Turbo tugged at the lead.  It was far too late for his evening walk and Caltech was deserted. “No other dogs to play with now and no children,” thought Turbo, “just the occasional security guard patrolling the pathways, whistling cautiously.” Turbo was angry. The little Yorkshire Terrier normally had an afternoon walk when he was able to chase a ball or join in a children’s game, but today his owner had been so intent on discussions and phone calls that the moon had been rising as he set out. He lifted his nose to sniff the balmy night air. Suddenly a large car screeched across the parking lot.

Turbo barked. What monster was this? He tugged at the leash. His owner bent to remove the leash, and Turbo scampered off across the campus lawn, glad to be running freely.He run round and round in huge circles. His tongue lolled out. He sat down, and panted. He gazed absent-mindedly around. And then he caught sight of a ball of orange and white; his hackles rose. A cat? The cat disappeared in a flurry.With a growl and a leap, Turbo was after the cat. He kept his nose to the ground and inhaled the cat’s scent. He took one turn and then another.

And the next thing he knew, he was in the maze of the Caltech steam tunnels. These had been constructed when the university was built so that scientists could perform experiments in safety and seclusion.  Turbo paused and looked around. The cat’s tail whisked round the corner and disappeared. “Dark, damp and dismal” thought Turbo to himself, as he looked at the labyrinth of tunnels. “Anyway, there seem to be as many problems down here as there are on campus.” He was thinking of the cat, hot and cold water power, gas, compressed air.As he swiveled round, he saw green glow in the far corner. Forgetting about to chase the cat any longer, he decided to investigate. He approached cautiously – and then saw it was his friend, (the meteorite) Quabita.

“You’ll never catch Sunspot” said Quabita. Turbo showed no surprise that tQuabita could converse; he knew this from other adventure they’d both had together.“How could I catch a sunspot down in the dark labyrinth?” he asked Quabita. Quabita gave a tinkling laugh.“Sunspot is the name of the cat I sent up to campus to bring you down here,” it explained. He climbed the wall and is back in the open air now. But I wanted you to come and join me in an adventure. An adventure through time and space”.to be continued

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