CHAPTER 10: Introductions All 'Round


The two mice were huddled in the corner of their cage, their faces full of mad panic and fear. Leaving Arthur by the door, Phillip went over to the guards, who let him through to the two mice. Arthur couldn't make out what Phillip was saying to the rodents, but shortly the two mice looked over in Arthur's direction. A look of irritation came over The Brain's face. The mouse pointed defiantly over to Arthur. "That's not him! I said I wanted Andy, you lunk-head!"
For a tiny animal, The Brain's voice carried easily to every corner of the room, causing Arthur to shiver with a strange sense of exhilaration. Phillip spoke with the mice some more, and after a lot of heated words, Arthur was brought over to them.
"And just who are you suppose to be?" inquired The Brain violently, pointing a finger at Arthur.
Arthur sighed with disbelief. "Oh, geez!"
A mix of anxiety and growing astonishment fought over control of Arthur's face muscles as his mind tried to deal with conflicting sensory data. Odd impulses from his subconscious flashed in his mind like words on a computer display. "Unexpected toon presence," they reported. "Invalid query data. Unclear action." Arthur held his head to try and stop the strange words popping into his thoughts. There was a moment of silence before the words continued, "Base link to origin established. Requesting instructions from mission staff."
"What you suppose is wrong with him, Brain?" Pinky asked, watching Arthur pound a fist uselessly against his head.
"The same thing that happens to me each time I try and understand you, Pinky."
Pinky gave a joyous laugh and began pounding his own head with a fist.
"Stop it, Pinky," The Brain countered, taking Pinky's fist and forcing it to his side. "Your brain is scrambled enough."
Arthur looked deep into the eyes of the two mice. The Brain and Pinky stared back, their faces showing fear, and to a keen eye, a desperate pleading for somewhere--someone to come and help them. Suddenly Arthur felt a massive wave of paralysis grip his entire body, as if something very powerful had taken control of him. On a table several feet away, a small electronic device started beeping and blinking excitedly. One of the scientists noticed and motioned Phillip to the device.
Still standing rigidly in his place, Arthur slowly raised a hand to the two mice. Completely unaware of his actions, his thumb crossed his extended index and middle fingers, leaving the other two bent forward. He slowly rotated his hand a quarter turn and waited. Phillip stood silently and watched Arthur with pure curiosity.
After several moments of confusion, Pinky's eyes lit up. "Oh, Brain, look!" He clasped his paws together, displaying his characteristic, happy-go- lucky self. "He's given us that old rodent toon greetings gesture thingie! Oh, isn't that nice? Maybe he is Andy!"
"Balderdash!" The Brain was slower to convince, eliciting a second, more complex gesture from Arthur's hand. Finally, the frown that The Brain had been wearing for many days turned into what one could almost consider a warm smile. Reluctantly he took his index fingers and made a sweeping gesture with them as he twitched his ears oddly. Arthur's hand dropped and his paralysis was lifted, the phrase "Identity confirmed," echoing in his thoughts. He stood wavering for a moment before scratching his brow, and for an instant Arthur thought he could smell the scent of pine trees and smoke.
He looked about the room, then to Phillip. "Well, that was weird," he mumbled.
Phillip turned from the two mice, who now looked a hundred times more at ease, to Arthur. "Andy Fox, I presume."
"Ah," Arthur stalled, feeling oddly out of place, and still not completely sure what had just happened.
Phillip tried again. "You go by the alias 'Andy Fox', do you not?"
"Ah... yes," Arthur said, his head clearing slightly.
"And this alias... it really isn't an alias, is it?" Phillip asked, somewhat accusingly, but also with a hint of excitement.
"If you believe in toons, perhaps," Arthur said, dodgingly, not sure how much he should say.
Phillip gestured to the cage. "And just what do you call those?" he asked.
Arthur shrugged. "Optical illusion?"
Phillip sighed with annoyance at Arthur's indirect answers. He cocked a thumb at Pinky and The Brain. "These two have told us that they come from another place--another dimension, universe, whatever--a place of cartoon characters. They told us that a toon named Andy Fox has a human counterpart living here. They told us that he would probably be the only one who would know how to get them back home. From what our scientists have said, I for one believe them. Now how about some answers?"
Arthur stared dumbly at Phillip, locked in an inner conflict of paranoia and secrecy. Phillip relaxed his voice in a final attempt at getting through to Arthur. "Look, Mr. Trenton, we only want to help them. We aren't really the NSA. We're a private organization called The Friends of Forbidden Science. We're engineers, scientists, theologists. We spend our time working on theoretical scientific endeavors--things people say can't exist: anti-gravity, time travel, alternate dimension travel, matter transportation--that's how we found the two mice. we have equipment that monitors the ambient trans- dimensional energy in matter. Our meters shot off the scale when those mice appeared."
Phillip's tone became not unlike a scientist excitedly discussing a new find. "Until we saw them with our own eyes we had never believed that something like a toon could exist, but there they were. I, ah, can't say we were entirely disappointed at being proven wrong." Phillip smiled at his late statement, giving Arthur the definite impression that he was indeed among not only enthusiasts of science, but of cartoons as well. "Those two toon mice have more energy in them than our sun. We brought them here for their safety. God knows what would happen if some kid found them--or worse. Can you imagine what would happen if anyone from the government or the military had gotten a hold of them?" Phillip's voice became heavy with disgust. "An indestructible life entity--Lord knows what kind of twisted plans they would use them in."
Arthur was about to comment on Phillip's statement about toons being indestructible, but chose to drop the idea. "How long have they been here?" he asked instead.
"Eight days," Phillip answered. "They insist their coming here was a tremendous mistake. We only want to help them return to their home. Now," The excitement vanished from Phillip's voice, replaced with a dead seriousness. He measured his next words evenly and sternly. Speaking slowly he repeated, "Are you Andy Fox--yes or no?"
Arthur closed his eyes for a moment, and seemed to be deep in thought about something. For all Phillip's attempts at getting answers from him, another item had been the source of Arthur's displayed reluctance, and it was this item--an item of security--that he now chose to brake.
He opened his eyed and nodded to Phillip. He extended a hand. "At your service, so-to-speak."