Authors: Michael J. Daley
Space Station Rat (3 page)
“Oh, what's the use?” The boy moaned and laid his head down on the desk.
Rat wanted to jump down and bite him! She wanted to use some of the scientists' tools on him. The nice ones, or the nasty ones, she didn't care. Just so she could make him study.
Rat ran far back into the air vent. She found a big, thick, black wire.
Chew-chew-chew.
Black bits piled up around her like chocolate chips. She felt a tingle in her teeth. She felt a tickle in her nose. She smelled copper wire. Rat made herself stop chewing. She picked black bits off her whiskers and groomed them out of her fur. Then she went back to her telescope.
The boy was gone for exercise time. Rat removed the plastic clips and pushed against the grate. For a second Rat clung to the outside of the grate, pretending: I am a gobbler!
Then she dropped onto the bed.
Rat feasted. She ate all the crumbs first. Then she drank milk until she sloshed. What a prize, this wet, warmish milk! Today, at least, Rat would not have to lick ice off the air-conditioning coils. That hurt her tongue, but she hadn't found water anywhere else.
Three whole cookies were left on the tray by the computer. She carried them into the air vent for later. Tricky, not to bite the cookies too hard. At least the climb to the vent was easyâup book shelves and cubbies stacked like steps. Before taking the last cookie, she studied the computer screen.
SORRY
,
NO MAIL
.
Rat wished she could find the lesson, but there was a password that only the boy knew. Only the boy, studying, could help her learn. The scientists had taught Rat a lot about computers, but she escaped before learning how to hack passwords.
Rat looked at the message again.
SORRY
,
NO MAIL
.
She could change that!
Rat jumped onto the keyboard. Using all four paws and her tail, she danced on the slightly sticky keys. She wrote a macro virus and put it in the e-mail start-up routine. Now she could type e-mails that looked like they came from Earth.
Why did she know how to do this? The scientists never completely explained. Sometimes they mentioned stealing information, plans, formulas. Sometimes they spoke about destroying these things. Services required by the client. Her training had not progressed far enough for her to need the details.
She was her own client now.
But she could not simply ask about the food machines. She needed a trick. Rat thought a moment, then began her first message. When she was done, the screen read:
From: [email protected]
Subject: Pen Pal
Hi! I am looking for a pen pal who lives in an unusual place. Your address seems unusual. Do you live in an unusual place? Are you looking for a pen pal? Write back.
P
.
S
. Do you like peanut butter???
C
HAPTER
F
OUR
P
EN
P
ALS
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Pen Pal
YES! and YES!
YES! I live on a space station. How's that for unusual? YES! I want a pen pal. Do you really want me for a pen pal? I hope a space station is unusual enough. Please write back right away!!!!!!!
And
oh YES!!! I love peanut butter, chunky.
The boy clicked
SEND.
He jumped out of his chair as if he'd launched a rocket. He whooped and danced around the room. When he sat back down, he played games. He jiggled. He checked his e-mail every ten minutes. Rat could only answer when the boy went away. She watched all this foolishness with a slow, tense grinding of her front teeth.
Study! Rat could wish, but it was not going to be as easy as that.
Eventually the boy would go to bed right under the air vent. When? Rat did not bother to wait. She curled up next to the telescope. It was not as comfortable as her nest, not as secret, not as safe. But Rat must be here when the boy went away to breakfast.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Pen Pal
A space station is very unusual. What is it like? Do you walk on the ceiling? What do you eat? I'm glad you want a pen pal.
The boy came back from breakfast. He carried a plate of crackers with peanut butter on them. He munched them while he typed. Rat hoped he would not eat all the crackers.
From: [email protected]
Subject: YOU WROTE BACK!!!!!
Hi again. You took so long. I worried I flunked unusual. We walk on the floor. Deck, we call it. The space station is like a big doughnut. There are ten rings around the center. I live on #9. I guess if the station was on Earth, you'd think we walked on the walls. But there is no down or up here. We have
in
and
out
. Because of the spin. Have you ever spun a rope with a knot on the end? That's fake gravity. My mom says, “The earth
hugs
you, but a space station catches you.” It's not as nice as real gravity. What's your name?
That explains a lot, Rat thought. The scientists put animals into a spinning machine in the laboratory. Not Rat, though. The machine was noisy. It often made them sick. Now she lived in a spinning machine! No wonder her first days were full of bad bumps, as if her legs forgot how to walk. And her tail moved in so many strange, new ways.
The boy left for morning exercises. As Rat dropped from the vent, she thought, I am not going down, I am going out. Rat ate the last cracker and licked the plate clean. She typed:
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: YOU WROTE BACK!!!!!
I am slow writing. Don't worry if answers take time. I am your pen pal now. But are we really spinning on the end of a rope? Isn't that noisy? Don't you get sick? I love Swiss cheese. Can you get that in space?
The peanut butter made her thirsty. Too bad there was no milk. Rat went to find some ice to lick. The boy had come and gone by the time Rat returned.
From: [email protected]
Subject: no rope
Silly! There is no rope. That was an analogy. And there can't be noise in space. Outside is a vacuumâjust black without air. Sometimes I worry about the black getting in. This place is so old, it creaks!!
I have a space suit. I know how to put it on. It's like trying to get into two snowsuits at once! My dad and I are going to do a space walk sometime.
Hey! Do you have snow where you live? I used to go sledding all the time.
You forgot to say your name.
The boy forgot to answer about Swiss cheese, too. But he brought a cheese sandwich the next time he checked his mail, so Rat did get her answer.
From: [email protected]
Subject: no snow
Sledding sounds fun. Creaking is scary. I don't have a space suit or a snowsuit. I have never been outside in all my life. I want to feel grass between my toes someday.
From: [email protected]
Subject: WEIRD!
How come you've never been outdoors? Are you in prison? Is that why you won't tell me your name? I don't think I can write anymore if you are in prison.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: WEIRD!
I am
not
in prison. I am
free
. I am unusual, that's all. Please keep writing. I like having a pen pal.
My favorite food is liverwurst.
From: [email protected]
Subject: sorry
Liverwurstâ
yuck!
Chocolate for me!
Sorry I made you mad. I like having a pen pal, too. Here is my picture. Can you send me your picture?
Rat did not need the boy's picture. She could see him in person, with chocolate smeared on his face. Rat relaxed. She had not been careful. She had told too much truth. But the boy was willing to ignore the strangeness. Lucky for Rat.
When Nanny took the boy to family time, Rat went to work with the painting program on the computer. She mixed Windsor violet, cobalt blue, and alizarin crimson in a square color block. She pressed her paw against the screen, comparing the color of her fur to the square. It needed some lemon yellow. She adjusted the tint and hue, and added a little Payne's gray. Good enough. Too bad she did not know how to capture the wonderful sheen of the living hairs. She pasted the color square in a new e-mail and typed:
From: [email protected]
Subject: no picture
I cannot send my picture. But I am very beautiful. I have a lavender coat with white cuffs. Here is how it looks.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Are you a girl?
From: [email protected]
Subject: no
From: [email protected]
Subject: silly
Well, boys aren't beautiful, silly. Boys are handsome.
From: [email protected]
Subject: maybe
Maybe. But
I
am beautiful!
From: [email protected]
Subject: FAT
You should see the captain. He's not handsome or beautiful. He's
fat
! I'll never get fat. I have to exercise four times a day. No one else has to. I am in the way, that's why. They would keep me in the gym all day if they could! Remember
in
and
out
? All the way
in
, at the very center, there's no gravity. The zero-g room is there. I can fly and do all kinds of flips and things. It's like bouncing off a trampoline, but you never come down!! I would stay in the zero-g room all day, but NO, that's not allowed. Too much fun!
From: [email protected]
Subject: scientists are not nice
Scientists are not nice. I speak from experience.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: scientists are not nice
I
agree
! I was trying to play chess (do you?) with my dad today. Mom kept bothering him with p factors and 1q angles, then he moved his knight
wrong!
He thought I cheated!
From: [email protected]
Subject: knights
I never move my knight wrong.
From: [email protected]
Subject: let's play!
Let's set up a remote game! That'd be fun. Of course, best fun if you visited.
We could have fun here, I think. This is an old space station. It is like a big house with dozens and dozens of rooms. Bits stick way out from center, like towers.
I'm not allowed to go exploring. Many places have not been used, like forever. The lights don't work. Some don't have air anymore. I just know it would be fun to go exploring. Maybe if you came, they'd let us go together.
From: [email protected]
Subject: things we could do
We could find where the food is grown. Maybe there would be grass.
From: [email protected]
Subject: no grass
We don't
grow
food here. I'm not sure where it comes from, but it is not grown. I will find out for you. Sorry about the grass.
Rat pressed her eye more tightly to the telescope. The tip of her tail quivered. The boy sent his e-mail, then called up the study program. At last! The secrets of the food machines appeared on the screen.
C
HAPTER
F
IVE
R
AT
M
AKES A
M
ISTAKE
Rat was fat. She could not reach an itch at the bottom of her tail. She rubbed the itchy spot against the warm pipe, then sat down to groom her big, round belly. There were crumbs scattered around Rat. Imagine! Too full to eat every crumb! Rat liked that.
Rat was in her nest in one of the forgotten parts of the space station. It was dim and musty-smelling and safe. There was the nice warm pipe, and even some dust. Every once in a while, something made a sound.
Pffss-sit!
It sounded just like when the scientists opened a bottle of fizzy water. But otherwise, it was quiet. Rat did not like the sound. However, she appreciated it. It reminded herâstay alert.
Rat had worked hard for three days, sneaking back and forth from the food machines on Ring 9 to her nest on Ring 5. What a long trip! Rat did not like the lightness as the fake gravity weakened. The weaker gravity was about the only thing she did not like about her nest. It made her feel less connected to the space station, less able to escape danger. So on each trip for food, Rat practiced. She practiced running and climbing and dodging until she could move as easily anywhere on the space station as she did on Earth.
One nice thingâthe food got lighter as she carried it
in
. Rat looked at the packages of food piled around her like a fortress wall. Up close to her bed lay her special prize: three rolls of liverwurst.
Silly boy, not liking liverwurst.
Rat stopped writing to the boy once she got what she wanted. She concentrated on food gathering. Now Rat wondered: What did his last e-mail say? She missed knowing. She liked the way the boy talked to her. Not like the scientists: They just ordered Rat to do things. The boy was different. He wanted something from Rat, too. It was not the same thing the scientists wanted. She did not understand exactly what it was. She guessed, though, that
SORRY, NO MAIL
would make him unhappy.
Rat smoothed the last tangled bit of her lavender coat just right. She looked at her supplies. They would keep her fat for a long time! That made her very happy. The boy should be happy, too.