Chapter Two

In which PC finds himelf in a factory for broken computer parts.

PC blinked in the bright light as his eyes opened his eyes.  Where was he?  He called to Qwerty but she didn’t answer.

"Come on, come on - wake-up!" said a voice he’d never heard before.

"Where am I?" asked the frightened little mouse, "and where's my sister?"

"Your sister?" replied the voice, which came from a strange Control Box he’d never seen before.

"Yes, my sister, Qwerty Keyboard."

"Sorry, don't know," replied the disinterested Box, "I know you have got to be tested, like all the faulty mice."

"I'm NOT faulty!" protested PC, "and I want to go home."

"Are you two going to chat all day, or can we do some work, please?" said another strange voice in a sharp, irritated, tone.

"Ok, ok!" replied the Control Box, "come on Mouse, we have lots of tests to do."

"But where am I?" persisted PC.

"You’re in the Factory, of course." Answered the Monitor, "now, can we get on?"

"But what's the Factory?"

"For goodness sake, shut-up, Mouse!" snapped the Monitor, “Don’t you know what happens to mice that won't work?" then without waiting for an answer she continued, "Is the Keyboard connected?" she asked the Control Box.

"Yes, I am," said a quiet little voice that came from a keyboard just like Qwerty ... but it wasn't her.

"Right," the Control Box took charge, "let's do some work."

 

PC felt himself being moved.  There were lots of strange Icons on the screen.  He clicked onto one of them and found himself whizzing through a strange window.  He wondered where he was going.  He could hear the keyboard tapping away and soon there were lots of letters on the screen, but none of them made any sense.

"I can't read the letters?" he spoke to the strange keyboard as quietly as he could and hoped that she would answer him.

"They're not to read," She replied, "it’s just a letter test.  Don't worry, there’s nothing wrong with you; you're all right.  I can tell."

"Yes, I know I am.  But I don’t know how I got here"

Before the keyboard had time to say anything, PC was double-clicked over another program..  He was made to work very fast indeed and soon began to feel tired.  Whilst he was working PC had the strangest feeling of being watched.  He felt it even as he moved through the programmes at great speed. He sensed eyes following him as he whizzed about the large green mat.  It made him feel nervous.  They followed him up, down, and side-to-side.  Who did they belong to?  Who was watching him, and WHY?

"Faster, faster," called the Control Box."

Poor PC was made to click in and out of programs hour after hour.  Not only that, but most of them were ones he had never worked with before.  They were not like his friendly cousins, the CD-ROM’s.  He knew all of them and loved clicking onto and playing their games.  After what seemed a very long time, they stopped testing and allowed PC to rest on the large green mat.  It wasn't a bad mat, but it wasn't comfy like his nice cosy red one at home.

"Oh!" he sighed, "what is happening?  Why am I being tested?  Where are Mum, Dad and Qwerty?"

 He felt like crying but, after all the work he had done, he felt too tired.  With a big sigh he closed his eyes and was soon asleep.

The room was dark when he awoke but he could just make out the shapes around the room.  Nothing was stirring.  Very, very, quietly he rolled along the big desk, passed the sleeping Control Box and Monitor and tumbled onto the floor.  He landed upside down and it took him a long time before he managed to get the right way up.   Then he hurried off to explore.  He wandered around looking at the sleeping computer parts.  There were hundreds of them.  Some of them were connected up; others were just piled up in large heaps.  At the far end of the room he found a pile of keyboards.

"PC, is that you?" whispered an excited voice.

"QWERTY!"  He couldn't believe it.  He had given up hope of ever seeing her again,  “Oh, Qwerty, where have you been?  I've been so lonely."

"Shush, don't talk so loud, PC.  You’ll wake them and they don’t like us talking."

"Have you seen Mum and Dad?  Are they here too?" PC spoke as quietly as he could.

"No.  I don't think so.  I haven't seen them."

"What happened, Qwerty?  How did we get here?"

"Don't you remember?  A VV got in and...."

"Ooh, yes, it was awful, everything went black." PC shuddered at the memory.

"Well, I was ill too; I couldn't talk to you or to Mum.  The last thing I remember is hearing her crying.  The next thing I knew, I woke up here."

"What is this place?"

Qwerty shuddered, "When the VV got in, something happened to CB and none of us could work.  This place is where computers are sent to be mended - OR" and she shivered with fear, "their parts are taken out and used to mend others!"

"Qwerty, you don't think that's what's happened to CB do you?"

"I don't know.  Maybe he's here somewhere, and Monty too."

"But if they’re here, why haven't we seen them?"

Qwerty sighed, "I really don't know, PC, but you'd better go back to your place now, it is beginning to get light." 

“But.... I don't want to leave you, Qwerty."

"We’ll get into trouble if they find you here.  We can talk again tomorrow night, I'll be waiting for you.  But please, do be careful PC."

Reluctantly PC said goodbye to his sister and made his way back across the room.  He felt so sad at leaving her, that he wasn't taking much notice of anything around him.  He didn't see a crouching form silently creep up behind him. Suddenly it pounced!

The large ginger cat caught him and carried him off in its mouth.  PC struggled, but he couldn't get free.  The cat scampered away with the poor little mouse held tightly in its jaws.  PC couldn't see where he was going but he knew that they’d left the building and were outside because it suddenly became very cold and he could hear the wind blowing.  The cat squeezed through a small hole in the bottom of a large door.  PC was banged about as he did so.  The cat dropped him on a rough brown mat and sat nearby, casually licking his paw and washing his large furry face.

They were in a big, clean, kitchen.   PC lay on his back, bedraggled, dazed and very, very, frightened.

"What have you brought home this time, Pickles?" said a voice.  A tall young man with laughing eyes and a mop of dark curly hair picked up PC.

"Well I never, a computer mouse,” he said, "you clever old puss-cat.  How did you know that’s just what I needed?  The school has broken one again.  It has modeling clay stuck all over it again.  If this one works, then they can have a spare.”

 He picked PC up and placed him inside a dark cupboard, well away out of the cat’s reach.  It was dark and quiet.  PC lay quivering, cold and frightened but after what seemed a very long time, he finally fell asleep.