by Peter Withers
Animorphs and related characters don't belong to me. Only Chance and Mona are mine and shouldn't be used without my permission.
Ch8
Define torture. Torture could be the act of inflicted massive amounts of pain on a person. The testing did so to me even though I know that it could have been done with a lot less pain. After that and finding noting without finding anything out of the ordinary, the yeerks gave up on me. They changed the form of torture. I was placed around in my own cage and totally isolated. The bars were surrounded by what I found out was holographs. The place I was in was soundproof against the outside. The place was an isolation chamber. I was going crazy, so crazy. I remember the book by Jack London which had a prisoner who kept sane in a strait jacket by floating his mind over past lives. I couldn't do that exactly but I found I could float my mind. I explored mind after mind in widening circles as I practiced my telepathy. I saw memories and fantasies. I feel bad about the violation of the people's minds but I needed to keep sane. I could keep my metabolism low and only eat a third of my normal food and feel satisfied. I would float out for 6 to 8 hours at a time and come back for an hour or so. I had a strange dream after a couple of days of this.
I was in a field. The grass was up to my knees and I could smell the sweet smell of clover and hay. I could feel the dew through my old shoes. I walked a bit and turned around to find an old man. This man was glowing a faint blue and he was looking at me.
"Who are you?"
"I AM THE ELIMIST."
"What do you want with me?"
"IT IS YOUR DESTINY TO HELP FREE YOUR KIND FROM THE YEERKS."
"But I am just one person. What should I do?"
"WHAT YOU NEED TO DO."
"I don't know if you can do this in your grand plan, but if you can, please help me get my friend Mona out of here when I leave." Nothing, not a peep.
"Please, please help her." The ground change to fog as I left the dream zone. I woke up with the knowledge I would know the time to leave.
Ch9
I bode my time as that feeling inside me basically told me to do. I finally woke up one day with the feeling it was time to leave the yeerk pool. I floated my mind around the area and found the one mind I was looking for and I could tell she wasn't infested at this time.
(Mona.) I felt her mentally jerk.
(Chance. Is that you?) she thought back in shock.
(Yeah. I found out a few new tricks and I've decided it is time to go. Would you like to come?)
(Yeah, but I really need some time to pack.) The sarcastic humor in her voice could be even heard over thoughts.
(So, what is happening on the outside?)
(There is a lot of stuff happening out here. The Andalites are attacking the yeerk pool right now.)
(Wait one minute. I might be able to get a hold of them.)
I focused my find to pick up telepathy.
(Rachel. Get those Hork-Bajir.)
(Marco, Cassie. Get the morphing cube.)
(Aaugh!)
From their thoughts, I think that they are human. How? I better find the one who is the leader.
(Hello! Please talk to me. I need your help.)
(Whoa! Who are you?) (Long story. I'm in a cage and I'm busting out. I need cover on the way out.)
Whoever they are, they recovered quickly. (Okay. No problem. How will we know what you look like?)
(You'll know by the damage path.) I floated my mind back to Mona. (Time to go. What it is like outside my cage?)
(One Hork-Bajir 10 feet from your cage, Dracon Beam in hand. It is facing his back toward you.)
I first angered myself up. I felt the strength burn through me. It felt like when I resisted the Hork-Bajir but so much stronger. I turned my thought telepathy to the Hork-Bajir and thought (Look behind you.)
He turned and I blew the cage door off with my telekinesis (TK). The door flew off the hinge and knocked the Hork-Bajir off it's feet. I walked through the hologram and did the cool Jedi thing with the Dracon gun. It flew from the ground into my hand in one smooth motion. I turned toward Mona's cage and walked over. She was staring at me in shock. I grabbed the door with physic fingers and use my TK to pull it off its hinges. I dropped it and she ran out while the others in there stared at me in fear.
"You're glowing, Chance." What? I am?
"I guess it is part of me." I handed her the Dracon gun. "Get anyone you can free and get out of the yeerk pool. Then get out of the city and the country if you can."
"What are you going to do?"
(I'm going to have a little heart-to-heart chat with Visser Three.) Mona stepped toward me and kissed me.
"Good luck," she whispered. Then she shouted, "Let's get the hell out of Hell people." I turned and walked toward where I had a feeling where Visser Three was. A Hork-Bajir. A bit of a telepathic suggestion left him cowering on the ground. A Taxxon. TK knocked him back 50 feet in a limp husk. I saw glimpses of 'wild' animals attacking the aliens. Those must be the Andalites . . . wait those are the _humans_. They're in morph. I can hear the thought difference.
"I'm tired of this." I mutter and I send a TK wave in front of me, knocking everything away for 30 feet. I don't know how I did it at the time. Something similar happened when Dracon Beams were turned in my direction. I instinctively blocked it with a TK shield. The crackling energy surrounded me as I strolled toward Visser Three.
- - - - - - - - Mona- - - - - - - -
I better get moving. Chance has given me and a few others a chance to escape to freedom. But then I realize that I need to get Chance out of here to. I _like_ him. I like kissing him, talking to him, and being with him. I have to save him if he gets in life threatening danger with Visser Three. I hand the Dracon gun to the person closest to me.
"Take this. Get out of here now."
"What are you doing?" The guy asked.
"I'm going to go help Chance against Visser Three."
"That freak," he mutters.
That made me mad. "That _freak_ is giving us a chance to get the hell out of here." I turn and ran for the clearing that Chance had provided.
Ch10 (Back to the present)
Shit. I am weakening a lot with the amount of power I'm using. I can't keep this up for long. I continue walking over toward where I'm certain Visser Three is. The Andalite-Controller is standing there watching the fight but not getting involved yet. There are four Hork-Bajir standing around him, protecting him.
"Visser Three!" I shout. "It's time to finish this." One of the Hork-Bajir rush me, body blades rapidly slashing. I crush his throat with a bit of TK and leave it collapsed on the ground. I reflect that it wasn't vindictive or anything. I just did that to conserve my power.
(Kill him.) Visser Three thought-speaks to his remaining Hork-Bajir guards. The other three Hork-Bajir turn and fire their Dracon Beam weapons at me. My TK shield holds, but it won't for long. Time for another trick.
(Stop firing and back off so I can deal with the human myself you fools.) I yell at the Hork-Bajir in as close a thought-speak to the Visser's I can. They start backing off and stop firing.
(What are you doing?) He yells in thought-speak. (Kill him.) But their backing off gave me enough time to have a better plan. Using a TK pull, I yanked the Dracon Beam from the fallen Hork-Bajir and turn it on the other three at a high power. They die quickly and painlessly. But the move costs me. I start feeling very dizzy and can't focus long enough to aim the weapon. Visser Three starts walking toward me.
Lets try that last trick again. (Look out behind you.) I yell in thought-speak as close to his own as possible. I know it is a major cliche but he turns a bit instinctively and I throw the gun at him with my eyes closed.
Thunk!. Doesn't knock him down but I'll bet it hurts. I drop to one knee and try to summon more strength but little is left. Visser Three stumbles from my TK as he approaches me. (You could be so valuable to us but you are too dangerous to us if you live.) He tail cocks as he prepares to behead me.
Slam! Mona tries to knock Visser Three over but with no success. She grabs onto the morphing cube and tries to yank it out of his hand also with no success. All I can do is keep the tail from slicing Mona open. There has to be another way. Wait! Perhaps there is. I look into the Visser's mind searching for the host Andalite without being noticed by the yeerk. I find the Andalite's mind: weak, crippled, exhausted. It is difficult to do this because at the same time I'm trying to prevent the tail from slicing Mona to bits.
(Alloran. I need your help. You know what is happening. Please help me.)
(I'm too weak and the Visser is too strong. There is nothing I can do.)
(Can't you doing anything? Just something to slow him down a moment. If he gets control of the situation, he'll morph and I'm too weak to stop him. The Andalites (I lie to protect them) aren't close enough to help us.)
(There might be something that I can do to help you. I can try to activate the 'morphing cube' (I use the simplest term) and that might slow Visser Three down.)
(I'll try to free your thought-processes long enough for you to do so.) I try to shore up Alloran's own mind so he can use the cube. I ask him how to use the cube and stuff about morphing. With that I accidently tap into his memories. It is incredible that torture that Visser Three has put him through. It is so hideous and vile that I don't know how the Andalite survived as well as he has.
The Andalite sends a surge of thought-speak to the cube which activates. The Visser jerks in surprise and stumbles. But the effort costs me too much and Visser Three cuts Mona across her chest and stomach.
"No!!!" I scream in voice and thought. The last burst of rage sent out an instinctive combination telepathic and telekinetic 'KO' which knocked Visser Three unconsious or close enough for it not to matter. I crawl over to Mona and look at her wound. It is going to be fatal unless I do something quick. She needs to morph now. DNA isn't effected by an injury. If I can get her to morph to and back from something she'll be alright. But what?
Me. That is the only answer. I grab her hand and try to keep her awake. (Mona. That feeling you felt before you were hurt was the morphing cube giving you the ability to shapeshift. Touch me and think about me. Then think about becoming me. After that, think about becoming yourself. Don't think about problems, just do it.) I place her hand on my face and I feel drowsy for a few seconds. Then I see her face and body shift from her form to my own. It is quite freaky. I take off my shirt and place it over my face to hide her from any controllers that might accidently look. I look around and see the morphing cube and a Dracon Beam weapon nearby. With effort I use the Dracon Beam to destroy the morphing cube. It is too dangerous to keep intact and it disappears in a flash of light. I turn back to Mona and wait a minute. When I pull off the shirt and put it back on, she is back to her own self, minus the wound and non-fitting clothes which are to do with the morphing.
She stares at her healed body and the stretch out clothes. "Well, that was neat, Chance. But, I think that the calvary has arrived. You know, I've always wanted to say something like that." I lean down from my kneel and lightly brush my lips against her own for a minute.
(It would be a good time to get out of here and not play kissy-face.)
(Okay, okay. Let's get out of here.) "Mona, you've got a choice. You can 'be the lady or the tiger'. You can either morph him or ride him."
"Enough of the bad puns, Chance. I think that I've had enough morphing that I can take for a while." She turns to the tiger. "Do you think you can carry us both?"
(Not if I have to fight.)
"Don't worry about that. I've got one last trick up my sleeve," I say. Jake, the tiger, carries us out of Yeerk pool. The Hork-Bajir I deal with a bit of telepathic trickery which either leaves them cowering or not seeing us.
(I'm wondering,) Jake asks (how are you doing that stuff?)
(Honestly, I sort of know how I'm doing it, but not why. But it is good enough for me that I am.)
We manage to get to the surface without any serious problems. "Is there any safe place we can stay at for a little bit? It would probably be a good idea to rest before we go." (And besides, I would like you guys to help Mona figure out morphing. And it would probably be a good idea for you to demorph back to your human forms before the two hour limit.)
(How did you know that about us?)
(My abilities are appently aren't limited to simple communication like thought-speak. I accidently overheard your thought-speak conversation and I could tell you were human, Jake. I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.) No answer, I must have really scared them. (Don't worry, we won't tell anyone. I'm mean I am many things but crazy is not one of them. Do you want to blindfold us?)
Jake agrees and I tear stips off of my shirt and blindfold Mona and me. When we get unblindfolded, we are in a barn and there are five teens and a hawk around me. "Do you mind if I get some sleep? I don't know about you, Mona, but I'm exhausted."
"I not feeling very peppy either." Mona says wearily.
"I'll show you a place where you can sleep." Cassie says. She leads Mona and myself to a fairly hidden corner in the barn. She says that she'll get a couple of blankets for the night. I sit down and lean back on the wall. Mona sits down too and relaxes by me. Cassie brings back with the blankets and pillows which we gratefully accept.
"Please tell who you guys are. I mean, there is no harm to do so."
She answers, "I think that Jake would let me tell you more about us since you know a lot about us already." She tells Mona and I about the Animorphs and their adventures. It is really an amazing story about how five teenagers and a young Andalite actually defeated the yeerks on several occasions.
"I now know why Allorn is feeling so guilty. He couldn't do anything while Visser Three killed Elfangor."
"How do you know Alloran?"
"I talked to him telepathically a little bit while trying to fight Visser Three. He had agreed to give morphing abilities to Mona in order to slow Visser Three down for a minute." I mutter quietly, "He was so weak, so tired, mentally."
I lay down fully and fall asleep with Mona beside me. For the first time in weeks, I sleep peacefully. When I wake up, the sun is fully up and I feel fine except for one mother of a headache. I stand up and stretch. I'm going to have to get new clothes fairly soon because the ones I have on are dirty and bloody from the yeerk pool. I walk out of the barn quietly since there could be other people here who don't know that I'm sleeping in the barn. I walk outside to a sunny day. It is the first time in a long time I've seen sunlight and I just stand there and enjoy it for a couple of minutes. I see the sun, clothes and two hawk-like birds diving out of the sky. I have a suspicion and try to listen for their thoughts as they dive down toward the ground.
(Yahhhooo!!!!) one bird mind-shouted as she pulls out of her powerdive.
I smile, Mona seems to having as good time in her hawk morph.
(Wow, what a morph! This is great, Tobias!) she says exciteably, Then she thought-speaks to me, (Good morning to you, did you sleep well?)
(Yes, I did in matter of fact. You just get up a few minutes ago?)
(Hell no! I got up four hours ago. It's around noon. I've been practicing morphing and collecting morphs with Tobias for the last couple of hours.)
(It's getting close to time to demorph, Mona. Remember, don't exceed two hours or you will end up trapped in morph.) Tobias reminded her.
(Oh, yes, Obi Wan Kanobi. You're the Morphing master and I'm merely the student of the mystic arts of morphing.)
(Is there any sort of way your related to Marco? Both of you tell jokes that aren't very funny.)
(Hey! Why you...) Her comentary on what Tobias said ended with a rapid squawking as she crossed the thought-speak barrier in morphing back to her human self. I think we should be glad that her opinion didn't come across. I found out later she can be very creative when she wants to be. I watch her morph from the hawk shape to her own with a morbid fascination. She has gotten pretty good at morphing. She has even figured out how to morph clothes, abott skintight.
"It only took five times to figure out how to morph clothes," she said with a smile.
I whisper quietly in her ear, "Not that it would have been a really bad thing if you hadn't."
"Hey! That was uncalled for."
(I heard that.) Tobias said. Damn sharp hawk hearing.
I blushed a fairly deep red. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."
"That's okay. But to get to our problem, where do we go from here?"
"I don't know." She walks to me and we hug gently. She buries her head into my shoulder I rub her back with my fingers, both physical and Telekinetic. She moves slightly against me with pleasure.
"We'll think of something. But first we'll need some money. All I have is the 500 dollars that I won back in the yeerk pool." She smiles at the memory of those games. "I think with a little work, I can get another 500 to 1,000 in cash. But what we need is my car or another."
"I know where the yeerks put your car. We can try to get it. If we can't we might be able to use my truck to get as far away as we can."
"Any ideas on where to go?"
"Either north or south but not now. We need to get money and get ready to go."
I switch to telepathy. (Why hasn't Tobias not demorphed yet?)
She thinks (I asked that whenever I first demorphed today. He said he has been trapped in hawk form. He can morph from hawka but no longer than the two hours like the rest of us morphers can.)
I grimace a bit, rub my temples, and say quietly, "Ouch."
"What's wrong with you?"
"I've got a real bad headache from last night. I don't think I'll be able to do much of my abilities for a while." I led go of Mona and started heading back to the barn. Or at least I try to. I feel so dizzy and so tired.
"I'll help you get back to bed." She had me lean on her as she led me back to the barn. I fall asleep again in my clothes. When I wake up again it is still light. I feel great but Mona is leaning over me in concern.
"Did I sleep too long? It's only been a few hours."
"It has been over a day since you fell asleep. I couldn't wake you up. We had planned on taking you to the hospital in a couple of hours and worry about the yeerks when you got there."
I yawn deeply, "I feel a lot better. It must have been something that I really needed because of my abilities." I noticed a few things different about Mona. One was that she now had shorter and lighter hair. Another was that she had blue eyes. (Contact lenses.) I realized. "What has happened since I fell asleep?"
"Well, Rachel helped me with my hair, clothes, and contacts. She had some lightening stuff. We went shopping that afternoon. After that I picked up my truck and hid it far into these woods. Your car had too many yeerk- controllers guarding it. I had bought it from a friend and hadn't picked it up yet. I never got a chance to pick it up and the yeerk never made it a priority to do so. I guess getting in a fight with my parents over it wouldn't be good for yeerk recruitment. It was ready to go and everything. We also picked up your clothes and managed to find your stash of money in your room."
"Weren't there yeerk-controllers guarding my house?"
"Only a few and we dealt with them." I didn't ask into that. I got a fairly good image of what had happened. She shows me the wad of cash that was in the back of my dresser and a duffel bag full of my clothes. One thing worried me is the pressence of my .38 cliploading handgun.
"Every little bit helps, Chance."
"Yes, but if it gets to guns, we don't stand a lot of a chance against the stuff they've got in their arsenal."
"I thought that it might help." She really looks hurt. It must have been her idea to get the gun for me.
"It does," I turn around and start changing into new clothes.
"So do you have any idea what your abilities are right now?" She asks when my back is turned.
"A pretty good idea of what I can do right now. I can read and influence thoughts and a bit of telekinesis. What do you have in mind, Mona?"
"I figure you can deal with most border patrols while driving into Canada or Mexico. We can stay there for a while and hide out."
"Good idea. But we need to help the Animorphs."
"How? We can't stay here and fight. The yeerks will hunt us down."
"When we are retreating, I can try to search for others like me, either with apparent abilities or stong latent abilities. I can teach them and come back here with a few dozen psychics and teach the yeerks a few lessons in war."
"What?!"
"It's necessary in my opinion. We can't win this war without any offensive actions."
"Let's work on getting out of here first before having to worry about coming back."
That deflates me a bit. "You're right. We need to get out of here first. Do you think you have a definate idea on how to work your morphing abilities?"
"Yes, I do. I even looked at myself in the mirror so I could see myself morphing. I wanted to be less disgusted at what I'm hearing by seeing it. Cassie had said that some insect morphs are really bad when you see them."
"It would be a good idea if we leave today or tomarrow for wherever we should go."
"Canada."
"Why, Canada?"
"There aren't a lot of people living in Western Canada. We could easily travel between there and the northwestern United States when we want to. We could build a cabin or find an abandoned one and fix it up. Or if we want to, we could travel between Canada and the southwest United States or Mexico during the cold season."
"Sounds good to me. It would be best if we leave this evening. It would give us the cover of night to hide in. At least it would help us hide from human police technology that the yeerks might use. Against yeerk technology, I don't know."
"I better start packing up some things for the trip. Rachel is letting me borrow some of her family's clothes. There were too many yeerks near my house to make getting clothes easy. A little strange fitting and feeling but it will work for a while."
"They look fine on you, Mona. I've got a few things I need to do before leaving. I want to try one thing with you first."
"Sure, as long as its not dirty. I mean, we should at least wait until dark and out of sight. We're only a hundred yards inside of the treeline."
I stepped in and loosely wrap my arms around Mona's body and she placed hers around my neck as we deeply kissed. Her eyes close as we french-kissed deeply. I concentrated a bit and telekinetically levitated us up to float about twenty feet up above the ground. Mona opened her eyes after a minute and looked past me, then downward. Her arms tighten automatically around my neck as she took in her situation. "What are you doing to me, Chance?"
I smile softly, "Just a bit of telekinetic levitation." I pause a minute. "Did it feel as good for you as it did for me?"
"You scared the s***t out of . . . oh, you mean the kiss. It was great but please, please get me on the ground."
"Okay." I gently lower us down to the ground. Mona stares at me for a moment before harshly kissing me with a passion that I only remember during that time in the yeerk pool. I can't think except for (Wow, wow, my God, my God.) We kiss for a couple of minutes with an almost a superhuman endurance and when we pull away, we drop a couple of inches to the ground.
"You did it again!" she exclaimed, "and I felt your thoughts. Please don't without my permission even though I tend to agree with them sometimes."
"I didn't mean to. It just happened."
"Just a thought, Chance . . . Making out is going to be an interesting experience for both of us."
"Oh, yeah." I pull away reluctantly as I start walking toward the general area that Cassie told me Axilimi was in. (I love you Mona) , I think-speak to her.
"I love you too, Chance."
I walk quickly toward where Axmili is. My limp is almost gone and I now move fairly gracefully. I stop in a middle of a small clearing and wait until I hear hoofbeats. They sound like a deer until the Andalite, Ax, comes into the field.
(Hello, Axmili.)
(Hello Chance.) I wonder if my thought-speaking to him bothers him. It almost sounds that way.
(I guess we need to talk.)
(About what?)
(About what happened to me in the yeerk pool. I tried out my abilities and they aren't a quarter of what they were when I escaped out of there.)
(Maybe you emotional state inside the yeerk pool amplified your abilities.) (Maybe some. But I don't think even a strong rage could amplify my abilities that much. I have a feeling someone, or something, was involved. I had a dream while I was captured about someone or something called the Ellimist.)
(The Ellimist!)
(Yeah. I've got this feeling that this guy is in the big leagues.) I sensed a bit of hesitation and confusion. (I mean that the Ellimist must be a major galactic being.)
(Yes. The Ellimist is a very powerful being and likes to play games. Be careful around him.)
(I won't be able to do anything about that. It would be like a blade of grass in a storm. We can't stop it but must endure. There is one more thing I must ask you. Keep an eye out for others that have potential for ablities like mine and take care of your friends. Thank you Axmili.) We turn and head our seperate ways. I wonder how much longer it will be until the Animorphs will have to grief for the loss of one of themselves. There can be only so many fights until one of them die.
I walk to the spot that Mona had hidden the truck, got in the driver's seat and thought for a minute. I know we will someday come back but what will happen until then. Who will suffer and who will die?
"You look so unhappy, Chance." Mona handed me the keys to her truck.
"I wonder who will be around living and free when we come back?"
"Hopefully everyone." And we drove off toward Canada.
THE END (for now)