Please remain seated; it's for your own good.


Chapter 11

Nope, he wasn't screwing with me. After their loooong story, they started showing me evidence; aside from the two aliens and the talking rat who had joined us. They showed me newspaper clippings, a copy of the book 'I' wrote, and even Rachel's obituary. If this wasn't all some long dream, they had to be telling the truth; Jake didn't have what it took to pull off such an elaborate hoax.

"So what now?" I demanded. "What happens now?"

Tobias shrugged. "We have more important things to worry about right now."

"I respectfully disagree," I muttered. But the others seemed to take him seriously. "What's on the table?"

Tobias tried to summarize what I had 'missed' at 'yesterday's' meeting. "Jake and Santorelli have been brought back with the mission to kill Mersa. Whoever takes his life gets to stay alive. The other…well...dies. The problem is this: we can't necessarily afford to kill Mersa."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because Mesa is holding back the Visser. While he lives, we have a chance, a real chance, of winning this war. So I guess the question is, which is more useful: Jake's or Santorelli's life or Mersa's Rebellion?"

"That's not the question at all!" Cassie argued. "These are lives we're talking about, Tobias. You can't just assign them values and do some sort of calculation to see who lives and who dies!"

Tobias ignored her. "What can do more good in this war? What can hurt the Visser the most?"

"Tobias, you can't talk like this. We're talking about human beings! They're not chess pieces for you to sacrifice!" Cassie insisted. "I can't believe you're all even listening to this!"

((Cassie,)) the alien with the missing eye began, ((while we do value the lives of humans, especially Prince Jake and Santorelli, we must approach this tactically.))

"Tactically? This isn't some kind of game!"

"That's exactly what it is," Tobias muttered. "That's all this war is to them. We're just pieces in a game. Death seems to be meaningless now anyway. People are jumping across the line all over the place as of late."

Rachel looked from Jake to Tobias. "Some lives mean more to me than strategy. There are some people I just won't sacrifice for this. That includes everyone in my family. I say we let one of them kill him."

It was like all the air suddenly went out of the room. I got the impression that those two didn't disagree often; especially about this war. Everyone seemed nervous now, even the aliens; and they were walking weapons. I suddenly realized that this Tobias guy really might be some kind of serial killer.

No one else seemed willing to speak. Well, there was one other person. Chapman. I know that's not the name of the guy whose running the show, but when I look at him all I can see is the guy who gave me detention yesterday. He looked old; even older than he was, but it was him.

He was gagged, though. With a sigh, Tobias made a weird movement with his hand. The younger alien untied Chapman's gag. "I think I deserve the right to say a few words, since it is my life that is in the balance."

Tobias nodded. Of course he'd let Chapman speak; he wanted Chapman alive. "I think the tactical advantages to keeping me alive are obvious, so I won't bother with those. If that was what was hanging you up, you'd have decided already. No, no, no; you're hung up on the morality of the thing. Fine. Then consider this: These two, Jake and Santorelli, had their chances. They chose to die 'nobly' for their cause. That's all well and good and sure, salute them for it. But they still chose to end their lives. They had their chances. If you want to approach this with any morality, how can you take my chance from me?"

((Well, that's kind of a trap,)) David muttered.

Santorelli raised his hand. "Just to avoid confusion, Jake and I already discussed this. The last five years of my life were the best I've ever had. I ended my life well; very well. I'm...I'm not needed here anymore. But Jake can still do some good. So if you decide that Mersa has to die, it's Jake who gets to live."

I didn't get this Santorelli guy. Who just gives up his own life like that? But the others seemed to take him at his word. Jeanne certainly did, which more or less convinced me I could trust him.

"Alright, look," I said. "I won't pretend to understand exactly what's going on, but what I see is this. On the one hand, I have the life of a Yeerk. On the other, my best friend's. There is no way I would ever, ever choose the Yeerk. I want Jake alive and I want this Yeerk dead. But that's just the vote of the guy who apparently forgets the last seven years of his life. Do what you will with it."

((I…I must obey my Prince,)) the younger alien said slowly. ((I am sorry, Jake.))

((I'm with Tobias and Al,)) David said. He didn't elaborate. Maybe he had reasons he didn't want to explain to us; or maybe he was just taking a shot in the dark. Either way, his ballot was cast.

James shook his head. "I'm sorry, Jake. But I have to go with them, too. Maybe once we win this fight, there'll be another chance, but-"

"Few ever get a second chance. No one is ever given a third," Rachel said. "That's about the only thing I remember vividly from being dead. Azmaveth made that very clear. This is Jake's last shot at life."

"I still have to stand by what I said," James said, more quietly. "We have to win this."

The one-eyed alien scuffed one of his hooves across the floor. ((I am sorry, but I must agree with Cassie. We shouldn't have spared this slug's life to begin with. Now, when killing him brings us a true gain, we should not hesitate.))

I think that kind of caught Tobias off guard; it's hard to tell, since he doesn't use his face a lot. The vote was split now, four to four. Jake and Santorelli couldn't vote, of course; that would be completely unfair. Chapman, likewise, wasn't counted in the tally. It was all down to Jeanne.

I looked at her. She told me she was my girlfriend. So who would she choose? Would she stand with me and save my best friend's life? Or would she be with Tobias and make the cold, heartless decision. Then she took my hand in hers and I knew I didn't have to worry.

"Jake lives," she said simply."

Then I heard a new voice. "Oh you damn dumb fools!"

Chapter 12

We all looked around. A wrinkly, purple guy appeared in the middle of the room with his hands on his all-too-human head. "Why, oh why, do you all have to be such idiots!?" he demanded.

"Okay, who and what the hell is that thing?" I whispered to Jeanne.

I guess it heard me. He turned and gave me a half-amused smile. "Oh, now that's just bad timing." And suddenly, I remembered everything.

"Thanks, Drode."

He shrugged. "Oh, no need. It'll be gone when I am. Not that it matters much to you. You just signed over this galaxy to the One. You just sold us all out. With Mersa gone, the rebels will surrender. Then the Visser will, quite simply wipe this town from the face of the galaxy and you along with it. It'll be easy enough to do. All he has to do is send in uninfested Kelbrid. No one would realize it's Yeerk activity. With you out of the way, who's to stop him from taking over? Of course, he holds off now. Because if he tried that now, Mersa could come forward and then it's all ruined for all of us.

"But no no no no no no no no; you all had to choose Jake's life over everyone else's. Why, oh why, must you people be so very stupid?"

Someone started to chuckle. It wasn't one of us; none of us has a laugh that seems to hang in the air like that. You know how in cartoons, when there's music, the notes kind of hang in the air, visible? This laugh was almost like that. It wasn't the sort of evil, merciless chuckle the Visser has sometimes, or even the Drode's mad cackle. This was a laugh of pure amusement.

"You should have learned all those years ago, Drode: humans are not to be toyed with." He appeared. A tall, thin man in a severe black suit. His skin was kind of grey and wrinkly. Everything about him was just a hair off. I had seen him before. Normally, he spoke with a strange inflection on words and elongated the letter 's'. Not this time.

Before my eyes, he started to fill with color. His grey flesh filled with life and became as smooth and healthy as…well, Rachel's skin would be the best comparison. He ripped off his tie and tossed it away, relaxing. Then his hair started to grow until it reached past his shoulders, a mane of perfectly straight, black hair.

There was a subtle change in his face, too. His eyes turned green. His ears were suddenly pointed. And he got…well, beautiful, really. I mean, if I was a woman… But I wasn't, I reminded myself, looking at my girlfriend. Who, I noticed suddenly, didn't look all that different from this guy. Hopefully, there was no connection there.

"Azmaveth…" Jake whispered. Santorelli and Rachel nodded. Everyone seemed taken aback, even the Drode. Azmaveth himself gave a slight bow at the waist, like a magician after a trick.

He looked at me. "And for my next trick, I shall now pull a rabbit out of my hat." An old, silk top-hat appeared in his hand. He reached inside and pulled out a rabbit. But there was something wrong here. The rabbit was glowing an electric blue.

"Hmm…that is not right at all," Azmaveth mused. Then he shook the rabbit. There was a flash of blue light and in its place was an old man, glowing the same blue the rabbit had been. He looks kind of like Christopher Lee, I said to myself.

"Glad you could join us, Ellimist," the Drode sneered. "You're just in time to watch the destruction of the universe. Great job you did, picking these idiots."

Azmaveth laughed again. "The Ellimist had little to do with this. True, he manipulated events so that Marco, Cassie, Tobias, and Aximili would be in this war. And he threw Jake in there to bind them together. But he does not see the true connecting point; he considers it nothing more than a 'happy accident.'" Azmaveth said that last part looking at Rachel.

"Look what happened without this 'accident.' Marco, drowning himself in luxury, trying to fill a void with material wealth. Cassie, devoting herself entirely to animals; she could no longer deal with humans. Jake, who never realized how close he was to suicide. Aximili, burying himself in his work. And, of course, there was Tobias, who effectively gave up on life itself.

"And look what happened when this 'happy accident' reappeared in their lives. Cassie has given up what she hates for what she loves. The effects on Tobias are obvious. Marco and Jeanne have been brought together, though more than a bit of work on my part. Do you think it is mere chance that Jacques and Naomi met?

"Rachel's life is but one example of something that both of you, Ellimist and Drode, refuse to understand. You cannot predict humans. You should have realized that long ago. Drode, you watched them kill Jesus of Nazareth, a man many believed to be the creator of the universe. You saw then what humans were capable of. And yet you were still so stupid that you decided to play with them yourself."

"Oh, let's not bring this up," the Drode muttered. "It's embarrassing."

The Ellimist nodded. "I would really rather not relive this event," he agreed.

Azmaveth pointed at the Drode. "You did that quirky 'Wildcard' thing you so pride yourself over. You went down to China and gave power to a man named Zhang Jiao. You talked him into starting country-wide rebellions. You gave him control of the earth and skies. You wanted to see what humans would do. And what did they do? They rose up against all that power and struck it down.

"But chaos still persisted. And you, Ellimist, took it upon yourself to quell the chaos the Drode caused. You manipulated events and aided a man named Liu Bei. You gave him all the advantages. Many of the greatest of warriors served him. Some of the greatest strategists to ever live worked with him. You placed the world in his hands. But what happened?

"Humans rose up against you, too. All of your plans, all of your plots, all of your machinations and manipulations came to naught. Cao Cao defeated Liu Bei, time and time again. All of your plans were frustrated by a single, mortal man. And by the time they had both passed on to my realms, you had given up. You didn't learn your lesson then and you still haven't: humans are not to be toyed with."

Chapter 13

"Why are you even doing this?" Tobias asked Azmaveth. "If you respect humans so much, why this war? Why all of this? Why not leave us be?"

"I once took you and Santorelli through quite a time journey, Tobias. I showed you that in the end, all things decay and crumble. I showed you that in the end, death and destruction can be a kindness. All things must inevitably reach a conclusion, Tobias; there are no exceptions to this. I cannot allow any exceptions.

"Without an end to things, we cannot appreciate them. Without war, we would have peace but we would not understand it. Without slavery and oppression, we would place no value on liberty. And without death, we would have no appreciation for life.

"Why have I done this? Because it is not the quantity of life that concerns me; it is the quality. I would rather see a single world of wise men who understand than an entire universe full of fools.

"It is in humanity, Tobias, that I see the greatest hope for life. Humans will either bring the galaxy into a golden new age or destroy it utterly. I have seen this potential in few. I saw it in Crayak, long ago. I tested him and his servants. I began my war with him and unleashed my Kelbrid. But I found Crayak wanting, so I banished him to this galaxy.

"I followed him here, to finish him off. I have learned that one must tie off all loose ends. I myself was a loose end, once, and now…now, I am the master of the universe. I would not run that risk with Crayak So I came here once more and loosed my Kelbrid upon him. I drove him out of his stronghold in what is now known as the Kelbrid sector of this galaxy. And now, after all of that time, I came here to finish the job.

"And then I encountered something startling: the Yeerks, cousins of the Yoorts I had used t control my Kelbrid. They told me of their defeat on Earth, at the hands of the humans. I had been watching humans for some time by then; I saw much potential in them. And when I heard about this defeat, I decided that I had to do what I did with Crayak. The time had come to test humanity.

"So I drew you Animorphs out. I captured Prince Aximili as bait. I lured you and Crayak into this war. All of this, Tobias, is a test. How much can humans overcome? Is there even a limit to what they can accomplish? This, I must know. Humans could be a great boon unto the galaxy. You could raise it up to something new and beautiful. Or you could bring it into the darkest age it could ever experience.

"I do not mean to suggest that humans will spread across the galaxy doing good deeds and helping others. Far from it. I mean, rather, that humans are adaptable, quick to change, and terrible as foes. Many of your people will be expansionists, wanting to subjugate the other peoples of the galaxy. Others will seek to ensure some sort of galactic peace. Still others will want to conquer, to study, to explore, or simply to exist. In any case, just by being in contention with humans, the standards of the other races of the galaxy will rise. The whole galaxy could be brought up to a new level. Or it could fall to base ambitions and weak desires. That is unacceptable.

"Now, when humanity stands at the edges of space, prepared to go forth into the world, I must know what humans will do. If you prove to me that you will be what I need, good. But if you fail my test, if you prove yourselves to be nothing but base creatures, then I cannot allow you to expand. If you fail my test, you will be destroyed utterly, removed from the equation.

"So why all of this? A test, Animorphs, a test. Can humans do what is necessary? Do they even know? When threatened thus, what will they do? When confronted by such odds, will they fight on and somehow persevere? How much can they endure before they have had too much? How far can you bend a man before he breaks? That is the reason for all of this. Because I need to know what your race can truly do."

We were all silent for a few moments as we digested the fact that if we lost this fight, that would be the end of the human race. Period. And if we won… well, he never really said much; just that contention with us would raise the galaxy to a new high.. Slowly, Tobias asked, "So why Mersa? Why does he matter in all of this?"

"He is…an unexpected factor," Azmaveth answered. "Imagine, Tobias, that you were taking a written test in a school. Suddenly, a new question was added to the test; a question to which neither you nor the instructor knew the answer. What would the instructor do? He would cross it out and not count it. So I want Mersa gone. Your interaction with him has shown me a great deal, but his usefulness to all of us is at an end."

"He's still useful to me," Tobias argued. "To pass your test, I have to win this war, right? Well, Mersa's helping me do that. You can try to strike him out all you want. But as for my part, if you want him to go, I want him to stay. If anyone wants to change their vote, do it now."

For a long while, no one spoke. Then, Jake looked to Tobias. "Look…if I kill Mersa, I get to live. But what's the point in that? Mersa…he's fighting against Azmaveth, against the Visser. He's doing more good than I can. I vote that he gets to live. I won't kill him."

Azmaveth looked from Jake to Santorelli. "Be that as it may, I gave you seven days for this task. Six remain. You have until then to change your minds. If Jake kills Mersa by the end of that time, Jake will live. If not, Jake and Santorelli will perish. You have six days."

And then the disappeared. Azmaveth, the Drode, the Ellimist…all gone. And suddenly, it was like I didn't know these people. I remembered everything that had happened that day, but nothing between this morning and when I was thirteen. All of it was gone. They had taken my memory with them.

Chapter 14

We all just sort of lounged around the living room. My entire world was completely destroyed. Overnight, I went from a more-or-less carefree teen to some 20 year old guy who suddenly had to fight a war for the survival of the human race. How had this happened? On the plus side, at least I apparently had a hot girlfriend.

Everyone sort of disappeared after that. Tobias went off with some woman named Loren. Rachel and her father disappeared. The rest of them went off with Jake to inform him of what exactly was going on in this war. I was going to join them when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see another person who had slipped into the room when I wasn't paying attention.

"Marco," he said, "my name is Jacques. I'm Jeanne's father. I know that you remember nothing, and I thought that you would like to talk about it."

I flopped down on the couch. He took a seat in a chair next to it, kind of like a psychologist. "What's there to say? Seven years of my life just…vanished, I guess. I mean…I still feel like a kid. I still feel like I'm thirteen. What can I say to all of this?"

Jacques shrugged. "I know what it is like to lose several years of your life. I did not lose my memories, but I did lose my life. I was a Controller for a long time, Marco. For those years, my life was not my own. My situation was…not quite the same as yours, but perhaps I could be of some help."

"How?" I asked. What else was I supposed to say?

He was quiet for a few moments. I guess he hadn't really thought this through. Then he told me, "When I was free, for just a few hours, I would keep a journal. I would write down my thoughts, my feelings. It was impossible to hold on to any of it, though. I could never be sure to find a pencil and paper. I wrote on whatever I could find. Ink, spit, blood…whatever I could use."

"From what I've heard about these Yeerks, I can't imagine they liked that very much."

"No, no they did not. They destroyed whatever I wrote. They washed it away or burnt it. They could take away my words, but they could not silence them. They could destroy the writings but they could not destroy the man. That was one victory I never let them have.

"The human is a remarkable creature, Marco. I often hear people speak of things being 'more than the sum of their parts.' If this is true for anything, it is true of humans. We are far more than the things that create us. What are we? I couldn't list it all. The Yeerks took much from me. They took my family, my home, my freedom, my life… But they did not take me. I do believe we have souls, and that is something that cannot be taken away; it must be given. I never gave them my soul.

"The soul…it's more than these mortal qualities we recognize. It's more than thought and emotion and memory and ideals. We can lose all of those but still carry on. They can take everything from us but we will continue to exist. I suppose that what I mean to say is this: You have lost your memory. Much of what made you the man I know is gone. You are your experiences, true; and without them, you are a far different person. But you are also more than your experiences. Much of what made you Marco is gone, but with your memory or without it, you are still Marco."

I wasn't sure what to say to that. As far as I know, people don't make speeches like that in real life. But then again, my 'real' life was suddenly completely screwed up. The world was turned completely upside-down. So who knows what people really do or don't do? My life had become a b-class sci-fi movie. After that day's events, I got over judging the world.

Jake came back in shortly after that. It was so weird…he still looked like Jake. Older, yeah, and there was definitely a lot different. His eyes were more distant, his face a lot harsher. But I could still see all the parts of the Jake I knew from yesterday. Even after seven years, he apparently hadn't changed much.

Some other things hadn't changed much, either. Like what we liked to do for fun. We went to the mall, the two of us. We talked and caught up, as it were. He told me about his life; and he told me about mine.

We hung out, just like 'old' times; just like yesterday for me. We ate junk food and played video games. The games were a different, a lot more advanced. And I guess it was kind of weird for people to see the two of us, two twenty year old guys, playing around like kids. I didn't really care. As far as I could feel, in my heart and mind, I was still a kid.

We stayed out a lot later than I was used to. It was weird…the mall closed at 10:00, but we didn't go home then. That was long past my usual curfew, but I lived on my own now. I didn't have to be home at all if I didn't want to be. So we stayed out until 2 a.m., just walking around town and looking at how much everything had changed.

I couldn't remember where I lived; I didn't know my mansion's address. I didn't know anything about the place. So we went back to the one place I remembered. We went back to Rachel's house. At least I had been there in this reality.

It was really crowded there now. Apparently, some of us had to be shoved into Tobias's spaceship in the backyard. I had a hard time getting over that, but apparently it was all true. I didn't go there, though; I just couldn't handle that. I flopped down on the couch with Jake at the other end and fell asleep after the most incredible day of my life.

Chapter 15

My name is Marco. And my life just got completely and totally out there. I mean…no, I can't even describe it. All I can do is tell you the story like it happened to me; that's the only way I can explain this.

I'm a normal kid. I used to be, anyway. My mother died two years ago, and it sort of messed up my family. My dad stopped working; we barely got by. But all of that was normal, really; it happened to a lot of people. What happened to me was far from normal.

I woke up to an argument. That was weird. Who could have been arguing? It was just my dad and me; no one else lived with us. There was no one else who should have been in our house. So why did I hear a man and a woman arguing?

I opened my eyes and got freaked out. I was lying on a couch in a house that looked vaguely familiar. At the other end was…he looked like an older Jake. What the heck? "Jake?" I whispered. "Where are we?"

He rolled off of the couch. "Oh God; please tell me you're joking, Marco."

"Not this time. What's going on?"

Two people looked over at me from the kitchen; the arguers. One of them was quite a bit older than me. She looked like… Was that Jake's aunt, Naomi? The other guy was about twenty and looked like a serial killer.

The killer looked from Jake to me. "Oh sario; he doesn't remember anything again?"

Jake shook his head, "Doesn't look like it. How do you think we should break the news this time?"

"What news?" I demanded. "Jake, what's going on? Where are we? Who are they? And why are you twenty?"

The older woman looked at me. Then she glared at the killer. "Is there something you're not telling me, Tobias?" She sounded very angry; then again, she had just been arguing with him…

"Lots of things, Naomi. Mostly because they're none of your damn business and you should stay the hell out of them. Marco has hysterical amnesia. He woke up yesterday and didn't remember anything between that day and seven years ago, the day we walked through the construction site. And apparently, he doesn't remember yesterday, either."

The killer, Tobias, turned to me. "Or maybe not nothing… Marco, does the word Andalite mean anything to you?"

"Sure. It sounds like the list of things you need to get for this room. A chair, a desk, and a light." But there was something in the back of my mind…I felt it almost like physical pressure there. "But…there's something more, isn't there? It means something else." I was sure of it now.

Tobias nodded. Then he turned around and yelled, "Al, get in here for a moment!" Something came running in. Blue, four legs, four eyes, deadly tail…an Andalite. I remembered! But…it was weird. I remembered the image. I could tell what an Andalite was when I saw one. But what was it, really? It was like…like looking at food at a Chinese restaurant. You see it, and you know its food, you might even know the name, but you don't really know what it is.

An Andalite…had to be some sort of alien, I think. I mean…nothing on Earth looked like that. "An Andalite," I guessed. Apparently named Al. "Is he an alien?" I asked Tobias.

Tobias nodded. "Good; so you remember that much. What else do you know about Andalites, Marco?"

"I…there's something about…" I knew there was something important but I just couldn't remember. "Something… I don't know. There's something important I'm missing."

Tobias nodded. "Okay. What if I say the word Yeerk?"

"I…I'm not sure. I just get…a really bad feeling."

"Better than yesterday," Tobias said. He turned to Al. "Go get Jeanne; she's the psychologist here. She should be here to see this."

A few moments later, the most beautiful girl I had ever seen walked down the stairs and gave me a worried look. Somehow, I knew… "Jeanne," I said slowly.

She smiled and nodded. "So you remember me. Good."

"Well…I can put the name to the face. Not that I could ever forget a face like that," I added, sounding a lot more confident than I felt. There was something else, though…something about Jeanne I wasn't remembering. Okay, there were probably a lot of things I wasn't remembering. But there was something really important. "Look…I know this might sound really weird, but…are we...together?"

She smiled wider. "Good, you remembered that part. That saves me a lot of time."

Tobias turned to her. "Do you want to fill him in on the parts of his life he's forgetting? It should be a lot easier this time around."

Jeanne and I sat down; incidentally, it was on the couch I had woken up on. She told me the most incredible story I had ever heard. A story about the Andalites and Yeerks and their war. As she spoke, I started to remember a few things. Nothing specific, just the general edges. It was like one of those connect the dots pictures. She would draw me an outline and I'd more or less get it. No details, no color, but at least I had some clue what she was talking about.

When she told me about my own war with the Yeerks, I wasn't too surprised, to be honest. I vaguely remembered some parts of it. The name Elfangor triggered an image, and some of the brief stories she told me reminded me of some things. Again, no details, but there were some bits there; enough to get by on. I probably knew as much about this as I did about any other war in history.

When she stated telling me about this new war, I said to myself, No wonder I went crazy. This war was totally out of hand. Kelbrid and Azmaveth and people coming back from the dead…

We got interrupted, though. Tobias stormed into the room, followed by the others. Jake, Cassie, Rachel, Ax, Al, James, David, Menderash, Santorelli, and Ronnie all followed him. Their faces, those who had faces anyway, ranged from all sorts of emotions. I couldn't tell what they were thinking or feeling.

"What is it?" Jeanne asked.

"Mersa," Tobias said, his lips tight.

I remembered a few things. Mersa: Yeerk, rebel, ally…Jake's target. His life was the price for Jake's. "What about him?" I wondered.

"He's gone," Tobias answered. "He ran off to the Visser."

"How do you know?" Jeanne asked.

Tobias tossed a book on the coffee table in front of us. The Art of War. "Open it to the marked page."

I opened it and read, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you willsuccumb in every battle."

Tobias nodded. "I know Mersa. I know what he did, what he plans to do, and why. The rest of us have been talking. I'm with all of you now. It's time for that slug to burn. Mersa has to die."

Maybe that passage gave Tobias comfort, but as we were walking to his ship, it terrified me. See, I didn't know the enemy anymore. And I sure as hell didn't know myself. If there was any truth to that at all, I was walking to my own defeat. "Damn, I hope that Sun guy's just cracked," I sighed.