Jake
Our ally, Erek King the Chee, walked out of the cineplex of the mall. We were with him too, as various insects along his android form. His force field protected us from the Gleet BioFilter. We had just returned from the Yeerk Pool. A trip to the Yeerk Pool is never fun, but this one was especially heart-breaking. We had Eva McCabe, Marco's mother, with us. She was free, but she chose to stay a controller, mostly to protect Marco and the rest of Earth. The six of us sat in silence. We have had a rough time lately. First, David left us. Flat out quit. Still fighting the Yeerks, but in his own way. We shuddered to think what that way is, but we decided if David did anything major, the Chee will find out about it. At least we hoped. David has found ways to elude the Chee, possibly involving Dayang Encryption.
Then at the wedding of Peter McCabe, Marco's father, and his bride Nora, David showed up and decided to slow-dance with Cassie. I'm ashamed to say I lost my head. We got into a verbal argument of rhetoric followed by a fist fight. David wiped the floor with me both times. A bloody nose and a broken ego later, I was very angry that I had lost David. I was also frustrated and angry at the fact that I hoped I would never see him again.
However, as I knew it would turn out, my hope was not the case.
We demorphed in a safe place with Erek watching guard. I emerged from my Dragonfly form. Rachel as a cockroach. Tobias as a fly. Marco as a wolf spider and Ax as a mosquito. Cassie emerged from her Butterfly form beautifully, keeping the pretty wings on her back til the very end as they shrank into her spine. We were about to morph into raptor form when he decided to make his presence known.
So, Edriss 562 has children. Interesting.
David? Tobias blurted.
"David." I confirmed.
"Oooooh, I am really not in the mood for your bullshit, David." Marco seethed.
So noted. I was watching the trial from the Colony. Interesting in some parts. Boring in others, but I did get a good look at some of the Councilors. Handy information, if I had a space ship. Which I don't.
"He sounds like he's blabbering." Rachel whispered.
I heard that.
"Then why don't you show yourself, you cowardly traitor?"
COWARDLY TRAITOR?! David repeated more surprised than angry, but definitely offended. A spider crawled along Rachel's face. She let out a yelp and smacked it off her face. The spider grew in mid-air and became David in a matter of seconds. Very fast morphing. I also noticed that, unlike us, David was fully dressed. Shoes, jeans, T-shirt, and what looked like an old navy trench-coat you would find at Salvation Army. Eight giant spider legs stuck out of his back. He kind of looked like Tarantulas from Beast Wars. "That was uncalled for."
"What do you want David?" I asked tersely.
"Why is it important to you that Edriss has children?" Cassie asked quickly before David could address my question.
"It doesn't matter," Rachel interrupted. "It's not like he'll be able to find them."
"Oh ye of little faith." David said. "Let's see, one of them is a controller. A boy about ten years old, his birth name was Gervais. His parents were Allison Kim and Hildy Gervais. I should be able to find out all I want about him."
If he is a controller, than the child is out of your reach, David. Ax reasoned.
"No. There is another." David said.
What are you planning? Why is this important? Tobias asked.
"It's not. Not to me." David assured. He looked at Marco. "However, I figured that the identity of Edriss's children maybe of some importance to one of you."
David sidled over to Marco. "I thought I told you I didn't want your bullshit."
"Edriss 562 has someone in its clutches that is very dear to you, and it has always worked against you. I figure, the next time Edriss comes around, wouldn't it be nice if you had a level playing field for once."
"You're mad." Erek said.
"You machines are awfully judgemental." David muttered.
I rushed him suddenly. I grabbed him by the collar of coat. "You can't just do whatever you want. There are consequences! You are a danger to us and a danger to our cause, David."
"Who would win in a fight between a lion and a tiger?" David asked. His blond hair erupted into a mane. I think Lion, but I guess we'll never know.
I looked at my arm, still clutching David's collar. It was orange with black stripes. David face was completely leonine. Or will we?
David opened his mouth to show lion fangs. He leaned in and bit me on the neck.
I jerked my head up from my pillow. My hands clutched the bed sheet under me. My eyes instinctively looked at the clock. 2:57.
April 16, 2000 2:58 AM
I had been dreaming, but everything in my dream had happened a week ago. Up until the part where I grab David by the collar, that was just my paranoid delusion. I used to dream about my brother. Now I dream about him.
I walked to the bathroom. The whole house was asleep. I could hear my brother snoring from his room. Thank God, he has always been a heavy sleeper. I wash the sweat off my forehead and look at myself in the mirror. I look especially at my nose. Up until our last mission to the Yeerk Pool, it was a red, bloody, scabbed mess.
"Violence never solves anything. That's why the whole lot of you will never defeat the Yeerks!"
"'Violence never solves anything'. Yeah, like he believes that." I mutter to myself. I am worrying too much. It's not as if David had anything really dangerous at his disposal. It was three in the morning. Time to go back to bed.
RING! RING!
The phone in the living room rang just as I was leaving the bathroom. A phone call at three am is rarely a good thing. When you're an Animorph, the chance of good news ever –day or night— is zero . . . .
Hahn Tunad. Hahn was a friend of Jara Hamee's. Unfortunately, Hahn was the victim of a bizarre mutation experiment, trying to turn Hork-Bajir amphibious. That's when we learned about the Sea Blade. Around Hahn's dying body were myself, Cassie, Toby, Jara, and David.
As Jara and Toby left with Hahn's body, I stared at David.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"You always ask that when you see me. It's like you never expect me to be anywhere you are." David said rhetorically.
"David," I pressed.
"I was sleeping at the colony when this happened. I came over with them. Seems like the place to be. Trust me, I'm as appalled by this as you are. No person should ever be mutated . . . without permission."
"David is not our enemy, Jake." Cassie tried to reassure me. I'm she's aware how much it annoys me when she in particular sticks up for David. Tobias and Ax do it too, and I'm not annoyed, but David . . .
"You are going after the Sea Blade, right?" David asked.
"Of course. The Yeerks cannot be allowed to find the Pemalite Ship." I answered.
David leaned in close to me. "I'm in. One last time. Fearless Leader."
One last time. That nearly became true for all of us. David is not the only psycho I've had to deal with. We were trapped on the Sea Blade by the mutated humans called the Nartec. We had to make a deal with Visser Three to secure our safety from the mad race, but we were ready. I had Marco in place to flood the Sea Blade when we were free of the Nartec.
We evaded the Nartecs' U-boats. Ax was himself. Rachel was a Grizzly. Marco was probably a Gorilla. Cassie was a wolf. David, being David, must have managed to acquire Naca, Queen Soco's right-hand freak, because he there he was, a very strong Nartec.
I gave the command to flood the Sea Blade. The plan was that we would swim out and the Sea Blade will be destroyed by the Nartec and the force of the Ocean, maybe taking the Visser along with it. We weren't counting on that last part, however.
Something went wrong. For some reason, the Sea Blade started up again. The hatches closed up, and the water started to drain, taking us with it. We met up. Marco, Tobias, Aximili, Rachel, and I were hammerhead sharks. Cassie was an orca. David was nowhere to be seen.
The Visser? I asked.
I just echolocated. Cassie said. I saw what looked a bit like a giant squid. Leaving the vicinity of the cave entrance.
Heading which way?
Toward Land. Toward land.
Anyone seen David?
I didn't see him leave the ship. Marco said. I was the first one out. He's still on the ship.
I circled around till I could see the Sea Blade. It sank down toward the blackness of the sea, disappearing from our sight.
The Visser survived, but lost the Sea Blade. It may have survived the Nartec unscathed, but it will be destroyed by the water pressure of the Ocean floor. We may have lost David. I'm ashamed to say that part of me felt relieved. A smaller part was sad, but mostly I didn't believe that David was gone. I couldn't. It may have looked like he died inside the doomed ship, but I knew he would be back.
Actually, a small part kind of hopes he'll be back. Isn't that strange?
David"All functions normal." Ayla reported. "Fully operational."
"Excellent." I said, mighty pleased with myself.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah." Ayla moaned in pleasurable relief. "It feels good to finally have some elbow room to streeeeeeeeetch!"
Ayla was in her new "shell". I finally found a suitable home for her. A suitable home for me too.
"My shell needs a name." Ayla insisted.
"I dub thee . . . the Proteus."
"Proteus: a minor Greek god of water, known for changing his shape constantly to confuse humans and gods alike." Ayla explained in computer monotone.
"You like it?"
"Meh. It's all right. It's definitely fitting. Anything's better than 'the Sea Blade'."
I looked around my new home, the bridge of the Proteus, formerly known as the Sea Blade.
I chuckled to myself. "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."