Although did that mean her own hopes were impossible?
No! Her hopes were sensible and realistic!
As they followed the path further down into the valley, the vegetation became thicker and the light dimmed. The snow gleamed as if sprinkled with thousands of tiny crystals. Every now and then there was a startling splash of brilliant colour from where the rainbow ligh
t had crept through. The Space Brigade fell silent. The only sound was the clip-clopping of their ShobGobbles' hooves.
An hour passed.
Another hour passed.
'Chirrrp!' said Quicksilver. Nicola started. She felt like she'd been in a trance. She looked around and saw that they'd come to a clearing next to a bubbling creek. A huge pool of indigo light shone on a corner of the clearing and Nicola could see thousands of purple berries - just like the ones Silent Fred had drawn for them. Quicksilver smacked his lips.
'Yes,' said Nicola. 'Indigo berries.'
There was also a huge mossy log that looked like it would make a comfortable seat, lying next to the remains of a campfire. It was the perfect spot for brunch - or lunfast.
'Time for a break,' announced Nicola, pulling on Quicksilver's reins.
Nicola saw the rest of the Space Brigade stretching and rubbing their eyes as they climbed down from their ShobGobbles.
'I feel like I'm in the middle of a beautiful dream,' said Shimlara. Nicola knew exactly what she meant.
They led their ShobGobbles over to the creek and the patch of indigo berries. The ShobGobbles took long slurps of water before hungrily attacking the berries.
'I hope we didn't wait too long before feeding them,' said Nicola worriedly. 'If Katie was here she would have thought of it sooner.'
'I think we've taken too long feeding ourselves,' said Sean, rapidly pulling out Joy's provisions from the saddlebags. 'I can't believe I forgot I was hungry. That never happens to me.'
Suddenly Nicola was starving too. She found a big checked picnic blanket in her own saddlebag and spread it out next to the log.
'I hope it's not too much weird stuff like last night,' said Sean.
'Well, it looks sort of normal,' said Tyler, as he unpeeled the lid of a large silver container. Steam rushed out. He held up something shaped like a miniature rainbow and covered in flaky pastry. 'Who wants to try it?'
'I will!' Nicola bit into one. The filling was like nothing she could describe. It was like crunching into a crisp apple at the same time as biting into a piece of chewy caramel. 'I don't know exactly what it is, but it tastes great.'
'Probably better not to know,' said Sean, grabbing one.
Shimlara opened another container to reveal thick jam sandwiches on crusty white bread - at least they looked familiar. There were also biscuits, cheese sticks, gigantic muffins, strange-looking fruit and bottles labelled INDIGO BERRY JUICE.
'Are you sure that's not for the animals?' asked Greta distastefully.
'Who cares?' said Sean. 'It's good!'
Of course, best of all, there were also dozens of ShobbleChoc bars and two thermoses filled with the creamy hot chocolate they'd had the day before.
While they were busy laying out the food, Greta efficiently started a fire. (It was one of her useful skills, they'd discovered on their last mission. She had learned how to do it in Girl Guides.)
Soon they were all sitting comfortably on the rug, enjoying the warmth of the fire, their mouths so crammed with food they could hardly talk.
A croaky voice that seemed to come from nowhere made them all jump.
'Is that hot chocolate I can smell?'
19
Everyone looked around nervously.