Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs, nor do I have the energy to make up a creative disclaimer.

A/N: This update was really fast! Warning: Major Marco angst coming up. Oh, and next chapter includes just a little Jake and Tom stuff, which I know has taken awhile to show up, but it's here at last. Anyways, enjoy!

"Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event can change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way."--Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park

Julie

I was dreaming. It was a dark night outside, and the snow was falling fast. I was sitting next to Hanna, in our living room, in front of a great roaring, blazing fire. We were laughing about something inconsequential. Hanna's freckled little face gazed up at me, full of hero worship, and I flushed, a little embarrassed.

"Julie?" she asked timidly.

"Yes, Hanna?" I replied.

"I got a question."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Oh. Okay. There's this kid at school--"

"Yeah?" Oh, great. I didn't know if I could help. I wasn't great at helping with school problems. Sometimes Hanna had too much faith in me. I always tried hard to make sure it was not misplaced, however, so now I was all ears. At that point, though, the dream began to fade, and I felt as if I were being swept away from Hanna again. "HANNA!" I screamed, as the dark mists swirled in front of my eyes. But she was gone.

I blinked my eyes. I had thought I was awake, but that didn't seem right. I was in a dim, half-lit place, leaning on a boy's shoulder. I looked up at him. He had untidy dark hair, falling to his chin, and a slightly pointed Hispanic face. His black eyes seemed nervous and hesitant. He was cute. I smiled at him dreamily. He started and then slowly smiled back. My eyes shut again involuntarily. The mists swirled me away into deep, deep, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up again, it was because the Andalite was shaking me gently. It was a little bit weird, being gently shaken by a huge male silverback gorilla, but probably the Andalite wasn't really thinking about that. I blinked my eyes and became suddenly aware of numerous aches and pains in muscles from sleeping in an odd position.

"What's the plan?" I whispered to him.

His voice in my head sounded tense and excited as he replied, (Most of the explosives, we'll leave here, and set them to detonate in an hour. I'm thinking we could take a few into their control room and detonate them immediately, so-)

"Visser Three will be distracted, and we can rescue your friends before this entire place is blown sky-high!" I finished, joyfully. "That's a great idea!"

(Thanks--uh, thank you.) The huge gorilla head turned away in--what was it--embarrassment? That seemed strange in an Andalite, but we didn't really have the time for me to indulge in long speculations. Still, it was invigorating to be able to think what I liked without someone in my head able to overhear every word.

"Let's go!" I cried, intoxicated with a sudden, fierce joy as I realized that I was free, truly free for the first time in four years.

(Okay, um, can you help me with these explosives? The ones we want to detonate in an hour? I'm no expert--that is, I do not know as much about Yeerk technology in this respect.)

"We could set the timer," I suggested. "Most of them are in English, because of the Human Controllers--you know English, don't you?"

(Um, yes, I--it was necessary for me to--uh--know it in order to, um, survive on your world. The timer…that's a good…a good idea.)

"Thanks," I replied, wondering though why this Andalite couldn't have thought of it himself. He fumbled with the explosives for a minute. (There, ) he said presently. (The timer is-uh-set. For an hour. We should hurry.)

"Yeah, definitely," I agreed. No way did I want still to be here when the bulk of the explosives went off. I shoved my head out of the cupboard. No one around. Good. "The control room's this way," I said, beckoning to the Andalite. When you've lived aboard a ship for almost a month, you start getting the hang of where things are. It was very close, actually. We walked for maybe five minutes, and then there we were. "So what now?" I asked.

(We open the door, chuck the stuff in and run?) the Andalite suggested. I wondered for a moment suspiciously about the Andalite's mode of speech--it seemed awfully slangy for a race I'd heard walked the edge between pride and arrogance. But there was no time to worry about that now. "Sounds good," I said, flashing him a grin. I took a deep, deep breath, and pressed down the detonator. Numbers in English and what I thought was Galen. 10...9...8...

The doors slid open. I chucked the stuff. (RUN!) shouted the Andalite in my head, grabbing my hand in his and jerking me backward. I heard the Hork-Bajir yelling in Galen, and then we were running down the hallway, as fast as we could, which, since the Andalite was a gorilla, was really, really fast. (Uh, not that I'm trying to be rude or anything,) he said suddenly. (But could I carry you?)

"What--you mean--to be--faster?" I gasped, out of breath.

(Yeah--Yes.)

In an instant, he had scooped me up, and we were running faster than ever, the Hork-Bajir's shouts fading into the distance behind us. "Where are we going?" I asked, then answered my own question. "Your friends. Of course."

We're almost there! his thought-speak voice was laden with excitement. We rounded a corner and found ourselves standing in front of a large gray door. Locked.

(Stand back,) the Andalite said. (No time to be subtle.)

He set me down, and I backed up a few paces. Not too far, though; I didn't want to miss the action. The Andalite drew back one huge gorilla fist and punched forward, smashing into the door. That door didn't have a chance. It crumpled in an instant, and we were staring into a small, windowless room, where a girl and a boy were sitting against the back wall, the girl asleep, her head pillowed on the boy's shoulder. The boy had been recently asleep, but probably the shock of the door being punched in had woken him. He blinked a little confusedly and then shook the girl.

The Andalite barreled through the door. (Are you guys okay?) I followed at a respectful distance.

"We are not harmed. We were very lucky. Especially Melissa."

The girl was waking up now. She shook her head sleepily and looked around.

The Andalite looked ever-so-slightly embarrassed. (Sorry, no time for pleasantries, ) he said gruffly. (We've got to get moving. The ship's going to blow in about forty-five minutes.)

"What have you done?" the boy asked.

(There were some explosives. This is Julie, by the way. Let's go.)

The boy got uncomfortably to his feet and helped the girl up, since she was sleepier than he was. Then we all ran out the door together.

Unfortunately, it took us a long time to find the Bug Fighters, about half an hour. Drinid hadn't had a lot of truck with them, so I only had a vague notion of where we should go. We were getting really nervous by this time, of course. And then we still had to get rid of those stupid Hork-Bajir guards. The Andalite came up with a very novel plan. Basically, it involved a tap-dancing gorilla, a tap-dancing former Controller, and two other people armed with makeshift coshes.

We were in. And not a moment too soon. The Andalite's friends hurriedly moved to the control room, and the Andalite himself smiled at me, as well as he could, considering his face. I was about to smile back when I glanced out the door of the Bug Fighter, which was beginning to slide shut. I froze. There was a child down at the far end of the hallway, flanked by two Hork-Bajir. A child with blond hair and freckles, her arms pinned behind her. A child I knew very well. Oh, God, I thought. Hanna. On the Blade Ship. The Blade Ship which was going to explode in ten seconds. The doors were sliding shut, I was running forward, screaming something, I don't know what, and all the time, there was this little voice in my head that was going, 10...9...8...