The Refugee

Chapter 15- Feralae

It was a morphing race. Who would morph first and what? The Visser was obviously morphing Condor. With a nine-foot wingspan, talons, and beak made for ripping dead flesh the condor would catch me easily. Only one morph that I knew could stand a chance of escape. Taylor and Visser One were waiting. This was Visser 3's fight, not theirs. They would wait, watch, and cheer on the Visser. My mother, just like in the dream.

Would I end up killing her in battle? Would she even want to die? Our ancestors fought in every war involving Japan until world war two, by which time they'd been in the United States for about twenty years. Mother had told me that a Japanese Warrior was unafraid of death. A Japanese Warrior would be prepared to die in battle rather than surrender peacefully.

But I wasn't just Japanese. I was Irish and Navajo and, in a way, Andilite. The andilites had a saying, You die in the service of the people, defending freedom. The Andilites would want me to fight to the death. They would expect me to do my duty. What about the Navajo? The Native Americans were warriors as well, but with a more optimistic view of war. They would avoid killing if they could.

That was more a more palatable option. What to do? How could I disable the condor without killing my mother?

Find a weapon. The ketran was potentially deadly with a weapon. My hands changed and as soon as they did, I crouched, as though ready to spring. My docking talons rested on the hilt of my dad's dagger. Get ready, I told myself.

Taylor, Visser One and the Blue Bands backed up on either side. They formed a ring around us, like the hip hop dances back home in San Diego. They resembled children in a school yard fight. I had been in enough of those back home over petty things like lunch money, and later in response to racist comments. //But mom! They called me a Mic!// I had protested. //They called me a mutant Jap! They greet me with 'How!' in the hallways! Can't you do anything?//

To which my mom had responded, //You can't change what they do. You can only change what they do. Learn to ignore them, things will get better.//

This would be the same kind of fight. I couldn't change what the Visser did. I couldn't change that the Visser had my mother. The time for change was past. Words couldn't be taken back. There was no need for words now.

I tested the senses. Ketran eyes were amazing. This was super compound vision. The fact that the eyes protruded slightly increased the peripheral vision. This was hawk vision expanded and put inside of a bug body. The hearing was very strong. There wasn't smell, not as we thought of it. They had antennae that tasted the air like a snake's tongue. It was extremely sensitive to chemicals. I could have sworn that I could actually taste the kandrona of the pool nearby. I had butterfly wings, way, way more maneuverable than those of a bird of prey.

The last vestiges of humanity were melting away. The Visser and I stared at each other. Time seemed frozen for what seemed like an eternity. Then the two of us leapt into the air like a pair of VTOL* jets. We circled up for altitude, vying for the perfect angle. The only way that I could hope to escape was to overcome my fear of the Visser, of hurting my mother, and disable her so that I could escape. I'm sorry mother. I'm sorry to do this. It's duty, you understand. I know that you can hear me in there. I want you to know, incase you die, that I love you and I know that you'd rather die than stay in there a moment longer. For my mother, for my father, for my ancestors, my allies, my friends! I shouted as I drew my dagger.

The Visser screamed in rage as he surged forward. I looped around and slashed.

Then she was gone! Visser 3 was gone! No not gone! Above me! The condor screamed as it dove from the sky. I surged upward, dagger point aimed to slash off her head. The Visser dodged just in time with a barrel roll. No, not a total miss. A red line opened on the Visser's back, but it wasn't a serious enough wound to end the battle.

The wings, I needed to target the wings. I whirled. The Visser couldn't react fast enough. The condor's wings were too big to make the turn. I slashed at the exposed wing. The Visser's Condor screamed in pain. Then the morph kicked, a particularly nasty kick that sent both of us falling. Visser 3 fell like a stone, to be caught deftly by Taylor. The morph's talons tore through my left wing, RIGHT THROUGH IT!

I spiraled down towards the woods at the edge of the bluff, where Toby Hame caught me, checking my fall. The pain was intense. DEMORPH!! I screamed at myself.

Blackness spiraled in around me. I heard voices around me. "She's got the devil's luck..."

"Don't worry Cassie, it will come right…"

"How long has she been out?"

"Was she trapped?"

"She is fine." Answered Jara Hame. "She fight Visser. Beat her good."

"Was my mother there?"

"She there. She stay back. Taylor there too. Feralae call Taylor a whore. What a whore?"

"Don't worry about it Jara."

All I could think of was that I would be trapped, trapped in a crippled Ketran morph. I had wings, I had hands, but I would never morph. I would never be human!

"Feralae…" Then my eyes fluttered open. "Feralae…" Cassie and Kiara were standing over me. That was when I realized. I no longer had the jewel faceted eyes of a Ketran. I held up my hands, five fingers, not four. I stood up and looked in Caroline's etched mirror that she had attached permanently to the wall.

I was human, completely human. I had done it in my sleep. "Cassie I…"

"You did it Feralae. You beat Visser 3." Cassie said with a smile. "He escaped and you survived."

"What happened? I remember falling…"

"Toby and Jara caught you." Cassie explained. "You demorphed in your sleep."

I smiled. "Kiara… I'm sorry I acquired your DNA without permission.

"Why did you do it?" She asked, blinking in surprise.

"Because I wanted to understand Ketrans." I said softly. "I wanted to know the answers."

"Then that is a good enough reason for me. You would have made a fine Ketran, Feralae. You have my permission, I am honored to be your morph."

I sat up in my futon at the cabin and looked around. "And I will bring honor to my family, by surviving, by freeing my mother and my father, and the world. We will stand together, and we will defeat the yeerks."

~notes~

*VTOL- stands for Vertical Take Off and Landing. A VTOL is a jet that can make a totally vertical take off and land on a dime. They are primarily used in the military.