Kill the Mouse! (short story)

Kill the Mouse! was the second story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology A Life of Surprises. It was written by Daniel O'Mahony.

Summary
Bernice Summerfield is staying on the planet Ganesh, where it snows constantly, and someone has committed suicide, but she couldn't care less. The authorities are stopping her from getting to the archaeology sites, so Irving Braxiatel is coming to sort it out. She has made a friend of a homeless little girl who worships an elephant god named Ganesh.

She speaks with Kint in a bar, when an officer comes to tell her that Brax has arrived. But Brax's face is missing. When the officer drives her home, they are attacked by an elephant-shaped assailant, who steals the officer's face. Benny gives chase.

Benny tracks the assailant to a room filled with faces hanging from the walls. There is a shrine of sorts in the middle of the room. She greets the figure as "Ganesh", but it states that its name is Janus. Benny bargains with it for Brax's face, and finally it agrees to give her the face if she will give it everything she has.

Benny returns to her lodgings and packs everything she has. She brings it back to the room and gives it to Janus, who then gives her Brax's face. She then confronts Janus, thinking it is Kint, but she is wrong — it is a cacogen, or "life that's wrong".

Benny and Brax, whose face has been returned to him, prepare to leave Ganesh. Benny sees the little girl once again, and notes that she has in her possession the catnip mouse that Benny had given to Janus.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel
 * Marco
 * James
 * Kerry
 * Richard
 * Gareth
 * Kint
 * Janus
 * Little girl
 * Captain

Continuity

 * A subsidiary of COMBINE runs Ganesh. (PROSE: Heart of Glass)
 * Benny is working on the Collection for Braxiatel. (PROSE: Twilight of the Gods)
 * Janus was one of the faces from mythology worn by members of the Pageant. (PROSE: The Man in the Velvet Mask)