Chapter 2: The question.
The next day Alex and Jacob went to see Tobias a few minutes before the class begun. As they arrived at his office, they heard a sound of ruffling feathers and some very weird, "crunchy" sounds, that made them look at each other. Jacob shrugged, and went to knock on the door, but before he could, it was opened by Tobias from within, who didn't seem surprised to see them at all.
"Come in, sit down" Tobias said, gesturing at two chairs placed in front of a desk. Alex and Jacob walkid in and sat down, and they took the chance to look around the office. It was a small room, with very little in it, but a reltively large open window. Aside from the chairs they were sitting in, there was only the desk, and a smaller chair on the other side of it, were Tobias sat. It was looked like this chair had been designed specifically for him, as it was smaller than a normal office chair. On the corner to the left of the door, only visible with the door closed, there was a tall , wooden perch, which showed some tear and wear. On the desk was a computer, which had evidently been enhanced by Andalite technology, as shown by the use of dyson fans and organic looking motherboards instead of the traditional components, which could be seen through the glass covering. Andalite enhancements were not unheard of, but they were very expensive. Usually only the most important components of high end PCs would include Andalite technology, even research and the most powerful of gaming computers didn't have more than one or two modified components. This computer, on the other hand, seemed to merge Andalite and human technology seemlessly and in every component.
"Sweet setup dude", Jacob said.
"Thanks"-Tobias responded-"It was a gift from an old friend. Anyways, what brings you here?"
"My friend and I noticed a difference between what Sarah said yesterday and the bird she showed. It was a very small difference, but we were curious as to why it was that way" Alex responded.
"Hm, thats unusual, can you show me what you are talking about?" Tobias responded.
"Sure dude" Jacob said, pulling out the paper sculpture he had done. The incredibly detailed sculpture did not need coloring to represent perfectly the red tailed hawk. He handed it to Tobias, who pulled out some kind of steampunk looking glasses from a drawer on the table and took a look at the sculpture.
"This is very impressive" Tobias said, examining it. "May I keep it?"
"Sure dude, be my guest!" Jacob responded.
"Thank you" Tobias responded, taking off his unusual glasses. "What was the difference you had doubts about?" he asked.
Jacob and Alex explained their doubt. As it turned out, it was nothing more than a small mistake Sarah had made. It was apparently true for most hawks but not specifically for the red tailed hawk. As they talked the knowledge Tobias had for that bird was self evident. He knew every detail there was to know about it. They continued talking for a few minutes, before suddenly Tobias looked at the clock on the wall.
"I'm afraid that's all I have time for right now, I need to get ready for class. Go ahead, I'll be right there" he said, ushering them out of the small office before closing the door behind them.
"That's weird, we still have ten minutes left until class begins" Alex said, looking at his watch. But they made their way to class regardless, where a few minutes later Tobias walked in and began teaching class, as usual.
That evening they met with Jaime and Cassie again, as they did every Friday. The conversation went as it usually did, with Alex and Jaime talking about the latest update in a videogame they both played, and Cassie telling a surprisingly interested Jacob about a class action lawsuit she was studying in class regarding the hardness of colored pencils. Soon, however, the conversation turned to the topicof the weird professor, and specifically about his computer.
"He must be very important" Jaime said. "What you are describing sounds not only expensive, but actually impossible to get without the right contacts. And not even human contacts. Tobias must have some friends out there" he continued.
"Like an Andalite?" Cassie asked, surprised. While space turism was becoming more and more commonplace, friendship between Andalite and humans was unheard of. Most humans found most Andalites to have their head way up their ass, and most Andalites found most humans to be inferior in basically every way that matters.
"I wouldn't be surprised" Jacob said, as he absent mindedly played with a pamphlet he had taken from a car parked outside the place they were in.
"Hey Jaime, do you think you could try to find out who this guy is?" Alex said. "I am very curious to find out".
"Sure! I can try cracking into the University's intranet and seeing if..." he started excitedly, before noticing Cassie glaring at him, which made him shut up. "Or I can just look him up on the internet" he said with a sigh, sad to miss out on the opportunity for a challange. But at least he did earn a smile from Cassie, even if it was the kind of smile that said "I'll be watching you".
"Do what you can" Alex responded, not wanting to anger Cassie either.
The conversation quickly changed to other topics, specifically to Jacob's younger sister, Sarah, about whom the group had reached the consensus a few meeting prior that she was very cute, and about what to give her for her birthday that was in only a few weeks. Alex enjoyed talking about this with his friends as he didn't have any siblings and was a bit sad he didn't have the opportunity for such a relationship. Cassie had an older brother, who was a firefighter, and Jaime a younger step-brother he had only met a few years prior, when his father married his new brother's mother.
The following week, classes continued as normal. The first exams were approaching, but they were still far enough that most students could blissfully ignore them. The weather was getting worse now, with clouds often hiding the sun and winds starting to pick up, but no rain fell yet. It was expected that the weather would soon improve for some time before winter.
Eventualy it was Friday again, and the group had decided to meet up at the mall instead of the bar where they usually met. Alex and Jacob were the first to arrive, so as they waited they took the chance to look at the statue placed right at the entrance. It depicted a group of animals charging towards the observer in a triangular formation. Each animal had a little plaque with a name in front of it.
There was a crocodile. "Collete", the plaque said.
A bull. "Kelly".
A leopard. "Ray".
An elephant. A rhinoceros. A bobcat. "Judy. Tricia. Timmy."
A lion. "James".
Behind some of the animals, wheelchairs could be seen. Some were the white marble of the statues. Others were not, and had been placed by people who no longer needed them, either because the were healed now, or because they wouldn't be. An act of superstition repeated in any other similar statue throughout the country, placed in parks, malls, and even some schools. Each was unique, although most shared a common factor. At the front, leading the charge, a grizzly bear running on all fours. And atop the grizzly, the only human being part of the statue. A young girl with a beautiful face and long hair. She also had a plaque, but neither Alex nor Jacob needed to read it to know what it said. "Rachel".
Alex and Jacob looked silently at the statue. Alex always felt a sense of reverence towards the heroes that had given their life to save everything when he stared at it. He looked at Jacob, his expression as unreadable as always. Knowing Jacob, he could be thinking about the morality of sending disabled kids as bait. Or he could be thinking about yesterday's tacos. Regardless, it didn't matter, as it was then that Cassie and Jaime finally arrived.
"Hey guys!" Jaime saluted, with Cassie following quickly behind. The group then began walking around the mall, not really buying anything and simply enjoying each other's company. Howver, it didn't take long until Jaime shared his findings about Tobias, as he was clearly excited about it.
"Oh guys, I looked up that Tobias guy, and you won't believe what i found!" Jaime said.
"He's actually Visser One" Jacob responded immediately, without hessitation, but everyone could tell he was just joking around.
"No, something even more impressive." Jaime responded. "I found... nothing. Nada. Zero." Alex and Cassie looked at him like he was crazy, whereas Jacob simply nodded, as if that was to be expected. He had a bowtie made of paper. It somehow fit with his clothing.
"No, you guys don't understand. I didn't find anything on the internet, so I got into the University's intraner- I know, Cassie, but I had a hunch- and I found some encrypted files. But I couldn't get into them, I needed more computing power. So I asked some friends, who have better computers. And they couldn't crack it. So then they asked some friends of theirs that have actual Andalite computers. And they could not crack it. This guy's security is so good Andalite technology can not crack it"
"Wait what are you saying exactly?" Alex responded after a few seconds of silence.
"I'm saying this guy's identity is so well protected no human has access to it, and very very few andalites do."
"He's the forgotten animorph" Jacob said. But unlike before, he wasn't joking. "The guy just Clark Kents his way through life. He doesn't age because he's not in his real body. And of course he is an expert on red tailed hawks. It's so obvious no one would ever think about it."
"But it can't be. Red tailed hawks only have a lifespan of twenty years. He told us himself." Alex replied, but he was quickly realizing the truth. "Unless... whenever he demorphs to hawk he uses his perfectly preserved DNA. Every time he morphs he resets his biological age" he reasoned.
"The hawk you saw in class" Cassie whispered. "You said he was incredibly well trained. It must have been him! In his true body!"
"The guy is a legend. Why would he spend his life as a university professor?" Jaime asked.
"You all know what he lived through. If you were him, what would you do with your life? Hide in the forest as a hawk forever? The other's wouldn't let him. He would do like Jake tried to do, and hide somewhere where he isn't recognized. Hide his identity, and get a job trying to do something good. Jake is too famous for that, and too responsible. But Tobias managed it." Cassie responded.
The group had now stopped walking, their minds racing with the implications of their discovery. In silence they sat down on a bench, all excpet Alex who began pacing around, as he usually did when deep in thought. Even Jacob's usually happy go lucky expression looked serious now, paper bowtie crumpled in his hand. This was big. And they could get in trouble if someone found out they knew.
"We have to tell him what we know" Alex said, stopping his pacing. "We won't be able to act as if we didn't know. Or, at least, I know I won't"
"I agree. He should know what to do." Cassie responded.
"Are you crazy?" Jaime replied. "If you tell him the goverment will get involved. They will not let you share his secret. Hell, they could send me to jail for this!"
"Well maybe you should go to jail!" Cassie replied angrily, turning to look at him. "I told you not to do anything illegal, but noooo, you saw a challange and you just had to take it! You couldn't let it go!" She was crying now. Jaime hugged her tightly.
"I know. I'm sorry. I should have listened to you. You are right, of course. They should tell him what we know. Lying will just get us into more trouble."
"Jacob? What do you think?" Alex asked his friend, who had been unusually silent.
"I think we should wing it" he replied totally serious, which of course made Alex laugh and managed to get a smile from Cassie.
They decided to go home early, as they all felt that they needed time to think. As Jacob and Alex walked towards the bus stop, Jacob stopped Alex, and pointed to the sky. The sun was low on the horizon, but there was still more than enough light to see the bird flyig high up above. It was a red tailed hawk.
"Is that him?" Alex whispered, covering his mouth with his hand so that even if Tobias could read their lips them he wouldn't be able to.
"How often do you see red tailed hawks flying around in this light? I don't know dude, it could just be a normal hawk and us being paranoid, but it feels like a very big coincidence." Jacob replied similarly.
"Let's just go home".
That entire week was terrifying for Alex. Every time he walked outside and saw a bird flying above, he felt aprehension. When he walked, every car seemed to be following him. All wendsday a fly seemed focused on following him everywhere. Paranoia was making a mess out of him. Jacob, on the other hand, seemed as unconcerned as ever. Whenever they met, he acted as he always had. "If they were going to throw us into jail, they already would have" Jacob explained, but Alex wasn't convinced. Finally, thursday arrived. Like two weeks ago, they went to Tobias' office before class began. They had sent him an email previously about having some more doubts, so they were sure Tobias would be there when they arrived.
"Come on in" Tobias said after they knocked on the door. "What can I do for you?" he continued. His expression was unreadable, and Alex could feel adrenaline in his blood as he sat down, heart pounding both in fear and excitement.
"Well sir..." Alex started, hesitant. He looked at Jacob, whose sight wsa focused on a tiny paper sculpture placed on the mostly empty table. "We wanted to ask you something a bit... personal" he coninued. But before he could finish, Jacob interrupted him.
"Is it as cool as they say it is?" Jacob asked, looking at Tobias.
"What?" Tobias responded, surprised.
"Flying" Jacobed said plainly. There was a long silence then. Jacob looked at Tobias and Tobias looked back at him. The silence stretched, screaming as time seemed to dilate and not like it, neither of them wanting to be the first to look away. And, surprisingly, it was Tobias who broke off eye contact, closing them and sighing.
"Yes" Tobias finally responded. "Even after all this time, there's still nothing like it." He sighed, leaining back on his chair. "What gave it away? Did you see my feet the other time?"
"Uhm. No actually. We were simply curious so we asked a friend to investigate you, and when nothing came up, Jacob figured it out." Alex responded.
"So you didn't crack the files? Darn. Been following that Jaime guy all week scared of who he may have told, but of course, he didn't know." Tobias muttered for himself. "Ok, so here is the thing. I'm supposed to tell some general or something that my cover has been blown, but to be honest I really like it here, you two are pretty good students and it would be a shame for you to be sent to jail. So instead how about you promise not to tell anyone and we let it pass?"
"Of course my dude, you can trust us!" Jacob responded immediatelly.
"Who else besides you two know about this? I pressume Jaime does as well?" Tobias asked.
"Yes, and so does another girl named Cassie." Alex responded.
"Long, dark hair, usually wears a pink shirt?" Tobias asked.
"Yes. How- ah, of course. Wait, were you the hawk we saw the other day at the mall?"
"Yep. Good catch. I'm happy to see that you are actually learning from my classes, as it would have been unusual for a normal hawk to be there at that time of day." he answered. "Well, I can't say I'm glad that this has happened, but I have come to learn that plans never work out, and if this one was to fail, I think it did in the best way." he continued, standing up and walking over to the door. "If that is everything, I'll see you in class in a few minutes. I need to change" he said with a smile.
"Can we see it?" Jacob asked.
"I'm not a circus. If you want to see some morphing, go watch Marco's movies, I hear he does all the special effects." Tobias replied.
"Please" Jacob whispered. Alex noticed something in his voice. This was apparently very important to his friend, he had never seen him like that.
Tobias sighed again. "Close the door" he ordered. As soon as Alex closed it, Tobias began to change. And, as everyone knew by then, it wasn't pretty. First came the beautiful tail. Long, copper colored feathers sprouted from Tobias' lower back. Then, his eyes changed, becoming much larger, and changing to yellow, as they spread appart. A beak also began appearing as he shrunk down. Simultaneously, feathers began to appear throughout his skin, originating from his now fully hawk tail. The final cahnges were his feet, turning into razor sharp talons.
"Sick" Jacob said, smiling.
Now get out of here before I peck your eyes out! Tobias said in a voice that wasn't a voice, a truly unique experience, and Alex and Jacob promptly left the small office and headed to class, finally relaxing after a long week of suffering.