(Warnings and Disclaimer still apply.)
Pemalite Chronicles I: Last Thing on My Mind (chapter 2)
~Not the Same~
by: AniDragon, aka Riona-chan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I noticed, belatedly, that I had forgotten to forge passports for everyone. The security officer glared at us as I “looked for them in my carry-on”. It didn’t take me long to make them and show them to him, but the delay had called some attention to us.
It worried me that something so simple had slipped my processor. I didn’t mention this worry to the Animorphs, though. It was my own problem, after all, not theirs.
The flight was fairly uneventful, however. There were a few known controllers on the flight, but none of them seemed to pay any attention to us, and there wasn’t any sign of potential infestation activity. Tobias and Ax had a hard time demorphing and remorphing. Tobias at least had the convenience that hawks weren’t very big, so the plane’s bathroom had plenty of room for him. Ax wasn’t so lucky, and it was a tense few minutes when I needed to spread my hologram around him to give him the privacy he needed.
I could see the irritation on some of the Animorphs’ faces when we arrived at the Toronto Airport, and there was likely a similar look on the illusion of my own face.
“Maybe they were just sticking to local flights?” Cassie suggested when we had found a quiet place to talk, “After all, they’re mostly concentrated in America, right?”
I shook my head, “They
are mostly concentrated in America, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t pools in other countries. There
are controllers who need to travel, and Toronto’s a big city. There’s most definitely a pool here, so there’s no reason why they would have skipped that flight.”
Jake shrugged, “Maybe we just didn’t look hard enough. We’ll take the flight back in morph… Fly would be the easiest idea, as long as we stay out of sight,” He shuddered on that last sentence. I’d heard about his bad experience the last time he’d been a fly on a plane.
Rachel nodded, then punch the palm of her hand, “We’ll get them on the way back, definitely.”
We quieted down when a family came within hearing range. From the glance I got of their tickets, they were scheduled for the flight we’d be taking back to our state.
I was worried that they’d overheard, for a moment, when the mother glanced in my direction, but I then realized that she was looking past me at a vending machine when she got up and walked by me to get a chocolate bar.
When it was near the time to board the return plane, the Animorphs one by one left to go the “bathroom”, and returned as flies, landing on my shoulders. I still had my fake passport, and I crafted a return ticket easily. I also made a quick stop to the bathroom to pick up their outer clothing and store them in a small bag I’d brought with me.
Once on the plane a controller who knew me from the Sharing approached me. His host’s name was Brian.
“Erek!” He exclaimed, “I didn’t know you were over here this weekend.”
“Family stuff,” I lied easily, “My aunt is sick.”
“Ah, I know how that is,” He nodded, “But hey, since you’re here, we could use your help out back.”
I masked a look of confusion. I wasn’t supposed to know about this project, after all, “Out back?”
“Victor Trent’s newest project,” He answered carefully, in case someone was listening, “I suppose, you wouldn’t have heard of it since you’re still a student, and wouldn’t be able to get away as easily to help out… But since you happen to be here…”
I nodded, “I’d be glad to help with whatever it is. Just lead the way.”
Well, things were certainly going better this time around.
He led me to the back of the plane, stopping right before the area where flight attendants usually kept food carts and the like, “There wasn’t enough room to install a Gleet Bio Filter, unfortunately, so you’ll have to make sure there are no… pests… around you. If you know what I mean.”
I nodded, and then made a show of patting down and brushing off my cloths. The Animorphs were beneath my hologram and shield, so they were safe from detection.
When Brian seemed to be satisfied that I was free of ‘Andalite Bandits’, he pushed back the curtains and led me behind them.
I passed through a rather primitive hologram to find a mini-pool and a few other controllers, most dressed as flight attendants.
I nodded at the set-up, “Impressive. How many have you gotten like this?”
“Quite a few,” a woman answered, “The only problem we’ve been having is that some people are prone to panicking when we ask them to come to the back. It’s amazing how paranoid humans are.”
I laughed, actually agreeing with the comment, somewhat, “So, anything in particular you need me for?”
“Man power,” Brian said with a shrug, “This flight was understaffed, and some people can really pack a punch when we try to infest them. We just need you to help hold them over the pool,” He laughed a little, “Makes one appreciate Hork-Bajir quite a bit, but they’d be too much of an inconvenience on this type of project.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I answered honestly. What they didn’t know was that I actually meant that I’d do what I could to put a stop to this operation.
<If you can find a way to mess them up on this flight, do it, but try to make it look like an accident and not sabotage,> Jake instructed me through thought-speech, <If they know someone’s trying to stop them, they’ll increase security for the important infestations, and it’ll be harder to get to them.>
The instructions were obvious, but it was good to see that Jake, at least, remembered the real point of this mission.
<It makes me sick to see them infest people like this, though,> Rachel muttered.
<Don’t do anything stupid, Rachel,> Jake ordered, <Remember, this is an observation mission. You’ll get to wreak havoc later, I promise.>
During this conversation, Brian had gone outside and started flirting with a woman who was nearby. She didn’t seem to see through the ruse at all, and when Brian suggested that they ‘take it out back’, she seemed more than happy to follow him.
“Aren’t bathrooms on planes really small, though?” I heard her ask as she came nearer, “There won’t really be enough room.”
“Oh, don’t worry, we won’t be using the bathroom,” Brian assured her, “I know the flight attendants on this flight, they’ll let us use one of the back rooms.”
The woman followed him behind the curtains, hesitating when the scenery changed before her.
“Wha…?”
Before she had time to wonder further, someone had grabbed her and dunked her head in the pool.
And, though it shames me to say it, that someone was me.
By the end of the flight, about half of the people on the plane had been infested, while the other half remained oblivious. I was thoroughly disgusted with myself when I regained my seat shortly before the announcement of the landing came on, and some of that disgust must have shown through my hologram, because the woman who sat across from me asked me if everything was all right.
It was the woman I’d spotted at the airport, the mother whom I thought had been starring at us. Her husband and a young girl who I assumed was their daughter sat with her, while the other girl and the two boys I’d seen with them were in the seat ahead of them. None of them had been taken to the back, and I didn’t recognize them, though that didn’t mean that they weren’t controllers.
“I’m fine,” I lied, “Just a little air sick.”
“Where were you this whole flight?” She asked, not masking her concern, “You’ve been gone from your seat ever since that young man brought you to the back.”
How observant of her.
“Oh, Brian’s an old friend of mine. He knows some of the flight attendants, and thought I’d be more comfortable in their cabin.”
She nodded, but something in her eyes told me she didn’t believe me.
I headed towards the bathroom the minute I got off the plane, not needing to wait for luggage like the rest of the people on the flight.
The group demorphed in turns in the bathroom stalls, with Tobias and Ax morphing human afterwards. Since the bathroom was a bit busy, my hologram came in handy once again, especially considering the fact that Rachel and Cassie would look very out of place in the men’s washrooms.
Luckily, no one paid attention to the ‘group of janitors’ gathered around the out-of-order stall.
I didn’t bother asking how they’d managed to demorph and remorph out of sight while we were on the flight. The luggage compartment door had been open the whole time I was there, and there was plenty of room to hide down there.
I was usually rather skilled at changing my hologram in a way that no one noticed, even when I was at a public place. And, as the Animorphs left my hologram one by one, then left the airport to get home, I was almost certain that no one even gave us a second glance…
…Until the woman from the flight grabbed my arm.
“I think I have a few questions for you, young man.”
“I’m sorry?”
“That was a fancy trick you pulled just now.”
I faked confusion, “How do you mean?”
“You know,” She said with a chuckle, shaking her head, “When I first saw you, I knew there was something odd about you… And seeing you manipulate a hologram as well as you did just now makes me sure that you aren’t a normal human… Or even human at all.”
Well. This was bad.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb, I…” She stopped in the middle of her grilling, and then looked around, “Okay, so this place is a little crowded for this kind of chat.”
She turned towards her husband, “Will, get the kids at the new house. I’ll join you soon.”
He didn’t ask any questions, just nodded and gathered the ‘kids’—who were really all at least teenagers— to bring the luggage to a waiting taxi outside.
“Now,” She said, “You and me, let’s find a nice place to chat.”
(continued in next post)
