Chapter 4; Recruitment
Hey, My Names David, one of the last remaining hopes of Earth. Haven't heard of me? Didn't think so. Now listen up. Earth is under invasion. By Aliens. By this time, as Marco would say, you're deciding whether to back away slowly or laugh at me openly. Good for you. Because if its neither of those, then the third option is so much more terrifying. You believe me. Why? Because you are, or have been, one of them. But if you wanna full history of it, go to the other records. I sure as heck ain't gonna type it all out.
Continuing on from my last Entry, I was finding potential members to join our fight against the Yeerks. Well, I've just found seven Animorphs.
I walk down the street and look around. Yep, this is the right corner. I turn left. There's the school right there. That's where Madison and Stephen should be. I stroll down the pathway and check to see no-ones around. Then I change my hologram to the school uniform, and alter my hairstyle.
I search the classes to see if they're in there. Nope. As I turn down another corridor, I pass a Notice Board. I smile. Taking out a colourful poster titled 'The Giving,' I make sure to pin it next to the pale notice with the logo of The Sharing. Let those Yeerks taste their own medicine. The bell rings signalling home time. I suddenly spot Stephen in the music corridor. And there's Madison next to him. And they're being pushed around by some big hulky kid. I decide to step in.
"Get in da cupboard ya lil' wimp!" grunts the hulky guy. He shoves Stephen away and pushes Madison towards a cupboard under the stairs. I tap the bully on the shoulder.
"Whats-its-name, you keep doing that you're gonna regret it." I say.
"Names Bob, an' if you go to a teecha I'll pound yer face in too!" says Bob.
I make my hologram look like I'm about to hit him. He ducks out of the way and I shove him, making him lose his balance and fall into the cupboard himself. I grab a chair and wedge it in between the doorknob and floor. I take an electric keyboard from one of the classrooms, turn it on and make it play a loop of the tune 'The Ants Go Marching One by One'.
"If you wanna get out you better sing to the tune!" I yell above the sound. Then I turn to Madison and Stephen. You could hear
"You guys alright?" I ask. They both struggle to nod their heads, laughing their heads off. I hand then a couple of business cards with the advertisement for 'The Giving', and say "Be There, 5 o'clock."
Two down, five to go. I'd better take the car this time, it's a bit too far to walk. I need to find Richie, Georgia and Aria, and they attend a different school about twenty blocks away. By the time I get there I spot them heading for a bus. Can't let that happen. I quickly project my hologram so that it seems the bus is already leaving. The one called Richie sighs and slumps down into a bench. Georgia and Aria sit down next to him and start to talk.
I drive up next to them in a disguised form of a bus and say "Need a ride?"
They look up surprised and mutter that they must have tried to catch the wrong bus. I concentrate on making the force field expand to each place they step. They each take a seat and I drive the 'bus' ahead. I slowly focus the hologram to recreate the beginning of the Animorphs. I start with Elfangor's life, fast-forwarding it so everything passed by in a blur. Richie started up, but my force field held him gently down. Georgia and Aria watched agape. The hologram moved on to Elfangor's death. This I slowed down. I showed Jake and the Animorphs on their first Mission to the Yeerk pool. The image speeded up. Ax, crying out in a mirror-wave thought-speak.
"Yo!" "Cassie, I've found one. I've found you a wha.." "..one word, Hope." "I do not understand the plot of.." "Seerow's Kindness. Seerow was a.." "I forgot you were the only one allowed to make jokes, Marco." "Let's Do It." "You're kidding, his name is Jeremy?" "Six? That's it? Bit.." "..have I heard the Earth children say? Ah, Yes, eeny meeny miney moo." "Like my fur boots?" "You know, Guide, you push us around and Ax will give you the last foot and a.." "Surrender, bloated aliens, and worship us, the mighty Helmacr.." "Tobias?!" "I'm called Hey Moron. Hey! Moro.." "Jake, Tom is one of them. A Controller. A Yeer.." "I'm trapped on a barnacle or something!" "Piece de resistance, if I'm not mistaken..." "Beanz! Been-zuh!" "First intentional fire. First complaint about.." "Rachel... Go," "Ram the Blade shi.."
Snippets of conversation come and go in no particular order. Richie, Georgia and Aria can't comprehend everything. But they get the gist. I show them one last thing. A short holo of a bird taking flight.
I pull the car into a warehouse. The hologram fades. I turned to the three people behind me. They looked in fear, amazement, and even hopefully at me. I hesitated. These are just people. Should I drag them into this? I reluctantly hand them each a card.
"If you want to help, be here, 5 o'clock."
"Last two," I say to myself. I pull up the car to the public fitness training centre. I walk up the stair and I'm about to go in, but it says women only. Great, another hologram change. I quickly turn my hologram into Rachel in training gear, and pray that she never finds out cos then she'll probably kill me. I stroll in there and try to keep my eyes averted from what Marco would call "Baywatch plus Aerobics on TV", and find Casey and Erin in the sparring corner. They're really going at it in their karate type clothes, kicking at each other and punching. I make a mental note to never annoy them and laugh at the thought of two more Rachel type Animorphs. In fact, it's almost time for my chatting time with the Animorphs back in America! I hurry over to a side bench and take out my laptop, and adjust the twin web-cameras installed at the top; one to focus on me and one focused on the training centre around me. I open up the chat line and project a second hologram around it to make it seem to passers by that I'm playing Solitaire. Ah, there's Ax logging on now. The whole gang is displayed on the screen.
"Whoa, check it out! Rachel in a sports bra!" yells Marco. Jake averts his eyes, Cassie tells Marco off, Ax looks about in confusion, Tobias hops closer almost imperceptibly and Rachel steps forward in an almost volcanic rage. I suddenly groan.
"DAVID! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN MY BODY!?! I'M GONNA MURDER.." she yells.
"Relax! I'm in a women's training centre! To recruit people!" I say quickly. Marco laughs and presses his head closer to see the other web picture.
"Whoa again! Its like Baywatch plus Aerobics on.."
I quickly log out. 'That didn't go so well...' I think to myself.
I look up and see Casey and Erin standing above me. "Why were you talking to your Solitaire game?" asks Erin.
I flash a Rachel smile. "Yeah... Don't you think this place is a bit dull?" I say, quickly changing the subject.
"Well, sorta, I guess," replies Casey. "Why, know anywhere better?"
I quickly pass them the cards and vamoose outta there.
Two hours later, I'm waiting in the warehouse. All seven of them show at about the same time. I tell them about the invasion. I show them battles. I explain the threat. I give them the chance to back out. They all say no. I bring out the blue cylinder. They each touch the sides and I take out the vial containing a single drop of Ax's blood. "You need Andalite DNA to activate the morphing cube," I explain. "Or cylinder, I should say."
They've all gone home now. They'll meet me tomorrow at the local zoo. I've told them to consider what battle morphs they want. I've decided to go back to my apartment. But when I open the door, I look to the Calendar and gasp in horror.
The Animorphs are heading to the Arctic the day after tomorrow.