Part 5

Author's Note: Here, in the fifth installment of my series, I have tried to work out the problems of the past four. The chapter comes complete with: Character Development!!!! Descriptions!!!! And last, but not least, I tried to make the dialogue sound more… Andalitish. If you read this story, please review it! Tell me what I'm doing wrong or right. Do you like the series or not? Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy part five.

John

We raced through Z- Space, a ship of gold speeding through a tunnel of white. With our escape from the Yeerks completed, we turned to the most important question: Where were we going?

I'm going to assume you didn't make a blind Z- Space jump, Caroof. I said to my fellow aristh as we stood on the bridge of our new ship: The Golden Nebula. Like most of the ship's interior, it was an elegant white in color, with different varieties of grass poking up from the floor. It didn't have nearly as many colors or flavors as the Dome ship grass, but there was an exotic variety, including grass from the Hork Bajir world.

Caroof swung his eye stalks back to regard me, while he kept his main eyes focused on the computer in front of him.

No, Terace, I didn't. He replied. There were coordinates already set, so I just followed those.

Do you have any idea of where we're going?

Negative. But it's safe to assume we'll be heading for Andalite space.

That's good. I said, but Caroof had already gone back to working. Caroof wasn't a very social Andalite. I had known him since we were children, and he had always been like this. Sometimes it's hard for me to believe that it is a coincidence his name rhymes with "aloof." Unlike most arisths, myself included, he didn't seem to possess our Andalite pride (Although some of you may call it arrogance.). And now, something in the back of my mind made me feel uneasy about how slowly Caroof had demorphed. It might have been that he wasn't concentrating, or… But I didn't want to think about it.

I left the bridge so that I could look around the ship. As I said before, the interior was an elegant white and grass covered the floor. The ceiling was covered with a hologram of the sky of the homeworld. You see, we Andalites hate being confined. That's why we have the Dome ships, and that's why I hate small quarters. I found that the quarters on the Golden Nebula were spacious, with the traditional ability to become transparent or opaque, so that you could see outside. The room I picked for myself was like this, and, as always, there were pedestals on which to keep personal belongings. I noticed one pedestal in my room held an old Escafil Device.

I went looking for the others, guessing they would be in a rec room or something like that. Sure enough, I found them in a room the size of a drift ball court, and Maheen and Assinko were playing, well, drift ball. It was always odd to see Maheen playing games usually reserved for males, but being the first female aristh, she had been fully introduced to cadet life. Maheen has something odd about her: a developing sense of humor. I don't think I have one, a sense of humor I mean, and not because I don't allow myself to have any fun, it's just because I don't think humor is necessary for a Warrior. But she tries to make me laugh at her jokes, and she keeps getting closer to actually succeeding.

Assinko, on the other hand, is totally immune to not having fun. He's always doing something reckless just for the thrills. He'll laugh at any joke, no matter how horrible it may be. He tags along with me and Esgarrouth, because 1) He is Esgarrouth's younger brother, and 2) He doesn't have many friends of his own. But Assinko is also fearless. He doesn't fear battle or getting hurt. He doesn't fear being trapped in morph. I don't think he fears death. This trait he shares with Egarrouth.

I walked into the rec room and noticed Esgarrouth wasn't there.

Have either of you seen Esgarrouth? I asked.

Yes. He went up to the bridge to help Caroof with something.

Thanks. I made my way back up to the bridge. As I approached I heard Esgarrouth and Caroof talking.

… How about the Captain's favorite color grass?

Blue, I think.

Yes, it is blue. I said as I walked in. Why do you need to know that?

Esgarrouth looked up from the computer.

Oh, hello Terace. He said. We're trying to hack into the computer to-

Stop! The Captain said not to look in the computer! I said trying to turn the computer off.

Why would he say that? Caroof asked, not even looking up from the screen.

I don't know. I replied. There's probably top-secret military… stuff.

We'll probably hear about it anyway, so are you going to help us or not?

Okay, fine, I'll help. Now what are you having trouble on?

The security code. You have to have the password and a color code to open the files. Caroof explained.

We already have the color: blue. Now we need the password. Esgarrouth said.

Have you tried his sister's name?

No. What is it?

Jahar.

As Caroof punched it in, I talked privately to Esgarrouth.

Hey, thanks for saving me back in the lake.

That's okay. What are friends for, right?

Esgarrouth has been my best friend for all of my life, ever since I could walk. I know he's going to make a great warrior someday; he has all the right traits. He's brave, self-sacrificing and a fierce fighter. He's not as good as piloting as, say, I am, but we both just started today. Once Esgarrouth and I get out on the battlefield, the Yeerks are going to wish they'd never crawled out of their stinking pools.

And we're… in! Caroof announced. Text scrolled across the screen. Something about a new Escafil Device. Caroof read it quickly and as he reached the end, his eyes grew wide and the skin under his fur became a few shades paler.

What? What is it? I demanded.

What the Captain didn't want us to see. Caroof said, his voice tinged with fear.

Well what is it? I asked again.

The Escafil Device we used today was new. It was modified so that when we acquired the morphing power a biological "seed" was implanted in our skulls. Three hours after acquiring the morphing power, the seed will hatch into a particular organism, which will live on our brains.

Suddenly I felt the sick fear also. Caroof? What is this organism?

That. He was pointing to a picture of a gray green slug. I gasped as realization hit me.

That's right Terace. Caroof said grimly. There are Yeerks growing in our heads.

TO BE CONTINUED…