Elfangor knew that he could not just drive up to the Taxxon world's spaceport in a bright yellow Mustang, since he would be shot before he even came in sight of the ship-cradles. He would need some way of getting in undetected, but he would not morph into a Taxxon again. Not ever.
That was when the ground around him caved in suddenly. There was a loud, strident booming that echoed around him, drowning out the Mustang's engine.
Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Elfangor was bounced around in the most uncomfortable way, as the Mustang rolled down a steep dirt ramp. At the end of the ramp was darkness too deep for Elfangor's light-adapted eyes to see into. Elfangor took his hoof off of the accelerator, and tried to pull the notched brass insert out of the ignition slot, but the vehicle was shaking too much for him to even touch it.
The Mustang bucked and rattled, reminding Elfangor a little too much of the Skrit Na ship. At last, when Elfangor was starting to wonder if he would ever stop, the Mustang skidded to a halt. It was silent and dark, or at least it would have been, if not for the Mustang's engine and the still playing music.
Elfangor shut the music off, doing the same with the engine a few seconds later. Elfangor sat in the darkness, but the darkness was not so deep that he couldn't see, and even as he sat there his eyes were adjusting. The cavern was vast, and in the center stood a low hill, a mound that seemed to glow with a soft red radiance.
Out from this glowing mound extended a number of tendrils, each three or four feet around. As Elfangor's eyes adjusted further, he saw that there were about twelve of the tendrils, and that all of them extended from the mound, out through the walls of the cavern. The tendrils, Elfangor now noticed, glowed the same deep red of the mound. There were openings in them, as well. Holes that could most likely be used to get in or out, holes that were as large… As a Taxxon?!
Elfangor could see them now, now that he was no longer so focused on the mound itself. There were hundreds of them, milling about as if they didn't even notice him. Elfangor was extremely grateful for small favors. Even as he watched, the holes in the sides of the tendrils opened and more Taxxons slithered out.
They had to see him, smell him, even taste him, but the walked on as if they didn't care. Elfangor wasn't about to impugn his good luck, but he couldn't help but wonder why the ignored him. They seemed to be most concerned by the hole that his Mustang had made, or rather had had made for it.
The Taxxons were pushing the soil and assorted rocks back up to fill the gap.
IS THIS THE CREATURE?
Elfangor screamed, holding his head in agony as the echoes of that nearly overpowering voice faded. Elfangor realized then, as the last remnants of pain faded, that the mound itself was alive.
Yes, that's him. He is called Elfangor.
Elfangor recognized Arbron's voice, but the wariness he felt wouldn't let him trust without conformation. Even when he saw that two sets of legs on the Taxxon that was approaching him were shorter than all the others. He did not trust Taxxons.
Arbron?
Yes, Elfangor. It's me.
I thought you were dead.
No. I wanted to be. But I am alive. Alive to serve the Living Hive.
The what? What are you talking about?
The Living Hive, Arbron repeated, waving one of his many Taxxon claws at the glowing mound behind him. Light of the Taxxons, Mother and Father of the Taxxon species. The Hive has lost many of its children to the Yeerks, and many more have betrayed the Hive to ally themselves with the invaders. But the Hive is still Mother and Father of the species.
Arbron, what are you going on about? Elfangor asked, worried. This didn't sound at all like the carefree aristh that Elfangor had gotten to know. Did they do something to you?
Arbron laughed, sounding like himself again. Do something to me? Well, they didn't eat me. Though I honestly expected them to. I think they even wanted to, so I had to give them the Skrit. To stop them from eating us both. Then, somehow the Living Hive learned what I was, and it drew me here.
How? You could not possibly have walked. We're at least a thousand miles from where we crashed.
The Hive's tunnels extend across thousands of miles, if not more. There is powerful suction in the tunnels. A Taxxon has only to fold back its legs and the pressure will draw it swiftly down the tunnel, as the Hive commands.
Elfangor looked closer at Arbron, wondering why he had suddenly seemed so accepting of his fate, and saw something else.
Your legs. The legs I… the legs you were missing. They're growing back.
Yes, Taxxons have the ability to regenerate legs. If they are allowed to.
Elfangor considered the events that had brought him here.
Arbron, it was not by accident that I ended up here, was it? That tunnel opened beneath me for a reason. Does the… does the Living Hive want something with me?
Yes, Elfangor. The Hive is angry.
At me? Elfangor asked, feeling his insides quiver at the thought of such a powerful creature being angry with him. Elfangor knew that all the Hive would have to do if it wanted to kill him was scream. Such an overwhelming psychic resonance would destroy even one who was used to dealing with things of that sort.