Chapter 19

With Phase One complete, things would get considerably more complicated. And difficult. And precise. And dangerous.

I was dismissed by the General and his guards, who led me out of the base. The General had lost interest in the picture and handed it back to me. I was actually a bit disappointed, but deep down, I knew that my drawing skills wouldn't even appeal to the most empathetic individual.

I scurried off to the alleyway we had started in and demorphed, depositing my Mak overalls in the trash container. I relished my fresh wings, but it wouldn't last long. I couldn't be seen as a hawk. Besides, my hawk body was a little too big for my next objective.

The Kelbird was small enough. It was also inconspicuous and more than capable of getting where I needed to go. Not that it would be easy. So I changed, shrinking under half my usual size, feathers turning blue rather than orange-brown. My wings adjusted and melded into one behind me. My beak softened and blunted, and a nose took its place.

Allowing a minute to recover my strength after the fatigue of quick morphing, I took flight. There was more morphing to come, and I was bracing myself to lose a lot of energy. I didn't morph much since the war ended, so it was very much a shock to my system.

My objective took me back to the base. As I passed high over the perimeter wall, the General and his men's activities were becoming apparent. They were gathering near the southern gate—twenty, approaching thirty, mustering into formation with the General and a couple of officers keeping an overview.

Four Humans walked out from below a shelter close by, encircled by a small platoon of Kelbrid soldiers, armed to the teeth. They weren't being treated like criminals anymore, but the Kelbrids were certainly not stupid enough to drop their guard.

The General was holding the comms device. On occasion, he would speak into it, and I assumed Menderash was replying.

However, it would be a while before Menderash could land The Shadow, and they also needed to establish a landing zone. By the look of things, the Kelbrids were getting ready to mobilize to the city's outer limits. Menderash had told me that he intended to keep away from highly defended areas, and the military base would no doubt fall into that category. We had planned to land The Shadow on the southwestern outskirts of the city, a dip between two hills.

A Kelbrid ship was revving up. I didn't have much time.

I took myself away from the ground-level activities and turned my attention to the enormous tower that signified the center of the base. It was dimly lit, no longer illuminated by the encompassing golden triangle atop, and my diurnal Kelbird was having a hard time making out some of the minor details. Nevertheless, my destination was an easy spot. It lay just beneath the golden pyramid, in a room stolen from the planet by metal grids and lasers.

Menderash recognized the priority of getting us all out free and alive, but he had a secondary objective. He couldn't allow the Escafil device to remain in Kelbrid hands. While the General was preparing to rendezvous with The Shadow, I was tasked to retrieve the morphing cube from its impenetrable fortress.

Impenetrable to a Kelbrid or a Mak or even a hawk. But the Kelbird was small. The Kelbrids certainly didn't expect such tiny birds to attempt to steal an outwardly superficial blue box. They probably hadn't accounted for morph capable enemies since the Andalites were not permitted inside Kelbrid Space.

However, I was a hawk and not an Andalite.

My tiny feet clamped onto the narrow ledge, and I was engulfed in a mosaic of blue and red lighting from the complex, tight laser grid and the morphing cube held within. The metal bars were the first barrier, and I recalled how small they were. Even my tiny body could struggle.

I pressed my head through with ease, but the rest was more of a challenge. I folded in my single wing and pushed forward with my legs. The metal scraped against my delicate body, compressing me tightly and causing the instinctual mind to scream for a retreat.

But with a pop, I came through, tumbling and rolling forward into the tower. Scrambling on the ledge, I regained my footing to judge the next movement. It would take me through the lasers, which were packed tightly together in triple-layered rings. They buzzed with heated power. Alarm sensors, but also probably incredibly dangerous to touch.

My beady eyes darted for the best route. There wasn't much to choose from, but I was sure that I could pass through without setting anything off with a little concentration. I leaped forward and dipped right immediately.

The path swung me through the narrowest of gaps in the first circular perimeter of lasers, a horrible buzz ringing through my ears as I passed through. I could feel the heat, and it singed the feathers over my back and wing.

Landing on the narrowest of openings between the grids, I focused on the last two passable holes. They were aligned so that I could make it through with one skillful turn and twist.

Even though I was inhabiting a new body, I knew how flight worked. It was nothing I couldn't handle. I took two steps, flapped my wing, and soared upwards towards the gap, visualizing the space and the angle of the turn.

I flicked the tip of the right side of my wing, enough to pull me directly sideways and through the second gap. Then, with a heavy flap, I lunged upwards and through the next one.

I was through! Steadying, I landed with a clink on the glass casing that held the cube. It glowed brightly beneath me.

There was sufficient room between the podium the cube lived on and the closest laser grid. I hopped down to the floor, hugged myself to the side of the podium, and began to demorph with speed.

Then I went straight to the next morph, once I'd resumed my hawk body. I began to grow taller. My legs thickened, and my wings adjusted and twisted, growing stumpy digits at the ends.

I clung closer to the podium, wrapping limbs and tail around it as they grew from me. When the morphing process was over, and I was fully Mak, I judged the distances and stepped back.

It was incredibly tiring, but the task wasn't over.

The cube was housed in a glass box on top of the podium. I couldn't see any in-built alarms or wires, only small metal latches holding it in place. The locked, barred room with lasers, hidden far from the ground and beneath a blinding beacon, should have been enough to keep even the wiriest of sentient aliens out, so why bother alarming the box?

With that in mind, I took the risk. I cautiously reached my sharp Mak claws forward and dug them under the closest two latches. No change. I applied pressure upwards, and with some resistance, both latches snapped up with a click. Again, no change.

The other six latches came up just as easily, and soon I had my hands clasped around the glass container, slowly lifting it away from the brilliant blue box. I gently placed it on the floor beside me and then went in to claim my prize.

A cruel thought bounced into my head at that moment. I gazed at the cube, judged its measurements. Then I looked back to the metal bars I had snuck through.

It wouldn't fit back out. What an idiot I'd been!

I panicked, felt my Mak jaws clench as I realized the oversight. Observing the room, I could see no other way out. Only walls and lasers…

Lasers!

I grabbed the blue box cautiously from its comfortable perch. In the perfectly flat sides, I could see my reflection beyond the spooky blue glow.

Reflection is what I so desperately needed.

I turned on the spot to face the barred window to the dark outside. A laser was between, coming down vertically from its source in the ceiling. I adjusted the box in my hand and took a step forward.

The red struck blue, creating a brilliant purple. The beam bounced sideways with the box at an angle, hitting the wall south of the window. Instantly, the spot began to smoke, heat reacting with the solid non-reflective surface.

With minor movements, I directed the beam upwards. All the while, I knew that alarms could be ringing in all areas of the base. I could be swarmed in seconds. There was no turning back, though, so I connected the beam with the first bar over the window. It sizzled, and smoke poured as the laser tore through the dull metal.

All I needed was a hole big enough for myself and the box. I moved the beam slowly to the side, cutting through it at a pace I only wished was greater. But it was working, and soon I was shifting the laser downwards.

With a spark, the grid came away, smoke billowing out into the sky. It crashed onto the floor and echoed through the chamber. My escape was made possible, and despite my exhaustion, I got straight to morphing again.

I didn't care that my eyes were blurring from the tiredness when my feathers returned. Nor did I care to be inconspicuous. I grabbed the box between my two talons, and with familiar wings, I zigzagged through the gaps in the laser grid, the smoking window, and out into the gloomy night sky.