Jake and his group have elected to hear Marco's suspicions about The Old Bloods, no matter how insane he sounded, though, all of the information used to justify his conspiracy theory was sound, giving his words all the more credence. At Marco's insistence, Jake's group agreed to keep his theory under wraps until their benefactor's true intentions can be discerned, for as Marco himself clarified, he doesn't know anything for certain. Jake and his friends announced that until Alice' means of bypassing the Controller's surveilance perimeter is ready for them to test they would be stepping away from the prepara, to which she and the other Old Bloods agreed to give them time to rest in anticipation of sneaking through their surveilance. Deep inside The Controller's Perimeter, though, will Jake and Cassie finally have their first true date without interference?
The Date, I
Day 14, Afternoon
It didn't take long for us to decide what sort of way to pass the time, at least for Marco and Rachel, they suggested we all go to a restaurant and enjoy ourselves. We wanted to ask Ben for money, but we ruled out that option, due to him stating that the hoard of cash is being saved for the war effort. So we pooled our allowance (with Rachel filling in the gaps) to fund our day in the town, and we ate at a new restaurant that opened in town.
I took everything in and enjoyed it all, the rest of this day was supposed to be a relaxing one, no aliens, no bad things, no conspiracies, just us enjoying a day in the town. I took everything in to the point that the sounds, smells, and tastes came in more vividly, the feeling my morphing underwear gave me was wierd, it felt like I was wearing nothing to the point that I had to remind myself that the thick morphing underpants were in fact, there. But are they underpants? Ellen said they functioned like underwear, and we could switch out their appearance to look like normal briefs, but their design was so artistic and stylized like swimwear, Ellen said they functioned like that, too, but it's obvious that they were designed to be seen in public.
That makes me a little more comfortable about that, but is our first mission really going to be so soon that we won't even get morphing pants?
We thoroughly enjoyed our food, and made sure to bring water from our own filtered faucets, thankfully Marco and Rachel covered for us, and we covered for them as well. It's ridiculous, after I ate a good deal of my plate, Cassie said the first words.
"Thank you for taking me here, Jake," Cassie said after gulping down another delicious mouthful of the food.
"You're welcome," I said with a smile.
((Well? Are you going to say something?))
I blinked and looked across the dining area to the other side of the resteraunt, where Marco was across from Rachel. He was staring at me intensely.
I turned back to Cassie, still engrossed in her lunch, clearly enjoying it.
"Glad you like it. Your eyes, uh, light up like ovens when you're...eating someone you like."
Cassie choked on her bite.
"Oh, something, something you like!" I corrected. "Or they just ignite when you...are in a place you like, or are doing someone-ah, something you like!"
As she was hearing my words, Cassie tried not to laugh. She was failing, and I just awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
Okay, let's try this again, I thought. What's wrong with me?
"It's crazy, isn't it?" I whispered. "How the only water we can trust is whatever's going through those filters."
Cassie nodded, looking at her clear plastic cup ruefully, "Yeah. I almost filled my glass with something from the fountain before remembering."
"Yeah, it sucks," I said.
"And wouldn't that exclude the pools?" Cassie said. "And are they dumping this stuff into the oceans, too?"
"And how's this relevant?" I asked. "Everyone knows you don't drink water from the pool or sea."
"But we swim in it," Cassie pointed out. "And when humans swim, the water gets close to our mouth..."
"Oh, oooh" I said, realizing the full implications this has. If they were dumping this stuff into the ocean, then that would mean that whenever we launched a mission where we got into the oceans, we'd be infected!
...And if it is, it'd mean that I've dunked myself in the poison ever since our infiltration of The Sharing!
"Didn't they already test the seawater, though?" I asked.
"Ben only tested the fresh water," Cassie reminded me. "If this stuff is in the ocean, then that means we need to touch The Disco again. How many times are we going to do this? We don't know how to tell you or any of us have been infected wi-"
"Hey," I said, reaching my arm forward, grasping my girlfriend in the shoulder. She stopped. "Calm down. It's going to be alright. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, for now, we need to focus on not focusing on this."
"Not focus? Right, not focus," Cassie whispered, looking down in rueful embarassment. "Man, this Mexican crap really is eating us alive, isn't it? We have a day entirely to ourselves and we can only focus on that? We really shouldn't be talking about that particular problem."
"Good luck, kiddos," we jumped to hear a restaraunt worker speak up from behind us, she was checking to see if our plates were done.
"That Mexican restaraunt can be addicting," she said with a smile as she walked away.
Good thing Marco had us talk in code, I breathed a sigh of relief in my head.
"Let's just eat," I said, taking my fork again and returning to our lunch.
And so we gorged on the remnants of our meals, reminding ourselves of just how good it was.
"Oh man, that was good," I said. "That's going to make biking to the arcade a bit more difficult."
I sat there, looking at Cassie awkwardly, her gaze drifted, she was thinking of something to say.
Come on, Jake, I thought. Think of soemthing to say!
We continued our game for a little longer until I got it! There's a new movie that's come out recently!
"Hey, Cassie," I said. "Heard a new movie's come out lately. After a little bit, wanna go see it?"
"Oh, what's it called?" Cassie eagerly asked.
"It's a Tom Cruise film. Mission: Impossible!" I said. "The Trailer for it was awesome, it released a few days ago, I think. We should go see it."
"It's not from the same director who made Starspite, is it?" Cassie asked suspiciously. "My folks bought that DVD and it was the worst mistake we ever made!"
"Oh God, that 'documentary' was the worst!" I gagged. "I don't remember who the director was, but it's definitely not that guy."
((HEYO!)) A voice called out in my head, one that was definitely not in the same room as us. ((Testing-o, testing, 0, 1, 2, 3? Jake, can you hear me?))
I flinched in response.
((Harry!)) I said. ((What are you doing?))
((Just wanted to say hi, boss,)) Harry said, almost chuckling in my head. ((What are you doing? Can you tell me where you are, exactly?))
((I'm enjoying my date with Cassie,)) I said. ((Is something wrong?))
((No no! Everything's fine!)) Harry said. ((Everyone's fine. But for real, where are you? Exactly?))
I told him my exact location in my head.
((Do you need something?)) I finished. ((Are you at the apartment on the other side of the road?))
There was a slight pause.
((Ah, so cool! I'm just testing out the range for my thought speech, believe it or not, I'm still in The Sanctuary!)) Harry clarified.
My eyes widened in surprise.
((Your thought speech can reach that far?)) I asked.
((Oh, thought you already knew,)) Harry said.
((Yeah, my eyes are pretty wide right now.))
((Everyone can do it,)) Harry said. ((We can talk to eachother on opposite ends of the planet if we really tried, although the further apart we are, the more effort is needed to speak, especially with people who aren't experienced with doing so...wow, I'm starting to get a migraine already! Later, man. Oh, and good luck with your date! Whatever that is.))
((Harry, before I go, I have to ask you, did Ben test the sea water for poison?))
((Why do you ask? You falling in love with it?))
((Because we swam in it a few days ago!))
((Oh...oh no,)) Harry said once the full implication of my question hit him. ((I'll ask him right now!))
Silence returned to my head, I glanced to the other booth to see Marco.
((-man, why are you ignoring me?)) Marco asked in exasperation.
((What? No, I wasn't ignoring you, Harry contacted me,)) I said.
((Did he want something?)) Marco asked suspiciously.
((No, he was just testing the range of his thought speech,)) I said. ((He's still in The Sanctuary.))
Marco made a whistling sound in my head that sounded a little too wild west for me to not break a smile. I acknowledge that I looked more in place in a lively restaraunt with that grin.
((Impressive,)) Marco commented. ((So where's this Sanctuary, now?))
((It's The Bunker,)) I explained. ((That's just what Harry called it.))
((Just get back to he date!)) Marco admonished, shocking me out of my stupor.
Dangit, why is everything trying to distract me!
"Jake?" Cassie asked. "Is something on your mind?"
"Ah, it's nothing," I explained, returning my attention to her. "Harry just tested out the range of his telephone on me
Cassie was wearing a tie-die dress that I had no clue she had, the longer I paid attention to it, the more the greens, blues, oranges, yellows, and purples fit her, and the more beautiful she looked. Its vibrant but gentle colors really complimented her and her personality well.
"How does it...feel?" I asked.
"Feel?" Cassie answered. "I feel great."
"No, uh, your outfit," I clarified.
"Ah," Cassie said, her blush slightly increasing, placing her hand on her chest with a smile. "Comfortable, but in a smooth and natural way. It feels like it's a part of my body, it's so beautiful and...it just fits me."
I nodded, my heart rose at hearing Cassie describe her dress so lovingly, a glance to Marco and Rachel's seats indicated that both of them were smiling, with Rachel's grin wider than my best friend's as she nodded proudly.
"So, do you feel the same about your morphing underwear?" Cassie asked, causing me to freeze up.
Marco's smile escalated into laughter as Rachel groaned and shook her head.
"Oh, come on," Rachel whispered from across the room. "You're hopeless."
Wait, whispered from across the room? I realized just as I heard a high pitched ringing in my ears.
"Ah," I whispered as I put my hands to my ear lobes.
"Jake?" Cassie asked, concerned, her voice tinged with fear. "What's wrong?"
"Ah, nothing, a little migraine," I said. "Harry said that Telephoning over long distances can be a bit painful."
The ringing in my ears intensified, everything got louder. I tried to remain normal as the waitress returned to our table and got our plates.
"Would you like something more?" He shouted.
"No, we're good," I said, the very act of talking itself was painful, but I ignored the pain well enough that he didn't notice anything wrong. Cassie leaned forward and whispered to me.
"Can you bike home?" She fearfully asked. "Do we need to call Tom?"
Then suddenly something in me snapped, I blinked in surprise, the migraines were gone, but the loudness of the room wasn't. In my head there was no pain, everything was loud, but my ears didn't hurt either.
"Jake?" Cassie asked, it took me a second to register that she was whispering.
What is...? I almost asked myself.
"Okay, so, there I was, my truck had been stopped by a 'a roadside inspection with emphasis on intrusion,' they claimed, in the most cheapest brokenest English I ever heard, and I swear, this one gangly ganster gringo dude wearing Conan Star Wars leather loincloth really did ask me how much I was teleporting in my trailer!"
"Come on, shut up!" I heard another girl admonish the rest of her table.
"Oh man, I wonder what ways they're going to bungle into their relationship next!" I heard Marco chuckling.
"I swear, we're the only thing keeping it intact!" Rachel gossipped, both of them were whispering.
By Nartec General Gogger's goggles! I realized. They were shipping me with Cassie! Not that I don't appreciate it, but still, they were conspiring behind my back to...wait, why should I be mad at this?
"We got a number 23, full round up!" I heard a muttering noise.
Wait, that's the kitchen! I realized.
"Cassie," I whispered, when I realized it was too quiet to hear over the sound of the crowd, I corrected and said it louder. "Cassie. I'm alright, I just got hearing!"
"Hearing...what?" She asked, perplexed.
"Super hearing," I clarified, excited. "It hurt at first but then something just shifted and I hear everything! That trucker recounting his tale of a Nartec traffick stop, some girl being accused of cheating on her boyfriend with her sister, and conspiring with her to eat him, even the cooks behind that wall making the next meals and the clattering of their kitchen tools. It's like a pair of earplugs got removed that I didn't know were there! I'm like a-"
"-does Visser 3 expect us to follow this order all the time?"
I froze.
((Guys, be quiet,)) I said in private thought speak to the others. They heard my tone, and didn't protest.
((It's Them,)) I explained, my voice cold with fear.
"You're forgetting, he doesn't command in the same way Visser 1 does," a woman whispered. "He's used to a lot more fighting than we are."
The man snarled, "I don't care, having our movement restricted like this, I'm not even allowed to take a stroll in the woods? And we meet up in the population zone itself? It's like that stupid human spy movie that just came out! Our entrances in the city itself are recieving too much traffic, we need to hasten their production, yesterday."
"So you think it's riskier that we get found out by humans, versus ambushed by the savage monster likely lurking outside the city?" A young girl's voice asked...a very young girl.
Oh God, I balked in horror.
"The toddlers, too?" I whispered.
"Toddlers? What about...?" Cassie whispered before her voice trailed off.
"Exactly," The woman said. "Visser 1 always said we needed a fighter to actually take advantage of our situation, and so the entirety of both her and Visser 3's territories coordinated to get The Empire's greatest warrior here in secret. And look at the progress we've already made! Of course there'll be permanent changes to how we operate."
"We're compromising security in our Capital center," The man pointed out, seething. "Have your host's female brains eroded your sense so that you forgot what we're running here? Risking human attention at this critical stage is inviting disaster!"
"And you forget, we might not be the only ones who can tap memories, this Animorph might be able to do that as well, and there are rumors that it's not alone, either. We need to play it safe until we can ready a countermeasure of some kind. Why else do you think Visser 3's been conducting so much trade?"
The organ harvesting again, so they are shipping them off-world. Why, why is this popping up on the one day I least want it to? Curse them! And curse whatever stupid star gave life to their wretched planet before coming here!
"Not much we can do about it," The woman said. "The best thing we can do is keep our distance from the drones, and the rivers, until they're recalibrated to allow the passage of our kind to get deep into the woods."
"But what about a purge happening in the future?" The Man asked. "He's already handed out demerits like crazy. Everytime some of our citizens switch Vissers, there's always a purge of the ones most unable to adapt to their particular laws! Just you watch, the second we get a new wave of immigrants, he'll be able to put us on the chopping block!"
"I'm tired of this pointless conversation," the toddler girl said. "Just get back to the charade before I 'get scared' and lapse, then you'll be stuck with a dia-."
((We're leaving,)) I said to my friends, getting up. They followed and we departed from the restaraunt without any trouble. Marco kept the conversation going, 'how was the date so far?' He whispered, and 'you're doing great!' All for the sake of keeping up appearances.
When we pushed through the double door entrance to the restaurant, I held it open for another family just entering, my reflexive courtesy made me feel nauseous, every innocent in there is entirely unaware of the conspiracy They were talking about in there. It wasn't that long before we reached the bike racks, the skyscrapers being repaired from when this place fell to the Nartec was in full view, I think they'd be pretty awesome to look at once they're done. When I pushed off and got going, I spared a glance to my girlfriend, and saw Cassie's beautiful dress bunched up above her waist, her tights were obvious on her legs as she pedalled.
((I'm sorry, Jake,)) Cassie asked.
((It's okay, we'll get it next time!)) Marco consoled as we left the parking lot for the restaraunt.
((Just...)) Rachel started. ((It seems they're just everywhere! Of all the times for you to get super hearing.))
I almost asked how she knew that before realizing that Cassie must have told them. Good girl.
((But we gleaned some useful information from this day,)) I said. ((They have one, likely multiple entrances to their base in the woods, and they just described this town as being their capital installation. And do you guys remember Visser 1?))
((Yeah, the bigger head honcho, if their hierarchy is numbered best to least,)) Rachel said as we turned right.
((Well, not on this planet, they described her as a she, and she's not here, they've apparently had a switchup in leadership. Visser 3's in charge, and these Controllers aren't used to his style. They're disgruntled, not meshing together as well as they could be, we can use this discord to our advantage.))
((Maybe even turn one of them over to our side?!)) Cassie excitedely ran into our heads.
((Uh, no,)) Marco said. ((I don't think that's viable...at all.))
((Who knows,)) I said. ((It might be possible, it might not have a chance, but we can think about it later.))
((No, even if we never turn any of them over to our side,)) Cassie said. ((I mean, we're still going to take prisoners, right? To get them out of the heads of the ones they enslaved? Our base is hugfe, it must have a jail center of some kind, where we could hold them?))
I blinked as I ran it through my head.
Yes...yes, of course we're going to take prisoners, they're parasites! If we're going to have a hope of kicking Them off our planet, then we're going to need a way to break their hold on their hosts, and to do that we'd likely need a dedicated space to contain them for that process, however long it takes.
((You have a point,)) Rachel said.
((They talked about building more entrances to the city because they get too much traffic,)) I responded. ((And the fact that an individual they dubbed "their greatest warrior" is on the planet, and apparently their presence here is supposed to be some big secret.))
((A big secret? How?)) Cassie asked.
((Beats me,)) Rachel said.
((Hold up,)) Marco interjected. ((The Controllers at The Zoo mentioned "political Arn-foolery," whatever an Arn is. Maybe this big bad warrior being on this planet needs to be kept a secret due to some politics at their home planet or something that says they're really supposed to be elsewhere?))
((Likely,)) I said. ((But this is all interpretation; we don't know anything, the most relevant information we've gotten from that is that the entrances to their stronghold in the city are getting a lot more traffic than usual, which means that a lot of the entrances are in the woods, likely half of them. But there's more.))
((Dear God, what else?)) Rachel asked.
((Well, the man in the group said that their host's "female brains" have eroded their sense,)) I said honestly as we stopped at a red light.
((Oh come on, they're sexists?!)) Rachel complained in outrage.
((Hey, Rach, that's not the worst thing they are,)) I pointed out.
((Yeah, it's actually a minor point,)) Marco said.
((I know, but after hearing everything else, why am I so...disappointed?))
((Come on, they're villains,)) Cassie pointed out. ((Is it really reasonable to expect them to have standards as high as our own?))
The wind blew for a while as we waited, and a flock of songbirds flew above us to perch on a power line while some more construction work was going on to our right. We got on our bikes and left for our next destination.
"That was awesome!" Rachel gushed as we walked out of the theater room and into the crowded.
"A really well put together film," I said, smiling as Cassie's arm was hooked into mine.
"I know, right?" Marco said as we reached the bathrooms. "And the music?"
"Dun. Dun. Dun dun dun dudun dun dun," I said as me and Cassie broke off from eachother, separating into different doors to relieve ourselves.
"Ah," I said as I flushed the toilet, pulling my pants up as I stood. I walked out of the stall and washed my hands, Marco didn't stop whistling The Mission: Impossible theme, even as we both walked out, man that tune is catchy!"
We exited the bathroom a earlier than the girls did, and we had an argument.
"No, mustard is the taste of yellow, the pizaz! The zing! Nothing comes close to yellow!" Marco pointed out.
"You nitwit, the flavor of yellow is obviously bananas!" I countered in exasperation. "How can red be strawberries for you, but yellow is mustard?"
"Since when was there supposed to be theming in how colors taste?"
"Since when was Batman canonically destined to swoop down and eat Spiderman in one gulp should they ever meet?" I asked.
"Hey, survival of the fittest, man."
"Spiderman as a superhuman is way more fit than a billionaire playboy!"
"But he doesn't have the money to buy new shoes."
"He'd make his own gear!"
"If you'd listen, I-"
Just then the girls came out of the bathroom, heavily invested in their own debate.
"Who would make a full blown sandwhich, cuts in half, and then put it in the fridge for later?" Cassie asked. "That makes no sense! They take two minutes to make, they're instant food!"
"Yeah, one would at least think to put it in a ziploc baggie first!" Rachel eagerly said. "Oh, hey boys, ready to hit the road?"
"You know it," I said, smiling. "Next stop, the mall!"
"And you know what we're doing!" Marco said as we moved to the main foyer of the theater, where the snack bar, and arcade games were.
"I'll finally beat that game as Noxious 'Nadelord!" I said.
"Uh, that's impossible," Marco said. "He doesn't have the mobility options to deal with the Herpies dropping down on him. Hippopotamus Decapitus is where it's at!"
"That fattie?" I asked. "How can he win a fight if he can't even jump high enough to the reach the platforms they're happening at? And you say Noxious 'Nadelord's immobile!"
"What's got you so attached to that arsonist anyway?"
"It's to complete his redemption arc from the last game, if I am to beat this arcade, then I owe it to the experience the last one gave me to win as him first!"
I stopped when I realized something, and looked around.
"You're too attached to..." Marco trailed off when he realized I wasn't following the group anymore.
"Jake? What's wrong?" Cassie asked, concerned.
((Guys,)) I said as I looked around me at the crowd. ((Is it just me or are more people entering the theater than leaving?))
"Huh?" Rachel asked, looking around herself.
((Oh nuts,)) Rachel said. ((There are!))
((We can't be looking awkward!)) Marco said, taking Rachel's hand and walking briskly. ((We need to make like a tree and leaf, now!))
Me and Cassie followed, and on the way I had the thought to take Cassie's hand too, unlike Rachel she didn't shake my grip off.
"Yes!" I said when I finally blew the last flying mutated buzzardman into bloody gibs that fell out of the screen, The screen started moving, and my green clad fighter wielding a flail began walking to follow the camera. We were in The Mall's arcade, and the room was an appropriate level of dark so as not to drown out the bright screens.
I forgot to mention earlier in my narration that I was quite talented with video games, this arcade in particular was a hard one, and playing as certain characters is harder than playing with others. This game was a favorite of mine, and in my efforts to beat this popular masterpiece, I had drawn a crowd.
"You're gonna dieeee," Marco drawled.
"No I won't," I said as the next level loaded. It was The Cavern, that infamous cavern where I died 90% of the time, this level is absolute Hell for many of the playtable characters, and the absolute worst for Noxious 'Nadelord. The Abominable Bat/Eagle/Snake hybrids called Herpies in game swooped down, and a Gorillaphant (think centaur but it's a gorilla and an elephant, absolutely huge!) began rushing me. I threw a grenade at the Gorillaphant and rolled backwards just in time to evade The Herpies. As the flying menaces swooped up to begin their attack I activated 'Nadelord's land-mine ability, keeping him down for a few seconds, The Gorillaphant recovered from his stun and began rushing me again, raising his scythe high up to the cave cieling, now it was a race between me arming my land-mine, and the Gorillaphant's attack.
I got p, and literally as I did, the Gorillaphant got close enough to swing his scythe down on my character, depleting all but one of his hit-points. The gorillaphant's a slow attacker, but The Herpies had finished rising to the cave cieling and were swooping down to finsih the job.
"You're dead maaaan!" Marco sung.
Fortunately, Noxious 'Nadelord had another ability, little known, if he is arming an explosive and gets interrupted with an attack that destroys half or more of his health, he becomes indestructible for a short time until the explosion he was arming is detonated!
Hastily I put in the buttons combo and 'Nadelord began glowing green, he returned to arming his land-mine as the Gorillaphant raised his scythe for another attack and The Herpeis swooped down.
"What's this?" Marco said in his perfect impression of a fight announcer. "Jake-man's doing something! Has he finally pulled through?"
The land mine detonated, reducing The gorillaphant to a shower of red gibs that flew everywhere and fell out of the screen, 'Nadelord's invincibility wore off, and I threw grenades at the last Herpy that had not reached me yet, reducing that abomination to a shower of blood, scales, and feathers.
"OOOH Yeah!" Marco announced triumphantly as the crowd went wild. It hurt my ears a little bit, to be honest, "He did it!"
I walked to the stairs where a monument of the enemy's faction leader had been erected, I threw grenades at the thing, each explosion causing the statue to shake and more bits of pixelated rock to fly off until it was destroyed, as the statue exploded into gray and yellow rocks and fell of the screen, my character's health was fully restored, and he moved to the stairs. A wide smile was on my face as I progressed, having finally overcome that obstacle, but good things don't last forever, an alarm began blaring throughout the mall.
"Attention to everyone in the Mall; a gas leak has been detected on the premises, please depart from the building in an orderly manner," an announcer over the ntercomm said as the alarm's deafening blaring rang out. Marco shook his head.
"Aaugh," I said, abandoning the arcade game, everyone was leaving. "Right when I was really getting started!"
((Jake, can you hear me?)) Cassie asked, worried. ((Are you okay?))
((We're still at the arcade,)) I said as we filed out, moving onto the balcony where the sea of faces was roaming towards the escalators. ((Are you still shopping?))
((Yep,)) Rachel said. ((We're pretty close to the checkout...so, do we buy this stuff or...))
((I don't think the people running the cash registers would be either at their stations or concerned about a girl's luggage, just carry it outside!)) Marco suggested.
((What? No!)) Cassie protested.
((That's stealing!)) Rachel pointed out. ((I'm not a criminal!))
((Well, apparently that "super secret important stuff" you were buying Cassie's not that important, then?)) Marco pointed out as we reached the escalator, surrounded by people on all sides.
((Screw you!)) Rachel said. ((We have standards! If we drop them then what in the world would that make us?))
((Bums who are too lazy to hold up a flag?)) Marco offered, I almost laughed.
((As if we're supposed to be?)) Rachel demanded. ((We're supposed to be the saviors of humanity, so we only steal if we absolutely have to!))
((Oh, lookie at Blondie Mc Blondshell Face, thinking she's in a comic book!)) Marco retorted.
((Hey, heroes exist in real life, too you know!)) Rachel pointed out indignantly, surprisingly not angry at Marco's quip. ((If we don't have standards that we follow, then...then...))
After that Rachel just went silent, we waited for her to finish for a good few moments, in which time we reached the bottom of the escalator and continued our journey out with the rest of the completely calm crowd, heralded by the blaring alarm. Man that's annoying.
((Rachel?)) Marco asked, I could hear that stupid grin in his voice. ((Were you so distracted from talking with me that you walked out with the bags?))
There was some more silence, and this time, I broke it.
((Holy crap, did you really...?))
((Rachel would really rather not talk right now,)) Cassie piped up. ((She's currently in the parking lot, taking deep breaths. We're waiting for you, I should have her calmed down by the time you show up.))
"What a nice outstanding citizen!" Marco said as we moved past the food court, where the giant skylight allowed rays of sunshine to beam down on pathways of ramps that led to the second and third stories of the mall. "It would be an absolute shame for her to fall into a criminal lifestyle!"
"Ha ha ha ha he!" I laughed at Marco's joke, and as I did I started looking around and saw people in orange jumpsuits.
Huh, the repair crew is already here, that's quick! I noted.
Shortly after that, though, I noticed more of those same types moving about on the upper levels, many of them carrying heavy construction equipment.
That's a lot of people, and machinery, for just a single gas leak, I observed.
A lot of people were walking out with the shopping carts, however, I saw certain people walking int he opposite directions, but isntead of the typical metal wire shopping carts, they looked more like giant buckets made to look like shopping mall carts.
Okay, this is definitely not normal, I realized as we went past the doors into the parking lot, where every one was talking, they tried sticking to the sidewalks, and everyone who drove cars were already working on vacating the entire area, a lot of people left with their luggage.
"Cassie!" I called out. "Rachel! Where are you at?"
"Right here!" Cassie spoke up, she was still wearing her tiedie dress, waving her arm high in the air, holding a plastic bag, smiling, she was close to the bike racks, looking like some ancient princess.
God, she's beautiful.
"Where's Rachel at?" Marco asked.
"Calling her parents to drive us home."
"Guys, is it me, or were there too many construction workers in there for just a gas leak?" I asked.
"Yeah, there were a good number of them."
"Crap, it has to be Them," I said as Rachel walked up.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked, still miffed about not paying for her items.
"The Mall is being turned into a Mexican Restaurant," I spoke in the code.
Rachel nodded, and the conversation seemed like it ended there, but she continued in my head, ((How so?))
((There were way more construction workers than there were supposed to be, and a bunch of men in regular clothes holding jackhammers walking in the opposite direction of the people leaving.))
((Oh, that is suspicious,)) Cassie said.
((It doesn't smell right,)) Marco agreed. ((Who here's willing to bet that there wasn't even a gas leak?))
((They're building something in the mall, but what?)) Cassie said.
((It's obvious, back in the restaurant they complained about there not being enough entrances within the city itself,)) I said. ((So they're making more entrances.))
((Okay, good information... good information...)) Marco said, breaking the silence. ((Overall, I'd say that this was a successful date!))
((AGH! Successful?)) Rachel vented. ((This was a disaster! Can we seriously not go anywhere without encountering some bullcrap about Controllers?!))
((But ignoring that, they advanced their relationship! Even if it was disrupted, we still have a full day ahead of us,)) Marco said optimistically.
((How was their relationship advanced?)) Rachel asked exasperatedly.
((Hey, are you ignoring how they talked about eachother's underwear without stuttering?))
I pressed my lips tightly into each-other to suppress my smile, and we just waited for our ride to pick us up.
Even though They were everywhere, this was a good date.
Day 14, Evening
Jacob Skridge walked into the room, having washed his hands and put on the required clothing exactly as instrusted, he made sure that the hazmat suit they provided him with had no holes, and he walked into the room, a human body was already lying on the table. There were a group of other humans, all wearing hazmat suits and holding containers with big clear plastic bags, and a tall alien in there with them, equally as clothed.
The bags were all filled with red, sealed, and were being examined by the sixth human in the room.
"Well done, you did it exactly as we've gone over it," The Doctor said, motioning to the body on the table, naked, carved open, and drained of their blood, the only thing left was the skin and bones, which the save for a tarp lain on top of them, which the alien took and placed into its own bag.
"Alright," Jacob said, looking dismayed at the hazmat suit he wore, the arms were absolutely drenched in blood, and nobody could see, but his hands were shaking.
They're not actual humans, Jacob reminded himself. They are Andalite pretenders, who look exactly the same on the inside as they do the outside.
"Bring me the next one," Jacob said betraying a hint of any tiredness or distress in his words or body language as he walked out of the room to undress. "I'm going to the bathroom."
The table where the human remains were dissected, eviscerated, and stripped of all of their component parts had all of the bags that the human was put on top of it, and then wheeled out. Jacob took off his hazmat suit in the next room and put it in the bin, he walked into one of the other doors, and entered there.
"So, how's my 'stupid idea' progressing," Tom asked as he walked in.
The Doctor turned to face his superior and spoke.
"Better than I could've anticipated," he said with excitement, not a single hint of the disdain or disgust he had a few days earlier. "I don't know where you found him, but he's progressed in training far faster than anyone would've expected!"
"Ah, so he chopped this last human up all by himself?" Tom asked as he wheeled in Jacob's next body, and a new wave of humans and aliens to assist him in the endeavor.
"Exactly!" The Doctor said. "His dexterity and precision are of a class all their own, even compared to other humans! He remembers instructions intuitively, and he doesn't shake! Are you sure he's not already host to an Elder, Temrash?"
Temrash's expression frowned behind the hazmat suit he wore.
"That's to be expected," Temrash dismissively said. "He did work in a meatshop before it got closed down. And what do you mean by 'intuitively remembering?'"
"He not only remembers directions, but keeps those directions in mind when making decisions on his own, he asks questions but he never did anything wrong! He can do anything he sets his mind too, I can just tell!"
Perhaps my idea is working a little too well, Jacob's a wonder brat, Temrash frowned as he realized.
"I hope you're ready to train a volunteer that would undoubtedly be of inferior quality," Temrash said. "We have a quota to meet and we can't slow down."
"Yes, yes, I know," The Doctor said. "And I'm ready to train the next one, just let me bid farewell to my current one."
"Oh, you're not guilty of Homophilia, are you?" Temrash asked in a tone coated in a deadly accusatory ice.
"N-nno! Of course not! Where did you get such an idea?" The doctor shouted in outrage. "You don't like being around me that much? Nobody's keeping you in this lab!"
Temrash nodded and turned to walk out of the room.
"Good luck, and remember, don't decieve The Visser," Temrash whispered a final warning before he walked out of the door.
Then Jacob walked in again, wearing a clean new hazmat suit.
"What was going on out here?" Jacob said.
"Ah, nothing to worry about, my star pupil!" The Controller Doctor said, clearly beginning to laugh. "Just a little headbutting with one of the individuals carting the Andalites in, he had strong, and rather crass opinions on them. I didn't want his negativity to seep into the room, so I made him leave! Ha ha"
"Ah," Jacob nodded, looking towards the new body that was hauled in.
"But anyway, your training is complete!" The Doctor said.
"Wait, really?" Jacob asked.
"Yes, really, you're an absurdly fast learner, there are other volunteers I need to train for this, and now you're ready to work completely unsupervised by another surgeon."
"Oh, I was enjoyed your company," Jacob remarked.
"And I can only hope the other people I'm about to show the ropes to will be as pleasant as yourself," the doctor said, stepping away and out of the door.
"See you later," Jacob said, and the Doctor turned around as he opened the door to respond.
"You too!" He said cheerfully before closing the door.
Jacob looked to the next body, a man with skin so tan he couldn't tell whether he was hispanic or spent his entire life outdoors.
Wouldn't be that surprising if he did, Jacob thought as he walked over to the body and began examining it, removing the opaque plastic tarp off of him so that it only covered his pelvis, revealing the gastly trench where his throat was. From what I've heard, Andalites don't do indoors much besides their spaceships and forts. Now let's take a looksie.
Jacob accessed the fresh set of tools and took something that he used to pen his closed eyelids, revealing the sightless eyes underneath. Jacob activated the flashlight function and examined the eyes, very quickly noticing oddities.
Wait, what's that? Jacob wondered as he manipulated the flashlight, adjusting the angle the narrow beam of light entered the eyes.
And sure enough, he wasn't seeing things, as he moved the light, every now and then the eyes reflected the light, far far stronger than normal.
That's an oddly strong shade of green, nothing too strange, though, probably a morphing mutation, Jacob thought and dismissed.
He continued with his examination, combing through the hair, and upon finding no parasites he examined the gash that was his throat.
No signs of decay, good, though it's obvious that this one died of total exsanguination, Jacob observed, his clinical tone shaking him. No, not died, the human skin is what died. The Andalite is still inside, hibernating, ready to awake at any second, I need to work quickly before the sedatives at work here wear off.
It didn't take him long to go over the torso, as for the arms, they went smooth, however, when he reached the palms of the hands he noticed another oddity.
That skin's different, Jacob observed. What is that?
The skin on the man's palms were covered in a glossy sheen, when Jacob rubbed the hand he quickly realized that the sheen wasn't on the skin, it was the skin, and upon examining the other arm, he found that the other hand was the same.
What a strange specimen they brought here, Jacob realized, dropping the examination tool on the tray, exchanging it for a scalpel, and reaching it over to the dead man's neck. But enough dawdling, I need to get this over with.
Jacob quickly made the incision, drawing a dark line splitting the torso's skin down the middle. Once he made the side cuts that would allow for the flaps of skin to be peeled back, heset the scalpel down and picked up the bonesaw.
REEeeeeee!
The bone saw whirred to life as Jacob got to work extracting the front of the ribcage, very carefully applying pressure so that the collarbones would be removed from the sternum. However, a problem had arisen.
Jacob stopped using the bone saw and lifted it up to examine the business end.
"What's wrong?" The alien asked, and one of the humans accompanying him chuckled under their breath.
Jacob shook his head and looked back down at his assigned project, it's not dull, and there's barely a scratch on the skeleton. Is this body even human?
"Nothing," Jacob said. "its skeleton is just abnormally sturdy, this is going to get loud."
Then he revved up the bonesaw, this time setting the alien device to a much higher and louder setting.
REEEEEEEEEEEEE!
This time Jacob successfully detached the collarbones from the ribcage, from then on he leaned down and began severing the ribs at the spine, the process took him several minutes, but when he finally got it, he felt a little relief inside.
"Ribcage," Jacob said, removing the entire piece of the skeletal structure, and one of the larger plastic bags was put forward, and the bones were dropped in, the human host diligently walked away and placed the bag on a large trough like sink where the rest of the organs sat.
Jacob had frozen, however, he stood over the body he was supposed to be carving up.
What in the Hell? Jacob questioned himself.
"What is it, now?" One of the humans asked.
"That is not a Human," Jacob reported as the body began disintegrating, turning into a fine sand that fell down on his feet.
The Doctor stomped angrily into the security room, right where he knew Temrash would be. Upon very audibly opening the door, every human in the room turned away from watching the security cameras.
"Temrash!" The Doctor angrily demanded, and Tom turned slowly to face the one he had seen no sooner than thirty minutes earlier.
"Yes, Doctor?" He smiled, back turned away from the security footage of the rooms where the bodies were being cut up.
"How did an Animorph get in with the deceased Hosts?!" The Doctor accused.
"Animorph?" Temrash asked, looking back to the monitors. It was a large operation, and as such there were so many screens that it was imposible to look at them all, hundreds of humans were being processed at the same time. Tom's eyes found Jacob, who was standing confused as the Controllers surrounded the table, trying to get the sand/ash/dust that his first independent job was supposed to be done on in the bags.
"Oh dapsen," Temrash growled.
"Temrash! Explain!"
Tom spun around to face the doctor, his eyes wild. He leaned forward to put his face to the hazmat covered human whose Controller was outraged.
"You have no right to address me with that tone!" Temrash acidly scolded. "I've been in this, and been a part of this, for longer than the majority of us on this planet was alive!"
"The Empire's founding, when we took our first conquest," Tom's voice had turned into a low growly tone, the deadly promise behind them evident. "The first battles against The Andalites, I was there. Do you know what that means? Where that places me in comparison to you? I helped put down revolts and dissention incidents, I can do it again to some piece of sludge that was literally born yesterday."
The Doctor fell silent, his own river of acid stopped by a dam of tightly clenched teeth and bulging veins.
"Getting back on topic: That's a stupid question. How do Animorphs get anywhere?" Temrash explained in exasperation. "They're shapeshifters, this one was probably infiltrating our ranks when he got unlucky when we ambushed the Andalites. There's nothing to worry about."
The Doctor walked forward and looked at the screen monitering Jacob's work station, and though he couldn't see his thoughts, he knew Jacob was thinking the exact same thing.
He took off his hazmat suit and peered very closely at the moving images, the multiple bags of sand.
"That's a lot of sand for a corpse..." The Doctor said.
"And so?" Temrash prodded.
"It's a fake."