Orville Mouse and the Puzzle of the Shattered Abacus (Orville Wellington Mouse Book 2) Read online

  An Orville Wellington Mouse Adventure

  ORVILLE

  MOUSE

  and the Puzzle of the

  Shattered Abacus

  by Tom Hoffman

  -

  Copyright © 2016 by Tom Hoffman

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Tom Hoffman Graphic Design

  Anchorage, Alaska

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Tom Hoffman

  Visit my website at thoffmanak.wordpress.com

  Email: [email protected]

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing: 2016

  ISBN 978-0-9971952-6-2

  -

  Books by Tom Hoffman

  Paperback versions available online

  at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

  The Eleventh Ring

  The Thirteenth Monk

  The Seventh Medallion

  Orville Mouse and the Puzzle

  of the Clockwork Glowbirds

  Orville Mouse and the Puzzle

  of the Shattered Abacus

  -

  With lots of love

  for Molly, Alex, Sophie, and Oliver

  A very special thanks to my wonderful editors

  Beth, Sophie, Oliver, Alex, and Amanda

  for their invaluable assistance

  and excellent advice.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 - On Three

  Chapter 2 - Payday

  Chapter 3 - The Necklace

  Chapter 4 - The Rolling Puzzle

  Chapter 5 - Blue Molasses

  Chapter 6 - The Dragonfly

  Chapter 7 - The Iron Door

  Chapter 8 - Ollo the Rock Mouse

  Chapter 9 - Up and Away

  Chapter 10 - Two Bees or Not Two Bees?

  Chapter 11 - The Newspaper

  Chapter 12 - The Great Silver Rabbit

  Chapter 13 - The Shrieking Terror

  Chapter 14 - The Cave You Fear

  Chapter 15 - The Fine Print

  Chapter 16 - The Other Side

  Chapter 17 - Wild Flowers

  Chapter 18 - The Good Captain

  Chapter 19 - Three Percent

  Chapter 20 - The Wreck

  Chapter 21 - Some Reassembly Required

  Chapter 22 - Abacus

  Chapter 23 - The Search Begins

  Chapter 24 - Abacus MBC Gondorian

  Chapter 25 - The Black Wall

  Chapter 26 - Let’s Go Dancing

  Chapter 27 - The Ring

  Chapter 28 - Shields Up

  Chapter 29 - The Stranger

  Chapter 30 - Down Under

  Chapter 31 - The Dome

  Chapter 32 - The Blue Tree

  Chapter 33 - The Letter

  Chapter 34 - MV Bermitar

  Chapter 35 - The Net

  Chapter 36 - Reunion

  Chapter 37 - Homeward Bound

  Chapter 38 - The Shadow

  Chapter 39 - Just There

  -

  “We meet ourselves time and time

  again in a thousand disguises on

  the path of life.”

  – Carl Jung

  -

  “Through all the tumult and the strife

  I hear the music ringing;

  It finds an echo in my soul—

  How can I keep from singing?”

  – Author unknown, 1868

  Chapter 1

  On Three

  “Eight minutes and twenty seconds, right on time.”

  “What’s right on time?”

  Orville Wellington Mouse leaned back against a gnarled tree trunk, studying his paw curiously as the warm east Symocan jungle sun glinted off his honey-toned fur.

  “The sunlight is right on time. It takes eight minutes and twenty seconds for light from the sun to reach the Earth. And here it is, bouncing off my fur, right on schedule, not a second late.”

  “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go.”

  “Sophia, you really should learn to relax. Life isn’t a race, you know, we’re here to enjoy the adventure, enjoy the magic found in the day to day miracles of life, like golden sunlight reflecting off our fur.”

  “You’re not fooling me, I know exactly what you’re doing.”

  “Isn’t the view spectacular? Such a delightful medley of greens in the jungle foliage, and the fragrances drifting up from those glorious tropical blossoms… intoxicating is the word I would use. I never imagined the east Symocan jungle being so beautiful. I really could sit here forever.”

  “Enough. We need to get moving. I want to reach the summit before sunset.”

  “Don’t be in such a hurry. How about a nice relaxing lunch? I’ll shape some tasty cheese sandwiches, a pitcher of chilled lemonade, and a tin of Proto’s famous little frosted cakes. You can’t tell me you’re not famished after all that hiking.”

  “Orville, we have to go, and we have to go now.”

  Orville gave a groan and rose to his feet, slinging his pack to his shoulder. He didn’t like this dream at all and he had no idea why he was having it. Nothing about it made sense.

  Sophia pointed to a rocky path leading through a dense tangle of vegetation. “If we take that trail we won’t have to fight our way through all the vines and thorny undergrowth. It should cut at least an hour off our climbing time.”

  Orville studied the brilliant blue sky. “The clouds are stunning. So round and puffy and solid, almost like you could walk on them. Wouldn’t that be fun, jumping around on a cloud? That one looks like a mouse dancing to a catchy tune. What do you think the big tall cloud looks like?”

  “Stop. You need to stop.”

  “All right, you win. Let’s just get this over with.”

  “That’s the spirit. I’ll race you to the top. Last one up is a big purple monkey butt!”

  A look of terror flashed across Orville’s face. “GIANT CARNIVOROUS CENTIPEDE!”

  Sophia popped up a powerful protective energy field around her, commonly referred to by shapers as a sphere of defense. She whirled around to face the deadly slithering beast. Much to her surprise there was not a single carnivorous centipede in sight. A light of realization flashed in her eyes and she whipped back around, catching sight of Orville as he scrambled madly up the trail.

  “That’s cheating! You’re going to pay dearly for your immature and unscrupulous behavior!” Sophia raced up the rugged rocky path after him.

  Less than an hour later the pair of adventurers crested the summit. Orville looked down at the lush jungle foliage far below them. “I feel kind of sick.”

  Sophia rubbed his shoulder. “It will be all right, monkey butt.”

  “Do you think it will hurt?”

  “It’s a dream, it’s not going to hurt.”

  Orville peered over the rim of the volcano, gazing with consternation into the glowing, burbling lava, the air shimmering and undulating around him. He could feel his legs shaking. “It looks really, really hot down there. I mean really hot.”

  “Of course it looks hot. The temperature of molten lava is at lea
st a thousand degrees, probably closer to twelve hundred. Ready? On three?”

  “I guess so. Why do we have to do this?”

  “I don’t know, we just have to. It’s your dream, not mine.” Sophia reached over and took Orville’s paw, grasping it tightly. “Okay, here we go. One, two, THREE!”

  Orville Mouse and his best friend in the world, the brilliant and often bossy Sophia Mouse, leaped from the rim of the volcano, plummeting toward the violently burbling swells of glowing magma.

  Orville watched in utter and complete terror as the incandescent pool of fiery lava shot up toward him. He had time for one horrified shriek before plunging into the seething volcanic nightmare.

  Chapter 2

  Payday

  “Thank goodness that dream is over. So scary. Why in the world would I dream about jumping into a volcano? I wonder what time it is?” Orville poked an arm out from under his cozy nest of blankets, feeling around for his pocket watch. “I hope I have time for a little more–”

  Orville froze. “What in the world?” He yanked his paw back under the sheets. His arm was covered with snow.

  “Oh no, what did I do now?” He threw off the covers, staring blankly at the six inch layer of fluffy white snow lying atop his bedside table.

  Leaping out of bed he grabbed a wooden bucket from the corner of his room and swept the baffling precipitation into it, drying everything as best he could with a large towel.

  Orville flopped back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. “This makes no sense, none at all. Why would I dream about jumping into a pool of molten lava, then wake up to find a pile of snow on my table? I must have shaped the snow in my sleep, but why? Maybe I was so afraid of jumping into the hot lava that I shaped something really cold. That sort of makes sense. I’ll ask Sophia, she’ll probably know.”

  Orville hopped out of bed, casting aside all thoughts of his scary volcanic dream. He had far more important things on his mind.

  “Today’s the big day! My first payday with the new raise.” He rubbed his paws together with a gleeful laugh. “This will be the most silvers I’ve ever had at one time. Even after I get Mum’s birthday present I’ll have plenty of silvers left over to buy whatever I want. I can’t wait to tell Sophia about Mum’s present.”

  Orville threw his clothes on and dashed down the stairs. Proto, the ten foot tall silver Rabbiton he and Sophia had befriended while solving The Puzzle of the Clockwork Glowbirds, stood at the stove stirring a steaming pot of oatmeal.

  “Morning, Proto! That’s a lovely apron you’re wearing.”

  “I borrowed it from Mum. It’s quite functional.”

  “Umm... it might be just a bit flowery. What’s for breakfast? Where’s Mum?”

  “Snapberry muffins are in the oven, warm oatmeal with brown sugar and cinnamon is almost done, and there’s a pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice on the table.”

  “Sounds delicious. Mum went to work already?”

  “Quite correct, she had to run some errands so she left early. I hope I didn’t disturb your sleep with all my racket.”

  “What racket? I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Ahh, then you may forget I even mentioned it.”

  “Now I’m curious. What were you doing last night that made such a racket?”

  Proto hesitated, clearing his throat. “It’s possible something may have jumped through an interdimensional photonic simulation barrier I accidentally left open in my room, but I believe I caught them all and sent them back through. Would you care for a warm snapberry muffin?”

  Orville tried not to sound terrified. “Caught them all? It doesn’t really sound like a very good idea to open one of those barrier things in your room. What kind of creatures came through? Were they scary?”

  Proto was considering his answer when there was a loud knock on the front door. “I’ll dash and get that while you start your breakfast.” Proto scurried out of the kitchen with a nervous glance at Orville. A moment later he swung open the front door.

  “Hi, Proto, is Orville ready? I’m walking to work with him.”

  “A fine good morning, Sophia. I have warm snapberry muffins fresh from the oven if you’d care for one.”

  “I already had breakfast, thanks.” Sophia stepped through the living room into the kitchen. “Hi, Orville. Ready to go?”

  “Almost. Today’s my first payday with the big raise. I can’t wait.”

  “What are you going to do with all the silvers?”

  “I’m going to get a really special birthday present for Mum with some of them. She’s going to love it. I can’t wait to tell you about it. Hey, I almost forgot, I had a scary dream last night that you and I jumped into a big volcano full of molten lava. Isn’t that weird?”

  Orville waited for Sophia to laugh, but instead witnessed a complex expression crossing her face. When Orville analyzed it he could see concern, fear, doubt, a touch of excitement and a snippet of eager anticipation. “Why do you have that weird look?”

  “I had a scary dream last night too. I’ll tell you about it later, I’m still trying to understand its deeper meaning. It’s significant that we both had scary dreams on the same night. I’m sensing an important new chain of events is beginning, and I think it’s going to be a scary one.”

  Orville’s eyes widened. “Scary? We might really have to jump into a volcano?”

  “We should go. We’ll talk about it on the way to the Book Emporium. You can ask Master Marloh about our dreams. He might know if they’re connected to another chain of events. Has he said anything more about your papa still being alive?”

  Orville looked down into his bowl of oatmeal. “No, he said he can’t tell me anything right now because he’s afraid I’ll go searching for Papa, and he doesn’t think I’m ready for something as dangerous as that. He said he sent out a search party of Metaphysical Adventurers from the Dragonfly Squadron, whatever that is. He wouldn’t even tell me what kind of mission Papa was on.”

  Sophia gave Orville a warm and comforting smile. “I know it’s really frustrating, but he’s probably right. Think how awful it would be if something happened to you. Think how your mum would feel if you and your papa were both missing.”

  “I guess you’re right. I just wish there was something I could do.”

  “How about we walk to the Book Emporium and you can fill your pockets with silvers?”

  Orville grinned. “I like the sound of that.” He slipped on his coat and the two best friends headed out the front door. “Bye, Proto! Don’t let any carnivorous centipedes into my room!”

  Sophia gave Orville a curious glance, then said, “What are you getting your mum?”

  “I’m so excited about it, I’m going to get her something they just put in the display window at Sinker’s Hardware. Mum will be the first mouse on our street to own one, maybe even the first mouse in Muridaan Falls. I’m going to get her a brand new Excelsior duplonium powered electric bread slicer.”

  Sophia stared at Orville with unblinking eyes.

  “What? Isn’t that the best present you could imagine?”

  Sophia gave an enigmatic smile. “Do you know what I would do if you got me a shiny new Excelsior duplonium powered electric bread slicer for my birthday?”

  Orville panicked, suddenly afraid Sophia was going to kiss him. Maybe on the lips. Probably just on the cheek though. He decided he wouldn’t try to stop her if she did. He casually turned his cheek toward Sophia and waited.

  Unfortunately for Orville the expected kiss never materialized. What arrived in its place was a severe and rather painful punch to Orville’s left arm delivered with some exuberance by Sophia.

  “OOWWW! What was that for? Why did you punch my arm?”

  “It’s called behavioral conditioning.”

  “What? What are you talking about? Why did you punch my arm?”

  “I learned about behavioral conditioning in my science classes on Quintari. When a stimulus is delivered immediately after a mouse ex
hibits a particular behavior, the probability of that behavior occurring in the future will be altered, depending on the nature of the stimulus, whether it’s positive or negative.”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.”

  “In this case, I delivered a severe punch to your arm, a negative stimulus, right after you told me you were buying your mum a duplonium powered electric bread slicer for her birthday. Let me ask you this, at this moment do you feel like telling me again that you’re getting your mum a duplonium powered bread slicer?”

  Orville took a step back, fear growing in his eyes. “No, I don’t think I will ever say those words again.”

  “Excellent. Your behavioral patterns have been altered by negative conditioning, also known as negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement works quite well, but only for a short period of time. The behavior soon returns, stronger than it was before. The most effective and long lasting form of reinforcement is positive reinforcement. Now, think of a gift your mum would really like for her birthday. Don’t think about what you would like, but only something you’re certain your mum would truly love.”

  “You might be onto something. Mum isn’t as crazy as I am about new technology, so maybe a duplonium bread slicer isn’t the best gift. What about jewelry? Something like a beautiful necklace? I know she loves jewelry as long as it’s not gaudy or flashy. I could get her a beautiful necklace.”

  Sophia leaned forward and kissed Orville on the cheek, put her arms around him and gave him a warm hug. “You are so sweet and so thoughtful, Orville Wellington Mouse. Your Mum would love a new necklace.” Sophia stepped away from him and smiled as brightly as she could.

  “Umm… well… thanks.” Orville rubbed his paw over the spot where Sophia had kissed him. “I… umm…” He gave her a toothy grin.

  Sophia’s eyes narrowed. “That kiss was a scientific demonstration and nothing more. I’m teaching you about behavioral conditioning and also making certain you don’t buy your mum a duplonium bread slicer for her birthday.”