I don't know why, but I've decided to continue this story. I guess I don't like leaving you with a cliff-hanger any more than I like reading stories like that.
So... here's some more for you, and if you have any suggestions, just say so. :)
7 months later...
"You know, when Jake said 'let's go find them', I thought 'ok, I agree with that. When Amanda said 'let's go kick some butt' I began to think it was a little weird. But this... this is just insane!"
"Marco, I can take your whining any other time, but not now"
"I'm just..."
"Marco. Shut. Up" I said slowly, gripping my gun more tightly in my hands and peering cautiously around a stack of boxes. I knew they were there... I just couldn't see them. I turned back to Marco, who looked like he was about to say something else smart, but I reached over and clamped my hand over his mouth. I carefully looked out again, then rolled towards and behind another stack of boxes, crouched, then began to stand up carefully to see if I could spot...
TSSSSSEEWWW!!! Dracon fire cut straight through my chest. Straight through my heart.
"Session completed. Mission failed. You are dead" the computer said mechanically.
"Well no duh" I muttered, pulling the white training vest off and watching as Robert, Tobias and Rachel stood up from where they'd been hiding. They took off their vests too, dropping their training weapons.
"Good job Jade. Really. Now when we go into combat, you can get fried" Robert said sarcastically rolling his eyes at me.
"Well I was kind of distracted" I replied watching as Marco stood up from behind the boxes, and I threw my weapon at him. It missed, but barely.
"Hey! What was that for?!"
"For not taking this training seriously! You think it's all a game, but it's not!" I snapped at him, throwing my vest roughly onto the floor. I'd had it.
"Look, why don't we just come back in a few days" Tobias said levelly "Maybe by then we'll have our heads straight"
"Yeah, whatever. Say that to him" I jerked my thumb at Marco, then pushed a stray hair back out of my eyes and walked towards the door of the training room.
"Jade, wait!" Rachel yelled, "Remember you have another bridge shift with Amanda in four hours"
"I know" I said waving an ok and not looking back as I left the dark room, then out into the brightly lit hallway.
Seven months had gone by. Seven months of pointless searching and chasing ghosts in the far reaches of space. And my usual patient nature had gone out the door. I was aggressive... and even the smallest things just made me want to snap.
Ithiell had told us about a ship he had been building for the last year or so, but kept it under wraps because he didn't want the Andalites or the human, or Chanaiben governments to know of its existence. At least, not just yet. He planned to create a ship made up of the technology of all three races. The result was a mix of the three, yet strangely looked surprisingly different than all of them.
How did he do it? With a lot of loyal friends and followers, and a hell of a lot of luck (it was built in space, orbiting one of the Jupiter moons)
It was a lot like the Aerionna, yet twice as big. It was off-white, with an arrowhead for the front, and the comical bat-like wings of the Chanaiben fighters at the back, facing forward. There was plenty of room for sleeping quarters, as well as a cafeteria, and even a few extra rooms, like the training room we were just in, as well as bathrooms and showers for us humans. Ithiell had also chosen his crew wisely. There were a mix of Chanaibens and Andalites, loyal to Ithiell (yeah, some Andalites were loyal to Ithiell) as well as the eight of us. Thirty something people on the ship, all working for Ithiell (except us). The cafeteria stocked food for humans as well as Chanaibens, and there was a room where the Andalites could run and graze as well.
The ship itself... her name was the Inaad. Named after Ithiell's missing twin sister. I guess in some part of his mind he still believed he'd find her.
We had only made one real stop, and that was at the Chanaiben home world. They gave us all the information we'd need to find them, and we left. And ever since... we had been chasing ghost and shadows. I was just sick of it, and I wanted to find what happened to Rtaia and Ax, as well as Lowri and his faithful crew. Why would they follow an object into a part of space that neither species could enter into? It just didn't make sense. They were smarter than to risk destroying a treaty that...
"Jade!" A voice called out, and I spun around to face Robert.
"What do you want?"
"You should learn to just ignore him"
"Ignore...? Now why would I be taking suggestions from you?"
"It's not a suggestion"
"What are you, the captain? Well sorry, but I don't think you can..."
"Look, if we don't work on fighting with weapons we're gonna be blown in two in the first few seconds. We can't rely on morphing and shape-shifting unless we're close enough, and we need to be able to work together so we can get..."
"I don't need a lecture from you about how to work together" I grated "After all, you didn't do much of that when the war... the wars, were still on"
"That doesn't mean I don't care..."
"Oh, you care do you? You care?! Ha! I never knew a heartless..."
"I'm not your enemy anymore Jade. I care too much about you to..."
My hand was hitting his face before I realised what was happening. It left a bright red mark on his cheek. He hardly flinched. But that just made me even madder.
"You don't give a damn about anyone but yourself Robert. I've known you too long to not know what you're capable of. If you had said that when we were thirteen... I might have actually believed you. But now... coming from you... it means squat" With that little speech, I turned on my heel and walked away, back to my living quarters.
"I can say exactly the same to you Jade. I know what makes you tick too!" he yelled at my retreating back, but he didn't follow. I got to the living quarters, pressed the buttons to unlock it, then went in and shut the door behind me.
I stood beside the bed, and in front of the small mirror in the near-darkness, just looking at myself. I then rested my hands on the cool glass, leaning on it for support, and looked at the ground, doing my best to fight back tears that threatened to fall. He was right of course. I might know him... but that also meant he knew me. You couldn't get close to someone without having them a few of your secrets as well.
A few minutes later the door opened and shut behind me, suddenly reminding me that I'd forgotten to lock it. But I knew who it was, and I didn't move until I felt the cold hands through my singlet top, at the waistline.
"Jade, I'm sorry if..."
"Don't Marco. Please just... don't" I turned around to face him, looking at him through the gloom. He let go of me, and we just stood there.
"Look. I know what... we're all feeling that. But exploding every chance we get at each other isn't going to help us. And I'm sorry that... I'm just trying to lighten the mood, that's all"
"Yeah, well, whinging isn't going to do well if we're fighting against... I dunno, something. The thing that got our friends"
"We'll find them Jade. Just have hope"
"Sorry, but my hope is kind of gone right now" I sniffled, dropping down onto the bed. Marco sat beside me, taking my hand in his. Our fingers entwined, and it just made me want to cry. So that's what I did. I cried.
"Space is a big place remember? It might take a whole year, or more, to find them, but we will" he said softly, putting his arms around me as I put my head in my hands and cried. Months on this ship... it just amplified my emotions... and it made me worry about the others more. What if... what if they were dead? How could Ithiell cope, loosing another family? And what about Tobias?
"How can we just sit here, while they could be dead? How could we... we have to keep training, until..." I fought back more tears, pulling away from him.
"Yeah, I know. Look, my shift starts in two hours... so I'd better uh... leave you to sleep or something" He gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and started to go. Then he stopped and looked back at me.
"You gonna be ok?"
"If you... maybe... I don't know anymore" I muttered "Just... try not to..."
In an instant he was smiling at me again, a smile that even I could see in the low light.
"Now, I can't promise something like that. You know me"
"Yeah, sadly enough. I do" I said taking a deep breath, then getting up and hugging him tightly "Thanks for the support. You're not so bad"
"Think nothing of it" he laughed, then put a finger and thumb under my chin to lift my face to his and kissed me. It was long and sweet and gave me just the smallest bit of hope. But after that moment... let's just say he spent the next two hours with me.
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I was a white tiger. And I was running. It was dark, and I didn't know where I was going, but the urge to run was so strong I couldn't deny it. All of a sudden I reached two tunnels.
Choose Jade, a voice said. I chose the right tunnel. And kept running. I couldn't stop myself. The tiger body should have gotten tired by then, but it didn't... I just kept going.
And then... I was no longer a running tiger. I was a human, looking down at a small child. She was crying. Her hair was almost black, and I couldn't see her face because she was facing away from me. She was curled into a little ball, crying into her hands.
What's wrong sweetie?, I asked as soothingly as I could, leaning down next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. I began to turn her around...
A-hahahaha!! She suddenly roared with laughter, turning to me. But by then she wasn't a little a girl any more, she was Crayak...
"No!" I yelled bolting up in my bed, knocking the sheets off me. I was in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. Crayak. Another dream about Crayak. That big red eye... but he wasn't invading my dreams. I'd feel that. No. This was my own anxiety causing me to have these dreams.
It had been around two days since I'd blown up about the training session. Ithiell had assigned two of his 'lieutenants' to take over for us while all of us 'humans' had a good nights sleep. I thought it would be impossible to sleep. I guess I'd been wrong.
I rubbed my face, trying to get the image of Crayak out of my mind. I told the computer in my room to turn on the lights, then went over to the small sink in the room (below the mirror) and splashed water on my face. When I looked up... well, I looked as white as a ghost. I checked the watch I'd brought along. It read five am. Well, at least on earth in America it was.
I rested my hands on either side of the sink, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart. It worked, at least a little. Then the lights in my room changed from white to yellow and I started to panic all over again.
"Yellow alert! All senior officers report to the bridge" came the command from the first officer named Genge. It was a joke, really. The 'senior officers' were the Animorphs and us. And we were younger than most of the crew on this ship.
I pressed the button to open the door to my room, ran out, nearly colliding with Amanda and then Cassie, and we all made our way to the bridge. Running, and barefoot. Not the best way to get around on a ship, but we didn't have time to worry about clothing and that.
We practically barrelled into the guys as we went, and all of us, including Ithiell, ran like a herd of mad cows to the bridge. We got there, finding Rachel was already there and dressed like something you'd see out of a teen magazine.
"What took you guys so long?" Rachel asked smugly as Genge gave her a sidelong look, then walked up to Ithiell.
"Sir, we found something you might want to take a look at"
"What is it?" Ithiell asked as we followed the two further into the room, looking up at the screen in front of it.
"It... the signature is... well, it's coming from that planet there sir. And the... well the signature matches... it matches a Chanaiben ship"
My heart leapt, I think at that moment we all had the same idea. Lowri's ship.
"Have you picked up any other ships?" Ithiell asked as he took his place on the bridge. The rest of us just kind of turned and looked up at the planet. It was a mottled grey colour, with specs of blue showing here and there.
(No sir. We have scanned the area and picked up no other ships within sensor range) a female Andalite by the name of Kayleese reported from her station. Unlike Andalites, Ithiell (and in fact all Chanaibens) weren't sexist. Both genders were treated as equals. Which I seriously liked and admired.
"All right then. Scan the planet. See if it's safe enough for us to take a look down there" Ithiell instructed.
"Toxic gasses, but they are being recorded as low risk. No other life forms being recorded on the planet. Nothing that can be seriously harmful to us" Came another's voice. It was only then that I saw the two Chanaibens and a male Andalite rushing onto the bridge, taking three empty stations.
I turned back to Ithiell, who was still thinking hard. And calculating the risks. I knew what he was thinking. Just because there weren't any readings, didn't mean there wasn't life down there. And whatever had gotten the Chanaiben ship down there, might be somewhere on the surface of the planet.
"Send a probe down there to collect some more information... and add a DNA sample in with it as well. Maybe some of the blood samples collected from the last planet"
"Sir, a..."
"It's a way of knowing for sure if something's down there. It might not respond to objects like the probe or a ship, but instead may react to the smell of blood sight of animal matter"
(Right away sir) said the Andalite male, his fingers flying across the console in front of him. He sent the command down to the engineering and sickbay, and a few moments later we saw the little probe (which looked more like a metal beach ball) start making its way down to the planet.
"It may not be a failsafe method, you know" Jake said, still in a grey shirt and his boxers. His hair was dishevelled but I don't think he even noticed it.
"Yes, I know. But it's better than nothing" Ithiell smiled wryly at him.
Minutes later, the report was basically the same. No life readings, and nothing had attacked the blood drenched probe. It was silent down there. The little camera in the probe picked up a grey, brown and slightly blue swampland. Solid rock here and there, but for the most part... just bogs and reed-covered swamp. Looked like something from an old horror movie.
"So... what do we do now?" Amanda asked, turning to look around at our sleep dishevelled group, all of us still wearing what we'd worn to bed.
"We go and investigate, that's what" Ithiell said.
"But... we can't all go, can we?" Robert. Of course.
"No, you're right"
"Sir, what do you suggest?" It was Genge, his eyes narrowed as if knowing what he was about to do.
"I suggest you and Keera take over for now. I'm going down there..."
"But... sir!" Keera was beside him now. She was a Chanaiben too, and third highest ranking on the Inaad. (Yeah, if you care...)
"Jake, pick three from your group, and I'll bring two of mine"
"Uh..." Jake looked at his friends "I think Tobias is out of this, cause if we run into trouble... yeah, and... I think Rachel, me and Marco. Sorry Cassie" he added quickly. She didn't seem too bothered by it, though. Only gave a small smile and nodded at him.
"All right... Jade and Amanda"
"Me?" Amanda yelped.
"Yes you. I want you with me. Sorry Robert, but I need someone who can work with us and follow orders" Ithiell said. Then he picked a couple more from his crew, and told us we had about twenty minutes to get ready then meet at the docking bay.
Nineteen minutes later, we were all assembled at the docking bay, where there was a specially designed docking ship waiting for us. Kayleese, another Andalite male, and two more Chanaibens joined us. Kayleese looked extremely nervous. I couldn't blame her.
We crammed into the small ship, and Asen, one of the Chanaibens that had come with us, piloted the ship slowly down to what we hoped was the Aerionna, and not some dessert mirage we were all seeing.