Chapter 10
We decided to hold off the plan until the next weekend, for time and efficiency sake. That entire week, I was completely distracted. I couldn't believe what we were planning on doing. So many things could go wrong that I didn't want to think about it.
I hated to be a bother, but just imagine what we were doing here. We were actually planning on getting a spaceship for our favorite andalite so we could go home. And sure, I don't have a problem with helping a fellow warrior, but one thing he said really stuck out. He told me the andalites already knew about the yeerk invasion here, he just wanted to go home. When he first told me this plan, I thought he wanted to tell them the urgency and the state the earth was in. This was disappointing news, but nobody else knows.
But as for the plan, just think. Even though ax said there will be no real big deal regarding calling a distress signal and calling up the yeerks, there is so much that could go wrong. What if they send down the blade ship? What if they send in backup or call for reinforcements before we were able to get it. We would be outnumbered and probably beaten.
Seriously, I was so distracted that week at work they had to send me home a little early. It was weird. They liked me there, but they saw I was stressed or something, so they sent me home two days that week. That wasn't me in any way.
But the weird thing was that when I got home, Sam wasn't there. Either time. I asked Tobias, but he said he didn't know where he went.
The first day, I dismissed it, but Tobias said he left every day to relax, hated the confinement of the forest. I asked if he could follow him the next day. I left and came back when I was supposed to, he was there.
The next day, I came home early and found sam and Tobias gone again. Tobias was probably watching him wherever he went. I was thankful. So I eventually just walked around the forest until I found ax. Most of the time, he was at the edge of the meadow by the oak tree, but he often walked out into the forest to see the wildlife. Which I could understand.
"Hey, Ax." I said as I pushed aside a fern to get to him. I met him sitting beside the fence at Cassie's place. He was there a lot.
[Hello Gordon. Why are you here?] he asked. I was surprised that he wasn't surprised, but then I remembered he had stalk eyes and pretty good hearing. So of course he could see me coming.
"Well, I was just thinking of asking you a few questions."
[What kind of questions?] he asked.
I sighed and hummed and hawed, not expecting to get any sort of answer, but I asked anyway. "Ax, has Sam been leaving the house while I was gone? I know you have more important things to do, and I could be caring about other things. This is none of my business, but I am curious. Does he leave?"
[Well, yes. Every day for the few weeks I have been here. He leaves here every morning and comes back before you do.] he answered simply. [But he only leaves on the days you leave. Do those day have some sort of significance?]
"Yeah, they're weekdays. For five days a week people go to their respective jobs and school. The other two days of the week are the weekend. Most people have these two days off to do whatever they like. We do most of our jobs on the weekend, it leaves open schedules." I explained. It felt weird telling Ax how the week worked.
[Andalite warriors and scientists are expected to work all days of the year. Any day can mean war or plague.] he said proudly.
"Yeah? Well, that's why you have faster than light travel and we still are barely able to get into space. And thank god for that, we can't handle the technology we have now."
[Actually, faster than light travel is impossible. We do have access to Zero space, where such speeds are seemingly capable of happening. It is really more of a teleport system, with zero-space always rearranging. Sometimes getting from one planet to another can take minutes, others it may take days, or even weeks. That's in andalite time, though.]
"I get it, Ax. I am usually happy to listen to your stories, but right now I am a little more worried about Sam. I am curious where he goes and why. It is really bothering me, he could put us all in danger." I said as I turned away from Ax and went back to camp.
[Good to see you back.] Tobias said from the tall oak tree.
[Good to see you, too.] I replied in personal thought speak as I trampled through the bushes leading to our clearing. [Any word on where he was?]
[Yeah. Nowhere important, though.] he said. [Ask him, he will be home any time.]
"Oh good, so I can talk normally then?" I said as I made my way through the bushes and finally into the silent clearing. Nobody was there, but I soon heard Ax crashing through the bush.
I turned around to see him soaring over the brush I had to force through. I quickly scanned the area for any threat, but nothing. "What was that all about?" I asked him in between pants. My heart was pounding, but it was calming down.
[Nothing. I enjoy earth's forests. Much more exotic than our own. I enjoy running as fast as I can through them, it improves my reflexes with all the trees and underbrush.] he explained.
"Well, can you improve your reflexes in a more relaxed state? I mean, you scared me half to death."
[Surprise is fatal in humans? We do have a species on the home planet that, when startled....] he started, but I interrupted.
"Ax, it was just an expression. Human beings can't be killed by surprise. It is a means of exaggeration, we do that a lot in our wonderful language of English." I said. I was mostly calmed down by then.
[I am sorry, I need more time to understand the human language. And many other aspects of human culture.] he said. [I will be gone soon, so is there any way to study them more?]
[Well, you could go to the local library, but I don't think they would take kindly to an andalite coming in and taking the books.] Tobias laughed.
Ax started saying something, but I cut him off. "Ax, we have all the time in the world. Sam is here now, and I need to take care of the issue at hand." I said. And indeed, Sam was just flying overhead and bout to land. I still couldn't see him, but I knew he was there. That was really beginning to freak me out.
We were all silent until Sam landed not three feet away. "Good to see you home, how's work?" He asked. Tobias stayed out of it and Ax was clueless, so he stayed out of it too.
"Fine." I replied. "Where have you been?" I asked inquisitively, and nonchalantly, I might add.
"What's it matter? I was checking out possible routes to the yeerk pool. Gotta get something done while I am here alone. Tobias, although a cool guy, is too quiet. Ax is Clueless, and you are never here. I need to get some R&R." He said, like he had it all scripted out beforehand. "Anyway, I am hungry. I am going to make myself a sandwich."
He tired to walk away, but I stopped him. "Sam, where were you?" I asked again, more strictly.
"What's it matter. You aren't my father. I was enjoying myself by checking things out. I am allowed to do that, right?" He sneered.
"Yes, but responsibly. I am not in any way a leader..."
"I know...."
".... but I do know one thing. You are a marked man, and if any yeerk sees you, you will have the entire police force on you in a matter of minutes. It would be horrible to have you go down to a bunch of guys with pistols, and I don't think you can dodge bullets."
"Good for me. I know this." he stared at me for a minute, then shook his head. "Not like it was any of your business, but I was going to see Whitney."
"Why would you do that? You see her all the time. You fight alongside her in battle for Christ's sakes." I said calmly. Something was nagging at the back of my mind, and I couldn't quite put it in place. It was about Whitney.
"I see her because I want to. There is that little forty five minutes between when she gets home and when you do. And during that time, I go and see her for a few minutes. Where is the crime in that? Am I not allowed to see a friend of mine? Jesus, grow up. We have all suffered here, all I am doing is trying to soften the blow." He said solemnly.
But still the question was in the back of my mind. Why Whitney. They just met, and they hardly knew each other. They never seemed to click, so why Whitney? I had to ask, "Of all the people to see, why did you see Whitney?" I let it out.
He stared at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world. "What? Are you ignorant? You know how long I've known her?"
I thought about it a minute longer, before shaking my head. "No, how long?" I asked.
"About two years now. About as long as you." He said. "You wanna know how I met her? I was spying on one of the sharing meetings early in my career. The sharing was advertising through Whitney's gym club. The sharing was early in development then too. She saw me and asked what I was doing. I made up an excuse and got out of there. I have known her for a while, but never really became friends. We talked now and then, but that's about it. Now that we are in a war, and I have nowhere else to go to talk to someone. I go there. She is the only one outside of you that I know in this little group of guerrillas."
"Oh, I didn't know. I thought you were out doing something stupid. Sorry for the hassle." I apologized. Boy, did I ever feel like a dumbass. "Why didn't either if you ever tell us this?" I added.
"Well, I never really thought it mattered. We were one team now, we were all going to have to get along one way or another, so I was planning on having it more or less slide into the scheme of things. You know, simple."
"But why didn't I know? Me, of all people?" I asked myself.
"Don't worry, only Rachel knows anyway. She is there a lot of the time I am. Rachel spends almost as much time at Whitney's as she does as Cassie's." He said.
"Well, I guess that is more than it was supposed to be. I am sorry I brought you off track. Let's pretend this never happened." I suggested.
"Hey, Ax, you got the transponder ready?" He called across the field to ax. It was amazing how fast one switches the subject. I smiled.
If he only knew.
We decided to hold off the plan until the next weekend, for time and efficiency sake. That entire week, I was completely distracted. I couldn't believe what we were planning on doing. So many things could go wrong that I didn't want to think about it.
I hated to be a bother, but just imagine what we were doing here. We were actually planning on getting a spaceship for our favorite andalite so we could go home. And sure, I don't have a problem with helping a fellow warrior, but one thing he said really stuck out. He told me the andalites already knew about the yeerk invasion here, he just wanted to go home. When he first told me this plan, I thought he wanted to tell them the urgency and the state the earth was in. This was disappointing news, but nobody else knows.
But as for the plan, just think. Even though ax said there will be no real big deal regarding calling a distress signal and calling up the yeerks, there is so much that could go wrong. What if they send down the blade ship? What if they send in backup or call for reinforcements before we were able to get it. We would be outnumbered and probably beaten.
Seriously, I was so distracted that week at work they had to send me home a little early. It was weird. They liked me there, but they saw I was stressed or something, so they sent me home two days that week. That wasn't me in any way.
But the weird thing was that when I got home, Sam wasn't there. Either time. I asked Tobias, but he said he didn't know where he went.
The first day, I dismissed it, but Tobias said he left every day to relax, hated the confinement of the forest. I asked if he could follow him the next day. I left and came back when I was supposed to, he was there.
The next day, I came home early and found sam and Tobias gone again. Tobias was probably watching him wherever he went. I was thankful. So I eventually just walked around the forest until I found ax. Most of the time, he was at the edge of the meadow by the oak tree, but he often walked out into the forest to see the wildlife. Which I could understand.
"Hey, Ax." I said as I pushed aside a fern to get to him. I met him sitting beside the fence at Cassie's place. He was there a lot.
[Hello Gordon. Why are you here?] he asked. I was surprised that he wasn't surprised, but then I remembered he had stalk eyes and pretty good hearing. So of course he could see me coming.
"Well, I was just thinking of asking you a few questions."
[What kind of questions?] he asked.
I sighed and hummed and hawed, not expecting to get any sort of answer, but I asked anyway. "Ax, has Sam been leaving the house while I was gone? I know you have more important things to do, and I could be caring about other things. This is none of my business, but I am curious. Does he leave?"
[Well, yes. Every day for the few weeks I have been here. He leaves here every morning and comes back before you do.] he answered simply. [But he only leaves on the days you leave. Do those day have some sort of significance?]
"Yeah, they're weekdays. For five days a week people go to their respective jobs and school. The other two days of the week are the weekend. Most people have these two days off to do whatever they like. We do most of our jobs on the weekend, it leaves open schedules." I explained. It felt weird telling Ax how the week worked.
[Andalite warriors and scientists are expected to work all days of the year. Any day can mean war or plague.] he said proudly.
"Yeah? Well, that's why you have faster than light travel and we still are barely able to get into space. And thank god for that, we can't handle the technology we have now."
[Actually, faster than light travel is impossible. We do have access to Zero space, where such speeds are seemingly capable of happening. It is really more of a teleport system, with zero-space always rearranging. Sometimes getting from one planet to another can take minutes, others it may take days, or even weeks. That's in andalite time, though.]
"I get it, Ax. I am usually happy to listen to your stories, but right now I am a little more worried about Sam. I am curious where he goes and why. It is really bothering me, he could put us all in danger." I said as I turned away from Ax and went back to camp.
[Good to see you back.] Tobias said from the tall oak tree.
[Good to see you, too.] I replied in personal thought speak as I trampled through the bushes leading to our clearing. [Any word on where he was?]
[Yeah. Nowhere important, though.] he said. [Ask him, he will be home any time.]
"Oh good, so I can talk normally then?" I said as I made my way through the bushes and finally into the silent clearing. Nobody was there, but I soon heard Ax crashing through the bush.
I turned around to see him soaring over the brush I had to force through. I quickly scanned the area for any threat, but nothing. "What was that all about?" I asked him in between pants. My heart was pounding, but it was calming down.
[Nothing. I enjoy earth's forests. Much more exotic than our own. I enjoy running as fast as I can through them, it improves my reflexes with all the trees and underbrush.] he explained.
"Well, can you improve your reflexes in a more relaxed state? I mean, you scared me half to death."
[Surprise is fatal in humans? We do have a species on the home planet that, when startled....] he started, but I interrupted.
"Ax, it was just an expression. Human beings can't be killed by surprise. It is a means of exaggeration, we do that a lot in our wonderful language of English." I said. I was mostly calmed down by then.
[I am sorry, I need more time to understand the human language. And many other aspects of human culture.] he said. [I will be gone soon, so is there any way to study them more?]
[Well, you could go to the local library, but I don't think they would take kindly to an andalite coming in and taking the books.] Tobias laughed.
Ax started saying something, but I cut him off. "Ax, we have all the time in the world. Sam is here now, and I need to take care of the issue at hand." I said. And indeed, Sam was just flying overhead and bout to land. I still couldn't see him, but I knew he was there. That was really beginning to freak me out.
We were all silent until Sam landed not three feet away. "Good to see you home, how's work?" He asked. Tobias stayed out of it and Ax was clueless, so he stayed out of it too.
"Fine." I replied. "Where have you been?" I asked inquisitively, and nonchalantly, I might add.
"What's it matter? I was checking out possible routes to the yeerk pool. Gotta get something done while I am here alone. Tobias, although a cool guy, is too quiet. Ax is Clueless, and you are never here. I need to get some R&R." He said, like he had it all scripted out beforehand. "Anyway, I am hungry. I am going to make myself a sandwich."
He tired to walk away, but I stopped him. "Sam, where were you?" I asked again, more strictly.
"What's it matter. You aren't my father. I was enjoying myself by checking things out. I am allowed to do that, right?" He sneered.
"Yes, but responsibly. I am not in any way a leader..."
"I know...."
".... but I do know one thing. You are a marked man, and if any yeerk sees you, you will have the entire police force on you in a matter of minutes. It would be horrible to have you go down to a bunch of guys with pistols, and I don't think you can dodge bullets."
"Good for me. I know this." he stared at me for a minute, then shook his head. "Not like it was any of your business, but I was going to see Whitney."
"Why would you do that? You see her all the time. You fight alongside her in battle for Christ's sakes." I said calmly. Something was nagging at the back of my mind, and I couldn't quite put it in place. It was about Whitney.
"I see her because I want to. There is that little forty five minutes between when she gets home and when you do. And during that time, I go and see her for a few minutes. Where is the crime in that? Am I not allowed to see a friend of mine? Jesus, grow up. We have all suffered here, all I am doing is trying to soften the blow." He said solemnly.
But still the question was in the back of my mind. Why Whitney. They just met, and they hardly knew each other. They never seemed to click, so why Whitney? I had to ask, "Of all the people to see, why did you see Whitney?" I let it out.
He stared at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world. "What? Are you ignorant? You know how long I've known her?"
I thought about it a minute longer, before shaking my head. "No, how long?" I asked.
"About two years now. About as long as you." He said. "You wanna know how I met her? I was spying on one of the sharing meetings early in my career. The sharing was advertising through Whitney's gym club. The sharing was early in development then too. She saw me and asked what I was doing. I made up an excuse and got out of there. I have known her for a while, but never really became friends. We talked now and then, but that's about it. Now that we are in a war, and I have nowhere else to go to talk to someone. I go there. She is the only one outside of you that I know in this little group of guerrillas."
"Oh, I didn't know. I thought you were out doing something stupid. Sorry for the hassle." I apologized. Boy, did I ever feel like a dumbass. "Why didn't either if you ever tell us this?" I added.
"Well, I never really thought it mattered. We were one team now, we were all going to have to get along one way or another, so I was planning on having it more or less slide into the scheme of things. You know, simple."
"But why didn't I know? Me, of all people?" I asked myself.
"Don't worry, only Rachel knows anyway. She is there a lot of the time I am. Rachel spends almost as much time at Whitney's as she does as Cassie's." He said.
"Well, I guess that is more than it was supposed to be. I am sorry I brought you off track. Let's pretend this never happened." I suggested.
"Hey, Ax, you got the transponder ready?" He called across the field to ax. It was amazing how fast one switches the subject. I smiled.
If he only knew.