'Oh, but Topaz!' Nicola remembered the photo she'd seen in Enrico's file. Topaz had seemed so full of passion and life. Now she seemed sick and miserable, her eyes flat, her voice bitter.
'Come on! What are you waiting for?'
'Topaz, I don't want -'
'Hurry up! Get it over with! I'm not afraid!' Topaz lifted her chin and closed her eyes.
Nicola almost laughed. She said, 'Well, it's actually a bit hard to kill you when I'm trapped in this ball.'
'Oh.' Topaz opened her eyes. 'But don't you have special Earthling powers? I was expecting you to shoot laser beams out of your eyes or something.' She almost seemed disappointed.
Nicola said, 'I don't have any special powers and, actually, if you don't help me out of this thing soon, I might die first.'
All the time they'd been talking her ball had continued rolling back and forth. Now it was teetering on the edge of the cliff once again. Nicola gritted her teeth.
'Oh, right.' Topaz sneezed again, and sighed. 'Okay, I'll help you out of there and then you can kill me - although I have to say, it hardly seems fair that I have to do my killer a favour. But then again, there isn't much justice on this planet, is there? Oh, no, not unless your name is Enrico. Of course, then it's a different story - then you get plenty of justice, and plenty of gold coins in your treasure account too, while the rest of us have zero treasure account balances - achoo! - but that's no problem, we don't mind living in poverty, and why try and change things, because that's just the way it is, and anyway, if Enrico catches you complaining he'll just arrange for your tongue to be burned so you can never speak again. Oh, but we all pretend that sort of thing doesn't happen, don't we? Let's all keep drilling and mining while the hairities get richer and we get poorer!'
All the time she was talking Topaz was rummaging through her pockets, pulling out and discarding an array of different objects: crumpled-up leaflets, tissues, a half-eaten ShobbleChoc bar, a hair band, a paperclip, a transistor radio and - finally - a pin.
'This ought to do the trick,' she said, and jabbed the pin into the rubber ball encasing Nicola.
There was a loud bang like a balloon bursting and a hiss of air.
Nicola found herself standing on firm ground, covered in shredded plastic.
'I've never understood why they don't just supply a pin with every bubble-jacket,' said Topaz. 'I bet it was designed by some stupid hairity. Okay, now are you ready to kill me? Hurry up, because I'm actually starting to change my mind. I might fight back. You don't look that scary.'
Nicola stepped away from the side of the cliff and back under the ledge. The rain was becoming softer and the wind had stopped howling. It seemed like the hurricane had just about blown itself out.
Desperate for Topaz to see that they were friends, not enemies, Nicola began to speak in a rush. 'We're not here to hurt you, Topaz. We're sympathetic to your cause! Enrico is holding our friend hostage. His plan was to get us to "eliminate" you and then keep all of us prisoners in a glass cage, so everybody will think he's the good guy. Enrico's butler, Joy, told us to find you and maybe we could help you overthrow Enrico.'
Topaz didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then she sighed and looked away. 'Well, I can't help you. I can't do anything. I'm giving up the cause. I don't care anymore. Enrico can do what he wants. I'm sorry about your friend, but there's nothing I can do.'
Nicola's heart was sinking fast. Had they come all this way for nothing?
'But why are you giving up? What's wrong? Is it just because you've got a cold? Everything always feel worse when you're sick.'
'No, it's more than that. It's -'
'HEY! ARE YOU GIRLS JUST GOING TO SIT AROUND AND CHAT ALL DAY? MAYBE YOU COULD GET YOUR NEW FRIEND TO COME AND HELP US OUT TOO, NIC! GRETA NEEDS TO GO TO THE TOILET!'
It was Sean hollering from across the mountain. Nicola was mortified. Topaz was going to lose all respect for the Space Brigade! She could hear Greta yelling back at Sean, 'Hey! That was private information!'
'Is that the rest of the Space Brigade?' Topaz looked amused in spite of herself.
'Yes,' said Nicola. 'That was my brother. I guess I should go and let them out.' Suddenly she remembered Shimlara. 'Oh - and another friend of ours was with us in the hot-air balloon! I need to find out where she landed. I hope her bubble-jacket inflated okay.'
'Don't worry, I'll get my friends to form a search party,' said Topaz. From her pocket she took what looked to Nicola like a transistor radio and flicked a switch. 'Topaz to Joshua. Topaz to Joshua. Come in, Joshua.'
Immediately, a young boy's voice crackled forth from the radio. 'Yeah, Joshua to Topaz, where have you been? Everyone has been worried about you. I just got a message from Mum saying if you weren't resting, she was coming up the mountain to put you to bed herself. I didn't mention that you were curing your cold by going for a walk in a hurricane!'
Topaz said, 'Joshua, I'm fifteen years old.'
'Why are you talking in your trying-to-sound-cool voice? Is someone there with you?'
Now it was Topaz's turn to look embarrassed.
'Brothers.' Nico