"Gesundheit!" went Deirdre (which means "Good health!" in German), still holding firmly onto her mop - the foam ball was now almost as big as her, drooping over the side of the Search engine but still stuck firmly to her mop head.

"Arsenal!" replied Ron with a grin, mopping his nose with a red and white spotted hankie. "Always gets me that stuff, when you're moppin'!" (and it was true - the clean, spicey smell had grown stronger.) "Can't we reclaim Dezza?"

"Oh all right Ron seein' as it's you! Think it's nearly all there!" said Deirdre, still twisting the mop as it spun beneath her wings. Not the tiniest bit of the black ZITS muck had got past her.

" 'Old still then!" said Ron, wiping his paws and picking up the remote little control he'd used to open up the ORF. Very carefully, he pointed it at the end of Deirdre's mop handle, sticking out from under her right wing. "Reclaiming!" he said, and pressed a big silver button. Immediately the blue bucket shut again, with the black sticky leaves still coming into it down the curly pipe - but was it just...? Yes you could see, it was coming much more slowly now, as if it was all used up.

But what happened next made Dot rub her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Deirdre's mop head now had a ball of the "washing-up foam" on it that was so big that some of it was hanging down over the side of Adrienne's search engine - just like when your mum hangs a duvet out of the window to let it "get some air". But immediately after Ron pressed the button on his control, the mop head stopped spinning one way - and started spinning the other. Immediately, the ball of foam began to shrink, getting smaller and smaller until you could see the grey stringy bits of the mop again. Then they too started to turn inwards, into the top of the long handle Deirdre was still holding - till suddenly, all that was left was a neat little knot. It reminded Dot of one of the sailor's knots Fred the schoolkeeper at her school had showed them all one day (he'd been in the Royal Navy before he came to St Mary's.)

"Nice one Dezza!" said Ron, and pressed the silver button on his remote control again, taking a last bite out of his big ham sandwich as he did so.

There was a clatter, and a little tube fell on the floor of Adrienne's cockpit and rolled about, making a tinkling noise. Deirdre looked at the end of her mop. "Come off nice and clean!" she said, and Dot could see that the mop handle had a shiny new end - the little tube was the old end of it, and it had dropped off it when Ron pressed the button on his remote control. Deirdre picked it up and gave it to Adrienne. "There you are dear" she said. "All that nasty stuff safely tucked away. Do what you like with it - your computer's nearly all clear of those nasty ZITS now!"

"Merci beaucoup, thanks very much" mumbled Adrienne - getting up off the floor of her cockpit where she'd disappeared after "dropping" something when the big foam ball was hanging over the side of her search engine. She was obviously still REALLY embarrassed in case one of her Searcher friends saw she'd needed to be rescued by the Mopples. It seemed a bit hard, Dot thought - Ron and Deirdre were so nice!

Ron laughed and shook his head. "Don't you worry, Frenchy girl" he said. He took a last drink from his mug of tea and then peered down at the ORF, which had settled down again and was just humming gently.

"Oh yuss!" he said. "Sorted!"