Maggie Valley, NC Approximately 85 miles from the Tennessee Border
February 5th
7:22 am
We were up bright and early the next morning the trip to the meeting place took about four hours, when we reached the area where we were set to meet long after the others. We landed and demorphed.
"I was beginning to wonder whether or not you guys had survived the night," Jerry said. "That would have left us in a pretty pickle. We'd be here in the middle of the Appalachians with no clue where we are and have our guide gone, meaning we'd have to travel all the way back in Yerk…"
"That's enough Jerry." I said. I looked at where we were. We were on a mountain stream. The stream ran by us and to a large stone that was set in front of fifty foot high rock wall. There was something off about the set up but I couldn't put my finger on it. It was cold, and the sky was threatening to rain.
"So where's the entrance?" I asked.
"Your looking at it." Rachel said, she then walked up to the large stone in front of the wall and walked right through it. She popped her head back out, "Chee hologram." She popped it back in. One by one we each followed her through the boulder, I suddenly realized what was weird about the boulder and stream, the stream seemed to disappear into the boulder .
I was the last to enter, as I approached the rock I felt strange approaching it, my body wasn't used to walking through what seemed to be a solid rock. When I stepped through I came out near the edge of a water fall. Walked to the edge where I saw my teammates standing looking over it, I went to see what they were looking at, and it took my breath away.
The valley was cut in two by the stream, which had thickened into river, On one side I saw a group of makeshift huts which were obviously the Animorphs' homes. The huts seemed to be only big enough for one person, which must mean that there were more huts somewhere in valley. On the other side I saw lots of Hork-Baijar, most were full grown but there were also lots of little ones running around playing in the water.
I saw a group of teenage-looking Hork-Baijar playing a game that looking similar to baseball, after looking closer I realized it was baseball. The Hork-Baijar were tree tenders by nature so I wasn't surprised to see that several trees had been made into homes for the aliens.
The grass was a deep green, and the water seemed to sparkle even in the dim light. The air seemed to be extremely clean, when I inhaled it felt like I had been breathing in a smoke filled house for the last 22 years of my life.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Rachel said. "The Hork-Baijar take good care of the trees they keep them healthy and that makes the oxygen here more rich. The trees you see now are only part of a large group of them. This place is what I think Heaven must look like, if it even exists… well there's no sense in dragging it out lets go see my cousin" We walked down a gentle slope that led to the Hork-Baijar's side of the valley. Just before we reached level ground one of the Hork-Baijar approached us.
"Stop!" He said. "No enter here, stand until I get leader." He walked off.
"Do what he says," Rachel told us. "You don't want to have these guys mad at you. And when Jake comes out he'll be angry just let me handle it." We didn't have to wait long for anyone to show up, Jake came up rather quickly he looked angry.
"What," he was breathing deeply like he was trying to keep himself from yelling. "the… fuck… do… you… think… you're… doing…"
"Jake they needed my help, there home was destroyed."
"I… don't… care… you… should… never… bring… anyone… here… they… may… be… infested."
"If they were then we'd already be dead." Jake lost it.
"AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW THAT, HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THEY'RE NOT JUST WAITING TILL NIGHTIME TO CALL IN A BUG FIGHTER, OR A BLADESHIP AND BLOW THIS PLACE TO BITS! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE THE STUPIDEST PERSON I KNOW, FIRST YOU GO OFF ALONE WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE…"
"I didn't tell you, because I knew you would think it wasn't safe, this needed to be done Jake…"
"AND NOW YOU BRING BACK 9 MORE MOUTHS TO FEED, 9 MORE PEOPLE WE HAVE TO LOOK OUT FOR, WE'RE NOT RUNNING A FUCKING HALFWAY HOUSE HERE…"
"Jake," Rachel said. "they are not going to be a liability, they are just like us, they want to help us fight ."
"Oh woopdie do, we've got civilians in leotards and bike shorts who want to… oh shit, OH DON'T FUCKING TELL ME THAT YOU GAVE THEM THE FUCKING MORPHING CUBE, THAT'S THE LAST THING WE NEED IF THE YERKS…"
"For your information," I said, not being able to take Jake's tirade any longer. "We got the power on our own, and I can assure you, that we will be a very useful addition to your group…"
"YOU CAN SHUT THE HELL UP I WASN"T TALKING TO YOU, AND…"
"Jake," Another voice said. "Calm down, we can hear you at the other end of the…" Cassie, noticed us she laughed. "Rachel came back with a few new boyfriends huh?"
"They need a place to stay." Rachel said. "The Yerks may know who they are."
"You can stay here," Cassie said smiling. "if you don't mind living in the caves over there." She gestured to another rock wall honeycombed with large caves.
"Hell, no they're leaving, they might be controllers…" Jake began but Cassie cut him off.
"Jake if they were then they would have killed or infested Rachel, and by now we'd all be dead, this is not how the Yerks work. They need someplace to stay, and we can't just kick them to the curb, they came here from Charlotte imagine the walk… wait how did?"
"We can morph," Jerry said. "long story tell you later."
"Anyway," Cassie said. "You need to calm down nothing bad is going to happen." She took his hand and stared into his eyes. "Please." Jake sighed.
"OK, OK, OK, but you'd better stay out of the way."
"Listen you little fucker, I'll do what I please, if you don't like it tough shit I'm here to try and help you, I was expecting a warmer welcome." was what I would have said if Karen hadn't put her hand over my mouth.
"I'll show you the caves," Cassie said. "Rachel you might want to go see Tobias, I don't think he's slept a wink since you didn't come back yesterday."
"Rachel!" Tobias, who was in his human form ran toward her, there was a makeshift bridge over the river but Tobias just ran into the water. Rachel met him halfway, she ran into his arms and kissed him in a real Forest Gump moment. Cassie smiled at this, then led us over to the walls.
When we got closer I saw the caves were more than big, the were immense there were about twenty of the arranged in rows on the wall, make-shift ladders had been carved into the rock to reach the higher ones. The caves themselves were at least twenty feet high by 80 feet wide and 40 feet deep into the rock. There would be enough space to live comfortably, at least under the circumstances.
"I'll get Erik to bring some blankets and pillows," Cassie said. "It gets cold here at night, as a matter of fact it may snow this evening, hope to God it's just rain. You each can have your own 'room' I suggest you ask some of Hork-Baijar to make you a door , because if it snows you'll want to be able to shut yourself in.
"Oh rude of me, my name is Cassie."
"We already know," Becky said. "We're big fans of the Applegate project."
"Wow," Cassie said. "I thought that when they killed Rachel in the books and gave morphing power to controllers, that people would think we were dead, if they believed the story was real at all. What are your names anyway.
We each introduced ourselves. Cassie shook our hands and smiled.
"Well pleased to meet you, I can't wait to here about how you got the morphing power but… I'll wait till tonight's meeting you all need to get settled down see you soon." She turned to leave. "Oh almost forgot if you feel sick you can go to see the Hork-Baijar doctor. He just came in and is very good, he's a seer you know."
"Wait, a doctor," Jerry said. "One of the things is a doctor what are you going to tell me next? He's Roman Catholic like Anna and Erik?"
"I think he's Irish Catholic really, Hork-Baijar seers seem to take to Christianity pretty quickly, Toby is a Methodist, they watch sermons on the TV we have here." Jerry seemed amazed and I had to admit I was too. You really didn't think of religion when you thought of aliens.
I chose a cave next to Karen's on the third layer, nobody chose one on the bottom, close to the ground was not where we wanted to be when/if it snowed. I sat down in the cave. It was a lot darker and cooler but there was a small indentation where a fire could be made.
I didn't feel like making a fire, I just sat down and thought. Things had started off on bad terms with Jake, and if he was anything like the guy described in the Applegate project I knew they wouldn't get much better. I hoped the pillow would get here soon I needed to sleep, but when I did lay down I fell asleep on the hard rock ground.