Freezer Mice
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Those primeval skies, no man ever knew
Ignited, as one massive boulder burst through
Hollow inside, creatures not unlike mice
Strapped themselves in as they plunged into ice
Instantly boiled then instantly frozen
None were to question the planet they'd chosen
An epoch asleep in an Antarctic crater
They wake in the hand of a land excavator
Wires in their heads which meant sleeping was learning
Now are removed for their species’ returning
Unsure if their human descendants mean ill
Each crushes down on their dormancy pill
Caused quite a stir in the British museum
When people queued up just to go in and see ’em
The sensor that said they’re alive was deemed broke
Those ‘mice’ didn’t move if you gave ’em a poke
Somebody called it an obvious joke
Well, that’s what was said... until one of them spoke.
Scientists, stunned at this verbal ability
Whisked them away to a secret facility
This is the plan said a government man
Slice them and dice them and learn what you can
An autopsy planned for these intriguing visitors
Saw scalpels laid out by intrigued inquisitors
One Scientist shunned this inhuman insanity
Smuggled them out in the name of humanity
Soon, at his door, one hell of a din
‘Quick: in the bread bin!’ The door caved in
Soldiers with carbines invaded his space
The one with the stripes stuck a gun in his face
Handover the creatures, you know what we mean
Or you’ll disappear, never more to be seen
A brief muffled sound from inside the bread bin
A soldier stepped forward and took a look in
His accent akin to an east London geezer
‘Here Sarge, dey’ve dug an ’ole down to da freeza’
He reached for the freezer and opened the door
Instantly frozen he crashed to the floor
Out from the freezer three frosty mice jumped
An icy blue beam and the soldiers all slumped
Each frozen solid before they were down
They fractured then shattered and scattered the ground
The Doc stared aghast and said, ‘What kind of mice
shoot laser beams that turn men into ice?
And what’s with the freezer that you hid inside
How, when you came out you appeared fortified.’
One mouse stepped forward, ‘We’re grateful to you,
But don’t call us mouse, for we three are shrew.
Those eons ago, what we never knew
Was sooner or later we’d turn into you
My team here were watchmen, the ice kept us true
In our world we’d freeze and our strength would renew.
But we must be gone now and you should come too
For soon other forces will seek us... and you
We’ll need your assistance if we’re to survive
And we’ll need a freezer to keep us alive
The scientist said, ‘The home of my grandmother
was left to myself and my sister and brother,
but they went off traveling some place or other,
could be the place we could go undercover.’
The shrew said, ‘We knew you would know what to do,
so maybe we’ll leave all the driving to you
but we’re gonna need an apartment or ‘flat’
so bring us that bread bin: that's well cosy, that.’
The scientist said, ‘Well that seems like a plan,
do you all have names, I’m Stanley Dann.’
‘Churchill, Crocket and Cody,’ one said,
‘and it’s thanks to you that we are not dead.’
Doctor Dann said, ‘They’ll call further resources,
but what did you mean when you said “Other forces”?’
Churchill said, ‘Doctor, I must keep this brief,
they’ll follow us here and there will be grief.
We’d come to be Earth’s first mammalian creature,
but in hot pursuit was our foe: Catonita.’
CHAPTER TWO
CATONITA
The car took a corner on four squealing tyres
In frantic evasion of rampaging fires
That sprang up wherever the beast laid a foot
And the doc fled the town on a highway of soot
‘What the hell is it, it looks like a cat,
but I never saw a cat bigger than that.’
‘Doctor,’ said Cody, ‘can you take the truth?
that’s the forerunner of your Sabre Tooth.’
Dann checked his mirror and rammed his foot down,
‘So some Goddamned fossil is torching my town?’
The Doc watched the devil cat stop, stand and stare
He knew that they’d come face to face again… somewhere
*
The hideaway house with the freezer on ‘Fast’
Was revitalising the blast from the past
A very large whisky, no water, no ice
Was not helping Stanley Dann feel very nice
He swung the door open and bellowed inside
‘Just what the hell’s going on?’ he cried
Crocket stepped out and he shook off the frost,
‘We are here to help, whatever the cost’
‘The Catonita has the wind in its sails,
and when she seeks vengeance, she always prevails’
Doctor Dann gulped down his whisky then wailed,
‘What kind of feline is that multi tailed?’
‘She’s called Catonita: a cat of nine tails,
in every encounter she’ll survive nine fails,
each time she dies she loses a tail
and only with none, Catonita may fail.’
Dann gasped. ‘We must kill her again and again?’
And Cody said, ‘Only on ten is she slain.
When all tails are gone, you must kill her again
and only then have you ended her reign.
But, there’s fire in her paws and she’s tall as a man
And there’s darts in her tails that spread out like a fan
But harmless if tail-less? That, I must debunk,
think rear guard and nerve gas, then think like a skunk.’
The scientist said, ‘In this world full of kooks,
nothing can fend off a fistful of nukes.’
But Crocket’s wry grin gave the doctor a hunch
that Catonita ate missiles for lunch.
‘So how do you reckon, with three four inch mice,
I’m gonna put that massive moggie on ice?’
Churchill said, ‘Okay lads, let’s let him see,
Advance evolution on my count of three.’
Well, Stanley Dann didn’t know what to expect
but frankly it wasn’t quite what happened next
All three clicked their ‘fingers’ and rapidly grew,
each one becoming a full, man-sized, shrew.
With many more weapons than they’d had before
Cody said, ‘Okay, Doc… let’s go to war.’
Copyright © Terry Flood | Year Posted 2022
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