Chapter 10

I dodged, then watched the beam lance into another owl. I heard a thought-speak scream as it vaporized. I did a quick check, and noticed that everyone was still there. Jeff aimed again, firing at three more owls trailing behind us, taking them out in rapid succession before they could cry for help.

((What the heck were those other owls?)) I asked in thought-speak as I landed.

"Next time, Make sure you aren't being followed, because next time I might not be able to get here in time to stop them before they can give away that this is our meeting area." He said stiffly, pocketing the energy weapon.

I began to demorph. I noticed that Aldrea was taking the longest, and I began to worry that she didn't have the strength to demorph.

"Come on, Aldrea. You can do it." I said urgently, crouching beside her and putting a hand on what I assumed was her shoulder. "Focus on being an Andalite. Don't give out on me now!" I said, then continued to say encouraging things as Aldrea ever so slowly demorphed. Finally, after what seemed like five minutes, she was a full Andalite again. She smiled with her eyes before collapsing into unconsciouness from sheer exhaustion.

The next day, Saturday, I headed out to the barn, where we'd made Aldrea as comfortable as we could while she slept. I walked over to her, then knelt beside her. "Are you awake?" I whispered.

One of her stalk eyes cracked open. When she saw me, she groaned in thought-speech.

((How long have I been out?)) she asked.

"Close to fourteen hours. That constant morphing really took a toll. I won't make you go through that ordeal again. I'm sorry I did." I said.

((If I had not morphed and demorphed so much, I would not have lived. Your pushing me to morph and demorph saved my life. There is nothing to apologize for. Thank you for permitting me to rest here.)) she said, getting unsteadily to her feet.

"Okay. Let's get you out of here. I think the Andalite military base is wondering where you are right now." I said, helping her walk to the door of the barn and out. She morphed to kafit bird and flew off. I went back into the house.

Up in my room, I was going through a list of various battles to try and figure out which one I would reenact differently this time. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in." I said. The door opened, and Jeff walked in.

"Hey, man." He said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Sevrak contacted me. Apparently, the Supreme Visser is asking questions about the destruction of all the oatmeal research. He even went so far as to accuse Sevrak of ordering the destruction of the data so as to make the Supreme Visser look bad. Sevrak wants to know if I know anything about the destruction of the research. He says that circumstances are suspicious. Someone apparently morphed me to get into Blackstar Technologies. That same person used my access codes to trigger the self-destruct and try to destroy the data. Then, last night, a group of people infiltrated our other complex at Ardam Industries and used Knight access codes to delete all the data about the oatmeal research. He says that I'm on temporary suspension of duty until such time as the investigation reveals I had nothing to do with it. Sevrak regrets having to take me off-duty, but the Emperor wishes to please Esplin so that the pompous, arrogant Andalite-lover will stop trying to breathe down Sevrak's neck." Jeff said.

"I see. What else is there?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to go in for questioning. Several Knights, including Sevrak, are going to be there to keep Esplin from getting too violent while I'm being questioned." Jeff said.

"Well, good luck." I said.

"You guys are also supposed to come in. Someone said they saw you guys near the room, and so you're under suspicion. The one thing that could save us if the fact that there actually aren't any security cameras in the area; the Yeerks are confident that nothing could get into the building undetected, so they don't bother much with internal security. There'd be no proof that we were near the terminal. In fact, I made holographic projections of you guys with me so that the people who saw me also saw you guys. The logical conclusion is that people used morphing technology to impersonate you guys to try and cast doubt on me. Hopefully the Supreme Visser reaches that same conclusion."

"What time do we need to go in?" I asked.

"Three hours from now." Jeff said.

"Hey, Jeff, I've got a question: could you rig our morph-log chips to give us Class Five Unlimited clearance? We were hard-pressed to take on those Javrakari; Aldrea and Jarad nearly got killed. We need alien morphs."

"I'll do it. I just need a computer equipped with a wireless uplink unit to tap into the chips' processors." Jeff said. "Just let the others know about the questioning."

"I'll call them and let them know. Why don't you go let Kendra know?" I said, pulling out my cell phone and typing in Jarad's cell phone number as Jeff left. After letting Jarad know, I told him to tell Laurie and then call Darren and let him know. Next, I contacted Aldrea to let her know.

((We have to go in for questioning at the hands of the Supreme Visser? Does Jeff seriously think we'll live through that?)) she asked.

"Several Knights are going to be there to restrain him and make sure there is no permanent damage done, which pretty much just means he won't kill us since morphing would render any severe injuries moot points." I said. "Sevrak alone looks like he could handle three full-grown Hork-Bajir by himself. We're not going to die."

((I trust you, but I must ask if you have any idea of how big of a risk this is. The chances that one of us would crack under the torture are substantial.))

"The Yeerks will just get more suspicious if we don't show up. However, if we do show up, that will make them think we don't have anything to hide. The others are coming here so that we can get a story straight."

((Very well.)) Aldrea said, then signed off.