Chapter Two
I got home and collapsed onto my bed. I was exhausted. Saving an Andalite's life really takes it out of you. My sugar gliders crabbed at me from their cage.
I have pet sugar gliders. They're adorable little critters. Marsupials, like koalas or kangaroos. They look kinda like flying squirrels. But cuter. I have four. Brooklyn, Broadway, Lexington, and Angela. (Why yes, I am a nerd, thank you for asking.)
Their diet consists primarily of fruit, insects, and tree sap. I heard a barking sound outside, and decided to get up.
The barking was coming from my neighbor, Erica's house. Her family takes in all kinds of stray dogs. At any give time they could have between eight and fifteen. A lot of neighbors wouldn't put up with that, but fortunately, my parents thought it was a plus.
Today there were two German Shepherds, a Chihuahua, an Irish Setter, and a whole buncha mutts. Plus a new dog I hadn't seen before. She looked like a husky or a malamute or something I couldn't quite place.
"Hey Erica," I called. My neighbor, Erica, is this cute Jewish girl about a year younger than me. She has brown hair and freckles all over her face. "Who is the new girl?"
She grinned. "That's Lupa. She's a wolf."
"No way," I said as Erica bounced up to the fence separating our yards.
"Technically, she's a hybrid." Erica said. "1/16 Husky. But mostly wolf. Was part of an illegal puppy mill. We took her in. She may be 15/16ths wolf…But her personality is ALL dog. She's SUPER friendly."
As if to prove this point to me, Lupa bounded up to the fence, and gave me a big doggy kiss.
"Yuck!" I declared.
"So," she said. "You and Emily hung out at the mall today, right? Talk about anything important?"
"Not really," I said shrugging. "She wanted to meet up, and we were going to hang out at her favorite bookstore…But the alien assassin kinda got in the way."
"The WHAT?!" Erica asked.
I proceeded to tell her the entire story, as near as I could remember. As I did, she flipped out her iPhone and began checking the news stories online.
"You and Emily weren't identified," she said. "But the police and Andalite security forces are calling you very brave."
"Who was the Andalite I rescued?" I asked. "I never caught her name.
"They're not releasing it." Erica said. "Which means…It's probably somebody important."
"Cool," I said.
"Aren't you gonna come forward?" Erica asked.
"Are you kidding? That Yeerk assassin wants revenge. As long as the Andalite is okay, then I'm cool."
"You should still tell them who you are…Just in case."
"Nah," I said. "I'm good. Listen, I'm gonna go take a nap. Saving alien dignitaries is exhausting. Could you keep the doggy racket down to a minimum?"
"Oh don't worry," she said. "You won't hear a peep out of them again, I promise."
"Thanks, Erica," I said. "You're the best."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
I was awakened by a loud knock on the door. I glanced at my iPhone, and checked the time. "1:47".
I had only been asleep for a few hours.
I grabbed my t-shirt and jean shorts and put them on. Staggering to the front door, and opened it.
It was an Andalite in human morph. Three things gave him away.
1) He was bizarrely beautiful. The obvious indicator of Frolis Maneuvering of multiple DNA patterns of particularly beautiful people.
2) His clothes were inside out.
3) They were women's clothes. Specifically a sports bra and yoga pants.
"You know," I said. "It's a good thing you Andalites didn't have to do any infiltration of Earth society during the Yeerk War. You guys stick out like sore thumbs."
He sighed.
"I apologize," he said out loud. "I was hoping to be inconspicuous. But…This is my first use of the human morph, and my assistant procured the clothing for me."
"Female assistant?" I guessed.
He looked genuinely surprised.
"How did you know?"
"Male and female humans wear different types of clothing," I said. "You have a male body…But are wearing women's clothes. It's a dead giveaway that you're an Andalite in morph."
He sighed again. "Thank you…I shall have my assistant procure appropriate clothing for the morph."
"Is this the residence of 'Jason Grant'?" he then inquired.
"Uh…" I said. "That's me."
"Excellent," he said. "My name Orezebbicus-Jurran-Orelios, and I am with the Andalite Embassy Security."
"I…Oh, uh…" Stuttered.
"It is my understanding that you saved a young Andalite's life this afternoon."
"Uh…Yeah," I said. "How did you…"
"It is my job," he said. "I am responsible for Embassy security."
"Oh," I squeaked.
"The Andalite you saved was Estreen-Roonwit-Kanan," He said. I frowned. That name sounded extremely familiar…But Andalite names were so long, that sometimes it's hard to place them right off.
"Her father would like to thank you in person," Orezebbicus said. "If you would come with me please."
It was then that I noticed a small Andalite shuttle parked in the street. It had neatly parked behind my neighbor's car, and I hadn't noticed it right away.
"Uh…Sure."
I grabbed my sandals out of the house shoe tree and followed the Andalite to the shuttle.
Inside, he rapidly demorphed, and gestured for me to sit down on a side bench that had clearly been installed for human use.
The shuttle took off, and a few minutes later landed outside Emily's farm.
Emily laughed for five minutes straight upon seeing Orezebbicus's human morph's outfit.
Then the shuttle took off with both of us inside and flew to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which was the location of the St. Louis Andalite Embassy.
Andalites had a thing for gardens, and most of the embassies they had set up on earth had been placed inside botanical gardens in various major cities.
Part of the Missouri Botanical Gardens had been cleared away and the dome of an Andalite Dome Ship had been plopped down in the cleared spot.
There were more than a dozen Andalites just chilling out, inside and outside the dome. Running around, eating, I suppose, the grass.
I glanced at Emily, and she smiled back at me nervously.
(Come this way, Please,) Orezebbicus said, and began leading us to a nearby building.
I grabbed Emily's hand and gave it a squeeze before following Orezebbicus.
We entered what appeared to be a laboratory, filled with a number of animals. Mostly snakes. I felt a tingling sensation…The snakes were watching us.
They lazily looked up at us enter, and then went back to sunning themselves. They were all fairly large snakes too. Anacondas I think. My mind raced. Didn't the Taxxons on earth all choose to permanently morph anacondas?
There were other animals too. Parrots, a few other birds, a nearby fish tank had an octopus in it.
Standing at the far end of this animal-filled lab was the biggest Andalite I had ever seen. He was at least as tall as a Hork-Bajir, around seven feet, including his stalk-eyes. And he was built like a body-builder. Extremely muscled and buff. I was shocked, really. Every Andalite I had seen before had been so delicate and slender. This guy looked like he could arm-wrestle Chuck Norris.
(Is this them?!) He thought-spoke, grinning in that mouthless way that Andalites do.
(Yes, father,) A voice replied. I noticed then that the Andalite who we had rescued earlier was also in the room.
(Wonderful!) He said. And barreled over to the two of us, and scooped us up into a bear-hug.
"Andalite who is a hugger," Emily said. "That's…That's a new one."
(You saved my daughter's life,) He said. (I had to meet you. I had to thank you in person.)
"It was our pleasure," I said. "Really. Not that big a deal. Anyone would have done it."
(But anyone did not do it,) he said, his eyes twinkling. (You did. And that merits my thanks.)
"Well…" I started to say.
(WONDERFUL, we are agreed then.) He said. (I shall give you the morphing technology.)
"We were just—," I started to say, then stopped. "Wait…What?"
"Seriously?" Emily said.
(Of course. You do want it, don't you?)
"Of course I do!" I said, my mind racing. "It's all I've wanted since the Andalites first came to earth and the Animorphs became public knowledge."
"Wait, wait…" Emily said frowning. "I thought that for a human to get morphing technology it had to be approved by both the Earth and Andalite governments. And there's supposed to be a lengthy application process, and psychological profiles and—"
(Oh not for me,) he said, still grinning. (I have full discretionary ability to grant the morphing technology to whomever I want. It's one of the perks of being me.)
(Ahem,) Orezebbicus said. The thought-speak version of clearing their throat.
(May I introduce, War-Prince Ambassador, Escafil-Roonwit-Nothlit.)
"Holy crap!" I said. That was one Andalite name I did know, and knew it well.
"You INVENTED the morphing technology!" I said.
(So you see,) He said, still grinning. (The Andalite government does not question to whom I grant my technology. It is mine, to do with as I see fit.)
"He…Invented morphing?" Emily squeaked.
(Well, it was a group effort,) Escafil's daughter, Estreen, commented. (But my father was the primary developer. )
(I originally invented it,) he said. (As a means of opening minds. So many Andalites are so focused on their own culture, they fail to see the beauty of others. Our galaxy is filled with amazing creatures, so many species…It is truly mind-blowing. I wanted our kind to see things from the perspective of others. But alas…No sooner had I invented the technology, then the Yeerk-War broke out. My superiors saw it as a weapon…But even then, it was barely used by any of my people. The entire military was outfitted with my morphing technology, and on average they only acquired two morphs each.)
Estreen walked over to her father and put her hands on his shoulders, comforting…But I also got the sense that she'd heard this before. A LOT.
(But you humans…Oh you humans. When I found out that my dear friend Prince Elfangor, had used the cube I gave him to imbue five humans with the technology…My hearts leapt. Your world was already famous among biological circles. Earth has the greatest diversity of life anywhere in the known galaxy. Billions, TRILLIONS of species. I knew that if any species would appreciate my technology…Yours would. Nor was I disappointed. Your Animorphs used my technology in ways that even I never dreamed of. You used the diversity of life of this planet to win a war that the entire Andalite Electorate hadn't been able to win in 40 Earth-years. You made peace with the Taxxons. You found a way for the Yeerks to live lives without taking hosts. You did everything I hoped my people would do with my technology but did not.)
"Wow," I said, slightly dumbfounded. "Well when you put it that way…"
(It's not so impressive when you hear him say it to literally every human that we meet.) Estreen said to us. I'm pretty sure it was private-Though-Speak, since Escafil had not reacted to it.
(Seriously,) She said, looking at us pointedly. (Every. Human. He. Meets.)
Emily and I burst into giggles, and Estreen seemed to relax. For all the impressive nature of the Andalites, and the fact that she was Escafil's daughter…I got the sense that she wanted to be a regular teenager. And…That was pretty cool.
(Now then,) Escafil said, walking over towards a shelf that I had just now noticed. The shelf had four Escafil Devices on it. At least…I think that's what they were. One was the standard blue that I had read about. But there was also a green, a red, and a jet black cube. I had no idea what that was about.
He picked up the green cube.
(The prototype?) Estreen commented.
(Why not?) Escafil said grinning. Emily nervously took my hand and squeezed it.
"Is it true," Emily asked quietly. "The you've managed to extend the time limit to four hours?"
I blinked and looked at Emily in surprise. I hadn't heard that.
(No, it is not true.) Escafil said.
We both drooped slightly in disappointment.
(I have extended it to seven hours and forty-two minutes.) He said.
Our eyes widened in shock, but we said nothing.
(The green cube grants those who touch it the extended time-limit morphing, as well as upgrades those who have the orginal blue cube version.)
"What are the other two," I asked.
(The red cube is still in the testing phase, but don't ever touch it. Period. Don't. Touch. It. Ever. Even when it's finished, don't touch it. It's an Anti-Morphing cube. It is meant to lock morph-capable criminals in a single morph…Trapping them forever. Like the Yeerk who tried to murder my daughter. Which he likely did BECAUSE of the tech's existence. But it doesn't work properly yet. And the side effects are nasty.)
"Okay," I said, frowning. "Noted. SO noted."
"And the black one?" Emily asked.
(A surprise.) His eyes twinkled.
He then held out the green cube towards us. Emily and I exchanged a glance, and then took a deep breath.
We placed our hands on the cube.