Nicolás put his time to good use. While seated at the table waiting for his mother to finish her work, he slipped the device from his pack and made a careful study of it.
Nicolás was a good student, and his favorite subjects were science and math. He had no problem familiarizing himself with the workings of the Chronivac. He was surprised that his mouse wasn't truly a mouse, but was in fact a son of his mother's employers. As he studied the device's programming, he took notice of the settings.
The fact that a boy not that much older than himself had elected to change into a female mouse struck him as a bit bizarre, but for the most part Nicolás was a mellow, non-judgmental sort.
He did cancel the preprogrammed restoration that had been scheduled to change the subject back in another 90 minutes. He had other plans that might necessitate that the subject (he knew the boy's name was Nathan, but he preferred to simply continue the designation of "subject" when he thought about him) remain a mouse for longer than anticipated.
He slipped the Chronivac back into his pack just ahead of his mother's arrival in the room. She told him she was almost finished, but he told her to take her time.
He had heard some faint squeaks coming from inside the zipped compartment, too. He patted the pocket compartment and warned the occupant. "Silencio por favor," he whispered. "Puedo castigarte."
Inside the compartment, Nathan heard the whispered Spanish words. He knew that the first phrase had asked him to please be quiet, but he couldn't quite make out the meaning of the other phrase.
Nevertheless, in his anxiety, he decided to do as he was told. He stopped squeaking for the time being. Besides, he knew that the device would restore him in another hour or so. He just needed to focus on that.
His mother soon came to get him, and she and Nicolás got into her car and soon arrived at their home.