I know that I've had quite some time already to process all that just happened to me, but I still feel like I'm in some sort of unreal dream state. But there was no denying what was right in front of me now. I was standing beside a real live Hork-Bajir! The Hork-Bajir were my absolute favorite species of all time (over even the Yeerks, believe it or not!) and not just because I always felt like they were sort of the underappreciated species to come out of the Yeerk invasion. I already said that I loved the Hork-Bajir for being the big lovable dolts underneath all of those blades, and I've come to love and appreciate the bladed bastards the more I found out about their story from their sentience to their being enslaved by the Yeerks to ending up here on Earth. Now is probably not the time to mention that when I first read about the Hork-Bajir, saw how they had been described, I initially imagined them to be like Gungans with blades. Yeah, you read that right. Gungans like Jar Jar Binks with blades. (Shout-out for some Prequel Trilogy love, yeah!)
And now here I was, standing beside not just any old Hork-Bajir but the one and only Shal Gurree, the Hork-Bajir Sniper himself. It was practically a dream come true. I wouldn't necessarily call Shal an idol of mine but he's certainly up there with the other people that I admire like Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Reagan, John Hancock, Nathan Hale and Martin Van Buren (MVB need some love, yo). And to think that I'd never thought I would ever be standing beside not just any Hork-Bajir but a Hork-Bajir that I really looked up to. One of the things I liked about Shal Gurree was that he didn't make himself out to be some sort of hero. He just goes and does his job like it's nothing, and that is what makes him a really good guy in my book, so to just be standing near him was just so incredible for me. You can't tell at the moment just by looking at me, but inside I was absolutely squeeing like a fangirl over Shal Gurree because I was indeed fangirling over Shal Gurree right at that moment. It was taking both the sheer force of my willpower and some gentle dissuading from Yemra to stop me from reaching out and touching Shal's bicep even though it was just within arm's reach of me. Instead I just settled for sitting there and staring at Shal like I had never seen a Hork-Bajir before.
"Please stop," Shal Gurree suddenly said, shaking me out of my awestruck reverie. "No look at Shal, please. I cannot ebewed."
Girl, you're creeping him out, Yemra told me. The dude can't concentrate on what he's supposed to do with you looking at him like that. You look like Michael J. Fox when he met his dad for the first time in Back to the Future. So quit looking!
"Uh, yeah, of course," I said out loud, and then I finally took my eyes away from Shal Gurree and turned them towards the airport.
Since I was now part of Yibey Nine-One-Five's army of Controllers fighting to keep the city from falling into the hands of the Nothlit State (whether I liked it or not, although I have to say that the mere fact that I went with Ken/Yibey when they knocked on the door of my house says that I wanted to fight for the city), I had to follow his orders, and Yibey's first orders to me had been to go with Shal Gurree and learn the ropes about surveilling the nothlits at their airport headquarters. Yibey and Shal had already established a sort of listening post on top of the cargo sorting and transportation facility right next to the airport, which gave us a good view of the tarmac and the terminal so all I really had to do was keep an eye on the instruments and make sure that they were working and recording all that the nothlits were doing. I was surprised to find out that the equipment that we were using to spy on the nothlits was nothing more than a pair of parabolic microphones that could be bought at any self-respecting spy gear shop and a video camera, and not even a high-end videocam at that. All three of these were hooked up to a bog-standard laptop, something like my very own HP laptop. Shal Gurree had been typing commands into the laptop while I was busy fangirling over him, which was a surprise for me, and not just because Shal somehow wasn't impaling the keys on his finger claws. Remember that Hork-Bajir reportedly have the mental capacity of a toddler, so to see one of them typing code that Anonymous hackers could only dream of making was a surprise for me. Either Yibey or Sinan taught Shal how to code or we should really give the Hork-Bajir more credit than we have.
Either way, Shal was finally able to do what he needed to do, and once he was done he handed the laptop over to me. "Now watch feed while Shal scope place," he told me. I took this to mean that I should watch the feed on the laptop while he scanned the area around the facility. We were deep in the heart of Nothlit State-controlled territory, after all, and if they found us up here watching and eavesdropping on them then we were pretty much dead meat.
I still had my own reservations about Yibey's army and how he could possibly be planning to take the fight to the Nothlit State, but I also found a little something to keep my spirits up during this time. "I have to say that this is so cool," I said as I took the laptop from Shal, being careful not to graze myself on one of his numerous blades. "This is like some FBI-style shit right here," I continued. "We're practically wiretapping and surveilling the nothlits right now! So badass. I feel like Dana motherfucking Scully right now."
As I looked at the feed coming in from the camera, I noticed that the video was unbelievably clear. Like, high-definition, 1080-pixel and 60-frames-per-second clear. Must be some sort of Yeerk technology modded into the camera's lens, optics or image-capturing system. I could practically see the Nothlit State guards pacing about nervously left and right on the tarmac. Boy, Yibey and Shal weren't kidding when they said that the nothlits were worried about something. Some of the guards that I could see on the feed look like they could lay an egg already.
Oh, and speaking of eggs, I heard the cawing of a flock of birds somewhere above our heads. I silently prayed that none of those birds would think that it was now a good time for a toilet break. Shal Gurree grunted as he lifted his eyes to the sky to look at the birds, and then he made one more visual sweep of the place with his binoculars before he said, "All clear. We good to go."
"We good, huh?" I asked.
"We good," Shal replied. He then flashed me what I could only imagine was the Hork-Bajir version of a grin. He did give me a thumbs-up as well so that probably aided in my recognition of the Hork's facial gesture.
"Hey, Shal, can I ask you something?"
"Yes, what is?"
"I don't know if you're the right person to ask this, but Andalites and humans are supposed to be friends now, yes?"
"Suppose, yes."
"Well, if humans and Andalites are supposed to be friends then why the hell are we humans still living in a world that's not much different from the world before all you guys came along?"
"Shal no know, honesty," Shal Gurree replied. "But Shal remember some US Army soldiers with Dracon or shredders."
"Well, of course it's the military who has all the toys," I muttered. "They're probably working on making Dracon beams or shredders more energy-efficient or more efficient at killing people too. Now I wish I hadn't asked." But it was true, though. When humanity and Andalites signed that Treaty of Friendship with each other, a lot of us humans thought that we were about to join the Andalites and journey to the stars. But it hadn't turned out that way. All those talk about Z-space drives making colonization of the Moon, Mars and the whole Solar System possible as well as exploring the galaxy came to nothing. We're still waiting on the likes of Richard Branson and Elon Musk to heave humanity to the stars. And Kerbal Space Program looks like the only way that most of us will be able to go into deep space. We probably should have seen this coming though when the Andalites demanded that all Bug fighters on Earth following the Yeerk surrender be turned over to them. Just a thought.
Suddenly, Shal Gurree looked up at the sky, and I looked up as well. It was the classic black starry night, no clouds and stars twinkling. I never really thought much about the night sky when I was young (well, I didn't really have a reason to look up at the sky so I didn't; simple as that), but when I got Yemra in my head and grew older, I would sometimes look up at the sky in some sort of melancholy mood (kind of like how people act and move about in sad music videos; you know what I'm talking about) and wonder about all the species living up there and how they all came down here on Earth and changed an entire planet. Not to mention how a tiny alien slug changed the life of this Pennsylvania chick.
And then I remembered where we were, and why I was looking up at the sky in the first place. "What is it, Shal?" I asked.
"You feel that?" Shal Gurree asked in reply. I didn't feel anything; I just looked up at the sky when Shal did so I didn't say anything. "Ship just jump out Z-space."
"Really? How did you even feel that?"
"Is like wave, but of air not water," Shal said. Well, since I didn't feel it in the first place, I just decided to keep my mouth shut.
"Over there," Shal said. "One o'clock. Bug fighter!"
"Wait, what! Where?" I turned to look in the general direction of where Shal had said the Bug fighter was coming from. It was tough to see at first because all I saw were stars and sky, and I was aware that there was a possibility that I was looking in the wrong direction entirely, but then I saw one object that was both too bright and too near to be a star. This object soon resolved itself into a sleek spacecraft that looked very much like a metallic cockroach without all the limbs. "No way!" I muttered. My mouth dropped open as I laid eyes on yet another object that I had only ever read about in books before this point in my life.
No, it's not, Yemra quickly countered. That's not what a Bug fighter looks like. It hasn't got the Dracon beams on the sides. But no, she then said, contradicting herself in the same paragraph. It makes perfect sense. It must be a Bug fighter.
((But if that's a Bug fighter but not the Bug fighter, then what is it?)) I asked her. ((Is it like a new model or something?))
It must be. Has to be, Yemra replied.
I stared at the incoming Bug fighter with my bare eyes while Shal Gurree looked at the spacecraft through his binoculars. As the Bug fighter descended onto the airport tarmac, I turned back to the laptop to watch the video feed from our surveillance equipment. The Bug fighter touched down in front of the patch of tarmac where the Nothlit State guards were pacing around, and a rugged-looking and solidly built man wearing a red-and-white flannel shirt and dad jeans along with a bulletproof vest stepped out of the terminal towards the Bug fighter. "That Immib Two-Seven-One of Irres Bhek Pool," Shal Gurree said. "Or Immib in human nothlit," he added. Well, that was a bit of a letdown, I had to admit. I admit that I imagined Immib to be a much more intimidating figure based on what I'd heard of him from during the invasion. In his nothlit form though, Immib looked just like your average Pennsylvanian redneck.
"Immib maybe meeting Bug fighter," Shal added. "Bug fighter maybe carry important guy. Big wig." I could only nod my head in agreement.
A slot slid open on the side of the Bug fighter as it settled down on the tarmac, and a ramp extended from the slot down to the ground. A very strange creature stepped out of the Bug fighter, down the ramp and onto the tarmac. It looked like a centaur with the arms, torso and neck of a man and the body of a horse starting from where the man's torso ended. The creature's head was shaped like a cyclist's helmet and had eyes and a nose but no mouth, not even a crease or a valley where the mouth should be. The creature's arms looked pitifully thin and frail, like they would barely be able to lift even a paper clip. Nevertheless, despite the creature's alien appearance (and the fact that it was an actual alien to boot), that form looked vaguely familiar to me. Yet if the Bug fighter did come from the Yeerk Empire then it should be impossible. "Is that… an Andalite?" I asked breathlessly.
No, it can't be, Yemra replied. It's not an Andalite. It looks a little like an Andalite, but trust me, Jen, it's not an Andalite. The tail doesn't have a blade at the end; it doesn't have eye stalks on top of the head; the nose is different; the head itself is different. And it doesn't carry itself around with a swagger, arrogance and confidence like an Andalite. I think it might be a Garatron.
"Wait, what's a Garatron again?" I asked. And then I remembered what a Garatron was. I remember reading about them in some Animorphs book or other when they encountered a Garatron inspecting the Yeerk invasion or something like it. According to that particular book, the Animorphs killed the Garatron-Controller through Marco's cobra morph, injecting the Garatron host with venom to discredit Visser Three's leadership of the invasion. Where could this Garatron have come from?
Remember, Jen, the Yeerk Empire is still out there, Yemra told me. Who knows how many Garatrons they've already infested by now? Who knows if they've already conquered the entirety of the Garatron species?
((Progress-report-Immib)) the Garatron-Controller demanded immediately. As the Garatron didn't have a mouth per se, I assumed that the Garatron had spoken through thoughtspeak, and I immediately wondered if our equipment was capable of picking up and recording thoughtspeak or if the Garatron was simple speaking loud enough for his thoughtspeak to carry across a long distance.
"My apologies, Visser," Immib replied. "There has been little progress in our attempts to claim territory in which we can safely infest the humans once again. But I can tell you, Visser that I believe that the American human military suspects that the Nothlit State is being supported by forces or entities outside of this planet."
"Wait a minute," I said. "Did Immib just call the Garatron Visser?" But Shal Gurree held up a slim bladed finger to shush me.
((Yes-that-realization-in-the-part-of-the-enemy-camp-is-somewhat-problematic-and-troublesome)) the Garatron conceded, ((but-is-it-really-important-for-me-to-find-out-about-this-already?))
"I believe that you should know about this immediately, Visser," Immib replied. "We have reason to believe that the American military has already deployed their morph-capable soldiers against us."
((And-now-this)) the Garatron-Controller sighed. ((What-is-this-now-about-morph-capable-soldiers-deploying-against-you?))
"Visser, remember that it was these morph-capable humans who helped to stifle and stymie the first invasion of this planet," Immib said. "We all thought that they were Andalite bandits as we believed that only the Andalites had the capability of utilizing morphing technology at the time. But now we know that despite the Andalites depriving the humans of their technological advances, the morphing technology still managed to find its way into the hands of the American human military and they will surely use those morph-capable soldiers against us. They've already used the morphing soldiers against their fellow humans. Surely they will use those soldiers against nothlits like us."
((And-why-exactly-do-you-believe-that-the-morph-capable-soldiers-are-already-acting-against-you?))
"Our own soldiers and the human mercenaries that we are paying for with the Nahara gold have spotted numerous animals loitering around our headquarters, this human airport," Immib said. "The human mercenaries were not exactly cooperative when I ordered them to eliminate the animals so my fellow nothlits had to perform the task themselves. And yet the animals still keep returning. They must be morph-capable soldiers! They demorph to heal themselves after we had shot at them and that is how and why they are able to return to continue their monitoring and surveillance of us."
((What-care-I-for-animals-that-keep-returning-to-this-place-after-getting-attacked-by-your-troops?)) the Garatron-Controller asked. ((All-I-care-about-is-you-and-your-Nothlit-State-preparing-this-planet-for-the-infestation-and-conquest-by-the-Yeerk-Empire!))
"So it is true!" I said out loud. "The Yeerk Empire is behind the Nothlit State, and they are indeed planning a comeback tour of Earth!" And then I realized just what exactly this meant, and my excitement of having helped to prove that particular theory right was suddenly replaced by a cold sweeping dread. "Oh, crap," I muttered. "We're about to be invaded once again."
But wait! Haven't the Yeerks learned their lesson already? We humans already beat them once! (Albeit mostly thanks to five teenagers and one Andalite cadet but still…) Surely we can do it again, even if the only new advantages we've got against the Yeerks this time are more morph-capable soldiers and reverse-engineered shredders and Dracon beams.
Um, Jen, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Yemra said, but I think some of that Andalite arrogance has rubbed off on you humans. You humans and the Animorphs and the Andalites, when they finally came, didn't defeat the whole Yeerk Empire. You just beat the invasion force. Those are two completely different things. Yes, the Animorphs did finally succeed in stopping the invasion, but in no way did they bring down the Yeerk Empire in its whole.
Let me explain it in terms that you can understand, Jen, Yemra continued. It's just like what probably happened in Star Wars, at least in the books. Just because the Rebels destroyed the Death Star and both Palpatine and Darth Vader died doesn't mean that the Empire collapsed just like that or that they even gave up to the Rebels just like that. It's the same thing with Earth, the Yeerks, humans and Andalites. Yeah, you may have beaten back the invasion. You may have freed the likes Alloran-Semitur-Corrass from the likes of Esplin Nine-Four-Six-Six but the Council of Thirteen is still out there, not to mention the vast majority of their empire, probably still holed up in the Hork-Bajir and Taxxon homeworlds if the Andalites haven't evicted them from those places yet. The Empire was beaten, yes, but they're not broken. Far from it, by the looks of things, actually, if they have the time to refine the design of the Bug fighter.
Let's face it, Jen, you fell for the Andalites' propaganda machine big-time too, Yemra added. And by that I mean the Animorphs' book series. But the truth is that the Yeerk Empire is still alive and out there, much as you and your fellow humans would rather believe otherwise, Jen. And they've probably been biding their time as well. They wanted to see if you humans would be uplifted by the Andalites and then, when they saw that you humans are basically stuck at practically the same technological level as when the Empire first invaded Earth, they made their move. Still, though, I feel like this is more about pride on the Empire's part than anything else.
I was struck silent by the magnitude of Yemra's words, and it was some time before I was able to find my voice again. ((How come you never told me about all of this before, Yems?)) I asked her.
I'm sorry to say that I can't give you an answer that will satisfy you, Jen, Yemra replied. On the bright side, we now know why there's been lots of Z-space activity over the airport recently.
((That's not much of a bright side, Yems,)) I said. ((Oh, God, this is so messed up.)) I then decided to just listen in on the conversation between Immib and the Garatron-Controller and keep any more comments to myself until all of this was over.
"If you want us to continue the mission of preparing this planet for the second coming of the Yeerk Empire," Immib said, "then we need more weapons. We have no shortage of volunteers from our nothlit brothers and the humans themselves, at least those humans who feel aggrieved by this United States of America."
((These-human-volunteers-can-you-trust-them?)) the Garatron-Controller asked. ((Can-you-expect-them-to-continue-fighting-for-you-once-you-reveal-the-true-purpose-of-your-rebellion-to-them? Yes-I-remember-that-there-were-some-humans-who-were-willing-to-give-up-their-precious-freedom-to-make-life-easier-for-themselves-during-the-first-invasion-but-the-humans-value-their-precious-freedom-too-much-too-much-to-continue-fighting-for-you-and-your-cause-once-you-reveal-the-truth-to-them. How-many-of-your-volunteers-will-accept-being-infested-by-the-first-batch-of-Yeerks-we-will-bring-here-to-reinforce-your-forces?))
"The humans need not know until our brother Yeerks have finally arrived," Immib replied. "My people are already hard at work constructing a new Pool underneath the airport until such time that we can expand out into the rest of the city. We can still use the Pool in the city itself even though it has been used by the collaborators before."
((You-must-ensure-that-this-place-is-ready-to-become-the-landing-place-for-the-Yeerk-Empire's-return-to-Earth)) the Garatron-Controller demanded. ((As-the-days-pass-our-leadership-increasingly-turns-their-eyes-back-to-Earth-and-its-seven-billion-hosts. Now-more-than-ever-we-need-Earth's-humans-if-we-are-to-succeed-in-rebuilding-the-Empire-and-usher-in-a-new-golden-age-for-Yeerk-kind. The-invasion-of-Leera-was-a-complete-disaster. We-lost-a-substantial-part-of-our-fleet-in-our-attempt-to-ambush-the-Andalites-at-the-Anati-homeworld. The-conquest-of-Garatron-has-turned-into-a-quagmire-and-the-invasion-of-Puhluff'nan-is-proving-to-be-just-as-difficult-as-the-first-invasion-of-Earth. Even-the-cooperation-of-the-Puh'luffwek-in-providing-us-with-host-bodies-adapted-to-Puhluff'nan-has-not-helped-our-cause-as-the-Puh'luffi-are-proving-to-be-just-as-stubborn-as-the-humans-which-is-why-the-Council-believes-that-humanity-is-the-key-to-victory-in-Puhluff'nan-Garatron-and-the-Andalites. And-the-Empire-will-also-love-the-chance-to-steal-the-Andalites'-greatest-ally-from-beneath-their-noses-as-well.))
"When can we expect the arrival of the reinforcements?"
((As-soon-as-our-latest-batch-of-grubs-matures-we-will-send-a-Pool-ship-here-to-initiate-the-new-invasion-along-with-soldiers-from-the-Imperial-Forces.))
"Very well, then. It is as commanded by the Visser, the Council of Thirteen and the Emperor. I have nothing more to report."
((If-you-succeed-with-your-task-Immib-I-will-see-to-it-myself-that-you-are-made-a-Visser-once-again)) The Garatron then turned around and walked back to the Bug fighter. The ramp retracted and the slot closed, and then the Bug fighter hummed as it lifted off from the tarmac and shot up into the atmosphere and quite possibly into Z-space for the jump back to the Yeerk Empire's territory. Immib watched the Bug fighter depart before he turned and went back into the terminal.
((Oh, this is definitely not good,)) I muttered in my mind.
"No get used to this," Shal Gurree told me. "We get lucky. Usually guards just walk around and watch. This special occasion. We get lucky get it all on tape."
I nodded my head. I had read about it in some of the books about World War Two, about how war is ninety percent waiting and ten percent all-out terrifying pants-shitting combat. I took it to mean that our surveillance of the Nothlit State was going to be pretty much the same. I don't mind not having to fight. It was the boredom that I was sure would do me in.
Hey, at least you've got me, right, Jen? Yemra asked. ((Yeah,)) I replied.
Suddenly, there was a great hue and cry among the Nothlit State guards as they began pointing both fingers and weapons up at the sky. "Holy shit!" I cried out as I watched the scene unfold on the video feed on the laptop. "What! What is?" Shal Gurree asked, scooting over beside me but still taking care not to impale me on his blades.
And then, before I could reply, the guards opened fire, both with conventional weapons like AR-15s and AKs as well as Dracon beams, probably acquired from the black market. They were all shooting at something up in the sky, and my mind made a connection between the flock of birds from earlier that night and Immib's reports that they had been shooting at animals venturing too close to the airport in the belief that they were the Animorphs or even just "morph-capable" soldiers. At least they're not shooting at us, right, Jen? Yemra offered.
((Yeah, Yems, I'm really reassured by the fact that the nothlits are shooting at a bunch of birds and not us,)) I said sarcastically.
I heard the cawing of the birds as they made to fly away from the airport and all the bullets and Dracon beams coming their way. "Oh, shit! They're flying towards us!" I said as the birds turned towards the cargo transport facility where Shal and I were eavesdropping on the Nothlit State. Most of the human weapons stopped firing as the birds flew farther away from their effective ranges but the Dracon beams still kept firing as, being lasers and all, they had a practically unlimited range. One bird with dark feathers got hit by one, then two beams but didn't disintegrate as apparently Dracon beams lose their atomic-bond-breaking properties the farther away the target is from the shooter. But the hits still must hurt as the bird dropped out of the sky and fell towards us. I watched open-mouthed as the bird fell from the sky and then landed on the concrete roof beside us with a small but sickening thud.
Then, right before my eyes, the bird began to transform. The bird's wing feathers were sucked back into the bird's now-fleshy wings like the way that I would sometimes suck at Mom's homemade spaghetti, and then the plucked wings (I can't think of any other way to describe it) turned into human arms. At first I thought that the arms were black-skinned, and then I saw that the arms were actually in black long sleeves and the hands were also in black gloves. Next, the bird's legs turned into a pair of tight black cargo pants and combat boots. More feathers also shrank back to reveal a human torso wearing a black shirt and a ballistic vest (a bulletproof vest with pouches for ammo and such) until only the face remained covered in feathers. Then those face feathers melted back onto the face until only a plucked bird's face remained.
Slowly, the bird face transformed into a human face and then the bird finally began to grow in size into a man-sized bird. Then the bird's beak melted back into a nose and lips, and I was now staring at a human being with blonde hair and somewhat pale skin. In my shock at having seen someone morph right in front of me for the very first time in my life, I barely even recognized the face attached to the person until I finally got a good look at said face. Yes, he was much older now and he had grown himself a thin but lush beard and mustache, but I still recognized him.
I was looking at none other than Tobias, the Red motherfucking Baron of the Animorphs.
But even as I absorbed this in my mind, I saw a watch-like device on Tobias' wrist begin flashing red like an alarm. Tobias looked at it and then he looked out of the corner of his eye towards me and Shal Gurree. He looked at us like for maybe a couple of seconds or so and then suddenly, Tobias stood up and was already pointing a pistol at us. For a guy who just got shot twice by a Dracon beam, he moved very spryly. "Hands where I can see them!" he shouted. Shal and I had no choice but to comply.
"Meep," I said to myself as I raised my hands.