Hello my adoring fans.
Just want to make this clear. If you see asterisks before and after a quotation, it means translated speech.
***********************************************************************************
April 3, 1999 12:01 PM
"You gave Tobias his powers back." I said, remembering something Marco told me. "You also like kinda told them where to find the Kandrona. You're the interloper."
"We don't interfere with other species."
"'We'? Whose 'we'?" I asked.
The Ellimist just smiled at me. "This is not as it should be. You should be a rat. I am concerned."
"You keep saying that. What the hell does that mean?"
He looked at me. "You were supposed to betray the Animorphs. They were supposed to trap you as a rat and leave you on an island. Something has changed."
His words had little sting. In the last ten minutes, I had been rebuked by Cassie, then introduced to a being I didn't quite understand. I was pretty much numb to his words of a future that was supposed to be mine.
"¿Como sabes qué serrá?"
"I don't. I only know what will probably be. Cassie was not supposed to stop you. You were supposed to run out. That event was supposed to cause a chain reaction that led to you betraying the animorphs, resulting in your defeat. Something happened. Not only did she stop you, but you also fell in love with her. This will complicate something, I'm not sure what." The being that had been described to me as omnipotent was soon becoming increasingly flustered. "The impasse. You will complicate the impasse. Your survival may cost the Iskoort world and many others."
"Hey!" I shouted. "What the fuck are you talking about??!!"
"You must be tested."
"Excuse me?"
"I have to know if your survival is good. In a way it is already good. As you were supposed to be, you opened yourself up to becoming a tool for him."
"Him, who?"
"You must be tested."
"I don't give a flying fig!" I shouted. "Tested how?"
"Vak! Irk vin talik!" A strange creature said.
"Naga vo keepin." A second creature said.
"Vistay, obo-la."
All of the sudden I was not in Cassie's barn. I was in bright hallway with white steel walls.
"What the hell's going on?! Ellimist."
This is the Test. You will be given a choice, choose wisely and you will be allowed to return home.
I looked at the two creatures staring at me. They were weird looking. They seemed to be made of two parts. One part, was a horizontal bar, each end ending with two appendages. There was clearly a front and a back as the front had arm-like appendages that could be used as legs, but they ended in six-fingered (five fingers plus an opposable thumb), nimble hands. The back legs were shorter and sturdier. Only the 'thumb' and two of the fingers seemed to be useful. Three of the fingers were vestigial.
The second part was rather humanoid. A chest with two arms. These hands were four-fingered. (Three fingers with one opposable thumb.) They also had four thin tentacles moving wildly out of their back. Their heads were almost canine. They had a muzzle with many teeth. Molars, incisors, and canines. Omnivorous. There was hope. Their ears looked like satellite dishes on the sides of their heads. They had three eyes. The two outer ones were simple eyes, green with a lighter green iris. The middle eye was a red compound eye. Their skin was various shades of brown all over. One of the creatures had brown hair all over his top arms and the top of his head. The second had blue hair in those places.
The weirdest thing about these creatures was that the top half often slid back and forth on the bottom half. The top half appeared to rest in the middle, but they could move it all the way to the back or all the way to the front. It looked very strange.
"Nikkum Nikkum." Said the blue haired one.
"Flexum pusa, mordant." Said the brown haired one.
"Listen, I don't know what you guys are, but can I get a translator in here, please?"
"Nikkum Nikkum!" said the blue one
"Flexum!" said the brown one.
"Kan frab'g!" said a deep new voice. I turned my head and saw a red-haired creature. His arms and shoulders were thicker than the two smaller creatures that spoke to me. He also had a cloth armband with a golden crescent. His tentacles were still and erect. The two creatures also turned around. They turned their upper bodies 360 degrees around. Creepy. "Irk vin talik!"
"Ibpsa!" said the blue one.
"Ogla norba. Va yello. Drusa?" said the brown one.
"Yi" said the red one.
Blue and Brown grabbed me with their upper arms. One of each one's lower arms grabbed either leg. They took me somewhere.
"Where are you taking me? Put me down. Ellimist!!! Get me out of here!!!"
They took to another red hair. The last thing I remember after that was a dome device put over my mouth.
I woke up what seemed like hours later.
"Labin ifka?" asked the red-haired creature who knocked me out.
"Yeah, thanks. What did you do to me?" I answered, but then I realized, "I understood you. You said 'Labin ifka?' which means 'feeling better?'."
"*Yes. I see the translator implantation was a success. We've never seen one of you creatures before. You're lucky the Skrit Na had abducted several of your species in the past. They had quite detailed files of your species in the medical databases they sold us.*"
"What?"
"*Oh, I'm sorry. I guess you're a little disoriented.*" The creature said as he slid his top half all the forward. "*My name is Cleric and Scientific Doctor Orbin Vaker-132. What is your name?*"
"David Hunting."
"*What an odd name. No numbers. Is David Hunting that unique a name?*"
"Not really."
"*Hmm*" Cleric Dr. Orbin said as he slid his top to the middle.
"Excuse me. Don't take this the wrong way, but . . . What are you?"
"*You mean the name of my species? Ah. We are the Dayangs. You probably want to know where you are too. You are aboard a spaceship. This is the Dayang Trader Rogin Gavic.*"
"That means Star Skull." I realized.
"*Yes, well, I didn't name the ship.*" Dr. Orbin admitted. "*The majority of my people cannot see the difference between warriors and merchants.*"
The door slid open and the red-haired dayang that I had encountered before came in with the blue and brown haired dayangs. The red-haired dayang kept his top half in perfect middle. The two smaller ones were slid all the way back.
"*How is the creature?*" said Big Red-hair
"The creature is just fine." I said annoyed. "Who are you?"
"*I am First Mate Hollin Stershin-198. Behave yourself, alien. How did you get on my ship?*"
"I just kind of arrived."
"*Picum? You saw it arrive. How'd it get on board?*"
The blue haired one stepped forward and slid his top half almost all the way forward. "*It was like ZAF! He was there. All of the sudden.*"
"*Erko?*"
The brown haired one stepped forward but kept his top half back. "*I was turned around. I didn't see him show up. Then I heard Picum talking to someone. I turned around and saw the creature. I decided I would try to talk to it too. Its language was in our translator's memory banks. It asked for a translator, but I don't think it understood where it was. It was not happy when we brought it to Dr. Orbin.*"
"I'm a he, okay?? Not an it!"
"*My studies show that this creature is a male homo-sapien from Terra Firma,*" said Dr. Orbin, "*but he probably will refer to himself as a human from Earth.*"
"*Ah, yes. Homo-sapiens, the splintered species.*" First Mate Hollin said.
"Excuse me, splintered?" I asked.
"*Yes. Most species have one language, one name for their planet.*" Dr. Orbin said. "*You homo-sapiens, or humans, do not. We refer to you as such because the Skrit Na databanks have concluded that if there is a single planetary language it would be the Latin language used by your scientist and artists the world over. The Latin word for your species is--*"
"I know what it is."
"*Doctor, may I see you in private?*" First Mate Hollin said. The Doctor's tentacles tapped his chest twice, which my translator interpreted as a 'yes' gesture. "*Privates? Guard our guest.*"
"*Please stay in here. I will return shortly.*" Dr. Orbin requested.
As nice as the good doctor was, I wasn't just about to stick around. I wanted answers. The First Mate was being very secretive. I wanted to know why. After Hollin and Orbin left. Picum and Erko gave me one last warning before turning their backs on me and leaving the room. Amateurs. I was a cockroach in their arm hair, before they lazily shut the door behind them with their tentacles, not even looking if I were still there.
"*Picum. Erko. Make sure the homo-sapien does not escape. I have heard they are a dangerous bunch.*" said Hollin. I could still translate. Even in morph. I followed the First Mate and doctor to a small room across the hall.
"*The Homo-sapiens are one of the species that the Yeerks are attempting to conquer. He must be careful. That project you and Dr. Klika Rowach-468 are working on. Is it finished?*"
"*Almost.*"
"*The homo-sapiens are unaware of alien life. This homo-sapien now knows otherwise, but he can't be told about the Yeerks. We must remain noninvolved in any conquest made by the Yeerk Empire. That includes no involvement with the Andalites or any other resisting aliens, and believe me doctor. I have read accounts of the Yeerk conquest on Terra Firma. These aliens are resistant to say the least.*"
"*First Mate Hollin, I think it's too late for that." Dr. Orbin started. "*I took a blood sample. It shows traces of Andalite biotechnology.*"
"*How's that possible?*"
"*There was one Yeerk-Andalite battle for Terra Firma. There, the Dome ship GalaxyTree faced a large Yeerk force, single-handedly. It was decimated. Survivors who were picked up by the StarGrass say that three fighters and the dome of the ship all crashed on the eastern shore of one of the continents. That left four Andalite warriors unaccounted for. Commander Gafinilian-Estrif-Valad, Prince Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul, Warrior Mertil-Iscar-Elmand, and Aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil. Elfangor has been confirmed dead, but the other three have not. In fact, Aximili has been confirmed alive, but I believe the other two are also alive.*"
"*Why is that?*"
"*Because. They are accounts of a small group of Andalite warriors harassing the Yeerks in the same area that the three fighters and the dome all crashed. There's just one little thing.*"
"*What's that?"
"*Many of the accounts list a group of six.*"
"*But only three andalites survived, and even that number is an optimistic speculation. Who are the other three?*"
"*Sir, I believe that the homo sapien, could be one of these Andalite guerrillas.*"
"*That's impossible. The Andalites have a law. It's called Seerow's Kindness.*"
"*How else do you explain the presence of Andalite biotechnology?*"
"*Perhaps it is a failed Quantum Virus. The Andalites didn't want six billion bodies to go to the Yeerks, so they attempted to wipe them out.*"
"*Sir, we would have heard about such an atrocity. We did when they tried the same thing on the Hork-Bajir three decades ago.*"
"*They only other thing it could be would be the morphing technology. The crown jewel of their war-science. Do you really believe they would share it with homo sapiens?*"
Desperate times call for desperate measures. I said as I demorphed.
"*What the . . . ?! Picum! Erko!*"
The two dayangs entered. Their top halves slid quickly to the back after seeing me demorph. Their tentacles went wild, a gesture of surprise and panic. By now, I picked up on the fact that Picum was prone to panic. Erko tried to call him down.
"*He was there. But now here! What damnation!*" Picum babbled.
"*Will you shut up?!*" Erko berated.
"I can't let you live, Hollin. They know about me, but I won't let you expose my friends." I said as I morphed to Hork-Bajir.
"*We are not involved in the war, Dovin.*" Dr. Orbin said, mispronouncing my name and wrapping his tentacles around his body, a gesture of peace.
"David." I corrected in Ursa Wulvef's gruff voice. "And what if you get infested?"
"*We are a class one species.*" said First Mate Hollin. "*We are incapable of infestation. We have no ear canals, and our brains are a meter long, starting from the Secant Tip, where our top half meets the bottom half, to the Superior Motor strip running up our backs to the Sensory Lobe in our heads.*"
I calmed down after that. I remained in morph.
"*Perhaps it is better this way.*" Hollin said. "*If you can morph, then you can acquire Picum or Erko and replace him on his duties.*"
Better yet, I can do a Frolis Maneuver and make an original dayang morph from bits and pieces of DNA from the four of you.
"*Very well. You will be a private and accompany Erko and Picum with their duties.*"
If it's all the same to you, I'd rather go with Dr. Orbin as his assistant.
Hollin's top half slid forward so fast that he was leaning after the slide. His tentacles flared like snakes, a gesture of anger. "*I didn't give you a choice, alien!*"
I put a blade behind his 'Secant Tip' as he called it. One move and I would have severed his brain in two pieces.
"*You learn quickly, homo sapien. Dr. Orbin, the alien is yours.*"
I used bits of Picum, Erko, Hollin, and Orbin. I was Hollin's build, but I was closer to Orbin's size, making me bigger still than Picum or Erko. Erko had the longest tentacles, so I got those. I tried to get Picum's blue fur, but it came out green. Orbin told me it had something to do with a crucial gene. We assured me that green was more common than blue, and I had nothing to be worried about. He was right of course. As I made my way to Klika's lab with Orbin, I passed three green-haired dayangs and no blue-haired ones. The majority of dayangs were brown, black, or red-haired.
Dr. Orbin also gave me a device to put in my mouth. I would be spouting out the Dayang language (which for some reason is called Draque) instead of English. Dr. Orbin warned me though to be careful of idioms. While the translator in my head correctly translated dayang idioms and will correctly translate idioms of any other language, the speech synthesizer will translate such expressions literally.
Orbin and I met up with Klika. She had black hair. Being in Dayang morph, I could tell she was female and that she was moderately attractive, but my human sensibilities could truly not tell the difference.
The 'lab' that I was in was actually a large hanger. In the hanger was what Orbin described as an alien spaceship. The ship was found floating in space three months ago. No life signs detected. No DNA found either. Since then Klika and Orbin have been trying to get inside the ship. No such luck.
Apparently, not only is Orbin a cleric or medical doctor, but also a leading research scientist on Gianna Draquen, the Dayang home planet.
"*He's welcome to help. We need it." Klika said upon meeting me.
"*Thank you.*" I said in Draque. Oh, by the way, I privately thought-spoke to Orbin, remind me to excuse myself in ninety-five minutes.
Orbin twisted two tentacles together, a gesture for 'huh?'
I have to demorph and remorph or I'm a dayang forever.
"*What's your name, by the way?*" Klika asked me.
Shit! Quick! Give me a name, Orbin.
"*This is Dovineer Huuntii-045.*" Orbin said quickly.
"*Forty-five, huh? You're practically royalty.*" Klika commented.
What? I privately asked
Orbin rubbed his thumb on his middle finger. A gesture for 'never mind'.
"*Maybe he can figure this thing out.*" Klika said.
"*Why? What are you working on?*" I asked.
"*To be perfectly honest, we don't know.*" Orbin admitted. "*We found this thing, and we were hoping to solve it.*"
"*Yeah, so far we can't even open it.*" Klika complained.
I looked at the ship. It looked kind of like the Blade ship, but it was pink and green, and the wings were rounded, not sharp.
I put my hand on the ship and started feeling for an opening. I managed to cut my self on a piece of metal.
Son of a bitch! I yelled.
Just then, purple lights appeared all over the ship.
"*What happened?*" Klika yelled.
"*What did you do, Dovineer?*"
"*I didn't do anything.*"
"*What did you do?*"
I didn't do, shit! I yelled at him privately.
Thought-speech detected. Dormant mode disengaged. a computerized thought-speech voice replied. The voice came from the computer!
"*Thought-speech?*" Klika wondered. "*Where's the thought-speech coming from?*"
Orbin looked at me. His simple eyes narrowed and his compound eye darkened, the mixed expression conveyed worry and exasperation. "*Twenty minutes. That's all it took. Twenty minutes for everything to mess up.*"
"*I think it's malfunctioning. One of my tentacles knocked over some kind of doo-hicky-thing*" I supplied.
"*Doo-hickey?*" Klika wondered.
"*Dovineer is from Lamdald. It's one of their words for a piece of technology they don't understand.*" Orbin said, once again covering my ass.
"*Don't understand?*"
"*Well, he understands it just fine. He graduated from C.L.I.T. in the top 20 of his class.*"
I graduated from where?
"*Orbin, I hope you know what you're doing.*" Klika started. Her top half slid all the way forward. Her face was losing color and her tentacles were starting to quiver. "*I don't care if he is cute. That bumpkin could be trouble.*"
"*I'm standing right here!*" I complained. "*Wait, you think I'm cute?*"
"*You're getting emotional, Klika maybe you should rest.*"
Klika's tentacles stopped quivering and her top half slid back to the middle. Her face was still paler though. "*Fine. I'll be in my quarters if you need me.*"
After Klika left, Orbin looked at me. His compound eye was bright red again and his simple eyes were intense and his tentacles were flaring. He was angry.
"*That went well!*" He said, rather more calmly then his body suggested.
"*She thinks I'm cute.*"
"*The females of our species are susceptible to exaggerated emotions brought upon by hormones.*"
"*Yeah, ours too.*" I commented. "*She also called me a bumpkin, what's up with that?*"
"*I said you were from Lamdald. The people there are very anti-technology. Very religious.*"
"*What is this about me graduating from C.L.I.T.*"
"*The Cindre Liript Institution of Technology, the most prestigious technical university on Gianna Draquen.*"
"*Oh. I guess that's all right.*"
"*Your thought-speech activated something. Try speaking to it again.*"
"*Worth a shot.*" I said. Hey, ship! Hello? Activate! Do something! Maybe I should try 'Open Sesame'.
Password Needed. said the ship.
I just said 'Open Sesame'!
Incorrect password. Password needed.
Ah, Flying Figs!
Password accepted. Welcome Doctor Kryston.
On the port side of the ship, a door opened. Orbin and I walked to it.
"*Well, I'll be damned.*"
"*You should demorph, David.*" Dr. Orbin reminded me. "*Follow me in.*"
I demorphed and nearly choked on the speech synthesizer. I walked into the ship. "Hey Orbin, remind me next time to remove the speech synthesizer before demorphing, I nearly choked on the damn thing."
"*Look at this.*" Dr. Orbin said clearly ignoring me.
The inside of the ship was a very lush green. There were plants everywhere. Alien plants. Beautiful still. No more or less beautiful then the plants on Earth (or Terra Firma), but beautiful just the same. We found a plant that shoots its fruit out of pods. The small, purplish fruit would hover with the help of helicopter-blade-like leaves.
"*What do you suppose those are?*" Dr. Orbin asked me in reference to the hovering fruit.
"My guess is," I started, "a flying fig!"
We found what we believed to be the bridge. Dr. Orbin touched something and activated the View screen.
On the view screen was an image of a creature. This creature was green. It hovered in the air with its six gossamer wings. It had two arms, but each arm split at the elbow giving it two more half-arms, each ending in a five-fingered (four to one) opposable hand. It had a torso and a head that had six eyes. A mouth and two short antenna. Five tendrils waved from the back and top of its head. It had a single tendril coming down from his waist that split into three tendrils each covered in short spikes.
The image we were seeing was, according to Orbin, a journal entry dated almost three decades ago. What we saw was chaos.
I'm afraid we have failed. the creature on the view screen said as it emitted beautiful, mournful vocalization from its mouth. Our attempts to restore this machine that we believe to have once belonged to the mythical Pemalites in the privacy and solitude of deep space were interrupted by our accidental meeting with the aliens called Andalites. My partner, Ceri Bumeros Gafaustus, has fled with our time displacement technology and a blue object the Andalites called an Escafil device. I believe I will be arrested and executed by these blue devils. I leave this message in the vain wish that it will reach my home planet. However, even if an alien does somehow receive this message, I leave this.
Ceri Bumeros Gafaustus is dangerous. If you come across a planet that seems to be rotating beyond control, do not worry. It is just our Time Displacement technology. You can safely land on the planet. Do so, and stop Ceri Bumeros Gafaustus. By the time this message is found, tens of thousands of years will have probably past on the planet that Ceri has landed, but he will still be alive. Trust me. You must stop him. You mus—
"*It is over.*" Dr. Orbin said finally. "*What could this possibly mean?*"
"I have no idea." I admitted. "I wonder if these creatures have anything to do with my test."
"*Test?*"
"That's why I'm here. I'm being tested by a being called the Ellimist."
Dr. Orbin laughed at me. "*There is no such thing as the Ellimist.*"
"Yeah, we'll see."
We explored some more. Klika joined us and I had to morph to dayang again. In fact, it was Klika how found it.
"*Dr. Orbin! Dovineer! Look.*" She said, pointing to a tree. "*This tree's DNA is substantially different from the other fauna. I believe it is alien to these creatures. *"
Orbin and I circled around the tree.
"*Look.*" Orbin said. "*A numerical keypad.*"
"*It's coded.*" Klika concluded. "*Ok, Sweet Tentacles, pick a number between one and a million."
"*657,943*" I said randomly. The tree started to open. "*Whoa! I'm 2 for 2 today.*"
"*I only pressed the six!*" Klika said surprised.
In the tree, rested what at first appeared to be an alien, but was actually a machine. A machine of steel and ivory.
"*What is that?*" Klika asked.
"*I haven't an idea.*" Orbin said. "Do you, Dovineer?"
I had only seen one before, but I could not have mistaken it.
"*I don't know what that doo-hickey is.*" I said.
I knew exactly what it was. Dr. Orbin didn't believe me. I don't blame him, the machine looked humanoid, but the humans had nothing to do with this machine.
This machine was a Chee.
******************************************************************************************************
By the way, "¿Como sabes qué serrá?" means "How do you know what will be?"