Straight ahead of them was a set of tall iron gates. There was a cluster of people in front of it. Some of them were obviously miners or drillers, while others were dressed in more ordinary patched clothes. They all carried little notebooks and pens. As the sleigh got closer, they jostled about, craning their necks to see who was in the sleigh. Suddenly they began pointing and jumping about excitedly.

‘I think they’re pointing at Katie,’ said Shimlara.

Katie, who was removing her hat, looked up in surprise. ‘Me? Why me?’

Silent Fred turned around to look at them. His eyes widened when he saw Katie.

‘What? What is it? Am I turning green?’ Katie was panic-stricken. She hated being the centre of attention.

‘You look perfectly normal to me,’ Nicola reassured her.

Silent Fred pointed a finger at Katie’s long, straight brown hair, which had fallen out over her shoulders when she took off her hat.

‘Her hair?’ said Nicola in confusion. ‘What about it?’

Silent Fred wrote quickly on his board and handed it to Katie.

I’m sorry. I did not realise you were a hairity until you took off your hat. It is an honour.

‘Oh!’ Shimlara slapped her hand against her forehead. ‘I remember now. Most people on Shobble have short fuzzy hair and it’s either blond, red or black. They call people with long, straight brown hair “hairities” and they treat them like celebrities.’

‘Well, I don’t see what’s so special about long, straight brown hair,’ huffed Greta, who had short wavy hair cut in a fashionable bob. She turned to Silent Fred. ‘It’s actually considered quite boring on our planet.’

‘Maybe I should grow mine,’ said Sean. ‘I could be a hairity too.’

Silent Fred held out his board again.

Could I have your signograph, please?

‘I think he must mean “autograph”,’ said Shimlara.

‘Oh, but this is awful! It’s so embarrassing!’ said Katie. She wrote her name on Silent Fred’s board and handed it back to him. Next thing the people outside the sleigh were all thrusting notepads and pieces of paper into her hands, shouting, ‘Signograph! Signograph!’

Katie signed each one as quickly as she could. Within seconds the whole crowd seemed to know her name.

‘We love you, Katie Hobbs!’ they called out. ‘Over here, Katie!’ Cameras flashed.

‘This is crazy!’ Katie’s face was bright pink.

‘Maybe we should get going,’ suggested Nicola to Silent Fred, as two young girls tried to climb into the sleigh to have their photo taken with Katie.

Silent Fred, who had been staring dreamily at Katie’s signograph, put aside his board and nodded. He stood up in the sleigh and reached for a control box high on the gates. He pressed his fingertip against a panel. After a few seconds a red light changed to green and the gates began to swing open.

‘Fingerprint recognition.’ Sean was impressed.