Chapter Twenty-nine

The young Andalite held the holographic emitter before him, with word from his Prince he gave the simple command, Play.

Before the group a hologram appeared. The hologram itself revealed nothing but darkness.

The group of human youths exchanged looks. There were six humans. Three girls. Three boys. Two of the humans were clearly older; one was a human female with beautifully long auburn hair and sad green eyes. The other human was a tall male with light brown hair and dark eyes.

The two other boys stood together. One had black hair and dark eyes, the other had solemn eyes, dark brown hair and a pale complexion aided with a larger build. This human stood beside a female with the darkest skin complexion.

The remaining female stood aside, she had spectacular blond hair and fierce blue eyes. Perching beside her on a tree stump was a bird of prey with an even fiercer glare.

This odd group seemed to be standing in a scoop. The weather was bad but not bad enough to disturb the hologram. The hologram itself was starting to show things beside empty darkness.

A bright rectangle of light appeared very suddenly. The rectangle itself was nothing but a narrow slot in the ceiling of a small room.

The light did not penetrate the gloom entirely, it only offered a narrow beam of light, and in that light stood an Andalite.

This Andalite may have looked like an exact replica of its species but something was noticeably different.

The body –and all that could be seen of it was the head, shoulders, upper body right down to the front knees and part of his lower back- was slackened, the stance was anything but that of a warrior; the shoulders were slumped and the tail blade which should have been visible; erect and ready at shoulder level was nowhere to be seen. Probably hiding with the rest of his body in the gloom.

The eyes were a strange phenomenon. They appeared fearful. They were uneasy and weary. After a few seconds of silence the expression turned into something that could have easily been described as boredom mixed with dulled terror. This Andalite was not like it's race because –unlike it's kind- it was humiliated. And Andalites –most of them- did not admit to humility.

This Andalite spoke; the voice was broken down into a scattered bundle of thoughts and pictures. The meanings of his words were unclear. He seemed unable to bring out a coherent sentence.

The beam of light dimmed suddenly. The slot, which provided light, showed that something was peering down. A human. Only the two eyes were visible. They were blue; ugly and cold. A disturbing emotion flickered across the glassy gaze as the Andalite yelled at his torturer to speak out.

As for the group who were watching the hologram; the wind was knocked out of their lungs. Their faces paled and the young Andalite reeled down in shock and horror.

In the hologram the slot was enlarged into a larger square –a trapdoor opening- the human jumped down and flashed a strong beam that illuminated the Andalite and blinded all four of his eyes.

The Andalite jerked back from the harshness of the light, he attempted to shield his face from the light with his weak Andalite arms.

The Andalite's body showed traces of various kinds of injuries; cuts, bruises, burns all were distributed at random throughout his body.

The position of the hologram recorder did not reveal the face of the torturer. His identity was safe and a closely guarded secret.

The dark skinned human female turned away from the gruesomeness shown in the hologram as the torturer started punishing his victim. After a while half of the others turned away as well.

The young Andalite stared, unable to look away; as his older brother was humiliated again, and again, and again. He could now see how helpless he was; his tail-blade was sheathed and secured behind him and his Andalite arms were no match for the strong human male's that delivered repeated blows to his face.

A warrior that could not use his tail could not fight.

And if he could not fight then he was deeply humiliated.

Ax turned away as a cry of pain echoed in his head. He closed his four eyes and begged his friends to stop the hologram re-play.

The torturer delivered a high kick that threw his prisoner against the wall and left him stunned and stupid. The human jumped out of the cell by means of a rope that was suspended above him and the trapdoor was lowered back.

Elfangor was left, half illuminated in the beam of light, his body shaking and his mind spinning faster than he could have imagined possible.

And for a moment, as if told where the recorder had been placed Elfangor stared right into the eye of the recorder, and as if he knew that his eyes had locked briefly with his brother's he averted them and his stalk eyes dropped miserably.

The slot that allowed light into the cell was slammed shut, throwing it's resident in complete darkness. The hologram had begun in darkness; it ended in darkness as well.

A shrill laugh was heard above Elfangor's head. He had been watching the hologram, watching his brother's reactions carefully. Too afraid to watch and too afraid to look away.

Could he have possible let down his brother any more than this? Elfangor did not know, he also did not know his own son's reactions because he had not found him. He wondered –very briefly- what had become of him.

Thoughts like those brought misery down to Elfangor, and then as if he had found a way out of this nightmare, a thought came to him that bought him a fraction of peace and another wave of intense pity.

Elfangor thought that if he could have wished for something; he would have wished that he were back in his human morph.

He longed to cry as a human, with human tears instead of an Andalite that cried at heart.

There was some sort of admittance to pain and sadness in crying as a human, not that it brought anything forward or that it meant that his problems were solved, no, it just helped him feel relieved.

Relived and released from the burden of loneliness.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Yeah, yeah I know, you don't get to see Ax's reaction clearly, but I had a choice to make, whose reaction would be more worthwhile? I guess I decided on Elfangor, besides I liked the idea that Sixkiller recorded their meetings, plus, I needed Elfangor and Ax to find out that both of them were alive. But most importantly was that Elfangor was able to see his brother's reaction.

If anyone is going to ask how she recorded the meetings –because I know someone would ask; she didn't run off in the last chapter; Tobias couldn't spot her hiding and the hologram recorder was set after she chased Abby out of Ax's scoop (that's were she was in the first place). The hologram recorder itself is inside a hologram that stops it from being uncovered.

Sixkiller has access to technology that is far more advanced than Andalites. Don't ask me how, you'll find out from who Sixkiller got it in part three or maybe this part. So, please don't bug me about things like; why doesn't Elfangor cry out for help (Gafilian –is that how you spell his name? I don't really care but onto the point- said that he could always 'hear' Mertil's voice unless they were in different planets. Ax was able to call Cassie and Tobias -in book 4?- even though there was a huge section of ocean and land between them.)

As for why doesn't he morph; he can't. Something to do with advanced technology and wave patterns (err, are you buying this?)

Further comments are left open to you.