Rtaia

We were warned by Ithiell moments before the large group of Bendis passed by us. Fortunately, by then, we were all flies, hanging off the ceiling, near were the wall met the ceiling.

(I count at least twenty. Twenty! Oh man, there is no way all of us together could fight them. They'd turn us into sushi!) Cassie cried.

(Yeah, well, that's life) Marco muttered beside me. Human sarcasm is still hard for one such as myself to understand.

We had defeated our two opponents, and were heading for the bridge to assist the others, when Ithiell's warning cut through us all. He had not informed us about the situation though. The dropshaft was mere metres away now, and all we needed to do was go up. Well, shift or morph back, then proceed.

We waited a moment more, before we dropped from the ceiling. Once back to ourselves again, Marco sighed and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Phew! That was way too close for my liking"

"Same. Now, let us proceed" I said, moving towards the dropshaft. Moments later we were all together, watching a gruesome scene unfold. Bendis seemed to be fighting Bendis, and two elephants, as well as a rhinoceros, had joined the fray too.

"Well…" Cassie asked, looking at Marco, then me.

"I say we join in"

"I say we not"

They both looked at me.

"We do not know which of the Bendis are allies, and which are not"

"None of them as far as I'm…"

"Wait! She's right! Where are Ithiell and the others?! We don't see them… or… but they could be the Bendis" Cassie cried, and seconds later Marco's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead.

"Okay then, what do we do?"

"Nothing" I replied, pointing at the end of the hallway. It seemed to me that the fight had finished. Three Bendis were still standing, and the earth animals. I saw one bend over and look at another Bendis, and that Bendis began to shrink. We moved forward, watching it, and in seconds Jade emerged from the Bendis.

"Jade!" Marco cried, then ran towards her. I watched as he helped her up, although she seemed to be getting up on her own, and they embraced. Cassie and I continued to walk forwards, watching as the other Bendis, and the earth animals began to shrink as well. Soon, they seemed to be our friends. And… yet… I saw another…

"It is Inaad!" I cried before I could stop myself. By then we were at the doors, and had to make our way cautiously around the bodies of the real Bendis.

"Yes, it is" Ithiell said, smiling at her.

"But… where… is the Yeerk…" Cassie trailed off, and Jake pointed to a small smudge on the floor.

"It's there. Or… what's left of it"

Marco pulled a face, his arms securely around Jade. I walked over to Inaad, looking into her eyes. They were beautiful eyes. Not many of our race had those eyes… but I looked past their beauty, to see the true Inaad. It was, indeed, the Inaad that had I was now looking at. Here eyes were amazingly sad. No Yeerk could ever portray that much sadness.

"I apologise" she said softly, and I nodded. I saw Ithiell's crewman, Asen, and the hole that was left in him. A hunter robot wasn't far from him. I went to his body, muttering the words of what was close to a human prayer. It would send his soul to rest in the beautiful place beyond life.

(Rtaia?) Aximili approached me. I turned to him, grateful to know he was alive.

"Yes?"

(Were you successful in your task?)

"Yes. Amanda?" I turned to her. She jerked her head up.

"Uh…oh! Yeah" she dug in her pockets and pulled out the control. The virus was to be timed to be set off. As was the other surprise. Ithiell was carrying the controls for that. Amanda handed me the control.

"Now all we have to do is get out of here" Jake said, rubbing his temples. It had been a long 'day' for all of us. I was tired as well, in spite of not needing sleep.

Before I knew it, Inaad was at a console, her fingers flying across it.

"What are you doing?!" I cried.

"I have sealed most of my former crew in the lower decks. Yet there are still twenty seven on this floor. I have locked eight in the docking bay, yet that will not hold them for long"

"So, nineteen still roaming the halls. We can take it" Rachel said as I joined Inaad at the controls. I discovered she was correct. Many had been sealed away, yet there were still few that were wandering around. And they were turning and coming back this way.

"No, we cannot. We must leave before the others break loose. Which will not be long, then we will be truly overwhelmed" I said.

"All right… all right…" I could tell Jake was thinking, then he looked helplessly at Ithiell.

"I know. Those that can, go big and mean. Then the rest will take Jara guns and…"

"No" I said. They all turned to look at me. I, in turn, looked at Inaad.

"I believe there may be a better way"

-------------------------------x--------------------------------

Jade

We became hunter robots. No joke. Small metal things with sensors. It was a weird experience. For one thing, you could 'see' in a sense, and you could sort of feel, but… you couldn't hear. It was like being deaf. The Animorphs got he fun part. They were fleas in Inaad's ears.

Five of us followed Inaad down the hallways of the ship, and then down the dropshaft… where Inaad led the way back to the storage bays (where we'd come from) with Ithiell sort of guiding her there. We passed a couple of Bendis, who we learnt, from Jake relaying it to us, asked Inaad about the lockdown. She gave nothing away, only telling them to 'obey her orders and stay where they were'. They didn't comply, and the five of us 'shot' them down. When we came across a second batch, Inaad had made up a much more believable story. She told them the 'Chanaiben mongrels could be anyone, so everyone must stay put until we find out who'. They left us in peace, and headed towards the bridge. Believe it or not, we actually made it to the bays without much incident. Then the alarms sounded.

"Master is a traitor! Find her and kill her!" Came a voice from the intercom when we all actually had ears.

"So much for their loyalty" Robert muttered, and Rachel smirked. We walked into the docking ship, where Ithiell and Ax took the controls. Rtaia seemed to be watching Inaad carefully. The rest of us just grabbed onto the railing above us and held on as the outer hatch, then the inner hatch closed. This was going to get ugly.

"Guys! Please tell me that's you!" Tobias's voice sounded though the communication systems.

"It's us Tobias. Did you have any…"

"They've launched what look like bug fighters! We… we can't…"

"All right, stay calm" Ithiell's hands flew across the controls "Docking ship to the Inaad and the Aerionna, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear sir" Genge's voice sounded.

"We hear you Ithiell. What is it?"

"Launch as many fighters as we have, I think…"

"We see them! Launching sir!"

"We will be there in a moment"

An explosion shook the hull! Then, we unlatched from the mase-ship, but I could tell we were having problems. In the view screen, I saw the fighter which Tobias and Keera were in take a hit. Something exploded and they went spinning out of control.

"No!" Rachel cried beside me.

"Don't worry, we're both still alive. But… we're dead in the water. We can't help you…"

"It's all right. Just watch out for yourselves. Ax? I think…"

"No. It's my turn" Rachel interrupted "I want to teach these things a lesson or two…"

(But you don't know how to…)

"I'll teach her" Ithiell interrupted, and Ax moved aside for Rachel. She took the controls and Ithiell quickly explained it to her. We saw a bug fighter… or what looked like a bug fighter… come in for the kill. They aimed at our fighter…

And Rachel blew them out of the sky! Well, almost. They took a nasty hit, and went spinning away. It was only then that Ithiell and Lowri's fighters managed to get here in time. Now it was an aerial (or space) battle. We ducked and swerved… much slower than the fighters themselves… and managed to get out of the firing line.

"Inaad" Ithiell began as we realised we were being tailed. A fighter took out the one that was following us.

"Yes?"

"Are all the computers in that ship linked?"

"I believe so"

"Including the fighters?"

Inaad smiled, knowing what he was getting at.

"Yes, they are. It is to assure new recruits do not crash…"

"All right then. Rtaia"

"I am proceeding now" I saw Rtaia whip out the little control, and punch a few buttons. We were then hit, and went spinning out of control. I ended up sprawled across Jake and Robert on the floor, with Amanda practically sitting on me.

"Not fun" Rachel muttered although she was the only human that remained standing. We got up, and watched as something amazing happened. The 'bug' fighters… or whatever they were… all stopped. Simply just… stopped. Ithiell smiled.

"All right then. Everyone ok?"

"If you wanted to knock us around a bit…"

"We're ok" Cassie interrupted Marco, who gave her a bit of a dirty look.

"Good. Now… Ax… no wait, Inaad?"

"Yes brother"

"Can you open a channel to that ship?"

"I believe so. With your help"

"All right then. Come up here" She took Rachel's place, and the two of them worked hard for a moment, with the docking ship slowly drifting (since the last blast took out an engine) until we saw a very P.Oed Bendis face on the screen.

"Why has the traitor contacted us thus? We do not…"

"Hey, ever wonder what happened to the third group of Chanaiben mongrels?" Ithiell asked. It seemed to be thinking about this for a moment.

"They planted a virus in the system…"

"No, not them. The other ones" Ithiell whipped out his control, playing with it for a moment. The Bendis frowned. Or… what looked like a frown. Who could tell with those things.

"I do not…"

"Badaa-BOOOOM" Rachel said, laughing.

The Bendis looked shocked. He knew what was going on. So did we.

"You're lying!"

"Oh no, we're not. Want to show you?" Ithiell said, then pressed a button on his little control. Seconds later, the mase-ship exploded, sending all of the fighters and the docking ship spinning.

I hit the walls and floor again, feeling like I was stuck in a tumble-dryer. I think almost everyone else… well, everyone human… felt the same way.

When it was over, I think we all let out a sigh of relief. Even Inaad. She was smiling, and looking at her twin with what seemed to be pure joy. I was glad for her.

"Well… what now?" Jake asked as he helped Amanda and Cassie up. Robert and Rachel picked each other up. Arms went around me, lifting me up as well. It was Marco. I smiled at him, and held on to him as well, before turning back to the four aliens at the front of the docking ship. Ithiell turned to us.

"Well, now we all go home"

"Good. I think I've missed about two years of…"

"Marco!!" We all let out in unison. But it felt good. Another victory… and we were all alive.