Thanks to my reviewers digitalmonster911, Zack-Cody-Dylan-Cole, Andalite Angel, Faith360, and star29818 who have actually continued reading, despite my lack of consistent updates. I apologize. My job is very busy now and I have little time to write anymore. I plan to finish this story, really I do. Please be patient. And KA Applegate created the Animorphs, not me. I am just borrowing the characters, so don't sue me, ok?
On the Andalite Homeworld...
-3rd Person-
One Andalite hour later, Kyger and Melea had finished their game of driftball and were headed back toward their scoops. As they were doing so, they passed Ganlor who was working at a computer. Kyger saw it and commented to Melea –It looks like Ganlor is reserving a space shuttle. I wonder what for? He just got here this morning.-
-I do not know.- said Melea. –You can ask…-
-OK.- Said Kyger walking toward Ganlor.
-Ganlor-falo?- Kyger said quietly.
-What do you want?- Ganlor sneered at him, suggesting he didn't want to be bothered.
Kyger hesitated, but decided to ask anyway –Um…I was just wondering, um… why you were … reserving a space shuttle. I mean, you just got back!-
-That's none of your concern. Leave me alone.- Ganlor replied sharply, turning back to his computer and typing rapidly with his many-fingered hands. –What a stupid little Andalite.- He thought to himself as he made his reservations. –Everything will be much better when this plan succeeds and we have control of this planet.-
Kyger walked off with Melea, confused.
–Melea?- he asked glancing back over at Ganlor-falo with a stalk eye.
-Yes Kyger?-
-I think something is wrong with Ganlor-falo.-
-What could be wrong with him?- She answered. –He's probably just having a bad day.-
-We could find out…- Kyger suggested.
-How?-
-We could spy on him and see what he is really doing.- He said, now excited about his idea.
-But we'd get in trouble.- She said logically.
-Only if we got caught.- Kyger said with a hint of excitement at doing something forbidden.
-I don't know, Kyger...- Melea said hesitantly.
–We won't get caught.- pressed Kyger. –C'mon, Let's follow him and see what he's doing!-
-Alright.- Melea said, giving in, -I guess if we're really careful. But we have to morph something small so he doesn't notice us.-
-OK!- Kyger agreed happily.
They have both previously morphed an eight-legged blue mouse which was common on the Andalite homeworld, so they quickly morphed and sneaked around behind Ganlor. They followed him a bit and he entered the docking bay and stood near the entrance, apparently waiting for something. Soon the humans appeared at the entrance! He was using private thoughtspeak to communicate with the humans, but Melea and Kyger could still hear the humans talking to Ganlor.
"We are ready, Visser." The female human said, bowing her head a little.
When Kyger heard the word "Visser," he was shocked.
-Did you hear that Melea?- Kyger whispered incredulously.
-Yeerks.- She said simply. –We've got to do something.-
As Melea and Kyger listened, Rachel continued the conversation:
"Sorry, …erm… Commander, it will not happen again."
…
"Of course, Commander."
As the two Andalites watched, the humans began to morph!
-Uh oh,- Kyger said thinking hard, -They are all Yeerks, and they're going to infest your brother!-
-We have to stop them!- Melea said. –Will you help?-
-Definitely.- came the reply as they watched both humans become the same animal. –What is that creature? It must be native to Earth. I've never seen anything like it before!-
-Neither have I- answered Melea. –I'll ask Aximili sometime.
Melea and Kyger watched, but the Andalite and the two morphed humans were using private thoughtspeak, so Melea and Kyger couldn't hear what they were saying.
-This is so frustrating!- vented Melea. –How are we going to find anything out!?-
-I don't know.- Kyger lamented. –But if we follow them, we're bound to discover something.-
Soon an Andalite, and two cheetahs headed toward one of the smaller ships in the docking bay.
-Oh no, they're heading toward that ship!- Melea said urgently. -C'mon!-
The two morphed Andalites scampered as fast as their little mouse bodies would go after Ganlor.
Kyger headed straight toward the ship. –No!- Melea said forcefully –If we follow them, they'll see us! Wait until they're inside!- She hid behind a support pole and Kyger quickly joined her.
They peeked their furry little mouse heads around the edge of the pole, watching until Ganlor and the morphed humans were inside, then they started toward the ramp.
As they reached the ramp and started to walk up, both Melea and Kyger were shocked when the ramp started to lift up with them on it!
-Ahhhhhhhhhhh- They screamed to each other in private thoughtspeak as their little rodent bodies slid down the ramp and into the dark entry of the ship. THUNK! They landed on the hard floor, a little bruised, but otherwise ok.
- Whew! And I thought getting onboard would be the easy part!- Kyger said, breathlessly.
-That was close.- Melea agreed when they were inside. –Now what?-
They both listened carefully and heard the CLOP CLOP of hooves a good distance down the hall.
-Let's see if we can find out more.- suggested Kyger. So they scurried toward the sound, stopping when they heard human voices.
"We are sorry Visser. We did not realize that others might overhear our conversation." The male human said.
A pause. Then "Of course. These humans have been trained in many types of space travel, as have we Yeerks. Of course we are capable of handling a small ship, such as this." Marco said.
There was a pause, and then …
"Of course." added Rachel. "And Aximili will be much more likely to go along with us than if you were with us, we are sure."
-Well,- Melea said. –They're definitely Yeerks, but what can we do about it?-
-Wait and see.- Kyger said. –Let's find someplace to demorph and wait. Then we won't have to worry about time so much.-
-Good idea.- So Melea and Kyger scurried off down the small corridor, in search of a place to hide.
-Marco-
We finally managed to convince Ganlor that we could handle the mission on our own. He gave us a thorough tour of the ship and showed us the hidden yeerk pool, all the while we were telling him we could handle the mission on our own and it would be much better that way. Finally he agreed, but he wasn't happy about it.
We watched Ganlor walk down the ramp. –You will contact me as soon as you reach Leera, do you understand me?- He called back.
"Yes." We echoed. Then I went pushed the lever to shut the hatch.
"Ready?" Rachel asked grinning at me.
"Yup." I said smiling back.
"You sure you know how to fly this thing?" She asked me.
"Uh, well no. But I know how most ships work, so this one shouldn't be much different." I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt.
"Um, you know you could have said something … like, while we were planning this whole escapade?" She said sarcastically. "You don't know if you can fly it?"
"I can do it!" I assured her, looking frantically at the endless dials and screens. "Um." There was a joystick, I bet that was it. I walked over and pulled on it and the ship miraculously started to move. Whew! I leered at Rachel "See, told you I could figure it out."
She looked at the floor. "Lucky." She muttered under her breath, then she started pacing up and down the bridge.
Whatever. I was flying a ship. It was kinda fun.
I maneuvered the ship out of the Andalite Homeworld's atmosphere, then started looking around for the settings for the autopilot and navigation systems.
There was a screen with a bunch of funny letters on it, but it was just another computer, so I was sure I could convert it into English and start up the autopilot. Sure enough, a couple minutes and a bunch of screens later, the display was in English and I had routed a path through Z-space to Leera. All done.
I grinned over at Rachel. "Well?" she said. She had just been pacing the whole time, probably eager to do something, but computers aren't really her thing, so that was my job.
"It's all good." I replied. "There is no computer I can't defeat!"
She rolled her eyes, but was still smiling, then she winked at me. "We're finally alone!"
I thought about that for a moment. We really were alone. Just the two of us on a ship without anyone to interrupt us. Finally! I nodded. "It's been a while since that's happened."
I really wasn't sure what to say. I loved her, but should I say anything? I was afraid she wouldn't agree. Sure, she'd let go of Tobias, but me? She was standing there, looking at me expectantly. What was she expecting?
"Princess," I started, "What do you want from me?" 'Great. Way to be blunt.' I thought, berating myself for speaking without thinking more carefully. 'That's just great. Now what's she gonna say?'
"I don't know, Marco." She said shaking her head slightly, "I hate to admit it, but … this whole 'being married for a mission' thing has really got me thinking."
"Just the being married part?" I gently probed, walking toward her.
She looked down. "Well, no." She smiled. "The kissing kinda changed some things too."
I couldn't help but grin and nod. Need to be careful, don't want to hurt anyone's feelings…I reached out and took her hand. Oops, now my brain turned to mush. "Rach, " I started. "I … " I didn't know what to say.
She did, though. "I know." She said, nodding. Our relationship hadn't ever had terms before, and I was sure that's what she was thinking of too.
"I love you." Oh gosh, did I really say that? Oops. What was she going to say? I looked her in the face with a worried look and her eyes went wide. I had caught her off-guard. Well, I had caught myself off-guard, so I guess that made sense.
"Marco," she started, speaking slowly. "Did you really mean that?" She looked so vulnerable, I couldn't lie, but I couldn't speak either, so I nodded and looked at the ground, embarrassed that my true feelings had just come out like that.
But she didn't turn away, she took my other hand and stepped a little closer. I looked back into her eyes, wondering what she was going to say. She gulped for a second, and then a look of realization came into her face. "This isn't just recent, is it!" She said almost crying with emotion. "You've been in love with me all this time!"
I nodded, hoping… "How could you stand it?" She asked shaking her head in disbelief. "Working with me all that time? I've only been in love with you for a few days and keeping it to myself has been making me crazy! How could you even handle it?"
I couldn't help it – as she spoke I'm sure my smile just got broader and broader. She was in love with me too!
Rather than answering, I pulled her closer to me and gently pressed my lips to hers.
-3rd person-
And neither Rachel nor Marco saw Kyger and Melea standing in the doorway to the bridge holding shredders set to stun. It was probably better that way because they didn't feel it either when they fell unconscious on the floor of the bridge and were dragged to the holding cages in the belly of the ship. The small Andalites scoured the computers on the bridge and determined where the ship was heading, then wandered back down into the holding quarters to come up with a plan and see if the humans had awoken.
-Well, now what are we going to do?- Kyger said.
-We just keep them in here until the Yeerks die, of course.- Melea said. –It will only take 3 days, and it takes longer than that to get to Leera.-
-Look, the male one is waking up!- Kyger said, watching as Marco sat up, blinked a few times, and shook his head.
-Marco-
I looked out the glass door of the holding chamber at the Andalites standing there. Huh?
-We have captured you, Yeerks!- Kyger announced in a haughty voice.
"Yeerks?" I said staring at them in disbelief.
-Don't play dumb with us.- Melea said to him. –We heard you call Ganlor 'Visser.'-
"Oh no." I said. I looked down and realized Rachel was starting to wake up. What were we going to do now?