Ok, firstly, I recognise that I have probably got some of the specific details wrong… did Gray and John let Janet free, or is my sudden hunch that Janet had company in its cell correct. I haven't watched the episode since it aired in the UK, sorry. Either way, for the purposes of this oddity Janet was set free by Gray, and this is how it felt about it. Follow up to The World According to Janet the Weevil, set after Exit Wounds. Don't own any of it, it all belongs to the delightful BBC. Enjoy C x.
It hadn't liked the night before last. There had been far too many things making noises for its liking. It had had company down in the cells for a while, the angry one had put its captors there, but then had set it free, leaving the others there. It didn't like it outside the underground base. There were big bangs, and fire, and the one the others hailed as a healer had been abroad, causing the others to cower. It knew that it had changed, being fed every other day by the one with material around his neck, but it found the others of its race much more changed than it. They were no longer proud hunters, they were cowering scavengers, only attacking the weak and feeble. After the bangs had stopped it came out of the tunnel it had hidden in with those it recognised as being of its species, it hadn't liked it there. They had called it 'home' but to it it was a worse cell than its concrete and glass one. They fed off tiny rodents, more bone than meat, and it didn't like that either.
On the whole, it decided it had been better off in the place the red clothed one had freed it from. It stood and sniffed. The town smelt of fire, gunpowder and fear. Death and destruction. Despite its knowledge that this was what it had lived for before it had been dragged here, it felt a need to return to where it knew it would be welcomed and started to run, low to the ground, scenting for those it recognised.
It arrived at the place where all the scents it knew converged and it stood, howled to the dark night sky and waited. The red clothed one had approached it, had spoken quietly, holding a slab of the cold meat out to it. It looked at the face of the red clothed one, and then smelt the timeless one on him. This was safe, this would be ok it decided. It followed the red one to a slab on the floor and yelped in surprise as it went down, but the proffered meat was now given to it and it hunkered down satisfied. It was tired by now, had found that outside was too loud, and smelt too much of fear to give way to the needed sleep. It came up on its heels, crouching low to the ground as the slab stopped moving. The dark haired one with the gap in her teeth approached. "Janet" it said and then spoke some more. It smelt pain on that one and tried to convey pity, noticing the lack of scents for the healer and the smartly dressed one. The air was filled with the sharp metallic smell of blood and death, with an overtone of salty water, and it knew something had happened. Instinctively it made its way back to the cells further down.
It decided that whilst it may not like the cells, or the people holding it here, it still had a better life than the others outside. If only they would install one of those boxes with the people in for it, then the greyness would be more interesting. It also thought it would be nice if they could realise it had no gender and stop calling it by such a feminine name – it had had the unfortunate chance to see a 'Janet' on its travels outside this place and it made it more unhappy. Thinking about all this as it settled itself back into the cold hard room, it decided that this must be 'home.'