Chapter 13

We escaped the atmosphere with no Kelbrid resistance. A few minutes longer, and we would be swarmed, but no alien race was quite prepared for the technology that Enrich supplied. That, and we'd caught them off guard. Jake was wise to have struck when he did, with the Kelbrids under the assumption that we'd take Aximili and head in the other direction.

But despite our escape, the fallout would be dreadful for all of us, and some tough talks would follow. The first question was obvious: What to do with the clone Aximili?

I stood over him, thinking of that very question. He breathed lightly, unconscious to the world. He would feel no pain if I ended him there and then. That wasn't my choice, though, and I'd learned very quickly that I had to consider the others.

Not for altruism's sake, of course. For my own safety. I was walking many tightropes.

Jake came into the aft compartment, where I had been left alone with Aximili. He started with a muted sigh and held himself with one hand rested on Aximili's table. Then, he looked at me. Examined me.

"You found some more messages," he started.

"Yes, Jake. They were spoken in Kelbrid. Co-ordinates, timings, refuel requests… he was speaking to the Kelbrid military."

He nodded. "So. Any further doubts?"

"No," I replied, shaking my head. "This is indeed a clone, as you suspected. If not a clone, then something similar."

I thought that maybe he'd humiliate me in some way, either by rubbing in the fact that I had been wrong or lecturing me. But he did neither. He just stared down at the clone Aximili and pondered for solutions.

"We may have just blown any opportunity for infiltrations in morph," he uttered. "I can't imagine the Kelbrids will allow bugs anywhere near their labs from now on. A smart person always learns from their mistakes. The more mistakes they make, the smarter they become. Not accounting for infiltration via the Andalite morphing technology was a mistake."

"How do you suppose we will save Aximili if we can't sneak into the laboratories again?" I asked.

"I suppose Surote might have something up his metal sleeves, assuming he doesn't have us killed for stealing Groof and his ship, which, by the way, is not too unlikely."

"He would have me killed if he knew what I did."

Jake smiled. It was slight but noticeable. "He doesn't have to know what happened down here."

"You show me far more mercy than I deserve."

He shook his head. "No. We want the same thing, Mendy. We're not enemies. We just have different ideas on how we achieve the same goal. Now, though," he said, casting his eyes to Aximili again. "I think our ideas are more closely aligned. Do you agree?"

"I agree."

"Good. I won't tell Surote anything, and neither will Groof."

"You're sure about that?"

He cocked his head slightly. "You don't happen to be wearing any earrings under that hair of yours, do you?"

"No," I replied, pulling back my black curls to demonstrate.

He chuckled. "I'll find some somewhere."

I was more skeptical than he was portraying himself to be. "Are you sure that you can buy his silence with jewelry, Jake? The creature has devoted his life to Enrich. The fact that we mutinied is something that he will probably let slip."

"Yeah, I know," he said. "The earrings are to keep him quiet about you. The mutiny… well, let's just hope we catch Surote in a good mood. We'll tell him ourselves, rather than let Groof do it. Otherwise, it may seem to Surote like we're trying to hide it. If we can explain that we did it purely to save Ax and that we came back and allowed Groof his ship… maybe he'll let us off death row."

"You seem awfully calm about all this," I pointed out.

Jake shrugged. "Doing the wrong thing scares me. Letting down those close to me scares me. I did the right thing, and I did it for somebody that I care about. I'm not scared of Surote. Besides, what justice would be served by killing us?"

"Perhaps you're right," I said.

"We won't stop," Jake insisted. "We're in this for Ax. We know where he is now. We know how he's being held, and we, like the Kelbrids, have made our mistakes. Let's hope we can outsmart them again, next time."

"I have underestimated you, Jake," I told him. "I thought of you as a broken warrior, and maybe, in a lot of ways, you are — a broken warrior leading a broken team. And yet, somehow, you persevere. I don't know how you do it."

"Luck, maybe."

"No, Jake, it's not luck. I don't know what it is, but it's certainly not that."

He took one last look at Aximili and then folded his arms over his chest. "Listen, we're about to zap back to Enrich. We're going to find Surote, and we'll take whatever punishment he decides to give us. After that, we keep pressing. We keep going. We'll tell them what we saw in the labs, and maybe that'll be enough information for Surote to chew on that he decides to go a little easier on us. The question is, Mendy: Are you still with us?"

I did not need to think long. Jake was right: Every mistake makes us stronger. Makes us wiser.

"Yes, Jake. I'm with you."