The Andalite Chronicles: In Loren's POV: Chapter 2
(Timeline in JK's book: Aproximately Ch. 3 through Ch. 4)
Chapter Two
"Uhhh." I was waking up. "Mom? Are you there?"
"Not likely. We're still kidnapped by aliens," a mocking voice said.
"What?!" I sat up way too quickly. My head spun, butI recognized the truth in the person's voice. "No," I groaned. "I thought it was all a dream."
But it wasn't.I saw that I wassittingup in a cage that looked like it was from the zoo for wildanimals. Itsbars didn't look like they were made of metal, but looked strong. "What happened to me?" I asked the guy in the cage with me.
"They shot you because you were trying to escape." He added an afterthought. "Duh."
My memory came back in full and I remembered this guy was a jerk before I got knocked out. "Hey, what's your problem? You know, we've been kidnapped by aliens and the least you could do is try to have a better attitude than just giving up."
"Well, if you didn't notice, we're in a cage and your ideas of running away sure proved to be great, didn't they?"
This guy was starting to really piss me off. But I had better things to do, I had to keep it cool. Don't worry about him, Loren, worry about how to get the hell out of here.
I looked around the room. There wasn't much to see. There were some of those giant cockroaches skittering around, but they looked like they were trying to clean. They looked almost comical with their little machines that could've been something like a vacuum cleaner.
I sighed. There really wasn't much I could do. I grabbed the bars to test their strength, but were too strong to bend with human hands.
I sat down, a bit dejected and tried to think of the possibilities of escaping. Nothing seemed to pan out though. Maybe the guy was right. Maybe we were doomed to stay with these aliens forever and we might as well get used to it.
NOOO! You are NOT going to give up, Loren. Whatever happens, there is ALWAYS hope, no matter the situation. Just stick with it. I sighed. That conscience of mine could get annoying sometimes, but it was right.
I started to stand up to test my legsand some of the gray aliens came in the room. They pressed something ona thing that looked like a blackremote controller and the bars on the cage suddenly disappared! It was really weird but before I could react, they pointed their gun things at me.
I held up my hands."Fine, fine, okay, you got us. I really don't want you to shoot me again, okay?"
The guy got up as well. I saw him clearly for the first time. He looked just a bit older than me and wasn't that bad looking. Now if only he wasn't such a jerk.
Anyway, the gray aliens jerked their guns at the door, indicating that we were to go first and they would follow behind us, with one of the aliens leading us. We followed them through corridors with curved walls. It was like I was in the inside of an egg. We finally came to a room that was full of glowing equipment. It looked like some sort of control room because their were some more gray aliens at what looked like a console.
BOOOOOM!
The ship rocked sideways, like an earthquake. I stayed steady on my feet by grabbing onto one of the aliens, but thealiens fell down, some of them dropping their weapons in the process.I immediately grabbed one of their guns that hadskittered on the ground.
"Ha! Who's in charge now?"
The aliens got to their feet and looked at each other dumb-founded, as though they couldn't believe I got one of their guns. "Yeah, how does that feel, Mr. Alien? Shoulda stayed on Mars now, shouldn't you have? One move and I'll shoot this at you and we'll see how YOU like it!"
I glanced around, looking for the other guy, and he had been knocked into the doorway of the control room. I could see that he was bleeding from a cut on one of his temples, but I couldn't go to him just yet since the alienswere between him and I.
I stood there for a few seconds, wondering what I should do. Just as I was about to say something else to the gray aliens,two other aliens came through the door, stepping over the guy.
They weren't like the grayaliensor the giant cockroaches, but looked like some kind of a centaur. They were blue and looked exactly like a centaur except that they had a tail that looked like a scorpian's tail.
Well, whatever they were, I had the weapon now and they weren't about to take it from me. "Freeze, horse-boy. One move and I pull the trigger. I don't know what this gun will do, but I'm willing to bet that you won't like it."
The gray aliens talked in their language to the horse things. I tensed, ready for an attack if one came.
Um . . . whoever you are . . . whatever you are, don't fire that weapon. Put it down,> came this voice in my head.
"Yeah, right. Hey. Hey, wait a minute! I can hear you in my head, but you're not really talking." What was this new creature?
I am in charge here. Drop the weapon!>
Did this thing think I was stupid? "Uh-uh. Nope. I don't think so, horse-boy. I'm tired of being kidnapped and dragged off by giant cockroaches and little green men from Mars." If this thing thought that I was about to give up my freedom this easily, he was dead wrong.
Excuse me, but we are here to rescue you,> the other blue horse said.
Exactly. What these Skrit Na have done to you is wrong. That's why we captured this ship.>
I was confused. Were they really trying to help us or was this just some other alien ploy to get me to give up the gun?
What little green men? They aren't green. The Na are gray.>
I narrowed my eyes at them, trying to look intimidating. Best to exaggerate a bit and see if they're really trying to help me or are really on the gray aliens side. "I'd already captured this ship before you two came along. Me and the other guy. And we're just kids, which shows you that these Martian jerks aren't all that tough. He's in the back, knocked out. The other guy, I mean. But I grabbed this gun away from Twinkie there."
I waited, seeing if they would argue with that version, thus telling me that they weren't really trying to rescue me.
Well, we don't mean you any harm. How about this idea? You can keep the Dracon beam, just don't point it anyone.>
Maybe they really were just trying to help me out. "It's called a Dracon beam, huh? What's it do?"
It fires an energy beam which causes an exceedingly painful death. Which is why we'd really prefer it if you didn't fire it.>
Aliens with a sense of humor! "Oh. A phaser. Like on that old Star Trek show. I can't believe they took that off the air. Now it's just on reruns." I was stalling a bit, trying to figure out whether to trust them or not.
If you come with us, we'll treat you well. And we will return you to your home planet.>
"Earth?" I asked.
Is that the name of hte third planet in this system?>
"Yeah," I said.
And are you an Earther?>
"Human. That's what we are: humans. Me and the other guy." One of the blue-horses went over to one of the consoles and looked like he was taking information out of it.
And we are Andalites. My name is Elfangor. This is Arbron,> Elfangor said.
"You look like centaurs, only with scorpian tails. And the extra eyeballs on top of your heads . . ." I sighed. They seem pretty friendly. And if they werereally lying to me, at least I'd be in better company than those gray alien creatures. What did he call them? Sktrichy Nas? Still, I hesitated as I handed over the gun to Elfangor.
Thank you,> Elfangor said.
Might as well give my introductions. "My name is Loren. This is all kind of amazing. Most humans don't even believe in aliens. Unless I'm dreaming." A part of me still wanted this to just be a dream where I could wake up and go back to living my regular life.
Do humans dream?> Elfangor asked. He seemed surprised.
"I do. Every night."
So do I. But I guess we have very different dreams.> Elfangor said.
I smiled. "Maybe." But dreams all have the same root feelings, don't they? "Maybe not."