Chapter Seven

Chances are you've never been through the Earth's atmosphere beyond the troposphere.

Let alone any other planet's atmosphere.

And we won't even touch being in space.

There is pretty much no friction in space. If you're a total snob about it you can argue that there has to be some infinitesimal amount of friction because there's dust and other particles floating through space, I guess, but generally speaking – if you're moving in space, you're not stopping, if you're stopped in space, you're not moving. Or... something like that, according to Ax. Basically, it's a very large jump.

And if you drop out into an atmosphere? You'd better be traveling with good equipment. Fortunately, our craft was an Andalite vessel, and they're generally built very well. Even the current things being built on Earth were fairly sturdy.

Still, it's a crazy ride. I could feel the tension, the heat as we sank back into a planet's atmosphere. And there was going through the atmospheric layers, too. They're not all the same – some super-heated, others super-cooled, some super windy, and most planets have a few of those layers. And that's just assuming you have the standard solid-planet atmosphere that seems to be common among a lot of planets supporting life.

So Ax made sure there were no toxic gases for Andalites or humans – a test he actually could find out by using the Researcher'sequipment, and a sample of DNA from each of us (individually, it made sure none of us were badly allergic). After making sure it was safe, he tried to make sure that we had a smooth landing.

This is not a realistic hope for those entering a planet on even fairly modern Andalite technology – at least, not on a smaller spacecraft. Ax said a Dome Ship would have been a much smoother entrance.

"I Th-thi-think I'm g-g-gonna huuuuuurrrrrrl," Marco moaned. Paler than normal, with a sick, almost green tinge. Tobias was an Andalite but frankly, he looked about the same.

Ax, Leah and I more or less looked fine. At least, we looked better off than Marco and Tobias. Ax was used to space travel. Leah apparently was used to turbulence, even though her familiarity was less than Ax's – she'd still been out in space for a while.

I sat around at my post and guessed I was defective for not turning green and possibly blowing chunks all over my control system.

Still, the landing was actually uneventful, the turbulence predictable.

Ax had gotten a signal of where incoming spacecraft could land and had heeded the message. The planet was hot during the day, and cold at night – and prone to bad wind storms and humidity. So staying close to the city as other travelers did seemed like a good idea. And he was very hopeful that we would find translator chips that had been smuggled after the war.

This wasn't typical of Ax – but we were already outside of the rule-book just leaving Andalite space in order to get him. Translator chips were going to be difficult for Ondrean to procure – even if the Andalite and human governments were unofficially on our side about anything. Needing him as a translator was working poorly, and it was driving him insane.

Getting adequate sleep as an Andalite was apparently harder than I'd thought.

The Researcher landed well in the end though, and we stayed inside while one of the planet's famous wind storms ripped around us. Stronger than most Santa Ana winds in California, but not quite the strength of a tornado or hurricane. Still, Ax said that the dust and other fragments blown by the wind could cause some minor injuries.

"We should get clothes while we're here," Leah said, "We're dressed poorly for really hot or windy environments. And our clothes are shredded a lot from The One."

Marco nodded, and I agreed. There were only three of us really needing to wear clothes – Ax and Tobias were okay. But the three of us that were worried about it were going to have a hard time with wind blowing sand or dirt around at a high speed. It would hurt our eyes, our legs, our arms.

"So what's your thought?"

Leah paused. "I think we should go for loose, full-body covering if we get a chance. In the United States and a lot of the western world we wear less when it's hot. But for wind and high temperatures? Better covering is better protection from the sun and whatever the wind might be throwing at you."

"Besides," Marco added, "None of us really know how to sew or knit or anything else with fabric. And the tools we find will probably be similar, but maybe not designed for human – or Andalite – fingers or hands. Loose simple clothing might be better."

"Cool. The Jedi look," I said.

Marco pretended to pull out a Jedi light saber, grinned, and put his imaginary weapon back.

"Now, onto more important business," I said, "Ax needs to come with us, but obviously he will need to be human because Andalites are not allowed in Kelbrid space unless we want to start a war -"

"Yadda yadda yadda," Marco interjected.

"So it should be me, Marco, and Ax," I continued. "Tobias stays here because he's a nothlit in Andalite form. If they find him, we'll explain he's not Andalite, but nothlit."

Tobias stayed silent.

"Leah is good enough managing the ship to help us out if necessary, so -"

‹Prince Jake,› Ax said excitedly, ‹I am getting an incoming message from a merchant.›

I felt my eyes narrow.

"Just marching up to every incoming visitor?" I asked dubiously.

Ax blinked quickly, but then continued. ‹I was asking about translator chips,› he admitted. ‹I found a merchant that has a few, which we can take and implant.›

‹And?› Tobias said. ‹We don't exactly have any money – or anything we can afford to trade. And they're illegal contraband, smuggled illegally from a past war zone, from a forbidden area of space for this region of the universe. Exactly how are we going to afford these translator chips?›

‹They have offered a trade – one of us works for few days as the others get the chips. The temporary worker gets one, of course, and then at the end of the term we leave.›

I felt my stomach sinking. Some things sound too simple and altruistic – and getting something so pricey for a few days work? A few days of servitude? It sounded wrong, and it sounded misleading.

"I don't like this," Marco said.

"Me neither," Leah said nervously. "But we do need those chips for everyone, right?"

‹Not just for Ax's sake,› Tobias added, ‹We're trying to find some humans and Andalites being sold to a zoo. We're going to have to be able to ask around. It can't just be Ax talking while no one else knows what's going on.›

I sighed. If we didn't take this opportunity, it was possible we wouldn't get them ever – legally or otherwise. It was a bad idea where the choice of not taking it was pretty much just as bad as the one of listening to it.

"So who is this person?" I asked Ax.

‹'Sitionio,'› Ax said. ‹Or at least, that is the name he supplied me when I said we were human travelers – apparently the actual name would not be pronounceable to many verbal languages. He also said to warn you all not to be frightened.›

"Cool," Marco said. "I'm completely reassured and jazzed. Human nickname with a bad attempt at sounding Italian. Has to have a sense of humor, at least."

"Why would we be frightened?" Leah asked.

Ax shrugged. ‹I do not know. He will come out here when the sand storm starts, if I send a message to him requesting it.›

"Vote," I said. "I hate to say it, but this can't be put off. So I'm voting 'Yes.'"

"Yeah," said Marco.

One by one, everyone agreed. We would listen to Sitonio, but unless the demands were out of line – better to take it than leave it.

So we waited. There wasn't much to do. We'd brought some entertainment on our first ship, which we'd lost in battle. So no cards, or other games. No movies, saved TV shows, or books. I hoped we could find some other human things in whatever bazaar or other shopping location we could find.

But we did find some things to do. "Twenty Questions"? Played it – Ax watching and trying to understand – but we had differing ideas of famous, and he would include Andalites. "Snaps"? Played it. "Two Truths and a Lie" went on for a while – a game Leah had learned from some sleepaway camp in the past. Any game that didn't require throwing things or being outside was acceptable. And just when we thought the dust storm would never end, Ax got a signal.

He looked at me. I nodded, and he initiated communication again with the town, calling over Sitonio.

Less than half an hour later, we were exiting the spacecraft – except for Tobias – to greet this person. Ax, of course, as a human – morphing instead of showing himself as Andalite.

Sitonio was right that we would have not been able to pronounce his name. And that being frightened was a possibility. He was built like a giant beetle, almost reminding me of a dung beetle. He looked like he had an exoskeleton, his body shiny and golden. He had compound eyes – six of them, and antennae that looked like they were not really functional. Large, gossamer wings on his back beat what seemed uselessly, and while he didn't have six limbs like Earth insects he did have the common insect mouth, with the proboscis and other mouth parts.

He was always in movement – the whistling sounds actually would come from him rubbing his legs together or beating his wings a certain way. The clicking from his mouth parts.

And I had to hand it to Leah – I could have thought "Oh, girl, she's going to freak." But she was completely steady, like Rachel or Cassie would have been.

Compared to Marco, who looked like it was taking him every ounce of his being not to run yammering back into the spaceship.

Marco's a brave guy, but he nearly became a nothlit with the body of a giant flea once. And nearly died as a cockroach another time.

I had a feeling this planet would be a little rough on him. I was getting creeped out myself – and my worst experience in the bug world came from flies – not that these guys looked like them.

He and Ax began conversing immediately – Sitonio didn't seem to pay any attention to us, either acknowledging our lack of ability to communicate, or just taking command with the person who had communicated with earlier. Ax spoke mostly in private thought-speak. To Sitonio, because he didn't want to annoy us while we couldn't understand his clicking, hammering, whistling language. To us, to update us on what Sitonio was looking for, and what type of work one of us would be doing.

‹Three days, without food or amenities,› Ax said, ‹Five days, with food only.›

In the background, I saw Leah nudge Tobias and whisper in his ear. Then privately, ‹Ax? Are those in human days?›

I was glad someone had caught it. Some planets had days much longer than ours.

They chatted a while longer. Ax seemed to get more spirited, making movements that seemed slightly offensive or antagonistic. Leah looked distressed, stiff. Ready to run..

She seemed to really hate people arguing or looking upset.

Then Ax responded to us. ‹Their days,› he grated, ‹It would be three times Earth's length. But he is willing to help us look for the humans. And there is another complication. Because of prior encounters with the Helmacrons, they have some pieces of technology that can detect morphing energy. So he has said only Leah may be sent to do work – they apparently have had issues with people escaping their dues using the technology.›

There were a few things that I knew I should think about, but I was frustrated enough already needing Ax to understand the most basic conversations with aliens. I could have thought of the effort to keep people morph-capable from working, or the concern of "escape" which in a decent work field shouldn't have been an issue. I could have thought that it wasn't nice to demand a species that needed sleep about three times as much as the native inhabitants to work in shifts that were going to be three times as long – a three day shift by itself was going to be nine days total.

I could have wondered why Leah looked so worried and aggravated.

"Leah, can you do it?"

She tried to smile. "It's nine or fifteen days. Nothing to it."

I could have worried more about this.

But at the time, I didn't.