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There were deep crevasses everywhere, giant cracks in the ice that could open up without warning. EJ would have to move quickly but carefully.
    As she rode along, she saw blobs of grey along the ice. Blobs of grey that were there one moment and gone the next. Odd, thought EJ and perhaps worth investigating. She turned towards one bloband as she got closer she could see that it wasn’t a blob at all, it was a seal! A seal that popped its head up onto the ice before diving down again.
    â€˜Sorry for thinking you were a blob!’ said EJ, laughing. ‘Let’s see what you really are.’ EJ took a photo of another seal with her phone, pressed ‘go’, and within seconds a photo and text appeared. EJ had used her animal app that could identify every animal in the world.
    â€˜You’re a Weddell seal,’ said EJ, ‘and a very cute one,’ she added as she looked at the seal’s small head and whiskers and a mouth that almost looked like it was smiling. The animal app told her that Weddell seals spend nearly all their time under the water, popping up through cracks or holes in the ice. The seal seemed to look at EJ and then dived down again, back on its way—which is what EJ needed to be doing too.
    She pulled away from the seal hole and sped up a bit. Way up above in the crystal clear blue sky, a solitary bird was circling overhead. She took another photo with her phone. The bird was a skua, like a seagull but browner and bigger. And meaner. EJ saw it and wondered what it was hunting.
    A bit further on, she saw penguins, hundreds, maybe even thousands of them coming out of the ocean and starting to waddle across the ice. Emperor penguins? She wasn’t sure. They didn’t seem big enough. Again she took a photo, pressed ‘go’ and waited. The information appeared on the screen, confirming EJ’s thoughts. These ones were Adelie penguins and they were indeed smaller than the Emperor penguins. But it wasn’t all bad news. The Adelie penguin ground was not far off from where the Emperor penguins should be—and where EJ12 needed to be. She was close but she needed to hurry.
    EJ switched the snowmobile to turbo and sped across the ice shelf and it was not too long before another black mass loomed up in the distance—more penguins. And, as she got closer, EJ could see that these ones were taller and with distinctive bright yellow ear patches. There was no need for EJ to check her animal app. She had found theemperor penguins, which was just as well because she needed to make the payment in ten minutes.
    EJ kept her cool and remembered that A1 had said that there was an abandoned hut near the penguin grounds. These huts had been used by the early explorers but were now deserted, or were they? SHINE thought Dr Hill might now be using one. EJ scanned the area with her binoculars but could see nothing. She re-checked her map. According to the map, there should be a hut on the other side of the mountain just ahead. EJ sped on around the base of the mountain and soon found herself outside an old wooden hut, built right up against the mountain where it would have been protected from blizzards. It looked as if it had been there for years. Maybe too many years—with loose planks and tin falling off the roof, the hut had obviously seen better days. A metal sign was hanging from one corner of the roof.

    Wow, 1950, that’s old! thought EJ. EPP—Emperor Penguin Point—this is it.
    There was no way she could take Shinemobile 3 inside with her, so she hit the green button marked ‘ED’ next to the ignition and waited. Eco-Deco was just one of the clever eco-friendly SHINE inventions that ensured their agents didn’t leave their gadgets lying around all over the world. (Not only might they be discovered, but it would be littering!) EJ watched as Shinemobile 3 began to decompose. It was a smelly process, like burping—or sometimes, worse,