July 9, 2000 12:55 AM
TOBIAS
>What's your status down, there?> I asked. 'Status'? Ug, I sounded like some kid pretending he was a general. I was waiting patiently in Toby's Bug Fighter, given to her by David for emergency use. We commandeered it. Toby had been taught how to fly, but we let Ax do the flying. Rachel and Marco in cockatiel morphs spied on David and Melissa. Cassie was perched on Toby's shoulder in parrot morph. You see, in our small little Bug Fighter, we had Toby Hamee and five other Hork-Bajir. One of whom was her recently freed uncle, Toma Hamee. Six Hork-Bajir. Seven if you count Ax in morph. I was perched on Ax's top horn, over-seeing everything.
>I think they're watching a movie.> Marco said about David and Melissa. >The Matrix>
>What idiotic super-geek would think The Matrix is a date movie?> Rachel grumbled.
>Look, don't waste time.> I commanded, and every time I did so, I felt more and more uncomfortable. Now I know how Jake feels.
No, I've got a long way to go before I know how Jake feels.
>If he's preoccupied, now's our best chance to sneak aboard his Sea Blade.> I said.
>His Sea Blade. That makes my skin crawl.> Marco said flying back into our Bug Fighter.
>Ax, have you found the Sea Blade yet?>
>I think so, Tobias. This is one of David's modified Bug Fighters, or Sea Bugs as Toby calls them. If anything can find the Sea Blade, this can.> Ax reassured.
Sure enough, it looked as if he was right. Our Bug Fighter switched to auto-pilot and parked itself into the ship that birthed it.
Four birds and seven Hork-Bajir exited the Bug Ship. My fellow Animorphs demorphed. Ax led us down a hallway that he believed may lead to the bridge. Out of the five of us who have been on the Sea Blade, we figured Ax would remember the way the past.
"Yeesh." Marco shuddered. "A Blade Ship is a Blade Ship is a Blade Ship. This thing still gives me the creeps. Who knows what kind of modifications David has added."
"We need to find someplace to hide and morph." Cassie said.
"And a place for myself and my warriors to hide." Toby brought up.
"If we can get to the bridge, we won't need to hide," Rachel said, "but we need to do it quickly, before David returns."
"Ever feel like you are being watched?" said a Hork-Bajir named Biran Kelk.
"Creepy place." replied his brother, Yenke Kelk
"I hear ya', Horn-heads." Marco agreed.
>The Bridge should be this way, Tobias> Ax said.
"What is the plan, Tobias?" Toby asked me.
>We find out what David is doing and intervene as necessary.>
"Why are we here?"
>David will expect us to come. He won't be expecting you.>
"You're starting to sound like Jake, Bird-brain." Marco grumbled.
Ax led us into a room we recognized. In fact, there was still a flame mark from Visser Three's horrible morph on the ceiling. The Bridge of the Sea Blade.
>Ax-man, try to gain access the computer. See what kind of work David has done recently.>
Ax went to work for a while, while we all looked around noticing the differences. A lot of human equipment was connected here and there. Some computer consoles, monitors, even a Playstation 2. There were also machine parts that I did not recognize. Alien.
>GARGASLOP!> Ax yelled in frustration what I can only guess is an Andalite explicative. >Dayang encryption. We are, as you humans would say, shit out of luck.>
Suddenly, on the main monitor, a visual of the Bug Fighter Bay appeared. We watched as David flew into the open belly hatch in Golden Eagle morph and demorphed as the hatch closed.
>You must have done something, Ax. We're seeing David now.> I said.
>I don't understand how.> Ax said confused.
"Tobias won't he notice the extra Bug Fighter?" Marco asked.
"It looks like he's too busy. He's morphing." Toby said.
>Some kind of juvenile male human.> Ax stated.
"A little boy?" Cassie said, surprised.
>Tobias, the Blade Ship seems to be moving. We are heading northeast at 200 of your miles an hour.> Ax informed.
"Why does he have a little boy morph?" Rachel asked, angrily. "He just took some kid and acquired him? What does he want with the morph of a child?" She really doesn't like David.
"It could be a real person, or it could be a Frolis Composite. Knowing David, its probably the latter." Cassie said, defending David . . .sort of. "Look. His morph resembles a younger version of his true self."
>David doesn't acquire human morphs for no reason. He must have a reason for acquiring this one.> Ax rationalized.
"Guys, we came here to stop this wierdo. Stop defending him." Marco said.
>No. I corrected. We came here to prevent David from hurting himself. Going to see his ex-girlfriend would qualify as self-destructive behavior.>
"We have about as much luck with that as we would stopping Rachel from fighting."
"David appears to be readying a Bug Fighter for deployment." Toby said getting us back on track.
This was bad. We were stuck on David's Sea Blade with five restless and antsy Hork-Bajir, and without our leader.
>Ax, where are we headed?> I asked.
>I can't be sure, but, it looks like New York City.> Ax stated. >But why? David hates New York City.>
"So does my father." Cassie added.
>Ax, you stay here with Toby and continue working on the computer–> I said.
>But, Tobias, the Dayang–> Ax started.
>Just try.> I answered back. >Toby, you and your men stay here and protect Ax.>
"Aaaargh! I want fight!" said a large, but relatively young Hork-Bajir male named Garik Tarso.
Biran hit him on the head. "You wait for the Seer!"
>The rest of us will sneak aboard David's Blade Ship. Ax, keep an eye on David, tell us if something changes.>
>Yes, Pr– . . . Tobias.>
As we made our way back to the Bug Fighter Bay, we finalized our plan. Or at least, this small, little, particular part of it.
"We can't go as bugs, we'll never get there in time, and we can't morph near him, he'll hear our bones twisting." Marco complained.
"David's arrogant. We can use that."
"I think its inconceivable to him that we would sneak aboard his precious ship." Rachel spat. "Maybe we morph small rodents. Large enough for us to get there in time, and small enough so that David won't see us."
"No, we're underestimating David. He'll think of this. He'll have a plan for intruders."
>Perhaps, but if that's the case, then we're screwed already, so we might as well get on with it.> I said, as I landed and started my morph to rabbit.
Rachel was turning into a rat. Marco was turning into a mouse. Cassie was rapidly becoming a squirrel.
>What an eclectic group of rodents we are. We're like a Saturday morning cartoon.> Marco joked.
>We get to David's fighter, and we hide. No commotions.> I said.
Hissssssss.
All four of us stopped cold in our tracks. We turned our heads and came face-to-face with a frightful appearance.
A housecat.
>What's that?> Rachel asked absent-mindedly.
>It's that psycho cat of his!> Marco informed.
>Megadeth.> I said.
>What if it's David in morph?> Rachel wondered.
>Run!> I shouted.
Megadeth took a swipe at Marco and began to chase him. Cassie attacked his back-left leg and bit. Megadeth meowed in pain and did a swift flip so he was now facing Cassie. Megadeth swiped at Cassie, but foolishly went for her squirrelly tail. The way a cat would.
>It's not David. It's the real Megadeth.> I announced.
>Great. Now is that good news or bad news?> Marco wondered.
Rachel headbutted Megadeth's mid-section and clamped her teeth onto his gut. Megadeth twirled quickly around and around until he was able to bite Rachel with his teeth.
>Aaah! He's got me!>
I leapt into action. (Quite literally. I was a rabbit.) I jumped high enough to vault over Megadeth's head, but chose instead to land on him. Megadeth let go of Rachel as he got his wits about him. He chased me ferociously. I let him snap at my tail before I gave him a swift kick in the face. Megadeth snapped back from the blow and skittering across the smooth floor of the Blade Ship. The four of us hauled our furry butts out of there, but Megadeth was soon close behind.
All four of our morphs had decent vision, so we found our way into the Fighter Bay and into the particular Bug Fighter that David was working on. It seems he was squeezing his small body into a tight space so he could fix something, which is why he was a small boy.
Still, it bothered me. David didn't acquire a small child simply for maintenance work.
Megadeth stalked us into the Bug Fighter, but David (still in little boy morph) stopped him.
"Whoa. Where do you think you're going?" David said in a child's voice. "Don't think so. Go play in your room."
David, in his own body, entered the Bug Fighter, he was wearing shoes, blue jeans, a green t-shirt, a black trench coat, and a pair of sunglasses.
>It's two in the morning, what the fuck does he need sunglasses for?> Marco griped. We were all a little on edge from outrunning Megadeth.
>Tobias,> Ax called from the bridge. His thought-speech was faint, but understandable. >The Sea Blade has entered the water. We are in factin New York City. I believe this river is called the Hudson.>
>Yeeech. This should be fun.> Cassie complained sarcastically.
David sat down in his chair and activated the Bug Fighter. I noticed that the chair was not the typical chairs found in Bug Fighters built for Hork-Bajir, but a human chair of unknown manufacture. Probably something pricey. I asked Rachel about it. She mentioned something about Prada, and I drifted off.
"DNA Scanners activated." said a computerized, feminine voice.
>Tobi–, . . . . . . Shre— . . . . . .Toby's Me— . . . . . . .> Ax said, faintly. We were at the limits of thought-speech.
>Ax? Ax-man?> I tried.
>Sample Source found.> said the computerized voice.
"Lock-on." David commanded.
>What's going on?> Rachel asked.
"Ha Ha Ha." David chuckled to himself. "I've got you now!"
I craned my head and I could see on David's viewing screen that he was chasing a homeless man down an alley. The homeless man was running away as fast as he could. It was easy to see that he was running from the spaceship that was chasing him.
>He's attacking some homeless man for no reason!> Rachel yelled. >We got to stop him!>
>Wait a second.> I said, trying to calm my girlfriend.
"You seemed to be in an awful hurry to get somewhere, Wino." David said to himself as he took off his coat and shirt. "Maybe he needs a lift."
David activated something on the Bug Fighter and in the screen we could see that the homeless man was being lifted into the air.
David flash-morphed into an Andalite just as the Bug Fighter's Belly hatch opened up and deposited the homeless man.
>Man, he's even faster than Cassie. He morphed into an Andalite in seconds!> Marco observed.
But Cassie was even more observant. >Not just any Andalite. Look!>
We looked and we recognized the Andalite before us. Visser Three. At least, the host body of Visser Three. I learned his name awhile ago. War-prince Alloran-Semitur-Corrass.
The homeless man looked up at David/Alloran. He was a dirty, unkempt man, with unfocused expressions. "You!" He said.
>Hello, Spacey.> David said using Alloran's thought-speech.
"Whaddaya want, Andalite? I told you alls I know. You give me some booze, then you drop me off in a strange city. You was supposed to send me home. That ain't LA!"
>Of course not. It's New York. The city that never sleeps.> David/Alloran chuckled. >Tell me, Spacey. Essam and Edriss had children, right?>
>Edriss? That's the Visser One's real name!> Marco exclaimed.
"Yeah. Twins. Little boy and a little girl."
>Darwin and Madra?> David/Alloran asked. Spacey nodded his head. >They're your children, too, Hildy.>
The homeless man looked up, confused. David continued, >Hildy Gervais, that's your real name, don't you remember?>
His face looked even more far off than normal. "I remember everything. Essam, Edriss, Allison, Darwin, and Madra."
>Where are they? The children.>
"I don't know."
David growled in thought-speech. His arms and shoulders demorphed into strong human arms and shoulders.
But then they morphed into Hork-Bajir arms and shoulders! All while he kept his Andalite form.
>That's impossible!> Marco yelled.
>Not really,> Cassie negated, >I did something similar during our mission to the Hork-Bajir world. This looks a bit more thorough, though.>
With his strong, bladed arms, he picked up Spacey/Hildy and put his Andalite tail blade to Hildy's throat.
>Tell me where the children are!> David/Alloran demanded.
"I don't know!!!" Hildy sobbed.
David let him go and he dropped onto the floor, weeping.
>Useless. Still, while I have you . . . .> and with that, David picked up a Dracon Beam and shot Hildy. He fell unconscious.
>He's alive. I can hear breathing.> I reported.
>What's he going to do with him?> Marco wondered aloud.
David demorphed, still holding the Dracon Beam, and put his shirt and coat back on. "Time to end this." He said quietly to himself.
He pointed his Dracon Beam in our general direction and fired.
>Uuuuuh!> Cassie yelped as a squirrel went flying.
>Cassie!> Rachel yelled.
Tsssewww! Marco was hit. Tsssewww! Rachel too!
Tsssewww! Tsssewww! Tsssewww! I hopped quickly and avoided three of David's blasts.
"Wascally Wabbit!" David said as he shot something in front of me. The impact caused sparks and my rabbit instincts combined with my hawk instincts flared up, gave me the bum rush, and ordered my body to switch directions. That gave David enough time to aim and shoot with nasty accuracy.
>Aaaah! I said.> I couldn't move my body, but I was still alive. And breathing.
And conscious. David picked me up and looked into my half-closed rabbit eyes. "Huh-Huh-Huh-Huh-Huh." David laughed Elmer Fudd-esque. "Nice twy, Feathers."
He carried me over to the view screen in his Bug Fighter.
"Ayla," David commanded, "how are the rest of our guests?"
>They're fine.> said a voice I recognized as the computer's, but with much more human feeling. >They're just . . . . hanging around.>
The screen showed me five Hork-Bajir warriors wrapped up in and suspended in the air by vine-like, metal cords. Toby's warriors: Toma, Biran, Yenke, Garik, and the last one, a female named Enga Tala. They were being held in the bridge! The picture panned right to show the other side of the bridge. Here, only two prisoners were wrapped up in the machine vines. Toby Hamee and Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil.
"Welcome aboard, Tobias van Gore." David said as the Bug Fighter docked with the Sea Blade. "Welcome to the Proteus."