15 Whom suspicions will fall on
- - -
"Keep doing that and you'll lose your hand," Marco predicted when Jeanne handfed Tom with yet another piece of food – kul'lj.
"Shut up, Marco," Jeanne snapped. Tom was sitting absolutely still, watching her attentively, waiting for the next goody. "What do you know about kii-rajas?"
"I know that thing could kill me in the time it takes an Andalite to aim his tail. That, really, is all I need to know."
Jeanne rolled her eyes. She held out the kul'lj between her thumb and two fingers and Tom took it, his razor-sharp teeth brushing harmlessly past the tips of her fingers.
It was the final stages of breakfast, but as Jeanne was not that hungry, she was giving the main part of her ration to Tom. Since Le'egarna's days did not match Cava'ara's, they had found themselves sleeping during the day, and not it was evening on Le'egarna while their internal clocks said it was morning – and time to leave.
The "pyramid", built from the fighters, had served as a tent during the night, well hidden from spying eyes above after the careful work of JaLa'an and Sira'aki.
KEdi'ir had – as well as helping the adults – dug the entrance tunnel. And with Tom asleep right in that tunnel, everyone – with the obvious exception of Marco – had felt safe enough to sleep soundly. Marco had no real faith in the kii-raja, but had slept during the trip to Le'egarna, which he said turned out to be "for the best".
Now Marco gave Jeanne a last worried glance as she bent down to rub both sides of Tom's head. Her face was dangerously close to his teeth. But Tom seemed to enjoy it and his eyes closed partly, and his ears, usually attentive, relaxed.
The last of the pack had been loaded and the last of the evidence of their visit cleared away when Rachel called for her kii-raja. Tom abandoned Jeanne without a glance back and a moment later he was again Rachel's faithful, constant companion.
Jeanne stood up, sighing heavily. Marco muttered something below his breath.
"It's just too perfect," Jake said lowly to Marco, eyes twinkling. "Rachel gave you up for a talking bird. And Jeanne gives you up for a dog-like alien! Hm. There seems to be a pattern here, my friend. I just can't seem to put my finger on it…"
Jake grinned so broadly that Marco had to punch him. But Jake pulled away and grinned even more, making Marco roll his eyes in exasperation.
Then he grinned back at Jake. "Somehow, the thought of Cassie exchanging you for a normal, boring human makes me feel much better."
Jake seemed to pull back. "Well, uhm, maybe you're right." He glanced away, obviously troubled, a slightly hunted look in his eyes. "I'll see you later. On Dina'amm." He disappeared into the first fighter, Menderash and Santorelli following silently.
Marco watched him go, careful to keep the worry off his face. He had not expected Jake to react so sharply to the mentioning of Cassie.
Tobias landed on Marco's shoulder. He had been perched on Rachel's – and been fed a wide assortment of Kelbrid food – and he was still watching her when she, Tom and Jeanne entered the Hawk.
"Well, Bird-boy, it's just you and me again," Marco sighed.
«Seems so. Let's go. Next step; one suicidal mission on a large, dangerous Touched colony crawling with surely pay-back-hungry Yeerks.»
"You know, when you put it that way, it doesn't seem so bad," Marco muttered.
Tobias glanced at him. «Do you know that you just sounded like Rachel?»
Marco nodded grimly, climbing after Sira'aki and KEdi'ir into the last fighter. "If I do it again, please hit me."
- - -
Estrid left the small room on silent hooves. She had just made sure Aralgo's bruised head had stopped bleeding – and given him some tarfat leaves from the medic kit Minalea had brought to ease the pain.
«Are we ready to launch?» she asked Olana, who was working with nimble fingers and short thought-speech commands at the Phantom's computer.
«Not yet,» Minalea said. «This thing has some serious codes.»
«But, of course, she can break them,» Carali snapped, a note of sarcasm in his voice as he watched Olana work. He was edgy, which Estrid saw clearly from the way he was prancing impatiently from hoof to hoof.
«Of course,» Larynia said.
«Up to here it's been no problem,» Olana said to Estrid. «Just a few more…» her concentration returned to the consoles in front of her and Estrid took to looking around the small bridge of the Phantom.
There was not much to see. The consoles where there, a hologram emitter for communication, a stack of handheld shredders neatly hung on a wall, and a tiny grass field around the edges where they were supposed to graze.
«There,» Olana said finally. «Done.»
«About time,» Carali muttered. Larynia gave him a sharp glance, which he ignored. «So. Who's piloting?»
«Olana is,» Minalea informed him.
Carali ignored that as well. «I mean, Aralgo could, easily, but…»
«Olana pilots,» Larynia said firmly. «She broke the codes, so she manages the craft. Simple.»
«And what –»
«I've already made the decision,» Larynia said.
«Oh, yeah? Who appointed you to be commander?» Carali demanded, swivelling towards her, tail twitching.
«No-one. But if we fight about it, I'll win. I just wanted to spare you the humiliation.»
«No-one needs to spare me anything.» He raised his tail.
Larynia did the same and narrowed her main eyes. «You obviously don't know your own good.»
«Hey!» Estrid said, stepping in between them, glad that she was a bit older than the quarrelsome youngsters – which gave her enough authority to stop any fights from breaking out between them. «No-one's in charge here. You're all arisths, remember? Same rank. We'll have to settle this democratically.»
«We will,» Minalea said brightly. «As soon as you explain what that means.»
Olana rolled her stalks with a loud sigh. Suddenly they were all aware of the fact that while they had been arguing, Olana had powered up engines and prepared the launch. The ports out into space were opening.
Suddenly the momentary silence was broken when Minalea cried out; «Kelbrid!»
The Kelbrid were already on their way into the docking station. Their black, arrowhead-shaped fighters were much smaller than the Phantom, and by the time the cruiser could exit through the still-not-fully-open ports, dozens of the black shapes were already inside.
«Move!» Estrid barked.
Olana said something to the computer that sent the Phantom forwards and out at full speed.
The Kelbrid fighters that were not busy chasing Andalite fighters, avoiding the Daybreak's weaker and weaker shredders, or entering docking stations, now focused their attention on the escaping Phantom.
«Someone take over the weapons station!» Olana ordered.
Amazingly, no-one objected. Carali leaped over to the station and took the controls.
«Fire on anything that moves,» Minalea urged eagerly.
«I know how this works!» Carali replied, at once focused on his task.
A flash of warning appeared on screen, and suddenly the Phantom rolled over sharply to the side when a blue energy beam shot past, dangerously close.
«Blue!» Olana exclaimed, fascinated enough to forget her piloting for a moment and turn her entire head to watch. «They must have reconstructed –»
«How about reconstructing our location?» Carali suggested nervously.
The Phantom veered automatically out of the way of another (blue) energy beam before Olana returned to piloting, looking slightly embarrassed.
«Where are we going?»
«Into Z-space,» Larynia directed. «Quick as tails.»
«If we're going into Z-space, we need to get out of the Daybreak's gravity fields,» Estrid reminded them.
«I know,» Olana said.
With Carali manning the powerful twin shredders, the computer excelling at evasive movements, and Olana piloting, the cobra-shaped cruiser sped away from the Daybreak. It moved amazingly agilely for its size; it was almost as manoeuvrable as a fighter. That was probably what saved it. The Kelbrid were pursuing almost feverishly, coming from all sides and blocking their route, but Olana made sure to find her way past.
They were doing just fine until the Kelbrid changed tactics. The fighters began flying in circles around the Phantom; first one, then two, then more and more and soon they were everywhere. A sphere of fighters surrounded them, and began to build up into a wall. The Phantom was forced to slow down.
Olana watched in amazement as the still-flying fighters melted together like drops of water. «Are you seeing this?»
«This is not the time to be astounded, Olana!» Larynia said. «Carali, if you're going to take care of weapons, then fire at something!»
«On what?» Carali demanded. «Which fighter, exactly? Pick something to fire at!»
«Anything,» Estrid said. «Don't think tactically now, there's no time. Just keep them worried.»
Carali rolled his stalks but did as he was told.
«Olana, order maximum burn and steer away from the Daybreak. We are bursting out.»
«Through the fighters?» Minalea exclaimed. «That's crazy! No adult would ever allow it.» Her eyes twinkled. «I like it.»
«Get back against the wall,» Olana advised. «We're in for some serious acceleration. Computer? All energy diverted to engines. Maximum burn.»
The cruiser trembled for half a second as the massive energy amounts were diverted, and then shot forwards with a blinding flash of light from its engines.
Most of the Kelbrid fighters did not get out of the way in time. Some did. But a lot of them would be in need of heavy repairs. The sound as they hit and scratched against the front hull of the Phantom was horrible.
«Z-space!» Estrid called. «Now!»
Olana scrambled up – as the rest of them she had been thrown back when the Phantom had shot forwards, since even the energy in the gravity compensators had been diverted – and leaped back to the consoles. She programmed it as quickly as she could… then everything went silent.
The white, almost unnatural silence of Z-space.
«Cancel maximum burn,» Olana said. «Restore energy balance.»
«That was close,» Estrid commented, getting up to her hooves, feeling gravity return.
«Yes.» Minalea's eyes were shining. «Can we do it again?»
«Lucky for us this isn't a fighter,» Carali said lowly. «Those crashes would knock out a fighter three times over.»
Olana sighed, grabbing the edge of the consoles with her weak fingers. She was visibly trembling. «Damage report.»
«Limited damage to front hull and shredders,» a computer voice replied dutifully. «Second engine overheated. Total energy levels at 34. With backup energy they can be raised to 67.»
«Anything else?» Olana asked the computer.
«A crew of six overpasses life support limits. Limits are set at four Andalites. A crew of six, with energy supplies down, can be supported for only…»
«Two days,» Olana finished, gloomily doing the familiar maths in her head. «Another day if we divert energy from some other major energy consumer. Engines, or weapons. Take your pick.»
«So all we have is two days,» Larynia concluded.
«And what are we supposed to do?» Carali asked. «We have no Prince. Not even a warrior. And we have no orders.»
«That's not… exactly true,» Larynia said, brightening. «We have orders. From Captain Kandion.»
«Oh, great,» Minalea muttered.
Larynia ignored her and continued; «We are supposed to find another ship and tell them what has happened. And tell them what we know about the Kelbrid.»
«So we should start looking for another ship,» Minalea sighed. «And hope to find one within two days.»
«Otherwise we'll have to land on some planet. I could patch up that damaged engine and fix the hull in a day; energy will be restored in two.» Olana glanced at the consoles. «But before that, in this area of space, I think I'll make a few changes in the programming. To make sure the Kelbrid cannot break through it and learn how our systems work – in case we are captured.»
«If they even find us,» Larynia said. «Do they have Z-space travel?»
«Who knows?» Estrid said. «They should, logically. But don't forget; the Yeerks are out here, too.»
Larynia gave her a look, eyebrows raised questioningly, but expression warning.
«They could be here,» Estrid corrected, reminded that the others knew nothing of the Intrepid Situation, or the suspected Kelbrid-Yeerk alliance. It was hard to remember to keep it secret – hard to see a reason for doing so. «They could be anywhere.»
Carali sighed. «Let's hope we find a friendly ship before anything finds us. And until then, I'm going to see if Aralgo is still alive back there.»
- - -
After another long day cooped up in a Kelbrid fighters, they finally neared – bit by bit – their goal; Dina'amm.
KEdi'ir had taken out a small bag containing stones in different colours and sizes. It was some sort of game, and he eagerly tried to explain to Marco and Tobias how it worked. Some mix between marbles, dice and playing cards.
He took out a stone at the time, held it up, and said a name. A good number of stones were semi-precious, as far as Marco could tell, and had beautiful colours and shapes. Some were clearly jewels, but KEdi'ir treated them all like the toys they were to him and the rest of the Kelbrid society.
But it was when KEdi'ir brought out a diamond that Marco's eyes went wide.
It was unevenly shaped, but most of the sharp edges were grinded down. The lighting in the fighter generally left a lot to be desired, but the diamond sparkled bravely where it lay in the young Kelbrid's hand.
It was about the size of a chestnut; one of the bigger stones in KEdi'ir's bag. It would have been worth about twice Marco's fortune back on Earth. Which he was well aware of.
KEdi'ir looked curiously at the strange look on Marco's face. Tobias glanced worriedly at his friend.
«Marco? Stop staring like that. You're starting to scare me.»
"That… that's… a diamond," Marco breathed, hands half stretched out. He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.
«Yeah. I know. But I'm a hawk, and personally, my greatest concern is where my next meal is coming from, and keeping other hawks off my territory. A diamond would help me with neither. A good mouse, though…»
"Tobias; think. If…"
«Don't tell me you're planning to steal it!»
"What do you think I am, some kind of lunatic?"
«You certainly look the part.» Tobias looked briefly at the diamond, and then up at KEdi'ir's questioning face. «That stone is worth a lot on our planet,» he explained, knowing his thought-speech could be understood.
KEdi'ir shrugged. "Garih," he said; the Kelbrid word for stone, they had figured out earlier. He held up the diamond. "Garih." He held up a grey pebble. "Garih." He shrugged again, understanding what Tobias had said if not why.
Marco tore his eyes away from the priceless diamond in a display of willpower.
KEdi'ir emptied out the rest of the stones on the floor and picked up half a dozen more diamonds, of varying shapes and sizes. Again Marco's eyes went wide. They went even wider – if possible – when KEdi'ir pressed the first stone into his hand.
Marco stared at it. Swallowed, feeling how heavy it was, already counting in his head exactly how much it was worth. Then he sighed heavily and tried to give it back.
KEdi'ir pulled his hands out of reach and shook his head, his ears leaning outwards in a smile.
«Can he keep it?» Tobias asked disbelievingly, and KEdi'ir nodded, still smiling. He motioned at the remaining stones on the floor of the fighter and said something that probably meant "I have enough stones."
Marco shone happily, clutching the diamond. Then Sira'aki called for their attention and pointed out the window at a large, red and green planet, filled with spots of gold and covered in part by white-green fluff; clouds.
"Dina'amm," she said softly.
KEdi'ir's half-playful expression vanished at once and he gathered the rocks back into the bag. He stuffed the bag back into his pack – yes, even he had a pack – and hung it over his shoulder with a movement so easy it indicated he had done the same thing many times before. He joined his mother by the controls, and they began chatting lowly in Kelbrid.
Marco glanced out through the window. "Okay, I don't see it."
«See what?»
"The Blade ship. I don't see it. So can we go home?"
«No. Marco, how about using your brain? Of course we won't be landing near the Blade ship. That would be plain suicide.»
"Sounds like Rachel's type of plan. Strange that we don't, then, since she is kinda in charge."
Tobias laughed. «Yeah. It does. But she does have some sense, and we won't be seeing the Blade ship until after we've landed.»
"You know what? I really don't mind."
- - -
Jakari closed the storage again, after having checked it a second time. He could barely believe their luck; it was filled with food. Proper Andalite food.
He should have been thrilled. But he was not. Far from it.
No, there was something about this sudden freedom that made him very suspicious. He would think twice about setting his hooves down before he had figured it all out.
It made no sense. Just letting them go, fine, but supplying them with a cruiser? Giving them supplies to last weeks – even months – in space? No; not likely.
The One, and the Yeerks – and the Kelbrid too, probably – would have killed them on the spot if they did not want to bother about keeping them alive. It was no wonder Jakari had a bad feeling. His warrior-instincts screamed at him, and not without cause.
He also felt alone. Arifur and Langur had, as soon as Arayah had removed their shackles and they had morphed away their wounds, gone to stand in the back and fallen asleep where they stood. They were exhausted; but Jakari was not quite clear on why. Rafatal was also in the back, but he was dwindling between a half-aware raving and unconsciousness. Arayah had given him some sort of liquid; claimed it was an antidote, said that Rafatal had been poisoned.
«Primlar poisoning,» she had murmured, before slipping away, avoiding to meet his gaze.
Arayah. The biggest mystery of them all. She had always been a head-on, strong-willed warrior, backing down to no-one and proud enough to meet the gaze of even their legendary Captain.
Now she snuck around the ship like a youngster who had done something wrong and waited to be scolded. Harshly. He had tried to start a conversation, just to pass time, but she had been startled when he called for her, her face had gone instantly pale, and she had kept stalks and face aimed away, hooves raised and lowered uneasily, and almost fled as soon as she got half a chance.
Jakari had given up trying to talk to her and had explored the ship instead. Now he steered back towards the bridge. Langur was by far the most capable pilot of the group, but since he and Arifur were asleep, Rafatal was sick, and Arayah had retired to her quarters, Jakari was the only one left to take care of the ship.
The only problem was, since none of them had any idea where they were, they had no idea where to go. Or how to get there.
Jakari sighed. They might be free – however long that would last, and however it had come to at all – but he was not going to do any cheering until they had all landed safely on their home world. All five of them.
- - -
Arayah felt as if she was going insane. Perhaps she was; she had never gone insane before (that she knew of) so she had nothing to compare to. Three forces were at work in her mind; the One's orders and wishes, countering her own, and pure desperation – because she knew which side would win.
She had left her quarters and found herself in the storage room. She had opened a niche in the wall and was watching the four handheld dracons lying on a shelf. And not watching calmly; her hands were shaking, her stalks jerking back and forth.
The One's last order was circling like a relentless tornado in her head, filling every corner of it, easily overpowering anything that stood up against it. Even thinking about ignoring it was impossible. Defying it was worse. There was no choice.
No choice. No: not this time.
"You will be the only Andalite on that cruiser to return home alive. And you will dispose of the others yourself."
That was how it would be. Wild-eyed, she felt the shiver along her spine, began feeling sick at what she knew she would do. Had to do.
She had a chance right now. It would be too easy. She would take a dracon. Walk to the bridge. Shoot Jakari; he was there, piloting. And she was a good shot. So even if both Arifur and Langur awoke, she would have shot them both before they came close enough to stop her. And Rafatal… he was getting better, but he was still helpless.
She shuddered as she remembered how she had honestly considered pouring out the antidote instead of giving it to Rafatal. It had taken a lot of convincing to avoid doing so. And if –
She had already taken a dracon from the shelf when she stopped herself.
No, she thought. Not yet. Not yet.
The order burned in her mind, urging, commanding. Arayah closed her eyes.
«Not yet,» she murmured privately to herself. «There is time. Not yet. Please, not yet. I can kill them later. I can…» she stopped, realizing what she had just said.
It was getting stronger. Each time she delayed it – delayed, not stopped – it got stronger. If she kept fighting it, it would win. It would take over more of her mind. Take over more… and more… and more. And finally… she would have nothing left.
With will-force she did not know she had, she put the dracon back on the shelf, closed the niche and left the storage on legs that threatened to fold beneath her.
She had evaded danger this time. Next time it would not be so easy.