Author's Note: Hi! Italics don't seem to be working, so for all characters except the Ellimist and the Living Hive, capitals mean italics.
Korean Pearl: Tobias and Loren's interactions won't be able to take place for a while, but they WILL take place. Tom never explained to Jake before because he healthily respected Jake's tiger morph. And can you honestly expect Elfangor to be mature after spending so much time either alone or being driven up the wall?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Animorphs. But that's NOT from lack of trying... okay, it is.
Chapter Thirteen: Esp's POV[I can understand why you never liked this place,] Tom whispered to me, mind to mind. [I'm boiling.]
[I didn't mind the heat, I mostly hated the scenery. What's the point of having eyes if there's nothing to look at? I didn't really like the Taxxons much at first, either.] I turned Tom's eyes towards Arbron. "Any idea where we are?"
[No,] he answered. [But the Living Hive might be able to help us.] Immediately, the ground beneath us opened up. We were sucked down, forward, left, right, up, right, down, left...
After a thirty seconds of twisting, turning, and trying not to throw up, we were deposited on a soft heap of something I thought was best left unidentified.
[ARBRON?] a voice bellowed. [HOW IS THE SITUATION ON EARTH? HAVE YOU DEFEATED THE YEERKS ALREADY? WHY DO YOU HAVE A YEERK WITH YOU?]
[The Living Hive,] Elfangor explained. He smiled reminiscently. [It sounds exactly like I remember it. Loud.]
I, however, glanced around nervously. I should have known that my presence would cause trouble. I had forgotten that Taxxons could smell Yeerks.
Arbron began to explain to the Living Hive in thought-speak. I tuned out. Then the Living Hive began to speak again, and I listened. Not only were it's words shocking, but it was also rather hard to ignore.
[WE ARE AWARE THAT THE YEERKS HAVE DISCOVERED OUR PLAN. WE INTEND TO ATTACK REGARDLESS.]
"You're kidding, right?" Tom demanded. "You'll be slaughtered!"
[SILENCE, YEERK!] Before, the Living Hive just sounded naturally loud. Now, it sounded angry. Tom opened his mouth to inform it that he wasn't a Yeerk, but I snapped it shut.
[Hey!] he snapped indignantly at me.
[We shouldn't argue with it until we prove that it can trust us,] I cautioned. [Do you really want the Living Hive, and every single Taxxons here, to be mad at us?
Tom considered it for a moment. We had a Dracon beam, but I was a pacifist and we were also out numbered. Jake might try to help, but Tom wouldn't allow his brother to be put in such a dangerous situation. [No.]
Arbron began to speak in the Taxxon language. I was never particularly good at it, but I think that what he said was: "He's not a Yeerk. He's a human—he and his Yeerk share the speech centers."
[WHAT PROOF DO YOU HAVE OF THAT?] the Hive enquired. Arbron proceeded to explain in greater detail. As the Hive still doubted him, we went by our old standby. I crawled out so Tom could explain.
I immediately fell to the ground. I heard Elfangor yelling something, felt myself being scooped up and then thrust away, and suddenly... I flew through the air and hit something, hard.
I sensed an opening above me. I squirmed up into it. An ear canal—perfect. My instincts took over and I pushed myself in deeper. I could 'hear' people yelling, and a bit of thought-speak, but I paid it no heed. I lodged my slimy body into it, spread some of the natural anesthetic around, and froze. It wasn't Tom's ear canal, I could tell. But I wasn't about to go to the brain to find out who it was. I was scared.
Fingers clawed at me, but I slipped in deeper. A hysterical thought-speak voice hit me like a Dracon blast. [GET OUT OF MY EAR!]
Aximili. I had infested him. Wait a moment—how had HE gotten here? We'd left him on Earth!
I squirmed backwards as fast as I could—which wasn't actually all that fast. It would have been quicker to go forward, across the brain, and out the other ear, but I had the feeling that I was in enough trouble already. Still, the way Yeerk bodies (not to mention instincts) worked, going backwards in an ear canal was about as easy as it would be for a Taxxon refuse fresh meat. I was going away from the brain, and I knew there was not a Yeerk pool outside this ear. No Kandrona, no incentive.
After five minutes, I fell onto Aximili's shoulder. A hand grabbed me and I was shoved against another ear. Tom's ear. I shot in and reached his brain in record time. We both shouted at the same time.
[WHAT JUST HAPPENED?] Tom's voice was angry, mine was panicked. He burst out laughing, calmed down and explained things to me first.
[Aximili appeared out of no where and I dropped you by accident. I tried to get you, but Arbron fell over somehow and landed on me. One of the other Taxxons tried to eat you, and midget punched him. You went flying, hit Aximili and went for his ear. Aximili and Elfangor both freaked out. What were you thinking?]
[I wasn't THINKING, I was to busy PANICKING! I was disoriented, I couldn't tell what was happening, I got scared, and I went for the first shelter available. I also discovered that Yeerk bodies are not designed to back up.]
[WELL?] Elfangor snapped. [What's Esplin's excuse?] I felt a chill. Elfangor always called me Esp—this was the second time, EVER, that a non-Yeerk had called me Esplin. I didn't like it.
"He was scared and didn't know what was going on. He'd just be thrown around and nearly EATEN, in case you weren't paying attention. It was the first chance of safety he had." I had the uncomfortable feeling that I should apologize to Aximili, but Tom wouldn't let me use the mouth. I didn't push the issue.
[How did you even get here?] Elfangor turned to his little brother.
[I don't know. You had all been gone for about five Earth minutes, and then I was suddenly here.]
Tom began to rub his hand. I noticed a large rash forming on it—he must have hit Aximili's shoulder when he grabbed me. There was a similar rash on his ear.
[That's going to be hard to explain to your parents,] I commented.
[Shut up, I'm getting a headache. At least Aximili isn't yelling anymore.]
[Well, don't rub it. It'll just get more inflamed.]
[You sound like my mom. It itches.]
I didn't know whether to laugh or sigh. [Tom, you may be a teenager, but right now you sound like a little kid.]
[Well, it still itches.]
"What's the matter with your hand?" Jake asked suddenly.
"Allergy," Tom mumbled.
After about ten more minutes of discussing things with Arbron, the Hive suggested that we join the attack. As a pacifist, I was against it. I was overruled. Aximili went so far as to call me a coward. Tom's hand was on my Dracon beam before I got a hold on myself. Then I came up with the idea of backing up my opinion with logic.
"If you guys are killed, Earth is practically defenseless. And since you'll probably be using your usual battle morphs, the Empire will know it's the 'Andalite Bandits'."
[So what would YOU suggest?] demanded Aximili, in an acidic tone. He was still mad at me, and I didn't blame him. Although compared to Tom's memory of the first time HE was infested, Aximili had been remarkably tolerant.
"I suggest we go there first to check how tight security is, maybe disable some of the Dracon beams—like, spy and sabotage."
[THAT MAY ACTUALLY BE A GOOD IDEA,] said the Living Hive. By now, I was starting to get used to it. [UNEXPECTED DAMAGE WILL AID US EVENTUALLY, EVEN IF IT DOESN'T BECOME IMMEDIATELY APPARENT TO THE YEERKS. THEY CANNOT BE ON CONSTANT GUARD WHEN THEY ARE REPAIRING THEIR WEAPONS AND THEIR SHIPS.]
This resulted in our being sent to the spaceport where the attack was to take place. Elfangor, Aximili, Tobias and Rachel were in Hork-Bajir morph. The rest of us (with the exception of Arbron) would pass as human-Controllers. There were quite a few on the Taxxon home world already, so we would be inconspicuous. Our orders, if you could call them that, were to remain so.
"Look familiar, by any chance?" I asked Elfangor as we approached the base. If we were questioned about arriving on foot, we were to say that our ship had exploded just out of sight, but we had remembered from the navigational system which way the base was.
"Unfortunately," he muttered, wary of using thought-speak so close to a Yeerk base. "This is where my first encounter was with..." he paused, and gave me an edgy look.
"My twin? Esi? The Yeerk who tried to kill you? Call him whatever you like, just don't get profane. I don't mind, I've probably heard worse."
"I think that covers it, actually."
[So, what is the point of my being here? Surly the rebels are not that much of a threat!]
"Speaking of Esi..." I gasped. "What's he doing here?"
Author's Note: Why is Esi there? Hey, for once, I actually know! I've been planning this for... hmmm... about a week now. Next chapter will reveal 'Why Visser Three Is Back On The Taxxon Home World (And No, The Animorphs Did Not Accidentally Go Back In Time To When He Was Visser Thirty-Two)'.