Odysseus ***
Characters: Alloran
It was night when the ship finally lifted off into space, and I was looking off into the window. Completely alone. When I boarded, I was forced to enter my human morph one last time—I had told myself five years ago that it would be the last and now there I was once more with two awkward legs.
You might wonder why I stayed on Earth for so long after the war and not return to my homeworld. There were many war trials, and because I was host to a parasite of so high a rank, I was a key eyewitness to many of them. Human jurors watched fascinated, and even repulsed as they listened. I told myself that I wanted to return to my home as soon as possible. But I hesitated, something within me pulling me back. It had been so long.
I finally sent a transmission to my wife, with the words of the ritual of home coming—I could barely remember them. There I waited nervously, eager and terrified like some inexperienced suitor. I expected nothing. I expected her to banish me. I expected...
She did reply. Jahar. The message was short, emotionless. The welcoming ritual. I stood in my temporary quarters in a place called Washington DC playing the message over and over. What did her face say? I looked in her eyes, searching for some kind of clue. Nothing. But the time had finally come: and I booked tickets to a private flight to the homeworld.
As I walked with others that appeared human towards the main terminal, hearded like nonsentient hooved animals, I could see the changes of human life all around me. The technology on Earth had already become more advanced, even without the aid of the Andailite people. Just within the last two years.
They had something called a retina scan, scanning my eye, revailing who exactly I was: Alloran-Semitur-Corass. I strongly distrusted the thing, wondering how much damage it was going to do to me. I could see a blue light for three seconds afterwards.
The human female on the right side looked at the computer screen as she viewed my profile, and gave me a smile. I nodded and went through the gate leading to the ship, wondering what type of smile it was. Humans had many types of them, but I decided that it was an awkward smile. She looked familiar. A probable host that worked under Esplin's short reign as Visser One.
I was his host for many long years.
Just as I was about to walk to the metal detector, she called. "Hey!" she said loudly, as if waking up from a dream. Before turning my head to look at the human, one of my eyestalks turned to face her. I looked at her straight in the eyes with my own main ones. She seemed to be searching for something. I made an inaudible snort, smiling in spite of myself.
"No, I am no longer the host to Visser One. I am myself," I said and moved on through the gate. Even after a few years, I still found that liberating: I am myself.
It was the third flight to the Andalite home world. The first, and even the second launches were reported over human television networks and through their computer nets. My people reported the first launch through the civilian nets. The third was the soonest and most unnoticed out of the first early flights of human Z-space travel. I did not want to be televised because now-a-days I wished for a private and quiet life.
From the outside, I was surprised of how fluid the ship looked. And as always, like with most human aircraft, it was shaped like a bird of sorts. From what I had heard from Andalite rumors, it was supposed to look somewhat crude. The interior might have been what they meant. Inside, one of the attendants looked at the board and told me to stay in human morph until they were out of orbit so I was forced to be seated. I would be allowed to roam the isles andback afterwards. They are ill-equipped for Andalites.
It was cramped, and I found some comfort in looking through the window. It made me all the more aware of my freedom. As the ship finally launched into the air, I watched the light blue sky move through colors like reds, oranges, then to violet and lastly the blackness of space. It would be another twenty minutes before the ship would translate into Z-space. The first would be a single short jump, before finally heading out of the Sol system and on to my home.
Finally, I saw a sign at the front of the ship blinking, indicating that we were out of orbit and on our way to my home. I unbelted myself from the seat, and made my way to the back where the human waste facilitites were and demorphed. I suspected that many humans aboard would find the experience of watching someone change forms would be 'disgusting'.
It was a cramped space, but somehow I managed, opening the door while I was half demorphed. My tail finished forming, and I landed comfortably on all four hooves before exiting and moving towards the back where the ship was completely open. I appeared to be the only Andalite for the moment.
Stepping gingerly into the small, cramped cabin, I turned my attention to one of the circular windows once more, finding a very familiar sight. Curiousity piqued, I moved closer to that particular window, my head tilted towards the side—a very human gesture. The ship skirted lazily around one of it's largest planets; a gas giant with a rather attractive set of rings that glittered against the lights of the ship. Long buried memories slowly shivered, rippling in my mind as recongnition took over.
A beautiful, streamlined ship appeared out of the darkness, floating effortlessly towards the craft I stood in. The ship sifted through the dust of the rings as it moved closer and closer. It was silver, its three main engines glowing seductively, its tail held high with dignity. And along the side said one word; one name: Jahar.
A shiver shot through my spine; I blinked before straining my main eyes— and it was suddenly gone. The ship, my ship—was gone.
AN:
Long Time No See! Hey guys, I'm totally not dead! Just horrendously busy. I still have one that I haven't typed, and I think I shall put it up sometime this week! ^_^ This drabble is an edited and extended version of something I wrote a while back-One of my rare first person POVs. I'll be adding more and more of this one as I go along, in between all of the other drabbles, so keep an eye open for more Alloran POVs. Alloran's one of my favorites ('cause he's just that poor guy that happens to always be at the wrong place at the wrong time, with or without his own doing...), so he definitely has to be in this! ^_^
As Always... Thank you so much for your reviews! I love getting them and reading them so much!