The Pet Factor

by Judy Brown

  Archie looked around the room. It was filled with some very miserable pets, some of whom he recognised from the Pet Factor videos that Flo had been watching.

  There was a pitiful-looking python in the cage next to Archie.

  ‘What did the python do, Sparky, do you remember?’

  ‘Its owner did a snake-charming thing, I think,’ said Sparky, ‘then it wrapped its owner up like a sausage and rolled around the stage to music.’

  ‘I remember the acrobatic monkey over there,’ said Archie.

  ‘That’s right, Marvin the monkey!’ said Sparky. ‘And look, the pigeon circus from Charlie’s first audition.’

  Also in the basement were Lucy the llama who could count, three parrots – one which kept singing the same song over and over – several dogs, a couple of cats, a goat, a pig and a wallaby. Quite a collection!

  ‘First things first,’ said Archie, ‘let’s get these cages open. We could do with Flo being here, her beak would cut through the padlocks like a knife through butter.’

  ‘My laser eyes,’ suggested Sparky, ‘they’ll do it.’

  ‘Great!’ said Archie.

  Sparky set to work on the first cage in the row, which held the acrobatic monkey. He was still wearing his stage costume that said ‘Marvin’ across the chest.

  ‘Stand back, Marvin,’ Archie advised him. At first the monkey didn’t move, but when he saw the lasers begin to work, he fled to the far corner of the cage. Sparky’s lasers cut off the padlock with ease, but as it fell to the ground the smallest Petbot realised that there was a big problem.

  ‘Archie, I’m almost out of charge!’

  ‘Unlock my cage next, before you run out,’ said Archie as a very excited monkey burst from his cage and started performing cartwheels around the room.

  ‘Free at last!’ thought Marvin. ‘Free at last!’

  Sparky tried to use his lasers but it was no good – he didn’t have enough power. It wasn’t working.

  ‘Oh no! Sorry, Archie, why didn’t I do your cage first?’ moaned Sparky.

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ said Archie. ‘See if you can push that bunch of keys off the hook and bring it over to me.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll try.’ Sparky did his best but he used almost all his remaining energy climbing up the wall and was too weak to push the heavy bunch of keys off the hook. ‘Oh no!’ he wailed again. ‘What are we going to do?’

  Archie was trying to think of a new plan but it was hard to concentrate with a monkey bouncing around the room. Then he had an idea.

  ‘Hey, what about Marvin? Show him what to do.’

  Sparky had just enough power to whizz around the monkey’s feet and attract his attention. Intrigued by the little metal mouse, the monkey watched him run over to the keys and try to push them off the hook. As he watched, Archie realised why people used the saying ‘Monkey see, monkey do’. Marvin pushed at the keys. He liked the sound they made when they jingled. Then he took them off the hook.

  ‘Hooray!’ cheered Archie and Sparky. The monkey liked them cheering and jumped up and down enthusiastically.

  ‘Come here, Marvin, bring them to me,’ Archie said. To his delight, Marvin walked over to Archie’s cage, dragging the keys behind him.

  Marvin had never seen a talking cat before. The monkey looked at Archie, and tilted his head to one side. Archie pointed at the keys, then at the lock, hoping Marvin would understand what to do. Sparky watched helplessly from the side of the room, trying to conserve what little energy he had left so he wouldn’t power down completely.

  ‘I can’t show you,’ Archie said, frustrated, ‘my paws won’t fit through the bars.’ Marvin looked at the keys, the padlock and then Archie – and finally the penny dropped. Archie pointed to the last key on the ring, the one that Peggy had just added, and shook the padlock.

  Marvin was excited now – he had seen the old lady locking and unlocking the cages and he knew exactly what to do. He placed the key in the padlock and turned it. Immediately the padlock opened and fell to the ground.

  ‘Marvin, you’re a genius!’ said Archie.

  Marvin wasn’t behaving much like a genius, though, he was doing more cartwheels and somersaults in celebration of his newfound talent.

  Now that Archie was free he went to each cage in turn, unlocking padlocks until every animal had been freed.

  ‘What now?’ asked Sparky.

  ‘Good question,’ Archie replied. He was slightly worried that this particular mixture of livestock might not be a good one but at the moment the pets were all so happy to be out of their cages that it was all they cared about. ‘If we can get the animals back in the van, we could take them back to the theatre.’

  However it was at this point that the relative calm in the basement came to an abrupt end. One of the dogs decided it was time to chase one of the cats. The parrots flapped out of the way and began to squawk loudly. The goat – spooked by the squawking – head-butted the door, and Marvin the monkey screeched at the top of his voice, jumping all over the empty cages and chucking around anything he could find. The sound was deafening, but even so, Archie, with his radar ears, could hear footsteps coming downstairs.

  ‘Peggy’s coming!’ he said, darting next to the door, ready to pounce. Sparky wheeled himself slowly over to the corner, safely out of the way.

  The door flew open.

  ‘What on earth is going on down here?’ shouted Peggy above the din. The sound of loud cha-cha music was drifting down from upstairs.

  Quick as a flash Archie darted forward, meaning to shove Peggy into the largest of the cages (which until recently had been occupied by a large hairy llama). Unfortunately he skidded on a pool of llama spit, slid across the floor and went crashing into the wall.

  The Petbot struggled to his feet, tangled up in his soggy cat costume, and turned to see Peggy looming over him with a large net.

  ‘You’re no cat!’ she said. ‘I knew there was something fishy about you! So what exactly are you?’

  Chapter 12

  Breakout!

  For a moment Archie thought that he was going to be caught, and his real identity revealed. Peggy could see his metal body shining through the holes in his costume and was beginning to realise that Archie was some sort of bionic pet. Then he noticed what was happening behind her, raised a metal eyebrow and pointed a paw. She turned round.

  ‘Aarrgghh!!’ screamed Peggy. The very large, angry python had crept up behind her. She panicked, dropping the net and backing away terrified. ‘Help!’ she shouted.

  Marvin, now on a roll, picked up the enormous net and with a big swish, ensnared Peggy from head to toe.

  ‘Marvin, you’re a marvel,’ shouted Archie. He spotted a coil of rope in the corner, grabbed the end and began to wind it round Peggy.

  Chico the Chihuahua, who’d now followed his owner down to the basement, suddenly realised this might be his opportunity to escape the silly dog clothes and cha-cha practice. ‘This is my chance for freedom!’ he thought as he watched the other animals enjoying theirs. ‘No more embarrassing costumes and no more stupid dancing!’ Seized with the spirit of rebellion, he grabbed the other end of the rope and joined Archie in wrapping Peggy up like a parcel.

  ‘No, Chico, no!’ wailed Peggy.

  ‘Yap, yap yap!’ he replied.

  Just then the animals heard excited barking coming from upstairs. Buster had followed Archie’s scent! The puppy appeared in the basement, bounded over to his new friend and covered him in licks. Chico ran straight over to investigate. Buster and Chico hit it off straight away.

  ‘Archie! Archie! Are you here?’ came a familiar voice. ‘We lost your signal!’

  ‘Flo! Nice of you to join us!’ said Archie.

  She and Jack were at the top of the stairs. Seeing Archie, Flo flew down and wrapped both wings round him. Jack followed.

  ‘Is Sparky with you?’ a worried Flo asked.

  ‘He’s over there,’ Archie told her, ‘but he’s almost out of charge.�
�

  Jack ran through the roomful of animals, picked up the robotic mouse and held him gently.

  ‘Hi there, Sparky,’ he said. ‘I’m so glad you’re okay!’

  Back at the theatre, Pet Factor was nearly over, and Sophie and Anya were worried. They’d heard nothing from any of the Petbots since Peggy had taken Archie.

  ‘I’m going to show someone the letter,’ Sophie said. ‘I think it’s time to call the police.’

  ‘Maybe we should tell your mum first,’ said Anya.

  Sophie thought for a moment. ‘I don’t think she’d be too chuffed that I’d kept it quiet all this time.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ agreed Anya, ‘I think you might be right.’

  The girls found one of the backstage organisers and showed them Peggy’s letter. They explained about Charlie being petnapped too – but left out the part about Charlie being impersonated by a robot cat.

  ‘And you say Charlie was taken in a van?’ said the man seriously.

  ‘Yes, we think so. He disappeared over an hour ago,’ said Sophie.

  ‘And you’re just telling us this now!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘Well, if you look at the note you can see why,’ she explained.

  The man pressed a button on his walkie-talkie. ‘Get security down here right now,’ he said. ‘We have a situation.’

  Chapter 13

  Archie at the Wheel

  Over at Peggy’s house, Archie and Jack were herding the animals into the back of the van.

  Peggy, tied up in the net with her feet sticking out from the bottom, was still protesting. Archie and Jack had helped her up the stairs and into the van with all of the animals.

  ‘Get this net off me and untie me at once!’

  ‘No can do, I’m afraid,’ said Jack. ‘Your number’s up.’

  It was a tight squeeze and the smell was far from pleasant. Archie’s costume was gradually disintegrating, he’d lost one ear and part of his tail and there were a few tears here and there. Jack loaded Charlie’s pet carrier on the floor by the front seat in case they needed it back at the theatre, put Sparky safely into his pocket and got on his bike.

  ‘Er, who’s driving?’ asked Jack.

  ‘Archie, of course,’ said Flo, perching on top of the carrier. ‘The Professor taught him, he’s an excellent driver.’

  Jack looked unconvinced.

  ‘Just trust me, Jack, have I ever let you down before?’ said Archie.

  Jack relaxed – of course Archie had never let them down.

  Marvin the monkey decided to climb in next to Archie and Flo, Buster and Chico joined them.

  So it was that a very noisy van – with someone who looked a bit like a cat as its driver, a monkey and two dogs as the passengers and a metal bird acting as the satnav – made its way back to the theatre in the centre of town. Several drivers going in the opposite direction rubbed their eyes in disbelief as the Peggy’s Pet Emporium van sped past.

  The van drew up outside the theatre just as what seemed like half the local police force arrived. Sophie and Anya, watching from the foyer, ran outside.

  ‘That’s the van!’ shouted one of the policemen, and instantly it was surrounded.

  Archie ducked under the dashboard and Flo crept inside the pet carrier out of sight. Just then, Jack arrived on his bike and rode over to Anya and Sophie.

  ‘The police!’ he exclaimed.

  ‘Yes,’ said Sophie, ‘we thought we’d better call them in case something had happened to you lot.’

  ‘We have to get Archie and Flo out of there before the police search the van. Archie’s costume is falling apart!’ explained Jack.

  ‘Was Archie driving?’ asked Sophie.

  ‘Yes,’ said Jack. Sophie and Anya looked at each other in amazement, really impressed by Archie’s skills.

  Quite a crowd had now gathered outside the theatre, wondering what all the excitement was about. Most of them were pointing at Peggy’s van – there was a tremendous banging coming from it. One of the policemen nodded to another and together they opened the back door. Out poured all of the animals, leaving Peggy inside, still wrapped in the net. There was a huge gasp from the crowd.

  ‘That’s her!’ shouted Sophie. ‘She’s the petnapper!’

  One of the policemen stepped forward.

  ‘Madam,’ he said, ‘you’re under arrest!’

  ‘Under a net, more like,’ laughed Jack.

  Sophie saw her chance and ran towards the van.

  ‘Keep back, Miss,’ said a policeman, ‘this is a crime scene.’

  ‘But I can see my cat Charlie!’ she wailed dramatically. ‘He’s on the front seat, he’ll be so frightened!’

  ‘All right, Miss,’ he said quietly, ‘but be quick or I’ll be in trouble.’

  Sophie removed the carrier from the van and placed it on the ground, and opened it up. She saw that Flo was already hiding in the corner of it, and beckoned to Archie.

  ‘Quick, Archie – get in,’ she said, as soon as the policeman’s back was turned. As quickly and carefully as she could, she wheeled the carrier over to the others. The van was empty now, except for Marvin the monkey who was playing with the steering wheel.

  ‘You don’t think the monkey drove the van do you, Sarge?’ one of the policemen said.

  ‘Beats me,’ the sergeant replied. ‘Someone just told me that there’s a cat that can play piano. I s’pose anything’s possible!’

  Back at Sophie’s house later that evening, the Petbots, Sophie, Jack and Anya were watching a news report on the laptop. Charlie was curled up asleep on Sophie’s bed. Sparky was next to him, plugged in and recharging. Buster was curled up next to Sophie having a well-earned rest. Chico was with them too – he seemed to have adopted them as his new owners.

  ‘Look at Chico!’ Sophie laughed.

  He was happily chewing his Mexican coat and sombrero to shreds ‘Ha ha! At last, no more stupid costume,’ he growled to himself triumphantly.

  ‘Police are still baffled as to how a van containing missing Pet Factor contestants reached the town’s theatre this evening. The pets, who were stolen following their appearances on the popular television show, have been reunited with their owners and the programme’s producers are delighted that there has been a happy conclusion to the drama. The grand final will go ahead next Saturday as planned, with most of the acts confirmed to appear again. Unfortunately, we are told that Charlie the piano-playing cat, who’s already an Internet sensation after his appearance this evening, will not be appearing in the grand final after his petnapping ordeal. Local pet shop owner Peggy Scrimshaw, who performed under the stage name “Carmelita” with her dancing Chihuahua Chico, has been arrested and is likely to be charged in connection with the crime.

  ‘In other local news, a man was taken to hospital and is being kept in for observation after crashing his bicycle into a pond. The man claims he lost control of the bicycle after he saw a cat driving a vehicle containing a monkey and a bird through the town centre earlier this afternoon.’

  ‘Oops!’ cried Archie.

  ‘So the competition is back on track!’ said Flo.

  ‘Yes,’ said Sophie, ‘but Charlie and I have had enough of the limelight.’ She stroked Charlie’s ears gently and he started to purr. ‘Anyway, I really don’t think he could live up to Archie’s performance so I had to pull out.’

  ‘It certainly was a showstopper,’ said Anya.

  Archie grinned.

  The following week was the Pet Factor live grand final. The Petbots gathered around their laptop in the school attic to watch the show. All of the kidnapped pets had been reunited with their owners and they all performed in the final. There was only one winner for the Petbots, though, and they all voted for him. It was of course Marvin the monkey!

  About the Author

  Having illustrated numerous children’s books, Judy Brown thought it was about time that she wrote some of her own. Petbots is her third and latest series of children’s novels. Judy has three chil
dren and lives in Surrey with her family and cats. You can find out all about her at www.judybrown.co.uk

  Also available in this series

  Petbots: The Great Escape

  Petbots: School Shutdown

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain in 2015

  by Piccadilly Press

  Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AT

  www.piccadillypress.co.uk

  Text and illustrations copyright © Judy Brown, 2015

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  The right of Judy Brown to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978–1–8481–2431–8

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk, Stirlingshire

  Printed in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

  Piccadilly Press is an imprint of the Bonnier Publishing Group

  www.bonnierpublishing.com

  Meet Archie the cat, Sparky the mouse and Flo the bird – three pets built by a brainy professor to be the perfect robo-friends! But without him, their quiet life is turned upside down. The mechanical marvels are forced to leave their house and use all of their special robot powers to survive the dangers of the outside world…