Hope and Despair
(Author's note; sequel to "The Warrior", which follows this little series I've been writing... read them first to understand this better.)
The camo-bug turned, and flew over the spot again. The ground was rocky, jagged, with plenty of good hiding places for anyone who knew about them. Especially that late at night.
"See anyone?" Jake asked.
"No," Tobias replied. "Nothing. But the main sensor… it picked something up. Then it was gone."
Things do not disappear from the sensor, Larynia reasoned. Unless they intend to.
"So we're dealing with something intelligent," Marco said. "And on Earth, the only species in charge of itself are the Yeerks. We have a hiding Yeerk under us."
Is there any other sensor on this lump of Yeerk metal?
"She's a beautiful craft," Tobias said, patting the control board affectionately. "Even if she's made by Yeerks. And yes, there are other sensors. Heat-sensor, radio-sensor, underground scanner, movement detector, long-range DNA reader…"
"Try the DNA reader. Let's see what we have under us." Marco grinned.
"Focus it on the location," Jake said. "Set it to maximum. Try getting enough for a picture. Or at least a species-ID."
"No prob," Tobias said. He pressed a few buttons. A hologram screen appeared, showing firstly a bunch of numbers but then a clearer and clearer picture. But, half-way to a proper ID, the hologram stopped dead.
Tobias frowned. "There's a disturbance," he said. "A bunch of them. There's more then one of them down there, and none of them is very clear. It's… mixed up. Jumbled."
Focus it more firmly, Larynia suggested. See? Yeerk sensors never work properly.
"It works fine," Marco snapped. "Considering that any sensor you Andalites have is blown into a billion pieces."
Larynia glared at him. Marco seemed to shrink together. But both of them, and Jake and Tobias, all knew that Marco had spoken the truth. The Andalites had no own army left, except for three weapon-less transports. They had a few stolen bug fighters, but nothing more.
"I'm concentrating it to this first being," Tobias said. "Wait… No. still jumbled. It's as if it's got more then one DNA pattern."
A short silence. Then Tobias slapped his forehead. "Of course. A morphable."
"That takes away the good of knowing what species," Jake said. "Do you know how many there are down there?"
"No. Not that many. Under a dozen."
"Only one thing," Marco said, slowly and clearly. "A morphable means someone who was part of our army… before the defeat. If there is a bunch of them, then… well, I don't intend just to leave them there. If we can help them… then they can help us to. They know this new form of Earth. We don't."
"Should we land?" Tobias asked Jake.
Larynia glanced out the window. We are safe in this craft. And this craft holds weapons. Correct? Yes, of course. We can land.
Jake nodded at Tobias, who steered the craft gently towards the ground. Marco kept both eyes focused out the window.
"It's landing," Sara announced at a whisper. Nothing other then her mouth moved. She couldn't afford being noticed.
Jordan did nothing to show she had heard. But, being a silent, crouched panther beside Sara, Jordan couldn't have missed a sound so close.
"What do we do?"
Now Jordan answered. She sent the message out to every single waiting warrior nearby. Wait for my signal. Then attack.
Jake looked around. He took a deep breath, and opened the door carefully. Nothing came in. There was no sound from outside. No movements that his eyes could catch in the darkness.
"Any volunteers to go first?"
Marco stepped up. He held a firm grip on his shredder. Larynia was so close behind him that she could have been his shadow.
Careful.
Marco jumped out of the fighter and landed softly on the ground. He took three steps away to let Larynia follow. There was a slight "clop-clop" sound as the Andalite's hoofs thumped down on the rocky ground.
Jake stepped out of the fighter. He peered into the darkness, but saw nothing.
"Stay there," he whispered and held up a hand when Tobias was about to jump out. "We're not coming out all at once. Maybe that's what they're waiting for. Keep a link to the controls."
I can't see anything, Larynia announced. She walked boldly further from the camo-bug, tail cocked and Marco following. Maybe there's no-one here.
Jake walked around to the other side of the fighter. He saw nothing. But he knew that many animals that didn't want to be seen, weren't seen.
"Nothing here," he called.
Then a glimpse of green caught his eye. He aimed the dracon, focusing his lame human eyes on the spot.
A shadow swept over him before he had a chance to do anything else.
Where did Prince Jake go? Larynia asked.
"I don't know," Marco said. "Don't worry about him. He can manage."
Go take a look.
Marco shrugged. He turned and walked back towards the fighter, intending to pass it.
Halfway there he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a distinct FWAP. He spun around, and was met by an aimed dracon. He saw Larynia further away, surrounded by Hork-Bajir.
"Tobias!" Marco roared.
The red dracon canons on the camo-bugs sides turned, aimed, and a small red lamp indicated that they were ready to fire.
The scene was bathed in light as Tobias turned the camo-bug's lights on.
Marco blinked, looking at the face behind the aimed dracon.
"Sara."
The dracon was lowered. Sara took one step back. "Marco."
"I don't know you're not Yeerks," Jake told his cousins. Both Sara and Jordan were standing in front of him, although Jordan was the one with the determined face.
Determined and cold. Maybe with reason. Maybe not.
"And we don't know you're not Yeerks," Jordan countered.
"Three days, and we'll see," Marco said. "What's the big deal? Let's talk out a few things while we wait. For example, if you're free as you say you are, HOW? The Yeerks don't make a habit of letting healthy, morphable hosts walk free."
"The Chee found me," Jordan said. "They locked me in a room. And let me out when the Yeerk was dead… which was the next day. Then they hid me with them until I was brave enough to save Sara."
And together you built up an army, Larynia said. Possible. Maybe. How long ago did you escape?
"Only one year after the defeat," Jordan snapped. "Little Andalite." Then she continued ignoring Larynia. Marco could tell - both from the Andalite's face and from personal experience - that ignoring Larynia was a bad idea.
Although Jordan was in a position to do exactly what she wanted to do. Just two steps away were a dozen Hork-Bajir, who did exactly what she told them to do.
Jordan continued. "But let me just tell you one thing, Jake. This is my war now. My army. Don't think you can take it."
Jake looked away. Down at the ground, glanced nervously to both sides.
Jordan took on a sharp voice. "You hear me, cousin? You can't just step in and take the leader-role from me. You had your chance. You lost. You lost big-time. Now it's my turn. And I don't have any plans on loosing."
Then the girl spun around on her heels and walked away, calling "Watch them!" to her Hork-Bajir guard.
Sara reached out and touched Jake's shoulder. "She's just in a bad mood," she said. "But you better listen to her. She had high thoughts of you once. She doesn't, now. You can hang around, if you wish. Not much else to do on this planet nowadays. But don't get in her way."
Then Sara turned and walked away as well.
Jake and his little group stayed with the small resistance camp for two days without seeing either of the sisters again. The resistance camped out in a valley in the hills, which very well might have been the old Hork-Bajir valley. But if it was, it wasn't at all like it once had been.
The group was barely large enough to be called an army. It consisted of mostly humans, around three hundred of them, and half of those were veteran morphables from Jake's own army so long ago.
There was a bunch of Hork-Bajir, among them two seers (neither of them being Toby; Toby had been killed), but totaling only fifty or sixty, maybe seventy.
Two Andalites walked among the rest of the warriors, but instead of Andalite pride they seemed to carry Andalite disgrace. They kept a low profile, which was a very un-Andalite thing to do. (Larynia tried to talk to them, ask their help, but they wouldn't do anything - not even graze - without Jordan's or Sara's permission.)
There were four Chee, who's main assignment was to keep the area cloaked with a hologram. And to help the sick or wounded.
And then there were the refugees. People who weren't fit to fight, or maybe didn't want to fight, but kept hidden with the army and mostly worked with collecting food and making clothes and whatever else they and the army could need. There were over two hundred of them, almost as many as there were warriors.
The strangest thing, though, was the four-legged inhabitants.
The camp was filled with dogs. Mongrels, mix-breeds… mostly large, shabby and fierce. They growled at anyone they didn't know, which meant that Jake, Tobias, Marco and Larynia had to watch their step carefully not to come too close. Sara explained that the dogs warned of intruders and helped hunting. There weren't many animals left on Earth, not much left to hunt and not much food to find, but the dogs were experts at finding what food there was.
It was an impossible fight. But somehow the army was still there. Still fighting.
There was hope for Earth. Even if they didn't find the Time Matrix, there was a small, tiny breath of hope.
Tobias caught up with Jordan when she was returning to camp after another mission on the third day.
"We need to talk," he said. "Now."
Jordan stopped, then glanced around. She sighed. "Fine. Talk. Make it quick." The large dog at her side wagged his tail, but lowered his head and bared his teeth when Tobias came too close.
"Okay," Tobias started, stopping at a distance of a few steps. "Firstly, do you know where Rachel is?"
"Yes, I know where she is," Jordan said, her voice hard. The dog growled. "I see her almost every day. She almost got me killed just a few hours ago."
"Yeerk?" Tobias said and swallowed. He'd hoped maybe she was free, in the camp somewhere. He could just have missed her.
"What else?" Jordan wondered. "We've been trying to get her out, but she's a Sub-Visser. We can't get close enough. And when we do, the Yeerk uses her grizzly morph. Trying to cope with a grizzly and a few dozen Hork-Bajir, just as many human-Controllers and armed Taxxons is way beyond what we can handle."
"We'll see what we can do," Tobias said. If Rachel was nearby, he had to try to help her. And he was sure Jake would agree. Just in case they didn't find the Time Matrix…
"Forget it," Jordan said, reaching down to calm the dog by scratching his ear. "Leave it to us. You'll get killed. Anything else?"
"We're looking for something here on Earth," Tobias said. "We need help finding it."
Jordan glanced him over like a parent scolding a child. "We don't have time for games here," she replied. "If you've got no more important questions, and if you excuse me, I've got a refugee camp to visit. And then I need to look over our defenses." Jordan spun around and started hurrying away, the dog following closely.
"I'm not talking games," Tobias yelled after her. "I'm talking Time Matrix."
That made her stop. She turned, slowly, peered at him, leaned her head to the side. "Time Matrix?" she whispered. "Where?"
"So you know what it is," Tobias said simply. "Then you know what we can do - if we had it."
"My Yeerk was obsessed with finding it," Jordan said in a low, steady voice. "Of course I know what it is! Do you know where it is?"
"I think so."
"Where?"
"Can you find places and so around here?"
Jordan nodded eagerly.
"It's dug down… under ground. The old construction site."
Jordan's eager pose faded like a starved flame. Then she laughed ruefully. "Of course," she said. "Where else?" And she shook her head sadly.
Tobias watched her. "Is there a problem? You can't find it?"
"Guess where Visser One built his base?" Jordan replied. "He built it as a monument over where he killed Elfangor. Which means…"
"On the construction site."
"Yeah. You can kiss the Time Matrix goodbye, Tobias. Nobody comes close to the Visser's house alive. And nobody… NOBODY… digs under it."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note; He he he. Messed it up for them big-time, didn't I? Let's see them make it out of this one. (*Oh. Wait. I'm the one that has to get them out of this one. Uh-oh ...*)
(Author's note; sequel to "The Warrior", which follows this little series I've been writing... read them first to understand this better.)
The camo-bug turned, and flew over the spot again. The ground was rocky, jagged, with plenty of good hiding places for anyone who knew about them. Especially that late at night.
"See anyone?" Jake asked.
"No," Tobias replied. "Nothing. But the main sensor… it picked something up. Then it was gone."
Things do not disappear from the sensor, Larynia reasoned. Unless they intend to.
"So we're dealing with something intelligent," Marco said. "And on Earth, the only species in charge of itself are the Yeerks. We have a hiding Yeerk under us."
Is there any other sensor on this lump of Yeerk metal?
"She's a beautiful craft," Tobias said, patting the control board affectionately. "Even if she's made by Yeerks. And yes, there are other sensors. Heat-sensor, radio-sensor, underground scanner, movement detector, long-range DNA reader…"
"Try the DNA reader. Let's see what we have under us." Marco grinned.
"Focus it on the location," Jake said. "Set it to maximum. Try getting enough for a picture. Or at least a species-ID."
"No prob," Tobias said. He pressed a few buttons. A hologram screen appeared, showing firstly a bunch of numbers but then a clearer and clearer picture. But, half-way to a proper ID, the hologram stopped dead.
Tobias frowned. "There's a disturbance," he said. "A bunch of them. There's more then one of them down there, and none of them is very clear. It's… mixed up. Jumbled."
Focus it more firmly, Larynia suggested. See? Yeerk sensors never work properly.
"It works fine," Marco snapped. "Considering that any sensor you Andalites have is blown into a billion pieces."
Larynia glared at him. Marco seemed to shrink together. But both of them, and Jake and Tobias, all knew that Marco had spoken the truth. The Andalites had no own army left, except for three weapon-less transports. They had a few stolen bug fighters, but nothing more.
"I'm concentrating it to this first being," Tobias said. "Wait… No. still jumbled. It's as if it's got more then one DNA pattern."
A short silence. Then Tobias slapped his forehead. "Of course. A morphable."
"That takes away the good of knowing what species," Jake said. "Do you know how many there are down there?"
"No. Not that many. Under a dozen."
"Only one thing," Marco said, slowly and clearly. "A morphable means someone who was part of our army… before the defeat. If there is a bunch of them, then… well, I don't intend just to leave them there. If we can help them… then they can help us to. They know this new form of Earth. We don't."
"Should we land?" Tobias asked Jake.
Larynia glanced out the window. We are safe in this craft. And this craft holds weapons. Correct? Yes, of course. We can land.
Jake nodded at Tobias, who steered the craft gently towards the ground. Marco kept both eyes focused out the window.
"It's landing," Sara announced at a whisper. Nothing other then her mouth moved. She couldn't afford being noticed.
Jordan did nothing to show she had heard. But, being a silent, crouched panther beside Sara, Jordan couldn't have missed a sound so close.
"What do we do?"
Now Jordan answered. She sent the message out to every single waiting warrior nearby. Wait for my signal. Then attack.
Jake looked around. He took a deep breath, and opened the door carefully. Nothing came in. There was no sound from outside. No movements that his eyes could catch in the darkness.
"Any volunteers to go first?"
Marco stepped up. He held a firm grip on his shredder. Larynia was so close behind him that she could have been his shadow.
Careful.
Marco jumped out of the fighter and landed softly on the ground. He took three steps away to let Larynia follow. There was a slight "clop-clop" sound as the Andalite's hoofs thumped down on the rocky ground.
Jake stepped out of the fighter. He peered into the darkness, but saw nothing.
"Stay there," he whispered and held up a hand when Tobias was about to jump out. "We're not coming out all at once. Maybe that's what they're waiting for. Keep a link to the controls."
I can't see anything, Larynia announced. She walked boldly further from the camo-bug, tail cocked and Marco following. Maybe there's no-one here.
Jake walked around to the other side of the fighter. He saw nothing. But he knew that many animals that didn't want to be seen, weren't seen.
"Nothing here," he called.
Then a glimpse of green caught his eye. He aimed the dracon, focusing his lame human eyes on the spot.
A shadow swept over him before he had a chance to do anything else.
Where did Prince Jake go? Larynia asked.
"I don't know," Marco said. "Don't worry about him. He can manage."
Go take a look.
Marco shrugged. He turned and walked back towards the fighter, intending to pass it.
Halfway there he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a distinct FWAP. He spun around, and was met by an aimed dracon. He saw Larynia further away, surrounded by Hork-Bajir.
"Tobias!" Marco roared.
The red dracon canons on the camo-bugs sides turned, aimed, and a small red lamp indicated that they were ready to fire.
The scene was bathed in light as Tobias turned the camo-bug's lights on.
Marco blinked, looking at the face behind the aimed dracon.
"Sara."
The dracon was lowered. Sara took one step back. "Marco."
"I don't know you're not Yeerks," Jake told his cousins. Both Sara and Jordan were standing in front of him, although Jordan was the one with the determined face.
Determined and cold. Maybe with reason. Maybe not.
"And we don't know you're not Yeerks," Jordan countered.
"Three days, and we'll see," Marco said. "What's the big deal? Let's talk out a few things while we wait. For example, if you're free as you say you are, HOW? The Yeerks don't make a habit of letting healthy, morphable hosts walk free."
"The Chee found me," Jordan said. "They locked me in a room. And let me out when the Yeerk was dead… which was the next day. Then they hid me with them until I was brave enough to save Sara."
And together you built up an army, Larynia said. Possible. Maybe. How long ago did you escape?
"Only one year after the defeat," Jordan snapped. "Little Andalite." Then she continued ignoring Larynia. Marco could tell - both from the Andalite's face and from personal experience - that ignoring Larynia was a bad idea.
Although Jordan was in a position to do exactly what she wanted to do. Just two steps away were a dozen Hork-Bajir, who did exactly what she told them to do.
Jordan continued. "But let me just tell you one thing, Jake. This is my war now. My army. Don't think you can take it."
Jake looked away. Down at the ground, glanced nervously to both sides.
Jordan took on a sharp voice. "You hear me, cousin? You can't just step in and take the leader-role from me. You had your chance. You lost. You lost big-time. Now it's my turn. And I don't have any plans on loosing."
Then the girl spun around on her heels and walked away, calling "Watch them!" to her Hork-Bajir guard.
Sara reached out and touched Jake's shoulder. "She's just in a bad mood," she said. "But you better listen to her. She had high thoughts of you once. She doesn't, now. You can hang around, if you wish. Not much else to do on this planet nowadays. But don't get in her way."
Then Sara turned and walked away as well.
Jake and his little group stayed with the small resistance camp for two days without seeing either of the sisters again. The resistance camped out in a valley in the hills, which very well might have been the old Hork-Bajir valley. But if it was, it wasn't at all like it once had been.
The group was barely large enough to be called an army. It consisted of mostly humans, around three hundred of them, and half of those were veteran morphables from Jake's own army so long ago.
There was a bunch of Hork-Bajir, among them two seers (neither of them being Toby; Toby had been killed), but totaling only fifty or sixty, maybe seventy.
Two Andalites walked among the rest of the warriors, but instead of Andalite pride they seemed to carry Andalite disgrace. They kept a low profile, which was a very un-Andalite thing to do. (Larynia tried to talk to them, ask their help, but they wouldn't do anything - not even graze - without Jordan's or Sara's permission.)
There were four Chee, who's main assignment was to keep the area cloaked with a hologram. And to help the sick or wounded.
And then there were the refugees. People who weren't fit to fight, or maybe didn't want to fight, but kept hidden with the army and mostly worked with collecting food and making clothes and whatever else they and the army could need. There were over two hundred of them, almost as many as there were warriors.
The strangest thing, though, was the four-legged inhabitants.
The camp was filled with dogs. Mongrels, mix-breeds… mostly large, shabby and fierce. They growled at anyone they didn't know, which meant that Jake, Tobias, Marco and Larynia had to watch their step carefully not to come too close. Sara explained that the dogs warned of intruders and helped hunting. There weren't many animals left on Earth, not much left to hunt and not much food to find, but the dogs were experts at finding what food there was.
It was an impossible fight. But somehow the army was still there. Still fighting.
There was hope for Earth. Even if they didn't find the Time Matrix, there was a small, tiny breath of hope.
Tobias caught up with Jordan when she was returning to camp after another mission on the third day.
"We need to talk," he said. "Now."
Jordan stopped, then glanced around. She sighed. "Fine. Talk. Make it quick." The large dog at her side wagged his tail, but lowered his head and bared his teeth when Tobias came too close.
"Okay," Tobias started, stopping at a distance of a few steps. "Firstly, do you know where Rachel is?"
"Yes, I know where she is," Jordan said, her voice hard. The dog growled. "I see her almost every day. She almost got me killed just a few hours ago."
"Yeerk?" Tobias said and swallowed. He'd hoped maybe she was free, in the camp somewhere. He could just have missed her.
"What else?" Jordan wondered. "We've been trying to get her out, but she's a Sub-Visser. We can't get close enough. And when we do, the Yeerk uses her grizzly morph. Trying to cope with a grizzly and a few dozen Hork-Bajir, just as many human-Controllers and armed Taxxons is way beyond what we can handle."
"We'll see what we can do," Tobias said. If Rachel was nearby, he had to try to help her. And he was sure Jake would agree. Just in case they didn't find the Time Matrix…
"Forget it," Jordan said, reaching down to calm the dog by scratching his ear. "Leave it to us. You'll get killed. Anything else?"
"We're looking for something here on Earth," Tobias said. "We need help finding it."
Jordan glanced him over like a parent scolding a child. "We don't have time for games here," she replied. "If you've got no more important questions, and if you excuse me, I've got a refugee camp to visit. And then I need to look over our defenses." Jordan spun around and started hurrying away, the dog following closely.
"I'm not talking games," Tobias yelled after her. "I'm talking Time Matrix."
That made her stop. She turned, slowly, peered at him, leaned her head to the side. "Time Matrix?" she whispered. "Where?"
"So you know what it is," Tobias said simply. "Then you know what we can do - if we had it."
"My Yeerk was obsessed with finding it," Jordan said in a low, steady voice. "Of course I know what it is! Do you know where it is?"
"I think so."
"Where?"
"Can you find places and so around here?"
Jordan nodded eagerly.
"It's dug down… under ground. The old construction site."
Jordan's eager pose faded like a starved flame. Then she laughed ruefully. "Of course," she said. "Where else?" And she shook her head sadly.
Tobias watched her. "Is there a problem? You can't find it?"
"Guess where Visser One built his base?" Jordan replied. "He built it as a monument over where he killed Elfangor. Which means…"
"On the construction site."
"Yeah. You can kiss the Time Matrix goodbye, Tobias. Nobody comes close to the Visser's house alive. And nobody… NOBODY… digs under it."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note; He he he. Messed it up for them big-time, didn't I? Let's see them make it out of this one. (*Oh. Wait. I'm the one that has to get them out of this one. Uh-oh ...*)
