…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

Squish-squelch... squish-squelch...

"Er... Ronny... " went Deirdre.

"Yeah I know I can hear it too" said Ron. "Just let the little beggar settle a bit... what a BLOOMING nuisance!"

Dot giggled. It was exactly what Fred, the schoolkeeper at her school, always used to say when things were getting a bit too much for him to deal with. Ron even sounded a bit like Fred!

But then she remembered that Adrienne's search engine had vanished - gone completely. She peered out of the side window again, but there was no sign of it as far as she could see. And you could see a long way now - all the light had returned to the Search Zone sky as the blackdown had passed.

Like storms in the real world it had left the sky clearer than before, with a kind of sparkle. Only, the sky wasn't its usual dark blue - it was now a very pale blue, a pretty kind of baby-clothes colour but totally different from the way it had been before.

There was another big change - quite apart from the disappearance of Adrienne's shiny red steam train, there were no other search engines in any shape to be seen anywhere. Even the ZITS searchlights had stopped sweeping the sky.

"Where are we Deirdre?" asked Dot. "And what's happened to Adrienne?"

"Well it's like this dearie" said Deirdre, undoing her seat belt now the van was the right way up and just bobbing gently in the sky again. They were still a long way up - the search zone floor looked just as far below them as ever to Dot. "After a blackdown everyone gets flung all over the place - we're all pushed right out into cyber-space, so to speak. Miles away from each other. What we have to do is stick right where we are and wait for a Locator Code. That'll tell us where we are and where and then we can all get ourselves sorted out again, so to speak."

"What about Adrienne though?" said Dot. "And Mr Mouse?"

"Oh they'll be all right" said Ron. "Nice little ship that search engine of hers! Could do with a lick o' paint, mind, after that crash you had."

Squish-squelch... squish-squelch...

Wizzie growled and the hairs on the back of his neck kind of stood up. "Something bad in here Dot!" he went, sniffing about. "I'll sort him out!"

"Well now that would be handy" said Ron, unclipping Wizzie's seat belt. "Go get him!"

"Wait a minute Ron!" said Dot. "What is Wiz supposed to be going to get?"

"Oops sorry, done it again" laughed Ron. "Deirdre 'n me, we're so flippin' used to all the stuff that goes on we forget to tell anyone who's new to it what's what! " He jerked his big bulldog paw back towards where the blackdown had gone - in fact Dot could just still see it as she looked out of the back windows of the Mopples' van, over the top of the mound of jumble in the back. She could just make out a dirty black smudge far, far away - but even as she watched it vanished and all that was left was the Search Zone sky - which, she also noticed, was slowly going back to its usual dark blue colour.

"It's a jiminy!" said Ron, as if that explained everything. "That's all! No problemo really - jus' a bit hard to find! Which is where ol' Wizzie here comes in."

"I'll get him!" said Wiz. His tail was swishing along the seat where he was seating, and his eyes looked fierce. Dot cod see he was in his hunting mood (which usually meant chasing pigeons and never catching them!)

"WHAT" said Dot "is a jiminy?"

"Something we wouldn't have if our Ronny here had got our van fixed up proper, that's what!" said Deirdre in her very strictest voice. "Told you that lot were no good, but would you listen? Oh no not you!"

"YES BUT WHAT IS IT?" went Dot in her loudest voice. She didn't want to be rude, but grrrrr!

"Ah right" went Ron. "Sorry old thing! Well it's a little bit of the blackdown left over... and we gotta find it 'cos if it gets into any of our stuff it'll mess us up good an' proper - it's like a virus, see, only it can move about on its own and before you know it it'll be in Deirdre's ORF or one of my extraction pipes and then into someone's computer system. Then what!"

Squish-squelch... squish-squelch...

"See - there it goes again!" said Ron, starting to look worried. "Must have got in through a crack in our shielding somewhere 'cos that lot at Engine Heaven Repairs didn't do their job properly last time I had the old bus serviced. It will get in, that blackdown stuff, if you don't get your shielding all tickety-boo. Lucky we had the re-seal option as well though - 'cos that means the shielding can tell if a bit's got through and it just seals the gap up - bit like your skin healing when you've got a cut, only very very quick!"

"Give 'em a piece of my mind next time I see 'em, that's what!" said Deirdre.

"Yes well looks like you were right Dezza" said Ron. "Should have listened to ya! Now what do you say we get ol' Wiz on the case - he'll find that jiminy in half a jiffy!"

But Wiz didn't wait to be asked! With an excited bark and a snarl he jumped up - and started digging, deep down into the middle of the huge pile of jumble in the back of the Mopples' van!