Chapter 3

Rachel

I awoke on a soft cot, and my breath caught in my throat as I sat up quickly. I remembered the Ellimist doing something to send me into a deep slumber at the same time I spotted Cassie in the small bed across the tiny room from me. I felt the somewhat-familiar rumble of machinery beneath my feet and assumed we were all aboard our ship. For the hundredth time since standing with all of my friends and the Ellimist in the construction site, I asked myself if I was really alive or if this was some weird afterlife thing. I decided that the former was really better than the latter and decided to go with it. I wanted to wake Cassie, feeling the desperate urge to talk to another person coming on like a freight train, but I forcefully pushed it away. 'She's sleeping soundly, and I'm not going to be some little girl with a bad dream after all we've been through,' I told myself. Feeling a little stronger, I decided to slip out of the small cabin and explore.

As it turned out, the rest of the ship wasn't very large. There were two closed doors identical to the one that I'd just vacated, and I figured those were for some combination of Jake, Marco, and Tobias. There was a third larger doorway in the same corridor which had to have belonged to Ax, being that it was open and all I could see of the ground was a bluish grass. The corridor with the living quarters was short and narrow, with thick-looking steel doors at either end. I walked to what I guessed was the back. As I pressed my hand to a panel set beside the door, it split in half and whooshed into the floor and ceiling. There I discovered a human bathroom module (in which I marveled at my post-teen face) with a small shower, sink, and toilet. Opposite that was the larger Andalite version of a bathroom, which I recognized from Zone ninety-one. Mostly it was just a big, empty room with a few dangerous weapon-looking things on a rack towards the rear. I didn't know what most of it was, but a couple of the objects just screamed 'assault rifle' at me. I looked towards the ceiling and gasped in surprise at what I saw.

Toby was wrapped in what looked like a giant hammock that was kitty-cornered in the back of the room, what I'd come to think of as the 'cargo hold.' At my noise of astonishment, she made a contented crackling noise and shifted slightly. I went to leave as not to disturb her, but noticed a porthole on the ceiling with a small ladder set underneath it. You know, like in a submarine. I wondered if I was an escape hatch, but realized that if you needed to crawl out of your ship that way, you'd better be able to breathe vacuum. I walked slowly towards the only unexplored door, the one that had to lead to the bridge. I was right, and it was a pretty cool sight. Blinking panels and displays dominated the space on the front bulkhead beneath the huge viewports. It looked like a high-tech arcade, and with Ax standing in the middle of it like some bizarre Captain Picard. I was overwhelmed.

Not that I'd never been on a spaceship before. I'd been on quite a few. I'd died on one. 'Strange how you're getting used to that,' I thought to myself randomly. This ship was cool in a new way, because it was ours. I wasn't an intruder, I was a part of it. It had been made with me in mind. Not that it had been 'made' in a factory or anything…in all likelihood, the Ellimist had snapped his fingers and this technological marvel had appeared. After everything I'd seen, I was still awed at the power the Ellimist wielded. Think of it like this – what if you went back in time, back to caveman days? You show them everyday stuff, like a Bic lighter, or a CD player, or a refrigerator. They'd know what it does and be amazed by it, but they could never really understand. That's the way this was. It wasn't anything special for the Ellimist to just make a spaceship appear to suit us perfectly. We were the cavemen.

Ax turned one stalk eye and blinked a few times, quickly, in what I had come to perceive as his 'I see you, hi,' gesture. I moved to stand beside him, and he shifted uncomfortably. I wondered if I should make a joke to ease the situation, but as smart as he was, Ax just didn't get human humor most of the time. I settled on my favorite approach to adversity – head on. "It's weird having me back from the dead, huh?" I asked him, point-blank.

Surprisingly, he settled back on his haunches as if my question made him more comfortable. (Yes. Don't misunderstand – I missed you greatly, Rachel. You know, some musicians on my homeworld constructed a ballad about your bravery,) he said, almost sadly.

"That's cool. So why the long face?" I asked. He turned his main eyes to look at me and put his stalk eyes back on the monitors and displays, an action telling me that I had most of his attention. I know it sounds weird, but Andalites can multitask like there's no tomorrow. I realized that he hadn't understood the question, so I rephrased it. "How come a song about me made you sad?"

(Ah. The ballad itself didn't make me sad. Well, it might have,) he amended. (But I never actually listened to it.)

"Why not?" I wondered out-loud. I knew Ax was a prince and everything now, and I could tell he wasn't used to being questioned. I don't even think he was used to talking to equals, anymore. I don't know how I knew, but I could see that Ax viewed me as a peer. He would always be the unexperienced-but-determined Andalite aristh that I knew him as, just as I would always be the stupidly brave human youth he met me as.

(Well, for several reasons. Shortly after you…died, the remaining Yeerks surrendered. The mopping-up action didn't take long. I was instantly promoted to Prince and given my own command. There was not really any time for emotions to come into play. I was searching for the Blade ship, a dangerous task in itself. I suppose I had time to listen to it, but I didn't have time for the emotions it would bring. I didn't have time for sadness. I was busy trying to…avenge you.)

I thought it over, then nodded. "Good. People who let emotions get in the way of priorities are idiots. I'd have handled it in the exact same way."

Ax smiled at me with his eyes. (Had you been born an Andalite, you'd be a War Prince by now. Probably a fleet commander. That's why they wrote the ballad.) He then did something weird. Not for me – in retrospect, it was probably something I needed, and it meant a lot coming from Ax. He put one weak, Andalite arm around me and gave me a little half-hug, resting his head on top of mine. It meant so much because I knew it was something he'd never do with another Andalite. No, this was a human action, and one that he sensed I needed. I let him hold the hug for a couple seconds, then elbowed him in the ribs.

"Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, great Andalite Prince and Commander of the task force committed to finding and destroying the Blade ship, getting all mushy on me. What would Marco say?" I asked, laughing.

Ax straightened and gave a formal, weird salute with a circular motion of his right fist and tail blade, and said, (Prince Aximili, Master of Mushy, at your service!)

I nearly dropped with surprise. "Ax! You made a joke! A human-style joke!"

He relaxed from his superhero pose and began working the displays again with a slight thought-speak chuckle. (Of course. I am not incapable. Just don't let Marco find out. He'd be insufferable.) He seemed to turn a paler shade of blue and sheepishly asked, (What exactly does 'mushy' mean, in English?)

I laughed again and settled into what I assumed was the weapons officer's chair and told him. We sat in silence for a while, just the two of us staring into the weirdness that was Z-space. He stopped what he was doing and said, (Rachel, I need you to stand.) I almost thought he was setting up for another joke, but I stopped my retort when I saw that he was serious. I stood. (Please kneel.) I did. (By the power entrusted to me by the Andalite Military, I appoint you Lieutenant and Weapons Officer.) He then tapped me on the head twice with the blunt end of his tail blade and told me to stand.

Stand I did, and looked at him weirdly for a minute. Again, he smiled with his eyes and said, (Did it sound good? I've never promoted anyone or anything like that before.)

"Yeah, Aximili. It sounded awesome," I told him, totally serious. I was a little too independent to think of myself as a military chick, but it was cool when I actually thought about it. 'I'm a member of an alien military. Cool,' I told myself, feeling a little dorky but not caring.

Ax pressed some buttons, and a 3D display popped up in front of the chair I'd been sitting in. (If you're not tired, I'll teach you how to work the weapons on this tug. We don't have a whole lot, but it packs a little punch.)

I sat down and couldn't stop grinning. For the first time since coming back to life, I felt really alive. "Thanks, Ax," I told him.

(Thank you, Rachel,) he replied in the same tone.