Ax? Are you awake? I asked as I flew within range of his scoop. It's
always a good idea to announce yourself before flying up on an Andalite in
the middle of the night; you're less likely to lose your head that way, and
I'm not kidding about that. Andalites are an interesting species. They
sort of look like furry blue centaurs with a slightly sloping back, and a
whip-like, muscular tail that ends in a blade that resembles a scorpion's
stinger, only bigger and infinitely more deadly. I've seen Ax with that
tail in battle. If you blink you'd miss it.you'd also be wondering what
your head was doing rolling away from your body.
Ax is short for Aximili-Esgarouth-Isthil. Yeah. Quite a mouthful, isn't it? Hence the nickname. According to Ax, he's the equivalent of a 23-year old human male. He's the younger brother of Prince Elfangor-Sirinial- Shamtul, the Andalite warrior who first gave the others their power to morph. Later, they found Ax.at the bottom of the ocean. Um, also a story for another time.
Anyway, I had a little technical question for him, and the boy's a genius.
I was pretty sure he'd still be awake. He recently found a television set at the dump, and it's been darn near impossible to pry him away from the thing. Sure enough, through the trees my sharp owl eyes caught the glow of Ax's set. Of course, in owl morph, it was like a spotlight shooting up through the trees-uncomfortably bright for the barn owl. It made her feel grumpy.
Ax? It's Sarah. I'm coming down, so heads up, okay? As I said, it's NEVER a good idea to startle an Andalite. I cannot reiterate that enough.
I glided gently down through the foliage, and there was Ax, staring at the tube. He turned a stalk eye in my direction.
Oh, hello, Sarah. Did you come to watch television with me? He turned back to the set. You are just in time for the 2:00 am encore presentation of "The Swiss Family Robinson" on the Hallmark Channel. It is about a Swiss family with the surname of Robinson, who are shipwrecked and build a large, primitive human dwelling. It is a movie "for the whole family to see together," even though there a certain species of non-human animals that are not indigenous to that area of the planet.
I landed on the seat of a couch the he'd also brought back from the dump and began to demorph.
I know, I've seen it, but it's been a while. I almost added that I hadn't come to watch, that I had to ask him a question. Instead, I said, Where's Tobias?
I believe that Tobias is.grumpy. Approximately 2 hours and 47.3 minutes ago, he decided to fly off, he said to visit Toby and the other free Hork- Bajir. He said that they understand the concept of a "curfew". Ax turned his stalk eyes towards me. What did he mean, a "curfew"?
Since I was in mid-morph, I didn't answer right away. Probably a good thing, as I would have been laughing too hard to answer anyway. Tobias and Ax sometimes reminded me of my brother Travis back home and his flat-mate, who often kept late hours until Travis would stumble into Mum's and my house, grousing about the music being too loud and college classes first thing in the morning.
I finished demorphing and said, "I think that was Tobias' subtle way of telling you that you ought to turn of the tube and go to sleep."
Oh.
I stayed and watched the movie with Ax, barely noticing it, or the many interjections Ax made to point out the flaws in the movie, such as the simultaneous presence of zebras and tigers being inaccurate due to the fact that that was a Siberian tiger and a Grevy's zebra.
My mind raced.
I'm an Animorph just like the rest. It's not like I don't think I shouldn't have a say in what goes on in this group.in fact, Jake and the others have always encouraged me to speak my mind. But they hadn't even told me about David. Rachel wouldn't have if she could have stopped herself, but it all came spilling out, not 5 hours ago. I think they didn't tell me because they just wanted to forget it ever happened. Or maybe because they were afraid I would think their telling me was a warning not to try and betray them like David did. In any event, they hadn't told me. I felt a bit hurt about it at first, then I thought to myself, "Sarah how would YOU have told them something like this?"
I chewed on my thumbnail. Obviously, this would be a very delicate subject to approach. Who was I to plan something like this?
The movie ended, and from the looks of things, Ax might actually turn off the TV. He doesn't have to know what the question's about, not yet, I thought.
"Answer me this, Ax: If someone's stuck in morph, can another dose of the blue box make them morph-capable again?"
Ax looked at me curiously. I believe so, yes. Unless there are complications. For example-
I yawned pointedly and began to remorph to owl. "Sorry, Ax. I loved to hear you tell me all about it later, but right now I'm about to fwall asreeeee." My mouthparts changed to a hard beak. I meant "fall asleep". Good night, Ax. I took off. A good thing tomorrow is Saturday.
"Hey, Tom, is Jake in? It's Sarah."
"Yeah, hang on. I'll get him." I heard Tom call yell Jake's name. Or Tom's voice, anyway. Tom's a controller. That's super tough on Jake.
Jake picked up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Jake, it's Sarah."
Jake's voice immediately tensed a little but he covered it quickly.
"Hey, what's up?" he said a little too brightly.
"Oh, nothing terribly interesting." I could almost feel him relax. "Cassie just wanted me to remind you that we promised to help her shovel out the barn today at. ah, around 11?"
"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Have you reminded the others yet?"
"No, I was just about to, though."
"Okay, see you there."
That was code. We always have to be careful when we meet. You never know when a phone line might be tapped. I called the others with variations on the same message. I looked at Rachel, who was still fast asleep. After some thought I decided to let her sleep. We may have shared a close, sisterly moment last night, but there was no doubt in my mind she'd hesitate to chew me out but good if I woke her right now. Besides, she obviously needed the sleep.
I left her a note saying I lifted her bike to go visit Cassie and that I'd see her later, then I was off. As I neared Cassie's barn, I saw that the others were just getting there as well. My hands shook a little at the thought of what I was about to suggest. I could just imagine what the first words out of Marco's mouth would be.
5 minutes later: "Are you INSANE?!"
Review. Come on. You know you want to.Please? ^_^
Ax is short for Aximili-Esgarouth-Isthil. Yeah. Quite a mouthful, isn't it? Hence the nickname. According to Ax, he's the equivalent of a 23-year old human male. He's the younger brother of Prince Elfangor-Sirinial- Shamtul, the Andalite warrior who first gave the others their power to morph. Later, they found Ax.at the bottom of the ocean. Um, also a story for another time.
Anyway, I had a little technical question for him, and the boy's a genius.
I was pretty sure he'd still be awake. He recently found a television set at the dump, and it's been darn near impossible to pry him away from the thing. Sure enough, through the trees my sharp owl eyes caught the glow of Ax's set. Of course, in owl morph, it was like a spotlight shooting up through the trees-uncomfortably bright for the barn owl. It made her feel grumpy.
Ax? It's Sarah. I'm coming down, so heads up, okay? As I said, it's NEVER a good idea to startle an Andalite. I cannot reiterate that enough.
I glided gently down through the foliage, and there was Ax, staring at the tube. He turned a stalk eye in my direction.
Oh, hello, Sarah. Did you come to watch television with me? He turned back to the set. You are just in time for the 2:00 am encore presentation of "The Swiss Family Robinson" on the Hallmark Channel. It is about a Swiss family with the surname of Robinson, who are shipwrecked and build a large, primitive human dwelling. It is a movie "for the whole family to see together," even though there a certain species of non-human animals that are not indigenous to that area of the planet.
I landed on the seat of a couch the he'd also brought back from the dump and began to demorph.
I know, I've seen it, but it's been a while. I almost added that I hadn't come to watch, that I had to ask him a question. Instead, I said, Where's Tobias?
I believe that Tobias is.grumpy. Approximately 2 hours and 47.3 minutes ago, he decided to fly off, he said to visit Toby and the other free Hork- Bajir. He said that they understand the concept of a "curfew". Ax turned his stalk eyes towards me. What did he mean, a "curfew"?
Since I was in mid-morph, I didn't answer right away. Probably a good thing, as I would have been laughing too hard to answer anyway. Tobias and Ax sometimes reminded me of my brother Travis back home and his flat-mate, who often kept late hours until Travis would stumble into Mum's and my house, grousing about the music being too loud and college classes first thing in the morning.
I finished demorphing and said, "I think that was Tobias' subtle way of telling you that you ought to turn of the tube and go to sleep."
Oh.
I stayed and watched the movie with Ax, barely noticing it, or the many interjections Ax made to point out the flaws in the movie, such as the simultaneous presence of zebras and tigers being inaccurate due to the fact that that was a Siberian tiger and a Grevy's zebra.
My mind raced.
I'm an Animorph just like the rest. It's not like I don't think I shouldn't have a say in what goes on in this group.in fact, Jake and the others have always encouraged me to speak my mind. But they hadn't even told me about David. Rachel wouldn't have if she could have stopped herself, but it all came spilling out, not 5 hours ago. I think they didn't tell me because they just wanted to forget it ever happened. Or maybe because they were afraid I would think their telling me was a warning not to try and betray them like David did. In any event, they hadn't told me. I felt a bit hurt about it at first, then I thought to myself, "Sarah how would YOU have told them something like this?"
I chewed on my thumbnail. Obviously, this would be a very delicate subject to approach. Who was I to plan something like this?
The movie ended, and from the looks of things, Ax might actually turn off the TV. He doesn't have to know what the question's about, not yet, I thought.
"Answer me this, Ax: If someone's stuck in morph, can another dose of the blue box make them morph-capable again?"
Ax looked at me curiously. I believe so, yes. Unless there are complications. For example-
I yawned pointedly and began to remorph to owl. "Sorry, Ax. I loved to hear you tell me all about it later, but right now I'm about to fwall asreeeee." My mouthparts changed to a hard beak. I meant "fall asleep". Good night, Ax. I took off. A good thing tomorrow is Saturday.
"Hey, Tom, is Jake in? It's Sarah."
"Yeah, hang on. I'll get him." I heard Tom call yell Jake's name. Or Tom's voice, anyway. Tom's a controller. That's super tough on Jake.
Jake picked up. "Hello?"
"Hi, Jake, it's Sarah."
Jake's voice immediately tensed a little but he covered it quickly.
"Hey, what's up?" he said a little too brightly.
"Oh, nothing terribly interesting." I could almost feel him relax. "Cassie just wanted me to remind you that we promised to help her shovel out the barn today at. ah, around 11?"
"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Have you reminded the others yet?"
"No, I was just about to, though."
"Okay, see you there."
That was code. We always have to be careful when we meet. You never know when a phone line might be tapped. I called the others with variations on the same message. I looked at Rachel, who was still fast asleep. After some thought I decided to let her sleep. We may have shared a close, sisterly moment last night, but there was no doubt in my mind she'd hesitate to chew me out but good if I woke her right now. Besides, she obviously needed the sleep.
I left her a note saying I lifted her bike to go visit Cassie and that I'd see her later, then I was off. As I neared Cassie's barn, I saw that the others were just getting there as well. My hands shook a little at the thought of what I was about to suggest. I could just imagine what the first words out of Marco's mouth would be.
5 minutes later: "Are you INSANE?!"
Review. Come on. You know you want to.Please? ^_^