Location: Hab-One, Thorn Valley
Sol: 182
The long winter was finally over. The snow around Thorn Valley had melted at last and the first signs of the returning green lush could be seen everywhere. The temperature was also rising as Nimh-Beta moved closer to the Centauri suns. Over the past few months, the colonists of Thorn Valley had done really well for themselves.
Their indoor crop had fared remarkably well throughout the winter. They now had one hundred healthy corn plants, ready to be moved outside for reseeding. Using the Rovers as tractors, with a pair of makeshift ploughs Josh had built out of scrap metal leftover from the REMO's landing struts and the tools from Elizabeth's farm, the colonists had ploughed a field and planted their first crop. If all went well, by next autumn, they'd have enough corn to feed an entire community. The addition of Tanya to their little colony only added to their happiness. The colony of Thorn Valley was prospering at last!
Despite having had no more adventures for months, their first winter hadn't been idle. Forced to remain mostly indoors because of the weather, Josh had proposed starting an educational programme for the children. That suggestion had met with immediate approval.
Bernard, a gifted storyteller and amateur historian, would spend several hours each day teaching the children, mostly history lessons, while Josh taught them human sciences, including physics, maths and astronomy. In his spare time, he would also teach Elizabeth how to read and write, something she enjoyed immensely. Mr Ages, although reluctant at first, had agreed to give the children lessons in herbs and remedial potions. Justin and Brutus had also pitched in, giving them basic soldiering exercises and combat skills training. But now that winter was finally over, it was time to start thinking about their next objective.
Today was an evening like any other. After a long hard day of ploughing, doing maintenance work on the Hab, and patrolling the Valley for signs of any unexpected visitors, Josh and his fellow colonists were having dinner in the Hab's kitchen. This was a popular time for trading stories, much to the children's pleasure, and the one who never seemed to run out of stories was Bernard Mousekewitz. Today's story was about the First King and the Great Mouse of Minsk.
"The First King of Mice was the founding father of the great Kingdom of Minsk that existed over a thousand years ago," he said, "For years, his Mice subjects lived happily under his rule. That was until the tribes of bandit Rats came along."
"The Rats, who sought to steal the King's great riches, had him kidnapped and tortured him for the whereabouts of his treasure. But the King, who knew what it would mean for his people if the Rats got their hands on his wealth, had ordered his chief General and close friend to have his entire fortune hidden away in a secure location, which would later serve as his tomb. Despite their best efforts, the Rats couldn't exact the location of the tomb and had him executed."
"With the great King dead, his kingdom eventually collapsed, allowing the Rats to seize the lands that once belonged to the Mice for themselves, which later became part of their Empire. The First King's tomb was never found, its location remaining entrusted forever to his loyal General; a secret handed down through his family over many generations. That General's name was Igor Mousekewitz." His audience gasped.
"Our own ancestor was the guardian of a royal tomb?" asked Tanya in amazement. Her entire family were of humble background; to hear that a distant ancestor of theirs held the secret to a tomb housing a king's lost treasure was completely unbelievable! And it got better.
"Among the many treasures buried in the tomb was the King's most prized artefact; the Stone of All Knowledge, or rather another piece of it. It was from that which generations worth of knowledge and wisdom, recording on parchment by his scholars, came from. That, above all, had to be protected at all costs until the day when it would time for the Mice to build a new free world of their own."
"Codswallop," scoffed Brutus, who, always a proud Rat, generally didn't enjoy listening to stories that cast Rats in a bad light, regarding them as ridiculous conspiracy theories meant to discredit his noble kind. "Everyone knows the story of the First Mouse King; it's just a fairy tale for children." The children however were most intrigued.
"Do you really know where that tomb is, Papa?" asked Fievel eagerly.
"And the treasure?" asked Martin, who usually found it boring listening to stories, unless it involved his two favourite subjects: dangerous adventures or quests for riches. "Is there really a king's lost treasure out there?"
Bernard was silent for a few minutes; he'd been putting off this moment for months and now the time had come to make up his mind. Once he'd revealed the secret, there would be no turning back. Finally, he turned to look at Josh.
"Captain Anderson, when we first met, I had serious doubts about revealing my family's secret to you. Despite you saving my life and that of my wife, I was hesitant, afraid it might ultimately end up in the hands of the Rats, who'd then exploit it for their own gain." He looked at Justin, who lowered his head sadly; unlike most of his subordinates, he firmly disapproved of the unfair treatment of Mice at the hands of Rats, "But after you saved my son from slavery and then my daughter from certain death, you've earned that right."
Reaching into his pocket, Bernard took out a familiar bundle of ancient-looking parchments. It was the mysterious documents Josh had found in the ruins of the Mousekewitz family home back at Minsk - the ones the late Captain Jake had almost killed Fievel over. Could these old parchments be the key to finding the last piece of the Stone?
Bernard spread out the documents on the table. Josh saw they were carbon drawings, mostly landscapes, probably desert regions judging by the barren terrain. Studying them more closely, he realised they were in fact a crude diary of sorts, whose owner had recorded the progress of his journey through the desert in drawing form. They were seeing the tale of the long journey of the funeral cortege for the First King through the desert, to his hidden tomb. Each of the drawings bore the telltale signature of Igor Mousekewitz - Bernard's direct ancestor and keeper of the secret.
"The barren regions where the reminder of Igor's army escorting the funeral cortege with the King's coffin, his treasure and the Stone fled to were completely unknown lands," said Bernard, continuing with his story, "Out there, in a place completely uninhabited by either Rat or Mouse, the grand tomb of the First King was built, deep in a maze of valleys, leading out to the Great Dry Sea."
"What is a sea, Mr Mousekewitz?" asked Teresa curiously, never having heard that term before. It was hardly surprising; very few sizable bodies of water existed on Nimh-Beta, which meant the site of a sea would be unfamiliar to most of the planet's inhabitants.
"The Great Dry Sea?" asked Josh, raising an eyebrow, "What kind of a sea is dry?" Suddenly, a thought occurred to him; the surface of Nimh-Beta was practically devoid of any seas, but it was littered with plenty of dried-up river canals and ocean beds, from the planet's distant past. Could one of those be the Dry Sea Igor Mousekewitz had been referring to?
Gesturing to the others to follow him, Josh hurried to the Hab's control room. Powering up the big satellite imaging screen, he brought up a geophysical world map of Nimh-Beta. In the centre, just north of the equator, was their own Thorn Valley; to the south was the Lee of the Stone, Elizabeth's family's former home; to the east was Rosebush City, and further still, the Mousekewitz's old home Minsk. The entire area west of Thorn Valley was an empty, barren wasteland that covered thousands of square miles. No green pastures, no lakes, nothing to sustain life. According to Bernard, that was where his ancestor had led the funeral procession for his fallen King.
Studying the terrain, Josh's eyes fell on one particular region, roughly the size of North America. Situated way below the planet's datum, or zero elevation point, it was a gigantic, ancient seabed, carved out by catastrophic floods that had swept through that region millions of years ago. On the edge of the basin were the familiar vain-like landforms of old river deltas that one fed the now long-gone sea. Could it be one of those deltas where the tomb containing the last piece of the Stone was? Studying the landscape closer, Josh counted a total of 46 different deltas. Any one of them could be the delta in question. Without any further leads, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Great," grumbled Brutus, looking at the map, like a sighted person trying to read Braille, "We could spend the rest of our lives searching for that tomb out there and never find it!"
"Not necessarily," muttered Josh, scratching his chin, thinking. If he were Igor Mousekewitz, where would he go to hide the treasure? Which route would he take? He continued to study the map. "I wonder..." Typing a command into the computer, he printed out a paper copy of the Dry Sea, complete with grid squares. Placing the map on the table, he grabbed a marker and ruler and began drawing a hypothetical route Igor's army might have used.
An army on the run, carrying a king's coffin and a royal treasure to boot, he figured, wouldn't burden themselves by taking any routes through steep mountains. The region between Minsk and the Dry Sea was riddled with endless mountain ranges. Studying the terrain, he spotted a network of narrow valleys between the mountains. Tracing a line through them, he worked out a path that led out into the Dry Sea. Then came the tricky part.
The basin of the Dry Sea was completely flat, with no visible landmarks. Igor's army could have travelled for hundreds of miles in any direction. The tomb could be anywhere. Josh turned to Bernard.
"What else does the tale of the First King say about Igor's journey to the tomb?" Bernard shook his head.
"Only that he and his army marched for forty days and forty nights, following the largest of the sister suns over the horizon... Or, wait, was it the smallest?" He stroked his beard, trying to remember, "No, it was the largest. Yes, I'm sure of it!"
Consulting the computer again, Josh traced the arc which marked the direction of the largest of the Centauri suns through the sky in relation to the planet. One good thing about Nimh-Beta was it had no tilting axis, like Earth did, which meant the suns followed the same directional arc in the sky all year round. With some careful calculating, he was able to plot the general direction of Igor's army across the desert. At an estimated guess that an army on foot could travel an average of 18-20 miles a day, he was also able to calculate roughly the distance they travelled. Placing a ruler on the map, he drew a line, which ended right on the edge of a large river delta jutting out from the south end of the basin.
"This is it!" he said, "That's where the tomb is!"
"Brilliant work, young Joshua!" Mr Ages complemented him, "At last, we might actually have a chance of making the Stone whole again! Nicodemus would have been proud." Josh's face fell at the mention of his late mentor; even if the Stone were made whole again, there was still Jenner who was in charge and would never stop hunting them down. It would be a long time before Nicodemus' dream of a free republic could be realised, if it ever was.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen," he said, "I believe it's time to start planning our next expedition..."
For the next few days, plans were made for the new expedition to the Dry Sea. Using satellite imagery, Josh was able to chart a course that would take them through the mountains, following General Igor's original route, out into the Dry Sea, all the way to the delta where the First King's tomb was supposed to be, approximately 800 miles from Thorn Valley. Once they got there, they would search the entire delta in a zigzag pattern, using ground radar and metal detectors, until they found the tomb. That meant a search area of just over 1200 square miles.
This was unquestionably going to be a much longer and difficult mission than anything they'd tackled so far. The expedition to Thorn Valley, the rescue mission on the Dark Mountains, the envoy to Minsk, the food collection errand to the Lee of the Stone, everything, were little more than dry runs compared to this. This journey would take them way away from the safety of Thorn Valley and the Hab, to regions no one had ever seen before, and where a thousand things could go wrong.
Obviously, the only way to travel that far out into the desert was to use a Rover. The journey out would take at least ten days; to cover every inch of the search area would take another thirty. That meant a 50-day long mission, at least. Josh had considered flying out to the search area alone and doing a reconnaissance, but unfortunately his pod was still being serviced in the hanger and wouldn't be ready for at least another two weeks. The longer they waited, the more chances there was of Jenner beating them to the prize.
Obviously, there were no mission parameters for such a long excursion, so far away from the Hab, presenting its own set of challenges. Neither of the Rovers was rated for such long journeys. If they had a breakdown, or any other critical system failure that Josh couldn't fix, they wouldn't be able to make it back on foot before their supplies run out. Communication with home base, likewise, would only be possible for the first 150 miles tops, after which they'd be completely on their own. That was why it was decided that only six of them would be going on this run: Josh, Justin, Brutus, Bernard, Mr Ages and Elizabeth. Emily would remain in Thorn Valley with the children. Needless to say, not everyone was happy with that decision.
"Why can't I come to?" protested Martin incredulously, who'd been looking forward to another adventure, "I'm big enough! I can fight anyone...!" Teresa rolled her eyes; her brother never seemed to learn, even after nearly getting himself killed the last time he tagged along on one of Josh's escapades.
"Sorry, Tiger, not this time," he said, ruffling Martin's hair, "Not only can't the Rover hold another passenger, but the supplies wouldn't last long enough to complete the expedition. Maybe next time." Unfortunately, someone else seemed to share his sentiments.
"Please, Papa, can we come to?" begged Fievel. He and his sister were feeling rather hurt at being made to stay behind, "I want to see this tomb!"
"He's right, we're family," put in Tanya, who wanted more to be with Josh that to see the tomb, but no less eager to be included in this expedition, "I'm old enough to take care of myself now..."
"Tanya, you heard your Papa," said Emily firmly. Of all the adults, she was in firm agreement that none of the children should go on this dangerous expedition, which, as far as she was concerned, was nothing but a fool's folly, what with the Rats still hunting them down. Bernard, sympathising for his children, knelt down and pulled them into a hug.
"Believe me, I'd like nothing more than to have you all with me to share the moment when we find the tomb," he said, "But I can't risk putting you in danger. Your Mama's right; this is going to be a very dangerous journey and we're taking a great risk going out there. But that tomb could be the future of our people. We have to find it before the Rats do."
Josh sat at the central computer in the Hab's control room, checking out the weather stations, one of his last packs of freeze-dried Pepsi by his side. Although it was late into the night, as mission leader, he still had a lot of work to do before he could turn in. All the preparations were finally complete and the expedition was ready to set off first thing in the morning.
The forecast for the next ten days looked promising; the winds in the entire western hemisphere were mild to none. Temperatures still chilly at night, but stable. No risk of any major sandstorm kicking up in these conditions. It should be smooth sailing all the way to the Dry Sea. Turning to another screen, he ran a diagnostics on the Rovers' systems, currently sitting plugged into the Hab's vehicle station outside. Everything was tip-top.
As he was ticking off the last few items on his checklist, he suddenly became aware that he was being watched. Turning, expecting to Tanya, who often made a habit of cornering him whenever he was alone, to keep him company, he saw Cynthia standing shyly in the doorway, clutching her favourite ragdoll. Josh gestured at her to come closer. He picked her up onto his lap for a cuddle.
Unlike when they'd first met, when Cynthia had been rather shy around Josh, now she felt perfectly content in his arms. She giggled as Josh lifted her up over the top of the console, so she could see all the illuminated displays on the screens.
"What are you doing up so late, Cynnie?" he asked, using Cynthia's nickname Why aren't you in bed?"
"Bad dream," muttered Cynthia, suddenly feeling very embarrassed, "I dreamt that you and Mama were captured by that nasty Rat Jenner, and that he was going to kill you..." She stifled a sob at the memory. Feeling for her, Josh held her close to comfort her.
"Don't you worry, pumpkin," he said, stroking her soft fur, "Nothing's going to happen to anybody. That pathetic loser isn't going to touch your mother, if he knows what's good for him that is. You remember what happened to the last Rat who made that mistake?" How could Cynthia forget the nightmare she and her siblings had endured at the hands of Castor and his thugs not so long ago? The memory of those hellish three days on the mountain still gave her nightmares. She looked up at Josh.
"Martin says I'm just being a scaredy cat," she said, feeling ashamed at her own timidness. While Teresa and Timothy shared her concerns of their mother going on this expedition, although they kept it to themselves, Martin wasn't the least concerned, even hoping they would run into trouble, or as he put it, for trouble to find even bigger trouble, with Josh on the job.
Josh frowned; although he liked Martin, despite his misgivings, that kid should know better than to tease his little sister like that, especially for something so serious. He certainly had no intention of going looking for trouble, especially if it meant putting Elizabeth in danger; if anything he hoped to avoid any further run-ins with the Rats if possible. He made a mental note to have a word with Elizabeth about this.
"Well, then your brother is being a real dunderhead, isn't he?" he said, causing Cynthia to giggle in amusement. She looked up at Josh adoringly.
"Mama says you're soon going to be our new Papa," she said, looking most ecstatic. Josh felt his heart melt; but then he felt a pang of guilt build up inside him, thinking of Jonathan. So far, he hadn't told Elizabeth that her husband had in fact been alive in captivity all those years and that he'd unintentionally let him die, yet here he was now, playing surrogate father to their daughter. The closer he bonded with the Brisby family, the more the guilt was eating him alive and there was no way out, at least not without breaking Elizabeth's heart. Little, innocent Cynthia however, didn't know that.
"Does this mean you'll play with me, give me treats and tell me bedtime stories?" she asked eagerly. Josh chuckled.
"You bet I will, sweetie," he said, playfully pinning her onto his lap and tickling her tummy, making her squeal, "As long as my dear little step-daughter knows when it's time to go to bed."
Carrying the smiling Cynthia in his arms, he took her back to the bunks and tucked her into bed, before retreating to bed himself. Unfortunately, he missed the blimp of a tracking signal that suddenly appeared on the radar screen.
Ping...ping...ping...
The source of the signal, whatever it was, moved along through the atmosphere in a re-entry trajectory line, directly over the Dry Sea, before finally disappearing, as it flew below radar interception altitude and was gone...
The next morning, on Sol 187, the expedition to the Dry Sea was ready to depart. Supplies and equipment were loaded onboard the two Rovers and their adjacent trailers: enough freeze-dried rations which Josh had been saving and corn to last them 60 days, along with a portable rehydrator. For water, Josh had removed one of the Hab's emergency reservoirs, which could hold enough drinking water for six people for 5 days. In order to make it last the entire duration of the mission, he carried the Hab's miraculous water recycler and oxygenator, both of which so far had been useless to him.
Out there in the desert, water was extremely hard to come by. As long as they had the recycler, any water they consumed could be recycled, purified and reused, just like onboard spacecraft. However, it wasn't an indefinite solution, because, in an outdoor environment, at least some of the water would gradually be lost through evaporation or their own exhaling. But, at least it would stretch their supply to 30 days. But why bring along the oxygenator? That machine was only meant to process air and the atmosphere of Nimh-Beta was perfectly breathable, as Josh had discovered. However, it did contain another precious resource they could use: humidity.
The magic of the oxygenator was that it collected the surrounding air, froze it at different temperatures to separate and store the different gasses, before breaking them down into the atomic compounds, to separate and return the nitrogen and oxygen. Any other compounds, including water vapour, like in a household AC, were diverted to a waste tank to be discarded or recycled. And that was what they were after.
By running the oxygenator in the early hours of morning, when the permafrost was at its peak, they could collect a gallon or two of evaporating permafrost from the air, which in turn could be diverted to the water recycler for purification. That should compensate for any water they lost, making their supply virtually inexhaustible. Several solar panels and a high-utility battery borrowed from the Hab's solar farm would supply the extra power they needed to run the equipment on site.
Josh also didn't forget to pack plenty of tools, first aid, and a ground imaging radar that would allow them to scan the ground beneath the desert floor for the tomb. Finally, he included a portable sat com unit, which would allow them to communicate with home base outside the Hab's radio range. All of this equipment was loaded on the Rovers' trailers and covered with spent parachutes from the REMO.
As the mission would require the use of both Rovers, for the last few days, Josh had been teaching Justin how to drive Rover 2, while he would be driving Rover 1. After a few mishaps, involving minor collisions, skidding and stalling, Justin had finally mastered the driving skills needed to follow right behind Josh. Brutus had also volunteered to learn to drive the Rover, but Josh had cut his driving lessons short after he'd nearly totalled the Rover by trying to drive over a rock at full speed.
At last, the expeditionaries were ready to depart. The children and Emily bid their beloved ones goodbye, wishing them luck on their journey. Emily Mousekewitz tearfully hugged her husband.
"You make sure you come back to us, Papa, you hear me?" she half-shrieked, shaking Bernard by the shoulders, "Don't you dare abandon your children now!"
"I'll be all right, Mama, don't worry," said Bernard as reassuringly as he could. He knew his wife was furious about him going out there, but Bernard was determined to fulfil this last duty to his ancestors. If anything, it would ensure a far better future for their children, which he and his companions hoped to create.
Fievel and Tanya kissed their father goodbye. "Good luck, Papa," Tanya said, hugging him tight, "Please take care!" Bernard picked up both his children for a hug.
"I promise you I'll be back soon, my dears," he said, holding them tight, "You be good and do everything your Mama tells you."
"We will," promised Fievel, "Come back with our treasure, Papa!"
"Fievel!" Tanya furiously chastised her little brother, who should be more concerned about their father's safe return, rather than treasure. Fievel, realising his blunder, muttered an apology.
The Brisby children all kissed their mother goodbye. Elizabeth knelt down, hugging and kissing them.
"You all be good and don't you give Emily a hard time. You hear me, Martin?" she asked her youngest son who nodded, "Yes, Mum." Although somewhat stern, Emily Mousekewitz was a much better babysitter than Auntie Shrew ever was and knew how to handle a group of children without flying into a rage.
"Please take care, Mother," Teresa begged, worried sick about her mother. Elizabeth hugged her eldest daughter.
"Don't you worry, sweetheart," she said, "Josh will look after me." Josh, who was hugging the tearful Tanya goodbye, gave the children a reassuring wink. That seemed to set their minds at ease; after all, whom could they entrust with their mother's safety more than their human hero, who in the past few months had become almost like a father to them?
"All right, we're moving out!"
The expedition was split up into two groups; Josh, Elizabeth and Bernard took Rover 1, while Justin, Brutus and Ages took Rover 2. All the supplies and equipment were likewise divided equally between them; as a contingency plan, should one of the Rovers suffer a catastrophic failure en route, they would still be able to make it back to Thorn Valley using the other Rover.
The expedition left Thorn Valley, following a path through the Dark Mountains towards the south, navigating by satellite. From there, they hoped to find a valley Josh had seen on the map that led eastward, all the way to the edge of the Dry Sea. If all went well, they should have reached the search area in about a week.
The first couple of days on the road were mostly uneventful. The expedition would drive during the day for about eight hours and then stop and make camp for the night in any sheltered spot they could find. On average, they could travel about 120 miles a day.
At night, half of them would sleep in the Rovers, while the other half slept in special pop-tents carried in the Rovers, originally intended as emergency shelters for the astronauts in the event of a pressure breach. One of them would always stay awake on watch by the fire, in case of trouble.
Luckily, so far, they had encountered no trouble whatsoever. No sightings of Rat patrols, no bad weather and no mechanical problems with the Rovers or their equipment. The only unexpected surprise had been a gruesome discovery they had made on the first night out.
While the others had been making camp in a ravine, Elizabeth had wondered a little way away to get some air. It was there she'd accidentally stumbled upon the decaying corpse of Dragon lying in the bottom of the ravine. The late Nicholas Castor's pet apparently hadn't gotten very far after devouring his master and escaping the Exiles' lair up on the mountain. The gaping cauterised wound in the cat's side indicated the laser he'd swallowed along with Castor had gone off in his stomach, causing a fatal injury.
The giant cat's carcass was lying on its side, its flesh bloated from advancing decomposition. In places, the flesh had decayed away, revealing traces of bone underneath. Several large maggots were worming their way in and out of the carcass. Josh had briefly considered trying to retrieve the RTG from the TEM-1 he'd used to power the laser, both of which were apparently still inside the dead cat's stomach. But the sickening smell, coupled with the thought that the remains of Jonathan were probably still inside the cat as well, he'd quickly led Elizabeth away. They'd continued on their journey the next morning.
By the end of the second day, they reached the edge of the Dry Sea. The mountainous terrain suddenly ended and was replaced by a vast ocean of flat, oxide-coloured sand that stretched out for hundreds of miles in every direction. Within days, they had lost sight of the mountains and now, an empty horizon surrounded them in every direction. Anyone who got lost out there would never find his way out.
On the seventh day on the road, they finally reached the delta of the long-gone river that once flowed into the Dry Sea on schedule. Larger than that of the Amazon back on Earth, the delta was spread across an area of nearly twelve hundred square miles. Then came the hard part of this expedition. With no further useful reference from Bernard's parchments, the only way to find the tomb would be the search this entire grid inch by inch.
Following a zigzag pattern, they began combing the search area, each team to a different sector to cover more ground. If a buried tomb chockfull of treasure was anywhere in this area, it would theoretically show up on the Rovers' onboard metal detectors and ground imaging radars. But, alas, no trace of it was found. All of a sudden, the trail had gone stone cold.
It was a calm Nimh-Beta night. As it was spring, temperatures were high enough for the expeditionaries to spend the evening outside, rather than cramped inside the stuffy, smelly cabin of the Rovers. After five days of fruitless searching, they'd decided to take a day off for some well-deserved rest.
With the oxygenator and water recycler humming away on their trailer, the latter recycling all the waste water they'd created from today's cooking and washing, while the former topped up their supply with water extracted from the evening humidity in the air.
Elizabeth had made them some of her special corn soup, a welcome change to the dull freeze-dried rations and to help them take their minds off things. Using some smokeless chemical fuel blocks he'd brought from the Hab's laboratory, Josh had build a campfire to help improve his companions' morale, which currently wasn't looking too good.
"Five stinking days and still nothing!" Brutus was grumbling, "We've spent nearly two weeks trapped inside those...moving human carriages like prisoners in a dungeon and I've had enough!" No one could really blame him; besides being airsick, Brutus was just as vulnerable to car sickness and wasn't enjoying all these long rides one bit.
"No one said it would be easy, Brute," said Justin with a sympathetic smile. Beside him, Mr Ages was shaking his head. This was one of the most important scientific expeditions of all time and that oaf was acting like an immature child, he thought.
"I'm sure the tomb is here somewhere," said Bernard for the hundredth time, trying to suppress the thought of probably having dragged them all out here for nothing. "We just have to be patient." Brutus shot him an indignant look. His patience about journeying out here, in the middle of nowhere, on a wild goose-chase was quickly wearing thin and if Bernard didn't have something to show for it soon, he'd end up on the receiving end of Brutus' displeasure.
"Well, if you fancy a change of subject, I've taken some rather interesting readings of the ground," said Josh, who had developed the habit of doing scientific research in his free time. He held up a sample jar of soil from the Dry Sea floor.
"This whole area is a geologist's delight," continued Josh, gesturing at a box containing several other jars of rock and soil samples he'd collected at every stop. Testing their compositions, he'd made a fascinating discovery.
"The concentration of salts and minerals here is much higher that what it was when we first reached the Dry Sea," he explained, "Ground radar also shows additional surface layers of different sediments - clear evidence that water once flowed through here."
"Well, thanks for the obvious," scoffed Brutus, "Only problem is, there's no longer any water anywhere in this accursed, forsaken place..."
"Not necessarily," interrupted Josh, "It's been a while since I did a proper geology course, but these sediments are fairly recent in comparison to the other samples I've collected. According to my colleagues' old notes, the Dry Sea dried up about two billion years ago, when Proxima Centauri, a flare star, caused all of Nimh-Beta's oceans to boil away in a major solar flaring event. Most of the surface water escaped into space as steam and got swept away by the solar wind, similar to the planet Mars. Well, these sediments, which travel by water, can't be more than ten thousand years old." Ages was astonished.
"Are you saying, there was water here in recent history?"
"Precisely," said Josh, "Which means this delta we're in might not be completely dried up after all. So there has to be some other source of water left, perhaps subterranean. Maybe that's the key to making the rest of your planet habitable."
The Rats didn't know what to make of Josh's theory. Their science was generations behind compared to humans' and, with the tomb of the First King still to be found, they had little time to pay Josh's gobbledygook much thought.
Before turning in for the night, the expeditionaries performed an evening routine they'd been following ever since they left Thorn Valley. Josh had the sat com unit open on his lap, hailing the Hab. They had gone out of radio range days ago, so the only way to let their beloved ones know of the progress of their mission was by sat com. Aligning the satellite dish he'd installed on the Rover's roof with the orbiting satellite, he established an uplink.
Timothy Brisby's face appeared on screen. Before leaving Thorn Valley, Josh had given the boy a crash course on how to use the Hab's comms station, allowing a two-way communication. His siblings and the Mousekewitzes could also be seen in the background. The children waved excitedly. Tanya blew Josh a kiss.
"Hallo, dears," said Elizabeth, smiling at her children. Having the ability to talk to them at any time from so far away made all the difference in the world, "I trust you've all been behaving well?"
"As good as proper mouse ladies and gentlemen, every one of them," said Emily, also appearing on camera. She gave Martin a knowing look who nodded.
"Have you found the tomb yet, Papa?" asked Fievel eagerly. Bernard shook his head in amusement at his son's impatience, who'd been asking him the same question during every communication.
"Not yet, my son," he said, "Try and be a little more patient."
"Well, try and hurry back, Papa!" snapped Emily reproachfully. Although she respected her husband's decision to go on this mission, she wasn't happy with it one bit.
"We will, my dear. Don't worry," said Bernard.
It was getting late, so, bidding the children good night, Josh turned off the sat com. They had another long day ahead of them tomorrow and needed all the sleep they could get.
That night, Josh crawled into the Rover he was sharing with Elizabeth. Justin and Brutus were using the pop-tents outside, while Bernard was sleeping in the second Rover. Using some spare blankets taken from the Hab's bunks, he tucked her snugly into the back seat. Elizabeth reached up and kissed him.
"Good night, Josh."
Bidding her goodnight, Josh crawled into the flattened driver's seat and pulled a blanket over him. Outside the glass bubble, the open desert stretched to the horizon. Above his head, the nebulous Nimh-Alpha lit up the night sky. Not a sound could be heard...
Ping...ping...ping...
Suddenly, Josh happened to glance at the Rover's radar screen on the console. As a precaution, he'd always leave it on at night, in case of any Rat patrols, but had picked up nothing until now. A signal, faint but positive, had appeared on the edge of the screen, about 180 miles to the west.
Storms and dust devils were common occurrences out here in the desert, which would send back reflective signals. Only this was no reflective signal; adjusting the radar, Josh realised it was a transponder signal, complete with a signature, which could mean only one thing: another spaceship was on the planet. A rescue mission had come for him!
Author's note: Surprised? Sorry I cut it short, but I couldn't resist the suspense. The source of this mysterious signal and the tomb will unravelled in the next chapter. Until next time!