smallhobbit

“Excellent,” said the Doctor, “We don’t need to stay long, just time enough to drop off the snocks and then we can head off for the beach I was telling you all about.”

He went to pick up the laundry basket to carry the snocks outside.  “Oh, no!” he said.  “Oh no, oh no, oh no!”

“What’s wrong?” Donna asked.

“There were seven snocks not long ago – I counted them – but there are only five now, and I don’t recognise two of them.”

“How can you tell?” Donna asked.  “I mean, I know they’re all different, but had you memorised their patterns or something?”

For answer the Doctor help up two snocks, one a fluorescent orange and the other a brilliant lime green.  “I think I’d have remembered these if I’d seen them before,” he said.

“So are you telling me they’ve been breeding?”

“Yes, it looks like it.  And the others have escaped to breed too.  We must find them at once.”

That was easier said than done.  The Doctor put the five snocks they still had into a drawstring bag which he tightened at the top so they couldn’t slide out, and then he and Donna before to look for the other snocks.

It turned out there were a lot of places where a snock could hide, but where they weren’t actually hiding.

Donna ran one to ground curled around a pipe.  At first it seemed reluctant to leave, but when she offered it a sugar cube it cheerfully dropped into her hand.

The Doctor found one in a small drawer which was situated at the bottom of the TARDIS console.  He also found a set of keys he’d lost three years ago and a gizmo for removing stones from horses’ hooves.

By now the bag in which the snocks had been collected was starting to shake alarmingly.

“What are we going to do?” Donna asked.  “If they burst out we’ll never capture them all again.  Can we put out the ones we’ve caught and then carry on hunting for the others?”

“Snocks send out a very powerful vibration which draws other snocks in, so the chances are they’d all be back in the TARDIS before we’d had chance to leave.  We have to find the remaining snocks.”

“Well, if that’s the case, can we use a snock to track down the others?  Like a bloodhound?”

“Excellent idea!  Why didn’t I think of that?”

Donna merely snorted.

The Doctor found some string and made a loop in one end to hook over the head of one of the snocks.  They chose the fluorescent orange one on the basis they could find it again if it managed to break loose.  As soon as the Doctor put it on the TARDIS floor the snock set off at a rapid pace, practically dragging the Doctor behind it.  When it reached one of the TARDIS walls it headed up it, the Doctor still hanging on to the string with one hand and gripping onto the wall with the other.  Finally, it stopped and began to wriggle into a tiny alcove.

“Oh no you don’t,” said the Doctor, grabbing the snock by the tail.  He dropped the orange snock down to Donna who caught it and hurriedly shoved it back in the bag.  Then he pushed his hand into the alcove and retrieved the last two errant snocks.

He was about to drop them down too when Donna squawked and called out, “They’re all trying to escape.”

“Hang on to the bag and don’t let them get out whatever you do!” the Doctor ordered.  “I’ll bring these two down with me.”

Carefully he climbed back down the wall and joined Donna, who was grasping the wriggling bag firmly.  Hurriedly they made their way to the TARDIS door which opened for them.

“Right,” the Doctor said, “Toss them as far as you can.  Don’t bother taking them out of the bag, just throw the bag as well.  They’ll make their own way out of it.”

Donna did as she’d been instructed and the Doctor threw the two snocks he had been holding.  Both performed graceful arcs in the air before landing together in a way which reminded Donna of watching ice dancers.  However, she had no intention of hanging around to see what they did next, in case they headed straight back for the TARDIS.

With the TARDIS door closed again the Doctor rushed to the console and the TARDIS dematerialised, leaving the snocks to explore their new home.

“Right,” said the Doctor, with a sigh of relief.  “What we need now is a nice cup of tea.”