VEXIC'S POV- Rescue mission
I was swimming my hundredth lap around the small area; I assumed it was a sink or a tub of some sort, when something warm closed around me. I recognized the smell as the scent of Aximili's human morph. What was going on? I used my sonar to get a picture. What I "saw" stunned me. It was an opening. He wanted me to infest him? I hesitated.
/Vexic I know you're confused but I don't have time to explain right now. Just do it.\\ His thought-speak voice was hard, determined.
I slid off his palm and into the ear canal. It was definitely human, so that meant he hadn't morphed back yet. I pushed things aside, probing further anesthetizing the ear canal as I went along. Then I reached what I'd been searching for, the brain. I spread myself thin over the entire surface of it fitting myself perfectly to its contours, connecting to neurons and synapses. I was in control. I then became aware of the mind I was controlling, and it was unlike anything I'd ever experienced.
I'd experienced the barely sentient mind of a Gedd, the dull incomprehension of a Hork-Bajir, the minds of several rebellious humans. This was new. I had never had a host that could best me for control, but I was sure if he tried this Andalite would put up one hell of a struggle. His mind was razor sharp, reasoning, logical, strategy-oriented. At the same time it was many other things too, creative, adaptable, and to my surprise optimistic. That optimism was marred by something however.
/Vexic!\\ Aximilli was trying to bring my attention back to the matter at hand, half exasperated, half amused.
/Yeah. I got it. What's-\\ When he knew I was aware enough to comprehend he bombarded me with images.
"You're not coming with us Ax." I felt my face go blank with shock.
"Why? What have I done?" There was a hint of an apology in his eyes now.
"Until the situation with this Yeerk-"
"Vexic." I said dully.
"Fine. Until the situation with Vexic can be resolved we're not sure we can count on you in a fight." I looked down so he would not see how much his words had affected me.
"Very well Prince Jake."
"Sorry Ax but you made a choice." Then he turned on his heel and left, the others following behind him more slowly.
/Ax . . .\\ Tobias began.
/Go.\\ I said the barely repressed anger and hurt tingeing my voice now. He did. I barely had time to recover before he threw another one at me.
"It's not much but it will probably keep you from pacing like a caged panther." He left the room. I looked down and saw that he had handed me a Yeerk hand-held computer. He was right. It did make me feel marginally better to have access to what was going on while the others were fighting. With a little effort I managed to hack into the Yeerk mainframe. I skimmed through the database. Most of it was status reports, lists of hosted and unhosted Yeerks, and other such trivial things but as I watched my fascination turned to horror. I checked the new report again making sure I had not misunderstood. No it was exactly what I had thought it had said. The others had been captured in morph attempting to sabotage a new project and were awaiting the Visser's arrival to Earth.
Dread washed through me. The Visser. The others would not last long if he were their torturer. The images did not stop there however.
It would take him how long to reach Earth in a Bug fighter? Thirty minutes, maybe less. I was struck with how hopeless the situation was. There was no way I could get to them in time and what could one Andalite do against a battalion of Hork-Bajir? I would have to bypass security without being seen for a start and then . . . I had an idea. Why hadn't I thought of it before?
I set the hand held computer down on the table and strode over to the sink, not giving myself time to think about what I was about to do. I stuck my hand in the water, scooped up Vexic, and brought her swiftly to my ear.
The flood of images stopped so abruptly it almost made me dizzy. I now understood his urgency. If the others weren't rescued soon they'd all be dead or controllers. His idea was brilliant in its simplicity.
/You're right. They won't be expecting this avenue of approach at all. And even if they did they would think you couldn't pull it off. There's only one Andalite Bandit still free after all.\\ I shook my head. /Brilliant.\\
He said nothing but I felt his happiness at my praise. Laura walked in the room at that moment.
"Um Ax or Aximilli or whatever you like to be called, Erek sent me in here to check on you." She measured the expression on my, our face.
"Not good?" I walked over to her and handed her the hand-held computer. She scanned the message and understanding filled her face.
"Vexic." She breathed. I nodded.
"Tell Erek and Mr. King where we are." And then an idea occurred to me. It would get me demoted but if I did it right I would still be alive after all was said and done. I made Aximilli demorph. I felt his confusion but ignored it for the time being. When he was fully Andalite I reached out and took Laura's hand. I focused my hardest and was gratified when I felt her DNA pattern join many others in Aximilli's bloodstream. I could almost hear it when he got what I was going to do. He laughed aloud.
/You're going to waltz right in there and free them! You'll be caught on camera demorphing so you aren't accused of being a traitor and killed but . . .\\ He was lost for words.
/Very impressive.\\ He said finally. I felt my spirits lift.
/Thanks. Now let's go.\\
/Agreed.\\ I strode toward the door not waiting for Laura to come out of the acquiring trance. Despite the situation I could not contain my joy when we soared into the night. I could see and hear everything. Aximilli gave me the mental equivalent of an amused head shake.
/I enjoy flying as well, but is now necessarily the time?\\ I would have blushed if the body of the Northern Harrier had permitted such an action.
/Sorry.\\ We flew the rest of the way in silence. We both tensed a little as we landed outside the mall. Making sure no one was around we began to demorph, then morph Human. When the changes were done I straightened examining the tight brown tank top and form fitting denim shorts that clothed this body.
/Well at least I have clothes on.\\ I muttered. It was early evening now. It was a shock to realize that only hours ago what I was doing now would have seemed traitorous to me. Now it seemed like the only thing I could do, like it was inevitable. I stopped at the GAP. I perused the racks, quickly selecting a nondescript green T-shirt. I stopped in front of the bored looking receptionist.
"Um . . . which dressing room do I try this on in?" Aximilli was confused. He thought surely I knew which dressing room the entrance was located in. I shushed him.
"Dressing room four but could I have your number for our mailing list?" She handed me a sheet of paper. The poor Andalite was thoroughly lost.
/Its code.\\ I explained. /A human will put down their name and phone number. One of us would know to put down their designation and what pool they're from.\\ I took the pen she handed me and scrawled;
'Vexic 929 of the Sulp Niar pool.' I handed the paper back to the receptionist. She looked it over and then smiled.
"Have a nice day ma'am." I nodded and headed to the dressing room. Once inside I hung the green shirt on the return rack. I went over to the deceptively innocent looking mirror and, finding the hinges easily after much practice, opened it. Four other people waited just inside. The entrance swung closed behind me and one of them glanced at me.
"Sub-Visser!" She exclaimed, dropping her gaze immediately. The other three tensed slightly. I have that kind of effect on people.
"Elness." I replied dryly. Aximilli laughed, enjoying the other Yeerk's discomfort. "So is it true?" I asked, feigning nonchalance.
"Yes Sub-Visser, the Andalites were captured trying to attack the new pool entrance." There were only two now and they were still not looking at me. I forced a laugh.
"It's about time. Have any of them demorphed yet?"
"Not yet." I shrugged keeping the relief off my face. Then the Gleetbiofilter swished open again and the last male before Elness and I stepped in. We waited. The doors opened once more and Elness stepped through.
/This is it.\\ Aximilli said tersely. The doors swung open yet again.
/Showtime.\\ I muttered, and stepped through.
I walked down yet another corridor. I knew when I had come to the right one when I saw the band of Hork-Bajir and human-controllers guarding the entrance to a large steel door at the end of the hall. They straightened as I approached showing the respect and fear warranted a Sub-Visser. One of the Human-controllers, his host a middle aged male, stepped forward.
"I'm sorry Sub-Visser but Visser Three ordered that anyone attempting to gain entrance to this corridor be scanned." He was uneasy. I let some of the irritation I was feeling show on my face. I sighed, exasperated.
"Very well." I made a show of tapping my foot impatiently while the scanner processed its readings. Then the screen flickered and turned green. Positive. I raised an eyebrow at the nervous man.
"Satisfied?" I asked coldly. He nodded and averted his eyes. I addressed them all in my best 'Sub-Visser' voice.
"The Andalites refuse to demorph correct?" They all nodded. I smirked and continued; "I have orders from the Visser to see that they are persuaded to do so." I saw a small shiver run through the crowd. I turned my gaze back to the nervous man.
"If you would be so kind as to let me through." He nodded and fumbled in his pockets until he found the key card. He slid it through. The indicator light above the door turned from red to green and the door swung open. I strode past them without another glance. After we were a safe distance away Aximilli snickered.
/Have I ever mentioned how incredible you are Vexic?\\ I felt a jolt of surprise followed by immediate unthinking pleasure.
/Um no . . .?\\
/Well now I have.\\ I waited until I was sure there was at least one camera watching my progress down the corridor, then began to demorph. There were three more Hork-Bajir at the end of this corridor. They were considerably more relaxed than the others we had seen. Of course they would be. Anyone who had gotten this far had to be one of them and therefore no danger. I felt a sudden twinge of guilt. I was one of them, and I would have to kill them for doing what I would have done only yesterday. I gave Aximilli back control of his limbs. I didn't have time to learn how to tailfight, best to leave that to those with more experience.
The Hork-Bajir straightened when they heard our approach. Then they saw that the Andalite standing in front of them was not the Visser and stared disbelievingly.
/Hello boys.\\ And with that he struck. The first one was down before he had time to recover from the shock. The second reacted to Aximilli's expert swing poorly and met the same fate as the first. The third was trying to unholster his Dracon beam. He subsequently lost an arm before he lost his head. Aximilli wanted to be going right away but I seized control again bending to pick up the Hork-Bajir's Dracon beam. It would be awkward to use, as it had been made for Hork-Bajir hands, but I had definitely handled worse. I retrieved the key card from the Hork-Bajir first dispatched. I slid it through and waited. The light turned green.
The room was large and at its center was a huge cage flanked by two burly Hork-Bajir. Inside the cage a tiger paced, agitated. A wolf watched the tiger with something like concern in its black eyes. A bear slammed itself into the side of the cage repeatedly. A gorilla sat staring at the wall, a hawk perched on its shoulders. Everyone looked up as I entered the room. I gave Aximilli back partial control and I leveled the Dracon beam at one of the Hork-Bajir as he arched his tail threateningly.
/Now,\\ I said. /You can leave, or you can join them.\\ I inclined my head toward the remains of the three Hork-Bajir. They left, running past me. I smirked and leveled the Dracon beam at the automated lock on the cage. It emitted a shower of sparks and a pillar of smoke and then the door of the cage opened. The animals leapt, flew, or lumbered from the cage with cries of;
/AX!\\ Tobias.
/Whoa man are we glad to see you!\\ Marco.
/You took out three Hork-Bajir? On your own? Are you okay?\\ Cassie.
/Nice job. Have I ever mentioned how awesome Andalites are?\\ Rachel. I let Aximilli speak, not wanting to explain just yet.
/I am unharmed.\\ he said. /However we must hurry. The Visser is on his way and I do not believe we want to witness his displeasure at your escape.\\ There was a general murmur of agreement. We set off down the corridor again this time followed by a tiger, a bear, a gorilla, a wolf and a hawk.
/Ax about what I said earlier . . .\\ Jake said privately, sounding abashed.
/It is quite alright Prince Jake.\\ he said.
/No Ax its not. I mean I was an idiot. It was just prejudice on my part. I'm sorry.\\
/Very well but if you had allowed me to come along I too would have been captured. I believe the human phrase is 'it all worked out for the best'?\\ Jake laughed.
/Yeah I suppose you're right. When we get out of here you've got to fill us in on this story. I bet it's a doozy.\\ He laughed.
/Yes it is Prince Jake. Quite a doozy.\\
