"We're Visser One's kids."
Darwin spoke matter-of-factly. I remained calm, suspicions confirmed. Madra had an odd look on her face, as if Darwin had just told her a patent absurdity.
"No we're not."
"Yes, we are. By a former host."
She looked a little more willing to believe him, but still dubious. "But why would he want to infest you?"
"He who?"
"Visser One."
Seeing the looks of utter incomprehension on both their faces, as if neither was able to understand a single word the other said, I interrupted. "There was a different Visser One before the Andalite-Controller."
"Oh!" Madra remembered. "Marco's mother!"
"That was her host, yeah."
"So we're practically brothers and sister, then," Darwin grinned. "Maybe now you can take that poster down from your wall."
Madra scowled.
"So, there you go. Your turn."
"Wait a minute!" Madra interrupted. "You still haven't said why Visser Whoever wanted you infested."
"Wanted to see if Visser One still loved me."
Madra's face returned to its stupor.
"The Vissers never got along," I hastily tried to summarized. "It's hard to explain."
"Any more distractions?" Darwin leered. "Or can Cassie fulfill her part of the bargain?"
"Go ahead." Madra looked at me, not making eye contact with Darwin.
"Jake, Marco, and Tobias, along with some people I don't know, went off to search for Ax."
"That's better." Darwin made me feel like I was being tested. "Where?"
"Probably where he was seen last."
"Kelbrid space, then. And what did they go off in?"
"A spaceship, I assume?"
"How'd they get it?"
"I don't know."
"Couldn't they just borrow one?" Madra asked. "I mean, who would say no to the Animorphs?"
"Nobody," Darwin replied. "But they'd have to follow procedure. And as soon as word got out that they were planning some rescue mission, it would be front page news. Even when the media moved on to the next story, your friends would still never get off the ground."
I was struck by his accurate description of society.
"But," he added, much more brightly, "if they can acquire a spaceship…covertly…so can you."
"What's covertly?" asked Madra, ingenuously.
"We're going to steal it," he bluntly replied. "With Cassie's help."
I held up my hand warningly. "Oh no. I never said anything about helping you break the law."
"But you're going to." He shrugged as if it was an already-established fact.
"No," I said. "I'm not."
Madra gave Darwin a shrewd glance. "You were saying that Marco and the others had to steal a ship because it would take too long if they tried to get it the normal way?"
"Yep," he nodded.
"Well, we're not famous. So can't we get it the normal way?"
Darwin sighed. "No, because that would involve having lots and lots of money."
"But she does…Maybe she could buy it, loan it to us, then when we came back, we'd give it back, and she could sell it again!"
Darwin gave Madra a look that mixed pity and fear, then turned to me. "Listen, Cassie, we didn't think this through well enough. Could we talk more later?"
"Of course. You know how to call me."
"Okay."
For several moments we stood awkwardly; then Darwin finally blurted, "Look, I need to explain this to Madra…privately."
"Okay, sorry. Just let me call a cab."
Fortunately for all of us, I remembered the number of the service that had gotten me there. We still had to endure an awkward wait while it rushed over, but some of the tension had faded by the time it got there.
"Feel free to call me any time," I waved as I climbed into the taxi. Though no tinted-window limousine, it nonetheless seemed to divide us distinctly. I couldn't bring myself to make eye contact as it drove away.
Darwin knew how probable it was that they would not come back. I didn't know what his motivation was in the first place. If I strained, I could imagine Madra's enthusiasm to save the universe, though not understand it.
But I couldn't come up with anything else to think about on the drive back, so I tried to rationalize what could possibly be in it for him. The desire to protect Madra, perhaps? He didn't seem to have anything else to lose…
I tipped the driver generously when we arrived in the apartment. Somehow, I had gotten mud on my shoes in that pristine suburban atmosphere, but it had dried to dirt that I could knock off against the curb.
I trouped up to my apartment to find Ronnie. Accusatory from the get-go, he raged, "Where were you?"
"Out," I replied, my eyebrows unintentionally raising.
"I figured that. You should at least get a cell phone, that way I know where you are."
I ignored his suggestion. "Did you find the Controllers' names?"
"Oh, no," he said, a little downcast. "Toby didn't have them. But," he brightened, "she said that she'd look into it."
"What's left for me?" I asked quietly.
"What?"
"This project's been taken out of my hands. It was my…No, you're right." Conformity outstripped my apologetic mindset. "Go ahead."
He nodded. "Are you okay?"
I shrugged. "Yeah. Sure. Fine."
"Don't do that again, okay? You scared me."
"Ronnie," I smiled faintly, "I can fend for myself pretty well."
He laughed. "How easily I forget."
He wasn't lying. Ronnie was one of very few people with whom I could truly feel myself. I had no real equals on the planet, everyone who had gone through the war with me being gone, but he didn't hero-worship me like most other people did. He knew me for what I was, flaws and all.
There were few other people who could make that claim. My family, certainly-well, my parents at least. Illim and Tidwell, perhaps? The harder I thought, the worse I felt as I realized how painfully low the number was. Toby and Jara, if they counted.
And yet, sometimes all it took was immaturity. The simplistic attitude of children who thought they could do anything was so much of a change for me that it might have been for the better.