Balloons, Bolts and a Battle
Part Two: Of Mole Rats and Men
Author's Comments: It may look as if Kim, Ron, Rufus and the Doctor are on their way to jail as spies, but since this story is just getting started we can be sure they'll be all right . . . can't we? Read on and find out.
While Kim and Ron never used or even carried guns, they both knew what to do if they
were faced by someone with a gun: Don't Do Anything Sudden! The Doctor, however, had a
different approach, for he frowned and shook his head in dismay.
"Oh, no, no, no! You're doing it all wrong!" He looked at Kim and gestured at the two
soldiers.
"Just look at them, Kimberly: standing side-by-side so they can't move without getting in
each other's way, and making an easy target of themselves at the same time." He gave a
sigh. "The Brigadier would be shocked at the sight of it," he muttered.
Kim realized that the Doctor was defusing the situation, so she nodded and played
along.
"Yes, I see, Doctor. Do you think they remembered to load their weapons?"
"I can't say, but that one on the left has failed to cock his musket."
The soldier on the left glanced at his weapon, flushed slightly, and carefully pulled back
the hammer until it gave a 'click!' The other man frowned at him in annoyance.
"Maybe they're new recruits," Ron grimly observed. Loaded or not, he did not like the
sight of somebody pointing a gun at Kim.
"Hey, we enlisted with the whole regiment over a year ago!" the soldier who had to cock
his musket protested, lowering his weapon's muzzle a bit as he spoke.
"That's right, an' we've been trainin' and drillin' ever since!" the second man added.
"But who are yuh, anyway, an' why're yuh watching the Professor's balloon?"
"We've just arrived in the area, and this camp was the first place we saw," the Doctor
replied. "Now, could you show us how to get to the person in charge here? We'd like to
introduce ourselves properly," he explained.
"Say, ain't you a girl?" the soldier on the left asked Kim, peering at her quizzically
and again lowering his musket. The second soldier also gave Kim a careful look and then
shook his head.
"Come on, Ben, we'd better take 'em to the sergeant," said the second soldier.
Ben, who had had to cock his musket, nodded in reply.
"You go ahead, mistur, an' don't do nuthin' funny!" the second man added, and he
gestured toward the camp with his musket. "These guns is loaded, an' we know how to use
'em."
"Good! Glad to hear it," the Doctor remarked as he started down the slope with Kim
and Ron beside him. "After all, when people who don't understand firearms carry them you
tend to get lots of accidents," he added to Kim.
The ground sloped down from the woods around the smokehouse to the tents and
wagons of the camp. As Kim, Ron and the Doctor walked down this slope the scattered
raindrops became more frequent, making Kim wish she had worn a coat over the shirt and
trousers she had on. The two soldiers directed them to a large tent that had a sort of roof over
the ground in front of it. Once they were all under the shelter of this 'roof,' the second soldier
called into the tent, "Sergeant of the Guard!"
A stocky, round-faced man with several stripes on his sleeve came out through the
tent flap and gazed at Kim, Ron, the Doctor and the two soldiers.
"What's this about, then, Private?" he asked, in a voice with a slight brogue.
"We found these civilians in the woods up there, watching the balloon, Sergeant."
The sergeant looked carefully at the Doctor, and then Ron, but his right eyebrow rose
in quizzical surprise when he looked at Kim. Then he turned back, opened the tent flap, and
spoke to someone inside.
"Captain, darlin', I think you should see what one of the pickets just brought in."
There was a muffled response, and the sergeant spoke again.
"Sort of strange locals, if you ask me, sir."
There was another response, and the sergeant stepped back from the tent flap. A
moment later a man in a Union Army captain's uniform stepped out. He was nearly as
tall as the Doctor, but with blond hair and a thick, drooping, mustache that gave him a slightly
walrus-like appearance.
"Well, who are you fellows, and why are you - " The officer stopped in mid-sentence
and he took a second, more careful look at Kim. "Miss? Why are you dressed that way?"
"This is better than a dress if you're hiking through the woods," Kim replied shortly.
"Especially in the rain," she added as a spatter of raindrops hit the tent. At the same time
there were shouts from the direction of the balloon's ground-crew, and they all turned to
see that the balloon was descending.
"It appears that Professor Lowe's coming down," the captain remarked. Then he
addressed the two soldiers.
"Very well, men; go back to your post." He acknowledged their salutes and then said,
"Sergeant, take these people into my tent."
The sergeant held the flap open for Kim, Ron and the Doctor, and then followed them
in. There was a portable desk and two folding chairs inside the tent, along with two folding
stools. A canvas partition cut off the back section, and Kim decided this must be both the
captain's living quarters and his office. The captain came in and directed Kim to take one
of the chairs while he used the other. Ron and the Doctor made use of the stools, while the
sergeant stood just inside the front of the tent. Once his guests were seated, the captain
scanned them again and said, "Now, just who are you people?"
"This is my niece, Kimberly, and her good friend Ronald; I'm usually called 'The
Doctor,' because of my scientific expertise."
"By your accent I'd say you're from England," the captain remarked. "Are you all
English?"
"No, Kimberly and Ronald are from Canada. I'm a scientific advisor for a British War
Office unit that has been investigating new developments in technology and their possible
effects on warfare," the Doctor stated. "The Brigadier told me to go to America and look into
the use of balloons for military observation and reconnaissance. My niece and her friend had
been visiting me in London, and the Brigadier arranged passage for all three of us so they
could return home while I gathered facts. We only arrived a short time ago."
"We'd heard that Thaddeus Lowe was operating balloons with the Union Army, and my
'uncle' wanted to meet him," Kim added helpfully. The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but said
nothing. "We've been trying to find him, and that's why we're here," Kim went on.
"Even so you shouldn't be wandering around behind our lines without permission." At
the captain's words, the Doctor dug into one of the many pockets on his coat and pulled out a
large envelope.
"Oh, we have permission! Here's a letter of introduction from the Brigadier." He
handed the envelope to the officer, who opened it, pulled out and unfolded a sheet of paper.
After reading it carefully the captain looked up with a slight frown.
"Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart seems to think highly of you, Doctor. But you really
should have a pass from Union authorities, too."
The Doctor brought out a second envelope and gave it to the captain. "This is from
Mr. Stanton, your Secretary of War." He pulled out a third envelope, adding, "And this is
from President Lincoln."
After reading the second and third letters the Captain regarded them all with obvious
respect.
"Well, Doctor, I might argue over this letter from your brigadier, but this pass from
the Secretary of War and this letter from the President are more than sufficent." He put the
sheets back in their envelopes and handed them back to the Doctor.
How did the Doctor manage to have those papers all ready in his pocket? Kim
wondered.
There was a sudden whistle above the tent, as if an artillery shell had sailed overhead,
followed by a dull, muffled CRUMP sound in the distance.
"Yikes! What was that?" Ron yelped.
"The Rebs on t'other side o' the Chickahominy," the sergeant answered, in a very
offhand manner. "They've got a Whitworth gun over there and they've been taking shots at
the Professor's balloon with it every so often."
"Hey, is it safe to be sitting here with that thing shooting at us?" Ron asked nervously.
"Sure, an' there's no need to worry, lad," said the sergeant. "They elevate that gun to
shoot at the balloon, and when they miss the bolt just keeps goin' for a fair piece." The
sergeant shook his head and grinned. "They haven't hit a thing with that gun yet."
Ron glanced up at the canvas roof of the tent. It might keep the rain off, but artillery
shells were something else!
"Sergeant, when Professor Lowe has landed, tell him that there's someone here he
ought to meet," said the captain.
"Yes, sir! I'll go right away, Captain." The sergeant turned and left the tent as Kim
addressed the officer.
"Pardon me for asking this, Captain, but, what is your name?"
"Oh! I've forgotten my manners, haven't I? I'm James Lawrence, Captain, United
States Volunteers, Miss . . ." As he hesitated, Kim realized the Doctor had never mentioned
the two teens' last names.
"Kimberly Ann Possible," she said. "This is Ronald Stoppable." Just then there was a
faint squeak that sounded somewhat like a yawn, and a small, pink head came out of a pocket
on Ron's trousers.
"And that's Rufus," Kim added hastily. "He's a naked mole rat."
"A mole . . rat, did you say?" Captain Lawrence frowned as he gazed at Rufus, who
had quickly climbed to Ron's right shoulder. "I've never seen a rat like that before."
Rufus gave an indignant squeak and sat up, front paws at his waist (more or less). The
Doctor chuckled, extended a hand and asked, "Ronald, may I hold him?"
Ron put Rufus in the Doctor's hand and the Time Lord placed the mole rat on the table
in front of Captain Lawrence.
"Not a rat, Captain. While Rufus is a rodent, rats and mice are of the suborder of
Myomorpha, while the naked mole rat, or sand puppy, is of the suborder Hystricomorpha. The
species is the Heterocephalus Glaber."
As the Doctor spoke, Rufus looked surprised for a moment, and then sat up straight
with an expression of pride as the Doctor continued his explanation.
"They live underground in large colonies, and because they're rodents that dig burrows
a naturalist called them 'mole rats.' But as you see, Rufus doesn't have a thin, scaly tail like
a rat or mouse. Please turn around, Rufus." The Doctor made a circling motion with one
hand, and Rufus promptly obliged by turning around so the Captain could get a good look at
him
"Thank you." The Doctor nodded, and Rufus politely nodded in return.
"My Dad is allergic to animal hair," Ron explained, "so when I asked my folks if I could
have a pet they said I had to get one that was hairless."
"He seems to be very smart," the captain remarked with a smile.
"Oh, he is!" said Kim. "Rufus is a sharp little guy. And he's sensitive, too," she added
in a stage whisper. "If you insult him or Ron, Rufus gets upset."
Just then a murmur of voices was heard outside the tent, and the sergeant stuck his
head through the flap.
"The Professor is here, sir."
"Show him in, Sergeant," Captain Lawrence replied, and a moment later a man in a dull
rusty-brown colored coat and a wide-brimmed dark hat, with dark hair and a bushy mustache
walked in
Captain Lawrence gestured toward the newcomer. "Miss Possible, Mr. Stoppable,
Doctor, may I present Professor Thaddeus Lowe, Chief Aeronaut of the Union Army Balloon
Corps."
TBC . . .
Author's Disclaimer and Notes:
The Disney Company owns the Kim Possible concept and characters.
The British Broadcasting Corporation owns the Doctor Who concept.
The term TARDIS is also copyright by the BBC.
The plot of this story is my responsibility.
The Whitworth 12-pounder field gun was made in England and a number of them were imported by the Confederacy during the Civil War. It was highly accurate and had a greater range than the standard smooth-bore 12-pounder field gun, but the Whitworth could not be elevated enough to shoot at a balloon that was riding high in the air. The gunners had to see their target in order to aim at it, and if the balloon rose quickly it would be too high to shoot at before the gun could be loaded and pointed. As a result balloons were generally shot at only when they were being slowly pulled down after an ascension.
During the nineteenth century balloon flights became very commonplace, and highly popular at special events and celebrations. American balloonists were generally given the title of 'professor' as a courtesy. .
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