When Carrie arrived at the University, the sun was setting, and the street lights were flickering on. Although it wasn’t her major, she knew where the technical buildings were on campus. It wasn’t long before she spotted a small sign listing the rooms in one building. At the bottom of the list were the basement rooms, which showed room 3 as the “Banes Experimental Reactor.”
“Bingo.”
She headed inside, striding by a few students who gazed up at her curiously. She didn’t pay them any mind. They were small people. All of them were small people now, and she had no time for small people.
She had someone to destroy.
Down the stairs she went, and then down a basement hallway to room 3. The door to room 3 had an electronic lock with a keypad and card reader on it. She slid the card she had taken from Todd’s apartment through the reader. A green light went on, and the door clicked unlocked. She opened it and entered Todd’s lab.
The room was dark except for a few computer screens and panels of electrical equipment that cast a pale light on the shadowy machinery in the center of the room.
“Hello?” she called. No reply. “It appears that we’re alone here. What a surprise. No one can stand working with you I bet.” She closed the door, set down her bag on a table, and retrieved Todd from inside of it. After a moment of consideration, she came up with a plan. “Let’s play ‘hot and cold,’” she said to the hamster. “You give me a squeak if we’re heading in the right direction. Okay?” The hamster rested silently in her hand. “Let me remind you that you have no chance of turning back to normal without my help. So, if you’d rather not die of old age next year and get buried in a shoe box, then give me a squeak already so we can start.” The hamster fidgeted and then squeaked. “Good,” she said and petted him.
Carrie walked around the lab, trying not to bump into any of the machines. It was hard finding her way through in near darkness, what with her not knowing the layout of the room and with her being unfamiliar with her new bigger body. She considered putting the lights on but thought it was safest to keep the lab dark so as not to draw attention to herself. Todd would squeak now and then when she turned in the right direction. Soon, she had found her way to a computer on the other side of the room.
“This is it?” she asked.
Todd squeaked.
“Good.” She sat down and set Todd down next to the keyboard. She moved the mouse, and the screen saver shut off to reveal a program running. It had a familiar appearance. “This is the same program that’s on the remote. Isn’t it?”
Todd squeaked and crawled over to the mouse. She moved her hand, and he took the mouse between his forepaws and started sliding it around.
Carrie chuckled, “A hamster working a mouse, that’s cute.”
Todd ignored her. He looked up at the screen as he pushed the mouse and occasionally reached over to click a mouse button to select a menu. Carrie watched what he was doing. He had selected himself and was preparing to make changes to his body.
“You had better not be thinking of changing back to human,” Carrie warned him. “I can crush you before you have fingers again.”
Todd paused. He selected a menu that controlled his language skills. One click and he spoke. “Sorry,” he said in a small squeaky voice. “I just wanted to find a way to lead you around that’s better than squeaking at you.”
She picked him up and held him in front of her facing her. “Oh, you are the cutest thing ever.”
“Carrie…”
“Say, ‘Mickey Mouse.’”
He sighed. “Can’t we just get started?”
“Say it.”
“Mickey Mouse,” he said reluctantly.
Carrie squealed, delighted. “Now say, ‘Pikachu.’”
“Carrie!”
She giggled. “Alright, alright, we can have fun with your voice later.” She set him next to the computer on the opposite side of the keyboard from the mouse and said, “Okay, Mr. Serious, tell me how to find the remote.”
“I can, but, first off, don’t you want to know what all of this machinery does?”
“Not in the slightest.”
“What?” he said. “But…”
“Don’t care.”
Todd was stunned. “I invented a device that can alter the fabric of reality, and you don’t care at all how it works?”
“Well,” she said. “You mentioned something about quantum physics before when you were explaining how to use the remote. After that, I just tuned out your explanation and figured it was all over my head and not worth knowing anyway. Who cares how it works so long as it works?”
“Well, you ought to care. You might imagine that the remote has an unlimited power supply, but it really needs to be charged again soon… or else.”
Carrie was intrigued. “’Or else’ what?”