Chapter 11

I hadn't actually mentioned that I was planning to morph to the others. None of us – with the exception of Philip's disagreement about the whole thing – had even mentioned acquiring any other animals. But I dismissed the worry. One of us had to be the first to do a solo, unsupervised morph. Why shouldn't it be me? Adrenaline rushed through my body at the thought of becoming a dog. Ok, so I'd become an alien yesterday afternoon. But that was just one more strange happening in a long list of strange happenings. The whole context of aliens and Yeerks kind of destroyed most of the thrill. But now, here I was, back on earth. About to become a plain, everyday mammal. It almost seemed normal by comparison.

"Tallulah! Here girl! Where are you, Tally?" I called out for my dog. I'd entered the house quietly, padding around the sitting room. No Tallulah. I hoped she wasn't sleeping in my parent's room. I tiptoed into the kitchen. Ah. There she was, curled up in her basket. Completely at peace. Just like the next dog. No idea her mistress was about to borrow her DNA.

"Hey girl," I whispered as I bent down to stroke her. She twitched a little, then began to wag her tail lightly. I tickled her behind the ears, where she liked it the most. As I stroked her, I began to concentrate. Let the image of her form fill me mind. I thought about what it would be like to be her, to become a dog. As I acquired her, she fell into the same sort of trance the Andalite had. Her tail stopped thumping. She fell asleep again. After a few moments, when I decided that I'd acquired her as best as I could, I stood us and crept up the stairs to my room and shut the door. Didn't want my parents walking in on two Tallulahs. Or a half Samantha-half Tallulah freak. I stripped off the last tatters of the clothes I was wearing and put on a big, over sized tee-shirt. Then I concentrated once more on the image of my dog.

The changes began more quickly this time. I started to shrink a little – a weird sensation. It was a lot like falling, but with your feet still on the ground. As I shrunk, my skin began to sprout greyish-tan fur. My face began to change. I looked away from the mirror as my nose turned wet and black, but it didn't stop my eyes seeing as my nose and mouth stretched out into a long, thin muzzle. My lips dissolved into nothing, my teeth, instead of dissolving like before, grew longer and sharper. Two large canines popped out of my gums. I was a furry girl with the head of a dog. Very attractive. Suddenly – a tail shot out from behind! Tallulah's long, whippy tail, wagging this way and that. I'd stopped shrinking now. But I fell onto all fours as my knee and ankle joints unexpectedly changed direction. I looked down at my hands, trying not to puke. My fingers were shrivelling away, being replaced by dainty paws. My palms grew rough and calloused as they formed the dog's pads. My useless human finger nails became the short, stubby nails of the dog. They clicked on the floor boards as I tried to regain my balance. The tee-shirt I was wearing felt looser and looser. It fell to the ground, and I wriggled myself out of it.

I was almost fully dog now. It was an incredible sensation. In a way, weirder than morphing the Andalite, because I was becoming such a familiar animal. My insides were shifting and changing, squeezing into the distinctive streamlined shape of the greyhound. My senses were gradually changing too as my ears and nose formed the dog's features. Abruptly, my poor human senses were replaced by the wonderful sense of the dog. The smell! Wow! The hearing! Amazing! It was like I has been blind all my life and suddenly I could see! You think you can smell? You think that just because you can smell a cake baking in the oven, or the smoke when you burn toast, that you have good sense of smell? Well let me tell you, the sense of smell of a human is nothing, nothing compared to the dog's sense! I could smell everything. New smells, old smells. Good smell, nasty smells. But all fascinating to my doggy brain. I could smell spiders under the bed. The stench of – mmm -a bacon sandwich I'd only bothered to clear up yesterday morning. I could smell the scent of my clothes, piled up on the chair. I could smell me. The reek of next door's tom cat blew in through the open window. It sent my doggy brain into hyper mode. An un-neutered male kitty! What fun! Excellent to provoke. Maybe even chase. Perhaps I could… No. I realised what was happening. The doggy brain was taking over, just like I'd experienced when I'd morphed the Andalite. Although instead of being all optimistic and arrogant, I felt…happy. Playful. Like I didn't have a care in the world. I almost wished I could stay in this morph and not think about the challenge facing us ever again.

But of course I couldn't. We had a job to do. Find the resistance, fight the Yeerks. But figure out how to morph animals first. I jumped up and down, testing out my new dog body. Amazing spine. I could practically fold myself in two. It was like a whip – strong, muscular, and infinitely flexible. Perfect for propelling the greyhound in a motion even a cheetah would be proud of. Amazing hearing, too. I could pick up the slightest sounds no human would ever hear. A mouse breathing out on the lawn. Bugs and beetles crawling around. The tiniest snap of a twig as a fox or something stepped on it. The eyesight wasn't so good though. The dog brain relied mainly on its' hearing and smell to form a picture of the world around it. It didn't care too much about sight. As a result, my eyesight was a bit fuzzy and blurry. Colours were weak, like shapes of grey. It felt like I was wearing someone else's pair of glasses and watching a cinema screen with the colour saturation turn right down - but with the volume on full blast.

I stayed in morph for about half an hour, padding around my room, testing the body and senses, stopping here and there to sniff at a crisp crumbs and other tasty morsels under my bed. Who would have thought my room – with its complete absence of TV or stereo equipment – could be so much fun! But eventually glanced at the clock, and realised that perhaps I should demorph at last. There wouldn't be much time to get any sleep and face my parents before getting my act together and walking round to Ferdie's. I concentrated on my human self – just like Eramas had instructed us to do when we demorphed for the very first time. I felt the changes begin again. This time, my tail was the first to disappear. It simply shrivelled away, like a beanstalk drying up. My fur, too melted together like hot wax and formed the pink skin of my own. Not a pretty sight. A naked, tail-less dog, growing larger and fatter. I guess the Andalites hadn't worked out how to make morphing a smooth and beautiful process yet. As my human face emerged from Tallulah's snout, my senses dulled again. It was like I'd suddenly put on a pair of ear-muffs and was holding my nose. On the other hand, though, my vision became sharper. Eventually I was a human girl again. My tee-shirt lay on a crumpled heap on the floor – I hadn't managed to morph that either. I quickly grabbed my blanket and wrapped it round my body, like a towel. Just in case anyone walked in. I smiled to myself. I was more afraid of my parents seeing me naked than them seeing me turning into a dog!

I pulled open my wardrobe and searched around, looking for something that I might be able to morph in. I was wearing that tight vest top and belt-skirt when I'd morphed Eramas, so perhaps something tight would work. I pulled my old gymnastics leotard from the very back on my wardrobe. It was pretty ancient had had a weird design of blue tie-dye velour; I'd been into gym and dance when I was in lower school - although now I preferred team sports like hockey – and I'd liked to show off my costumes whenever the school put on a display. But it was tight as I stepped into it and forced my arms into the lyrca sleeves. It should work. I concentrated quickly on the dog again, and watched as the leotard melted into my skin as the dog shape took place. I quickly reversed the morph before it went too far, and the leotard reappeared. Excellent.