Rogue by Mark Walden Read Free Book Online

to worry about hairballs,’ Shelby whispered to Laura with a grin.
    Ms Leon stopped talking and looked straight at Shelby. ‘It is very good of you to show such solidarity with your friends, Miss Trinity,’ she said, ‘even going so far as to want to share their detention. Admirable. Stupid . . . but admirable. Anyway, as I was saying . . .’
    Shelby winced. It was not the first time that she had forgotten that Ms Leon’s hearing was considerably more acute than a human’s. Nor would it be the first time that she and Laura shared a detention. Admittedly the previous occasion had involved the swimming pool, the senior boys’ water polo team and and an electric eel, but at least that had been worth it.
    ‘The first layer is a human one,’ Ms Leon continued, ‘usually taking the form of button-operated silent alarms. In some ways this meeeww miiaoow, mew mew . . . roooow?’
    There were a couple of nervous giggles around the room as Ms Leon tipped her head to one side with the closest thing to a look of confusion on her face that a cat could manage.
    ‘Mew?’ she miaowed tentatively.
    Laura noticed that the large blue gem in the centre of the collar that Ms Leon always wore was not illuminated. Normally when she spoke it was via the vocal synthesiser implanted in that collar, but now the crystal was dark. Laura raised her hand in the air and Ms Leon looked towards her and gave a small nod.
    ‘Should I go and get the Professor, Miss?’ Laura asked. Miss Leon gave another, more emphatic, nod and Laura hurried out of the classroom and back towards the central computer core. As she ran down the corridor she noticed that this part of the school was suddenly so cold that she could see her breath forming small white clouds.
    The Professor looked up as she ran into the core. ‘Ah, Laura, there’s just been another processor load spike,’ he said with a frown.
    ‘Aye, I know, Professor. It’s caused a wee problem,’ Laura said. She quickly recounted what had just happened in the Stealth and Evasion lesson.
    ‘I should imagine Ms Leon is not terribly happy,’ the Professor said, looking slightly nervous. Ms Leon had never forgiven him for leaving her trapped in her new body, and the fact that he had thus far failed to find a way to reverse the process only made matters worse. In truth the Stealth and Evasion teacher had found unexpected advantages to her feline state, but she didn’t intend to let the professor know that.
    ‘I think that’s probably safe to say,’ Laura said as the Professor put down the display he’d been studying.
    The pair of them hurried out of the core and back towards the Stealth and Evasion training area.
    ‘I see that the environmental controls are malfunctioning too,’ the Professor said as they hurried down the corridor. If anything it was even colder now than it had been just a minute before; a fine glittering layer of frost was just starting to form on the rock walls.
    It became warmer again as they approached Ms Leon’s classroom, and they entered to find her prowling back and forth in an agitated way on the desk at the front of the room. As she saw the Professor her eyes narrowed.
    ‘Miaaaow! Mew meewww rooow,’ she growled as they approached.
    ‘I’m afraid we’re experiencing some slight systems problems,’ the Professor said as he examined the gem on her collar. ‘They appear to have interfered with the wireless connection between your vocal synthesiser and the network.’
    ‘Meeew miiaaaoow . . . you doddering old fool,’ Miss Leon said, her eyes widening as the blue crystal flared back to life and her normal voice returned.
    ‘Well . . . yes . . . erm . . . everything seems to be working again now,’ the Professor said with an embarrassed smile.
    ‘Is this likely to happen again, Professor?’ Ms Leon asked quietly.
    ‘It’s . . . erm . . . hard to say,’ the Professor said uncomfortably.
    Ms Leon raised a paw, a single curved claw sliding