Thorn Valley was a place of peace for the rats that had taken up residence there 11 years ago. Underground, buried beneath a thorn thicket at the side of a river, it was very isolated from the troubles and tribulations of the outside world. No one ever ventured in, and no one ever left. Only one mouse, at a farm not too far off, knew anything about it's location, and she wasn't going to tell a soul.

In eleven years, none of the survivors from NIMH seemed to have aged a day, and their offspring had a similar longevity. And yet, they continued to change. They were rapidly reaching a higher intelligence, even exceeding that of a human. Justin attributed it to the awakening of parts of their brains that had fallen into disuse among feral rats and mice. Or maybe it was just a mutation, brought on by the chemicals they had been injected with. All he knew was that Nicodemus' strange powers; divination, telekinesis, among others, were passing onto him now. It hadn't started all at once. Even early on, he would get visions, flickers from the future. But now he was able to tap into the power of crystals to augment his mental powers. He had, in all aspects, truly become Nicodemus' successor.

But lately, his visions had become more troubling, those visions involving the tribulations of a young woodmouse and her friends, and those of the scientists from NIMH, always probing, dissecting, tormenting.

There was a knock on the door to Justin's chambers. His ears perked up as he sat at his desk. It was what he'd been waiting to hear.

"Come in."

The door creaked open, and Mr. Ages walked in, escorted by Brutus.

"Greetings, my dear Justin," the old mouse said with a bow, still feeling obligated to be polite to someone he knew quite well before he'd earned such a high position, "Now what is it you wanted to see me about?"

"I'll explain in a bit," Justin said, standing up, "You're excused, Brutus."

The huge lug of a rat grunted, and closed the door.

"Well?" Mr. Ages asked.

"I know that your time is valuable, Mr. Ages," Justin said, "But I didn't know who else I could discuss this with before presenting my visions of the outside world to the council. I don't think my visions are going to go over well. In fact I don't think they'll go over well with you either, but you'll at least listen."

"Oh my, that serious are they?"

"Indeed they are. Whether or not they'll have any serious ramifications for Thorn Valley is still debatable though, which is why I am afraid they'll be dismissed."

"The problems of the mice and rats of the outside world are their own problems of course, not ours," said Mr. Ages, "But you must have some legitimate reason for concern if you brought me all the way down here."

"It's NIMH, Mr. Ages," Justin said gravely, "They're still searching for us."

Mr. Ages gave a look of worry, "Yes? Are they close now?"

"Not yet. What worries me though is the animals that they're victimizing in search of us, and the ones they could go on to victimize as they get closer to the truth. They've stumbled on to things no human has ever taken notice of before. They're becoming aware. Aware of the actual intelligence of the animals around them. As you well know, feral animals far outnumber the other, more sophisticated ones like ourselves. Up until recently humans thought we were all like that. We survivors of NIMH, and as well as their most recent victims, are the only ones who know exactly what the humans would do if faced with the truth; that they are not alone in this world when it comes to their sapience."

"They'd make sure they were the only sapient ones in the world, that's what they'd do," Mr. Ages said with a cold cynicism, "What's this all about, Justin? What's going on out there?"

"NIMH found another community of intelligent rodents while searching for us. Someplace in the forest. The name Dapplewood comes to my mind. The scientists took everyone when they found the rodents living in human-like dwellings, with books and other technological advances. Nothing near what we have in Thorn Valley of course, but certainly more than any human is used to seeing out of an animal. Only a small group of children survived."

"Hm, I suppose it is a bit odd, creatures deep in the forest being smart enough to read. Perhaps somebody from the city migrated there a long time ago, bringing these human ideas with them. It's a pity. But, we're better off for it. If NIMH thinks they have found Thorn Valley, let them keep on thinking that."

Justin fully expected such a selfish response from Mr. Ages. It was likely the same thing that the council was going to say. But one of the curses of being in the heightened mental state Justin had now achieved, was a deep sense of compassion. He no longer had the luxury of just sweeping it under the rug when he knew how much others were suffering, or were going to suffer.

"We aren't off the hook yet, Mr. Ages. The presence of other animals like badgers and hedgehogs meant that it couldn't be us, and NIMH knows this. This could be the start of something far worse. Something that could effect every intelligent rodent in the world. It's like you said. They'll try to make sure they are the only sapient ones on Earth."

"Yes now that would be terrible, but we'll be safe here, I'm confident of that," Mr. Ages replied stubbornly, "Let the other mice worry about it themselves. We're all much smaller than the humans. Humans can't scour every inch of this planet looking for us. Let the outsiders build their own Thorn Valleys. We did it, why can't they?"

Justin nodded knowingly, "You've represented your argument well, Mr. Ages. I'll need to come up with a decent counter-argument before I present my visions to the council. But, I think I may have a rather convincing one by then."

"Oh? And when do you plan on presenting it?"

"When that group of children who survived Dapplewood arrive here, of course."

Mr. Ages blinked, but then gave a chortle, "Ah, so never then."

"I have complete faith in them."

Professor Nimnul felt an eerie calm as he was walked into the bright observation room, one with a large one-way mirror. NIMH's scientist could see through on the other side. His straight jacket was still on, and he was seated at a table in the middle of the room. The interview was to be conducted through a microphone by Dr. Stacy while others took notes. Dr. Strauss was present as well, interested in what they might find out.

"We're here to ask you a few questions about your 'career', Dr. Nimnul," Dr. Stacy began.

"I am not a mad scientist, Dr. Stacy," Nimnul replied, "A little angry maybe, but not mad."

"I didn't call you one."

"I just wanted to get that out of the way," he said with a wry smile, "Because what I may tell you will sound mad."

"You may be surprised what we're willing to believe."

"You all know it too, don't you?" Nimnul asked, "You may be just finding it out."

"Finding out what, may I ask?"

"That rodents are intelligent, of course. That they've been hiding it all along."

"That suggestion is highly unlikely, doctor. There's something else we want to know from you, if you'll cooperate."

"And what have I to gain from cooperating?" Nimnul inquired, "If I wasn't in that loony bin you took me out of I'd be in regular prison anyway. And now I've basically been licensed out as a human test subject. Which is technically illegal, but I know enough about NIMH to know that you people have ways around those silly human rights violations and animal cruelty laws, am I right? It'll take a little convincing to get me to cooperate."

"We only do tests on animals that are legal to test on, Dr. Nimnul, and we have no intention of experimenting on yourself. We do however wonder if you've followed the same ethics."

"What are you trying to pin on me? Want to blame me for one of your experiments gone wrong?"

"I'll cut to the chase, doctor," said Dr. Stacy, "We want to know the details behind your experiments involving rodents. And perhaps you could tell us more about the 'smart' ones, the ones who always ruin your plans."

"Well it's exactly as I've told you, doctor. Rodents are smarter than we give them credit for. So smart in fact that they're constantly able to outsmart a genius like myself. Oh I started thinking just like you when it began…they're just dumb animals, they can't really feel pain, emotion, things like that. Lower life forms. And sure, I toyed with their minds a bit, learned how to use mind control on their simple little brains, making them power my generators or rob banks for me. Simple tinkering with the minds of small life forms. The same sort of things I imagine you do here at NIMH, though with different goals."

"Mm hmm. Go on."

"Ah, but something always got in the way," Nimnul continued, "Rodents. Always rodents. And I had no idea it was the same rodents foiling me every single time, until one day."

"Were these rodents you'd experimented on?"

"Maybe, I don't know. I've experimented on so many. They were two chipmunks, two mice, and a fly. I discovered them one day after completing my Modemizer. You see the Modemizer was one of my greatest inventions; it was a helmet fitted with an acoustic coupler which allowed me to escape the police by traveling through telephone wires! But there was a glitch. The vermin got ahold of it, and we all switched bodies! Well, heads anyway. I switched with their pet fly, and we ended up all having to work together to set things back to normal. They took me to their secret headquarters and everything. Called themselves the Rescuers? Rescue Rangers? I don't know. But they lived like humans, I tell you. And they wore clothes. That mouse with them, Gadget I think her name was, she was practically a scientist herself!"

There were snickers among those listening, but Dr. Penny Stacy was intrigued. As scientists, however, they found his "Modemizer" idea and his body-switching story to be pure idiocy. Dr. Strauss rubbed his temples, and shook his head with a groan.

"We're wasting our time with him," he said.

Dr. Stacy put her hand over the microphone.

"Should we continue this session?" Dr. Stacy asked Dr. Strauss, "He might be delusional, but perhaps there is a kernel of truth hidden in his story somewhere."

"You people think I'm making this up don't you?" Dr. Nimnul said from behind the glass, standing up in front of his chair, "I'm not, I tell you! And I can prove it too! If I could only remember where their headquarters was, you'd see."

Dr. Strauss considered what to do. Finally, he took the microphone from Dr. Stacy, "You're asking us to suspend a lot of disbelief, Dr. Nimnul. But, if you could possibly show us conclusive proof of intelligent rodents, perhaps you can be of use to us. We may even certify you as sane."

"You mean, I'll be cured?"

"Yes. But, I want results. We are researching such anomalies at the moment, as in animals with above-average intelligence, ones which might have been given injections of a certain concoction."

"Excellent!" Nimnul rubbed his hands together with a grin, "I don't remember the exact spot but I can take you to the general vicinity, and we'll search from there!"

Dr. Strauss turned the microphone off, and the door opened, as Nimnul was led back to his holding cell.

"We're really going to pardon this maniac if we find something?" Dr. Clark asked.

"If we do find anything I'm confident it will have been created by Dr. Nimnul," Dr. Strauss answered, "If he's to blame for this Dapplewood mess as well, we may want to find out how he did it. That's if he isn't a complete lunatic."

Dr. Stacy finished up her notes on the interview. But she was shaken.

"Rescuers?" she mouthed to herself, "Rescue Rangers?"

She resolved to have a one-on-one session with Nimnul later.