PART 31 – Rachel Gets Anxious
I was glad to see Jake back safe and sound. I'm almost positive that if we hadn't gotten there when we did, bad things would have happened. Jake could have been seriously hurt because those Predicons wanted information and thought Jake had it.
That was when I started getting angry again. We could have been there a lot sooner if that Optimus guy hadn't decided to stop and play Good Samaritan to Visser Three! He knew about what the Visser was like, we had told him. Did he think that by helping Visser Three, he would change his mind? Get all soft and fuzzy? Maybe Optimus was a little too optimistic.
It wasn't his place to judge the situation. Visser Three was ours to handle, not his. We could have been rid of Visser Three once and for all, but no. He's still around and after the Time Machine, but at least the number of Controllers with him was decreased. Had the Predicons to thank for that one.
I nearly laughed out loud at that thought. The Predicons had been trying to kill us like the Yeerks, but they were unknowingly helping us by finishing off Controllers. Were we with the right talking robots? These Maximals spent a little too much time talking things out before they acted. Even we did things faster than that.
There wasn't time to sit around for hours talking about how to handle the situation with the Time Machine. We knew where it was. It was in that Tarantulas' laboratory. So why weren't we blazing in there? Or we Animorphs could have gone small and snuck in. We were practically experts at doing that.
Then I remembered about Dinobot. Marco had told me that he thought Dinobot was like me, a fighter. Of all the robots, he had to understand that we needed to take action. It was ridiculous to sit around and talk; talking would get us nowhere fast.
"You used to be one of those other guys, right?" I asked Dinobot quietly.
He was quiet for a moment; like he couldn't believe one of us lowly humans was daring to speak to him. I could tell neither him nor that Rattrap thought very highly of us. It was like we were a nuisance to them and they were helping us out of the goodness of their…whatever they had that resembled hearts.
"Yes," he replied in that growling voice of his.
"Then you must know how those guys operate," I said. "Tell it to me straight. How long do you really think we have?"
There was most silence before he spoke. "No doubt Tarantulas has been working on it since they took it back to their base."
"So pretty much he's had a little over five hours to tinker with it," I concluded. "We need to do something now! You know that."
"We cannot blunder into battle without a strategy," Dinobot snarled back.
"Well how long does it take?!" I replied, my voice starting to rise. "You yourself said they've had nearly all day to work on it. What if they're close to figuring it out? We know exactly where it is and who has it!"
"Megatron will be expecting another strike," Dinobot countered. "If you wish your comrades to suffer a fool's death—"
"Stop talking to me like I'm an idiot!" I exploded. "I've been fighting the Yeerks a long time. I know plenty about battles and strategy—"
"You like to think of yourself as a warrior," Dinobot said, "but you know nothing of being a true warrior. Even your comrades refer to you as a warrior. You seem like nothing more than a berserker to me."
That was it. Dinobot had crossed the line. I could feel my face contorting with rage, and if I didn't control myself I would explode. What did he know? Well, the one thing he would never know was how deeply his words had burned me.
All I could do was glare at him in silence. If looks could kill, I was certain mine would have disintegrated Dinobot in a second. Taking a deep breath, I managed to tell Dinobot exactly what I thought of his opinion.
"Screw you," I snarled quietly before I stormed away. I didn't look back to see his reaction, I didn't care. I thought of all the Maximals that he would understand. That he would be able to help me rally the others to action. Guess I was wrong, but how do you judge a robot's character?
"What happened over there?" Marco asked as I walked by.
"Nothing!" I snapped.
As I slumped against the far wall, I could tell that Marco would be talking to Jake. Soon Jake would be coming over to talk to me about what had happened between Dinobot and me. I didn't need that. Yes, I was glad that my cousin was alive, but I didn't need his lecture about me keeping my temper.
"I heard you talking to Dinobot over there," a voice said.
I looked up and saw the yellow and blue robot. What had his name been? I think it was Cheetor. If he were a human, I think he would have been about our age. The one thing that surprised me was it looked like he had freckles on his face never thought a robot could have those.
"What do you want?" I grumbled. Last thing I needed was some obnoxious…
"Optimus is just talking about stuff," Cheetor said. "We need to get out there and stop the Preds!"
I looked at him again. On second thought…maybe he wouldn't be so obnoxious after all.
After Thought: Uh-oh. Rachel's getting cranky again. And don't worry, this won't be the last time Rachel and Dinobot butt heads.