72 Boom!

72 BOOM! There was nothing she could have done about it. It was a perfect storm of unfortunate events. First, Peanut's control of the speeding scooter was only partial, since she was having to swerve this way and that to avoid the Czech hedgehogs that dotted the ground between them and the safety of the netted dome. Second, the appearance of the Big X at the top of the

valley had sent huge vibrations across the snow which had added considerable wobble to the proceedings. And third, Rockwell had finally managed to press the button on Jonathan Higginbottom's anti-Exocetia device just as a hundred of the flying fish had closed in on Peanut's scooter. This was arguably the biggest contributor to what happened next. The explosion was huge. The scooter and its riders were sent flying, high into the air, landing in the soft snow several metres apart with a thump. That many mechanical fish all blowing up at the same time is quite a thing, it turns out.