You should not see the desert simply as some faraway place of little rain. There are many forms of thirst -- William Langewiesche
"We are approaching the coordinates, ma'am," the Hork-Bajir pilot announced. We managed to cram a Hork-Bajir, two humans and a gorilla into the tiny cock-pit of the Bug Fighter Visser One arrived in. I had no idea where we were going, and Visser One neglected to tell me. I had my weapon ever-trained on her, watching for the slightest display of betrayal.
Marco was telling me over and over again how little time he had left in his morph. I was hoping Visser One wasn't taking this long on purpose. When the announcement was made, I looked through the tiny window at the scene below.
Desert. We were approaching a desert. I looked back at Visser One, eyebrow raised. She said, "Visser Three has an encampment setup here. He would be here as opposed to anywhere else most likely as a precaution; to make sure a Yeerk loyal to me wouldn't try to sabotage his plans."
The Hork-Bajir pilot slowly settled the Bug Fighter onto the sand. When we were on the ground completely, the cloak was dropped. "We're not anywhere near the encampment," I pointed out.
"Of course not. We'd be detected if we were. This is as close as we can get. If we hurry, we can reach the encampment in about a day."
((A day?!)) Marco shouted. I don't think he meant to say anything, but his expression is exactly what I was going to say. If Jake and the others are in morph, a day would be way too long.
Visser One just said, "If we get any closer, we'll all die anyway. This is the best that I can do."
"You're Visser One: do better."
She snarled at me. We may be working together on this one mission, but we still didn't have to like one another. And I still wanted to blow her brains out. I will when we complete the task at hand. That I knew for sure.
The door hissed open and a wave of desert heat hit my face. The sun was far too bright, as well. The Hork-Bajir said, "I will resume cloak and await further instructions here." Visser One nodded.
"The encampment is almost entirely straight ahead," she said.
I didn't move. Not yet. I took something out of my pocket that the old lady bought for me one day. She thought that it would come in handy, and I found that I admired it too much to just disregard it. Besides, now I found a use for it. It was a long, triangular piece of fabric, blue in colour, which I tied around my forehead as a bandana.
After equipping it, I said, "Here are the rules: I make them. This is my mission, my orders and you will do as I say. I am taking full responsibility for the outcome of this mission, is that understood?" I stared at Marco as I said this. I am taking full responsibility. As in, if anything happens to his mother, I am taking full responsibility.
"Perfectly," Visser One responded.
I pointed the Beam at her and added, "And I don't want to hear anything annoying come out of your mouth. You don't have to be conscious for this mission to succeed."
She replied, "I understand. This is your mission. Lead away, Sarah."
((Yeah. Take it away, Lara Croft.)) I couldn't help but smile. It was the first time in days I could do that with him.
While keeping Visser One ahead of me, we walked out of the Fighter. As soon as all three of us were on the desert sand, the ship cloaked and took off. We were alone in a huge desert, and I just realized how little I knew what to do. I haven't led an army in ages. Not to mention this wasn't much of a battle situation: this was a reconnaissance mission. I was to stealthily take my troops into an encampment and quietly rescue my friends. This kind of thing I wasn't good at.
Marco, however, was good at it. He said, ((Sarah, let's start marching. We'll worry about the how after we get there.))
So I made my feet move. Visser One followed, but I made sure she was always slightly ahead of me, so I could keep my eye on her. She carried on her back a sort of pack, which was no doubt filled with desert necessities. After what will be almost a full day of hiking, I figured we'd need some necessities.
The wind of the desert picked up and blew sand in my face constantly. At one point, Marco lingered in the back and informed me to look in the air, where I saw him fly up high in the air as a bird. He would need to adopt a more desert-appropriate bird morph, like a vulture. He must have realized this because when he saw a flock of vultures, he completely veered away from us and went over to them.
"It looks like your friend is getting into the desert mood," Visser One said, panting slightly.
I guessed that, in being a high ranking leader type, she wasn't used to getting down and dirty, so the desert must have been hard to bare. Fortunately for me, I was used to it and the desert almost didn't affect me. Almost. I replied, "I told you not to speak."
"You told me not to talk about anything annoying. I was merely making a point."
"Stop talking. Conserve energy." I was sweating pretty hard, but I wasn't panting. Yet. We had only been hiking for twenty minutes. How were we going to make it?
"We should hike by night. We'll never make it by day."
"Don't give me orders. Visser Three is expecting us to do that. Besides, the sooner we get there, the better. We go by day."
"As you wish." While still walking, she took of her pack and opened it. She took out two water pouches and gave one to me. After putting the pack back on, she said, "Try to conserve that. We'll also need to find a secondary water source."
"I told you not to give orders. I make them, remember? And I already knew this."
Visser One just grinned. I saw Marco flying back towards us as a vulture and hovered just slightly above us. He was within hearing range and he was acting like a vulture. Very good: he knew what he was doing.
I held up my pouch of water, but Marco just said, ((No thanks. I'm surprisingly not that thirsty right now.))
"My host has memories of hiking with her family," Visser One said.
I instantly replied, "I don't care."
She completely ignored me. "One time, they were camping and her son got lost."
"Don't care, don't care, don't care." Just in time, I resisted the urge to look up. I didn't want to hear stories about Marco as a kid. It would be bad for both of us. First of all, I had no right to his mother's stories, and secondly, hearing them from the filthy mouth of a Yeerk would not be good for him.
She still ignored me. "My host spent four hours trying to find him. Of course, this was in a forest as opposed to a desert, but she didn't rest until she found him, shivering by a stream."
((Actually, it was only two hours,)) Marco corrected, sadly. ((And it wasn't by a stream: she found me walking back into the forest.))
"Stop talking!" I yelled. I said this to Marco, but the Visser assumed it was aimed at her. She grinned her annoying, holier-than-thou grin and finally stopped talking. I looked at her. "You will not tell any more stories about your host or her family, is that understood?"
"Yes, ma'am," she said, sarcastically. She knew she was annoying me and she was playing on that. I hated her so much.
The whole exchange cost us more energy, more water and more pain than I wanted us to waste. If we didn't find a secondary water source soon, we would dehydrate in a matter of hours. I looked up at the circling vulture and pointed at my water pouch. I said, "Find an oasis or something!"
((Got it.)) He flapped away from us, not too far, and began looking. By this time, Visser One was panting far too hard to say anything sarcastic. She didn't even bother trying to hide her exhaustion. I was no better off: I sweat off most of the water I had in my body and my legs were hurting big time. My hiking pace had slowed down to less than half what it was when we started.
We were out in this desert for an hour. Probably less than that. It felt like years already. Marco hadn't returned with any news on an oasis. There was no more saliva in my mouth. We had to rest, but there was no shade anywhere. The wind had picked up as well and was flying sand all over the place. I had doomed us all to death, just because I didn't want to listen to Visser One when she suggested we go by night.
She knew what I was thinking. I know she knew, because when she looked at me, despite her exhaustion, she had that smugness about her. I guess you don't get to be Visser One by being stupid, even if she never actually hiked in a desert before.
At long last, just before we collapsed from heat exhaustion, Marco came flying back into view. His voice seemed far off as he said, ((I found a sort of pond a few yards away, over that dune. If you can make it over there, you should be fine.))
I nodded and veered off the course we were walking. Visser One stayed with me. It took us more than ten minutes to get over the dune. All I could think of was how I could have got over it in half the time if I still had my strength. Once we got over it, I saw the pond as well. It looked so beautiful to my eyes, even if it was small and muddy-looking. The path to get to it was almost all downhill, and so I practically slid all the way there. I saw Visser One mimic my movements.
When we approached it, I saw just how small it was. It was no bigger than a small pool and judging by the wet sand surrounding it, it must be evaporating. It looked like a slow process, though, because the dunes surrounding it blocked most of the sun, so at the very least, it was shady here.
Trying not to look weak in front of Visser One, I resisted the urge to dunk my face in the water. Visser One looked equally determined. Marco landed on the other side of the pond and said to me, ((Come on, Sarah. You look like you're going to faint or something. Drink the water. Or are you afraid it's not drinkable? I'll go first.)) He hobbled toward it and put his vulture beak in the water to drink some. ((A little dirty tasting, but not bad.))
"Aren't you going to get some?" Visser One said.
"After you," I replied. Neither of us moved. The way we were thinking was a matter of pride: whoever drank first was weaker. If I went first, my position as leader would be compromised for more than one reason: first, the leader is supposed to water the troops before embellishing, and second, the leader is not supposed to appear weak in front of the troops. On the other hand, if Visser One drank first, her big talk and boasting would no longer hold the same weight, as she could not be taken seriously afterwards.
((What are you guys waiting for? Just drink the water!))
"I guess it's a matter of who can hold out longer," I said. I sat down in the sand, ignoring my body's cries for a taste of the water so close to me mouth. Visser One grinned and sat down across from me, watching me as I did her.
((You two are acting like-))
"There's a change in plans," I interrupted. "We travel by night from now on. So for the remainder of the day, we will rest."
Marco instantly said, ((That's not a good idea. Jake and the others could be dead or worse by then.))
"No choice. You're comfortable in that vulture morph, but the Visser can't morph, and therefore we have to preserve that human body of hers, and the only way to do that is to expose it to as little sun as possible."
"I also suggest we get some sleep." She emphasized the word 'suggest', meaning she was trying to give and order, but was also mocking me because I was the leader.
"You can sleep if you want. I will not."
She smirked at me. I knew she would try not to sleep as well. Resting certainly helped ease the heat exhaustion. The shade helped, as well. After regaining some of our strength, Visser One opened her pack again and took out three plastic containers with food inside. She tossed one to me and Marco. I caught mine and Marco moved over a bit so that his landed softly on the ground in front of him.
"I brought enough for the three of use for about one more day," Visser One explained, taking the top off her container. "Which, by the way, due to the delay now, it will take us almost another day to reach our destination."
I ignored her. I just hoped that Jake and the others would find a way to keep from getting stuck in morph, killed, or captured for that amount of time. I popped the top off my container as well and saw that the Visser had packed a sandwich, cut into two triangles, with bologna and mustard, as well as an apple, a bit mushy from the extreme heat, and a small bag of chips. Ruffled.
I looked up at her with a raised eyebrow and a huge look of confusion. She just smiled, strangely enough, not sarcastically. "I would explain, but you ordered me not to talk about my host anymore."
Marco, instead, decided to explain. ((Mom's specialty was always bologna sandwiches cut in triangles. I liked it.))
"Why doesn't your friend demorph and eat?" the Visser asked, taking a bite of her apple and analyzing Marco. He looked back at her, expressionless, as a bird could do.
I found there was a good way to explain. "Do you know much about Andalites? They don't like deserts, as they eat through their hooves. He would end up absorbing the sand, and that's not good for him. Besides, the lunch you packed could not be eaten by an Andalite." I held up a triangle. "It appears to be something a mouth would be required for."
"Which works perfectly, anyway," Visser One said. "Vultures can eat anything."
((I have to demorph soon. I'll eat quickly and make an excuse to fly off for a few minutes.))
The apple, although a bit dry, still held inside it a bit of moisture that seemed to drain the pride the Visser and I shared. We both went to the pool to drink some water and put some in our pouches for later. I don't remember which of us took the first sip. I don't think it mattered, anyway.
After our lunch, I saw the sun sink in the horizon slightly. I still got no sleep. Marco had already flown off and came back with a fresh two hours on his plate. I felt sorry for him; there was no way to tell time out here, and he couldn't get any sleep even if he wanted it, because he could run the risk of getting stuck as a vulture.
The three of us were very quiet for a very long time before Visser One asked, "Remember the first time we met?"
I rolled my eyes and sighed angrily. "I couldn't forget even if I wanted to."
"I don't think it was a bad meeting."
"You stabbed me in the shoulder to prove I was loyal." I rubbed my shoulder involuntarily.
"Actually, it was more to prove if you would attack me afterward."
"Whatever. I don't want to talk about it anymore." As an after thought I added, "Or anything else with you, either."
"You told me not to talk about my host. Well fine. But I, Visser One, haven't seen you in years. I want to catch up."
"I don't," I snarled. I was still sitting very straight, fighting my eyes to keep them open. Visser One was sitting a ways off, looking very much like she wasn't tired at all. She probably was, but could keep her host from showing it.
She chuckled a bit, and ignored me as usual. "Remember when you were about six or seven and we worked together to take over the Signus system?"
I scoffed. "I didn't have much of a choice there, did I? It was either that or execution. I believe those were the exact choices you gave me."
"You did object, though."
"Visser Three told me to. Then you threatened to drop me off a cliff until he agreed."
"But with your help, we took the planet in a matter of months."
"Wonderful," I muttered sarcastically. I could see Marco looking at me very strangely, even though it was through the eyes of a bird.
It's not like I wanted to, I thought. Then again, it's not like I didn't want to, either. I had no emotions back then. I was completely robotic. I just did what I was told. It wasn't until Elfangor taught me the true ways of the universe that I began to regret everything.
Now talking about what I did in the past hurt, and I didn't want to remember. But the accursed Visser One simply would not shut up. "Remember also the time when -"
"Stop talking, damn it!" I almost shouted. The sun had all but left the sky, and it was almost time to move again. "From now on, you are not allowed to speak unless it's important, or I give you permission. And when you speak, it will have nothing to do with either your host or our past. Is that understood?"
"Perfectly," she said, smirking in a most annoying way.
Marco said, ((We should get going now.))
I nodded and stood up. Visser One rose as well. "We're ready to go again."
"Veering off to this little pond took us off course. We need to get over the dune and waste ten minutes getting back on track.
((How do we even know where to go exactly?)) Marco asked.
I thought he was just talking to me, but then Visser One answered, "I have a device that tells me where I am and where we need to go."
"How does it work?" I asked.
She grinned. She was showing off. "I tagged the human that has the item, so I would always know where he is, in case he got lost."
I held out my hand. "Give me the device. I'm the leader."
She reached into her pocket and took out a small, handheld machine. It kind of looked like a small GameBoy, with a screen and a keypad. She handed it to me and I saw on the screen two flashing dots: one was red and the other was green. Judging by the positions, I assumed we were the red dot.
"Does Visser Three have a device like this?" I asked.
"Of course, but I would like to see him tag me or you or even your friends."
I nodded and, using the device, I managed to navigate us out of the pond area and back on course to our destination. I was still analyzing the machine when I pointed to a white square outline on the screen. Neither of the dots was in it and it was only slightly off course to our destination. "What's this box?" I asked.
Visser One looked over my shoulder. I didn't realize just how much taller she was than me until she did that. "That's a Yeerk Relief Station. The main building is this one, of course, but if a Yeerk was on patrol, or on the lookout, he would go here. It has a Yeerk pool and a small, portable Kandrona, as well."
"We need to avoid that building then," I said. "We should go this way. It'll add another hour or so to the journey, but at least we won't be in range of whoever is looking out there."
"You're the leader," Visser One said, moving away from me and continuing the hike. She sounded like she was going to object or ask something, but she was silent.
Marco said, ((It's getting very dark out. This vulture would rather be in the daytime, mostly because more animals and such die during the day. I need to find a nocturnal morph.))
"Try to find something that could attack if necessary," I suggested.
I heard the hesitation in his 'voice'. ((Why?))
He was worried I would order him to attack his mother. I said, "In case we come across a Hork-Bajir or something."
((Oh.)) He veered away from us again and flapped quite far away.
"Just you and me for a while, huh?" Visser One said.
"That comment was neither important nor said with permission," I retorted. She grinned at me, but said nothing.
It was hours before Marco came back. He actually almost snuck up on me. I didn't hear or see him until I turned around to see him walking behind me. I think he might have been kidding around, but he made no indication of it.
He was actually in a Coyote morph. How he got that close to one, I didn't feel like asking. Either way, it was a perfect morph for night travel. Truth be told, I wanted him in a fighting morph because my night vision isn't as good as it used to be. If we were ambushed by Hork-Bajir, I wanted some alert so I could take aim before getting cut down.
The sun was completely gone now. Only the stars provided light, as did the moon. Unfortunately, the moon was only a crescent, and therefore didn't provide much lighting. The desert, large and overwhelming during the day, was even worse at night. I could hardly see anything except sand and dark shadows. It was also fairly cold, considering it was a desert. The wind blew around us, and sounded like a ghost in the total silence. No animal activity, no movement; nothing.
Now I understood why Visser Three chose a desert for his hidden encampment. It would be so easy to ambush anything out here. ((Kind of eerie, this quiet,)) Marco commented.
"Keep your eyes and ears open," I said, "I feel so much like we're being watched."
"A desert will do that to you," Visser One said.
"What do you know of deserts?"
"More than you'd think."
Maybe it was from lack of sleep, or maybe it was because I was working with Visser One on this mission, or it could even have been because the desert played with my head, but for some reason, I was very tense and anxious. I'm usually relaxed and calm. The desert was huge and mostly unexplored. Maybe I just didn't like something I didn't understand…
