Chapter Eight
The rest of the journey passed without too much excitement. Philip took the 'scenic' route, rather than sticking to the busy freeways, in order to give those who were morphed a chanced to demorph without being spotted.For Ax, we had to pull over so he could demorph in the safety of a forest. The rest of us, having smaller, human bodies, just demorphed in the car. Soon after we were back on the road, Jake's mobile began to beep.
"Hey, Erek," he said. He paused as he listened to the new information. "Sure. Yeah. I'll let them know. See you later." He turned round to face the rest of us.
"That was Erek, if you hadn't guessed. Just giving us directions where to meet the Chee."
--Where are we meeting them?-- I asked.
"In a public place. A mall - Philip, I'll give you directions there. Erek said they'll place a hologram over us and they'll drive us back to their house."
--These robots live in houses?-- laughed Ferdie. --The Android family at Number 42?--
"That's just to keep up appearances," Jake sighed. "Being spies and all, they obviously don't want to raise any suspicions."
Eventually, we began to see signs that we were entering the city. Tall office buildings could be seen in the distance. The roads were becoming more and more congested as we entered the rush hour. The hum of busy, urban life could be heard as we drove towards the city.
--This feels like old times,-- sighed Ferdie, --when we were trying to find you guys. We'd find a city, demorph for geese and chase some townie up the street for a few hotdogs.--
"I could do with a nice hotdog now," said Marco conversationally. "Do we get fed at the Chees' houses?"
"I don't think they're exactly planning to host a dinner party," replied Rachel, rolling her eyes. "I don't think the Chee even eat like we do."
Jake and Philip were trying to locate the shopping mall, peering at road signs, getting lost, and doubling back every few minutes.
"I thought you said he was good with directions," Marco whispered to me, listening to Philip's cursing because he couldn't work out which exit to take off the highway.
"At least he can drive, Marco," said Rachel. "Which is more to be said about your abilities."
--Philip, I believe we are heading south,-- Ax said after a stressful five minutes. --We should be aiming to travel east.--
"Yeah, I know that, Ax," huffed Philip. "But for your information, this is a highway, and you can't just stop the car and start driving at a ninety-degree angle to the rest of the traffic."
At long last, and after another phone call to Erek, the guys managed to get to our destination without too much fuss. Philip parked the car in a shadowy corner of a near-by multi-storey carpark. Maggie and I demorphed on the back seat, and Tobias morphed to his human form. Philip, Ferdie, Maggie and I carried out some partial morphs to distort out features, just incase a Controller should recognise us. We threw on the clothes we had bought with us, glad that we'd remembered to bring shoes for once. Tobias picked up Ax, who was still in snake-form, and tucked him into his jacket pocket. He would have to wait until we found a secure place to demorph.
Rachel, who was the expert on mall-orientation, led us through the carpark in into the mall, where we found coffee bar where Erek had told us to meet the Chee. Rachel went up to the counter and bought us some drinks, and we sat down at a table. I scanned the crowds, looking for two people who might be Jennifer and Paul, but of course, I knew it was impossible to be sure. I had seen what the Chee could do.
--Are we going to be buying any cinnamon buns?-- asked Ax hopefully, from inside Tobias's pocket. --I should very much like to taste the sweet flavour of the buns once again.--
None of us replied, partly because rattlesnakes are deaf and none of us were in a position to thought-speak, and partly because we were too occupied with other things to worry about a crazy bun-eating Andalite again. Just then, we were approached by two very realistically portrayed humans; a tall, middle aged guy and a younger, Chinese woman with striking blue hair.
"Erek sent you guys?" asked the man, looking over our group.
Jake leapt up and shook his hand. "Yeah, that's us," he said vaguely, incase any Controllers were listening. "I'm Jake."
"Hey," said the girl. "I'm Jenni and this is Paul. You guys ready?" Suddenly, the air around us shimmered, and I knew that we were once again inside a hologram. The two Chee stood before us, revealing their natural, robotic forms. "We can talk openly now. All anyone watching us is a group of businessmen having a working lunch. Not the most exciting thing to watch, so I'm sure we'll be safe."
"I thought there was another one of you?" asked Paul, the once-male Chee. "are they here?"
--I am here,-- said Ax. --As I am sure you are aware, I am an Andalite. I was unable to demorph in a public place.--
"Ah, well you're quite safe now," Paul continued. "You can demorph freely. No one will see you."
--Yes, you're technology is quite admirable,-- said Ax, as Tobias scooped him up and placed him on the floor. The Chee watched as the snake began to grown, shift and mutate as it become Andalite.
"This is so weird," muttered Cassie.
"What is?" I asked. "Surely you've seen him demorph before?"
"Yeah, but never in a public place. I know we're shielded by the hologram, but it still seems really strange when there are all these people talking passed."
"I know what you mean," said Tobias. "I keep expecting some Controller to leap out and take us all to Visser Three."
"Or at least some old lady to have a heart attack," piped in Marco.
"That's not funny," said Rachel.
"I wasn't making a joke!" protested Marco. "I was just saying how strange this is!"
Rachel began to argue back, but Jake broke her off. "Well, we can't sit around drinking coffee all day," he said. "We have just hours before this bomb goes off. Paul, Jenni? Erek said we were to go back to yours?"
"Absolutely," said Jenni, standing up onto her dog-like hind legs and leading us out of the mall. Our place is not far from here. But I'll keep the hologram around us just in case."