Chapter 5
The next day I was walking with Rachel, Jake, Whitney, and Marco. Tobias was at home with Sam and Ax, getting more details. We were walking along the suburbs towards the outskirts of town to go to Cassie's.
Normally, I would never go out in public with the rest of the Animorphs, but I was Josh right now. Safely in morph and devoid of any powers.
Apparently, since Ax wanted to go home, and that rose some issues. And Marco cared about nothing more than to talk about his heroics. Apparently he saved a guy who opened fire on him.
"So there I was, I was superman, I was batman. I saved this guy from an angry mob of like ten people, all with guns and stuff. I morphed gorilla and totally mopped the floor with them."
Rachel just shook her head. "Marco, why did you feel the need to morph gorilla. All you had to do was walk into the alley and show them your face and they would all run."
"I know, they would know the mighty power that was Marco!" He struck a heroic pose and smiled.
"No, they would be terrified by the horrible sight. That face could haunt dreams forever." She shot back. Then smiled her super-model smile. Did I tell you about Rachel? The warrior princess, deadly beauty. And that's why we call her Xena. She pretends to hate it, but she is flattered.
"Heh." Marco said, then continued, "So, after I am done with the punks, I go over to the guy to offer help, then he pulls out a gun and starts shooting at me. I lose the milk and everything in the process as I get my hairy little ass out of there."
"So, what are we here for?" Whitney asked. Seriously getting bored of Marco's rabble. "I hear there's some pretty important news. Or Gordon wouldn't be here."
Jake pointed a finger lightly, "Josh." He corrected.
"Oh, right. Josh." She said. "But either way, we needed to get together, so what is it?"
We continued walking, Rachel practising her flips and stuff. I decided to break the news to them myself.
"Ax wants to go home." I told them clear and simple.
Rachel stopped. "What?"
"You're kidding, right?" Marco said.
"No, we are not. Ax wants to go home, we don't know why. We thought it was to tell his people of the invasion here, but they already know. We do know how, though." Jake said.
"And how is that?" Rachel asked. "Hitch a ride on the first interplanetary plane out of here?"
I laughed. "If only it was that simple. Look, he has a plan to actually steal a yeerk spacecraft. A bug fighter."
Marco laughed. "That alien is crazy. What do you do? Call up Visser Three on the telephone and ask him for one?"
"Something like that." I said. They all got blank faces.
"How?" Whitney asked. "I mean, think about it. We don't have the technology, we don't have the power, nothing. Seriously, how would we go about doing that?"
"We call him up on the telephone. Ax says with a few electrical supplies, he can make a communication device to call to the yeerks." I told them.
"And can this guy make everything?" Marco asked. "I mean, do we really need to do this? Do you have a plan that doesn't involve that thing?"
"Well, yeah. The plan was that he would make the thing, and call the mother ship in distress to send down a ship. One hork bajir, one taxxon. We lie in wait while the ship sets down and take it. Ax can get away in that while we morph something else and never be seen again." Jake explained.
"The only problem is that he needs a computer to program the device to the ship's signals. And none of us have a powerful enough computer to give up. He says he can turn any one of our computers into a supercomputer, but none of us have even a weak computer. That is the only problem." I said.
"And where do you plan on getting a computer?" Rachel asked.
"I have a computer." Whitney said. We all looked at her surprised. We didn't actually expect one so soon. "Well, my mother works at the school. She could get me one of the older ones out of the computer lab. It wouldn't be hard. The school is pretty top notch, so they are commonly replacing old computers with new ones."
I couldn't help but smile a huge smile on my face. This was going to be easier than I thought. Really easy, actually.
"You are serious, you can actually get one that easy?" I asked.
"Sure. All I have to do is tell her I am going to work on it as a science project with some buddies. She will even take it wherever I want her to. She is really cool that way."
I was definitely impressed. Then maybe we could even get games and stuff on the computer after he was done with it. Imagine the games we could play on that thing. No internet though.
By the time we had completely finished talking, we were just arriving at Cassie's front yard. My time was about up, so I demorphed and remorphed on the way up. It was a long driveway. You know how those farm houses are for driveways.
Anyway, when we got there, Cassie was waiting for us outside as she cleaned some of the horses fields. We told her the details. She was impressed but concerned. She was just as critical of the plan as Marco was, even though they were exact opposites.
"And who says they don't send more?" Cassie asked. "What if they decide to send backup?"
"It's a bug fighter. Chances are you can't get enough on one of those to fight all of us off. We will be there for support." Jake explained.
"Yes, but who says they will send only a bug fighter?" Cassie suggested. "Okay, sorry, you guys are right. This will be fine. Besides, I have no problem helping the guy. He is running in the forest just at the end of the farm. I have told him if he goes anywhere else, people could possibly see him and report to the wrong people. He only stays on Gordon's meadow and our property. My parent's don't often go into the forest, so he should be safe."
"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe we should go see him, to make sure we have the right idea of how this is going to work." Whitney said. Always the perfectionist.
"Sure, he's right there." She pointed out to the tree-line. I could just barely make out a blue figure under the shadows of the edge of the trees.
[Stay there!] I called to him. He was too far away to yell out loud. And Tobias wasn't anywhere around. So I used my thought speak.
We walked out and met up with him.
[Hello, what may I do for you?] Ax asked.
"Just Checking up with this plan of yours." Whitney said.
[it is simple.] He said. [I have to get a primitive human computer and some parts for a distress beacon. I can program the beacon to call a distress signal to the yeerk mother ship to send a bug fighter to retrieve me. I kill the hork bajir and taxxon, steal the ship, and blast into Z- space before the yeerks truly catch onto what was a perfect plan.]
"Okay, now do you have all the supplies except the computer?"
[No, I will need to collect supplies before I create the beacon. I can modify some of the objects that I have seen in the large building to successfully create the beacon. It is fairly simple. From what I have heard, I can get these supplies tomorrow.] tomorrow was Saturday. Horray for long weekends.
Things were looking good for everyone, when Ax said something a little unnerving... [Though there is one thing I will find difficult to obtain.]
"And what is that?" I asked, somewhat concerned.
"Yes, I thought you could get everything." Jake accused.
Marco didn't look too impressed either.
[I could, if I had the time. Though I do not. Even I could not create a Z-space transponder. That I would need to steal.]
"You didn't tell us this." Marco said. "Why did you wait until the last minute?"
[It is not the last minute. And I had to think about possible consequences and I had to take certain variables into consideration. It was not until just now that I decided it would be quicker and easier to just steal one from a high ranking yeerk here on earth. One that would normally communicate with Visser three on a regular basis.]
"Well, isn't that just peachy." Marco said snidely.
As much as we all hated it. That was the final decision and there was nothing we could do to stop it. By the looks of it, Ax was going home and maybe he would bring help back. All I could say was that the possibilities were great.
The next day I was walking with Rachel, Jake, Whitney, and Marco. Tobias was at home with Sam and Ax, getting more details. We were walking along the suburbs towards the outskirts of town to go to Cassie's.
Normally, I would never go out in public with the rest of the Animorphs, but I was Josh right now. Safely in morph and devoid of any powers.
Apparently, since Ax wanted to go home, and that rose some issues. And Marco cared about nothing more than to talk about his heroics. Apparently he saved a guy who opened fire on him.
"So there I was, I was superman, I was batman. I saved this guy from an angry mob of like ten people, all with guns and stuff. I morphed gorilla and totally mopped the floor with them."
Rachel just shook her head. "Marco, why did you feel the need to morph gorilla. All you had to do was walk into the alley and show them your face and they would all run."
"I know, they would know the mighty power that was Marco!" He struck a heroic pose and smiled.
"No, they would be terrified by the horrible sight. That face could haunt dreams forever." She shot back. Then smiled her super-model smile. Did I tell you about Rachel? The warrior princess, deadly beauty. And that's why we call her Xena. She pretends to hate it, but she is flattered.
"Heh." Marco said, then continued, "So, after I am done with the punks, I go over to the guy to offer help, then he pulls out a gun and starts shooting at me. I lose the milk and everything in the process as I get my hairy little ass out of there."
"So, what are we here for?" Whitney asked. Seriously getting bored of Marco's rabble. "I hear there's some pretty important news. Or Gordon wouldn't be here."
Jake pointed a finger lightly, "Josh." He corrected.
"Oh, right. Josh." She said. "But either way, we needed to get together, so what is it?"
We continued walking, Rachel practising her flips and stuff. I decided to break the news to them myself.
"Ax wants to go home." I told them clear and simple.
Rachel stopped. "What?"
"You're kidding, right?" Marco said.
"No, we are not. Ax wants to go home, we don't know why. We thought it was to tell his people of the invasion here, but they already know. We do know how, though." Jake said.
"And how is that?" Rachel asked. "Hitch a ride on the first interplanetary plane out of here?"
I laughed. "If only it was that simple. Look, he has a plan to actually steal a yeerk spacecraft. A bug fighter."
Marco laughed. "That alien is crazy. What do you do? Call up Visser Three on the telephone and ask him for one?"
"Something like that." I said. They all got blank faces.
"How?" Whitney asked. "I mean, think about it. We don't have the technology, we don't have the power, nothing. Seriously, how would we go about doing that?"
"We call him up on the telephone. Ax says with a few electrical supplies, he can make a communication device to call to the yeerks." I told them.
"And can this guy make everything?" Marco asked. "I mean, do we really need to do this? Do you have a plan that doesn't involve that thing?"
"Well, yeah. The plan was that he would make the thing, and call the mother ship in distress to send down a ship. One hork bajir, one taxxon. We lie in wait while the ship sets down and take it. Ax can get away in that while we morph something else and never be seen again." Jake explained.
"The only problem is that he needs a computer to program the device to the ship's signals. And none of us have a powerful enough computer to give up. He says he can turn any one of our computers into a supercomputer, but none of us have even a weak computer. That is the only problem." I said.
"And where do you plan on getting a computer?" Rachel asked.
"I have a computer." Whitney said. We all looked at her surprised. We didn't actually expect one so soon. "Well, my mother works at the school. She could get me one of the older ones out of the computer lab. It wouldn't be hard. The school is pretty top notch, so they are commonly replacing old computers with new ones."
I couldn't help but smile a huge smile on my face. This was going to be easier than I thought. Really easy, actually.
"You are serious, you can actually get one that easy?" I asked.
"Sure. All I have to do is tell her I am going to work on it as a science project with some buddies. She will even take it wherever I want her to. She is really cool that way."
I was definitely impressed. Then maybe we could even get games and stuff on the computer after he was done with it. Imagine the games we could play on that thing. No internet though.
By the time we had completely finished talking, we were just arriving at Cassie's front yard. My time was about up, so I demorphed and remorphed on the way up. It was a long driveway. You know how those farm houses are for driveways.
Anyway, when we got there, Cassie was waiting for us outside as she cleaned some of the horses fields. We told her the details. She was impressed but concerned. She was just as critical of the plan as Marco was, even though they were exact opposites.
"And who says they don't send more?" Cassie asked. "What if they decide to send backup?"
"It's a bug fighter. Chances are you can't get enough on one of those to fight all of us off. We will be there for support." Jake explained.
"Yes, but who says they will send only a bug fighter?" Cassie suggested. "Okay, sorry, you guys are right. This will be fine. Besides, I have no problem helping the guy. He is running in the forest just at the end of the farm. I have told him if he goes anywhere else, people could possibly see him and report to the wrong people. He only stays on Gordon's meadow and our property. My parent's don't often go into the forest, so he should be safe."
"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe we should go see him, to make sure we have the right idea of how this is going to work." Whitney said. Always the perfectionist.
"Sure, he's right there." She pointed out to the tree-line. I could just barely make out a blue figure under the shadows of the edge of the trees.
[Stay there!] I called to him. He was too far away to yell out loud. And Tobias wasn't anywhere around. So I used my thought speak.
We walked out and met up with him.
[Hello, what may I do for you?] Ax asked.
"Just Checking up with this plan of yours." Whitney said.
[it is simple.] He said. [I have to get a primitive human computer and some parts for a distress beacon. I can program the beacon to call a distress signal to the yeerk mother ship to send a bug fighter to retrieve me. I kill the hork bajir and taxxon, steal the ship, and blast into Z- space before the yeerks truly catch onto what was a perfect plan.]
"Okay, now do you have all the supplies except the computer?"
[No, I will need to collect supplies before I create the beacon. I can modify some of the objects that I have seen in the large building to successfully create the beacon. It is fairly simple. From what I have heard, I can get these supplies tomorrow.] tomorrow was Saturday. Horray for long weekends.
Things were looking good for everyone, when Ax said something a little unnerving... [Though there is one thing I will find difficult to obtain.]
"And what is that?" I asked, somewhat concerned.
"Yes, I thought you could get everything." Jake accused.
Marco didn't look too impressed either.
[I could, if I had the time. Though I do not. Even I could not create a Z-space transponder. That I would need to steal.]
"You didn't tell us this." Marco said. "Why did you wait until the last minute?"
[It is not the last minute. And I had to think about possible consequences and I had to take certain variables into consideration. It was not until just now that I decided it would be quicker and easier to just steal one from a high ranking yeerk here on earth. One that would normally communicate with Visser three on a regular basis.]
"Well, isn't that just peachy." Marco said snidely.
As much as we all hated it. That was the final decision and there was nothing we could do to stop it. By the looks of it, Ax was going home and maybe he would bring help back. All I could say was that the possibilities were great.