Stars filled Josh's vision as he finally returned to consciousness. He felt nauseous and his skull was throbbing with the worst headache of his life. Disorientated and confused, he realised he wasn't up on the Lee of the Stone anymore; he was back at the Brisby home, lying on his bed in the guest's room. What had happened? The last thing he could remember was being snuck up from behind by that burly Rat and then nothing. Listening, he heard voices arguing in the kitchen.
"…But I'm telling you, Justin, he's a friend! He saved my life! You can't turn him over to the Council, I beg you!" Josh recognised Elizabeth's voice, pleading with the Rat he remembered was called Justin.
"But, Biff, he's a human! An outsider! What's more, he's branded with the evil mark of the Land of Nimh itself! The Council could have you prosecuted for heresy…!"
"Hang the Council!" came the pompous voice of that old mouse Mr Ages, "Don't you realise? This could be the greatest discovery of all time! That human could hold the answers to years' worth of research! We must think twice before even talking to those Council cretins. Those paranoid fools will just hush the whole thing up and bury it without a second thought…!"
Putting a hand up to his head, Josh felt a turban of bandages where that rat had struck him, courtesy of Mrs Brisby no doubt. Although the blow had definitely given him a mild concussion, at least it hadn't split his skull open. Talk about the sheerest luck!
He was just about to sit up, when suddenly he felt a large hairy hand roughly push him back down; a familiar battle-axe loomed into view, held threateningly right above his face. Looking to his left, he saw his attacker brandishing his weapon at him, as if about to chop him into pieces.
"You stay right where you are, human!" snarled the large Rat in warning, his urge to use his weapon on a hair-trigger, "One false move and you're dead!" He didn't spare Josh so much as a glance, his furry, ham-sized hands firmly clutching his weapon, ready to strike at the slightest provocation. Feeling rather nervous by being pinned to a bed by this mad, soon-to-be executioner with an axe, Josh tried to reason with him.
"Take it easy, pal, I'm a friend of Mrs Brisby's…!" But the Rat only growled back threateningly, bringing the gleaming blade even closer to Josh's face. He clearly wasn't interested in talking.
"Silence! I will not be fooled by some Nimh spy!" NIMH? How the hell does he know about NIMH? Thought Josh in the back of his mind, "You're not going anywhere until my Captain has decided what is to be done with you – and if you want to stay alive until then, I suggest you do as you're told and that includes holding your tongue! And, for the last time, you brats aren't allowed in here!" he barked over his shoulder to, Josh noticed, the children, who were watching fearfully from the doorway.
"But, Brutus, he's our friend…!" Martin tried protesting, but the large Rat called Brutus only seemed to grow more irate by being pestered by a bunch of, as far as he was concerned, mindless children, who were obviously way over their heads.
"You idiot boy!" he roared, now really cross, as he rounded on the children, "Humans are your greatest enemy! You mother should have known better than to let this…this beast into your home! Didn't your father teach you anything?" Unfortunately, his yelling was loud enough to carry all the way to their mother's ears down in the kitchen.
"I will thank you not to yell at my son when you're a guest in my house, Brutus!" said Elizabeth sharply, who came running into the bedroom with Justin in tow. She held the snivelling Martin close, comforting him. Behind them, Mr Ages also came limping over with the help of a makeshift crutch, his busted leg in a cast. Brutus angrily rounded on Mrs Brisby.
"Have you taken leave of your senses, woman?" he roared, "You're extremely lucky this damned human didn't hurt you and your children! Your husband always said you were smarter than this, you gullible, dumb female…!" Elizabeth gasped at the insult. But this time he had gone too far so Justin stepped in.
"That's enough, Brutus!" he chastised his aid-de-camp, "Mistake or not, you're still talking to a lady, so mind your manners!" Brutus seemed to want to push it further but ultimately fell silent, his code of command winning over his sentiments. But in the midst of their arguing, he had completely forgotten about the human he was supposed to be guarding. Alarmed, he turned back to his prisoner, only to see the children, who had sneaked past him while he had been busy yelling at their mother, lovingly embracing Josh, who hugged them back with equal fondness.
"We thought he was going to kill you Josh!" cried Teresa, wincing at the sight of Josh's bandaged head, "Are you all right?" Josh shot Brutus a reproachful glare for giving the children such a scare with his threatening display. He wouldn't be surprised if they were left traumatised by such violence.
"I'm just fine, sweetheart," he said, patting her on the back reassuringly, "Just fine." Cynthia was sniffling tearfully, clinging onto Josh's sleeve, "Justin says they'll have to take you away…" Even Josh couldn't find any words to reassure her, feeling his own sense of dread kicking in. It seemed his running and hiding days were over.
Meanwhile, the Rats – with the exception of Brutus – were staring speechless with amazement at the sight of the children and this human being so friendly with one another. Elizabeth smiled warmly, looking completely content at seeing her children in the arms of this stranger. Brutus was about to intervene and shoo the children away, but Justin held him back. What he had originally assumed to be a vile, dangerous creature, with hostile intentions, now seemed far from the truth.
"Well, I guess introductions are in order," he said finally, breaking the silence, "I'm Captain Justin Wilson of the Rosebush City garrison and my aid-de-camp Sergeant Brutus Stanton. The weird old goat here is Professor Horatio Ages, of the Rats' Academy of Sciences." Ages shot Justin a glare for calling him a 'weird old goat', but shrugged it off, eager to satisfy his scientific curiosity regarding their new acquaintance. "And you are, friend?"
"Captain Josh Anderson, flight officer of the NIMH-One starship," said Josh, reluctantly offering his hand to shake. Justin and Ages returned the greeting warmly, but Brutus merely snubbed him, glaring daggers at him, still brandishing his battle-axe, as if anticipating an imminent conflict. Josh launched into his story of where he came from and how he had met Elizabeth and her family.
"So that strange flying contraption we discovered in the lake – the one I was called in to examine – was yours wasn't?" exclaimed Mr Ages, explaining how some local fisherman had discovered Josh's sunken pod a few days ago when their boat had gotten snagged in the floating drogue chute, which they had salvaged from the lake by cutting its lines.
Swimmers had been sent down to examine the alien craft, but finding it empty. Suspecting there might be some stranger lurking about, Justin and Brutus had been sent on patrol to search the surrounding area. Mr Ages had taken charge of the chute and brought it back to his lab for further study.
"And you say you're part of a band of human explorers from the stars?" asked Justin, trying to make some sense out of what he was hearing. Although Josh didn't seem hostile, his story still sounded a bit too far-fetched; in other words, Justin had no idea what to make of this stranger who claimed to have dropped out of the sky. Unfortunately, someone else seemed to know exactly what was to be done.
"We have to turn him in to the Council at once," said Brutus, "The King has to know about all this! You heard what he just said; this isn't just one human we're talking about here, it's a whole invasion!" For an instant, Josh wished he'd kept his mouth shut about his crew being out there looking for him, "If his comrades decide to attack the City, we'll be caught completely unawares…!"
The children seemed to realise Justin shared Brutus' concerns at this point, at least the part about having to let someone know about their new friend as soon as possible. They looked at him pleadingly, "Please Justin, you can't arrest Josh, you can't!" begged Teresa, tears in her eyes, shaking her godfather by his tunic.
"Stay out of this child!" snapped Brutus sternly, "It's the law! It may spoil your fun sometimes, but it saves lives in the end…" But Justin, who had always had a soft spot for his godchildren and not wanting to disappoint them when he had the final say in this matter, made up his mind. Strictly speaking, he hadn't been sent here to arrest anybody; only to make sure that everything was all right and to assist Ages with his experiment. As long as there was no reason to believe this stranger posed a threat, technically, he wasn't obliged to detain the human. And he was real curious to find out more about this Josh Anderson and where he came from.
"All right, we'll call it to vote," he said at last, "Those in favour of postponing reporting our new friend to the Council?" Everyone except Brutus raised their hands in favour. In fact, the warrior Rat looked outraged.
"In the name of the Great Owl, what's this?!" he shouted incredulously, "A Captain of the Guards should not be putting his duty to vote! Concealing a potentially dangerous enemy makes us accessories to treason! The Council could have our ranks for this…"
"I'm not suggesting we conceal anybody," said Justin firmly. Even though he did tend to bend the rules from time to time if it was for the greater good, he wasn't about to break the law in a stranger's favour, "We will simply make sure Captain Anderson is safely reunited with his crew and then we will make a full report to the Council about these visitors. I'm sure Nicodemus will appreciate a better insight on these humans, if he's to persuade the Council to approve any peaceful diplomacy between our leaders…"
Although Josh couldn't exactly guarantee any 'peaceful diplomacy', knowing how unpredictable Commander Fitzgibbons could be, especially when it came to doing something that wasn't covered in the regulations – hell, he could hardly imagine how his crew would even react when they saw his new friends -, he couldn't hope for a better deal at this point. The important thing right now was to get his arse safely back to his ship.
After a long while, Brutus grudgingly nodded, "Very well, Justin. You're my commanding officer and it's my duty to respect your judgement. But I give our friend here fair warning," he added, turning to Josh, "If you try to double-cross us, human, or lead us into some kind of trap, I'll personally deliver you to the Council...in several neatly dismembered pieces. Do I make myself clear?" Josh wearily nodded.
"Then I believe we have an understanding," said Justin, ignoring Elizabeth furiously chastising Brutus for making such violent threats in front of her children. He turned back to Josh, "So, where are your friends?"
"Somewhere up north," Josh explained, remembering the signal he had picked up on his HHC earlier up on the Lee of the Stone, "Elizabeth said it was that same place her husband went looking for years ago. What was the name again? Thorn Valley, I think she called it…" Not surprisingly, everyone gasped in surprise.
"Your companions are at Thorn Valley?" gasped Justin, suddenly feeling suspicious at the thought of a band of alien humans trespassing onto their kind's most sacred ground, where the long-lost Temple of the Great Owl was rumoured to be, "What are they doing there?" Josh shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know. I suppose it was the first favourable landing site they spotted on re-entry... Who knows?"
"And how exactly to you propose we get to them?" challenged Brutus. Like everyone else, he knew the story of Jonathan's disappearance well – including the fact that a journey to Thorn Valley wasn't exactly a Boy Scouts' picnic. Josh however didn't seem all that troubled.
"We could walk there," he suggested, "115 miles isn't an impossible distance. The homing signal on my HHC should lead us straight to them."
"Then maybe you'd like to explain how you intend to cross the Dark Mountains, which lie between us and the Valley, Captain Anderson?" asked Mr Ages, "The last mouse to brave that passing never returned." Beside him, Elizabeth lowered her head sadly, thinking of her long lost husband.
"Why, what's out there?" asked Josh suspiciously.
"The Dark Mountains are the territory of the Exiles," explained Justin grimly, "Outlaw bandits, mostly banished criminals or fugitives, who cause all kinds of trouble in these provinces; raiding and looting villages, robbing and murdering merchants, kidnapping women and children for slave labour…" Josh frowned. These Exiles didn't sound like the kind of characters he'd want to be chums with.
"Even if you knew every step of the way, you'd never make it to Thorn Valley," said Mr Ages, "Crossing through Exile territory is guaranteed suicide." But Josh, thinking hard of any alternatives, had suddenly come up with a good idea.
"Who says we have to walk to Thorn Valley?" he said with a smile on his face. His plan was going to be a long shot, but with his crew not responding to his distress signal, this might be his best bet of reaching safety, instead of taking his chances against a whole army of bandits. "What if we could fly there?" His friends all looked at him as if he had gone mad.
"If this is supposed to be a joke, I fail to see the humour in it," said Justin sharply. Reaching Thorn Valley, which his old friend had died trying to do, was no laughing matter as far as he was concerned. Mr Ages however seemed to catch on to Josh's plan pretty quick.
"Are you proposing that we build another one of your flying machines?" asked the old inventor, the wheels in his head suddenly turning wildly. If this human knew the secret to flying – his lifelong ambition -, then he was going to get it out of him, even if it meant selling his soul to the Great Owl Himself, "Can it be done?" Josh nodded, grinning from ear to ear.
"With the parachute from my pod, which you so conveniently salvaged, we have all the materials we need to build a sail-glider and fly it across the desert and the Dark Mountains, all the way to Thorn Valley, and in only a fraction of the time it would take us to walk!" With his aeronautical engineering skills, combined with his flying experience, constructing a working glider would be a synch. That is, if his friends agreed to help him with this project, which, judging by their doubtful expressions, seemed very unlikely.
"You nearly killed yourself today, you old crackpot!" growled Brutus to Ages, "Do you have such a death wish that you're willing to place your faith in this untrustworthy human and his death-trap flying contraptions?" Ages gave Brutus a disgusted look at his lack of foresight, but said nothing, possibly also beginning to have second thoughts about Josh's plan, remembering his broken leg. Someone else however had an entirely different opinion.
"I trust Josh," said Elizabeth, "I have seen him do some extraordinary things for me and my children, enough to convince me he knows what he's doing. I'm with him on this!" Josh could have kissed her but decided against it at the sight of Justin's jealous look.
"Then I guess we're all in this together," said Teresa, her siblings muttering excitedly to each other about Josh's idea, "So when do we start…?"
That evening found Josh sitting at the kitchen table, using some of Jonathan's old parchment, quill and carbon markers Elizabeth had given him to draw the schematic for the glider he and his friends would be building the next day. Using his HHC to perform the multiple calculations for the aerodynamics, drogue coefficients and stress factors required for the design, the prototype slowly began to take shape on paper.
With no additional guest beds to spare, Justin and Brutus had curled up in sleeping bags by the fireplace, accustomed to sleeping in worse places. Although, fortunately, they had kept their word and not been a hassle to Josh, they wouldn't let him out of their sight. Brutus had even insisted on barricading the front door before going to sleep, keeping everyone confined indoors until morning, much to Elizabeth's displeasure. Mr Ages had returned to his own home, where they'd be meeting him in the morning, to set up shop in his laboratory.
Elizabeth sat with Josh at the kitchen table, sipping on a mug of hot broth, as she watched her friend working away, admiring his patience and dedication. She knew that pretty soon it would be time to say goodbye and she wanted to make every moment she had left with her new friend count. Every now and then Josh would wink at her, enjoying her company, as he silently worked on his schematics, none of which made much sense to Elizabeth.
"Here we are, all done," he finally said, showing her the complete blueprint of a delta-shaped biplane glider, its nylon wings and fuselage supported by a thin, wooden framework, with narrow twin booms extending aft, supporting the vertical stabilizer. All of this was mounted atop a pair of small, wooden wheels, which formed the rudimentary undercarriage. A small sitting space in the middle of this rickety assembly allowed enough sitting space for the pilot and four passengers, who would lie flat onto the wings with harnesses, just like the Wright brothers did. A far safer and aerodynamically-sound structure that Mr Ages' rudimentary prototype.
Although the science made little sense to Elizabeth, the sketch still intrigued her, as she stared in silent admiration at her friend's marvellous handiwork. Her eyes fell upon the outlines of the five figures lying flat in the seating area of the fuselage, which Josh had dubbed 'the cradle'.
"How come there're five of you? I thought it was you, Justin, Brutus, and Ages who'll be going…" She was surprised when Josh gently took her hands into his and turned her round to face him.
"Because you're coming too Elizabeth," he said, smiling at her stunned expression, "I want you to meet my colleagues and see our ship. You, of all people, have definitely earned that privilege." Elizabeth's surprise suddenly gave way to fear as she realised what Josh was proposing.
"But doesn't that mean I'll have to fly with you on this thing?" she exclaimed, shuddering at the thought, "Josh, I couldn't do that! I'm terrified of heights!"
Josh sighed sadly. He didn't know whether it was really due to her fear of heights that she was declining his offer, or simply because she knew they would eventually be forced to part, but, either way, it was inevitable. Regardless of the tape parade, publicity, not to mention the money this expedition would bring to his name, he would be forced to leave what he really cared about behind on this crummy planet. Elizabeth and her family coming back to Earth with him was out of the question; and neither would Fitzgibbons allow him to stay behind. Life sometimes seemed just so cruel...
Gently, he reached over and pulled her into his arms; Elizabeth snuggled into his embrace and Josh could swear he saw a tear trickle down her face. He gently ran his fingers through her hair, trying to reassure her.
"Elizabeth, how come Justin keeps calling you 'Biff'?" he asked, suddenly remembering that odd name he had heard her Rat friend call her by when he had greeted her up on the Lee of the Stone. Elizabeth burst out giggling like a schoolgirl discussing her first boyfriend.
"Oh, just some stupid nickname my parents made up for me when I was a child, when I couldn't yet pronounce my real name properly. My husband and Justin always called me by that too. I always thought 'Elizabeth' was a little too formal for a poor, peasant girl like me anyway…"
"Well, I'll let you know you happen to share the same name of the great-grandmother of the King of England, who had a heart of gold, just like you," said Josh encouragingly. Although Elizabeth personally felt she had nothing in common with her long-deceased namesake, the late Queen Elizabeth II of England, she felt real touched.
"I'll take that as a compliment, Josh," she said, reaching over to kiss him on the cheek. Josh smiled, gently pulling her onto his lap.
"It wasn't meant as a compliment, Biff," he said, using Elizabeth's nickname for the first time, "Queen Elizabeth had the same dedication and love for her people as you have for your family. And then you let me, a total stranger, into your home. You're a very special person, Biff and any monetary wealth is irrelevant to what's in here." He placed his hand over Elizabeth's heart, "Someday, after I'm gone, you'll know what I mean."
Not too keen on dwelling again on the miserable thought of the time when they'd have to say farewell, Elizabeth bid Josh goodnight and went off to bed. Josh stayed awake a while longer, revising his calculations and adding a few last touches to the schematic, which he'd be delivering to Ages' workshop in the morning, so they could start construction.
Finished at last, he dragged himself to bed to get some shuteye, pausing only to pull the loose blankets over Elizabeth's shoulders as she slept. Undressing, he got into his bed and blew out the oil lamp on the bedside table. But, tired as he was, he couldn't sleep. For a long while he lay awake, admiring his friend's beautiful face, visible in the patch of Nimh-Alpha light coming from the window, thinking miserably of the moment when they'd have to say goodbye forever…
Unbeknownst to Josh, Justin, also lay awake in the lounge next door, lost in his own thoughts. All day, he'd been wandering about this strange visitor. Although this Josh Anderson fellow seemed friendly enough, in direct contrast to everything their ancient sacred writings said about the Land of Nimh and its evil humans who might return one day and destroy them all, yet he wasn't so sure about the close relationship he had observed between him and Elizabeth.
Although it wasn't in Justin's character to hold a grudge easily, watching Elizabeth and this stranger being so intimate with one another was getting a little too good for his liking. Although he was sure she would never admit it to anyone, he could tell, deep down, Elizabeth harboured great feelings for this human, and vice-versa. And it was troubling him greatly.
Although Elizabeth had insisted on remaining faithful to her husband's memory all these years, never considering remarriage, Justin, being Jonathan's closest friend, had secretly been hoping for the chance of winning her heart someday.
Some of his superiors might have frowned at this, since Mouse-Rat relationships were extremely biased, with the Rats always passing off as superior to the Mice, not unlike the old racial discriminations which still persisted to this day back on Earth. But Justin didn't care. And now, because of Josh, his heart was being torn asunder; part of him felt that it was not his business to interfere and that he'd be betraying his old friend's memory if he did, while the other half wished that this Josh Anderson would soon go his own way and leave Elizabeth alone…
Author's note: So now, we have all the protagonists brought together as a group; the antagonists will soon be making their next appearance. Tribute to RogueFanKC, who gave me the idea of making Justin jealous of Josh because of his feelings towards Elizabeth. On a side note, Elizabeth's nickname 'Biff' is actually Elizabeth Hartman's old childhood name. Enjoy and please review!