Dedicated to Amberhawk

Chapter 10

((Rruyshah, come here.))

She stalked in. "Are you trying to separate me from the immature-"

I cut her off before she could begin her rant. ((Check this number out.)) I pointed my wingtip at a series of digits that were rapidly changing. ((Is it lower than the cutoff line you and Jake agreed on?))

"Is your species so incredibly hopeless that you cannot compare two numbers?"

((Red-tailed hawks? Yep. Humans…Rruyshah, you want to defeat whatever it is too, so help me here.))

"Well, Z-space is being reorganized at lightspeed if not faster, so whatever it is…you know, this is pointless, you staying here and watching that. Come out with us."

((And do what? No offense, but I'd rather not come between the three of you.)) I paused. ((Speaking of which, what has Jake been doing this whole time?))

"Mostly talking to Marco, keeping him away from Matrex and me."

((Can't say I blame him.))

"What?"

((Never mind. Let's just continue with the predicted course and jump out…when we planned.))

"I didn't need you to tell me that." And she tromped off, ready to inflict torture on her victim-of-the-day (and I got the feeling his name would start with an M).

This would be the place, in the painstakingly detailed chronicles we kept on Earth, that I tell the reader how long we'd been following the Blade ship. Perhaps luckily, there was no way of knowing. With no Earth to measure our days by, we set our own sleep schedules. I'd never clocked mine (there were clocks that Marco could decipher, although I was virtually hopeless after spending all the time I did staring at the display I'd been monitoring): I assumed I was fairly erratic. Marco would wake and sleep for long stretches: I once got in an entire cycle of mine with him still awake. Matt and Rruyshah fended for themselves: wherever they slept, I clearly wasn't invited in. Jake never seemed to sleep. I'd often hear him pacing the ship, or even having long conversations with one of the Kelbrid.

It had taken me several "days" to convince Jake that I wouldn't be comfortable in a regular room. I routinely fell asleep at the console to the hums of the ship's massive engines.

Matt shuffled in. "Want me to take over?" he muttered monotonically.

((Who volunteered you for this?))

He perked up at that. "I told you he'd know!" he yelled as he clambered back the way he had come. It had been amusing at first to watch the Kelbrid walk: they clearly could function on only two legs, and wouldn't trip as much, yet somehow they'd evolved eight.

I didn't really need to hear the result of that conversation, so I focused on the numbers for a minute before realizing that would be pointless. In fact, my whole position was pointless.

I didn't resent that, oh no. Quite the contrary: I felt guilty about being unable to contribute. Even the first time around, I'd been stupid enough to get trapped in morph. Would I have been able to make a difference, if I'd gotten the chance? Swung some critical pivot the other way?

Maybe…maybe The One could hear my thoughtspeak from this distance. If I could try and cut some sort of bargain with it…Jake would be furious of course, and turn his guilt upon himself. It would be the aftermath of the Yeerk war all over again, this time with me taking the easy way out. And they didn't deserve that…

"Tobias, how insane are you?"

((Very,)) I immediately replied before I realized that it wasn't me that had said it. Even more proof. ((Who is this?))

"Me." Rruyshah shoved me aside as she went to the control. "Even you should be able to see that this number-" she pointed with one limb, "is shrinking. Fewer digits. And why is it in base ten? I thought the Yeerks at least were above that."

((We beat them, remember.))

Turbulence kicked in again, and I was shunted across the room. "Who let Rruyshah start the landing sequence?" Marco infuriatedly navigated the partial gravity to fight her for the controls, just like he'd battled with Matt for the Anati's puck.

((Me.))

Jake looked like a monkey climbing in at an odd angle. "Marco, Rruyshah, this is our only ship, so please make sure it lands in such a way that it can take off again."

I knew that might be asking a bit much, but didn't comment. Luckily (?), Rruyshah was able to fend off Marco enough to land the ship without interference.

"Rruyshah, you're the tourism…geek, for lack of a better word-"

"What is a geek?" she asked innocently.

"In this case, the one who knows the most about tourism. So what can you tell us about the people who live here?"

"Which planet is this?"

"You set the coordinates!" Marco yelled.

"That was earlier."

"Tell us what both planets are like, then we can figure out which one we're on." Matt suggested as he entered.

Marco drew back sulkily, probably because Matt had actually hit on a good idea. "I think one's a satellite. Both had Yeerk exploration," Rruyshah informed us.

"You memorize all this?" Marco shook his head, overwhelmed but pleased.

"Our brain capacities exceed yours greatly."

"Actually, they don't," Matt said conspiratorially.

((Maybe they have some sort of information implant, like the Andalite translator chip. )) I wisely kept that to Jake and Marco: knowing Rruyshah, she'd have taken it personally.

Jake nodded. Before Rruyshah could harp on him for what was apparently agreement with Matt, he spoke. "Do you know what any of the species that live here are like? We may have similar morphs."

She tried to retain her arrogance while saying, "No".

"Cockroach time," Marco grinned.

"Okay dude, your turn," Jake punched him playfully.

"What?"

"I had to go cockroach with Tobias on that other planet. You're up."

"But-hey, I was stuck here with these two. That's no picnic."

"I never said it was. Morphin' time."

Marco sighed dramatically and walked over to the door, with us following. ((We should stand back-we've gotten lucky with atmospheres on the two planets before this one, but no promise this time.))

"Who's going to open it for me?"

"I will," Jake immediately volunteered.

"Okay, fine. Any other objections?...No? Dang. Ah well…" He began the grotesque morph.

Jake opened the door, and immediately we were subjected to darkness.

We were all mesmerized for a second or so at the total emptiness. Someone might say it was like we were standing at the edge of the world, but that's wrong. At the edge of the world, you can stare out into space, and I'd seen how colorful space could be. This was pure black, the black only imaginable by scribbling kindergarteners gripping crayons. The austere beauty probably could have attracted me longer than any of the others, but Matt had a less aesthetic mindset. "Shut the-" (here he used a word I wouldn't expect a Kelbrid to know) "thing!"

Eyes wider than usual, Jake did.

"And on to plan B we go."