It was a small space for Jeff’s nervous energy. He was discovering quickly all the pros and cons of being a pet. The pros of pure sensory overload to his small body of smell and touch. All of him seemed to tremble from the simple way something would brush against his instincts. And to fill his cheeks with fruits and chew away tasted wonderful. Drinking was a little bit harder though as he had to clamber up on two legs to get his mouth away on the water bottle tube. It took him a few goes to get drops out successfully. It was rather undignified.
He’d early been back and forth through the tunnel a few times, and dug a little spot in the corner to urinate. Even more undignified knowning that he couldn’t even clean up after himself. He buried it as he could.
But he now missed Sally. There wasn’t much else he could do without her company. The way she stroked his body had been wonderful. And shaking off this thought, most importantly she was his only route back to becoming human.
While frustrated and angry at Sally leaving him like this for longer, his hamster instincts kept bringing him back into the moment. Rather philosophically he noticed that his human mind seemed to coexisting next to these new instincts. It must have been the chronivac settings Sally had used.
He could just about see the computer. The settings would be on screen ready to undo. But he had no way of reaching it. At a loss of anything else to do, and too nervous to sleep, he paced himself in the wheel while waiting for Sally’s return.