Chapter 19

((Police are arriving. The place is a madhouse.))

((I'm just glad we're up here.))

((I'd be happier if you weren't so itchy,)) he grumbled.

Maybe it would turn up in news headlines. The Earth population certainly did not hold Esplin 9466 in high regard and would be interested to know that somebody had entered his cell and… did what they did. On the other hand, the Andalites would be displeased that somebody had gotten in so easily. They had always wanted to take full custody of him, but the American government got the right to hold him, despite technically being an Andalite prisoner.

The big problem was that Earth prisons were not built to guard against people who could turn into birds and flies. Not yet, anyway. Maybe they would cover the incident up to save from embarrassment.

Something would be said. People would notice the prison's panic. I was sure that some would suspect the truth.

To us, it didn't matter. With Tobias escorting me back to the outskirts of the city, I decided only to look forward. We had gotten what we came for, and we could concentrate on our next step. Whatever that was.

Tobias finally came down to Earth after spending so long in the air, but he was desperate to get into the trees. I hopped out of his feathers, safe in the knowledge that we were in a secluded area, and began to demorph.

((Thanks, Tobias,)) I said to him as I began to change. ((It wasn't too bad, was it?))

((Could have gone better. Could have gone worse,)) he replied casually. ((What happened with Sarge?))

I collected my thoughts, organizing them into reason. ((This wasn't his mission. He's a man of loyalty, and today I split it in half. He hesitated. A lot.))

((Ah. So that's why you swapped us.))

((Yeah. That's why. I thought it might be an issue before we went in, but I thought he could get through it okay. Then I… sort of implied what I did in there.))

Tired, I kept my morphing slow and steady. My wings were gone, my ears had returned, and a mouth replaced the proboscis. Again, I was leaving my eyes till last.

((What happened in there?)) Tobias asked with an indecipherable tone.

((He wouldn't answer, at first.))

Tobias did not question further. He was silent again and remained so as my morph came to an end. When my eyes returned, and I looked up, he was nowhere to be seen.

I rubbed a hand to my forehead and let out a sigh. With the mission done, I had nothing left in my impatient mind but images. The churning, frothing water wouldn't be erased.

"You knew what it would have come to, Tobias," I whispered under my breath.

He had dropped me off just a block away from the RV. Not willing to be seen, I took a less direct route behind some buildings to get back, spotting the rusty old vehicle over a collection of dumpsters after the short walk. I jogged over, and the smell of a familiar restaurant filled my nostrils.

I knocked four times on the RV door. "It's me."

The door quickly opened with an ear-wrenching squeak. Menderash stepped up. "Prince Ja-!"

"Eddy!" I interrupted. "Good to see you! How was the game?"

I forced my way in and closed the door behind, collapsing back against it when I knew it was secure. The eyes of my compatriots acknowledged me and lingered.

"What game?" Menderash questioned with a frown.

"The let's get out of here game," Marco answered for me from beside the RV sink. "Before the Kansas City cops crash our party."

I nodded. "Yeah, I think we should start heading back, get out of the area as quick as possible."

Santorelli stood up quickly from his chair beside the table and scrunched up his now empty takeaway bag. With a mouth full of food, he stated, "Got it, boss!"

He threw the paper bag to the side and made his way forward. Menderash walked in the opposite direction, squeezing past him to head back into the RV's main living space. When Santorelli was about to pass, he gave a very deliberate look to me. He slowed as he passed, allowing me to share my own in return.

He understood. I could see that perfectly. We clasped hands firmly, and then he slapped me on the shoulder as he reached the driver's seat. That was all that we both needed.

I followed Menderash back into the open living area and found my own Burger King bag thrust against my chest. I shook my head with the slightest of grins and opened it up. I was starving, so I didn't care what was put in front of me. I took Santorelli's seat by the foldout table just as the vehicle roared into life and our long journey back began.

Jeanne and Marco were exhausted. Marco wasted some mediocre chat up lines on her, gave up, and fell asleep while she sat back in front of the television. Maybe she fell asleep, too. She was facing away from me. Tobias… who could tell?

Menderash had much more sleep than us the night before, nor did he take part in the mission, so he had enough energy to begin his analysis straight away. He sat opposite to me at the table and gazed at me with ponderous eyes.

I said nothing to him at first, making it obvious that I wanted to finish my burger. I took my time, but Andalites were a little more patient than your average Human, and he waited it out.

I finished my food, and he was quick to pounce. "So, how did it go?"

"Nobody told you?" I asked.

He shrugged. "They told me that you got something. I don't know what that something is yet."

I pushed my bag aside and leaned forward in my seat. "Did you Andalites ever know anything about contact between the Yeerks and the Kelbrids?"

He looked down to the table with a furrowed brow, then shook his head and stared back at me. "Nothing reached my ears. That's not to say that information isn't being withheld somewhere."

"Esplin told me about contact during the years of the Yeerk Empire," I explained.

"It wouldn't be surprising."

I continued. "The Yeerks tried to take the Kelbrids. But they couldn't."

Menderash looked puzzled. "Did he explain why?"

I nodded. "He mentioned a toxin. It killed the Yeerks."

"So they couldn't take the Kelbrids as hosts…" he concluded.

"No," I agreed. "But Esplin was under the impression that the Kelbrids were going to rescue him from prison."

Menderash seemed to back away, incredulous. "It sounds like the raving of someone driven to insanity by prolonged confinement. Can we believe anything that he says?"

I looked down. The pause could have been seen as contemplation, but it wasn't. "I think we can."

"So he thinks that the Kelbrids would be so forgiving that they would ally with a race that just tried to enslave them?"

"They may ally with a race that holds what they want…" I suggested.

"And did he mention what the Kelbrids wanted?"

"They want war," I answered. "With the Andalites."

Menderash's analytical expression intensified. The new pieces of the puzzle were only bringing to attention the gaping holes around them. "War with us?! They would be foolish even to try!"

I leaned in further, lowering my voice but increasing its seriousness. "Your people would be even more foolish to shrug this off. The One – that thing on the Blade Ship – is Kelbrid technology, and it was made for this war that they are so foolish for entering. And do you know what else he told me?"

Menderash looked sheepish now, even embarrassed. His head was turned to the side, deferent to the imagined pedestal he placed me on. "Tell me, Prince Jake."

"The Kelbrids know about you. About your strategies, about your plans. The Yeerks were passing information about your people to the Kelbrids."

He was plainly troubled. "My apologies, Prince Jake. I must look like an ignorant buffoon."

"Esplin told me that The One was created on Kyritlyp. Does that sound familiar?"

He finally looked me in the eyes again. "No, Prince Jake. It doesn't."

I didn't think he would. "We'll have to found out where it is, soon enough. That's where Ax is."