Chapter 11

Tobias leaned up against the cockpit control panels to watch the surveillance screens, clutching and fiddling at the tip of his tail while he stared. The cameras watched the Kelbrid landscape rush by and then came to land on top of an indistinct building. All that we could see was a dull, gritty surface and the sky up above, delivered through the camera with a blue glow. Occasionally, somebody else would flutter into camera view. At one point, another bird joined them, quickly told apart by the lack of the minute camera attached to the leg.

The ordinary bird flew away hastily when they began to morph. The Animorphs had the decency to all turn away from each other so that we didn't have to watch the gruesome change, but the way that the cameras gradually moved lower to the ground made it evident that they were making the change. That, and the appearance of extra legs in front of them. Tobias lamented that the other legs were in the way, but it didn't make a significant difference.

. Soon after they completed the morph, the three Animorphs wandered over to the edge of the building. On the lip of the roof sat four more of them, basking in the Kelbrid Sun. Jake was right to choose such a morph, and not for that reason alone. They moved down the wall vertically, using their tiny, hairy insect limbs to grip onto the microscopic cracks and crevices. It was dizzying to watch the ground rush up at us, even with the fuzzy view of the camera.

Eventually, they found an open window. Circular, of course: a shape that the Kelbrids were very fond of. They'd scouted it out as birds and now made their way in as insects. The interior of the building was as expected.

Tobias looked over his shoulder, twisting his snake-like neck. It felt like he disapproved of me simply watching, even though I was doing it from a distance. I took his harsh gaze as a hint to continue working on the communications pod, and so I looked back down at it, to the small primitive screen that told me which part of the software I was navigating.

I'd relocated the three messages that Aximili had sent to Andal and the military by retracing the frequency we often used. The messages played back through the machine, and nothing about them was out of the ordinary. We'd seen them already. Nothing else was traced with that frequency, so I'd have to search for evidence of other frequencies used.

Groof, still strapped to his table, decided to explain to Tobias what a display of Kelbrid art meant. Tobias rightfully shrugged it off as unimportant. The infiltrators had emerged into a hallway of sorts, lined with large pieces of artwork that seemed both unintelligible and out-of-place. Kelbrid art struck me as unusually abstract and beautiful in a way that I couldn't fathom. The Animorphs appeared to take some time to admire it themselves. Either that or they were staying still to allow three Kelbrid scientists to pass. They wore scarves around their neck, and despite the excess blue radiating through the cameras' playback, they appeared to be green.

((You didn't tell them anything about what they might find,)) Tobias said to Groof in open thought-speak. ((Why not?))

"I don't know much about Kelbrid laboratories, aside from the fact that they are not permitted food and drink! Kelbrids are very clean, despite being covered in toxic slime," he said with a haughty laugh.

((Helpful…)) Tobias commented. ((So they don't allow food or drink. What about bugs?))

"The One is a computer-based system, so their labs probably aren't insect-proof. Contaminants should not be an issue. And besides, those insects are everywhere! Look, there's one right now!"

Another colorfully-patterned insect was standing against the wall as the three Animorphs marched on. It did not distract them, and they continued for a good few minutes, never changing direction. Kelbrids passed by on numerous occasions, but none stopped to investigate the three little insects.

Soon, they came to the end of the hallway and had to turn right around a corner. Not long after, they halted beside what appeared to be a Kelbrid elevator. It wasn't too dissimilar to a Human elevator, shielded by a circular door that Kelbrids entered and exited through. On the other side was a small cubicle. The Animorphs decided to try it out, and at the best opportunity, crawled in beside an unknowing Kelbrid scientist.

The obvious problem was that they had no idea which floor of the building they would encounter. They must have found that out quickly because when they came back out of the elevator, the insects were in a very similar corridor with no obvious sign as to where they were.

((Go for the ventilation,)) Tobias quietly urged.

As if the Animorphs had received the message, the group of three made their way to the nearest vent. They located one soon enough. It was on the ceiling in the middle of the hallway, so they climbed up the wall and took on the challenge of walking upside-down across the ceiling, which turned out not to be an easy task. One of them fell, bouncing lightly on the floor below. On the second attempt, however, the three were plunged into the darkness of the labs' ventilation system. It was too dark for us to see, and so we could do nothing but hope for an undetermined amount of time.

I continued work on the communications device. With the Kelbrids being such an unknown entity for many years, my knowledge of their technology was somewhat lacking. However, the Enrich-given ability to understand their language was coming in very useful. Using the tiny screen on the side, I was able to navigate into various folders. It was a convoluted mess, to say the least: a maze of empty folders and dead-end file paths.

How did Aximili manage to navigate it? Maybe being part of The One allowed – or forced – him to learn the Kelbrid language. Irrelevant, I suppose.

I looked into the folder for deleted messages after spending some time trying to find it. I found that I was denied access. There was some kind of block.

"Oh, look!" Groof called, wrecking my concentration. "I think that may be the lab!"

((Looks something like a lab,)) Tobias mused.

I took a break from my job to wander closer to the surveillance screens. I watched from over Tobias' bladed shoulder.

The three insects had crawled out of a ventilation shaft on the wall of a relatively dark room. It was bright enough to make out the shapes of furniture and fixtures, but my eyes were drawn to the various sources of light. There were a lot of small, twinkling lights, probably indicative of individual computers. A far wall was lined with them, coupled with large interfaces and data projections. There were numbers, warnings, and graphs. Swarming in the midst of it all, looming over the Animorphs like giants, were Kelbrid scientists hard at work.

"What a lovely laboratory!"

We both gave Groof a disapproving look.

((At least we can assume they're in the right place,)) Tobias uttered, looking back to the screens.

The insects moved on, keeping close to the walls to avoid being stepped on. The Kelbrid scientists were casually at work, transporting documents and sitting at what could only be described as office desks. Holograms shot up here and there, hardly readable from our perspective. At the far end of the lab was a large open space - a walkway of sorts, decorated with large, unused pieces of equipment. They looked mobile, like they could transport larger objects. Trolleys, you could say, as well as bulkier, more complicated machinery.

One of the insects faced the correct way to see a circular door slide open. Two Kelbrids were pushing a hovering table forward, its surface adorned with a large glass dome. Something was inside, covered in a white cloth.

The two Kelbrids were interrupted by one of the scientists, who seemed to cast his eyes over whatever was on the table. He spoke to them, but there was no sound through the camera system that we could pick up on. Regardless of what was said, the Animorphs were rightly suspicious of what was inside that glass dome. They acted quickly to jump onto the underside of the hovering table. Before long, they were moving again, and we watched as the dark, smooth flooring flew by below them.

((Time?)) Tobias asked.

I replied, "They've been in morph for forty-eight minutes."

He hummed. ((Plenty of time. How's that comms device coming along?))

He stared at me. It was a clear hint that he wanted me to get on with it, and I accepted it. However, I dragged the unit a little closer so that I could see the surveillance better. The Animorphs were still on the underside of the table, but the floor had changed. The room around them was much brighter.

My further attempts to explore Aximili's messages felt increasingly hopeless. The message history folder was still denying me access, the last place I could hope to find anything.

Then, Groof spoke up. "Isn't Kelbrid technology frustrating?" he laughed. "Burr-Ammit tells me all the time! Always a block here, there, and everywhere."

"If you have nothing useful to say, say nothing," I groaned at him.

"Do you want me to help you access all of the hidden data?"

I give him a sideways look, disbelieving. "You know how to access deleted message history?"

"Of course! Burr-Ammit showed me! He's very informative, even when he's high on anti-toxins."

I was skeptical, but it was worth a try. "Okay. What do I do?"

"Take the processor out. You'll find it right in the center. You have to remove a few wires first, but remember where they go!"

I pulled open the cylinder, revealing the innards of the machine. There was a variety of instruments within, but thankfully, it was neatly organized. At the center was a small rectangular box with five clusters of cables going into a series of ports on the side. I memorized the order and then removed them before taking out the black processor unit.

"I've done that," I told Groof, aware that he couldn't see me too clearly.

"There are three buttons on the underside: red, blue, and brown. Press the brown one, and then put the processor back in. Put all the cables back into the ports, but switch the two purple ones. You'll re-route the folder designations. The computer won't recognize what's happened, and place all messages into a single folder, including recently deleted ones!"

I did as he instructed, placing the processing unit back into the machine and replacing the cables. I made sure to switch the purple wires. "Turn it back on?"

"Yes, turn it back on, and your problem is solved!"

I closed up the unit, turned it around, and started it up once more. It started to re-configure.

While that was happening, the infiltration team was making a move, which again pulled on my attention. They had jumped off of the table after it had come to a stop. Through the cameras, I could see the feet of the two Kelbrids tending to whatever was on the table. One of the Animorphs decided it useful to move their leg forward so that we could look up and watch. We saw the underside of the Kelbrids' heads. They lifted the table dome and began to pull aside the cloth. Behind them was some kind of container, large and glowing a bright orange. Wires hung down from the ceiling within.

Then the Kelbrids donned gloves to pull something off of the table, grimacing under the weight. It was a creature.

((Groof, Mendy,)) Tobias said. ((Either of you recognize that?))

I stepped forward and squinted to see. The creature was mostly shrouded in shadow, and the angle we were looking from didn't give the clearest picture. I could see a stumpy body with a squat, neckless head. Four tentacles sprouted from its side like arms.

Tobias was able to answer his own question. ((That's a Leeran.))

"There's no doubt about that," I agreed.

The Kelbrids adjusted the Leeran with their thick, protective gloves and placed it inside the sizeable glowing container. One of the Kelbrids held it in place, while the other began to secure instruments to the unfortunate creature. They fed a small tube into the side of its mouth and attached metal pads to its head. The Leeran was then fastened in with tight grips around its limbs. Once replaced, the Kelbrids stepped back and closed the glass container. The Leeran inside stood, haunting and motionless.

((That must be how they keep The One's hostages,)) Tobias uttered. ((Strapped into those tubes and wired up to hell.))

I replied, "The Leeran must have been going through some kind of test or replenishment. If they're using the Leeran's brain, then it is being kept alive. Nothing will survive a lifetime spent motionless in a tube."

((So not a form of stasis, then?)) Tobias asked.

"Not full stasis," I said. "Some form, maybe, but the brain must be active. Otherwise, the hosts would be useless, assuming our knowledge of The One is accurate."

"You are correct!" Groof called from behind us. "From what we know, The One takes advantage of fully-functioning brains."

((Ax should be there, somewhere,)) Tobias said hopefully. He was leaning forward, his snout mere inches from the screens.

The Animorphs scurried away from the working Kelbrids. From what I could tell, the room was vast and circular, emblazoned in bright lights. There was a central concave pillar, totally black. It provided a stark contrast to the overpowering whites and silvers. The only hint of color was the orange, so strong that even the screens' blue tint couldn't erase it. They were tubes — dozens of them.

And in each one, a silhouette. A body.

"Configuration complete!"

The monotonous voice of the communications device stunned our silence. I glanced at it and then back to the screen. The Animorphs were moving again, hurrying along the smooth floor.

((Check those messages,)) Tobias ordered. ((I'll keep an eye on this.))

I obeyed and went back to work. I squatted down beside the pod and began to search through the digital folders again. I found that this time, it was much more straightforward because most of the file paths had gone. It was as if the machine had been reset.

But it kept the messages, just as Groof had suggested, and when I found the correct folder, I was surprised to find fifteen messages, rather than only three.

I selected the first message, and its details greeted me. It was not one of the three that I already knew about, but according to the description, it had been sent only a few minutes before.

I told the machine to play it back.

"Neer vullup. Impa vervu jruip rewret o neer awt."

I did not expect to be met with Kelbrid language. I listened closer and translated.

"Position solid, co-ordinates to follow. Ship self-destructed and evidence destroyed. Holding water supply. Should be enough for four days — will request restocking after three. Shelter is held steady and should be suitable for the duration, with landing space in the near vicinity. No sign of Andalite activity thus far, but I shall inform immediately regarding changes. Message end."

I tried to justify it somehow, but the cold logic shot down everything I tried. The message hadn't been sent on any Andalite frequency I knew. The mere fact that Aximili spoke in the Kelbrid language was a clear sign of how wrong I had been.

And Tobias took the opportunity to dash my pride irreparably, once and for all.

((There he is. They've found him.))