Redux: The Extreme

[Kitulean]

Previous books in this series can be found here, here, and here and also at fanfiction.net here


Chapter One

My name is Aximili-Escarrouth-Isthill.

My human friends call me Ax, as they claim that it is a difficult name to remember. However, I cannot truly comprehend how you may remember such a bewildering human name as Susannah or Benjamin, yet have trouble with the very simple Aximili. 

Regardless, there are two very important things that you should be told right away. The first is that I am an Andalite, what you would call an alien, though to me, you are the alien. I am quite ordinary so far as Andalite males are concerned. I have a strong tail, all four of my legs are sturdy, and my eyestalks have full range of motion.

I have now been told I should endeavor to explain better. That seems more than a bit strange, because if you are reading this, you clearly should have read everything that came before. Because what being in their right mind would begin reading such an extensive account over two dozen volumes in? If you have no idea what is happening, let me remind you that the human counting system begins with the number one, not the number twenty-five. Please go back and read this volume when appropriate.

The other thing that you should be told, so that you have an understanding of my own point of view, is that human beings are quite clearly the most baffling species in the universe.

As part of my endeavor to understand Earth culture, my human friends often took me to places where they claimed humans spent much of their recreational or learning time. I always went in human morph, of course. If I have learned anything since my arrival on Earth, it is that humans are as panicky a species as they are a baffling one. When creatures become panicked, they either run or they fight. The same is true of entire species. When a species is afraid, some run away, others fight.

Humanity as a species is as yet incapable of intergalactic spaceflight. Running would be out of the question. And by now, I was fairly certain that I knew what would happen if humanity felt cornered. There is a reason the Yeerks are keeping their invasion secret. What humanity lacks in technology for warfare, they make up for with enthusiasm.

A good example to prove my point of humanity's absurdity, for example, was the activity I was witnessing at this moment on this most recent educational outing.

"I do not understand-stand-stuh stand and and anduh duh I amuh standing stand here standing." Human mouth sounds are the second most pleasing things I have found that a mouth could be used for. It was difficult to resist playing with them. "Did your species at some point engage in battle with very small warriors who lined up in such a formation?"

Jake, the leader of our little band, blinked at me. His mouth opened and then shut again, and his head tilted while one side of his face seemed to twitch. I have become quite adept at reading human facial expressions. This, I believed, meant that he was trying very hard not to laugh.
"No." He finally managed, though he had to wave at the others to ask for help.

"It's called bowling, Ax-Man." Marco was laying back one of the small plastic seats with his legs hanging off the end. "It's not battle training, it's a game. We're not preparing for war over here."

"Someone should probably tell Rachel that." Tobias observed. My nephew (it is a thoroughly exhausting story that you should already know) was also here in his human morph, though I do not believe that his legitimate form of a hawk would frighten the humans nearly as much as mine would. Still, my friends insisted that human morph was better in both of our cases.

His words were almost immediately echoed by a shrill human cry of triumph. "Yes! Another strike, that's five, count 'em five in a row! In your face, I am the pins worst nightmare. I will shake 'em, knock 'em, break 'em and run them right the hell over. I am the Genghis Khan of bowling pins, whoo!"

"Rachel," Jake was gazing at the yellow-haired female, his cousin, as she held both arms high in the air and bounced up and down while turning in a circular motion in the middle of the raised wooden area she had rolled the ball from, "what happened to not attracting attention while we have Ax here?"

She stuck her tongue out at him, a human expression I've come to realize is shorthand for 'I disagree with you but do not have the factual evidence to back me up', and came back to the sitting area. "Like anyone's going to notice Ax when I'm busy being completely awesome. Are you even seeing what I'm pulling off up there? 'Lissa, chip me." She sat next to the other female in our group. By the simplest descriptions, the two females were similar. Both had similar hair, though Rachel's was much darker while Melissa's was more white than it was yellow. She was also smaller than Rachel, smaller than Marco even, who had been the shortest member before Melissa joined.

Also, Melissa was not, by nature, a soldier. She had become a part of this war by necessity, not because it was something that she had longed for. Rachel… had she been born among my people, as an Andalite, I believe that Rachel would have become one of our greatest warriors. 

As Rachel turned toward the other girl, Melissa dragged one of her few remaining nacho chips through the cheese in the corner of the container and put it into Rachel's mouth.

"We saw." Marco put in. "And heard. Oh boy did we hear, oh Genghis Of Bowling."

"Getting nervous, Marco?" Rachel showed her white teeth as she smiled. "You could always forfeit now and save yourself the shame."

Tobias stepped behind the bench where both girls were seated and put his hand on Rachel's shoulder. In response, her head tilted until her cheek lay against the back of his hand. The two of them had begun what I am told humans call 'dating' several weeks earlier, which had led to many such scenarios as this. My friends had offered to explain it several times, but I always declined. This, of all things, was not something that I needed explained. Human courtship may be different from Andalites, but it is still recognizable for what it is.

"What'd you guys end up betting anyway?" Tobias asked.

It was Melissa who answered him. "If Marco gets a higher score, Rachel has to wear a shirt that he made to school."

"Tell him what the shirt says on it." Marco had sat up by this point, to give Jake a place to sit down.

"Marco is awesome, cute, funny, and brilliant." Melissa intoned. Then her face turned color slightly. I have grown to recognize the pink shade as an expression of embarrassment. "I mean, that's what the shirt says. And it has his phone number on it."

"I still feel sorry for whatever poor soul you conned into having that printed onto a shirt for you." Jake put in, shaking his head.

Tobias chuckled. "What I can't believe is that Rachel agreed to any circumstances in which she would wear it."

"Oh please." Rachel shook her head. "As if he has any chance of winning. It was worth the risk. Tell them what Marco has to do when I beat the pants off him."

"If--" Melissa started, before coughing while glancing at the other girl. "Uh, I mean when Rachel wins, Marco has to babysit Sara the next six times her mom goes on a date."

I practically tripped over my own clumsy human feet (And really, a species with two feet and no tail? Again, humans are absurd.) in my attempt to spin back toward the girls. "What kind of tradition--trah-truh-trudition trush trush trushing trashing dition is that?!" I demanded. The horror I felt at such a claim very nearly outweighed all the amusement the sound 'shing' provided. Nearly.

Melissa's eyes were wide as she stared at me, clearly not understanding my dismay. "What tradition?"

"This sitting on babies." I was looking to each of my friends in turn, waiting for someone to share my outrage. Instead, they all began to laugh. Marco laughed so hard he fell off the bench.

"No no no no no." Melissa's head shook rapidly. "Babysitting doesn't mean really sitting on babies. A babysitter is someone who watches over someone else's kid who's too young to take care of themselves so they can do something else like go to dinner or a movie without leaving the child by themselves."

"It's irrelevant anyway." Rachel pointed out. "Sara is way more mature than Marco. She'd be the one taking care of him. But mom still insists that someone at least our age be in the house. And I'd rather not be stuck there every other night just because she's decided to get all match dot com on us. Trust me, if she'd just trust Jordan to do it, I would've gone for the cash bet."

Tobias moved to sit next to Rachel, who scooted over closer to Melissa to give him room. Melissa, in turn, quickly stood up. "I need more nachos." She shook the empty box and then tossed it away into the large plastic cylinder I had been rather insistently told not retrieve items from no matter how good they smelled.

"I will go with you." I started to say. "For more nachos-chose-I chose choose nach choo choo chose."

I had not previously been aware that a human being's eyes could grow as wide as Melissa's did in that moment. "Nothat'sokayI'vegotityoushouldtak eyourturn." Her words came out all in a rush, and she was already hurrying away.

"She must be very hungry." I decided.

"Sure, Ax." Marco had picked himself up off the floor by that point. "That's totally why she's practically sprinting away from you. Couldn't have anything to do with what happened to the first nachos you had. You know, for the six and a half seconds they survived."

"Yeah, dude." Tobias had settled next to Rachel by that point. "You even ate the box they came in."

Before I could object, Jake was pointing. "Either way, Melissa's right. It's your turn again, Ax. And this time, try to do what Rachel did instead of… whatever it is you were doing before. You nearly took Marco's head off."

"The ball is heavier than I had anticipated." I admitted. "It is not a mistake I will make again."

"Yeah, well," Marco grumbled, "fifth times the charm, I suppose. If it's all the same, I'm still taking cover."

I found the ball that I had been using and tested its weight once more. Then I focused on the arrangement of pins and stepped up onto the wooden stage. This time, I was sure that I had the idea. I had watched the others and seen what to do. I would not fail to knock any pins over for a fifth time. I also wouldn't fall over while throwing the ball. Human bodies are, again, absurd.

For a few moments, I checked the arrangement of my human feet, settled my hands into position on the ball, and tried to remember exactly how Rachel had moved. Two steps, then another two steps, then the arm with the ball came back, and then it went forward and the ball came away toward the bulkhead of the ship.

Wait a minute, bulkhead of the ship?

The bowling ball clanged off the metal wall, and I realized belatedly that I was back in my Andalite body. Having all four hooves firmly planted did ease my concern somewhat, I had to admit. But the confusion remained. Somehow, I was standing in the middle of what looked like a heavily damaged ship corridor, with random components literally sticking out of the walls or hanging from the ceiling. Nothing was sparking and I couldn't hear any venting air, so this area seemed safe enough for the moment.

"Okay, what just happened?!" Rachel's voice demanded, and I turned one eyestalk that way to see my human friends standing just down the corridor. Tobias was a hawk once more, and perched with his talons around a rounded beam that emerged from the wall.  Even Melissa was there, complete with nachos. They all looked just as confused as I felt, if not more so.

(We appear to have been brought aboard a damaged ship.) I told them, pacing back that way.

"Ax," Jake said, rather tensely. "Do not tell me that the Yeerks just picked us up."

(No.) I shook my head. (This is a damaged Andalite ship if I am not mistaken. And in any case, I do not see why the Yeerks would take us aboard a damaged ship in the first place. They are not as technologically adept as Andalites, but they are not Skrit'Na.)

"What's a Skrit--" Melissa started to ask, before shrinking back at the looks all of the others shot her. "Right, priorities. Just tell me they aren't a microscopic, yet sociopathic race of alien dictators that function as the advance heralds of a bunch of planet destroying monsters."

Melissa had undergone a strange experience somewhat recently. You should listen to her accounting of it.

(They are scavengers.) I explained simply. (They mostly steal other ships and use them until they are broken down. But I do not believe that this is one of theirs either. I do not believe this ship is functioning. There are no engine sounds, and the ship appears to be using emergency lighting.)

"Okay," Marco said. "So we're on a damaged Andalite ship. Why? How? And where is everyone? I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty sure I never said beam me up, Scotty."

"Neither did Kirk." Melissa put in. "They always mess that up. No one ever actually--" Again, the looks made her shrink. "Okay okay, priorities, broken ship, I get it."

"Ax," Jake asked through gritted teeth. "Why would we be transported up into a damaged Andalite ship? And how?"

(I have no idea, Prince Jake.) I admitted. "But if we are here, there must be a reason for it."

It was Tobias who spoke up then, his thought-speak voice rather hopeful. (Do you think this is the start of the rescue? Could this ship be part of the fleet that was coming to Earth to kick the Yeerks off our planet?)

"If it is," Marco pointed out while looking around at all of the damage. "This is not exactly an encouraging start. None of this makes sense anyway. None of it. Since when would the Andalites even know about us? And could they even do this transport thing? Not to knock your species, Ax, but seriously? There is sense, and then there is this, and the two are in completely different time zones."

"Well that's because you don't have all the facts." Another voice said quietly from nearby. My stalks turned that way, to find a human woman who looked as familiar as she did not. She looked as she had the last time we had seen her, and yet, I was still accustomed to seeing her as a much younger person, the age of my other friends.

"Cassie!" Rachel exclaimed, rushing to embrace the girl who had been her best friend before she had become the Ellimist's assistant. "You're here!" The two were hugging, which I had long ago learned to be an expression of love and trust, similar to the way Andalites will intertwine tail blades.

"I'm here." Cassie nodded, finally extricating herself, though she smiled fondly at her old friend. "And now, so are you."

"You brought us here?" Jake was staring, and I thought he might ask for a hug next if one didn't present itself. "Why? What does the Ellimist want?"

"He wants to give you a chance." Cassie said slowly, as though taking the time to choose her words for fear of saying something that she wasn't supposed to. "He wants to give you a chance to fix what was broken."

"What does that even mean?" Marco demanded. "We're supposed to fix Andalite problems now too? Where are we? Is this the ship that was coming to save us? Where are all the Andalites?"

"Yes." Cassie nodded to him. "This was the ship that was coming to Earth to assess the situation."

"Assess the situation?!" Marco blew up, clearly not understanding. "The situation is we're as screwed as this ship!"

"Cassie…" Rachel was looking at one of the jagged holes in the wall. "What caused all this damage? What happened to this ship, and where is everyone?"

Cassie's face turned sorrowful, and I could tell that in spite of her joy in seeing her friends, she hated being the one to say this. "They didn't make it."

"What do you mean, they didn't make it?" Rachel put her hand against the edge of the broken wall. "Cassie, what happened to this ship? What happened to the ship that was coming to help save us?" There was an edge in her voice that seemed to indicate that she already knew the truth, but desperately wanted Cassie to have a different answer.

It was a wish that would go unfulfilled.

After a long pause, Cassie let out a slow sigh and raised her gaze to her old friend. "The Veleek, Rachel. The morphing cube made it strong, and it chased the morphing energy all the way out here, and attacked this ship. No one survived."

[Kitulean]

Chapter Two
 
I do not believe that I am yet capable of imagining what Rachel must have felt in that moment. Sometime earlier, she had made the choice to use the Veleek, an all but unstoppable alien creature altered by the Yeerks to hunt the energy that was given off by morphing, in a desperate plan to stop another of our enemies. David had indeed been stopped. The Veleek creature had been sent away, chasing the Escafil device, which is what grants the morphing ability to begin with.  It is what the humans inadequately call 'the blue box'.
 
Rachel's choice had been the correct one. Summoning the Veleek and using its power to stop David was still the only solution that had been available.
 
And yet… to learn that a ship full of my people had been slaughtered by that beast was staggering. My weight shifted to the side as I slumped myself against the wall, all four of my legs feeling like they were about to give out. (All… all of them?) I managed to ask, unable to keep the tremor out of the thought-speak. Surely someone had survived. Surely I could have just… one of my own species, one person who would understand me, who wouldn't be confused by the smallest, simplest detail from my own world, someone to perform the daily rituals with. Surely I didn't have to be alone anymore, not when this ship had been so close.
 
Before I knew it, Cassie's hands had cupped both sides of my face. I turned my stalk-eyes inward so that I was looking at her with all four eyes. I wanted to see every detail as she answered me.
 
Yet, I didn't need to hear the answer. I could see it within the sorrow and pain of her gaze. This was not an answer I wanted to hear. Before she could speak, I pushed myself back. (No.) I said flatly. (The Ellimist is wrong. You are wrong. There is someone still alive. Someone would have survived. Someone would have.)
 
Cassie's mouth opened to speak, but I wasn't listening. Casting my eyes every which direction, I saw only pity and sorrow from my friends, where there should have been determination to find the survivor that had obviously been missed. (There is a survivor.) I declared, meeting their doubting expressions with certainty. (And I will find them.)
 
(Ax-Man…) Tobias was the only one who didn't look as though he pitied me, though only because it was rather difficult for his hawk form to change expression. (I don't think you should set yourself--)
 
I didn't pay attention beyond that. Turning, I ignored all of their words and started to gallop off down the corridor. They were wrong. They were absolutely wrong. There was a survivor, at least one. I wouldn't be alone anymore. I would find them, someone who understood me. I would find another Andalite.
 
My friends, and they were my friends even if they didn't understand why I had to do this or how I felt, shouted after me. They were trying to follow, but my four legs made me faster than their two.
 
Except for Tobias. Narrow though the confines of the corridor were, he was able to catch up with me with his wings.
 
He did, however, seem utterly exhausted. (Ax! Just wait a minute!) Landing roughly on a metal supply crate, his small form staggered to the side and nearly fell off of it. Quickly, I sent my tail forward and used the bit just before the blade to brace him. (I do not wish to hear more of Cassie's mistake.) I informed him curtly. (I wish to find the survivors of this ship.)
 
(Ax,) Tobias managed to right himself and glared at me. Again, in his defense, I do not believe it was intentional. Glaring was all his hawk eyes were capable of. (How many times have you known the Ellimist to be wrong? Cassie's not guessing here, man. I just don't want you to set yourself up for more… bad.)
 
(The Ellimist is not perfect.) I insisted. It was irrational, and nothing we had thus seen lent any credence to the idea that he would make a mistake of this magnitude. But something I had realized over my time on Earth is that knowing something and believing it were two different things. I knew the Ellimist was right, that all of my people on this ship had been killed. But I did not believe it. I didn't want to believe it. I believed I could find one survivor, just one.
 
It was a selfish, terrible thought, unworthy of a true Andalite Warrior. I was being a child, even less than an Aristh, a cadet. I wanted there to be a survivor so that I wouldn't be alone, and I didn't care that that would mean another of my people was stranded on Earth with no way home. In that moment, I didn't care or think about what that would mean for that other Andalite. All I knew, was that I was so very tired of being the only one of my kind other than Visser Three within the solar system.
 
(Trust me, buddy,) Tobias promised, (if there are any survivors, we will find them. But can you name anything the Ellimist has been wrong about? Maybe things we've disagreed with, sure. But factually wrong?)
 
(He is wrong about this.) I said flatly.
 
Tobias met my gaze for another moment. I sensed that he wanted to say something else, wanted to prepare me for the inevitable disappointment. Instead, he finally dipped his head in acknowledgment. (Okay.)
 
By that point, the others had caught up. Seeing Prince Jake, I felt ashamed. What had my outburst and running away accomplished? I pondered quite briefly on why Cassie hadn't simply teleported them after us. It was well within her ability now. We had seen her do so already. But then I realized it was likely against some arbitrary rule of the Ellimist. The thought made me want to lash my tail at something.
 
But it was the next thought I had that truly angered me. (Why now?) I demanded, turning my attention to the girl who had once been a part of this team. (Why would the Ellimist have us brought here, to this ship, after it was too late? Why not earlier? Why wouldn't he give us an opportunity to save my people? What game is he playing?)
 
For a moment, I saw the old Cassie there. She looked just as angry as I felt, just as helpless, bound by the rules of the near-omnipotent creature she served. "It's not a game." 
 
"Then what is it?" Prince Jake asked. I could see the tension in him. It was understandable. Cassie and he had been close, before the incident that had resulted in her current situation. Clearly, a large part of him wanted to treat her as a friend and confidant. And yet, she was also the Ellimist's assistant, and had been given such incredible power and responsibility, even more than any other human could understand. Conceivably even more than some Andalites could understand.
 
"I'm so sorry, Ax. But it's true. The Andalites on this ship were killed." Cassie repeated her earlier words with an apologetic look toward me. I was tempted to speak up again, but held my peace. I would hear what she had to say.
 
Once she was assured that I would not interrupt, our former teammate continued. "But, this ship wasn't just assessing the Earth situation on its own. It was on its way to collect a small group of Andalites that have been stranded at the edge of Earth's--I mean, our solar system."
 
"Wait, wait, wait." Marco interrupted. "Are you telling me the Andalites have had a team here, within spitting distance of Earth, the whole time? Well what the hell have they been doing, inventing all new ways to be completely useless?!"
 
That brought me a few steps toward him, and I had to force my tail not to rise. (My people are not useless.) I informed Marco tensely.
 
There was as much anger in Marco's glare as he looked at me as I felt in myself. His mouth opened to speak, but one of my stalk eyes picked up Prince Jake shaking his head at him. Marco backed down, waving a hand. "Whatever, tell us more about this convenient Andalite brigade."
 
"It's not a brigade." Cassie shook her head. "They're just a small research team. They were testing a new Z-Space Jump Drive, one that would allow the Andalites to travel ten times faster through Z-Space than they do now."
 
"That… would bring the Andalites to Earth a lot faster." Melissa put in from where she was standing somewhat behind Marco. She brought her arms up in what I've come to realize is a human display of enthusiasm. "Which is really all kinds of yay!"
 
"The drive malfunctioned." Cassie informed us.
 
"Aw, boo." Melissa deflated, arms falling to her sides.
 
"Malfunctioned how?" Prince Jake asked. "And what does that have to do with this ship and the Veleek?"
 
"The drive brought their experimental scout ship as far as the edges of our solar system." Cassie explained. "But then it refused to power down. They couldn't make it jump again, but it wouldn't turn off either. It just keeps cycling up over and over, like it's about to jump into Z-Space, but it never does."
 
"So their engine's crapping out and keeps revving up but won't turn over." Prince Jake said, frowning. "Wouldn't the Yeerks have noticed something like that?"
 
"The experimental drive is stealthed." Cassie replied. "The Yeerks won't notice until way too late. And by then…"
 
"By then, what, Cass?" Rachel put a hand out toward her old friend. "What's going to happen?"
 
"Think of the experimental Z-Space Engine that keeps revving up as a car continually spilling gas all around itself." Our old friend explained quietly. "It just keeps building up that energy. It's putting all of that effort out but the ship isn't taking advantage."
 
Marco nodded. "Flooding the tank."
 
Cassie was quiet for a moment before she went on. Her gaze was on me, and I could not look away. "Then there's this ship. It's still going that way on emergency power. The engines aren't doing much, so little you can't even tell that they're on. But there's still enough acceleration to get this ship to that spot within the next six hours. And the second the energy from this ship hits the energy that the experimental Z-Space engine is giving off…"
 
(There will be a catastrophic reaction.) I said, and she nodded.
 
"How catastrophic are we talking, here?" Rachel demanded. "I mean, on a scale of hangnail to it's prom and Marco is your only choice."
 
"All I heard was prom and that I'm a choice." Marco replied. "Sorry, feather butt, looks like I'm moving on in."
 
(My butt's got more than feathers.) Tobias shot back. (You wanna see?)
 
(Please!) I couldn't help but cry out. (As curious as I am as to what exactly a prom is and how one might taste, this is important. Please, focus.)
 
"Uhh," Prince Jake looked at me, and then shrugged. "Yeah, what he said. Focusing would be good." Then he focused on Cassie, who looked as if she was having some visual problems. She could not stop blinking, and her eyes appeared to be leaking. "Cassie?" Prince Jake's hand went out to her. "What's wrong?"
 
"I just miss you guys." She answered, blinking a few more times before going on. "So you have to stop this ship before it reaches the other one, or big boom. Big Z-Space boom."
 
"What exactly would that do?" Marco frowned, his attention fully on the situation then. "I mean, would Earth be…"
 
"Earth itself would be fine." Cassie answered. "But it would damage Z-Space itself. Think of our solar system as an island. The Z-Space surrounding it is the ocean. If this explosion happens, it's going to create a… sort of a tidal wave effect all around our little island. Anything approaching through Z-Space will be violently shoved away. Nothing will be able to get through."
 
"So the Andalites couldn't get here?" Melissa asked for all of us. "For how long?"
 
Cassie went quiet until Prince Jake spoke up. "How long, Cassie?"
 
She answered softly, "At least five years."
 
"Five years?!" Marco exploded. "We can't hold out for five years, that's insane! We need the Andalite fleet here yesterday, not half a decade from now!"
 
(That's why we're here.) Tobias put in. (To stop that from happening. Isn't it?)
 
"Yes. The Ellimist believes you can stop it."  I could tell that there was much more that Cassie wanted to say, but she was limited by the rules the Ellimist and his opposing force, the Crayak, had laid out for themselves and their representatives. She could only tell us what she was allowed to.
 
"So how do we?" Prince Jake asked, directing his attention to both Cassie and myself. "How do we stop this ship from reaching ground zero? Or whatever. We just turn it off, right?"
 
(If the engines have been so heavily damaged, and I still cannot detect their motion, then we would need to reach the bridge to disable them or divert this ship's course.)
 
"Okay, two new questions." Marco held up one finger after the other. "How far are we from the bridge, and is that Veleek thing still lurking around waiting for us to morph?" 
 
"You're on the opposite end of the ship." Cassie answered the first question quietly. "That was part of the agreement with Crayak. You could be given a chance to stop this, but only if you had to put in as much effort as possible."
 
"Of course it was." Rachel seethed. "Both of those stupid god damn…"
 
Prince Jake interrupted. "What about the other part, about the Veleek?"
 
"There's good and bad news there." Cassie explained. "The good news is that the Veleek itself has moved on. The bad news is that it left… offspring."
 
"Wait." Rachel shook her head. "The Veleek was a whole swarm of creatures. How does it have offspring?"
 
"Smaller swarms." The answer came with a shrug. "Several smaller, weaker swarms split off from the main body. They're somewhere in this ship."
 
"How much weaker?" Marco asked. "I mean, fly swatter or oh my god we need another whale?"
 
Smiling very faintly at the memory, Cassie answered, "To a human body, they're probably just as deadly. But they can't get through the metal of the ship. And the swarms themselves are each only about as large as a heavy dog."
 
"What about morphing energy?" Prince Jake winced. "I mean, are we going to have them all over us every time we try to morph?"
 
"They can only sense the morphing energy within a short distance." Cassie tried to assure us.  "As long as you're not actively morphing within, say, fifty feet of them, you should be fine. Just be careful."
 
Prince Jake nodded.  "Right, so Ax leads us to the bridge, we avoid the mini-Veleeks, and turn the ship off. Oh yeah, and we have to do that within the next six hours. Anything else?"
 
Receiving no response for a moment, all of us looked to our old companion. I let a single stalk-eye keep twisting around to check behind us while focusing my other three eyes on her. Finally, she let out a sigh and turned slightly to her left. As she did so, a doorway slid open. "There are two more things. The ship has almost no power. A lot of it has been opened to space, so you're going to have to take detours. Some parts are going to be cold, very, very cold. And other parts, the ones that the engines have been venting into, are going to be hotter than the Sahara."
 
"Great, wild temperature variations." Marco grumbled. "Just what we needed on top of everything else." He paused then before sighing. "You said there was another thing, didn't you?" He sounded as though he really didn't want to ask. "Please tell me that the other thing is that there's a stranded pizza delivery guy up there and he really needs us to polish off his extras so he doesn't have to carry them around anymore. Please tell me that? Please?"
 
"Sorry, Marco."  Cassie turned and walked through the now open hatchway. "In here."
 
First Rachel, then Jake, then Tobias, then Melissa, Marco, and finally I followed Cassie into the room. I looked around and was more confused than before. (This is the medical lab, where healers tend to the wounded who are too injured to morph, or lack the ability. Why are we in here?)
 
Cassie explained, "The Andalites have been installing Gleet Bio-Filters throughout their ships at random checkpoints."
 
The other Animorphs already knew what those were, I didn't need to explain. The scanners would detect any DNA that was not registered, and would purge it.
 
"Let me guess," Marco cut in, "that's one thing that hasn't malfunctioned." At her nod, he sighed. "Of course it is."
 
"So what are we going to do about it?" Rachel asked. "I kinda doubt humans are in the accepted list."
 
I was just as confused as the others, for a moment. Then I realized, and I aimed a single stalk-eye at Cassie in shock. When I saw her nod at me, I knew that my realization was correct. (You mean to…) I couldn't make myself say it.
 
"What?" Prince Jake demanded. "What is going on? How are we going to get past the bio-filter without being Andalites?"
 
"You're not, Jake." Cassie answered him. Her hand reached out to pick up a vial of Andalite blood from its cooling unit. "Medical labs are full of DNA. The only way you guys are getting through the bio-filters, is by becoming the one thing it will let through."
 
"You're going to have to morph Andalites."

[Kitulean]

Chapter Three
 
I am afraid that my own reaction might have seemed, upon retrospection, perhaps marginally severe.
 
(Absolutely not!) I failed to keep the livid emotion out of my thought-speak. (I have come to accept that some of the law of Seerow's Kindness must be set aside in these times, but this is far and away more than could possibly be acceptable. You wish to use Andalite DNA, not even living beings who might give consent, but blood, in order to morph Humans into Andalites. This is absurd. Andalites do not even morph other Andalites, let alone allowing a primitive--)
 
"Hey!" Rachel objected. "You like our cinnabons well enough, Mr. Super-Advanced Alien."
 
(I am sorry.) I twisted a single stalk-eye to look at her, while keeping most of my attention on Cassie. (I am not trying to insult you. But, how would you feel if someone proposed a plan that would allow your Earth-Cows to become human?)
 
Marco leaned slightly toward Melissa and spoke in a low tone that was nonetheless audible to all. "And this is Ax trying not to insult us."
 
I sighed and brought my hands up to my face, an expression I had seen many humans make when expressing frustration. "I am merely attempting to make a correlation that is impossible because there is no analog known to the human race. You are brilliant in your own ways, but, consider, you do not even morph one another except in the most extreme of circumstances."
 
"Yeah," Melissa spoke. "I've been meaning to bring that up. How come? I mean, it seems like it would be useful."
 
"Because if we morph into other humans without having their consent, and whose consent could we get other than each other's, then how are we any better than the Yeerks?" Prince Jake spoke up with a glance toward Cassie.
 
Marco's head shook rapidly. "See now that's just a stupid argument that doesn't make any sense. You're making a false equivalence straw man argument. How are we different from the Yeerks? How about the fact that we're not enslaving anyone? If the Yeerks worked by say, going into someone's ear, then coming out the other side and transforming themselves into a copy of that individual, there'd be people lining up from here to the Yeerk homeworld to let them do it! Making a copy is not the same thing as enslaving and suppressing the will and personality and mind of the individual. It’s not even close!"
 
"Marco's right." Rachel spoke up, though she looked as if saying so might have caused her no small measure of discomfort. "We're fighting a war, and not morphing humans could cripple us. How many times have we needed to get into a building and move around where morphing into an actual person who worked there would have been so much easier than becoming a fly or another bug?"
 
"Easier doesn't always mean better." Prince Jake told them. "It's a slippery slope. We can't ask people's permission, so wouldn't taking over their bodies be a little… gross?"
 
"And the human race being enslaved by a bunch of mind controlling slugs isn't?" Marco demanded. "It's war. Not just a war about religion or land or one set of people. It's a war about the entire human race. If the Yeerks win because we handicap ourselves just because we think borrowing someone's shape is gross, can you live with that? Because I can't."
 
Tobias spoke up then. (We have to deserve to win. We can't just do anything we want to in the name of victory, or we won't be any better than they are. There is a line, and we have to stay on the right side of it.) His hawk body shifted around a little as though he didn't like disagreeing with Rachel.
 
"Oh that's bull****." I am still not an expert in human facial expressions, but it appeared as though the words had burst from Rachel's mouth before she realized who she was responding to. There was a pause as girl and hawk stared at one another, before she continued with a slightly more subdued voice. "Look, it's like Marco said. We're not taking them over. We're not making them do anything. We're borrowing their bodies in order to save them, to save everyone."
 
Everyone stopped talking then, as though waiting. After a moment, I realized what we were expecting, and turned my attention to Cassie, who had always given a strong opinion on the subject. The others were all looking that way as well.
 
Our former teammate shook her head. "It's not up to me anymore, guys. I can't tell you what to do. You know my opinion about taking over humans, but… I can't give you the answer this time. Things are different now, everything's different, and you know that." She seemed reluctant to speak again, but finally did so. "I’m going to leave you guys alone for a while. I shouldn't be distracting you."
 
"You're not distracting." Rachel argued. "You're always going to be one of us, Cassie. Please don't leave."
 
Cassie's eyes and voice were soft as she gazed at the girl who had been her best friend. "I'll be back, Rachel, I promise. I'm just giving you some time to work things out." Her hand reached out and touched Rachel's shoulder, and then she vanished.
 
(So where does that leave us?) Tobias wondered after a minute of silence.
 
"First," Prince Jake's eyes moved over everyone. "On the issue of morphing humans, who is against it?" He raised his own hand. A moment later, Tobias's wing lifted enough to be counted.
 
 (This is not my vote.) I said. (They are your species.)
 
"And you're one of us, Ax." Prince Jake insisted. "You get a vote on this as much as you get a vote on anything else. Especially considering what we're talking about doing with your people."
 
There was a moment where I considered objecting or refusing, but then I raised my hand. I did not want to see what would happen if the humans accepted morphing one another and anything went wrong. There was a reason that Andalites did not morph one another. Sapient creatures were different. They had to be.
 
Prince Jake nodded. "And who is for it?" At that question, Marco and Rachel's hands went up immediately. They were followed a moment later by a slightly more hesitant Melissa.
 
"Three and three." Rachel observed. "What does that mean?"
 
"It means we sort it out later." Prince Jake said. "Right now, we do nothing different. We have a more important question. Do we acquire Andalite DNA to get through this ship?"
 
"I say yes," Rachel answered immediately. "Why is this even a question? We don't have any other way to reach the controls to stop this piece of junk."
 
Unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice, I corrected her. (A top of the line Andalite warship has never been and never will be 'junk'. A thousand years from now, buried in four separate pieces beneath six tons of rocks on an uncharted moon on the edge of the galaxy, this vessel will still not be 'junk'.)
 
Her eyes rolled backwards until her pupils were pointed upward, a gesture that I was quite certain meant that she wasn't nearly as impressed as she should have been. "You know what I mean, and you're jumping on an inconsequential point to avoid the actual issue. Trust me, my mom's a lawyer. I know that trick. Now do you mind if I go on?"
 
I met her gaze with three of my four eyes for a long moment, but she never looked away. Finally, I dipped my head in acknowledgment and let her continue.
 
"Thanks. Like I was saying, whether we want to do this or not is moot. We have to. End of line. If we don't, there's that big Z-Space boom and the Earth is stuck fighting the Yeerk invasion alone for the next five years. Five years! Do you people understand that? Do you comprehend? That's more than an entire Presidential term. It's like… " She paused to search for an appropriate example.
 
"It's like two and a half Batman movies."  Melissa put in.
 
Rachel nodded at that, distractedly. "Right, like that."
 
"Or an entire Playstation console lifespan." Melissa added.
 
"Oh yeah, okay." Rachel nodded again.
 
Melissa continued to give examples that made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. She might as well have been speaking utter nonsense. "Or the time between one DC universe reboot and the next one. Or the number of seasons that Buffy was able to go before it got stupid. Or like five of the older Final Fantasies but only maybe three of the newer ones, which is really making me regret that I used the 'before it got stupid' notation already. Or--"
 
"Melissa," Rachel pleaded. "For the love of every ounce of respect I have for your coolness, please stop helping. We definitely, definitely get the point. But if you make yourself any more of a geek, I swear I will duct tape your mouth shut."
 
"Speak for yourself." Marco put in. "I don't think I've ever been so ready to marry a girl in my life."
 
Although I understood the concept of blushing, prior to this point, I'd had no idea that a human being could turn quite the deep color of red that Melissa became just then. "I--I tha-tha--it--bu-bu-really-not--I--that--"
 
(You see?) I announced, inordinately pleased that I was not entirely alone. (I am not the only one who enjoys the sounds that the human mouth can make.)
 
Rachel's hand moved to smack Marco's shoulder. "No! Bad! Don't even think about it. Off limits. No." She repeated the order as if giving instructions to a particularly disobedient animal. "No." Then she turned to Melissa. "You see what happens when you encourage them?"
 
Before Melissa or Marco could respond, it was Prince Jake who spoke up. He sounded as though he was having a conversation with someone who wasn't there. "Yes, mom, I know we were supposed to save the Earth from the Yeerk Invasion. But see, we had to settle who Marco was and wasn't allowed to want to marry and that just ate up the entire day. I mean what were we supposed to do, prioritize? Pffft."
 
"Okay, okay." Marco grumbled, waving a hand. "Either way, Rachel has a point. We don't have a choice. We morph Andalites, or we fail. What other option is there?"
 
(I can go alone.) I said promptly, making everyone stare at me. (I am more than capable of altering this vessel's flight path by myself, and I am already an Andalite.)
 
"Can you get through the entire ship with all of the temperature fluctuations?" Prince Jake asked. I began to answer, but he continued before I could. "Can you avoid the Veleek babies the whole way? Can you be absolutely, one hundred percent certain that you can safely reach the controls, without any help from any of us and no backup whatsoever, and remain intact and healthy enough to do what you have to do?"
 
For a moment, I met Prince Jake's steely gaze as he seemed to stare straight into me. His eyes were not quite hard, but they were intense. They were deep, and knowing. They saw my weakness and made me confront it myself. They were the eyes of a true Prince. I had to look away. (No, my Prince. I cannot do all of that alone. But, I believed that you agreed with me, that morphing sapient creatures was wrong.)
 
"I do." Prince Jake nodded. "I absolutely do. But here's the thing, Ax. War isn't always about doing the thing you agree with. It's about doing the thing you have to do, if that's the only option you have. I still don't think we're to the point that we have to morph humans. I think there are other ways around doing that. But in this particular case, morphing Andalites is our only option. And don't think for a second that just because I disagree with something on a moral standpoint, that I won't do it if it comes down to getting my hands dirty, or losing this war."
 
"If the tradeoff to kicking the Yeerks off our planet and freeing the human race is that I can't look myself in the mirror anymore, then… I just won't buy any mirrors."
 
(I guess that settles it.) Tobias spoke up. (Because I can't think of any disagreement that makes more sense than that.) His laser focused vision settled on me.  (Can you, Ax?)
 
There was a pause while I considered, before shaking my head in the human sign for a negative answer. (No, I cannot. If this is the only way, then I only ask that we do so respectfully, and without actually morphing a specific Andalite. I will teach you all to perform the Frolis maneuver in order to combine multiple samples of DNA from the same species into a single morph. That will at least make this slightly less distasteful.)
 
Prince Jake nodded. "I think we can all agree with that." He looked toward the others, who had no disagreement, then back to me. "Okay, what do we do first?" 
 
I walked to the cooling unit where the blood had been stored. (We gather as many genetic samples as possible.) I plucked several vials from their places, and began to pass them to the others. (Each of you touch it with one finger and acquire the DNA within. While you do so, think of a single word or concept, a single thought, and hold it in your mind. After you acquire your sample, pass the vial to the next person and acquire the next one while holding the same thought. The combination of the same DNA and the same thought when you morph will blend the genetic samples together.)
 
(It's that simple?) Tobias asked, after giving a couple flaps and hops to get from his perch to the table nearby.
 
I nodded once more. (The morphing technology is not meant to be difficult to use. It is what I believe the human scientists would call 'user friendly'. The Frolis maneuver was invented by one of its creators, who believed that there may come a time when, in order to successfully blend, an Andalite infiltrator would have to--)
 
"Okay, got it." Marco interrupted, passing the first vial he had used to Prince Jake. "Trust me, Ax, touching Andalite blood is creepy enough without adding in a history lesson. Wait…" He frowned up at me, clearly worried by a single thought. "This stuff is blood, right? I mean it sort of looks like blood, but it's all bluish black instead of red, so… Ax, please tell me this is blood and not something else even more disgusting."
 
(It is blood.) I acknowledged, and he sighed with relief before taking the next vial.
 
Rachel was touching the blood from her own vial, and then holding the same vial out for Tobias to dip his talon in before passing it to Melissa.  "Okay so we combine this DNA into a single morph, and then we become Andalites. Anything we should know about Andalite instincts or impulses right off the bat? It's not every day that we get to ask the morph subject what to watch out for."
 
I considered the question for a moment, and thought about what I felt before I had grown accustomed to space flight. (Andalites prefer open space, so the enclosed nature of a starship makes us feel instinctively claustrophobic. It is an experience that Arisths are trained to accept, and with luck your human minds will compensate, but when you first morph, it will likely be very uncomfortable. You will feel as though the walls are closing in. The floor will feel utterly unnatural as well. Andalites do not taste the way that the human tongue does, but we do process food through our hooves, and so the sensation of having ground beneath them that does not feel edible is disorienting for many young Andalites at first.)
 
(Right.) Tobias acknowledged. (Claustrophobic and weird tasting floors, got it.)
 
It occurred to me then that this would be my nephew's first real chance at being the same race as his father, and I hesitated. There should be something I could say for this momentous occasion, some ritual to undertake. Unfortunately, as, I shall be kind to my ancestors and use the term 'thorough' as the historical Andalites had been about preparing extensive rituals for almost any conceivable situation, they had failed to foresee this precise situation. I would have to mention something to the Elders about creating a 'Relative conceived while morphed into another race who somehow also acquires the ability to morph into the original race ritual'. I had absolutely no doubt that there would be a dawning sun and bowing involved.
 
For now, all I could do was point to the hatchway. (There will be more space within the corridor. You would not wish to be all squeezed together. Andalites are herd creatures at nature, so we do enjoy company.) Somehow I managed to say that without getting incredibly sad. (But the claustrophobia will be worse if you do not have space to yourself. You may instinctively lash out with your tails until you have brought yourselves under control.)
 
"All right then." Jake waved a hand, gesturing for them to go. "Everyone in the hall and spread out. Give yourselves plenty of space."
 
I stood in the hatchway and watched as my human friends spread through the corridor and prepared to morph.
 
"Well, Ax-Man," Marco extended his hand toward me with his fist closed and his thumb raised up, a gesture of camaraderie and approval. "See you on the other side of having the slightest idea how those stalk-eyes of yours work."
 
 The last thought I had before the changes began as the others focused on the morph was that my wish to be among other Andalites had come true… but in a way I could never have seen coming. It was something, as much as I had been resistant to the idea. I did enjoy the thought of passing some of our traditions to my friends, particularly Tobias, who should have been raised Andalite, who should know how his father lived. But I still wished for more than a proxy. I wished that when this was over, I would not, once again, be alone among my species.
 
What I had no way of knowing, at that point, was that my wish was already being granted, and that when this mission was over, I would not be the only Andalite that returned to Earth.
 
 

[Ronux]

While I have yet to read this just yet, i'm actually currently reading the previous Redux. I have to say that your fan fictions are incredible. The overall writing style you use fits so well into the existing style used by Applegate. Reading this feels just like how I felt reading the old books for the first time back in 96. I really hope you keep going with these as they are a joy to read.

[Kitulean]

Awesome, Ronux. Glad to hear you enjoy them.

Chapter Four

In spite of my obvious connection to it, I cannot attempt to guess what it is like to morph into an Andalite for the first time. What is completely normal to me, such as having three distinct areas of vision, two of which are fully mobile, I have never seen duplicated in any Earth creature that I have become thus far. Nor have I seen an animal of my size that possesses a tail with such range of motion and strength.

That is, of course, not even considering the lack of a mouth. A mouth is something that almost every Earth creature possesses, to one extent or another. Earth animals in general are almost absurdly more populous and varied than those of my homeworld. There are, for example, only three species of bird upon the entire surface. By contrast, most of the records I have seen on the subject on this planet believe there to be an estimated ten thousand species of Earth birds. That is only one example. My world is home to perhaps a hundredth of the animal species of Earth, speaking generously.

I do not believe that Andalite scientists had any idea how much of an advantage their morphing technology would be on a planet with this many varied species, simply because I do not believe that they could have possibly conceived of a planet with this many varied species.

So it was with some fascination that I watched my human friends gradually turning into figures that were simultaneously familiar and yet very strange. I had grown accustomed to being the only Andalite aside from the Abomination. And some part of me also thought it would be nice for the humans that I called friends to understand something of how strange it was for me to experience the new sensations that came with a human body.

It was Marco who rose first. Or, I should say, his back half rose while his forelegs remained flat on the ground. Overbalancing, he tipped forward and ended up getting his two stalk eyes tangled together so that each was facing the other.

(Something's not ri-GAH EYES!) His thought-speak voice yelled. (Okay, wait, I have arms. Arms attached to my butt?) His tail lashed forward and would have sliced one of his eye stalks off, had I not quickly interceded with my own tail. (That was not my arm.)

(No.) I agreed, gingerly pushing his tail aside. (But the Andalite tail is much stronger than our arms. It is likely why you believed it was an arm for a moment, as it is your dominant limb.)

With my help, Marco got his forelegs under him and pushed himself up. I carefully untangled his eye stalks and both blinked at me before twisting around. (Whoa. Okay, whoa. This is seriously awesome. I can see like, everywhere at once. Awesome and weird.)

(Did you believe that my secondary eyes were for decoration?) I had to wonder.

(Yeah, Marco.) Rachel and Prince Jake had both managed to get themselves up, though I couldn't see how well my adopted prince had managed the change . The Andalite that Rachel had turned into was significantly larger than Marco's, though his tail was longer. All of her eyes were on us. (Duh.)

I focused my attention on my nephew, as he and Melissa were also able to help each other up. It made sense that both had been the slowest to finish the new morph. Melissa was the newest of our number and had the least experience morphing, while Tobias had both begun from a much smaller form than the human members, and did not have as much morphing experience as they did.

(Whoa.) The Andalite that Melissa had become was just slightly smaller than my own form, clearly most of the DNA that her morph had focused on was that of at least one Aristh. Her stalk eyes were slightly stubbier than most, though they still had full range of movement. (Hey guys, is this anything like being a horse?)

(Sure.) Marco replied. (A horse with a wicked scorpion tail and fingers, oh and eyes that look everywhere at once. Other than that, exactly the same. Oh, and the cripplingly huge ego. That's new too.)

Melissa turned herself in a full circle while her eye stalks rotated in the opposite direction. (This is cool! It's like, no one can even get close without you knowing. Andalites would be great ninjas.)

(Sure,) Marco seemed to agree, even though I did not have the faintest clue what a 'ninja' was. (But can you imagine an Andalite in a ninja costume?)

The two of them looked toward one another, and then both began to laugh so much that I was afraid they had completely lost their minds. Even if I had known what a ninja was, I was certain that an Andalite would wear their garb with dignity and poise.

Incidentally, I looked up ninja later and had to concede that I had been incorrect. It would look utterly absurd. But it still was not that funny.

(Oh!) Melissa's giggles continued. (Teenaged Mutant Ninja Andalites.) This created even more laughter that, frankly, made even less sense.

I had just chosen to ignore the two of them as they continued to go on, and stepped toward Tobias to ask how he was faring in the body that should have been his birthright. However, Prince Jake finally emerged from behind Rachel's rather large form, and I very nearly collapsed, my main eyes widening even as both secondary eyes came around to focus. I may have also let out a strange noise, because they were all staring at me.

(What?) Prince Jake brought his hands up to his face to feel along it. (Did I mess something up? Four eyes, tail, hands, what?)

(I…) It took me a moment longer to collect myself. (Prince Jake, I am sorry for my reaction. It is extremely unprofessional. It is just that it has been quite a long time.)

(What?) If anything, Prince Jake was even more confused. (What? Seeing an Andalite? But the others morphed too. So what exactly…?)

I was too embarrassed to speak for a moment, and it was Rachel who understood first. (Wait, is Jake a girl Andalite?)

(Yes.) I managed to answer. (A very attractive female Andalite. Very, very attractive.)

(So Jake's an Andalite babe?) Marco cast one of his stalk-eyes toward our leader and examined him. (I don't feel-ohhh there it is. Oh man, Jake, you are hot. I mean, in a purely Andalite way and oh my god I feel dirty. Okay, Ax, you told us about Andalite fear of enclosed spaces and yada yada but you didn't say anything about having the hots for Jake! There should have been a memo! And a safety pamphlet! And a this just doesn't happen, period!)

(I ahhh,) I had to resist the urge to flex my tail. (I did not think that it would be an issue. I thought that all of you would automatically identify as the gender that you are. For most of you, that is true. But Rachel has become male while Jake has turned into female.)

Tobias stepped up next to me, testing out his legs. (Why? Why would they switch genders?)

Before I could respond, Marco laughed. (Are you honestly asking why Rachel would turn into a male Andalite? Because that doesn't-" While he had been speaking, both of his stalk eyes had rotated around to stare at Prince Jake once again. Once he realized what he was doing, Marco let out a strange cry and somehow managed to stutter step sideways. (Gaaaaah! Fix it fix it fix it fix it!)

My head shook. (There is nothing to fix. I had thought that your predisposition toward a gender would solve any issue. I am afraid I do not understand why Prince Jake would become a female unless he wished to be.)

(Oh.) Prince Jake, from the peek that I allowed myself, seemed embarrassed as a realization came to him.

(Jaaaaaaaaaake.) Rachel's tone had a quality that I had come to understand was teasing. (Were you thinking about being a pretty girl when you changed?)

(No!) Prince Jake's head shook quickly. (No. It's just that, when we were changing, I was wondering how we were supposed to control it. And I guess I was kind of focusing on what would happen if one of us were to get a different gender and why the hell am I defending myself when you switched genders too?)

Rachel's response was to raise both shoulders in a shrug. (I wanted to be big, so I focused on that. Not my fault big translated to male.)

Marco was still refusing to look toward Prince Jake. (So now Jake just demorphs and remorphs without thinking about pretty Andalite girls.)

(I do not think that would work.) I admitted. (The Andalite morph has been locked to what it is now. Perhaps if he demorphed and reacquired the blood, he could perform a new-)

(There isn't time.) Prince Jake shook his head. (I'll just have to deal with it.)

Marco's mutter came as he clearly pointedly made himself turn away. (Speak for yourself, Princess-Hey does that mean you have to call him Princess Jake now?)

(No.) I answered simply. (Andalites have no separate word for a female of military authority.)

(Well that's refreshing.) Rachel sounded pleased. (So males and females aren't divided in your military?)

Now I felt uncomfortable. (That is not precisely what I meant. There is no word for a female of military rank because there are no females of military rank.)

I had heard Rachel's tone get dark before, but it was somehow worse to have it directed toward me. (I'm sorry, what did you say?)

Feeling the need to defend my people, I tried to placate her. (That is not to say that females do not serve an important role in our society. They simply do not possess the… that is, the traditions dictate that they are not… I believe that when the divisions of military were chosen there was a consensus that females were better suited…)

The more I said, the closer Rachel's rather large Andalite form stalked toward me. To my left, one of my stalk eyes could see Marco making shoveling motions with his arms. I had no idea what he was doing, but the gist seemed to be that I should stop talking.

(No females in the military?) Rachel demanded once again. (Why not?)

I sighed. (It is not like that. It was decided long ago that males would serve as warriors, and females would serve as scientists. You see, it was mostly female Andalites who developed the morphing technology.) Any hope I'd had that this would make Rachel feel better evaporated when I chanced a look at her glowering Andalite face.

(That is the most asinine, backwards, sexist-) Rachel started to bluster.

Thankfully, Tobias interrupted. He put himself between the two of us, putting his hands on Rachel's larger shoulders. (Down girl. Ax didn't make up this tradition, remember? It's just the way they are.)

Marco agreed. (Yeah, you can teach them all about the liberation movement if we see any more Andalites. For now, let's do what we were teleported here completely against our will to do. One suicide mission at a time. You can reform the entire Andalite gender structure later.)

Rachel's gaze continued to bore into me for another moment. It is not often that I feel embarrassed about my own people. Andalites are clearly the one true hope for galactic freedom, and so we should have nothing to be ashamed of.

On the other hand, there are times when I see what the humans have done and it makes me wonder…

My musings were cut short as the door slid open when Marco approached. The air that swept through was cold enough to chill all of us immediately. The corridor before us stretched out of sight, with several open vents that seemed to be billowing constant cold air, likely from a hull breach further away. At least the oxygen shield remained in place, even if it did seem a bit thin.

(Okay, that's cold.) Prince Jake was shivering, and I had to resist the instinctive urge to put my own side up against hers to-I meant his- to warm her- him. This was going to be awkward.

(I guess Cass wasn't kidding about temperature variations.) Rachel's stalk eyes moved in a circle. (I wish she'd hurry up and get back here.)

Prince Jake gave a short nod. (But until she does, we already know what to do. So let's get moving and hope this cold doesn't last long.)

(It probably won't.) Marco decided, as we started to move through the wide, freezing corridor.

One of Prince Jake's eyes turned that way. (You know, that's remarkably optimistic for you.)

Marco continued as if he hadn't just been interrupted. (Temperature fluctuations mean up and down, after all. The next room'll probably be six or seven hundred degrees. And on fire.)

(And there it is.) Jake gave a decisive nod. (Nice to know some things never change, even if they really should.)

(The next room has to be warmer than this at least.) Tobias shuddered next to me. (It could hardly be colder.)

We continued to walk. I stayed near Tobias and spoke privately with him about how he was adjusting. I would record what was said, but it is private. Suffice to say, Tobias was unsure of how he felt, yet believed he was enjoying the concept of being closer to his father's race. I promised him that, when there was more time and privacy, I would show him some of the rituals of our people.

Tobias looked at me when I said that. (You said our people, Ax.)

(I am aware.) I turned my gaze back to him and bowed slightly. (And I mean what I said.)

Before Tobias could respond, as we approached the end of the corridor, a perimeter alarm began to sound. A light in the corner above the nearby door revolved while the klaxon blared.

(Gah!) Marco lashed out with his tail, slicing the top of the alarm off and cutting it short. (What is that?! I mean, what was that?) He sounded surprised. (Did I do that?) His tail moved around in front of him so that he could examine the blade. (I didn't even think about it.)

(That was very good instinctive blade work.) I commended him.

(But what does it mean?) Prince Jake wondered. (The alarm, not Marco's affinity for cutting things.)

(It is a proximity detector.) I explained. (There is another ship approaching.)

Marco straightened at that. (Yeerks?)

They all looked at me expectantly. I raised both hands. (I am quite aware that I am your authority upon non-Earth beings and vessels.) I informed them. (And I would like to believe that I am well versed and skilled at this duty. But even I cannot identify what ship is approaching before I have even seen it.)

Prince Jake chuckled. (Easy, Ax. It's okay, let's find a way to see what's coming.)

The door that we had approached, and whose alarm Marco had disabled, only opened partway when I directed the thought-speak command at it. Frowning, I tried again. The door didn't budge any further. (That's as far as it will open, Prince Jake.)

(That's okay.) Melissa had already moved up to it. (I think we can squeeze through it anyway.) She demonstrated by pushing herself through.

(Maybe you can.) One of Rachel's stalk eyes considered herself critically. (I'm going to have to demorph to get through. And if it's cold with all this hair, it's gonna be even worse if I have to do that. We have got to figure out how to morph jackets or something.)

Marco had moved forward after Melissa. (Yeah well, that's what you get for morphing into the Ahnuld of Andalites.)

I looked toward Prince Jake. (There may be a way to open the door the rest of the way from the other side.)

He nodded at that, and I somehow managed to restrain my instinctive pleasure. (Go, Ax.)

Carefully, I squeezed through the opening and into a shorter U shaped corridor. Melissa and Marco were already investigating the circular door set into the outer wall. (Hey Ax,) Marco asked. (Is this thing the airlock?)

(That's right.) I turned to look for a set of manual controls for the door.

(So,) Melissa spoke up. (That means that these lights coming on…)

At that, I turned away from the door. (That means that another ship is docking with this one.) I took a step to see for myself, just as the ship shook from the force of the other ship locking itself to it. The kinetic dampener field was too weak to compensate.

(Hey!) Rachel's thought-speak voice was both angry and confused. (What happened?!)

When I looked back, the doorway that we had slipped through was firmly shut. (Prince Jake!) I called. (There is a ship docking with us, and the process damaged the door. You will have to find another way around. If you go back the way we came, I believe that there is a secondary corridor to the left of the lab that will come back this way.)

There was a moment of silence, and then Prince Jake's voice came. (Okay, Ax. Rachel, Tobias, and I will find another way around. Be careful. Try to hide if you can. We don't know what's coming from that ship.)

By that time, the airlock had begun to cycle. I did not think that telling Prince Jake that it was too late to hide would accomplish anything useful. Instead, I positioned myself between and slightly ahead of Melissa and Marco. (Let me talk if they are friendly.) I told them. (Do nothing that might reveal that you are not truly Andalites. If they are unfriendly, may your tail blades remain sharp and strike true.)

(Uh.) Marco's left eye stalk turned toward Melissa. (Yeah, good luck.) He flexed his own tail carefully.

The airlock slid open, and the three of us braced ourselves. There was no time to do anything else.

Yet, even bracing myself could not prepare me for what came through the hatch. Three more Andalites, true Andalites, emerged through the hatch. Two were tall males, while the third was a lovely female that made me shift uncomfortably. Which was odd, because I was almost one hundred percent certain that she was a real Andalite female.

Both males seemed surprised to see us. The larger one straightened. (Arisths!) He exclaimed, clearly mistaking Melissa and Marco for other Andalite cadets. (We had no idea that anyone still survived.)

The other two remained silent, and I spoke up. (We were… lucky. And we did not expect a rescue.)

(I am Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad.) The first Andalite introduced himself. (The warrior to my left is Mertil-Iscar-Elmand. Together, we escort Scientist Estrid-Corill-Darrath. We were stranded on our research ship until a Skrit Na vessel attempted to harvest our supplies. We commandeered their ship to come here, but we believed that the vessel would be… abandoned.)

Marco's private thought-speak voice came to myself and Melissa. (Notice how he doesn't tell us what happened to the Skrit Na. And was it just me, or did Cassie say that their ship was stealthed?)

Unaware of Marco's pessimism and doubt, Gafinilan's hands indicated both other Andalites in turn. (And you are?)

(My name is Aximilli-Esgarrouth-Isthill.) I hesitated, wondering how to introduce the other two.

Before I could come up with anything, the female, Estrid, spoke up. (Gafinilan, we do not have time to waste. This ship must be locked onto position.)

Marco spoke up, abandoning my advice. (What do you mean locked into position? We're trying to move the ship so it doesn't collide with your research ship and explode all over Z-Space.)

The other male Andalite, Mertil, stepped forward. His attention was centered on Marco. (You sound quite odd, Aristh. Are you well?)

Estrid turned and began to stride to the door at the opposite side of the corridor. (There is no time. This ship must be prepared for the collision.)

This time it was Melissa who spoke up. (Wait, aren't you going to stop the collision?)

Gafinilan's eyes narrowed. (I see that whoever your prince was remained quite… flexible. But we have a mission to accomplish, and you Arisths will remain quiet so that we may do it. We will take you off of this vessel with us, once our mission is accomplished.)

(And that mission,) I started carefully. (It is not to divert this vessel.)

It was Estrid who answered. (Of course not. This is an unprecedented opportunity.)

(An opportunity for what?) Marco demanded, ignoring the glare that both myself and Gafinilan shot at him.

(To cripple the Yeerk armada.) Mertil was eyeing Marco consideringly. (We have information that a sizable portion of their fleet will be passing through this space shortly. If the Z-Space explosion occurs while they are within its range, they will all be trapped here, unable to jump out of this space. Half of the Yeerk armada trapped away from the rest.)

Estrid sounded even more impatient. (But if we do not move now, and accelerate this ship, it will not make the collision in time before the Yeerk fleet passes on.)

Gafinilan's tail arched, his excitement at the prospect of what they were suggestion obvious. (With such an advantage, our own fleet will be able to wipe the rest away, and then position ourselves to finish the rest once the Z-Space ripples have eased.)

(Five years later.) Marco all but spat, clearly disgusted and doing a, frankly, terrible job of hiding it. (And what happens to Earth in that time? What happens to the humans?)

Gafinilan's answer chilled even worse than the cold of the previous corridor. (There are sacrifices in every war, Aristh.)

[Kitulean]

Chapter Five

In the silence that followed, I was absolutely terrified that Marco was going to lash out at Gafinilan. And whatever else I was unsure of about the stranger Andalites, I was absolutely certain that the three of them could dispatch the three of us. Neither Marco nor Melissa were at all accustomed to their new bodies, and I would instinctively hesitate to strike at one of my own species, let alone a superior officer.

A moment passed just then, as a realization slowly came to me. Even knowing they would kill us easily, even knowing they were the only Andalites other than the Abomination that I might ever see again, I would hesitate to strike them.

Hesitate.

Not refuse.

They were my people, perhaps the only ones I would ever see. My people. My species. And yet, when the thought had come, I had automatically assumed that I would choose to fight with the humans.

Hesitate.

Not refuse.

During my brief inner contemplation, Mertil had stepped closer to Marco. He was examining my human friend with careful consideration. (What is your name, Aristh?)

(It's Mar--) Marco began before cutting himself off as he realized belatedly what he had been about to say. He froze, and one of his stalk eyes turned toward me for an answer. Unfortunately, my own brain had frozen as well. For that brief moment, I could not think of another name for the life of me. I could see my own panic reflected back at me in Marco's eye.

(Mar….) Mertil's thought-speak voice held doubt. (What sort of name is--)

(Marazipan!) Melissa blurted out loud, making all of us turn to stare at her. (His name, it's… It's Marazipan… Marazipan-Caramel-Nesquik,  uhh, Warrior… Sir. We call him Mar for uhhh, short. It's a fad.)

(Nesquick?) Gafinilan considered that. (I don't believe I've heard of that family.)

(They don't get out much.) Melissa managed. I could see that she was terrified but doing a fairly admirable job of hiding it.

I could see the uncertainty within the two older Andalites, and they was clearly going to press the issue. Fortunately, they was interrupted by Estrid. (I can see why.)  She sounded equally disinterested and dismissive. (That is a terrible name. But we don't have time for these pleasantries. There is work to do, Gafinilan.)

That decided them, and Gafinilan turned away, already all but dismissing our presence. (Of course. You Arisths will keep up with us or be left behind. It is your choice. We will not be held back.)

As the three real Andalites moved toward the opposite door, Marco's private thought-speak voice came to myself and Melissa. (Marazipan, really?)

(Hey, it worked.) Melissa replied. (And I didn't see you coming up with any winners, Mar.)

A look passed between them that I didn't quite understand, before Marco replied, (Just remember, I get to pick your name when they ask.)

(We should go.) I urged my companions onward before we raised the suspicions of the other Andalites any further. (And someone should--)

(Keep Jake up to date.) Marco's Andalite head gave a short nod. (Already on it. They're working on something.)

That worried me somewhat, as did the thought that I was being kept out of whatever they were planning, but there was nothing else I could do. I simply walked ahead and let my two Andalite-morphed Human companions follow after.

The first corridor that we came to curved sharply to the left, and with each step, the temperature dropped further. I was shivering before we were halfway through, and it was getting worse.

When Estrid spoke abruptly, I jumped, having been lost in my own thoughts. (The damage to this ship's environmental controls must have been extensive. I hope that enough power remains for our purposes.) 

Interestingly, I could hear no discomfort or complaint in her voice.  For one of the scientist caste, let alone as young as she appeared to be, that was surprising.

And intriguing.

Mertil responded shortly, (We will find a way to make it work, regardless. The opportunity is too good to fail.) One of his stalk eyes swiveled around to look at the three of us at the back. (Regardless of anything else.)

I felt like I should say something, given the fact that the older Andalite was still quite clearly suspicious of us. However, before I could think of what I could possibly say to dissuade those suspicions, the door ahead of us swished open. Blessed heat flowed through the cold air.

Rather than move through the doorway, however, Mertil and Gafinilan stopped. The latter raised his tail blade warningly. (Step into view, now.) He ordered. I could also see Mertil sidle to put himself between Estrid and the doorway.

Prince Jake, in his still rather disturbingly beautiful Andalite form, appeared. His thought-speak voice sounded appropriately nervous. (Umm… hello.)

Mertil seemed taken aback. (I--who are--)

(Sorry, sorry.) Tobias appeared as well. (We didn't know who was there. My-uh-my sister was scared.)

Turning an eye toward me, Mertil's voice managed to convey equal parts skepticism and annoyance. (Just how many others did survive on this ship, Aristh?)

Prince Jake saved me from trying to answer that one. (We didn't know they were alive either. The power doesn't work in most of the ship, and it's hard to get anywhere.)

(And your names are?) Mertil asked with narrowed eyes.

(Inconsequential.) That was Gafinilan. (The bridge. Have you been onto the bridge?)

(We were trying to.) Tobias spoke, pulling himself up straight. I was a little bit proud of his attempt at military posture. (But that way's cut off. Vented atmosphere.)

Prince Jake spoke privately to me then, as well as the other two, I assumed. (Cassie came back. She's helping Rachel try to get to the bridge first. We're going to delay them any way we can.)

A long sigh of annoyance escaped Estrid. She seemed more upset at the delay to her mission than she had about the near-freezing temperatures. (Perhaps I can find a way to fix it long enough for us to pass through.)

(No.) The word came in a rather loud chorus from myself, Prince Jake, Melissa, Marco, and Tobias. And, I realized belatedly, from Gafinilan.

We all looked at one another, then to the true Andalite. We knew why we didn't want her to fix the problem, but the fact that he had spoken up as well was surprising. And, I believe, helped take away some of the suspicion as to why we had said no.

Indeed, Estrid was focused on Gafinilan, thankfully. (What? Why not?)

(There are other ways to the bridge.) The older Andalite declared. (Two possible that I can think of. We will split into two groups in order to save time.) He stopped to consider. (I will take Estrid and these two--) He indicated myself and Tobias. (-- along the lower levels. They both look healthy and trained enough to serve as adequate protection.) Then he turned his attention to the other warrior Andalite. (Mertil, my old friend, I need you to take the rest of them along the upper deck path and try to find another way through to the bridge.)

Mertil looked decidedly unhappy about that arrangement. (I don't think--)

(There isn't time to discuss.) Estrid interrupted. She was bound and determined to get to that bridge and fulfill her mission, and she clearly didn't care who happened to be with her. Nor did she appear to notice the suspicion that Mertil clearly felt toward us.

Gafinilan clearly agreed, and started to move toward the hatch on the left side of the corridor. His fellow warrior stared after him, and then grumbled a command before turning to stalk the other way.

(You're going to have to delay both of them.) Prince Jake said to Tobias and me. (We'll do what we can with the other one, but you two have to keep them away from the bridge until Rachel takes care of it.)

(Good luck, guys.)  Melissa sent before she and the others were led away. I truly hoped that my friends could maintain the Andalite illusion with Mertil, who had been suspicious from the beginning.

Unfortunately, there was no time for me to fret over that, because Gafinilan was already shouting for us to catch up.

Tobias looked to me as he set his shoulders once more. (Any idea how to stop these two from getting to that bridge, Ax-Man?)

(I am… working on it.) I tried to sound confident, but without giving away our secrets, I didn't have a clue as to how we were going to do what had to be done.

We walked faster to catch up with Estrid and Gafinilan. On the way, I asked, (Do you believe that Rachel can do what needs to be done to turn this ship?)

(With whatever help Cassie can give her?) Tobias hesitated. (I don't know. I hope so. But one of us had to try, and better it be Rachel since she was--is Cassie's best friend. Besides, we thought it would be better if she didn't have to try to deal with the typical Andalite arro--) Seeming to realize who he was talking to, my nephew cut himself off and looked at me. He was still new enough at being an Andalite that he turned his whole head.

(Typical Andalite Air?) I asked. (Our air is not that different from your own. And I fail to see how being around less Andalites would help. Is this a human issue?)

(Uhh…) Tobias's eyes began to look in every direction as though seeking an escape. (That wasn't exactly what I meant. You see, Ax, there's something about… the thing is, your… what we've seen about…) He paused, seemed to consider, and then spoke in an entirely different tone of voice. (What is that?)

I turned a stalk eye in the direction he was now focused on, and found a sight that made my knees weak.

Against the wall there was a holographic image, similar to human paintings, but projected several inches out from the wall. It portrayed a wide field of blue and green grass. In the sky beyond hung two suns, one much lower than the other and clearly near the end of its day. The lower sun's setting rays cast colors over the grassy field. Also, unlike human art, the image was not static. The grass could be seen swaying against a light breeze, and clouds drifted lazily through the sky.

(Home.) I managed finally, hearing the crack in my own voice. (It's home.) I raised a hand and stepped closer, in spite of what would likely be even more annoyance from the true Andalites we were with. I had been away for so long. Just seeing this image of it made me feel simultaneously happy beyond measure, and sick to my stomach.

Tobias stepped closer, moving next to me. (The Andalite homeworld has two suns?)

(Three.) I responded, taking this chance to educate him. I raised a hand to point to the sun that was setting. (This is Den. It only remains in view of our world for four of your… of Earth's hours, from early to mid-morning. It's job of lighting the land is passed directly to its brother,) I touched the higher, second sun. (This one is called Hold. It rises at nearly the same time as its brother falls, leaving no time of darkness between the two.) 

(Hold will warm and brighten the world through most of the day, until mid-evening, when the third and final sun rises. Together, the two of them make the single Earth hour during which they're both in the sky the hottest point of any day.)

(Then Hold will set, leaving the last sun to give us light for three more Earth hours before it too goes down.)

Tobias was quiet for another moment, watching the hologram. Finally, he asked in a soft, almost reverent voice. (What's the name of the third sun?)

(Home.) I answered him in a whisper. (The third sun is Home. Den, Hold, and Home.)

I was grateful beyond measure, in that moment, for this opportunity. Whatever else happened, Tobias, my brother's son, deserved to know more of where his father had come from. I resolved to stop avoiding the issue out of uncertainty or doubt, or whatever had been preventing me from bringing it up. Tobias may have been born human, but he was Elfangor's son, and he should know as much of our people as he knew of his mother's.

I was going to teach him everything.

(Are you two coming?) Estrid sounded horribly annoyed. She and Gafinilan had moved out of our sight. I winced and hurriedly moved to catch up. As much as I wanted to tell Tobias, for now, we had to focus.

We found them a short distance ahead, standing by one of the lifts. The emergency stop light was active, indicating that the lift was inactive.

(Apologies.) I bowed at the knee and Tobias followed my gesture. (We were…)

(Daydreaming no doubt.) Gafinilan grunted. He nodded to the lift. (Help me get this open. We'll see if there's a safe way to get down to the lower levels through here.)

Together, the three of us strained and pushed at the lift doors, while Estrid waited with clear impatience. It was difficult, but we eventually managed to pry the doors open, revealing the empty chasm beyond.

Leaning over, I could see the lower level far below.

Estrid had already moved beside me, giving a little push with her shoulders so that she could see. (It's too far down.) She sounded genuinely upset. This mission of hers clearly meant everything to her. (We'll have to take the time to morph. I assume everyone has a Kafit bird.)

(Is it that far down?) Gafinilan asked, moving closer to where we were.

(Yes.) Estrid's thought-speak voice projected annoyance. (It's entirely too--)

(Why don't you check, just to be sure?)

Without warning, Gafinilan rose up on his back legs and lashed out with his two front hooves. The kick took Estrid in the back and propelled her into the wide open lift shaft. She hung suspended in the air for a clearly terrified second before plummeting with a scream that echoed through our heads.

The smack of the female Andalite striking the floor, and the abrupt cessation of her scream in my brain, brought me out of my frozen shock. I whipped around, but Gafinilan already had the blade of his tail against Tobias's throat. (Now now.) He shook his head. (None of that. I just thought we should chat without annoying interruptions.)

Tobias was as still as possible with that blade against his throat. I didn't think Estrid was dead, not from that kind of fall, but she was clearly out of commission. And I had no idea where Prince Jake and the others were. That meant I had to find a way out of this. First, I had to know what was going on.

(Why did you do that?) I demanded, trying to keep my voice as neutral and calm as possible. Inwardly, I was reeling. Why? He had assaulted another Andalite, and now he was threatening Tobias. (You are going to let him go. Then we may… talk.)

(Yeah, this isn't exactly inspiring me to be chatty." Tobias put in, swiveling one of his stalk eyes to look at his captor.

I could see a strange smile within Gafinilan's eyes that, in that moment, scared me. It seemed as though he could either cut Tobias and then deal with me, or let Tobias go entirely, and that which he chose was entirely up to chance.

I have heard of the important Earth method of decision making known as a coin flip. In Gafinilan's eyes, I could see that coin flipping over and over. This was a choice that would be made not by weighing pros and cons, nor by any amount of pleading or threat.

Life or death, in those eyes, was a choice that would be made at random.

The coin landed, and Gafinilan relaxed his tail a little. He stepped back, but produced a hand held shredder which he pointed at us both. (Step close together, little spies.)

Tobias was still tense, but he moved next to me and turned to face the older Andalite. (So, you always go around killing off helpless girls, you big warrior you?)

(Oh I doubt she's dead.) Gafinilan shook his head. The insanity that I had seen in his eyes had never left, once I noticed it. (No, as I said, I just wanted her out of the way while I chat with a couple of Animorphs.)

Tobias went rigid, and both of us stopped breathing for a moment. The shock must have been transparent, because Gafinilan started to laugh in our heads.

(Oh that was too good. That was perfect. The look on your faces. I wish you had mouths to hang open.) He straightened, still clearly amused. (As if it was that hard to tell. As if I wouldn't be able to tell a human in Andalite morph.)

(After all,) He inclined his head with a low chuckle. (I do have some experience with the subject.)

With that, Gafinilan's Andalite form began to shrink and melt into another form. He was morphing, but he was directing the morph well enough to keep the shredder pointed at us, giving no opening to strike.

In moments, the proud, strong Andalite warrior had given way to another form entirely.

A human form.

It was a human female, to be precise. By my admittedly limited understanding, she would have been considered quite attractive according to human standards.

She saw the two of us staring and laughed again, this time giggling aloud in the human way. "Oh David is going to wish he was here."

(David?) Tobias started. (What about him? What the hell is going on? Who are you?)

The girl's head tilted. "Did you really think he was going to do everything all by himself, Animorph? Did you really think he didn't have plans?" She shook her head, tossing her long, pale human hair back and forth. "You have a team, so it's really only fair that he has a team."

The confusion, the shock, the uncertainty, it all warred within me. And, I could tell, within Tobias. I finally managed, (You didn't appear to be able to help him before.)

"I've been busy." The girl replied casually. "Cementing my position in your Andalite military. Taking over that old fogey's life and learning how to play the role. I think I do a pretty good job now, don't you?" 

(Why?) That was Tobias. (Why would you work with David? What do you get out of it?)

"Let's just say this morphing ability is a huge, huge life saver." The girl replied before giving another giggle. The shredder never wavered. "And to think, if he hadn't come with his offer, I might have accepted that Yeerk in my head."

(What…) Tobias took a step forward. (What the hell are you talking about? Look, you can't just--)

He was interrupted by the sound of the shredder blast. The beam was clearly set to stun, thankfully, but it still took Tobias full in the chest. The blast was clearly calibrated to apply concussive force, and it knocked him backwards even as he fell unconscious.

And then he fell physically. Before I could grab for him, Tobias's unconscious form plummeted to join that of Estrid.

I spun back to the girl and readied myself to lunge. (You will regret that action, ally of David.)

"I doubt that." The girl responded with an air of utter disdain and boredom. "Once you're out of the way for a while, I'll catch up with the others and make up some story about you being traitors. Mertil will want to save the girl, but we'll have to execute your other friends, just to be safe.  Terrible tragedy."

Gathering myself, I tried to lunge toward the side. This would be my only chance.

I never had the chance. The blast took me full on and I felt my hooves leave the floor as I was flung backwards.

Consciousness was already fleeing my brain, and darkness was settling into its place as the elevator shaft loomed under me.

I heard the morph-capable girl speak one more time before I fell, figuratively and literally.

"And my name isn't Ally Of David."

"It's Taylor."

[Kitulean]

Chapter Six

I felt a sharp pain against my cheek. Groggily opening my eyes, I was just in time to see the flat of a tail blade a moment before it smacked me again.

(Wake up!) The by-now familiar annoyed and impatient voice of Estrid filled my head. She ****ed back her tail to hit me again, but I opened my eyes fully and raised my hands to stop her. (I am awake.) I informed my fellow Andalite.

We were in a small, u-shaped corridor that I recognized as likely being a connection hall between the ship's engines and maintenance bay. The open elevator shaft lay behind us, and I could only surmise that Estrid had pulled me out of the shaft before attempting to wake me.

It took me a moment to push and clamber myself up onto all four legs, during which the young scientist looked as though she might want to tail-strike me anyway for taking so long. (What happened?) She demanded once I was upright.

(I…) The events of the previous moments came back, and I swept my stalk eyes around the room. (Where is To--my companion? Why did you move us?)

(There.) She indicated with a nod of her head just as my eyes found Tobias, his Andalite form crumpled a few feet away. ( And I moved you because I did not know if the lift shaft would remain safe, naturally. Now are you going to tell me what is going on, or am I--)

I ignored her and moved to my friend. (Tobias!) I shouted into his head privately while giving him a hard nudge with my hoof. (Tobias, you must wake up right now.)

One more time I gave him a kick, and Tobias shifted over. His voice came in a murmur that seemed half-unconscious, and certainly made no sense to me. (Ngnnn, I know, Rach, ten minutes.)

(I am not Rachel.) I informed him succinctly. (And I do not know if you have ten Earth minutes before you will become trapped within that morph.)

That woke him, and Tobias lifted his head. His stalk eyes opened first, focusing after a moment. (Wha--huh?) He remembered and jolted up, nearly falling onto his opposite side in his hurry to rise. I helped him get to his feet. (Where is she?)

(Away from here.) I answered. (She said her name is Taylor. Do you know a Taylor?)

His head shook before he winced at the pain that had apparently brought on. (No, but something tells me I really don't want to know her.)

Estrid, having been left out of our thought-speak conversation, abruptly spoke up. (Hey! Is someone going to tell me what just happened, or what?)

Tobias and I exchanged a look before I spoke to her. (We believe that Gafinilan is a spy of some kind. He ambushed the three of us and said something about convincing Mertil that we attacked you, in order to justify harming our companions.)

(A spy?) Estrid stared at me. (That is absurd. Who is he a spy for? Do not tell me you are seriously suggesting that he is--)

(Not a controller.) Tobias answered shortly. (We don't know, but he's not really Andalite. He's not really Gafinilan.)

That made the young scientist's eyes narrow as she seemed to consider. (Another creature with the morphing ability, or something similar…)

While she focused on that, I turned back to Tobias, my voice urgent. (Tobias, I do not know how long we were down. My ability to track time has been temporarily compromised by our position in space and my own state of unconsciousness. You must demorph unless you wish to become trapped in that form.)

(Sure.) Tobias turned a stalk eye toward the female Andalite. (How exactly do we explain it to her?)

I paused. What could we say to explain to Estrid why Tobias was demorphing back to a-- wait a moment. (You,) I used public thought speak to address him this time. (Do you still possess the Earth-bird morph?)

Tobias and Estrid both blinked at me, the latter frowning in confusion. (Earth-bird?)

I turned a single stalk eye to her. (Our War-Prince wished to learn more of the human world and discover what sort of threats the Yeerks aligned with them might present. Our surveillance had to pass unnoticed.) To Tobias, I said pointedly. (My companion has acquired one of their local birds. It is small enough to fit within these confines, and may be able to scout back up the elevator shaft.)

Tobias understood then, what I had realized. Who was to say that Estrid had to realize he was demorphing from Andalite into hawk? For all she knew, it was the other way around.

(Right.) His form began to shrink immediately, and I let out an inward sigh of relief that we had not been too late.

Estrid still looked as though she wasn't certain she fully believed what she was being told, but she said nothing, choosing instead to observe in silence. At least, until Tobias had fully morphed. Then she spoke up. (That animal's wingspan will not allow it flight within the lift shaft.)

She was right, of course. Andalites preferred as open of a space as possible, even within our ships, but there was no way that Tobias's hawk was going to be able to fly inside the shaft itself. I had known that already, but had no other excuse for why he would have to change form.

(Perhaps he can still scout ahead.) I said mildly, as though it was a small matter.

(What is your name?) Estrid asked Tobias, her curiosity apparently finally outweighing her disdain for getting to know people or distracting from her mission.

This time, I was ready. (Tobras-Felan-Nilathan.) I supplied my friend privately, sounding it out for him.

He repeated the name for Estrid, and she simply started to walk away from the . (Well then, Tobras and Aximili, if we cannot fly up the shaft, we will simply have to find another way to the bridge.)

(You mean back to our friends.) Tobias corrected, his hawk eyes glaring. Not that this was necessarily indicative of his mood. Earth hawks always glare. Still, I believed that, in this case, it was likely appropriate. 

The other Andalite cast a single eye back toward him without slowing her walk. (No, that is not what I mean at all. Why would we waste our time going back?)

I spoke up. (Whoever and whatever Gafinilan is, he is a threat to Mertil and to our companions. We must go back and warn them.)

Estrid had moved around to one end of the U, though I wasn't certain which door she was approaching, the engine compartment or maintenance bay. (In case it has escaped your mind, your companions are not a part of my mission. I have a duty to perform. Yours, at this moment, is to assist me in its completion.)

Tobias's wings flared once as he declared, (We're not abandoning our friends, lady.)

I winced, even as Estrid turned a sharp eye back at him. (You are doing as you are told. Scientist or not, I possess the highest authority over this group, in this mission, and we will complete it.)

(Yeah, well see how much authority you have over my tail-feathers, princess.) Tobias muttered.

Estrid was apparently ignoring him, as she remained focused on the doorway. (We can pass through maintenance to reach the upper levels again.) As she spoke, she had apparently sent the thought-speak command for the door to open, because it began to slide away. However, before it had opened fully, a loud buzzing sound filled the air from the other side.

Tobias and I looked to one another, and then we both shouted, (Veleek!)

I sprang forward just as Estrid was casting a single stalk eye our way. (What are you complaining about n-) She was interrupted by me plowing bodily into her at full gallop, bringing us both to the floor in a tangle of almost too many limbs to count. Eight legs, four arms, and two tails all twisted around one another, pushing and pulling.

And overhead, a small Veleek swarm flew past, right where the female Andalite had been. Buzzing like one of the earth tools I have seen that is apparently called a chainsaw, the swarm hurtled through the air straight toward where they had sensed the morphing energy.

They went for Tobias.

He launched himself into the air, sailing over the top of the tiny Veleek swarm. (Move, people!) He shouted at the two of us. (Do you need a written invitation to retreat? This is Commodore Birdboy saying, 'all hands, run the hell away!')

I was not entirely certain, but Estrid may have begun to doubt our credibility in that moment.

Still, she recognized the real threat and, once we were both on our feet, ran through the open doorway to escape with us.

The Veleek itself reached the base of the U and inverted itself to come back after us. I sent a thought-speak command for the door to close.

It remained open.

I sent the command again, with the same result.

(Close the door!) Estrid cried while the Veleek continued to charge.

(I am attempting to do so!) I replied shortly. (It is not obeying.)

The Veleek was almost there by that point, and I simply snatched my fellow Andalite by the arm and turned, galloping away. (We must flee!)

The maintenance bay stretched out before us, enormous in its relative emptiness. Designed to hold an entire division of Andalite war vehicles and the equipment needed to maintain them, the bay was cavernous without them. There were, of course, tools and even piles of machinery dotting the bay here and there, and there were even several enormous starfighter engines suspended above the floor by thick chains. Yet, the machines that the bay was designed to hold and service were all absent.

All of which meant that we had a nearly empty, wide open space to run through, with the Veleek right behind us. This would have been an inconvenient time to be a wobbly, slow human with only two legs.

The human with wings soared above us, arcing around through the open air of the all but empty room. (Move it!) Tobias shouted.  (That thing isn't getting any slower!)

Indeed, somehow the Veleek had become fixated on myself and my Andalite companion. I wasn't sure how that worked with its parent being taught to feed off morphing energy, but neither was I anxious to cease my retreat to pose the question.



We raced across the bay, each of our four legs galloping hard, pushing us forward across the hard metal while the chainsaw noise grew closer with each second. The two of us each had our stalk-eyes pointed backward so that we could see just how close it continued to get.

(What is that creature?!) Estrid demanded. Clearly her own sense of curiosity was not diminished by retreat.

(It's called a Veleek.) Tobias answered her. (Now hang on, let me time this just right...)

My hearts were pounding so hard that I feared they would leave my chest entirely. If the creature caught up with us, we would not survive the experience. Even if they were too young and small to cut through the metal of the ship, our flesh and bones would prove no obstacle. I pushed myself to run harder, faster, and kept tight hold of Estrid's hand to keep her with me.

(Waaaaaaait for it.... waaaaait for it...) Tobias seemed to be talking to himself. Then I saw him dive out of the corner of one of my eyes. His talons closed tightly around a chain that ran from the top of a pulley system, down to a suspended starfighter engine.

Tobias released the chain as soon as he had pulled it loose of its mooring, and the engine fell free just as Estrid and I passed underneath it. The heavy piece of machinery slammed into the floor, taking the Veleek with it.

(Whoooo!) Tobias made a noise that I have come to associate with human celebration. (Who's the birdman? That's right, I'm the birdman. A whoop, a whoop whoop.)

(What... precisely is he doing?) Estrid asked. The two of us had stopped running after the two ton engine had crushed the creature. (And what is a Veleek?)

Before I could find anything remotely resembling an appropriate lie, another loud buzzing began to approach from another side of the room.

(Aww, man.) Tobias complained. (What is it with us finding out our enemies are traveling in teams   today?) He had landed on a nearby rod, but took off again as the second Veleek young swarm came charging across the bay.

(There is more than one?) One of Estrid's eyes focused on the incoming creature.

(Apparently.) I answered before starting to run once more. (We are quite fortunate though.)

Ahead of us lay a wide pit where Andalite technicians could work on a vehicle parked above without need for it to be hoisted off the ground. We leapt together, crossing the gap mere seconds ahead of the new Veleek.

(Please tell me, Aximili,) Estrid requested, once our hooves touched the ground and we resumed our frantic gallop, (how this is in any way fortunate.)

(The adult version of this creature is capable of going directly through the metal walls of this ship like a Derrishoul tree.) I answered just as we had to leap over a second maintenance pit.

We landed once again, and continued running. We were rapidly nearing the other end of the maintenance bay, and with any luck, this door would obey the command to close once we were through.

But first we had to reach it. I pushed on, even though after everything that had happened, all I wanted to do was fall down and take a nap. Andalites are capable of running for quite a bit longer than humans, but this was a lot of physical activity and stress directly after being knocked out by a shredder blast. It was all I could do to stay on my hooves at this point.

Estrid, who seemed to be as worn as I was, shook her head. (It is not opening.)

My eyes narrowed and I focused on the door ahead of us. Apparently the other Andalite had been attempting to send the thought-speak command already. I tried as well, with no more success.

(Uhh, guys, you kind of need to open that door!) Tobias called from above.

(We are attempting to do so!) I informed him succinctly. (It does not appear to have any power.)

(Then skirt around.) Tobias offered. (You'll have to cut back the other way, to one of the other doors.)

We did not have time for that, I knew. Nor did we have the energy. With each step, each gallop, I could feel my body protesting. We weren't going to be able to make another run all the way back.

I stumbled, and then the Veleek was there. It nearly took Estrid's arm off in its first lunge before she managed to yank herself away from it.

But  now the swarm had the two of us trapped against the wall next to the unresponsive door, and it had stretched itself out to block any avenue of escape. High above, I could hear Tobias shouting for us to duck, but there was no time. There was nothing. There was...

There was a roar, and I blinked. Since when did the Veleeks roar?

My confusion was met by another roar, and this time I realized that it was not the sound of an animal. What I had heard was the loud, insistent whoosh of fire. The sound was accompanied by searing heat, as a blast of flame filled the air right in front of us. It was so close that the flames seared some of my fur, and caused Estrid to cry out. But it also caught the Veleek full on, causing the swarm-creature's distinctive buzzing sound to escalate and raise in pitch into what sounded almost like a scream.

The Veleek tried to flee, the swarm rushing backwards. But the flame pressed on, continuing to engulf it even as the flames turned from red to  blue-white and narrowed slightly to focus in on the creature. The flame was also swept back and forth as though to encompass as much of the thing as possible.

Finally, the swarm was no more, the creatures burned into all but nothing, and the blue-white flame shut off. 

Our rescuer stood with the power tank to an Andalite welding tool over one shoulder, and the tool itself outstretched in one hand as though it was a weapon. Which, I supposed, she had made it become.

“Honestly, boys,” Rachel, in her human form, shook her head and raised the end of the welding torch to trigger one more short burst of flame. “Where would you be without me?”

(Lost.) Tobias answered, his voice full of wonder and appreciation as he came in to land on the barrel of the torch. (Completely and utterly lost.)

Rachel smiled at my friend, my nephew, but before she could speak, Estrid's voice came.

(Human.) The other Andalite raised a hand to point. (You are a human. I have read the information packets. And you, you are human as well.) Her finger moved to point at Tobias. (I do not know how, how you could morph the way that you do, but you are no Andalite. I had no idea what you were, but an Andalite does not talk the way that you do. Now I know. You are both humans. Humans with the morphing power...)

She turned her attention to me. (Did you know, Aximili? Did you know that they were human with the morphing power?)

(I...) I paused, but there was no way to convince her that what she had surmised so far wasn't true. (I gave it to them. I allowed them to use the Escafil Device. It was a moment of weakness, of loneliness. I was stranded on Earth, and I needed help.) It was the lie that the Andalite leaders, whom I had managed to contact once while on Earth, had said that I needed to give, the lie that would let our people continue to see the great Elfangor as the war hero he deserved to be, rather than the traitor they would see him as if they knew he had broken the law of Seerow's Kindness.

Estrid stared at me for another moment, as did both Rachel and Tobias. Finally, she inclined her head. (No.)

Of all the responses I might have expected, that was the least. (What?)

(No.) My fellow Andalite repeated. (You did not supply them with the morphing ability. An Aristh like yourself? No, you would not have been entrusted with the device. And if you had, you would not have volunteered the information quite so readily. That story sounded rehearsed. More likely, it was someone else, someone important and either they or someone much higher in the military ordered you to take the blame for it.)

I stared. How had she known that?

(It is only logical.) Estrid replied in response to my stare. (Now if you will excuse me.) She turned and began to walk.

“Wait,” Rachel frowned. “That's it? That's all you have to say about it?”

(I have a mission.) Estrid responded simply. (It does not include passing judgment on this situation, terrible as it may be. I must ensure that this ship collides with the other.)

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Rachel moved in front of Estrid then, and I took a step after her as well. “No way. We aren't letting that collision happen.”

(It must!) Estrid snapped. (The Yeerk fleet will be crippled. We will secure the entire galaxy while it is trapped near Earth, and by the time the Z-Space is healed, we will be able to destroy what remains of them there.)

“Like I said,” Rachel hoisted the torch. “That ain't gonna happen.”

(It must!) Estrid cried, her hands coming up even as her tail lashed about behind her in agitation. (We must trap the fleet there!)

(Why?) That was Tobias, whose laser-sharp hawk gaze was focused on the other Andalite. (Why is this so important to you? This mission, it's more than just that, isn't it?)

Finally, I recognized the truth of that. Estrid's single-minded devotion to her mission, to this job, it approached fanaticism. She had barely blinked an eye upon realizing that my friends were human, humans with the morphing power. Something else was going on.

Estrid's shoulders slumped down, and it looked as though her entire body had deflated. Her voice was softer now, with a sort of keening desperation. (My brother.)

(Who?) I asked, confused.

(My brother,) Estrid repeated. (Ajaht. The Yeerks have him.)

That brought all of our attention, and Rachel exclaimed. “What?! What the hell do you mean, the Yeerks have him? The Yeerks aren't supposed to have any Andalite other than, you know, the big one!”

Wincing, Estrid's gaze remained downcast. (They captured him during a shuttle trip, when he was coming to visit me at the lab. Everyone else on the shuttle died, he survived. He's been taken by them.)

“So he's infested now.” Rachel pronounced, dourly.

(No!) Estrid's head shook emphatically. (We- my brother and I, we have these communication devices, very tiny. I designed them, and they have not found his yet. I have been listening in, and the Yeerks are saving him for a special body, a high ranking Yeerk.)

(This fleet, the reason it is so large is that they are escorting their prize, my brother, to meet this high ranking Yeerk at their homeworld for a new infestation. He'll be the second Andalite-Controller. Unless...)

She trailed off, and Tobias's hard gaze lowered a bit as well. (Unless you stop the fleet from reaching its destination.)

(Yes.) Estrid's voice was soft. (I was planning on trapping myself in Earth-space as well. It is the only way I can save my brother, the only way I can keep him from being infested by the Yeerk that would take him away forever.)

(There is no other way to prevent that ship, with an escort fleet that size, from reaching the Yeerk homeworld. I must make that collision happen, or I will lose my brother.)

[pallosalama]

Hello, when are you planning on releasing next part? I rode through all previous episodes as well, and they were amazing! Hope you write alot more of these in future.
Right now I remember one part that I thought about while reading,
The part where David is under attack of Veleek. If he had superior morphing(and "sucking" the acquired animal)powers, why didn't he just acquire that Veleek and grab it to himself and/or morph into it? I know it would have screwed the story, but still 

[Kitulean]

How about nowish? And to answer the question, David didn't acquire the Veleek because the Veleek is actually a hive creature, so if David acquired and morphed into it, he'd only be ONE tiny part of the Veleek. Kind of like how if they morph Bees, they aren't every single bee.


Chapter Seven

(Well,) Tobias began rather unnecessarily. (That complicates things.)
I saw Rachel shake her head, welding torch still in hand. “Not really. We still have to stop them.” The look she gave to Estrid was firm, but not unsympathetic. “Sorry, but if it comes down to it, our planet can't survive the kind of threat you want to strand us with.”


My fellow Andalite's own gaze was fierce, her indignation clear. (I do not want to. My desires have nothing to do with my decision. It is simple fact. If I am to save my brother, which I will do, then the Yeerk fleet must be stranded.)

“No, you wanna know a simple fact?” Rachel had taken a step that way, and I kept one stalk-eye rather nervously on the torch, ready to intervene. “You're not doing that. Period. End of.”

I wanted to speak up, but had no clear idea of what to say. Where were my loyalties? My friends, my team, the planet I had been left on, or my own kind?

(Okay, Rachel, let's just listen for second.” Tobias started from his perch on the end of that torch. I had noticed his gaze flicking down toward it several times as well as they got nearer to Estrid.

Lifting the torch handle to stare at him, Rachel shook her head once again. “Are you serious? We can't just let her put this kind of threat on our planet, no matter who her brother is. It's the Earth and she wants to put her brother ahead of it. That's like seven billion to one. It's not even a question.”

Estrid spoke rather primly. (Can you say that you would not choose the same, human? That you would not put the life of your loved one above all else?)

Rachel's eyes were narrowed at the other Andalite. I have heard humans say that an expression such as the one that was currently on her face makes them pleased that such expressions are not capable of killing. I am at once horrified and intrigued by this apparent mutation in human history which led to the offshoot of humanity capable of such dramatic effects, though none appear to have survived to this time. Perhaps they all made such faces at one another.


“Do not,” she said in a low, dangerous tone, “try to guess what I would or wouldn't choose when it comes to the people I care about. You do not know me.”

No one else spoke for a moment, though I did wonder what Rachel had meant by that. The way she'd spoken, it sounded as though she had actually made that kind of choice, or something similar.

Of course, it also made me think of the fact that all of this had apparently happened before. When Cassie had first come to us after becoming the Ellimist's assistant, she had explained that she was a Cassie from the future, a future in which we had already defeated the Yeerks. Yet we had apparently done so at too steep of a price, and we had agreed to a deal between the Ellimist and the Crayak in which time had been reset to a previous point in order to allow this war to play out again.

I wondered where I had been at this point in the previous timeline. How far had we deviated from what came before? Had one of us already died before now? Was any of this even remotely similar. Was this moment where the choice came? Was the choice of letting the Yeerk fleet be stranded here or allowing them to gain another Abomination where we begin to lose or win the war? Which one would be the right answer?

There was a right answer, wasn't there?


“Look, I'm not saying it doesn't suck.” Rachel raised her hands in what, at this point, I knew to be exasperation. “But what are we supposed to do, just condemn our whole planet to have the whole Yeerk armada floating above it? You really think they'll stick with 'slow and quiet' invasion at that point? It'll be war, Tobias. Straight up war, and a lot of people will die from it. I'm not just being a **** who doesn't care about her brother.”

It was to me that Tobias spoke next. (Ax, you haven't said anything. What do you think?)

Estrid moved next to me. (He is Andalite. Do you truly believe he would condemn another of our race to become a second Abomination? Even if he has been stranded on your planet, he is not human.)

“Nah, but he does have something called compassion.” Rachel was clearly frustrated, still making that face at the female Andalite.

(Compassion?) Estrid's tone was full of pointed, sharp curiosity. (Such as abandoning an innocent to be a slave of the Yeerk Empire?)

Rachel seemed unfazed, and shot back heatedly, “Such as not deciding that one person's fate is more important than an entire world!”

(You do not even--) Estrid began, but I wouldn't let her finish.

(Enough!) I brought one hoof up and then brought it down as hard as possible on the metal floor, letting the sound of my stomp echo through the room until they were all looking at me. (We will find the others, we will tell them about this Taylor-female--)

“Who?” Rachel sounded confused, and we took a brief moment to explain what had happened. The look on the human girl's face when David was mentioned was one of the clearest examples of 'angry' that I had ever seen, and I was tempted to point it out to Estrid in order to begin her education in the understanding of human facial expressions.

(What does do those words mean?) My fellow Andalite asked as Rachel concluded a rather lengthy tirade. It was apparent that she had directed the question only to me.

I hesitated before answering privately. (As far as I understand, most are anatomically impossible requests. The, ahh, gist is that Rachel is unhappy with the involvement of the human David, as well as the news that he possesses an ally on this ship.)

Then I continued what I had been saying publicly.  (We will find the others, tell them of the Taylor-human, and then we will present all of the issues and let Prince Jake decide.)

(Prince?) I could hear the disapproval in Estrid's thought-speak. (Jake is not an Andalite name, Aximili.)

I focused both of my main eyes on her, and managed not to shrink at the demanding stare. (No, he is a human. He is a human I have pledged to serve as well as I can, and I have yet to regret that oath.)

She sounded aghast. (You would let a human make this decision for you?)

(No.) I said, shaking my head. (I would let my Prince make the decision for me. Every being, Andalites included, has their own goals, desires, and fears, and each of us will react slightly differently to every situation. That is why we serve a Prince, why they serve War-Princes, and so on. They provide a singular goal, a singular choice, that focuses our individual, separate desires. Without such guidance and focus, every single time that any group of beings were presented with a choice, they would dissolve into smaller and smaller bands. Infighting would dominate, and nothing would be accomplished. Decisions via committee sound pleasing to inexperienced minds, but in the end a decision made by a dozen voices is a dozen decisions.)

(Our Princes, our leaders, ensure that this infighting does not happen. Even when there is disagreement, warriors, for the most part, follow their orders, because they believe, as they must believe, that the Prince has weighed every choice.  A good leader isn't good because they make every right choice. They are good because they make the absolute best choices that they can, listen to all facts and opinions, and own up when mistakes are made, and do the best they can to fix those mistakes. A good follower obeys his Prince unless he becomes convinced that his leader's competence has become compromised.)

(Prince Jake is a good leader. I have told him that I will follow his orders, and that has not changed. You present your case, and we will see what happens. He, and the other humans, may surprise you. This is far from the first impossible choice that has been presented and overcome.)

Estrid's gaze hadn't left mine. (You would allow a human to condemn a fellow Andalite to life as a Yeerk slave.)

The urge to look away was strong, but I resisted, knowing that it was important that I not break eye contact now. (If my Prince, after weighing the choices, does not find another way. I am an Andalite. I am loyal to my Prince.)

(Andalite Prince!) She exclaimed. (You are supposed to be loyal to an Andalite Prince!)

(It has become increasingly clear to me,) I said softly, (that the ideals such as honor, courage, and defense of others are no more universally deficient within other races, than they are a unanimous representation of our own.)

I knew that there was much more that Estrid wanted to say, but Tobias chose that moment to interject. (Debate racial superiority later, guys, we've got company.) His gaze was fixated across the room, and I twisted a stalk eye that way as he went on. (Those Veleek babies had cousins. Or siblings. Or whatever.) 

He was right. There were at least three more swarms crossing the bay toward us.

All of us began to back up, and Rachel pointed. “Through that door, that's where I came from when Cassie said you were in trouble. Come on, move.)  She slid the torch tank off of her back and dropped it, muttering, (Too heavy. Not enough fuel to light a campfire left anyway.)

We moved, and the Veleeks continued to give chase. I arched my tail defensively, but it was a meaningless gesture. My tail blade was of no more use against these creatures than the delicious and delightfully squishy human March Mellows would have been.

It was a bad thought to have. We were, yet again, being assaulted by a foe that we could not touch or risk at least temporary mutilation. And now I truly wished I had some March Mellows.

(I am very colon open parenthesis) I lamented.

Rachel glanced in my direction, though she didn't slow down. (You're what?) 

(I have begun to learn the human method of intercontinental communication on your primitive computers.) I explained, quite proud of myself even within this situation. (I was inwardly lamenting our situation, and my lack of delicious human food. When humans are sad, they indicate this via a shorthand colon open parenthesis.)

Now both Rachel and Tobias were staring, the latter still perched on the end of the the torch, which allowed him to stare much more effectively.  (Dude. One, priorities.) Tobias turned his laser sharp gaze toward the incoming Veleek swarms, which were still only halfway across the bay even as we neared our exit. (Two, Marco should never have introduced you to the internet. You'll end up seeing all kinds of nasty stuff.)

(I wish to use it to learn about the culture that humans share with one another across their world and how they use instantaneous communication and access to global information.) I pointed out, a little defensively.

(That's what I just said.)

Clearly exasperated for some reason, Estrid demanded, (We are being chased by creatures which will kill us all. Is this truly the time to be discussing such matters?)

I saw Rachel's head shake. “Clearly she doesn't know us at all.”  She did, however, pick up her running pace. Watching a human run is always a simultaneously mystifying and guiltily amusing sight. They have no tails, and only two legs, so I always expect to see them fall face first while trying to run. How  a species could evolve that way, let alone become the dominant species on a world so full of creatures with sensible tails and leg numbers, is a mystery that I do not believe will ever be solved.

We had stopped just through the hatchway, and I turned an eye toward the console there and sent a thought-speak command to it. The door began to close, but stopped halfway. At another, more insistent command, it opened a small bit, and then tried to close once more with a sick, lurching motion. I winced at the grinding noise.

“Uhh, Ax, we need that door closed now.” Rachel was staring at the incoming swarms as she bounced back and forth from one leg to the other. “Like, now now now.”

(I am aware of the urgency.) I informed her shortly. (But the door remains uncooperative. It is broken.)

(Really starting to dislike Andalite craftsmanship, dude.) Tobias launched himself off of the torch and flapped hard to reach the end of the twisting corridor ahead of us. (This way, left hand hall looks clear!)  He announced while settling onto a tipped over console that was still emitting occasional sparks from the opposite end.

Rachel took off as well, while Estrid and I exchanged a look. I couldn't read everything within her expression, but it was clear that she had doubts about following Tobias and Rachel. She obviously wanted to take me off somewhere privately where we could settle this the way that Andalites should.

In response, I turned away and followed my friends. After a moment, I heard a sharp exhale of air from Estrid and then she came as well.

By the time we reached the corner where Tobias was, the buzzing noise from the young Veleek swarms had grown louder as they forced their way into the corridor. They did, at least, appear to get caught up a bit as each swarm tried to enter all at once, and ended up struggling with each other.

That, unfortunately, wouldn't keep them away from us for long. We needed a hatch that worked.

Rachel had not broken stride. “This is the way I came down. Cassie and I were near the bridge when she said you needed help. I remember the direction the bridge was from there, I think.”

Estrid's own tone was, perhaps, a little bit snippy. (We are aware of how to reach the bridge of an Andalite ship, human. We are, after all, Andalites.)

(And we're so proud of you for that achievement in birth.) Tobias abruptly announced as he sailed over our heads. (And by the way, those things are right on your butts, so hopalong a little faster, Cassidy.)

That confused me. (Who is Cassidy?)

(Never mind, dude. Point is, keep going!)

The corridor that we were in looped up and around gradually, getting slightly higher with each revolution. Even as we ran, the sound of the buzzing swarms continued to grow louder. I kept one eye pointed behind us, but couldn't see them yet. It was clear, however, that they were constantly just behind the previous bend.

“There!” Rachel raised her hand to point. “The hatch to the right at the end!”

(And again,) Estrid replied tersely. (We know. We are Andalites.)

Both I and Estrid shot so many thought-speak demands at the door to open that it nearly tore itself free of its housing  when it slid aside so sharply. We passed through, Tobias first, then Rachel, Estrid, and finally myself.

Finally, we had found a hatch that worked properly, and it slid obediently closed once more just as the nearest Veleek swarm came into sight. I stood and watched while the door slid back into place. At that point, it may have been my imagination, but the buzzing seemed to grow louder in annoyance.

“We're sure they can't get through that?” Rachel had doubled over, breathing hard. It was difficult for a human to run nearly as much as an Andalite could, and I nearly suggested she morph again, but I was not entirely certain how Estrid would take it.

(As certain as possible.) I answered before looking away. The short corridor we were in led directly to the bridge, and I could see movement within.

Tobias had clearly noticed as well. (Looks like everyone's inside.) He announced from his perch on a wall console.


“Then let's join them.” Rachel straightened, finally having caught her breath, and strode that way. I followed, and Estrid brought up the rear.

As we neared the bridge, we could hear Prince Jake speaking in his human voice. That was not a good sign. “You can't sentence the Earth to this kind of threat. We can't handle it. That's an entire Yeerk Armada that you're trying to strand on our doorstep.”

(Be silent, spy.) The voice of Gafinilan demanded. Clearly Taylor was still playing her role. (We will complete the mission that Estrid was assigned, and then deal with you as your companions were dealt with for her murder.)

Estrid had slid past me by then, as we came upon the entrance of the bridge. (I feel quite well for one that has been murdered. Perhaps I am an apparition, sent to haunt those who have no business being on an Andalite vessel, 'Gafinilan'.) The scorn in her voice was scathingly clear.

Coming into the bridge, I could see Prince Jake to the far left, along with Marco and Melissa. All had demorphed and were standing under the watchful guard of  Mertil, who was armed with a shredder in each hand. Gafinilan/Taylor was standing near the captain's console in the middle of the room.

All eyes were on us as we came through the door, and Mertil seemed confused. (Estrid, how-- Another human!) His voice turned to a snarl, and he began to turn one of the shredders toward Rachel.

Tobias, however, had other plans. He shot through the small space between the top of my head and the doorway, soared across the room and plucked the outstretched weapon out of Mertil's hand. (Incoming, Jake!) He announced, releasing the shredder almost as soon as he had caught it so that it fell into Prince Jake's  hand.

Mertil turned back and reflexively let off a shot with his remaining pistol, as Prince Jake and the other two dove behind the nearest consoles. Sparks flew as the shredder blast tore into the wall, then the floor where Prince Jake had been.

Rachel ran behind Mertil to interrupt him, but his tail caught her alongside the face and sent her sprawling, even as he began to aim more carefully toward where Prince Jake had dove. (Spies!) His anger was palpable. (Liars! Assassins!)

While that was happening, Taylor appeared to be using the confusion to continue inputting commands at the computer. I could not let that happen.

Taking three quick steps forward, I brought my tail lashing around, but her stolen tail blocked it before she turned, an amused look dancing within those Andalite eyes. (Do you really want to do this, Axxy? I happen to be using a full grown adult, and you are still little more than a child.)

My own main eyes narrowed. (You are not Andalite, however adept you have become at playing the part. You will step away from the console now.)

Mertil's voice interrupted, his attention drawn to us. (Aximili, you as well?! What madness has--)

The high pitched sound of a shredder that was set to the lowest intensity filled the bridge, as Jake rolled out from under the console in a maneuver no Andalite could have predicted or duplicated, and shot Mertil. His form immediately dropped to the floor as the stun blast brought him down.

I lifted my tail a little, watching Taylor closely. (It is your choice.) I informed her. Melissa was helping Rachel back to her feet, and when Marco emerged from where he had taken cover, it was in the form of the gorilla that he most often used in battle.

(Does anyone want to tell Big Jim what the hell is going on?) He padded up next to me, joined by Jake and then by both of the girls. Estrid had come up as well, though she remained silent. Tobias perched near the ceiling and watched with his sharp bird of prey vision.

Hands still near the console, Taylor watched us all, clearly looking for an opening. Finding none, she simply chuckled and lowered her hands and took a couple of steps back. (Did you have fun with our friends down there?)

(Demorph.) I ordered her. I wanted her out of the form of my people. (She is not human, but that can be explained later. Prince Jake, there is something else you must know now, before we choose what to do with this vessel.)

“Choose?” Prince Jake frowned, still holding the shredder. “I didn't know we had a choice to make.”

I began to speak, but before I could, there was an abrupt flash of movement. I heard a familiar, sick thunk as the flat of Estrid's tail blade slammed into the side of Prince Jake's head, making him crash to the floor.

“Jake!” Rachel lunged to catch him as he dropped, her own eyes wide with surprise and anger. Melissa joined her, and they knelt next to Prince Jake's unconscious form.

(Hey!) Marco lifted a large gorilla fist, but Estrid's tail blade moved almost faster than I could comprehend, with precision that I could not have matched in the most optimistic of my dreams, smacking him three times in rapid succession across both sides of the flat gorilla face before settling close to his throat.

(Do not move.) She ordered him. (I could have done much worse than hit you, human. I chose not to because I do not truly wish to be your enemy. But this must be done.)

(Estrid.) I demanded, my own tail quivering. (You have assaulted my prince. You know that I must retaliate.)

(You must make your own decisions, Aximili!) Her right stalk eye twisted around to look at me. (That is what this is about. It is about you choosing who your people are, who your loyalty is to.)

Keeping her tail blade near Marco, Estrid continued. (Save the human world and condemn your own kind, or remain loyal to our race and help me save my brother, another Andalite. Do as you choose, but you will not hide behind the decisions of the human you pretend is your Prince. The choice will be yours, and yours alone, Aximili.)

(Humans or Andalites. Choose.)

[Kitulean]

Chapter Eight

In the absence of an immediate better option, I put my lessons in human battle strategy to its most pertinent use. I stalled.

(You do not need to do any of this, Estrid.) I pleaded, searching the room for another solution. (There is another way. Trust me. Trust my friends. Trust Prince Jake. We will find another way to save him.)

(My brother.) Estrid shot back fiercely. (He's my brother. So no, I am not going to waste time or effort on his rescue by putting it in the hands of humans.)

Before I could answer that, both of us noticed the Andalite form in the back of the room slowly changing. Fixing one stalk eye that way, Estrid raised a shredder she had liberated. (Stop morphing!)

Half Human and half Andalite, Taylor had enough of a mouth to smile slightly. Her voice remained thought-speak. (Demorphing, actually. It's what Mr. Real Andalite there said to do, wasn't it?) She tilted her head, her tone curious. (Don't tell me you think a human form is more dangerous than Andalite.)

There was something wrong about what Taylor had just said, something important that the statement overlooked. Before I could focus on what it could be, Estrid retorted with the arrogance that I was beginning to recognize was inherent in my race. (Of course not. Continue your demorph, and do not take the Andalite form again. The human body presents no particular threat or advantage whatsoever.)

Marco raised a gorilla hand. (Standing right here, dude.)

(I know precisely where you are standing.) Estrid's confusion was clearly warring with her frustration. (And what is a dude?)

It was Rachel who spoke, the human girl still leaning on Melissa. I didn't blame her. Standing on two feet sans tail was a risky proposition at the best of times. After being smacked aside by Mertil's tail, I was surprised she was able to see straight. “What he means is, we're here so we can hear you insulting us. Which isn't a really good idea when you're gonna need our help.”

(I do not need your help.) Estrid sounded even more frustrated and desperate. She was clearly teetering on the edge from worry about her brother. It was something I understood. While I had been stuck on board the crashed dome ship back on Earth, trapped beneath the ocean, I had worried for a long time about what might have happened, or have been happening, to Elfangor.

Then I learned the truth, that he had been killed likely even before the Dome Ship had hit the water.

Prince Jake was beginning to stir, making odd and not entirely coherent noises as he did so. I fixed a stalk eye in his direction before focusing on the other Andalite. (Estrid,) I started. (As I told you before, I trust my... friends. I believe that they will find a solution to this problem, and will discover a way to save your brother.)

Her primary eyes blazed as she made ready to argue with me, but I held up a hand to forestall her. (But, your brother's life, and the safety of all Andalites and the rest of the galaxy, should not hinge solely upon my trust. To that end--) I focused upon the control computer. (Maintain forward momentum at current speed, lock onto disabled Andalite research vessel and continue on that course until I provide the password. Once the password is given, immediately halt all forward momentum.)

“Ax!” Rachel looked furious. “What the hell?!”

I could see the calculation in Marco's gorilla eyes. (If we come up with the solution he thinks we can, then the ship gets stopped. If we can't...)

“If we can't, then he's sided with the Andalites.” Prince Jake said from the floor. He was watching me with an appraising, slightly cold look that I didn't like.

(It is the best that I can do, Prince Jake.) I said solemnly. (I did not choose against humans. I simply did not choose against my own people either. I believe a better solution exists. Yet if we fail to find one, is it not better that this solution be employed? It will cripple the Yeerk fleet outside of this solar system.)

(And doom Earth.) Tobias observed from his perch. I couldn't tell what my nephew thought of my action, but his words made me wince inwardly.

(Earth would still have a fighting chance.) I tried, rather lamely, to point out. This was met with doubtful looks.

Before I could attempt to continue, Melissa interjected, “She's gone!” Her hand was raised, pointing to the corner where Taylor had been. She was right, the other human had seemingly vanished.

Oh. That was why Taylor's defense, that being in her human form would be less dangerous, had struck me as wrong. She was capable of morphing from that form. If we had forced her to remain in her stolen Andalite body, it would have been much easier to contain her.

Oops.

Prince Jake had picked himself up by that point. His voice was terse. “Find her. Look for bugs, anything small enough that she could avoid notice. Don't let any insects out of this room.” He was clearly putting action to his own words, setting himself in front of the exit and scanning warily.

Marco raised his gorilla hand. (Am I the only one that thought you sounded an awful lot like Visser Three just now?)

I could see Prince Jake roll his eyes even as Melissa put both of her hands up in the air. “Just do it, Marco.”

“Are we sure she hasn't escaped already?” Rachel questioned. She was searching one of the corner areas near the communication controls while periodically glaring at me rather intently. Her anger wasn't entirely misplaced, of course, though I inwardly questioned what she would have done in the same case.

My friends expected me to side with them, their people, over my own. I trusted them, I believed in them, but I could not wholly sacrifice my own people as well as the safety of every other species that might be saved by the crippling of the Yeerk Fleet, just because I had human friends.

Given a proper choice, and a chance, I would not allow Earth to be overrun. But we needed to have that better option before dismissing the one that was not perfect. No, I would not willingly choose to abandon the Earth to the Yeerks. But neither would I choose to abandon every other planet of the universe in favor of the Earth.

The Yeerks would be stopped, must be stopped, regardless of what that cost me in blood, trust, or friendship.

Although all four of my eyes were scanning the room through three separate fields of view, it was Tobias, with his incredible hawk vision, who spotted our quarry. (Fly!) He had trained his eyes on a spec near Prince Jake. (She's a fly, heading over your left shoulder, Jake.)

Prince Jake made a grab for the spec, but it evaded his grasp and flew on. This prompted a rush into the corridor beyond as we all sought to prevent her from escaping. All of us save for Estrid, who remained behind.

(Got her!) Marco's own cry was triumphant as he brought two hairy gorilla hands together in a cupped motion before squinting at them. (Nope, don't got her.)

(Melissa, on your right, down low!) Tobias called instructions as he flapped hard to find a new perch near the ceiling on an exposed hatch frame. (Lower, there! No, your left hand, she just went through your—Jake, coming up on your right! Marco if you move two steps left, wave your left hand really fast! Ax-Man, slap your tail as far as you can to the right... now! Rachel, she's coming your way now if you turn just a little left and reach straight ahead on my... wait for.... grab now!)

As we finally stopped, the humans bending over and panting, Rachel held her two hands cupped tightly together over the imprisoned fly. “She's definitely in there.” She spoke with an edge of pride. “I guess she's not so smart after all.”

The answer came in the sound of a forcefield humming into place. We all whirled to find the shield preventing reentry into the bridge. And beyond that shield was Taylor.

“Oh, I dunno.” The tall blonde human shrugged with an air I recognized as dismissive. “I think keeping a random bug zipped into the pouch of my morphing clothes and then releasing it as a decoy so that you idiots could chase it around while I rolled under a console and waited for you to leave me alone in here was pretty smart, myself.”

A growl of anger escaped Rachel, as she stomped her way to the shield and raised her fist to strike it. Quickly, I blocked her wrist with the length of my tail. (No. The forcefield will harm you if you attack it.)

“Take it down, Ax.” Prince Jake ordered, his eyes glaring through the shield at the smug Taylor.

(I cannot.) I admitted weakly. (She has raised the emergency bridge shield, only to be used when the ship has been compromised. It prevents all attempts to access the bridge until those inside lower it.) After a moment, I added, (But she is not the only one inside.)

Everyone's attention turned toward Estrid, who was still standing back by the console.

If anything, Taylor seemed even more confident. “Yeah, but you see, she's not going to lower the shield either. Are you, Princess?) She glanced back toward my fellow Andalite and smiled again. (Because you see, I'm doing exactly what she wants. I'm going to make sure that zero space explosion happens, and then she and I are going to rescue her brother.)

“Why?” Rachel demanded. “Why would you risk yourself to help her?”

Taylor simply gave that enigmatic smile that I was not yet versed enough in human expressions to read. “Simple. Because opposing you does not  by default make me the villain. I want to stop the Yeerks as much as any of you. I just... have my own way of doing it.”

“By trapping their entire fleet on Earth's doorstep?” Prince Jake stood next to Rachel, his own glare matching hers. 

“Oh Jake.” Taylor looked amused now, shaking her head. “You think too small. Too immediate. Cause and effect, cause and effect. But if you alter the cause, you alter the effect. You affect the effect. That's A affect and E effect, respectively, for the public school kids in the crowd.”

“Get to the point.” Rachel growled. “What do you mean, change the cause to change the effect?”

“What you were afraid of is this ship using its current momentum--” Taylor raised a hand as though to demonstrate what she was saying. “--to plow into the Andalite research vessel, creating a huge zero space explosion that would prevent all other ships from coming into or leaving our space for years.”

(Yes.) I confirmed. (That is why you must turn this vessel away from this course.)

Behind the forcefield, Taylor's eyes looked amused, the way that Marco did when he felt that the joke he had just told was particularly humorous. “Oh but Mr. Andalite, that's two of three solutions. Either we let this ship drift at its current speed into the other wreck, or we change course... or...”

The others looked at me, and I felt confused for a moment before inclining my head. (Alter the speed, not the course?)

“Ding ding.” Taylor's smile widened, and I could see rows of white teeth that, by human standards, were perfect. “Close enough anyway. See, right before this ship hits that one, we power up the zero space drive of this vessel. Tell the what that will do, Axxy.”

It took me a moment, running the calculations in my head. (You would enhance the potential damage, through zero space, which would result in not merely throwing ships that were using the zero space in the area out of it, but in their destruction.)

(No!) Estrid stepped forward finally. (I cannot let you do that. My brother--)

“--will be absolutely fine.” Taylor reassured her, reaching out a hand to rest against Estrid's side. “See, that information we have about the Yeerk Fleet? It's escorting Visser One's capital ship. She's paying a visit to Earth right now, while most of the fleet jumps around and plays defense to make sure the Andalites don't come nearby.”

Marco muttered privately, (As if they'd start now.)

Estrid was watching the human girl, eyes narrowed. (So what you believe is that the resulting explosion will not catch the Visser's ship because she has stopped at Earth, while the majority of the ships will be caught and subsequently destroyed.)

“Precisely.” Taylor nodded. “And there's no way that your brother isn't being held on Visser One's capital ship. If nothing else, she needs the political power that presenting an Andalite body to the Council of Thirteen.”

“These guys,” Her head nodded toward us. “They want to let that fleet go, based on the promise that they, a few humans and a single Andalite cadet, can somehow then get you to that fleet, extract your brother, and escape. And all this before they reach the Yeerk homeworld.”

“I, on the other hand, well I'm telling you how we can destroy most of the fleet in a single stroke, and trap the ship that has your brother on it so that we can save him at our leisure.” With that much said, Taylor stepped away from the forcefield as though to let Estrid take it down if she wished. “Your choice.”

(Estrid.) I implored the other Andalite. (We will find a way to save him. I promise. You cannot let her words--)

She interrupted. (You said that there would be another way. You were right. This is the better way. I'm sorry, Aximili.) Her hand waved at the hatch, and the metal door started to close down over top of the forcefield to cut away even our view of them.

“You'll be trapped here!” Rachel's voice sounded desperate even to me. “You don't have a way off this ship!”

Taylor spoke one last time, winking at us just before the metal doors shut fully. “Don't I?”

(Ax.)  Prince Jake's eyes were on me, his hands clenched. (Tell me there is another way onto that bridge.)

My head shook. (No, Prince Jake. There is no other way onto the bridge. It was made that way deliberately. It would not be much of an emergency defense if there was a way around it.)

(What about Mertil?) Tobias questioned. (Could he wake up in time to stop this?)

It was Marco who answered. (Why would he? Even if he woke up, he'd agree with the plan because it hurts the Yeerks.)

“What do we do?” Melissa asked. The smaller human female was shifting from one foot to the other, something I had come to associate with nervousness. I could not blame her.

It was impossible to keep the frustration out of my voice. (I have no idea. The only way to stop this vessel would be with another—oh. Prince Jake, the vessel that Estrid and the others arrived on. If we could board that vessel and detach from this ship, we should be able to employ its weaponry to destroy this vessel before the collision.)

“Good enough.” Prince Jake nodded. “Let's go. We should probably run.”

(We've still got hours, dude.) Marco replied. (Why do we need sprint there.)

“It's not so much about running to a place,” Jake's reply was terse as he raised a hand to point down another corridor, where a two different young Veleek swarms were approaching. “It's about running away from them.”

We ran.

**********************************************
 
Reaching the docking hatch proved to be much more difficult than I had initially anticipated. Any attempt to morph brought the Veleek swarms even faster than they normally found us, and they appeared to be everywhere. If we weren't running away from one swarm or another, we were detouring around uninhabitable sections of the ship.

And as though that wasn't enough, the ship itself was failing faster.

“Oh come on!” Marco had resumed his human shape, and was now staring at a hatch with a red light above it. “This corridor can't be closed, we just came through it.”

(I believe that Taylor and Estrid are shunting power toward the engines to prepare for the z-space jump.) I amended. (Or the beginning of the jump, in any case. This is accelerating the destabilization of the rest of the ship.)

“How much time do we have left?” Prince Jake asked, looking toward the only hatch that was still open, which led in the opposite direction from where we wanted to be.

(Approximately fifteen of your Earth Minutes.) I answered promptly.

“Fine, no time to waste.” Prince Jake started for the open hatch. “Every second counts people, let's run.”

Reaching down to help Melissa up from where she had sprawled once we had stopped for a few moments, Marco looked to me. “You think we can make it?”

I paused before answering. (It is theoretically possible.)

Raising his hand, Marco fashioned a fist with the thumb of the hand raised. “Keep up that overwhelming optimism, Ax-man. That's why we named you morale officer.”

“Well that and because Rachel hit me back when I suggested she take it.”

In response, Rachel punched Marco in the shoulder. “Because I know what you were thinking when you said it.”

I believe the look that Marco gave to Rachel then was supposed to imply innocence. It did not seem effective. “That you're bright and cheerful and your sunny disposition always livens up a stormy day? Wait, yeah, now I see why you didn't fall for that one. Good thing the cutest girl--”
He trailed off, his expression seeming to indicate that he shouldn't have said as much as he did.

This time, Rachel's eyes narrowed rather dangerously. “I'm sorry, what was that you were saying? The cutest girl hmm?”

“Uhhh, umm, guys?” Melissa bounced from one foot from the other, if anything even more anxious than she had been just outside the bridge. “We should probably go, huh?”
 
“PEOPLE!” Prince Jake yelled back from halfway down the corridor. “Priorities!”

Looking relieved, Marco started to run again. “Yeah, Rachel, priorities, gah.”

Everyone ran once more, and I tried to lead the others through the ship as best as I could. There were still more dead ends, and we had to do so much backtracking that by the time we finally reached the proper hatch,  the time was down to four minutes.

“Everyone aboard!” Prince Jake stood aside and waved his hand frantically. “Get on the ship get on the ship get on the ship! Ax, start the engines and get us out there!”

The Skrit Na saucer wasn't that large, though its cargo bay was massive compared to most Andalite ships of equivalent size. Luckily the cargo bay was empty, so it was easy to rush through straight to the bridge. It took a minute for the engines to warm up once I sent the command, and then I began the undocking sequence and pulled the ship away.

“How long until the weapons are ready?” Prince Jake asked with a hand against my side as I stood in front of the controls. I had to bend slightly uncomfortably over the Na seat, because there wasn't time to remove it.

(I do not know.) I answered, tapping away as quickly as I could. (This is not Andalite technology. But soon, I believe.)

“Better be.” Marco stood near the front display screen. “Because I'm pretty sure that little spec there is the ship we were just on, and that other spec there is the research vessel. Maybe two minutes left. Power up those lasers, dude, we won't get another shot at this.”

(The weapons are... ready.) I announced as the weapons console indicated that it was powered up. However, the indication lights immediately darkened just after that. (What?)

“Ax?” Jake's hand on my side had tightened. “That doesn't sound good.”

(There was power.) I insisted. (But the weapon controls have been shut down and locked out. It's as if--)

“Yeah, sorry about that.” In the corner of the main screen, a view of Taylor appeared. She did not appear to be on the bridge any longer, but I could not tell where she actually was. She was moving, clearly holding the communication device in front of her as she jogged.  “When we left the ship, I got to thinking that if anything went wrong, I wouldn't want someone to use those weapons against me. So I disabled them.” She smiled brightly and waved. “Bye then!”

The image winked out, and Prince Jake spun to punch the nearest wall so hard I could see blood spring to his knuckles. “Ax! Get the weapons back up!”

(With time, I could.) I answered carefully. (But not this little time.)

Prince Jake took a breath and let it out. (Fine... then ram the blade ship.)

We all blinked at him at that, confused. Marco spoke up. “Uh, blade ship, dude?”

A look of confusion crossed over the frustration and anger on Prince Jake's face. “Uh, I mean... sorry, I don't know why I said that. I mean, ram the Andalite ship.”

I shook my head once more. (I am very sorry, Prince Jake. Skrit Na vessels are quite fast inside atmosphere, and well armed, but they are rather pathetically slow in space compared to Andalite, or even Yeerk ships. We will never catch up.)

“Well then what can we do?!” Prince Jake snapped sharply. “Stop telling me what we can't do, and tell me how we can stop this!”

(We cannot.) I answered my prince, ashamed of my answer.

“We have to!” Prince Jake shoved me aside. “Cassie gave us a job, and we're going to do it.” His hand smacked at the controls. “Fire. Fire. Turn on the lasers. Fire! Shoot!” He was hitting the controls harder, smacking every button in his desperation. “God damn it, fire you piece of ****!”

As Prince Jake started to punch the controls, Marco and Rachel each quickly grabbed an arm and pulled him away from it.

Together, we stood on the bridge of the Skrit Na vessel, watching as the two dots drew closer to one another. Rachel kept both arms around Jake, holding him tightly while Tobias landed on her shoulder. To the side, I saw Melissa and Marco both turn away from the view screen.

But the rest of us watched, helpless, throughout the approach. The specks on the view screen continued to get closer and closer, almost merging into one slightly larger dot.

There was violet flash of light at the site of the impact, followed by a blue wave that shot outward in every direction. Alarms began to sound throughout the ship as the energy wave passed over and through us.

We had failed. Z-Space was damaged. The Andalite Fleet would not be coming for many years.

Earth was trapped.

[pallosalama]

Looking forward for more 

[KingAlanI]

It seems you portray the characters very well.

I would have used the usual angle brackets for thoughtspeak, though.

I can figure out Melissa got involved somehow without having to follow the previous works in this series.

Excellent flow from human slice of life to the action.

I already knew about those Andalite gender roles, but this was still a great bit of Andalite culture, and you keep coming with more cool Andalite headcanon throughout the story.

It makes sense for Estrid’s crew to show up if only as opposed to creating OC’s.

The great twists keep coming.

The Yeerk homeworld is blockaded by an Andalite fleet. Did that change in your AU, or is it an oversight on your part? Sorry, I’m all over canon details like that.

The big picture of the Andalite-Yeerk war, versus Earth or some other planet in particular, is one of the good options for conflict in the series, and you handle it well.

It’s interesting how Rachel is annoyed by Andalite gender roles instead of being pleased to hear that their scientists are females. I already noticed that facet of Andalite sexism and was pleased to see it come up. It seems like a better deal than human females often get, but a lot of “woman’s work” isn’t applicable to Andalite life anyway (cooking, laundry, major housecleaning, etc)

[Kitulean]

Sorry, the ( ) were used because fanfiction.net doesn't allow the <  > symbols. I've switched to { } for this chapter to see how much better it works.

Long story short about Melissa's involvement, she found the blue box, David stole it, she came across the animorphs in mid-transformation from getting it back. Stuff developed from there.

As for the Yeerk homeworld being blockaded, yeah that's probably different in this particular version. I haven't decided exactly how much, because honestly, other than 'not here', where the Andalite and Yeerk fleets are doesn't matter that much for now. It'll probably become a bigger issue later, but right now I can fake it.

You raise a good point about the Andalite scientists being females, and one that Rachel doesn't really consider because she doesn't think that either gender should be prevented from ANY particular job they might want. It's not just the idea of being limited to 'women's work' (which yeah, isn't really that much of a thing for Andalites), as much as it's the idea of being restricted from any career at all based on gender.

Anyway, thanks for reading, guys, and I hope you enjoy the end of this particular book and the set-up for the next one. Which, coincidentally, actually makes the title fit better than it did in the original series, I think...

Chapter Nine

For almost two Earth minutes, no one spoke. Prince Jake's hands were gripping the control panel so tightly his knuckles had turned a shade of white that I was certain was unhealthy. Melissa and Rachel had both sat down rather heavily near the front viewscreen, while Marco remained where he had been standing, his arms folded while he stared at the wall. Tobias perched nearby, glaring at the spot in space where the two vessels had been.

This time, I was certain the glare was not merely a product of the hawk's typical gaze.

As for myself, I stood and let my tail lower all the way to the floor. We had failed. Nothing could change that. Perhaps if a true warrior had been stranded on the human's planet, there might have been a chance. I was only an aristh.

I still do not know how long we might have stayed there, wallowing in the misery of our loss, had one of the consoles to the right not begun to beep urgently.

Prince Jake's voice was hoarse, but firm as he looked up. "Ax?"

With two bounding steps, I moved to the console. My fingers danced over the unfamiliar controls, trying to isolate the reason for the sound. {I believe that it is the proximity alert, my Prince. It is telling us of an imminent collision.}

He stared at me. "An imminent collision?"

{Yes. It means that another ship is-}

"Imminent means now!" Marco had lunged between Prince Jake and the controls. His hands moved swiftly, and the Skrit Na vessel abruptly flipped over and dove away. The inertial dampeners were not quite up to Yeerk standards, and obviously lagged far behind that of Andalite technology, so we were all thrown violently end over end by the unplanned maneuver.

As we fell into jumbled heaps, Melissa managed to lift a finger to point at the screen. "Look!"

Through the spot we had just been, an enormous vessel flew. It was the equivalent of an earth whale to our mosquito.

{A pool ship...} I said softly, barely daring to breathe.

"There's one problem with that sentence, dude." Marco corrected me. "The word 'a'." He pointed to another Pool Ship drifting into view.

{Look past them.} Tobias's voice was as soft as Marco's had been, barely a whisper in spite of the fact that he was using thought-speak. Speaking loudly was simply unthinkable, as though the great ships would hear us.

Picking myself up, I used the controls at the screen to magnify the view on what Tobias had been pointing out. Then I truly wished I hadn't. The Yeerk Armada was vast, and a sizable portion of it was currently passing right by us, their collective firepower sufficient to wipe the insignificant spec that we were off the face of the galaxy with as much effort as I had seen a single human being use to flick an unwanted bug away from his delicious food.

"Ax, how many?" Prince Jake was helping Marco to his feet, while Rachel helped Melissa. "How many are we dealing with?"

I glanced to the sensor screen, double checked, and then triple checked before answering. {One hundred and twelve, Prince Jake. One hundred and twelve bug fighters. Two Pool Ships. Two escort cruisers.} All four of my eyes closed. {And a Nova-Class Empire Ship. Only three exist. Two protect the Yeerk Homeworld. The other is assigned to the top ranking Yeerk military leader.}

"Visser One." Marco said quietly. I knew the reason for the sudden hitch in his voice. The Visser was currently possessing the human woman who had been Marco's mother. It was... difficult for him.

"What are they doing here?" Prince Jake's brow was furrowed as he stared at the screen, trying to understand.

{It is clearly the Visser and her escort.} I explained. {They have detected the source of the Z-Space shockwave and have come to investigate. It is likely that Z-Space travel within the small area of space, from Earth to here, is still possible, explaining their quick arrival.}

Even Rachel, eager for battle as she was, could only say, "We don't stand a chance." Then she blinked, as though what she had just said only then penetrated. "We don't stand a chance." This time, her voice was contemplative.

I saw Tobias fix his intense gaze on her. {What is it, Rach?}

"Yeah." Marco agreed. "There was whole lot less 'I'm currently peeing my pants as I say this' the second time."

Rachel was still frowning at the screen. "We don't stand a chance. Like, at all. At this point one of those two hundred fighters could make mincemeat out of us, let alone any of the others. We don't even have any weapons up."

It was a true testament to the direness of the situation that I was able to resist the urge to ask what mincemeat tasted like. {That is correct. There is nothing we can do to defend ourselves at this time.}

"So why haven't they?" Rachel's question was simple. "Why haven't they done a single, solitary thing about us? We're right here. One of those bastards almost ran us over. Now they're just passing by? What the hell?"

"Maybe we're... cloaked?" Prince Jake offered with a shrug. "Ax?"

{While the Skrit-Na vessel is more than capable of shielding itself against the scans of humans and other relatively primitive civilizations, though they choose not to in some cases for reasons unknown to me, that cloak is neither currently active, nor would it be at all effective if it was.} I explained carefully. {The Yeerks should see us perfectly.}

Now Prince Jake was frowning, an almost perfectly matched expression as that of his cousin. "Then Rachel's right. Why aren't they doing anything? That many eyes on that many sensors couldn't have just missed us entirely."

{I will attempt to locate an answer, Prince Jake.} I focused on the console, running all the scans I could think of. Then my main eyes blinked, followed by both stalk-eyes. {We are not here.}

"Say again?" Marco had moved up behind me, as though he hoped to learn how to read the controls himself by peering over my shoulder. The others were all looking at me with puzzled expressions as well.

{I have examined our own sensor data of the nearby area of space.} I explained. {I can identify every ship present in it. We are not among those sensor signatures.} Seeing that they still didn't completely understand, I started to speak again, only to be interrupted.

"He means we can't see ourselves." Melissa spoke up. "The sensors are showing every ship in the area, but they're not showing us. We're invisible to them." At the looks she received, the small human seemed to shrink a little bit, her voice quieter. "I watch a lot of sci fi. You pick stuff up."

{She is correct.} I continued to examine the data. {As far as our sensors, and clearly theirs, are concerned, we do not exist.}

"How?" Prince Jake had come up to stand next to Marco, both watching what I was doing. "You said any cloaking device wouldn't work against them."

{It would not.} I insisted. {And we would be able to detect our own signature in that case. This is... nothing I have seen. It is- wait. Give me a moment, Prince Jake, I would like to check a theory.}

"Be quick." He prompted before turning to look back at the screen. "How'd you know which controls would get us out of the way, Marco?"

"Didn't." The other human boy shrugged. "I employed the HEISAP defense."

"HEISAP?" Melissa questioned, sounding curious.

He nodded. "Hit Everything In Sight And Pray." She giggled, and he grinned back at her.

After another minute, I leaned away from the console. {I believe I know what has happened.}

"You don't sound sure." Prince Jake pointed out, resting his hand against my side. I took it as a sign of encouragement, though it was likely equally a product of his own nerves.

{I am relatively certain. It is just that...} I hesitated before continuing. {It is not anything I could ever have heard of before. It is unique to our situation. I believe that, as a product of our proximity to the explosion at the time of its occurrence, this ship has become partially... stuck in Zero-Space.}

{Which means... what?} Tobias flapped over to land atop the next console over.

I sighed, taking a moment to try to figure out how to explain something I barely understood myself. {This ship is mostly in normal space, but it is also very slightly in Z-Space. It is still in normal space physically, but visually and by all methods of scanning, it is in Z-Space. It is stuck in between the two states.}

Rachel whistled. "So they can't see us at all then." Her smile turned fierce once more. "We could break a lot of their stuff."

{Unlikely.} I pointed out. {Even if I could get weapons back online, they would only have to direct their firepower toward the place where our attacks were originating from. It still would not take much to destroy us.}

Tobias started a little as something occurred to him. {Wait, does that mean it affect us too? Are we invisible?}

I shook my head. {No, I do not believe so. The ship itself has shielded us from the effect. We would have had to have been outside of the ship, taking the explosive wave straight on for it to affect our individual forms.}

"So what do we do now?" Marco asked, still staring at the screen. "We're invisible to them, but we can't do anything about them or they'll swat us like the fly we are."

Prince Jake sighed. "Now... now we set a course for Earth. We go home. And try to figure out what the hell else we can possibly do."

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

By the time we arrived back on Earth, taking a short Z-Space jump both to test my original theory of how Visser One's forces arrived so soon, and to test another theory, that going through Z-Space again might knock the ship loose and back into normal space entirely, some of the shock about our failure had worn off.

Prince Jake looked very tired. "Ax," He said quietly. "Find a safe place to land."

I hesitated. {The ship is still partially stuck in Zero-Space, my prince. It appears to be the ship's default state now. I believe that any place would be safe, so long as people were unlikely to walk directly into it.}

He nodded at that. "Fine, just put us down in the forest. Anywhere away from the normal hiking trails."

After following his instructions and putting the ship down in a remote section of the forest, beneath a cliff outcropping, I shut the power of the ship down and then stepped away from the controls. {We should check the outside of the ship, and see if it remains undetectable visually as it is via sensors.}

"Ax," Marco's hand patted my side absently. "You could have just said 'let's see if the ship's invisible'."

{That is what I said.} I protested as the six of us left the ship and walked down the ramp to walk on the pine-needle covered ground once more.

"Yup." Melissa had turned around before the rest of us, walking backwards as she gazed up at nothing. "That is one super-invisible flying saucer."

I had shown them images of what the ship was supposed to look like while we were making the short jump back to Earth. {It appears that I was correct, Prince Jake. The ship is undetectable, so long as we do not give the Yeerks targeting data by shooting at them ourselves.}

"So what you're saying is," Prince Jake began, "we have a ship that is completely invisible to the Yeerk Armada, as long as we do nothing to make them notice us."

Marco shook his head, lifting a hand to rest against where the unseen hull of the ship was. "Dude, what he's saying is, we have a spaceship. An honest to god spaceship. A flying saucer. Do you know how long we've wanted to have our own alien spaceship? Since we were five, that's how long."

I frowned at that. {You were unaware of the existence of aliens at that point in time, were you not?}

"What's your point?" Marco asked bluntly. "We were five. I also wanted the Lost Boys from Peter Pan to crew my alien spaceship. Spaceships are always cool, whether they exist or not." He paused then before shrugging. "There's a failure in logic there somewhere... ehh. Point is, everyone wants a spaceship, even if they don't exist, even if they don't know they want a spaceship."

"I wanted a TARDIS." Melissa spoke up, rather unhelpfully since I had no clue what that was.

"Speaking of failures in logic." Prince Jake's voice had turned a little colder as he turned back to me. "Ax, you chose poorly today."

I stiffened, straightening. {I chose the best option that I could find at the time. If we had failed, it would still give Estrid a chance to find her brother and prevent him from becoming a host for-}

"Ax, shut up." Prince Jake interrupted flatly, his tone more Prince-like than I had often heard it. "I know you have this whole speech planned about making the best of a bad situation, making the best call you could. But what it comes down to is, you didn't trust us." He held up a hand to stop my objection. "You tried to hedge your bets, Ax. You said you trusted us, but in the same breath you prepared a way to put our planet in the situation it's in right now. Yeah, Taylor could have done that anyway without you, which is the only reason I'm not knocking you the hell out right now, but the point remains that you chose to strand a bunch of pissed off Yeerks on our doorstep. That is not trust."

Looking even more tired, Prince Jake rubbed his forehead. "Look, we all remember the story from Jara, about how the Yeerks took over the Hork-Bajir homeworld. One of your people decided they needed a failsafe then too, a failsafe that killed every Hork-Bajir on that planet. All the males, females, and children were killed because he decided that was his choice to make. What did it accomplish, Ax? Other than killing millions of innocents, what did he accomplish?"

My own voice was quiet. {Nothing.}

"Nothing!" Prince Jake screamed the word, the sound echoing off through the forest as he caught both of my shoulders and stood directly in front of me. "He accomplished nothing! You, you and Estrid here, both accomplished nothing! If you had just trusted us! If you hadn't distracted us so that Taylor could get loose! If you just... if you just..." There were tears in Prince Jake's eyes, and he closed them before looking away. "I don't know what to do now. The Yeerks up there, even their reduced fleet... and with Taylor and Estrid out there, probably with David by now... I think we're done, Ax. I don't think we have any moves left."

For a minute after that, silence reigned. None of the others seemed to know what to say, and I certainly didn't trust any thought that I had on the subject. Prince Jake wasn't wrong. I wanted to say there were differences. I hadn't willingly released an unstoppable virus on the the entire world. But were there that many differences? The Yeerks were worse than any contagion. They were a plague all by themselves. And, like the others, I had no clue what we could possibly do about that.

"Oh Jake..." When the voice finally spoke up, it wasn't any of ours, but that of Cassie. She stood nearby, her voice quiet but strong as she raised a hand to take Jake's, tugging him away from me. She turned him to face her. "You should know by now, as long as you still live, as long as you can still talk, as long as you can still stand, as long as you can still fight, it's not hopeless. It's never hopeless."

"We failed." Prince Jake's voice was quiet, strained, painful. "You asked us to do something and we failed, utterly."

"Jake..." Without another word, Cassie embraced the human boy, her arms going around him tightly. "No. You did the best you could. I will never be ashamed of you as long as you try. Don't give up, Jake. Please. And there is one thing you have to remember." She pulled back to look at him seriously. "The Ellimist plays chess, Jake. And just because you lose a knight doesn't mean you've lost the game. Sometimes, you sacrifice that knight to take the enemy's Queen."

Prince Jake frowned and started to ask what that meant, but Cassie leaned in and touched her lips to his in what I have repeatedly seen in human cinematic movies and television shows (and a couple of times had even witnessed Tobias and Rachel perform) as a kiss.

"I trust you, Jake." Cassie said softly, yet with unmeasured power. "Remember what I said, remember all of it, nothing is hopeless until you surrender all hope."

Then she was gone, as easily and as quickly as she had appeared. For a long moment afterward, Prince Jake simply stood there, his eyes closed and a pained expression on his face. It was an expression of longing, of a need that could never, would never be fully fulfilled.

Finally, a bird called from far off, and Prince Jake's eyes opened. He looked to me. "Ax, hypothetically, could an order be given to force all those Yeerk ships to self-destruct?"

I frowned at that, uncertain. {Yes, Prince Jake, hypothetically. But it would require an order from very high up.}

He nodded and then looked toward Marco. "What is the one order you have been waiting for me to give, pretty much since we started this whole thing?"

Marco was silent for a moment, before his eyes widened. "We're doing it?"

Prince Jake nodded, his earlier indecisiveness and uncertainty gone. "We're doing it." Then he turned to the rest of us. "People, we have an invisible spaceship. We are going to shove it right up their asses and take their Queen, just like Cassie said." He looked to the other boy. "Say it, Marco."

Marco straightened, smiling the same predatory smile I had seen on Rachel's face so many times. "We're going after Visser One."

"We're going after my mother."

Next... Redux: The Attack

My name is Marco...

[NickDaGriff]

This series is amazing.  I just absolutely do not know what else to say.  I am literally speechless with every chapter I finish.  The HSQ is off the charts, so many loose ends I noticed are given definite and satisfying closure...  And you even managed to improve/give sensible meaning to the Helmacrons.  Astounding.  XD

I was a little leery at first with the prologue, as fics that exist to bring Rachel back bother me a little (they normally just turn into wish fulfillment from there), but this is very well done.  Your version of The Solution reminded me why I like her as a character.  I like that you're keeping it linked to the previous timeline as well, not just dropping it completely.  Everything that happened still has meaningful ramifications, even if the characters don't remember it on any conscious level.  You're not afraid to go the difficult route either (something I really respect in a writer), and it makes for some spectacularly clever outcomes.  I honestly did not see David being trapped as a Chee coming.  That was brilliant.  And the way Rachel handled the Drode's Sadistic Choice at the end was great.  I was reading that scene, thinking,"Screw you, Drode!  Screw your Jigsaw BS!  Pick neither, Rachel!"  And then you actually went there.  I was stunned.  I almost cried a little, but I am fortunately too manly for tears.^{[citation needed]}

Anyway, just wow.  I am totally blown away by this.  Truly awesome writing, and I mean awesome in the word's true form, as in absolutely awe-inspiring.  Makes my AU fic idea feel pretty lame by comparison.  XD

Just one question, a minor thing; why didn't Marco mention who his mother was to Estrid when Taylor mentioned that Visser One was with Estrid's brother?  He'd probably realize that they were both in exactly the same boat right there, and it would have given him a chance to reason with her on the same level.  Did you feel that revealing that would be out of character for him?  I dunno, I've never been great at understanding Marco's character.

[Kitulean]

Wow, thanks for the well thought out reply and thoughts (as well as the praise, but hey, who doesn't like praise?). So awesome that you like it and that it hit on moments that you hoped would happen. Rachel choosing neither was a big part of her development, I think. When it comes around to her narration again, we'll see more ways that that kind of choice affected her.

Part of my problem with Rachel's portrayal by the ghost writers later in the series is that they seem to completely and immediately disregard the growth and introspection that Rachel went through in the canon version of the David story.

About Marco and his mother, Marco is not only deeply paranoid and thus not likely to trust someone he just met with the identity of Visser One/his mother no matter how much empathy it would build between them, but he is also incredibly resistant to people feeling sorry for him. Remember how long he waited after Jake and he knew who Visser One was before letting the others know.

That said, a more... 'outside the story/inside writer's perspective' answer might be that I prefer to have something like that come out inside Marco's own narrative than in Ax's.