March 4,313th, 1999½ 37:89 PMQRSTμΆl§†
I don't remember the day. The week. The month. The year. Only humans know this. I'm a rat now.
No! I'm not a rat. I'm a human.
I was a human. Now, I'm a nothlit.
No! I won't do this! I won't!!!!! I shouted.
Somehow. The nonexistence of John Berryman has resulted in my original fate of becoming a rat. But how?
I searched through memories. The memory of David the Animorph. The memory of David the Rat.
And then the shadow that was David the Cleanser.
The date was November 13th, 1999
Stephanie! I realized. David the rat has no memory of Stephanie. And because of this, I had no feelings for Cassie. I walked out on Cassie when she tried to stop me. Jake confronted me at a Holiday Inn. I betrayed them. I became a nothlit.
No. I do not accept this. I will leave this island and change my fate!
It took days. But at last, curious sailors visited me.
"I swear! There's a ghost and it says he's on this rock." said a, shall we say, stupid individual.
"I heard it too." said Stupid Individual #2.
"Look, I never heard nothing." said Skeptical Stupid Individual.
While the three idiots ghost-hunted, I sneaked on board their little powerboat.
You're plan won't work, David.
I spun around. A thought-speech voice. Rachel?
A cat came into view from underneath a tarp. I'm sorry I have to do this, but I won't let you cause us harm.
I'm not here to hurt you. I said.
Yeah right.
She pounced. I ran. I guess she heard my ghost-like ramblings. Or maybe she just heard about it.
She's not your ally anymore; she's your enemy.
It doesn't matter if she dies now; you're going to change things once you get the Time Matrix.
Stop talking to yourself, and figure out a way to get rid of the cat, ok?
There's a rabid cat on board!
"What in the Sam Hill???"
"Hey look, it's chasing a rat!"
"Get em both out of here."
One of the idiots grabbed Rachel and tossed her overboard. They couldn't catch me.
Tssseeeeerrrrr!
Duh, David. Like Rachel would be here alone. I didn't see him, but I felt his talons
Feathers. Please don't do this.
You should have stayed on your island, David. said a thought-speech voice. Not Tobias.
Cassie?
We're going to have to stop you for good this time, do you know what that means?
Cassie, listen to me, I'm not the David you know.
Don't talk David, please.
I know about the Time Matrix!
What? Cassie said as she almost stopped flapping.
The Iskoort Home World. Elfangor is Tobias's father. Erek King. Jara and Toby Hamee. Ellimist. Crayak. I know about all of them.
How. . . .
I was there. In another timeline.
What? No. Crayak told you.
When we chased Visser Four through history. When we made it so John Berryman Jr. never existed, something changed. I became this.
No, we went through history without you. This is a trick from Crayak.
Crayak helped us defeat Visser Four. He didn't want a 'baboon' using the Time Matrix. Why would he want me to use it.
Cassie wavered. This is a trick. And even if it isn't, I can't let you use the Time Matrix.
I saw Tobias circling three hundred yards in the distance. I saw a wolf and two snakes waiting below.
Cassie, you can listen to your head, or you can listen to your heart. If I know you, and I do, you'll listen to your heart. Am I the David that walked out on you? Am I the David that . . . oh my God. I called you 'Jake's bitch.' I actually called you 'Jake's Bitch'.
Cassie continued to fly toward the others.
Listen to me, Cassie. I didn't walk out on you. You made me stay. I morphed your gray mare. We morphed and raced. You never told me you liked to ride horses, I know. But I morphed the same gray mare you morphed. The one that was your first morph. Ever since then you've been important to me. Cassie, I know you can feel the sincerity of my voice. Even when I thought you were being an idealistic fool. I stuck by you. Do you know why? Because of that night. I fell in love with you that night!
Cassie turned her feathers and flew away from her friends.
Cassie! Where are you going? Tobias asked.
Cassie?! Jake called.
Where am I taking you? Cassie asked me with much emotion in her thought-speech.
To Erek King. The Time Matrix is somewhere on Earth. If there's anybody who knows where it is, it would be the Chee.
Are you sure this will work? I asked.
If by some chance Erek and the Chee do know where the Time Matrix is, do you think they'd just tell us?
No, but I'd make them tell me.
How? You're a rat.
And you're a mole, so what? I grumbled. Digging to the Chee's underground park is a stupid idea.
You've got nothing else to do. She said lacking her usual tact.
Why are you so mean? I said outright.
I'm sorry, David, but you have to realize, to me, you're the 'bad' animorph. The one who tried to kill us all, and know you claim to be a 'different' David. One who fell in love with me . . . I'm just confused. That's all.
Time Travel. It screws with your head.
No, that's not it. That's the simple part. It was my fault.
Hey. You did what you thought was right.
I erased someone from existence. I erased one life and destroyed another.
You couldn't have known, Cassie.
You're definitely not the person we left on that hideous rock.
So, if it isn't the mind-pretzeling aspect of time travel, than what is it?
It's my feelings. I mean part of me knows you're telling the truth, as if I can remember racing you that night, and part of me remembers you kissing me on Easter. Another part is like 'That was all a dream. Leave David to die.' There's this whole other part that wonders . . .
Wonders what?
What happened when you fell in love with me?
Nothing. I said. Nothing happened. Because you love Jake. Plain and simple. And while I did love you, part of me still does probably, I didn't love you the way Jake can. I don't know if I can love anybody that way again.
Why?
Don't worry about. She doesn't exist in this timeline. I said wistfully. Hey. I never told you about kissing you on Easter.
Cassie stopped digging right then. Then she started again. I have vague notions of the previous timeline. Why do you have such a clear memory?
I didn't have an answer to that. So I changed the subject. Digging this tunnel is gonna take forevaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—
Cassie and I were suddenly being forcibly sucked down a tube. After what seemed like five minutes of sliding down a tube we arrived at the Chee's park.
And we couldn't move.
Cassie. I'm paralyzed.
Pemalite Technology. So we don't hurt ourselves.
Two chee walked up to us. "Chee-Alinma, two more rodents got caught in your 'science project'" said one in a rather sarcastic sense of tone.
A human girl around age eight walked up. The girl disappeared (a hologram of course) and the Chee that took her place removed Cassie and me from whatever was holding us.
"As an 'AIA' student, I have to do a science project."
"Do you have to?"
"You tell me. You're the principal."
"Well, keep them safe. The dogs will have a field day any one gets out."
The Chee that was holding us decide she wanted to talk to us. "Hi. I'm Chee-Alinma. But I go by Betsy Randall. I'm a third grader at Mt. Melody Elementary."
Mt. Melody? Was that other Chee Dr. McNamara? Cassie wondered aloud to me.
You went there? I asked.
And we had a really nice principal. He's still there.
Really nice, huh? How odd for a principal made out of steel. Why is she talking to us?
Little girls do that. Cassie explained.
She's not really a little girl.
Sometimes an actress gets caught in the part.
"I like it here in New Jersey. I've been in worse places. I was once a temple virgin in Tenochtitlan. That's in Mexico. They used to cut up people there." She said as she put us in cages and left.
Yipes. Just yipes. I said.
Where are we? Cassie asked. I can't see a thing.
We're in a room. We walked right into a tree. There's a bunch of cages with rodents in it. There is also a lot of Machines and some kind of safebox looking thing.
If you can find them, that would be great. I don't know what he could have told her to make her do that. said a voice.
That's Tobias! I realized.
They've come for you. Cassie said.
They don't know we're down here. They're just hiding.
Jake, Rachel, Marco, Aximili, Tobias, Erek, and another Chee in a hologram of mid-thirtish man came into the room.
"Sorry to do this to you, but this is the only place we could think of to hid." Jake told the man.
"Hopefully, Cassie didn't tell David about you guys." Rachel said.
Cassie is sometimes sentimental to a fault. Aximili said. She may still be trying to convince David not to harm us.
"Kind of hard. He's already a rat." Marco said.
Speaking of which, what's with all the rodents? Tobias asked.
"What's the matter, getting hungry?" Marco quipped.
"The chee who plays my daughter has a science fair project coming up." Said the 'man'. "Over here we have a energy field detector. We've used it to find you guys before. I see no problem with doing it again."
"What's this?" Marco asked of the safebox.
"That's our vault." Erek said. "We keep important things in there. Leave it alone."
"Sheesh. Touchy."
The Vault, huh? Do you think the Time Matrix is in there? I asked.
Doubtful, it's too small. Cassie said.
"I'm sorry, guys." The other Chee said. Mr. Randall, I guess. "The only one in morph who I'm picking up is Tobias."
"Tobias is a nothlit." Erek said. "You shouldn't be picking him up at all."
"Then who am I . . . ."
Seven sets (eight if you count Aximili for having two) of eyes locked onto the cages of rodents.
"Look for a white rat." Jake said.
"Be careful." Rachel said. "Cassie also has a white rat morph."
We've been made. I said.
They'll find you. Cassie said.
Probably. I said. I guess this is my fate.
Stop! Cassie shouted.
"Cassie?" Rachel asked.
Cassie, where are you? Tobias asked.
I'm with David. And I'm not leaving till I help him. Cassie said.
What are you doing? I asked.
What I think is right, David. What I think is right.
"Cassie, the rat is evil. Tell us where he is so we can get rid of him once and for all." Rachel said hotly.
I've been in this morph for along time. Pretty soon I'll be trapped.
"Good God, Cassie, tell us where you are!" Jake yelled.
No. Not till David gets help.
"I don't think Bellevue takes rats." Marco said.
Where's the Time Matrix, Erek?
"The Time Matrix! What could you possibly want with that?" Erek asked.
"David wants to go back in time and stop himself from becoming a rat." Marco said.
Erek didn't ask what it was. I told Cassie. He must know what is. He probably knows where it is too.
He won't tell us. Cassie said.
Tell him to open the vault.
Open the vault, Erek.
"No."
I only have a few minutes left in morph.
"Damnit, Erek! Open the vault!" Jake shouted.
"I'll open the damn vault." Rachel shouted. Erek got in her way. Marco morphed to Gorilla and lifted Erek out of the way.
It's coded. Aximili said.
"Hit six." Jake said.
They opened the vault.
"It's just a bunch of junk, Cassie. Now, please. Demorph." Jake said.
Open my cage. I think I'm the only mole.
Aximili let Cassie out and she sped through her demorph. Than she grabbed my cage and held on to it. Aximili decided he didn't want to look at me and went rummaging through the Chee's personal things.
"Is that him?" Rachel asked with hatred in her voice.
"Yes, and I'm still helping him."
"Why?"
"You don't understand, Rachel. It's my fault. It's all my fault."
"We all had a part in the plan, Cassie."
"No, you don't get it. When I . . . . John Berryman . . ."
"What do you want with the Time Matrix, David?" Erek asked.
Change things. Make me human. I'm gonna make John Berryman Sr. meet Theresa Knowlton in 1967.
"How do you know about that?" Rachel wondered.
"If you do that, then John Berryman becomes Visser Four's host and then he finds the Time Matrix. Then it's back to slavemaster Cassie and Junior Nazi Jake." Marco said.
That was before our involvement. The resulting future would probably be different. Tobias said.
"Look we had this discussion already. Do you have any better way of making sure that Visser Four never finds the Time Matrix." Marco said.
Easy. Kill Visser Four, and not his host.
"Brilliant, rat-boy." Marco said sarcastically. "Just one problem. We don't know where or when he was when he took John Berryman."
By Gorthan's Blade!!!! Aximili shouted. And he rarely shouts. He had been rummaging through the Chee's vault.
"What is it, Aximili?" Jake asked.
Most of this stuff, I don't really know what it is, most of if Pemalite probably, but this . . . he said holding something that looked like a pizza-cutter, except the disc was smaller. Which is what it was, a disc.
What is it, Ax-man? Tobias asked.
This is Andalite. Where did you get this? He asked Erek.
"Where do you think we got it, Aximili?" Erek said, eyes downcast.
Aximili activated something. The machine began to play
I am Elfangor.
I am an Andalite Prince. And I am about to die.
My fighter is damaged. I have crash-landed on the surface of the planet called Earth. I believe that my Dome Ship has been destroyed. I fear my little brother Aximili is already dead.
This is Elfangor's hirac delest!
We did not expect the Yeerks to be here in such force. We made a mistake. We underestimated the Yeerks. Not for the first time. We would have defeated their Pool ship and its fighters. But there was a Blade Ship in orbit as well.
The Blade Ship of Visser Three. . . . .
We listened. For a long time we listened to Elfangor's story. It included the Time Matrix. It was hidden under a pyramid. Probably by Erek's people. It was the Skrit Na who took it. Elfangor who found it. Hid it. In the last place we would have looked.
The construction site. I said.
"Look, is this really worth it?" Rachel said over the noise of the jackhammer. "All this so that David can survive?"
"I think it is, Rachel." Cassie argued.
"Of course, you do." Marco said. "First Aftran, now the evil rat."
No one asked you to help, you two. I grumbled.
"I'm making sure Cassie doesn't hurt herself buying your salvation, rat-boy." Marco said.
"Besides, you don't really think we'd let you travel in time by yourself?" Rachel said.
I believe I have found it. Aximili said, turning off the jackhammer. He was in Hork-Bajir morph, using the jackhammer. We were at the construction site at night. Jake was flying surveillance. Tobias was off somewhere. The rest of us were inside one of the buildings.
"Finally. This is only the umpteenth hole we've dug." Marco said.
Ok. Now, David, you must touch the Time Matrix and think about where you want to be.
Hugh Heffner's Playboy Mansion. I said.
"You know maybe this is a different David. This one has a sense of humor." Marco said.
"So now he's a funny, rat-boy. Big deal. We're still chaperoning this little trip." Rachel said.
Guys! Jake said. Battle Morphs now! The Blade Ship is here! AHHHHH!
"Jake!" Cassie yelled halfway into wolf morph.
Aximili stayed in Hork-Bajir morph. Marco went Gorilla. Rachel morphed Grizzly. Tobias flew into the building and was promptly shot by a dracon beam.
He was dead. Hork-bajir poured in. And then came true evil.
Rachel called me evil. I was disturbed. This guy was evil.
His host body was Alloran-Semitur-Corass. Months ago, I had heard the tale of his genocidal crime against the Hork-bajir. Ten hours ago, I heard how the disgraced War-prince became viciously reaped what he sowed.
Esplin Nine-Four-Double-Six Prime.
Visser Three. We walked in daintily holding a dead falcon in one hand and something metal under his other arm.
The pizanrador. Aximili said as if it were important. When I activated it to play Elfangor's hirac delest, it must have emitted its confirmation signal. That's how they found us!
The Visser threw the metal thing under its arm.
The head of a Chee.
I pressed my rat paws against the Time Matrix and prayed.