Chapter 70 - Upside blackdown
Wa - HAYYYY!" went Ron.
"Oh do give over!" chuckled Deirdre.
The Mopples seemed to be enjoying what was happening to their van - but Dot wasn't so sure. In fact she wasn't sure at all!
It was now more or less standing on its back doors, held up by the huge wave of blackdown gunge that had come over it. You couldn't see anything still - the black shlurpy muck was still all round them - but you could certainly feel it! And hear it - the splooshing, shlurping noises were still going on. They made Dot feel a bit sick...
Wizzie whined in his most worried way.
" 'Ere - 'ave a bit of Yorkie!" said Ron. "Settle your stomach!"
"No thanks!" said Wiz. "This is too scary!"
"Too scary for chocolate?" laughed Ron. "Impossible! Nothing to worry about anyway!"
But just as he spoke, the van shuddered and twisted to one side - and then what Dot had been dreading happened - it flipped totally over on its back!
"AARGHH!!" went Dot. "BARK!" went Wizzie. "WOOPS!" went Deirdre. "You all right my loves..?"
Er... all right? thought Dot, trying not to panic, closing her eyes and taking VERRRY deep breaths. I mean, here I am upside down with Wiz in an old white van in the Search Zone sky which has been swallowed up by black gunge. I'm supposed to be helping my Dad with Munchenmeat Awards and instead I've crash-landed in a Search Engine, seen Wizzie turned inside out by a HORRIBLE Information Inverter, had to go into Void to rescue a Spanish Borzoi, got my search for Dad held up AGAIN by a ZITS overload on Adrienne's computer, and NOW I'm stuck in a Mopples van in the middle of a blackdown AND a HyperDataStorm! All right...? I mean... what...
"Oh... er... yes thank you Deirdre" she said. What else could she say!!
"Weee!" went Ron. "You'd have to pay to get a ride like this at the fair Dot wouldn't ya!"
"Mmm" went Dot. The funny thing was, though she was hanging by the double seat belt strap that held her in she didn't feel at all uncomfortable. And now the van was all upside down, it seemed to be moving much more smoothly as the blackdown swept on past it - there was no bobbing about or juddering any more, just a gentle movement from side to side, like one wave after another sweeping past.
And Wizzie, she suddenly noticed, had gone right off to sleep!
But there was another thing - why hadn't all the jumbly mess in the back of Rob's van fallen down onto the upside down roof of the van? She looked round and there it all was - just the way it had been when the van was the right way up!
Rob saw Dot looking back at the incredible mess of bubble wrap, pipes, wires, tools, old copies of the 'Daily Net' and used Mopple mops (and, she was sure, lots more!) behind her.
Which was all still in the same place. Not so much as a Yorkie wrapper had fallen down onto the inside of the roof of the Mopples' van - which was now, of course, the floor. If you see what I mean. Well, they're upside down aren't they? So the ceiling becomes the floor, and the floor becomes the - oh you've got it? All right, all right, no need to be like that about it! I mean, I'm only trying to help. Just wanted to be sure you'd understood, that's all.
"CAN WE PLEASE GET ON?" (Dot just popping out of the story for a moment to talk to me there.)
Yes yes of course Dot! You're the boss!
Ron laughed when he saw Dot's face. "Oh we never come out without a nice little force magnet or two! Holds all me jumble the right way up - or down, if you like!" he said. "Saves a terrible lot of clearing up if we get a blackdown or whatever!"
"Mmm, well, guess who gets to do it all if we don't fit a force magnet!" said Deirdre. "Not our Ronny boy, that's for sure!"
When Dot remembered all the chatting that was going on as they hung upside down in the middle of the horrible oily blackdown, she found it hard to believe that it had really happened at all... there they all were, swallowed up in the middle of a tidal wave of black gunge, going on about cleaning up a dirty old van.
But just then, she noticed a change. The black oily blackdown wasn't quite so black any more. First of all it was a deep grey... then a lighter grey... then suddenly she could see there was some light out there again... And then, looking through the windows it was like a rainy, misty morning in autumn. And a second later the Search Zone sky was its usual deep dark blue again, criss-crossed once more with the white, orange and gold shafts of light of the ZITS searchlights.
With a lurch and a bump that left Dot's tummy behind, the Mopples' van turned right over - right way up again at last! Dot heaved a sigh of relief. The strange orange light inside the van went out. Wiz woke up, looked round, gave his BIGGEST yawn and went back to sleep.
"There y'are!" said Ron. "No problemo!"
Oh yes there is, thought Dot with a shock, as she looked out of the side window of the Mopples' van.
Adrienne's Search Engine - which had been no more than a metre or two away from them when the blackdown started - had COMPLETELY disappeared.
And what was that funny squish-squelching noise she could hear?
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