It was completely quiet in Dot's bedroom. The three friends were all thinking about what had happened to Gerald the Gerbil. Then Wizzie got up and started walking up and down, his tail tucked down between his legs.

Then he barked - his short "ruff-ruff!" bark that means he's cross (whatever you do, don't mess around with him when you hear that sound!)

"How dare he!" he said, very angrily. "Gerald was doing his best! How DARE he just DELETE him like that!"

" 'Cos he's Brian Mallow, is why!" said Mr Mouse. "An' it's his show, and he can do what he likes! He used to have two other judges with him, but they got so fed up with him being so arrogant and all, they left. That's when he changed his name, wanted to get a new image, he said. He used to call himself Myron Powell - said he thought Brian Mallow sounded more net-friendly. Ha ha!"

Myron Powell... Myron Powell... that was the name I was thinking of, said Dot to herself. SURE I've heard it somewhere before...

"So - is Gerald dead then?" asked Wiz.

"Na na, he just got erased off Rodent Roundup" said Mr Mouse, shaking his head, "But it's still bad news - takes you ages to get back on line when you've been booted out like that, and there's always a risk that you'll pick up a virus, or even end up in Void!"*

"What happened next?" asked Dot.

"Oh well, things started to speed up" said Mr Mouse. "AND get even worse! After poor old Gerry, everyone was more nervous than ever. Next up, the humming bird picks Fionula the Flying Fox to go on the Stage of Stardom. Hadda kind of act where she really looks like she can fly - dunno HOW she does it. She has this kinda stage on top of a ladder, an' she goes up there and just goes off into space. Well it was HOPELESS!"

He shook his head again. "First of all the ladder wouldn't stay up - kept wobblin' around. Thought she'd NEVER make it up there. Then, once she was up, she got stage fright - couldn't jump off! THEN, when she did, she just kind of hovered in the air and SPLAT! Straight down on her front!"

"And... ?" said Dot.

"Big blue flash! Gone!"

Wizzie growled.

"Then it was this boy band - Hamster Heaven... they all fell over each other in their dance routine and got an attack of the giggles - big blue flash! A guy called Love Rat - tries to sing this love song but kept tripping over this big gold chain round his neck and his backing music machine wouldn't work - big blue flash! Rollo the Magical Meerkat - oh boy! Sawed his lovely helper in half and couldn't figure out how to put her back together again -BBF! And as for Fantasticon, the strongest guinea pig in Networld - forget it! Strained his back just bending over to pick up his weights!"

It was naughty, but by now Dot was trying not to laugh. It did sound funny, the way Mr Mouse was talking about it. She sucked her cheeks in and just managed not to giggle. "BBF?" she said.

"Yeah, BBF - big blue flash! Biggest yet!"

"Well didn't anyone do any good?" asked Wizzie. He still looked cross about all the deleting that Brian Mallow had done.

"Oh yeah" said Mr Mouse. "A few. And Cousin Esure was so cool - he did this great act driving this crazy car - it came out of a computer mouse and he drove it on two wheels, he parked it in a tiny space only two inches bigger than the car, he even flipped it totally over in a loop and made it land on its wheels, right way up!"

"So what happened then?" asked Dot.

"Well there was this big pause" said Mr Mouse. "Then up comes the Mallow voice again, an' it goes" - he puffed his little mouse chest out again - "COUSIN ESURE! WELCOME TO THE RODENT ROUNDUP HALL OF FAME!" And next thing there's a big GOLD flash, and Cousin Esure's up there sitting in his own a little flying saucer next to Mallow! I was so proud!"

He stopped and gulped.

"But then... the humming bird's flying again - and this time he really is coming for ME!"


* 'Void' - see 'Dot's First Adventure', Chapters 41 to 50.