Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs or Stargate SG-1
I stepped out from behind the wall.
"Whoa," Marco said, "Another Alien. Let the games begin."
His voice was shaking, I knew that he was scared too. I went and stood next to the others, the alien stumbled a bit and then fell out of the ship to the ground. Tobias tried to grab him and hold him up, but the alien slipped from his grasp and fell back to the dirt.
"Look!" Cassie cried. She pointed at a burn that covered half of the alien's right side. "He's hurt!"
(Yes. I am dying.) he said.
"Can we help you? We can call an ambulance or something," Marco said.
We can bandage that wound," Cassie said. "Jake give me your shirt. We can tear it up and make bandages." This confused me for a moment before I remembered that Cassie's parents were both vets and she was totally into animals. Not that this was an animal though.
(No. I will die the wound is fatal.)
"NO!" Jake cried. "You can't die. You're the first alien ever to come to earth. You can't die." Jake sounded extremely upset. Tell you the truth so was I, I felt like this alien was an old friend or my grandpa or something. It hurt me to think of him on his deathbed.
(I am not the first. There are many, many others.)
"Other aliens? Like you?" Tobias demanded.
The alien shook his big head slowly, side to side. (Not like me.)
Then he cried out in horrible pain, a silent sound that echoed horrible inside my head. For a brief instant I actually felt him dying.
(Not like me,) he repeated. (They are different.)
"Different How?" Jake asked.
I will always remember his next six words, for as long as I live.
(They have come to destroy you.)
It sent chills down my spine. The way that nobody tried to deny him. No one argued. No one doubted. He was trying to warn us of something terrible.
(They are called Yeerks. They are different from us. Different from you, as well.)
"Are you telling us that they are already here on Earth?" Rachel demanded. (Many are here. Hundreds. Maybe more.)
"Why hasn't anybody noticed them?" Marco asked reasonably. "I think that someone would have mentioned it at school."
(You do not understand. Yeerks are different. They have no body, like yours or mine. They live in the bodies of other species. They are…)
I guess he couldn't think of a word to explain the Yeerks, so he closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Suddenly a bright picture popped into my head. I saw a gray-green slimy thing lime a snail without its shell, only bigger, the size of a rat, maybe. It wasn't a pretty picture.
"I'm guessing that that was a Yeerk," Marco said. "Either that or a very big wad of slimy chewing gum."
(They are almost powerless without hosts. They--)
I felt a blast of pain, straight from the alien. I could also feel his sadness. He knew that his time was nearly up.
(Yeerks are parasites. They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the host's thoughts and feelings. They try to get the host to accept them voluntarily. It is easier that way. Otherwise tha host may be able to resist, at least a little.)
"Are you saying that they take over human beings?" Rachel demanded. "People? These things take over their bodies?"
"Look this is serious stuff," Jake said. "You shouldn't be telling us. We're just kids, you know. This is like something that the government should know about."
(We Andalites fight the Yeerks,) He said, (Following them wherever they go.)
"Good," I said, "So you'll kick their butts and we don't have to worry."
(Yes you do.) The Andalite said. (We had hoped to stop them. Swarms of their Bug Fighters were waiting when our Dome ship came out of Z-Space. We knew of their mother ship and were ready for the Bug fighters, but the Yeerks surprised us—they had hidden a powerful Blade ship in a crater of your moon. We fought, but…we lost. They have tracked me here. They will soon be here to eliminate all traces of me and my ship)
"How can they do that?" Cassie asked.
The Andalite seemed to smile with his eyes.
(Their Dracon beams will leave nothing behind but a few molecules of this ship, and…this body,) he said. (I sent a message to me home world. My people will send help, but it may take a year, even more, and by the Yeerks will have control of this planet. After that there is no hope. You must tell people. You must warn your people.)
"They'll have control of the planet within a year," I said dubiously, "That's impossible!" I blurted.
(I have seen what they are capable of,) the Andalite replied. I turned stone cold at the way he said it.
"Forget it," Marco said, "Derek's right, cause no one is ever going to believe us," Marco said hopelessly. He looked at Jake and shook his head. "No way."
"I don't care if he thinks he's going to die, we have to try and help him," Rachel said. "We can get him to a hospital. Or maybe Cassie's parents…"
(There is no time. No time,) The Andalite said. Then his eyes brightened. (Perhaps…)
"What?" I asked.
(Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.)
We all looked at each other. Who was going to be the one to go into the ship? Somehow we all seemed to agree that it would be Jake. Except Jake.
"Go ahead," Tobias said. "I want to stay with him" He knelt beside the Andalite and placed a comforting hand on the alien's narrow shoulder.
"Go ahead," Cassie said to Jake, "You're not scared."
Jake looked a little nervous but he disappeared inside, and a moment later reappeared with the box.
"Here is the box," Jake said.
(Thank you.)
"I, um…was that your family? That picture?"
(Yes, my parents, and my brother.)
"I'm real sorry," Jake said.
(There is something that I may be able to do to help you fight the Yeerks.)
"What?" Rachel and I asked at the same time.
(I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Yeerks. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.)
We all looked at each other. All except Tobias, who never took his gaze off of the Andalite.
(If you wish I can give you powers that no human being has ever had.)
"Powers?" I asked.
(It is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have.) The Andalite explained. (A technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe—the power to morph. We have never shared this power. But your need is great.)
"Morph? Morph how?" Rachel asked, her eyes narrowed.
(To change your bodies,) the Andalite said. (To become any other species. Any animal.)
Marco laughed derisively. "Become animals? You've got to be kidding."
I knew that Marco wasn't the most accepting person in the world.
(You will need only to touch a creature, to acquire its DNA pattern, and you will be able to become that creature. It requires concentration and determination, but, if you are strong, you can do it. There are…limitations. Problems. Dangers, even. But there is not time to explain it all…no time. You will have to learn for yourselves. But first, do you wish to receive this power?)
"He's kidding right?" Marco asked Jake.
"No," Tobias said softly. "He's not kidding."
"This is nuts," Marco said. "This whole thing is nuts. Yeerks and spaceships and slugs taking over peoples brains and Andalites and the power to change into animals? Give me a large personal break."
"Yeah it's beyond weird," Jake agreed.
"We're off the map of weirdness by this point," Rachel said. "But unless we're all just dreaming it think that we'd better deal with this."
"I'll do it," Cassie said.
"I think we should decide together," Jake said, "One way or the other."
"What's that?" Rachel suddenly asked. She was looking up towards the stars. Far, far overhead two pinpoints of bright red light were shooting across the sky.
(Yeerks.) The Andalite said. And the air quivered with hatred that came from one little word.
To Quillian—Thanks, I hope that you enjoy future installments.
To Seeker of the Soul—I gotta admit your review took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting any of the reviewers from my Yu-Gi-Oh fics to follow me here. No one read my Gargoyles fics so it was a surprise to see your name on the review. I am suffering from a dry spell in the Yu-Gi-Oh department, I can write the chapters, but they don't feel right so I'm waiting till I get inspired again. My sister and I started reading Animorphs (re-reading for me) and I felt inspired. Truth be told your fiction was also one of the primary influences for this…an alternate universe where things are the same, the players are the same (plus or minus a few) but things are different. I hope you continue to enjoy this.
PS: As for keeping to KAA's style…well I'm lifting lines right out of the books (Animorphs #1: The Invasion, and Alternamorphs #1: The First Journey) in order to make these as close to the original Animorphs as possible. There will come a point in the not so distant future though where my series will diverge from the Animorphs path, and I'll be on my own.)
