MUTAMORPHS
"The Experiment"
It's been eleven years since the Yeerks have been defeated by a small guerilla force known as the Animophs, but now an even greater evil is present on Earth. This time it's a domestic threat and this time there are even fewer to defend against the destruction of our planet, A new breed of Animorphs whose powers are similar to the original six…..meet the Mutamorphs.
I awoke in a panic, sweat soaked my body and bed sheets, this wasn't the first time I've had these night terrors. They've been more frequent ever since I started taking a higher dose of the H.A.S. drug being forced down everyone's throat. Of course I'm speaking metaphorically because the H.A.S. is actually taken through an inhaler but I've probably already lost you let me start from the beginning.
My name is Adam, no last name not because I don't have one like Madona, it's because my last name consist of a sort of serial number for classification and cataloging and even that I can't give you. I can't indulge to much information simply because I'm living in a world were secrecy is key, one slip up and the Tank's or Reapers will be on me like flies on….well you know what I mean. Even more confused now huh? I was never that great at story telling and English was definitely not my best subject in the academy but I know I have to document this just in case….in case I don't make it. Let me try this again, the Yeerks are gone the parasitic slugs that burrowed their way into a persons ear canal and took over their very livelihood, the Yeerks a slug like creature that almost enslaved the entire planet. The Animorphs wiped them out and now the world was slowly rebuilding but the general public was in a state of panic and demanding a better line of defense in case of further attacks on earth from the Yeerks. That's were I come in, well me and six hundred other New Breeds. A New Breed, that's what you call men and women dosed with H.A.S. (Human advancement serum). The H.A.S. was created to bring about large groups of super soldiers for the military and these soldiers fell into two classifications; Tanks and Reapers. Two different types of the H.A.S compounds were introduced through the body by inhalation and caused different types of mutation. One compound increased the subject's flexibility, speed, and agility making them so quick it was said that on the battlefield they'd strike you down so fast you wouldn't even know you were dead until your head rolled off your body; these lighting fast killing machines were nicknamed the Reapers. The other branch of the H.A.S experiments were the Tanks, picture Arnold Swazeneger times ten, so yoked up that they could pick up a small sedan and toss it like a basketball, got a good mental image? Ok now picture this brute with a genetically altered, diminished sense of pain and tough layer of skin able to take round after round of rifle fire at close range, definitely not the guy you'd want to go toe to toe with I should know…. I'm a tank. We super soldiers were never normal like you in the sense that we were never born, more like grown in a lab and genetically altered to be who we are today, unstoppable obedient soldier/slaves. That was the intention for all of us to have no free will and take orders without second thought or moral dilemma, unfortunately for the scientists and the military you can't turn off free will like a light switch. This is why the scientists were uping our dosages of H.A.S. to control our impulses and generally control us because to them a super soldier with an opinion was a liability.
Anyways back to the night terrors, with this high dosage came side effects at least I hope that's what the reason behind it was, but in the back of my mind I had this nagging feeling that something horrible was about to happen kind of a premonition. I lay in my bunk panting hard trying to stifle my harsh breaths so I wouldn't wake anyone but Pam had already heard me and more or less sensed my distress. Pam had this funny way of knowing exactly what I was feeling and how to comfort me I believed because we were grown in the same incubator together. The scientists had a theory that two super humans grown in the same incubator had some what of a psychic connection to one another able to feel one another's pain, sadness and delight. Pam rose from her lower bunk and stood so her head poked up over my top bunk. Pam's sandy blonde hair rested on my sheets as she leaned closer and placed her hand on my chest and instantly I was at peace, my breathing slowed and I scanned her tired face. Sexual attraction was forbidden and the scientists attempted to remove our sex drive all together and sometimes, with the help of a little stern physical discipline, they succeeded but for some reason I felt a strong attraction to Pam even though I wasn't sure if she felt the same way. Her hair was a bit longer than shoulder length, her eyes were deep brown and her skin was always tanned even though our barracks and exercise quarters were all underground. I wasn't even sure if she found me attractive because, although a New Breed, I was considered a "runt" my body had not taken well to the genetic bonding process. I was only seven feet tall and my frame was smaller than most Tank's I had jet black hair, black eyes and light skin, but still looking into Pam's eyes I felt that maybe she reciprocated my feelings.
"You Ok?" Pam asked breaking my intense gaze
"Yeah never better" I lied hoping Pam wouldn't see me weak.
"You don't have to lie to me Adam I can feel something's not right, why don't you….."
Thundering footsteps from the next room interrupted our conversation and in walked Victor 9823 our watch commander/ hall monitor. Victor was the opposite of myself he definitely wasn't a runt he was what the scientists called a "perfect" because his bonding reacted in such a way that it made him an ideal super soldier. Victor stood almost eight feet tall with twice the muscle mass of myself, his dark green eyes and crew cut blonde hair would have made him a woman's heartthrob in the surface world but Victor was too well disciplined and military minded to even care about something so pestering as human emotion especially towards the opposite sex. Victor made his way quickly to my bedside, as quick as a Tank could move, grabbed Pam by her shoulder and forcefully shoved her to the floor. There was a thud as Pam's head hit the cold linoleum and before I knew it I had jumped out of bed and knelt at her side, blood dripped from a gash on the side of her head. Pam was quick in fact she was one of the fastest Reapers ever grown she was considered a perfect as well so I knew dodging an attack from a slow moving brute like Victor should have been no problem for her. Unfortunately Pam, like many of us, were programmed from a small age to obey our authority figure no matter what and along with our blind obedience in Victor came an overwhelming fear of him and what he would do to anyone who was insubordinate. I cradled Pam's head in my hands but Victor swatted them away and in an instant had me wrapped in a choke hold that even if I had the courage to try and escape I surely couldn't.
CHAPTER 2
"You're not authorized to be awake at this hour Adam." Victor said in a low growl as to not wake up the other sleeping New Breeds.
I coughed and struggled with Victors arm and for breath but he was just too powerful and slowly my world began to turn black, just than I noticed through blurred vision Pam rise and addressee Victor in a shaken but stern voice.
"With respect Watch Commander 9823, perhaps your discipline on Adam is a bit severe."
Victor snapped his head around and glared at Pam.
"You dare question my leadership?" Pam shook and her voice wavered but she continued "No sir but killing a New Breed soldier over breaking curfew seems wasteful."
Victor loosened his grip around my neck just enough so I could gulp in a shallow burst of air than pulled my head close to his lips and growled out loud enough for Pam to hear.
"Killing a pathetic runt like this wouldn't be wasteful at all, in fact it would probably save the department a lot of time, money and resources it will take to retrain and bring you up to our standards."
Slowly Victor once again began to apply pressure to my windpipe and my head began to spin…air… I needed air. Victor began to chuckle menacingly and just before the blackness began to settle in again a blur charged Victor and knocked him backwards, he stumbled and released his grip on me. I fell to my knees and gulped in lungful after glorious lungful of air and when I regained my composure jumped up and instinctively threw up my guard for battle. I saw Pam toe to toe with the brute Victor she had swooped into intervene and although a good idea at the time Pam was quickly beginning to realize her mistake. Victor was throwing calculated, controlled, powerful punches that in a fight with a normal person would have knocked them unconscious (or worse) within seconds, thankfully Pam was far from normal. Every strategic punch thrown from Victor was either countered or dodged by his Reaper "perfect" counterpart. But Victor was grown from an older batch of New Breeds, he had knowledge and experience that both Pam and myself did not. Victor knew that even with all the Reapers speed and agility eventually she would tire and another advantage to being a Tank is an almost unlimited amount of stamina. Pam's evasions began to slow and I psychically could feel her anger and frustration towards Victor being washed away by an even more powerful sense of exhaustion and disorientation, I knew it wouldn't be long before…..BAM! Victor had blocked a roundhouse kick from Pam, grabbed her leg and while still holding it landed a vicious blow to Pam's gut sending her flying backwards into the bunks of the already wide awake New Breed soldiers now watching intently at the mayhem ensuing. Victor barked orders to two low level Tank's to subdue Pam's beaten body but before he could get the full order out, I was on him. I ran full steam at the triumphant watch commander full well knowing that this strategy was specifically taught against in basic combat training. Simply because the time it would take a person to run towards an enemy it would give that enemy ample time to come up with a counter attack, but Pam was hurt, Victor had hurt her and I was mad. I threw all my weight and momentum into a lucky shoulder tackle and pinned Victor into the wall causing a man sized dent in the metal. I leaned in and low to Victors body to grab his legs and take him to the floor were my small size would be irrelevant but Victor was a much more experienced fighter than myself. Victor reached back with both arms and swung back with open palms that connected with the temples on both sides of my head. Never in all my hand to hand training had I received a hit so hard, my head was swimming, my vision blurred and a searing pain radiated through my skull. I dropped like a sack of potatoes and writhed on the floor while holding my head in my hands, I just hoped that Pam and the others didn't hear my whimpering
CHAPTER 3
. Why had we done that, why had Pam and I attacked a superior we had been trained to never question a commanding officer still it felt right. At that moment though nothing about my actions seemed right to the General and four of his men that were standing ,bed ridden and annoyed , in front of us. General Grain's hard eyes burrowed a hole into me and Pam but I was too frightened to look away. Pam and I had been handcuffed and escorted into the main lab by Victor and his lieutenants and now we were waiting to hear what our punishment would be for our actions, I assumed only death would be acceptable to them. General Grain's looked at Victor released an annoyed sigh and spoke
"Report Victor 9823" Victor respectfully stood at attention and laid out his entire report in his dry military fashion.
"Sir, Victor 9823 would like to report a violation of NBCOAB (New Breed code of acceptable behavior) 1.2809 section two, which states all lower ranking New Breed soldiers whether Reaper or Tank must without question follow the instruction and punishment of ranking officers."
The Generals face twisted into a more annoyed smirk
"I know the codes Victor 9823, get to the point." Victor nodded his head in acknowledgment and continued.
"Sir, New Breed units Keith and Pam disobeyed direct orders. Unit Adam was up after curfew and when I was attempting discipline unit Pam interfered and both became physically aggressive towards me."
The General eyed me up and down then did the same to Pam inhaled deeply than motioned towards two sets of chairs in the corner of the lab, Pam and I sat and our wrists and legs were bound to the chairs with thick metal straps.
"Is what Victor 9823 saying correct?" the General asked "Did you attack him and deny disciplinary action to occur?"
Both Pam and I answered yes and the General gave a nod to a team of cranky looking scientists (who must have been dragged out of bed too). The scientists pulled back a curtain revealing another man strapped to a similar chair, the man was hideously deformed. His muscles on his arms, chest and generally his entire upper body were disfigured and large to the point were the pink muscle tissue was beginning to rip through the skin. His eyes were two different colors; green and black and his hair was growing in thin random patches on the top of his oddly rounded head. At first glance you would think this man was some sort of killing machine able to take out maybe even the mighty Victor but than I looked down and noticed the mans slender underdeveloped legs. His calf muscles were well defined but unproportianal to his beefy upper body leaving me to assume that this man wasn't able to carry his body weight very well; also the left leg was slightly longer than the right. The General cleared his throat and began his speech
"Pam, Adam, I'd like to meet a failed experiment of ours we call him the Hybrid. This is a result of my dimwit scientists attempting to combine both the Tanks and Reapers in the same body as you can clearly see this wasn't possible."
I took a moment to scan the face of the hybrid and could see he was somewhat of a mental handicap the H.A.S. probably did a number on his brain but when I looked in his eyes I almost could see intelligence it was a strange species.
"This 'Hybrid's mind was overloaded and henceforth damaged by the experimental combining process." The General continued "He is full grown has the mental aptitude of a fourth grader but I figured this harmless creature would be a perfect vessel for our new guest, say hello Illiam 57870."
I was confused our serial numbers only contained four numbers; the only other thing or species I could relate a five or more numerical serial number with was….. No, it couldn't be. My eyes grew wide as I watched this pitiful creature open and close its mouth like a beached fish attempting to construct its first sentence, finally Illiam 57870 began.
"Meeeyuh….meyuh…My…my apologies it has been awhile since I have infested any….any thing with a mouth used for something be….besides…ssss… eating…. My last host was a ta…Taxxon."
I glared at the disgusting Hybrid but my hate pierced even further through the tight skin and balding head of the vessel that housed the very enemy I was created to destroy, Pam must have realized it two because both of us grounded our teeth and growled out.
"YEERK!"
CHAPTER 4
"Well at least I know now we wont have to add academic incompetence with your insubordination charges Adam and Pam, you've paid attention in your classes yes this Hybrid New Breed is infested with a Yeerk." The General said "We purposely infested this Hybrid so we could obtain some very important information from Illiam."
I scanned the room the other New Breeds faces along with Victor all showed the same disgust as mine and Pam's. The General got eye level with the smiling face of the disfigured New Breed controller and waved his hands in front of its face.
"Strange to think that a harmless little slug is controlling this New Breeds eyes, ears, and mouth anyways I digress." The General turned back towards us.
"You may be wondering why we've got one of our most sworn enemies sitting here with us today; I was going to tell the whole fleet of New Breeds but now seems like as good a time as any to enlighten a few of you. You see Illiam here along with its other brother Yeerk was caught by our perimeter patrol team, they said they were monitoring two suspicious deer close to the facility and they followed those deer deep into the forest. The deer stopped and abra cadabra they became two grey slugs than just as magical they resumed their form as deer once again. Thankfully my team was able to tranquilize the two monsters and bring them back here but now these two over grown snails have a lot of explaining to do." General Grain once again turned back to the New Breed controller walked up and placed the barbed tips of his stun gun to the Hybrids throat.
"Now Yeerk question number one, how are you morph capable and who gave you this ability?"
The Hybrids green and black eyes shifted up from the floor to the Generals face and he replied.
"General, you should know that us Yeerk's are an endangered species here on earth we can bring you no harm, nor do we intend too, we only wish to be left alone to enjoy your amazing earth animals, what would be the point of such torture?"
The General flipped the switch on the stun gun and the Hybrid convulsed as thousands of watts of electricity coursed through its body. Seconds passed by and the General finally released the trigger on the stun gun leaving Illiam's host body panting and groaning in pain, Grain's holstered his stun gun and went back to interrogating Illiam.
"That's not even close to the answer I was looking for, you filthy slugs almost eradicated our existence and you just want me to believe you come in peace fat chance. Now where is your pool, your kandrona source and how did you become morph capable?"
This time Illiam choose to keep silent it was a weird moment because watching that strange creature refuse to give up the location of its brethren or any other information even in the face of torture I kind of felt a sense of pride for this supposed diabolical enemy. The General continued with his stun gun each time drawing the sessions longer and longer but still the Yeerk name Illiam gave nothing. Finally General Grains gave up, wiped some sweat from his brow and spun Illiam's chair around to face a stainless steel table.
"You see that Yeerk?" the General asked "Look closely on that table you'll see what happens to slugs who eventually don't answer my questions."
For a brief second the stone face of Illiam's host twitched as he stared at the remains of his brother Yeerk who was upside down on the table with what looked like a rib cage spreader parting it into twos. It was some sort of Yeerk autopsy and even though I was raised to hate these creatures I felt great sadness for Illiam this large slug was someone very important to him I could clearly see it in his stolen eyes. The General walked back to us and kneeled so he was eye level, he looked on the back of my wrist to get my serial ID number than did the same to Pam. After a moment of studying our files he returned to his kneeling position and continued his speech this time using a strange school teacher disciplining voice.
"Now I know you guys understand the severity of your crimes against your superiors and the punishment is death."
CHAPTER 5
My heart sank, I knew that was coming but still I was taken off guard by it. What shook me more was that the thought of death scared me; maybe there was something wrong with me I was a New Breed soldier a supposed merchant of death totally disciplined and unafraid of death. Add that onto the fact that I was feeling pity and pride for my sworn enemy and had feelings for a fellow soldier maybe I was defective maybe it would have been better for Victor to just take me out of my misery and the departments. My thoughts were interrupted by General Grain's he said something that completely got my attention.
"Usually I would kill you right here and now, grind you up and feed you to the guard dogs but that's not what I'm going to do." I shook my head could I be hearing this right had I really gotten away with tackling my W/C (watch commander) and gotten away with it, this was impossible. The General as if reading my mind confirmed what I already knew.
"No Keith and Pam your not getting off with just a slap on the wrist, you have to once again prove your worth to the New Breed Core do you accept my proposal."
Without thinking I immediately responded yes, another weak moment I had because I would do anything at that moment to save my life, a very un-New Breed thing to do. I caught a surprised glance from Pam out of the corner of my eye, I think she assumed this punishment would be worst than death and she was willing to accept her demise but I wasn't ready to die I was only in my teens for Christ sakes. But I was still frightened and ashamed of my rash decision, I tried to hide my feelings from Pam but I knew our unexplainable psychic connection gave me away in a heartbeat. To my surprise Pam accepted the Generals proposal of an alternative to death and Grain outlined his plan to us.
"It is what we feared Keith and Pam the mighty New Breed Soldiers must now be called on to destroy our enemy once and for all. The Yeerks that were given the power to morph either by our hands or their old tyrant Visser One were ordered by the president himself to remain in a morph for two hours and become what the Andalites call a Nothlit, a person forever trapped in a morph. A Yeerk who refuses to become a Nothlit would be executed immediately and as you can see an unknown amount of Yeerk are still morph capable this cannot be allowed and that is were you come in."
My mouth was dry it was as if my saliva glands had stopped working all together, what was the General suggesting and was it really any better than death?
"Keith and Pam now is your time to go above and beyond your call of service in order to catch these Yeerk scum we will need to go to extreme measures. I've read the memoirs of Visser One I understand how difficult it will be to deal with enemies that can become virtually anything and although a lunatic Visser One was no fool and yet the Animorphs got him in the end. What I'm trying to get at is we can't go around killing every bird, bug and beast we see especially since the Yeerks brought a lot of animals close to extinction. No we need morph capable soldiers of our own to track down these traitors and bring them to justice and unfortunately due to the regulations set by that tree hugging Human/Alien relations president Cassie Carmile the military is no longer allowed access to the Andalite morphing cubes."
I was completely lost what was the General going to do to us I was hoping he would cut the speech short and get to the bread and butter of it all and thankfully he did.
"You three will be introduced to the morphing technology that we managed to decipher and recreate using our buddy, the dead worm. You see our technology has come along way with a little help from the Andalites and all my scientists needed was a platform to get a general knowledge of how this stuff works and now….
The general motioned to the dead Yeerk on the table
"Now we have it, so Illiam you're up first your host bodies completely expendable it'd be a shame to loose two very able bodied New Breeds even though they are extremely undisciplined."
Had I heard that correctly, was General Grain really allowing a mutant creature with a Yeerk in its head to be given the power to morph this was insane what did the General have to prove, why waste this technology on a couple of troublemakers and a freak, I got my answer shortly after.
CHAPTER 6
"This process is experimental, dangerous and a shot in the dark if anything." Grain's said "It's possible that this wont even work and even more possible that you may die."
Two Tank's loaded Illiam and his host body into what looked like a clear Plexiglas tank like the ones people jumped in to try and catch flying money blown up with a fan. The Tank's not so gently shoved Illiam into the cage and to my surprise Illiam was able to regain his hosts footing and stand awkwardly on underdeveloped misshapen legs. The scientists sat at there respected stations and began checking in with each other to begin the countdown to the procedure. A lot of scientific mumbo jumbo was spoken at the minute before power up, but I could sense the tension in the voices of all of them this was definitely dangerous. The countdown crept closer to zero and the lights in the room dimmed as if the strange contraption was hording all the juice and before I knew it, the process happened. A brilliant blue light shot through wires connected to the cage and the same light engulfed the cage and Illiam's host, it got brighter and brighter until it was like looking into the flame of a welding torch and I was forced to look away. It only took a matter of seconds and it was all over the blue light dwindled and the lights came back on. The first thing I saw was Illiam's host lying on the floor than Illiam, the real Illiam the Yeerk writhing around on the floor of the cage apparently in pain if Yeerk's could feel pain. One scientist at a station let his hand hover over a red button than addressed General Grain who stood wide eyed, mouth open at his botched experiment.
"General, sir permission to incinerate both specimens?" The General nodded to give the order than abruptly yelled at the scientist to stop and swatted his hand from the button. The scientist looked up at the ranting General confused and it wasn't until Grain's pointed at the cage that the scientist (along with me) understood. The Hybrid still un-infested was looking a little grey; in fact he was looking a lot grey and was getting smaller. It hit me all at once the General's sick experiment had worked the Hybrid was morphing but into what I had no idea, the Hybrid's eyes shown bright with excitement and wonder until suddenly there were no more eyes. It was the strangest thing I ever witnessed the Hybrid's eyes began to recede into its skull, than a grey layer of mucus covered them as they shrank than they were gone all together. The Hybrid continued shrinking until he was about six inches long but still retained his misshapen limbs but soon those shot up inside his body like a spaghetti noodle. The Hybrid's lips melted together and the same mucus covered and erased that from existence too, whatever this creature was it was morphing had no eyes, no mouth and as his ears melted away too I realized he wasn't going to hear much either.
"A Yeerk? I asked out loud and the General nodded.
Yes the hideous Hybrid had morphed a Yeerk an equivalent of a large grey snail without a shell, somehow the Hybrid must have acquired Illiam the Yeerk while it was either in his head or when it lay on the floor, either way the young mind of the Hybrid was having a blast with his newfound morphing technology. The real Illiam came scooting next to his clone and nudged him in the side with his slug face and I swear if the real Illiam had a mouth he would scream and if he had a fist he would throw a punch. I thought seeing the Hybrid morph to a Yeerk would ready me for when he demorphed, man was I wrong. The Hybrid must have gotten bored from a life of depravation because two bony legs erupted from the underside of the already growing Yeerk. The demorph was like a car wreck I couldn't look away from, as it continued to grow the boned legs finally grew back their skin and muscle and for just a moment the morph stopped, what I was looking at was a grey worm on two mismatched legs, two beady eyes, a half formed mouth and bits of sprouted hair on the top of it's head. I was a well trained military soldier but even I had the desire to hurl looking at this abomination, the Hybrid continued it's demorph and I was actually delighted to see the less hideous New Breed reject standing in the middle of the tank staring blankly.
"Excellent, extraordinary, there's no way those overgrown earthworms will be able to hide from us now. Jeremy 1076 kill the Yeerk and put the Hybrid in a holding cell."
As Jeremy 1076, a very slender Reaper unit, approached the tank the Hybrid became agitated and began to grunt and growl at the soldier as Jeremy fiddled with the lock. The Hybrid searched frantically on the floor, than reached down and picked up Illiam. To everyone's surprise the Hybrid placed Illiam by his right ear and the Yeerk did the rest. Illiam flattened himself and slowly crammed his way into the Hybrids ear canal a moment later it was as if a switch had turned on inside the Hybrids head. One minute the sad creature seemed dumb as a doornail but than Illiam comes along a sentient species with years of memories and knowledge and the next minute he's Einstein.
"It appears your rejected soldier would like to form an alliance with me General." Illiam said using the Hybrids mouth.
"Fine you two want to play games, April 6979 you go with Jeremy 1076 kill both these abominations." Grain said
With that a female Tank and the male Reaper yanked Illiam out of the cage and dragged him towards a holding cell.
CHAPTER 7
It was Pam's turn for the procedure and once again the blue light illuminated the dark room and it was over. When the lights turned back on I fought hard to adjust my eyes and check Pam's condition in the tank. Pam was face down on the floor of the cage and my heart skipped a beat, no she can't be dead I screamed in my head. Finally Pam began to rustle back to consciousness and I took my first breath for what seemed like hours. Pam was helped out of the cage and strapped back into the chair, now it was my turn. A heavy handed Tank soldier practically threw me into the cage and slammed the door, the lights began to dim and I fought the urge to close my eyes and I stared at General Grain. If there was something wrong with me so be it, in some ways us New Breed's were human and we didn't deserve this. We didn't deserve the torture and experimentation and General Grain was the key to all of this madness, and if I was going to die right then I wanted to stare the General down before I did. The lights dimmed until the room was dark and the familiar blue light made its way down the wires to the chamber I was locked in. At first the sensation was mild it actually kind of tickled than things got way out of control, my body went numb and I fell to the floor, my skin grew hot till I felt like I was on fire while simultaneously it felt like I had stuck my finger in a light socket while wearing copper gloves. I fought to stay conscious as the pain overwhelmed me but eventually I passed out, when I awoke I was bound by my wrists to the floor, eye with the hairiest man I'd ever seen. I stared at this strange creature I didn't know the name of it but it wasn't human, I racked my tired brain trying to remember anything about this beast. Than it hit me, a Silver back Gorilla native to Africa, we had learned all about dangerous creatures and how to defend against them in case of an impending attack of morph capable Yeerks or an Andalite riot. This particular creature was similar to the battle morph of Marco Perez one of the original members of the Animorphs, we had studied the Animorphs in great detail and even had the privilege of watching an instructional video about the do's and do not's of engaging with morphed enemies instructed by the late, great Jake Berenson. The Gorilla and I had a stare down until my concentration was broken by Pam stirring back to consciousness in a vertical gurney to the right of me. In a cage directly in front of her there was a large striped feline pacing feverishly back and forth, a Cheetah, the fastest land mammal and just another one of the many morphs the Animorphs had acquired over there years of service to this country and the world. I was so distracted by the two out of place animals that I didn't notice we were still in the laboratory but now we were surrounded by every Reaper and Tank in the barracks, they were standing silent and at attention in a neat formation, twelve hundred eyes drilled holes in us. In the front of the formation I saw General Grain and his four subordinates and Victor playing the role of obedient soldier, the General approached both cages and inspected the specimen carefully than nodded and addressed the army of New Breeds.
"Soldiers, today is a great day for us all, these two brave New Breeds had volunteered to undergo an experimental procedure to give them the power to morph. At this very moment morph capable Yeerks are threatening are very existences and is up to us to stop them." The crowd of New Breeds cried out in harmony and General Grain continued. "These two brave soldiers have proved that this technology is available for us now not just the greedy, arrogant Andalites and today you will be shown a demonstration of this technology's power."
One of the scientists walked to both cages and shot both animals with a tranquilizer dart and moments later they were both fast asleep. Two Tank soldiers walked up and released us from our straps and Pam and I stood in front of our peers and the General not knowing what to do next. General Grain stepped close to the two of us and whispered "Touch the animals and picture them in your minds, if this all works out I'll request you be put in for memory erase and a reprogramming session but you will be the most feared New Breeds of all time."
My mind raced morphing technology had long been extinct and forbidden to military personnel due to a Marine with PTSD who went on a rampage in populated area, what the general was doing was Illegal and using us as his guinea pigs was equally as wrong. My hesitation was rewarded with thousands of volts from the General Grains taser, my body convulsed and my arms fought to free themselves from the straps causing the reinforced steel to cut into my skin. "You will learn to do what you are told without question or hesitation Adam, Do I make myself very clear on that?" the General growled out.
"Sir….Yes Sir." I replied weakly. I tested the slack in my chains that were tied to the floor and noticed that it allowed me just enough length to touch the tranquilized gorilla in front of me. I laid my hand against the beasts heaving chest and pictured the animal in my head I noticed the gorillas breathing slow even more, an unbearable itch overwhelmed my body and I opened my eyes to my very hairy forearms the morphing process was working! My concentration on the morph was broken from the Pam begging the general to reconsider his actions
"General with all do respect what you're doing is illegal as cited in amendment 4.9 section 8 of the Alien/Human rights laws no being human or alien is allowed to use morphing technology without the written approved consent of the board of…..AWWWW
Pam's lecture was cut short as the General tazed her in the back.
"As I've said before soldier I am aware of the rules I am violating but I am doing this for the sake of humanity I will not be told what to do during wartime by any blowhard diplomat and will especially disregard any orders from a low ranking insubordinate soldier. Touch the animal or you will be shot in the head."
Pam did what she was told and touched the head of the sleeping cheetah, I turned to the general and let out an inhuman growl as I let the morphing process wash over me and continued picturing the lumbering powerful gorilla. The General smirked and held my furious gaze as the itch continued to overwhelm my body and thick black fur sprouted, my face reformed into the gorillas muzzle and my lower canine teeth sprouted up from my lower lip allowing me to let out and menacing growl and toothy snarl. I had to protect Pam, I had to show the General that I wasn't weak and becoming this animal I believed would satisfy both, because as soon as I was complete with this morph I was going to kill General Grain and anyone who stood in my way. As the final changes ended I fought against not only the metal straps binding me but also the docile mind of the gorilla, I wanted to fight I wanted out of this cult and I was going to take Pam with me. I continued my struggle and a Reaper soldier quickly came to my side and stung me with a cattle prod, this sent the Gorillas mind into a frenzy that exceeded my own. I howled and to my surprise more morphing ensued, the gorillas muscle mass began to grow and with every ounce of strength I ripped through the metal restraints and back handed the Reaper soldier who was once again coming in for another shot with the cattle prod. I turned and saw the General retreating into a crowd of Newbreeds and was about to pursue when I was cut off by twenty or so Tank's and Reapers.
"Capture them alive!" General Grain ordered through the crowd of soldiers that where closing in on Pam and me.
I looked to Pam who was still fully herself, but as dangerous as she was in her true form having the advantage of the big cats speed and agility to compliment her own would be a big help in this bleak situation. The Newbreed soldiers continued closing in surrounding us in a circle.
"You can not escape here Adam it is senseless to fight, I order you to demorph and allow yourself to be escorted to the retraining chamber." The Generals voice roared over the intercom speakers installed throughout the facility.
I scanned the room and found the plate glass window on the balcony hiding the General in his booth. Once again I growled and quickly grabbed a metal pry bar next to the cages of the tranquilized animals I attempted to speak but what came out was a series of grunts and moans from the throat of the gorilla. I remembered my training in the academy about thought peach and addressed it to everyone around me including the General
Soldiers, the General is no longer fit to serve us, can you not see that he will sacrifice anything to stop the Yeerks even the lives of his own soldiers. We can not stand idly by and let them continue their experiments on us and use us as their tools, WE ARE HUMANS WE DESERVE MORE! I threw the bar at the plate glass window of the communication booth the General was hiding in with all my strength. The bar connected perfectly and glass rained down over us. General Grains poked his head out from booth
"Will someone please deal with this insubordinate fool I GAVE YOU ALL A DIRECT ORDER!"
The New Breeds scanned each others faces, some of what I said had obviously hit home to them and it was undeniable that their treatment was unethical and inhumane but still they were trained day in an out to respect and follow their orders. Victor waded through the crowd and stood just feet away from me.
"Adam you have your orders to stand down, and all of you have been given a direct order from not one but now two superior officers to subdue this threat. I order you to capture and detain Adam immediately."
That swayed every soldier in the room to attack there was no way they would defy the General and Victor, a swarm of Newbreeds dashed towards me. I quickly grabbed an empty cage and effortlessly lifted it and swung it in a circle around me causing a barrier and knocking some of the first wave of soldiers violently against the wall. In addition to my already altered strength and endurance paired with the gorillas strength and animal aggression and instinct I felt invincible. I threw the cage at another wave of super soldiers than broke through a line of Reapers who managed to land some decent hits that made me loose my footing and fall to the ground. Before I could get up dozens of soldiers had dog piled on top of me, I fought with everything I had and managed to throw a few of them off me but the fearless soldiers continued coming. The gorilla mind was anxious and nervous it sensed it had been backed into a corner by something more powerful and the fight seemed hopeless, slowly my mind began to determine the same thing. I threw more New Breeds off me and struggled to crawl away to safety but a Tank soldier came out beyond my line of vision and landed a vicious kick to my face with his steel toe boot. The force was enough to flip me over and I watched through blurred bloody vision the crowd of soldiers once again surround me then stand at attention as Victor called them to a halt. I took the moment of stillness to survey the damages to my beaten morphed body; I ran my frying pan sized hand along my face and the length of my body. Broken teeth, contusions and gashes on my leathery muzzle, broken left leg, numerous additional cuts through my torso and legs, fur missing and a lot of blood loss. But as Victor came into my view I noticed the cuts on my leathery chest begin to seal up and fade away, not only did my enhanced strength crossover into the morph but my own Tank accelerated healing as well, unfortunately there was nothing my healing factor could do about my broken bones only superficial cuts. Victor stood over me triumphantly and laughed
"I've got to say Adam your demonstration was impressive even for a runt, the strength, aggressiveness of this animal and even your own healing ability put together it's… well I'll say it again impressive. If put in the hands of a true warrior nothing will stop us, unfortunately you will not live to see that glorious day the General has issued a new order, you must die."
Victor snapped his fingers and relayed the orders to the mob and before had I could get back to my feet I was bombarded with punches and kicks, I did my best to protect my face from the onslaught and sadly I cowered behind the mind of the fierce, brave gorilla as I awaited death. Several screams erupted from the crowd of Newbreeds and a terrifying roar brought my own mind back to the surface. I inched my swollen eyelid open and watched a part of the mob break off and attack a different threat. A blur of black and yellow darted between the New Breed soldiers tearing chunks of flesh and then retreating to shelter only to jump back out for another attack.
Adam, Adam are you there? O God please tell me your still alive….ADAM!
I swung with my right arm and triped a couple of soldiers still beating me on the floor and shakily got to my feet. I threw my heavy fist into a barrage of punches that connected with the chest of pursuing soldiers as I staggered away to try and find shelter. I stopped dead as I met the snarling face of a Cheetah.
Pam, is that you? the crowd of soldiers took a moment to assess the situation than slowly closed in.
The big cat uncoiled its rear legs and leapt at me tackling me to the ground
Pam what are you doing? It's me
I held the Cheetah by its head as it went for my neck, through faint though speech I could hear, Pam her breathing was labored and I could tell and feel she was in pain.
Adam, its not me I released the animals from their cages you need to get out of there
With that I used my powerful feet to kick the big cat off of me and into the small mob of advancing New Breeds, the crowd scattered as the Cheetah landed gracefully on its feet and redirected his fight to anyone in its sight. To my left I heard the pained roar of the gorilla who I acquired earlier as he was overrun by New Breed soldiers attacking him apparently thinking it was me.
Adam if you can hear me you need to make your way though the emergency exit that leads outside than meet me in the mess hall, please say you can hear me.
I began limping towards the exit working my way around lab equipment trying to stay hidden from the fight. As I walked I recalled what I had learned from class about morphing restoring healthy DNA and began to demorph to repair my broken bones that my natural healing factor could not deal with. Now fully human I barged through the exit door catching the attention of several New Breeds who were hot on my tail in seconds. I was running as fast as my large body could take me through the dirty asphalt of the training yard to the mess hall where Pam was waiting. The faster of the Reaper soldiers cut me off just feet from the mess hall door and my knees were kicked out from the Reaper soldier coming from behind. I fell to the floor and blocked a low kick from one Reaper but the Reaper behind me landed several quick blows to the back of my skull, disoriented I stumbled to my feet and swung wildly. The two Reaper soldiers began to toy with me as they ran in hit me in the ribs than jumped backwards before I could land anyone of my slow punches. The Reapers continued until they noticed prickly black fur erupted through my skin and begin to cover my entire body, they came in with more furious attacks as I struggled to keep conscious and complete the morph. Just than a yellow blur came into view and tackled the faster of the two Reapers to the floor, the downed Reaper struggled to get out from underneath Pam's Cheetah morph but in an instant Pam had ripped out the Reapers throat with the big cat's powerful jaws. The remaining Reaper jumped to his feet and hesitated as the menacing eyes of an angry Gorilla and Cheetah stared him down, the Reaper sprinted towards the door to back into the lab to warn the others but Pam was there in the blink of an eye taking him to the ground and with a mighty swipe of her paw knocked the soldier unconscious, not soon after that Pam herself stumbled and fell to the floor.
Chapter 8
I picked up Pam in my powerful arms and slammed through the door of the mess hall, I locked the door and stacked tables against it