Chapter Thirteen
When the people had left the Blade Ship and we got inside, my main concern had been simply finding the zoo once we had gotten inside.
No problem, apparently. Most of the place was the zoo. Some areas were more like reserves, with creatures roaming around inside. Others were more like the cages of poorly kept zoos you sometimes found – the types of place Rachel or Cassie in the past might have even broken into to either scare the keepers or get the animals out.
A few of them weren't live-animal exhibits, instead using holograms or other ways to simulate life forms that they probably couldn't have housed if they had tried. Things that weren't carbon-based, or things with climates so hot or cold they couldn't duplicate the environment if they tried – or maybe it would just consume too many resources.
Things with more legs than I could count, things with multiple arms, multiple tails. Many eyes, one eye.
"There are some serious life forms here," Marco marveled, "Maybe we should be trying to pick up some of these as morphs."
"I don't see much opportunity for picking up DNA, Marco, we don't exactly have an inside connection."
Everyone kept walking. Ax seemed to analyze everything he saw, Marco acted like he was paying less attention than he was. But we all had our eyes out for Andalites or humans. Or information on where they'd be.
"Hey, this way," Marco began walking to an area of the park that seemed to attract a lot of attention. Ax and I turned and followed, to the left, an area that seemed to look fairly dismal for animal exhibits. Cramped. Crowded. People maybe a bit more interested than what seemed normal for the zoo. It didn't boast the vibrant labels of what world these things came from, or tried to make itself bold and in the foreground of the rest of the zoo.
In other words, the perfect place to possibly find what we were looking for. Keeping my eyes open, I walked in.
Sure enough, as we got into the area it was clear we weren't watching antelope or lions. Some creatures, like the Cryhalis, were harder for me to tell, personally, what with compound vision or other eyes I associated with less intelligent life.
But I knew. I knew they were bored, pacing. There was no real attempt to give them an environment. Some were wearing clothes. A few were crying. Often their eyes were on the glass, looking straight at the people looking in. Sometimes they weren't – maybe because their eyes were different, or maybe just because they'd been there for a while.
They didn't seem to have ways to go to the bathroom or anything offering them privacy. Guilt hit me, but we didn't have the power – or the time – to worry about everyone there. It wasn't exactly the only zoo in the galaxy to have the same issue.
"This is it."
"Yes."
I shook my head. "This is horrible. I can't even imagine. But where are we going to find what we're looking for?"
"We should find them soon," Ax said, tense, "Most other species have mouths. See how they feed these people – the trays there. But that system will not work for Andalites – except for water, of course."
"Can we really leave everyone here?" I asked myself aloud. Rhetorically.
Marco looked troubled. "I feel like the scum of the universe for saying this. But we can't do anything about it. Even if we got them out, we have nowhere to take them – they'd probably die for the most part out in that environment."
I didn't know how it had gotten to be this way, but it infuriated me.
"The issues behind allowing this place to continue and the flaws in our morality for doing so would be interesting philosophical fodder," Ax interrupted. "However, Prince Jake and Marco, I believe I have found the right direction – it says 'New Exhibit.'"
I looked up, to the right of the path for the sapient animal tour. I said a few words that weren't polite. "The Kelbrid. The person. Get down!"
An odd chair to the left for people needing a break from walking window to window in this horrific place was in the middle. I crouched behind it, looking over to try to get a good look at them and where they were going.
"Definitely down that way."
"Oh, yeah."
"The question seems to be whether the presence of a Kelbrid will result in the immediate transfer of the Andalites and humans brought here, or whether there will be a process for them."
"Someone needs to go and listen."
No one volunteered.
"What?" Marco laughed, "None of the leaders stepping forward to protect the peon? Hey, Ax, that thing you were saying earlier, about increased morphing incidents..."
"I have already said it is not a matter of higher probability, only a matter of there being a massive amount of morphers compared to the past when it was generally only used for missions."
Marco sniggered. He just wanted to get on Ax's nerves.
"Okay then, here I go. Fly, cat, or dog?"
"You have a cat morph?"
"Unlike you, Jake, everyone else kept morphing after the war beyond what was absolutely necessary."
I glared. My temper hadn't been what it was during the war, and after a second he looked guilty. "Sorry."
"Fly, I think," I said. "The Kelbrid won't recognize a fly and assume it's native. Probably. The human would recognize you though, so avoid them. I'd say cat or dog but they'd definitely see you and recognize where you were from."
The strange thing about morphing since the Yeerk war, to me, was the lack of importance there was in privacy. We had always been avoiding detection, to keep our identities private. Here, on an alien planet, after the war? Not necessary – except we needed to make sure no one from the Blade Ship saw us.
There was one other odd thing – the lack of excitement over Marco's body shifting and changing in public by other guests to the zoo. Which to me indicated we were not the first or only morph-capable things here. Marco shrank, and no one batted an eye. Two legs appeared at the bottom – a very disturbing sight – while his legs moved up to become his central legs. Ax caught him before he hit his stomach.
"Marco, have I told you how beautiful you look lately?"
He rewarded me with a rude gesture right before his arms started shrinking into his body and thinning out to become the legs of a fly.
No one cared about the noises, or the extra limbs, or the shrinking, or the gross noises. And in less than a minute, Marco was a fly.
‹Back in a second, hopefully,› he told Ax and I cheerfully. He buzzed off toward the pathway to try to listen to what they were saying.
"Prince Jake, what will we do to aid the escape of the humans?" Ax said. It sounded more like he was wondering out loud than talking to me, but I answered anyway.
"We're not letting these guys take them. Even if they weren't tied to The One in any way – which they'd have to be in order to have control over the Blade Ship – we can't let them get away with some Andalites and humans that probably just want to get home."
"They would, at least, have a spacecraft with more recent supplies than our own," Ax muttered. He wasn't appreciative of the data he found in The Researcher. Apparently, The Researcher and its data were about the same age as he was.
The One and its reign of terror were obviously around in Andalite space for quite a while without being detected. Or maybe the people on The Researcher had come to their demise before it had taken their spacecraft lost in space. Though I doubted it.
‹The Kelbrid is trying to use the authority of its species in order to get them out of the zoo and into the Blade Ship. The Cryhalis in charge of the exhibit are balking – apparently they'd already been contacted by Kelbrid authority and have the Andalites in the back.›
‹How many Andalites?› Ax asked.
‹Two females. A few humans, too. I'm having a hard time keeping track because they're going back and forth without mentioning names. But I think the total amount of people in the crew were nine? The Andalites were supposed to be the experts making sure there had been no problem.›
‹Andalites cannot do anything about issues regarding the -›
‹Relax, Ax-man. I don't get the idea that what happened to the ship was their fault. Apparently they had been attacked by something with Dracon weapons. It could easily be repaired on a planet, but...›
"Ax," I hissed, "Ask him if they're giving into the Kelbrid.›
He repeated the question in thought-speak for Marco.
‹No,› Marco answered. ‹They're saying to give them a day to get in touch with the people that had called them before, to get approval. They'd been told they could keep the humans for the exhibit – the Kelbrid are really only concerned about the Andalites. I don't think they find us humans very threatening at the moment.›
He gave a sigh in thought-speak, like he was being tragically misunderstood.
"Tell him to get out of there."
Ax began to say something. Too late. I suddenly heard agitation down the path the new exhibit was supposed to be in.
"A fly!" A male voice called. In English.
Human.
What I heard in response was partially translated, just enough for the gist. "Bugs grawfa ite all over the tekatu. Ishbelato."
"Earth fly," the first voice was getting more and more agitated. "Human fly."
‹Marco! You must hide yourself and escape as soon as it is safe to do so!›
‹Too late!› Marco called. ‹Gah! These Kelbrid are fast. I can barely stay ahead of his limbs!›
Impotent rage coursed through me. I couldn't morph without putting us in more danger. They knew we were here. Knew we were close. The One was in some way alive, and it was out for us.
"We have to get out of here," I hissed at Ax, "We can't have everyone get caught trying to coach Marco away from the Kelbrid."
‹Guys, get out of here. I'll be okay. Go find somewhere to duck down, hang low. We can try to get here after the zoo closes or something.›
‹Marco! Three dimensions. Do not just avoid his hands, get to the ceiling!› Ax called.
Nothing.
Nothing.
I rubbed my hand against my face as hard as I could, moved down to my neck. Marco couldn't be gone, couldn't.
Suddenly, Marco laughed.
‹Scared you two, didn't I?›
I couldn't answer, but I gave him a finger that by itself wasn't very polite.
He just laughed again. ‹Hey, I saw that Jake! Good idea Ax, I lost them when I got up here, on top of the exhibits. I'm in a groove right now – Just give it a minute, hang low. I'm going to land on one of you and we can have a morph break in a restroom or something.›
I looked around, knowing I wouldn't see him until he was already there.
‹I'm in Ax's hair.›
Ax and I began walking away, slowly. "Does this zoo have a closing time like many human establishments?"
‹Apparently. Just a few hours, though – by which I mean, human hours. They just close long enough to clean cages and whatnot, so it's a pretty small window of opportunity.›
"Cool. So, let's get everyone taken care of and find a place to hide out until after closing hours. Where will we find the people we're attempting to rescue?"
‹Apparently the back of this zoo is actually back and under. I didn't hear an exact location, though, I just know they're not in that exhibit yet.›
"Prince Jake," Ax pointed out, "We will see how to get there if we watch other places around feeding time."
I nodded. It was settled. A plan, a general location.
Ax noticed a sign indicating a restroom, and turned. I followed.
"I really hope their ship can be repaired. It would probably be more comfortable than a craft intended for Andalites only."
‹No kidding,› Marco said. ‹If I have to listen to Ax's definition of music again? I may have to tear off my ears.›