Dedicated to TheseBrokenWings, writer of a great oneshot ("Whirlwind").
Chapter 6
The Anati held their sticks as if posing for a team picture. The one in the middle calmly raised its and jerked it back through its chest. "Um…" Matt stared.
Their leader followed suit, their head dully thudding against the ice. Jake snapped out of his horrified position as spectator, demorphing as he raced into the ship and pulled out two shredders. After dialing them down just below "stun", he tossed one to Marco and started shooting. Between the two of them, they were able to incapacitate the Anati. "Rruyshah, Matt, go grab their sticks away."
They trundled off more slowly than we were used to, almost as if they were reluctant to save three lives, and removed the sticks. It didn't take long for the Anati to realize they were not in fact dead. But without a leader, they didn't seem to want to communicate with us.
Jake morphed-again!-and gave his ultimatum. ((We are confiscating your weapons.))
They didn't seem to care very much, and returned to the expanse they had come from.
"Do you think maybe they're under the control of The One?" surmised Matt.
"Unfortunately not." Jake demorphed as we closed the door to the ship.
((What are they?)) I tried to shake the image of their unconcerned fall from my head.
"Anati." Rruyshah looked at the ship's computer. "Should we head for the other system?"
"Why not?" Marco shrugged. He stepped forward to Jake and whispered something that caused Jake to narrow his eyes, shake his head, and whisper something back. Marco responded in kind.
"Don't you get offended they leave you out?" Matt started up a conversation with me.
((Nah…))
"I would."
"But you are left out now," Rruyshah interrupted.
"So I'm offended then."
Marco finished his conversation with Jake and tried to make small talk. "So…Matt. Do you work in tourism too?"
"No."
Put an end to things.
((Rruyshah, are we going to go through Z-space?))
"It would be faster."
((I don't think it would be safe. If Jake and Marco lose six years in one jump, who knows what would happen if we keep going?))
"The Ellimist," Marco joked.
((How long would it take if we didn't use Z-space?))
"Approximately…Matrex? What unit of time measurement does this species use?"
He paused before decisively stating, "Nanoseconds."
"And how long are they?"
"Hey, hold it," Jake rolled his eyes. "Matt, I'm not sure where you got that, but we don't use nanoseconds."
"You were just talking about them," he retorted.
"Let's go through Z-space," Marco decided. "If I do get younger, at least I won't look like a dorky teenager."
((What if it affects your brain, too?)) I worried.
"We still kept all our memories," Jake tried to reassure us. "We'll be fine. Go ahead, Rruyshah."
Somehow (I have quite the suspicion it was on purpose) she managed to turn off auto-pilot before the jump, leaving us at the mercy of gravity for a few dysfunctional seconds. The stark nonexistence surrounding us was jarring at first, but I quickly adjusted to it.
"It might still be a while," Rruyshah mercifully restored autopilot. "Matrex, would you like to pass the time by-"
He didn't let her finish. "No."
I looked over at Jake, who shrugged. "We might be better off staying out of their business."
"You got that right," Marco looked warily over at Matt. "And then some."
"Marco, we need to trust them."
((I think they can hear everything we're saying.))
"Rruyshah, is there anyplace private on this ship?"
"Yes."
She could really be aggravating. "Where?"
She pointed to an opening which we crawled through. It led to a dark cargo bay. We entered warily. "They're probably going to lock us out," Marco whispered.
"Marco, think about it. They need our help as much as we need theirs. More, even."
"Wanna run that by me again?"
"Think about it: they hadn't tried anything as far as attacking goes. They didn't have any weapons."
"Didn't? As in now they do?"
"How would they take it if we kept the shredders for ourselves?"
Marco grudgingly accepted Jake was right on that one.
"Remember the Leerans?"
"Of course."
"They had to have been created or evolved somehow. We know there are telepaths out there. Maybe Kelbrid are similar."
"Actually, they remind me less of Leerans and more of…Tobias, help me out here."
((The first time in the Yeerk pool.))
Jake's face paled. He, too, remembered the behemoth Visser Three had morphed: eight heads and eight legs. But he tried to remain confident. "The Kelbrid haven't exactly been breathing fire at us."
"Well, they're not exactly on the swim team either."
He threw his hands up in exasperation. "Listen, what do you want me to do?"
"I guess just be careful."
"I think you'll take enough care for both of us."
((Then you can cover for me, Jake.))
He blushed. "Yeah…I'll do that."
I'd always had a knack for avoiding attention. The most infamous I'd ever become (obviously before the war ended) was as a great person to push into toilets. After a while, even that became routine. I preferred it that way. Even something as simple as reminding them I was there like that would have been something major before. So somehow, the war had forced me to expose a little more of myself, just as it had forced Jake inward.
That wasn't true, I corrected myself. The aftershock had done that: the attention had acted as a catalyst to erode him even as he was already being eaten away from the inside. Now, in the anonymity of this war, he could restore himself again. Tempered by the loss of Menderash, Santorelli, and Jeanne, he was a new leader.
"Okay," Marco said, heading back towards the main area of the ship. "Hey!" He'd stubbed his toe. "There's an iPod in here!"
Jake almost laughed. "Finders keepers?"
"Sweet." He picked it up and climbed out into the bright helm. "How's it going?"
"Don't interrupt me!" Matt was fully engaged in a game that involved stacking some small plastic objects on top of each other. It toppled over. "I win."
"You do not!" Rruyshah began putting the things back in a box. "When I knocked it over last time, you won because I knocked it over. So I win this one."
"Count to ten, Marco," Jake whispered.