Book of Varaine:
Part 13, "Jouney to the City Beneath"
Authors note: Becuase of the vacation I have, This part will be extra long.Also, I'm going to translate that Galard that the Animorphs speak.
--That sunny dome, those caves of ice, and all who heard should see him there, and all should cry, "beware! Beware!" His flashing eyes, his floating hair, weave a circle round him thrice and close your eyes with holy dread. For he on honeydew hath fed, and drunk the milk of paradise.--
--Samual Taylor Courage, Datalinks
--Sid Meier's Alpha Centari
Chapter 24
(Jake)
The swirling column of water stopped in mid air looking at us like a snake about to strike. Then it blew forrward, picking us up in it's force. It felt like we were being hit by a dozen water hoses. We were pushed forward and then down into the dark depths of the protective layer. As the others and I were swept through the almost totally opaque water, I felt the water envelope me. It had an almost gel like quality, very similar to that of the Protective layer. But the real surprise came next. I could breathe! Somehow, there was air in that bubble of slime! I tried to breathe slowly so as not to use up all the oxygen for us, but with six people in it, we'd be dead in no time. But after about five minutes, we should have been out of air. And yet, we were all still breathing fine. As we passed through the protective barrier, the water changed from murky solid to so totally clear. I mean, it was quite possibally clearer than Leera's water. And It was bright. So bright! There was a light radiating from some source other than the artificial sun, because it was almost nighttime. But then when I looked around, I realised something was missing. Revne! Our guide was gone.
"Hey, where's Revne?" Cassie asked. She must have been thinking the same thing I was.
"I don't know. He wouldn't just leave us, would he?" Tobias said unsurely. I pressed lightly up against the goo to look for him, but I saw nothing.
"Revne!" I called out into the water in Galard. Of course, he wouldn't be able to hear that through water.
((Yes?)) I heared him call back, and nearly jumped right out of the bubble in surprise. How did he hear me?
"Where are you?" Rachel called, also in Galard. Somehow, the water managed to carry her voice, because Revne again answered.
((I'm inside the transport fluid I have provided. You see, my race is capable of manipulating water very easily. That is how I created this fluid. And the form of me you saw on the surface was also a manipulation of water. My true form is the nucleas you saw in my surface form.))
"So that's how he saved us from the protective layer," Marco said.
"That must be useful," I said. I was about to say something else, when I heared a moan go through the bubble. It was Revne.
"Revne, what happened?" Cassie cried.
((Uhhhhggg..... I am still a young one. It takes a great deal of strength to hold a water manipulation for long periods of time.))
"How far are we to your city?" I asked slightly franticly.
((Much too far. I'm afraid this bubble may colapse before we arrive. As will I. I underestimated the your body masses. I thought I could bring you all the way down. And now....ahhh!)) the bubble shook noticably.
"Can we morph? Could we make it to the city in two hours?" Cassie asked. I asked Revne.
((Do these forms of yours require oxygen of any sort?)) He sruggled to get the question out.
"Yes. All of our water morphs need some form of oxygen. Some can take it directly from the water, and others need to fill up on air," Rachel answered. I felt the bubble shake again, this time a bit stronger.
((That won't do. The water on this world has a low oxygen count. 97% of all our native life is water based, so don't need oxygen. As for the city, it is still very far down. Only a few of our animals can make it down there swiftly.))
"Perfect! Just perfect. We might as well be stranded out in space with no ship. It'd be quicker," Marco said, getting very annoyed. I sat in the bubble, massaging my forehead, trying to think up a solution. I looked up and saw a school of creatures looking amazingly similar to stingrays shoot by. They looked like they could make it down about a 10 miles in less than 2 hours. Then it hit me about a second after they shot by.
"Revne, how close can you get us to those creatures?"
Chapter 25
(Crayak)
I floated above the surface of the water planet known as Urerintea to it's inhabitants. I witnessed their artificial sun setting. Not that I cared for such things.
No, a sun would be unnecessary for the task that the planet was ment to preform for me. I looked down and easily saw the Animorphs trapped under the ocean. I laughed to myself. Ellimist made a mistake by sending them there just to die. Ellimist. Just the thought of him made me laugh out. The next instant I was inside the ship Ellimist had made. He immediately turned around and steped back at my apearance. No, not my apearance. At the power that I had gained from control of the first planet. I saw his withered old eyes widen. I laughed again at his feeble state.
"You...you," he said with hatred in his voice,"that power, that is the power you harnessed from the continuum and the planet. How many lives did you take in the process."
"All of them. You are a fool, Ellimist. You thought that you 'super soldiers' could stop me? Surely you are aware of their possition."
"They will escape somehow. Even with my limited power, I know it." he said.
"You are an optomistic fool, Ellimist. But I will humor you. I wil remain in this ship and we shall observe your Animorphs. I will enjoy watching them fail."
"Humans have an expression saying,'don't count your chickens before they hatch'. It means not to overestimate your chances." he said. I laughed.
"Humans are fools Ellimist. The Animorphs will fail. And you are know it."
"We shall see. Time will prove you mistaken," Ellimist said.
Chapter 26
(Rachel)
We all prepared to morph. Revne had managed to catch one of the speedy stingrays in his bubble. He said they were called Nnuljis. He also said that after we morphed, he would dissolve the bubble, but that we'd have to hurry. I was curious about how this one would work. I've morphed a lot of carbon based forms, and a couple silicon based ones, but this was my first water based creature. So as I began to morph, I was a bit anxious. And of course, as luck would have it, the water came first. I suddenly felt my whole body simply fall apart. My skin felt like it was sliding around my body. My bones seemed to vibrate without moving. All my internal organs felt like they were made of liquid. Which they basically were. Then my legs dissapeared. At a surprising speed. I guess my water body speed up the elimination of body parts. My arms flattend and widen out. Then I started shrinking, which of couse felt more like falling. My head kind of also flattend and then joined up with the rest of my body. Two huge spear like antenea shot forward out from under my head, and a third blasted out from behind as a tail. Then came a real shock. My lungs, heart, and pretty much all organs stopped working. And my brain was absorbed into my whole body, slightly darkening my transparent body. The last thing to change was my face. My mouth closed up, than opened up widly like mandables. And these fangs had a very strange organ gland behind them which, as I later learned, was used to spread nureshment through the wole body. My nose vanished and my eyes changed dramatically. They didn't just see like us, or in infared like some other creatures, but they accualy saw chemical traces in the water! It was amazing. I saw a bundle of add traces in the bubble alone. I looked around, and saw the others finishing up their morphs. And I saw strange chemicals in their bodies as well. Then I finished the morph when my hearing simpling vanished. A few seconds later, the bubble I was in popped, and water rushed in to greet me. It was very refreshing.
Are you alright Revne? Cassie asked.
((Yes....just a bit tired. But I can make it to the city.))
All right then, lets see how fast these guys can go, I said.
Ahead, warp factor 9. Engage. Marco said and laughed a little.
As it turns out, those things were mighty fast.
