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studied more of the lesson. If only …
    With each new thought Rat felt dumber and dumber until she felt completely stupid. Not only that—her tail hurt, and she smelled bad.
    Do something!
    She found a packet of butter. Nip-nip-nip. She sliced it open. It hurt to nibble! Her teeth felt loose in their sockets.
    Rat scooped some butter onto her left paw. She twitched her tail around and caught it with her right paw. She looked at the puffy blister.
    At least the spark didn’t blind her.
    Gently. Gently. Rat spread the soothing butter over the blister. She ground her teeth against the pain.
    At least the electricity didn’t kill her.
    She was a lucky rat, even if she did make a mistake.
    Pffssss-ssit!
    Rat flashed into a shadowy hollow place, upsetting half her supplies with her powerful kick. It was only the mysterious noise, but Rat’s nerves did not know that. Not until she sniffed. Not until she listened. Too much thinking, and the mind got in the way.
    Rat took a deep breath. She groomed her whiskers slowly. She had made a game of the gentle noise surprising her. Not now. Now she did not want any surprises. The fingers had been a terrible surprise. Rat had never expected to feel human touch again. Then the fingers came, so strangely pink without the horrible-smelling gloves on them. Rat knew the feel of human skin from when her tail sometimes touched a scientist’s arm. But bare fingers on her fur—never!
    And never again! Rat rubbed fiercely at the spot beside her nose where the fingers had touched.
    Rat paused. The fingers did not get her. Did they find the wire?
    If they did, Rat might be only between dangers.
    Think! If they found the wire, what would they do?
    At the laboratory the scientists used terrible robots for catching animals that escaped. A place with gobblers and Nanny and so many other busy, scurrying robots would have sniffers. Rat could hide from people. They were big and clumsy. Their senses were dull. Sniffers were harder. They almost ruined her escape from the scientists. Small, fast, and vicious, sniffers tracked your smell. And oh how Rat stank! They would find her in a second!
    Rat washed her coat. She washed with a fury. The chemical made her feel sick, but she must get clean or—Rat stopped in midlick. Her tongue poked between her teeth. She didn’t smell like a rat, did she?
    No more washing. She would stink instead. Sniffers did not hunt fire foam. Clever Rat!
    Rat looked left. Rat looked right. She crept back to her nest. With quick sweeps of her paws, she pulled the scattered bedding into a comfortable pile. Rat listened once more, then curled up in a tight ball, careful not to lie on her tail. She would not be safe in her nest for long. Too many of her tracks led here. She must leave soon. She had been hungry and lonely before. Now she would be hungry and lonely and hunted. Though Rat did not shed tears, deep down in her heart, she cried.
    Where could she go? Where would she be safe from robots? Where would she find food?
    Rat looked at the food she had worked so hard for. It must be left behind. But there was one way to take some with her. Rat sliced through the plastic with her teeth. She pressed her nose into the squishy, meaty goodness. The soft food didn’t bother her teeth, and it soothed her belly.
    Good. Good.
    Maybe she was wrong. Maybe they just sent a fix-it and never found the wire.
    Rat shuddered. She could not forget the fingers.
    How could she find out for sure?
    The boy would know.
    Yes, the boy. Rat remembered the tiny gobbler that never came after the cookie crumbs in the room. Nanny never entered the room. Only the messy boy. She could hide there. She would get food.
    Rat listened at all the paths from her nest.
    Nothing sneaking.
    She set off.

C HAPTER E IGHT
    H UNTING
    I will not complain, Jeff repeated to himself as he followed Nanny down the empty corridor. But the back of his right heel hurt where the gripper boot rubbed. He was