Animorphs Book 55: The Difference

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 15 (Ax)

It would be two Kelbrid days until we were put on trial before the Kelbrid philosopher-court. Kelbrid days are somewhat shorter than earth days, so the time seemed to pass quickly.

Considering what we had heard from the female Kelbrid we had met, I almost wished it had been longer.

The wait was fairly uneventful. We were taken to a new cell, and held there until our trial. The cell was comprised of a large percentage of transparent material, so my Andalite claustrophobia was put more or less to ease, and I could look out over the Kelbrid city. All of us were held together this time, a luxury for which I was grateful. It was good to see my friends, after the horrible loneliness of being trapped within the One, and then the many distractions of our voyage aboard the Kelbrid ship.

Ever since being released by the One, I had often wondered why only I had become separated from it when it dispersed. I knew that it had captured other beings, as well as me. Why had I been freed, but none of the others? That was certainly a difficult question to answer. And it was made all the more difficult since it inevitably led to another, much more unsettling question: What if I had not escaped? What if I had stayed trapped within the One forever, drifting through that lonely dreamscape until my very mind had simply dissolved away?

I shook myself out of my thoughts. Such morbid questions could be pondered later. For now, I should be content with merely enjoying the company of my fellow Animorphs.

"Sure, it looks pretty hopeless, but we've been in tighter spots than this," Marco was saying of our situation. He was trying to be optimistic, a frame of mind that is somewhat unusual for him. We were nearing the end of the second day, and everyone had long since grown tired of his usual pessimism.

<We're trapped in a cell on planet Nazi where absolutely nobody is going to give us an inch, and where there isn't a single freaking edible animal anywhere. You tell me a time when it's been more hopeless than this,> Tobias snapped. Tobias has a tendency to be harsh when he is hungry.

" . . . Okay, I can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'm sure there have been some, alright?"

Prince Jake was rubbing his temples, something he does to indicate that he is stressed or exasperated.

<Perhaps being held on trial will work in our favor,> I suggested to him. <The Kelbrid are an intelligent species. Surely they can be sensible. It stands to reason that if they were beyond any sort of empathy, they would not be bothering to hear our case at all.>

"Maybe, but . . . " Marco sighed, apparently giving up on his brief attempt at optimism. "As depressing as I'm sure this is going to sound, I think Doua and friends are actually more on our side than most Kelbrid are. Most of the Kelbrid I've seen on this planet so far looked like they would've sliced us to pieces out of pure spite if Doua hadn't stopped them."

"Yes, Marco is right," Jeanne chimed in. "The question is, why? We double-crossed Doua's crew. Why do they still have any interest in helping us?"

Marco smiled, obviously pleased that Jeanne had agreed with his assessment. I do not understand much about human romance, but I believe that Marco had taken an interest in Jeanne.

Marco sidled closer to Jeanne and said, "Have I mentioned that I love your voice?"

Prince Jake rolled his eyes. "The real question is, what will these Kelbrid philosophers be like? Will they be like most Kelbrid, or will they be like Doua's crew?"

<If what you have told us is correct, Prince Jake, it is probably reasonable to assume that the Kelbrid philosophers will be mostly, if not entirely, male,> I pointed out.

Prince Jake nodded. "Right. But, that doesn't tell us much. After all, what do we really know about Kelbrid males? Only what we know about Zu and Bahm, plus what Vuhl told me."

"And I got the idea that Zu was unusual by Kelbrid standards. The rest of the crew kinda seemed to think he was a little odd," Marco pointed out. "Did anybody else notice that?"

"So we can't count on him as a reference for 'normal' Kelbrid males," Prince Jake reasoned.

"Which leaves us with Bahm. Meaning we would generalize an entire species based on one individual," Marco said disappointedly.

<That would not be wise,> I said.

"Ya think?" Marco shot back.

I had forgotten that humans tend to get upset when I state things that are 'obvious.' But many times it is hard for me to tell what is or is not obvious to a human. It had been a long time since I had spent time with my human friends.

A very long time.

I suddenly realized just how much I had missed them during my travels in space. It was so strange. For as long as I lived on earth, I was lonely, because I felt cut off from my fellow Andalites. But when I had returned to my 'true people,' I had still been lonely, if only in the back of my mind, because I was far away from my human friends.

So, then, where did I truly belong?

Perhaps the Kelbrid were right about one thing. Perhaps when separate species mingled, the result was more harm than good.

After Marco's sarcastic retort, our cell had fallen back into silence. We could think of no way out of the situation we were in. All of our plans had run up against a wall. And it was all because of my own foolishness that we were even in this situation.

Of course, there was no sense dwelling upon that now. My human friends had been quick to forgive me.

I sometimes think that they are even a little too quick to forgive a friend's mistakes. No Andalite would ever be so lenient. But, of course, I couldn't change them or their customs any more than they could change mine.

Even so, their ability to forgive was sometimes unsettling to me.

Again, I felt a tiny wisp of self-doubt. What if the Kelbrid were right? What if separate species were not meant to understand one another?

No, that was preposterous. I understood humans, and my human friends understood me. We had our differences, but differences need not be a barrier.

Suddenly, Doua's voice startled me out of my thoughts.

"The philosopher-court is about to convene," she said simply. She was standing outside our cell, looking in through the glass. I had not seen her approach. "Don't try anything." She raised her arm, clearly showing to us the hand in which she held a Kelbrid shock-wave gun.

Moments later, we were all fitted with the restraining devices we had worn on our way into the city. My tail was bent at a terribly uncomfortable angle by the harness I was fitted with, but far more disconcerting was simply the knowledge that I could no longer use it to defend myself.

We rode a floating platform from our cell to a wide bowl-shaped area, which looked much like a stadium or an amphitheater of the sort found on earth, except that it was made out of silver and glass. Arrayed in the 'bowl' were rows of metal seats, ranging from tarnished grey to bright silver in color, and including what humans would call 'arm-rests,' but lacking a back piece. In these seats sat possibly five hundred or more Kelbrid.

As we had guessed, most of the stadium's occupants were male. There were only three or four females, looking very out of place among the many males. When we came closer, I could see that each Kelbrid's blade-feathers were inlaid with intricate patterns of silver, looking quite ceremonial. It was easy to see that these philosophers were considered to be very important members of Kelbrid society.

We were brought to the center of the stadium. I must admit, it was somewhat intimidating, looking up to find myself surrounded by so many alien faces, all staring down at me.

A single Kelbrid stood up, his silver-inscribed blade-feathers glinting in the sun.

"Plead your case."

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 16 (Ax)

Prince Jake stepped forward and told the Kelbrid philosopher-court our story. Standing, without apparent fear, in front of the seething mass of Kelbrid, he recounted how he and the others had come to my rescue. Menderash assisted him in the telling, giving a first-hand account of the fate of the Intrepid, and how I had been captured. I could not add anything, as the Kelbrid could not hear thought-speak, and I currently had no other means of communication. I could not morph, as I was reasonably certain that the Kelbrid would percieve my morphing as a threat.

So I simply stood there, unable to directly participate in what was very much my trial, more than anyone else's. I, the sole Andalite who could have broken the Andalite-Kelbrid treaty. And it was I, to whose rescue the other 'trespassers' had come.

Which is not to say that Prince Jake did anything less than an admirable job of standing up for all of us in the trial. After Jake and Menderash had finished recounting our story, the debate very quickly became quite heated.

"By your own philosophy, you cannot possibly hold us to your laws!" Prince Jake argued. "If our morality conflicts with yours, which it does, how can you say one is right? You shouldn't be able to, by your own logic!"

"By entering our territory, you forfeit your claim to the moral superiority of your own customs and laws," one of the Kelbrid males stated, as if quoting a legal text. "The only exception to this is when someone enters our territory against their will, as Aximili may have done. However, we have no proof that Aximili was indeed acting against his will when he entered Kelbrid space."

"Well, how can we prove it?" Prince Jake asked.

"You cannot prove his innocence. Therefore, we will judge his guilt the same as the rest of you."

I tensed, my immobile tail twitching in anger. I was shocked. I wondered if I had even heard right. Had the Kelbrid really just said that, in lieu of proof of my innocence, they would simply judge me the same as my friends? I had thought the Kelbrid to be reasonable! Surely, no reasonable race could come to such an irrational decision!

<This is clearly unfair!> I yelled, angry at the injustice. Of course, no-one heard me except my friends. But Prince Jake repeated my exclamation.

"This is clearly unfair!" he shouted with the same vehemence that I had. "You can't possibly judge someone before you even know whether or not they're innocent!"

"Our territory, our laws," one of the Kelbrid shot back. "You should have thought before trespassing, shouldn't you have?"

I was about to shout back that I didn't trespass, but I suddenly slumped, realizing just how pointless it was to say anything at all. I might as well have been pleading against a mountain. That's how it felt. Like I was talking to some dispassionate thing that could not hear me and did not care what I had to say.

I had never felt so utterly powerless in all my life.

It was then that I noticed that Doua's crew was watching the trial. I had been so focused on the proceedings that I hadn't noticed them until now. They caught my attention because Vuhl stood up, as if to argue with the philosopher's decision. But she didn't say anything. She just stood there, until Doua motioned to her to sit back down.

"What if our laws dictated that we should keep moral superiority, no matter in whose territory we are?" Marco asked thoughtfully.

"Then we would have a conflict of viewpoints," said one of the Kelbrid. "Both sides must be willing accept the inevitable consequences of such a conflict. In this case, since you did not bring a court system with you," a murmur of quiet Kelbrid laughter went up through the crowd, "you must accept the decision made by ours."

Prince Jake clenched his fists. After a moment, he relaxed them again, and sighed loudly, as if trying to expel his anger. "And what consequences of this 'conflict of viewpoints' would you be willing to accept?"

There was another murmur through the crowd of philosophers, this time a murmur of fervent discussion.

"What do you propose?" one of the Kelbrid finally asked.

Jake paused. Then he turned around to face the rest of us. "What do we propose?" he asked softly.

"Them not killing us would be good," Marco whispered.

"We could use some supplies, maybe," Jeanne suggested.

<We should ask what, if anything, was salvaged from the Blade ship and the Rachel,> I said. <But it would be helpful to know what our sentence is to be, before we would know what would be advisable to ask for.>

Prince Jake nodded.

"Can we ask what our sentence for trespassing is to be?" he asked.

More murmuring.

"We must deliberate, first," a Kelbrid said. "In private. I might suggest to you to do the same."

Doua's crew got up, and escorted us away from the center of the stadium. There was a large doorway in the side of the stadium wall, and we were led through, into a large, empty chamber. Doua and Vuhl seemed tense as they walked along in front of my friends and I, but they no longer seemed particularly angry at us. Even Bahm looked a little unsettled. All four of them backed away from us, apparently thinking to give us some privacy while we made our own deliberations.

"Okay," Prince Jake said in english. "What will they probably decide?"

<There's about two possibilities,> Tobias said. <Either they kill us, or let us go.>

"I see a third possibility," Marco said thoughtfully. "Maybe they hold us hostage. They could use us as a warning to deter other Andalites and humans from trespassing. You know, like 'don't come any closer or the Andalite gets it!'"

<Do you really believe they would do something like that?> I asked.

"We know next to nothing about these Kelbrid," Marco pointed out. "For all we know, maybe they're going to throw us a surprise party!"

<'Throw us a surprise party'?> Tobias repeated slowly.

"Hey, it was the first thing that came to my mind, okay?"

Prince Jake looked up at the ceiling and mouthed the words 'why me?' Then he looked back down at us, serious again. "Okay," he said. "We're reasonably sure they're going to let us go, kill us, or keep holding us prisoner. If they let us go, there's no problem, so we don't need to worry about that scenario. The question is, what's the plan if they decide to kill us, and what's the plan if they decide to hold us hostage?"

"I like Ax's idea to ask what's left from the Blade ship and the Rachel," Marco said. "It would be good to have, say, a shredder or a Dracon beam, regardless of what they decide."

<Yeah, right, like they'd let us keep weapons,> Tobias scoffed.

Suddenly, Jake's eyes widened. "Guys . . . what was on the Blade ship? What did the Yeerks take from us, right before the end of the war? Something that doesn't look at all like a weapon?"

"Huh?" Marco said, perplexed. "What are we possibly going to do with the blue box? Last time I checked, all of us already have the power to morph." He furrowed his brows in an expression of confusion. "You are talking about the blue box, right?"

Prince Jake looked over his shoulder at Doua, Vuhl, Zu, and Bahm. Then he just looked at Marco and grinned.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 17 (Jake)

I had a plan.

There were hundreds of things that could go wrong. And I was almost positive that Ax and Menderash would never approve of it. But it was a plan. Which was a lot better than anything we'd had for the last two days.

"Are you gonna fill the rest of us in, Jake?" Marco prodded me.

"Later," I answered offhandedly. "We don't know how much time we have right now. But here's what we've got to do. We need to get them to hold us hostage, but I think I can take care of that, if it comes to it. Then we need to see whatever's been salvaged from the Blade ship. We need the blue box, first and foremost. Other than that, we could maybe use some clothing, not to mention see if there's any food left."

<Hallelujah!> Tobias exclaimed.

"What about other weapons? Dracon beams?" Santorelli suggested cautiously.

"No," I said flatly. "They're not stupid, they'll figure out those are weapons. And then they'll just trust us even less than they already do. If that's possible. And besides, if my plan works, we won't need anything but the blue box."

"Jake, this had better be one hell of a plan," Marco said, giving me a doubtful look.

"Oh, it's a plan, alright," I laughed.

Doua's crew left the room we were in, apparently having business to attend to with the philosophers, as I began to explain the basics of my plan. The details would come later. If I was right, we'd have plenty of time to discuss everything after the trial was over.

I had been right about one thing, at least. Menderash and Ax didn't approve of the plan. Menderash was downright adamant that we had no right to give away Andalite morphing technology to aliens that we knew nothing about. Ax was extremely hesitant, but he at least seemed willing to weigh our need against the risk we were taking. Marco immediately began picking apart the plan, looking for holes. And Tobias didn't think it would work at all.

<The Kelbrid aren't going to like this plan, Jake,> Tobias pointed out. <And we can't conceivably trick them into it. What makes you think they'll go along?>

"Hey, if you have a better idea . . . " I retorted. A pathetic defense. I knew Tobias was probably right. But I had to hold on to hope. This had to work. I'd make it work.

Jeanne and Santorelli didn't have anything to contribute. It was becoming more and more apparent that they didn't seem to quite fit in with the rest of the group. During the months aboard the Rachel, nothing had seemed wrong, but now, in this new and much more dangerous situation, the difference was obvious.

Jeanne and Santorelli were standing back, away from the main group, just listening as we discussed plans. They seemed alienated, maybe even intimidated by the rest of us. I was the only one they knew, and we all knew each other better than any of us knew them. And, besides, we were the famous war heroes, the Animorphs. Who wouldn't be intimidated?

But it worried me, a little. How could we ever work together as a team unless we could all understand each other?

I didn't have too much time to worry about it. It wasn't much longer before the philosopher-court had come to a decision about us. One of the Kelbrid philosophers, a female, came to get us. She led us, still bound in our various restraints, out of the big, empty room, and back to the center of the stadium, scarcely taking her suspicious gaze off of us as we shuffled along. Once again, we stood before the hundreds of glimmering Kelbrid philosophers, waiting to hear our verdict.

"You are found guilty of trespassing," an older-looking Kelbrid said, without standing up. "The usual sentence for trespassing is death." There was a brief pause, and I heard Jeanne's breath catch in her throat. "However, your circumstances are . . . unusual," the Kelbrid went on. "First of all, it has been brought to our attention that four of you are, in fact, very important persons on your respective worlds. Jake Berenson, Tobias Fangor, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil, and Marco Esteban. You are four of the six that are known as the Animorphs, correct?"

<How could they possibly know that?!> Tobias demanded.

"Doua’s crew probably looked through the Blade ship’s and the Rachel's records while they were holding us captive," Marco whispered. "And the Blade ship would’ve had files on us."

"Second," the Kelbrid philosopher went on, "it is somewhat unknown whether or not at least one of you has, in fact, trespassed. Due to this, very slight, uncertainty, some of us are reluctant to put you to death." As he said this, the philosopher shot a glance at Doua’s crew. It was hard to follow his gaze across the stadium, but, as I turned to see where he was looking, I thought I saw Zu looking down in embarrassment.

"Because of this," the Kelbrid continued, "we intend to keep you under confinement for an indefinite sentence. Just as good as death, but not quite so . . . final. That should appeal to everyone involved, I think." He looked around the stadium, to see the other Kelbrid nodding in approval.

I heard Marco whisper under his breath to Ax. "I told you so."

"Now, to discuss the matter of our conflict of viewpoints," the aged Kelbrid went on. "Since we found you guilty by our own means, perhaps at odds with your peoples' laws, we owe you some sort of recompense. We have given you ample time to think on this point. What, within reason, of course, would you take as compensation for your sentence?"

I stepped forward. "We want to see whatever has been salvaged from our ship, as well as the other ship that Doua and her crew found when they found us," I announced, in as calm and as authoritative a voice as I could muster. I know I was a lot more scared than I sounded.

The Kelbrid who had been speaking to us nodded to Doua's crew. Doua and Vuhl got up, and were joined by some other female Kelbrid. Together, about a dozen Kelbrid left the stadium. There was a tense silence that stretched on and on, as we all, Animorphs and Kelbrid philosophers, waited for them to come back. It felt like forever.

We were all fidgeting nervously, afraid to say anything to each other for fear of attracting attention to ourselves, when Doua, Vuhl, and the other females came back. A platform, carrying a pile of what looked like so much junk, floated into the stadium, surrounded by the female Kelbrid. Vuhl and Doua stood out, because they were the only Kelbrid who were walking on the ground alongside the platform. The others were flying above the two of them, their wings beating a steady rhythm that Vuhl uselessly, perhaps unconsciously, mimicked. Doua walked next to her, occasionally glancing in her direction with an expression that looked a lot like compassion.

The flying Kelbrid landed. The platform came to rest, hovering a few feet from us.

<I see it,> Tobias announced. <The blue box.>

I stepped toward the platform. It didn't take me long to spot it. A solitary glimpse of blue in a pile of dull-colored debris. I rifled through the pile, digging it out. Once I'd carefully worked it free, I held it up for the court to see.

"What is it?" one of them asked.

"Just a trinket. Not really anything of value, just of . . . personal value," I lied, trying to sound casual. They seemed to buy it.

We dug through the rest of the pile, looking for anything else we might need. Everything that looked like a weapon, or that might even have been a potential improvised weapon, had been removed. So there wasn't much left. Mostly wires and bits of circuit board, some small bits of metal, a few sets of clothes, and what was left of our rations.

We picked out some clothing that didn't look too damaged, the rations, and, of course, the blue box. Ax tried to find some electronic equipment that could be used to build something useful, but he eventually gave up. The Kelbrid had been completely thorough in removing anything we could use to escape.

Well, almost completely thorough.

I carried the blue box as the seven of us were led out of the stadium.

"Out of the frying pan . . . " Marco commented darkly as we were led onto the platform that would take us to our new prison.

<And into the fire,> Tobias finished.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 18 (Marco)

It was a lovely little joyride, our trip across the Kelbrid planet to our latest prison cell. Doua and company stood at attention around us on our floating platform, while a guard of unfamiliar Kelbrid flew around and above us, silent and stern.

And, to top it off, we were still in handcuffs.

We’d left the Kelbrid city a while ago, and were now floating along above the countryside. It was almost funny, how far their prison was from their city. The Kelbrid kept their criminals at arm’s length, for sure. We’d been flying for hours.

I looked out over the Kelbrid plains for about the billionth time, trying to enjoy our little sightseeing tour. Hey, when you’re an unwilling tourist on an alien planet, might as well make the most of it. Right? That’s my philosophy, anyway.

Well, turns out that the Kelbrid planet was pretty boring. Aside from a vaguely interesting mesa, and some plaza-looking place that was apparently an ancient Kelbrid sparring ground, the trip was a total snore. There was nothing to see but the odd Kelbrid plants that passed for grass on their planet.

Well, okay, that’s not entirely true. There was one other thing. The eerie Kelbrid moon hung low in the sky to our left, visible even in the daylight. It was almost a full moon, just a sliver missing. It wasn’t white, like our moon, but an earthy brown color. And, as I looked closer, I could see blackened canyons and craters scarring the surface.

I felt a chill run down my spine. There was something about that moon . . . I didn’t like it there, hanging over my head. I just didn’t like it.

I looked away, trying to find something else to be interested in. Hmm, was that a new plant over there? No, it was just another one of the dark green triangle-plants.

I looked up again, but not at the moon this time. The Kelbrid sky was gray, the color of an old photograph. Through the sky floated faint, wispy clouds that looked oddly colorful against the gray sky. Ochre, sky-blue, and grayish-green mists drifted slowly across the sky, forming interesting patterns.

The dead silence of this trip was really starting to get to me. And if I had to play ‘what does that cloud look like?’ to get people talking, I was more than willing to do it.

“Check it out, that one looks like an Andalite,” I blurted, pointing to one of the blue clouds. One of the Kelbrid guards glanced at me, as if angry that I would dare to speak. After a look from Doua, however, the guard apparently decided to let it go.

I guess Tobias had already seen the same cloud I’d seen, because he almost immediately said, <Yeah. An Andalite wearing a top hat.>

“Hey, it could happen,” I said, looking at it again. It really did look like an Andalite in a top hat. I had to stifle a giggle at the mental image.

<I assure you, no sensible Andalite would ever wear a top hat,> Ax huffed.

“What is a ‘top hat‘?” Menderash asked.

“Calm down, Ax,” I said, rolling my eyes. “We’re just having fun.”

“Correction. Marco’s just having fun,” Jake said.

“Yeah, because we all know that Jake can’t,” I said. He gave me an annoyed look, and I shrugged. “Sorry, man, but you know you walked right into that one.”

“Marco?”

“Yes, Jake?”

“Shut up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jake gave me a glare, which only proved my earlier point. The boy did not know how to have fun. Especially not lately, and especially not during a life-or-death mission. Which, if you ask me, was the one time we all needed a little lightheartedness.

With the mood officially killed, courtesy of Jake, it was back to stony silence for pretty much the rest of the trip. Like I said before, it was a lovely little joyride.

I sighed, and looked back up at the sky. There was an ochre and gray-green cloud. If I tilted my head just right, it looked sort of like a gorilla . . .

I was just about to go insane from boredom when a gigantic canyon slid into view beneath us. It wasn’t quite the Grand Canyon, but it was close. After seeing nothing but plains for so long, it was a pretty awesome sight.

Suddenly, I wasn’t bored anymore.

As we got closer, our platform dropped downward, towards the chasm. It turned, and we were soon flying down through the canyon, skimming alongside the clay-red rock wall. It was pretty cool. Way cooler than anything that had happened on this stupid mission so far, anyway. Think Star Wars meets Indiana Jones.

As we approached a wide, dark cavern in the rock face, the platform we were riding started to slow down. We came to a stop in front of a ledge that led into the cave.

As my eyes adjusted to the gloom, I spotted about four female Kelbrid waiting for us inside the cave. These new Kelbrid were about a foot bigger than any of the females we’d seen before, and they had blade-feathers that were decorated with some sort of red metal that glinted ominously in the low light. The red-scaled Kelbrid each held long staffs that looked an awful lot like weapons.

“These are Warriors,” Zu whispered to us. “Do what they say, and you will not be harmed. We will follow as soon as we can, but for now, I am afraid you are on your own.”

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 19 (Tobias)

A very military-like troop of about a dozen Kelbrid Warriors led us through a dark, gloomy maze of tunnels carved in the rock. We followed, bound and helpless.

I struggled for lift in the stagnant air. Utterly pointless, of course. It wasn’t like I could go anywhere. My leash, still tied around my leg, was now held tightly by one of the Warriors, who would nearly yank me out of the air if I even ventured out of her sight.

I should’ve just given up. I could have easily perched on Ax or Marco or even Jake’s shoulder. Rested. But something about spreading my wings, staying in the air, ignoring the leash on my leg . . . it made our situation feel a little less hopeless.

Or maybe the dark, enclosed tunnel was just making me restless. Birds don’t like to be underground.

“You. The four that are called Animorphs. This way. You three. Follow her,” a Kelbrid voice barked in the darkness.

“What?” Jake asked, sounding panicked. “You’re separating us?!”

There was a collective, sharp intake of breath. Santorelli looked pleadingly at Jake, as if he could do something about this sudden new turn of events. Jeanne defensively took a step closer to Marco. Menderash just stared blankly at Ax. They must have been exchanging private thought-speak goodbyes.

“Don’t argue. Just obey,” another Kelbrid said menacingly to Jake.

What could any of us do? We had no choice but to leave our three newest team members behind. Jeanne, Menderash, Santorelli, and about three or four Kelbrid Warriors turned down a side corridor, and disappeared from our sight.

I could practically see the wheels in Jake’s head turning. This changed the plan, big time. It might still work, at least by what he’d told us.

But getting the other three out of here suddenly got complicated.

“Can you at least tell us why?” Jake demanded, but I could hear the helplessness in his voice.

“You’re to be placed under high security. They aren’t,” a Kelbrid said curtly.

“What? Why?” Marco asked furiously.

A Warrior swung her staff at Marco in a motion strikingly similar to a school teacher hitting a disobedient student with a ruler. “Ow!” Marco yelled, rubbing his arm where the staff had hit him. A different Kelbrid said, “We were informed that those called the Animorphs are vital hostages, and dangerous. However, nothing about the other three was mentioned. We are to assume they are not important. No more questions.”

Marco grumbled audibly, but none of us said anything else.

The four of us that remained shuffled sullenly down the tunnel. Or flew, in my case. Deeper and deeper into the catacombs we trudged. Finally, after what felt like hours, we arrived at our cell. A tiny, gloomy, bare room. A hole in the rock.

A glass door was opened, and we entered. The Warriors unbound us, and shoved our meager belongings into a pile. I looked around the cell. Rock walls on all sides, except the door, which was glass. Dim light, coming from tiny lamps set in the walls. A pipe in one wall. Some metal things that could have been beds, except for how rough and oddly shaped they were.

A prison cell. Remarkably like a jail on earth. Except that, if the beds were any indication, this one wasn’t designed for humans.

There was a click as the glass door was locked behind us. Three Warriors stayed behind to guard us, while the rest disappeared from sight.

“Okay, big Jake, what do we do now?” Marco asked.

“Now we wait for Doua’s people,” Jake answered. “They said they’d follow us as soon as they could, right?”

<Right,> I confirmed.

It was a long wait. In the meantime, Jake explained the rest of the details of his escape plan.

<What do we do about Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash?> I asked.

“I don’t know,” Jake admitted. “If this plan works, there’s going to be all kinds of chaos down here. We’ll just have to hope that we can use the confusion to get them out.”

<That’s taking a big chance, Jake.>

“I know.”

Finally, I could hear footsteps coming down the tunnel to our cell. Zu, Bahm, Vuhl, and Doua stepped into view, looking nervous. I could imagine that they, being creatures of the air, didn’t enjoy being underground much more than I did.

A Warrior opened the glass door for them, and then shut it again behind them, locking them in the cell with us. She kept her hand on the door, looking ready to jump into our cell if we did anything she didn’t like.

“We owe you an apology, kuldir,” Bahm began. “We didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

Marco tilted his head to the side, looking confused. “What, you didn’t expect us to be locked away? Then what was supposed to happen?”

“We did not realize how . . . how little capacity for understanding the philosophers possessed. We had hoped that they would give you a lesser sentence, and then arrange transport back to your planet. We had no idea, I assure you, that it would come to this,” Bahm said.

Jake stepped forward. He seemed a lot less surprised by the Kelbrid’s sudden change of heart than Marco had been. “So, first you capture us, hold us prisoner, take us to your planet for judgment, and then you’re surprised when we’re punished for trespassing? What game are you playing here?”

What game are you playing, Jake? I thought, trying to read his expression. It was no use. His face was a mask. Had he really expected this to happen?

Bahm looked at Zu, beckoning him to explain. Zu nodded, as if agreeing with Bahm that he was the best one to explain what needed to be explained. “We are just now beginning to realize that we are . . . an oddity among Kelbrid,” Zu said, a little uncomfortably. “By the time we found you, kuldir, we had been flying through space, looking for the One, for years. Most of our lives, probably. This itself is unusual for Kelbrid. Most never even venture off world. But it has been many long years since we’ve been here. Here, this planet, the place we used to call home. Too long, we now realize. We’ve chased the One across the galaxy and back. We’ve visited kuldir planets. We’ve risked ourselves to protect strangers and aliens against the threat of the One. But we never fully realized, until now, how much all this would change us.” Zu paused for a second, and I could see that the others were subtly shaking. They seemed upset by what Zu was saying.

“Now that we’ve returned to the place we once called home, it has become obvious that we don’t fit in, anymore. We . . . probably never will again. We’ve learned empathy and compassion for those that are different. For kuldir. We’ve fought it, and fought hard, but we’ve . . . changed. We’ve learned things that no Kelbrid is ever supposed to know. In some way I’m not sure kuldir can understand, we aren’t even entirely Kelbrid anymore. We are something different.” Zu paused again, as if looking for the right words, then he said, “We are the kuldir, now.”

I don’t think the others really got the full weight of Zu’s speech. Maybe Ax did. He knew, after all, what it’s like to be utterly cut off, utterly alienated, from your entire species.

But I don’t think anybody knows what that feels like better than I do. I don’t even have a species. I’m a freak-show mix of red-tailed hawk and human. I’m both. Or I’m neither. Or maybe I’m something more. I don’t know.

All I knew was that what had happened to me was, in some ways, a lot like what had happened to these four Kelbrid. They didn’t even consider themselves completely Kelbrid, anymore. They were the Kelbrid who didn’t fear and hate kuldir. Who had, without even meaning to, turned their back on everything they’d known.

And, somehow, in doing so, they had become something else entirely. Something different.

They weren’t quite Kelbrid, just as I wasn’t quite human. They were a mix of Kelbrid and kuldir. Maybe both, maybe neither. Maybe something more.

Even though I knew they couldn’t hear me, I felt I needed to say it.

<I understand.>

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 20 (Jake)

With one mystery explained, it was then our turn to make our own explanations to the Kelbrid.

It was finally time to reveal our escape plan.

And, as it turns out, Tobias was right. The Kelbrid didn’t like what we had in mind.

“No!” Doua shouted as soon as I’d finished speaking. “Didn’t you just hear what Zu said? We’re already too different from Kelbrid, too much like kuldir. We won’t do this. We can’t. Never.”

“You said you were sorry for bringing us here,” Marco shot back. “So we give you a chance to make it up to us, and you turn it down? That doesn’t sound like you’re very sorry, to me.”

“We did not mean for that to happen,” Doua grated. “But this . . . this is blasphemy!”

“Why?” Tobias asked. He had morphed human, so he could enter the conversation. “Why is this blasphemy?”

“Because . . . you, kuldir, will become Kelbrid, and we, Kelbrid, will become . . . kuldir! How is that anything but blasphemy?!”

“Okay, look,” I said, rubbing my temples. “We aren’t asking you to permanently become, well, kuldir. And we don’t want to permanently become Kelbrid. We just switch places long enough to confuse the guards. Then we keep switching back and forth behind their backs, create some chaos, and run for it. It shouldn’t be-”

“We understood the plan the first time you explained it,” Doua scowled. “Explaining it a second time will not make us any more inclined to agree.”

“Vuhl? Bahm? Zu? What do you think?” Tobias said quietly, trying to get an opinion other than Doua’s.

“Doua is right. We may be different from most Kelbrid, and we may have some slight empathy for kuldir, but we are still Kelbrid. This is madness,” Bahm said.

Zu was looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t know,” he said at length. “It is a radical proposal, that much is sure. But what is it we’re really afraid of? No misunderstandings ought to be possible from this. If I understand correctly, we will gain each others’ most basic instincts, correct? Those can’t be misunderstood, difference of perspective aside. So what are we really afraid of?”

Bahm glared at Zu. “You know what we’re really afraid of. You know.”

That cryptic statement earned confused looks from all us kuldir in the room. But the Kelbrid just shook it off like nothing had happened.

“What about you, Vuhl? You have a lot to gain from this plan,” I said, deciding to let Bahm and Zu’s odd conversation go. There were more important issues at hand right now.

Vuhl looked at her injured stump of a wing as she considered. We had explained that the morphing process would heal her wing, make it just as good as new. It wasn’t clear whether or not she believed us, but even the chance of getting her wing back had to look good to her.

“I want to fly again,” she finally said quietly. “But . . . ”

“But what?” I asked.

“But this decision should not be based on me,” Vuhl finished.

“Come on,” I said, changing tactics again. “Zu’s right. Nothing bad can possibly come of this, unless something goes wrong. None of you have anything to lose. You have only to gain.”

Doua glared at me. “You don’t know our reasons. You’re still kuldir. You don’t know what we have to lose.”

“So enlighten us!” Marco demanded.

“No!” Doua shot back stubbornly. “Some things are never to be shared.”

I massaged my temples, trying to think. Trying to get rid of stress, as Doua and Marco continued to argue. My hunch about Doua’s crew, that they were more compassionate for kuldir than they had let on, had proved to be right.

Don’t ask how I’d known that. Maybe having to learn to predict my team so well helped me learn to predict other people, too. Or maybe my time with Cassie had taught me to be more perceptive.

Cassie . . . there was a tiny part of me that still, even after three years, wished that things had worked out between us.

I shook my head, trying to shake off that last thought. This wasn’t the time to start thinking about Cassie.

“Fine,” Marco was saying to Doua. “But, you have to admit, you owe us something.”

Doua was about to retort when Bahm announced, “We have reached a decision.” He and Zu had been discussing quietly in the background of Marco and Doua’s more vehement arguing.

“What?” I asked, confused. Then I remembered. “Oh yeah. Males make decisions. Right.”

Bahm nodded. “We have decided . . .” He paused, nearly choking on his words, as if he didn’t quite believe what he was about to say. “ . . . to help you,” he finished.

I smiled, pleased that the Kelbrid had decided to go along, and nodded to Ax. He stepped over to the pile of our belongings and picked up the blue box, which had been sitting on top. Gingerly holding it in his seven-fingered hand, he held it out to the Kelbrid.

My mind suddenly churned with memories. Memories of six years ago. How it all started. An alien prince and a construction site. The great Prince Elfangor, the blue box, and the power that would change our lives forever.

Some time after that, but before the war was over, I saw a future version of Ax, and I mistook him for Elfangor. Now, four years later, it suddenly struck me again how much the now-not-so-young Andalite looked like his brother.

As he held the morphing cube out for Doua and her people to touch, I didn’t see Ax giving this power to four aliens. I saw Elfangor giving it to five human kids.

What was the difference? To Elfangor, we had been the aliens. He knew us about as well as we knew these Kelbrid. And here we were, trusting them, just as Elfangor had trusted us.

But that really wasn’t a fair comparison, was it? Elfangor gave us the morphing power so we could fight a war. A war he knew he would never see the end of. His intentions had been completely altruistic. But we were only giving this power to these Kelbrid just to save our own skins. Not the world. Just four people.

Seeing that difference, between us and Elfangor, nearly made me ill. What he gave away to save the world, we were giving away just to save ourselves. Total selflessness, versus utter self-interest.

But . . . maybe Elfangor was wrong. Not for the first time in the past three years, I thought that maybe saving the world had never been the greatest good. Looking around at my friends, I thought that maybe, just maybe, the world didn’t even matter except for the lives that it held. Like the lives of my friends. Marco, my best friend since forever. Tobias, the harassed, pathetic kid I’d long ago saved from bullies at school. Ax, the Andalite aristh who had always looked to me for guidance, as his prince.

As four alien hands reached out, tentatively, afraid, for the very same blue box that had forever changed our lives, I wondered what was really most important. The world, or a single life?

Not for the first time, I wondered what would have happened if I had stopped to think about such things while Rachel still lived.

And then . . . this might sound crazy, but I got a strange feeling at that moment, when four alien hands touched the blue box that Ax was holding. A feeling that this moment was a turning point. That something huge and unstoppable had just been set into motion, and there was no turning back.

As soon as it came, the feeling was gone. I shook my head, causing Marco to give me a curious glance. It was probably just déjà vu.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 21 (Jake)

We decided to let the Kelbrid pick which of us they each wanted to 'switch places' with. We didn't really care either way, and we wanted to keep the Kelbrid happy. Doua and Vuhl got the first pick.

Doua picked me. This was a surprise. I'd expected her to go for Ax. After all, let's face it, human bodies are pretty pathetic. But I guess she must have realized that I was the leader of our group. Or maybe she just didn't like Andalites. I don't know.

Vuhl picked Tobias. This was not a surprise. I figured she would go for the only one of us whose natural form had wings.

Bahm and Zu were then left with Ax and Marco, respectively. Which, quite predictably, infuriated Ax.

<This is an insult!> he exclaimed. <How can these Kelbrid consider an Andalite body to be less desirable than a human!? It is absurd! No offense meant, Prince Jake.>

I rolled my eyes, but other than that I ignored Ax's outburst. Instead, I got right down to business. I turned to face Doua, and said, "Okay, remember, you just focus on me. Focus on my DNA flowing into you."

Doua gently, almost nervously held my wrist. I felt myself getting sleepy, as was normal for any creature being acquired. I yawned, causing Doua to give me a confused look.

"Did it work?" Doua asked.

"Yes," I said when I'd snapped out of the acquiring trance. Then I reached for Doua's wrist, and focused on her. She slumped, going into the same drowsy state that I'd just come out of. Once her DNA was inside me, I let go, but I kept focusing, holding an image of the Kelbrid in my mind.

The first changes were my insides. I felt a shifting, nauseous feeling as my organs rearranged. My bones made crunching noises as they shifted, reformed, and realigned. My lungs grew bigger and stronger, making it oddly easy to breathe.

My vision changed subtly as my eyes changed into red-glass Kelbrid eyes. There was a sickening jolt as my windpipe closed for just a split second, reforming my mouth into the Kelbrid's breathing holes. My skull shifted into the polygonal shape of the Kelbrid head, and my hair disappeared.

My arms and legs grew thin, and there was a crunch as my knees reversed direction. My feet flattened like paper, and each foot pinched out into three points, which stretched out to form the Kelbrid's blade-talons. With a slight lurch, my talons bent to point down, lifting me off the ground and balancing me by the talon-tips of each foot. I tried to move the talons, but my feet were rigid. I guess they didn't need to be able to grasp or flex, since their only purpose seemed to be as weapons.

The ankles and knees were a whole different matter. I suddenly had such easy flexibility, quite unlike any other creature I'd been before. I wasn't as graceful as a tiger, but my joints felt much looser, unhindered. I could move almost without any effort at all.
Wings unfurled from my back, and my chest muscles had to bulk up to support them. There were three joints in the wing, and as I tested them out, I noticed that they moved with the same easy freedom as my arms and legs.

Finally, the last change to occur was the appearance of the Kelbrid blade-feathers all across my body, sharp triangles sprouting out of my torso, my arms, my legs, my wings.
The morph was complete. I was a Kelbrid.

The first thing I noticed were two Kelbrid males, and a female. I wanted to take the males for myself. But was I big enough to fight the other female and win? I sized her up, and she did the same to me. We were almost evenly matched, but I thought I was-

"Aaaahhh!"

The strange sound caught both of our attention. The other female Kelbrid and I immediately turned to look.

It was a strange, pink-skinned creature. Not a Kelbrid.

Not Kelbrid! Different from me.

And different meant dangerous.

I flared my wings, ready to attack. The other female Kelbrid did the same.

<Uh, Jake, Tobias, Ax? Doua, Zu, Bahm, Vuhl? You guys all there? Um, Jake and Tobias, you better calm down. You look like you're ready to attack Doua. That's Doua. She morphed you, Jake, remember?>

Strange voices. Sound, but not sound. I looked around, trying to find the source.

<I am in control also, Marco. Prince Jake, Tobias, reassert your individual consciousnesses!> another voice said.

<Okay, I'm okay,> a third voice said. <Wow. Didn't expect that. So, what, we're left with Jake and our Kelbrid buddies who still need to come around? Hey, Jake! Come off it!>

Were those voices coming from the other Kelbrid? How?

A flash of movement. A blur of blue.

Another kuldir! Foreign. Strange. Threatening.

I swung my wing at it. It saw what I was doing and swung its bladed tail at me. My wing and its tail collided, but we seemed to be evenly matched in strength. The blade nicked my skin, and blood began to seep out.

<Okay, Jake and Bahm, you're both lost in the morph. You're fighting each other! Stop it, right now! Jake, your name is Jake. You are human. Bahm, your name is Bahm. You are a Kelbrid. Snap out of it, both of you!>

The voice was familiar. Where had I heard that voice before? Marco, that's Marco! another voice in my head said. But this voice came from me. From . . . something inside me. Something that called itself Jake.

Jake! My name was Jake! I was human!

<Whoa!> I shouted, suddenly aware of who I was. <Okay, I'm in control now. Man, sorry guys. Wow. I didn't expect the Kelbrid mind to put up this much of a fight.> I felt fairly embarrassed for getting so caught up in the morph. Normally, sentient beings didn't have much in the way of instincts. So the Kelbrid mind had caught me by surprise.

But it was something else, too. The Kelbrid mind was . . . alien. I can't really describe what it was that made it so strange, but it was. More so than a Hork-bajir or even a Yeerk. The Kelbrid mind just didn't quite think the same way as anything else I'd ever morphed. And so, unable to understand the mind, I'd been overpowered by it.

And, it seemed, the Kelbrid were experiencing the same problem with our minds. Vuhl, who was now a red-tailed hawk, flew frantically around our small cell, lost in pure raptor panic in the enclosed space. Bahm, in Andalite form, was also looking restless. Andalites don't like closed spaces much more than hawks do. His stalk eyes whipped back and forth at hyper speed, and he pawed the ground with his hooves. Every now and then, he would take off across the cell, bolting in panic before realizing he couldn't go anywhere.

Zu and Doua, morphed reflections of Marco and I, were especially odd to see. Doua was pacing intensely, yelling something incoherent every once in a while. Now and then, she'd press her hands against her head, as if trying to get a grip on a powerful headache. But then she'd just shout and start pacing again. Zu, on the other hand, was doing what Marco had always done best. Lounging. He just lay there on the cold floor, sprawled out like he was enjoying a day at the beach, with a serene smile plastered on his face.

Marco was laughing that weird Kelbrid laugh at the bizarre scene before us. "Hup hup hup hup!" He looked at me, still laughing, and said, <It's just like looking in a mirror, isn't it?>

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 22 (Ax)

<Can they even hear our thought-speak?> Marco asked me, without taking his eyes off of the bizarre scene before us. None of us could help but stare at the four bewildering replicants of ourselves, who were now just beginning to gain control over their new instincts.

<Theoretically, they should,> I answered Marco. <Morphing technology was designed so that it enables the ability to hear thought-speak, as well as the ability to speak it. Thus, when you morph a creature that cannot normally hear thought-speak, such as an insect, which possesses only a rudimentary brain, you are still able to communicate. This works by a Z-space connection that preserves->

<Okay! They can hear us. That's all I wanted to know,> Marco interrupted me.

<These eyes! Amazing!> Vuhl commented as she flew down to perch on Tobias's shoulder.

<Where are those voices coming from?> Doua wondered to herself, looking around.

<It's called thought-speak,> Jake said. <We can hear your thoughts, so long as you direct them to us, and you can hear ours.>

Doua didn't say anything more, but she gave Prince Jake a surprised glance, then narrowed her eyes in a very human-like expression of suspicion. As if it were his fault that he had heard the thoughts she had, apparently unintentionally, projected.

<Okay, everybody's sane again. Well, relatively speaking,> Marco said. <Now, can we please get these Kelbrid some morphing outfits? Lucky thing the girls aren't here . . . > He trailed off as Prince Jake gave him a fierce, disapproving glare. Marco looked down, embarrassed.

This behavior perplexed me. Why did Prince Jake disapprove of the mere mention of our missing members? Could it be that he still wished to deny the reasons why neither Cassie nor Rachel were on this mission? I did not like to think so. Such obstinate behavior was not befitting a prince. Not even one that was human.

Prince Jake had explained to me, during our two-day captivity in the Kelbrid city, why he had not allowed Cassie to come on this mission. He had told me that he had left Cassie behind so that she could continue her work with the Hork-Bajir.

I had refrained from saying anything to him about it, but I had been ashamed of my prince's decision, as well as his poor excuse for making it. The Hork-Bajir were certainly capable of governing themselves at this point. They did not need any more help from humans, and even if they did, surely there were humans besides Cassie that would be willing to help them.

No, I knew that was not the true reason Jake had told Cassie to stay on earth.

Prince Jake had told Cassie to stay on earth, I realized, simply because it would have been too painful for him if she had come. She and Jake had long-since gone their separate ways, and, apparently, they had grown more distant than I had realized.

At least, that was the only explanation I could think of. If I could imagine any other reason for Prince Jake's actions, I would have gladly believed it instead. Such emotional judgment was a poor excuse for abandoning a fellow warrior. Even one such as Cassie, a sentimental human who had never approved of war.

If Prince Jake had left me behind on a mission for such foolish reasons, I would never have forgiven him.

I shook my head, a gesture which I had long-since adopted from humans, to clear my thoughts. Now was no time to worry about things that were already said and done.

<Alright, now that's taken care of,> Prince Jake said, once Doua and Zu were outfitted with some of our extra morphing outfits. <But where are the guards? Surely, they've noticed by now that something weird was going on in here?>

That was part of the plan. The guards were supposed to have seen us morphing. But when I looked at the glass door of the cell, the guards were nowhere to be seen.

<Where'd they go?> Tobias asked.

<Crap. What now? We need the guards for the plan to work! Why the hell would they have just run off like that?> Prince Jake said angrily.

<Well, let's just work with what we've got,> Marco said brightly. <Bahm, see if you can break the glass with your tail.>

<My . . . oh, right. Tail,> Bahm stuttered nervously. He appeared to still be disoriented by the experience of being in a new body. But he ****ed his tail, and struck at the glass door.

FWAP! Clunk.

<Nothing. Not even a scratch,> Vuhl said distractedly.

<Well, of course,> Zu remarked. <It's Kelbrid glass, not whatever you kuldir have. You would need something at least as hard as diamond to break it.>

<Oh, well, that's just-> Marco began, but was cut off.

<They're coming back!> Bahm said suddenly.

The guards had indeed returned, but they were staying far away from our cell door, as though afraid of us. This seemed strange, especially considering the confident, military poise they had shown while leading us to our cell. Not to mention that I could still think of no logical reason why they would have abandoned their post in the first place.

I discounted their odd behavior as irrelevant, for now. It was time to put our escape plan into action. I quickly stepped forward, and spoke with my Kelbrid voice. It was a new sensation, to speak without a mouth or tongue, but my Kelbrid windpipe could subtly contract, shaping the sounds that I could produce in my diaphragm. "Guards!" I shouted urgently. "You must release us from this cell! Something very wrong is going on!"

"No, wait, don't release them!" Doua cried, speaking with Jake's voice. "They are the kuldir! They've done something to us! They . . . they've switched their bodies with ours so they can escape! Don't trust them! They're kuldir!"

"No, we're not!" Prince Jake yelled indignantly. "Just look at us! We're Kelbrid! They're kuldir, and they're trying to trick you! Let us out of here, now!"

"No, let us out!" Zu pleaded. "Whatever they've done to us, please, you have to help us! Don't leave us in here, like this!"

"Don't believe them! Switching bodies, what a ridiculous lie!" Marco scoffed.

It was working. The guards looked back and forth, from one group to the other, in confusion.

"Please," Zu pleaded. "Please don't leave us in here. Who knows what else they might do to us?"

"You cannot possibly believe these liars!" I shot back. "If you release them, it will be you who is in danger!"

There was a pause, as the guards seemed to consider both sides. Then, in a sudden movement, Bahm lashed out with his Andalite tail. His blade stopped, quivering, inches from Prince Jake's throat. "I would suggest you tell them the truth, kuldir, if you value your lives," Doua said menacingly.

Prince Jake froze for a moment, shocked. When he recovered, he realized he had no choice except to tell the guards what the Kelbrid wanted to hear. "Alright! I admit it. We're the kuldir. We switched bodies with these Kelbrid. Please, don't kill me!"

The rest of us reluctantly acknowledged the truth of Prince Jake's statement. Satisfied, Bahm lowered his tail.

With the matter apparently settled, the guards cautiously released our Kelbrid friends. The door opened, and the guards escorted the four of them out of our cell, holding the rest of us at bay with their staffs. The door closed behind them, locking us in once more. No sooner were the Kelbrid free, than did Vuhl screech a red-tailed cry of triumph, and Bahm, catching the nearest guard by surprise, hit her in the side of the head with his tail. All four of them bolted down the corridor, out of our sight, with the guards following in hot pursuit.

"They tricked us!" I heard a guard shout. "Payon, you stay back and let those poor Kelbrid out of that cell. The rest of you, after those kuldir!"

It is lucky that I did not possess a human mouth. If I had, I believe I would have smiled.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 23 (Tobias)

The moment the glass door opened, we ran for it. We blew past the bewildered guard before she even had time to realize what had happened.

"What the- They're all kuldir! All of them! Don't let any of them get away!" she screamed to the other guards. I heard the clicking of claws as the other guards came running through the corridors towards us.

I bolted away from the guard, flapping my Kelbrid wings for extra speed as I ran.

Down corridors we ran, flying around corners, guided only by some general, vague sense of the way we had come.

<Ax!> I yelled, spotting something that looked like a computer console at the end of a corridor. <There's a computer down there. See if it tells us where Santorelli and the others are!>

Ax took off down the corridor I'd indicated. <I may require a distraction,> he said as he reached the console and accessed the controls.

The guards had now had enough time to figure out what was happening, and to get organized. A trio of Kelbrid Warriors were coming for us, staffs in hand. If we had to fight them, we wouldn't last two seconds. They had more experience, they had weapons, and they were bigger than us.

I decided to try a gamble. I ran down the corridor, straight at them. They kept running, straight at me.

<Tobias, are you insane?!> Marco shouted at me.

As we were just about to collide, one of the guards swung her staff at me. The staff made a sinister buzzing sound, as if it would electrocute me if it touched me. But I leapt into the air, missing the staff, and beat my wings for altitude. I was flying! Right over the guards' heads! My momentum carried me over them before anyone could react, and I landed on the other side and kept running.

I now had their attention. The trick now was to keep it. I began to demorph as I ran. Just enough so that my form started to shift and melt.

"What is it doing?!" one of them shrieked as they watched me. They were now chasing me, and, unfortunately, they were catching up quick.

"Kill it, kill it!" another yelled, swinging her staff furiously at me. Her staff was making that buzzing noise again, and I could feel the wind from it every time she swung at me. It was only a matter of time before-

"Aaaiiih!" I yelled, my Kelbrid voice making my scream sound alien, even to my ears. I'd been hit! An electric shock ran through me from where the staff had hit my arm, and my body seized up in pain. I fell, sliding forward before the friction of the floor could cancel my momentum.

<Tobias!> Jake shouted. <Are you alright?!>

I tried to get up. But the guard who'd hit me was slamming me with her staff, again and again, each blow wracking me with pain.

"Aaaaaiiiigh!" I screamed again, in a voice that was part Kelbrid and part hawk.

"Filthy, diseased, ugly, horrid kuldir!" the guard was screaming. "What have you done to those Kelbrid?!"

<I have found the required information,> Ax said from the computer console. <But we must hurry. There are protocols to barricade the exit in the event of an emergency. I have overriden them for now, but my there are backup systems that I cannot penetrate. In approximately thirty minutes, we will no longer be able to escape.>

<Can you open all the cell doors? Or at least the one where Santorelli and the others are being kept?> Marco asked.

Ax paused for a moment. <No,> he finally said, frustration in his voice, <I cannot access individual cell blocks from here.>

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sudden movement. Another Kelbrid was attacking the guards! The Kelbrid that had been pummelling me turned towards the new threat. I seized the opportunity to get to my feet, and took off running. I was out of there!

<Thanks, Jake,> I said as I glanced over my shoulder to see him, now running the other direction, with two of the guards in hot pursuit. One of the guards chasing Jake had a deep slash in her wing. The third guard glanced at Jake, but then took off running after me.

Jake had distracted the guards. And, in doing so, he'd most likely just saved my life. Not that it was the first time he'd done something like that for me, but I have to admit, it made me start to reconsider whether I should still be mad at him for something that happened three years ago.

But there was no time to worry about that now. I had to get back to the others. And I had to lose the guard that was still tailing me.

I ran down a side corridor, hoping to go around the guards, to get back to my friends. I rounded a corner, then another. I suddenly saw another group of guards, but too late to hide. They saw me, and immediately gave chase. I turned, darted down another corridor. How was I going to get back to my friends? How was I to keep from getting lost in this maze?

And, most importantly, how was I supposed to stay alive while doing so?

As I ran and turned, swerving through the maze of hallways, the guards were getting ever closer. I needed a way to lose them, and fast. They were forcing me farther and farther from my friends with each passing moment.

Maybe, I thought, if I couldn't lose them as a Kelbrid, I could lose them as a hawk.

I jumped into the air, pumping my wings to keep me moving, and focused on my hawk form as I flew. My blade-feathers softened into actual feathers, as they changed color from grey to brown. The corridor grew more spacious around me as I shrank. My arms retracted into my chest. My head changed shape, my beak grew, and my vision intensified as hawk eyes replaced Kelbrid vision.

And it turned out I was right. As a hawk, I could fly faster than the guards could run. But not for long. Flapping for speed in dead air was hard work, and I was already tired from the exertion of morphing in mid-air. I had maybe five minutes before I had to either slow down or collapse. And then the guards would catch me.

<Ax? Marco? Jake?> I called, hoping they could hear me. Nothing. They were out of thought-speak range. <Doua? Vuhl?> I tried vainly. Of course, there was no response. If they'd demorphed, as had been the plan, they wouldn't have been able to hear me, anyway.

I was on my own. Lost, exhausted, and alone.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 24 (Marco)

<Five minutes remain,> Ax said with unnerving calm.

We were running. Still running down the same, endless, twisting corridor that we had been trapped in for the past who-knows-how-long. It felt like forever, even though it can't have been any longer than twenty-five minutes. Everything seems to slow down when you're counting your life second by second.

But we weren't running towards the exit. Jake was leading us deeper into the labyrinth. He was still clinging to the futile hope that we could rescue Santorelli, Menderash, and Jeanne.

There have been only a handful of times that I have doubted my best friend's leadership, but this was one of those times.

<Jake, we have to get out, now! It's now or never!> I shouted at him impatiently. I couldn't understand why he was doing this. He knew that we didn't have time to find, let alone rescue, the others. We'd spent too long losing the guards, and now we were left with no choice but to get out while we still could. Why was he making it so difficult?

<No!> he lashed back at me stubbornly. <We are not leaving until we find Santorelli, Jeanne, and Menderash. And we are not leaving without Tobias!> It was easy to hear the desperation in his voice. Even he didn't believe what he was saying.

I wanted to slap him. I had known something like this would happen. I had even tried to warn him. While we were still on earth, Jake had said to me that he wanted a second chance to lead, and that this time, he wasn't going to make mistakes. I had answered that that wasn't going to happen. I believe my exact words were, "Surprise: You're not a god."

Apparently, he hadn't been listening.

And now he was so determined not to let anything go wrong, not to make a mistake, that he couldn't see the obvious. The mistake had already been made.

This wasn't about whether we should heroically risk our lives to help our comrades. It wasn't even about the risk. If we stayed in here long enough to find the others, we would be trapped. Game over. End of story.

Save a few people, or lose everyone? It was the sort of decision Jake had made dozens of times before. But now, with three years of peace behind him, three years for his conscience to be eaten away by self-doubt, he was paralyzed.

<Four minutes, Prince Jake,> Ax said.

<Shut up, shut up, I KNOW!> Jake roared, his patience snapping. <TOBIAS! WHERE ARE YOU?!> he called out with all his strength.

I flapped my wings a couple times so that I was out in front of Jake. Then I turned around, so that I was facing him, and stopped.

I slapped him.

<Grow up,> I said. <This is not a fairy tale, okay? Nothing ever turns out perfect. You should know that by now. You will never be perfect. You've just got to make the best decisions you can, and deal with it. Deal with it, Jake!>

<Don't lecture me,> he snapped. <I'm the leader, not you.>

<No, Jake,> I shot back, letting him know he couldn't intimidate me. <Not when you act like this, you're not.>

<Are you challenging my authority?!> Jake demanded.

<No, I'm not. I'm revoking it. You can't make this decision. You've attached too much of your own emotional baggage to it. So I'm making it for you. We're turning around. Now.>

<What?! You can't do that!>

<Three minutes,> Ax said.

<Yes, I can,> I said. With that, I turned around, and started walking the other way. Jake would follow me. I knew he would. He may be stubborn, but he knows when I'm right.
I looked over my shoulder, just to make sure. He was just standing there, looking back and forth. At me, then down the empty corridor. I stopped, waited. Ax was caught between the two of us, standing between me and Jake, hesitant. Would Ax follow his prince, even when his prince was wrong?

Finally, Ax made his decision. He walked toward me. <Jake, you are my prince, but I believe that Marco is correct. We must escape. The others . . . Tobias and Menderash, at least, would understand.>

Wordlessly, Jake followed me and Ax. I expected him to seem relieved that the responsibility of a hard decision had been taken away from him, or even angry that he'd lost an argument to me. But he just seemed . . . empty. Deflated. Like a kid whose childhood dream had just been crushed.

Of course, as I very well knew, Jake's childhood dreams had already been smashed to pieces, a long time ago.

<Come on, hurry!> I prodded. <There's not much time!>

<Two minutes,> Ax added.

All three of us took off running, suddenly desperate to put as much distance between ourselves and this horrible underground dungeon as we could.

And I prayed that we weren't already too late.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 25 (Jake)

We made it out of the Kelbrid prison without further incident. I almost wish we hadn't. I almost wish we'd been caught, trapped, even killed, just so long as I didn't have to deal with the fact that we'd made it out, when Tobias, Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash didn't.

Marco, Ax and I, the survivors, spread our wings and flew from the mouth of that cursed cave. I looked back to watch the thick glass door slam shut behind me, mere seconds later. Marco was right. We'd only barely had enough time to get ourselves out. If we had stayed to find the others, we would have all been trapped.

My fault. It was all my fault. I hadn't come up with a better plan to get Menderash, Jeanne, and Santorelli out. And then I'd let Tobias distract that guard, let him get separated from the rest of us.

Had Tobias, at least, made it out? Maybe. Doubtful. But maybe. I had to hold on to that hope. There wouldn't be another chance for escape, if he was still trapped down there . . . if he was still even alive . . .

We kept flying. We flapped hard for altitude, and landed on the lip of the canyon. The endless vista of Kelbrid grassland stretched out before us.

We were now, if it were possible, even more lost than before. Miles and miles away from civilization, on a planet where civilization was hardly better than wilderness. And with only three of us left, it was hard to have any confidence in our chances.

Marco and Ax looked imploringly at me. Oh, sure. Now they wanted me to be their leader. Now that Jeanne, and Menderash, and Santorelli, and maybe even Tobias, were . . .

Oh god. They were trapped down there. And it was my fault. All my fault. If only-

<Jake? You okay?> Marco asked.

<I- I- > I stuttered, trying to think of what to do. Think, Jake! What would we normally have done, during the war, if we were lost somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and needed to get our bearings? Surely that sort of thing had happened to us before. What did we do?

When the answer finally came to me, it seemed so obvious. <Demorph. Go to bird of prey morphs.> That should have been the very first thing I thought of. Apparently I was more rattled than I thought. Could I still even make decisions, when I was this messed up?

Marco was still giving me a concerned look. Like he was trying to decide if I was okay or not. But I guess he decided that birds of prey was the way to go.

We all demorphed. Rather than morphing again, we just stood there for a minute. Two humans, and an Andalite, alone on a planet where none of us belonged. We just stood there, catching our breath.

Then we morphed. A peregrine falcon, an osprey, and a northern harrier took off into the sky. We caught a thermal, rising up over the canyon, and rode it up as high as it would take us. It was wonderful. How long had it been since I'd flown like this? Years? No. I'd been in falcon morph when I'd last seen Cassie, and that had been mere months ago. Had it really been that recent? It felt like a lifetime ago.

Earth felt so far away, right then. As if my home, the life I'd lived for the past three years, and Cassie, didn't even exist. They didn't exist and they never had.

War, hard decisions, and solitude were all that was left.

Was this really the life I had wanted?

My thoughts were briefly interrupted as I spotted a group of maybe half a dozen Kelbrid off in the distance. They were flying higher than we were, but they were too far away to see us.

I'd already begun to bank away from them, when I suddenly recognized Vuhl. As I looked harder, I realized that three of the others were Bahm, Zu, and Doua. But the last one . . . was that another Vuhl?

I gasped with shock when my weary brain finally put it together. <Tobias!> I shouted with joy. <You made it!>

<Jake?> he asked, looking around. Then, after a moment's hesitation, <Who else made it?>

<Marco and Ax,> I answered. < . . . You didn't happen to find Santorelli and the others . . . did you?> I asked hesitantly. Knowing perfectly well that I was clinging to a false hope.

<No,> Tobias replied, sudden contempt in his voice. <I thought you were taking care of that! Are they still . . . >

<We had no choice, Tobias,> I defended pathetically. <It was either lose them, or lose everyone!>

<Oh, and I haven't heard that line before!> Tobias cried. There was a beat of tense silence, before he added, <That's exactly the attitude that got Rachel->

<Tobias, chill!> Marco interrupted quickly, before Tobias's words could hit home with me. Too late.

<Arguing won't do any good now!> Marco continued. <Look, we're all upset. Santorelli, Jeanne, Menderash . . . they were good people, okay? None of us is happy to leave them behind. But they're tough. I mean, Menderash is an Andalite, and we all know that Andalites aren't to be taken lightly, nothlit or otherwise. And Jeanne took on two very tough Kelbrid in her very first battle. They'll be okay. Heck, if we made it out of there, maybe they will, too.>

<I don't believe this!> Tobias raged. <All of you, you're just acting like there's nothing we can do! We have to go back for them!>

<And do what?> Marco asked. <You have some brilliant plan, bird-boy?>

<We can't do nothing!> Tobias shouted.

<Well, then, come up with something!> Marco shouted back.

Everyone was at each others' throats. My head was pounding, until I couldn't think. We were lost, didn't know what to do, and three team members down. And I wasn't sure I was even still fit to lead.

It was just too much.

"TSEEEEER!" I screamed. I folded my wings back, and plummeted toward the ground.

<Jake! What are you doing?! Cut it out,> Tobias snapped authoritatively.

I came out of the dive, flapping my wings to cancel some momentum as I leveled out my flight.

<Let’s just calm down and think logically here,> Tobias said, a little more gently. He sounded worried for me, as if I’d scared him, but at that point, I didn’t even care. Thank god, I thought. Someone else is taking charge.

<We should head back to the city, I think,> Tobias continued, still watching me warily.

<What? Why?> I blurted, still a little out of it. Man, my mind just didn’t want to focus on reality.

<That is where we are most likely to find a ship,> Ax said, immediately catching on.

<Right,> Marco agreed. <The question is, how to get a ship off this freakin’ planet. I highly doubt we can just walk up and ask for one.>

<Well, we have Kelbrid morphs, don’t we? Maybe it really is just as simple as walking up and asking for a ship.>

<Tobias, Tobias, Tobias,> Marco sighed. <How long have you been an Animorph? It’s never that simple. And the simpler it seems, the more complicated it ends up being.>

They went on for a while, but I just kind of zoned out. For once, I was glad to be left out of the conversation. I just listened, as Tobias, Marco, and Ax discussed plans, problems, possible solutions, and the occasional random side note.

<Do you think piroth would taste good on food?> Marco wondered randomly. <I mean, it just seems like it should be a seasoning, you know?>

<Yes! That is a wonderful idea!> Ax said excitedly. <Thywer would be delicious on a cinnamon bun!> Then I guess he was embarrassed about his outburst, because he fell silent for a moment. Then I heard him whisper, < . . . cinnamon bun> in a voice full of blissful nostalgia. Something told me he hadn’t meant to say it out loud. Marco snickered.

<Can we please stay on track here?> Tobias said with exasperation. It suddenly struck me how well he had fallen into my role. He sounded just like me.

I had noticed how quickly Tobias had dropped the issue of rescuing Santorelli and the others. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of that. Had he simply given up arguing? Was he planning to try something on his own? Or had he realized that we were right, and we had no choice but to leave the others behind?

After a while, we needed to demorph. Doua and the other Kelbrid seemed grateful for the chance to land and rest their wings. Tobias and Ax morphed to human so they could talk to the Kelbrid, and the eight of us just walked along the grassy savannah for a while.
It was good to just walk. We talked to the Kelbrid, who had been left out of our previous, thought-speak conversation.

As for me, I didn’t contribute much of anything. My legs kept moving, and my eyes were open, but inside, I was long gone. Numb and blind to everything around me. Worlds away from my friends, lost in a place that didn’t even exist outside of my own mind.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 26 (Tobias)

As we all walked along, I started to tune out the conversation, which was mostly just a logistical debate between Marco and the Kelbrid at this point anyway. I looked up at the scarred, blasted Kelbrid moon, hanging high in the sky. That moon had been haunting my thoughts ever since I had first laid eyes on it. I couldn't stop wondering . . .

"What happened up there?" I finally asked.

Zu looked at me, then looked up. The others all followed suit, until all of the Animorphs and all of the Kelbrid were staring up at the desolate brown orb hanging in the sky.

After a moment, Doua said, "That is not a tale for kuldir to hear."

"Why not?" Marco said, curiosity in his tone. "What's the big secret?"

Doua looked angry. "You would not understand such things, kuldir. We have reasons for keeping certain things secret."

"Of course," Marco snapped with savage sarcasm. "You're the high and mighty Kelbrid, and we're just little ignorant kuldir. We couldn't possibly understand anything as complex as shame and guilt."

Leave it to Marco to figure out the real reason why the Kelbrid were so intent on keeping whatever happened on that charred moon a secret.

Doua swept her wings forward menacingly. "Do not pass judgment on what you do not know!"

"Then tell us!" Jake snapped, obviously getting impatient with the whole argument. I was surprised. That was the first thing I had heard him say in the past several hours, at least. To be honest, I hadn’t thought he was even still listening. But perhaps he was as curious about that moon as the rest of us were.

"No," Bahm said. "It is not right. No kuldir has ever known the secret, and we do not intend to change that now."

"Maybe, just maybe, us kuldir might have dark pasts and guilty secrets, too," I said quietly. "Maybe, just maybe, we can understand this one tiny part of each other."

Zu looked doubtful. He seemed to be torn between wanting to believe what we were saying, and what he had always known to be true. Finally, he shook his head. "No, we can't. Not this." He pointed up at the moon. "See that? That is the very reason we don't trust kuldir. That is the reason we must always assume that we do not understand. We thought we could understand kuldir once." He paused for a moment, as if trying to find words. Finally, he simply said, "We were mistaken."

"Sounds a little like an Andalite I heard about once," I said. Ax looked sideways at me.

"This is a familiar story," I clarified. "One guy trusts the wrong people, and then a whole race blames themselves for the results? Seerow did the same thing. And the only reason I'm not citing a human example," I added quickly when I noticed Ax glaring at me, "is because humans have done something like that too many times to count."

"It isn't like that," Vuhl said, finally speaking up. "It wasn't just one person, or just one mistake."

There was a beat of silence as we all waited for Vuhl to go on, and she didn't.

"Come on. Can it really be so dangerous just to tell us?" Marco prodded. "What's the harm?"

"How can you not know the harm of a misunderstanding?" Doua asked disbelievingly.

"How can you be so afraid of misunderstandings that you're never even willing to try to overcome them?" Marco retorted.

"You only say that because-" Doua started, but Bahm held up his hand, silencing her.

"Maybe . . . maybe they're right," Bahm said heavily. As if those were the hardest words he'd ever said. "Maybe this is something we can share. Perhaps even something we should." He looked to Zu. Doua and Vuhl followed suit, looking at Zu. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that Zu was the best one to tell this story. We Animorphs leaned forward to hear, as Zu looked up at the moon.

"The moon is called Lethon," Zu began. "The inhabitants called themselves the Leth. This was a long time ago, when the Kelbrid were still a primitive race. Not even capable of space flight. The Leth, however, were capable of very limited space travel. But they could only reach Kelbri at the closest point in their orbit. So they visited us, once every lunar year.

"What the Leth did not know was that they carried a disease, harmless to them, but deadly to Kelbrid. We did not realize the danger until they were gone, and we began to die. But we survived, and recovered. And then the Leth came again.

"We tried to tell them to leave us alone, but we spoke different languages. They didn't understand why we seemed to hate them, and we didn't understand why they were killing us. They left, and more Kelbrid died of disease. The next year, we strived to learn their language. But it made little difference. The Leth believed that it was our own hatred of them that was killing us, and that we had to learn to accept our differences to survive. Much later, we learned that the Leth were particularly sensitive to strong emotions, so they actually could be killed by negative emotions like hatred and intolerance. And they had simply assumed that we worked the same way.

"But we did not know this at the time. We believed that they were evil, because they were killing us and then trying to blame us for our own deaths. And they believed that we were closed-minded and stupid for not seeing the real reason that we were dying. We could not understand them, and they could not understand us. But it was the Kelbrid who suffered for it.

"Again and again, they came, thinking they were helping us. Many Kelbrid died. But our encounters with the Leth forced us to develop new technologies. Weapons. We still did not understand that the Leth were not malevolent. We invented weapons to fight them.
"We eventually developed an immense pulse laser, inspired by technology that the Leth had. We . . . the Kelbrid of long ago . . . used this weapon to exterminate the Leth."

There was a sharp intake of breath. So that was the big secret. Genocide. No wonder the moon still felt tainted, even after all these years.

We were all silent for a moment or two, taking in the terrible truth. An entire planet, destroyed. A worldwide holocaust. All for a simple misunderstanding.

“That . . . is a terrible tale,” Ax said heavily, breaking the silence. “But, as Tobias mentioned earlier, it is not unique. All races have some terrible shame.”

“It’s more than that,” Zu said slowly, uncertainly. “Ever since the Leth . . . the Kelbrid have been different than they were before. It’s not just that we don’t trust kuldir. It’s almost as if we can’t. As if it’s part of our nature to fear those that are different.”

Suddenly, with a tiny shiver, I realized I knew what Zu was talking about. I recalled my experience morphing Vuhl. I remembered the Kelbrid instincts I had felt. That ingrained fear of the unknown, the overpowering hatred of anything that wasn’t Kelbrid.

“But why . . . “ Marco began, thinking.

But Ax got it. “Evolution,” he said simply. “The Kelbrid that trusted the Leth, those that befriended those that were different, so to speak, were the ones that were most susceptible to the disease. Those Kelbrid were eliminated from the population. The ones that were left-”

“-were the ones that feared difference,” Marco finished. “So now, that fear and hatred is encoded in their very most basic instincts. Almost literally beaten into them after all those years.”

We all fell silent again. It was a lot to take in. The holocaust of Lethon, and then this bizarre twist in the Kelbrid’s own evolution. We all just walked on in silence, thinking. Absorbing the shock.

Before, we had resented the Kelbrid. Understandable, of course, as they had seemed to resent us. But now . . . it wasn‘t fair to hate them, was it? They didn’t really have a choice. They were only following their instincts. Doing what they had evolved to do, being what they were supposed to be. What more could anyone, even a sentient race, do?
But what about Doua and the others? They were defying not only their culture, but their own evolution, their very DNA. How could that be possible?

I looked wonderingly at Vuhl, trying to figure out how she did it, how she fought the instincts that had so easily overpowered me when I‘d morphed her. She felt my gaze, and met my look with her own, unreadable eyes. And I knew, right then, that both of us still had a lot to learn.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 27 (Ax)

Sometimes I think I know my human friends somewhat better than I would like to. For I knew exactly what they all were thinking, right at that moment when we learned of the Kelbrid's great secret.

And they were wrong. The Kelbrid were no more pitiable now than they were a moment ago. As a matter of fact, this new information changed nothing. The Kelbrid's past, even their genetic lineage, did not excuse them for being what they were. For that is the true gift of sentient beings, to choose one's own actions, regardless of one's instincts and predispositions.

But sentience is a curse, as well, for it means that you have nothing to blame but yourself for the person that you are.

I glanced at Zu, walking along at the back of our group, staring up at the sky, and I realized that I was beginning to feel a deep respect for our four Kelbrid friends. After all, just because sentience gives us the ability to change our nature, does not imply that it is easy. Something that I knew personally from my time spent on earth. Doua and her crew had fought a hard battle, no doubt, to turn against their own nature in favor of what they thought was right.

Part of me wondered why. Why did they do it? Why did they side with us, aliens that they had only known for barely a week? Why did they turn against their people to set us free, when one of us was an Andalite, their enemy?

After a while, the sun began to set, with the Kelbrid city still nowhere in sight. We kept walking, until, as Marco disgustedly put it, "We're lost on an alien planet, it's too dark to see our freakin' feet, and we're probably still miles away from what passes for civilization around here. Just tell me there aren't any giant monsters around here that come out at night. Because if anything keeps me from getting a fantastic night's sleep tonight, it will wish it had never been born."

<Someone's grumpy,> Tobias pointed out, then groaned. <Don't complain. At least you're used to sleeping on the ground. I haven't seen a single tree on this whole planet! If I have to sleep on flat ground, my bird instincts are going to drive me nuts.> He then fluttered up to try to perch on one of the tan, rod-like plants. The plant bowing over under his weight, he said, <Well, crap, that isn't going to work.>

<You may perch on my shoulder,> I offered. <Since I sleep standing up, it would be no trouble.>

<Thanks, Ax-man, but no thanks. I've heard you snore,> he responded with a laugh. I sensed he was merely making an excuse to decline my offer, but I said nothing about it. Tobias won't often take favors from others, unless he is in desperate need. He flew off, then disappeared into the grass.

I wasn't ready to sleep just yet. I stared up at the stars, wondering if I could still see the Andalite home world from this planet. It took some time, since the constellations looked different when viewed from such a different angle, but I found it.

I thought about my home, my people. And, once again, I wondered what that truly meant. Was my home on the Andalite home world, or on earth? Were my true people the Andalites, or the humans?

After a while, I thought about Menderash. He had been a good first officer. He was brave, honorable, and, above all, loyal. So loyal that he had become a nothlit to save me, his prince.

I straightened my posture and put my fist against my chest, raising my tail high in a battle stance. <In dedication to your prince, you met a noble end,> I began, in private thought-speak so as not to wake the others. I was performing the ritual of remembrance. I was saying it for Menderash, but also for Prince Jake's human friends who had been left behind, as well.

<In service of the people, your sacrifice brought freedom to all.> I spread my arms wide.

<Your duty is ended, your honor endures. Fulfilled in life, now find peace in spirit,> I finished, looking towards the sky with all four eyes. I relaxed, and contemplated the words of the ritual.

The ritual of remembrance is intended for fallen warriors. Perhaps, I thought, it was not appropriate for Menderash, Jeanne, and Santorelli, who were not yet dead. But I felt that they should be honored, somehow. Since there is no ritual for imprisoned warriors, I used the most appropriate ritual I knew.

And . . . well, the ugly truth was, we had in effect sentenced Menderash and the others to death. They would either remain imprisoned until their natural death, or, quite possibly, now that we had escaped, they would be terminated.

The thought made me ill. It is an awful feeling, knowing that you are alive at someone else's expense. The guilt eats away at you, absorbs your every thought. I knew. I had felt it before.

Just before we parted ways, Menderash had said to me that, if it came down to it, I should leave him behind rather than risk recapture. He had known the plan, and saw it falling apart before it even started. And he was willing to stay behind to give us a better chance at freedom.

Menderash was, indeed, a true Andalite. There are few honors as great as to sacrifice oneself for one's prince.

After a while, my thoughts began to drift towards sleep. Right as I was about to close my eyes for the night, I noticed what appeared to be a meteorite. In any case, it a bright speck of light that was quickly falling towards the ground, what humans call a 'shooting star.' Suddenly, as if it knew I had seen it, it stopped dead in the sky! All four of my eyes snapped wide open in disbelief. It was impossible! Then, the point of light began to shrink, getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared into the black abyss of space.

<What was that?> I wondered to myself, bewildered. But the only answer that came was the heavy breathing of my sleeping friends.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 28 (Marco)

Against all odds, I managed to get a fantastic night's sleep after all.

Until, that is, Ax woke us all up at God-only-knows-o'-clock in the morning. Apparently, he hadn't gotten such a fantastic night's sleep. Once we were all more or less awake (in my case, less), he anxiously told us all what he had seen.

"A shooting star?" I asked groggily. "What did you wish for?"

"This is serious," Jake scolded me. "Shooting stars don't just stop in mid-air. Something's going on, here."

Our commotion had apparently woken up the Kelbrid, because Vuhl responded, "Yes, something is going on. I saw it too. But, of course, that was no star. It was a piece of the One. It is beginning to re-form itself."

"What? But didn't we destroy the One?" I asked, confused.

"No," Doua snorted impatiently. "Were you not listening when we first met? You only disrupted its energy signature."

"Ah, right, of course," I retorted. It really didn't surprise me at all that I had no recollection of that particular lecture. I have a tendency not to listen when people start talking about energy signatures.

"If I may, there has been a question on my mind for some time now," Ax said, changing the subject. He was in human morph again, so that he could talk to the Kelbrid. "That is, why did the One release me?"

I could swear I saw Vuhl flinch when Ax said that. As if he'd mentioned something that she didn't want to remember. "It happens occasionally," she began. "If you were the One's last victim . . . if you resist enough . . . if you haven't been fully pulled into the dream-state yet . . . " she trailed off, losing her thread.

"Then you can ride the matter-energy reflux pulse when the One is dispersed, and get out," Bahm finished for her.

Ax nodded wisely, as if that made perfect sense to him. Then he looked at Vuhl and said, "You were taken, too, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was," Vuhl answered after a moment's pause. "It was only through luck that I escaped." She looked up, silent, at the sky. Remembering, I guess. Ax did the same. Maybe they were thinking about how close they had both come to being trapped in the One forever.

It was my job to break the reverie. "Okay, well, that's great and all, but the point is, you both made it out. Kudos on not being dissolved into individual molecules, but that's in the past. The One isn't our problem right now." I pointed at a silvery glint on the horizon. "There's the city. We need to get there, and get off this godforsaken planet," I said. "No offense," I added, with a glance at Doua.

"Right," Jake said with a nod, trying to look authoritative.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" I asked. "Just morph Kelbrid and ask for a ship?"

"That . . . ought to work," Bahm said hesitantly. I looked at him in surprise, not at all expecting that our 'plan,' which was really more of a running joke than a plan, might actually have merit. Bahm went on, "If the ship-builders believe you to be us, you might be able to convince them that your ship was damaged beyond repair in this latest encounter with the One. Therefore, they would be obligated to provide you with another."

"Whoa, so you can just take a new ship whenever you feel like it? Free of charge?" I asked incredulously.

"Naturally," Doua said, as if that should be obvious. "Our mission to destroy the One is of great importance to the Kelbrid people. Therefore, we are provided with any equipment necessary for the job."

"Well, that's convenient for us," Jake said. "Okay, that's the plan, then. Let's move!"

We yawned, stretched, and headed toward the city once more.

I should have been happy. I mean, we were going home! But my mind kept pulling up a single, beautiful image.

Jeanne.

It still didn't feel quite real. It didn't feel real that we were leaving three of our teammates behind. And Jeanne . . . I'd never even had the chance to get to know her.

What have we done?

[DinosaurNothlit]

Chapter 29 (Jake)

It didn't take as long as I'd feared it might to reach the city again. With our bird of prey morphs, we covered pretty good distance. It felt good, moving with a purpose, towards a goal.

It still felt like running away.

By the time night fell again, we were standing in the shadow of the outskirts of the city. The buildings were still, the Kelbrid citizens presumably asleep. Everything was quiet. Vuhl led us to the hangar, where we spotted the wrecked remains of the Blade Ship and the Rachel, nestled between ships of Kelbrid design. I could see that repairs had been made to both of them, but neither of them were in any condition to fly.

We spent a sleepless night waiting. We used our Kelbrid morphs so as not to alert any Kelbrid who might happen to be watching us. Nervously demorphing every two hours. Feeling exposed and vulnerable in the open, but with nowhere to hide between the open-air buildings.

Doua and the others had left, so that we wouldn't be identified as their doppelgangers, but they had promised to stay within hearing range should something go wrong and we needed back-up.

The plan was so ludicrously simple that it was making me paranoid. We would wait until morning, when the first hangar-workers would show up. Then we would just tell them that we needed a ship, and they would, presumably, give us one. Could it really be that simple? It was never that simple.

I spent the night going over every possible scenario. I couldn't afford another screw-up like the one that had gotten Jeanne, Santorelli, and Menderash trapped. So I had to be ready for anything. What if they saw through our lie? What if they realized who were were? Worse, what if they already knew we were here, and they were gathering their forces at the hangar at this very moment, waiting to attack?

What if we lost? What if I got someone else killed?

I noticed Marco watching me. His Kelbrid eyes were unreadable, but I knew him well enough to know what he must be thinking. He was wondering if I could still lead, after my breakdown in the prison. He and Ax would be the ones doing the talking, according to our plan, but I guess he must have been worried that I might screw something else up. Give a bad order in the midst of a battle. Get someone killed.

I didn't blame him. I was worrying about the same thing.

Dawn couldn't come soon enough. Worrying never accomplished anything. The only way to end the worry was action.

As the first pink light of dawn began to show on the horizon, we demorphed and remorphed one last time. No telling how long this might take, and we weren't going to take the risk.

As the sun rose, we finally entered the hangar. A pair of Kelbrid, one male, one female, trudged between the rows of ships, getting ready for a day's work. As we got closer to them, I noticed that their blades were lined with metallic blue. They saw us, quickly recognized us, and trotted towards us. "Doua!" the female exclaimed when she got close enough to me. "Vuhl! Zu, Bahm! How can we help you today?"

'Bahm' replied. "Our ship was damaged in our encounter with the One. We will require a new one."

The male ****ed his head to the side, confused. "What are you talking about? Your ship is right here, fit to fly. We just finished running diagnostics on it." He pointed at a ship that did, indeed, look exactly like the one we had been brought to this planet in.

Marco quickly cut in, saving Ax from having to answer. "Ah, so you fixed it? Some of the controls were locking up, you see. But if that little problem is gone, then, we'll just be on our way."

That seemed to satisfy the female Kelbrid, but the male didn't quite seem convinced. He stared hard at Marco and Ax. Finally, he said, slowly and suspiciously, "What are our names?"

My heart leaped into my throat. They knew! They must have recieved news from the prison about what had happened there, and they knew to look out for anyone who looked like Doua's crew. This was exactly one of the scenarios I'd run in my head the night before.

And in my head, it had always ended in disaster.

Stupid stupid stupid! Why hadn't we just snuck in during the night and taken a ship, while nobody was watching? In retrospect, that risky plan now seemed the safer one.

Marco looked at Ax. Ax looked at Marco. But we all knew there was no way out of this one. No way to explain how we didn't know the names of two mechanics who clearly knew us.

Before they could do anything, I lunged at them, pumping my wings to lift me up so that I could bring my talons to bear, and yelled, "Attack!"