…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

"Prrrrpp!"

It was the squidglet! Dot jumped as she realized she'd forgotten all about him. But where was he? The sound was kind of muffled. He seemed to have slipped out of her hand without her noticing. She started to panic - she's been the one who asked for him not to be defragmented, and now... if he'd got away... oh NO!!

"Prrrpp!" came the sound again. Where on earth WAS he??

"Oh, woken up have we" chuckled Deirdre. "Enough to make anyone sit up and take notice that is!"

"What is?" said Wizzie.

"THAT voice" said Ron, waving at a sleek black Mopple van driven by a seagull with a balaclava helmet on, "was Old Hieronymus, our Head Mopple! The main man! Our chief! And now we're going to have a gathering! Nice one! We'll just hold on 'ere for a bit, till it starts!" He tapped the left-hand screen in front of him and the Mopple van stopped moving, rocking gently as other vans passing them turned and came to a stop too.

"But where..." went Dot.

"Can't wait to see Old H. again!" said Deirdre, brushing her golden-brown feathers down so that lay neatly along her wings and by her owly beak. "No-one could ask for a better leader, that's what I always say."

"The squidglet..." tried Dot again

"AND it'll be some party!" said Ron, paying no attention as usual. (Don't you HATE it when people do that, even if they're nice... specially grown-ups... yakking on about stuff and NOT LISTENING TO YOU! GRRRRR!)

"Ooh yes" said Deirdre. "Lots of nice things to eat and we can all meet up and have a chat together, 'cos you see most of the time - "

"WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE SQUIDGLET!!!" roared Dot.

"Oh!" said Deirdre. "Sorry my dear we were off on one again weren't we! He's in 'ere, look!"

And she pushed a little catch in front of her on the dashboard of the Mopple van. A flap dropped down and a light came on inside. And there was the squidglet!

When he saw Dot he went "Prrrp!" again - it was a funny sound a bit like a baby bird chirping but louder and longer. His big green eyes were wide open and he seemed to be grinning at Dot, with his bright red lips in the middle of the silky fur that covered his body. When he saw her he closed one eye in a big slow wink. But he didn't seem to want to move.

"Nice and comfy, he is" said Deirdre. "Knows when he's well off!"

Dot reached out to the squidglet - she just felt like holding him for a moment he was so soft and warm - but Wizzie didn't like the idea. "Er - Dot..." he said "I wouldn't - "

FZZZZTT! Ouch! Dot snatched her hand back and tucked it under her arm. "What was that!" she gasped. It had felt like the time she'd touched some wires sticking out from a light switch when her Dad was doing some DIY round the house. It was the first time she'd had an electric shock and she hadn't liked it... this time it wasn't so bad but she still didn't like it!

"Doesn't want to move, just now" said Deirdre. "They can do that, those squidglets, if they feel like it! Funny thing is you can never tell when they're going to."

"How did you know Wiz?" asked Dot, rubbing her hand. It was getting better.

"Oh er I just kind of thought he might" said Wizzie. (Animals are like that. They can kind of tell when things are going to happen sometimes.) He looked up at Dot with his big brown eyes. "Sorry Dot!"

Dot rubbed her hand again. "Wonder why he didn't do that to you when you were holding him - or when you were chasing him!" she said. Wiz might have told her, she thought.

Wizzie looked sheepish - or hangdog if you like, I mean how can a dog look like a sheep, doh! Anyway what that means is looking embarrassed 'cos you've messed something up - or, like Wiz, failed to catch a ball of black fur after chasing it for miles. "Oh... well... I never got close enough..." he muttered.

"Pppp - prrrp?" went the squidglet. It sounded a bit like he was trying to say sorry. But he still wasn't going to move! He gave Dot another one of his winks.

"TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TAAAAAAAA!"

It was a kind of trumpet sound. It made Dot and Wiz jump, but Ron and Deirdre just smiled. "Now then!" said Ron. "Watch this!"

As Dot watched the Mopple vans started to move. They'd all been just hanging still in the sky - hundreds of them - in any old order. But now, they were all moving - like someone putting out playing cards round a table. And they were moving in a special way. What was strange was that Ron wasn't touching anything - the van was flying on its own. But it seemed to know where it was going, because as Dot and Wizzie watched, they could see that all the vans were lining up in circles, well half circles really - one inside the other.

It was like one of those drawings they use in the theatre or the cinema to show you where your seat's going to be when you buy your tickets. It all looked very jumbly at first, but soon all the vans and the search engines that had come to help were neatly sorted out, curved round in rows - Dot could see Adrienne's steam engine, far away to the left of them. They were all pointing the same way, as if they were waiting for a show to start.

And then, it did!