Author's Note: I always have trouble writing Ax chapters.
Ax
The yellow vehicle arrived at the airport when Tobias and I had twenty-one percent of our morph time remaining. Marco had something important to tell us, but I had to find a secure area to demorph and remorph first. Rachel led me into a place called The Ladies Room. I cannot say much for the aesthetic qualities of the place, but it did indeed seem popular with female humans. Cassie's few instincts did not give me any insight. I resolved to ask Rachel about it later.
I demorphed in the largest of the several stalls and enjoyed a brief minute in my own Andalite body. I had no doubts about my ability to remain in human form for six Earth days, but one heart, two legs, two eyes, no tail, and no fur—it was different, to say the least. I do not know how my brother endured.
As soon as Rachel and I emerged, Marco and Tobias motioned us to join them behind a large artificial plant. The rest of the school group rested in a large corridor full of rows and rows of chairs. A loud, disembodied voice sporadically announced the arrival, boarding, and departure of aircraft. All around us humans rushed by toting large, wheeled boxes. Stations for food purchase dotted the interior. I had been in an airport before, but had not had the opportunity to absorb the experience. There was no trace of the order and method that marked a comparable Andalite facility. It was overwhelming.
I tried to concentrate on Marco's words. Of course I immediately understood the urgency and implications of the conversation he overheard. A mass infestation on the scale Chapman intended would be disastrous for our meager resistance. Rachel, Marco, Prince Jake, and Cassie could not remain uninfested if all of their peers were taken, not to mention the numerous other effects such an action would cause. I said as much to my friends.
"Well yeah, we obviously can't let them go through with this," said Tobias, looking and sounding exactly like Prince Jake.
"Yeah. The only question is how do we stop it?" said Marco.
"Easy," said Rachel, "we break this operation up right now. We can't let Chapman and his cronies ship our class off to some Yeerk compound in the Rockies or wherever. We go battle morph right here in the airport and raise hell. They'd have to cancel the field trip after something like that."
"Way to stick to the low-profile plan," scoffed Marco.
"There is a complication in your strategy, Rachel. I have noticed dozens of uniformed humans carrying firearms in this facility. They might be able to subdue four wild animals loose in an enclosed area," I pointed out.
"Psshh, I doubt post-9/11 airport security could take us down," Rachel retorted with a dismissive noise, "the Yeerks have been trying for years."
"No, no, no. You're all missing the bigger picture. If Chapman and Reynolds have a big infestation station in the country somewhere, that should be our target. Attack that and we stop them from ever trying this again," Marco stated.
We all pondered this for a minute. It was clearly the best course of action.
"OK," said Rachel finally, "So we board the plane and smash up the place when we get there."
"Eloquent," quipped Marco, "You should go out for debate."
"I am a lawyer's daughter," she replied.
"Should we notify Prince Jake?" I wondered. In my highly limited peripheral vision, I noticed we had attracted the attention of one of the adult chaperones. A severe-looking older woman rapidly approached our concealed location. I tried to convey this to the others, but Rachel was talking.
"I'll call him," said Rachel, "although I don't know what he'll be able to do about it. We don't even know where we're going."
"You four! What are you doing back here?" the woman said in a loud voice. Adrenaline flooded my system. I had experienced it before when I attended a partial day of school with Prince Jake. My hands made fists, and my leg muscles tensed to either fight or run away. Luckily my friends had more experience with the human reactions to this hormone and were able to answer the teacher without fleeing or fighting.
"Hi Mrs. Cobb, we were just…talking," said Marco. The chaperone looked unconvinced. She fixed a suspicious gaze on each of us. Apparently Marco's powers of improvisation had failed him.
(Same as the bus,) Tobias said quickly in thoughtspeak, (We need a distraction. A big one!)
In one swift movement Marco grabbed Rachel's shoulders and placed his pursed lips on hers. As inexperienced as I am in the nuances of human kissing, even I could see how awkward this action was. Rachel stiffened her muscles and opened her eyes wide. Tobias was not happy either.
"You caught us, Mrs. Cobb! It's a makeout session back here. Sorry. I can't control the effect I have on her," Marco said, gesturing toward the still-stunned but extremely angry Rachel, "I just radiate testosterone, you know."
The woman inhaled sharply. She delivered a stern lecture and said she would "write us up for PDA." As she walked away, she ordered us to rejoin the group.
Once she was out of hearing range, Rachel and Tobias turned toward Marco.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Rachel yelled, infuriated. I wondered if the red color in her face resulted from some physiological reaction to anger or whether it was a voluntary effect. I was about to ask when Marco interrupted her ranting.
"Wait wait wait! Before you both beat me to a pulp, can I just point out it worked? And it couldn't've been anyone else! I'm not about to kiss Ax—no offence, man," he said, addressing the last part to me, "And at least you're not getting a PDA detention for kissing your own cousin! Right? Right?"
This mollified the other two somewhat. Rachel was clearly still angry, though at least Marco seemed to be out of immediate physical danger. The four of us walked toward the rows of plastic chairs. We sat in silence for a few minutes, but I grew restless. I spied an eatery of some type. Rachel offered to accompany me to purchase, at her insistence, moderate amounts of delicious food.
"What is PDA?" I asked her as we took cinnamon buns and soda back to the gate.
"It stands for Public Display of Affection," she answered, which only raised more questions.
My new questions had to wait, as it turned out. Our plane was boarding, and the attendants had already called Rachel and Tobias' row. As she passed Marco, Rachel cuffed him on the side of his face.
"Oh Marco, you should really try to control this effect you have on me," she snapped, as she disappeared down a tunnel-like structure.
Marco smirked and picked up his backpack. "Women, Ax," he said to me, rolling his eyes. The two of us and a multitude of other people handed over our boarding passes and prepared to board the aircraft.
I sensed that interpersonal relationships had returned to normal. Sometimes I think I will never understand humans even if I am stuck here on Earth for two thousand years.