The kidnapping story was planted by Commander Beckett in an unsuccessful attempt to draw the children out of hiding.
‘I was never kidnapped,’ Essie Wan confirmed. ‘Annalie and Will are my best friends in the whole world. You wouldn’t believe all the brave, heroic things they’ve done to keep us all safe while we were trying to get away from that monster, Beckett. And now that the nightmare’s over we just want to go back to living our normal lives.’
Annalie, Essie and Will cheered and high-fived each other.
‘You’re so brave and heroic,’ Will chortled.
‘No, you are,’ Annalie said.
‘No, you are,’ Essie said, giggling.
‘We’ve done some search optimisation to make sure that this story is always the first one that comes up,’ Everest said. ‘So from now on, the links won’t think that you’re kidnappers. Or a kidnap victim.’
‘That fixes our problem,’ Essie said. ‘But what about Spinner?’
‘We talked to the Admiralty,’ Everest said, ‘and they can’t see the point of pursuing Beckett’s personal vendettas any longer.’
Spinner looked surprised. ‘I don’t believe it,’ he said. ‘They’re never going to let something like this go.’
‘We put it to them that since some of the research has been recovered, and the rest has been irretrievably destroyed, the object of the investigation has been satisfied and the case can be closed.’
‘Beckett wanted to charge us all with treason,’ Spinner said. ‘You can’t just make that go away.’
‘You can if you properly motivate them,’ Everest Wan said with a smile. ‘Once we put it to the Admiralty that there were further embarrassing revelations which could be made public, about the Sundian affair and other events, they could see that it was in everyone’s interest to let the whole thing go.’
Annalie let out a gasp of delight, but Spinner was still resisting.
‘How do I know they mean it?’
‘We have a signed letter from the Director of Special Projects guaranteeing it.’ Everest handed the letter to Spinner. ‘It’s top secret and confidential, of course, and there’s a waiver you’ll have to sign. Plus, if you ever mention this agreement publicly or discuss it in any forum, they’ll deny all knowledge and the agreement will be void.’
Spinner began to read it, then looked up, rather dazed. ‘What about the others?’ he asked. ‘Vesh, Sola? Dan and Sujana?’
‘It applies to all of you,’ Everest said.
For a moment, no one said anything.
‘You’re free, Spinner,’ Will said, grabbing his arm. ‘You’re free!’
Then they all started whooping and laughing and dancing around—Annalie and Will, Pod and Blossom, Essie and her father and Graham.
‘Oh, and we’re looking at getting Pod and Blossom identity papers,’ Everest added. ‘Welcome to Dux.’
Pod and Blossom cried in delight and hugged each other even more fiercely.
‘I can’t believe it,’ Spinner said, dazed. ‘I don’t know how to thank you.’
‘That’s easy,’ Everest said seriously. ‘Never take my daughter away again.’
‘That wasn’t his fault!’ Will said, jumping to Spinner’s defence.
‘I made her come, nobody else did!’ Annalie said at the same.
‘It’s all right, I’m joking,’ Everest said. ‘Mostly joking.’
‘He’s joking,’ Essie said firmly. ‘Try and keep me away from these guys.’
‘Does this mean we can go home, then?’ Will asked, his eyes shining.
‘Yes,’ Spinner said, a slow smile spreading across his face. ‘I think it does.’
Home again
As soon as Spinner was recovered from his injuries, he, Will, Annalie, Pod, Blossom and Graham boarded the train to Port Fine. Thanks to Everest Wan, it was much nicer than the train Annalie and Essie had taken. It even had seats.
While Will, Pod and Blossom roamed up and down the carriages and bought snacks in the dining car, Annalie sat with Spinner, watching the landscape whisk by. She had had something on her mind since that last terrifying night in the Ark, but she hadn’t found the right moment to talk about it until now.
‘I’m sorry about your research,’ she said. ‘I should never have brought it with us. If I had any sense I would have hidden it somewhere Beckett couldn’t find it.’
‘Even if you had, Beckett would have got the truth out of you somehow, and it still would have fallen into his hands,’ Spinner said.
‘It just makes me so sad to think that all your work is gone forever,’ Annalie said. ‘When you tried so hard to keep it safe.’
Spinner was silent for a moment. Then he said, ‘Have you heard of the Stipple-backed Bandicoot?’
‘No,’ Annalie said.
‘They’re little burrowing animals that are native to Sundia. They dig huge networks of tunnels and they like living near humans, partly because we break the ground up and make it easier to dig, and partly because they like stealing our scraps and raiding our cupboards. The really interesting thing about them is they like to collect things.’
‘What sort of things?’
‘Blue things, shiny things, metal, plastic. They take them away to decorate their nests underground.’
‘Okay,’ Annalie said, wondering what this had to do with anything.
‘The Ark has quite a large population of Stipple-backed Bandicoots. They moved in while the Ark was being excavated and they’ve been living there ever since. The staff don’t mind having them around—I think some of them quite like it, although they’ve had to devise systems to stop the bandicoots damaging the collections and breaking into the servers to steal the blue wires.’ He paused. ‘There was another copy of every piece of research. I collected a copy from each of the others and took them to the Ark. We thought hiding them in the Ark’s network would keep them safe. You saw how that worked out. So it’s lucky we had a back-up plan.’ Spinner paused. ‘Those memory chips have a blue casing and a little shiny metal bit in the middle of them, which makes them irresistible to bandicoots.’
Annalie looked at Spinner disbelievingly. ‘You didn’t…?’
‘I took the chips to different bandicoot holes and left them enticingly where they’d easily be
