Chapter Seven
Orifix
I weeped in silence. Cried until there were no more tears left. Why did they have to do this? Who were these Yeerks to take me away like that?
My life had been taken away from me. Again. The life I was only starting to get used to.
The life I was only starting to love.
Suddenly, a ray of light came over me. The light was so intense I could not look at it and expect to see a single thing.
The only thing I could do was hear. And hear, I did.
" Is somebody in there?" asked a small, whispering voice.
" Yes!" I yelled, so happy I was finally among life again. "My name is Orifix One-One-Four-Four. Can... Can you get me out of here? I need to find my friends..."
" Of course," the voice said. "But if I do so you must help me in exchange."
" I'll do anything!" I quickly said.
It is unlike Andalites to beg. To plea. But I'll bet that no Andalite had ever been in this situation before...
" Here's the deal," said the voice. "You are Tehlit Two-Eight-Six's friend, are you not? Well, he sort of got captured. Along with the rest of us. There is only me and some guy named Essam Two-Nine-Three left. You must help us free the others."
" Deal." I said, "But you must help me free Edriss from her prison as well."
" Of course! That is quite obvious," said the voice, "I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself: I'm Anati Five-Six-Two, Edriss's sister! So you should be able to count on me to help save her, shouldn't you?"
I was awed. No wonder this Yeerk has sounded quite a bit familiar...
" Eu... Yes." was all I found to say.
With Anati's help, and extra help from the Yeerk named Essam, I was dragged out of the hole the two of them had made in my cell. Yes, a cell. The place was sinister, shallow, and had gray walls made out of the hardest metal you could ever imagine. I did not know how Anati had managed to make a hole in it. I was just extremely glad she did...
When I exited my prison, I saw the light of day for the first time in what seemed like forever.
" Aaaah..." I sighed, sucking in as much of the clean air as I could.
We were outside. Outside the gray building that was Sub-Visser Nine's headquarters.
And once again, we would need to think of a plan.
Hopefully, this one would be flawless.
" Well, Essam has a plan," said Anati while we ran, hoping to find a place to hide so that Sub-Visser Nine could not see us, "But I really doubt that it'll work."
" In a situation like this," I sighed, "Any plan is better then no plan. Tell us, Essam."
" Well," Essam started, "We go over to the ship hangar and steal a Bug Fighter. Then, we --"
" First of all, that would be nearly impossible," Anati.
" Would you quit interrupting me?!" Essam.
" Sorry."
" ANYWAY," continued Essam. "Then, we fly the ship back here, park it right in front of the building, go into that room where Edriss is, take her, and bring her back to the base by ship. There's no way Sub-Visser Nine is going to catch us. Oh, and we must do it by night: Everyone will be sleeping."
" Great," I said, "But what about the others? Besides Edriss, I mean."
" We'll come back for them as soon as Edriss is safe," replied Essam. "She is our main priority. Tehlit specifically told us: ' Never mind us, just get Edriss out!'"
I looked at him. Maybe a bit obnoxious, but definitely loyal.
" Okay, let me ask this question again..." Anati said in an I'm-not-impressed sort of tone, "... How are we going to steal a ship?"
Let me just tell you that Anati's question was a very good one.
A very good question, with a very bad answer...
" THIS is your plan?" exclaimed Anati, "Essam, you've GOT to be kidding me."
" Yes, eu... I hate to admit it, but I believe Anati is right..." I said, "How are we going to pull this off?"
It had taken us an hour and a half by foot to get to the hangar. We had settled behind a thick, tall red bush, away from the sight of any workers who might be passing by. And as I listened to Essam's plan in detail, I prayed to all the lords -- Yeerk and Andalite, and even Hork-Bajir! -- that we would live to free Edriss and the others...
Oketo, my host, had filled me in on many Hork-Bajir traditions and similar things. And now, we was not impressed...
If Hork-Bajir caught doing your plan at home, he warned me, Hork-Bajir be dead. But I cover for you if you gone.
Wow, thanks Oketo, I said.
I was truly flattered that Oketo would cover for a guy who completely overtook his freedom.
I guess Hork-Bajir aren't such a bad race at all.
They may look a little scary on the outside, but they aren't scary at all at heart.
" Okay," whispered Essam, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Let's just go over the plan one more time. "Those Hork-Bajir in the cage, ready for infestation? We go over with our hosts, and as subtlely as possible, infest them. We grab the key from the sleeping Taxxon 'guarding' them, get out of the cage, hope to God Visser One and two of his henchmen aren't in that building... And we pretend to be them. They'll never doubt anything, because I've got this!"
Suddenly, I noticed a little pouch attached to Essam's left elbow blade. He busied himself untying it, and when he succeeded he pulled out two vividly gold bands of material.
" That's right," said Essam in front of Anati's awed expression, "Visser One's personal guard arm bands."
" How did you get those?!" exclaimed Anati, "They sell one on E-Market for like, one million coins! Plus, if Edriss were here, I swear to God she'd be having a heart attack and offering you even her own host for one of those things!"
" I had a mid-cycle job last year cleaning up the Empire Building," Essam replied, "I know the place by heart. So one day I was cleaning Visser One's room and--"
" You cleaned Visser One's ROOM?!?" Anati was having a hysteric attack.
" Yes... And I stumbled upon these two arm bands. I only have two, so one of us will have to pretend to be Visser One himself."
" Eum, excuse me?" I asked softly, "Can that sort of... not be me?"
" Yeah, Orifix has a point..." added Anati, "What if we get caught? We'll be charged on gazillions of accounts of fraud by impersonation!"
" You know," said Essam, coldly but softly, "From what I've seen of Edriss back at Sulp Niar, she'd be all for this plan in order to save you."
" Yeah?" challenged Anati, "And how long have you been stalking my sister?"
Essam looked gravely offended by Anati's comment. He opened his mouth in order to object, but I interrupted.
" Listen, people," I said, "We're wasting time here. We are not going to save our friends by sitting here behind this bush arguing. So I say we do this plan, no matter what the risk."
" Oh, alright," Anati rolled her eyes, finally conceding.
" But... who's Visser One?" asked Essam.
Anati and I looked at each other, then at Essam. A wave of horror swept over his Hork-Bajir face as he realized what we were simulteanously thinking.
" Oh no." said Essam, "No, no, no, no, NO! I absolutely refuse!"
But we weren't paying any attention to Essam's complaints. Anati and I simply smiled as we slipped on the two arm bands.
The guards were more than shocked. They were disbelieving.
What could Visser One possibly be doing in such a badly maintained building as this?
" Everyone please remain calm," Anati said in what she hoped to be a reassuring tone, even though I seriously doubted that Hork-Bajir even had a reassuring tone, "We are simply here for an inspection of this building. And stay out of the Visser's way should you wish to remain alive!"
" Yes," I added, "We have received notice that... that some illegal... eum... combustible products have found their way into one of your Bug Fighters. Nothing to worry about, though. These products will be found eliminated soon. Please carry on with your work."
We followed "Visser One" down the long main hallway of the Yeerk ship hangar, passing many curious, even some suspicious faces...
The building was quite large. The roof was domed all the way down the floor, in such a way that the entire lobby of the building seemed like a gigantic half-circle.
The roof itself was made of a smooth, transparent glass, allowing the light of day (the light not being very evident because the sun never came out on this planet) to shine on the solid but smooth turquoise walls. The floor was soft and cushiony. It almost felt like walking on clouds.
Inside this half-circle of a building, some workers worked on ship parts, some just sat in corners filling out paperwork. And, of course, there was a receptionist sitting behind a desk.
He was the one giving out the paperwork.
But we didn't need to talk to him. Of course not! What kind of a Visser One would actually stop to talk to a minor receptionist?!
Essam was playing his part perfectly. Barking orders to us that normally we never would have taken.
" Guards!" he yelled, "Open that door."
" Yes, Visser," Anati and I said at the same time.
We stepped forward and opened the gray metal door at the end of the lobby, under curious, watchful eyes from the many workers.
Our plan was working, so far. Wonderfully, even.
We emerged into a room much more vast than the first. This one had only two windows, though they were quite large, on the right and left walls. Anati said each of the walls had to measure at least eighty-five dahmis (a dahmi is equivalent to a meter and eighty centimeters) in height. Twice that much in length. The walls were gray in color, and closed around the extreme amount of ships in the room.
The only visible light came from the two windows.
That would help us. A lot.
" Okay, guards," said Essam, "We will start with this ship, over here."
He pointed to a very small ship in a corner, smaller than most of the others. And still, it was large enough to easily accomodate five people, and probably many more if you squeezed together.
" Yes Visser," we said.
With that, the three of us strode off to the small ship with Essam in the lead.
Once we arrived at the door of the ship, Essam ordered us to open it. Of course, we obeyed. If we hadn't, that would be the end of our plan...
We arrived inside only to smell something awful. And I mean awful! We closed the door of the ship behind us, and walked cautiously towards the smell. When we got to the controls of the ship, we found a large creature sleeping on the floor. This creature was familiar to me. I had seen some before: Creatures with red-rimmed mouths and rows of cone legs.
" Taxxon," said Anati, annoyed.
" What is this "Taxxon" doing here?" I asked, " Aren't the ships supposed to be evacuated when they are dropped off here?"
" Yeah," agreed Essam. "I guess this one just fell asleep on the job."
I looked at them. Then at the sleeping Taxxon.
" Eu, guys... How are we going to exit this place?" I asked.
" Well..." said Essam, "We just wait until someone leaves by the roof hatch and we follow them out."
" Are you serious?" exclaimed Anati, "That will take forever! How are we to keep up this "combustible product" thing for that long?"
" You know..." I said. I hesitated. "I think... I think I have a better idea. What if we use the combustible product scheme to get us out of here?"
" And... how?" asked Anati, confused.
I explained the plan to her and to Essam. As I spoke, I thought it was actually a pretty good plan.
And you know what? I think Anati and Essam thought it was a pretty good plan, too.
" Clear the room, I say, clear the room!" Anati was running around the room screaming. "There are combustible products in that ship over there, and they are set to go off in less than ten minutes. So whoever is in charge of this place, Visser One has ordered complete evacuation of the room, and if you could please open the hatch so we can bring this thing down in a deserted area to prevent any harm to residents? Thank you for your time and cooperation. We will be leaving--"
" Anati!" whispered Essam urgently, "They get it already!"
" Oh... Okay."
We pulled Anati back into the ship.
The plan worked to perfection. Workers ran screaming from the room, pushing each other towards the exit. Desperately trying to save themselves from the fake combustible product alert...
And suddenly, over our heads... The hatch opened.
" Go, go, go!" yelled Essam.
I struggled with the controls. Was it the green button or the red button? How did you turn this ship on?!
" Essam!" I exclaimed, "I'm sorry, but I have no idea how to start this thing!"
Essam rolled his eyes and then rushed over to the controls. He pushed a purple button that I had completely overlooked, and the engine revved to life.
" Let's go," he said.
He shifted a control stick to "medium burn" and we lifted off the ground quite quickly. Quite? Did I say that? I meant very, very, VERY quickly!
" Is it... really necessary... to be going this fast?!" I exclaimed, addressing Essam, trying my best to fight the forces of gravity and speed combined.
" We have to make it seem like we're trying to land this ship as fast as possible," said Essam, "But actually, we're not going to land at all! Well, we are... At Sub-Visser Nine's headquarters!"
" On medium burn, we'll get there in no time!" said Anati, "I thought you said we had to rescue Edriss at night!"
" We do," replied Essam, "So we'll just have to park a little ways off, out of Sub-Visser Nine's sight, for the few hours until nighttime."
" A few hours?" exclaimed Anati, "We'll go crazy, waiting all that time!"
" Skreet...?" asked a confused voice.
" Okay, Orifix, stop fooling around." said Essam.
" I didn't say anything!" I exclaimed.
" Well, then if you didn't make that noise... Then who--" Anati started.
" SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!!"
" Oh, my God..." said Anati, sounding slightly afraid. "You guys... Look, by the controls..."
We looked to where Anati was pointing. And then, our breathing stopped...
The Taxxon was awake.
And it was rearing up for an attack!
" Hey wait!" said Essam. He approached the Taxxon! " Nice Taxxon... You know, I found some meat over in the storage area. If you help us with our plan, we'll give you the meat for free!"
" Skree! Skreeee!" the Taxxon yelled joyfully.
Okay... Not only was this Taxxon obviously not controlled by a Yeerk, it seemed that the only things he could say were "Skreet" and "Skree".
" Hey... eum," Essam whispered to Anati and I, " Can one of you guys go check in the storage area for that meat? See... I sort of lied. I have no idea if there's actually meat in there!"
Anati and I looked at each other.
" Argh..." we said simultaneaously.
But then Anati agreed to go check. So I stayed there, with Essam and the strange Taxxon who wouldn't stop jumping around.
And as we landed, about a mile away from Sub-Visser Nine's headquarters, in the middle of a small area of trees, Essam finally asked:
" Have you any idea what "Skreet" means?!"
" No," I replied simply.
" Skreet! Skreeeeeeeeeet!" exclaimed the Taxxon.
" I thought not." said Essam, annoyed.
I laughed. Then, I looked out the front window of the ship at the darkening sky outside.
This was going to be a long three hours...
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