by Tom Hoffman
“I blinked you away from the creature. I’ve never done it to anyone except Master Marloh. I was so scared I wouldn’t be able to convert you back to your physical self. I was afraid I’d do it all wrong and you’d be... not the same.”
“Can you blink Proto away from that thing?”
“I think so. He’s a machine so it’s not so tricky.” The blue light shot out from her paw and Proto disappeared, reappearing almost instantly on the ground in front of Sophia. Proto staggered to his feet, his feathers covered in the thick goopy acid.
Sophia shaped a shower of warm water, quickly rinsing him off.
“Oh my, what a dreadful experience, but also rather thrilling! Thank goodness my synthetic feathers were resistant to that creature’s digestive acids.”
Sophia gave a shout. “It’s moving!” The huge ball was rolling away from them down the forest trail.
“Look! It’s picking up everything on the path as it rolls. That’s why the paths are so clean. Proto, what happened? How did it catch you?”
“It was all my own doing. I flew down to investigate the peculiar darkness, saw the big green ball and decided to land on it and have a look around. Of course I became stuck immediately, and when it started rolling again I was pressed flat against it.”
“Do you know what it is, Proto?”
“I’m not completely certain, but if I were to guess I would say it’s more than likely a creation of the Anarkkians. It has all the hallmarks of one of their dreadful bio-form creatures. I have no idea how it’s able to absorb the light around it, creating that most peculiar darkness.”
A voice popped into Orville’s head. “Follow the green orb. You must follow it.”
“Sophia, we’re supposed to follow that green ball creature.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. It came straight from my inner voice.”
“Let’s go, then.
“Proto, why don’t you hop into my backpack? There might be more of those creatures rolling around the forest.”
Proto jumped up onto Orville’s shoulder and scrambled into the backpack, pulling the flap shut behind him. “Good idea. When I think about it, there might other Anarkkian creations out there, too. Creatures far, far worse than the monstrous sticky green ball that devours tasty little mice.”
Orville looked at Sophia, opening his eyes as wide as he could. “Uhhh... thanks, I feel much better now.” Sophia grinned and they headed down the forest path after the very peculiar green ball creature.
Chapter 20
Tasty Little Cakes
“You’re sure that’s it, Proto?”
“Quite so, then I bake them for twenty-eight minutes, let them cool and slather on the frosting.”
“Here we go, I’m going to try it.”
Orville was looking quite doubtful. “I don’t see how you can do it. They won’t be the same.”
“You wait and see. This isn’t the first time I’ve shaped tasty snacks you know.” Sophia’s face became a mask of concentration as she held both paws out. An orange light flowed out of them and onto the forest floor. There was a bright yellow flash and a large metal tray appeared, filled with tasty little cakes identical to the ones made by Proto. “All right, Orville Wellington Mouse, you’re the snack expert. Go ahead and try one.”
Orville looked at the cakes, then at Sophia, then back at the tasty little cakes. “They look about the same as Proto’s.” He plucked one from the tray and waved it back and forth under his nose. “Hmmm. It smells good.” He took a tiny bite. “Mmm.” He took a large bite. “Mmmmmm! You did it. These are excellent!” He whispered loudly to Proto, “Not quite as tasty as yours, but still delicious.”
Orville shaped a carton for the tasty little cakes and placed them carefully in his backpack. “Don’t crush these, Proto.”
“Most certainly not. In fact, I have decided to fly ahead and scout the area for that hideous green ball creature. This time I will most definitely not land on it, however.” Proto flashed off through the trees, his wings a blur.
“Proto’s getting a lot braver, isn’t he?”
“He is. It’s nice to see him having fun. I think it’s helped that you’ve been so kind to him and never laughed at him for being afraid of things.”
“Oh, I guess I know what it feels like to be afraid. You know... like with those centipedes. I’ve always been afraid of bugs like that, even the little ones. That’s one reason why I was surprised that Master Marloh wanted me to join the Metaphysical Adventurers.”
“It’s good to be afraid. You wouldn’t last very long in the Metaphysical Adventurers if you didn’t have a healthy fear of strange looking creatures. You’d wind up being a tasty snack on your first mission.”
Orville gave a snort. “Well, I’m certainly not lacking in the fear department.”
Moments later Proto came streaking back through the trees and swooped down in front of Sophia. “I found the lair of that dastardly green menace!”
“That’s wonderful, Proto! Let’s go, Orville.”
Sophia and Orville followed Proto through the deep forest for over a mile. Finally Proto stopped, pointing ahead with one wing. “There, in that cave. That’s where he went.”
Orville gave a loud groan. “Unnhh. Caves! Why do they always live in dark caves?”
Proto gave a great squawk. “That’s it! I think I know why your inner voice sent us here!”
“What do you mean?”
“When you mentioned dark caves I remembered something I read back at the Cube. In the book I am thinking of, a very distinguished Elder wrote, ‘The darkest cave holds the brightest light.’ That’s our answer right there. This is a very dark cave indeed, so it should contain the brightest light, which I believe refers to an object or an idea which we desperately need.”
Orville looked dubious, glancing over to Sophia. “Well, I guess you could be right, Proto. I just meant it seems like creepy creatures always live in dark caves, and I don’t really like them. I’m not scared of caves, I just don’t like them or going into them. Or thinking about them.”
Sophia smiled to herself and flicked her wrist. A brilliant orb of glowing light shot out. “It won’t be a dark cave for long.” The adventurers followed the orb into the cave’s interior.
“Creekers, this is not at all what I was expecting.” Orville looked around him in surprise. “It’s not even a cave. It’s a metallic structure of some kind, and it’s big. This room must be fifty feet long and twenty feet tall. It looks like a section of long curving corridor. Maybe we’re in an old building.”
Sophia shook her head. “No, it’s something else entirely.” Her eyes swept the walls, which were composed of a gleaming pale blue metallic substance. She rapped the smooth surface with her paw. “It’s not metal, it’s an artificial substance called Morsennium. I learned about it in science class on Quintari. The Anarkkians built their ships with it, even their interstellar ships. It’s the strongest substance known to mice and is completely unaffected by the elements. We’re inside an Anarkkian ship, Orville. It’s been here since the war ended fifteen hundred years ago and it will sit here just like this for another hundred thousand years at least.”
“Creekers, this is amazing. Look at all those panels covered with dials and levers running along the walls. Some have display panels like the ones in the Cube. They could be for communication or something, or maybe for seeing what was outside the ship. Look, there’s a door over there.”
Orville stepped over to a tall recessed section of wall with two glowing discs next it, one yellow and one violet. “What you think? Should I touch it? The green ball creature could be on the other side.”
“Pop up a sphere of defense, tap the violet disc, and back away from the door.”
“Okay. Here goes.” Orville tapped the violet disc and stepped back. The tall rectangular panel slid open, revealing a large circular room. A dozen soft lights inside the room blinked on. “The lights still work. How is that possible a
fter so long?”
“These ships didn’t run on electrical power the way glowbirds do.”
Proto scrambled out of Orville’s pack and jumped onto a counter covered with small lights, colored tabs, switches and silver control sticks. “Sophia’s quite correct. The Anarkkian ships were powered by CDETS. All Rabbitons are powered by a single CDETS, but ships like this had huge banks of them. CDETS is short for Cross Dimensional Energy Transfer Sphere. Very simply, what they do is siphon energy from the tenth dimension, a dimension of pure energy. It’s quite possible there might be living creatures there, but so far no one has been able to detect any.”
“That’s incredible. I think this must be the central control room, Sophia. It looks as though the ship has a round room in the center that’s surrounded by a wide circular corridor partitioned into separate rooms.”
Sophia looked puzzled. “Where did the green ball creature go? Proto saw it enter the ship, so where is it?”
“I don’t know. How could it open the doors?”
“Maybe it can change it’s shape. You know, sort of ooze under the doors?”
“Eeww. I don’t like the sound of that. Let’s go back to the first room. We can make our way around the outer rooms till we get back to the first one.”
Orville stepped out of the central control room back into the curved corridor. “Over there, there’s the door leading to the next partition.”
Orville hurried over to the door on the far end of the curved room and tapped the violet disc. The door slid open but the overhead lights did not blink on.
Orville tried to contain his fear. “It’s really dark in there. Really, really, really dark.” He sent out a glowing orb and a moment later gave a terrified shriek, slamming his paw against the yellow disc. The door hissed shut.
“What is it? What did you see?”
“Unnh... dizzy... so hot...”
Sophia jumped over and grabbed Orville in case he fainted.
“Unnh... thanks. I’m okay now, I think. At least this time I didn’t actually faint. I found Proto’s dastardly green menace. I also found about five hundred other dastardly green menaces in all different sizes. There’s a huge colony of those things in there.”
Sophia grimaced. “This is not good. I have a feeling Proto was right about the darkest cave holding the brightest light. I’m afraid your inner voice may have sent us to find something inside that room. That’s how the universe usually works.”
Orville groaned. “Unhhh, this is just like a scary bad dream.”
Sophia leaned back against a wall. “All right, what do we know about these things?”
Proto squawked out, “They like to eat tasty mice and glowbirds.”
Orville perked up. “That’s a good start, Proto. We know they like to eat. There are hundreds of them in there and they all like to eat mice and glowbirds. Unnhh... maybe that’s not such a good start after all.”
Sophia laughed. “Mice and glowbirds can’t be the only thing they eat. We could be the only two mice on Periculum, Orville. They have to eat other things or they wouldn’t have survived.”
“Maybe they eat those giant centipedes. Proto, could you go grab a few and bring them back here?”
“Ha ha ha ha!”
“Let’s think of something else, then. I know, we could shape something for them to eat, something that might distract them while we sneak past.”
Proto gave a great squawk. “Tasty snacks! There’s not a creature alive who can resist my tasty little cakes. Toss a few little cakes into the room and see what they do.”
“Hmmm.... I don’t know... tasty snacks from another planet?”
Sophia shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to try.”
Orville flipped open his pack and took out a large pawful of tasty little cakes. “Mmmm... they do smell good, don’t they?” He stepped over to the door, blinking up a sphere of defense. “Here we go.” He tapped the violet disc and as the door was opening he tossed the tasty little cakes into the room, quickly slapping the yellow disc. The door hissed shut. Orville put his ear to the door, jumping back an instant later. “What is that??”
Loud thudding and thumping noises were coming from the next room. There was a wild cacophony of crashes, shattering glass, and the sound of heavy objects slamming into the walls and floor.
Sophia cried out, “The tasty little cakes are driving the creatures mad! Proto, you were right!”
The entire ship was rattling and shaking from the frenetic activity in the next room. Finally the noises died down and the ship was still again.
Orville stood next to the door, his paw next to the violet button. “I’m scared to look.”
“Just take a quick peek.”
Orville tapped the button and the door slid open. He sent in an orb of light and jumped back. There were hundreds of the green balls clustered around the doorway. If he didn’t know better he’d swear they were all looking at him, waiting for something. “Uhh... I think... I think maybe they want more tasty cakes.” He reached into his pack and took out the rest of them, tossing them all into the room. The chaos was instantaneous, the room filled with five hundred manic bouncing green balls trying to grab a tasty cake. It was the strangest sight Orville had ever seen in his life. He slapped the yellow button and the door slid shut.
“Okay, Proto, your tasty cakes are a hit with those sticky green fellows in there. We need to make more of them. This might take a while, there’s a big crowd of hungry green creatures in there.”
Sophia shaped tray after tray of the tasty little cakes, and Orville tossed tray after tray of them into the room with the green ball creatures. Each time he threw in the cakes the creatures went wild, bouncing across the floor and walls, rattling the ship. Finally the creatures slowed down. Orville tossed a tray of little cakes into the room and watched. A few of the green ball creatures twitched slightly then sat still. “I think that’s it. I think they’re full!”
“It could be the sugar. That might be why they went wild and why they’re not moving now. They’re acting just like mouselings do. Let’s go in while they’re still sleeping.”
Orville nodded, stepping cautiously through doorway. “Don’t touch them, they’ll stick to you!” A small green ball creature had stuck to Orville’s foot. He shook it wildly and the creature flew across the room, sticking to the far wall.
Step by careful step Sophia and Orville gingerly made their way into the room. They were halfway across when Sophia gasped. “Over there! That’s what we need. That’s why we’re here.” Sophia was pointing to a gleaming brass box sitting on the counter. Unfortunately, the box was surrounded by immense green sticky ball creatures.
Orville shook his head at Sophia. “I don’t think I can get to it. There’s too many of them, and they’re too big. I’d have to squeeze in between those two huge ones. I’d never make it. What’s in the box? How do you know it’s what we need?”
Sophia slapped her paw to her forehead. “What am I thinking??” She shot a blast of blue light across the room and the brass box vanished. A split second later it blinked into her paws. She flipped the lid open and looked inside. “Yes! This is it! I found it!”
“What is it? Wait, the creatures are starting to move. We’d better get out of here.” Sophia nodded and they hurried back through the green creatures and into the other room. Orville grabbed a tray of tasty little cakes and hurled them through the doorway, slapping the yellow disc. He put the rest of the tasty cakes in his backpack. “That should keep them busy for a while. Let’s get out of here.”
Five minutes later the party of adventurers was heading east through the dense forest toward the Senyph Ocean. Sophia had the mysterious brass box clutched tightly in her paws. She grinned happily at Orville.
Chapter 21
The Gnorli Bird
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense. What’s in the brass box that’s so important?”
Sophia gently set the gleaming box in Orville’s paws. “Find out for yourself.”
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Orville hesitated. “Wait, this isn’t a trick is it? One of those boxes full of paper snakes that spring out and scare you?”
“I guess you’ll find out soon enough, Orville Wellington Mouse.”
Orville held the box away from him and gingerly raised the lid. He blinked several times, looking puzzled. “Goggles and a red hat?”
Sophia gave Orville her very best know-it-all smirk, carefully removing the brass goggles and a bright red stretchy cap covered with dozens of small gleaming gold spheres.
“Oh, it’s not just any pair of brass goggles and any old winter cap. It’s far more than that. Papa spent many years searching for these. He discovered a reference to them in an old Anarkkian manuscript when he was quite young. A few years ago he showed me an ancient image of the goggles sitting in a brass box just like this one. I recognized it the instant I saw it. The more Papa studied the old Anarkkian technology, the more he came to believe that goggles such as these really did exist.”
“What do they do?”
“Hold on to your adventuring hat. These are four dimensional goggles. They allow you to look back in time.”
Orville couldn’t stop laughing. “That’s just not possible. When something is over, it’s over. That’s the end of it.”
Sophia glared severely at Orville. “Orville Wellington Mouse, you should know by now I am never wrong. My science teachers on Quintari taught us that time passes at different rates in different environments depending on a number of factors. Time is affected by gravity and also by how fast you are traveling, although those two factors are very closely related. My teachers also said given the right circumstances, it was quite possible for time to flow in reverse. That’s what these goggles do. When you look through them you see time flowing backwards. You can also adjust the speed and direction of the flow.”
“You’re saying I could look through those and see something happening a million years ago?”