the forgotten child of gallifrey | doctor whoniverse

vi: metal mouse

"What the-" I mutter under my breath as I feel something strange crawl up my leg. Well, not really crawl, more like roll.

I watch it move as it makes its way from my leg to my locker. It appears to be some sort of small metal mouse. I pick it up by the tip of its tail to further examine it. Suddenly, a set of what seems to be shark teeth emerges from its mouth as it shakes viciously back and forth, attempting to bite me.

Quickly, I throw the tiny robot into my locker in case anyone decides to walk by. I can see small, erratically-blinking red lights lining its side, wheels under its belly, and eyes that look more like speakers. But even with all this, I still have no idea what the bloody hell this metal mouse is. Maybe a Year 11 science project?

Looking around, I decide to put it in my backpack to try to find out more at home.

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Peeking into the front pocket, I see my buddy that tried to bite my arm off earlier right where I left him, still as ferocious as ever.

I decide to walk home so I don't have to risk anyone on the bus stealing my backpack and dumping its contents around, exposing the little devil.

On my way home I see a small pet shop. Might as well get a cage to keep it in so it doesn't poop in my bag, or whatever it does.

"Um...hello?" I ring a small bell that sits on the counter.

An old overweight man comes out from what I guess to be the back closet. "What can I help you with today?" he says, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Do you have any mouse cages? Maybe a metal one?"

"I'll go get one."

I take a good look around and notice the lack of animals in this 'pet shop'. Most places have a wall of cats and dogs, but they just have small animals, mainly rodents and aquatic life.

I walk over to look at the normal mice, and then he comes out with a cage.

"That'll be ten quid."

Sliding the money onto the counter, I take the cage and leave.

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After hours of scanning the internet, I've discovered a few things about the internet. It knows basically nothing about this creature. All I have figured out is the fact that these things don't like to be messed with. When I dangled it into its cage, it tried to attack me again, so it's probably a good thing that it's safely behind locked bars.

As I think back to try to find anything that might possibly relate to this rubbish rodent, I remembered noticing a few things off. The bathrooms were a bit messier than usual. I'd heard a rumor that one of the janitors is missing. The food was even more awful today. I read in the papers this morning that one of the cafeteria workers went missing, too. And then there was the occasional shaking in the hallway. The admin just called it an aftershock from an earthquake. Assuming that the closest tectonic plate boundary is in the middle of the ocean, that seems pretty unlikely.

Just as everything is starting to come together, Em knocks on the door. I quickly shove the cage under the bed and throw my sheets over the side.

Em pokes her head in. "Can we have the laptop back? Little Jim has to do some homework."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Looks like that's all the research I'll be doing today. Hopefully I can dig up some more stuff tomorrow.