By Nyassa Kaiba
Chapter 12- RachelOver the next hours, while I rested, Zia withdrew control and Tobias breathed a sigh of relief. I could tell, he did NOT like the Trill or their Symbiont partners. They were too much like the yeerks to him, the yeerks who took me away from him. He obviously didn't trust Dax, despite the fact that she tried her hardest to be nice to him. The situation between the two of them was strained. Nothing that Dax's several lifetimes had known could help because she had never met the unique combination of human and Andilite morphing technology that was an Animorph. She had never met a Yeerk, or seen the horrible things they did to their prisoners/hosts/underlings/the andilites who they caught/slaughtered. And she hadn't had to watch me die aboard the Blade Ship Visser One.
Tobias went to sleep before any of us. Jadzia slumped back against the bulkhead in relief. "If looks could kill."
"Don't blame Tobias." I told her. "He really loves me, and he had to watch me die because of creatures that do almost the same thing that your race does. He doesn't trust anything that goes under the classification 'Vermiforms' and that's that." The proper term came to me easily from Zia.
"The yeerks were parasites, we've got true symbiosis." She shook her head. Jadzia sipped on some kind of hot drink. "I can't understand how his hatred could run so deep. There are times that I wish I could be an empath like Counselor Troi." She sighed. "But then I realize that an empath couldn't also have a symbiont, and I'm lucky that I do."
"Really, why?"
"There are only a few hundred thousand symbionts on Trill at any given time. Only about one in one thousand Trill are qualified to have one." Jadzia explained. She sighed.
"Really makes ya wonder." I sighed.
"Have some raktajino." Jadzia said, going over to the replicator. "It's Julian's favorite."
"Sure." She brought the drink over. I sipped tentatively. It was hot and spicy, with a little bit of mocha and cinnamon and nutmeg with a hint of dark chocolate. It warmed my insides much better than coffee or tea, and it gave hot chocolate (Feralae's morning nectar) a run for it's money. "Hey, this is really good!"
"Told you." Jadzia said with a smile.
I leaned back against the bunk, savoring the drink. We'd eaten dinner a few hours ago, but you should never underestimate the power of a hot drink before bed. "So, how long is it going to take us to get to your homeworld?" I asked.
"About 50 hours." Replied Jadzia. "That's why a temporary host was needed for Zia. A symbiont can only exist for 40 hours outside of the pool or a host. Any longer than that and they die."
I nodded. "So it would have taken ten hours or so too long."
"Exactly. Riker did a very brave thing that time around. Lucky for us you won't have to stay for too long, humans weren't meant to carry symbionts in the first place." Jadzia sighed. "I do worry about you, because you're younger than Riker is. So there might be even less time before the immuno-reaction strikes."
I sighed. "Part of being an Animorph is that after awhile, the insanity and the near death missions don't worry you as much." I told her. "Maybe once we get to Deep Space Nine I can convince Jake to let me teach you how to morph."
"That would be fun. I'd like to learn how you do what you do." She yawned. "Well, it's set to set off an alarm if something goes wrong, so how about the two of us get some rest."
I yawned. "Yeah, I could use some shut-eye."
I climbed into bed. Jadzia went to bed as well. That was when I heard Tobias say, so softly he could barely be heard. "I don't hate you Jadzia, I just lost too much to the yeerks for love to come easy."
I fell asleep then.
NIGHTMARE! I was on the bridge of the Blade Ship Visser One. Tom, a.k.a. my cousin and Jake's brother had morphed cobra and was attacking me. The bear! My dear, darling bear morph was dying. And worse, I was alone. The other Animorphs could only watch on the forward screen of the bridge.
Tobias!
Rachel! Rachel hang on!
Help me!
I can't Rachel! I can't!
Not that way! Eyes!
Tobias gulped, he understood then. The bear's eyes couldn't see the Cobra attacking me. There was no way to escape alive. I had to finish the mission. Okay, get ready… Rachel left! Left now!
I grabbed the cobra that was both cousin and controller, blood and enemy. NO! NO please! I beg you! I'll let you go! Just leave me alone! Please! Spare me!
Sorry I said, and bit his head off.
I demorphed, and lay there, weakened.
Tobias morphed human. I saw him on the screen. "I love you Rachel."
"I know you do." But there was little time left.
A second controller, morphed Polar Bear, stood over me. Polar bears are the one predator in the world that can take on a Grizzly Bear and live. You fight well human. He said.
And he killed me with one blow.
I sat up straight in my bunk, panting and sweating.
"Are you alright?" Jadzia asked sleepily from her bunk.
"Nightmare." I whispered.
"Care to talk about it?"
"No, I'm fine." I whispered, and then I yawned. "See you in the morning."
I woke up last the next morning when Tobias pounced on my bunk and cried. "WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!"
"AH!" I cried. But Tobias started tickling me.
Zia was startled and I giggled as he tickled. "Tobias… hehe…. Hahaha! Tobias get off me! Hahahehehe!"
Tobias pulled back. "Morning!" He said cheerfully.
"What's got you so cheerful?" I asked.
"Too much coffee." Jadzia chuckled. "And sugar on his pancakes."
"Do you know how long it's been since I've had pancakes?" Tobias asked. "And tomorrow I'll have waffles. And I had bacon! Real bacon!"
I rolled my eyes. "Is there anything left for me?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
"Pick whatever you want from the replicator." Tobias told me.
I thought for a moment before going to the replicator and ordering biscuits, sausage and gravy, with a tall glass of cold orange juice and butter and honey for the biscuits. I sat there in the cabin, scarfing down my breakfast. How long had it been since I'd eaten a meal this good? Well, okay, I'd eaten over the past two days, but after being dead you tend to enjoy food, even something simple. Zia murmured an agreement in my mind. By the time I'd mopped up the gravy with the last of the biscuits I was pleasantly full. Jadzia had finished strawberries and cream, along with some kind of pastry native to her homeworld.
"I'll have to take you out to a restaurant once this is all over." Jadzia chuckled.
"Yeah Rachel, you ate that almost as fast as Ax does." Tobias chuckled. His smile was warm and comforting. It was so good to be alive again, even something as simple as biscuits and sausage, or Tobias' warm regard, made me thankful for everything. "Did you even taste the food?"
"Ha, ha, ha." I rolled my eyes. "Let me tell you something. There's nothing like being dead for seven years to make you appreciate being alive."
"You're right about that!" The other two chorused. Then Tobias glared at Jadzia, no, that had to have been Dax that spoke, or it could have been Jadzia, who knows?
"So," Jadzia said as we got up and went to check the helm. "What are we going to do on the ride there?"
"I know." Tobias grinned. "I have an iPod. Let's see if we can upload it onto the computer!"
I blinked. "Tobias where did you get an IPOD?" I asked, laughing.
"Ha, ha, ha." Tobias said, taking umbrage. "Ax's T.O. Mendarash gave it to me. Everybody got one. It was a parting gift to thank us for offering to go find Ax."
"What IS an iPod?" Jadzia asked, blinking curiously.
Tobias grinned as he pulled it out of a pocket on his backpack. "This is an iPod." He held it out. "It stores thousands of songs on it and the best part is that it can go anywhere!"
Jadzia inspected the object. "I don't think there's a way to hook it up to the computer."
"You're right." I sighed. "Non-compatible systems."
"Maybe we could invent something." Tobias offered.
I wasn't the only one excited by that prospect. Zia seemed excited too, because the symbiont responded to this by sending up memories of everything it thought useful from it's previous hosts.
I chuckled. "Zia's excited too. Come on Jadzia, how hard can it be?"
It turned out to be very hard. It took six hours before we had a device that would hook Tobias' iPod to the computer and another hour before Jadzia could create a computer program that worked.
Tobias chuckled to himself as he hooked up the tiny music device. "Right, like Aerosmith once sang, 'Just push play!'" He pressed the play button on the iPod.
The music came on, playing 'Lean Back' by Fat Joe. Tobias grinned, doing a two-step through the cabin. "Tobias!" I chuckled.
Tobias pulled me into his arms and into a dance. I grinned impishly as I followed him with the music.
"And how does that go?" Jadzia asked. "I've never heard music like this."
"It's called Hip-Hop." Tobias explained. "Come on Rachel! Lean back with me!" He said, showing me the dance step.
I laughed, following his lead.
"But you're not hopping." Jadzia stated.
I laughed. "Not all of it his 'hopping'" I said with a grin. "Tobias, what else do you have on that thing?"
"Sailor Moon, in Japanese." He grinned.
"Sairo Moon." I said in Japanese. "I never thought you to be a Moonie Tobias."
"Oh come on. I watch it for Rei. Rei is soooo hot!" He said, digging through the files. "And I have Code Lyoko, and Magic Knight Rayearth, Inu-Yasha, Ranma ½ and tons of others."
"You have a thing for anime too?" I asked. "Most of that is Shoujo."
"Yeah, I mean, come on, have you SEEN the ladies in those anime? They're so hot!" Tobias squeaked.
"Hey watch it buster, consider your audience." I growled, giving Tobias a swat that wouldn't hurt a fly. "They can't be hotter than your girlfriend can they?"
"Nope, not hotter than girlfriend. Not hotter in the slightest."
Jadzia laughed. Tobias sighed. "This is going to be a long trip."