22 Who Estrid encounters
:-:-:
Jake stared at Melissa through his tiger eyes for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Rachel, though, at once raised a hand and drew her breath to call Tom, who stood still as a statue where he had been when Melissa had first spoken, watching her. But he was too far away. Rachel and Jake were somewhere halfway between Melissa and Tom, and even they were too far away to do any good.
"Don't call him," Melissa warned, eyes intently focused to see any motion the beast made. "I know how fast he is. But however fast he runs, I'll have time to scream. And if I scream, you'll have every Kelbrid and Controller within hearing's way here." She smiled smugly. "That is, close to two hundred of them."
Rachel's face twisted with anger but then grew expressionless. She slowly lowered her hand again. "What do you want?"
It was then Jake realised that Rachel had not recognized her friend. Her view of the world was through Tom's eyes, and Jake was not exactly sure about the exact capabilities of kii-raja sight. She did not know who she had been about to set Tom on.
Maybe for the best, Jake thought to himself.
«Rachel,» he said in private thought-speech. «I'm going to warn the others to keep back, and get around behind her. Keep her busy.»
Rachel's nod was very discreet. Jake sent his instructions to Marco and Santorelli, and then listened as Melissa spoke; "What do I want?" She asked and laughed with fake cheerfulness. "I want out. I want away from here. I want to go back home, and I want it as soon as possible."
She let her gaze wander from Tom and towards Jake. "Let's see… the tiger. Jake, huh? Am I right?" another smile. "I'm right. No mystery how you got here. You, though," she continued, nodding towards Rachel, "confuse me. Because you're supposed to be dead. I had your body ejected into space myself – you have no idea what I had to go through for Ithran 238 to allow that. And yet, here you are. Unless…" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Unless you're not really Rachel. You could be someone else, in morph. Then again, why would anyone morph you?"
"You know my name?" Rachel snapped.
Melissa rolled her eyes. "Of course I know your name!"
«Jake?» Marco's low thought-speech-voice said. «We're in place. Jeanne's crouched up behind her and this clearing is more or less surrounded. Hard to do with only the five of us, but we did the best we could.»
«Good,» Jake said, to all of them. «Wait for my signal, Jeanne, then pounce on her – knock her out at once, you hear me? You others, keep all ears and eyes open.»
«No problem,» Jeanne replied, and Jake could see the black shadow that was hiding only a few steps behind Melissa, well within a leap's distance.
Rachel's eyes were narrowed, still staring out into space. "How? How do you know my name?" she said, trying to keep the bewilderment out of her voice.
"That's pretty obvious, I think," Melissa replied. "What isn't obvious, is how you got here. Would you care to explain how you survived, Rachel? A neat trick – wouldn't mind being able to pull it off myself."
Rachel looked a bit baffled. But she had been listening intently to Melissa's voice and now – finally recognizing it – said; "Mel? Is that you?"
Melissa nodded; a bit taken aback herself, Jake noted, perhaps by how long it took for Rachel to recognize her. "Yes, of course. Who else?"
Rachel looked sad. "So they did infest you after all. Jeanne?"
Jeanne pounced. Melissa had no time to scream.
:-:-:
Minalea was the first to heed Olana's call. Her playfully bouncing leaps carried her into the Phantom, where the limited space forced her to slow to a trot. Carali and Aralgo, who followed from a distance, failed to notice how Minalea lifted her hooves a bit more than she had to as she passed one of the consoles.
Aralgo did not lift his hooves. Which, unavoidably, caused him to stumble over one of the prankster's trip wires. He fell straight down, but at once struggled back up, in time to see Minalea watching him with a wide grin, fighting to keep back her normal giggling.
«You and your trip wires!» Aralgo growled. «Don't you ever tire of them?»
«Hasn't happened yet,» Minalea replied, still grinning.
Carali rolled his eyes. He, personally, had by then learned to watch his step. Aralgo had been asleep during most of their time on the ship, and had not. «Olana?» he sighed. «What did you find that was so important?»
«Look at this…» Olana said. «It's that life support again. According to the ship's own record, the aristh quarters are loaded with some type of cargo that uses up a lot of life support energy. A lot. I'm downloading the energy codes to find out for what, but it is going to take some time. Plus, the activity level in the aristh quarters is way above average, even if this had been a ship with arisths –»
«And that's all?» Aralgo wondered, absent-mindedly kicking at air with his front legs to make sure his knees still worked.
«No, not all. There is a point to this; think. What kind of battle ship carries cargo? And even if they would, what kind of cargo uses life support energy – that much of it? And what kind of cargo would be visited often enough to raise the activity level to that height – it's higher than on the bridge!»
«You found all that out by hacking the database?» Minalea wondered. «About the activity level?»
«Yes. It is only a matter of measuring the air consumption related to–»
«Spare us the details!» Carali interrupted. He shifted his weight to another set of hooves, looking a bit troubled. «Any guesses on this cargo?»
«We'll find out as soon as the energy code downloads properly,» Olana promised.
«How long will that take?»
«An hour, a day… it is impossible to say. This download is somewhat complicated.»
«Then it is better to go and check,» Carali suggested. «Are the aristh quarters in thought-speech range?»
«No.»
Carali sighed. «That cannot be helped.» He turned around and headed towards the doorway.
«Wait for me!» Minalea exclaimed and leapt after him. «I'm coming with you.»
He gave her a look. «Minalea, this might require discretion. And, honestly, you and discretion do not match.»
«But you can't go without me!»
«Why not?»
Minalea grinned. «Because it's obvious they don't want us down there. They're hiding something. Which means there'll be locked doors. To open them you'll need someone with a certain degree of… skill.»
«You think you can get past security and locked doors better than I can?»
«Carali,» she laughed, «I've opened locked doors since I was old enough to wonder what was on the other side.» She pranced out of the Phantom. Carali hesitated, not for anything wanting her to get something – anything – her way, but not at once coming up with some crushing remark that gave him a fault-proof excuse to leave her behind.
Minalea stopped prancing a few meters away and asked if he was coming or not.
Carali muttered a few choice curses and followed.
«Well, Olana,» Aralgo said. «Just you and me.» He grinned, but then narrowed his eyes in pretended suspicion. «Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?»
«Neither, and it won't last,» Olana replied. «Aralgo, can you do me a favour? Can you watch the computer and make sure the download of that code isn't tracked?»
«I should be able to manage that… Where are you going?»
«I need to go down to the fighter's docking station for my lesson with Lamnar. I'll be back later. Oh, and don't walk around too much. Minalea took a break from practicing while you were gone, but she found other ways to keep busy – and you know what that means.»
Aralgo made a wry face and turned to the computer as Olana trotted away.
:-:-:
When Melissa awoke she was tied, hand and foot, by something that cut sharply into her skin. At first, she was too drowsy to worry about it, although a small presence in the back of her head sent alarm bells ringing. It was only when she was aware enough to draw the conclusion that what held her trapped were a set of the ever-so-thin chains normally used to tie Kelbrid horns that she began worrying.
The thin but strong chains were wrapped around her wrists and fingers, and another set around her ankles. Kelbrid knew their way around metals (as proven by the ability of melting together that their very unusual fighters had), and she knew at once that morphing larger would be very unpleasant; but she could still morph small.
She moved, trying to turn to free the arm she was lying on, and immediately heard a loud snarl.
Her eyes snapped open, and she stared straight into the face of that kii-raja.
Melissa twisted around with some difficulty, now moving very slowly, and managed to sit up, but never took her eyes of the beast.
Nasty creatures, those kii-raja. She'd acquired everything she could that originated from the long lost Kelbrid home world – all of them were useful morphs – but she had not gotten her hands on a kii-raja. Not for lack of trying. It was just that, after having had an arm torn off, a bite around her side that almost cost her her life, and a row of back spikes stabbed into her (from her knee and up to her shoulder, not very pleasant and very surprising: who'd have thought those spikes were actually used as weapons?) and still giving her the feeling that she'd gotten away easy each time, she had gotten the picture and decided it wasn't worth the trouble.
She had morphed away the damage, of course, but the incidents had given her a healthy amount of respect for the Kelbrid's favourite pet.
"Sorry about the chains, Melissa," Rachel's voice said, and Melissa realised that her childhood friend was sitting next to the kii-raja. "But it's necessary – or so certain people insist." She made a wry face.
"For what?" Melissa snapped, struggling in an attempt to get to her feet, using the tree trunk behind her for support. "Let me go!"
"Not so fast," Jake warned, and gently pushed her back down. "not until you answer a few questions."
Melissa glared at him, trying to remember what Jake was like. But she only remembered a young, serious boy with a slow smile who hung around in the mall wasting quarters – the boy who was her best friend's cousin. The Jake in front of her was not even a shadow of that boy. A soldier – a general. She didn't know him.
Fine.
She didn't know herself any more, and that didn't hurt her either.
Casting a glance around, she found a clearing she hadn't seen before. A camp was set up, and there was a mismatched group of individuals living there. She noted a red-tailed hawk perched on a branch – Tobias, had to be – and Marco, standing slightly behind Jake, arms crossed as he watched her. Also, three humans she did not recognize, sitting further away, and three Kelbrid. Not Touched.
No. Four Kelbrid: and the fourth was Touched. A prisoner. Strange.
Wait. A Touched female. That disappearance they had bothered her about a day or so ago, could it be..? Yes; of course. A piece of a puzzle fell into place. She immediately wondered how that would work to her advantage.
The daughter. But why would her capturers care about their other prisoner's daughter? Probably not. At least she'd get a good hold of the other prisoner, easily enlisting her help if she would need it.
Storing the discovery away for future use, she turned back towards Jake. "What kind of questions?"
"First of all, what are you?"
"Don't you know that?" she smiled sweetly and batted her eyes at him. "I'm a girl, Jake, or is it that hard to tell?" Taking a quick breath, she added in a roar; "Now untie me!"
"Someone's used to getting their way," Marco muttered. "Melissa, you know that's not what Jake meant. I mean, he's a bit slow on that department, but not that slow –"
"Marco, would you mind?" Rachel wondered in a dangerous tone, and Tom turned to glare at him. Marco's mouth was shut so quickly that you could hear his teeth slam together.
"Completely hopeless." Rachel shook her head to herself. "Mel, the question is if you're a Touched or a Controller."
Melissa considered it for a moment, but decided neither answer would benefit her at all. "Neither."
"Told you so," Rachel muttered at Jake, stroking Tom's ears with a gleam of pride in her eyes.
Jake's forehead had a concerned wrinkle. "I know. You said Tom could tell, and maybe he can – you'd know better than I would – but what I don't understand is how."
"Neither do I," Rachel admitted. "The Yeerks, let a perfectly good host go free? Not likely. Unless it's at the One's command. He's made a few humans into Touched."
"Touched are voluntary," one of the humans Melissa did not recognize said. Then huffed disdainfully. "And that means the humans volunteered."
"Menderash," Marco growled. "Shut up."
Menderash? An Andalite name, if she had ever heard one. His attitude was Andalite, too. And needed some drastic changing.
"There's actually an Andalite Touched, too," Melissa informed him sharply. "It's not just humans."
"Andalite Touched?" Menderash asked, swivelling towards her and standing up in one single – but slightly clumsy – motion. "One of the five prisoners?"
Melissa nodded. "Yes. The female."
Menderash turned pale. "Arayah!" he exclaimed. "But… how… no." He shook himself, stared at Melissa as if he couldn't believe her. Then pulled himself back together and removed all emotions from his face.
"She's gone back to your home world with the other four – although they'll be dead by the time they get there. One of the Whole's plans."
"The home world?" Menderash cried, and he dropped the unreadable face.
"You heard me. The One is aiming for the glorious Andalites. And there's nothing you can do about it. Except if…" she smiled smugly, watching their expressions, which all had turned to a certain degree of horror. Well, maybe not horror, but at least alarm.
Good enough.
"Except if what?" Rachel asked.
"You can start by untying me. Then I'll tell you more."
Menderash had turned to Jake. "Captain, this is highly serious… if she speaks the truth…"
Jake glanced down at Rachel, who nodded. "We can untie her. As long as Tom's near, she's going nowhere. She probably knows that, too."
Marco bent down, muttering, to free Melissa's hands and ankles. "No tricks," he warned.
"Of course not," she agreed smoothly. She rubbed her wrists and rolled her shoulders to ease the stiffness from being tied. "Where should I start?"
"I wouldn't mind an explanation to this neither-Touched-nor-Controller business," Rachel said.
"Simple, my friend," Melissa replied. "I was a Controller, under Ithran 238, who was a complete idiot with an attitude problem. When the Whole asked for humans to become Chosen, I volunteered."
"Why would anyone do that?" Marco wondered.
"It got the Yeerk out of my head," Melissa explained, shuddering. "And at that point, I'd have gotten myself stuck in ant morph to do that."
"So you became a Touched," Jake concluded.
"Yes. But we Touched call ourselves Chosen. It sounds so much nicer."
"And yet, you're not a Touched."
"Obviously."
"Then something's not right. Unless…" His eyes narrowed. "There's a way to get rid of Touch?"
Melissa shrugged. "Maybe."
"Answer the question, Melissa," Marco ordered.
"Oh, no I won't," Melissa replied, meeting his gaze and nonchalantly tossing her hair over her shoulder. "First, I want a promise. I'll answer all your questions – about that Andalite, about Touch, about the Yeerks or the One – and help you in any way I can but I'm not doing any of it for free. In return, I want –"
"You're not in a position to make demands," Jake growled. "You're a prisoner. You'll do as you're told, if you want to live, because your life depends on our good will and word – my word, to be precise. Now answer the question!"
Melissa glanced up at his stony face. She knew that tone of voice – not from him, perhaps, but in general. It was the tone of someone you would be wise not to ignore.
But this was Jake. There must be some shred of humanity left in him. Nothing could have changed the boy she had known that much that he'd actually… no – he had to have some decency left. At least, she hoped so.
"And if I refuse?" she wondered.
Jake's face grew grim, and Melissa began speculating if it would have been better not to provoke him, but then Rachel stood up and placed a hand on her cousin's shoulder.
"Jake, don't be so hard on her," she said lowly. "She's been through a lot."
Jake glared at Melissa. "Been through a lot and totally changed. That's not the Melissa Chapman you knew from before the war, Rachel."
"And you're not the Jake I knew from then, either," she reminded him. "Everyone's changed. Hear her out."
"We can't let her go, anyway, and you know it," Jake said. "Not now."
"I think we can. If she's anything like the old Melissa, we can trust her if she gives her word on something."
Jake looked doubtful.
"Jake," Rachel said. "She's my best friend – aside from Cassie. I trust her. You don't, but you should trust my judgment."
The leader of the Animorphs sighed and turned back to Melissa. "What do you have in mind?"
Melissa hid a smile and silently congratulated herself as she began speaking.
:-:-:
«Do you think he really saw Aximili?» Estrid asked as she and Larynia halted by the final turn before reaching the Dome.
«We'll find out,» Larynia replied. «and if my cousin is here, maybe he can explain what's going on.» She started towards the turn, but stopped. «It will take a while to search the entire Dome, so the best thing to do is to split up. If there's trouble…»
«Then we return to the Phantom as soon as possible,» Estrid finished. «I'll go first, and head left. Follow after a few minutes, and go right. We'll meet in the other end.»
With that, she took a deep breath and took off into the corridor.
She forgot about the gravity shift between the corridor and the Dome. Momentum made her stumble as what formerly had been forwards suddenly was up, and what had been the floor suddenly was a wall. Recovering from the surprise and straightening back up she glanced around.
The Doom, often filled with Andalites, was deserted. It was almost ghastly. Estrid ignored that and purposefully trotted off along the left wall, stalks scanning, but tail forced down into relaxed. It was silly, actually, to believe anything that had gotten as far as to the middle of a Dome ship could be harmful. Logic told her that Carali was probably right. It was paranoia.
Then again, paranoia had, at times, probably saved lives.
She kept at a speedy trot, pacing herself and slowing down every time she happened to break into a gallop, and had not yet come far when she heard the voices.
«That is none of my concern. Deal with it!» The very tone sent a chill through Estrid's tail.
«Of course, Whole,» another voice replied. Kindelil, the tactical officer. «We shall take care of it. It is only… their ship, Whole… it is smaller than ours but if they fire all weapons it will cause too much damage for us to wish to risk it. Things shall be as you command, but it… may take time.»
«I was under the impression that these were only harmless youngsters, aside from the scientist,» the chilling voice of the so-called Whole snapped. «Be rid of them if they are in the way. Get that scientist, get what is in her head, and do it now. Being a scientist, she must know something of value – young or not.»
Estrid had frozen in place as she listened, stalks quivering uncertainly. Behind a group of ceen fa trees, just in front of her, was the contour of a single Andalite. There must be a second one as well. The voices were both in thought-speech… she had stopped listening to the words by the next time the one called the Whole spoke. That was when she realised she knew that voice.
It was Aximili's.
That chilling, cold voice was – somehow – Aximili's.
Estrid decided she had to go closer. Close enough to see the speakers. She gathered her shreds of courage and silently, slowly, made her way up to the ceen fa trees.
Stopping under the branches of one of them, she stared at the TO and the… being… that looked like Aximili – but was not Aximili.
Two-dimensional.
The surprise made her forget she was standing right out in the open, and by the time she remembered Kindelil's ever-watchful stalks had detected her.
«The scientist!» he exclaimed.
The two-dimensional creature, the Whole, spun around in a way that should have been impossible for such a creature to do, and stared straight at Estrid. Suddenly he was shining with a green glow, and the pupils of his eyes gleamed dangerously.
«You!» he spat, and his eyes narrowed. «That scientist. Another coincidence – typical Ellimist. I should have known. Stay back; I'll deal with this one myself.»
The TO folded his gaze down and obediently took a step away.
Estrid stayed where she was as if her hooves had grown into the grass. She found that she was trembling, all eyes fixated on the creature in front of her that so resembled Aximili.
«Estrid-Corill-Darrath,» he said in a silky, almost hypnotic voice. «Pardon my rudeness; we have not been properly introduced. I know you, through the being whose form I am using, but you do not know me. I am the Whole, the One who is both Many and All. I control the Kelbrid, I control the Yeerks… and I control Aximili.»
Estrid did not answer, still staring at the being.
Two-dimensional. Two-dimensional… her mind repeated the word over and over. A two-dimensional creature who was Aximili… no, who held Aximili… yes, yes; that was it, held –
«But my puppet is lonely, scientist,» the One continued. «He remembers you; his hearts are eased to see that you are alive, and well. Come to me, my dear. Come. Join him.»
Held. Held… the thoughts in her head faded as and urge to do as the One bid overwhelmed her. She took an involuntary step forwards, feeling dizzy, feeling she had forgotten –
No. She had forgotten nothing; there was nothing to forget. All she knew was the soft, welcoming smile in the One's eyes as she took another step, almost falling forwards instead of walking.
«Yes, my dear,» crooned his voice in the back of her head. «Come. Come to me… take my hands.»
Still limited to his two dimensions, the One stretched out his hands towards her and Estrid took another step, preparing to place her own hands in his and –
«Good scientist. Come. Come and hold Aximili company…»
Hold? Why was that..?
Aximili. Held. The creature held…
A spark of doubt and she reeled back. The expression on the One's face flickered to anger – and back to that welcoming smile.
«Estrid, my dear… sweetest. Come. Do not be afraid, I shall not harm you.»
Estrid felt something tugging at her, beckoning her forwards and a hoof was raised to take another step… slowly, too slowly, so slowly that… the Whole lost his patience.
«Come! Come, I say!»
That broke the enchantment. Estrid was back, her thoughts her own, and again she stared at the One.
«I command you, scientist! Come!»
The same beckoning, the same feeling that she had to obey, had to listen… but Estrid steadied herself and refused, thereby finding that she did not 'have to' at all. «No.»
«What?»
«No!» she cried, strengthened by this discovery. «No, I won't!»
«You must!» the Whole roared, and began visibly growing. «You must! I command you!»
«No, you don't!» Estrid retorted, though the beckoning grew stronger and she was again trembling, to the depth of her being wanting to do as the foul creature bid – but still, she refused. «You make people think they have to obey, but your control is an illusion – a trick of their own minds!»
The being towered before her, almost twice his normal height, and his voice shook the entire Dome. «I command –»
«No! You can't control me!» Estrid shrieked, beginning to stumble away, stumble back, almost falling over her own hooves and unbalanced by her own tail. «You can't control me! You can't control me!»
The One stopped up, stopped growing, and stared down at her. «Not yet,» he growled. «But if you do not join my Taken freely, you shall by force. And then we shall see who controls whom!»
Estrid's back hoof caught a ceen fa root that stuck out of the grass and she fell. Before she had time to get back up, his burning green glow was everywhere around her and he dove forwards to grab her.