Chapter 11: Marco



The first thing I learned about Kristen was that she was very clumsy. She's not at all graceful, but she's nice, at least. She's not the kind of girl I'd be attracted to. But we could still be friends, maybe. I know that's a cliché statement, but it's the truth.

I ate breakfast with her family yesterday, mainly because there was nobody else to eat breakfast with. Well, there was Cassie, but she seemed to be off in her own little world, so I just hung out with Kristen. I took her back to my room.

She looked around. "You aren't moving to America, are you?" She asked with her English accent. "Nope. I'm just an on vacation to America. I've always wanted to see the place," I lied. See, I figured it would be better if I lied and said I was English and not American, 'cause then she would ask why I was in England, and I didn't feel like coming up with an excuse.

She looked satisfied with the answer.

"You don't seem to own that many things. I mean, your room, it's so empty," "Yeah, I guess it is. But then again, I'm on vacation."

See, I couldn't tell her that the all-powerful creature called the Ellimist spoke to one of my friends who could turn into animals just like I could and brought me back to life after ramming an alien spaceship and dying so he could transport me to the TITANIC which was destined to sink in three days, and if we survived, then we would be able to have a chance to stop the Yeerks before they spread to Earth. See, she'd think I was insane. And she was probably right. I was insane. The whole mission was insane. I mean, who puts people in the past? I though only the Time Matrix was capable of that. But if the Ellimist invented the Time Matrix, then he could probably send people in the past, too. Confusing. Anyway.

She left soon enough, promising to talk to me tomorrow, and the day passed kinda quick after that. I didn't see Cassie the rest of the time. It kinda made me wonder. Where was she?

I found out soon enough today, after I woke up.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK-

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Hold your horses!"

I had just woken up. What was today? Day Three. Day Three of the TITANIC voyage. That meant tonight would be the last peaceful night on the TITANIC. Tomorrow night, we would be screaming and running (or morphing, I guess) for our lives.

So I threw on some old clothes, combed my hair a little bit, and opened the door.

There stood Cassie, with Jake.

"Jake? JAKE?!?" I asked, the truth sinking in. I pulled them both into my cabin and shut the door. "Jake? Aren't you supposed to be in third class? How'd you get up here in second? Especially with the gates?"

"Um, Marco, I morphed."

Oh. Duh. But wait.

"Isn't it a long way to travel as an insect?"

"Yep. I had to demorph a couple of times-"

"Did anyone see you?" I demanded.

"No, at least, I don't think so," he said.

"Geez, Jake, make sure we are aware next time you-"

"Can we get to business here?" Cassie interrupted. "There was a reason we came to see you, you know,"

"Well, by all means, let's get down to business," I said.

Cassie looked at Jake. Jake sort of nodded and began talking.

"Look," Jake said, "To get of the ship, we've got to be careful. This is history, and any little thing we do can mess it up. So that rules out lifeboats. No lifeboats. If we take someone's seat, and that someone was supposed to survive, and they die, that would also kill their children, their children's children, and so on. So no lifeboats. As for morphs, we can't do our whale morphs, there's nowhere on the ship that would support morphs that big, and we couldn't do it in the water. We just wouldn't be able to concentrate to morph in water that cold, which would also rule out any water morphs that we may have."

Jake sighed, and then continued.

"There's a ship by the name of the CALIFORNIAN just 19 miles from here. We could fly there as birds without getting to cold. We would find a decent place to demorph on board. And that would save our butts, and we would be out of there. But just one problem."

"You don't know where the CALIFORNIAN is." I said.

"Right," answered Jake, "We could end up flying in circles. And then we would have to demorph. In the cold, freezing water. So we need to know where that ship is. And the way to do that is through the wireless operators. They would know the coordinates. So we would spy on the wireless operators.

"When?" I wanted to know.

"Whenever the ice warnings come in," Cassie said. "Tobias would know. I'm guessing tomorrow. I do definitely know this: the CALIFORNIAN will send the coordinates to the TITANIC. We've just got to be there when they get them,"

"We will get the coordinates eventually. But Cassie has another issue, and I think it's a good issue to consider." Jake interjected.

"Ok, shoot. What is it, Cassie?"

Cassie spoke. "Well, in the history books, they always talk about the CALIFORNIAN tragedy. About how all the TITANIC passengers could have been saved, if only the CALIFORNIAN could be aware of the situation. So we could avoid a tragedy. We could save all of these lives! We could save at least almost all the people. All of these people's lives are in our hands."

I shuddered at the thought. The entire world had been in our hands before, and look where it got us. Jake depressed. Rachel dead. Tobias a loner. Cassie, Ax and myself were the only real survivors of this war. And we were forever changed.

"Marco? Tobias is against this. I'm not trying to create a breakup or a fight in the group, but Jake and I talked about it, and we're both for it. Tobias is against it. What do you want to do?"

I automatically knew my answer.

"I'm with Tobias, guys. Do you know how this would change history? How this would change the world if the ship didn't sink? If it got safely to New York like it's supposed to, well.we all know this ship has a major flaw. Guys, you save the ship now, when it only has 1,200 people, you could cause an even bigger disaster. The TITANIC would get to New York, and just maybe, carry more people back to where ever they would go. Say they carry 1,200 on the way over, and if they get across, carry 2,000 people back. Say they hit the iceberg or whatever then, on the way back. And you'd have more causalities then ever," I finished my speech. I looked toward my friends.

They looked at me dumbfounded. They had never thought of that.

But then, Jake smirked. "Marco, you're theory is all washed up. The ship will sink. The ship will definitely sink. All I'm asking is if we could get the survivors on the CALIFORNIAN. What harm could it do?"

"I can't think of any off the bat, but Jake, you're the leader. You have to make the right choice. I'm giving you this advice: No. Don't do it. Don't make the CALIFORNIAN aware. These people are supposed to die, no matter what."

Jake shook his head. Cassie said, "Marco, if someone you loved was on board, and you knew that person was supposed to die, would you save them?"

I shook my head. "No. It's history. And in history, people die. No one lives forever, Cassie."

She shrugged. "Oh well. I had hoped you'd be with us," she said.

"Don't count on Rachel being with you, either," I said.

They shrugged their shoulders and left.

"Jake! Bring Ax up here, too, if you're going to stay up in third class!"

"Nah, Marco, I'm going back down to third class. The maids will clean Cassie's room, and it will be obvious that someone else is in there. So I'll go back. See you later," he said. He and Cassie left.

I didn't want to think anymore. I would leave that to the others. I just wanted to relax.

On cue, someone knocked at my door. "Marco!" said the voice of Kristen. "Open up!"

I sighed. Actually, I was kind of glad she came. I wanted to get away from Animorph missions for now and do something normal. Like talk to someone who thinks aliens aren't out there.

"Hey Kristen. What's up? I mean, what are you doing?" "You promised me breakfast today, and it's time!" She laughed. Did I? Oh yeah. I did. "Oh, ok. Do you want to come in?"

She smiled. "Sure. Why not?" She came inside.

She sat down on my bed. She suddenly looked up at me and said, "You know something Marco? You don't have too many things with you. You say such strange things, like the TITANIC sinking, which won't, since it's unsinkable. It's like you've just dropped in one day on this ship," she said thoughtfully.

Smart girl, I thought, but you don't know the half of it.

Instead I forced out a laugh and said, "Come on. Breakfast is waiting."

"Alright," she said. She still was in deep thought. Like she was trying to figure out something. But she got up and followed me to breakfast.

"Yuck," I said. "This food is nasty!"

"Do all of you Americans hate food like this?" Kristen wanted to know.

"Nah. Just us spoiled Americans." I joked. But Kristen wasn't laughing. I looked up at her.

"You told me you were on vacation to America as you've never seen the place, yet you claim to be American," she said softly. Then, she looked at me forcefully.

I knew I was in trouble right then. You see, I had said I was English, or something. Usually I wouldn't screw up my own lie, but my guard had been let down.

"I know this isn't ladylike, but gentlemen aren't supposed to lie to ladies, so I'll skip the manners and politeness. Who are you, exactly? And why did you lie to me?"

****************** I hope this wasn't too confusing. See, I'm winding down the fanfic. I'm going to finish it and start on some new ideas. So the end is near! *wink* ;-) C ya and let me know what ya think!