The Newcomer: A Lost World #1
By
Anigirl
[A/N: THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! Bless your heart. Yes, I know, I have to go spoiling everything with a weird comment. But that's 'cuz I'm hyper and insane. Please review it! And, PLEASE e-mail me at Anigirl@columnist.com and check out my webpage at www.angelfire.com/ca4/anigirlanimorphs/ Thanx!]
Generations come and
Generations go,
But the earth remains
Forever.
The sun rises and the sun
Sets,
And hurries back to where it
Rises.
The wind blows to the south
And turns to the north;
Round and round it goes,
Ever returning on its
Course.
All things are wearisome,
More than one can say.
The eye never has enough of
Seeing,
Nor the ear its fill
of hearing
There is no remembrance of
Men of old,
And even those who are yet
to come
will not be remembered
by those who follow.
--Ecclesiastes 1:4-1:8, 1:11
Chapter 1
Aurelia
I had to run. To hide. My planet and people have been destroyed and I have no place to go. My twin and I have escaped. Only us.
you must run . . .
{I know! I know! But where do I go?}
you must find the Animorphs . . .
{But where are they?}
you will find them . . .
{How?}
you must trust me . . . I will bring you there . . .
"Where do we go?" cried Aolani.
"I don't know," I cried, frustrated, "but She said to trust Her."
"So we keep running?"
"I don't know!"
I ducked as something flew over my head.
"We need Your help!"
you must trust me . . .
I looked at Aolani. She shrugged and stopped running
As much as I had begged for Her help, I wasn't so trusting. Hesitating, I slowly stopped running. The Hork-Bajir were getting closer and closer.
The mist swirled. I felt my molecules breaking up, as I disappeared.
After I fully materialized, I looked around. "Where are we?" I wondered.
"This looks like our planet before the Yeerks came, except the sky was more silver and it was hazier."
"Yeah. But where-do you suppose we're on . . ." I barely said the name for fear it wouldn't be true.
"Earth?" Aolani's black eyes went wide. "Do you really think so?"
See, Earth is 'related' to our planet. A long time ago, the meteorite that knocked over Uranus also knocked part of Earth off, which went flying into a different planet in a different galaxy.
After it hit the planet, it sort of clung on. So gradually it 'melted' into the other plant. We come from there. But we are both humans with slight differences.
We depended on the Stones. If one person's Stone is destroyed, they will die. Our planet spoke to us. It did. But now it is dead. Our planet was life. The planet lived. Like a person, yet different. Each person had a 'partner.' A companion, a best friend. My partner was Aolani, of course.
"Now we just have to find the Animorphs."
"Like that's going to be easy? Gimme a break."
"I'll find them." Aolani's talent was location.
"We're near them."
"Huh?" I had been trying to picture them.
"Just keep on walking. We'll find them eventually."
I heard voices. "I think we already did."
Chapter Two
Jake
We had an easy day off. No mission. Tomorrow Erek would get to us, though.
"Let's go watch a movie," Cassie suggested.
"Let's go shopping."
"Rachel! We have to put up with you in fights . . . PUH-leese don't ask us to put up with you at the mall!"
Ax's tail suddenly rose.
"What's wrong Ax?"
{Listen. There is a noise.}
He was right. There was a rustling of some sort. I heard whispers.
Two girls walked into the barn. They looked strikingly similar and were wearing normal everyday clothes. I would've mistaken them for humans, but there was something about them that distinguished them from the rest. They were probably twins, I decided.
Their eyes were jet black as if they had no irises with long black lashes with shadows that danced on their cheeks, and their black slightly curled hair glowed red in the sunlight. They had a smooth white complexion, but not so white that you might think they were vampires or something, with red full lips. They also had a scar on their foreheads, but one of them had a smaller one. They were, in fact, exceedingly pulchritudinous. More than Rachel, even, and there was a glow around them. One of them smiled at us. She had straight white teeth.
"Hello," the other said. "My name is Aolani. This is Aurelia. Are you the Animorphs?"
Chapter Three
Cassie
Automatically, we all looked at Jake.
"Who are you?" Marco asked, eyes narrowed.
"I already told you," the one called Aolani said, "I'm Aolani and she's Aurelia. You can call her Aura, and you can call me Ann. Are you the Animorphs or not?"
Marco glanced at Jake. "Should we?"
Jake crossed his arms. "First explain who you really are, not your names."
"Oh, so shrewd, aren't we? Well, I suppose that's supposed to be good." I saw the one called Aurelia shoot a startled glance at Aolani. "We're from a different planet. A 'sister' planet, I suppose you could call it."
Ax stared at her. {You are of the living planet?}
"Wait, wait, wait, guys, could someone tell me what you mean by 'living planet?'"
"You don't know? Well, then again, your planet isn't living. We-"
"Our planet is to living! There are those little microscopic organism things in the dirt, you know in the plant fertilizer? And there are these little white dots?"
"Oh, Marco, you are completely clueless," said Rachel, "forgive me Aura, but he's just one of the few completely clueless idiots here on Earth. Anyway, welcome to Earth. Could you please explain what you mean by 'sister' planets better?"
I noticed the 'twins' took to her easily. Especially Aura.
"Well," she began, "you know, like how Japan-was it?-is your sister city?"
"Ah, yes. But Earth doesn't know you. That can hardly be called 'sister.'"
"I suppose so," Aura said sadly, "and now Earth never will."
"Why not?"
"Our planet, our people, have been destroyed."
"By who?"
"They have been destroyed," she said simply, "by the Yeerks."
Chapter Four
Rachel
The twins were nice. So far. I liked Aura more, for some reason. Ann, well, there was something so serious about her that wasn't so nice.
"They have been destroyed," Aura said, "by the Yeerks."
"The Yeerks? How did they get there?"
"We knew about them, even when they had done a silent invasion. But our army was fighting somewhere else. Far away. We could not reach them. We had no defense. They did not infest us. They did not take one host except for the One. They weakened us, not by infestation, but by number. When we were too weak, they destroyed us.
"We would not have gotten away without Her help. With Her dying breath, She transmitted us here because we were Her only surviving children."
"Who is 'Her?'"
"Our planet, of course."
"Ah. What happened to your planet, exactly?"
"They have destroyed the Living source. So now the planet will die and the rest will become simple meteorites."
I wondered what it was like to have your planet "die." But then again, judging from what she had said, our planet wasn't exactly "alive" either so I wouldn't know.
"How come they didn't infest you?"
"Every one of Her children have a talent. One and only one. We also have the power to repel things, but not very big things. We could easily repel the Yeerks away from us.
"Eventually they got tired of it and set upon destroying us. Eva, that was her name, I think, commanded them. It was she who personally saw to and succeeded in the one and only infestation."
The blood drained from Marco's face.
"What?" asked Ann.
"Eva . . . her . . . she . . . she's still alive, right?"
"Yes, although she shouldn't be. Why do you ask?" Aolani inquired.
"Eva . . . she's my mother."
Chapter Five
Aolani
"EVA? That stinking, foul, smelly-" I rambled through all the profanity I knew, "-bastard of a Yeerk was your mother?!"
"HEY! Don't diss my mom. That was the YEERK, you know."
"Makes no difference. I mean-"
Aurelia patted me softly on the hand. "It's okay, Ann, calm down."
Did I mention, that even though we're identical, me and Aura are very different? She's the peacemaker, the soft, sweet, and gentle one, while I am the one who always gets into fights, has a temper, sharp tongue, and is rude and obnoxious. Hey, I'm just quoting what one girl said about me.
"Sorry, no offense," said Aura, trying to smooth things down, "Ann is just a little quick sometimes. You just have to understand, after what they did to our planet . . ." She let it hang.
Our eyes met. You know, how they say twins have a connection to each other? Well, I guess that's what happens between me and Aura. We have a connection.
She understood why I was mad at Eva. I knew it was the Yeerk, not Eva herself, but I was still mad. Very mad.
I could see that Rachel liked Aura. Everyone does. Or did. You could just tell, from her name, Aurelia. Aura. It just sounds SO nice, like honey or whatever they say. My name, Aolani, is just plain weird. I'm a freak. Like my name. Ann is so plain, too. Aura always was the fav of our parents anyway. But I'm used to being second.
"Well," said Marco, with an uncertain glance at me, "shall we watch a movie? Go to the Gardens? NOT go to the mall?"
"Let's vote," said Jake.
"I think we should see a movie," I said.
"AT LAST! SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOOD ENTERTAINMENT!" cried Marco.
"Why?"
Aurelia did the talking, since we both knew that I couldn't possibly control my temper right now, even if it was a little thing like a movie.
"We'd like to see what your kind does."
"Oh, so it's our kind now? Aren't we sisters are something?" said Marco sarcastically.
"No, we just want to see the difference."
"Let's just go to the movie," said Jake, "I don't want to spend the rest of the time bickering about what we're going to do. Besides, we'll probably fight over which movie, too."
Chapter Six
Tobias
And fight we did. First, we had to find a movie that was less then one hour and fifty minutes. That was pretty easy, since there were a lot of movies one and a half hours, but then we had to decide again. We bickered and finally decided on Drive Me Crazy. Then, when Marco wanted to buy snacks, we didn't have enough money.
"Oh come on, guys, a movie has to have at least popcorn and a drink for everyone!"
"We can get small drinks, but we can't get an X-Large popcorn which we have to get in order to feed six-" there was a pause "eight people. Especially with Ax! Plus you can get refills for it so that should take care of the problem."
"But we don't have enough money! How could we be such idiots and not bring any money?"
"This comes from Mr. Marco who says he forgot all his money at home," mused Rachel, "on a day when he knows we'll be out and we're only missing a dollar! What a pity . . ."
"I forgot it, Rachel. Is that reasonable enough for you?"
I glanced at the twins. They were watching Marco and Rachel coldly, faintly amused, as if they were observing a group of animals 'fighting it out.' Aurelia had a distorted look on her face of pity and amusement, but Aolani had a look of utter coldness and distaste.
I wasn't so sure I liked them anymore.
We finally decided on a Large popcorn with a special cup for Ax, so he wouldn't eat the whole thing. We advised him to go slowly as to make it last, but it was gone in the first two minutes. Aurelia gave him her share.
I was starting to get the feeling that Aurelia was nicer than Aolani. Much nicer.
After the movie was done, and we were walking to a safe space to demorph, I asked, "So what happened on your planet?"
I don't remembered what happened nest. All I remember her saying, "It's none of your business, Chicken-Legs," and being slammed into the wall. By Aolani, of course.
I had the feeling she had a lot of experience.
To my surprise, Rachel didn't say anything. When Aolani was finished calling me names, she asked coldly, "What did you do that for?"
"Because, Chicken-Legs right there, that boy, has just insulted my planet, my kind, and my people!"
"Um, isn't kind and people the same thing?" asked Marco meekly.
If looks could kill, then Ann's would've. Marco got the message and backed off immediately. Aurelia was laughing softly and quietly.
Her laughter started us off. A chain reaction. We must have looked funny then, a group of kids, laughing, leaning on walls or poles for support. In Marco's case, on the floor.
When we finally stopped laughing, Marco said, "That's not fair! You start laughing when Aura starts laughing, but you don't laugh at me! It's unfair!"
"Maybe, Marco, it's because she's funnier than you?"
"That's impossible! I am the best! I am the best!" chanted Marco.
"Oh shut up, Marco, you're beginning to annoy me. Please say something worthwhile. PLEASE. Or I may have to crush your jaw."
"Nothing I ever say is worthwhile. So you have to live with it."
Chapter Seven
Aolani
Aura and I were struck with a dilemma; where would we live? Marco offered to take us to his house because his father was on a business trip. After a few uncertain glances, we accepted.
Aura and I would sleep on an air mattress. We insisted on it, because our own beds at home were air, in a way, too. I was slightly uncomfortable with sleeping on any bed, but I had to make do.
I realized I couldn't sleep. Then I got up to go to the kitchen, wondering what they had in the refrigerator. To my surprise, I found Marco there.
"So, welcome to planet Earth."
I nodded in return.
"That was pretty awesome what you did to Tobias there. I know I shouldn't say that if I still want to be alive tomorrow, which I do, but I mean really. You were awesome. No offense to bird-boy, though."
"Thanks." I wasn't sure now if I wanted to bash his head in or take that as a compliment.
"Please don't get mad at me, but what really did happen on your planet?"
I sighed. I might as well as tell the whole group together, but somehow I found myself talking and Marco listening attentively.
"Well, we knew the Yeerks were here ten years ago, when Aura and I were still very young. We knew it, but they didn't know we did. They started up a restaurant called The Ray, but it didn't work. But here is were we failed. They secretly set up another one, and when they put up a closed sign, we thought they had given up. Fools as we were, we kept on going to the new restaurant. Eva was the supervisor. She oversaw the first infestation. It was she who plunged the Yeerk into Lilac's head. It is Lilac only who stands as a controller today.
"Lilac was well liked. In fact, she was our best friend. She tricked the poor souls who still didn't know into coming, but luckily they were able to escape. Meanwhile, our army was fighting in a different part of the galaxy. They were too far away, even by zero-space. "The Yeerks played on our pride, killing one by one, by stature of importance. We were defenseless and they knew it. And they massacred us by destroying the altar."
"The altar?" asked Marco.
"Once in a while the people give their Stones to the Altar to polish and restore strength. Only a few rich people did that. But the Yeerks chose to massacre us before a holiday, when everyone had their Stones polished.
"They stormed in, killed the Altar members, and grabbed all the Stones. Then, they put them in a machine that crushed them all. At that moment, 7,800 people died."
"Talk about a massacre."
"Yeah."
We sat in silence. I got up and made myself a PB&J.
"So?" Marco prompted.
"So what?"
"What happened after that?"
"The Yeerks went open. They . . . set up a bomb, burned a deep hole in the planet, and dropped it in. It was deep enough to harm Her. All this they got out of Lilac, of course.
"When we realized that She was harmed, it was too late. The Yeerks came after us just as She was weakening. We were killed by the hundreds every second. Only Lilac and I escaped. Of our parents . . . I think they were killed. Or they have been transported to somewhere else."
"You guys had it rough."
"Yeah."
"Do you think that'll happen to us, too, later?"
"No . . . for one thing, your army could never be far away, no offense, but you haven't accomplished space travel or anything. Plus, you don't have Stones or anything so to kill you, you would have to do it directly . . . and it doesn't matter if your planet dies or not, because it doesn't live."
"No, you're wrong. I think, in a way, it does live."
I looked into his soft brown eyes, and in a split second, we kissed.
Chapter Eight
Aurelia
I woke up without Ann by my side. Where was she? I wondered.
I padded out into the kitchen, where I found her and Marco talking.
"Uh, hi guys," I said uncertainly, "I woke up without you. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Ann said, and she blushed.
"Um, Aolani, are you SURE you're okay?" Ann usually did NOT blush, and there was something wrong with her expression. I don't mean wrong as in not right, I mean as in different.
"I think I'll be getting back to sleep now," Ann said. "Oookay," I said.
I lay back down on the mattress. "What's with Marco?" I asked.
She turned to me, eyes shining. "Aura, do you remember Zenith?"
"How could I forget? I had the biggest crush on him out of everyone in the fourth level."
"So you say. But I-"
"Is this about Marco?"
"Yes."
I smiled understandingly, shook my finger at her and went back to sleep.
The next day when I woke up Ann was gone, so I got up. I checked Marco's room, but he was gone too. So I figured they were out supposedly "talking" together again.
I went into the kitchen, fixed myself a piece of toast with butter, and turned on the TV. I sat watching for about ten minutes when they both came in, breathless.
I put my hands on my hips and said with mock seriousness, "Where have you been?"
"Out walking."
"I just knew it." They smiled at each other as if keeping a secret and left.
Chapter Nine
Jake
The next day at school, the twins stayed with Rachel and Cassie as special guests. I noticed Marco was acting different. I asked him why.
"Oh, nothin'," he said.
"You sure?"
"100% sure," he said.
"Okay, whatever." But I kept an eye on him for the rest of the time.
After Science was lunch. Marco wanted to sit with Cassie, the twins, and Rachel.
"Marco! What do you think you're doing? We can't sit with them!"
"Why not?"
"Remember? We can't let them know we're a group or else they'll become suspicious! Especially since this week it's his duty to oversee the lunch room!"
"Jake, you're such a worrywart. Why would they pay attention to us?" But we didn't sit together anyway.
We met at the barn.
"So how was our school?" I asked.
"It was cool," said Aolani and Aurelia together.
"How do you do that twin thing?" asked Marco. "You know, when you talk at the exact same time."
"It's easy. You just go like this."
"See?" they both said at the exact same time. We doubled over in laughter.
A few minutes later Erek appeared. And not looking to happy about it, either.
"'Sup?" I asked Erek.
He gave me a grim smile. "They're going to bomb a planet."
Chapter Nine
Cassie
"THEY'RE GOING TO BOMB A WHAT?" said Aolani.
"A planet," he said.
"So how do we save a planet?" asked Jake.
Erek eyes us critically. "I have located a Pemalite ship. It is only a matter for you to find it and then fly it to the planet."
"So what exactly is this planet?"
"The living planet, order of Hdahfm, class Jdhaga."
"They already bombed it," said Aolani in a harsh voice.
"How do you know?"
"My sister and I," she indicated Aurelia, "are of the living planet."
Chapter Ten
Marco
Erek was both shocked and stunned. For a moment.
"They already bombed it? No, wait, they didn't bomb the whole thing. Only half of the planet is destroyed. The Yeerks are thinking of destroying the other half. But to do so would take an immense amount of energy. Immense. They already bombed one half, which took up a lot of energy already. So if you can convince them not to bomb the other half, then . . ." his voice trailed off.
I saw the twins' face light up. "Half the planet is still there? And people, too?" exclaimed Ann.
"Yup."
"Is it possible," said Aura, drawing a deep breath, "that we might go home, too?"
"Yes."
"OH MY GOD!" she cried. She and Ann started to hug each other and jump up and down.
I didn't want them to go. As brief as I had known them, I- I shook my head. I just didn't want them to go. Nothing else.
"But if they blow up the whole planet, then they'll be weakened and we can destroy them easily," I pointed out. I was trying to make them, or rather her, stay.
Rachel nodded. "For once, Marco actually has a point." She shot a helpless glance at Aura. As much as Rachel liked Aura, she disliked Yeerks even more.
Jake sighed. "Any other suggestions?"
"This isn't a suggestion," said Cassie, "but I just wanted to make a point. Isn't this just our planet or theirs? Simplifying this whole damn business?"
Jake nodded. "Cassie's right. It's either save their planet and have the Yeerks wreck havoc on ours, or have their planet destroyed and increasing our statistics of winning greatly."
"Oh, god, Jake, have you been listening to the stock market lately?"
Jake rolled his eyes. "Can't help it," he said, "my dad insists on listening to it 24 hours a day ever since he caught the sickness."
I smiled. But I still didn't want Ann to go. I didn't love her . . . I just-I didn't know. I was so confused.
Luckily, Jake said, "Let's sleep on it. Tomorrow we decide."
The twins were still sleeping at my house. Dad had called to say that he had met my math teacher up there and was staying for another week. Renting a room, I suppose.
I told the twins to go ahead and went back to the barn. Cassie was still there, bandaging a duck's wing.
"Hi, Marco," she smiled.
"Hi, Cassie, I-"
"You wanted to talk to me about Aolani?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
She just smiled and said, "Talk to me."
So I told her about that night. About . . . what happened. And how I didn't want Ann to leave. Why I really made that suggestion.
She nodded. "It's nice you tried talking, for a change, Marco. Did you tell Aolani about it?"
"No."
"Well, if you try telling her, maybe she won't go. Or maybe you could . . ." Cassie shook her head. "Not yet. Why don't you just tell her?"
"Um, okay. You sure?"
"Positive. Get back to me tomorrow."
"You mean I tell her TODAY? No way, that's impossible."
"If you don't tell her today, then she may be gone tomorrow, or it'll be too late."
I sighed. "Oh, fine, whatever. But if she kills me, you're to blame."
She just smiled.
When I arrived home, everyone was asleep. I looked into the twins' room. They were sleeping soundly. I didn't want to wake Ann up, so instead, I kissed her cheek and went to bed.
Chapter Eleven
Aurelia
Aolani was asleep. How could she possibly be asleep? Wasn't she excited by--but then again, Ann had always been picky about little things then big things. That's why she got into fights so often. Because someone or something had offended her.
I tried counting sheep and finally fell asleep.
When I woke up in the morning, Ann was still asleep. I woke her up.
"What?" she said sleepily.
"Today we get to go home," I reminded her.
"Oh, yeah, huh. So what?"
"So . . . you have to get up!"
"Oh, fine." She said. Ten minutes later, we were at Cassie's. Erek was there.
"Our ship is at the Marina Trench," he said. "You should morph whatever creature is able to go there. There will be a black spot, which is actually a hole, on the side. Go in and morph out immediately, since there will be no water."
"Okay. Got it."
"Ask Ax to fly it. He'll know where." He looked at Ax, who had backed away into the door.
{Yes.}
"Okay," said Rachel, "let's do it!"
"We're doomed . . ."
Ann and I couldn't morph yet, so they brought out the Escafil Device. After a mini-electric shock, we acquired some morphs at The Gardens.
We both acquired a panther, a killer whale, and a boa constrictor. My specialty morph would be the panther, however, and Ann's a boa. But then again, we had figured out something they did not know yet. Ann, who had always been the brighter one, figured out a way so we could morph from one morph to another. This had to do with something very complicated with our talents. The others probably couldn't do it, because they didn't have "talents" like us, if you know what I mean.
Aolani already had a trick in her head. We would morph each other and then morph into the battle morphs, tricking the others. Of course, Cassie had already told us why we couldn't morph a human without their permission, but we had each other's permission. Supposedly.
When we acquired some bug morphs and were eating lunch, Aolani and I found an excuse to go outside. We morphed each other, which wasn't very difficult, since we look alike except I have a smaller scar on my forehead. To our surprise, we had a leotard on.
"Oh well," said Aolani, "just switch outer clothing and let's go."
When we came back in, they barely noticed us. I was about to head back to my seat when Ann nudged me and I remembered I was her and she was me. Confusing? I should say so.
At the beach, there happened to be a whale stuck. Tons of people were washing it with water to make sure it lived. Ann and I pretended we were helping and acquired the whale.
"Where were you?" demanded Jake.
"At that beached whale," I said, trying my best to imitate Ann, "like that would be any of your business?"
He stared at us, shocked, for a moment, then turned, and left.
"I guess he isn't used to people standing up to him," I said. "He seems like a pretty nice guy, though."
"For a 500 year-old," Ann said, giggling. We followed his footprints to where the Animorphs were. Rachel was glaring at me, not Ann. I remembered I was in Ann's body.
"Well?" Ann prompted. "Are we going to do this or what?"
"Let's morph in the water," said Jake. "Come on."
"Okay." I splashed into the water after the others. I took a deep breath and swam to a deep part and morphed the whale with Aolani by my side.
{Hello?} I asked. I looked around. There was another humpback whale near me.
{Hey, Aura, long time no see,} it said, {in fact, I haven't seen you at all.}
{Oh, shut up,} I said, swimming to the top, spouting.
We swam down again, near a group of squids. {HEY! ANDALITE BANDITS!} I called and we darted away.
They spun around, if that's possible on a squid. Well, actually they did some sort of complicated wiggle and ended up tangling their tentacles.
{Get off me, Marco!}
{What? Hey, no, get off me!}
{Jake, get off my head!}
{I believe, Prince Jake, that this is very confusing.}
We laughed privately. They looked so funny, especially when Marco accidentally squirted ink in Rachel's face. Rachel squirted back and soon they were a black spot in the ocean. We couldn't keep our laughter private anymore.
{Did you hear that?}
{Hear what?}
{People laughing.}
{No. No, wait, yeah.}
{Hi guys,} I said.
{Ann!}
{Aolani!}
{Ann!}
{Aolani!}
{Ann!}
{Aolani}
We giggled.
{Hi, guys,} Ann said.
{Aurelia!}
{Aurelia!}
{Aura!}
{Aurelia!}
{Aurelia!}
{Aura}
{Is it just me, or do I see a pattern over here?} I asked, looking at Ann, which was sort of difficult when you're a whale.
{We were worried about you,} said Jake.
{We were watching,} I said, trying my best to pretend to be Aolani. {We saw . . . we saw the ink accident.}
Ann and I burst into giggles.
{That wasn't funny,} said Jake, {let's just get down to that ship. This is your planet we're talking about, you know.}
{And we could just as easily do it ourselves,} I snapped back.
{Good job,} said Ann privately.
Ann closed her eyes and tried to locate the ship. {Let's go this way,} she said to me.
{Let's go this way,} I repeated. She followed me down and whispered directions to where I should go.
We soon came in view of the Pemalite ship. {Good job, Ann,} said Marco. I looked at the hole on the side. True, it looked like a simple black dot, but it didn't seem big enough for us to fit in.
{Oh well,} I said. {Let's just try it.} I dived in, and the whole swelled to accommodate me. The next second, I felt myself gasping for water.
{Demorph!} came Ann's worried voice behind me. She had successfully demorphed. I struggled and barely made it.
{Wow, that was close,} I said in thought-speak, since I was still in a different morph.
{Yeah,} Aolani agreed.
One squid came in. Then another. And another. Three more.
The first to demorph was Cassie. She encouraged the others and they also barely made it. I figured she had a talent for morphing.
I looked around the ship. It was very complicated.
"Wow," I said, "the Pemalites must have been very advanced. Like us."
{Yes,} said Ax. {They were.}
I explored the ship. Some controls I recognized. Others, I didn't. Which was most.
Ax looked at them, running his fingers over the flashing buttons. {I believe I can maneuver this,} he said, {although this may be difficult.}
"You fly," I said, "you know for sure where it is."
{Yes. You teach the others how to work the controls you know and I will teach you the ones you do not know.}
"Okay," I agreed. Ann stood next to me. We listened carefully as Ax gave us a quick and brief lecture on each button. After like an hour, he stopped.
"That was long," Ann said.
"Go figure," I replied, and turned to teach the others.
{Go figure?}
"Oh, never mind." Ax started to power the engines.
{I am afraid, Prince Jake, that we must go through the planet's core.}
Chapter Twelve
Aolani
I cocked my eyebrow. "Okay. Be right back." I was anxious to get back into my own body. Being Aurelia was fun, but I had had to restrain myself many times.
{Let's morph out!} I hissed.
{Okay, okay, sure,} came her answer.
"We'll be right back," called Aurelia as I pulled her by the arm out of the view of the others. We quickly demorphed and switched clothing, leaving the leotard on.
"What was that all about?" asked Marco, who was walking up to me.
"Nothing," I snapped, and turned swiftly to the place I was supposed to control. Aurelia had a hard job. She was supposed to make sure the oxygen was balanced, the propellers adjusted to the velocity of the ocean, etc. But then again, she was patient and I wasn't.
Suddenly there was a flash of light. Ax said calmly, {We are entering the planet's core.} I was the only one standing. Aura was half standing up, leaning on the buttons, because if she ignored her job we would all die. The light had subdued the others. Or did it?
I shook Marco. "Get up." Nothing happened. "GET UP!" Still nothing.
I turned to Ax. "Ax? I think they're frozen."
He knelt down beside Jake. {There was something about the light that froze them. How did you withstand it?}
Aura glanced nervously at me. Ax waited for a moment, then continued. {They will stay like this for approximately and hour. Please take over their controls as best as you can.}
"Yeah, sure. Like how are we supposed to take over the entire ship at once? Aura can't afford to do that . . . her job is way too important. And I can't possibly do the whole ship either."
Aura was staring fixedly at the screen, barely blinking.
"See? See how concentrated she is? See?"
I didn't know what I was yelling at Ax for, but I do know I was mad at him for expecting us to take over the whole ship.
{You must do the best you can.}
"We're not you almighty Andalites! We have only two hands and five fingers, not seven or eight or whatever it is you have! If you think we can do it, than you're wrong. I don't know if I want to go home with you piloting the ship." I was pointing at him in rage.
Not taking her eyes away from the screen, Aura said, "Calm down, Aolani."
Ax was staring at me.
I turned back to what I was doing, muttering about arrogant Andalites. Inside me a voice was telling me that I had just made a fool of myself in front of Ax, but I ignored it. I could still feel Ax's gaze on me. Then he looked away and returned to piloting the ship. I noticed he was doing the others' job now. Good for him, I thought.
Journeying through the core was pretty exciting. There was hot magma and metal repelled an inch away from the windows, therefore safe to watch. I thought three hours must have passed when Rachel stirred. Slowly, ever so slowly, one by one, they regained consciousness.
"Whoa, what happened?"
"Why am I lying on the floor?"
"Why am I here?"
"What's my name?"
"Who are you?"
I looked at Aurelia. "Uh-oh," I said. "Do they even remember their names? Marco?"
Marco looked at me. "I think I'm called Marco. Am I right?"
"Um, do you remember why you're here?"
"Um, to go to your world?."
"What else do you remember?"
"The last thing I remember is a flash of light."
I breathed a sigh of relief. "Aura, they haven't lost their memory."
"That's good."
"Go back to your station, Marco."
"Okay."
He walked off, looking dazed.
I went back to my place. The other Animorphs had already gone to where they were supposed to be while I was questioning Marco. So far, so good.
{We are nearing your planet,} reported Ax.
I dashed to the window. I could see half of our planet. As we neared, I could feel an aching pain in my chest for Her. She looked awful. Her rotation wasn't right and the blown off part was just--I shuddered. I noticed Aura's eyes were glistening. We could both feel the pain of our planet.
I left my station and went closer to the window. The remaining half of her looked just as magnificent as always. But then, at that very moment, I knew that She was doomed.
To be Continued . . .
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