(Added 12/15/10: So, our person who was going to write the Harry Potter characters has backed out of the project due to RL. Zakryn and I are therefore looking for somebody who'd like to help out with the more HP-centric chapters of this fic. It wouldn't be extremely time consuming, to give you an idea only 2 of the first 20 chapters are narrated by an HP character. But we would like somebody who'd be willing to consult and proofread for things like adhering to canon and in-character dialogue. If interested please pm either Zakryn or me.)
Okay, so this is an (epic) 5 part collaborative effort between me, Zakryn, and one other person. It mixes together elements of Animorphs, the Terminator universe, Harry Potter, and eventually Transformers, but I'm only posting the Animorphs oriented parts here. So, without further ado...
The Rise of Skynet
CHAPTER 1: The Beginning
(Marco)
My name is Marco.
I'm a kid, I'm thirteen years old. I'll be fourteen in a couple of months. Oh, when's my birthday, you say? What's my address, so you can send me a card? Yeah, not gonna happen. I can't go into much more detail, for security reasons.
You may be thinking, "Dude's a little paranoid, isn't he?" and maybe I am. I'm a suspicious person. But I've had a lot of help getting that way.
Now, pay attention, because I'm not some conspiracy theorist who shouts at you on the street, and I'm not supposed to be on any medications. There is a threat among us, and you see it every day. You just can't recognize it. You might carpool with it to work, or talk to it every time you call your best friend. You might be married to it. My dad was, for over a year.
What is the threat? Oh, just aliens. And they're not interested in probing you.
These aliens aren't funny, in any way. They want you, yes, but they want your brain.
You see, the Yeerks, that's what they're called, are parasites. They need a host. They want you to be their host. And once you become one, you'll be powerless to do anything about it. The only time you'll be in control of when you speak, when you move, when you do ANYTHING will be once every three days. And during that time, you probably won't be doing much but scream for help, since you'll be locked in a cage guarded by different aliens called Hork-Bajir. That's a whole race of aliens who have already become hosts to the Yeerks, except for a very few. Well, the Yeerks want to make humanity into another race like the Hork-Bajir.
They've already gotten started. There are thousands of people walking around every day who are prisoners in their own heads.
How do I know all this? Well, another alien, from a species called Andalites, told me and my friends. Right before he got murdered. He managed to give us a weapon though: The power to morph into any animal we touch and acquire by DNA. It's all we have.
Four of my friends and I, and one young Andalite, are the only ones fighting the Yeerk threat. And if they ever figure out who we are, we'll all have brain-slugs by dinnertime.
So yeah, I like to watch my back.
I'd had a pretty normal day. I'd gotten up, grumbled about it being too early, stuffed some pizza bagels into my face in lieu of breakfast. Gone to school, attempted to pay attention. Come home. There'd been no life-or-death decisions, no abject terror, no need to contemplate buying Depends. So, I was in a pretty decent mood.
My dad came home from work, and he seemed to be in a good mood, too. My dad's been doing a lot better over the last few months. He was pretty messed up after... after what happened to my mom, but he was finally moving on. He'd gone back to work, for one thing. And for another —
"Marco, I'm going out tonight. I — I have a date."
He sounded almost ashamed to say it, like a kid who's testing the waters to see if their parents will object to something. Hopeful, yet hesitant. So, my dad had a date. And he wanted my approval. And I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
See, my situation is a lot more complicated than most kids'. Not just because I have to save the world, mind you. Because I'm not sure if my mom is really dead. I thought she was, for two years. Everyone thought that. But she was a Controller. A tool of Visser One, the most powerful Yeerk this side of Pluto. She's the one who is in supreme control over the invasion of Earth. She's far more dangerous than our usual nemesis, Visser Three. And when it wasn't convenient for her to remain stuck in one place any longer, she faked my mom's death and took off.
Then I became an Animorph, and I found that my mother was still very much alive, if a prisoner of war. I was thinking about quitting, until I saw her face. I can't quit, not now.
Unfortunately, our most recent meeting with Visser One didn't go so well. Long story short, we destroyed the facility where she was working. And there were a lot of casualties. I don't know if my mother was one of them.
The last time I saw her, she was floating face down in a pool. Is my dad a widower? I don't know.
Like I said, it's complicated.
I was not a fan of the whole my-dad-dating idea. Definitely not a fan. But it wasn't my place to give my father permission to move on. To explain would be to endanger his life forever.
So I pretended to be very interested in the Easy Mac I had in the microwave, and replied, "Oh. Who's the lady?"
"I don't know, actually. My buddy from work set me up with his sister. She's a teacher and that's about all I know."
"Well, at least she won't be stupid. Have fun."
I think I sounded more sarcastic than I meant to. But I couldn't manage any more enthusiasm.
My dad didn't ask for any more. "Okay. Well, if you need anything, I'll have my cell phone on. Don't stay up too late."
"I won't."
He turned to go upstairs and change out of his work clothes. I looked at his back, and remembered the days when the three of us would go hiking together. My mom loved the outdoors. My dad, not so much, but he always tried to keep up with her...
"Darn!"
The sound of my dad's briefcase clattering down the stairs snapped me back to reality. Papers escaped everywhere. He stooped to gather them up again.
"I'll get some of those." It was the least I could do after making my father feel like a jerk for wanting to see someone again.
As I shuffled a few papers together, I spotted one with a fancy looking symbol on it. It featured a blue eagle holding a ribbon, kind of eye-catching. Underneath the ribbon were the letters NORAD. Must be an acronym, I thought. It sounded familiar, but I had no idea what it stood for.
I scanned what was written on the paper, just out of curiosity. I need to stop doing that.
As soon as I read the words "Forty levels above top secret," my heart jumped. Top secret is serious business. Forty levels above it is something I don't even want to think about. That's more secret than the Yeerk invasion itself.
Now I'd gotten myself into this. I had to read on.
Scanning the document produced the phrases "Skynet," "Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado" and "relocated for one week." I had no idea what this thing was talking about, but it was big, and my dad knew about it. My dad was working on something forty levels above top secret. Something involving relocation.
"Hey, are you helping me clean up or reading my diary?" My dad took the papers out of my hand and replaced them in his briefcase. "I'll re-sort them later." He disappeared into his room.
It was then that the terrible suspicion began creeping in. Was my dad a Yeerk?
CHAPTER 2: Finding Out The Truth
(Jake)
My name is Jake. And sometimes I wish I wasn't the so-called "leader" of the Animorphs.
Especially when I get a phone call from my best friend Marco, who hisses at me, "Everyone. Cassie's barn. NOW," and hangs up. When I have to invent some reason for going out suddenly on a school night at six-thirty.
When I have to exchange some brotherly banter with my older brother Tom over going to see my friend and sort-of crush, Cassie. It would all be good-natured fun, if Tom wasn't a Controller. His Yeerk couldn't care less if I went over to Cassie's, but if he ever even suspected what I am, well... now was not the time to think about that.
I called my cousin, Rachel, and called Cassie to let her know I was coming over. My code-speak this time was needing to study for our upcoming English test. Yeah, if only we were out to do something that normal.
Cassie got in touch with the non-human members of our team. There's Tobias, a boy who stayed in morph too long and is now a hawk with morphing powers, and Ax, our resident Andalite. They hang out together in the woods, doing whatever aliens and hawks do all day.
When I arrived at the barn, everyone but Rachel was already there. Marco hunched over on a bale of hay, jiggling his foot impatiently. Tobias perched in the rafters, ready to let us know when Rachel showed up, or if anyone else did. Cassie tended to some of the sick animals she and her parents care for. A duck's violated quacks erupted from time to time.
Ax stood off by himself, in human morph in case one of Cassie's parents should walk in unexpectedly. Andalites look something like a cross between a human, a deer, and a scorpion in their natural form, so he'd cause quite a bit of commotion. The thing is, he's not really used to having a mouth. Andalites don't have them, so they have no concept of talking. I thought I heard him mumbling, "Pleeeease give me two dee-lish-ious cinnamon buns. Zuh." Practicing for the food court, maybe.
<She's coming,> Tobias informed us. A minute or so later, the barn door opened and Rachel strode in. She casually leaned herself against the wall, glanced at us, and said, "Okay, so what's going on with Marco?"
"It took you long enough to get here," he grumbled without even looking up.
"Well, excuse me if I took a little while getting ready. A girl's gotta look good," she teased. He still didn't look up, and her expression changed from mischievous to concerned. A Marco who isn't willing to engage in banter is not a good sign.
Before anyone could say anything else, I broke in. "Marco, we're all here, and you said something serious was going on. So maybe you better explain."
Tobias focused his laser vision on Marco. Cassie closed the last cage and sat down next to the bale of hay where I stood, waiting. Marco finally raised his head, but still looked at the floor. "Well, for starters, I think my dad might be a Controller."
No one said anything. We all knew about Marco's mom. I heard Cassie draw in her breath sharply. Finally, she broke the silence. "What makes you think that, Marco?"
"Only that I happened to see a paper fall out of his briefcase today. Something that mentions him working on a project forty levels above top secret. And it involves one week of 'relocation,' whatever that means. Something's going on that I think we need to know about, and my dad's working on it." He looked up, met my eyes. "You know that if something this serious is going on, the Yeerks aren't going to be far behind."
Half an hour later, the six of us were engaged in a brainstorming session which had so far resulted in us spinning our wheels. "Guys, I know we don't have much to go on, but we have to try and piece something together. Let's go over what Marco saw one more time," I lectured, feeling way more like a boring teacher than I liked.
"We've got NORAD, a legitimate government agency." My dad and I have always been kind of into military stuff. I knew NORAD was the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
"At least we know this operation isn't some Visser's pet project," Rachel said.
<Probably,> Tobias added. <We can't assume the Yeerks haven't infested somebody high up in the military.>
"We've got something called Skynet. None of us have any idea what that is. Right, Ax?" I asked a little pointedly. Andalites aren't always easy to read, and sometimes I worried that he holds stuff back from us.
"It is either newly created by the Yeerks or something humans themselves conceived," Ax said. "Otherwise I believe we Andalites would have heard something of it." Humble, as usual.
"It. Ttttt. Tuh, tuh, ttttt!" Ax can't resist playing with what he calls "mouth sounds," no matter what the situation.
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Well, he almost got through a whole sentence."
"I am sorry. But the ttttt is a most pleasant sound for my tongue."
"And we've got something about relocation. For one week."
"Which means Marco's dad isn't a Controller," Cassie responded. Everyone looked at her.
"What do you mean? How can you be sure?" Marco asked.
"Think about it. If your dad was already a Controller, the Yeerks wouldn't move him somewhere for a week. They'd know about you. They'd know that would create suspicion. And furthermore, don't you think if your dad saw you read his papers, and he had a Yeerk in his head, he'd get you infested immediately, just in case? In fact, the Yeerks would probably infest the two of you together anyway, so he could go away and no one would notice."
Marco stared at her. "... so the fact that I'm even sitting here right now basically means he's not a Controller." He hesitated. "Yet."
"Okay," I said, "we need to find out what this Skynet thing is about. We need to know more about Cheyenne Mountain. That's probably where Marco's dad will be going. And we also need to make sure the Yeerks don't get to Marco's dad."
"I'm thinking Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado is going to be a very dangerous place for him," Marco said. "We can't let him go."
"We might have to." Look, I felt bad, I did. But Marco's dad was our ticket to Skynet.
"This is going to be one of those long-distance missions, isn't it?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah. I think we need to call in our friends for some help."
And by our friends, I meant the Chee.
CHAPTER 3: The Truth
(Cassie)
My name is Cassie.
I was worried. Worried about Marco. Worried about what hardship the mission he was leading us into would cause. Worried about Jake, who would have to steer us through that hardship.
Mostly, I was aware that this mission might deprive Marco of another parent. And I worried what that might do to him.
We arrived at the home of Erek King at staggered intervals. We flew in bird of prey morphs, and different species don't fly together. Jake came first, as a peregrine falcon. Then Ax, a northern harrier. Then Rachel, a bald eagle. Afterwards came Marco, me, and finally Tobias, as two ospreys and a red-tailed hawk.
Erek is not your average middle school kid. He's an android whose creators are long dead, and he'll still be alive a thousand generations after we're gone. The Chee are programmed to be non-violent, but they make the best spies you'll ever find.
If anyone outside the Yeerk Empire knew what Skynet was, they would.
"Skynet?" Erek repeated the word to us. "Yeah, I've heard of it. Your hunch was right, Marco, it is very serious. And you're also right that it's not a Yeerk-run operation. Yet."
"What is it, then?" Jake pressed. "NORAD has to do with it, so it's something the military created."
"Oh, it most definitely is. One of the Chee has been monitoring its development for several months now. He plays a very convincing janitor."
"Is it a weapon?"
"That's an understatement, but yes. It is a weapon. We have only learned about it by observation. We cannot interact with it since it is inherently violent. But we do know several things about it. Skynet is the most advanced piece of technology humans have ever produced. How they made such advancements in so short a time, we aren't certain. We do know that Skynet is essentially a computer program which, when activated, will control all of Earth's weapons. Smart bombs? Nuclear warheads? Aircraft carrier computers? All will be under Skynet's command. It's a computer with a college degree."
"Oh, that's fabulous. First the Yeerks, now a super intelligent war computer," Rachel groaned.
What Erek was telling us was unbelievable. A super weapon, which had control over all other weapons in the country? A sort of computer general? I felt a little sick to think someone would consider that a good idea. To think such a thing existed.
"That sounds kind of like that program we had during the Cold War," Jake said. "Nuclear bombs programmed to go off if some security code wasn't entered in time."
"Yes, the failsafe program," Erek said. "Skynet is like a failsafe computer that writes its own security codes."
And it's a miracle we didn't blow ourselves up with even that comparative bit of technology, I thought. Don't people learn anything?
"The Skynet project is located deep underneath Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. And, our source has informed us, it is due to go online within a week. The most unusual aspect of the device, however, is... we believe it has the ability to reason. To learn."
"You mean like you?" Marco asked Erek with a stony look in his eyes.
"Like me," he answered coolly. "There are only two small differences. Chee have had millions of years to evolve our minds, and we were not meant to defend a country by any means necessary. Skynet can build its own weapons in order to eliminate any perceived threat to it."
"God," I gasped. I just felt so overwhelmed. Skynet, to me, felt so incredibly WRONG. So irresponsible. A computer that could build weapons. It might have artificial intelligence, but it couldn't really reason, could it? It didn't have morals the same way humans do. How would it know right from wrong?
Marco fumed, "So you're telling me we have like a week to figure out how to get to this thing, which my dad may or may not have helped create, and —"
"Do what?" Rachel cut him off. "Should we let Superbomb get activated, or take it out?"
"I don't think attempting to take it out would be wise," Erek answered. "Skynet is very heavily guarded. Only a few are allowed anywhere near it. According to our 'janitor,' the project has a clearance level all its own."
"You haven't told us where the Yeerks come in." Jake wasn't stupid. He knew they would come in eventually.
"Yes. The Yeerks," Erek continued. "One of the chief engineers of the Skynet project is a Controller. The Yeerks probably infested him before they knew exactly what he was working on, but now that particular host has become invaluable to them. This is really what you should be interested in taking out, Rachel. The Yeerks are getting the same information about Skynet we are. They know when it will go online. And they're planning to be there, ready to take over, when it does. You see, our janitor also does a very good hologram of several other things, such as desks and streetlights. He's been present at most of the meetings in which Visser Three organized Project Takeover."
<Imaginative name,> Tobias commented.
"No one ever said the Yeerks were creative. But no matter what happens, when Skynet goes online, the Yeerks can't be there. If they gain control of all the weapons in the United States, well..."
"It would be over." I finished the sentence for him.
"All right, from now on, we follow Marco's dad like it's our job," Jake said gravely. "We need to figure out when he's getting 'relocated,' and exactly when Skynet goes online."
CHAPTER 4: Resolutions
(Aximili)
My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. On Earth, I am known as Ax.
Following a series of very interesting and sometimes terrible events, I have been stranded here on Earth, living amongst my human friends. To aid them in the war against the Yeerks, they were given morphing technology by my brother Elfangor. He, along with everyone on our Dome ship, was killed with the exception of myself.
My experiences among the humans have been quite varied. At times they have been wonderful. I discovered the glories of the cinnamon bun, for example. At other times, they have been most distressing.
This was one of the distressing times. We had been informed one day earlier that members of the human military had created a computer and given it control over all their weapons. It disappointed me to think that humans had so little faith in their own military capabilities. I am certain that the Andalites would never trust their weapons to artificial intelligence.
Still, whatever decision the humans had made, we had to ensure the Yeerks did not profit from it. Jake, my prince while I remain on Earth, had called a second meeting at Cassie's barn. Her parents were out for the evening, so I stayed in my natural Andalite form.
"Right now, we need to find out two things. One. When does Marco's dad leave for Colorado? Two. When exactly does Skynet go online?" He paced restlessly back and forth.
"We need to be watching him. Some Controller could be watching him right now!" Marco exclaimed. He is very worried about his father's safety, especially due to the fact that his mother is a Controller.
"If the Yeerks want to infest your dad, they'll do it in Colorado. But you're right, we do need to watch him," Prince Jake answered. "We need to watch him at work. He'll be dealing with any sensitive information there. Tomorrow morning, two of us need to follow him into his job, in a small morph. Fly would probably be best. Ax, you'll need to be one of the two, to keep time."
<Of course, Prince Jake.> Andalites have a natural, very precise internal clock which humans do not possess. And it is very important to never stay in morph for more than two hours. This is what happened to Tobias, and now hawk is his natural form.
"Don't call me Prince."
"I'll go with him," Rachel announced. She is very eager to take action in any situation.
"No, you won't. I'm going," Marco told her. "He's my dad."
"Actually, neither of you are going, and I'm not either," Prince Jake quieted them both. "Tomorrow's Wednesday. We have school. It has to be either Cassie or Tobias."
I was concerned. Tobias is a nothlit, and could not attend school. But Cassie was not going to school with the others? She was considered to be the most intelligent of my friends. <Cassie, have you been expelled from your school?> Deviant activity did not seem to be something she would be capable of.
She chuckled. "No, Ax, it's just that it's summer right now. Regular school isn't in session."
<Why don't you attend school in the summer months? Do the classrooms become overheated?> I always embrace the opportunity to learn more about human culture, in case I am able to write a memoir someday.
"No, we just end the school year for the summer, and then start again in fall." No one seemed to know why, but some students did still continue their studies during the summer, Cassie informed me.
Rachel added, "See, Ax, Marco and Jake here have to retake English, since Marco can't even spell 'homework' and Jake has a thing for sleeping in class. And I'm taking AP Algebra."
<AP? What does that signify?>
"Advanced Placement. It's for college credit, eventually." I had learned previously that "college" is an optional finishing school many human young adults attend.
<Oh, do you plan to have a career in mathematics, Rachel?>
She made a disgusted face. "No. I hate math, I hope I never see it again when I'm done with school."
<But then why do you continue to study it?>
"I told you, for college credit. And because my mom makes me." She did a thing with her eyes that humans call "rolling" them. Andalite readers may be somewhat confused by the human education system. I must admit I have only a rudimentary understanding of it myself.
"Yeah, so ANYWAY..." Prince Jake broke in before I could ask any more questions. "About the mission we're on. Who wants to go with Ax tomorrow?"
"I can't," Cassie said. "I promised my mom awhile ago I'd help her at The Gardens tomorrow. They're opening the new anteater habitat. Everyone's pretty stoked."
There was a moment of silence. Then Marco said, "Cassie, only your family could be stoked about some furry exterminators."
<All right, I guess it's you and me, then,> Tobias said.
"My dad starts work at eight a.m."
CHAPTER 5: Discovery
(Tobias)
My name is Tobias.
And some days I think I should have my own spot on a talk show.
I'd do Oprah, maybe even Maury or Montell. Never Jerry Springer, though. I have my dignity.
Oprah would love to interview me. She must be so tired of talking to teen moms and idiot celebrities. I'd be unique, one of a kind. They could bill me as "The boy trapped in a hawk's body." No one's ever seen that before. She'd tell me how much I inspired her, and the audience would tell me how tragic my story was, and some Controllers would be waiting for me at the stage door.
Maybe a talk show wouldn't be such a good idea.
I don't really want to tell a long story here, but the least you need to know is this — I used alien technology to become a hawk. To become any animal I touched. I stayed a hawk too long. I was doomed to be a hawk forever. Then another alien, an even more powerful one called the Ellimist, allowed me to regain the power to morph again. He even gave me the power to morph back into my former self. But I'm still a hawk, most of the time.
On this particular morning, I was a hawk flying toward a particular building, along with Ax. Our mission was pretty simple. Make sure Marco's dad didn't get infested, and find out the specifics about this whole Skynet project. Then we could hopefully stop the Yeerks from seizing it.
I knew Marco was going to protect his dad no matter what, and I also knew that Jake would place the mission above all else. He planned on using Marco's dad to lead us to Skynet, but if he went to Colorado...
<Open window. Twelfth floor, third from the right,> I told Ax. We could use it to gain access to the building, where Marco's dad worked as some kind of engineer. Evidently he'd built something pretty essential to Skynet. Marco was supposed to brief us about his dad's job, but the kid had no idea what his father did for a living. So, we got a building address, and "some kind of engineer" as a job title. Helpful.
We entered the building via the open window. It was only seven a.m., so the place was pretty much deserted except for the cleaning crew. Nobody noticed a hawk and a harrier land on the floor.
<We must learn where Marco's father works. This is a large building,> Ax said.
<Yeah. Well, he probably has an office or something. Maybe if we look for a door with his name on it?> I suggested.
We needed to be as inconspicuous as possible. But I'll tell you, it was pretty humiliating to have Ax in flea morph hiding in my feathers while I hawk-walked up and down various hallways, looking for some clue as to where Marco's dad would be at eight.
We finally found an office on the sixth floor, bearing Marco's dad's name. <This is it, Ax! How long have you been morphed?>
<I have been a flea for fifty-four of your minutes.>
<Ax, they're everyone's... you know what, never mind. Wait a minute... that means he'll be here in like five minutes! Crap. Okay, jump as far as you can and demorph. Then go fly.>
I waited to begin my own fly morph until I saw a blue bug with stalk eyes begin to emerge from the floor. As Ax returned to Andalite form, I shrank. My vision pixilated and he became a blue blur. Then he disappeared completely.
<You ready, Ax-man?>
<Yes, I have become your fly, Tobias.>
<You know, something just occurred to me. How are we going to find out anything with fly vision, unless he has a conversation with someone, which with our luck he probably won't?>
<I do not know.>
<We don't have any small morphs with good vision... is that him?>
We heard a door open. A man who smelled like Old Spice deodorant and Starbucks entered the office.
"Time to shuffle some paper," a voice said to no one in particular.
<That is the voice of Marco's father,> Ax informed me.
The next couple of hours were mind-numbingly boring. We heard a lot of typing, and some humming of songs I didn't recognize. No one entered or left the office. Ax and I played a game we called "Name that smell," until Ax told me we had ten minutes left in morph.
<I'll go first,> I said. <There's a closet in the back of the room.> I flew in through a door crack, and demorphed back to hawk. With my vision restored, I realized the closet door was slightly ajar. I couldn't leave Ax hanging too long, but I peeked out to see if I could get any information.
The office looked like pretty standard fare. Desk, computer, coffee mug.... calendar.
It was one of those double calendars, with an upper page and lower page so you can see two months at the same time. The top month was July, the bottom August. Both were covered in Post-It notes. Snippets of red jumped out at me as I tried to zero in on something, anything important.
"Staff meeting — 7/30... Monthly review — 7/31.... Cheyenne Mountain — 8/1....."
Cheyenne Mountain!
I morphed back to fly, and then waited for Ax to take his turn. When we both finished, I told him, <While I was demorphed, I saw his calendar. It said "Cheyenne Mountain," on August 1st. That's when he's going!>
<That is good. But we still do not know when Skynet will go online,> Ax answered.
<True. But it has to be pretty close to August 1st.>
We waited another two hours, then demorphed and remorphed again. Marco's dad did more typing. Drank some coffee. Went to the toilet. Disappeared for over an hour.
<He must be at lunch, or that staff meeting I saw marked down for today. This is officially the most boring mission of my life.>
He eventually came back. I wasn't perched on the wall when he did. I had made a mistake.
See, when Marco's dad opened the door to his office, the air current it caused knocked me sideways in the air. Right into the man's face, which alerted him to the presence of flies in the room.
"Darn it! I need to get a bug zapper for this room!" In an instant, the most boring mission of my life turned into a fight for my life.
On unstable, unpredictable fly wings, I managed to zigzag my way by the hands causing small tornadoes all around me. Marco's dad was going to swat me!
<Ax! Go up! Go toward the ceiling! He knows we're in here!>
<I will try, Tobias, but it is difficult to tell which way is "up."> Ax is... weirdly calm, in these situations.
I narrowly escaped something that felt like an earthquake. Maybe a newspaper?
"Get out! Darn flies!"
Another earthquake, and then I felt a sort of faraway pain, somewhere. My leg! He'd caught one of my legs with the paper and crushed it, or ripped it off. I couldn't exactly look back and check.
<Ax! Are you still there?>
<Yes, Tobias. I believe I am going "up.">
There was a gust of wind. Then I smelled it! The lovely, beautiful, sweet smelling aroma of garbage. Flies love that smell, but in this moment I loved it too. It meant a way out. There had to be a Dumpster close by, which meant a window was open and the scent was getting in. Marco's dad had probably just opened it. My only chance was to go toward that smell.
<Ax, do you smell that garbage? If you can, go toward it! There's a window open in here!>
<I have picked up the scent. I will follow it.>
By some miracle we managed to get outside. I demorphed in some bushes. Ax fastened his sticky fly legs to my head, and we retreated into the woods.
<Ax?>
<Yes, Tobias?>
<Remind me never to call a mission "boring,"
ever again.>
