Disclaimer: I own a computer that's way too full. I own a copy of most of the Animorphs books. I own several Mary Sues. I own Weffy and Jath (but I just mentioned them, didn't I?). I own nothing else.
Two Chee were hurrying towards Weffy's house right as Weffy and the friends that were coming with her got there.
"You heard about the evac?" Ceth asked. The group nodded.
"How are you getting off-planet?" Jath asked the two androids.
"We aren't sure," Raffy admitted.
"You're welcome on my trans," Weffy offered.
"Thank you," Raffy said. Ceth nodded in agreement. Both were definitely relieved.
"Maybe we should check and make sure all the neighbors have rides," Jath said.
Everyone agreed. How could they not? If lives were at stake, they would help.
About five frantic minutes later, a few more Pemalites and a lot more Chee were boarding Weffy's trans.
The small ship took off.
Weffy stared out at the blackness. The computer had just informed those on the small trans that the Pemalite planet was now in several small pieces.
Someone started to sing a goodbye song--one of those used for funerals. Weffy would've joined in, but singing was not among her strengths. Most of the rest of the ship did, though.
There were many transes and other ships leaving the planets in the Pemalite system, but there were so many, so many that had not made it. So many that had still been on-planet when the high-energy beams had split the planet in two, like a ripe daela fruit, and then into smaller chunks to make sure no one could possibly survive. So many that had been decompressed when the beams destroyed the force fields protecting the lunar settlement. There were so many on ships that had been hit by chunks of the Pemalite world. There were so many, so many...
But there were many who were still living. There were many ships hurrying away from the two still-intact planets and the one moon that had not been destroyed. There were many who were in other solar systems, like the one Weffy and her friends were going to.
"Let's get out of here," Jath suggested, pushing through the crowd of people in the main room. "We don't want to be in the neighborhood if they destroy the ships, too."
"Why would they? Why did they do this?" Weffy wondered, taking the ship's controls.
"Why is *any* species warlike?" Jath wondered.
"It's crazy. Purely crazy. I mean, I know everything has something good in it, but war? Killing?"
"Look! Look!" someone shouted, interrupting their philosophical discussion and pointing out the window. Ships were being incinerated by the creatures' weapons.
Weffy checked several readouts. No, it was too risky to go into Z-space with so much debris nearby. She turned the force fields on to full power and hoped for the best. The creatures were by far outnumbered, but the Pemalite vessels were helpless--it was horrible.
One of the creatures' ships turned towards Weffy's craft. It fired at her. Weffy had to jerk the ship out of the way--lucky it had 4D avoidance technology. The beam glanced off the force field of a ship past Weffy's. It didn't do any damage to either Pemalite ship, luckily.
Weffy desperately jerked the controls back and forth to avoid the beams.
"No! Don't move!" Jath suddenly shouted. "We're being herded--it's a trap!"
She was too busy to reply, but Weffy's jerking started to move in a different direction as other ships started firing on her. She realized, horrified, that her ship was among the last intact. She had to keep herself and her friends safe!
Finally--she was away from the two planets and the loosely-defined asteroid belt between them. She was free in space. She quickly jumped to Z-space.
"Wait. If we went to LSx2, wouldn't relativity make sure got wherever we decide to go long after they were gone?" Jath asked.
Weffy considered this, but finally decided, "No. What if by the time we get there, all the Pemalites will be gone?"
"Incoming transmission. Origin PEACE. Accept?" PEACE was the Pemalite/Chee Embassy at Cienth-Exdente, so Weffy accepted.
"Is anyone there? Is anyone there?" a scared-looking Pemalite asked anxiously. PEACE must be beaming generally, Weffy concluded.
"Is anyone alive? Please don't let you all be gone! Answer! Please!"
"We're here," Weffy said, replying. "There were two or three ships besides us when I jumped to Z-space, but I don't know if they're still there."
"How many of you are on your ship?"
Weffy tried to think, but she wasn't sure. She looked at Jath, who could do almost any problem easily and in his head.
"Almost six hundred, both Chee and Pemalite," he said.
"We don't have enough room on this planet," the PEACE ambassador said sadly. "The system is overcrowded already. But there must be somewhere that could hold another species..."
Weffy glanced to the side of the com screen. There was a generalized map. She typed in a few commands, and soon about thirty solar systems lit up.
"My computer says there are some," Weffy said. "We'd better decide where to go. Should we report tomorrow?"
"Yes, that would be fine," the PEACE official said. They terminated the communication.
A/N: LOL, the chapters just get dumber and dumber, don't they? *sigh* Oh, well, maybe someday my writing will be good...