CHAPTER NINETEEN: NIMH

Ian closed the heavy manilla folder and sighed. "I give up. Two days of looking through these records, and I still can't make head or tails of them. Four different series of injections were given at once, and any one of them could have been responsible for slowing the aging process."

Justin stuck his head up over the side of his cushioned steel box and looked at Ian. "So what do you do now?"

Ian scratched the back of his neck and said slowly, "Tell Harry as soon as he comes back to give me every injection that you were given eleven years ago."

"Now, wait a minute." Justin climbed out of his box and walked across the top of Harry's desk over to Ian. "You don't know what you're asking for. I've told you, those shots are agonizing. You would be put through tortures that I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. In your condition, I don't even think you'd survive the treatment."

"I have no choice, Justin." Ian stamped on the folder. "These records describe the experiments that were performed on you, and some part of that treatment prolonged your life. Either I sit back and die of old age in a few more weeks, or I take a chance and have the shots."

Justin heaved his shoulders. "Okay … but I'm worried about you. There's no way I can describe how painful it will be."

"I've felt pain before." The door to the office opened and Harry stepped inside, locking the door behind him. He had moved the rats into his private office so that they wouldn't be discovered by anybody else.

Justin told the scientist what Ian wanted. Harry picked up the file and flipped through it. "It'll take me awhile to get some of these drugs. We won't be able to start until tomorrow."

"That's fine," Ian said, and Justin translated.

"Good." Harry tucked the folder under his arm. "I'll start right on it. Is there anything else I can get either of you?"

Ian shook his head. "I don't suppose you could bring me some more chocolate?" Justin asked.

"No," Harry said, "I don't think so. You've eaten practically nothing else since you got here three days ago. Have you been using that toothpaste I gave you yesterday?"

"Of course." Justin displayed a mouthful of gleaming white fangs.

"Good. I wouldn't want you to lose all your teeth. I'll be back in a few hours with something for dinner. Any special requests?"

"I feel like having pizza," Ian said.

"Pizza," Justin told Harry.

"Right. See you later." Harry left the room and locked the door.

Ian went to his own box and crawled into it. Harry had given each rat one to sleep and relax in. Justin refused to stay in a cage, so the scientist came up with a pair of stainless steel trays with very high sides. Lined with handkerchiefs, they made comfy little niches where Ian and Justin could spend the nights.

Justin became a good deal less nervous when he learned that he wasn't going to be kept in a cage, but the thing that really won his confidence was Harry's offering him some chocolate. After three days of royal treatment by the human scientist, Justin was finally at ease.

Using Justin as an interpreter, Ian had told Harry all about how he escaped from NIMH after the mind-switching experiment and found his way to the colony, and how his mysteriously accelerated aging had forced him to return. Then, while he read through the records of the experiments that had been performed on Justin and his people, Justin told Harry how he had been deposed and exiled by Jenner, who was planning to wage a war against the entire human race.

Harry was especially interested in the stone. Ian assured him that it was not of human manufacture, while Justin could only say he wasn't certain how the stone was made, or by whom. The exiled leader of the rats was concerned mainly with the safety of his people, and made a plea to the scientist to convince other humans that Jenner was the only one responsible for the killing and should be the only rat punished.

Harry had asked Justin several times where the colony was located, but Justin firmly refused to tell him. He was not yet ready to place so much trust in his human host.

Ian lay down in his box, resting his head on a folded-up handkerchief he used as a pillow. Justin climbed in after him and sat balanced on the top edge of one side of the tray. "If you insist on going through with this, Ian, I'd like to wish you luck, and say that I'll stick with you to help if I can."

"Don't worry about me, Justin. I'll be all right. Right now you should be thinking about how you're going to stop Jenner. I really believe you should tell Harry where the colony is. I mean, he is trying to help us, and you're not giving him much to go on."

"How can my revealing the location of the colony help stop Jenner?" Justin asked.

"Harry could evacuate the colony and bring everyone here," Ian explained. "Then, if things really got out of hand and the colony was destroyed - as I'm sure it would be if other humans discovered where it is - no lives would be lost."

"I simply can't," Justin looked down helplessly. "The location of the colony is a secret that no human can be trusted with … not even Harry."

"You should at least tell him the name of the town where the Fitzgibbons farm is," said Ian. "If Harry could alert the local authorities and warn them about Jenner, maybe we can stop this whole thing before it gets too big."

"Maybe." Justin went to his own box and stretched out on the white cotton bedding. "I'll have to think on it awhile."

Harry came back that evening with a large slice of pizza for Ian and Justin to share. It wasn't hot, but that didn't seem to matter to the rats, who tucked right into it as if they hadn't eaten in days.

Before Ian could even swallow his first mouthful, Harry interrupted his meal. "You might not want to eat too much, Dr. Hargraves," he said, setting down a tray of bottles he had brought into the room with him. "I was able to get all the drugs we need. I can start the treatment tonight if you wish."

"Yes," Ian nodded, "I'd like that." He helped himself to one more bite of the pizza. "Justin, tell Harry to begin right away."

Harry took a hypodermic syringe and filled it with some fluid from one of the bottles. Ian nearly gagged when he saw the size of the needle, but quickly composed himself. He had forgotten how different the world looked from a rat's point of view.

"Remember, there are four separate drugs in the treatment," Harry said to Ian, "so I'll be giving you four injections at a time."

"My poor arm." Ian rolled up a shirtsleeve and stood in his box, leaning against its side on both forepaws. "I think I'll close my eyes for this. Okay, let's get this over with, Harry. Shoot."

With his eyes shut, Ian couldn't see what was going on. Expecting a moment of excruciating pain in his exposed arm to come any second, he was surprised to feel a pair of human fingers lifting up the front of his shirt. Then, as a hand came against his back, he felt something sharp at his stomach. Ian's first reaction was to back away, but the hand behind him kept him where he was.

Ian looked down to see the steel needle plunging into his abdomen. He clamped his jaws together as a wave of unbelievable pain swept through him. Harry pushed down the plunger slowly, forcing the drug into Ian's body.

After the needle was pulled out, Ian swayed on his legs, which were suddenly quite unsteady, then fell onto his back, his forepaws gripping at his stomach. Justin peered over the edge of the box. "Are you all right, Ian?"

"Of course I'm not all right!" Ian screamed. "I've just been stabbed!"

Justin turned to Harry. "I think he's okay. It's just that he was expecting the shot in his arm. Don't ask me why."

Ian glanced up and saw Harry coming at him with another needle. "Oh, no," he moaned, "not again!"

After the second shot was given, Justin climbed into the box and knelt beside his companion, who was plainly in great agony. "Justin," Ian cried, "why didn't you tell me it would hurt like this?"

"As I recall, I did."

"Oh." Ian rolled onto his stomach. "In that case, I'm glad I didn't listen to you. You probably would have talked me out of this."

"I can tell Harry to hold off on the other two shots if you want."

"Two?" Ian winced at the thought of two more injections. "No … no, I need them, and if I don't get them now, I'll just have to have them later. Tell Harry to go ahead."

"Okay." Justin gave Harry the message, so the scientist continued with the treatment.

By the time the fourth shot was finished with, the pain was too much for Ian to bear, and he retreated into unconsciousness.