Tobias

The Doctor spent the next few minutes talking technical while Erek nodded thoughtfully and Ax and Aftran voiced occasional concerns or agreements. I gave up trying to figure out what they were about 30 seconds in. I didn't exactly have a degree in "Crazy Alien Technology"; so as long as Ax seemed to think everything was okay, that was good enough for me.

Whatever the techno-mumbo-jumbo, it looked like we had a plan now. One that required pretty much every ally we had to perform their parts with absolute precision.

We were probably doomed.

So now, we were all waiting in the TARDIS, humans, Chee, Andalite, Yeerk, and Time Lord, for Cassie to return from her family's barn with the morphing cube. So that we could give our only real weapon to our enemy.

"So basically, we're all insane," said Marco, "I mean, I know I've pointed this out-"

"This is the 5th time in as many minutes," Jake added.

"But even by our standards, this is insane. We need a better word. Mega-insane. Ultra-crazy."

{Marco,} I added.

"Yes, bird-boy?"

{No, I meant we could call it- instead of insane. Never mind,} I said.

"I dunno, I've definitely seen weirder," said Rose, "Some of the stuff I've done with him has been absolutely mental."

"That sounds like a challenge," said Rachel and everyone laughed.

At this point, we were in pretty sore need of some jokes. Everything had been too tense. So that basically meant we latched right onto the idea of an easy, light-hearted challenge.

{Time travel or not- I'm pretty sure we could out-weird anyone,} I said.

"Alright then," said Rose, with a determined smile, "First trip in the TARDIS, watched Planet Earth's last day of existence from a space station before it was burned up by the sun. The Earth, I mean, though the space platform did come a little close."

{Dinosaurs. We saw the meteor hit that killed them off, as well as learned that broccoli is an alien plant brought here by a species that died off from the meteor as well. Freak time travel event caused by a massive explosion,} I said.

Rose nodded approvingly. From over by the control station, the Doctor looked up, curious.

"You've time travelled before?" he asked.

"Ah, sort of. Technically, I've done it twice… I think?," Jake said, shrugging, "Sometimes a big explosion does this thing called a Sario Rip and well… Ax never was able to explain it so we could understand."

The Doctor looked to Ax expectantly. Ax hadn't really been paying attention while we were talking since the Doctor had allowed him to look over the TARDIS controls, and only looked up when Jake said his name. He straightened to attention.

{Ah, yes, a Sario Rip is an event that can occur due to a large release of energy, such as during an explosion…} he said, fumbling to find the right words, {We believe, well, it is thought to be a result of, ah…}

I had to laugh as he now tried and failed to appear knowledgeable and impressive. For all the tech knowledge and Andalite protocol, Ax was still just a kid like us. Barely out of school, just a cadet. Finally, he looked down and shifted his hooves, embarrassed.

"Ax didn't always pay attention in school," said Marco, grinning.

{I was occasionally distracted,} said Ax, {I would be tired, and there were many things on my mind-}

"Girls," said Rachel with a loud, fake cough, and everyone laughed.

Ax stilled looked a little sheepish, but I could tell he wasn't as tense as he had been when we first entered the TARDIS. I was glad for that. I didn't want him to be worried this whole time…

"Okay, but still- dinosaurs," said Rose with a smile and a nod to the Doctor, "We should go see those some time. But I've still got weirder."

"We helped Queen Victoria fight an alien werewolf that was roaming the Scottish countryside," said the Doctor, and Rose nodded.

She crossed her arms, looking smug.

"Oh, it's definitely game on now," said Marco.

"Alright, how's this," said Jake, "Mosquitos."

"An endangered species to aliens…" muttered the Doctor with a smile, and we all, even Rose, looked at him like he was crazy.

"Uh, it's a Disney movie," he started to explain, then shook his head, "Ah, never mind."

"Okaaay…" said Rachel.

"Anyway- mosquito morphs. They were too small for the technology to handle, and it had this rubber band effect- pulled us back to the rest of our body mass, and we ended up having to fight a war to help protect mind-reading frogs in a massive, acid-trip colored coral reef," Jake said, smiling, "All the while we were pulled back one by one to the mosquito bodies like the rubber band was snapping."

Rose bit her lip and smiled, before looking down and snapping her fingers, probably trying to think of which story she should tell. The Doctor fiddled with something in front of him, just out of my line of sight.

{We are having a weird off with alien time travelers, and winning,} I said, and I saw Rachel roll her eyes, {This is what our lives have come to.}

Everyone laughed. Then, with a loud creak, the door to the TARDIS opened, and Cassie stepped in, holding a crushed, dirty paper bag in one hand. She held it up and smiled.

"Sorry it took so long," she said, slightly out of breath, "I had to make sure my parents didn't see me. They were still working with the animals, and I'm supposed to be in my room doing homework. They'd think it was pretty weird if I was pulling apart on of the old pipes in the barn and then running back into the woods."

"Ah, yes, the glamorous life of an Animorph," said Marco sarcastically, "Lying to parents, never sleeping, failing classes, and constant terror. I don't know why more people don't live like this."

"Yeah, pretty much," said Cassie, shrugging, "But I've got it, no problems."

She unwrapped the brown paper bag. With my hawk vision, I could see the tiny bits of dirt and mold and rust flaking off the outside. She must have shoved it deep out of sight, which was a good thing. We couldn't chance it being discovered by the wrong person. Then her hand emerged, holding a luminescent blue box, completely free of any mess.

"Ah," said Rose, "Yeah, that's definitely a blue box."

"Apparently, the universe likes its little jokes," said Jake with a sigh and shrug.

The Doctor pulled out his glasses again, and straightened them on his face. He had probably taken them on and off 10 times since we had met him. Apparently that was a thing of his. He leaned forward, but stopped himself from running over immediately. Instead, he turned to Ax.

"May I…?" he said, one eyebrow raised slightly.

He was curious, but he'd at least figured out that he should be respectful of Andalites and their rules about their technology now. Ax certainly appreciated the gesture, anyway.

{Yes,} said Ax, nodding, {But be careful not to interfere with the molecular structures related to the Zero Space connectivity, or you could disable the device.}

"Right," said the Doctor, who nodded as though that made perfect sense, and pursed his lips together.

Cassie walked up to hand him the morphing cube, and he took it from her gingerly. The Doctor held it carefully in one hand and took out his sonic screwdriver with the other. He stared intently as the tip of the screwdriver glowed and made a strange whirring, whistling noise. For a brief moment, I thought I saw the cube change color just a hair, but then it was back to normal. Erek also walked over now, staring curiously.

"You know, I don't think I've ever actually seen this thing," he said, looking over the Doctor's shoulder, "The Andalites really do have a lovely sense of color and aesthetic when it comes to their technology."

"Mmhmm," said the Doctor, still staring at the morphing cube.

"You think you can make it work? For this insane-" said Rose, with a quick nod and grin to Marco, "-plan of yours?"

Marco rolled his eyes. Granted, he was right- the plan was completely insane, even by our standards. We had just been trying to distract ourselves with humor to keep from freaking out over how impossible it all sounded.

First- contact Mr. Tidwell and Illim, and get a message out to Yeerk Peace Movement. They needed to be ready to act as soon as possible. We weren't telling them exactly what was happening, only to have all members possible meet up on the far side of the Pool and get ready to form… well, a congo line of Yeerks, for lack of a better word, as soon as they got the signal.

After we were sure the message had been relayed, the Doctor was going to open up an unused entrance to the Yeerk Pool, and we- the Animorphs, Aftran, Erek, the Doctor, and Rose- would head down the Yeerk Pool. We, the Animorphs, were going to provide a distraction. That is to say, we were going to do what we normally do when we end up down in that hell hole- morph something dangerous and create as much chaos as possible.

While we were trying not to die, Erek would use his hologram to get Aftran into the Pool to alert the Yeerk Peace Movement that it was time, and then he and Ax would proceed with the morphing cube to the far side of the Pool to give the Peace Movement the morphing technology- all hopefully without any other Yeerks being aware what was happening. Supposedly, it was possible for the Doctor to modify the cube so that all as long as the Yeerks were in physical contact with each other, only one of them would need to be touching the cube in order for the entire group to gain the morphing power.

Then, while all this is going on, the Doctor would once again make his way to the main Yeerk Pool control room. He seemed pretty confident that he could get there with no problems, and at this point we had decided just to believe him. From there, he would broadcast the message to every Pool on Earth, and throughout the Yeerk Empire- the Kandrona sources on Earth were shut down, and if the Yeerks agreed to peace, they would be given an escape from their lives as parasites dependent on host bodies and Kandrona rays. We decided not to give specifics on what that escape entailed just yet- we wanted to let the word that morphing was an option spread by the Yeerks themselves. The thing was- if the Kandrona was shut down, the Yeerks would begin to starve. And that was the key to ensuring that the Yeerks stayed in morph and became nothlits- if they didn't, they would starve.

Despite the Doctor's talk about choices, I noticed he was giving them less of one than he made it sound. He didn't want the Yeerks to starve. But he was willing to make a hard call, no matter what he pretended otherwise.

Anyway, then we would, theoretically, escape and leave the Yeerks in chaos as they struggled to decide what to do. As far as our involvement goes, it was pretty standard. Sneak in and then run screaming out.

The really, truly insane part of the plan was what came after we left, and it relied on the Doctor being able to manipulate the morphing technology in an impossibly precise manner. Doing things no one had ever dreamed even close to possible, at least according to Ax.

"Alright, let's test this!" said the Doctor, pulling off his glasses cheerfully, "Aximili, if you don't mind?" Ax nodded, and walked over to take the cube. I was actually really impressed with how well Ax was handling this. It was a lot, dealing with the Doctor, and most of it went against everything law Andalites had, and everything he had been taught. He was still clinging to some of the things he knew about the world. I mean, we had already had everything we knew turned upside down when we first saw a UFO crash land into an abandoned construction site. There wasn't much of our old world left.

"And you're sure you're okay with this, yeah?" said Rose, following Ax over to Aftran's tank.

{I think I'm the one who should be asking that,} said Aftran. Even in thought-speak, she sounded nervous.

"Well, there's not really any other way to test this," said Jake.

"Besides, you need be able to fight and defend yourself if it comes down to it," Rachel added.

"Yeah, when- not if- everything goes horribly wrong," Marco said, "It'd be better if we know you can at least have some morph in place."

"Ever the optimists, you lot," said Rose breathing deeply, and she reached her hand in the tank to scoop up Aftran.

"Are you sure you don't want to have at least one morph as a back up as well?" Cassie asked the Doctor, "I know we'd all feel better if you did."

The Doctor rubbed his neck and flexed his jaw, pacing a few steps before looking back at Cassie.

"Ah, well…" he said, shaking his head awkwardly, "No, I think I better. It's just, well, I'm a bit worried about genetic compatibility. Well, no, yes…"

He paused, trying to find the right words, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Well, let's just say there's a touch of a different sort of morphing in me already, and I'd really, really like to not mess it up."

{Well, that's not cryptic at all,} I said sarcastically.

The Doctor shrugged and smiled apologetically.

"Every species has its quirks," he said.

"So," said Rose, and her voice cracked a bit, "Shall we go on and do this then?"

She bit her lip, frowning nervously. Aftran sat in her palm, out of the tank, so we couldn't hear what she was thinking, but safe bet would be that she was a little scared as well. Standing in front of Rose, Ax inspected the morphing cube, holding it delicate in his fragile, too-many-fingered Andalite hands.

"Alright," said Rose, taking a deep breath, and she held out her hand, "Do I touch it, or…?"

{Simply place your hand on one side,} said Ax.

I thought back to that night in the construction site. It felt like a lifetime ago. I knew my friends were thinking the same. Elfangor, dying of his injuries, had offered us the same blue box, and we had each reached out to touch it, afraid, but knowing we had no choice. At the time, I didn't know he was my father (the Doctor didn't have the monopoly on time travel and dimension hopping. I could have totally won that weird-off), but I still felt a connection. He was desperate, and I had understood that, even if I didn't really understand everything that was going on. I did understand that my life was about to change completely. And all of us had changed since then, and not just because of the morphing.

I wondered if this power, this war, might change Rose. Or Aftran. Or the entire Yeerk race.

Rose pressed her free hand, the one not holding Aftran, on top of the cube.

"Oh!," she said quietly, "It's…"

She didn't finish her sentence, but we knew what she meant. A warm sort of tingling… Nothing involved with morphing felt like you thought it should. After a moment, she removed her hand.

{The device appears to have worked, Prince Jake. Rose has acquired the morphing ability normally,} said Ax, inspecting the morphing cube once again, {But I cannot say for sure about Aftran 942. Not without seeing her complete a morph. It would be wise to confirm with Rose as well.}

"Okay," said Jake, nodding, "Rose are you still okay with this?"

"Yeah, of course," she said, looking around at us, "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing really. Maybe sit down," said Cassie, her voice firm as she began to give instructions.

The Doctor slid over a chair, and Rose sat down. She kept Aftran sitting on her palm, and rested both hands on her lap.

Cassie was the best at morphing out of all us, even Ax. She made it looked like art, and I had more than once seen her talk the others out morphs, even when they were dangerously close to the time limit. Ax called Cassie an estreen, someone born naturally gifted at morphing. She may not understand the technology behind it all, but she could do incredible things with the ability.

"Okay, Rose, you might feel a bit sleepy while Aftran is absorbing your DNA, like you're in a trance. That's normal. Now, Aftran-"

Cassie spoke carefully, to make sure she could be understood through the Yeerk's limited sense of hearing.

"You need to concentrate hard on Rose. On what it's like to be Rose. Think about being human, having her senses, her body. You'll be able to tell when the DNA has been fully acquired, so don't rush it."

"Well… something's… definitely happening…" said Rose.

She blinked her eyes sleepily, and slouched into the chair. The Doctor kneeled down next to her, watching her face closely.

"She's not going to fall asleep, is she?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"No, it should wear off in a moment," said Cassie.

"It only last a few seconds, once you're finished absorbing the DNA," Jake added helpfully.

"Yeah," said Marco, "Just long enough to get away from a tiger or grizzly bear or whatever before they eat you."

The Doctor nodded, but he never took his eyes of Rose. In a moment, her eyelids fluttered, and suddenly she looked much more alert. Straightening up, Rose looked down at Aftran curiously.

"So she's got me inside of her now, yeah?"

{Theoretically,} said Ax, {If the Doctor's modifications were successful. So far, it appears to be working as intended.}

Everyone had walked closer now, to see if Aftran would be able to morph. I was the only one who didn't need to move to get a closer look. With hawk eyes, everything is close enough.

"Alright Aftran, now focus on Rose again," instructed Cassie, "Picture being her, what it's like to be human. You've got some of her memories and emotions, so it would probably help to even use those too."

Slowly, impossibly, for having never even touched the morphing cube, Aftran began to swell in Rose's hands.

"Oh, you better set her down," said Cassie, "She's about to get, well, you-sized."

Rose delicately bent down and placed Aftran's rapidly swelling slug body on the floor. Just as she did-

SPRLOOOOOT!

Aftran sprouted an entire, human-sized mass of blonde hair, sticking out over the entire front half of her body.

"Eeeugh!" said Rose, jumping backwards and nearly falling over the chair.

"Ah yes, the wonderful world of morphing," said Marco.

He put a fist to his mouth and swallowed, managing to sound both repulsed and yet amused all at once. With a grimace, he continued, like a tour guide to the worst attraction ever.

"Pretty much just expect a lot of more of that from here on out."