/thought speak/
/Really, sir, I can't understand why I have to go./
/It's quite simple. You need the experience./
/I have plenty of experience-/
/Yes, in the laboratory. You're very good at understanding data. Unfortunately for you, exobiology is about living creatures, something you find much harder to understand./
/Professor, they are such a backwards race-/
/They are a backwards race that defeated an enemy we could only fight to a stalemate. And it only took five of their children to do what we couldn't. Really, Artfor, try to show more respect./
/Technically, sir, they had an Andalite there to show them what to do./
Approximately ten minutes ago, the professor of exobiology of the Andalite Homeworld's most prestigious academy had dismissed his class for the day. As they left, he stopped one of his best and, at the same time, most troublesome students. Artfor was a very gifted young Andalite with a stubborn streak, one of the most profound senses of arrogance the Andalites ever produced, and a passion for studying other worlds that the professor had rarely seen. However, Artfor was very reluctant to study living creatures; he prefered to observe things from a distance.
This approach could only take Artfor so far, and the professor hated to see a talent like his go to waste. The professor mulled over this problem, until one day he talked to his shorm, a professor of theoretical physics, about his student. His shorm told him of an idea the government was going to try, something they had received from the humans. It was called a Foreign Exchange Student Program.
/You've missed the point again, Artfor. That Andalite was even younger that you are, and if you remember, he took one of the humans as his prince./
/Sir, I refuse to go./
/Nonsense! I had to call in every favor I had to get you accepted in to the program./ The professor was beginning to get agitated by his student's stubbornness, and decided that it was time to use his trump card. /I've already talked to your parents about it, and they agree it will be good for you. If you still want to opt out of the program, I'm sure they would have something to say to you about it…/
Artfor now realized that he had lost the argument. In a sign of defeat, he lowered his tail blade a slight amount, and asked, /Alright, I'll go, but explain this idea to me again./
The professor smiled as only an Andalite can, and said, /You will go to what the humans call a college. It is their version of our academies. You will participate in all of the classes a human would take, and live your life among humans for three hundred and sixty five of their days, which, I believe, is one of their years. As you learn about them, a human will take your place and learn about us. The human will live with your family, and will attend your classes-/
Artfor snorted, and said, /I'm sure a mere human would not be able to understand your lessons fully./
/You do realize that they have proved a great many theories wrong? Without them, we may never have learned about the seers of the Hork-Bajir, or that Taxxons could so much as attempt to control their instincts./
/That was merely... luck. Still, sir, this is a bad idea. No mere human deserves to see our educational system, and there is nothing we can learn from theirs./
/That attitude is precisely why you are going. They are our closest allies. They defeated the Yeerks, not us. Their body structure is the strangest out of all sentient species. And they are perfect for you to study, as we truly don't know very much about them. There is much about them that even they don't know! Artfor, you must learn to respect them. There is much that they can teach you that I can not/. The professor paused, and stared into space with his main eyes, thoughtfully. When at last he remade eye contact with his pupil, he seemed much more at peace, and calmly said to Artfor, /Now go and gather what you wish to take with you. Your ship leaves at daybreak. /
Having no more arguments to hide behind, Artfor angrily left the office. The rest of that day was a living hell for him. Whenever he had time enough to let his mind wander, he kept remembering the grievance his professor had forced upon him. He was constantly trying to think of a way out of his situation, but noting seemed like it would work. Even the ancient art of faking illness, practiced by reluctant children across the universe, could not help him, as the disappointment, and later anger, of his parents would be the only thing possibly worse than leaving the homeworld.
Eventually, the last of his classes ended, and Artfor began walking he arrived at his scoop, his parents had, of course, already heard the news. Throughout the evening, their exclaimed their happiness that their own son would participate in an event only ten of the most gifted Andalite students would experience. Artfor, predictably, was less than enthusiastic throughout the night. Amazingly, his family was even excited that the human that would replace Artfor would be living with them! Artfor was shocked by this idea. Did they really believe a mere human would be able to handle his way of life? However, as he brooded, the thought of one of those brutes living with his family began to give him hope. They would be able to have a good look at these crude beings, and when they realized exactly what they had sent him off to live with, they would call him back!
With this desperate hope, he chose what he would take to the new planet. He packed lightly, taking only a hologram of his parents. He soon fell asleep, but was awoken an hour before dawn by the scoop's main computer, giving him just enough time to get to the spaceport and catch his ship, a re-commissioned and slightly modified Dome Ship, now transporting cargo and passengers between Earth and the Andalite Home World. As it left his solar system he stood in the dome, looking back towards his increasingly distant home planet, and wondered when he would see it again.