“Now look here, Trinth” said Walpurgis “It was an honest mistake! The kind anyone could make! I mean, if I read every single one of those e-messages you Zonemasters keep sending out, I'd never get anything done!”

It really wasn't the most tactful reply, Dot thought. Apart from telling Nascarbalone Trinth that his peaked cap was too big and he looked like an eagle who'd suddenly found himself sitting on something uncomfortable, she couldn't think of anything more likely to make the Zonemaster even harder to deal with than he already was.

And so it proved.

“In VIEW” Nascarbalone said “In VIEW of your improper arrival” (Lucia made another little quiver, which had Fromage grabbing at Dot's left-hand bang, ouch! Mice may be small, but they can give your hair a REAL pull!) “I shall set the Tzone Trial at LEVEL FOUR!”

“Now look what you've done!” hissed Eldenbeam at Walpurgis. “NO-ONE has ever won a Level Four! We're sunk! Doomed! Finished before we've even started! We're - ”

“Level Four?” said Carmeramalita sweetly, looking up at Nascarbalone Trinth as if he were the most intelligent, the kindest, and best-looking Net-person she had ever met “Well, that will be difficult! But we can only do our best!”

Dot was surprised to see the dreaded Zonemaster blush - well, a kind of pink glow briefly appeared around the feathers on his bigbig chest.

“Ah-ha!” whispered Fromage “Even zis Trinth has a little eye for ze ladies!”

“Well, mmm, yes” grumped the Zonemaster, fluffing out his feathers and shaking his head (his silly peaked cap STILL stayed in the middle!) “But... rules are rules... got to follow the right procedures... can't cut any corners... it's all in the TZ Rulebook... ”

“Of COURSE” said Carmeramalita, still gazing up at him as he floated above her - well hopped about actually... he really should have taken her suggestion about a better accelerator input programme. “You're only doing your job, after all!”

“Harrumphle!” said Trinth - still clearly dazed by Carmeramalita's deep brown eyes. With a little shake of his beaky head, he turned back to Walpurgis.

“Are you READY” he said in his grindy voice “Are you READY for the Total Tzone Trial?”

“Oh - all right!” grumped Walpurgis. “Let's get on with it!”

ZIVOOOOSHHHH!

To Dot's amazement, swooping down from above them, high in the Tzone entry plateau, came a desk - just like the ones you see on quiz shows. It had four chairs behind it, and little wings at each end, whirring up and down as it flew towards them.

With a shimmying kind of shudder, the desk stopped just in front of Nascarbalone's Picboat. Then, as if they knew exactly what to do, Walpurgis, Katzilow, Hombellyton and Carmeramalita, their arms pressed to their sides, rose up out of Lucia the Tracboat and flew into the chairs behind the desk.

Eldenbeam stayed where he was. “Silly rule, only four for a Total Tzone Trial!” Dot heard him mutter. “They haven't got a chance without me!”

Question one was meant to be the easy one.

“What level is a Tzone Entry Permit set at?” asked Nascarbalone, in his grindy voice.

“Oh that's easy!” said Walpurgis. “42!”

“WRONG!” said the Zonemaster. “43!”

Next question...

“If I say” ground out the Zonemaster “that Tzone entry requires Special Conduct, what do I mean?”

“Well” replied Walpurgis “It means... ummm... it means... ”

“You may discuss!” said Nascarbalone.

There was a lot of whispering and shushing on the TricTrucTrackers' panel, then Walpurgis spoke up.

“It means” he said, his voice trembling slightly “It means... that Outstanding Standards Are The Basic Requirement.”

“WRONG!” said Nascarbalone. “It means Standards Outstanding Are The Basic Requirement.”

“Oh come ON!” said Katzilow. “That means EXACTLY the same thing!”

“As may be” said Nascarbalone. “But to pass this test, you must know the rules OFF - BY - HEART, and COMPLETELY CORRECTLY!"

And so it went on. After twenty questions, the TricTrucTracker panel had only got one right - something from the Tzone Rulebook about Downloading Duties, a wild guess from Carmeramalita which happened to be the right answer.

“So... ” said Nascarbalone Trinth. “With 20 questions asked, I have received ONE correct answer.” He paused, and snapped shut the little computer he'd been reading the questions from.

“You have FAILED the Tzone Trial” he said. A gleam came into his glittering black eyes. “So - according to my powers, I declare you are ENTRY DENIED!”

The TricTrucTrackers slumped in their seats behind the quiz desk. Even the calm and strong Carmeramalita seemed defeated. But after just a moment she looked up - and straight at Dot.

Then she spoke - still looking into Dot's eyes.

“By the privileges of InterFriendNet” she said in a strong, clear voice. “I would like to SUMMON ONE FRIEND!”