((Author's Note: In future "Author's Notes," I will be including my responses to some of the pior reviews and the content therein. The replies will be edited as needed to prevent any possible leakage of storyline information that I might have let slip in the reply itself. Hopefully, these will shed some light on the ideas that went into the creation of this fic, and preemptively answer some people's questions. That is all.))
Chapter 3: Cassie
My name is Cassie. Sometimes my friends call me Cass, for short, but usually I'm just Cassie.
I can't tell you my last name. None of us can. I can't even give you the assurance that I'm using our real names when I say that Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Marco, Zeke, and I are friends. I can't tell you what city we live in or what part of the country.
It isn't a problem of being shy, or our parents wanting to keep us safe. Sometimes, I wish it was. There are times that I wish we could go back to the way things were, when we didn't know that there were alien invasions. When our little group of seven didn't have to defend the human race.
And then there's Ax. You don't have to worry about meeting him any time soon—the Yeerks already know that he's here. And they think the rest of us are aliens, too, because we have the power to morph.
Alright, you're really confused now. Let me explain. One night, when my five human friends and I were walking home from the mall, we cut through an abandoned construction site. It's the kind of place that your parents warn you not to go through, usually with threats of grounding. And it's the kind of place that you feel more than brave enough to go through—until you're halfway there and the shadows start looking like ax murderers.
And while we were there, we met our first alien.
His name was Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, an Andalite Prince. He told us about the alien invasion of Earth, about the evil slugs called Yeerks that had begun infesting the brains of people. He also gave us a weapon to fight the invasion with: the power to morph. Now, all we have to do is touch an animal to acquire its DNA, to take its shape whenever we want.
There's only one problem with morphing. It's a time limit. Two hours is all you have in a morph. After two hours, you can't go back, you become what Andalites call a nothlit, a person trapped in morph. We've all come close, and Tobias became one very early on. But then, through one of the Ellimist's convoluted promises, he got back his ability to morph—and can morph himself for two hours at a time.
On top of all that, we've still got to live out the normal parts of our lives, going through all the routine and day-to-day stuff. Sometimes, it gets really hard, like when Jake bombed that English test and had to write a paper to make up his grade. Or there was that time that I had to work on Algebra for a whole weekend while my parents were giving seminars at the Gardens.
Honestly, though, if it weren't for Zeke, I don't think we could have survived school. It's almost funny that we fight with Hork-Bajir and Taxxons and Human-Controllers—and Visser Three—almost twice a month and live to tell the tale, but we can't keep up with our English homework.
That's why we were all cooped up in Zeke's room, the five of us plus Erek, trying to figure out what Shakespeare was telling people in Romeo and Juliet. Erek raised an eyebrow, looking at Marco, and said, "I don't mean to sound egotistical, Marco, but who do you think has the most experience on Shakespeare?"
Now, Erek has a couple slight advantages over the rest of us—first, because he was an android. He, like all of the Chee, has a perfect memory, and is programmed by design and by choice to be pacifistic. They could never forget the suffering and blood like humans can, and his one memory of violence will remain fresh in his mind forever.
His second advantage was that he'd been pretending to be a human for about ten thousand years. His face, his whole body, was just a hologram designed to look and feel like a person. Inside is a tall, dog-like, silver-and-white robot. Once, hundreds of years ago, he had been an English peasant, and had seen the opening night of literally dozens of Shakespeare's plays.
Marco wore his trademark sarcastic smile. "Erek, I'd never argue with you about your memory. But HOW can a play with a murder and two suicides be about happiness?"
Zeke, who doesn't like confrontation, stepped in. "Marco, I can see where he's right. Do you think it could be about how we should be kind our neighbors in order to seek happiness, and that if we aren't kind, we'll get what we deserve?"
Marco opened his mouth to make a smart reply, thought for a second, then closed it and continued thinking. I don't know how Zeke does that, asking questions that make you think really hard without making you feel stupid. All I can say is that it really helps now and then. We can't work together if we're at each others' throats, after all.
Erek looked to Zeke, first with a smile, then a stern and worried face. He asked, quietly, "Zeke, is there anyone else in your home?"
"My mom's still at work, and my dad's out picking up my sister from school. If there's a mission to talk about, we're safe for about half an hour."
"Good. I don't have enough details to give you just yet, but I thought I'd give you a heads-up about a new project the Yeerks have started."
Jake, instinctively assuming command, asked, "What kind of project? Is it another ground-based Kandrona projector or something?"
"Not exactly, Jake. This project is a new scientific breakthrough that the Yeerks have only begun to understand. If this think works the way the Yeerks want it to, it will speed up the invasion timetable by about six months."
"But what is it? A new weapon? Some kind of new sensor?" asked Rachel, her warrior's senses keen on potential advantages to the Yeerk cause.
"No, Rachel. Worse than that. They're designing a mass transportation gateway."
"A what?" I asked, frowning. "Sounds like something out of Star Trek."
"It is similar to the Transporters from Star Trek, yes. It's actually more like the 'star gates' from some other TV shows. Think about an opening the size of a garage door that connects two points together as if they were one."
The color drained from Zeke's face. He almost looked like he was going to be sick. "E-Erek...are they going to replace the Yeerk Pool with one of these?"
"Yes, Zeke, that's exactly their plan. The Yeerk Pool has more than the required resources to operate such a gateway, and then there would be a heavily reduced need for a ground-based Kandrona. The Yeerk Pool would become little more than a staging area, where new Yeerks are kept prior to infestation."
Marco's eyes glittered darkly. "If they move up to the mother ship, we'd lose huge amounts of reconnaissance. Not to mention, they'd be able to set up these gate things anywhere on the planet for new infestation sites."
Erek looked at us stoically. "Like I said, I haven't yet heard enough to give you useful data. However, I do know this: whenever they start building this gate, it's going to need huge amounts of power. There's no way that the current generators could even come close. That will be its weakness, and if we can take out the power we might be able to prevent them from ever using it."
Jake frowned for a long moment, seeming to stare through the wall at something none of us could see. A moment later he relaxed and, for just a second, we saw a tiny bit of weariness seep out. Then he smiled and sighed.
"Thanks for the heads-up, Erek. It's not every day that we get informed about a mission well in advance, and now we can strategize. Before we get into that, though, we still have Shakespeare to cover..."
Zeke's eyes lit up, his enthusiasm for schoolwork shining through. "Plus Algebra II, Sociology, and Physics/Bio, depending on what class you're in."
I have no idea how he does it, but Zeke manages to keep his A average in tough classes, while taking double sciences, while still going on missions and fighting the Yeerks with the rest of us. As Rachel once quietly pointed out to me, his fashion sense could improve some, but he really is a nice guy and he's helped us all out of some sticky issues with school. He's the kind of brainy kid that nobody picks on because he helps everybody out. He sometimes even does volunteer tutoring at the library. Stuff like that.
He has his dark side too, though. It rarely comes out, but it's there. Just like how Marco always jokes about Rachel being Xena: Warrior Princess, or how I sometimes break down under all the stress. Except with Zeke, it isn't hot, flaring violence, or even breakdowns. It's not even like Marco, seeing the clear, unfeeling logic of a strategy that will get the job done. With Zeke, it's rage. Cold, shivering, biting rage that goes way deeper than I'd ever want to know...unless he wanted to get out of it, or get it out of him.
You'd never guess it from looking at him, or talking to him, or anything normal like that. He's almost too nice normally, willing to help with pretty much anything he can. But when he loses his rational, calm demeanor, when he slips into that rage... You don't want to be around him when his temper breaks. He took down two Hork-Bajir by himself once while he was...like that, because Jake and I were pinned down and maybe bleeding to death at the time. Even though he had good reason to be fighting hard, I'm just glad that that side of him stays locked up most of the time.
I shook my head and discovered that everyone was staring at me. "What? What's wrong? Did I say something?"
Erek raised a holographic eyebrow. "Actually, Cassie, it's more what you didn't say. We've been trying to ask you if you had the study guide for the Chemistry final."
Marco grinned, adding, "But you were off in la-la land. Dreaming of the day when every day is Arbor Day and dogs can vote?"
"Hey Marco, lay off," said Jake, punching Marco in the shoulder. I couldn't tell if it was playful or not, but Marco relented. "Seriously though, Cassie, what's up? You were spacing out really bad."
"I'm fine," I said, shaking my head briefly. "Just got wrapped up in my thoughts. And I've got those notes right...here." I pulled a few sheets out of my binder.
"Excellent," said Zeke, smiling. "Now we can move on..."
After three more grueling hours of study, we all felt pretty tired (except for Erek, who never feels tired) and decided to call it a day. Zeke promised that he'd keep his schedule open in case anybody had something new to talk about, and we said our goodbyes. Mr. King, Erek's 'father,' gave us rides home, careful to holographically obscure the license plate and slowly change the car's color to avoid anyone thinking we were something more than just kids going home after studying.
After getting back in the house, I changed into my 'Ralph Lauren Animal Poop Collection' outfit, as Rachel would call it, and took care of some of the animals. Most of them were already bandaged, treated, or in post-op, because I did a little overtime the night before so I could keep tonight free. My biggest chore was in getting a fox to sit still long enough to examine its lacerated leg, bandage it, and give it a general anesthetic so it could sleep peacefully for the night.
Once all of that was finished, I changed back into more normal clothing and walked through the pasture behind the farm. The evening air was cool and inviting, and the sky was beautifully clear. If I could've remembered what all the star patterns were, I could have easily traced all the constellations, but I'd have to ask Ax or Zeke for help with that. It reminded me of a time, a little more than a year ago, when Ax showed me where his star, his sun, was.
"It went fine, Ax," I said, smiling. I don't know if he could see my face in the moonlight, but from wherever he was in the trees I certainly couldn't see him. "But I have some information from Erek that I thought you might want to know."
"What do you think about all this, Ax? I mean, this is pretty advanced stuff, even for the Yeerks..." I entered the edge of the woods so that I could speak more quietly and so we could both see each other better.
"What do you mean, harm?" I asked, concerned by the delicate way that he phrased his answer. "Is it some kind of radiation?"
I frowned heavily. "But the Yeerks want to leave it open all of the time, for transporting supplies to and from the pool ship...what might that do?"
"Thanks for telling me, Ax. If that's also true for humans...that makes destroying this thing a top priority. Even more than it already was..."
I laughed at the thought of Tobias and Ax sitting in front of a television and watching reruns of some old show. "What is it?"
"Oh, Gilligan's Island!" I cried, smiling widely. "That's one of Tobias' favorites. Along with The Young and the Restless, but you already knew that. Goodnight, Ax. I hope you enjoy the TV show."
As I walked back to my house, I thought over what I had just heard. Marco recommended it to him...not Tobias. That meant that Marco had talked with Ax outside of a meeting or mission—which was something he didn't do very often. I knew it was just another piece of the puzzle between the two of them...but I still didn't know what to do with it. I just didn't know enough to be absolutely sure. Like they say in court cases, I still had some reasonable doubt.
Unfortunately, only time would tell.