Chapter Twenty-One

Devin sat in the waiting room, leafing through an ancient issue of Valley Times and watching an expectant soon-to-be father rat wearing a groove into the tiled floor with his pacing. If Gadget has anyone doing that for her when the kid's born, it'll be me, he thought in amusement. Actually, I'll be assisting, if it's okay with her.

He knew that what Gadget must be going through at the moment was the mental equivalent of giving birth. His own experience with the Thorn Medical Admissions Test had been an absolute horror. He had snapped five pencils out of sheer anxiety, sweat nearly soaking his answer sheet. They had to pry the thing away from him when time ran out because he'd only had time to check his answers twice. The fact that his score had turned out to be not only good, but nearly legendary, didn't make up for the sheer hell he'd gone through. Number 2 pencils still made him itch.

A side door opened and the expectant father nearly hit the ceiling. When it turned out just to be Gadget, he tore at his fur and paced all the more nervously. Devin leaped up himself. Gadget, a little wobbly, rushed to Devin, hugged him for a moment, then pulled free and slammed herself down in the chair next to him, head in her paws. "It wasn't that bad, was it?" he ventured, putting a paw on her shoulder.

Gadget looked up dizzily, almost as if in a trance. "What's a fetlock?"

Devin worked his mouth. It had been forever since anyone had asked him that. "Excuse me?"

"Fetlock. It's on a horse, but where?"

Devin looked at her quizzically, but answered. "On the back of the leg, above the hoof."

Gadget groaned, looking at the floor again. "I missed it! Grrr!! It was one of the first questions and I couldn't think about anything else, all through the test."

The door Gadget had come out of swung open again, and the pacing father-to-be twirled around excitedly. A large nurse-rat popped her head out the door. "Miss Hackwrench?" she called. The disappointed fellow snapped his pawpads in frustration.

"Gadget, Hackwrench, Gadge--" Gadget growled through clenched teeth at the nurse.

"--anything but 'Miss'." Devin finished for her.

"Whatever," the nurse went on. "We have your exam results ready for you."

"How--how did I do?" Gadget stammered. Devin stood at her side, ready to catch her if the news was too good or too bad.

The nurse looked from Gadget to Devin and back. "Better than he did. I'd say it's a safe bet you're going to vet school." She ducked back inside the door, but was back in a second. "Hey, you," she addressed the pacing rat, who swallowed but nodded. "Congratulations. It's a girl."

The new father let out a whoop of sheer joy, then stopped pacing, breathing heavily, paw over his heart. Devin patted him on the back roughly. "Good job. You too, Gadge!" he beamed and threw his arms around her.

"I made it?" she said, disbelieving. "Oh, thank God." She leaned heavily on Devin, who guided her down to one of the chairs and sat by her, twitching with pride. "Devin? I just have to say--of all the things we've learned or taken from humans, standardized tests have to be one of the most evil."

Devin nodded. "Yep. Those, and waiting rooms. Let's get out of here."

"Yes, let's. Right now."

After a few hours in the depths of the cavernous hospital--with real caverns, even--Gadget and Devin blinked at the sunlight as they stretched out on the hill beside the waterfall pool.

"Nice place," yawned Gadget. It would be so easy just to go to sleep in the sun, listening to the tumbling sound of water on the rocks--

"I could spend hours here myself. Matter of fact, I have, on my rare visits."

A thought crossed Gadget's mind. "So, why didn't you stay? I haven't seen much of the hospital yet, but it looks state-of-the-art to me."

Devin 'hmm'ed thoughtfully, staring up at the clouds. "If I weren't into anything but medicine, I'd be here in a heartbeat. But being a doctor here is a little bit like being a monk. Long hours, the isolation--" He paused and smiled. "I'm just here now because I have someone special to watch out for--" his smile fell a bit, "--and several someones to bring to justice for what they've done to her."

Gadget rolled over in the grass, chin on her paws. "You do make me feel special." She poked him in the ribs playfully with her tail, laughing as he jumped in surprise. He put a paw out and gave her a little shove, sending her rolling sideways down the hill into the pool. She rose slowly out of the shallows, soaked to the bone, giving Devin a dirty look that melted as soon as he shucked off his lab coat and leaped in after her.

"Silly!" she chided him. "We can't go to Elizabeth and Justin's place looking like this!" Devin ducked his head under again and squirted water at her as she shielded her face, laughing. "You're a regular water-rat, Dev!"

"People accuse me of a lot of things," Devin said with mock solemnity, "but never of being regular."

"I'll agree with that. We're still dripping wet--"

"I knew you needed to wash that test off of you. And a change would do us both good."

Dried and rested, Devin and Gadget headed up the path toward the cliff-side dwelling of Thorn Valley's leaders. Like so many dwellings here, the entry-way was lit by small lights even during the day--but as they stepped inside, they noticed someone had taken the pains to anchor dozens of pinpoint lights on the rounded ceiling of the cavern. It was like stepping into a perfect starlit night--Devin watched Gadget's eyes sparkle at the sight, and couldn't wait to get her out under a real sky full of stars.

A welcoming voice broke his train of thought. "Gadget! Devin! Come on in. What do you think of the place?" Elizabeth stood at the inner door, Justin towering behind her as usual.

That's all right, decided Devin. I'm sure some people think Gadget and I are an odd couple ourselves.

"Mrs. Justin! I think it's beautiful! This is a planetarium, isn't it?" Gadget spun around, admiring the effect.

Justin nodded. "It took a lot of work, but Arthur had fun with it."

Elizabeth turned toward him. "He can do anything he puts his mind to, except cook." She and Justin shared a shudder. "Listen to me go on. Don't let us keep you waiting--"

"Come in and tell us about the test," Justin encouraged them. That made Devin and Gadget shudder at shared memories this time. They followed Justin and his wife deeper into the caverns, Gadget giving one reluctant glance back at the twinkling lights.

The "real" inside of the dwelling wasn't as showy, but it was definitely comfortable. The rock floor of the living room was covered with multicolored rugs, and tapestries decorated the wall. One caught Gadget's eye, because the characters embroidered into it were so familiar--a younger Timothy, his sisters Cynthia and Teresa, and his brother Martin, all with travelling packs on their backs. From the awed and delighted looks on their faces alone, it was easy to see that the picture was one of them all seeing Thorn Valley for the first time.

"That's good stitching," Devin remarked. He'd sown up enough of his fellow creatures to recognize good detail work. "Is this yours, Elizabeth?"

"Justin's actually," Elizabeth admitted, Justin coughing modestly as he pulled up a chair and she settled into a couch--one of the newer ones with the gap built in for users' tails. "Ever since he lost the eye, he's had a different view of things. He doesn't show his work much."

"I have a problem with depth perception," he explained. "I still think the perspective is screwy," he whispered to Elizabeth. "And I should have put the twins in, even if they weren't around then. It would be good to show them all together."

"I think it's wonderful," Gadget assured him, sitting down on another couch close by Devin. "It looks just like the children--well, like I'm sure they looked back then. How are they? The other ones, I mean. Timmy seems to be doing fine, even if he is a little…"

Elizabeth laughed. "…difficult? Well, he worries too much and doesn't get out enough, since the accident. Houseguests will be good for him."

"Telling you about the other kids will take a while. Half of them are more grown than we'd like, and the other half are still underfoot," Justin harumphed.

"Well, start at the top. How are Martin and Theresa?"

Elizabeth held herself back but still sounded defensive as she primly said the name. "Teresa. Only she and Martin spell it or pronounce it with the 'h'." Justin held her shoulders protectively.

"I take it they sort of turned into the black sheep of the family. What did they do?"

Justin clicked his tongue. "Nearly got themselves killed, for starters."

Elizabeth sighed. "You're bound to hear a lot of whispers. I don't like to discuss it much, but I'd rather you got it straight from us. There's a good chance it might even be tied in with your trouble."

Gadget started forward, all concern. "I certainly hope they didn't run into the same lunatics that hurt me so bad and k--" Her voice stuck in her throat. Devin reached for her paw and held it tight.

Justin nodded solemnly. "Martin and Teresa are all right. But the bunch they tangled with--everything we've heard about your attackers fits all too well. Rotten to the core."

Elizabeth bit her lip and started. "We were sending out scouts--all over the place. One day, Thorn Valley's going to get too crowded, and we'll have to build a second colony. One possible site was deep in the forests of Canada…beautiful place…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

"One worry was an abandoned river port built by humans," Justin picked up. It was on the far edge of the land we wanted, but there were signs someone might be trying to start up operations there. As it turned out it wasn't humans after all, but… anyway, there was a rare plane flight over the area, and we wanted pictures. Martin and Teresa stowed away."

"The plane went down," said Elizabeth, getting a far-away look in her eye. "Shot down, as it turns out. It was rats at the port, of all things! We first thought it might be some splinter group that broke off from the Rats of NIMH a long time before Thorn Valley was established."

"Only a couple of the original group that escaped from NIMH are unaccounted for, though. Close friends of mine, probably dead," Justin said, half to himself. "And I could never believe they'd shoot down a plane."

"Wherever they were from, they had some vicious defense set up. The pilot--human of course--was killed in the crash. Martin and Teresa were alone out there for a long time. Too long." Elizabeth shuddered.

"Liz and I went up there ourselves to try tracking them down, but we had to give up when bad weather set in. Later on, we found out we didn't get anywhere near them. A year later, Rescue Aid in Quebec picked up a faint signal--Martin and Teresa had been trying to get word to us all that time. Turns out they had been hiding from those screwed-up characters who took over the port, not to mention doing hit-and-run sabotage work on their supplies and transportation. Certainly saved our bacon."

Devin frowned. "These port rats--they were in Canada. What real harm could they do up there?"

Elizabeth laughed bitterly. "They weren't planning on staying there. They were an invasion force, weapons and all. Someone's working for them that must be as good with machines as our Arthur. And that one pilot aside, they weren't planning on tackling humans. They wanted Thorn Valley for their own, and that's not just a guess."

"Martin and Teresa put their lives on the line to save everyone in Thorn Valley from death, enslavement, or worse," Justin said with a hint of pride in his voice. "You've seen first-hand what our mutual enemies are capable of, Gadget."

Gadget wriggled her whiskers uncertainly. "What makes you so sure they were the same ones who killed my friends? These port rats sound like nasty characters, but you should have seen my home. It took some sick minds to go that far."

Elizabeth was silent for a moment. "What worried us most about the letter from Rescue Aid when we heard you were coming here--"

"--besides the news that you'd lost your friends and been badly hurt yourself--" Justin added.

"--of course. We want to help you any way we can--but what made us sure was the bit about the broken lightbulbs. The port was full of them."

Gadget looked down, closing her eyes tight. "It's the same guys, all right," she nodded mournfully. Devin hugged her, grimacing at the memory of her desecrated home.

"That seems to be their trademark," growled Justin. "They'll shoot down planes, use power turbines, siphon off gas and use any human-made technology they can get their hands on, if it furthers their cause. But they won't use electric light--it really sets them off their collective rocker."

Gadget cocked her head. "You learned all this from Martin and Teresa?"

Justin nodded. "That, and an investigative squad we sent up later. The port rats knew their cover was blown, and got out of there. We didn't expect to find much in the way of plans or documents, but someone left us a gift package--"

Devin gasped in surprise "--Gadget! Just like Turner left the medicine at your hideout! I bet it was him this time too!" Elizabeth and Justin looked at him in blank disbelief.

"Turner? Where did you hear about him?" Justin asked, perking up with concern and a little distrust.

Gadget spoke up. "You probably think he's the worst of the bunch, but he's not. Really, he's not. He saved my life, kept me from being r--" her words ran together and she waved her paws in frustration.

Devin held her paw, feeling the rage and regret course through it. "Easy, Gadge. It's okay. We're all friends here."

Gadget nodded and continued. "If it weren't for Turner, I would have been raped again, maybe killed. Ten to one he's doing all he can to trip up the others, or get you all the information he can. What do you know about him?"

Or think you know, Devin almost added, but wisely bit his tongue.

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. "Apparently, he's the second-in-command. Big bruiser, but lightning-smart. Always biting someone's ear off--he keeps 'em around his belt. We'd never heard of him before Martin and Teresa crossed paths with him, and he's not young enough to have been born outside NIMH, but that's all we have."

"If we had more of the story first-hand, it might help us understand these sickos," reasoned Devin. "Do you think Martin and Teresa could tell us more themselves?"

Elizabeth shook her head sadly. "No. They're long gone now. France, the last I heard." She sniffled. "We were going to be a real family again, all of us together--" she shut her eyes and turned away against Justin's side.

Justin grimaced. "But we screwed up. Bad. We laid the guilt on thick and drove them away."

"Guilt?" Gadget scratched her head. "What for?"

Regret colored Elizabeth's slow reply. "When they came back, there were three of them. Martin, Teresa, and a pretty little mouse-girl named Sophie. Their daughter."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. "Jeez," breathed Devin. "That's--I don't know how I'd feel about that."

"We were all wrong from the start, the way we tried to handle it," Elizabeth went on. "We said they should give Sophie up, let another family here in the Valley raise her. We told her that going on as they were, it would tear the family apart--that they'd be shunned by almost everyone here, no matter what sacrifices they'd made."

"So," finished Justin, "they took Sophie and left. They swore they'd never set foot in the Valley again." He started to tear up, his voice hoarse. "Heroes--that's what they were. We couldn't afford to lose them, but it's our own fault."

Devin clicked his tongue in sympathy. "There's always time. Maybe you can all forgive each other for being yourselves. I hope so."

Now, that's one messed up family, Gadget raised an eyebrow. Around every corner is a relationship landmine. Maybe this is what politics does to people. She ventured another question, praying this one had some happier answers. "Elizabeth, where's your other daughter, little Cynthia? I haven't heard a thing about her since I got here."

Elizabeth and Justin looked at each other, brightening. The sadness from telling Martin and Teresa's tale evaporated from them. Justin boomed out laughing, batting a paw at Elizabeth's shoulder, and Elizabeth launched into a fit of the giggles. Gadget looked at them as if they'd both gone crazy. We got a pair of loons running this place.

Elizabeth put a calming paw on Justin's arm and he wiped the corner of his good eye, getting his breath back. "I know, I know," Elizabeth apologized. "Please, don't think we're both terribly silly, it's just that--Justin, you tell her. I can't keep a straight face and she won't believe me."

Justin whistled to himself. "Cynthia's not so little anymore. Half the time when people meet her, they think she's a short rat, not a mouse. Short, but thick through the middle--"

"--and stubborn as the day is long," tacked on Elizabeth.

Justin nodded in agreement. "She's young still, but she knows how to dig her heels in. And she's cracked more than a few heads that needed it--"

"--and more than a few hearts," Elizabeth broke in again.

Gadget felt like she was missing something. "What? Is she getting into fights at school?"

"Not any more," murmured Justin. "She's got my old job. She's Captain of the Guard."

Button images by Keith Elder