Crispin placed a sample of dead grass seeds in a storage jar and entered the details into his computer. Somewhere, in the Forbidden Zone, another computer would note what he had done and put an appropriate tick in a box. Keeping the computers happy was an essential part of palace life. Failure to do so could cause them to go into hysterics.
He had to keep up the pretence of visiting the Seed Bank as part of his conservation project. The computers had been informed about the project and knew he was allowed to do it just as he was allowed to go to the toilet in the Forbidden Zone and clean his teeth there.
He pulled on a hooded jacket and went to the door. He needed to speak to Peter. His cousin had gone down to the sanctuary pool to meet the dolphins. They had just got back, following the attack by the orcas, and were in a distressed condition. It was important to let them know that there were people who loved and cared for them.
A cold wind blew as he climbed down the ladder into the pool area. Big swell waves were coming up the channel from the Western Ocean. Storm clouds raced overhead. He looked out to sea and saw black-and-white bodies amongst the waves. The orcas had followed the dolphins in.
'Oona wants to tell us something,' Peter shouted.
Crispin jumped the last few rungs and ran to join him. The young dolphin was peering over the side of the pool, honking excitedly and slapping her fins against the water. He pulled his dolphin tablet from his pocket and tapped in the codes.
He had a horror of it falling into the wrong hands and had installed a self-destruct mechanism to vaporise the circuitry if an attempt was made to hack into it. Getting the codes right was vital. He entered the last digit. The screen flickered into life and an image appeared.
It showed Liala with a blackboard. She was peering over it and enough of her showed to let you know that the message was from her.
1 MAKE ANOTHER DOLPHIN TABLET AND OONA WILL BRING IT TO ME.
2 THE COMMANDER OF PLAID KOERNO WANTS TO SPEAK TO YOU.
3 THE GUARDIANS HAVE CAPTURED BALDUUR.
Crispin wondered about letting his sister have a dolphin tablet. There were big advantages and huge dangers. You needed a lot of understanding to make it work. For starters, you had to remember the codes and enter them correctly or the tablet would blow up in your face.
A question from Peter interrupted his thoughts.
'Who's Balduur?'