Jake

We went straight from the Yeerk installation to the home of Erek King, also known as Erek the Chee.

The Chee are a race of androids. They were created eons ago by the Pemalites, a peaceful and advanced race. Because the Pemalites abhorred violence, the Chee were hardwired for pacifism.

The Chee, along with Pemalite survivors of a devastating attack by a race called the Howlers, arrived on Earth thousands of years ago. The Pemalites were blended with wolves to create dogs, and the Chee, aided by advanced holographic force field technology, became part of fledgling human societies.

We landed in Erek's backyard and demorphed. We all rested a moment and let Ax get a hoofful of grass before going up to the sliding glass back door.

I tapped on the door. Erek's "father," in reality a Chee just playing a role, was inside was watching TV in his human hologram, probably because the blinds were up. He glanced up, saw us, and let us in the house. "I'm surprised to see you back so soon," he said. "Hang on, I'll get Erek." Mr. King left the room as Tobias perched on his chair back.

Not for the first time, I was struck by the sheer normalcy of the house. Knick-knacks on the mantle, books on the shelves, family photos on the hutch. It was like any other suburban home. Except it was inhabited by bipedal doglike androids.

Marco had taken a seat on the sofa. "I swear, do they ever turn this TV off? There electricity bill must be exorbitant."

"That's a mighty big word there, Marco," Rachel said dryly.

"Hey, I know lots of big words. I'm not all good looks."

Rachel snorted, picking up the TV remote to change the channel. Before she did, though, Erek, in his human hologram, entered.

On the outside, Erek looks just like a kid my age. Only a few know that he's actually a robot older than the pyramids.

"Hey," he said. "How'd it go?"

"That's it?" Marco asked. "'How'd it go?' No, 'I'm glad you're alright. I happy that you made it through the life-and-death struggle you surely faced?'"

"Shut it, Marco," Rachel said. "You're not the one who almost got shot."

Erek raised an eyebrow. "Alright, I take it that it was harrowing."

(Just a little bit,) Tobias said.

"So what happened to the facility?" Erek asked.

"It blew up," Cassie said.

"What! You destroyed it? That's great! That's more then I hoped for. I would have been happy with you just disabling it."

"I'm so glad you're pleased, Erek, but, alas, the credit is not ours," Marco said.

"What?"

(We did not destroy the facility,) Ax said.

"Then who did?"

"That's what we want to know," I said.

We all explained the circumstances of the weapons installation's destruction and described the alien spaceships. As we did, Erek's face, his holographic face, darkened.

"So," I said in conclusion. "Do these ships ring a bell? Ever seen them before?"

"Unfortunately," Erek sighed. "I have. All of you better get comfortable; this is going to take awhile. And you're not going to like it."

"Erek," Marco said. "We rarely like anything you tell us. I think it's because every time you talk to us, we go on a suicide mission. He paused, slapping his head. "Oh, great, that what this is. It's another suicide mission, isn't it?"

"Just let me explain. Yes, I have seen ships like that. The last time was several thousand years ago."

(Where?) Tobias

Erek sighed. "Here, on Earth."

There was a collective gasp. "These things are thousands of years old?" I asked.

"Let me explain," Erek repeated. "It's a long story."

"When I was posing as a slave in ancient Egypt, the region, and most of the planet, was ruled by a being who called himself Ra, the Egyptian sun god. Physically, he looked human, but there was no way he could have been human. He had technology that to this day makes human technology look insignificant. In fact, it probably rivaled Andalite technology.

Ax gave a sort.

"Ra ruled through fear. He had large armies that kept the populace under control, making sure they worshipped him as a god. His troops were designed to instill terror. They were, for lack of a better term, a 'breed' of human called Jaffa. They wore massive helmets that were designed after Egyptian deities. They wielded long staffs that were actually powerful energy weapons.

"Ra's Jaffa were supported from the air by the ships you described. He called them 'death gliders.' If a group got too out of line, Ra just had to sic the gliders on them.

"We tried many times to get in Ra's inner circle, to discover what he was and what we could do about him. We never had any luck.

"Apparently, though, people grew tired of living under Ra and his Jaffa stormtroopers. A full scale revolt was organized, and entire nations went up in full rebellion. It started with sticks and stones, but soon humans were armed with the weapons of fallen Jaffa and overwhelmed Ra's forces. Ra himself bailed. He left the planet in a massive pyramid-shaped spaceship. We don't know where he went.

"After Ra left and the remaining Jaffa were put down, the last thing the people did was bury a massive stone ring. The Chee had no idea what the ring was, or if it had any function, but the humans regarded it as a symbol of Ra's power and wanted it gone. After that, human history pretty much settled down to what you study in school."

I was floored. Humanity suffered through an alien occupation thousands of years ago? It was unimaginable. I glanced around at the others. They seemed to be having pretty much the same reaction. Cassie's, Rachel's, and Marco's jaws hung open. Tobias' hawk eyes were as big as I had ever seen them. Ax was the only one who didn't seem to be in shock. He looked more irritated at Erek calling millennia-old technology on par with that of the Andalites.

"So" Cassie said, the first to speak. "Ra's come back?"

"Him, or a friend of his," Erek said. "Either way we're in trouble."

To AllOrNone- Congrats! You were the first one to guess it. Have a cookie and pat yourself on the back.