smallhobbit

“Not being funny, Spaceman,” Donna replied, “but I don’t think much of your description.”

“Yeah, last time I saw it this planet was somewhat greener,” the Doctor agreed.

Donna looked at the sand which stretched to the horizon.  The TARDIS had landed in a small area of scrubland, but that seemed to be the only area of green which was available.

“The sand’s moving,” Donna said.  “It’s as though it’s forming waves, which are coming towards us; rather like the tide coming in.”  She turned towards the TARDIS.  “And Doctor, you know how rats are supposed to flee a sinking ship?  There appear to be snocks fleeing from sinking sand.”

The Doctor followed Donna’s outstretched arm and saw snocks all heading rapidly for the TARDIS.

“They’ve got the right idea,” he said.  “Those sand waves are coming for us.  Run!”

Once safely inside the TARDIS and heading away from the planet, the Doctor said, “We’ll drop the snocks off at the first suitable planet, but in the mean time we need to make sure they don’t breed.”

“And how do we do that?” Donna asked.  “I assume it’s not as easy as having one basket with little girl snocks and one basket with little boy snocks.”

“No.  Snocks can change sex for a start.  And even if snock A who’s an X can mate with B who’s a Y it doesn’t follow when A’s a Y it can mate with B as an X.  In fact, the breeding of snocks is a highly developed art.  I remember when I was in …”

“Just tell me what to do with this lot,” Donna said with a sigh.  “Do I shove them all in one large basket and hope for the best?”

“Ah!  I’ve remembered.  These are all Lesser Spotted Snocks.  Can you see vague spots on their heads?”

Donna looked closely at the snocks.  “Just about.”

“Well, you count the number of spots on the head.  Breeding pairs will total seven spots between them.”

“So, if we put numbers one to three in one basket and four to six in the other, we’ll be okay?”

“Probably!  At least I’m pretty sure that’s the rule for Lesser Spotted Snocks.”