Wren awoke with a shudder. Her processor felt as if it were stuffed with cotton. Programs slowly came to life, and a quick review of her system showed no lasting effects from the hard boot. Her head slowly cleared, and she realised that she was sitting on the floor, and was firmly chained to something.

"Aah!"

Surprised, Wren let out a yell and jerked her head back, only to have it smack against something hard. The stern face that had startled her pulled back as well, but with more poise. Malory looked displeased.

"Stupid thing. All emotions and no brain." He drummed his fingers on his cane briefly, thinking. "Tell me where your hard drive is."

Wren shook her head. That had hurt! She glared up at Malory, her lips set in a determined scowl.

"Everything looks the same inside of you," Malory said, looking irritated. "I need to know where your memory drive is so I can wipe it. Tell me!"

"No!" Wren said, more surprised than anything else. Did he really expect her to let him do that? "Take me home right now!"

"Or what?" Malory snapped.

"Or..." Wren thought quickly. She hadn't expected him to call her bluff. "Or...or I'll sing!"

"Sing?" That gave Malory pause. He'd never been threatened with singing before. Poison, yes. Immolation, even. Decapitation, certainly! But never singing.

Wren turned up her voice box and began to sing,

"Anything can happen!
"Anything at all!"

Wren sang with all the abandon of a young child, and with all the talent. Her head tilted to one side and back as she sang tunelessly, her voice bouncing off the walls of the room and coming back to assault Malory's ears over and over again.

"No!" Malory clapped his hands over his ears and shrunk back from her. This was worse than anything he had ever experienced before! Even worse than that time with the giraffes!

"...things can change,
"No matter how weird or wild or strange..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Malory shouted. He stomped one foot in frustration. "Stop that this instant or I'll turn you off permanently!"

That did it. Wren stopped mid-word, and her silent mouth hung open briefly before she thought to close it. She glowered at Malory. "I'm still not showing you where my hard drive is, you jerk."

"Fine," Malory growled. "We'll do this the hard way." He went to a stump of a computer in the corner and pulled out a rainbow of long wires. Wren eyed them warily as he attached one end of the wires to the computer, and brought the other ends to her.

Rough hands pushed her head forward, and just before he jabbed the first plug into her neck, Wren realised what he was going to do. He was going to go through her files one at a time until he found her memory. It would take him a long time, but he'd find it. He'd find it, and then she wouldn't be Wren anymore. She'd be nothing.

She shrieked and wriggled like a wildcat, but the ropes were tight and his grip firm. He stabbed her again and again, inserting a wire wherever it looked like one might belong. Soon she felt as if she were a pincushion. Robbie had never treated her like this!

Malory moved away and went to his little computer. Wren could feel him inside of her as soon as he touched the keyboard, and she loathed him for it. For the first time, she was afraid.

Wren closed her eyes and set to work hiding her most important files. She sent them deep, deep, deep, hiding them behind innocuous-looking protocols and drivers. All the while, though, one thought ran through her mind.

Robbie would come. Robbie would come.

He had to.

"Get down here, you ridiculous blue elf!"

Stephanie looked up from her game of jacks. Robbie was standing in the middle of the sports field, shouting up at the sky, his face as purple as his vest. He shook his fist at the blue airship that floated demurely above him.

"It works better if you just send him a letter," Stephanie said, loud enough that he could hear her. Robbie stopped shouting to glare at her, and she shrugged. "Just sayin'."

"When I want your opinion, you pink pom pom, I'll--"

"Good to see you are getting along so well," a voice interrupted. Robbie clutched his chest dramatically as Sportacus dropped from the sky.

"Don't do that!" Robbie exclaimed. He gave himself a shake, as if to rid himself of his surprise, and tried to regain his composure.

"Someone took Wren," Robbie continued. "His name is Malory, and he wants to use her for his nefarious plans." He took on an air of innocence. "Something I find horrifying, to be sure. He'll have to wreck her before he'll be able to convince her to do anything evil. The child has more good in her than a box of kittens!"

Sportacus looked solemn, and Stephanie, who had abandoned her game, had a pensive look on her face.

"Where could they be?" Sportacus asked.

"I think--" Stephanie started.

"Quiet, pinkie," Robbie snapped. "I don't know where they are. Wren saw them in, and when they left, they jammed the door. I was stuck in there for an hour before I could find the release latch."

"If they went far, we will have a hard time finding them," said Sportacus. He looked worried.

"But I know--"

Robbie cut Stephanie off again. "They won't have gone back to the ministry yet. He'll have to revamp her first, to convince them that he made her. There's no point bringing in a robot that's going to tell them the truth."

"What ministry--" Sportacus began.

"He's up there!" Stephanie shouted, the words tumbling from her lips in a jumble, as if she were afraid that she might get interrupted again. She pointed at the sky, and Sportacus and Robbie both looked up.

A mangy-looking Zeppelin hung in the sky, far above Sportacus' delicate airship. It was grey in colour, and looked as if it had recently been dug out of a junk heap. (Which it might have, Robbie reflected.) It seemed to be propelled by a series of propellers that stuck out at odd angles. At the moment, however, it was immobile.

"How long has that been there?" Robbie asked, surprised.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Since this morning. It looks pretty evil to me. I bet you that's where Wren is."

"Good eyes, Stephanie." Sportacus put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll take the sky chaser to get her."

"'I'll take the sky chaser'," Robbie mimicked in a high voice. He sneered at them both. "This is Malory Malevolent, we're talking about. Even you, with all your push ups and jumping jacks, can't just waltz in there and take whatever you want. We need a plan!"

"I could challenge him to a race," Sportacus suggested thoughtfully.

"He's shorter than the pink pipsqueak here," Robbie replied with disdain. "He'd know he'd lose. I say that I shoot him down with my cannon."

"But then Wren would be shot down too," Sportacus said. The pair frowned in tandem. They were good enough at foiling each other, but a rescue mission wasn't like anything they'd had to do before.

"Guys?"

They turned to look at her. Stephanie grinned and reached into her shoulderbag. She pulled out a pink ribbon that fluttered in the breeze and used it to tie her hair back, just as Wren did.

"Stephanie..." Sportacus began, a warning tone in his voice.

"It's the only way," said Robbie, impressed despite himself. It was a good plan. He wished he had thought of it.

"I'll be careful," Stephanie promised, reaching out to hold Sportacus' hand. She looked up at him with a puppy-dog expression in her eyes. If he had looked, Sportacus would have seen a similar look in Robbie's face.

Sportacus sighed. It was going to be a long day.