Little Mouse
A long time ago, on a planet a thousand times better than
the one I live in, lived a little mouse on a spaceship controlled by mice. This
mouse was like all the others in many ways. They had all received the same
training to defend their ship from delinquent predators, selfish beings who
claimed they wanted to colonize the mice's ship, unify them without consent.
But this mouse had a secret that no one could know, not even if the mouse
wanted to, because no one spoke to him.
It's true. Believe me, this mouse did not communicate with
others of his kind because they did not speak to him. I can't say for certain
if they didn't want to, because communication among the other crew members was
also very limited. The mice didn't live in a democracy, like most countries in
our world, they had a leader they couldn't disobey.
The leader wasn't a mouse, which made things more
complicated. He was a rat, focused only on himself, not that he had much
choice, being as fat as one of the moons. He loved to eat. Some say that when
he got angry, he ate the mice of the crew, but I can't confirm that, and even
if I could, I'm not sure I'd want to. This rat hated being talked back, rarely
asked questions, dictated what was to be done, and would harm anyone who
opposed him. If they weren't eaten, they were certainly thrown out of the ship.
The rest of the crew, as our main character told me, was
impeccable, but so impeccable that it made interpersonal (interrat?)
interactions terrible. There was no room to express opinions, no small talk;
everyone had a role and a schedule to follow. They could rarely afford to stop
working unless the leader, King Kaj Nance, was having his usual nap at the
third moon of the day. At that time, although very carefully and almost
silently, the crew could talk. Some, fearing the royal guards might be pretending
to be on their side and report back to the king, stuck to eye contact, forming
their own language. The only mouse no one talked to was the protagonist, Chi,
as you already know. But one day, in the middle of the third moon cycle,
someone spoke to him—another insignificant mouse whom almost no one talked to
either. When he saw Chi staring at a notebook in his hands, Calli moved over to
Chi, who wouldn’t take his eyes off the notebook.
"Hello."
Chi, without drawing attention, looked sideways to look at
his colleague, going back to focusing on the notebook.
"Hello," Chi replied. "I didn’t know you
could talk."
"Now you know. What are you looking at?"
Both turned their gazes to the notebook, then around them,
and back to the notebook.
"Is that the ship's plan? Where did you get that? You
know if the guards catch you, there will be serious consequences for having it.
If the king catches you, I don't doubt he’ll eat you! Imagine what would happen
if you sold this to some enemy, it would be madness!" Calli said, alarmed.
"Relax, it’s not the plan of this ship. It’s the plan
for my future ship. When I grow up, I’m going to be the captain of a ship
bigger than this one. Want to see the drawing? I made it. But don’t tell
anyone.”
"Chi, you know the king can’t even suspect you’ll leave
the ship, right? You know you can’t even dream so. If he senses someone
planning to escape, he throws them out of the ship. Surely you don’t want that,
they say the air out there is unbreathable."
Our protagonist rolled his eyes, nodded, and looked outside
the ship through the tiny window above his head. It was already late; it was a
matter of minutes before the king would wake up. When they realized it, two
royal guards with weapons at their chests were looking at them, too close to
escape. They were caught talking about Chi’s conspiracy and the guards had
heard enough to know what to do. They grabbed them by their arms, and without a
word, the king awaited them, freshly awake and full of energy to throw someone
off the ship.
When they arrived, the king didn’t even bother to look at
the judged. He asked one of the guards what had happened, to which the guard
replied that Chi had a plan of the ship.
"I see. And you, anything to say in your defence?"
"It’s not the ship's plan," Chi replied, bravely.
"Then what is this I have in my hand?" the king
asked impatiently, examining the sketch of a spaceship.
"My future ship," the mouse retorted confidently.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Calli, scared, signalling him to stop
talking. Chi ignored it.
"Hm. Future ship? You mice were born to serve me.
There’s no way you’re leaving this ship unless you’re expelled, and even then,
you’ll drift until you explode. You’d never have access to cutting-edge
technology, don’t make me laugh. Guards, through the left door. Just the hopeful
one, the other stays."
Without delay, the guards opened the left door, leading to a
confined space with a glass door. They dropped the mouse and entered the king’s
room, leaving Chi alone. Without even realizing it, the glass door opened, and
Chi flew out of the ship.
He found himself alone, in the dark, if not for the flames fuelling
the ship he had left. Chi looked around, feeling his eyes water; he was truly
alone. He closed his eyes and hoped never to open them again.
He had no idea how much time had passed, but his plan hadn’t
worked. Chi opened his eyes and found himself in a white, odourless room,
completely empty except for the bed he lay on. Suddenly, a slit in the wall
opened, and another mouse, dressed in white with an orange symbol on his back,
entered. He looked at Chi, extended his paw, and introduced himself.
"Hello, I’m Shiro. I found you. You were like many
others before, so I picked you up and brought you to my humble ship, which is
little more than a cubicle. Do you need anything?"
Chi was too scared to respond, so Shiro just told him to
follow him and he did. They passed through the slit and found what looked like
a huge city. Didn’t Shiro say the ship was a cubicle? Didn’t he say they were
on a ship?
"I know what you’re thinking. I forgot to mention that
everything you see around you is a replica of the world below, but it’s not
real. You’re wearing a chip in your arm that makes you experience this, but
it’s just an illusion. Well, come with me to that shop, there we can talk."
They followed the short path to said shop and Shiro asked
Chi to explain what had happened, to which the mouse promptly vented.
"Wow, I’ve never heard that one before. And about your
dream, how are you planning to proceed now?"
"Honestly, I’ve lost all hope of executing my plan. I’d
like to save the other mice, but not only do I lack the means, I lack the
strength. It would be unthinkable to go against the king and his guards.
There’s probably no way to get into the ship without being detected," Chi
commented.
Shiro sighed, thoughtful. There had to be something that
could be done. Really put into perspective, those mice were being exploited by
a very bad, selfish, and egocentric king. After a few minutes of silence, Shiro
smiled.
"I have an idea. Let’s go to my workshop, the so-called
cubicle. I don’t have enough materials to build you a ship, but with what I
have and your creativity, maybe we can do something. Let’s go."
Chi stood up, and Shiro immediately opened another slit.
This took them to the workshop, very messy, with papers on the floor,
unfinished inventions, and some construction materials out of place. Shiro sat
in front of a desk with a blank sheet of paper and a pencil on it, picked up
the pencil, turned to Chi, and asked, "So, do we have any ideas?"
A few hours later, they got to work, building the prototype
designed by the two. Chi regained hope, seeing the completed work, and put his
visual memory into practice, drawing a sketch of his old work ship, pondering
the best entrances with Shiro. They agreed on a plan and put it into action.
They travelled close to the fat rat’s ship and turned on the
turbo, crashing hard into the exhaust of the attacked ship. Chi knew that the
king, fearing an invasion, since he was a coward besides being selfish, would
hide in an unreachable inner compartment, leaving the door through which Chi
had been ejected unguarded. And that’s where the invaders entered. They
connected a compartment of their ship to the glass door to avoid the danger of
being blown into space and entered the ship—step one, successful. Now step two…
The mice, scared of a possible invasion, did not expect to
see their old colleague, Chi, inside a huge robot suit with two heads.
"Crew, we are Kuro. We’ve come to your aid. Hide, we’ll
deal with the Fat Rat-"
"King Kaj Nance," Chi said.
"He’s still a fat rat..."
"Hide, wherever you know best. We’ll deal with the king
without bothering you. He won’t harm you anymore! Go!" Chi exclaimed.
Shiro nodded and shouted, followed by all the watching mice.
The crew did as suggested, and the invaders headed to the
compartment where the king was hiding. Halfway there, they separated the robot
suit, transforming into two smaller robots. Chi headed towards the king, and
Shiro went to evacuate the crew.
"We meet again, then…"
Chi, terrified by the voice of the one he feared most,
turned around, and without time to react, the king opened his rat mouth and
swallowed Chi. No one expected that, huh. The king left the compartment and
walked toward the crew being evacuated to Shiro’s ship.
Fortunately, the crew was already safe when the king,
burping, reached them.
"Chi! We’re safe, where are you?" Shiro shouted,
not understanding why the king was getting closer and closer to the refugees.
Suddenly, the king stopped walking, there was a grunt, and
the king fell to his knees, making a motion to vomit. Making more noise, the
rat vomited the alive body of Chi, who, dazed, stood up. Positioning his
mechanized arm at a right angle, he fired a red jet that hit the fat rat’s
belly squarely, which, without delay, exploded into a thousand pieces
throughout the ship.
Chi turned around, Shiro ran to his side and asked if he was
okay. Chi nodded, sighed, and looked around. The crew on the rescue ship
applauded. Shiro laughed, and Chi joined him, relieved to be rid of the
terrifying figure that ruled over the mice. All the rescued returned to the
ship, completely dirty with scattered rat remains, and suggested to Shiro and
Chi to clean the ship and create a new civilization. They agreed and proceeded
to exit their robotic suits. The mice then began cleaning the ship.
Shortly after, life was given to Saki, the new civilization
of mice in space, without a king, where everyone is free to express their
opinions and talk. Chi became the captain of this ship, and Shiro the
co-captain, and they never had to whisper during the third moon again.