The Animorphs Dementia Cycle - Animorphs with a twist of fate....
We all know Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We all know what has happened to them.
But have you ever wondered.... what if....? Yes, "what if". The two words that sparked the creation of fiction, and the foundation of all things of fantasy and science fiction. "What if" is the code of the fan who writes their own version of their favorite stories.
The Dementia Cycle takes "what if" to another level. It gets its name because it looks at Animorphs from another perspective, a different dimension, causing chaos and insanity in its wake. Several slight changes were made in the other universe. Obvious ones. Ones that shouldn't make so much of a difference, but, in fact, do.
The differences can be seen very quickly... if you watch....
So far, a stranger has come upon the Animorphs, one that knows absolutely everything - but she knows absolutely everything, from a very different angle. Her name is Jacqueline - although she prefers being called "Jack". She knows everything Jake knows - but she knows the Animorphs as Maria, Diane, Toniya, Christopher, and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill - better known as "Axel". Her cousin, Richard, defected. A stranger who found the Escafil Device, Diane, after much trial and error, became an integral part of the team. The day after Jacqueline's appearance, Tobias spotted a golden eagle turning into a blond boy. Thinking that it might be David, the traitor who nearly destroyed the Animorphs, he and Rachel tried to confront the boy - only to discover that it was Richard, Rachel's counterpart. After much bickering, the Animorphs have come to tolerate Rich. The phenomenon which brought Jack and Rich to the others' reality has been dubbed a "Jacqueline Rip" by Ax, much to Jack's embarrassment. Although the truth behind the effects - a hole in the fabric of reality between the two universes - has been recognized, it still hasn't been found.
Or has it?
I hope you enjoy The Dementia Cycle.
Animorphs Dementia #5 - The Convention
Long before....
Pull up! Toniya yelled.
TSEEEEW! TSEEEEEW!
A sharp pain burned all through me, and I was falling. I watched as my Dracon beam-amputated wing, burning like a gasoline-soaked rag, fell below me. I tumbled almost straight down, into a group of Warmaker Iskoort. I cringed, hugging the ground, waiting for the beams I heard being fired to hit me... but nothing. One beam slammed into the ground just next to my remaining wing, but otherwise, nothing. I heard the screams of a Killjoy's falcon, the annoyed-sounding wheezing diaphragms of the Warmaker Iskoort, the growls of the Howler... but no more firing. Why had the firing stopped? Why wasn't the Howler tearing me to shreds yet? Why was I still hugging the ground, getting trod on by Iskoort feet?
They can't kill the Iskoort! Jack yelled suddenly. Use the Iskoort for cover!
They couldn't what? I looked up at the Iskoort that surrounded me. Was Jack saying I was safe? Not bothering to think about it, I started to demorph.
Chris! Jack yelled at me in private thought-speak. Chris, if you can hear me, demorph! Demorph!
Yeah, yeah, I know, I muttered a little shakily, getting to my morphing feet.
Ax! Behind you! Diane shouted.
Here comes another one! Maria yelled.
Chris. Are you okay? Jack asked me.
The shock of losing my wing suddenly caught up with me, even though I was morphing out. One of the Iskoort kicked me in my still mostly-hawk head. I'll...you know... uh... demorph, I said, dazed.
Chris, demorph! And stay close to the Iskoort!
Yeah, I replied, trying to get to my feet again. Yeah.
I can't leave you like this!
No, I agreed, then realized what agreeing might mean. Just because I was among Iskoort didn't mean Jack was. She could be killed! Yes. Go. You have to- I screeched as another Warmaker Iskoort kicked me. Watch it! I snapped at them. They ignored me. Jack? Jack, go help the others! Jack? No answer. She must have left.
Good, I thought grimly, finally getting my feet under me again. By this time, I was too big to be getting kicked around. I stood up straight, then ducked, so that I was no taller than the Iskoort around me. They shoved against each other, against me, but by now I was finally too big for them to shove too hard. They were weak, compared to humans. I risked a glance above their triangular heads: the Howlers weren't paying the slightest bit of attention to me. Three of them were chasing after a small, narrow-winged bird.
A Killjoy's hawk.
"Jack, no!" I yelled, but if she heard - which I doubt - she just kept going. I raced after her, not thinking. No, no, no, I thought, my teeth clenched tight, my bare feet slapping against the Lego-like ground. No, no, no…
I broke into the clearing just in time to watch her fall, twisting in a sickening spiral, over the edge of the platform.
"Jack!" I screamed, as a Howler tore through the hedge after her -
- and plummeted straight down.
Tears stung my eyes, but at the same time, I clenched my right hand into a fist. I kept clenching until I could feel my palm getting wet, not with tears, not with sweat, but with blood from my nails cutting into my palm. And still I kept it clenched.
"One down, each side," I muttered.
Then I turned and ran.
I ran, ready to take on any Howler with my bare hands.
But it wasn't meant to be.
Because, as I ran, a human hand suddenly appeared out of thin air above a gaggle of Iskoort, grabbed me, and pulled me through what turned out to be a hologram.
"Where's Jack?" Maria demanded.
I shook my head. "She was hit," I said, my voice totally monotone. I had no idea how I was talking at all.
Axel's grip tightened on the hologram emitter in his hand. Gone?! he demanded.
"Where's Toniya?" I asked, looking at the other three.
Diane blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Scouting for the two of you," she replied.
"Good idea, covering as Iskoort," I said. "The Howlers aren't allowed to shoot them. At least, that's what Jack-" I swallowed heavily.
Diane looked smugly at Maria. "Told you."
We cannot fool them forever, Axel pointed out. It is only a matter of time before something penetrates our holofield.
"Right," I agreed, nodding. "Axel, I think we're going to have to sacrifice another holographic emitter."
"What?" Maria demanded. "In case you haven't noticed, Chris, I only have so much hair!" She pulled at the bottom of her hair, now to her shoulderblades rather than down her back. "I've already lost a over a foot! Do you think I can afford another emitter?"
"Do you like your hair, or your life?" I snapped in reply.
"Whoa," Diane breathed. "Mouse grew a backbone." I glared at her. She held up her hands in surrender. "What morph, oh mighty one?"
"The Howlers don't seem to have good microvision," I said, recalling the stint after our first encounter. "Bugs."
Maria shuddered. "How do I know, and why do I let people ask?"
It wasn't long before the Howlers figured us out, but by then, it was too late. Axel and Diane were dragonflies; Maria and I were roach spiders. The holoemitter stood, abandoned, in the middle of the walkway.
The Howlers growled and roared between themselves, splitting into two groups and moving away. Cautiously, Guide showed up, and, curious, picked up the holoemitter, and shut it off. Friends, good friends, are you still here? he called.
Shut up, Diane said, true to form. I swear, her favorite words are "Shut up". We're here. I'm about to land on your shoulder. Axel, you take his other one.
Maria and I are in the hedge, I said. Maria, let's go to the top, where Guide can get us.
We need another hiding place, Maria said, climbing up the stalk beside me.
Quickly, Guide scooped us up. I know just the spot, he assured us. They'll never fi-
Shut up, Diane snapped. Guide did.
We went down several flights of stairs, down what seemed to be an endless staircase… we just kept going down.
Later I learned that we only went down three platforms. But, to a roach spider, no bigger than a child's hand, it was a loooooooong way down.
We all demorphed in a huge, almost airless room. What air there was, was choked with dust. "What's wrong with this place?" Maria asked. "Something broke?"
Oh, no, Guide laughed. There is nothing wrong with the equipment. This factory was evacuated simply because the Industrial Worker Iskoort here believe that the factory is haunted with the spirits of fictional characters, and, since they cannot work out a price with the Magic and Superstition Guild to exorcise the spirits, they refuse to work.
"What?" Diane demanded.
I didn't listen as I fell to the ground, my head down. Briefly, Maria touched my shoulder, then moved away. She isn't good with feelings. She hides her own; it's hard for her to sympathize with others. I understood.
Diane listened skeptically to Guide. Axel stood apart, maybe listening, maybe blaming himself for Jack. Axel always blames himself whenever any of us get hurt. Like Maria, he always hides his feelings, but unlike Maria, he isn't very good at it.
A silence fell over us as Guide finished pratting. Diane shook her head. I bowed my head to my knees, but closing my eyes only made the picture clearer - the hawk, falling, the Howler…
Prince Jack!
I jerked up, startled, and looked toward the door, just in time to see Toniya fly in, to see…
… Jack.
I didn't think about it. I jumped to my feet and ran. She grinned as she ran toward me.
Was she real?
Could she possibly be real?
The moment she was in reach I grabbed her, pulled her close. Before I knew it I was kissing her and she was kissing me, and all was well with the world. With any world.
Howlers? Who cared about Howlers?
Jack was safe.
"It's about time," Diane muttered.
That broke the dream-like quality. Embarrassed, Jack pushed away a little, but I wasn't brushed off so easily. I hugged her close one more time, then let go.
Maria tugged on my sleeve. "What, no kiss for me?" she asked, pouting. Then she winked. "No? I guess I'll have to turn to Axel."
Axel looked at her with his main eyes, raising a muscle in his face where his eyebrow would be. Even if I had a mouth, Maria, he said, I think you know what the answer to that would be.
"Don't even look at me," Diane said, putting her hands out in front of her.
Maria pouted. Then, grinning that insane, "put-me-in-a-rubber-room" grin, she marched over to Guide and kissed him on top of his triangular head.
He looked up at her, surprised. He stuttered for a moment, then, still flustered, he asked, Would it be possible for me to sell that?
Maria smiled at him sweetly. "Not on this world, buddy."
That was what cinched it, I guess. I mean, what really got Jack and I... you know, together. We've always cared about each other - at least, I think we have - but that experience just seemed to finalize it.
Everybody in our group - especially Maria, Elfangor, and Toniya, Rich when he was with us, and Axel and Diane to a lesser extent - knew it. But, after that, everybody - our parents, our friends at school - knew.
I guess it takes a few near-death experiences to know how you really feel.
I know we've had more than enough to figure out how we feel by now.
If it weren't for Jack, there's no way I could hold on, no way I could keep fighting. She means more to me than anything, than anyone. She means countless times more to me than me....
CHAPTER 25
Cassie
I held the skirl carefully, one hand on its nape to save my fingers from bites, the other holding its back feet and tail to keep it from kicking me or lashing me. Chris, with the ease of much practice, squeezed the sides of its mouth, forcing it to open, popped the pill in, then held its muzzle shut until it swallowed. "You don't blow into a skirl's nose," he said. "It'll choke if you do." I nodded as I put the odd little rodent into a different cage. Its squirrel counterpart was back in its original one. We'd already dealt with it.
"We're all done, right?" I asked him, wiping my hands on my jeans.
He nodded. "I think that's it, unless that vulpurine comes back."
I looked at a cage that held a fox whose tail my dad and I had had to amputate. He was lying there, looking glum. I wondered what his counterpart would look like. "Vulpurine" sounded like a mix of a "vulpine" - fox - and a "wolverine" - a weasel. I wondered if it would look more like the skirl or the wolfbane cub.
He wiped his hands on his jeans, then sat down on the third step on the ladder to the hayloft. "It's great to have help," he said, smiling at me.
I smiled back, and sat on the ground at the foot of the ladder. "Yeah," I agreed. "It's like suddenly having a brother."
"Or sister, as the case may be," he added. "I think most of us are seeing it that way." He looked up toward the hayloft, where the others were. I heard Rich, Maria, and Marco arguing over which superhero would beat which superhero. Maria and Marco were both arguing that the Spiderman of their universe was better than the other's, while Rich was certain that Batman would beat both of them up, or something like that. "Rich and Rachel would be an exception."
"I think it's cool for Jake and Jack, though," I said. "And Tobias and Toniya, too. I mean, they're so different from the rest of us, you know? Jake and Jack have to lead everybody. It's good for them to get to know each other. And Toniya and Tobias are both nothlits. I think it's great that Tobias has gotten a second chance to meet Elfangor. I'm glad we all have."
"Mm-hmm," Chris agreed half-heartedly.
I looked up at him. He had his arms folded tightly over his chest, and he looked as if someone had stabbed him, but he didn't want anyone to know it. "Chris, what's wrong?" I asked.
He sighed. "All this switching," he said, shaking his head a little. "Ax and Axel have been together through all of this - have you noticed that? - but… you know, I haven't seen Jack since she first disappeared." His jaw tightened a little, and he squeezed his eyes shut. "I don't care what happens, Cassie," he said, his voice quiet, so that the others couldn't hear. "I just don't care." Rich's voice cut off in mid-sentence, to be replaced by Elfangor's. "I just want to see Jack again."
I stood up and put my arms around his shoulders. He rested his head on my collarbone. No one could see us; everyone was far from the edge of the hayloft, for safety's sake. "You will," I told him, not sure if I was telling the truth or if I was just trying to make him feel better.
He chuckled a little. Unfolding his arms, he patted one of mine. "Thanks, Cass," he said. "Thanks for reminding me for myself."
"What are counterparts for?" I asked, smiling a little.
*
I guess it was okay for me, meeting Chris.
I mean, except for Marco, I was the last person to meet my counterpart. Christopher and I first met after Erek, who was in one universe, and another Chee, who called herself Fran, in the other, finished trying to explain to us what was going on. It seems that the Chee-net was able to penetrate through the hole in S-space so that the two of them could time their explanations perfectly with each other, so that when one of us blipped from one universe to another we were still able to follow what was going on. When we first saw each other - when I crossed over to the universe where Fran had explained what was going on - we sort of stared at each other for awhile. We weren't shocked, really… not freaked out either. I guess we were just surprised to see each other, finally. Then Chris sort of smiled, I sort of smiled, we shook hands, and eventually decided to try and get our chores done. While going through the animals, I had switched back to the other universe; Chris flipped between universes three times. What it meant was that we were back in the universe where I had heard the story of what was going on. Which universe that was, I don't know. All I know is, the barn was getting a little more crowded. Rich was the first disappearance in hours.
Up in the loft, David alternated between ranting at the others and pleading for his release. Diane was silent except for several "Shut up!"s aimed at David. Maria and Marco continued their "discussion" of Spiderman. Rachel, Jake, and Elfangor started discussing the math final that was coming up.
"Eerie how everybody's talking about normal stuff," Chris said.
"How is that any more eerie than us doing our chores?" I asked. "I guess it's a way of dealing with how crazy this all is. Ignoring the fact that anything more unusual than normal is happening."
He was about to say something, then stopped. He raised one eyebrow. "More unusual 'than normal'," he echoed. "Since when were we normal?"
I raised an eyebrow in reply. "If you don't know, why do you think I should?"
The sharp sound of fast flapping wings startled everyone into silence. Tobias and Toniya burst through the doors of the hayloft at full speed, then, turning like well-trained air force bombers, landed side-by-side on the rafter closest to the hayloft.
Chris and I traded worried glances.
"What is it?" Elfangor asked.
It's the Axs, Tobias said, wasting no time. They're gone.
"What?" Rich demanded. Obviously, he had returned.
CHAPTER 26
Chris
"What?" Rich demanded. Obviously, he had returned.
A footstep sounded behind me.
For a moment, I had this totally heart-wrenching fear that it was one of my parents. Where were Cassie's and my parents, anyway? Were they stuck in one universe, and us in the other? I turned.
"What's going on?" Jack demanded.
I simply stared at her.
She seemed ragged, exhausted, but no more so than when faced with Vissers or Carnotauruses. Her hair was frizzed, her eyes shadowed, her clothes wrinkled, her entire body smelling of the barn.
She had never been more beautiful.
Before she could say another word I kissed her, long and deep, to make up for the weeks we'd missed.
She gasped as I let her go. "Uh… hi," she said, laughing a little. "Guess I should disappear more often."
"Don't you even dare."
Cassie abruptly started up the ladder behind me. I glanced upward.
"Chris…" I looked at Jack again. People thought we looked kind of weird together, since she was taller than me, and we're what people think they're polite to call a "mixed" couple. But it doesn't matter. So long as we're together, nothing can ever matter.
Jack glanced upward. Chris, she said, changing over to thought-speak. (Though it definitely has its uses, none of us have really gotten used to using it all the time.) Cassie and Jake… here… they're not…
Not what?
She glanced upward again. They're not like us. She bit her lip a little. Jake's as bull-headed as me. And Cassie isn't so easily broken by fits of…
… insanity, I finished, smiling a little. We'd both agreed that "fits of insanity" was better than "fits of emotion" or, worse, "fits of passion". I shudder at the thought of using that second possibility.
By fits of insanity, she agreed. Then, teasingly, she added, She's stronger than you. I raised an eyebrow at her. She stifled a giggle. Stop that! She kissed me on the nose. Come on. Duty calls.
I sighed. Doesn't it always, I pointed out, then moved aside to hold the ladder for her.
CHAPTER 27
Cassie
I felt kind of numb inside, looking around the hayloft. Except for the two Axs, we were all together. Every Animorph, at last, was in the same place, in the same timeline.
I avoided looking across the hayloft at Jack and Chris. From the moment they got back together, they hadn't left each other's side. Not once.
I kept telling myself, I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous.
I can't say how jealous I was. It made me sick. That's why I was trying to convince myself I wasn't jealous.
Confused yet?
I already was.
While avoiding looking at them, I looked at everyone else. I was sandwiched between Rachel and Jake on one hay bale. A little to our right, Diane kept David's cage firmly between her and Rich on another bale. To our left, Elfangor seemed to have a bale almost to himself, but that wasn't true: it's just that Tobias and Toniya, who took up far less space than any of the rest of us, were perched on either side of him. Marco and Maria sat on a hay bale stacked above Jack's and Chris's.
"We're too squished," Rachel said, breaking the silence. She winked at me, then boosted herself onto the hay bale above Jake and me. She swung her feet, keeping me from moving over.
How could she think like that at a time like this?
How dare I feel grateful?
"The Axs are gone, maybe dead," I said, speaking my less personal thoughts out loud. "Why?"
They were talking to each other, something about this revolving around them, Toniya said.
They were? Tobias asked, confused.
Axel never keeps anything from me, Toniya replied. He was joking with his counterpart about a theory they had come up with about this revolving around them, since beyond their early cross-overs, they didn't go anywhere.
Elfangor looked thoughtful for a moment. "Repeat again - what happened, exactly?"
Tobias sighed. A tree appeared right in front of Ax. He crashed into it. Axel stopped running, and offered to help him up. The moment their hands touched, they just… He shuddered, fluffing his feathers. They crumbled into each other.
All they left behind was some sort of vortex, Toniya said.
"Vortex?" Jake and Jack asked, in the same tone, at the same time. They glanced at each other. Chris rolled his eyes at me and smiled. I did my best to smile back.
It's like a hole into Z-space, Toniya explained, but there's no suction - at least, none we could feel. But the trees went haywire.
Maria and Marco leaned forward at the same time, opening their mouths, then realized that they were about to say the same thing. Maria glared at Marco stubbornly. He bowed slightly at the waist, gesturing with his hands that she could go. "Haywire trees?" she asked. "Like, as in, 'we've come to suck your brains' trees, or just 'help, my pants are on fire' trees?"
It was like an earthquake, Tobias said. The trees were jumping all over the place-
Maria and Marco traded a look. Maria nodded. "Jumping trees?" Marco echoed. "Basketball-lay-up jumping trees, or Mexican hat-dance jumping trees?" He and Maria traded high fives.
"This is serious!" Diane snapped. "The Axs could be dead!"
"Get a life, Di," Maria told her. "By the time we reverse this thing, we could all be dead."
Optimistic, aren't we, David snapped. You do what you want - but leave me out of it!
"Shut up!" Diane snapped at him.
Make me, he sneered back.
"I said shut up!" she shouted, raising her hand.
Rich grabbed her wrist before she could smack the cage. "Don't let him bait you," he told her.
"Get off of me, you-" Diane snarled.
"ENOUGH!" Everyone jumped, but only Jack jumped to her feet. "This I didn't miss," she snapped. "Can you please keep quiet," she glared at Diane, "unless you're going to help in some way? And you-" she stabbed a finger at David, "- if you don't have anything useful to say, shut up! We're not letting you out, we're not letting you go, but so help me, if you whine one more time I'm going to punt you across the barn! Now snap out of it!"
There was silence as Jack sat back down next to Chris.
That wasn't necessary, I told her privately.
She glanced at Chris, then at me. I guess we'd done the same thing. There was a pause before she told me, It's what kept Diane on our side. Sometimes you can't play nice. Sometimes, you just have to flex some muscles, waste some breath, and get it into some skulls who's the alpha animal.
"Back to bullying the new kid, huh, Jack?" Diane asked softly. Jack looked at her in surprise. "You always have to be right, don't you? All hail the mighty Princess Jacqueline, she can outshout a rat in a cage." Diane's eyes narrowed. "You're always so strong when you have 'em cornered, aren't you, Jack? You were so strong when you had me stuck in here." She gestured around the hayloft. "But I got loose, didn't I? Didn't think I could, did you. It was too easy. Just waited for chivalrous Christopher to go on morning duty and decide that I wanted to change into some fresh clothes." Her scowl turned into a sneer. Chris looked in a direction where he didn't have to look at anyone else. "But I learned the hard way about your weakness, didn't I? You care too much. Behind that shouting tigress you're just a puppy who's been getting kicked a little too much. You're a simpering, whimpering fool."
"I'm the simpering, whimpering fool who guarded you for three straight days," Jack muttered. "You tried to kill me, and in return, I saved you."
"Sure. You're the fool who decided to kill the Yeerk in my head by breaking my leg and kicking me in the head whenever I woke up," Diane replied coldly.
I looked at Jake. He shook his head. He didn't know what to do. Elfangor didn't look like he was paying any attention. Maria had her hand over Marco's mouth, keeping him from butting in: why, I couldn't guess. Rich watched silently. I couldn't see Rachel's reaction, and with Tobias and Toniya, it was impossible to read expressions from their hawk faces.
Diane wasn't finished. "I learned the hard way about the truth. About what we're really up against. And I know a lot of it depends on you." Her eyes narrowed further. "But I'll tell you this, Jack. You start taking your frustrations out on people like me again, and we'll see who punts who. You may have saved my skin, Jack, but remember who shredded yours."
She scooted backwards, farther onto the hay bale. Rich looked at her with a slight smile. "Guess I was wrong," he said. "I could get to like you."
"Shut up," she replied.
Elfangor looked up.
"I think I understand," he said.
CHAPTER 28
Chris
I think we all listened equally attentively to Elfangor, because, in the end, we were all equally confused. Even Toniya didn't seem to get it.
And when Toniya can't put Andalite thinking into human terms, you know it's complicated.
But this problem wasn't any different from any other Elfangor had figured out before we did: he didn't give up on us.
He leaned forward into his classic thinking position: I think of it as classic, because it's the exact same position as that famous "Thinker" sculpture people are always making fun of, by picturing the statue on a toilet - bent over, elbow on one knee, fist between the chin and mouth.
"What seemed strange from the start was the haphazard way things appeared and disappeared," he started over. "Counterparts weren't replacing each other - the very fact that counterparts could interact had me baffled. In all known equations, when counterparts come in contact with one another - when sharing the same time-space - they should cancel out."
"Easy on the math, Einstein," Maria warned him. "You're getting too technical."
Elfangor nodded slightly, understanding. "Simply put, I was unable to figure out why counterparts, upon meeting each other, didn't cease to exist." A chill ran through me: if that had happened, of us all, only Elfangor would exist now. I wrapped my arm around Jack's shoulders, not caring who saw. She leaned against my shoulder. She was shaking, just a little.
No wonder: if what Elfangor was saying was right - which it had a tendency to be - in normal circumstances, she and Jake would have been the first to "cease to exist".
I saw Cassie discreetly take Jake's hand. I could only see how his hands shook because I was looking for it. He knew, too.
"I've just realized that the reason counterparts are not canceling each other out is childishly simple. To cut out all technical explanation-"
"Thank you," Maria said, sounding extremely thankful. Then she grunted softly; I couldn't see her, since she was behind and above me, but I guessed that Marco elbowed her.
Elfangor continued as if the interruption hadn't happened. He had a lot of practice doing that. "To cut out unnecessary, explanation, the Chee won't be able to find the Rip - because we're in it."
Of course! Toniya cried.
"Resident bird-brained translator, do your stuff," Maria said. "And Marco, keep your elbows to yourself this time."
Toniya glared at Maria, her head cocked a little to the side, her eyes narrowing slightly, in the way she'd adapted to show a "smile". Funny, she said, I remember an argument earlier about this… something about you, me, and birdbrains.
Even I remember that, Rich told me, smiling slightly as he glanced at me. I smiled back. I couldn't put into words how glad I was he was back. I know Rich: I know he wouldn't do anything - anything - he thought would hurt anyone. At least, not anyone who didn't deserve it. And Rich isn't someone who likes to hold grudges. He didn't leave, to hurt anyone: he did it because he thought it was the only way.
Another thing I know about Rich is that, though he may be stubborn, opinionated, and yes, sometimes chauvinistic (without meaning to be, and never to the point of offense; "chivalrous" fits him better than "chauvinistic"), he can admit when he's wrong.
Sometimes, I think Jack's forgetting how to do that.
This is exactly like the Sario Rips we've experienced, Toniya said. We exist in two places at the same time - impossible, yes, if the Sario Rip didn't warp reality. Sario Rips form pockets of instability in real space. They sort of bend time, to let people exist in more than one place at once. That's why we could be in the Central America, or whatever rainforest it was, and living normally at the same time, and why we could be on the planet Leera and be mosquitoes at the same time, and all that.
"Summarize, Tonni," Diane warned her. "Time, no matter how warped, is still trickling by. Please, summarize, before we run out of it."
Sorry, Toniya apologized. Anyway, getting back to the point- I heard some snickering above me, and Jake rolled his eyes, so I guess Maria and/or Marco did some sort of sight gag Jack and I missed, - all that could happen, not because the Sario Rip was there, but because we were in it. We could get back from C.A., or Leera, or the Dinosaur Era, when we got out of the Sario Rip - not if we sent it crashing down on us!
"So, what you're saying, in an even smaller summary," Marco said, "is that if we find a way out of this Jacqueline Rip, it shuts down? But what about everyone else?"
Elfangor frowned. "In theory…" he began.
"Y'know, I am getting seriously sick of theories," Diane said.
Elfangor smiled tolerantly at her. She saw, and looked away. "All Sario Rips have a force quotient," he said. "The force quotient is what determines the strength of the rip, and, in the case of Sario Rips, how long they last."
"What about this rip?" Jake asked. "If it has a force quotient, what do you think it determines here?"
"I believe we already know the force quotient," he replied.
Six-point-five seconds, Toniya said.
"Can I speak for us all by saying, 'huh'?" Maria asked.
"The time displacement between our universes," Jack answered. She lifted her head from my shoulder.
Elfangor nodded. "With Sario Rips, the force quotient decreases as the point of entry and point of existence - the time-space where it begins and the time-space where it effects - come closer together. Since the change in space between is often negligible, if not a set quantity, usually only time plays a factor in that."
But if the Jacqueline Rip is through S-space… Toniya said. How would time or space be effective, if S-space doesn't have either of them?
Elfangor sighed. "I don't know."
"Well, we have our entrance into S-space, don't we?" Cassie asked.
"The vortex," I agreed. "Is there some way to test it?"
Elfangor frowned again. "Assuming that the force quotient remains at 6.5 seconds… and given the values of spacial consistencies, and allowing for conversion…"
"English, not Andalitese, Elfangor!" Maria told him impatiently.
"I would guess that the vortex would connect our universes," he said finally. "I think that, given enough mass - probably at least three hundred pounds - motionless objects placed in the vortex would be able to force themselves against the siphoning effect of the Rip to send objects into opposing universes to return to their own positions. And, if motionless objects of the necessary weight were to pass through the vortex, then it would… clog."
We were quiet for a moment.
"That is one killer math problem," Maria said.
"That sounds like one killer 'guess'," Marco added.
"Clog?" Diane was about as confused as the rest of us. "Like, a clogged drain?"
"Or a wooden shoe type clog?" Maria added quickly, reviving the earlier joke.
"Clogged drain type clog," Elfangor replied. "It is an nth-space physics problem."
"Hey, don't look at us to understand," Marco said. "I don't take normal space physics 'till senior year… maybe."
Toniya laughed. Oh, please.
"What?" Marco asked.
Toniya chuckled. Sorry. I aced it three years ago. Go on, Dad.
"For something to stay in motion," Elfangor explained, "it requires enough force to remain in motion, as well as enough force to negate any opposing force, such as gravity. Although, under normal conditions, S-space may be without time, space, or gravity, all three of those, along with human beings, pieces of buildings and trees - nothing over three hundred pounds - have been going through the Rip."
"Uhh, sorry, Elfangor, but lots of those trees, and especially those houses, weigh more than three hundred pounds," Marco pointed out.
"Not to mention cars," Maria said, emphasizing the last word for some reason.
Elfangor shook his head. "The Rip no doubt allows time through it just as it does people. Because of that, its effects work faster than those objects - or creatures - not being effected by it directly."
"So some things go through piecemeal," Jack said.
Rachel suddenly looked a little green. "That would explain the fading problem early on," she said. "Going across, piece by piece." From the look on her face, I guessed that she was going to stay quiet for awhile.
"So you're pretty much saying," Marco summarized, "that if we throw six hundred pounds into the vortex - three hundred pounds from each universe - and let them go their own directions, whatever we toss in should plug up each end?"
"It won't destroy the rip," Elfangor agreed, "but it should buy enough time to find ourselves a way to do it."
"But what do we use?" Diane asked.
I heard a twin pair of smacks above me, probably as both Maria and Marco slapped their foreheads.
"She has to ask, doesn't she?" they asked at the same time.
*
We stood outside the gaping, off-white hole that had sucked the Axs out of existence. Not surprisingly, David was the first one to voice what we were all feeling. I am not going in there! he yelled, gripping the bars of the cage with his forepaws. He shook at the bars and lashed them with his tail. Don't bring me in there!
"We don't have a choice," Diane snapped. "While we're all stuck on this end of the rip, one of our universes is unprotected from the Yeerks. If we want to find an end to this without sacrificing one of our realities, we have to go in there." Then, almost as an afterthought, she added, "So shut up!"
I smiled to myself; somehow, Diane telling someone to shut up was a bit of normalcy that was reassuring.
Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but Rich beat her to it. "Let's do it," he said.
He and I shared a slight glance. Just like old times, huh? I asked him.
Never thought it'd feel so good to say that again, he agreed.
I took Jack's hand. She looked at me. "I won't let go," I promised.
She smiled, kissing me on the cheek, then slid her hand over mine to grip my wrist. I gripped hers in return. Gripping wrists was more secure than holding hands. "Neither will I," she promised.
Our life chain formed quickly. To balance ourselves, we tried to be as reflective as possible: Elfangor stood at the middle, between Jake and Jack; I was between Jack and Rich, Cassie between Jake and Rachel. Rachel gripped Cassie's wrist and David's cage while Rich gripped my wrist and Diane's. Maria held onto Diane's wrist and Toniya's leg while Marco had his fingers laced in the other side of David's cage, and held Tobias's leg in his other hand. Let's get this done, Toniya said. My leg is already starting to cramp.
"Are we ready?" Elfangor asked us. The answers varied, but the overall response was clear: we'd never be ready, but we were going to do it.
The only sounds as we entered the vortex were our footsteps and the high-pitched whimpering of David as he cowered in his cage.
CHAPTER 29
Elfangor
S-space.
A place without form, substance, distance, time. Everything about it seemed unreal, because it was. Our minds convinced us what wasn't there was, because the absence of it was too confusing to comprehend.
We could see each other, and ourselves, again and again; but each time, we were somehow changed. I saw many lifelines that were missing links - lifelines without Jake, without Rachel or Rich, without Toniya, without David - or with him, human - or Diane - or with her in the cage. I saw lifelines with true duplicates - two of Jake or Maria or even of everyone. I saw short lifelines, of just two or three people. I saw people standing - if what we were doing could be called standing - alone. I saw big gaps where there were no lifelines at all. And far, far away, I could see people change entirely. I saw strangers among friends, enemies among strangers, friends among enemies. As the lifelines got farther away, they grew more and more different, until, on the edge of what I could clearly see, none of what I saw even resembled a human.
We were outside the Jacqueline Rip, being buffeted by what felt like air currents - truly, motionless, less-than-critical-weight objects speeding by too quickly to see - which flipped us end over end. The Rip was vaguely outlined by the light on either end of it, and the light that flew through it, passed us; the holes between were getting larger and larger.
««Let's do this!»» Rachel shouted. Her voice echoed and ricocheted endlessly, as the sentiment was echoed by other Rachels around us.
««We have to stop spinning first!»» countless Jakes replied. ««We have to get pointed the right way!»»
««Help me!»» an infinite number of voices shouted at each other. I tightened my sliding grip on Jack's and Jake's wrists. The twisting and turning, sliding and churning, were incredible. There was no up, no down, no direction at all: there were just an infinite number of lifelines being churned through the abyss between our homes, countless victims trapped in what was supposed to keep us apart but had instead thrown us together.
Just as it seemed as if I could hold on no longer, the buffetings renewed themselves tenfold. I felt my head whipped by suctions on two sides. I felt my arms straining to remain attached to my body. I felt Jake's and Jack's fingers straining to hold onto me even as I strained to hold onto them.
««I'm slipping!»» screamed through the reflections of all of us.
««Don't let go!»» an equal number of voices cried.
Two of those voices were recognizable.
The first was Maria.
The second was Toniya.
««We're stable!»» infinite Marcos yelled.
A wordless scream sounded through the Rip. A bundle of off-white feathers tumbled passed me.
««No!»» Maria shouted.
««Maria, don't!»» Diane yelled.
««Let go!»» Maria snapped. Diane yelled. Maria tumbled by me, even faster than Toniya, her greater, but not great enough, mass forcing her more quickly in the wrong direction. She snagged hold of one of Toniya's legs.
««Grab her!»» Jack shouted.
No one could. No one had a free hand.
Tobias screamed.
I leaned forward, trying to see that end of the lifeline. Where was my daughter? Tobias? Maria?
Then I saw.
Maria had somehow managed to snag Tobias's free leg. Now, she held onto two hawks. ««I can't hold on!»»
Around us, other lifelines were breaking apart. Some were preparing to finish what they had prepared themselves to do. Others were trying to solve problems similar to our own.
««Toniya!»» Maria screamed. ««Claw back! You can do it!»»
Toniya moaned. ««My leg,»» she whimpered.
««Your leg!»» Tobias shouted. ««I'm being ripped in half!»»
As I watched, a determined look crossed Maria's face. She was remembering what I had said. No matter what jokes Marco - or Maria - may make about their learning, they do know simple physics. They know that, if you throw a ball in the air hard enough, it will go up, against gravity. ««Maria, don't!»» I shouted, but it was no use.
Maria is a very stubborn girl.
With a wordless yell, Maria twisted, throwing Toniya as hard as she could, against the suction. The suction - the force quotient - only dealt with objects not in enough motion to negate it: Toniya tumbled back the way she came. Diane twisted forward, gripping Rich's wrist as tightly as she could, and grabbed one of Toniya's wings before the limited force Maria had placed on her wore off. Diane hugged Toniya to her chest. ««Maria!»» she shrieked.
Maria had twisted more violently than Diane, but she had only had Tobias's leg to hold onto. She hadn't had Rich's hand gripping her wrist. Her hand slipped off Tobias' foot.
She went tumbling, end over end, out of reach - in the wrong direction.
««No!»» Marco screamed. A sickening crack sounded through the Rip, as Tobias's leg bent in an entirely new direction - and he was ripped out of Marco's hand.
Just at that moment, Jake's and my grip on each other's wrists slipped at the same time. Before either of us could recover, our fingers slipped uselessly passed each other, and the lifeline was broken.
I saw a flash of sunlight, an illusion of trees, then fell into oblivion.
CHAPTER 30
Cassie
Now I know what oblivion is.
Oblivion is less than nothingness. It is the absence of sight, of sound, of sensation. It is the absence of feeling or thought or memory. It is an utter emptiness, a realm where there is nothing.
It is a place without sight, but you can see it surrounding you. A place without sound whose nonexistent echoes deafen you. A place that would haunt my nightmares if I was able to dream, or be afraid. A place I could have thought of as peaceful, if I could think, or feel at peace.
All there was - of all the emptiness, of the true void that surrounded me, passed through me, made me - was a sense of waiting. The feeling that something was going to happen, that something had to happen, so I had to be ready for it.
I knew I was ready for it. I just had to wait for whatever it was that I was prepared for to happen.
And I was willing to wait.
*
When I opened my eyes, I felt as if I was doing it for the first time. I felt strange. Solid. Heavy. As I sat up, I wondered who I was. Cassie, a voice within me said. I wondered what had happened to my emptiness, my realm of nothing. Had what I was waiting for happened? Had my wait ended? How long had I been waiting? It had seemed like an eternity without time.
"Let's not do that again."
I jumped a little, startled at the noise. My fuzzy brain translated the sounds into words, but the words didn't have any more meaning than the sounds did.
My mind cleared slowly, dazedly recalling my life, who I was, what I was, what surrounded me, who surrounded me. I watched dreamily as the rip into S-space faded from view. Then, my mind almost clear, I looked around me.
Jake was sitting with one leg folded beneath him, one hand in his hair, his eyes closed, no doubt waiting for his mind to get up-to-date.
David's cage was on its side, but still closed. He huddled in one corner, staring at nothing, still trying to come to grips between reality and whatever was trying to pass as it.
Rachel appeared more alert, but less calm; she sat cross-legged with her hands over her face, sobbing.
Marco was the most alert; he was standing, looking alternately between where the entrance to S-space had been and at the last of our group.
The daze-like feeling returned as I, too, looked at our fifth member. Flashes of memory, of tumbling feathers, of a body falling, streamed before my eyes. Memories that truly seemed unreal. Memories that were much too real.
Slowly, our fifth member got themself upright. They looked at us, one at a time, trying to mask what they felt and not quite succeeding.
"Toniya?" they asked.
"She isn't here," Jake replied.
Rachel uncovered her tear-streaked face. "Neither is Tobias," she said softly, accusingly.
Our fifth member bowed their head. Their voice told too clearly how sincere they were, much more than the simple words they spoke.
"I'm sorry," Maria whispered.
CHAPTER 31
Chris
When I opened my eyes, I felt as if I was doing it for the first time. I felt strange. Solid. Heavy. As I sat up, I wondered who I was. Christopher, a voice within me said. I wondered what had happened to my emptiness, my realm of nothing. Had what I was waiting for happened? Had my wait ended? How long had I been waiting? It had seemed like an eternity without time.
"Let's not do that again."
I jumped a little, startled at the noise. My fuzzy brain translated the sounds into words, but the words didn't have any more meaning than the sounds did.
My mind cleared slowly, dazedly recalling my life, who I was, what I was, what surrounded me, who surrounded me. I watched dreamily as the rip into S-space faded from view. Then, my mind almost clear, I looked around me.
Jack was sitting with one leg folded beneath her, one hand in her hair, her eyes closed, no doubt waiting for her mind to get up-to-date.
Diane lay on her side, her eyes open and unblinking, her body motionless. The glazed look in her eyes told me that she was still trying to sort between reality, and whatever was trying to pass off as it.
Rich was more alert: he sat cross-legged with Toniya in his lap, looking grim and, oddly enough, hurt. He seemed engrossed in getting Toniya's feathers in order, same as a sculptor sculpts clay that might turn to dust beneath his fingers. One of her wings and one of her legs were twisted at grotesque angles. Toniya moaned softly, her gray-brown eyes squeezed shut.
Elfangor was the most alert: he was standing, staring at where the entrance to S-space had been. A bundle of brown lay in his arms.
"Wh-where's Maria?" I asked, my voice slurred.
Jack shuddered. "Gone," she whispered.
"To the other universe?" I half asked, half suggested. She shrugged half-heartedly.
"What about Tobias?" Rich asked. "Marco lost him at the very end."
"He's safe," Elfangor replied quietly.
"How…" Diane pushed herself more upright with a groan. "How do you know?" she grumbled.
Elfangor didn't answer. He merely looked down at what he held gingerly in his hands.
Tobias stirred, then opened his glaring, golden eyes. He looked at each of us, then rested his head down again, closing his eyes once more. Oh, no.... he moaned.
to be continued....