Undertow didn't completely understand what was happening, and hadn't since those other humans had found her scavenging in a garbage bin a few streets away, but she knew that the white and grey human was bad, and that Spur had attacked him.

When the food appeared, she ran for it, but Spur fell out of the sky and got there first. As soon as he took a bite, a shiny metal net came out of the ceiling and landed on him. He didn't seem to notice. He was too busy eating.

Maybe Spur was right about the food being bad. Maybe the human had put it there to distract Spur from attacking him. It was a troubling thought.

The human made some sounds. "It... It really works!" He put his face up close to Spur, who ignored. "Do you like my new recipe for platypus food, Perry the Platypus? The science behind it is a little complicated... You see, every creature has these little desire molecules in their brains. Or is it their nose? I... Whatever. So anyway. Desire molecules. I have designed a new kind of molecule that fits perfectly with platypus desire molecules! And... Perry the Platypus, are you listening?"

Undertow tried to work out do while the human was distracted by jabbering. First, she had to protect Wattle. Wattle was a lot healthier now than she'd been last winter when Undertow had found her abandoned in the snow, but she was still too young to survive on her own. And Flotsam... Flotsam's mind wasn't right. Spur was weird too, but he could obviously take care of himself. He was so clean and well-fed that he probably lived in a house with a human, and she was sure they'd come and get him if he was gone for too long. He'd be fine.

"Escape," she said to the other two.

Flotsam didn't say anything, but he stared at Spur. He didn't seem to want to leave without him. She'd never seen Flotsam so attached to anyone before, but she'd never met anyone who outstripped him in strangeness either.

Wattle was looking at Spur too. "Spur danger?"

"Spur fight all days," replied Undertow. He didn't need their help. He could take care of himself. Flotsam and Wattle couldn't.

The human seemed frustrated. "I call it platynip! I... Look at me, Perry the Platypus! I'm talking to you!" He reached into the net and pulled Spur away from the food. Without even looking, Spur closed one of his front paws and hit him with it. It looked like it hurt.

Spur opened his eyes wide, spat out what was in his mouth, stood like a human, and used a strange tool to make the food vanish. He looked at the human with his eyes narrowed.

"Hey!" The human was making more sounds. "Th... That stuff wasn't cheap, you know. Okay, hang on, let me find some more..."

Spur went back to being a platypus and said "Escape! Spur all right."

Undertow started to move, but Flotsam and Wattle didn't follow.

"Disappear trap!" Wattle suggested.

"Can't," replied Spur. "Trap shiny."

"Hey, what happened to all the spare- Perry the Platypus, what are you doing?"

Spur looked back at the human, but he didn't stand like a human.

Suddenly, Flotsam stood like a human and chattered. Undertow didn't know much about human stances, but it seemed like he was holding his front legs in the same way that Spur had earlier.

The human changed his stance. "Two Perry the Platypuses?!"

Spur started to make the gesture for "no", then seemed to change his mind and said "Flotsam copy Spur human stance. Flotsam not copy Spur platypus stance." He stood like a human and moved his eyes upwards.

Flotsam copied him exactly.

"Don't give me that look, Perry the... Uh..." The human looked around at Spur, who immediately dropped to all fours.

"Pull thing," Spur told Undertow indicating a rope hanging down from the net.

"Huh?" said the human, turning to look back at Flotsam.

Spur did want their help now. He might be strange, but if he wanted assistance, Undertow was prepared to give it. She didn't understand what he was having Flotsam do, but he seemed to know how humans worked, so she trusted that whatever it was, it was helping.

Flotsam turned the corners of his mouth up and half closed his eyes.

Undertow started towards the net, keeping one eye on the human.

The human rubbed his head. "What? Are... Are you cloning yourself now?"

Flotsam moved his head from side to side.

"You're not a clone?" said the human. "You're... Wait a second! The Perry the Platypus in the net is a decoy!"

Flotsam kept his mouth turned up and moved his head up and down.

Undertow reached the net and stared up at the rope, trying to judge its height. It was too high to reach even if she stood on her hind legs, but she could probably grab it if she jumped.

"So you had a backup plan," said the human. "Huh. Uh..." Suddenly he reached down and grabbed Wattle. "Well so did I!"

Undertow forgot about the rope and rushed towards him, hitting him in the leg.

The human looked down. He didn't seem to be hurt. "Oh, don't tell me you're Perry the Platypus too."

Undertow had never actually attacked a human before - she'd never been so sure that they meant harm - but she had an idea of where the vulnerable parts were. She grabbed the unattached skin of the human's legs with her front paws and hauled herself up. She had to at least get to the top before she could do any serious damage.

The human made a loud yelping sound and said "Get it off! Get it off!" He shook his leg so violently that Undertow flew off and hit the wall.

Dazed, she stared across the room at Spur.

"Spur save Wattle!" said Spur, a bit desperately. "Pull thing!"

Undertow righted herself and replied "Human see. Hurt Wattle." The human was clearly looking at her now. He was probably planning to do something horrible if she took her eyes off him.

Wattle looked left, then right, and bit him.

"Argh! Why did you..." said the human, dropping her on the ground. "That really hurt, you know!"

"Platypus smart human dumb," Wattle said smugly.

Undertow didn't know what she was talking about. Of course platypuses were smarter than humans. Humans couldn't even speak. "Wattle run!"

Wattle glanced around, saw the human grab for her, and ran and hid behind Undertow.

The human turned to face them. "You know, I'm beginning to think that whoever came up with "he's a platypus. They don't do much" was a big liar."

Undertow wasn't sure she could pull the rope with the human standing between it and her. Humans were very fast when they wanted to be.

The human seemed to dismiss them, and stood so that he could look at Spur and Flotsam at the same time. "So... If you're out here... And the decoy's in there..."

Undertow started to sneak past, while Flotsam stared blankly. Undertow guessed that Spur wasn't doing anything because he didn't want the human to see him tell Flotsam what to do. This was not good. There was no way that Flotsam could act without Spur's guidance. Even Undertow didn't understand what Spur was trying to do.

The human seemed uncertain. "Why don't you say anything, Perry the Platypus?" He rubbed his chin.

Undertow kept sneaking. As long as he didn't turn around before she got to the rope, Spur would be able to do his impression of a human.

Flotsam began to sweat slightly, brought up one of his front paws, and curled every finger but the thumb. Despite his strange posture, it was obvious that he had no idea what he was doing.

Undertow took a running jump and just managed to catch the rope in her mouth. The net collapsed and Spur launched himself at the human.

"What the- oof!"

Undertow watched the fight with interest. She'd have to remember some of the things Spur was doing for next time. Most of them needed a human stance, but that couldn't be too hard, if Flotsam could do it.

So if she stood like a human, jumped, turned so that her head was facing the ground, pushed off with her front legs, and turned so that she was flying back feet first, she'd hit the human in the stomach and hurt him? It looked easy when Spur did it, but maybe it was a bit too complicated to start off with.

The human crawled away into the big room and looked inside a box. "You see, it's all gone, how did that..."

Spur kicked him in the head.

"Ow! What was that for? All I'm saying is, all my backup platynip is gone, like, like magic! What, is it also odd-job-guys-nip?"

Spur went over to have a look in the box. Flotsam and Wattle followed him, so Undertow did too, making sure her body was between Wattle and the human at all times.

Spur sniffed the box, then took out the tool he'd used to disappear the food and turned up the corners of his mouth.

"Spur speak human?" said Flotsam.

Spur was still standing like a human, so he couldn't answer, but he didn't need to.

"Spur not speak human. Human not speak." Flotsam was even dumber than she'd thought if he didn't know that.

"Oh I see, you disintegrated them all with that... gun... Curse you, Perry the Platypus," vocalised the human. He exhaled loudly. "That's another scheme down the drain. But at least your little friends are cute!"

"Human speak sound sign more sound human speak now!" said Wattle. "Spur say!"

That didn't make any sense. "Sound?" said Undertow. What did sound have to do with anything?

The human reached down for Flotsam. Undertow growled and jumped in front of him.

"Sheesh, what's his problem?" said the human.

Spur moved his eyes upwards.

"What? What'd I say?"

"Okay, okay," said the human. "I can see where I'm not wanted." He walked out of the room, with a backwards glance at Spur.

"Sound!" repeated Wattle. "Human speak sound now! Spur human say what?"

Spur was too busy staring at the human to reply.

"Sound not speak," Undertow told Wattle. What had Spur been telling her? She should never have let her talk to him unsupervised.

The human left without closing the door, and Spur went back to being a platypus. "Human say human leave."

They really did speak with sound? That was stupid.

"What say before?" Wattle pressed.

"Human ask why Undertow defend Flotsam," replied Spur patiently.

"What say before?" said Wattle again.

Undertow had had enough. "Group leave." Even if humans did communicate through sound, this was pointless. They had to go before more humans showed up to menace them.

Spur agreed, and they left the house.

Even outside, Wattle and Flotsam followed Spur. Flotsam even reared up on his hind legs. Spur seemed like he wanted to say something about that, but he didn't.

Undertow followed Spur as well. She was didn't want to let Wattle out of her sight, not so soon after getting her back.

Wattle kept asking Spur about what the humans had said. Spur didn't seem to mind answering, even when Wattle had to ask again because he wasn't making any sense.

Eventually Spur entered a backyard with some small humans. "Oh there you are, Perry!" said one of them. There was no way those sounds meant anything. Sounds just weren't detailed enough. "Look Ferb, Perry made some friends!"

Before Wattle could finish asking, Spur said "Young human say Spur here. Young human say sibling Undertow-Flotsam-Wattle here."

The human that had vocalised reached over to pet Undertow. Undertow growled and backed away. Maybe these humans were good to Spur, but that didn't mean they were good to everyone. "Flotsam-Wattle leave."

Wattle nuzzled the human who had vocalised, so Undertow grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her away. "Flotsam-Wattle leave!"

Reluctantly, Flotsam and Wattle followed her out of the yard.

"Aw, you're leaving?" said the loud human. "Well, see ya!" He waved his arms over his head.

Flotsam copied him, and the human made a sound like "Ha haha ha!"

For the first time, Spur seemed happy.