Chapter 28

The journey in the elevator seemed to take a lifetime. None of us were ever more eager to get out of that hell-pit than during those last few minutes.

--So, you guys can morph Andalites, right?-- said the bear. --I hope Ax here isn't offended.--

--I am not offended by those who use the Andalite body to assist our fight against the Yeerk Empire,-- the Andalite replied. He turned to Sam, his stalk eyes taking in every part of her borrowed body. --Might I ask the name of the warrior from which you acquired this morph? The body appears somewhat familiar.--

--Sure,-- said Sam. --His name was Eramas. Eramas Corion Jarvis, I think it was.--

The Andalite was silent for a moment. --Eramas, yes,-- he said thoughtfully. I have heard my father mention his name before. He is a great warrior.--

--Was,-- said Sam sombrely. --I'm sorry, but he was killed by Visser Five.--

--He would have died a hero's death. But his spirit lives on,-- Ax said, nodding towards Sam's morph. --He would be honoured to see his body put to good use. Even a copy of it.--

We rode the rest of the ten so stories, mostly in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts. We had done it. We had found the human resistance, and we had fought alongside them somewhat successful. We had not freed all the celebrities. But we had saved some, and that was a start. After entering that hellish complex and suddenly realising what it was we were actually up against, it was more than any of us could have hoped for. I had no idea what was to come next. But I was sure that it would involve a great many more battles similar to the ones that we had fought tonight.

--Six is better than none,-- said Jake, appearing to read my thoughts. --On our first trip to the Yeerk Pool, we only managed to free one.--

I nodded in silence. I knew this was as good as it could have gone. But I still felt terrible for those other celebrities - and, of course, the hundreds of others hosts - still trapped down there. Ready to become slaves in their own minds. Perhaps we would free them all some day.

At last, the elevator reached the top floor, and we exited impatiently from the lift, for it was a small shaft and six large mammals did not take easily to its' confines.

--Any idea which way to go?-- I asked Sam.

--Well, we should probably try that emergency exit at the end of the hall,-- she replied.

--Have you all got bird morphs?-- asked Jake. --I know one of you has, but what about the rest of you?--

--We've all got birds of prey,-- Philip answered.

--Then I think we should morph them when we got up onto the roof. Get into the sky as soon as possible and find our other two team mates and the celebrities.--

Sam nodded. --I assume you were down in the Yeerk Headquarters due to the whole Concorde-Visser Enterprises thing?-- she asked.

Jake looked blank for a second, or as blank as a tiger can look. --Oh, you mean the Yeerk Pool,-- he answered, as Philip knocked through the emergency exit door, and we trundled out on to the roof, blinking in the sunshine.

--You know, you could have asked Sam to turn the knob,-- said Ferdie casually.

--Er, yeah,-- continued Jake. --My brother Tom is a Controller, and he's really involved in the Sharing, which is how we first heard about it.--

--You're brother's a Controller?-- I asked, appalled.

--Yeah,-- said Jake sadly. --Anyway. That's how we found out about the whole Concorde scheme. We did a bit of digging and decided we couldn't let twelve politicians and celebrities become infested like that.--

--So we went down to the pool to kick a little Yeerk butt, and that's when you guys showed up,-- said the bear.

--I guess we've all got a lot to catch up on,-- said Sam. --You probably have more information than what we want to hear about the Yeerks.--

--Probably,-- said Jake. --But I'm sure there's stuff you've got to tell us.--

--We'll probably publish a book on it sometime,-- said Ferdie chirpily. --The Fantastic Voyage of the Five Fugitives.--

--Five? Prince Jake was under the impression that there were four of you,-- said the Andalite.

--There are four of us now,-- I said sadly. --We might tell you about that later on.--

Jake was quiet for a movement, then nodded understandingly - a strange movement coming from a tiger. Then, he snapped into his commander mode, so similar to Sam's.

--We should be able to demorph here,-- he said. --I can't see any cameras or people around. Ax? You want to start going harrier?--

--I am on my way, Prince Jake,- the Andalite replied.

--Maggie, you'd better de- and remorph to reset the time limit while you have the chance,-- Sam told me. I agreed, and concentrated on my human self, feeling the changes begin.

Such a large group of us morphing and demorphing was a very odd experience. I was so used to watching Ferdie, Philip and Sam do it, that it had almost become normal. But now, watching complete strangers do it too, I suddenly realised how strange my life had just become.

Philip was the fastest morpher, even out of the four more experienced morphers. Faster, even, than the Andalite. He was fully himself before the bear was even halfway human. He stood up tall, brushing a hand through his light hair, allowing the others to get a good look at his face.

"I'm Philip, in case you hadn't realised," he said, empathising his strong English accent. He took Jake's still orange striped hand and shook it warmly.

"Quick morph," Jake commented, his voice emerging as a rather low growl as he completed the changes to his head. "And I see you've learned how to morph clothing, too."

"Only tight stuff," I said, watching my red and orange leotard appear over my skin.

"Same with us," said the girl who was a grizzly bear a few minutes previously, indicating to her own morphing suit, a trendy black aerobics outfit. She was very tall, very blonde, and I couldn't believe for one second she was warrior material.

--Oh, Rachel's tougher than she looks,-- said Tobias, catching me looking at the girl who I swore should have been shopping at the mall that afternoon. --Marco calls her Xena: Warrior Princess.-- He ruffled his feathers, his beady eyes fixed on Rachel's face. I noticed he had not yet demorphed.

Rachel tossed her long hair over her shoulders and smiled dazzlingly at Tobias, revealing a thousand pearly whites. I saw Ferdie gazing at her for a second, but he was bought back down to earth by a raised eyebrow from Sam. "I see you have an eagle morph too," she said to me as the last of my feathers melted away. "Bigger than mine. That is so unfair," she said jokingly.

"What eagle do you have then?" I asked her.

"Oh, just a bald eagle," she said dismissively.

"Bald eagle?" I said, impressed. "Cool."

"Speaking of which, we should hurry up and morph," said Jake. He was tall and broad shouldered, good-looking in a mature sort of way, with dark brown hair that flopped casually over his forehead. He had that serious, responsible type of appearance. If he was the leader, he certainly looked the part.

"Yeah," agreed Sam, who was standing up and nodding at Jake. I hope she would be able take place as second-in-command of this group. It was clear that Jake should be in overall charge - this was his territory after all, and he certainly knew his stuff. No offence to Sam or anything, but I'd noticed from first-hand experience that she could sometimes be a little pushy if she didn't get her own way.

We finished introducing ourselves properly, then each morphed our own bird of prey. Ax, the Andalite, had a northern harrier morph. Rachel, as I already knew, was becoming a magnificent bald eagle. Tobias was still a red-tailed hawk. Jake had a peregrine flacon morph, which was similar to Sam's lanner falcon and Ferdie's hobbie.

--What happened to you other team mates?-- Philip asked, as we flapped off into the air. We spread out naturally, without a command from Jake or Sam, knowing that it would look strange for a hunch of raptors to be seen flying together in such a large group. Ferdie immediately began showing off, performing exciting twists and turns in the air. However, he was soon outshone by Tobias, who seemed more at home in his hawk morph than any of us I'd seen so far.

--Marco and Cassie?-- asked Jake. --Hopefully they managed to get the celebrities to safety, and should now be driving somewhere along highway, heading towards the town hall. He'll drop the free celebrities off there, hopefully with a warning never to say a word about their experiences to anyone, and never to get involved with Visser Enterprises or The Sharing ever again. That's not much, I know, but that's all we can do. It's up to them now, not to get caught again. Hopefully, they'll come to thier senses and go into hiding or something.--

--I guess so,-- Saim replied quietly. Then,--did you just say driving?--

--Yeah, we, um, kinda borrowed a school bus earlier on and parked it outside one of the exits from the Yeerk pool. That's one of the reasons why Marco was in his gorilla morph. It's the only animal any of us have that can drive.--

I let out a snort of amusement in thought-speak at the idea of a gorilla driving a school bus of a bunch of famous people.

--Yeah, well it's the best we could come up with at the time,-- Jake sniffed. --Anyway, whatever you do, just don't mention his driving skills. He hates that.--

--Get Philip to drive next time,-- Ferdie advised. --He was taught in the army. He can drive a tank.--

--Yes, thank you, Flawless,-- said Philip, who obviously not want the sensitive topic of his disastrous army career being bought up so early. Luckily the four of them took the hint and said nothing more about it.

--Where are you guys living?-- asked Rachel. --I heard you fugitives escaped in Europe.--

--Yeah, we come from the UK,-- Sam answered. --It's been a pretty tough journey for us to find you. We've come entirely in morph. We don't really have anywhere to stay - we've been sneaking into hotel rooms or sleeping in the woods.--

--Ah, ok. Why did you come to find us?-- she asked innocently.

--We were advised to,-- replied Philip. --We were given instructions to do so by the Andalite Eramas.--

--And now, you've got Visser Five and a load of other Controllers searching for you?-- said Rachel, a note of malice just about audible in her voice. --Way to go to lead them straight to us.--

--I think we'll have to hear their story later, Rachel,-- said Jake, before Sam could respond. --They've obviously got a lot to tell us, and I'm thinking it's not going to take five minutes.--

--Got that right,-- I said.

--Well, I'm, sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on,-- Jake went on, --so I guess you should be part of our little group.--

He paused, and the four of us were quiet for a moment.

--Welcome to the Animorphs,-- he said.