by Tom Hoffman
“Why?”
“No reason, just to be on the safe side.”
Orville gave Sophia a suspicious glance, popping up a powerful sphere of defense. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Maybe we’ll find some old technology we can take back to the Metaphysical Adventurers headquarters. If it’s good enough they’ll pay you silvers for it. Papa used to make extra money doing that. Mostly he just liked hunting for it.”
Sophia and Orville wove their way through the collapsed buildings, carefully avoiding the massive gaping crevasses formed by the monumentally destructive forces which had ravaged the planet. “Look, that low building has one section that’s not destroyed. We should look inside. Maybe there’s old tech. I could use a few silvers. I have to buy a birthday gift for my best friend. I overheard her telling Mum she wants an Excelsior duplonium powered bread slicer, and those aren’t cheap.”
Sophia whacked Orville’s arm with her fist. “Your negative reinforcement seems to have worn off. Do you still want to get me a bread slicer for my birthday?”
“Owww! Wait, didn’t you tell me positive reinforcement works a lot better than negative reinforcement?” Orville raised one eyebrow, giving Sophia a silly grin.
Sophia rolled her eyes. “Ewww. The only thing you’re going to get is–”
The blinding vermillion force beam that exploded between the two adventurers sent Sophia flying into a towering wall of concrete and steel. Orville was thrown in the opposite direction, tumbling wildly across the web of cracks and open fissures which once had been a bustling city street. As luck would have it he bounced over a two foot wide gaping fissure, rolling through an open doorway into a crumbling building. With a painful groan he staggered to his feet and hobbled outside, calling for Sophia.
“SOPHIA! WHERE ARE YOU?”
“ORVILLE, DON’T COME DOWN HERE! ATTACK SPIDER!”
She was alive. Orville ducked down behind a huge chunk of shattered concrete, peeking around the side. He spotted a monstrous spider leg protruding from behind a wall of twisted steel. He hadn’t realized how big attack spiders really were. A dark thought popped into his head. “Maybe a spider got Proto.”
Orville spotted a blue thought cloud floating down the street and drew it to him. “Use thought clouds. It can hear us. They’re attracted to movement and sound. We can’t destroy it, the only thing we can do is hide from it. I wish Proto was here.”
Orville sent a return cloud. “I’m going to distract it by shooting shaped spheres behind it. Try to get down here while I keep it occupied.”
“Good plan, it’s about a hundred feet behind me now.”
Orville raised one paw and a five inch round metal sphere shot out, arcing through the air and landing with an enormous crash fifty feet past the spider. The silver beast sprang out from behind the building and scuttled down to where the iron ball had landed. Even from this distance Orville could see the creature’s glowing red eyes. He fired another heavy sphere, this one landing well past the spider and exploding with a brilliant blast of green light. The spider raced toward it, firing its powerful force beams as it ran.
Orville kept an anxious eye on Sophia, watching as she dashed between the piles of rubble, keeping as low as she could. He fired one more sphere at the spider just as Sophia appeared in a flash of light next to him. She flopped down, trying to catch her breath. “Whew! I decided to blink. It still makes me a little nervous, but under the circumstances…”
“You saved our lives. If we hadn’t had our defense spheres up the force beam would have killed us both.”
Sophia grinned. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing to be a nervous ninny. You were right, there was something I wasn’t telling you. The Anarkkians left their autonomous creatures behind when the war ended. And sometimes there are mutated life forms roaming around.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that on this planet. They didn’t leave any life forms to mutate. Let’s go.”
The two best friends dashed toward the building that still had a rooftop. Orville glanced behind them every few seconds to make certain the spider wasn’t following them.
“Almost there.” Sophia and Orville raced around the last towering pile of rubble. As it turned out, the only obstacle standing between them and the undamaged building was the thirty foot tall gleaming Anarkkian attack spider directly in front of them, its glowing red eyes pulsating rapidly.
Sophia Mouse was a lot of things, but one thing she was not was a nervous ninny. She had faced perilous circumstances on dozens of missions and never once lost her composure. That being said, the sudden shock of seeing the silver spider in front of her was too much, even for her. For the first time in Sophia’s life she could not make herself move. Orville stood frozen next to her, his mouth hanging open, unable to shout a warning, unable to blink out of the way. The gigantic spider took one step toward them, its red eyes flaring brightly as it prepared to blast them into oblivion with its intensely powerful force beams. At this distance, even Sophia’s most powerful sphere of defense would prove less than adequate.
The bloodcurdling scream Sophia heard did not come from Orville, and the bloodcurdling scream Orville heard did not come from Sophia. The source of the scream was a shadowy figure who had leaped off a huge pile of rubble onto the spider’s back. The eight legged silver monstrosity jerked sideways, trying to dislodge its phantom assailant, but it was too late for the spider. The nimble attacker raised one massive fist and smashed it down on a triangular yellow protrusion directly behind the spider’s head. There was a shrill whining noise as the massive beast shuddered and sank to the ground, its eyes fading rapidly from brilliant red to dull black. Their mysterious savior slid down from the immobile spider and revealed himself.
“It’s Proto the Brave to the rescue once again!”
Chapter 17
Wild Flowers
“How did you do it? I thought you were terrified of those attack spiders.”
“You’re quite correct, I was terrified of them, but now I am not. I read that most creatures fear things they don’t understand, so over the last few months I’ve been in my room doing a great deal of research on Anarkkian attack spiders, uncovering their weaknesses and programming parameters. The yellow protrusion on their back is a sort of reset tab in the event their engineered intelligence becomes corrupted or damaged. It takes almost a full day for the creature to rebuild its intelligence and become functional.”
“You’re saying it’s going to wake up?”
“Precisely, but I have a remedy for that.” Proto stepped around to the side of the great creature and flipped open a curved panel, revealing a row of five switches. He pulled the first four and with a whirring noise a three foot long cylinder slid out from the spider’s torso.
“What is that?”
Proto pointed to a glowing sphere floating inside a transparent cube. “That is a CDETS, sole source of the spider’s power. I’ll remove it and render him harmless.”
Sophia grabbed Proto’s arm. “Wait, is there any way to alter the spider’s engineered intelligence so it won’t harm us? If we could control it we could use it as a vehicle.”
“An excellent thought, Sophia. It should only take me an hour or two, given my current research on their programming. We will be able to ride on its back while controlling it with a small electro-responder device. I will begin immediately. Once I have reprogrammed its neuronics you can shape the necessary parts to fabricate the control device.”
Orville was grinning. “We get to ride on the back of an Anarkkian Attack Spider. Can you make it shoot those force beams?”
Proto nodded. “I don’t see why not. It should be a simple enough procedure.”
Sophia frowned. “I don’t think we need to be shooting giant force beams.”
Orville tried to sound mature and thoughtful. “I’m only suggesting it because it would come in handy if we had to break through piles of rubble or clear big obstacles from our path.
”
Sophia looked dubious. “Or if you just wanted to blow things up because you thought it would be fun.”
“That sounds a little immature, but I guess we could do that if you want to. You know, blow up buildings and stuff.” Orville grinned at Proto.
Sophia rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll set up camp inside this building. We should be safe here. Why don’t you scout around and see what you can find. Keep an eye out for those blue stones. And watch out for spiders.”
“I won’t go far. Don’t worry, I’m a nervous ninny.” Orville circled around to the rear of the building, keeping his eyes open for spiders, blue stones, and old tech. The dreary sky had lightened somewhat, making the temperature almost pleasant.
“That’s interesting.” Orville found what appeared to be the remains of an old vehicle, but it was so badly damaged he couldn’t tell how it was powered or even how it moved. As he strolled along he gazed across the devastated city. “I wonder who used to live here? What they looked like. The doorways seem pretty big, so I don’t think they were mice. I wonder if–” Orville gave a sudden start, grabbing his coat pocket. The blue marble was tugging, trying to roll.
“There must be a blue stone around here!” Orville withdrew the four inch blue marble from his pocket and set it on the ground. It rolled forward, veering to the left. Orville strolled along behind the meandering marble. Twenty minutes later it was still rolling. “I should probably head back, this is a lot farther than I’d planned on going.” He glanced around the sprawling mounds of debris looking for any sign of old tech. He let out a low gasp. “Creekers!”
Orville was facing what was left of an old foundation, but it was not the smashed and shattered concrete wall which had captured his attention. It was what sat in the shadows next to the broken wall. In stark contrast to the overwhelming decimation of this bleak world stood a single purple flower with soft emerald green leaves. Orville gazed at it in wonder. “Such beauty in the midst of horrific devastation.” He stepped over to the bright blossom and hunched down beside it. “Hello, lovely little flower. It’s quite a surprise to find you here. I can’t wait to show you to my best friend Sophia. She loves flowers, especially bright purple ones like you.”
It was with a sense of reverence that Orville brushed one of the delicate green leaves with his paw. He never had a chance. With a loud hiss the flower lashed out, stabbing a long razor sharp thorn into his paw. Whatever the flower injected into him burned like nothing he had ever felt before. He staggered to his feet, grasping his paw.
“AGGHHH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!! It... unggh... hurts... wait, it’s not so bad now. I’m feeling a little better. That wasn’t so bad. I’m feeling a lot better. I feel great, better than I’ve ever felt before. What a lovely little flower this is, it’s so beautiful and of all the places to find a happy little purple planty... brave little purply flower, growing in a dark and scary world, you’re my best little leafy green friend and I’ve known you forever. I love this world, it’s so beautiful, like my best friend Sophia. She’s beautiful too, I should tell her that more often. I’m part of this world now and its where I belong, I’m connected to it. Sophia and I should move here. It’s my true home. The brown clouds are so warm and soft and snuggly. I’m part of the clouds, part of all things, connected to the sky, the land, the stars and galaxies, I am unending infinite love flowing across all–” Orville never finished his lovely sentence because he sank to the ground, his face wrapped in a supremely blissful smile. He was the happiest mouse in the entire universe. He closed his eyes with a great joyous sigh.
The purple flower scuttled over next to him. It reached out with one leaf, sharply poking the end of Orville’s nose, checking for a response. When there was none the flower made a shrill chirping noise and dashed across the street into a nearby building.
“Isn’t this beautiful, Sophia? All those rolling hills blanketed with vibrant swaths of colorful wildflowers. And those tall trees, so majestic, so graceful.”
“Yes, it’s a lovely dream. Very nice.”
“I wish there was a lake or something.”
“There’s a lake right over there. As soon as you wished for one it appeared.”
“I like this dream. Look how blue the lake is. I don’t know which is bluer, the sky or the lake.”
“They should be about the same. The blue color of a lake is simply a reflection of the sky above it.”
“Why do you always say things like that?”
“Like what?”
“When I point out how beautiful something is you turn it into a science fair project and explain how it all works. Why can’t you just say it’s beautiful?”
“Orville, the concept of beauty is simply an evolutionary mechanism which allows mice to–”
“Stop! You’re doing it again! Science is interesting, but there’s more to life than just science. We’re here to experience this beautiful world, all the wonderful adventures we go on, all the weird creatures we meet. Remember the Gnorli bird? I liked him, he was funny.”
“I don’t remember him.”
“Huh?”
Sophia burst out laughing. “Get it? I DON’T REMEMBER him? He had such a dreadful memory? Get it? I don’t REMEMBER him?”
“That sounds like one of my jokes. Are you stealing my jokes again?”
“You’re in charge of this dream, not me.”
“Hey, are you really Sophia? You’re acting kind of weird.”
“Oh, I don’t know, would Sophia make a dumb joke like that?”
“You’re right, she wouldn’t. So you’re my own made up dream version of Sophia?”
“Am I? You tell me, Master Smarty Mouse.”
“I guess you are, the real Sophia wouldn’t be rude like that. I’m creating a Sophia in my dream based on everything I know about her, but since it’s my dream she’s also like me.”
“Let’s go look at that lake. A big stone castle just appeared right next to it with a dock and some boats. You could go sailing if you wanted to.”
“I don’t really like boats. Especially when they sink in a storm.”
“You’re thinking about your papa. He didn’t die in a storm, you know that. Master Marloh is trying to find him.”
“If he’s alive, why hasn’t he come home? He would come home if he could, I know he would. He wouldn’t stay away from me and Mum, he would come home.”
“Your dream castle is amazing!”
“Whoa, it’s way bigger than I thought it would be. It’s huge. I’m going to look inside. Maybe it has a spooky dungeon.”
“With really creepy, scary stuff in it that will make you faint.”
“Now I know you’re not the real Sophia. She’s way nicer to me than you are.”
Orville swung open the massive wooden castle doors and stepped inside. “Those big stairs probably lead down to the dungeon.”
Sophia darted down the stairs. “I hope it has really scary monsters with big gnashing fangs.”
“Now you’re sounding like Proto.” Orville dashed after Sophia, taking the stairs two at a time. When he reached the bottom of the twisting stone staircase Sophia was nowhere to be seen. “Sophia? Where did you go?”
“Orville! Where are you? It’s dark down here!”
“Why is it so dark? This is scary!”
“Good! I’m trying to wake you up!”
“I don’t like this dream anymore. Ow! What is that? Something is biting my leg!”
“You need to wake up, Orville! You really need to wake up!”
“I still want to find the– OW!! Something bit me again!” Orville tried to swat whatever it was that was biting his leg. “Stop! Stop biting me!” He felt a set of little teeth sinking into his leg, then two more, then four more, then three on his arms. “AGGGHH!! They’re biting me all over!”
“WAKE UP, ORVILLE! YOU NEED TO WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!”
Orville opened his dream eyes as wide as he could and slapped his cheeks rapidly with both paws.
W
hen he woke up the first thing Orville noticed was the horde of purple flowers dragging him across the street toward an open doorway. For a moment he thought he was still dreaming. At least a hundred of the flowers had hooked their long curved thorns into his clothes and were pulling him over the rough concrete surface. A dozen flowers were on his legs, trying to bite him. It all came back to him in a flash. He remembered the purple flower that had injected him with its venom.
“AGGHH! Let go of me!” Orville tried to shake the flowers off but he was still groggy from the venom. He managed to knock a dozen of them off with his paw before one of the flowers leaped onto his chest, stabbing him in the shoulder with its long curved thorn, injecting him with a thick green fluid. A minute later Orville was asleep, once again the happiest mouse in the universe.
The next time Orville woke up he remained absolutely motionless, just as Sophia had told him to do in his dream. He waited a full minute, then cracked his eyelids open just enough to see where he was. He was in a large dimly lit room lying on the stone floor. There was a concrete wall with a large jagged hole in it leading into the next room. Shadows were flitting across the walls, shadows from purple flowers darting about making their high pitched chirping noises.
“This is bad. This is really bad. Wait, what am I thinking?” Orville blinked up the most powerful sphere of defense he could muster and staggered to his feet. “Try to jab me now! In my world flowers don’t go running around stabbing mice with poison thorns!”
It was total chaos, a thousand madly chirping purple flowers swarming the room within seconds. Scores of them leaped at Orville, only to collide with his powerful sphere of defense and tumble back to the floor. Within half a minute the bottom third of his sphere of defense was smeared with slimy dark green venom from the hundreds of flowers who had tried to inject him. The flowers backed away, but he was still encircled by them, the sound of their hideous chirping almost deafening.
Orville squinted, peering around the darkened room. “I need to find a way out of here. Sophia will be worried sick.”