The following morning I morphed to seagull, flew to the beach, and mingled in the noisy cloud of birds. Ten minutes later I sighted what I needed. Keeping my prey in view, I flapped higher; separated myself from the wheeling, screeching gulls. I decided I had enough altitude; I dove, down, down, wind rushing loudly across my feathers as I dropped like a bomb.
Like a bomb, at least, to the pigeon.
Falling! Thirty feet above it! Twenty! Fifteen! Five! Fourthreetwoone...
SWOOSH!
I grabbed the pigeon and hauled. It must have been an odd sight to anyone who happened to glance up at the suddenly shrieking pigeon, which was caught in a runaway seagull's claws. The claws, however, were not made for carrying wriggling pigeons. I struggled to keep hold, fervently wishing I had the deadly talons of the eagle. But, unlike the gull, the little bird wasn't built for endless flapping, and as I flew on, gradually became weaker.
Fifteen minutes later I was back in the cave. Demorphed after shoving the feebly stuggling pigeon into Marco's outstretched hands. As my body shifted, feathers melting into pale skin, I watched my Hork-Bajir friends approach it and cautiously reach out to touch it.
"Now, all you have to do," Marco was explaining, sounding like he was talking to a small child, "is touch it and think about it. If it works, Cuckoo here should stop moving. That's it, picture the birdie in your mind." He rolled his eyes at me as Ket scrunched up her eyes in concentration and gingerly stroked the pigeon. I grinned.
"Remember us?" I mouthed, and he nodded and grinned back.
Sure enough, the bird went still. Long enough for Toby to acquire it as well as Ket. When they had finished, Marco and I acquired it also.
"Alrighty, we've gotta make this quick here," I said matter-of-factly, "In, acquire, morph, blend." I emphasized the last word. "Now, Toby, Ket, I would advise you to shut your eyes when you morph, because it's not going to be pretty. But it won't hurt," I added quickly at the look of horror that had appeared on Ket's face. "Just close your eyes and concentrate on the pigeon. Make a picture of it in your mind." A pang of doubt shot through me. I wondered if the Hork-Bajir, such a simple species, were even capable of morphing. But they have to be, I reasoned with myself, they're sentient creatures. "Do you understand what to do?" Ket nodded fearfully, and Toby said "yes" in a grave voice.
"Geez, cheer up, you're the first-ever-morphing Hork-Bajir," said Marco mildly.
"Ready? Okay!" I winced. I sounded like a cheerleader. Get a grip, Rachel, I thought defiantly, you are NOT a cheerleader!
"Rachel? Aren't you going to..."
"Yeah. Let's do it!"
I focused on the newest DNA within me. The first change came to my skin. It turned the familiar, ashen color of birds' skin. Without feathers, I began to shrink. My legs turned gross and scaly. My eyes became beady and black, and my arms transformed into wings. My internals squished around unpleasantly, and I was a pigeon. A still featherless pigeon. Ugh! Finally, the old tatoo pattern flowed smoothly across my delicate skin, and gained depth. Now, I was a pigeon.
Only one thing missing... or was there?
The mind of the pigeon seemed almost blank, so much that I hardly even noticed it; the only instincts that I could detect were distant alerts to find food, watch for predators. I was instantly content with myself for picking such a calm animal for the Hork-Bajirs' first morph, provided that this mission was so urgent that I had very little time to decide.
At last I peeked out of the pigeon's small round eyes, and to my expectance, the vision was about as good as a human's, maybe a little more weary of shiny, glittering objects. I looked around and to my astonishment saw three identical birds. No threat, the pigeon's mind told me vaguely. I was dimly amazed that Ket, being a normal, not-terribly-smart Hork-Bajir, had succeeded, although her eyes were still shut tight.
Ket? You can open your eyes now, I gently told her, and to Toby, Is everything okay? How do you feel?
I feel... calm. Strange, though. It's like there is someone else in here with me.
Yes, that's the bird's instincts. They come with every morph.
Ket had opened her eyes and in panic taken several steps back. Looking around frantically, it dawned on her that we must be Toby, Rachel, and Marco. Privately, I whispered to Marco, Glad we picked such calm morphs, eh? I can't believe they're handling it so well,
Yeah, me neither. Hork-Bajir must be pretty stable when it comes to the unknown.
Agreed. I turned my attention back to the curious, yet terrified looking "newbies," Ket? Are you okay?
Rachel, it was Toby. I don't think Mother knows how to make speech in her head. Could you explain?
Oh, brother, I moaned quietly, Why me?
On a louder and considerably more cheerful note, I said, Ket, if you need to speak, just make a picture of yourself talking in your mind. Think what you want to say.
Seconds passed in silence. Ten. Fifteen.
Toby? I breathed a mental sigh of relief. Ket's uncertain voice was music to my ears. If she hadn't been able to speak... I didn't want to think what could have happened.
I am here, Mother. Do not be scared.
Toby is bird! she yelped nervously.
Yes Mother. Marco and Rachel are too, said Toby, So are you.
Ket noticed this small fact as soon as she looked down, moved her arms, hopped forward. Ah! Ket is bird!
It's okay, Ket. Calm down, I stepped in control. Marco and I had been sitting in a kind of trance, watching the Hork-Bajir speak. It was amazing, that suddenly there were two new morph-capable creatures. Because of us. We have to fly now. At Toby and Ket's sudden protests, I hastily added, Just let the bird do it. And follow us.
I, too, had to let the pigeon mind do much of the flying. Pigeons fly about twenty feet, land, then fly some more. It got really annoying after a while. Plus, when in danger, the instincts were overwhelming. Fly! Fly!
Besides that, though, it was okay. And I enjoyed listening to the ecstatic comments of the Hork-Bajir.
Wow! Flying!
In the air! High up!
This is amazing!
Ahhh!
Ha hah!
Okay, we're almost there,
The last one was me. As we glided over the modern, suburban subdivision, Marco and I alighted on a roof and the others followed. A roof which happened to be across the street from the King household.
Erek King lived there. The Chee. I could see him through the window, eating lunch. At least, shoveling holographic food through a holographic mouth. If it had been real food, it would have been incinerated the second it entered the hologram.
The Chee are a race of Androids. Machines. They're programmed against violence and have life spans of thousands of years. An eternally happy, nonviolent, but dying race called Pemalites landed on Earth thousands and thousands of years ago and released their pet Androids, who fused the essence of the Pemalites into dogs. That's why dogs are always so cheerful.
I instructed the others to stay put and landed carefully on Erek's roof. From there I moved to the railing beside the oversized aok door. I could see him through the window. Unlike the hawk's or eagle's eyes, I couldn't see through the hologram to Erek's true form, a metal-and-ivory-dog resemblance.
Erek.
He didn't do anything to acknowlege my speech but give a slight nod.
This is Rachel. I'm a pigeon on your front railing. I noticed him gaze lightly in my direction, see me, and wink quickly. We have a ...situation. Marco, Toby, and Ket are on the roof across the street. I saw his eyes widen in shock. He knew who, and what, Toby and Ket were. Listen. Could you possibly extend your hologram further, to include the front of your house? We'll fly in and demorph.
Five seconds later a slight pop! gave away the fact that a new hologram had been created.
Okay, Marco, Erek has the hologram up around the house. Fly onto the porch and demorph, I said briskly. He obeyed, Toby and Ket following. They flew casually across the street and from inside the hologram I could see them pop through it; from ouside it probably looked as if they'd disappeared. Okay, demorph.
The four of us hopped onto the cement and demorphed, finishing just as Erek opened the door and stood watching us.
He grinned. "A situation, eh?"
Yay! LOL... I wrote this one instead of typing. That's why it's so long. I was on vacation.