Rachel, Marco, Ax, Erek, and Tobias were positioned around the dining room table. Rachel and Marco were eating cold slices of cheese pizza. The gray light of dawn trickled through the window, reminding them all how late they had been up.
(An estimated eighteen hours remain to find a solution.) Ax said.
"Eighteen hours to save the world." Marco groaned. "I need some sleep."
"Actually," Erek announced. "Our figures suggest that the monster population doesn't grow steadily. It leaps every night at the full moon. So six o'clock tonight can be consider the point of no return for Earth, when the monsters have not actually overrun Earth, but their doing so is inevitable."
"I'm too tired for math." Marco groaned
(Quit whining.) Tobias snarled. He had ended up watching the barn all night, since Ax had failed to relive him. Tobias obviously needed his sleep.
(I revise: An estimated twelve hours remain to find a solution.) Ax said.
"I think we should be searching for a way to repair the mutated DNA." Erek suggested.
"Well if you can magically find a solution in twelve hours, please do." Rachel sneered. "Otherwise, we should be realistic and find a way to exterminate these monsters!"
"You should be realistic-" Erek started, then got a startled look on his face. "Does anybody hear that?"
"Hear what?" Rachel demanded.
"No, of course you don't hear it." Erek said. "Turn on the TV!"
Marco walked skeptically over to the counter and turned on the television.
(Aahh!) Tobias yelped. Everyone else winced as a high-pitched squeaking erupted from the television.
"They've started the gathering!" Erek yelled over the noise, changing the channels rapidly. Every station was emitting the same noise. Only he could detect the subtle slight differences in the sound. "They've hijacked your satellites orbiting Earth! Each one is transmitting a location for the dogs to go to!"
"Wait, wait, go back!" Rachel said. She thought she had seen the flash of a picture between static stations.
Erek flipped a few stations back, and looked in amazement at the television. There was a flickering picture of a man in a suit on the screen. He was yelling to be heard over the high pitched noise in the background.
"-you saying, Gladys?" He yelled. "What's wrong with the signal? Not our signal? Ours is the only- We're still broadcasting?"
He turned to face the screen, and plastered a smile on his face. "Good morning, viewers!"
"There seems to be a global incident!" He yelled. "Concerning our planets communications! On every station in the world except for ours, there is a mysterious high-pitched signal!"
His voice dropped. "Gladys, what the hell is this high-pitched signal?"
There was a pause.
"I don't care if the government wants to use our channel! I need to tell our viewers something!"
There was another pause.
"We are the only newstation broadcasting right now!" He yelled. "I have about a billion people watching me right now, this is my big break! Tell those (Bleep!) government (Bleep!) to go (Bleep!) themselves!"
(What do those bleeping noises represent?) Ax asked curiously.
A darkly dressed man walked onto the screen and grabbed the newscaster by his shoulder, yanking him roughly off the screen.
"They represent the end of his career." Rachel said.
A few seconds later, another man sat down in the chair. "This is an official announcement: Do not attempt to use any communication device. They are all off-line due to technical difficulties with the satellites. Your government has this under control."
Erek got a sick look on his face. "What if the yeerks find out about this?"
(How can they not?) Tobias said. (It's pretty hard to miss.)
"I wonder where they're broadcasting from." Erek said worriedly. "Only the Pemalite ship and our transmitter here is powerful enough to pull this off. But if they have the Pemalite ship in an unsecured area, the yeerks could track-"
"Through this station, we have received news from the International Space Station. Their story will seem incredible, but they have live footage to back it up." The man said. He leaned towards the camera, and the screen switched to a black backdrop.
"Five bucks say the yeerks found the Opnyso." Marco said quickly.
Erek looked at Marco, and Rachel glared at him reprovingly. But when Erek turned around, Rachel quietly placed a five-dollar bill on the table.
"Oh my God, Janet, look a this!" A voice whispered from behind the camera. "You're never gonna believe this!"
The camera swung around for a second, and they saw a briefly flash of a floating woman pulling herself towards the camera. Then the screen turned back to the porthole, where an amazing scene was unfolding.
The Opnyso was hanging in space, like some giant green dog. Crawling all over the surface and conjuring up un avoidable images of fleas were the Chee, attaching numerous satellite dishes to the ship's head.
"What the hell are those things doing?" A man yelled from somewhere. Apparently, all of the astronauts had abandoned whatever they were doing.
(I see the bleeping noise was not used this time.) Ax said smugly, having figured out on his own what the sound meant.
Rachel smirked and picked up the ten dollars, when a Bugfighter rocketed dangerously close to the porthole. There was a yelp, and the camera jumped backwards. "What was that?"
TSEWW! TSEEW!
A red beam sliced into the Opnyso, and Chee began tumbling off into outerspace. Erek cried out, and Marco triumphantly snatched the money out of Rachel's hand.
"Come on, green dog spaceship!" One of the astronauts yelled.
"Those robot punks were stealing our satellites! Get em' bugs!" Another yelled.
The Animorphs were taken aback for a second, before realizing he was referring to the shape of the bugfighter.
"Can't we do anything?" The cameraman asked desperately.
"We shouldn't get involved!" The astronaut Janet said. "We don't know who the bad guys are!"
"Neither do I." Marco muttered darkly. Erek whirled around and gave Marco a look that said that he should be happy Erek didn't have the Pemalite crystal right now.
Suddenly, the man from the newstation appeared on the screen again. "Take no action against anyone!"
The screen flickered back to the space station. "You'd better tell that to John, he's trying to use the canadarm-"
The screen flipped back to the man. "Stop him!"
The screen flipped back to the ISS, and it showed the camera pointing at the floor and bouncing up and down. The cameraman was running for John, it seemed.
(Why do we keep seeing that yelling man instead of your primitive space dwelling? Isn't your planet interested in this?) Ax asked.
(The Chee took down all of the other satellites.) Tobias explained. (We only have one channel to transmit information on. When that government guy wants to talk, he has to bring the station back to himself.)
(That is a typically primitive system.) Ax said. Then he burst into laughter.
The camera was position behind a man, who was holding a joystick. Out of the window, a large robotic arm was moving through it's warm-up sequences.
(Does this John person plan to attack the bugfighters using that?) Ax laughed. (I know that even humans cannot be that primitive.)
"It was supposed to be a peaceful vessel." Erek said coldly. "It was designed purposefully without weapons."
(That will certainly be very useful to them when they are blasted to their constituent atoms.) Ax said.
"John!" Janet yelled. The camera turned, and showed her racing up the corridor. "How do you know what the bugs are doing? Maybe they're saving us!"
"Hey, guys, they're changing back!" Jake yelled unexpectedly from the basement.
Jake had been watching Cassie and the vampire girl for the last fifty minutes. They were now on their way back to human, and both had some serious explaining to do.
Everyone at the table looked at the basement door, then looked at the TV.
"Go." Erek rolled his eyes and picked up the TV, transferring the plug from the outlet to a socket in his chest.
Everyone piled into the elevator, eyes glued to the TV. John and Janet were busy wrestling with the joystick.
"This would kill as a TV show." Marco commented.
"That one's aiming straight for us!" The cameraman yelled, pointing to a bugfighter rocketing towards them. "Still against attacking them?"
Janet quickly decided that the 'bugs' deserved no better treatment than their earthly counterparts, and gave John control of the joystick. "Squish 'em."
John yanked the joystick to the right, and the canadarm connected with the bugfighter like a bat hitting a baseball. The outer shell of the bugfighter ripped open, and two Taxxons spilled into outerspace, legs wiggling in agony. The wreckage spiraled off into the distance.
"What was that?" Rachel exploded. "Don't bugfighters have shields and stuff?"
(Yes, they do.) Ax said. (But they are only to guard against energy assaults. In space fights, it is rare to make physical contact with anything anymore. Long ago, my ancestors battled with missiles, and could protect against them quite well. In recent times, shielding a ship from physical attacks would not be cost effective.)
"So the yeerks are being cheap?" Marco laughed.
(Actually, I do not think the yeerks were anticipating such a crude assault.) Ax said.
TSEEW! TSEEW! TSEEW! TSEEW!
Two Bugfighter blew past the viewport, firing angrily. The canadarm intercepted one of them, and the belly of the bugfighter sliced open. But the space station was damaged just as badly.
(Your space station does not happen to have shielding, does it?) Ax asked sadly.
(Not really.) Tobias said, as screen was bathed in red emergency light. (They're running on backup power now.)
"I'm killing the lights!" Somebody yelled, and the screen went dark. The voices of panicking astronauts could still be heard.
The screen was briefly illuminated by an explosion outside of the window, and the astronauts cheered.
"I think I can draw some of the bugfighters away." Erek said, heading towards the main tree. Jake ran past him, glancing quickly at the TV in his hands.
"They've changed back." Jake gasped, his hands on his knees. "But something's up with Cassie, she's a wolf."
Rachel marched over to holding area, and saw a wolf sitting where the werewolf used to be.
"Cassie?" Rachel demanded. The wolf growled.
Jake grabbed Ax and shook him roughly. "What's wrong with Cassie?'
Ax, with applaudable restraint, pushed Jake away gently. (The Escafil technology was never meant to be used in conjunction with other Zero-space technology. We have a strict prohibition of morphing during the Z-Space leap upon our spaceships.)
"What are you trying to say?" Rachel snarled.
(When the Chee's virus transformation took effect, was Cassie in wolf morph?) Ax asked.
Rachel remembered that Cassie was supposed to have been morphing a wolf, and nodded.
(Tobias said that Cassie was in wolf morph when she was attacked by the werewolf.) Ax said. (Z-space is inherently unpredictable. During the incompatible matter transferences, it may be possible that Cassie was 'lost in the shuffle', so to speak.)
"What can we do about it?" Jake asked.
(There is nothing we can do about it.) Ax said calmly. (All that remains of the process is this wolf.)
"That's it?" Rachel yelled. "She's just gone?"
(Cassie was the victim of unfortunate-) Ax started
Rachel slugged him in the face, and Ax yelled, grabbing his nose. A blue liquid poured between his fingers.
"Everything is your fault!" She yelled, while Ax stared at her speechlessly. "And not just you, every damn alien that ever decided to come to Earth! The Yeerks, the Chee, and your stupid brother most of all!"
FWAPP!
(Elfangor is not stupid.) Ax said angrily, his tail blade an inch from her neck. (I should remove your head for such a remark!)
Jake stepped between Rachel and Ax's tail, looking uncomfortable. "Rachel is just trying to pick a fight. Ax, lower your tail."
(I will not tolerate such blatantly disrespectful comments about my brother!) Ax snapped.
"So you're not going to listen to me. Your Prince." Jake said.
(On my homeworld, we have a saying: Obedience before pleasure, and honor before obedience.) Ax said. (So with all due respect, Prince Jake, no I am not.)
Jake threw up his hands and stepped backwards. "Fine! Kill each other. See if I care!"
Fortunately, they didn't get a chance to. An ear-splitting, eardrum-bursting whine exploded through the basement.
(AHHH!) Tobias screamed, falling from the air and twitching on the ground.
Ax grabbed his ears and accidentally sliced into Rachel's shoulder. Jake fell to his knees.
There was a click, and the whine dropped to a bearable level, but everyone felt their skin tingling.
"Sorry!" Erek yelled, peering out from behind the tree. "That was the transmitter. I turned it on to the same station as the Pemalite Ship, and the transmitter here is more powerful. The yeerks should lock on to our signal and leave the ISS and the Opnyso alone."
"That's nice and all," Marco yelled back. "But doesn't that mean the yeerks are going to be coming here?"
"Yeah." Erek said. "But at least the other Chee and those poor astronauts are safe."
"But we're not!" Marco yelled.
There was a loud rumbling noise above them.
(What was that?) Tobias asked nervously.
"I think that was the house being stormed by yeerk troops." Erek said. "That was fast."
"Erek!" Rachel and Jake yelled at the same time.
"We're about a mile underground." Erek reassured them. "And the basement ceiling is made out of reinforced Pemalite biometal. It would take them weeks to get down here."
The elevator made an unexpected dinging noise, and climbed upwards to pick up some passengers.
"Or they could just take the elevator!" Marco yelled.
"But-" Erek stammered. "How'd they guess the security code?"
"Erek, when this is over, we are going to have a long, long talk about your fixation on the number six." Marco said.