“Very subtle,” said Ram Odin.
“I can’t very well feel morally superior to them,” said Rigg. “If they weren’t listening to all our conversations, we’d lie to them, too, or at least hold back our plans. They may have human genes and, collectively, intelligence to match our own—”
“Surpass it, you mean,” said a mouse.
“By about ten thousand times,” said another.
“They’re quite vain,” said Rigg, “and they grossly overestimate their own mental prowess, but that only proves how much they resemble humankind. What they won’t do, even if they take over the computers somehow, is use that power to destroy all life on Garden. If we have to choose between a tyranny of rodents and the utter destruction of our species, I’ll hold my nose and take the rodents.”
“You smell worse than we do,” said a mouse.
“I bet they’re telling you how much worse we smell,” said Ram Odin.
“See?” said Rigg. “They’re not as subtle as they think.”
“How will we know if Noxon succeeds?” asked Ram Odin.
“In all our planning, we never got that far,” said Rigg. “It was hard enough to think of a way to get him to Earth and after that, he had to figure out how to stop the humans there from destroying us. We had no idea that he’d have to stop an alien invasion. If he succeeds, he may have to do it in some way that prevents him from ever coming back here. He may be stuck on the aliens’ home world.”
“What if Noxon comes in exactly the way that the Destroyers have always come?” asked Ram Odin. “What if our new defenses kill him before he can tell us of his success?”
“Our defenses don’t kill anybody,” said a mouse.
“We’re blocking out their computer commands, not blowing up their ships,” said another.
“Though we could work on that.”
“Don’t,” said Rigg. “Please. Let’s wait and see if what you’ve already done is enough.”
“If Noxon can come back,” said Ram Odin, “he’s bound to be as smart as you. He’ll think of the danger. He won’t return at the time the Destroyers always came.”
“He might have the use of a starship. The backward copy of the original. If he can turn it forward, he might make another voyage, another jump through the fold.”
Ram sighed. “And that means he might return eleven thousand years ago, with nineteen copies. Maybe we should be checking the past to see if he’s succeeded, instead of looking toward the future.”
“If he returns in the past, he can slice his way forward. Or jump. Who knows how precise he’s learned to be? He and Param accomplished a lot together before he left.”
Ram Odin rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “I’m tired. Since Noxon could return at any time in the existence of Garden, I don’t think it will hurt anything if I nap now.”
“We should actually leave some open time here on the bridge,” said Rigg, “so that if we have to come back and tell the mice that they need to do more, there’ll be an open space for us to return to.”
“Yes, Rigg, you can have a nap, too, if you want,” said Ram Odin. “You don’t have to come up with theories in order to justify your need for sleep.”
“Good, they’re leaving,” said a mouse. “We can take over the world now.”
“The mice are trying to see how gullible we are,” said Rigg.
“We’re as gullible as they need us to be,” said Ram Odin. “Once they take over the ships, they control all our information. How can we possibly check them? So let’s go to sleep and then decide whether to bounce into the future to see if we’ve succeeded.”
The door opened as Ram Odin approached it. Vadeshex was standing on the other side. “Oh, you’ve already heard?” asked Vadeshex.
“Heard what?” asked Ram Odin.
The mice swarmed through the door. “Stop that!” said Rigg. “When you do that we end up stepping on some of you.”
“We don’t mind,” said a mouse.
“Much,” said another.
“Well we mind,” said Rigg. “It’s sickening to feel your little bodies crunch under our shoes. Especially since the one we step on might have been conversing with us a moment before.”
The mice swerved to the edges of the doorway, and many of them clambered up onto Rigg’s and Ram Odin’s clothing to ride them out of the room.
“What’s happening?” Ram Odin asked Vadeshex.
“Noxon is back,” said Vadeshex.
“Successful or not?” asked Ram Odin.
“When did he arrive?” asked Rigg.
“He arrived with the Visitors,” said Vadeshex. “He brought a blind girl with him, and they immediately came back to a time when the two of you were here in my starship. The flyer is bringing them.”
“Did they stop the Destroyers?” Ram Odin insisted.
“Of course,” said Vadeshex. “He wouldn’t have come back with that job undone.”
“Did the Visitors know they were bringing him?” asked Rigg.
“I don’t think so,” said Vadeshex. “But I wasn’t there when they arrived. Or rather, I’m sure I will be there, but I at this moment have no idea of anything except that they called for the flyer, and yes, they stopped the Destroyers.”
“Have you notified everybody else?” asked Rigg.
“The other expendables are spreading the word among those who care. The Odinfolders are celebrating. All the mice in Larfold are celebrating on the beach with the Larfolders as they come out of the water.”
“And Loaf and Leaky? Param and Umbo?”
“Ramex is heading for them right now, in his flyer,” said Vadeshex. “Give me credit for knowing my job.”
“All the expendables and all the ships’ computers were notified at once,” said Rigg. “You had nothing to do with it, right?”
“Well, true,” said Vadeshex. “But I think it’s significant that Noxon and the girl are coming straight to me.”
“To us,” said Ram Odin.
“To me,” said Vadeshex. “The girl is blind. Her eyes were burned out and she wants to try a facemask to see if it will restore her eyes.”
“She’s from Earth?” asked Rigg.
“Where else would he come up with a human girl?” asked Ram Odin.
“Will the facemasks work with people who aren’t part of Garden’s gene pool?” asked Rigg.
“She’s a cousin of Ram Odin’s,” said Vadeshex. He turned to Ram. “Apparently you had cousins named Wheaton. Arnold and Lanae’s daughter, Deborah.”
“Of course,” said Ram Odin. “They died in an accident. Wasn’t her uncle taking care of her? He had an odd nickname.”
“Georgia,” said Vadeshex.
“How do you know all this?” asked Rigg. “How long did you wait to come tell us?”
“As you ask me questions,” said Vadeshex, “the flyer is passing along the questions and then I’m getting their answers. Why do you always see some kind of conspiracy or wrongdoing in everything I do?”
“Because he thinks you’re even more deceptive and evil than we are,” said a mouse perched on Rigg’s shoulder. “And that’s saying something.”
“I’d roll my eyes,” said Vadeshex, “except that Rigg gets testy when I do such human gestures.”
“I’m still going to go take that nap till they get here,” said Ram Odin. “And maybe I’ll sleep a little better knowing that the world has been saved.”
“Saved,” said Rigg, “but the computers have still been reprogrammed by the mice.”
“If we have to,” said Ram Odin, “somebody can go back and tell us not to have them do it.”
“Oh, that’s right,” said Rigg.
“See?” said the mouse on Rigg’s shoulder. “We are helpless before your superior powers.”
“Poor babies,” said Rigg. “You gave us those powers, so don’t blame us if we use them.”
“You mean you believed that story about how we altered you genetically?” said the mouse on his shoulder.