Jake recognized this place. The railing, the entrance to the hallway in the background, and the countless stars visible through the gaps in the railing and in place of the missing ceiling.
The other Animorphs, however, had their own suspicions about where they had ended up.
"All right, Ellimist, come on out," Rachel ordered, only partially joking. "What do you want to tell us now?"
I am not this 'Ellimist' that you speak of, Starfire said, as he faded slowly into visibility.
"All right then," Marco said tolerantly. "Just who," he looked Starfire up and down. "And what are you?"
"Guys," Jake said, drawing the attention of his fellow Animorphs. "This is Tekkaman Starfire. He was the one who told me about Slade in the first place."
"Oh," Cassie said, looking again at the silent Tekkaman who stood in front of them, leaning against the railing and watching them with detached interest. "You told Jake about Slade?"
A nod. I did.
"Okay, so maybe you can tell us what's wrong with him," Marco said, looking sideways at Starfire.
Starfire, likewise slanted a glance at Marco. There is nothing physically or mentally wrong with Slade.
"Then, what happened to him?" Cassie asked, confused and worried. If the way he had acted last night was normal for Slade, then what about the way he had always acted around her?
You do not fully understand me, Starfire said, shaking his head. There is nothing wrong with Slade. However, his mind is vulnerable to outside influences.
"What kind of outside influences?" Marco demanded.
A pair of bright crimson eyes appeared out of what seemed to be thin air, glowing sullenly for a few moments before fading out again.
"What the hell was that?!" Marco demanded, still unnerved by the eyes even though they had disappeared quite completely by then.
"It felt… evil," Cassie said, shuddering slightly.
Radam. Warlord caste. Starfire answered, sounding more than a little shaken himself.
"Jake mentioned something about the Radam a couple days ago," Rachel commented. "What are they?"
The Radam are an ancient race. You may think of them as the precursors to the Yeerks that you now face. But the Radam are several times more powerful than the Yeerks.
I can attest to that, Tobias said, shuddering slightly. I could barely lay a hand on Slade when I fought him last night.
Starfire turned his attention to Tobias, after the hawk had made that statement. You would have died, if not for your own quick thinking. It is not often that one such as yourself survives a fight with a Radam Teknoman. However, the fact remains that Slade is still greatly ignorant of the extent of his own powers.
"What are his powers?" Cassie asked.
He is a Radam Teknoman, Starfire explained. Therefore he is stronger, faster, and more agile than any normal member of your race could ever hope to be. Slade is one of the lower caste of Teknomen, known as an Enforcer. They are not nearly as fast or as agile as their brethren, those of the Hunter caste, but their great strength somewhat makes up for this discrepancy.
"Okay," Jake said. "So far you've mentioned two of these castes. What are these warlords you mentioned earlier?"
None of our kind is truly sure that those of the Warlord caste should even be considered a true caste. They seem to have very little in common with one another. Some of them look as if they could easily belong to the Hunter caste, while others seem to be merely larger versions of Enforcers.
"Okay, so you've told us about the two or three 'castes' that these Radam have," Marco said, giving Starfire a look of considered skepticism. "Care to show us some of these Teknomen?"
You do not believe me. Starfire's words were not an accusation, merely a flat statement of fact, so Marco didn't feel any particular need to respond.
The entire expanse that they could see shifted, moving up into the star-studded sky above their heads and subtly changing color. None of the Animorphs could figure out why Starfire had done this, not even Jake, who had the small advantage of knowing Starfire for a bit longer than his friends.
All of a sudden… he appeared. There were no real features to suggest that this new apparition was either a male or a female, but the overall impression was one of masculinity. The… whatever-he-was was white, and so he stood out very clearly against the black background of space. There were other colors on parts of his body, but white was by far the most prominent.
He was holding some kind of long staff in his left hand. The staff was almost as tall as he was, and was topped with what looked like a metallic crescent moon. The figure had sleek lines, and looked like he was built more for speed than power.
Kureishi. A Hunter Teknoman.
The now-named Teknoman Kureishi turned and jetted away, leaving a streak of red light to mark his passing.
Another Teknoman soon appeared, though whether the Animorphs' vantagepoint had changed or whether this new Teknoman was simply coming to replace the absent Kureishi wasn't an easy thing to figure out. This new Teknoman was built a lot like Kureishi, but only as far as the sleek lines and angles of the armor.
The new Teknoman was mostly light gray, with some darker armoring on the lower arms and legs. He also looked like he had wings.
Niku, also a Hunter Teknoman.
Teknoman Niku didn't seem to have any weapons, but if what Tobias had said earlier was anything to go on, Niku might have just have had his hidden somewhere. Teknoman Niku was only visible for a second or two longer than Teknoman Kureishi, but Niku didn't fly off the way Kureishi had, he merely disappeared.
