Chapter eleven

"Hey. Hey Jake, wake up."

I opened my eyes, trying to remember where I was. It wasn't the Researcher. No, we were still in the restaurant. With a few Cryhalis and other travelers, making way toward a zoo that would have some humans and Andalites captive.

I looked toward Marco, then Ax. Ax in human morph.

"It's okay," Marco said, glancing over at Ax. "He went into the bathroom earlier, no worries there. You had a long night and we were thinking maybe it could be someone else's turn for a while."

"How long was I out?"

Marco laughed and rested at the wall next to me. "Twelve hours. Ax and I split some small nap shifts and let you crash – you seemed pretty fatigue. We'd talk, or he'd go and try to find out something about how things are run here."

I felt guilt creeping somewhere deep inside me, but I shrugged it off, continuing to talk. "How has Ax been getting sleep, anyway?"

"Just.. make sure he doesn't sleep over about an hour and a half, or an hour and forty-five minutes. He's been starting to get a bit grumpy. But I mean, he knows there isn't much we can do about it until we're back on a spacecraft somewhere."

"I'm sure it bugs him, you know, having to spend so much time in human morph lately."

Marco trailed off, leaned back with one hand propped up on his knee.

I lowered my voice and leaned forward a little. "So, what did you guys find out?"

Marco glanced at me, then back down, trying to look like he was talking about something boring instead of really talking to me. I settled back and closed my eyes, pretending to nap again. "I don't know, Jake. It sounds like the Cryhalis had a bad run with local space-faring people and have for a few... well, a few human centuries. People coming in, taking their resources, making arrangements that they'd back down on. So they've sort of... I don't know. Frozen up. Stagnated. Don't have enough control over their own economy, lots of other problems.

"Anyway. That and a few other issues have led to a fairly big underground market, which is a lot of what happens when dealing with under-the-table purchases like the translator chips."

He stopped talking.

"And the Kelbrid? The people we're trying to help? What about where the zoo is?"

"Calm down," Marco laughed, "We're going in the right direction for the zoo, and if we morph and leave at dusk we'll have a period perfectly open for flying over – but we'll have to hurry because of the short period we can tolerate the weather. It's going to get really cold."

"Great. Something to look forward to. Anything else?"

Marco glanced over at Ax, then looked back at me. "The Kelbrid have heard about the Andalites and humans on the prototype ship. So we might have to try to, you know, get everyone out and running before the Kelbrid get here. They're most of the way over to the planet already."

"Interesting. So they don't have people stationed on these territories, or whatever, like the British empire or anything."

"Apparently not. It's probably too expensive and widespread, honestly. This isn't exactly being spread out on a few different continents."

I contemplated the situation. It was too hot to travel now, and it would be for quite a few hours – about two days, if I'd really slept twelve hours. The Kelbrid wouldn't have any such limitation – if they got to the planet's orbit in two days they would know exactly where the zoo would be.

Bright side: Usually Z-Space exiting didn't leave you hours from a planet. It was more likely they would end up a few days or weeks from the planet. If that happened, we'd have plenty of time. Except for the claim that they were already mostly here.

"How do the Cryhalis and other people here feel about the Kelbrid, Marco?"

"It seems to range from neutral to unfavorable. They're scared of them, though. So we can't exactly walk around hoping for allies."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "Thanks for keeping it up, Marco."

Marco looked at me. "We're holding out for now, Jake, but you need to get it together at least a bit. You've been slacking off. Falling asleep without telling us – in the middle of a mission. Freezing up."

"So? I also was the one who checked for a building. Found us shelter for the next few... Well, the next day."

"Yeah. After we'd already almost gone out and killed ourselves without having a plan. I mean, you're not the main strategist, but we do need you at least to be keeping up. We left Tobias behind which means the Researcher might be in trouble. We know Leah is in trouble. Everyone's here to help, but you're the boss. You need to be doing your thing. Making plans, leading us out of the hole we've dug ourselves into."

"Marco," I snapped, starting to get irritated. "I got us here. I got us here, we're safe, everything's on schedule."

I didn't know if it was true, but I needed to believe it. We'd get everyone out. Everyone would be okay. With luck, even the Researcher would be fine.

"Look, fine. I froze up a bit, I messed up. But everything is still going more or less like we planned. Okay? I can't deal with this." I leaned my head back again, glancing over at Ax. He had been talking to a few Cryhalis during our own conversation, but he was just starting to walk back over to us, taking a seat at my other side, also leaning against the wall.

Marco looked at me like he was going to say something. I almost wished he would. But then he looked resigned and let whatever was on his mind go.

Things weren't going the way I had planned them. I knew that. And I knew that Marco wanted to tell me I wasn't doing my job right, and that there were things I needed to fix. But this wasn't my home field. I needed time. Or maybe Ax needed to do more of the leading than he had been. Either way, we weren't at a complete loss. So far we'd managed to accomplish our goals.

"Prince Jake -," Ax started

"As if," Marco muttered under his breath. I ignored him.

"We have about forty-eight hours before it cools down enough for us to make our way to the zoo. The direction will be northeast from our present location, with about thirty miles. Using our owl morphs, we should be able to rapidly cover the distance."

"Sounds good. Do you know anything about zoo security?"

Ax shook his head. "No one here works for the zoo, they attend only to this facility – or are travelers who could not get across before the heat became too much. There are a few places like this that serve as halfway houses for those who otherwise would end up stuck on the Plate. The security, however, does not seem particularly problematic. But... Prince Jake, they have the prototype spacecraft."

Marco and I took this in a bit slow. "Wait," Marco said, "Like it's intact?"

Ax nodded.

"Jake," Marco hissed at me, "We need to get that ship. Other than the supplies, we shouldn't be advertising new human and Andalite technology. The Kelbrid will want it – our thing in comparison's a clunker."

Marco was right, of course. Always the perceptive one.

"How are we going to do that? It's not in working condition, is it?"

Marco shrugged. "I don't know how, but it has to happen. Besides, we might not have much choice – who knows how much of a ship we'll have by the time we get back?"

"Prince Jake, I have to agree. Our ship was not located at a substantial distance – we may have more hope using the spacecraft these prisoners came from over recovering our own."

He was fairly careful to avoid the topic of Tobias, or Leah. I wasn't exactly sure what his opinion was on the matter, or why he wasn't taking more responsibility for himself. Or leading, since space in general was his expertise.

I shrugged it off. "One thing at a time. We'll have to rescue the people first, then worry about the spacecraft. They might know what was wrong with it in the first place. Then we'll worry about our ship, Leah, and Tobias. And," I added, "I'm sure our ship is fine. It was somewhat close but it was still pretty inconveniently placed. Trading an Andalite ship for a human ship would be a good idea overall, though. They'll probably have better food, and if we're lucky? Some entertainment."

Ax definitely looked put off by the last statement. Though he wasn't about to deny the superiority of human food.

I looked around our accommodations. The strange chairs meant for bodies radically different than a human's body. The tap for water was fairly normal – basic physics hadn't changed. There wasn't a real air conditioning system, and it had gotten warmer throughout the day the longer the rock had been heated above us by the cruel sun. The people around us added to the stifling feeling that existed with or without the heat.

We weren't tinged with delirium anymore, but I was nowhere near feeling comfortable. Still, nothing I could do, or say. According to Ax, the ground temperature was almost high enough to boil our blood. I was stuck, here, beyond my control.

"Okay," I said, "We're not finding anything else out today, and no one here is really for or against us. But no one is out to hurt us, either. You two go ahead and sleep a while, I'll stay up this time."

I sat up as they both rested their heads back against the wall. They fell asleep fast – something we'd gotten accustomed to, having to watch each other while others went ahead and fell asleep. I looked at the Cryhalis around me – Jane noticed me, gave a slight wave and gestured at a glass. When I didn't respond she shrugged and continued cleaning.

There wasn't a lot to do around me. Nothing human, nothing familiar. No one I could even speak with unless I morphed, and my morphs would often be unnecessary. Marco and Ax, asleep. Leah and Tobias? Probably both working, one less voluntary than the other.

My gut told me the Researcher was probably safe. Marco and Ax were less sure, but I knew the dust storms weren't exactly encouraging to the people living here – especially during the heat of the day.

I hadn't heard anything of The One, but everything of the Kelbrid. No one seemed very aware of the first thing. I guessed the planet was too hot and it didn't have a hold here. And, though we didn't want to get in the way of the Kelbrid I hoped this would be an opportunity to warn them, if they didn't know, about the parasite that was probably spending time in their system. Unless the Kelbrid were already involved at an overwhelming level – a possibility for a group that shied away from sharing knowledge and communication.

Maybe someone else would know. Marco, Ax, or Tobias.

Until then, I'd have a few hours.

I had time to think.