Sky Trackers

Being an astronomer's kid is a bit like being an Army child or a diplomat's kid; you're always on the move. So twelve-year-old Mike Masters isn't surprised when he and his father, Dr. Tony Masters, move back to the deep space tracking station at Tidbinbilla, near Canberra. Mike becomes friendly with Ali, aged twelve, and Fiona, aged eight, two American girls who live on the station with their space scientist mother, Dr Spencer Jenkins. Ali is a computer buff: she has been using her skills to hack into the station's mainframe. Using the big dish, she communicates with a disused satellite, using it as a diary. Ali also browses through the files in the mainframe and in doing so has come across some information. Top secret information that has deadly implications: a satellite is due to fall from orbit and it has on board an experiment involving mutant small pox. The station head discovers Ali's hacking, but she already has enough information to enable the kids to pursue the falling satellite. The search for the satellite becomes a desperate search for the three children as well. The search also becomes a race when an industrial spy enters the scene - with obviously evil intent.