Chapter 4
There was a sudden, sharp flash of blue light as Marco's knuckles came to within millimetres of my nose. I could actually see the tiny hairs on his hand, in the instant before he vanished.
For a few moments, Jake and I stood there, saying nothing. It didn't last long.
"What the hell just happened?" Jake said, his voice sounding like a whisper.
I looked around; for some reason I half expected the midget to have rematerialised somewhere nearby.
No such bad luck.
"We've seen some weird stuff," Jake said. Right he was. "But I can safely say I've never seen someone just disappear in a flash of light."
I laughed half-heartedly. "I'm more surprised that the little shrimp took a swing at me. Who knew he had it in him?"
Jake gave me a face that said it all. Don't make jokes.
Tobias just sat perched on a pipe running along the ceiling. His fierce raptor eyes didn't show any sign of what he was feeling.
"Let's go find Ax, maybe he can help," I suggested, trying to be helpful.
(I'm going to stay out here, guys,) Tobias said. (If any Hork-Bajir or deranged vissers come down the hall, I'll give you a tweet.)
Jake nodded, and took off down the corridor. I gave Tobias a concerned look; he bobbed his head at me and took off down the hall. I followed Jake, and realised that I hadn't done this much running in my own body for a long time.
We came to a door with some weird Yeerk writing on it. Obviously, neither of us could read Yeerk or Galard, but the door was twice as large as all the others, and the frame was gold. If ever there was a way of saying 'what lies behind me is important', this door said it loudly and obnoxiously.
The door opened with a hiss, and Jake and I stepped inside.
We looked around together, and saw that the bridge was totally empty. There were computer stations everywhere; it looked just like the bridge of the Enterprise. The huge, raised chair in the centre just screamed 'the Visser with a huge ego sits in me.'
"You certainly took your time!" shouted an imperious Russian voice.
Jake and I practically fell over. It was Sub-Visser Thirteen. She was walking toward us from a station behind and left of the door, where Ax stood, pressing buttons, next to a heap of unconscious Hork-Bajir.
That explained why all the computer stations were empty.
"Nice to see you, too," Jake said acidly.
The Sub-Visser gave a false smile. In her left hand, I could see a tiny glowing yellow sphere that was making a humming sound, and pulsing with light.
Sub-Visser Thirteen noticed my interest, and held up the ball. "Emergency Kandrona particle emitter," she said, her accent making the R's sound like purrs. "Fortunately, your Andalite friend knew where to find them."
Without looking away from his computer, Ax said: (Under the Visser's throne was hardly the least obvious place to look.)
"Where is the small one?" the Sub-Visser demanded. "Was he not with you?"
Jake's face fell noticeably. "Was is the operative word," he said glumly.
Ax immediately stopped working and came to stand with us. His bright Andalite eyes look genuinely worried. (What happened to Marco, Prince Jake?)
Jake clearly didn't know what to say. Maybe it was that his best friend had just vanished in front of him while about to punch his dearest cousin, me, square in the face. Maybe it was because we were about to steal a Yeerk pool ship and fight Visser Three's insanely power Blade ship.
Whatever it was, I answered for him.
"Marco vanished in the corridor," I said succinctly.
The Sub-Visser raised an eyebrow. "Disappeared?" she repeated mockingly, clearly not believing me. "Could you be more precise?"
"There was a flash of light, and Marco vanished. That's what happened. I can't be more precise than that, comrade," I said, smirking.
"Mandavoshka," the Sub-Visser hissed under her breath, before turning around, pushing past Ax, and going to the console he had been using.
My knowledge of Russian was less than laughable, but I didn't need a PhD to work out that she wasn't being very flattering.
Ax, however, decided to stay with us.
(Where is Tobias?) he asked with genuine concern.
Tobias was Ax's best friend; what Andalites call a 'shorm'. It's the same word they use for that nasty blade on their tails. Apparently, if someone is your shorm, they should be able to hold their blade to your throat, and you wouldn't be worried. Scary stuff.
"Bird boy is outside," I said, gesturing over my shoulder to the door. "he'll warn us if anything comes our way."
Ax nodded, looking satisfied.
"What do you think got Marco, Ax? Some kind of transporter?" I asked him, trying to be helpful. "It sure looked like one to me. You know, bright light, person vanishes. Seems similar."
Ax's stalk-eyes wriggled. (Such a device does not exist, Rachel. A matter-energy converter such as a 'transporter' would require technology far in advance of anything the Yeerks, or even the Andalites have access to.)
Behind Ax, the Sub-Visser seemed to be getting increasingly angry with her computer.
"Na khuya?" she screamed at it, slamming her fists down on the console. "Why is it not working?"
The three of us went over to her. Ax went and stood at the Sub-Visser's side at the computer. His four eyes narrowed in concentration as he seemed to work out her problem.
(The computer is not accepting the EFA codes,) Ax stated coolly.
The Sub-Visser moved to another computer along the wall, pressed a series of buttons, and stepped back.
"Android, can you hear me?" she said, talking toward the ceiling.
A brief pause.
A muffled sound of static.
"Go ahead, Yeerk," came Erek's sardonic reply.
Not taking the bait, the Sub-Visser put her hands on her hips and looked at the difficult console. "The Pool ship is not accepting the EFA codes. I require your assistance in breaking the encryption. Please come to the bridge."
Erek was silent for a moment.
"I think there's something else you should know," he said with grim undertones.
"What's up, Erek?" Jake asked, looking a bit embarrassed at talking to a wall.
"Visser Five, I think. Either he was in some really isolated part of the ship, or he was immune to the knockout gas. It's his code that's been used to override Sub-Visser Thirteen's."
The Sub-Visser looked shocked. "Impossible," she said flatly. "I developed tridithalifane myself. It is one hundred percent effective on all host species." She sighed. "He must have been somewhere the gas could not reach."
"One other thing, Erek," I said. "Marco just disappeared from the hall outside the bridge. Any explanations?"
I hoped that, being a ridiculously smart android with thousands of years experience under his belt that Erek might have at least a small idea as to where Marco may have gone.
"Where exactly did he go from?" Erek asked over the communicator.
Jake and I then walked to the door of the bridge to go back outside and find the place Marco had vanished from. We reached the door at the same time, but it didn't open.
I gave the huge door an angry face. "Open up, dammit!"
The Sub-Visser came and stood by our side, looking equally annoyed and puzzled. "Computer, open the bridge door," she said.
But instead of the dull computer's voice issuing a reply, a rumbling, bass-augmented voice rippled over the speakers on the bridge, and at the same time, a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared on the enormous screen at the other end of the bridge.
The three of us whirled about, as did Ax.
"Sub-Visser Thirteen," the strange voice said.
"Visser Five, I presume," the Sub-Visser replied, more stating than asking.
The yellow eyes moved in the darkness, and I heard what I guessed was laughter.
"Your brave attempt at stealing my flagship notwithstanding, I regret that I am going to have to kill you all for your insolence," Visser Five said darkly, clearly addressing the Sub-Visser. "You, on the other hand," he said, the eyes looking at Jake and me, "are going to be extracted from your hosts and demoted to Gedds for as long as you live."
I looked at Jake. I couldn't say anything, but his face said the same thing. He thinks we're Controllers.
"And as for you, Andalite," the Visser said to Ax. "You will make an excellent new host for my second-in-command. I may even get a promotion myself for capturing you."
Ax took a few delicate steps forward, proudly slammed his left-front hoof down, and promptly vanished in the same blinding flash of light as Marco!