by Tom Hoffman
Their presence washed through Orville in great pounding waves. He knew his intuitive mind was capable of sensing the true nature of other mice, whether they had dark intentions, whether they were honorable, whether they could hear their secret inner voice. The Others were beyond such description. He could not gauge their intentions, because they had no intentions. They were love and nothing more.
Remembering his lessons from the Thirteenth Monk, Orville brought his mind to sharp focus, doing his best to become objective and observant. “Why am I here?”
“You are Orville Wellington Mouse, Metaphysical Adventurer, that is why you are here. Who better to stop the worlds from overlapping than a brave and noble mouse such as yourself?”
“I’m not as brave as you think I am. I’m really scared of centipedes, and most anything with – sorry, I didn’t mean to correct you, but I didn’t want you to think I–”
“What was your least favorite class in school?”
“What?”
“Your least favorite class in school was…?”
“Um… science class, I guess, but that’s because the teacher didn’t like me. Master Osterous always called on me in class because he knew I didn’t like science and he asked me harder questions than he asked anyone else. I never knew the answers.”
“You say you don’t like science and yet you have a great and eternal love for Sophia, a brilliant scientist.”
“That’s different, she doesn’t make fun of me if I don’t know something about science.”
“Science Scholar Osterous made fun of you?”
“He didn’t exactly make fun of me, but he always asked me questions I couldn’t answer, and I know he did it on purpose.”
A long stone table covered with curious scientific instruments appeared in front of Orville. Standing on the other side of the table was a tall gaunt mouse wearing the blue robe of a master scholar.
“Master Osterous??”
“Ah, Orville Wellington Mouse, one of my most memorable students. I welcome you to a land of infinite beauty and wonder. To be quite honest, I never expected to find myself in a glorious world such as this.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I am doing the same thing I did in Muridaan Falls, I am learning.”
“More science stuff?”
Master Osterous peered over his small gold glasses at Orville, a gentle frown crossing his face.
“Sorry, Master Osterous, I’m a little confused right now. I don’t really know why I’m seeing you, or what this place is.”
“Perhaps I shall be the mouse who shows you how to stop the worlds from overlapping.”
“That would be great! How do I do it?”
“Oh, nothing is ever that simple, I’m afraid. Did I mention we’ll be having a surprise quiz today?”
“What do you mean? I have to take a test? Why?”
“Nothing to worry about, I assure you. I will ask you three simple questions. If you are able to answer just one of them correctly, I will show you how to prevent the worlds from overlapping. Does that sound fair enough? You only have to answer one question correctly. Nothing could be easier.”
Orville’s heart sank. He was back in science class. He clenched his paws together. “I guess so… if they’re simple questions.”
“Very well. First question, is there such a thing as magic?”
Orville breathed a sigh of relief. He knew this one. “That’s easy, Sophia has told me a hundred times there is no magic, only science that we don’t understand.”
“Incorrect, I’m afraid. There is only magic, it is science which does not exist. We live in a magical world. When you bury a small seed in the ground, a beautiful flower soon appears. What could be more magical than that?”
“That’s not magic, it’s science. It’s cells inside the seed multiplying and growing, using food that’s stored in the seed. There’s nothing magical about it.”
“Incorrect, again. It’s magic. It’s all magic. Life is magic. The world is magic. Mice are magic. Our meeting in this wondrous world is magic.”
“Wait, if you’re saying the whole universe is magic, and Sophia is saying the whole universe is science, isn’t that just two names for the same thing? Magic and science are just two different names used to describe how the universe works.”
“Ah, that would have been a perfectly acceptable answer, but unfortunately it was not the answer you gave me. The next question is an easy one, a true or false question. True or false, when you were in my science class, I asked you very difficult questions because I didn’t like you and I was trying to embarrass you in front of the class.”
Orville froze. He had not been expecting a question like that. “Um… well, that was kind of true. Sorry.”
“Wrong again. I purposefully asked you questions you would be unable to answer so you would be forced to think, so you would try to discover the answers on your own. You are a brilliant mouse, whether you know it or not. A more creative mind I never saw in all my years of teaching. Great discoveries require innovative thinking. I had high hopes you would one day enter the world of science. We need minds like yours.”
Orville was stunned. “You think I’m smart?”
Master Osterous stepped around the long table and put his paw on Orville’s shoulder. “In this world I am able to see things from a far broader perspective than the world of Muridaan Falls. I did not realize it at the time, but I was learning a great deal about myself while I was teaching. I can see now my intentions were good, but my execution was lacking, my understanding of mice was lacking. I was never trying to embarrass you, Orville, I was trying to help you become the mouse I know you are.”
“I should have studied more. I’ve learned a lot about science since I met Sophia. It’s really kind of interesting. She’s said a few times that I’d make a good scientist.”
“This brings me great joy. Now, it’s time for your third and final question. You have unfortunately given incorrect answers for the first two questions, but I have great hope for this last one. If you answer it correctly I will show you how to prevent the worlds from overlapping.”
Master Osterous pulled a golden key from his robe. He stepped over to the stone table and unlocked the lid of a silver box, carefully removing a glass of bright purple liquid. He held it up for Orville to see. “A glass of delicious chilled brimbleberry juice. My question for you is this – can I make it disappear?”
Orville tried to read Master Osterous’ expression. His eyes narrowed. “Are you a shaper?”
“I am not a shaper.”
“Do you have any weird magical powers in this world?”
“I do not.”
“Then my answer is no, you can’t make the brimbleberry juice disappear.”
“I’m afraid that answer is also incorrect.” Master Osterous raised the glass to his lips and drank the brimbleberry juice. He held the empty glass out for Orville to see.
“You didn’t make it disappear, you just drank it. It’s in your stomach.”
“Are you certain? How can you know that for sure? The brimbleberry juice has clearly disappeared.”
“Of course I’m certain, I saw you drink it!” Orville was suddenly very angry. “You’re trying to trick me and I don’t know why. It’s just like being in science class again!”
Master Osterous set the empty glass on the table.
“Orville Wellington Mouse, you have incorrectly answered all three questions, but I am pleased to say that in the process you have learned everything you need to know in order to prevent the worlds from overlapping. You must now put your abundantly creative mind to work and solve this most vexing problem. Remember this, my brilliant young friend, we never stop making mistakes and we never stop learning from our mistakes, even in a glorious world such as this one. A wise mouse is simply a mouse who learns from his mistakes.”
Master Osterous gave a great sweeping bow and vanished, the stone table vanishing with him. Orville stood before the Othe
rs, their thoughts filling his mind.
“A great mountain range in western Opar has vanished, replaced with a scorching desert. A storm of unparalleled fury is spreading rapidly across the Vesarak Sea, turning the waters blood red and moving relentlessly toward your home. You must act quickly or every mouse in Muridaan Falls shall perish, swept away by the raging sea.”
“I don’t know how to stop it! Why can’t you just tell me? I don’t understand what Master Osterous meant!”
“It is not our place to interfere in the affairs of your world. You possess everything you need to halt the storm. As Master Osterous said, you have a great mind, use it.”
“Please, please, you have to–” The Others were gone. Orville stood alone in a vast and beautiful meadow. He fell to his knees.
Chapter 36
Brimbleberry Juice
Orville wiped the tears from his eyes. He was one small mouse in a vast universe. Why should he be responsible for the fate of a thousand universes, the lives of everyone in Muridaan Falls, the lives of everyone he loved?
Orville’s inner voice spoke. “Remember the clockwork glowbirds, the blue marble that rolled uphill, the capricious shadows, all bewildering puzzles for which you found the solution. This is but one more puzzle to be solved, and who better than you to solve it? Let go of your doubt, let go of your fear.”
Orville stood up. His inner voice was right. Sophia had used logic to discover the strange force causing the blue marble to roll uphill. He would do the same. The Others had told him he possessed everything he needed to prevent the worlds from overlapping. He emptied his pockets. Two silvers, a small pencil, half an oatmeal cookie, a piece of string, a wrinkled photo of Sophia, and the gold coin he had found on the gatehouse table. “None of this will help me.”
He dumped the contents of his pack onto the meadow grass, studying everything carefully.
“Creekers. Double creekers.” Orville froze, his breathing shallow. Master Osterous made the brimbleberry juice vanish by drinking it, but it had not truly vanished. The Chief Master Engineer had used a Mark XVII Distortion Thruster to create an atmosphere on Tectar. A brilliant light blazed inside him. He had solved the puzzle. He knew how to stop the worlds from overlapping. He also knew it meant a friend would have to die.
Sophia looked up when the door to the Machine Room opened and Orville emerged, his face grim.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I know how to stop the Void from vanishing.”
“How? Did the Others tell you?”
“No, they made me figure it out.” Orville turned to Haukesworth. “We know the great silver machine is a Mark XVII Distortion Thruster, one of the six engines which carried Tectar to its current location. The engineers altered the Mark XVII to create an atmosphere on Tectar, but something went wrong, just as the Chief Master Engineer had feared. There must have been a massive explosion which pushed the engine up through the outer shell of Tectar.”
“What does that have to do with the Void and the overlapping worlds?”
“The Mark XVII works by continuously warping space in front of the interstellar ship. It takes a hundred thousand miles of space and compresses it down to a few inches. That is how Tectar could travel incredible distances in such a short time. I learned all this when I relived the Chief Master Engineer’s memories. He knew I would be the one to find the thought he left behind. He knew the engine would be damaged, altered by the explosion. Instead of warping space, it has been warping the Void, compressing it. The Void has been shrinking since the explosion, but the change has gone unnoticed until now. With the Void almost gone, the worlds have begun to overlap.”
“But if it’s gone, there’s nothing we can do.”
“If I drink a glass of brimbleberry juice and show you the empty glass, does that mean the juice has vanished?”
“What?”
Sophia gave a yelp. “The Void isn’t gone, it’s inside the Mark XVII! We just have to shut off the engine and the Void will expand again.”
“Exactly.”
“How do we shut it off? If we damage the distortion thruster something could go wrong, it could kill us all.”
Orville reached into his pack and pulled out his door prize from the History of Tectar Temporal Displacement Museum. “Copo said this was a perfect working replica of the key used to start the first of six Mark XVII Micronizing Distortion Thrusters. It’s also how we turn off the machine.”
Haukesworth was stunned. “The universe brought you to Tectar, led you to that museum, gave you that key, and led you to the Chief Master’s thought cloud. How is it possible?”
“It’s how the universe works, but we have to listen carefully to what it tells us, listen to the voice inside us.”
“It doesn’t seem possible, but I can’t deny what I have seen.”
“There’s something else you need to know. It’s not good news. The Chief Master Engineer said he was worried that if something went wrong they wouldn’t have time. I misunderstood what he meant. He wasn’t saying they wouldn’t have time to get all the Thaumatarians to the surface of Tectar, he was saying time might not exist, they would not have time. He was right. The Mark XVII Distortion Thruster exists within a timeless bubble. If we shut the machine off, time will flow again. You will begin to age, you will be mortal, and one day you will die. If we don’t turn off the engine, a thousand worlds will be destroyed but the castle will be unharmed, existing outside of time and space. We would be safe within Castle Caligari, but surrounded by nothingness, trapped in a world without time.”
Haukesworth gave a long sigh. “Strangely enough, this comes as welcome news. I have lived in the castle long enough. I have always known that life is uncertainty, that life is adventure. Life is perilous. Life is learning. One thing that life is not, is sitting safely inside a timeless castle. I’ve had my fill of this land of the dead. We are Metaphysical Adventurers. We need to shut down the machine.”
Orville nodded, turning to the Machine Room door. He pushed it open and they stepped into the sunlit meadow. There was no sign of the Others.
“How do we shut it off?”
Orville removed the golden cylindrical key from his coat pocket. “We have to figure out where the key goes.” He strode over to the base of the monolithic silver engine and gazed upward. The machine was over a hundred feet tall, it’s basic form a massive silver cone with a thirty foot wide golden dome protruding from one side. The huge black cloud swirled and pulsed next to the golden dome.
“The black cloud is the Void being compressed by the Distortion Thruster. I don’t see any control panels where we could use the key, though.” He stepped around to the other side of the Mark XVII and gave a yelp. He was standing face to face with a four foot tall green rabbit wearing a gray uniform, a silver pin on his lapel.
“You must be Orville Wellington Mouse.”
“You’re a Thaumatarian. Wait, you’re the Chief Master Engineer of Tectar!” Orville looked behind him to Sophia, Proto, and Haukesworth, their eyes wide.
“You have a good memory for faces.”
“Why are you here? How are you here? I saw what that rabbit in the blue cape did to you, shot you with some kind of beam weapon.”
“He did indeed.”
“So you were…”
“Murdered?”
“Are you a ghost?”
“The Others told me you were here, poking around the machine, trying to shut it off with that key you’re holding. Did they teach you anything about icebergs in your science classes?”
“Huh?”
“Icebergs. Enormous chunks of ice floating in the ocean. What do you know about them?”
“They’re cold… and only the tip of an iceberg is visible, most of it is hidden beneath the surface of the ocean.”
“Precisely. Well done.”
“You’re saying we’re only seeing part of the Mark XVII? Most of it is still below the surface of Tectar?”
“You are a very astute mo
use.”
“You sacrificed your life to bring the passengers to the surface of Tectar. Why did you do that?”
The Chief Master Engineer smiled. “If I told you that, I would be revealing life’s greatest secret. How do I know you’re ready for such knowledge?”
“The greatest secret of life? If you’re talking about the secret of unlimited power, I already learned that from the Thirteenth Monk.”
“This has nothing to do with power. It is a far deeper truth than that. Power means less than nothing. A single star has more power than a trillion shapers, a trillion armies. Power is nothing, a sad illusion. When you move to the world of the Others you will realize the truth of this.”
“I know that already. I know that every event in the world takes place for a reason, that we are supposed to face the fires of life head on. The world is perfect as it stands, so there’s no need to change it.”
“I’m impressed. As a great Thaumatarian philosopher once said, the possession of great power does not necessitate its use. I sacrificed my life to bring everyone to the surface of Tectar because I wanted a better world for them, I wanted them to escape from the clutches of a brutal dictator who placed no value on their lives. I thought I was changing the world, but I was wrong. The world will never change. It is filled with brutal emperors and kings, creatures driven by insatiable greed and infinite lust for power. It is a world brimming with ignorance and violence and hatred for any creatures who are different from us. It is a world of mice fighting muroidians fighting rabbits fighting Anarkkians and on and on and on.”
“Whoa, it’s not that bad. I know a lot of mice who aren’t like that at all.”
“Of course it’s not that bad. The world is also filled with loving creatures who spend their lives trying to improve the world. They bring light to the world, they bring love, they bring joy, they bring music and art and dance and humor. They feed the poor, heal the sick. And yet, despite their valiant efforts, the world remains much the same as it was a million years ago. They cannot change the world.”