Dedicated to Aizxana

Chapter 13

The beeps continued quietly as we discussed this turn of events. ((I'm pretty sure they respond to thoughtspeak,)) guessed Jake.

((Okay, so ask if a Blade ship was here.))

((You can.))

I didn't want to lose time arguing. ((Has a Blade ship been here?))

Beepity-beep-beep.

((Do you speak English?)) tried Jake.

((Of course they don't speak English!)) Marco shot back.

((We didn't think the Kelbrid would, either.))

Loud beeps.

((I could try to morph them.))

((You'd have to find them first.))

((Maybe we can provoke them, so they show their lights again?)) Immediately, the red shots we'd seen were fired up into the air in a continuous stream.

((That was too easy. Not that I mind easy.))

Jake walked toward the nearest of them and put a Kelbrid limb on it as he demorphed, presumably wanting to spend as little time as human as possible. "Okay, here I go..."

There was a disturbing silence until worry finally drove me to speak. ((Jake? Are you okay?))

((What? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm a Kelbrid again, though. I can't morph them.))

"You are a Kelbrid, yet you cannot morph Kelbrid?" Sometimes I felt a little sorry for Rruyshah.

((No, I can't morph the things that are here.))

"Why not?"

"Stuck in Kelbrid morph?" Matt sounded almost excited at the prospect.

Marco was concerned. ((What's with you? You'd think you wanted him to be stuck.))

The incessant beeps continued. ((Rruyshah, can you at least guess at what kind of thing would communicate like this?))

"Our computer," she retorted.

((That's actually not so far-out,)) he accepted. ((They could be robots.))

Marco saw the natural corollary. ((But robots have designers.))

((They seem to respond well to commands: let me try this. Keep your lights on, and move towards the creatures who created you.))

They filed off in procession, an illuminated line. We could vaguely see that they were in fact metallic, and moved on four wheels each. They trudged on stolidly, until they disappeared. ((Turn your lights back on!)) Marco angrily told them.

Faint beeps.

"The lights are on. See?" We couldn't, of course, see Matt point. But after a few seconds of adjusting, we saw that the red beams, instead of pointing straight up to guide our way, were now perfectly horizontal and descending.

((They live underground,)) I realized.

((Far underground,)) Marco echoed.

Jake crept up closer to the brink. ((And it's a long way down.))

((Bird morphs?))

"Oh no you don't. We're going with you, and that means you give us the morphing power." Matt was not willing to debate.

((It could be a trap. If something happens to us, we'd need you to continue on.))

"I'm flattered. Not."

((I'm sure you'd like to leave them alone with the spaceship, Marco.)) Jake kept his comment private.

((As opposed to giving them the morphing power! Yes!))

((What could they acquire that would be a threat?)) I posed the question.

When he didn't respond, Jake took the lead. ((Only one of us needs to go back and get it. Marco, need a vacation from the Kelbrid?))

Reluctantly, he was swayed. ((Fine. But I'll have to demorph on the way, and so will you. No matter how much it pleases Matt, we're not going to get stuck in these morphs.))

((Definitely.))

He took off. ((Okay, )) Jake said. ((Matt, you seem to know plenty about morphing: Rruyshah, are you familiar with it?))

"Only that the Andalites developed it."

((Okay, well, that's a start. When Marco comes back, he's going to bring a blue cube. Once you touch it, you'll have the power to become any animal you touch by concentrating on it-hold on.)) He gave his attention to the retreating robots. ((Hold on, wait for us.))

"So we'll be acquiring bird-boy here?" Matt correctly assumed.

((His name is Tobias.))

((Jake, don't bother.))

((Quit playing martyr!))

Unsure how to take that, I backed away from him. ((Anyhow, Rruyshah, we can only stay in a morph for two hours, otherwise we become the animal permanently. So right now, I'm going to morph back to hawk, and then back to Kelbrid, so I get two more hours.))

As I did so, trying to ignore the cold, Rruyshah pieced it together. "You were a human! And you became stuck in that morph!"

((Yep.))

"But…how come you can still morph?"

((A little help from the Ellimist-have you ever heard of him?))

"Of course!"

((Oh, okay.)) No use offending her.

"You are a strange individual. The fact that you are not human is perhaps a good thing."

((Why is that?))

"Humans are a strange species."

((Yeah, well, so are Kelbrid.))

"We are much more advanced then you!"

((Right, of course.))

She paused. "Am I so scaring that you must resort to…flattery, the word is, I think? To keep me calm?"

((Well…yeah, you can be.))

"I apologize."

Marco was never going to believe me when I told him this.

"I suppose that is unique to humans, although I've interacted with very few species."

((Maybe. I don't know. I think the Yeerks might do it, too.))

I'm not sure she was listening to me. She was just rambling, off in her own world. "All that we learned, that we were drilled on, and it means nothing next to actually talking with an alien. Is that why we had the tourism wing: so we could have real teachers?"

I let her talk to herself while I timidly approached Jake. ((You want to remorph?))

((Oh-no, I'm fine, I did that when I was trying to morph the robots.)) He paused. I felt he wanted to say something to me but was a little afraid to, so I just quietly waited. ((I'm sorry for getting mad at you. Look who's talking, huh?))

((It's okay,)) I replied.

We waited quietly: Matt paced, Rruyshah pondered, and Jake and I just respected the silence. Finally, we heard Marco approach. He was holding the box that was standard protocol to bring along on all human or Andalite missions, even though most of the crew were generally equipped with the morphing power. ((Here we go.))

Matt eagerly reached out.

((Hold on, wait for Rruyshah, you should do it at the same time. Jake, do you want to do the honors?))

((You can.))

((Okay then. Come on, Rruyshah.))

She slowly edged towards him, probably nervous like we were when we'd gotten the morphing power.

((Count of three? One, two, three…))

"Aah!" she screamed.

((It only happens that once,)) Jake counseled her. ((Kelbrid might be more sensitive to the tingle.))

"I didn't feel anything," Matt said sulkily.

((Really? Try again.))

He did. "No tingle."

((Hmm. Well, you should still be able to morph.))

"Okay. Go ahead and demorph, Tobias."

Passively, I did. The chill still tried to penetrate me, and I felt grateful for the Kelbrid form. It was only fair they get a chance…

I felt Matt roughly grab my wing. I waited to sink into the acquiring trance, but felt as alert as ever.

"I don't think it worked."

Jake wouldn't be discouraged. ((Rruyshah, go ahead and try. Touch Tobias like Matt did and concentrate on him.))

((That's kinda disturbing when you think about it.))

((Shut up, Marco.))

This time I felt detached from the world (even more so than usual). Like I could have been floating in Z-space and it didn't make any difference. When Rruyshah broke contact, I felt hyperaware but quickly morphed back to Kelbrid.

((What was that for?)) Apparently the dim red light was enough for Jake see what was going on.

((To get out of the cold.))

((We're going bird in a few seconds, anyway.))

((Oh. Yeah. Sorry.))

((Don't worry about it.))

((I don't think Matt got my DNA.))

((Hey, somebody has to take the cube back to the ship,)) Marco reasoned.

"Don't even think about it."

((We don't want to put you in danger-)) Jake began.

"Ha. Good one."

((Anyhow. Rruyshah, concentrate on Tobias again and you should feel yourself turn into him.))

We waited, expectantly, and then heard a scream of surprise.

But it wasn't from Rruyshah.

"I'm morphing! I'm morphing Tobias!"

Marco scrutinized Matt. "So he is."

((And so am I!)) Rruyshah exclaimed. What an amazing feeling it must have been: not to worry about fighting Yeerks, but the sheer glory of her first morph.

"Keep going," Jake urged as he passed through human. "Don't stop halfway." Pretty soon all five of us were hovering above the crack in the earth. ((You can go ahead now, we're following you,)) he informed the robots.

It was a long fall, and no thermals. We had to brake ourselves, and were just reaching the bottom when Marco realized, ((We left the morphing cube on top.))

((Shouldn't be too hard, should it? Just kick it down here.)) Matt was circling around, in rapture at his new gift.

((Ah. I'll try.)) He shot up and nudged the box over the edge.

The next moment, Rruyshah was stunned by a blow to the head. We sped to the bottom to make sure she didn't crash. ((Demorph, you moronic sub-low-rank!)) Matt exploited his chance to turn the tables as he did so himself.

She screeched a little but didn't respond.

((Man, she must be out bad…))

Jake had also demorphed. "Hey, it's warmer down here. Rruyshah?" he said a little worriedly. "Can you demorph? Concentrate on your own Kelbrid body."

Agonizingly, she began to do so, and Matt did at the same rate. When she finally was able to stagger up, she took out her frustration on Marco. "Why did you do that?"

((It was accidental!)) He reached the bottom last and demorphed. ((I swear.))

Jake jogged a little to catch up with the robots. "Hold up."

They continued trucking along, beeping all the way.

"Tobias, could you tell them to stop?"

((Sure, um…stop?))

They did.

As the others caught up, I glided above them. ((So how come the Kelbrid morph in the same way, and only Rruyshah can be in charge?))

"Probably because I'm her clone," Matt said casually.

"You're her what?" Jake stopped in his tracks.

"Clone."

"But you're male." Marco, of course.

"I don't need reminding."

"How-"

"It's a long story."

We probably would have urged him to tell it in detail. Fortunately for him, the robots made a sharp turn to a cavern that was surprisingly warm, and humid. It was only a few steps until we got our first glimpses of the creatures that lived within it.