Chapter 5
Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs or Stargate SG-1
I woke up the next morning feeling groggy. It was a dream of course. Had to be. A totally freaky dream that felt totally real. The worst nightmare that I'd ever had. Worse than when I was six and snuck downstairs and watched Aliens from behind the couch.If I told my mom about this dream she'd probably suggest counseling.
I could hear the vacuum going outside my door, and felt better. Vacuuming is so…normal. How could people go on vacuuming when horrible alien slugs were invading people's brains?
I peeked outside the door. My mom was vacuuming and my little sister ran out in a pink dress.
"How's this?" Lexie asked.
I remembered suddenly that Lexie's birthday party was today. I laughed, now totally reassured. Yesterday a six-year-old's birthday party would have been lame. Today it was just about the coolest thing in the world. Because it was normal.
My mom spotted me. "Derek, can you keep an eye on things here?" she asked. "I have to got to Dairy Queen to pick up the cake."
"You're picking up the cake?" I asked. My mom never buys store bought cakes. She's a city planner and works constantly but she's also got this thing about homemade cakes.
A fly buzzed in my face. I brushed it away.
"Emily is coming over to help, and after the party we're going to a meeting tonight," Mom said. "Can you baby-sit?"
"Sure," I said on the way to the kitchen. Baby-sitting beats dodging aliens, I thought.
Not that I dodged an alien with killer blades coming out of their wrists and elbows last night. No way. It was a dream.
I munched away on cereal, but it tasted like sawdust. I kept hearing Prince Elfangor's dying scream. I remembered those dagger teeth and what they did to him…
The spoon clattered in the bowl as my stomach heaved. I bent over, my face buried in my knees, and I took a deep breath.
That's when Marco walked into my kitchen.
"Really you don't have to bow," he said, "A simple 'Lord Marco' will do."
"Very funny," I said, "I felt kind of dizzy for a minute."
Marco slung one leg over a kitchen chair. "It isn't every day that you see an alien prince get turned into McFood," he said.
"So it wasn't a bad dream," I muttered.
"Not only that it gets worse," Marco said. "While you've been snoring, we've been morphing."
I stared at him. "No way."
"Way," he said, tossing his longish hair behind his shoulder. "I have been designated by our fearless leader, Jake, to recruit you. So far today Tobias has turned into a cat, Jake into the family dog, and Cassie into a truly awesome horse."
"I don't believe you," I said, but I didn't believe myself.
"Yeah, I didn't want to believe it, either," Marco said shrugging. "Considering that I'd like to remain alive long enough to get into an R-rated movie. But apparently everything that Prince Elfa-diddle told us is true. Which means we're all in big trouble."
"You mean there might be controllers around?" I whispered.
"Closer than you think," Marco said reaching for a banana. "Like Jake's brother. When I told Jake I thought Tom was a Controller, he went postal. I have the jaw to prove it." Marco rubbed his chin. "But it's the little things you notice. Tom just hasn't been acting like Tom. And he goes to meeting called The Sharing. It sounds totally bogus, but we're all going tonight. Jake says you should come, too."
"At least it'll get me out of baby-sitting," I said.
Marco peeled the banana and began to eat, suddenly he bent his knees and loped around the kitchen making monkey noises. I stared at him.
"Just kidding," he said grinning. I don't have a monkey morph yet. Just want you to stay on your toes."
Marco left and I started thinking about what he said about Controllers. If Jake's brother could be one, so could someone in my family.
What about my Mom?
She bought a cake for Lexie's birthday. Sure, it wouldn't sound like a big deal to most people. But I knew how weird it was. She hardly noticed Lexie's party dress. Plus didn't she say something about going to a meeting.
What if she was a Controller?
How would one find out? It hit me right then. The Andalite had given me powers. Why not use them? Any animal that I touched. The easiest animal for me to morph would be Lexie's hamster: Hamlet.
I walked to her room to get Hamlet so I could acquire him. Bad idea, because Lexie was in there getting ready for her party.
"Derek!" She shrieked as I opened the door. "Get out, get out, get out!"
"Wrong choice," I muttered as I backed away. Never cross a six-year-old on her birthday.
What else could I become, I thought. The fly that had been bothering me earlier buzzed past my face. I thought about it for about two seconds before I dismissed it. I didn't want to be a fly. Flies were disgusting. They ate poop, plus the new version of The Fly with Jeff Goldblum had been on TV the other night. It had been one of the grossest movies that I had ever seen.
No, no flies.
Humphries she was the key. She was known around the neighborhood as the Ferret Lady. She kept Ferrets as pets.
As soon as the party started I slipped out the door. Acquiring a ferret wasn't difficult. I just had to wait until Humphries went next do to complain. She left the back door open, and it was easy to slip inside and pick up one of the sleek furry creatures. It happily curled up next to my chest while I acquired it's DNA. It just took a little focus and the ferret went into a sort of trance.
Then I let the ferret go and focused my mind. I imagined the ferret in my head and the changes began. I shrank rapidly, my clothes falling all around me. I was morphing right out of my clothes.
It figured. Clothes weren't part of my DNA. Maybe if I focused hard enough the clothes would change with me. I concentrated hard on my clothes morphing with me. To my surprise, they did. My sweatpants and T-shirt vanished into my skin, becoming part of the ferret fur. My sandals didn't change though. I grabbed them as I was half morphed I tossed the sandals into Humphries back yard, behind the bush by her backdoor.
Then I let the changes continue. I grew fur and whiskers and tiny ferret claws. It was easy to figure out when I was done changing. The first thing that I noticed was my senses. The ferret couldn't see all that well, but the hearing was excellent, as was my sense of smell.
Then came the part that I didn't expect. The ferret mind came bubbling up underneath my own. As soon as I was morphed, I wanted to play with the other three ferrets. They were confused to see me, but they came over to sniff me, then chased me around the room.
The back door slammed. Ms Humphries stumped back in, a ferret draped over her chest. She looked at the ice-cream cake in her hand and shrugged. She dumped it into the kitchen trashcan.
"Empty calories," she muttered. "Not necessary."
That was odd. Was it a Controller thing to say? Or was the Ferret Lady even weirder than I thought? Everybody likes ice-cream cake right?
I curled up under the sofa so that she wouldn't notice that she had one extra ferret. But she doesn't pay any attention to her pets anyway. Another ferret brushed against her legs. She didn't pick it up, didn't coo at it, and didn't stroke it.
Weird? Or standard operating procedure?
The phone rang, and Humphries snatched it up.
"Yes."
A pause. "Yes. I'll be there. No I won't attract attention," she said, sounding irritable. "No more than usual. This host is apparently an eccentric."
It struck my like a thousand-volt wire in my ear: this host. Humphries was a Controller!
I shrank back under the sofa. I heard a creak above me as she sat down. I saw her feet and her thick soles loafers. She didn't move.
What time is it? I thought. How long had I been in ferret morph? I only had two hours! I watched as a shadow moved across the floor. How could I get out of the house without her noticing me?
The shadow touched the toe of her shoe and she got up.
"Time," she muttered. She stumped around the room, and I crept forward to watch. She slipped into her coat, and picked up a nearby canvas tote bag.
She started for the door and opened it. I could sneak out! I darted forward, but she suddenly spun around.
"Ferret Lady," she murmured. "Travels with a pet all the time."
And before I could move or react, she reached down and popped me into the tote bag! She zipped it partly shut. I could stick my nose out, but that was all. I was trapped, and the clock was ticking!
Humphries tossed the tote bag in the front seat of her car. I hit my head on the door handle.
(Ow!) I thought.
Humphries looked around wildly, then shrugged and started the car. I could thought-speak just like the Andalite had. The others probably already knew this but it was a novelty to me.
But there were more pressing matters at the moment. I tried at the zipper with my paws. No go.
How long did I have left? I could just barely see the clock. Twenty minutes: to close for comfort.
The car stopped. Humphries slung me over her shoulder. I poked my nose out. We were at a beach parking lot. She's going to The Sharing meeting! At least the others would be there.
Humphries plopped the bag down on the sand. She trudged off to speak to a knot of people by the volleyball net.
Ten minutes left. I wiggled my nose through the opening, thrashing my head to widen the gap. The zipper gave a bit. Not much, not enough.
I heard Cassie's voice nearby, and remembered my discovery when Humphries and I entered the car.
(CASSIE! CASSIE! IT'S ME DEREK! I'M IN FERRET MORPH!)
"What?" I heard Cassie say.
"I didn't say anything," someone replied. I realized that Cassie couldn't thought-speak back. And she couldn't talk out loud, or it would look suspicious.
(Cassie,) I said more calmly, (I'm in a tote bag lying in the sand I can't get out! My morph time is up. I think I'm near the volleyball net. Help!)
I heard the scrunch of the sand. I saw bare brown toes. Cassie's concerned face suddenly loomed in my vision.
"Derek, is that you?" she whispered.
(It's me! Hurry!)
Cassie unzipped the tote and casually tucked me under her arm. She strolled towards the dunes.
"Almost there," she murmured.
She climbed over the dunes and set me down. She looked around.
"Okay hurry!"
I didn't need her to tell me. I concentrated on me. I felt my legs getting longer, the fur on my skin grew patchy and my ears grew rounder. My tail shrank.
Cassie wrinkled her nose. "Ewww. That's the worst morph I've seen so far."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you," I said, glad to feel that I had a mouth. "I haven't had much practice. That was my first morph."
"Yet you managed clothes," Cassie said clearly impressed, "It took my second try."
Rachel appeared over the dune. "Hurry up Cassie," she said, "Oh hey Derek. Come on." She spoke in a low tone; "Tobias just demorphed from hawk and Jake is going to morph into his dog, Homer."
"Dogs and hawks and ferret," I said suddenly feeling hopeless. "What a bunch of feeb morphs. How are we going to fight Visser Three with those?"
Something fierce flashed in Rachel's eyes. I glimpsed something that I had never seen on pretty popular Rachel. The girl is a warrior.
"You've got a point," Rachel said.
To Quillian: I've been reading your fiction, it's in my favorites. I just haven't reviewed because of computer problems. I'm glad you enjoy this, even though for now it's semi-predictable. You need not worry about the connection to Stargate just yet, as it will be a while before Ax realizes that there is one on earth, and of course we need to meet Ax first. I've never seen Stargate Atlantis, but SG-1 is my favorite show on TV now. This story takes place around mid-season 3 three.
To Omegadragon: I'll finish War when I feel inspired by it agian. I can't rush it or it will turn out crappy. To answer your second question: yes characters from Stargate SG1 will appear in this fic...eventually.
