July 10, 2000 2:34 AM

Marco

My mother had a sword. I know that sounds ridiculous but my mother had a sword. She was fencing with Visser Three. Sword to tail-blade. I was in Gorilla morph watching all of this. I ran to my mother, wanting to save her from Visser Three.

>I'm coming, Mom. I'll save you!> I shouted.

>No. I'll save you! I'll save everyone!> shouted a voice. David.

A giant snake lifted its humongous head from over the horizon. It was a snake with David's face. Kind of like that Betelgeuse-Snake from Beetlejuice. David-Snake had large sharp teeth.

He reared his head than struck my mother and the Visser.

>I'll save everyone!> David shouted as he engulfed my mother and Visser Three.

>NOOOOOOOOOO!> I shouted as I watched helplessly as David-Snake comically swallowed his meal.

David stuck out a large snake tongue and cartoonishly licked his lips. >Yummy.>

>You MANIAC!!!! Damn you!> I shouted as I punched the sand beneath me.

>It was for the good of my galaxy!> David-Snake demanded. >Interference will not be tolerated.>

A large snake tail came up over the horizon. It ended in a rattle, but the rattle ended with a barbed point, like the tip of a scorpion's tail. His tail whipped out and struck me in the side.

>AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!> I shouted.

"Relax, Marco. It's just a little shot." David said.

I opened my eyes and realized I was still in mouse morph, and I had been dreaming. I remembered where I was.

I was in David's Blade Ship. Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, and I sneaked aboard to spy on David. David somehow caught us. He shot me with a Dracon Beam and I went unconscious. The others too, I guess, and now I was being held by some kind of robot. I could see a conscious rabbit, Tobias, to my left, and an unconscious squirrel, Cassie, to my right. Rachel, in rat morph, was probably close by. We were each being held by some kind of metal vine. What was going on? Oh yeah, David just injected something into me.

David put the syringe into a hole in the wall of his Blade Ship. Trash, I guess.

>What did you just put in me?> I demanded of David.

>Not just you.> said Tobias. >All of us.>

"You'll see." David chuckled. "Ayla, send our guests to the bridge. I need to start our other experiments.> David said/thought-spoke as he made his transition from human to Hork-Bajir. He went back into his Bug Fighter and brought out Hildy Gervais in his arms.

Hildy Gervais. The biological father of the two human children that Edriss 562 considers her progeny. And its Edriss 562 who has control of my mother. It's "her kids" that David is looking for. I'm a tad worried about what David has planned. He went one way while the droid that carried us went another.

>No prison can hold us. We should just demorph.> I said as I attempted to do just that. Only nothing was happening. >I can't demorph!>

>Me neither> Rachel yelled. >Are we nothlits?>

>No. I've been awake the whole time. We've only been in morph about twenty, maybe thirty minutes tops.> Tobias reassured.

>Then why can't we demorph?>

>Maybe it has something to do with whatever David injected us with.>

>Ug. We can't wiggle out of these stupid vines either.> I complained.

>I guess this is what they call a better mousetrap.> Rachel joked.

>What? What's going on?> Cassie asked as she woke up.

As we explained what was happening to Cassie, the droid that carried us arrived at the bridge.

>Ax! Toby! What happened?> Tobias asked.

>I was working at the computer, getting no where.> Ax said, groggily. >Then, out of no where. The seven of us were shot with Shredder beams!>

>Some kind of automated defense system.> I deduced.

>No, you don't understand.> Ax insisted. >We weren't shot with Dracon beams. Shot with Shredder! Not Dracon. Shredder.>

Shredder beams. Meaning Andalite technology.

>He stole shredders off of Gonrod and his crew, remember?> I reminded.

>It means he has a way of copying and manufacturing technology.> Rachel deduced.

We all shared thought-speech grunts of disbelief until Rachel supplied us with, >What? I know stuff.>

>This could be very bad.> I grumbled.

Shortly after, David arrived at the bridge in his own body. He was carrying Megadeth. He touched something on the droid which released us, but we were quickly snatched up by the other machine vines that held Toby and Ax. He sat down in his chair and started to stroke Megadeth's fur. Very Dr. Evil-esque.

I guess David thought the same thing. "Well, Mishter Van Goore," David spoke in a Dr. Evil-like voice. "It sheems things did not go according to plan."

>Cute, David. Very cute.> Tobias said, not at all amused. >And for the record, we didn't have much of a plan. It was basically find out yours.>

"Silly rabbit." David chuckled as he let go an increasingly antsy Megadeth. "I don't have a plan. I have, like, ten plans!"

>Your plan for Hildy Gervais?> Cassie asked.

"He was of less help than I would have liked him to be, but at least now I have a sample of his DNA. And I got to test out a few new gadgets."

>And that thing you injected each of us with?> Tobias asked.

>Myself too?> Ax added.

"Another new gadget I'm field-testing, one of my own design." David explained. "Ever since I gained an Andalite morph of remarkable intelligence, I've been kinda kicking this Mad-Scientist-Vibe, you know what I mean?"

>Estrid.> Ax grumbled.

"Morphing someone of higher intelligence and gaining said intelligence is a real mind-fuck, let me tell you, but it does have its advantages."

>What did you stick in us!!> Tobias demanded. I think he wanted to screech, but remembered he was still a rabbit. I also noticed he started flapping his little forepaws as if they were wings.

"Water." David said. "Mostly. Water with a little biomechanicalparasiteinsidedesignedtocontrolmorphing."

>What was that?> I asked

"Ug. Waaaaattttteeeerrrr," David repeated slowly and annoyingly, "with a little biomechanical parasite inside designed to control morphing. I hate it when people need things spelled out for them."

>What?>

"Uhhhh," David groaned in exasperation, "look, you can't demorph. None of your woodland friends can demorph, and the illegal alien can't morph at all. That device I injected into you for all intents and purposes freezes your morph clocks. Actually, that's not really accurate since, for those of you in morph, once the device is deactivated, your morph clock will start back at 0. You'll have a full two hours to demorph."

>So, until you deactivate that little bug you put in us, we're stuck like this.> Rachel asked.

"Yep." David confirmed, smiling that annoying shit-eating grin of his, entirely satisfied with himself. "Ayla, how did our first project go?"

"100 success." Ayla announced. "The memory probe was able to make a copy of Hildy's memories. Everything after Essam's first infestation is a little jumbled, and everything after Essam's death is almost incomprehensible."

"Just answer me this question: Was Allison Kim the only woman Hildy had intercourse with in the target time span."

"Yes. Thus, any children between the ages of nine and twelve that are fathered by Hildy Gervais would also be birthed by Allison Kim."

"And by extension, Essam and Edriss."

>You told us the son is already a controller. Who are you looking for, David?> Ax asked.

>You asked Hildy about two children, Darwin and Madra.> Cassie recapped.

>Madra?> Ax asked. >That's the name of the moon that orbits the Yeerk home world.>

"And its her that I'm looking for." David revealed.

>Why?> I demanded.

"That's for me to know, and you not to." David replied tersely. "Ayla, the second experiment."

"Also a success. The device works perfectly. One hundred and forty-three vacancies left."

>What about Stephanie?> Tobias asked. >You got any plans for her?>

David chuckled. "Oh yes. I've got lots of plans for her. Her unit. Her visitors. And now that you've made yourself available, I've got plans for the lot of you."

"Grrrrrrr. I hurt you!" Garik shouted.

"Garik?" David said, as if he just now recognized the young Hork-Bajir. "Garik, is that you? My, my, my, you've gotten big. A little too big for a Hork-Bajir your age. You're going to be a monster when you're all growed up." David walked over to Toby and ran his finger down her beak-like snout. "Nice choice, Toby."

"NO TOUCH TOBY!!!! I KILL YOU!" Garik screamed, fighting the machine vines that held him in place.

"Garik, shut up!" Toby commanded. Garik looked hurt at the reprimand, than growled.

David chuckled again. I was beginning to hate that sound. "He's just as bad as Jake." David said as he scratched Cassie's squirrel head. "Rest up, soldiers. We got a big day tomorrow. A big day."