A 1985 novel by Robert Swindells.
From a comet-shattered planet in the orbit of Betelgeuse flee numerous tiny vessels. Meanwhile, twelve-year-old Tristan "Tan" Hanley, having fed his gerbils, sees a shooting star.
On the Tangle, overgrown site of Market Fulford's demolished railway station, Tan, with Simon Playfair, finds several baby white mice - who seem oddly calm around humans. Supposing the mice to have been abandoned, Tan and Simon take them home.
Tan, Simon, and Simon’s younger sister Diane, tied up and left in the disused railway tunnel by fourteen-year-old Gary Deacon and gang, find a human skeleton. Tan's report to the police sees the tunnel cordoned off. With the Market Fulford Gazette denied access, Tan tells of his finding to reporter Liz Gordon - who learns the skeleton, a maverick builder named Ian Bain, to have died surprisingly recently. Furthermore, Tan's gerbils, and Simon's guinea pigs, seem surprisingly scared of the mice - each of which has an unusually long front claw…
This novel provides examples of:
- Abandoned Area: "The Tangle," site of Market Fulford's demolished railway station, is overgrown with waist-high grass and littered with discarded furniture.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Cornered on the Tangle by Gary Deacon, Tan tells the bully the police suspect him of Ian Bain's murder. When the bully flees in panic, Tan can’t help but pity his tormentor.
- Alien Animals: Downplayed. While the creatures on the Tangle look like white mice, they’re improbably calm around humans. Furthermore, each has an elongated front claw.
- Alien Autopsy: To the local polytechnic, Liz Gordon brings several of the Betelgusian mice. A lab tech agrees to have a poke around inside one - and comes back white-faced.
- Armies Are Useless: Averted. Tan's older sister Anne's boyfriend, Pilot Officer Tim Bixby, having saved Tan from an attack by the mice, tells commanding officer Superintendent Fisk, who, without mention of mice, tells his superiors of civil unrest. Several troops, from the local power station, scatter the mice.
- Awesome McCoolname: Acquainted with nice-smiled reporter Liz Gordon, Tan wishes his name was Jeff Sabre, ace photographer.
- Big Damn Heroes: Alone in the tunnel, Diane searches for mice specimens, and, by a vast living carpet of the tiny Betelgusian predators, is swamped. Just in time, Tan and Liz arrive to swat the mice and lift Diane to safety.
- Biological Weapons Solve Everything: At the polytechnic, Liz learns of ectromelia, or "mouse-pox" - highly contagious and only harmful to mice. Mr Farnsworth, a lab-supplying mouse breeder whom Liz's interview defended from hate mail, agrees to make some. To the Tangle, Liz and Tan return the infected mice - which, soon enough, infect the others.
- Big Sister Bully: Tan recalls how Anne used to physically bully him.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: After the white mice he found on the Tangle breed unexpectedly early, Tan sees them, via an elongated front claw, clump together to form a mass the size of a kitten. This process enables the mice, en masse, to open doors and devour prey.
- The Bully: Fourteen-year-old Gary Deacon, with his eleven-strong gang, regard the Tangle as their territory. On overhearing an insolent remark, he has them tie up Tan, Simon and Diane and leave them in the disused tunnel.
- Came from the Sky: Having seen a falling star one night, Tan eventually suspects it to have carried to Earth the mice.
- Collector of the Strange: On discovery of a dead cat’s strangely neatly arranged bones, Simon takes the skull for his collection.
- Dem Bones: In the disused tunnel, Tan, Simon and Diane find the fully clothed skeleton of Glaswegian builder Ian Bain.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: A comet shatters Betelgeuse's thirteenth planet.
- Eerily Out-of-Place Object: An abandoned mattress holds a clutch of baby white mice.
- Foreboding Fleeing Flock: Around the white mice, Tan’s gerbils are disconcertingly timid. Likewise, Simon's guinea pigs - prompting him to release the mice.
- From Stray to Pet: Tan and Simon each take home several of the white mice.
- The Gadfly: Tan can’t seem to stop making wisecracks to his parents and older sister Anne.
- Ghost Story: The ghost of a porter who killed himself by lying on the tracks, is said to haunt the disused railway tunnel. A milkman, surprised by a blurry, man-sized white shape, supposes it to be a ghost.
- Honour Before Reason: After seeing the reported skeleton, WPC Carter recalls Tan’s mention of Deacon and friends having tied up himself, Simon and Diane. With a surprising resolve to somehow deal with the bully himself, Tan dismisses the incident as fun and games.
- Horde of Alien Locusts: Across space, the Betelgeuse mice seem to have come mainly to feed and breed.
- Information Wants to Be Free: With the police strangely reluctant to discuss Ian Bain's mysterious death, Market Fulford Gazette reporter Liz Gordon, who maintains the papers' duty to truth, instead interviews Tan.
- Intrepid Reporter: Gazette reporter Liz Gordon, refused information about Ian Bain’s unusual death, interviews the skeleton’s young finders. Through acquaintance with Tan, she learns of the bizarre white mice; gets some specimens, and, at the local polytechnic, persuades a lab technician to open one up.
- It Can Think: When clumped together, the Betelgusian mice can open doors.
- Not Me This Time: On a farm, hundreds of chickens are reduced to bones and feathers. Foxes, noted to kill more prey than they can eat - and as being unable to open locked doors - are ruled out.
- Oop North: A mention of regional newscast Look North.
- Our Monsters Are Weird: Extraterrestrial white mice, via a long front claw, group together in a man-sized swarm, allowing them to open doors and enfold prey.
- Mistaken for Undead: A milkman sees a man-sized amorphous white shape pass seamlessly through a fence. It’s actually a grouped swarm of Betelgeusian mice.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Having found the skeleton, Tan, from a nearby phone box, calls the local police station. Police Constable Stables and WPC Carter readily investigate.
- While Tan's parents dismiss his outlandish fears, Gazette reporter Liz Gordon, suspicious of a cover-up, helps him investigate.
- Shout-Out: To Look North and Top of the Pops.
- Sinister Subway: The Tangle, site of a demolished railway station, sports a decidedly spooky-looking tunnel.
- Sleeper Starship: From Betelgeuse’s comet-shattered thirteenth planet, numerous "tiny arks" carry "deep-frozen" passengers.
- Stripped to the Bone: The late Ian Bain's landlady claims he left only recently - so why is he now a skeleton? And what could have Stripped to the Bone a thousand penned chickens?
- The Smart Guy: Simon Playfair wants to be some kind of scientist when he grows up.
- The Swarm: When hunting, the Betelgusian mice amass in a dense swarm, which then, via each mouse’s elongated front claw, joins in a man-sized amorphous mass.
