Abigail and the Rats of NIMH ~ Chapters 11-20

Part 1

Chapter 11

The Ranger Plane descended deep into the foliage and between the trees, where hopefully the humans wouldn't look. Gadget dabbed her eyes and tried to be strong, as the plane came in for a landing. She turned around to the back seats.

"Okay, I want you all to stay right here, unless a human comes this way," she told them, "Dale and I are going to search for Chip and the others."

"But…what about Michelle?" Abigail asked, on the verge of tears.

"Chip and Monty would've put their lives on the line for her, I'm sure of it," said Gadget, "Don't underestimate them…even if the humans found our hideout, it's very possible they got away with Michelle."

"Yeah, Chip's good at that kinda heroic rescuing stuff, that's why he's the leader," Dale added, but with fear in his voice.

"Come on Dale," Gadget said, undoing her seatbelt, "Let's go find them."

Dale gave a serious nod, and hopped out of the plane, trying to put on a brave face though deeply worried for his best friend.

As Dale and Gadget left to scout around, there was a deafening silence from the furlings. Unable to contain herself, Abigail buried her face in Willy's shoulder, starting to cry softly. Not sure what to do, Willy slowly put his arms around her, his ears going down as he tried his best to comfort her.

"I knew I had a bad feeling about this place," said Edgar, "Who's bright idea was it to hide from the humans in the middle of where most of them live anyway?"

"But these guys were living here for years before this happened," said Russell, "It's almost like…like they followed us here."

"Maybe that squirrel in the meadow was right after all," said Edgar, "Maybe, if the others don't turn up, we should just leave and not cause them any more trouble."

Abigail sniffled, "It doesn't m-matter where we go…this just…just follows us everywhere…"

"Maybe this is just a coincidence," Willy suggested, patting her back as she leaned into him.

She sniffed again and shook her head, "Maybe you would have been safer staying in the meadow, Willy…I'm…I'm sorry I dragged you into this too…"

"Don't be, Abigail," Willy said, stroking her hair, "I said I was going with you, it was my choice. And I'm staying here with you guys no matter what happens."

Abigail held him more tightly to show her appreciation, and he leaned his cheek against her auburn hair. There was a long silence, aside from the distant noise of the wood chipper reducing the branches of the tree into sawdust. Slowly, as they listened, it seemed to be accompanied by some indistinguishable chatter. Abigail raised her ears, and peeked up from Willy's chest.

"Is something coming?"

The others looked around, as the chatter became louder and more frantic. They could hear leaves rustling. Russell looked straight up, and saw something dart through the bushes.

"Hey! Is that…it's that fly!"

The chatter stopped, and Zipper peeked through the leaves above them. His eyes widened and he buzzed down to them.

"It is!" said Abigail, wiping her eyes, "Zipper, what happened?"

Zipper pointed back into the woods and tugged at Abigail's arm. But no one could understand him.

"He wants us to follow him," said Edgar.

Zipper nodded, pointing into the foliage urgently.

"But Gadget told us to stay here," said Willy.

Zipper shook his head, and began undoing their seatbelts.

"Guess Zipper can take the blame if she gets mad," said Edgar.

"Are the others alright?" Abigail asked.

Zipper wouldn't answer. He pulled on her arm. Abigail climbed out, along with the others. The fly then zipped off into the woods.

"Wait up!" Abigail shouted, running after him, followed closely by Willy. Edgar and Russell were slower but they tried to keep up. They climbed over tree roots and through grass and bushes.

Zipper stopped a tree, where between the roots, Michelle lay clutching her throat and gasping between coughs.

"It’s Michelle!" Abigail exclaimed, rushing to her side, "She's having an asthma attack!"

Zipper looked on with concern, not knowing what to do.

"Where are her herbs?" Russell asked.

"They were…they were in the tree," Edgar realized with horror.

Abigail sat Michelle upright against the tree as she coughed and choked for air, tears streaming down the little badger's cheeks. She often had asthma attacks when something scared her or she got too excited. But Cornelius had always known just what to do. And he wasn't here.

"Michelle. I'm here," Abigail said, stroking Michelle's head and removing her glasses, placing them aside, "Come on, breathe, take deep breaths. Don't be scared, we're all here with you."

Michelle struggled to take a deep, ragged breath through her constricted airways, but burst into another coughing fit.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Willy asked, crouching down next to the two of them, fearing for Michelle.

Abigail wondered what Cornelius would do. She thought back to the times she'd been there when Cornelius administered herbs to Michelle.

"We need to keep her calm," she said, then turning toward Zipper, "Is there water around here? Maybe that would help. Could you get us some? Quick."

Zipper nodded, flying above the ground before picking up a leaf, and then flying off through the trees. Michelle continued to cough, trying to say something but not being able to get the words out.

"Shhh, just stay calm," Abigail soothed, lightly rubbing Michelle's cheek, "Take deep breaths, don't try to talk. Everything's okay now, Michelle. Zipper's going to get you some water."

Michelle whimpered a little and nodded, still gasping for air, clutching her throat. A few minutes later Zipper returned, the leaf he picked up filled with water.

"Okay, drink this," said Abigail.

Michelle opened her mouth as Zipper lightly poured water into it. Abigail rubbed Michelle's back as she took a few gulps, stopping to breathe for a moment before drinking more, until it was gone.

"How's that, better?" Abigail asked.

Michelle cleared her throat and nodded, breathing deeply and quickly, trying to say yes but her voice cracking. Abigail shushed her again, and hugged Michelle lightly, who sniffled and blinked back tears.

"Wow, you cured her without any herbs at all," Edgar remarked.

"I remember Cornelius saying something like panicking just makes it worse," Abigail explained, "She needed to be calmed down. I guess we're really lucky that worked…"

They watched silently for a few moments, as Abigail continued to hold Michelle close. Michelle took deep breaths for a long time, but soon, she started to breathe normally again.

"What happened at the headquarters?" Russell asked Zipper, "Where's Chip and Monterey Jack?"

Zipper shook his head sadly, saying something that they couldn't decipher.

"Michelle can't talk right now, and we can't understand Zipper," said Abigail, "We need to wait for Dale and Gadget to get back."

"Well let's get back to the plane then," said Edgar.

Abigail nodded, placing Michelle's glasses back on her face and then picking Michelle up in her arms, Willy staying close to her as they walked back to the Ranger Wing.

"We've lost Michelle's herbs," Edgar lamented, "Along with our maps, the plans to the Flapper Wingamathing…"

"The Flapper Wingamathing!" Russell exclaimed, "I think the humans must have taken it!"

"Without our plans, we may not be able to build another one," said Edgar sadly, as they got closer to the Ranger Wing.

"We probably don't need one with Gadget's plane around," said Abigail, trying to look on the bright side of things, "Hers moves much faster anyway. What we really need is herbs for Michelle. We…might not be so lucky next time."

"You're right. What did she use again?" Edgar asked.

"Um…yerba santa, and…" Abigail couldn't think of the other.

"L-licorice root…" Michelle said weakly, clearing her throat.

"Right, we need to ask Gadget where we can get some more around here."

Dale and Gadget, having no luck finding the others, made their downtrodden trek back to the Ranger Wing, only, to their surprise, to find it empty.

"Oh no, now they're gone too!" Dale exclaimed, "We told them to stay put!"

"Maybe a human came by," said Gadget, her ears perked up attentively, "Say, I think I hear them in the distance."

The foliage rustled as the furlings emerged from the bushes, followed by Zipper.

"Zipper!" Gadget exclaimed, holding her arms out as the fly buzzed into her chest for a hug. She looked up and saw that Abigail was carrying Michelle, "Oh thank goodness, you found Michelle too. I was afraid you were all goners."

Gadget and Dale kept watching the bushes, waiting for Chip and Monty to emerge as well.

"Michelle just had an asthma attack," Abigail explained, "We were able to help her this time, but her herbs were in the treehouse when…whatever happened."

"Oh my gosh," Gadget looked scared for her, "Is she alright?"

"I think so," Abigail answered.

"Did Chip save her? Where is he anyway?" Dale asked.

"It was just her and Zipper," Russell said sadly.

A look of worry returned to both Gadget and Dale's faces.

Gadget looked to Michelle, "We'll find something for you, Michelle. We need to get you to a hospital. But Zipper, do you know what happened?"

Zipper nodded sadly, and began explaining what had transpired. Dale and Gadget listened, their faces falling as they were told the news. The furlings were left in the dark as to what Zipper was saying.

"So? What'd he say?" Willy asked after Zipper had finished.

"Professor Nimnul took everyone away, with a gang of other scientists working with him," Gadget translated, "Chip and Monty didn't have enough time to fight back or to get to the other two planes. Zipper flew off to safety and watched from afar. After the scientists captured everyone and locked them in a cage, putting them into a white van, Zipper came down to try and help get them free, but all they could manage to do was squeeze Michelle between the bars before the van's doors slammed shut. So then Zipper carried Michelle off to safety, but she started having an asthma attack."

Michelle nodded, wiping away a tear.

Dale looked like he was about to tear up as well, "It'd be just like 'em to save the little girl before they could save themselves…"

"Who's Professor Nimnul?" asked Edgar, "Is he the one who took our families away?"

"He's a mad scientist," Gadget answered sadly "We've dealt with him many times, but he's been imprisoned in an insane asylum for a couple years now. A better question would be who let him out?"

"Whoever they are, they know everything about us now," Dale lamented.

"And not just us…think of all the stuff we had in there, things that give away to those scientists how smart rodents are."

Dale's eyes widened, "Gosh, we're all in trouble now…"

"You don't think you could have been followed, could you?" Gadget asked the furlings.

Abigail looked down, "We don't know…but if we were, we're truly sorry…"
"I'm not blaming you guys for this," Gadget assured her, "But it seems like the events could be connected somehow. If not yet, they're certainly going to be when those scientists compare notes. I wish we still had the Flapper Wingamathing here so I could inspect it for a tracking device of some sort."

"Guess it's too late for that," said Dale, "They took everything. Gee I'm sure gonna miss my comic books…and the TV…"

"And Chip and Monty," Gadget added, crossing her arms and frowning as Dale gave an embarrassed look.

"Oh yeah, th-them too. I wasn't forgetting about them…"

"Where do we go now?" Russell asked.

"Now that we know what happened, we shouldn't hang around here," Gadget said, "Someone will have to hold Michelle tight as we get back into the plane. Is she alright now?"

Michelle nodded, but didn't dare try to speak.

"We need to head to the library again to drop most of you off because it's right on the way, and then I'll take Michelle to the hospital. Maybe they'll give her an inhaler. Our friend Tammy works there, she'll probably help us out. We'll need to wait until the library closes anyway before I can do my Internet research, and hopefully get to the bottom of all this."

"How are nets gonna help us?" Willy asked in confusion.

"No, not nets…just get in the plane, you'll see what I mean," Gadget shook her head before hopping back in the pilot's seat.

Willy, feeling like he'd asked a dumb question again, sheepishly climbed into the back seat along with the others. Abigail kept Michelle in her lap, fastening the seat belt tightly around both of them.

"I should really try installing another seat in the front," Gadget remarked, pulling her goggles down over her eyes before revving up the plane, "But that will take a major redesign. You hold on tight to Michelle now, like I said before this isn't exactly the safest thing to do, but we have no other choice."

Abigail nodded, with Michelle lightly wrapping her arms around Abigail's neck.

The plane hovered above the ground before rising above the trees, enabling Gadget to switch it off of helicopter mode. Gadget gave one last tearful look at the tree that had been the home of the Rescue Rangers for the last several years, now stripped of most its branches and looking like any other tree. She pressed onward, back toward the library, where they'd probably be spending the night.

Chapter 12

Chip awoke later that night feeling light-headed and nauseous. The last thing he remembered after being held in a cage within a van for a few hours was being taken out and injected with something. Probably a sedative. Chip felt that he'd been poked and prodded while he was under. He didn't really know what they'd done to him, but he was glad he wasn't conscious for it. He was now in another cage. His hat and jacket had been taken. The steel door only had three slits through which Chip couldsee the inside of the dank laboratory he'd been taken to.

On the examination table a group of scientists were looking at the little wooden tree house the Rescue Rangers had called their headquarters. Care had been taken to leave it intact during the trip. The old Ranger Plane and the Flapper Wingamathing were on the table beside it. A scientist picked it up, wearing latex gloves, and used tweezers to turn the winder-uppers, making the wings flap. Chip heard a loud gasp from the cage below him.

"Grrreat honk…" came the sorrowful moan of an old man, "They’ve captured them too…my furlings…"

Chip raised an eyebrow. But then, he put the pieces together. He was at NIMH. And obviously, at the same laboratory the animals from Dapplewood were taken to.

"Psst…old man…" Chip whispered through the bars.

"Y-yes?" came the cautious reply.

"Did you know the kids that flew that plane?"

"Why, they were my students," came his answer, "Who are you, are you new here?"

"I'm Chip, a chipmunk. And you must be Cornelius, right?"

"Yes indeed, I am. How do you know my name?"

"My friends and I found your students, flying that plane," Chip whispered, "That house you see on the table was ours. But don't worry, they might have captured me and one of my friends, but they don't have any of the kids. And I just know my other friends will come up with a way to bust us out of here."

"Dear boy, you don't know how much relief that news brings me," Cornelius sighed, "The thought of them here…it would be more than I could bear."

"The little one, Michelle, she misses you a lot. Always talking about you."

"I'm…I'm happy she's safe…" Cornelius said, on the verge of tears.

"Just out of curiosity…what kinda stuff have they done to the animals here?"

"Dreadful things," Cornelius whispered, his voice shaky, "I have had to watch my neighbors be tortured, dissected. They spared me because they want to test experimental arthritis drugs on me. Other lucky ones are only having their intelligence tested. But they mean to dispose of all of us, in the end. They don't think we should exist."

Chip gulped. He hoped Gadget and Dale would hurry. But if anyone could figure out where he'd been taken, Gadget could.

"Neither the mouse nor the chipmunk showed any signs of having been injected with the serum," said one scientist, "What we have here is something unprecedented."

"Agreed," said Dr. Strauss, "Either the strain from the rats somehow found its way into the ecosystem after they escaped, or this is something else that's been developing right under our noses for some time. Perhaps natural, perhaps caused by mutations due to pollution, radioactivity or pesticides, we don't know. I want you to run every test you can on those two new specimens."

"Yes sir," replied another scientist

"We need to find more. Nimnul said there was supposed to be more."

"And I wasn't lying either," said Nimnul as he entered the lab, grinning, "So, Dr. Strauss, what more can I do to assist your research, hm?"

"I think we'll need to close up soon," he said, "But tomorrow, I'd like you to help us find more of these intelligent rodents."

"Now that we have their friends, it's only a matter of time before they try rescuing them," said Nimnul, "Believe me, it's already happened to me before. But, if we don't somehow find them first, they'll be here. I'd suggest upping the security. And making sure all the vents are covered up tight."

"Such precautions have already been made, Dr. Nimnul. We won't be repeating past mistakes."

"I trust that you won't," said Nimnul, "I'll hang around the lab tonight, seeing as how I don't quite have a home to go to yet - which will change once I get my first paycheck from you of course."

"Of course," Dr. Strauss replied, "Now that you are certifiably sane, you are now welcome at our facility."

Nimnul nodded, "Thank you, doctor."

"You can participate in the animal testing. I know you have some expertise in that field."

"Certainly," Nimnul said, "But, since we're about to close up, I think I'll go to the computer room, and review your findings thus far."

"Very well."

Nimnul gleefully turned around and walked through the door, down the hall to the computer lab. It was empty save for Dr. Stacy, who was clicking on a keyboard as the monitor reflected against her face in the darkness.

"Working late, are we?" Nimnul asked the young lady.

"Oh. Doctor Nimnul, I didn't see you come in," she said, "I suppose since my work hours were up I just wanted to do a little chatting with my colleagues before going home."

"Hm, that newfangled Internet thing, is it?"

"Yes indeed," she answered. She was silent for a moment, before turning to him again as he turned on a computer, "Tell me, how long have you known about intelligent rodents?"

"Oh, a few years I suppose," he replied, "It started during my time as a criminal. Of course those days are over for me. I'm sane again."

"Ah. That's good news."

"You seem as though this little breakthrough is troubling you."
"Hm? No, it isn't…it's just shocking, you know? Rodents writing books, building machines…"

"I think it's something more than the fact that every biology class you ever took to get that PhD of yours is telling you that this kind of thing shouldn't exist," Nimnul said, rubbing his chin curiously, "Yes, from the moment you brought me out of that mental hospital I knew something was troubling you."

"Well you're wrong, doctor," she replied, "I'm completely fine, other than the fact that this case is so mind-boggling."

Nimnul narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure you never, at some point in your life, noticed intelligent rodents before?"

She stopped typing, and stared off into space for a few moments, before shaking her head, "No. Never."

Nimnul chortled.

"What?"

"You're lying."

"I am not…" she retorted, "I just…"

"Just what?"

"Well…suppose I told you…when I was a child, I used to, well…fantasize about talking to animals. Rodents, that wore clothes, and had names."

"I see…" Nimnul nodded.

"I know, it was stupid. I kept insisting they were real to anyone who would listen, but, well, my foster parents thought it was some delusion I came up with. They even put me in therapy, and all the kids at school used to tease me and call me 'Mouse Girl'. I eventually got over it, realized I'd made the whole idiotic thing up. And that was that."

"And these days you have no problem cutting up live rodents with scalpels and experimenting on them here at NIMH. That's quite a turn around, isn't it? That therapy worked wonders, hm?"

Dr. Stacy frowned and turned back to the monitor, "Yes, quite…"

"Oh but these animals have intelligence, along with emotions like fear. That doesn't bother you, does it? They're just vermin after all, no matter how smart they are."

"Right. They're just animals," she said, with a confidence that betrayed the fact that she was still trying to convince herself.

"We mustn't let childish empathy get in the way of scientific research."

She nodded, but said nothing. She was hoping he'd stop talking to her. He was a bit of a creep, she thought. Her hopes finally came true after a few minutes of silence, as he researched NIMH's records. She let out a quiet sigh, turning back to her Usenet groups. She clicked on sci:, the forum for science, and scrolled through the numerous topics. After a few minutes of browsing, one newly-created thread caught her eye.

EPA Cleanup in Maryland

How odd, she thought. But, it was in the news after all, though it was not covered too extensively for fear of the bad publicity it could bring to companies that transfer harmful substances via trucks. She clicked on it.

WrenchWench: Hi i'm doing a report for scool on environmental disasters (i'm in summer schoool). I was wondering if any scientists were doing tests at the site of the chlorine gas leak in Maryland last month that the epa cleaned up. I would be interested in their findings, purely from a scientific standpoiint, and for my report of corse. I want to kno the leak's effects on the wildlife of teh area.

Dr. Stacy narrowed her eyes and adjusted her glasses as she read the typo-ridden thread post. She could see why this person was in summer school. Still, it did seem odd that anyone knew that the area was being studied. She didn't think this person could do any harm, though. It could have been just a logical assumption that somebody would be studying Dapplewood. They had been extremely thorough in eliminating any signs of intelligent habitation, so she wasn't too worried about the public finding out what had been found there, but she wanted to be safe and discourage this person from visiting anyway. She put her hands to her keyboard.

: Hi, I'm a scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health. We've been working in conjunction with the EPA on this matter. We did check up on the area to make sure it wasn't a public health hazard recently. The wildlife is beginning to recover, but for now I would discourage you or anyone from paying it a visit, as the area is still toxic. From what I saw, animals are avoiding the area, and most of the plants are withered. It has only been around a month since the leak, the area should recover by spring I would think, once rainfall and snowmelt wash out all of the toxins. The trees have died however, it will be years before they fully return, but you might be able to see other vegetation in the spring, and animals returning. I hope this answers your questions. By the way, how did you know the area was being studied?

She clicked 'send', and her reply was up. After a couple minutes there was still no reply, from neither the original poster nor someone else. She browsed other threads for about fifteen minutes, before finally noticing a reply.

"Slow typist," she said to herself, clicking on the thread.

WrenchWench: Tank you, Dr. Stacy. It was a lucky guess that someone woul be studying the area. Can I quote you for my paper? it is good to know NIMH is looking out for public safety. I do have one more question though, it is unrelated. I live in new york. Today as I was walking in central park I noticed scientists and other people around a tree, cutting branches off, but the area was blocked off. I thought I saw 'NIMH' on one of the vans parked outside. Was it NIMH? Wer you there?

Dr. Stacy raised her eyebrows. So this person not only wanted to know about Dapplewood, but what she had been doing earlier today in New York? Could this be a simple coincidence, or was NIMH being spied on? This was definitely something they didn't want being made public. It could have been a coincidence, maybe…

: You're welcome, feel free to quote me for your paper. And yes, we were in Central Park earlier today studying the effects of big city pollution on the trees. We took samples off the tree so we could study it's growth rings over the years and give us an idea on pollution's effects over time. We're hoping to work this into a study on the effects pollution has on the mental health of living things.

She clicked "send", confident that she'd told a believable lie. She decided that was all the time she was going to spend on that thread though, not wanting to say anything else that she might regret, and hoping that giving that much information out wouldn't get her fired. But denying NIMH was even there would have looked more suspicious, she reasoned.

With a yawn, she clicked out of Usenet.

"Hey, I'm going home," she said, looking over to Nimnul.

"Huh? Oh, yes yes, see you tomorrow."

She gave him a fake smile and headed out of the computer lab, eager to get back to her apartment. Nimnul stared at her as she left.

"Hmm…she knows something she's not letting on…" he said to himself, "Best to keep an eye on her."

He clicked on the next link, looking up any online information available on Dr. Penny Stacy.

Chapter 13

"Click F5 again, Dale," Gadget said, straddling the computer mouse with Zipper on her shoulder. Dale and the furlings stood by the keyboard, poised to type out another response should the doctor from NIMH respond again. But it had been a good twenty minutes since her last reply.

"I think whoever that was left," said Dale, pressing the F5 key down with both hands.

The screen refreshed, but still nothing.

"It's okay, we learned most of what we wanted to know," said Gadget, "NIMH was behind both Dapplewood and Nimnul's raid of HQ."

"Man, Chip and Monty are in it now," Dale said, worried for the fate of his friends, "That's gotta be the worst possible lab that could-"

"Dale," Gadget interrupted, motioning back to the furlings, "Come on."

"Oh eh, I mean, yeah we'll get 'em out. Piece of cake. Heh…"

"So we just go down to this NIMH place and bust in, and rescue everyone, right?" Willy asked.

"It's not going to be nearly that easy," Gadget replied.

"Well then what are we gonna do?" asked Michelle, sitting next to the Shift key and licking the lollypop given to her at the hospital earlier in the day, "I want my Uncle Cornelius back."

"I want to do a little more research. We know whoever we talked to was someone named Dr. Stacy, and their name probably begins with a 'P'. That's something I guess."

"How are we gonna dig up something on this person?" Dale asked.

"The World Wide Web is a wonderful source of information on things like that," Gadget said, "I'll just try to find the NIMH website, and search for her there."

She turned to the Mosaic web browser, moving the computer mouse with her arms and clicking the URL display.

"Alright, type in 'www-dot-NIMH-dot-NIH-dot-gov' and see what comes up you guys," she instructed, spelling it out for them.

Russell quickly pushed the 'w' key three times.

"Okay, the dot is this key right?" Willy asked Abigail.

"Mm hmm, you've been doing great Willy. There's the 'n' over there."

"The uh…en?"

"Oh, I mean this one," Abigail said, pointing to the correct letter, "I forgot you don't know the names of the letters yet…sorry."

"Maybe I better stick to the dots."

"Oh come on, you can do it," Abigail said, patting his shoulder, "We'll teach you to read one of these days."

"You don't think I'm too dumb to learn it, do you?" Willy asked, feeling like the task would be overwhelming. It was disheartening to see even Michelle having a firm grasp of these strange symbols.

"Oh of course not," Abigail gave him a quick peck on the cheek, "You just need a good teacher."

Willy chuckled and blushed. After Gadget checked it for any spelling mistakes, Michelle hit enter when they were done, and the NIMH website booted up. Gadget used the computer mouse to scroll and click.

"If you kids wanna rest you can," Gadget said, "I'm probably not going to need to type anything too long again. Dale can help me with anything else."

The furlings got off the keyboard, and walked toward the edge of the desk, sitting down, and waiting for any other breakthrough. Their wait would be long, as Gadget tried to dig for information on employees. Each new web page took time to load. Edgar picked up a book he'd found in the mouse library about dinosaurs, which fascinated him after seeing Jurassic Park. Zipper, being too small to be much help at the keyboard, read over Edgar's shoulder. Russell scrounged through their snacks, picked up from a nearby grocery after they'd fled to the library. Willy sat up against the computer tower, while Abigail folded her arms behind her head and laid back on Willy's lap with a sigh. Michelle cuddled with Abigail, soon finishing her lollypop.

"So I guess we're getting a little closer to success, huh?" Willy asked.

"Yeah, we are," she said wearily, "We're lucky they didn't take Gadget, or else I don't know what we'd do. I just hope we're not too late when we get to NIMH."

Willy gently stroked Abigail's hair and cheeks, hoping to comfort her. It did, she closed her eyes and relaxed, Michelle sleepily hugging and nuzzling against Abigail. Earlier in the day, before the library had closed, Gadget went to the hospital with Michelle while the rest of them stayed behind in the library, and they came back with a funny-looking device called an inhaler. Based on a human invention, it was supposed to be just as good as herbs for asthma. Gadget demonstrated to Abigail how the device worked, and agreed to entrust it to her. Abigail kept it in her pocket for safe-keeping.

Abigail wasn't sure why, but she felt like she had to be responsible for Michelle. Michelle had no one else, after all. Russell and Edgar were good enough at taking care of themselves, but she felt a similar responsibility for their safety too. She was the glue that held everything together. But with the burden of leadership on her shoulders and no parental figure to lean on, it was nice to have someone to comfort and support her, or at least do his best to, through their hardship. But, though Willy had insisted on coming with, Abigail couldn't help but feel she'd acted somewhat selfishly bringing him along, putting him so far out of his element.

"What are we gonna do after this, Abigail?" Willy asked.

"Hm?"

"I mean, after we rescue everyone?"

Abigail thought for a moment, "I don't know…I guess I can't know, yet. I'm not sure it's safe to ever go back to Dapplewood. We'd have to find a new home."

"Maybe you could go to the meadow," Willy suggested.

"I think we need someplace with more trees."

"Ah…well wherever you go, I think I'll come too."

"Really?"

Willy nodded and smiled, "I'm never letting you fly off without me again."

Abigail giggled, "Well then, you better just be able to keep up with me this time."

At the computer, Gadget finally made it to the list of employees at the institute.

"Okay, here's the scientist’s profile," Gadget said at the computer, as Dale looked on, a picture of a light-haired young woman with glasses and a lab coat appearing on the screen, "Dr. Penny Stacy, born in 1969. She has a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience. That’s impressive for someone who's only 24."

"Wonder how many animals she had to slice up to get that," Dale muttered.

"Best not to think about it. But now that we've got a name for this person we know who we were talking to before was legit. So that settles it."

"Do we know everything we need to know now?"

"I suppose, but now we need to figure out what we're gonna do," Gadget replied, hoping the situation wasn't entirely hopeless, "We're gonna need help from somewhere."

"Hmm…"

"I'll keep browsing the web for stuff. You can rest too, Dale. I'm probably gonna be up late…I can't sleep knowing Chip's in danger."

"I'm probably not gonna be sleeping much either," Dale said, walking toward the furlings and sulking.

"I understand, but I do hope you can cheer up a little bit," Gadget said as he walked off, "The kids need someone like you right now."

"I'll try," he said with a sigh, "Hm, wonder if they've got comics at this library."

Dale climbed down the desk and walked back toward a small mousehole in the wall, to find something worth reading as they waited. Abigail and Michelle were starting to doze off, leaving Willy to try and make himself comfortable without disturbing them since Abigail was still laying on his lap. Russell was dozing off not too far away, and Edgar continued to read sleepily. But, while all this was happening, Gadget was getting deeper into NIMH's website, eventually coming to a page that was password protected.

"Okay, this looks like pay dirt. It's the top secret section. Hmm…if I could hack into their computer system somehow, I could come out with a lot of useful information."

She set to work. Gadget first typed her name in as Penny Stacy. Underneath was a space where she needed to enter a seven digit password. Her calculating brain looked at the keyboard, thinking of all the possible combinations. Ten million with numbers alone…exponentially more with letters, even worse if it was case sensitive. She had all night, but she was sure it wouldn't take that long, as daunting as the task may have seemed to a layman. She just had to think like a scientist, which she was, after all. This wasn't the first time she'd hacked a computer system, though she only did it with good cause of course. She typed the letters and numbers in herself, seeing that the furlings were getting sleepy and not wanting to disturb them.

It was after two in the morning when, finally, the answer came to her. She typed in 4141949.

"Darn, wrong again…wait, let me try this…"

She typed instead 1441949, and walked to the other side of the keyboard to press 'enter'.

"Bingo," she said with a grin, "They really should be more careful when picking these."

The password stood for April 14, 1949, the day NIMH was founded. But the day was put before the month, probably to help throw off hackers. The Internet was still rather new, and NIMH seemed to be a little behind when it came to website security. She wished it hadn't taken her four hours to finally come up with a password so deceptively easy, but, she was logged in. She had access to all of their records and digital archives. She pulled up records from the past month, recorded by Dr. Stacy herself and posted for other scientists with access to review. Here was all the information she needed.

Their rodent captives were assigned serial numbers, and the tests they'd undergone had all been documented. Their above-average intelligence was noted, but it seemed like the concept was so startlingly new to them that they hadn't settled on what exactly to do with the specimens, other than measuring their mental capacity, examining their brains and other internal organs. Some were having drugs tested on them as well. It was noted that their humanlike mental capacity made it possible to perform experiments which would be considered unethical on a human, and still get accurate results on how a human might react. Perhaps for that reason, at least a few specimens might be kept alive and bred with one another. Gadget noticed though, that none of the species were listed as 'badger' or 'hedgehog'. Probably a way to skirt around animal testing regulations, she thought grimly. Upon reading into the specific tests that were being done, Gadget was glad the kids were asleep. She became more and more concerned for Chip and Monty. There was no one listed as a chipmunk, but she knew he was there.

Just before being unable to take much more of reading about the gruesome things happening at NIMH, something in the long blocks of text caught her eye. Upon each specimen's incarceration, blood samples were being taken and tested for the presence of some kind of hormone she'd never heard of before. She clicked on a link for explanation. The hormone had been developed for the purpose of helping the victims of brain trauma to regenerate damaged brain tissue and regain usage of areas of the brain damaged by either trauma or birth defects. In 1978 the hormone was injected into ordinary laboratory mice and rats. It instead activated dormant areas of the brain that were not normally used by rodents (or at least, weren't known to be by humans). Their brains were enlarged, they became physically stronger and their intelligence rose to a humanlike level. But, one night, they escaped from their cages and through the ventilation system. Scientists hadn't been prepared for the results; the animals escaping into the ecosystem resulted in hefty fines from the EPA and other government bodies, and NIMH was and has been since pressured to retrieve these rodents.

Gadget read on, entranced. NIMH made connections with every extermination company in the state, requesting for abnormal behavior from rats or mice be reported. In 1982 they received a lead, a farm located in the wilderness of western Maryland owned by a man by the name of Fitzgibbons. The rats there had shown intelligent tendencies; such as escaping and foiling traps, not eating poison set out for them. But, no rats were found on the property; scientists suspected the rats knew the scientists were coming and escaped. Nothing more was reported until the EPA contacted NIMH about the findings in Dapplewood, an area not far from the Fitzgibbons farm. Tests so far have shown no link between the intelligent animals found there and the rats from NIMH, and many are in fact neither rats nor mice. No traces of the hormone were found in their bloodstream.

"So it all makes sense," Gadget said to herself, "The scientists thought intelligent rodents were something they created…but found some that weren't."

NIMH might not have been able to find those intelligent rats, but maybe she and Dale would have better luck at it. The animals living at that farm right now might know something. And maybe, the rats from NIMH would be willing to help. Now she just needed to find the farm. Maybe the kids had seen it. It wasn't far from where they lived. She'd find out in the morning.

Chapter 14

The door opened to Dr. Penny Stacy's apartment, a quaint one bedroom place in Bethesda, Maryland not far from the National Institute of Health campus. The tired and conflicted scientist entered with a sigh, closing the door behind her and placing her purse on a counter. It was a Thursday, and she looked forward to having a couple days off from working at the lab after tomorrow, just a couple days to mull things over. It had been an exhausting week, she needed to catch up on her sleep for one thing.

For another, she needed time to get the screams out of her head.

The apartment was silent, mercifully. She lived alone; her foster parents lived in Baltimore, and her job didn't leave a lot of time for socializing and meeting a guy. She wasn't one to get lonely anyway. She'd grown up alone.

The silence was in such sharp contrast with the lab; in only a few minutes what had been comforting was now grating. She turned on the TV, sat on the couch. The news played but she wasn't listening.

We mustn't let childish empathy get in the way of scientific research.

She tried to drill Nimnul's words into her brain as she absent-mindedly watched the news without paying attention. Animals weren't people. Animals didn't have feelings, didn't talk, didn't think. Except these ones…

"No," she said aloud slouching over the coffee table and resting her forehead in her palms, letting her bangs dangle, "They aren't real…they were never real…"

If animals were able to think like humans, this undid everything. The years of therapy. The years spent dismantling her childhood memories and rebuilding them in a way that made sense to the rest of the world. The years of telling herself that it was all a stupid fantasy. A fantasy cooked up by a kidnapped orphan girl in desperate need of a rescue. Mice don't talk. Mice don't think. They eat, sleep, breed, and die after three years. That's all. But now, all of that was wrong. It could be plainly observed in the lab. Science was now struggling to explain it, but it couldn't be denied.

After only about ten minutes, she turned the TV off again. Nothing seemed to bring her comfort. When she was home, out of the lab, she felt like herself again. She felt human again. She could no longer hide behind her cold, scientist façade. And the guilt was ripping her apart inside. Childish empathy, that's what it was….that's all it was. She was 24 years old now. She knew the difference between animals and humans. Think of all the benefits testing on intelligent animals could bring. She would be helping people with brain injuries and other things.

She settled on that idea. She let out a yawn, thinking perhaps the idea might help her sleep tonight. She was being silly. Her imaginary friends as a child were just that. To hell with the discovery of intelligent rats.

She got up from the couch and walked toward the bathroom, brushing her teeth, removing her makeup and undoing her hair. She went to her bedroom, a modest room with shelves of science books, a large bed, and a vanity. She changed into a nightgown and sat at the vanity, staring at herself for a few moments, brushing her golden hair, which she'd dyed from its original light brown color in High School and had kept it that way since. Slowly she put the brush down, and continued to stare at herself. She disliked herself without makeup on. She felt less adult. For a moment she thought she looked just like she did as a little girl. A homely little orphan.

What makes you think anyone would want a homely little girl like you?

The stinging words of Madame Medusa brought tears to her eyes. She looked to the side her bed, where her old teddy bear sat, something she'd kept with her all this time. She used to talk to that bear all the time, and imagine that it talked back. And it wasn't alive. It was merely a bag of cotton shaped like a bear. So it followed that Rufus the cat from the orphanage, and Bernard and Bianca, must have been in her imagination too, right? Of course they were. They had to be. How else did anything make sense?

But then, she remembered back to how she first "met" them, after Medusa had said those nasty words to her when she was already insecure about her looks (and still was today for that matter). Bernard and Bianca had been there for her when things seemed at their worst. She had cried into her blankets, after another unsuccessful escape attempt, when the two mice simply appeared, standing on her pillow, telling her they'd found her message in a bottle. Bianca's soothing Hungarian accent ran through her head again, and she remembered how they planned her escape from the old steamship, an echo from years past, something she'd tried to bury long ago. Could she really have just made all of that up?

What had she become in that time? What had happened to that little girl, to turn her into this cold woman who now stared back at her in the mirror?

"They're not…they're not real!"

She clenched her fist, taking a nearby snow globe from the top of the desk, and hurling it at the mirror because she could no longer bear to look at herself. The mirror shattered into pieces, as did the snow globe. She stood up, knocking her chair down, huffing, tears rolling down her cheeks and falling onto the broken glass shards. She broke down, throwing herself onto her bed and crying like a little girl again, the walls that she'd spent years fortifying were crumbling like the mirror she'd just broken.

Where were they when the doctors wouldn't believe her? Where were they when her foster parents thought she was crazy? Where were they when she was being bullied at school for believing in them? No one was there to rescue her then. No one.

And if they were real, what did that say about her? A scientist who experiments on sentient animals. A murderer. Killing the ones that had once rescued her.

She had to know if Bernard and Bianca were real if she was to continue her career. If they were imaginary after all, maybe she could keep going. But if they were real…there was no way, no way at all, that she could live with herself if she continued in her profession.

She knew where she might find them, or at least a clue about them, if they were real. This weekend, she would go on a road trip, back to New York again. To the United Nations building. If she could get inside, she'd find her answers there.

The next morning, Gadget, Dale and the furlings climbed to the roof of the library through an air vent, where the Ranger Plane had been parked.

"Sure you're okay to drive, Gadget?" Dale asked.

"I just need to get some coffee, that's all," she quickly replied, "Get in everyone. I'll explain my plan once we take off."

Gadget's eyes were bloodshot and puffy after an all-nighter, tarnishing her natural beauty. But she was as determined as ever to get their journey started, having woken everyone up and rushed them out of the library at exactly 7am, without an explanation. She revved up the engine, and waited for everyone to be seated. Michelle sat in Abigail's lap again. Zipper sat up front in Dale's lap. Once every seatbelt was buckled, she took the plane up.

"Where are we going?" Abigail asked.

"I suppose we'll go get a quick breakfast at a coffee shop, but that's just the start. We're gonna need supplies too for our trip."

"Are we going someplace far?" Michelle asked.

"We're going back towards where you came from," Gadget replied, taking a slip of paper from her pocket and handing it to Dale, who opened it and looked at it curiously.

"Really? Back to Dapplewood?" asked Abigail, surprised.

"Well, not exactly, but close," Gadget replied, turning back to Dale, "Dale, get the map of the east coast out of the glove compartment and make a dot on the coordinates from that paper I just gave you."

The paper had degrees of latitude and longitude jotted onto it, "But I dunno how coordinates work. It's all a bunch of math mumbo jumbo to me."

"Any of you kids know about latitude and longitude?" Gadget asked.

"Cornelius taught us stuff like that when he taught us about map making," Edgar answered.

"Alright maybe you could do it," said Gadget, "Give him a pen too, Dale. You can be our navigator, Edgar."

"I love navigating," Edgar said with a smile.

"We just need to make sure we're following the right highways."

Dale shrugged, handing the map, the paper and a pen to Edgar, who sat directly behind Dale. The map showed the east coast of the United States, marking all the cities and highways, but the furlings had never seen a map of such a huge area before.

"That must be a pretty big lake," Edgar remarked, looking at the ocean, before noticing the latitude and longitude marks on the edges, as the others in the back seat looked on. He followed them until finding the place where the lines intersected, and made a mark on the spot.

"The place you marked, if you did it right, is the Fitzgibbons farm. Ever heard of it?" Gadget asked, "It's around your neighborhood."

"I haven't heard of it," said Abigail, "But before this trip, the furthest we'd ever been was Oakdale meadow."

"Maybe you didn't know what it was. Did you ever notice a red building? A big open field? Lots of cows and chickens, or pigs?"

"Hey, we almost crashed into a red building on our way back, after hitting those black vines in the Flapper Wingamathing and catching fire," Russell said.

"Well then maybe that was it," suggested Gadget.

"What's at this farm anyway?" Dale asked.

"A long time ago, some rats escaped NIMH," Gadget explained, "They had been experimented on and made stronger and more intelligent. The humans wanted to destroy them so they tracked down their hiding place at the farm, but the rats escaped. I think if we can find out where these rats are, they'll help us."

Abigail was intrigued, "So they've done stuff like this before."

"Uh huh, the rats probably left the farm many years ago, but maybe we can meet someone who still lives at the farm and remembers the rats. This is our best lead yet, and our best chance of finding help."

"Besides the Rescue Aid Society?" Dale asked.

"Well yes, these rats have escaped NIMH before, and they're supposed to be super smart, so I think they'd be more of a help."

"I can just imagine how mad Chip would be if he had to get rescued by the Rescue Aid Society," Dale chuckled.

"He'd sure have to swallow his pride," Gadget said with a grin, "But that's not why I decided to try and find these rats instead. I think they may be our best bet."

"The question is, after we rescue everyone from this place, what's to stop those scientists from going after others?" Dale asked.

"That may be the most important question of all," Gadget sighed, "But let's not think about it yet."

"I'm not arguing with that," Dale said, and he flipped on the radio to his favorite rock station, which was playing Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name". The furlings listened on curiously as Dale sang along, "Dah-na na! Now you do what they told ya! Dah-na na! Now you do what they told ya!"

"We'll lose this station eventually," Gadget said to herself, hoping this music wasn't going to corrupt the children.

They arrived soon at the coffee shop, using the roof entrance to make it through the ventilation and into the walls, walking down little flights of stairs to the ground floor where the mouse-run portion of the shop was secretly located.

"Gadget, what's coffee?" Michelle asked as they opened the door at the bottom of the stairwell.

"A hot drink made from ground coffee beans," she answered, "You probably wouldn't like it. But it's what's gonna give me enough energy for this trip."

The smell of coffee was strong as they entered the little café. Dale led them to a booth, as Gadget went to the cashier and told them they had a party of eight for breakfast. They sat at a table, sardined against one another.

Willy sat against the wall, and curiously inspected a salt shaker. Holding his tongue out he sprinkled some salt onto it, but made a face and put his hand over his mouth. Abigail giggled at him.

Gadget came to sit with them, followed by a waitress.

"Hi, how are you all doing today?" the waitress asked, a white-furred mouse in an apron, placing a pot of coffee on the table and then handing each of them a menu.

"Oh, um well I'm doing alright I guess," Willy answered, assuming the waitress actually wanted them to answer her question, "There's some gross white sand in this clear thing though."

"Eh heh…that's salt, dear. Well, I'll be right back in a moment, can I start any of you off with something to drink?"

"Do you have slushies?" Russell asked.

"Uh, no, sorry," the waitress answered hesitantly.

"They don't serve that in restaurants," Dale chuckled.

"Aw," Russell sighed.

"You'll have to excuse them, they're from the forest and it's their first time in the city," Gadget said, "Why don't you guys just order water, it's probably what you're most used to."

The furlings agreed on that, while Dale ordered a soda. They then picked up the menu and scrolled through it. Willy stared at his blankly, squinting at the words and then looking crestfallen, ears down, wishing he were able to read.

"Chin up, Willy," Abigail said, "I'll help you pick something. I want something with cheese in it."

"Yeah that cheese stuff was great," Willy answered, turning his attention to the pepper shaker.

"Hehe, think it'll taste better than salt?" Abigail asked, glancing at him over the menu.

"This is a place where you go to eat stuff, right? Why would it be on the table if you couldn't eat it?"

He sprinkled a small pile of pepper onto his tongue, immediately regretting it. Gagging, he took a napkin and tried rubbing the taste out of his mouth. Dale laughed watching this.

"Golly Willy, you're only supposed to sprinkle a little bit on your food, not eat it by itself," Gadget explained, taking a small spoon of sugar from the bowl in the middle of the table and mixing it into her coffee.

"I'll sure be glad when we get back to the wilderness," Willy said, shaking his head, "This city place is too weird."

"I dunno, I almost wish we could stay a little longer," said Edgar, "I feel like we didn't get to see that much."

"I wanna watch another movie," Russell added.

"There's too many scary humans around here though," said Michelle, "I wanna go home."

"Gadget, what's a grilled cheese sandwich?" Abigail asked.

"Oh, I bet you'd like that. They take some cheese and put it between two slices of bread, then grill it."

"Well I'll get it then," she said, putting the menu down and folding her arms.

"Me too," Willy chimed in, copying Abigail.

"Wait until the waitress comes back and then tell her."

"What are pancakes?" asked Russell.

"Hm, well they mix batter and cook it into a round shape, then you pour syrup and butter onto it," Gadget explained.

"Sounds good," he said.

"Maybe I'll have that too," said Edgar.

When the waitress returned with a pitcher of ice water and some cups, they gave their orders. The waitress jotted their orders down on a notepad and took it to the back. In a little while she arrived with a large platter, handing plates of food to everyone.

"Okay you guys, eat up," said Gadget, "After this we'll stock up on food to bring with, and we'll be off."

Abigail bit into her grilled cheese sandwich, finding it delicious.

"How long do you think the trip will be?" she asked.

"Well how long did it take for you to get here? "

"Um, about two days," she said.

"The Ranger Wing is a bit faster, so maybe we'll make it in less time," Gadget said with optimism.

Willy tried to sprinkle a small amount of salt and pepper on his sandwich. He bit into it, and then nodded approvingly, as Abigail giggled again.

After a quick breakfast, Gadget was re-energized and once she paid and left a tip, led everyone back into the plane, to begin their long journey south in hopes of help from the mysterious rats of NIMH.

Chapter 15

Coming to work was extremely difficult for Penny the next day, but, she managed to pull herself together again that morning, clean up the shards from the broken mirror and put her makeup on in the bathroom instead. With her dyed blond hair in a bun, thick framed glasses and white lab coat on, she felt much more confident. Her insecure inner-child was masked by a strong, logical, down-to-Earth scientist. Though her resolution remained the same; if her childhood delusions turned out to be real, she'd need to look for another job. Even though she'd worked hard to get this one. Her degree could get her into other fields, she knew. Already this job involved crossing more moral boundaries than she was comfortable with. The animal testing aspect had never been what attracted her to the study of behavioral psychology in the first place. It was more the desire to help children who were as lost as she used to be.

She stepped out of her car and walked from the parking lot into NIMH, swiping a key card through doors until reaching the lab itself.

"Hey Penny," Dr. Clark greeted her casually, sitting at an examination table and watching as an unfortunate woodmouse navigated a tiny maze. Dead ends emitted a small shock, but the mouse had learned to avoid these through trial and error.

"Good morning," Penny replied, "Any new findings?"

"Well we've found that our badger specimen is literate, as we'd suspected," he said, holding up a small paper, "Though he'd refused, we finally got this out of him through a little persuasion, as it were."

Upon closer examination, Penny could make out the words 'Let Us Out Of Here You Monsters'. The words struck her to the core. But her face betrayed no emotion.

"Being intelligent doesn't automatically make you literate," Dr. Stacy remarked, giving the small piece of paper back to Dr. Clark, "Someone had to have taught him."

"That's why we think someone must have been behind this. Someone must have somehow genetically altered these animals, and not only that, but taught them afterward."

"But then what of Nimnul's specimens?" Dr. Stacy asked.

"Personally, and Dr. Strauss probably agrees, I think Nimnul had something to do with creating those. He's so crazy maybe he doesn't even remember."

"He's legally sane now," she rolled her eyes, "But they didn't turn up positive for the hormone, so…"

"So we don't know what's going on. It could have been genetic-altering by a rogue scientist, could have been mutations, could even be simple evolution."

The woodmouse, an adult male by the look of it, finally reached the center of the maze, retrieving a block of cheese and eating it hungrily. He was anthropomorphic, walking along on two legs. It was something they'd never seen previously. Poor little guy must be starving, Penny thought.

"Less than five minutes," Dr. Clark said, marking notes on a clipboard, "This stuff is too easy for them."

"So, anything that needs to be done?" Dr. Stacy asked.

Dr. Clark looked up at the clock, "It's about time to medicate some of the animals. Why don't you do that while I enter this into the database. And put the mouse back in its cage while you're at it."

Dr. Stacy did not like this idea. Being left in the room with their prisoners. The guilt was already too much. Just one more day, she thought. That is unless she didn't find anything. Didn't they offer tours at the UN building? She thought so. But, for now she needed to go through the motions.

"Certainly," she replied finally, swallowing her guilt and focusing on the task at hand.

Dr. Clark got up from his seat and left, leaving Penny alone in the room with their captives. She stared down at the mouse as he finished his cheese, and then looked up at her with caution. Penny switched the power off on the maze.

"Mazes are too simple for you, hm?" she mused, grabbing a latex glove from the counter and snapping it on, "Well you don't look worse for the wear."

She reached down and picked the mouse up, taking it to one of the open cages. She held the mouse a bit more gently than she would have before. Placing it in the cage, she shut the door and locked it. Penny then walked back to the counter again, opening up a cabinet and taking some bottles of experimental drugs. Most were used to treat various mental deficiencies and disorders, some of which were induced on the rodents first, via lobotomies and such.

"Let's see," she put the bottles on the table and picked up a clipboard which listed which specimens were to receive which drug, "Ah, alright."

She began going down the list, in order of specimen number. Some of the pills could be added into their water bottle where they'd dissolve and be drunk later, others needed to be added into their food. And if any of the specimens refused to take their pills they'd be manually forced to by a scientist later. Penny hoped that wasn't going to be her job.

"Hm, and some experimental arthritis drugs…" she noted, going for a pill bottle, "That's somewhat unusual."

She walked to the cage of the specimen. It was the badger. He was the one who could evidently read and write. She unlocked the door. The haggard old badger squinted in the light. She remembered when they captured this one; workers cutting down the tree it had fled into, and being shocked to find a little library inside. He'd been wearing clothes too, and little glasses. A human had to have been involved at some point. How else could it be possible?

She placed a pill in his bowl of food pellets.

"There you are, Mr. Badger," she said, wondering if it could understand her.

She watched as he slowly got up, making his way to the dish, rubbing his back. He gave her a curious, but embittered look.

"It's supposed to help you, you know," she said, "Has it been working?"

The badger stopped, and studied her face. No other scientist had tried talking to him directly, on such an equal level.

"Not much, no," said Cornelius.

Penny froze. She glanced around, making sure no other scientist was watching.

"Did you just…speak?"

"I believe so," Cornelius answered, "And you understood me, did you?"

"Yes…"

"Why can't the other humans understand me then?"

"I…I guess it's just something I'm able to do…something I was always able to do…"

"I never dreamed I'd actually be speaking to a human," said Cornelius cautiously, "But, you and your friends, you are hardly a credit to your species."

"I-I know," Penny looked down with guilt.

"You do? Why, I was beginning to wonder if your species experienced shame."

Was she finally going mad? This had to be part of a nervous breakdown, one that was triggered the night before. Maybe she was regressing to the same childish behavior that made her believe her teddy bear spoke to her when she was young.

"The tests we do are supposed to help humans who are sick. I know that to you it's probably not a good excuse but…"

Cornelius came closer, frowning, "I will tell you this much, because despite the cruelty you and your fellow humans are inflicting upon us I can see that there is some higher, good purpose for it. The bark of the willow tree in Dapplewood worked much better than this medicine at treating my rheumatism."

"Willow tree…" Penny repeated, awestruck, "You even know the correct term for your condition. T-tell me, please, how did you become so smart?"

"Why, I was taught by someone when I was young of course, and learned from conducting my own experiments as well, though mine involved inflicting significantly less suffering than yours."

"How is it that you can speak? That you can read and write?"

"I could always speak, and I said, my teacher taught me when I was young, after I was orphaned by the likes of you."

"Then where did your teacher learn it?"

"He wasn't from the forest," Cornelius said, "He came from someplace far away. No one really knows where he learned it."

"So then that teacher must have contacted humans."

"Possible, I suppose. That he lived to tell the tale is more impressive."

"Hey, you, Dr. Stacy," came the high-pitched voice of a chipmunk from the cage up above, "Why not let us go, and I'll tell you what I know. I'm from the city."

"One of Nimnul's…" Penny was surprised when the chipmunk spoke, "I…I would like to let you all go but…but I could get into so much trouble."

"Oi, ya gotta listen to 'im lass," shouted a mouse with an Australian accent a few cages down.

The voices of dozens of rodents then called out from their cages, pleading to be allowed out, some yelling angrily at her and throwing insults. Penny shut Cornelius' cage and stepped back, bringing her hands to her ears and grasping her hair.

"I'm going mad…I'm going insane…"

"Shh, you guys!" yelled Chip, "We're not gonna win her over like this!"

"Dr. Stacy?" came the voice of Dr. Clark at the door, "What's upset the animals? I heard squeaks and screeches."

"You…you can't hear what they're saying?" she asked frantically.

"Saying?" Dr. Clark raised his eyebrows.

He couldn't understand them, she realized.

She shook her head and rubbed her forehead, "Forget it. I've just not been getting enough sleep lately."

"Well Dr. Strauss wanted to see you in his office. He said it was important."

"Dr. Strauss? Well, all right." Penny answered.

Great, what did he want? She moved through the door, eager to escape the lab. If Dr. Clark couldn't understand the animals, then she must have imagined the whole thing. She tried her best to collect herself as she walked toward the office of NIMH's director. For some reason though, she got a sense of foreboding upon being summoned there. She felt like a child who'd just been sent to the principal's office.

She knocked on the office door, which read "Dr. Heinrich Strauss - Director" in big letters, when she finally reached the end of the long hallway.

"Yes, come in," said Dr. Strauss.

She entered his office. He sat behind a desk, with Dr. Norton Nimnul seated in a chair in front of it. There was a television with a VCR set up opposite of them. She didn't like the fact that Nimnul was there. Something told her that wasn't a good sign.

"Just the person I wanted to see," said Dr. Strauss, "Prompt as usual."

"Yes doctor," Penny said with a nod and a fake smile, "What was it you wanted?"

"I wanted to ask you some questions," Dr. Strauss said, "You see, in diligently searching for new information on the whereabouts of intelligent rodents, Dr. Nimnul made some…surprising discoveries."

"Oh?" Penny wondered what that had to do with her. She figured she was about to find out.

"Indeed," said Nimnul, "In fact, they're probably more surprising to us than to you, hehe."

"What do you mean?"

"Dr. Nimnul uncovered some archived footage from a news station this morning after reading something on the Internet last night. We were wondering what you could tell us about it."

"Well, okay…"

"Please, be seated," Dr. Strauss said, motioning to a chair, "Nimnul, play the video tape."

Penny pulled up a chair, as Nimnul pressed play. The footage was old and grainy. But…she recognized it immediately.

The news reporter sat at a desk with a piece of paper.

"Because of a courageous little girl named Penny, the world's largest diamond, the Devil's Eye, is now in the Smithsonian Institute. But what's even more important, folks, this little orphan's dream has come true. Today, she's being adopted."

Penny looked on at the TV screen, still in shock. How on Earth did Nimnul dig this up? And just overnight too. She watched as on the screen her foster parents held the younger version of herself in their arms in front of Morningside Orphanage, her fellow orphans cheering her on. The scene cut to a reporter, interviewing her.

"Penny you were a brave little girl to do what you did all by yourself."

Little Penny picked up Rufus the cat, who looked dreadfully uncomfortable, "Oh I didn't do it all by myself. Two little mice, from the Rescue Aid Society, helped me."

"Mice? Rescue Aid Society?" the reporter was obviously humoring her.

"Yes, they rescued me!" Penny had said, before whispering into the microphone, "Can I say hello to them?"

The reporter looked dumbfounded as she shouted, "Hello Bianca! Hi Bernard!"

"You can…talk to these little mice?"

"All the time," Penny had said with nonchalant confidence, "Mice can talk just like anybody. Didn't you know that?"

"Well, I didn't know that, but I know now, Penny."

The report concluded with a few facts about the Devil's Eye diamond, and that Medusa and Mr. Snoops were going to jail for assault on a minor, kidnapping and child endangerment. Nimnul looked over at Penny with a sly smirk, rubbing his hands together. Dr. Strauss stopped the tape.

"Does this stir up any memories for you, Penny?" Dr Strauss asked.

Penny gulped a little, realizing she'd broken out in a cold sweat upon seeing this footage for the first time in sixteen years.

"Yes, that was the day I was adopted, Dr. Strauss."

"I remember the news reports, but I never put two and two together, I never guessed you were the same girl," said Dr. Strauss, "A most interesting find indeed."

Norton Nimnul chuckled deviously, "Seems like she has something to hide, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not required to recount every little event of my childhood for the sake of this job, now am I?" Penny replied, trying to regain her confidence.

"No, I wouldn't expect that," said Dr. Strauss, "Still, it was…quite brave for such a young girl to foil those criminals and escape all by herself, now wasn't it?"

"I was a headstrong young girl," she said, trembling inside, "I narrowly escaped having my head blown off with a shotgun at one point during the ordeal."

Nimnul interjected, "Ah, but back then you denied having done it all alone, didn't you?"

Penny bit her lip.

"I'll ask the questions around here, Dr. Nimnul thank you very much," said Dr. Strauss, "Now then, Dr. Stacy, what can you tell me about this 'Rescue Aid Society'? Who were Bianca and Bernard?"

"J-just imaginary friends, that's all."

"That's all?"

"Yes," Penny said, rehearsing what she'd been forced to believe during her therapy sessions, "I invented them to help me cope through my kidnapping ordeal, out of the desperate need for companionship. They were projections, one adult male and one adult female, representing the idealized parental figures that I lacked."

"But they were mice?"

Penny nodded, "Yes well, I did have a connection with animals when I was young. They had to be mice because they needed to be small enough to hide from my kidnappers. You see my imagination was very vivid. My mind created what I thought I needed at that time."

"And this 'Rescue Aid Society'?"

"Another invention. Look, I don't know what this has to do with anything. It was all in my imagination, there were no intelligent rodents. And this is all rather personal and private if I do say so myself."

Dr. Strauss folded his hands and leaned over the desk on his elbows, staring at her from behind his round, shiny spectacles, "Hm. Very well, Dr. Stacy. I do apologize for prying into something so personal. We are just looking for any possible lead, you see."

"But what about the years of therapy she had afterward?" Nimnul interrupted, "She clearly believed in these rodents for a long time, long after she'd already been adopted and had no more need to make up imaginary parental figures!"

Penny glared, "I told you everything."

Nimnul continued to argue, "But don't you find it odd that the rodents I found are also self-proclaimed 'rescuers', even a little?"

"Coincidences, Dr. Nimnul, now if you please, I've told you everything," Penny said angrily.

"You may go," said Dr. Strauss, "Thank you for your time, Dr, Stacy."

Penny got up for her seat, continuing to glare at Nimnul, before turning around and briskly leaving the office in a huff, closing the door hard.

"She's lying to us," Nimnul insisted, "She must be trying to protect them!"

"I was hoping that she would come clean when asked upfront," said Dr. Strauss, standing up and adjusting his spectacles, "We have no solid evidence that Dr. Stacy knows more than she's letting on, but, perhaps keeping her under surveillance while she's here will turn up something."

"Hm, we'll see," said Nimnul, "I'll review the surveillance tapes myself if I have to. We'll see what she's up to when left alone in the lab with those animals.”

Chapter 16

The radio faded to static as the Ranger Wing followed the freeway into the wilderness. The furlings felt comforted to see trees below them again. Like returning back home from another world. The sun had set and they'd been following the freeway all day, the aircraft enabling them to travel faster than the cars below them, partly thanks to being able to travel in a straight line. Soon they'd need to find someplace to rest for the night, as navigation was getting more difficult.

"Aw man, now we're really gonna be bored," Dale sighed, moving the knobs around on it and trying to find a station.

"Are we close yet?" asked Abigail.

"What's the map say, Edgar?" Gadget asked.

"Uh, I guess we're in a place called um…Penn-sile-vania?"

"Oh, okay, we're getting pretty close now," Gadget said.

"We're right by the line according to this map."

"You do know there won't really be a line when you look down from the plane, right?" Dale asked.

"Aw stop it, Dale," Gadget said, "So we're right north of the border. Keep paying attention to the freeway, and if you find a good place to stop just say so."

Edgar sat on the other end of the plane from Abigail, the five of them scrunched together with Michelle in Abigail's lap and Zipper hanging onto the back of the seat.

"Man, I'm not getting any rock stations," Dale sighed.

"Well then maybe it's my turn," Gadget said with a grin.

"Aw come on…"

"You've had it all day long. I've been nice since I know Chip never lets you listen to your stations, but now it's my turn."

Gadget took one of the knobs, searching for a station, until stopping at one that was playing Paula Abdul's "Straight Up".

"Hm, this is catchy," Abigail said.

Dale turned to look over the edge of the plane, bored and not enjoying the music.

The speakers, however began to crackle. The engine then started to sputter.

"Huh? What's that?" Russell asked.

Gadget looked at the propellers. She shut the radio off.

"Hey, why'd you turn it off?" Abigail asked.

"Uhh…I don't suppose we ever explained how batteries work to you kids…" Gadget said nervously.

"You mean?" Dale looked to her with fear in his eyes.

"I mean fiddling around with that radio this whole time was probably a pretty bad idea, considering how much power it takes…"

"We're gonna crash!" Dale exclaimed.

The furlings gasped.

"Dale, stop scaring them! We're just gonna have to make an emergency landing. It should work with no problems."

"But every time you say those words…"

"What'd I just say?" Gadget asked irritably, steering the plane as it dipped toward the forest below, "I should have brought spare batteries. We'll be able to glide, for a little while, but…that won't last. Hold on tight everyone, this might be a rough landing."

Abigail wrapped her arms tightly around Michelle, "Don't worry Michelle, we're going to make it through this…"

The propellers finally stopped, and they were left gliding through the air, relying only on their momentum to stay airborne. The passengers held their breath as Gadget steered. There was nothing but thick forest beneath them.

In the distance, they noticed a large bird flying their way.

"Hey, maybe that bird'll help us out of this?" Dale suggested.

"Sounds like as good an idea as any," replied Gadget, as the plane steadily lost its altitude.

"Hey! Over here birdie!" Michelle called out, and the rest of them waved their arms and shouted.

The bird seemed to pay them no mind, at first. It simply flew forward, seeming to scour the landscape for something. However, once the plane came closer, its wide eye glared back at them. It seemed to only have one eye.

"I uh…don't know if this bird's friendly…" said Dale.

"Golly, I think it's an owl."

"Don't owls…eat mice?" Willy asked, alarmed.

"And hedgehogs, moles and chipmunks…" said Russell.

The owl let out a menacing squawk. The furlings realized this owl looked familiar.

"We've got to get out of here!" Abigail shouted.

The owl flew closer, and as Gadget tried to steer the rudder away it followed them. The owl flew up above the plane, making a grab at the furlings. They screamed. Zipper took to the air and into the owl's face, hoping to distract it, but the owl saw a more sizable meal inside the plane.

"Land the plane, Gadget!" Edgar yelled as the rest of them ducked the owl's claws.

The owl then brandished its talons and grabbed at the plane's wing, snapping it clean off, and the plane started to plummet. Soon, it hit the forest canopy. Stems and leaves brushed against the plane, and as it got lower, the branches became thicker. One of them tore through the other wing, taking it clean off. There was nowhere to go from there but down. They were jolted in their seats, the plane hitting branches and bark on its way. Abigail held on to Michelle, and Willy clung to Abigail's arm. She didn't know what hit her when she felt a sudden, stinging pain over her face. She saw nothing more but flashes of light for a few seconds, and then, blackness.

"Abigail! Can you hear me?"

Abigail had blacked out, but she slowly awoke to Willy shaking her gently, having pulled her from the wreckage of the Ranger Plane.

"Ugh…Willy? Where's…where's Michelle?"

"We need that um…that thingy that you put in her mouth so she can breathe," Willy said frantically, not knowing the right words.

"Oh! Uh, here…" Abigail reached into her pocket, becoming aware of cuts and bruises on her body as she did. She gave the inhaler to Willy, who ran over to Gadget as she cradled Michelle, the little badger gasping for air desperately.

"Is Abigail okay?" Gadget asked as she took the inhaler from Willy.

"Yeah, I think."

"Okay Michelle, you need to force all the air out of your lungs, and then breath in deep when I put this in your mouth and press it, okay?"

Michelle nodded, and Gadget pressed the canister as she breathed in. Taking a deep breath caused her to cough, however.

"One more time Michelle, and try not to cough, I know it's hard."

Russell curled up when the owl was attacking them, and now Edgar was prying the little ball of his body open.

"Come on Russell, we're alright now."

"Y-you sure?" Russell hesitantly uncurled his body and peeked around.

"I don't think the owl knows where we landed."

Dale sat near Gadget, wrapping a bandage around his arm from the small first aid kit they kept in the glove compartment. Michelle finally was able to breathe properly, though she continued to pant to catch her breath.

"Is everyone okay?" Abigail asked, holding her head.

"We are," said Edgar, undoing his seatbelt and climbing down from the wreckage, followed by Russell.

Willy came back to Abigail's side, and helped her up.

"You got hit in the head on the way down," said Willy.

"Oh…" she put her hand to her right eyebrow and winced. There was a cut just above it, and she could see blood on her hand when she brought it back down.

"Michelle and I got scraped up too but you took the worst of it." he explained, draping her arm over his shoulder.

"I-I'm okay, how's Michelle?"

"The inhaler worked," said Gadget, while Zipper bandaged Michelle's forearm, "It's good to have a friend who's a nurse."

"The question now is…where are we?" Edgar asked.

"I don't hear the road anywhere," said Dale, looking around.

Gadget gazed over at the wrecked Ranger Plane sadly, "Golly, my greatest invention yet, and it's ruined…"

"We've lost just about everything now," Dale said, looking down.

Zipper made a sad sound and wiped his eyes.

"Maybe not all is lost," said Edgar, "We've built a flying machine out of forest materials before…"

"Huh, that's true," said Gadget, looking up at the trees as she brainstormed, "We should set up camp. We'll come up with something in the morning."

Dale gave a fearful expression, "Out here? In the forest? A-at night? With owls and stuff lurking around?"

"Didn't you and Chip used to live in the woods?" Gadget asked.

"Yeah but we lived in a tree, where it was safe. Most of the time."

"Don't worry, we know all about living in the forest," said Edgar, "We'll just need shelter."

"Yeah, now it's time for us to show you guys a thing or two," Russell said with a grin.

"Okay, so some shelter," Gadget said, looking around.

They searched the area for a bit, before Edgar made the discovery of a hollow in the roots beneath a tree. It seemed uninhabited, so they could make use of its cave-like structure to protect them from predators.

Willy helped Abigail crawl through the hole and sit down inside with the others. She really wasn't having trouble walking, but the way Willy was doting on her she didn't want to refuse him. She smiled at him as he sat her down.

"Guess first we start a fire then?" Edgar asked.

"I don't have a match," said Gadget.

"Cornelius taught us how to do it using sticks," said Russell.

"Oh good. Well then go gather firewood," Gadget said, coming over to sit by Abigail, followed closely by Michelle, "You got pretty banged up, I better bandage you."

"Thanks Gadget," she said, as the others scattered to look for firewood. Gadget wrapped a bandage around Abigail's head like a bandanna.

As soon as enough sticks and twigs were gathered, Russell set to work stringing a stick into a bow, taking this bow and looping its tight string around a long pointed stick to use as a spindle.

"Okay, got anything sharp?"

"I have a pocketknife I made," said Gadget.

"That'll work," Russell said as Gadget handed him the knife and he made carved notch in another stick.

He used a wider and thicker piece of wood, putting it atop the spindle to hold it steady with one hand as he moved his bow back in forth with his other. This caused the stick to spin against a notch he'd carved into a tree branch and filled with dried leaves he picked off the ground. This would produce enough embers to get the fire started. It was a tiring process, and he had to keep it up if he was going to have any success. The sun was going down when finally a little wisp of smoke began to rise up from the sticks, and soon enough they had a small fire going. The smoke filtered through the entrances in the roots. They had to be careful not to let the fire spread though.

"So how are we gonna get to the farm now?" Michelle asked, warming her hands by the fire and sitting between Abigail and Gadget.

"What you guys said earlier got me thinking," Gadget began, "I'm sure there's some way to get the plane going again, without the use of electricity that is. We could rebuild the wings with leaves like the Flapper Wingamathing."

"It'll be hard without the plans though," said Edgar, "The humans took those…"

That hadn't escaped Gadget's notice, but the reminder that those plans were now in human hands worried her more.

"I could probably figure it out on my own, with a little help from you guys of course," she said, "We've got to get to the farm as soon as possible. Hopefully sometime tomorrow."

Chapter 17

The morning brought with it a renewed sense of urgency. Gadget was already awake at the crack of dawn. The forest floor was covered in a light mist. She lamented not having her tool set, but she knew that she had to do something to get her plane fixed. She was removing the last part of the wings when Edgar awoke, putting his glasses on and crawling out of the burrow.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Oh, good morning," Gadget said, looking over her shoulder, "I'm just thinking about how to remodel the plane so it can get us where we need to go. We're not going to get anywhere on foot."

"I think I know just the way," Edgar said.

"I was hoping you kids would help," Gadget said with a smile, "You built a plane before after all. Even with my aviation knowledge it's never too late for me to learn a thing or two."

"I'll go get the others up."

With that Edgar went back into the burrow and lightly shook Russell awake, avoiding his quills as he did so.

"Ugh, morning already?" Russell yawned.

"Yeah, we're gonna have to try to get Gadget's plane flying again."

Abigail slept between Michelle and Willy, all huddled together for warmth. Edgar couldn't very well shake Abigail and Willy without also waking Michelle. He whispered to Abigail.

"Psst, hey Abby, wake up."

Abigail’s eyes fluttered open, and she groaned and stretched, as the other two squirmed.

"Oh, good morning," said Abigail, rubbing her bandaged forehead.

"You okay?" Willy asked her.

Abigail nodded and ruffled his hair, "You need a hair brush."

"What's that?"

"Oh get up," Abigail giggled, "So are we working on the plane?"

"Yep," Edgar replied, "Come on out."

Edgar looked over at Dale, who had Zipper sleeping in his lap. He figured he'd let the chipmunk keep sleeping for a while. Maybe they'd finally impress him with what they did know, he thought, since Dale was always teasing them about their naiveté.

When they came out of the burrow, Gadget had finished pulling off what was left of the wings, leaving holes in the side of the plane's plastic hull. Edgar sized these up, and thought about how they could use them.

"All right, I think I have an idea," he said, "You guys get us some sticks and leaves. We'll need something to tie things together…"

"I think I have a roll of duct tape in the glove box," said Gadget.

"What's that?" Edgar asked.

"Oh! Um, it's like a thin, sticky strip of paper, kinda. Except it's not really paper."

"I guess that'll do," he said, going toward the glove box.

Abigail felt proud seeing Edgar take such leadership, but he was also the one who supervised building the original Flapper Wingamathing. The rest of them split up to find good material. They wouldn't be able to find sturdy lily pads for the wings but maybe this forest had tough leaves somewhere. Abigail and Michelle stayed together to look for leaves, while the rest of them looked for sticks. Having gathered what they could, within a half hour everyone had returned to the plane with their materials. Edgar cleared a spot in the dirt and with a small stick, started to draw a diagram.

"Okay here's how we're gonna do this. We'll build a winder-upper with some long sticks, and slide it in through the wing holes in the hull. Then we'll mount some sticks to support the pivot and the two wings here, and the back passengers will all be in charge of winding the wings."

Gadget stooped down to look over the plans.

"I think we can make that work if we build everything right," she said with a smile, "Come on you guys, let's get to work."

The next couple hours or so were spent constructing the new plane. Long twigs were duct taped together to create the winder-upper, and the wings, which were jointed like a bird's wings and fitted with leaves which acted like feathers. The wings were mounted above the cockpit of the plane in much the same way they'd been on the Flapper Wingamathing. Abigail and Willy sat in back to test the wings out, cranking the winder-uppers and making the wings flap. They pushed as hard as they could, until the plane lifted a few inches off the ground.

"We did it!" Edgar declared happily, as Gadget put her hands on her hips and stared up at it with pride.

Dale crawled out of the burrow, yawning, followed by Zipper. Zipper looked at the new plane with surprise, tugging on Dale's shirt and pointing at it.

"Woah! What's that?!"

"It's our new plane," said Gadget, "And it runs on no fuel at all! Neat huh? Of course, it can still run on batteries for an extra speed boost, but they aren't required."

"And we built it," Abigail added.

"What should we call it?" Michelle asked.

"Since it's like a hybrid of our planes, how about the Ranger Wingamathing?" Edgar suggested.

"I like it," Gadget said with a wide smile, "Well Dale, what do you think of it? I worked out the measurements and proportions but other than that the kids mostly built it all themselves."

"Well uh…it's impressive, I guess," Dale said sheepishly.

Zipper folded his arms and shook his head with a frown.

"Oh alright, you kids are pretty smart, I'll give you credit," Dale conceded.

Edgar smiled, "Okay! Now we just gotta steer clear of owls."

"Traveling by day should make that less of a problem," Gadget said, "Now then, wanna give it a spin everyone?"

"Let's go!" said Abigail with enthusiasm, as the group climbed into the plane and strapped themselves in tightly.

Gadget instinctively started to pull a lever and turn it on, but brought her hand away and put both hands on the steering wheel. The rudder was still controlled the same way as before, strictly mechanical. The engine would make the front propeller go if there were any power, which would speed the machine up. Hopefully they'd just be able to glide and make about as much mileage as a typical bird of this size would.

Everyone in the back started to turn the crank, a jagged stick put together with duct tape, making the wings flap. The four of them put some muscle into it, until finally, the plane began to lift.

"Keep going guys," said Gadget, "Once we get up high enough you can lock it and we'll just glide the rest of the way."

The plane slowly rose over the canopy of the forest, and once they gained enough altitude, they were able to lock the wings in place and successfully glide forward. The Ranger Wingamathing was airborne, and a success. By noon they were back on track, gliding toward their destination, a place close to home for the furlings.

After a few hours, they realized with excitement that they were passing over the bluffs that outlined Oakdale Meadow. Willy stared down, leaning over Michelle's lap to get a view of the lone oak tree.

"Homesick?" Abigail asked.

"Well, maybe a little," he said, "But, as long as I'm with you I'm fine."

Abigail giggled and kissed his cheek, as Willy wondered if they could be seen from down below.

"Dapplewood is just west of here," said Edgar, "It took us about two days to get to Oakdale on foot, but just a few hours to fly back in the Flapper Wingamathing."

"And the farm should be somewhere in between," said Gadget, "At least, so you said, Russell."

"Yeah, that spot where we hit the tree with the black vines," Russell remembered.

"They were probably telephone wires on a telephone pole," Gadget said, "Humans invented them to carry telephone signals and electricity. I never showed you a telephone but it's a little like a radio, but you can talk back into it."

"Sounds amazing," said Edgar.

They traveled over the drained marshland where the "Yellow Dragons" dug up the earth.

"Do you know what the Yellow Dragons are?" asked Abigail.

"Dragons?" Dale asked, alarmed.

Gadget looked over the site of the plane, and giggled, "That's just construction equipment. There's a crane, a bulldozer and a steam roller. The humans use them to build stuff. I'm guessing the humans will be putting a building there eventually."

"Construction equipment…" Abigail repeated slowly, "Huh…so they're really just machines."

Dale laughed, "Hoo boy, you almost scared me there. Thought it'd be some scary creature you called a dragon."

They passed the marshlands, flying over a wooded area again. Soon enough, after a while of gliding through the air, they could make out a large clearing marked by a barn and a building, over the canopy of the forest.

"Golly, that's got to be it," said Gadget.

"We made it!" the furlings cheered.

As they came closer to the farm they could see a field surrounded a worn down wooden fence, and outside of that bordered by woods. The field contained plants arranged in straight lines. Gadget decided to take them down someplace at the edge of the farm, where they could hide the Ranger Wingamathing from humans, near a pond with an old mill. The mill didn't seem like it'd been given much attention by the owners, so Gadget was hopeful they'd be hidden well enough. The furlings cranked the winder-uppers again to slow their descent, and they made a landing by a bush.

"Good, now let's cover this plane up with leaves," Gadget said, "We'll go the rest of the way on foot. We just need to find another animal to talk to about the rats that were here."

They traveled in a single file line, with Gadget leading the way, followed by Dale and Zipper. Michelle held Abigail's hand as they trekked through some long grass, with the sound of a babbling stream flowing into the pond masking their footsteps. It was probably the same river that later in its course flowed through Dapplewood. But the furlings had never been aware of this treeless, marshy area before. Cornelius had likely kept it a secret from them.

They emerged from the grass before the wooden fence, rows of crops in front of them.

"Where do you think the animals live?" Willy asked.

"I don't know," said Gadget, "Let's cross this field and get over to the other side. Stay close behind me."

"Lucky thing there's no humans around," said Russell, as they walked under the fence, "Say, are those carrots? I'm starving!"

"Shh! Now's not the time to eat," said Abigail.

"But we skipped breakfast," Russell whined.

"Let's keep going," said Gadget, "And please stay quiet. Humans aren't the only things we have to worry about."

Gadget couldn't have been more correct, for at that moment, a beast of a cat was prowling the field, its nose having caught a whiff of its favorite meal.

Russell sighed and kept up with them, at the back of the line, surrounded by rows of tasty vegetables. It occurred to him how much he was going to miss city food like popcorn and cheese, but at this point he was hungry for anything.

A shadow loomed over him, and he heard a low growl.

"Is that my stomach?"

"I told you to be-" Abigail turned around, only to see an enormous cat behind Russell, ready to pounce. She screamed, and the others turned around.

"Run!" Gadget shouted.

Russell screamed as the cat dove for him, narrowly rolling between two carrots. The others scattered in different directions, Abigail leading Michelle as fast as she could, Willy running beside them. Edgar panicked and began digging into the ground. Gadget and Dale went back for Russell.

The cat patted Russell with its paws, making him roll back and forth. His spines however poked his paw and made him hiss, shaking his paw in pain. Gadget and Dale used this opening to pick Russell up by his sides and run with him. Zipper flew into the cat's face, flicking his whiskers and diverting the cat's attention. While the cat swatted at Zipper, everyone else made their getaways, in opposite directions.

"Come on you can uncurl now," Dale griped as he and Gadget carried Russell, "You're a hedgehog, doesn't that make you a fast runner?"

Russell uncurled himself, and began to run on his own as Gadget and Dale let him down.

"We need to find shelter!" Gadget said.

They were running toward the farmhouse. Gadget hoped that maybe they could find some cover beneath the house, or within its walls.

"Where'd the others go?" Russell asked, huffing and trying his best to keep up with them, and also wondering how Dale got the idea that hedgehogs were fast runners.

"I don't know, but we can't worry about that until we're safely away from this cat," Gadget answered, "I just hope Zipper keeps him distracted long enough."

The cat swatted away at Zipper, chasing the fly toward the fence. Zipper kept just out of its reach, making faces at him and slapping his behind to taunt the cat. As he did, Edgar blindly dug himself deep into the ground, and Abigail, Willy and Michelle darted toward the edge of the farm, back toward the woods, only as fast as Abigail could pull Michelle along. Separated, each of them feared what would happen to the others when the cat finally got bored chasing Zipper.

Chapter 18

The sign over the entrance to the Morningside Orphanage looked just the same as Penny remembered it, when she pulled over to the sidewalk and stepped out of her car. She could hear the merry chatter of children inside. She wondered if any of them were as lonesome as she'd been as a kid. Penny stared at the building. A part of her needed to come back, for old times sake. Still, she didn't know what she wanted to do here. She couldn't just go in and look around, after all. It was like a person going back to their old elementary school as an adult. You're not just going to waltz into your old classrooms or go on the swings at the playground. It was a world you couldn't go back to again, couldn't be a part of ever again. The building had been fixed up a bit, she could tell, but mostly it was the same. She thought maybe one day, when she was ready, she'd adopt a child from here herself. Someone who was like she was.

Penny sighed, "Well…off to the United Nations building…"

It wasn't as if the orphanage had been right on the way. It was clear across the city from the UN building, where she'd called to book a tour the day before. But today was about rekindling her past, and about finding out whether or not her childhood fantasies were actually fantasies. And seeing the old orphanage again somehow prepared her to reenter that world.

When she drove off, she failed to notice the nondescript black van with tinted windows turning the corner behind her. One which had been following her since she left Maryland.

News of the storm brewing at NIMH had been lost on the rodent populace in the week since the raid on Dapplewood. But the disappearance of the Rescue Rangers didn't go unnoticed by everyone in New York. Several squirrels and mice living in Central Park had watched from a safe distance as humans from NIMH came in and took away their headquarters, powerless to do anything to help. The hearsay spread until a reporter for The Daily Nibbler picked the story up, and printed it in the next edition, which was discreetly distributed across the city. The implications of the story stirred widespread panic; a human actually discovering something of this nature was unprecedented.

"Alright folks, hang on and fasten your seatbelts we're coming in for a landing!" said Wilbur the albatross, carrying two of the Rescue Aid Society's elite agents, Bernard and Bianca.

"Careful vith your back this time, Vilbur," said Bianca in her concerned, motherly manner and Hungarian accent.

"Heh, are you kidding? It's never felt better."

Wilbur swooped down, as Bernard struggled to keep his food in his stomach.

"I'm getting too old for this," Bernard lamented.

"Oh nonsense," Bianca teased, "You're just as fit and handsome as you vere vhen ve first met…and you hated landings vay back then too."

Wilbur hit the ground, running and trying to stop himself, before leaning too far forward and skidding along the ground until his beak stabbed through the wooden door to his shack, jolting Bernard and Bianca in their seats.

"Oh, are you stuck?" Bianca asked.

Wilbur muttered something and tried to push himself free. Bianca and Bernard unbuckled their seatbelts and quickly slid down to the ground, watching for a few moments.

"Um, we'd uh, like to help but…this is kind of an emergency meeting…" Bernard said, hoping not to offend Wilbur.

Wilbur shooed them away with his wing and then continued to push at the door and get his beak out.

"Thanks, uh, we'll probably be back soon."

"Ve can't just leave him this vay," Bianca said, looking up at Wilbur with worry.

Wilbur tried to speak but couldn't, shooing them with his wing again as if to say he didn't mind.

"Oh alright Vilbur, ve vill come back," Bianca conceded, taking Bernard's hand, the tiny jewel on her ring glinting in the sunlight.

The two of them scurried toward a door to the stairway leading down the building, reaching it safely and then proceeding to climb down.

"Why does stuff always come up when we're trying to go somewhere to relax?" Bernard complained, as they exhaustively hopped down each step.

"Ve vill continue vhere ve left off on our second honeymoon, once this business is all settled, I promise."

"They're just lucky Niagara Falls isn't too far away," Bernard huffed, "Maybe we should've gone someplace further to get some peace."

"Like Australia?"

"Um…no, not that far…" Bernard wasn't too keen on returning there unless they had to. But Bianca tried to talk him into going on a trip there every so often.

Bianca chuckled a bit, "This is the thirteenth step Bernard, watch out."

"Oh?" he looked down, knowing he couldn't just hop down two steps at once, "Well there aren't thirteen in total, so it's okay."

"Vhatever you say Bernard," Bianca said, hopping down two more steps before reaching the bottom. Squeezing through a slightly ajar door, they walked down a hallway to take an elevator to the ground floor.

The Rescue Aid Society met in the basement of the United Nations, inside a large discarded and forgotten suitcase. It was accessible through a hole in the wall, near the entrance. Bernard and Bianca traveled down pipes to get there. When they entered, it was mostly empty; only delegates who were close enough to New York had been able to make it by noon as requested.

"Ah, Bernard and Bianca, so glad you could make it," said Mr. Chairmouse, standing at the podium beneath the official banner of the Rescue Aid Society, "Please be seated, I think we'll wait a few more minutes before beginning. I do apologize for the short notice."

"It's quite alright, Mr. Chairmouse," said Bianca, sitting at the designated seat for the Society's Hungarian representative. Bernard sat next to her, in the United States' seat.

Things had changed in recent years for the Society, with the breakup of the Soviet Union adding many more delegates from the newly independent countries, a few of which were present at the moment. Africa had been divided into some individual countries, when in the 70s the whole continent only had one delegate. Bernard and Bianca noticed a young squirrel sitting near the podium, dressed in a nurse's uniform with her orange hair in a ponytail. Being a mouse-only organization this was somewhat unusual.

"I vonder who she is," Bianca remarked.

"I guess we'll find out," said Bernard, "I get the feeling there's something a little strange about this though…like this isn't going to be a typical emergency meeting."

"I feel that vay too…"

Mr. Chairmouse took out a pocket watch from his vest and opened it.

"Ahem, very well then, I regret to say that all the delegates who are going to come are probably already here. At any rate, I'm sure you're all wondering why you were summoned here on such short notice, so early in the morning."

There were murmurs from the crowd.

"I called this meeting because yesterday afternoon, a local vigilante rescue group calling themselves the "Rescue Rangers" had their entire headquarters confiscated by scientists from the National Institute of Mental Health."

The mention of the organization drew gasps from many in the crowd. Bianca put her hand to her mouth and looked to the podium wide-eyed, as Bernard removed his hat and fanned himself with it.

"Of course, any rescue group operating outside of our society is responsible for its own wellbeing. Normally we discourage unprofessional rodents from taking on such dangerous missions and we wouldn't feel obliged to correct their mistakes when they do so anyway. But, this case is unique. Certainly many of you have heard of NIMH, and the grotesque experiments they've performed on mice and rats. Why, many will recall the disappearance of former US delegate Jonathan Brisby, kidnapped by NIMH and never heard from again. So surely you see why their confiscation of the entirety of the Rescue Ranger's headquarters and all its technology therein, is not just their problem. It is everyone's problem."

"And what do you think we ought to do aboat this problem?" asked the Canadian delegate.

"Now now, we'll decide on a course of action momentarily," Answered Mr. Chairmouse, "As you've no doubt noticed we have a guest with us today, Ms. Tammy Squirrel, personal friend of the Rescue Rangers. She contacted me yesterday evening to tell me what had happened. She's here to fill us in on more of the details."

Mr. Chairmouse stepped aside as Tammy stood up to the podium and adjusted the microphone, looking around nervously. Bernard and Bianca watched closely.

"Greetings, delegates of the Rescue Aid Society. Like Mr. Chairmouse said I'm a close friend of the Rescue Rangers. Yesterday after their headquarters was taken, Gadget Hackwrench, one of their members, came into my hospital to have a young badger girl from the forest treated for asthma. She said that two of their members had been taken by NIMH, but the other three were lucky enough not to be present when it happened. She didn't want to involve the Rescue Aid Society, but I was worried about them. So I took it upon myself to contact Mr. Chairmouse after work, without Gadget's knowledge."

"Und ve are supposed to save zese vigilantes?" the German delegate complained.

"They got themselves into their own mess, and pulled the rest of us in too," griped the Turkish delegate.

"Please, pay attention," said Mr. Chairmouse, "Continue, Miss Squirrel."

Tammy cleared her throat, "Gadget didn't know what they were going to do, but she said something about researching on the Internet about NIMH. I think they already left to go there this morning. But that's not all. Gadget told me about the clients they'd taken in at the time. The little badger girl was one of them. She'd gotten asthma and bad eyesight because of a toxic gas leak in the forest of Dapplewood about a month ago. But early this week something even worse happened there; humans from NIMH discovered their homes. They took almost all the animals away, only a handful of kids managed to escape. And they somehow made it here."

"Oh how simply dreadful," Bianca said, clasping her hands to her chest, "Those poor children, and that little girl…"

Mr. Chairmouse leaned toward Tammy, adjusting the microphone so the audience would hear him, "Yes and the rodents of Dapplewood were reasonably advanced?"

Tammy nodded, "That's what Gadget said. They had books and furniture and other things."

There were more murmurs from the crowd.

"Thanks very much Miss Squirrel for your testimony, you may be seated," said Mr. Chairmouse, taking the microphone as Tammy went back to her seat, "So as you can see, the theft of Rescue Rangers headquarters is but the latest threat. It is possible, even, that those refugee children had been tracked. NIMH is growing wise to mouse society. Humans becoming aware of our intelligence can inhibit not only the work of Rescue Aid Society, but our very way of life as a species. Of course we occasionally do reveal our secret society to human children, who pose no real threat to us, and normally are not taken seriously by adults anyway. But now, knowledge of how advanced we rodents are has fallen into the very worst hands."

The tour guide led a group of visitors through the front door of the United Nations building at that moment.

"As you can see here is the main entrance," said the tour guide, "If you could just pass through these metal detectors and I should be able to show you to the Chamber of the Security Council first, before we head to the Trusteeship Council."

Penny walked through the metal detector, passing through without trouble and joining the rest of the people on the tour. She looked around her, trying to find any little crack in the wall a mouse could squeeze through. The tour moved to the first council chamber, but as tour guide talked, Penny paid little attention. Finally, making up her mind, she raised her hand.

"Yes miss?"

"May I excuse myself and catch up later?"

"The bathrooms are just that way," the tour guide said, pointing, "Just come right back to this chamber when you're done."

Penny nodded and briskly walked back, past armed guards, looking at the walls and floor. Next to an elevator there was a door leading to the basement of the building, for authorized personnel only. She was certain if the mice were here at all, that's where they'd be. She went for the doorknob and turned it. But it was locked.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and turned around quickly.

"Ah Dr. Stacy," said Dr. Strauss, with Nimnul at his side, surrounded by people in protective fumigation suits, "So nice of you to do some outside research for us."

She was in shock, "What…how did…"

"Step aside, if you please," he said, a security officer unlocking the door for him, "We've government clearance, you see. And there have been troubling reports of a mouse infestation. Some of the mice have been acting strangely so we will take a small sample of them and investigate."

"You…you followed me here…"

"We just happened to be in the neighborhood," Dr. Nimnul said with a grin, "Won't you come down with us?"

Dr. Strauss and his men went down the stairs into the darkened basement.

"What can we do?" asked the Italian delegate, "We could-a try to rescue the mice at the lab, but would-a that really solve the whole problem?"

"They're just going to keep coming for us," warned the Armenian delegate.

"We specialize in rescuing young humans, this problem is way out of our league," stressed the British delegate.

"Ve must not sell ourselves short," argued Bianca, "How many times have ve been told 'you're just mice, you are too small to make a difference'? And yet ve alvays have. Ve have to do something. At least try."

At that moment Bernard's ears perked up. He could hear voices and footsteps in the distance. They were large. Human.

"Bianca, did you hear something?" he whispered, as the debate continued to rage over what to do about the threat.

"Hmm? Vhat do you mean?"

The janitor, a thin mouse in overalls, rushed in.

"Humans! They're coming down here, lot's of 'em!"

"What?" the Chairmouse was baffled.

The footsteps became louder.

"What's in that big suit case?" asked a human.

"Aha! That's where they meet, right Penny?" came an evil-sounding cackle.

The name rang in Bianca's ears. Penny. It was a name she hadn't heard in years. But still she wondered. Who else would know where the Rescue Aid Society met?

"Very well, inspect the area, collect a few specimens, and gas the rest."

"Run!" Mr. Chairmouse shouted into the microphone, and all of the delegates got up out of their seats, rushing for the exit.

"What was that sound?" asked Dr. Strauss.

Penny watched from atop the stairs in terror. She'd clearly heard a voice yelling 'run'. What had she done? This was all her fault.

Mice began swarming from the entrance, some picked up and placed in nets by scientists as soon as they set foot out of the suitcase. A squirrel was picked up as well. Once about six specimens were captured, Dr. Strauss motioned the scientists over.

"Exterminate the rest," he commanded.

Penny tried to get a look at the ones in the net, but they passed by too swiftly. Had Bernard and Bianca been taken? Security swiftly ushered her out of the basement as the exterminators got their rodent-extermination smoke bombs ready, preparing to seal the area with masking tape.

Bernard and Bianca scurried toward the far corner of the basement.

"The emergency exit's got to be here somewhere." Bernard said, searching around a furnace before finally finding an electrical pipe that was disconnected from anything, having been emptied of its wires by mice in case of just such an event.

"Vhat about everyone else?" Bianca pleaded, tugging against Bernard's grip.

"The gas is spreading fast, Bianca, there's no time!"

Bianca was in tears, but she began to cough as the gas became thicker.

Bernard quickly pushed Bianca up into the pipe, before hopping into the pipe himself; a tight squeeze, and he was claustrophobic, but maybe this way, they had a chance of surviving as the poison gas began to fill the room.

Chapter 19

Once they'd put enough distance between themselves and that ravenous beast, Abigail, Michelle and Willy stopped to take a breath, hidden by long grass near the edge of the meadow.

"You okay Michelle?" Abigail asked as Michelle breathed heavily, holding her chest.

Michelle nodded, trying to keep her windpipe from closing up again.

"I've got the inhaler if you need it," Abigail said.

"N-no, I'm okay," Michelle breathed.

"What about the others?" Willy panted, looking back toward the farm.

"We've got to go back and find them," Abigail said.

"But with that monster?" Michelle asked.

"I know…we need some way around that cat," said Abigail.

At that moment, a pebble bounced against the back of Abigail's head, knocking her down. Once they realized what had happened, Willy and Michelle rushed to her side.

"Abby!" Michelle yelled.

"Are you alright?" Willy said, trying to pick her up.

Abigail held the back of her head, wincing, before rolling over and sitting up. She just seemed to be getting hurt a lot today, "I'm…ow…I'm okay…"

Willy looked around, "Who threw that?!"

Abigail hushed him, "Shh, what if it was someone who wants to eat us?"

"Well they can't just go around throwing rocks!" Willy said angrily.

"Where'd the rock go?" came the distant voice of a girl.

"I dunno, it flew off in this direction I think," came a boy's voice.

Willy clenched his fists, ready to give them a beat down. There was rustling in the grass, and out of it emerged a teenage boy mouse with light brown fur, maybe a little older than Willy, and a girl closer to their age with yellowish fur. The boy was carrying a large stick.

"Hey, who are you guys?" asked the boy.

"You hit my girlfriend in the head with that rock," Willy said angrily.

The girl gasped, "We're sorry!"

"We were just playing stickball," said the boy, "Honest, we didn't mean it. There's usually nobody in this part of the field."

"It's okay," said Abigail, "I'm not hurt that bad…"

"Did you put that bandage on just now?" asked the boy.

"No, it was put there this morning. I'm having a rough day. Week. Month?"

"Maybe we oughtta take you to our mom, she's good at healing cuts and stuff," said the girl, "My name's Cynthia, what's yours?"

"I'm Abigail."

"Willy."

Michelle did a curtsey, "I'm Michelle."

"Well my name's Timothy," said the boy, "Come with us."

"Wait," said Abigail, slowly getting to her feet, "Our friends are back there. The cat chased us all."

"Cat?"

"Dragonson…" Cynthia whispered.

"We have to go back for them," Abigail pleaded.

"It's too dangerous," said Timothy, "Where was he when you last saw him?"

"On the other side of the fence," said Abigail, "But he didn't really chase us, he chased our friends."

"That's too close for comfort," said Timothy, "He guards the field all day looking for a meal until the Fitzgibbons come to get him in the evening. I hope your friends get away, but going in there now would be suicide. You better come with us, we'll look for them later."

"Well…alright," Abigail reluctantly agreed, looking to Willy, who still had a look of skepticism on his face.

Michelle took Abigail's hand, and the three of them followed the two siblings through the grass, until finally coming upon a mossy cement block behind a large stone, surrounded by bushes and grass, half-buried in the ground. It was very well-hidden.

"This is our house, come on," said Cynthia.

They walked toward a little door in the side of the block, and entered.

"Hey Mom! We're back! We found some other kids who seemed like they needed help."

"Oh? Some new friends?"

Timothy led them down a flight of little stairs. At the bottom an older mouse sat on a rocking chair. She wore a tattered red cape and small, round eyeglasses on her nose, her brown fur tipped with gray. She was in the middle of knitting a shirt.

"Why, hello there," she said to them, "My name's Elizabeth. Elizabeth Brisby. What seems to be the problem?"

They introduced themselves in turn. Mrs. Brisby seemed to take an immediate liking to the three of them.

"We're from Dapplewood. Or, Michelle and I am." Abigail said.

"I'm from Oakdale Meadow." said Willy.

"My, that's quite a ways from here by foot," said Mrs. Brisby, "That's somewhere in the woods, north of here, isn't it?"

"Yes. We flew here, in a plane we made ourselves," Abigail said.

"Flew?" Timothy asked, "On a bird, right? What's a plane?"

Willy snickered, "It's something you build that can fly like a bird. I almost thought I was the only mouse on Earth who didn't grow up knowing that."

"You look a little beaten up, Abigail," said Mrs. Brisby.

"I'm still patched up from my fall this morning, when the plane crashed. And my head still hurts from being hit in the head with a rock by someone…"

Mrs. Brisby narrowed her eyes and then turned to her children, "What did I tell you about being careful playing that game?"

"I'm sorry ma," said Timothy.

She shook her head, "Ever since Martin and Teresa left…what am I going to do with you?"

He looked down, and Cynthia stifled a giggle.

"Come here and let me have a look at you," said Mrs. Brisby. Abigail stepped forward shyly, and Mrs. Brisby felt around her scalp, being careful of the bandages. When she found the spot where Abigail had been hit, Abigail winced.

"This is going to be a bump. You poor thing. You don't have a concussion do you?"

"I don't really feel too different," Abigail answered.

"I'd hate to add even more bandages to your head, but do you feel alright?" Mrs. Brisby asked, taking Abigail's hands caringly, "There's no ice this time of year either, or else I'd put ice on it."

Abigail nodded, "It's okay, I think I'll be fine."

She wondered if this was what having a mother was like. If so it made her sad to think she'd missed out on it.

"So why did you three come here?" Mrs. Brisby asked.

"We're looking for these rats…" Abigail answered.

"Rats?" Mrs. Brisby's ears perked up.

"Mm hmm, we heard there were rats here from NIMH once, or that maybe there were. We were gonna ask the animals here if they knew anything. NIMH is this evil group of human scientists, they took our families away and destroyed our homes in Dapplewood, you see."

"Oh my, well…" Mrs. Brisby seemed hesitant, but deeply saddened at the same time. Timothy and Cynthia looked on silently, not knowing if they should say anything. "Go on"

"When we got here, that giant cat chased us and we got separated. There's four more of us out there."

"Dragonson got to you? I hope your friends are alright, but it's too dangerous to go after them now."

"That's what Timothy said," Abigail sighed.

"Were there any adults with you?" Mrs. Brisby asked.

"Yeah, two of them," Abigail answered, "And a fly, don't know if he's grown up."

"That's good," Mrs. Brisby said, trying to think of what to do, "I wish that crow Jeremy were around, he could fly up above and see if your friends are alright."

"Huh…hey, I don't think we need a bird, if we can get to the Ranger Wingamathing," Abigail said.

"The what?" Timothy asked.

"That's the name of our airplane," said Willy.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Mrs. Brisby asked.

"Of course, we flew it here from someplace far off in the deep woods. We have just enough passengers to fly it, three at minimum," Abigail said.

"But we've never flown that thing before," said Willy, "I mean, we cranked the winder-uppers, but the seat in front with all those buttons and that wheel thing…"

"It shouldn't be too hard to figure out." said Abigail.

"Are you sure you don't want to lie down first?" Mrs. Brisby asked.

"No that's all right, our friends need us, and they'd do the same for us."

"Well if you're that determined…" Mrs. Brisby turned her gaze to Michelle, "Are you taking the little girl too?"

"Hm? Well I thought so…"

"I don't think you should. With that cat around…"

Michelle pouted, "No fair!"

"Now now," said Mrs. Brisby, "Don't be that way. We're protecting you."

"I never get to do anything," Michelle sighed.

"You always say that Michelle, even when you do get to do things," Abigail teased.

"Maybe you and I can play something," Cynthia suggested, "It won't be so bad."

"And Timmy could show you two around the farm," said Mrs. Brisby to Abigail and Willy, "You be careful though. I don't want you anywhere near that cat. Come home in one piece."

"Alright, should be fun trying this plane thing out," said Timothy.

Abigail fished through her pockets, taking out the inhaler and giving it to Mrs. Brisby, who eyed it curiously, "That's in case Michelle has an asthma attack. You put that end in her mouth, and push on the top. She'll know what to do."

"What an odd contraption…" Mrs. Brisby turned her gaze from the inhaler to Abigail, "You'll have to tell me more about where you've come from later."

"We will. Then you can tell us about the rats, right?"

"I…well…we'll see, okay?" Mrs. Brisby hesitated.

"Okay, come on boys," Abigail said.

Willy and Timothy followed her up the stairs and outside.

"Where did you put that plane thing?" Timothy asked.

"Over near a stone building next to a river," said Abigail.

"Ah, the old mill. I know where that is," Timothy said, "Follow me."

Abigail smiled, happy that they'd met someone who knew the lay of the land. She and Willy followed behind him, Willy staying close to her.

After a bit of a walk they made it to the mill. Abigail and Willy walked to the bush where they'd hidden the Ranger Wingamathing and Timothy followed, the three of them working to pull it out into the open.

"Wow, look at this thing," said Timothy, running his fingers through his hair as he stared up at its wingspan.

"Okay, I'm gonna try to fly it," said Abigail, "I don't think either of you have had any piloting experience."

"Guess you're right," said Willy.

Abigail climbed into the front seat, "You two get in the back and crank the winder uppers."

"Got it," said Willy, somewhat relieved that she didn't ask Timothy to sit in front with her.

The two boys got in back, and Willy showed Timothy how to buckle his seat belt.

"There's no electricity right now, so this shouldn't be much different from piloting the Flapper Wingamathing," said Abigail, momentarily intimidated by all the buttons and levers, "Well, go to it you guys, lets get in the air."

The two of them turned the crank, and the wings flapped, slowly at first. It was harder with only two mice doing it, but eventually, the wings flapped faster, and the plane began to lift. Timothy looked over the side excitedly as they ascended. Abigail turned the steering wheel, and the rudder made the plane turn in that direction. Simple enough, she thought. But she wasn't sure how to climb or dive. The wheel didn't move like the more simply-designed Flapper Wingamathing. It must be one of the levers, she thought. But soon they were cruising over the field. They could see Dragonson walking along the rows of crops. It had either lost the others, or…the worst had already happened.

Russell was still catching his breath as he, Dale and Gadget hid behind a grate in the lower wall that led under the house. There was a hole in it small enough for them to squeeze through and still protect them from the cat. At any rate, thanks to Zipper, the cat hadn't followed them.

"That was a close one," said Dale.

"I know, Zipper sure does pull through for us,' said Gadget, "The problem now is where are the others?"

Russell looked through the grating, "I hope they're all right…"

He didn't like being without Abigail, Michelle and Edgar. They were like the last remaining family he had. He was even warming up to Willy.

"What's our plan now?" Dale asked.

"With that cat prowling around, we're stuck here until its gone," said Gadget, "Maybe we can send one of us out to try and find the others, but it's risky. I hope Zipper finds us, then we could have him do a flyover of the area."

Russell held onto the grating and stared outward, noticing what looked like a little bird flapping over the field. It didn't seem to have very good coordination though. It was then that it hit him.

"Hey, you guys! Someone's out there with the Ranger Wingamathing!"

"Huh?" Gadget looked out, shielding her eyes from the sunlight before she saw what Russell saw, "You're right, that's what it looks like. Whoever it is doesn't seem to have a firm grasp of the controls."

"It's gotta be at least three of them,' said Russell, "It must be the others."

"We've gotta get their attention, but how?" Dale asked.

"Hmm…I've got it," said Gadget, "I'll get a stick, and we'll tie something bright to it, like a shirt."

"Okay," said Russell, "Who's shirt will we use?"

"Gadget's got a bright white tanktop under her jumpsuit," Dale suggested.

"Dale! I'm not doing that. Russell's vest isn't bright enough. That leaves your shirt."

"Aw shucks, it's gonna get all dirty," Dale said, taking his shirt off.

Gadget took Dale's shirt and hopped out onto the ground, scouring around until coming upon a twig. She ran it through the sleeves of Dale's shirt and waved it in the air.

“Down here!" she yelled.

Abigail circled the field, not seeing anything. She gave a sad sigh.

"Well, would they have stayed in the field? We didn't." said Willy.

Abigail's ears perked up, "You're right, Willy. Let's look somewhere else."

"Try around the farmhouse,' said Timothy.

Abigail steered toward the farmhouse, "Keep looking you guys."

All of them looked over the side of the plane as Abigail steered. It was but a few minutes before Timothy spotted a red cloth waving back and forth on the ground.

"Hey look down there," he said.

"That's…that's Dale's shirt! They're alive!" Abigail cheered.

"Okay, take us down," said Willy.

"Uhh…" Abigail fumbled with the levers, pulling one that made the back rudder tilt downward, sending them flying up into the sky, "Eeeek!"

"The other one!" Willy shouted.

Abigail pushed the lever back into place and pulled the second one, which sent them in the opposite direction, straight down. The three of them screamed. Abigail pulled the lever up before they could crash into the ground, the force sending them spinning.

"We can't crash again, we just built this!" Willy yelled.

"I'm more worried about us!" Abigail yelled, "Unlock the wings and crank the winder uppers, that's how we descended in the Flapper Wingamathing right?"

"I don't know!"

"Just do it!" said Timothy.

The two of them began cranking, as the plane swooped up again, the flapping wings slowing them down until they leveled out.

"Slower flaps now," said Abigail.

They flapped more slowly, and the plane came down, landing a bit far from their mark but within walking distance. Gadget ran toward them, with Dale and Russell not far behind.

"Are you all all right?" Gadget asked as she ran up to them.

“We're…we're okay," said Abigail, quite out of breath, undoing her seatbelt, "I don't think I'm very good at flying this."

"I'll do it next time," said Gadget, looking at the three of them, "Who's this?"

"My name's Timmy…er, Timothy Brisby," he said with a smile, trying to lower his voice and appear more suave in front of this beautiful mousette.

"We met him and his family on the other side of the field," said Abigail, "Michelle's with his mom and sister."

Dale and Russell caught up with them.

"That was some fancy flying," Russell chuckled.

"Oh shut up," Abigail rolled her eyes and smiled.

Willy looked around, "Hey, are we missing someone?"

Abigail realized it too, "Where's Edgar?"

"He wasn't with you?" Gadget asked.

"Uh oh…" Abigail turned toward the field, "Where could he be?"

"Well what would he have done to get away?" Russell asked, "We all ran, so he must have dug!"

"Yes…yes that must be what he did. So he's still in that field somewhere."

"He dug?" Timothy asked, not fully understanding.

"He's a mole," Abigail explained.

"Oh…okay, makes sense."

"Zipper must be around somewhere too," Gadget said, "We've got to get those two out of there."

The group looked toward the fenced-off rows of crops, seeing that monstrous cat from a distance, sniffing around and searching for prey.

"W-well uh, good luck, let me know how it goes," said Dale, trying to walk away before Gadget grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the Ranger Wingamathing.

Chapter 20

Because of the plane's limited seating they agreed to split up; Abigail, Willy and Timothy Brisby would carefully search on the ground while Gadget, Dale and Russell took to the air, all in search of Edgar and Zipper. On the ground, Abigail tried to retrace where they'd been when Dragonson first attacked them, all while trying to avoid the cat seeing them again.

"We should find a hole in the ground somewhere around that spot," said Abigail.

"How could he dig a hole so fast?" Timothy asked.

"He's a mole, it's what he does," Abigail answered, "At least he's in his element. These last few days are probably the longest he's ever gone without being underground."

"That cat can't best him. Remember how he beat up Waggs?" Willy chuckled.

"It's definitely not a good idea to underestimate him," Abigail remarked.

At that moment, Farmer Fitzgibbons exited his house, grabbing a rake from the porch and heading toward his crops. He opened the gate to the fence, and Dragonson came to rub his body against the man's legs.

"Ah git outta my way," Fitzgibbon griped, shoving the cat away with his leg and proceeding.

"Uh oh…a human," said Abigail. To her that was even scarier than a cat.

"It's Farmer Fitzgibbons," said Timothy, "I don't think he'll notice us if we stay close to the fence."

The three of them tried to lay low. Up above, Gadget watched with a keen eye as this human entered the scene, hoping the children would be okay.

"Think they'll be seen?" Dale asked from the back seat, being forced to abdicate his favorite spot for the sake of cranking the winder uppers.

"I think Abigail's smart enough to know what to do," said Gadget, "Maybe we ought to make ourselves scarce though, who knows what could happen if he saw us."

"This guy was contacted by NIMH before about the smart rats wasn't he?" Dale asked.

"Golly, you're right! I'm gonna take us over the forest for a bit," Gadget turned the plane, looking back toward Abigail and the others, "Good luck."

Mr. Fitzgibbons hummed to himself, raking the soil and checking on the plants. But, he stopped when he saw a conspicuous hole in the ground.

"What?!" he shouted angrily, crouching down, "Dammit! We must have gophers again. I'll show those little pests."

Farmer Fitzgibbons dropped the rake, and ran back toward his house.

"That's not good," said Timothy.

"What is it?" Abigail asked.

"I remember what he did to the gophers that used to live in this garden," Timothy said, fearfully, "He threw some kind of smoke bomb into their holes. It suffocated them."

Abigail gave a gasp, and Willy winced.

"Now's our only chance, you guys," said Abigail, "We need to get into that burrow and find Edgar."

"Right," said Willy.

Timothy nodded, and together the three of them scampered toward the hole. They stood at the edge, peering into the inky blackness.

"I'll go in, you two keep a lookout for the human or the cat," said Abigail.

"Alright," said Timothy.

Abigail hopped into the hole, the dirt soft under her feet. She felt for the walls of the tunnel and moved forward.

"Edgar? Edgar it's me, Abigail."

She raised her ears for a response.

"Abigail?" she heard.

"Edgar, you've got to get out of here."

"What about the cat?"

"A human is going to gas the tunnels!"

There was a small gasp, followed by frantic footsteps. But he'd dug himself in pretty far.

"Uh…Abigail?" came the voice of Willy.

"Yes?"

"The human's coming this way."

Outside Farmer Fitzgibbons held a gopher bomb, tossing it to himself in one hand.

"Think you're getting a share of my crops, eh?" he said with a grin.

Dragonson followed by Fitizgibbon's feet, a vicious, toothy grin on the monstrous cat's face.

Inside, Edgar finally made it to Abigail. She took his hand and then she ran for the entrance.

"Come on!" Timothy shouted.

Abigail jumped for the opening, clawing the dirt but falling down again.

"It's too deep!"

"Get on my back," said Edgar.

He crouched down, and Abigail climbed onto Edgar's back. From there she jumped again, and Willy caught her arms, pulling her up. Edgar gripped the dirt walls of the hole and was able to climb his way up. But, they had taken too long.

"What! There's rodents in my garden too!"

Dragonson licked his teeth, ready to pounce.

"Get them!" Farmer Fitzgibbons shouted.

"Not again…" said Edgar.

The four of them darted for the edge of the fence, scattering but going in the same general direction this time. The bloodthirsty cat bounded through the crops after them, fixating on Abigail and Willy. The two of them ran as fast as they could go, neither of them daring to part with the other. It was just closing in on the two of them when Zipper flew into the cat's face and landed a kick into its eye, making it howl in pain and claw the air. Zipper then followed Abigail and Willy as they made it past the fence.

"Damn cat, can't do anything right," Farmer Fitzgibbon grumbled, dropping the gopher bomb into the burrow, "Good for nothing freeloader."

Abigail was the first to make it up to the stone block where the Brisbys lived. She stopped and listened, panting, as she heard the footsteps of the others. Timothy was the first to emerge from the grass.

"There you are," he said.

"Edgar's the only one who doesn't know where to go," said Abigail, "I hope he makes it."

Willy then darted through the grass on all fours, and kept running until he noticed Timothy sitting with Abigail and skidded to a stop. He stood up.

"Is everyone alright?"

Abigail nodded, "Did you see what made the cat stop chasing us?"

"I think it was Zipper," said Willy.

"He deserves a reward for all he does for us."

The little fly could be heard buzzing across the grass, followed by Edgar who was following him from below. Abigail smiled and ran up to hug Edgar.

"I'm so glad you're alright."

"Well, I guess digging isn't always the safest thing to do," Edgar said sheepishly.

"Especially not in the garden," said Timothy.

"Now all we need to do is wait for the others," said Abigail. She turned to Zipper, and pulled him down for a hug, "Thanks for saving our necks. That's twice today, and once yesterday."

Zipper nodded with a smile.

"Maybe you could find the others and tell them where we are. They haven't been here before."

Zipper nodded again, and flew off into the sky. Not long afterwards, the plane came circling the field and coming down for a landing, much more gracefully than Abigail had managed of course. Gadget removed her goggles and hopped out of the plane.

"So we're all here and alive?" she asked.

Abigail nodded, "Mission accomplished."

"It's a good thing too, that was a close one," Gadget said, turning her attention to the concealed cement block, "So is this where you live, Timothy?"

Timothy nodded, "I'll introduce you to my mom, and maybe we can get this whole thing sorted out."

"Okay," said Gadget, "We had something to ask her about."

"I know," said Timothy, looking around as if someone could be eavesdropping, before turning and with discreet caution moving toward the door.

Inside Mrs. Brisby and Cynthia had been telling Michelle stories, when everyone entered the room, single file.

"You're all back!" Michelle exclaimed happily, running up and hugging Gadget.

"Well! This is certainly a very large group," Mrs. Brisby said, "Was it any trouble finding your friends?"

"A little bit of trouble…" Abigail gave a giggle.

"You must be Timothy's mom," said Gadget.

"Yes I am, my name's Elizabeth Brisby. Let me get you all some tea, I think I may have enough cups."

The ones who hadn't been here yet all introduced themselves, as Mrs. Brisby handed out carved wooden cups and poured tea from a teapot that had been hanging over the fireplace. It was crowded, and there weren't enough chairs to go around for everyone either, so most of them sat on the floor.

"Did Abigail tell you why we came here?" Gadget asked.

"Yes, yes she did," Mrs. Brisby replied, "Little Michelle has already told me a lot about what's happened, what the humans did to her home and how she traveled to the big city with her friends and met you."

"That's right," Gadget said, "Then of course, NIMH somehow found my friends and took our home away."

Mrs. Brisby seemed to cringe whenever she heard that word, NIMH.

"What do you think they wanted with it?" Mrs. Brisby asked.

"Michelle may not have told you, but what Dapplewood and our headquarters both had was technology."

Mrs. Brisby nodded, "I…I see. I heard about that airplane contraption. You must be very intelligent."

"Why thank you," Gadget gave a humble smile, "Anyway I did research after NIMH took our headquarters away, and after a little hacking found out that some rats and mice they were experimenting on became smarter and escaped. NIMH said they'd searched here in 1982 following some clues but came up with nothing."

"And why would that lead you to believe the rats were here at all?" Mrs. Brisby asked, still hesitant about giving up any information.

Timothy and Cynthia stepped away and exchanged glances with one another.

"It's the only clue we have for finding these rats. We're trying to find out if they ever were really here. Maybe they'd help us. Mrs. Brisby, if you do know anything, please tell us," Gadget implored her, "You know this isn't just about my friends or their families. Scientists finding out how smart we really are is trouble for everyone. Maybe even yourself. The rodents in Dapplewood were no more technologically advanced than you are."

Gadget gestured around the room, at the table, chairs and the fireplace. 

Visibly distraught, Mrs. Brisby looked downward, considering her choices.

"You do know something, don't you?" Abigail asked,

"I'm sure you have the best intentions," Mrs. Brisby began hesitantly, "But I've sworn an oath of secrecy on the matter. I can't go back on it. I can't."

"The rats were here," Gadget deduced, "But you can't tell us where they went? Why not?"

Mrs. Brisby bit her lip, and shook her head, "I…I'm not even completely sure where they are myself…and I could get in so much trouble."

"Those rats might be our best chance of rescuing everyone from NIMH," said Gadget, "You sure you can't tell us more?"

Mrs. Brisby hesitated, before Timothy put a hand on her shoulder, making her jump a little, startled.

"Justin will understand," Timothy said quietly, into her ear.

"Timmy…" Mrs. Brisby thought for a few moments, working something out in her head, before turning to Gadget, "Their location is a secret, but…maybe if I took someone to see the Great Owl, he could take us to them. If he agrees."

"Owl?" Abigail's mouth fell open.

"Abigail, your mouth is hanging open," Michelle nagged.

"I hate owls," she groaned.

"Who is the Great Owl?" asked Gadget.

"He's a friend of the rats," Mrs. Brisby answered, "He was also a good friend of my late husband. He won't eat us. Whether or not he'll help us though depends."

"On what?" asked Gadget.

"On his mood."

"Very reassuring," said Abigail.

"And if he agrees, I won't get in trouble for telling you about the rats. Hopefully." Mrs. Brisby added.

"Oh I'm sure once these rats hear about what NIMH is doing they'll be eager to help us," said Gadget with optimism.

Mrs. Brisby cleared her throat and looked to the side, knowing this probably wouldn't be the case.

"It's too close to dusk now, we'd best go in the morning," Mrs. Brisby said, "You don't want to go see him at night."

"Understood," said Gadget.

"In the meantime, well…I don't think I have room for all of you, but you can stay here tonight."

"A couple of us can sleep in the plane," said Gadget.

"You will cover it up, won't you?" asked Mrs. Brisby.

"Of course, we can't risk the humans seeing it."

"Is there anything to eat?" Russell asked, "We haven't eaten all day."

"Russell, don't be rude," Abigail shook her finger at him, "She can't be expected to feed all of us."

"We do have a storage of nuts and grains from the forest," said Mrs. Brisby, "It's been too dangerous to go to the garden for food. I suppose you can have a little, Timmy and Cynthia can always gather more."

Willy's face lit up at this, having not eaten nuts in a long time, but Russell did his best to hide his disappointment. He sure missed city food.

"You sure you don't mind?" Edgar asked.

"Oh no, it's alright," Mrs. Brisby gave a nod, "I can't let you all go hungry."

That evening they feasted on some roasted chestnuts, only enough for one each, and then got ready for bed, the furlings and Willy sleeping on the ground while Gadget, Dale and Zipper covered the Ranger Wingamathing with leaves and slept in its seats. The morning would bring new adventures, but, could also be fraught with peril. That night, Abigail had nightmares about owls.

Part Three