Chapter 10: The White Mouse

Underneath the bushes, the Rangers prepared themselves for their operation. Three tents were mounted, one for the guys, one for the girls, and one serving as a conference room. All of them were made of supports similar to Chip and Dale's bunk bed and covered with parts of plastic shopping bags, the rigid sort used by fashion stores on Fifth Avenue. Sleeping bags were placed into two of the tents while the third one, the conference tent, was equipped with folding furniture scavenged from a discarded doll house and reworked for Ranger purposes and easy portability. Setting up the full Field Headquarters made sense since the box with the Clutchcoin Collection had disappeared somewhere in the vast palace, and finding it would certainly take its time, not to mention getting it out of the building.

Hardly noticed by the far-traveled rodents and one chiropteran, a mouse stood and watched from a safe distance. The Rangers did not get aware of his presence until he finally came closer and spoke to them. "That's interesting what you're doing there. Um, what are you doing? This isn't a vacation, is it?"

Chip was the first to react. He turned around to see who was talking. What he saw was a white mouse in a light blue shirt who slowly came nearer. Chip was uncertain whether to trust this mouse in such a delicate case. Yet still he was representing the Rangers, and the mouse's obvious shyness seemed too real to be pretended. "Hello," he greeted the stranger friendly, "we are the Rescue Rangers." He offered a hand. "Nice to meet you..."

"Todd." The mouse took Chip's hand and shook it carefully. "Wow, you are the Rescue Rangers? I've heard and read a lot about you, and when I saw you here, my first thought was you might be them. But why are you so many, weren't you a team of five?"

"Yes, we used to be five. We've added some old friends to the team last year, most of whom have been with us on earlier cases, so now we're nine. And to answer your other question, no, this isn't a vacation, we're on a case. I can't tell you too much about the case, though."

Todd took a glance around the group until he spotted Gadget and LaWahini in front of the girls' tent. "Then you are the famous Gadget Hackwrench?"

"Who," LaWahini asked, "her or me?"

"Her of course," Todd replied. "I doubt that Gadget Hackwrench would wear a dress with flowers on it and eyeshade. That wouldn't be her."

While LaWahini was a bit disappointed that Todd was one rodent less to be fooled easily into believing she was Gadget if necessary, the real Gadget blushed and said, "Golly, you must know me quite well. I didn't know that I'm so famous. Apart from being a Rescue Ranger, that is."

"Of course you are! They call you the First Lady of Engineering on the Usenet."

"Usenet?" Gadget wondered. "Who's talking about me on the Usenet?"

"Well, mostly other rodents. We can access the Usenet and other parts of the Internet via modified handheld computers and smartphones. And we can do a lot more with them. Never heard of it?"

This was proof enough for Gadget. She appreciated his being interested in her neither for her looks nor for her gender, but for her brains and knowledge in terms of science and engineering. However, the geeky appearance he gave had just been approved by his words. "Wlachally, I'm more at home in labs and workshops than behind computers, so I guess I'm lacking experience in these fields."

Todd didn't listen to all of what she said, for someone else caught his interest. He directed his view away from Gadget and began approaching another target. "Um, hey Sparky! Sparky, is it you? The lab rat from the MIT?" Curious about what was going on, Gadget followed him.

Sparky interrupted what he was doing, assembling the conference tent. "Yes, I guess it's me. And you are?"

"Todd." He was about to shake Sparky's hand when he stopped in the tracks. "Er, may I?"

"May you what?"

"Shake your hand."

"Sure, why not?"

"No risk of electric shock then?"

"No, I'm discharged."

Todd frantically shook Sparky's hand. "Sparky, it's an honor to meet you, and it's a surprise to see you as a Rescue Ranger. You aren't at the MIT anymore?"

"No, they had no use for me anymore, so I returned to New York City."

"Say, how's your friend Buzz doing? You're still in contact?"

"Sure, he's still an MIT mascot." Sparky pulled Todd closer and whispered, "And when he's not busy being a mascot, he's working on a mechanical guinea pig. Repairing and improving it, at least that's what I've heard."

Despite Sparky's whispering, Gadget had heard every word. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Golly, so that's where it went after the case?"

"Yes, Buzz and I got it halfway into working order again and took it as our means of transportation to the MIT. Of course, we only used it at night and hid it during the days. Well, Buzz doesn't have that much time at hand, nor does he have your mechanical skills, Gadget, and that's why he's still working on it."

"Well, in that case, we should take a travel to the MIT so I can have a look at it. But Todd, how did you know? From Buzz himself? From you, Sparky?"

"No, it was no-one from the MIT," Todd answered. "That is, he claims he's living on the campus, but he's got nothing directly to do with the MIT. He keeps us up-to-date about what happens at the Institute and elsewhere in the Northeast. His screen name is Mouseo, by the way. He says it's inspired by a comedy group from some decades ago."

"Mouseo..." Gadget's eyes went another bit wider open upon hearing this name. "One of my few childhood friends. I've only seen him... four times since the Rangers were founded."

By chance, Dale came past the small group. "Mouseo? You mean that funny-looking deaf-mute mouse?"

Todd would have turned pale if he hadn't already been white-furred. "He's deaf-mute? I didn't know that! But then again, what do I know about my screen pals in real life, sometimes not even their species. I sort of feel sorry for him..."

Gadget laid a hand onto his shoulder. "Don't worry, Todd, he's just fine. He was born that way, he doesn't miss his hearing. He told me once he even believes that being able to hear would just distract and confuse him."

Their conversation was interrupted by Monty's call. "Zipper's back, an' 'e's got news fer us!"

"Zipper?" Todd thought for a moment. "So that's why I haven't seen any fly yet although I expected one. Where was he?"

"In the Palace," Gadget explained, "he did some observation work for our case."

"So your case will take place inside Versailles Palace?"

Unsure whether Todd's curiosity might be dangerous for the case, Gadget decided to ask Chip what they shall do with him. "Um, Todd, will you excuse me for a second?"

"Sure."

Gadget went over to Chip who did some final work on the conference tent. She spoke silently when she asked him, "Chip, what do you think, can we trust him far enough to tell him?"

"I can help you guys find your way through that building if you wanna go in," Todd shouted. "I've been in there several times."

"Sounds like we've hardly got any choice," Chip whispered back to Gadget and then addressed to Todd, "Okay, come here. When what you say is true, we might need your help. Everyone else come here, too, team conference."