The furlings were in awe as they stepped through the door into the Rescue Rangers' headquarters.
"It's not much, but make yourselves at home," said Gadget, following behind them as outside the others landed the Ranger Wing beside the Flapper Wingamathing, "I'm afraid we don't have a guest bedroom or anything, but I have some extra blankets and a few pillows if you wanna sleep out here."
Gadget's hospitality barely registered as they inspected their new environment. The living room mostly consisted of a long, plush couch shaped as a half-circle before a large black screen. There was a strange coil-shaped chute in the corner, and there were doors leading to other rooms. The kitchen was connected to the living room too, and Russell, seeing this, gravitated toward it. Abigail, Willy, Edgar and Michelle walked over to the couch, Abigail looking at the remote mounted in front of the television. Gadget watched in amusement as they looked around. Having grown up around technology all her life she could only imagine what a shock seeing it for the first time would be.
"Why do you guys have this big black window in here?" Edgar asked, tapping on the TV screen.
Abigail pressed a button on the remote, and the TV came to life, making Edgar scream and jump to the couch as the others gasped. There was a human, staring down at them from a desk, holding a sheet of paper and talking.
"The humans found us!" Michelle screamed, hugging Abigail who looked up in terror. Willy took Abigail's arm and started to run for the door.
"You guys, it's just a television," Gadget said, walking to the remote and turning the TV off.
Chip opened the front door, only to be knocked down by Willy running into him with Abigail and Michelle in tow.
"What's going on here?" Chip asked angrily.
"There's a human in there!" Willy exclaimed.
"It's in the window!" Abigail added fearfully.
Chip, Dale and Monterey Jack looked inside, seeing the television, its screen blank.
"It was just there, honest!" Willy insisted.
Dale started to laugh, as Chip put his palm over his face.
"Simma down pallies, it's only da TV," Monterey Jack said.
"The TV?" Abigail asked.
"Yeah, there's not really a human being in there," Chip explained, "It was only a projection."
"What's a pro…jection?" Willy asked, trying to say it correctly.
"Ugh, it's like…well, kind of like a reflection. Only what's being reflected is far away."
"So that human is far away from here?" Michelle asked.
"Yes, now come inside," Chip said irritably, "No human is going to find us here."
They could have argued on that point, seeing as how this strange little forest seemed to be right in the middle of human central, while the humans had no trouble finding Dapplewood. But, they obeyed.
"So it's a window that shows us things from far away," said Edgar, looking up at it from the couch, "Is it magic?"
"Gosh no, it's science," Gadget answered, sitting down next to him as the others came inside, "It's a human technology. I of course made a few modifications myself. The antenna where we receive television signals is way up in the high branches, so we get a pretty clean picture. And everything electronic that you see in the headquarters is solar powered, because I installed some panels up in the leaves-"
"Um, Gadget…" Michelle said meekly from behind the couch, "You're saying things that don't make sense again."
"Oh, sorry, I forgot you don't know about that stuff," Gadget said sheepishly.
"Hehe, they thought what was in the TV was real," Dale chuckled, "Wonder what they'd think of the radio on the Ranger Wing. They'd think someone was hiding in the engine with a guitar."
"Come on Dale, they've come from a very different environment than us," said Gadget defensively, "We just need to be patient and explain things so they understand. It's something I guess I could stand to work on myself."
"You could stand to work on it with us too," Dale mused.
Russell cautiously inspected the tiny refrigerator, and opened it, "Hey, it's a cold box, just like the one we found in that…that car."
"You kids must be starvin, ay? Why don't I git ya something to eat," Monterey Jack offered, walking into the kitchen, "You kids eva had cheese before?"
"What's cheese?" Russell asked.
Monterey was stunned by the question. He looked to the other furlings in the living room, who seemed equally clueless.
"Ya mean…ya don't even know what cheese is?!"
"Is it a plant?" Abigail asked.
"Blimey! Alright, alright, your ol' pal Monty's gonna show ya what cheese is. I'll even give ya some of my best sharp chedda. An' I don't share that wit' just anybody."
He reached into the fridge and took out a block of yellow cheese, taking a small knife out of a drawer and slicing it up, giving the furlings a slice to munch on while taking the majority of it for himself. Abigail curiously nibbled on it, and then, finding it delicious, began to wolf it down. She hadn't eaten much all day, and this was one of the most delicious things she'd ever tasted.
"Ahem, now that you've seen a bit of the headquarters, would you mind telling us exactly what happened?" Chip asked, "How you ended up all the way here, I mean?"
Abigail's ears went down a bit, "Well, it's a long story…I'm not sure where to start exactly."
"I guess you could say it started with the gas leak a month ago," said Edgar.
"Gas leak?" Chip questioned.
"Some 'car' crashed and it leaked poisonous gas throughout the forest," Abigail explained, "It killed almost every plant in Dapplewood, and…a lot of animals too."
Michelle looked down at the ground and rubbed an eye. The Rescue Rangers gave looks of sympathy.
"It got Michelle's parents…and almost killed Michelle too, but we were able to find the herbs to cure her in time," Abigail concluded, "She was in a coma for a few days."
"It's why I hafta wear these,' Michelle said, taking her glasses off, "And why I got asthma."
Gadget couldn't resist giving the little badger girl a hug.
"You know I think I remember reading about a chlorine gas leak in the newspaper around a month ago," said Chip, "It was down in Maryland somewhere, out in the woods by the Appalachian mountains. There was a big cleanup effort afterwards too."
"Golly, wonder if that was the same one," Gadget said, Michelle resting in her arms, "It must have been chlorine gas for it to hurt poor Michelle like that."
"Humans did come back to clean up the forest," said Edgar, "It made us think, well, that humans weren't so bad after all. But then came a few days ago, and we told you what happened then…"
"Humans might do bad things sometimes but they're not all bad," said Dale, "Heck we even rescue humans sometimes."
"Really?" Russell asked, surprised by this.
"We have taken up human cases occasionally in the past,' said Chip, "Though that isn't our main line of work."
"What would a human need help with?" Michelle asked.
"Um, well we protected a baby human from a bear once," said Gadget.
"We also saved the reputation of a cop who'd been framed for something he didn't do," Chip added, "That was our very first case. Anyway back on topic here, so you say the humans came back to clean up the forest. Might they have found anything suspicious then?"
"I guess that's the only time they could have seen our homes," said Edgar.
"Then a research lab must have gotten wind of it," said Gadget, "I'll see what I can find out tomorrow. Maybe I'll make a trip to the library."
"So then, can you go into detail on what happened next?" Chip asked, "The day the humans came up until today?"
Abigail nodded, and began to reiterate everything that had happened starting just prior to the abduction of everyone from Dapplewood. As they listened the Rescue Rangers grew to pity the furlings more, but they also admired their resourcefulness and determination in the face of such miniscule odds of success, having journeyed all the way to the city by way of their makeshift aircraft.
"Maryland is a pretty good distance from here, you've come a long way," said Chip, "But we'll take everything from here, don't you worry. You're in good hands now."
"Chippa's right, nothing's too tough fer us Rescue Rangas" Monterey Jack chimed in.
"Thanks, we couldn't be more grateful, really," Abigail said.
"Well it's still early," said Dale, "When do you guys usually go to bed? We could watch a little TV if you're bored."
"That thing still kinda creeps me out…" Edgar confessed, staring at it.
"Aw come on," Dale said with a chuckle, "Tonight's creature feature night, they're gonna show old B-movie sci-fi flicks on Channel 6."
"I think that'll be too scary for them," said Gadget.
"Nah come on, you guys'll love it," Dale protested.
"I'm not scared," said Abigail, folding her arms and trying to look tough.
"Me neither," said Willy, not wanting to appear less macho than Abigail, "Nothing in that box is really there, right?"
Dale laughed, "Do you really hafta ask?"
"Come on Dale," Chip said, "Why not have them do something like play a board game until they get tired? It's kind of refreshing meeting children who haven't had their minds turned to putty by TV yet. Case in point…"
"Aw you're such a party pooper," Dale griped.
"I think Chip's right," said Gadget, "Think of little Michelle. Maybe Abigail and Willy could handle something scary but, well, she's been through enough already."
"Or do you want to be in charge of taking care of her at 3 in the morning when she wakes up having nightmares?" Chip asked Dale, "Because it'll be all your fault."
"Hey, I'll be fine," Michelle insisted, "I'm not a baby!"
Dale sighed, "Oh alright. Let me get something for us to play."
Russell shrugged, "Fine with me. What kinda games do you have anyway?"
"Hmm…hey you're a hedgehog, aintcha?"
"Yeah, so?"
Dale grinned, "Gadget, you still working on building that rodent-sized Sega Game Gear for me?"
"I haven't had a lot of time to perfect it, since I've had more important things to work on," Gadget said, "I'm still trying to build the controller, and figure out how to make it run on fewer than 6 double-A batteries. We need those for the Ranger Wing. I've taken the whole thing apart trying to tinker with it."
"D'aw there goes that idea," said Dale, turning back to Russell, "There's this video game called Sonic the Hedgehog I bet ya'd like, but the system's made for humans, we'd have to stand on either side of the thing and press the buttons, and we wouldn't be able to see the screen in the middle that well."
Abigail glanced down at the big button on the front of her overalls. The furlings had a hard time imagining a device like that, and couldn't quite fathom how pressing buttons could become a game. Though the idea of a game where the main character was a hedgehog certainly piqued Russell's curiosity. Dale went back to his bedroom, rummaging through the closet for board games, which had been made by mice in imitation of their larger human-made counterparts. He took a bunch of the boxes out and brought them back to the living room for the furlings to choose from. As Dale was left in charge of keeping them entertained, the rest of the rangers had a seat at the table in the kitchen and looked on.
"So Gadget, know of any science labs based in Maryland?" Chip asked, keeping his voice low.
"There's more than one," said Gadget, "But there's two in particular I really hope isn't the same one that took everyone from Dapplewood."
"Yeah? Which one, luv?" Monterey asked.
"The National Institute of Health," Gadget answered gravely, "Or worse still, the National Institute of Mental Health. Both are affiliated with one another, the second being a branch of the first. And both are based in Maryland."
"I…forgot that was in Maryland," Chip answered, getting a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach upon hearing this.
The reputation of those facilities preceded them in the rodent world. Though no animals had ever been known to escape the labs to tell the tale, the scientific articles published by humans made some of what went on in those labs common knowledge among literate animals.
"Ya think maybe we're in ova our heads wit' dis one?" Monterey Jack asked, "I reckon we're talkin' about rescuing upwards of thirty animals from dis high-security place…"
"We may need to contact somebody from the Rescue Aid Society, if this case is too big for us," Gadget suggested.
"No," Chip replied firmly, "I think we can handle this one ourselves. I believe in the Rescue Rangers, we don't need help from those glory hounds."
"We can't let our pride get in da way of this one, pally," said Monterey Jack, "Them kids are countin' on us."
Chip looked over at the furlings as Dale explained the rules of the rodent version of Candy Land to them. It was the first time he'd seen a smile on some of their faces.
"I know it upsets you that they take a lot of the high profile cases you want, but a little help couldn't hurt in this case," Gadget said, putting a hand on Chip's shoulder.
"The answer's still no," Chip insisted, folding his arms, "We've saved that many animals before, after all. We'll do fine on our own. I mean, if the going really does get too tough, perhaps we could try to get some help somewhere. But only as an absolute last resort."
"Alright Chippa, we'll see how far we can get on our own," said Monterey Jack.
"And I'll see if I can find out which lab we might be dealing with here," said Gadget, "Looks like I may have to put my computer hacking skills to the test."
"I guess that's all we really have to go on at this point," said Chip, "If all else fails we could go find Dapplewood and search for clues ourselves."