PATHS OF FATE 6.

"Freeze, horse-boy! One move and I pull the trigger. I don't know what this gun will do, but I'm willing to bet you won't like it."

Elfangor's mind was fuzzy and unfocused, and he was desperately disoriented. One moment he had been talking to…someone…and the next moment he was here with a Dracon Beam pressed to his head. Looking beyond the bizarre – yet beautiful – two-legged creature that was pointing the Dracon beam at his head, he saw another of the creatures standing behind the first, also holding a Dracon Beam. 

"Be careful, Andalite friend," another unfamiliar voice assaulted Elfangor's ears, confusing him further. He could have sworn that the voice was speaking in another language that he could not speak nor understand naturally, and yet he did. "They are savage, violent beings! Crazy! Wild! Oh, yes! These females are vicious beasts! Better to kill them! Or even better, let us cage them again. Yes, yes, that would be best! As soon as you mistakenly fired on us, these two sprang up and grabbed my and my first officer's weapons. Wild and dangerous, oh, yes!"

Who had he been talking to before? And what had happened that caused his sudden transportation to this Skirt Na ship…

Skirt Na ship?

In a rush it all came back to Elfangor. Who he was. Where he was. What year it was.

He looked over at the voice that had spoken to him – the Skirt Na captain – and saw as he winked one of his big eyes at him, as if he and Elfangor were on the same side. He ignored the Na captain, and he and Arbron looked at the two females.

Elfangor noticed that the two alien females were around the same height – both just a little shorter than he and Arbron – and both had very long hair. The first of the two, the one who was currently pointing a Dracon Beam at Elfangor had small greenish eyes, and wavy golden hair that came to half way down her back. Her skin came in various different textures and colours, and both Elfangor and Arbron wondered if these aliens were wearing what many alien species called "clothing".

The other female was slightly taller than the first, and had dark, wavy hair that came down to her waist. She had a darker complexion than the first, and had eyes that at first looked green, but upon looking more closely, you could see that there were gold flecks around her pupils.

They were dressed in similar sorts of clothing: blue, rough-textured clothing covering their legs, white hoof-like coverings on their feet (Arbron vaguely remembered something about such coverings being called "shoes"), and loose, almost baggy skin that covered the torso, with multi-coloured pastel patterns. The dark-haired female was wearing a jacket that Elfangor believed to be made out of something many races called "leather". The other female had a loose, thick piece of material shaped to fit her arms in and had a hole up the top for her head tied around her waist.

All in all, Elfangor and Arbron found them quite fascinating to look at.

Swinging one of his stalk eyes back to look at Arbron – who was standing behind him – he saw that Arbron had moved from behind him and over towards the computer to the left of them. But Arbron had not walked three steps before the other female…whatever-the-two-of-them-were…had spun swiftly around, and pointed her own stolen Dracon Beam at Arbron's head.

"We said FREEZE!" the dark-haired female snapped.

Um, Arbron said, confused. He looked at Elfangor with one of his stalk eyes.

Elfangor simply looked back at him helplessly. He was still trying to unfog his still-confused mind.

Whoever you are…whatever you are…don't fire that weapon… Arbron finally said, after a few moments of silence. Put it down.

The two females looked at each other and smirked. "Uh-uh," the blonde said. "I don't think so,"

The dark-haired female frowned. "Hey, wait a minute. I can hear you in my head, but you're not really talking."

Suddenly, Elfangor and Arbron could understand all of what the two females were saying, instead of just half of it. Their translator chips had heard enough. It began to provide instantaneous translation.

I am in charge here, Elfangor said firmly. Drop your weapons!

"Uh-uh. Nope." The blonde said. "I don't think so, horse-boy. We're tired o being kidnapped and dragged off by giant cockroaches and little green men from Mars."

Excuse me, Arbron said gently. but we are here to rescue you,

"Rescue us?!" the dark-haired female snapped. "How do we know that you guys won't do the same thing to us that these Martian jerks did to us: kidnap us and then lock us up?"

What the Skirt Na have done to you is wrong. Arbron said, unsure why exactly he was answering the female's question. That's why we captured this ship.

The blonde female narrowed her green eyes. "We'd already captured this ship before you two came along." She snapped, glaring suspiciously. "Me and my friend here," she said, motioning behind her to the dark-haired female. "We're both just kids, which shows you these Martian jerks aren't all that tough. The other guy is in the back, knocked out." She continued. She smiled suddenly, and quickly glanced back at her friend and smiled. "But my friend here grabbed two guns off Twinkie there," she continued, jerking her head over to the Na captain.

Well, we mean you no harm, Elfangor said after a moment. Both he and Arbron had translator chips in their heads, but the chip provided no translation for the word "Twinkie". Elfangor assumed "Twinkie" was a word that meant "alien". Here's an idea, you can keep the Dracon Beams, just don't point them at anyone.

"They're called Dracon Beams?" the blonde female asked. "Weird name."

"What does it do?" the dark-haired female asked.

Before he could stop, Arbron answered. It fires an energy beam which causes an exceedingly painful death, he explained.

Elfangor glared at him. Was that wise? he asked in private thought-speak.

Arbron ignored him. That's why we'd prefer if you didn't use it, Arbron added quickly.

The dark-haired female nodded. "Oh, like a phaser," she said. "Like on Star Trek."

The blonde haired female nodded enthusiastically. "Man, I love that show!" she said, still keeping the Dracon Beam trained on Elfangor. "I can't believe they took it off the air!"

The dark-haired one nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but the movie is coming out soon." She said consolingly.

"I can't wait to see it!" the blonde said, and the dark-haired one grinned in agreement.

Elfangor and Arbron just exchanged looks. They had nothing to say. Translator chips do have limits.

Uh, Arbron said after a moment. If you come with us, we'll treat you well, and take you back to your home planet.

"Earth?" the dark-haired female asked.

Is that the third planet in this system? Elfangor asked.

"Yes." The blonde haired female replied.

And you are both Earthers? Arbron and Elfangor asked in unison.

The females smiled. "We're humans." The blonde haired one said. "My name is Loren," she said.  "and this is Maria," Loren said, pointing to Maria.

Maria smiled.  "Hi there." She said.

Greetings, Arbron and Elfangor said in unison.

Elfangor looked at Maria…and he felt the strangest thing…like something cold had just dropped into his stomach. She looked right into his eyes, and a chill crawled down his spine. Maria tilted her head, and the chill was gone. Elfangor smiled at her, and she smiled back. But Elfangor couldn't help wondering what had caused that feeling…

"You look like centaurs, only blue, and with scorpion tails, and extra eyeballs on top of your heads." Loren said. "What species are you guys, anyway?"

We are Andalites, Elfangor said. My name is Elfangor. This is Arbron. Elfangor added, pointing to Arbron, who had gone to the nearest Skirt Na control panel.  He was downloading a copy of the Skirt Na computer files as Prince Breeyar had ordered back on the dome ship. It was standard procedure whenever Andalites board an alien craft.

"Andalites, huh?" Maria said, looking at Arbron. "Hey, er, Arbron, right?" she said, lowering the Dracon beam she was holding, and walking over to Arbron. "Is that a computer or something?" she asked, pointing to the computer he was working at.

Yes, Arbron said, finding himself strangely at a loss for words. I'm downloading the Skirt Na's computer files onto a data-disc. Arbron explained.

"Oh, cool," Maria said.

Arbron was curious about what him downloading a computer file had to do with temperature. Cool? he queried.

Maria smiled. "It's vernacular language," she explained. "It means 'good', 'wow', 'excellent'." She continued.

Ah, is it human slang? Arbron asked.

Maria smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's slang," she said, looking down at the Dracon beam she was holding. She looked around at the bridge of the ship. Arbron wondered what she was looking for. He was about to ask her, when Maria smiled, and reached up and grabbed a Dracon Beam holster off a hook - complete with a bunch of power-cells – and strapped it around her waist, slipping the Dracon beam in. looking up at Arbron, she said, "You people don't mind if I keep this, do you?" she asked. "I don't like being weapon-less against a bunch of unknown, technologically advanced aliens."

Arbron smiled. He would be exactly the same if he were in a similar situation. No, I don't mind. Just don't point it at me, he said. Maria laughed – a sound that Arbron found alarming yet pleasant sound.

Loren, however, didn't feel the same way about the Dracon beams as Maria did. She bit her lip, and then handed Elfangor the Dracon beam handle first.

Thank you, Elfangor said. He reached for the Dracon Beam, and his fingers brushed with Loren's. For some unknown reason (to him, anyway) he looked at Loren's long golden hair.

"This is all kind of amazing," Loren said, bringing Elfangor out of his trance. "Most humans don't believe in aliens. And yet, here you are. Unless this is all a dream or something." Loren added.

Humans dream? Elfangor asked.

"I do. Every night." Loren answered.

So do I. But I suppose we have very different dreams.

Loren smiled. "Maybe. Maybe not."

-||-

Arbron could not shake the feeling of dread he felt as soon as he finished morphing to Taxxon. It took all his self-control to stop himself from screaming. He slithered out from beneath the ship's cradle on his hundreds of Taxxon legs, Elfangor following behind him.

Don't hesitate, Arbron, Elfangor advised. Look like you're just a normal Taxxon-controller going to work.

Normal Taxxon… Arbron echoed, and he had a strange flash – a fleeting image of something he couldn't quite understand. It was an image of a huge underground cavern, and a huge red mass that spoke to him. The very walls around him seemed to move, as if they were covered in…

Arbron! Elfangor yelled, his voice bringing Arbron out of his trance. Looking around, he realised that he had stopped in the middle of the walkway, and that all the controllers around him were giving him strange looks as they jostled past. Concentrating for a moment, Arbron tried to call the image back to him. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that it was something important that maybe he should know. But all he got was the feeling that he associated with the image: terror. Death. Entrapment.

A shiver of fear went through his Taxxon body.

Arbron? Elfangor asked again.

Arbron looked over at Elfangor, who once again was walking beside him. Arbron noticed that he seemed to walk far more easily on his hundreds of Taxxon legs than Elfangor did. In fact, even the Taxxon hunger was far easier to control than it had been the first time he morphed the Taxxon, less than a day or two ago. It was almost as if he was used to living with it.

Are you all right? Elfangor asked again, breaking one again through Arbron's troubling thoughts.

M-me? Arbron asked shakily, a little startled by the concern he detected in Elfangor's voice. I'm, er, fine. Arbron replied, aware of the fact that even someone who was totally oblivious to other people's emotions would have been able to detect the wavering and uncertainty in his voice. And Elfangor was far from oblivious.

Elfangor didn't say anything, but Arbron didn't fail to notice the way that his friend turned his head to look at him. Arbron could tell that Elfangor was worried, and he was relieved when they finally reached the ship's ramp, as it would hopefully distract both Elfangor and himself from Arbron's seemingly unstable emotional state. 

"Rrrrrr-what are you doing herrrrre?" the one of the Gedds said to them. The Gedd was speaking Galard – the interstellar language of trade, which sounded hard on his Gedd tongue, but Arbron and Elfangor's translator chips could handle it. And both Elfangor and Arbron could speak and understand Galard without the translator chip's help.

Arbron opened his Taxxon mouth to speak. "Snnnnneyyyahhhh siwwayyaah neasaynahhhhh!"

Okay, well, at least he tried to speak. It was difficult to speak Galard – or anything else, for that matter the three-foot-long tongue of a Taxxon. He had meant to say "computer repair", but what it actually came out as, Arbron was not entirely sure.

The larger of the two Gedd-controllers stared at Elfangor and Arbron with his twin tiny yellow eyes. "Rrrr-use thrrre pad-rrr!"

Arbron and Elfangor looked down at the small computer pad that the other Gedd was holding.

Is that some kind of translator? Elfangor asked Arbron.

Yes, Arbron replied. Some kind of primitive version of our own translator chips.  Let me do it.

Arbron leaned over and took the pad out of the second Gedd's hands, and pressed several buttons, using his weak, flimsy Taxxon claws as if he had been using them for such things all his life…

 "Computer Repair" the flat, emotionless "voice" of the translator pad said.

The Gedd-controllers swore and yelled at the two morphed Andalites, but both Elfangor and Arbron were too distracted to notice what the Gedds were saying, and they still were out of it as they walked up the ship's boarding ramp, squeezing themselves inside the Skirt Na ship. Arbron skittered quickly over to the ship's control panel and slammed a Taxxon claw down, shutting the ship's doors.

"Rrrr-let us in!" the Gedd-controllers snarled from outside the doors, banging on them. But it was no use, the doors were already closed.

Demorph, Elfangor.

Right. Elfangor said.

Ready to spit in the face of Death, Elfangor? Arbron asked dryly as the last traces of their Taxxon morphs disappeared and their Andalite forms reshaped.

Elfangor looked Arbron in the eyes. You bet, he replied.

Arbron smiled. Let's show these slugs what we've got.


Author's Note: yes, I am aware of the fact that The Andalite Chronicles says that Loren has blue eyes, but I'm making her a green-eyed blonde instead of a blue-eyed blonde. No particular reason, it's just that it's my fanfic and I'll stuff around with details if I want to! *grins* Also, I forgot to mention before, you'll be able to understand this fic much better if you have already read The Andalite Chronicles – which I'm sure most, if not all, of you have. And also, yes I am changing Elfangor and Arbron a little bit, because I really don't think that an intelligent species like the Andalites wouldn't know what clothing and shoes were.

Another Author's Note: sorry about the delay, but I had exams soon, and I've had heaps of homework, and a bit of writer's block. Also, the long delay between chapters was not helped by the fact that just as soon as I finished the chapter that Angel of Music (hi, girl! ^_^) had been begging me to finish for a month, fanfiction.net decides that it's going to break down! Jeez! Please review! Feedback is always appreciated! Send to nova_mist@yahoo.com. Thanks!