I was just starting to notice a numbness creeping slowly through my human parts when someone finally took the phone handset from me to speak to Alice. I nodded thanks, immediately reversing my partial-morph back to full-Andalite as per Alice's suggestion.
It hadn't actually been Reece who'd taken the phone from me, but that wasn't really a necessity. I regained thought-speak ability as my morph re-completed and I felt the now-familiar presence of Andalite intellect and instinct join my own human mind.
<Thanks, Torrence.> I said, indicating the phone in her hand. Looking around with my newly-reborn stalk-eyes I noticed we were now a few people short and I reasoned that they'd probably all gone after Jas. <Yeah... I guess without the stalk-eyes it was a little more tricky for me to notice that.> I replied, looking at the doorway just as two familiar-looking fillies entered my field of vision through that aperture.
<Looks like the reinforcements have arrived!> I beamed, to no-one in particular. <Hiya Kasey! Hi Autumn!> I called out in semiprivate thought-speak to them, allowing those outside and Torrence stood next to me to overhear. I accompanied my greeting with an enthusiastic waving of my hand and swishing of tail. - Thankfully I managed not to slice any furniture with its blade.
The next voice I'd heard over the phone hadn't been Reece, but I wasn't disappointed to hear Torrence's sensible tones.
"Heh, well it's a bit of a tall tale, so if you don't mind, I'll save the recital 'til we're all safe? - How's Eddie, still in mid-morph?" I asked back, hoping for good news on that front while avoiding her question. Anyway, there wasn't time to go into details about something trivial when Damien's survival was at stake.
Speaking of Damien, he was just regaining a bit of himself from the monkey-brain that had apparently taken over while we swung through the trees.
"Not a bad idea, Damo, but..." I shuddered slightly, as if trying to hide it. "The Yeerks will likely fire upon anything attempting to fly out of the perimeter. Also, I... Kinda... Got this thing about heights..." I finished rapidly, almost under my breath. I gave him a brief, sheepish grin to complete the deception more convincingly. "Morph bird if you like, it might enable you to move faster and perhaps give you an opportunity to 'GTFO' later." I winked, repeating his little acronym back to him. "Besides, if I went bird, how would I carry this computer of yours? A bird carrying a computer, or even my backpack, kinda looks slightly out of place in a 'getting blown into a cloud of singed feathers by a red beam of energy' kinda way. Don't worry about me though, I can look after myself - It's easier for me if I'm only trying to get myself to safety rather than worrying about both of us. If you see an opportunity, take it. I'll be fine. I'll even cover your escape if I can with a distraction or whatever."
I turned my attention back to my cellphone:
"Torrence, I have a locator-beacon courtesy of my Chee friends. If you wish to attempt a rescue, ask them for a beacon-scanner set to my frequency. The Yeerks shouldn't be able to trace Chee transmissions, but just in case: I'm gonna wait a while before activating my beacon. Damien and I are near the takeoff site right now and heading back toward Kasey's neighbourhood. That should give any rescue-team a good idea where to head for, even without my beacon to guide them. Okay?" I listened for her reply while creeping silently through the treetops with Damien away from the Controllers we'd found.
