CHAPTER NINE: IAN'S SECRET
A week after Elizabeth's recovery, Ian asked Justin to come to his room. It was late at night, and Ian had his lights very dim. He offered Justin a seat, then took one himself. "I'm glad you could come. I know you've been busy as of late."
Justin waved it off. "For the rat who saved my wife's life, I can always spare a few minutes."
"I have a story to tell you," Ian said.
"A story?" Justin wasn't in much of a mood for a tale, but he wasn't going to turn Ian away either. The aging rat seemed in an especially somber mood, and Justin felt obliged to humor Ian in any way he could. "What kind of story?"
"It's about NIMH." Justin sat up straighter; he had always suspected that Ian was hiding something, and if that something was about NIMH, Justin wanted very much to hear it.
"I've grown fond of you, Justin," Ian went on, "and I consider you a friend. I also think you're very level-headed, and so I am going to tell you something about me that I dare not share with anyone else in the colony. You are the only person here I can trust."
Justin felt somewhat flattered. "But you were saying something about NIMH?"
Ian nodded. "While I was there, a human scientist was experimenting on rats, but they weren't the same kinds of experiments that were performed on you. The man's name was Dr. Hargraves, and he wanted to know if a mind could be moved from one body to another. He built a machine which he hoped would do just that, and began testing it on rats.
"He would take two rats with very different personalities, hook them up to this machine, and actually switch the animals' minds. If Rat A was gentle at the start of the experiment while Rat B was very wild and untamable, things would be the other way around when the testing was finished.
"Naturally, Dr. Hargraves couldn't ask the rats if the experiments had worked, so he had to rely on his observations, and they indicated that minds could be transferred from body to body. But when he showed his findings to other scientists, they laughed at him, and said that he had no proof to back up his incredible claims. So, he tried to do something that would prove his theories to everybody."
"What was that?" Justin asked.
"He tried to switch his mind with that of a rat."
Justin was amazed. "And what happened?"
"It only half-worked," said Ian. "His mind went into the rat's body, but the rat's mind never made it to the human body. With no mind at all in its brain, the human body died, and Dr. Hargraves found himself trapped in a rat's form without any hope of ever again returning to his normal human body." Ian put his head down, hoping Justin would figure out the rest and he wouldn't have to go on, but that wasn't to be.
"So what did he do?" Justin was eager to hear the end of the story.
Ian shrugged. "His plight was much the same as yours. He couldn't live as a rat after having spent nearly fifty years as a human, and he couldn't live among humans in a rat's body. He was aware that some years earlier a number of so-called intelligent rats escaped from NIMH, and he knew where they were last known to be, so he escaped himself and journeyed to that place to try and find them, if any were still alive."
Justin got a glimmer of understanding in his eye, then shook it away. He wasn't sure he wanted to believe what he had just heard, it was so fantastic. "Uh, what did you say this scientist's name was?"
"Hargraves." Ian again lowered his head, and his voice along with it. "Dr. Ian Hargraves."
Uncertain of what to do, Justin stood and moved closer to Ian. "Did Dr. Hargraves succeed in finding the rats from NIMH?"
Ian laughed nervously. "It seems he did, doesn't it?"
"So you are … a human?"
"In mind, if not in body."
"That explains how you're such a good doctor." Justin laid his forepaws on Ian's shoulders and found that he was shaking like a leaf. "Why didn't you tell any of us before?"
Ian looked harshly at Justin. "Are you serious? I've been among these people, and I know how they hate humans for what tortures they were put through. First they were experimented on at NIMH, and then when you escaped, you were hunted down to be exterminated. I would have been lynched!"
"It's not that bad," Justin assured him. "Most of the colony weren't born until after we escaped from NIMH, so they don't know about the experiments, except what they've been told. Besides, in a way we're grateful to humans for making us what we are. But, if you were afraid of what we would do, why are you telling me now?"
"Because I'm leaving."
"What?"
"Yes," Ian said. "I'm going back to NIMH. You see, I'm not ready to die yet, but I certainly will if I stay here. I don't know why I started aging like I am. No doubt it has something to do with the experiment - what exactly, I'm not sure. But I am positive that if I can be saved at all, NIMH will have the answer."
Justin looked Ian over; his gray fur appeared pure white in the dim light. "Are you in any shape to make such a trip?"
"I may look old on the outside, but I feel perfectly fit, I assure you." Ian got up and went to his bed. He was still trembling. "I feel relieved that my secret is finally out, but I'm also uncomfortable in a way I never was before, now that you know the truth about me." Ian sat on the edge of his mattress. "If I make it to NIMH and my life is prolonged, I would like very much to live the rest of my life in this colony, if you'll let me."
"Of course. You are welcome here." Justin knelt before Ian. "I don't know what reaction you were expecting from me, but I'm not angry at what you are, or what you were, and I'm certainly not going to lynch you. If anything, I am deeply honored to have you living among us. We don't hate humans; we just don't understand the things they do sometimes. You have proven yourself to be a friend to the colony, and that will never be forgotten. And as far as I'm concerned, you are one of us, no matter what you may have been once."
"Thank you, Justin."
The leader of the rats got back to his feet. "You do not look well, Ian. I'm afraid you may have waited too long to return to NIMH. We must leave tomorrow."
"We?"
"Of course," Justin said. "You barely made it here alive. You'll have a much better chance of getting back to NIMH if I go with you."
"Now hold on a minute! You can't - "
"You hold on a minute!" Justin's voice was firm, almost harsh. "Not only am I indebted to you for saving Elizabeth's life, but you are my friend, as well as a very special person, probably the only one of your kind in the world. I am coming with you, and that's that!"
"You've got too much to look after here," Ian protested. "If you insist upon having me accompanied back to NIMH, assign one of your guards to me. Make it somebody you can spare."
"I can be spared. And how would I explain to a guard your reason for returning to NIMH?"
Ian shrugged. "I see I won't be able to talk you out of this. I don't like it," Ian suddenly grinned, "but I'll sure be glad to have you along."
"I knew you'd see it my way," Justin grinned back. "Let me go make the arrangements and tell Elizabeth. We'll depart first thing tomorrow morning."
Ian's thanks were interrupted by a guard at the door. "Justin, sir! You must come to the main hall right away!"
"What is it?"
"Another stranger," the guard informed him, "who says he's from NIMH."
Justin and Ian followed the guard into the hall. There they found most of the Council already gathered, along with many others of the colony. In the middle of the floor stood a rat dressed in rags, its back hunched worse than Hugo's and its head hidden by a hood. Justin stepped up onto the Council's platform and addressed the cloaked stranger.
"Welcome to our colony. Are you from NIMH?"
"I most certainly am." At the sound of the newcomer's voice, a warning bell went off in Justin's head. Bad memories came flooding back like an incoming tide.
"Who are you?" Justin demanded.
"How could you forget so soon?" The stranger pulled back his hood to reveal a face that was twisted and deformed, but not unrecognizable.
"Oh, my god," Justin muttered. "Jenner!"
(A/N: I suppose I must apologize for the use of "lynch" in this chapter. When I wrote this story, that word had become a widely-used general term for violent vilification, somewhat divorced from its original meaning. The word has since regained many of its historical connotations, with all the unsettling cultural associations that implies. But I started posting this fic with the intent not to change a single word from the original manuscript, and decided to keep it as it was. So apologies if any offense was given.)