by Judy Brown
‘Yes, boss,’ said Flo.
‘Sparky, you stick with Jack and keep an eye on the signal from my transmitter. I’ll use the intercom to give you instructions.’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘I’ll activate the transmitter as soon as we arrive so you can use it to track me. Okay, any questions?’
‘I don’t think so. We’ll be playing it by ear really, won’t we?’ said Flo.
‘Absolutely,’ agreed Archie. ‘We just need to stay focused and see what happens.’
Anya dashed in.
‘Sophie’s mum is outside loading the car – it’s time to go.’
Flo flew out of the window, ready to follow the car to the theatre, and Anya, Archie and Sparky went downstairs to find Sophie.
She was standing in the hall with Charlie in his pet carrier on the floor. ‘Ready?’ she asked. Sophie tipped the big black-and-white cat out of the carrier, Archie nipped inside, stuck his paws through the holes in the bottom and they wheeled the carrier into the front garden, leaving a surprised-looking Charlie sitting in the middle of the floor.
‘Do you want me to take that?’ Sophie’s mum asked as they came out of the front door. ‘Charlie’s quite a lump.’
‘No, it’s fine, Mum,’ Sophie said quickly. ‘I’ve got him.’
They waited for Sophie’s mum to get in and shut the door, then Sophie wheeled the carrier down the path and Archie extended his legs to get into the car.
‘Off we go then,’ said Mrs Stuart. ‘Isn’t this exciting!’ She drove off down the road, Flo following up above.
When they got to the theatre Jack was waiting outside. Curiously, he had Buster in tow.
‘Morning!’ he said, glancing at the pet carrier in the back of the car. ‘How’s Charlie doing?’ Jack bent down for a proper look and instantly had to clamp a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh. It wasn’t that the costume looked bad, it was more the expression on Archie’s face. He really didn’t seem to be enjoying the dressing-up part of the plan. Buster instantly recognised Archie’s smell and got very excited, but when he looked in the carrier he was rather confused.
‘Mum’s just going to sign us in,’ said Sophie, giving him a nudge.
‘Er, okay,’ he said, pulling himself together.
When Sophie’s mum had left, they put the cat carrier onto the ground and Anya took the opportunity to transfer Sparky into Jack’s pocket.
‘Why on earth have you brought Buster?’ she asked.
‘Believe it or not, there are so many contestants missing that the show rang me last night to say he’s on standby. Mind you, they said we would only have to perform as a last resort.’
Sophie was beginning to get nervous. ‘I hope the plan goes well. I never actually practised the act yesterday with Archie, there wasn’t time.’
‘Don’t you think your mum’s going to notice that Charlie looks a bit, er, different?’ said Jack.
‘She’ll be sitting in the audience because she wants to watch the performance,’ Sophie said. ‘I’m just hoping that the costume will be convincing enough to fool her. Anya’s coming backstage with me.’
‘Good idea,’ said Jack.
Once they’d been signed in, Mrs Stuart went to find herself a seat near the front of the theatre. Sophie, pulling ‘Charlie’ in the cat carrier, Anya, Jack and Buster were led through to the dressing rooms backstage and found a quiet corner together away from the other contestants.
Meanwhile, Flo had taken her place up on the lighting rig, and was scanning the audience below.
‘Archie,’ she said over their intercom, ‘do you read me?’
‘Loud and clear!’ replied Archie. ‘I’m switching the transmitter on now, are you getting the signal?’
Flo could hear a quiet beep, beep. An image, like an aircraft control display, appeared in her visual sensor. A blinking dot corresponded with the beeps.
‘Yep!’
‘How about you, Sparky?’
‘Loud and clear, boss,’ he replied.
‘Excellent!’ said Archie. ‘Flo, can you see anything unusual?’
‘I’m scanning the crowd now,’ Flo answered. She zoomed in on the faces below and almost instantly spotted the little old lady who owned the pet shop. ‘Peggy’s here,’ she reported.
‘What’s she doing?’ asked Sparky.
‘Not much, just sitting in the audience, reading a magazine called Pets Monthly. Hey! Wait a minute,’ she said, zooming in to maximum magnification, ‘one of the pages has bits cut out of it, as if …’
‘As if someone has cut letters out for a petnapper’s note?’ suggested Archie.
‘Exactly!’ said Flo.
‘Keep watching, Flo,’ said Archie. ‘I’ll tell the others.’
It wasn’t long before the Pet Factor judges and presenters were ready, and the live semi-final was about to start. Fortunately enough contestants had turned up, so Jack and Buster were off the hook. Sophie and Anya had decided to keep Archie in the carrier until the very last minute, in case anybody looked at him too closely. When he stuck a paw out they huddled around the carrier and he told them about Peggy and what Flo had seen.
‘So it was Peggy after all!’ cried Jack.
‘It certainly looks that way,’ said Archie. ‘Jack, I think you should take Buster and Sparky and sit in the audience – keep watch from there.’
Jack took Buster and set off right away.
‘Good luck,’ he called back. ‘Break a leg!’
‘Why would I want to do that?’ asked Archie.
‘It’s just an expression,’ said Sophie. She was beginning to get really nervous now. ‘You do know what to do when we get on the stage, don’t you, Archie?’
‘Yes, don’t worry,’ he told her. ‘I’ve been studying.’
Suddenly there was a burst of music from the auditorium: the show had begun.
As the contestants performed one by one Archie and the girls could hear cheers and applause from the auditorium, Sophie knew she and Archie weren’t due to go on until the end of the first half, and the longer Sophie waited, the more nervous she became. By the time an organiser came to find them, she was trembling like a leaf.
‘Ready for you in five minutes,’ said the stage manager.
‘Okay,’ said Sophie in a shaky voice.
‘You’ll be fine,’ Anya told her and gave her a hug.
They lifted the lid of the carrier up and Archie got out for the first time. Sophie and Anya looked at him.
In Sophie’s room, the homemade cat costume had looked quite convincing, but here, in the harsh light of the dressing room, it didn’t look quite so good.
‘This is never going to work!’ panicked Sophie.
‘It’s okay,’ said Anya with conviction, ‘he just needs a bit of a brush.’ She picked up Charlie’s brush and fluffed up the fur fabric a bit.
‘Careful of my whiskers,’ Archie whispered. ‘They’re highly sensitive precision equipment!’
‘Sorry, Archie.’ She stood back to take a look. ‘There, that’s better.’
Archie looked in the dressing-room mirror.
‘How did I ever get myself into this?’ he wondered.
‘Come on then,’ said Sophie, ‘it’s now or never.’
They all stood in the wings, and Archie practised his cat moves as they waited. He was getting very good.
The footballing pig scored his final goal and received polite applause, then Sophie and Archie were ushered onto the stage and Phil the presenter introduced them. Sophie walked over to the piano and Archie sat beside her. Out in the audience, Mrs Stuart peered up at her daughter and the family cat who had just taken the stage – Charlie looked different somehow.
‘I must get my eyes checked,’ she said to herself, giving them a rub.
Sophie began to play. They’d decided to perform something a little more ambitious than ‘Three Blind Mice’ and had chosen ‘The Animals Went in Two by Two’.
Archie soon joined in, pressing a few rand
om keys with one paw at first. The audience clapped and laughed but Archie knew that this performance had to be a really good one to catch the petnapper’s attention. So he decided to use both paws, and also that he should play notes in the same key as Sophie.
The audience were amazed. The judges were smiling.
Sophie looked at him, alarmed.
‘Don’t make it too good,’ she whispered.
Anya watched anxiously from the side of the stage.
But Archie was getting carried away with the moment. He’d discovered that playing piano was really quite good fun and soon he began to copy what Sophie was actually playing. It sounded fantastic!
The audience were in uproar now. Flo was alarmed, and tried to contact Archie on the petbot intercom.
‘Archie, stop! You’re supposed to be a cat, not a concert pianist! This is on live television, you’ll give us away!’
Sophie, frozen with confusion about what to do, had stopped playing and Archie was now performing solo. Flo was watching Peggy – if her jaw dropped any further, it would be on her lap.
‘Archie!’ whispered Sophie, nudging him as hard as she could, but he didn’t respond – it was as if he’d been hypnotised by the music. Then she remembered what he’d said about his whiskers and she gave them a flick.
‘Ow!’ said Archie, but it worked, suddenly he remembered where he was. ‘Er … meow!’ he added, and stopped playing.
‘Quick!’ said Flo over the intercom. ‘Get off the stage, before anyone comes for a closer look.’
Archie trotted off into the wings. Sophie took a quick embarrassed bow and followed. The audience and the judges were on their feet, clapping and cheering and shouting ‘Encore!’ The only person not standing up was Sophie’s mum, who sat stunned in her seat, wondering what on earth was going on.
‘Peggy’s on the move, Archie,’ said Flo. She watched the little pet shop owner hastily make her way to the backstage door. ‘Action stations. And by the way,’ she went on, ‘what was that?’
‘Sorry, Flo, I got caught up in the moment! Who knew playing piano was so much fun?’
Archie had just got back into the carrier when Peggy poked her head round the door. She was clutching her clipboard and trying to look official.
‘Hello there, dear!’ she said. ‘What a wonderful performance! The producers are asking for you out front. Shall I look after little Charlie while you’re gone?’
Sophie suspected what Peggy was up to, but she played along, knowing that it was part of their plan too.
‘Oh, okay, thank you, you’re very kind.’
She left the room and signalled to Anya who was waiting in the corridor outside. They hid round the corner to watch what Peggy would do next.
Inside the dressing room, Peggy was addressing ‘Charlie’. ‘You’re coming with me,’ she said. ‘No one’s going to beat my Chico!’ Moments later she emerged from the dressing room pulling the pet carrier, impressed that it had wheels – she didn’t stock any like that in her shop and she imagined they would sell like hot cakes if she did.
‘There she goes,’ said Sophie.
Peggy pulled the pet carrier back into the auditorium; Anya and Sophie followed at a safe distance. They waved at Jack, sitting in the audience with Buster and Sparky. Flo watched everything from above.
‘She’s heading for the door,’ said Flo. ‘Sparky, are you ready to follow them?’
Sparky was already on his way, but it was an advert break so the cameras were turned off and the audience were getting up to stretch their legs. It was almost impossible for him to navigate a path through the tangle of feet.
Peggy had almost reached the door by fighting her way through the audience and pushing the carrier in front of her like a battering ram. From her perch, Flo could see that Sparky was being left behind.
The old woman burst through the theatre exit, hurried to her van, which was parked close by, then picked up the carrier so she could shove it into the back of the van. She was in such a rush she didn’t notice Archie using his extendable legs to support his weight and lift himself inside. Peggy jumped into the front seat and slammed the door. The tyres screeched as she drove away from the theatre at top speed.
Sparky raced out of the theatre just in time to see the van disappearing round the corner. ‘Flo, the van’s left with Archie in it, I’m following.’
Sparky zoomed after the van in hot pursuit, keeping to the side of the road to avoid being squashed by traffic. Jack and Buster had been following Sparky, so Jack jumped on his bike, Buster running along behind. The young puppy loved chasing Jack on his bike, so for him the day was getting better and better, but by now Jack had lost sight of Sparky and had no idea which way to head. Luckily Flo flew down and sat on the handlebars.
‘You pedal, Jack,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you where to go.’ She paused for a second to locate where the transmitter signal was heading, then pointed a metal wing. ‘They went that way!’ she said.
Meanwhile, up ahead, Sparky was desperately trying to catch up with the speedy van. Eventually it had to stop at a red traffic light.
‘At last!’ he said. ‘I’ve found you, Archie.’
He zoomed up the wheel arch and underneath the van. The traffic lights were just changing as Sparky found himself a safe place to stow away in the engine compartment.
Flo, Jack and Buster were still following the signal from the transmitter. Flo had tried to contact both Sparky and Archie over the intercom but they were too far away. Jack was pedalling furiously and Buster, ears flapping, was enjoying every moment of the chase, but there was no way they could catch up with the van. Suddenly Flo let out a shriek.
‘The signal’s gone!’ she said in a panic. ‘The transmitter must be out of range. I’ve lost them both!’
Chapter 11
Caged!
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Flo in a flap.
‘Don’t panic,’ said Jack, continuing to pedal like a maniac in the direction they’d been heading.
‘But I’ve lost the transmitter signal! What if something terrible has happened?’
‘Fly up and see if you can spot the van from the air,’ suggested Jack.
‘Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?’ Flo said, relieved to be told what to do.
She took off, carefully scanning the horizon for the van. There was a lot of traffic in town on a busy Saturday afternoon and it seemed like nearly every other vehicle was a white van. Quickly, Flo accessed her memory banks for an image of Peggy’s old van and input the image into her visual scanning system. Almost instantly, the system highlighted a van speeding along the back streets. ‘Got you!’ said Flo.
‘I’ve found the van!’ she said, swooping down to Jack. ‘Follow me.’
Jack pedalled furiously to keep up as she soared back into the sky. Now it was Buster’s turn to hitch a ride – his little puppy legs were worn out! He hopped up into Jack’s bike basket gratefully.
Back at the theatre, the advert break was over, the cameras were rolling again and the next act was about to go on. Sophie and Anya had joined Mrs Stuart in the audience.
‘How’s Charlie?’ she asked.
‘Exhausted. He’s sleeping like a baby so we left him backstage,’ Sophie answered, less than truthfully.
‘I’m not surprised,’ said her mum. ‘That was incredible! However did you teach him to play like that?’
Sophie smiled a little awkwardly but didn’t say anything.
‘It’s agony not knowing what’s happening out there,’ Anya whispered to her friend.
‘I know,’ she agreed. ‘I hope we hear something soon.’
‘Charlie’s sure to get through to the final!’ Mrs Stuart went on.
‘Yes, I expect he will,’ agreed Sophie. But inside she was worried ‘Charlie’ might not come back at all.
Peggy’s van was parked outside a small row of houses on the far edge of town. Peggy had pulled the pet carrier out of the car in such a hurry that she hadn’t not
iced Archie’s feet sticking out of the bottom. She bumped and bashed the carrier downstairs into the basement, giving Archie a rather uncomfortable ride as he tried to half wheel and half walk himself down the steps. Sparky followed them, zipping through the basement door just before it swung shut. It was dark, shadowy and rather smelly in the basement.
‘Here you are, my little piano-playing friend: welcome to your new home.’ Peggy turned on the lights and the two Petbots found themselves in a room filled with cages. Every cage contained one of the missing acts from the Pet Factor competition. The imprisoned pets all noticed Archie immediately, and the room suddenly became rather noisy. Peggy opened an empty cage and shooed Archie out of his carrier. ‘In you go!’ she said. Archie obeyed quietly and before he knew it she’d slammed the cage door shut and fastened it with a large padlock. He watched as she placed the key, together with lots of others, on a large keyring and hung it up by the door. ‘See you later, Charlie. Shut up you lot,’ Peggy said and went back upstairs.
‘Sparky! Good to see you,’ said Archie as Sparky whizzed across the room towards him. He zipped through the bars and did a figure of eight around Archie’s front paws. The journey had worn the little mouse’s batteries out, though, and he could feel his charge beginning to drain. Down here in the dark he wasn’t getting any power from his solar panels either. ‘Where’s Flo?’ asked Archie.
‘I don’t know,’ said Sparky. ‘She’s with Jack and Buster but we got separated.’