Here I was on Concord Dawn, one of the Skrit Na Home Worlds. Their original home world was destroyed millennia ago, and they've since established three new ones in addition to the myriads of space stations they have littered about the galaxy.
Concord Dawn was a popular one among traveling aliens. It was a bit like the Las Vegas planet of this galactic arm which is probably why my crewmember was here.
I was pissed. I gave him specific instructions, the ungrateful bastard. I pulled him from that hellpit he was from, saved him from death, gave him power, and he goes and does this.
I tracked him down to a brothel. I entered and saw male and female aliens of all types lying around in whatever is considered provocative clothing and/or poses from specie to specie. The House-Mister, a Male Na known as Ecanssianer, saw me and recognized me as 'David the Terrible'. He knew I wasn't there for him or his 'wares' and I was here to retrieve my crew member.
Ecanssianer took me to the room where my crewmember was. I morphed to Hork-Bajir and burst into the room. Three naked human girls (teenagers at best) burning a powdery drug in a bowl over a flame saw me and froze. The other naked female in the room was otherwise preoccupied. She was 'riding' my crew member: Aleks Stantford.
Aleks Stantford loves nine things: Drugs, guns, sex, drugs, guns, drugs, sex, blowing shit up, and drugs. A true American. But I gave him a direct order; he was supposed to be watching the Anubis as Skorre, Ripper, and I did recon.
I yanked the Latina whore off Aleks by her hair and threw her to the ground.
"Hey! I was banging that girl!" Aleks yelled at me.
I grabbed Aleks by his throat with my strong Hork-Bajir hands and held his naked body against the wall. Aleks' four whores all hid behind a couch.
((I told you to guard the Anubis!)) I shouted at him.
"I put LaRouche on it! He and Sara and can handle it themselves. Get a grip!" He insubordinately shot back at me. I squeezed his neck harder. "Not what I meant."
((I gave you an order, Aleks. I when I give an order, I expect it to be followed without question.))
"Lighten up, David. I needed my fix and I needed some 'pleasurable company'. You could do with a little yourself, you know."
I released Aleks and demorphed. "What I need," I started, "is a second-in-command who will do as I say! Skorre found out that there are a lot of unregistered spacecraft headed to this planet. To me that says bounty hunters; what does it say to you?"
Aleks stood up and looked me in the eye, apparently unperturbed at his own nakedness. Aleks leered at his four whores and sat down on the couch near the cooking drug. He breathed in the fumes as his four whores crowded around him on the couch and started fondling him in various places. "Says to me we're in for some shit. Best way to prepare for that is some R&R. Come on, David. We're in a Concord Dawn brothel, full of guaranteed yeerk-free, grade-A, quality pink. Have a drink. Have a toke. Have some faith."
A short, blond girl wearing next to nothing sauntered into the room.
"Who's that?" I asked.
"Faith." Aleks answered, garnering laughs from his four whores. "That's her name. I know you like 'em little and blonde."
"How old are you, girl?" I asked Faith.
"Thirteen." She chirped at me.
"Beggars can't be choosers, Cap'n." Aleks recited. Faith began to rub my member from the outside of my morphing suit.
"Don't you know who I am, girl?" I asked Faith again.
"You're David Taggart, Lord of the Antimorphs." She said as she continued to rub and began kissing my neck.
No one ever quite described me like that. I pushed down on Faith's shoulders and she went to her knees. She got the hint and pulled down the pants of my morphing suit.
"Yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" Aleks cheered as he grabbed one of his whores, pushed her down on all fours, and got between her legs from behind. "Give it to her hard, Boss!"
Boss?
I pulled Faith off me by her hair. Everything stopped like the whole world was on pause.
"This isn't right!" I shouted.
Aleks, Faith, and everything disappeared and I appeared to be in a place the looked similar to Z-space, except I could breathe, and I wasn't looking at myself in n dimensions.
A large black bird appeared. It had the body of a giant eagle, but the head of another bird: a raven.
"I show you a dimension where nubile young girls are just waiting to slob your knob, and you throw it out." Said the Raven. "The curse of goodness rears its face like so many times before; Satisfaction: Nevermore!"
"That wasn't me."
"Oh, but it was. Couldn't you feel it? Couldn't you feel the familiarity? It was a different version of you from a different dimension. Different last name, but that's just a legality issue. The two of you are the same. Same DNA, same destiny, same mark."
"Mark?" I asked the Raven.
"Destiny Mark. Beast-mark. My mark." Said the Raven as I realized who this giant bird was.
"Puck!" I shouted. "Where have you brought me? Send me back to my own dimension."
"You can't leave so soon." Puck insisted. "Do you know how difficult it was for me to bring you here? To pull you from his dimension?"
"I don't care, Trickster. I will not destroy my universe!"
"I had thought you were ruined. That goodness had blocked you from the destiny that I laid out for you. How shortsighted of me. I see your goodness has led you down the same path, for I had forgotten the old maxim of mortal life."
I couldn't help but ask. "What?"
"It's not about right or wrong. It's about power!" Puck the Raven said as his bird eyes glowed red. "And good or evil, my wayward Beast-Childe, you crave tons and tons of power! Just like your doppelganger."
"David Taggart." I realized. "You've shown me him before. All those Beasts. He was the one most like me."
"That's because he is you." Puck reiterated. "Your counterpart in that dimension. You became a traitor to the Animorphs, they trapped you as a rat. The same happened to you in your home dimension before someone from the future changed it. Now you are not a rat, and you follow a similar path to Taggart who was rescued from his nothlit fate by a yeerk scientist."
"I'm nothing like him." I insisted. Even as I said it, I realized it wasn't true.
"You both like your women little and blonde. You both stole a Blade Ship and re-named it after a pagan god. You both have become formidable forces feared by Yeerk and Andalite alike."
"Coincidence."
"I'll let you in on a little secret: Coincidences? NO SUCH THING!" Puck shouted. "Look."
The air around me rippled showing me two scenes. One was of me on the Hork-Bajir world with Bone and Babylon. The other was of me with an unas Hork-Bajir and a bunch of humans I didn't recognize training in the desert. Not me, I realized, but David Taggart.
"You have a Hork-Bajir named Babylon Skorre. He has a Hork-Bajir named Skorre Fett. With the exception of skin color, they look identical, wouldn't you agree?"
I did not answer him.
"And look at this boy. David Taggart has a small boy on his team named Lewis Sanders. He loves the boy. Considers him his son."
"Okay, that's just sick. I haven't done anything like that."
"No?"
Puck then showed me images from my dimension.
The buffalo began to morph. Its new morph was definitely a male about my height. He wasn't quite as broad as I was. His skin was very pale and his hair was very blond. He actually looked a lot like me, but lacked some of my harder features and there was a little bit of Melissa's softer features in there: Melissa's dimples for instance. He also had Melissa's grey eyes. Fortunately, some of his more 'delicate' parts were still covered in brown Buffalo fur.
"Awww," Melissa said, suddenly very attached to the freak, "he's cute."
"Yeah. We make a good looking kid." I said.
"What are you suggesting, David Hunting?" Melissa asked teasingly.
Bone finished demorphing. I don't know how, but I swear his giant, bovine head was giving me puppy-dog eyes. I felt a little uneasy at berating something that could gorge me with a head flip, but Bonehead was acting like a spoiled, pissy, little ingrate.
"Bonehead, never, and I mean, never sneak on my ship without my permission. You got that?"
"Did you just acquire Kirag's host?" I asked him intensely, trying not to yell at him.
((Maybe.)) He quasi-admitted.
I flash-morphed into Ursa Wulvef. My hand became fist as I raised it. I then brought it down quickly on Bone's head.
((Owww!)) Bone yelped surprised, more shocked that I hit him than the pain of the hammer blow which to a buffalo was about as damaging as a slap.
I knelt down and looked into Bone's eyes. Even in Ursa's body, Bone could have headbutted me into a three week coma, but he did no such thing. I grabbed both his horns with my strong Hork-Bajir arms and roughly pulled his head closer to me. Again, I'm not sure if Bone could have shook free of me, but I did it anyways.
((Never, Ever, EVER acquire a sentient person's DNA without their permission. Are we clear on that, Bonehead?)) I said to Bone strongly.
((Yes, Boss.)) He answered back.
I let go of his horns. ((Now, go to the field.))
Bone turned around without complaining and quickly trotted away.
"How odd." Kirag commented. "Bone is biologically an adult of his species, yet he is psychologically a child. And you, David, are the exact opposite."
((I didn't create this creature; the Animorphs did.)) I said as I demorphed.
"And yet, you're the one that brought him here where he was given complete sentience." Kirag added. "To a large herbivore like a Hork-Bajir or a buffalo, what you just did could be considered a dominance ritual."
"He knows what right and wrong means; he just doesn't know what things are right and what things are wrong." I realized. "He called me 'Boss' again."
"Someone has to teach him right and wrong." Kirag said; his implication was obvious. He was trying to convince me to take Bonehead with me, but after I realized how invested I was in Bone's new life I no longer needed convincing. "You're a tough and brutal disciplinarian, David Hunting."
"My father was a General in the US Army. This is something you wouldn't understand."
"Bonehead von Buffalo. Babylon Skorre. My ship has rules. Proteus is my home. Moreover, it'll be your home, I expect you to treat it as such. I'm the Boss. You're the crew. Crew is family and I'm the head of that family. Do as I say, we won't have a problem. If you don't, you better have a damn good reason. Not an excuse, a reason! Don't do anything crazy. Don't put the crew in danger. If you can do all that . . . . ." I said as I took one last breath, "welcome aboard."
"That all sounds like very fatherly stuff to me, Hunting." Puck concluded.
I wasn't so sure he was wrong. "No. I'm not like Taggart." I insisted.
"No. You see, you understand what Taggart and the other Beasts never did. Real power is creation, not destruction. So as you amass your army, remember that you are a real power, my beast-childe. Remember, you have the power and the know how to rule the galaxy under one rule: yours."
"The easier to destroy it with, I suppose." I realized. "I'm amassing no army, Puck."
"What do you think that little cell of terrorism you've got brewing on the Hork-Bajir World is? Summer Camp?"
In a flash of blinding light, a giant blue lion appeared. Its body seemed to sparkle like the stars as it shone rays of white light.
Puck addressed the lion. "The Ether is neutral territory, Whistler. You have no dominion here."
"I know that." Said the Lion. "I can do nothing to you or for you."
"What do you mean 'for me'?"
The Lion chuckled. "Don't say I didn't warn you, Quinz Haas."
"Could someone tell me what the fuck is going on?" I yelled.
"PUCK!" shouted a booming voice. An evil voice. A voice I recognized.
A giant red eye appeared above me, Puck, and the sparkling blue lion named Whistler.
"No! Damnit! He's found us! That damn Demonic Lord of Treason found us!"
"Crayak!" I realized.
"Hello, Hunting. How many times will you cause me grief? You could have been such a pawn. Now you are a thorn!" Crayak shouted as a beam of red energy shot forward from his giant pupil and enveloped me. I was paralyzed and being dragged toward him.
A second shot of energy, this time black, came from Puck and began to pull me in the opposite direction toward him. I was the rope in a Demonic Tug-o-war!!!!
"No, Crayak! He is one of my Beast-Childes. You cannot keep him from me!!!!" Puck insisted.
"Fool!" Crayak shouted back. "When Mephisto banished me into that small galaxy in that nothing dimension, he gave me free reign over all of its occupants. All of them, Quinz Haas!"
"I will not let you have my son." Puck shouted.
"I don't share my toys!!" Crayak countered.
"This isn't a game for you to win, Crayak!"
"Of course it is. It's always a game and I always win. You know why?" Crayak baited. "I always stack the deck."
A third bolt of light hit me, this one green, coming from a giant-sized knight-like figure in green and white armor. The bolt of light came from a shield the figure was holding. The figure also had gossamer wings. The Winged Knight floated next to Crayak and the two of them overpowered Puck and slowly pulled me toward the two of them.
"So this is the Ether, the space between dimensions." Said the Winged Knight. "I can't believe you were telling the truth, Crayak."
"Surely, Ellimist, do you think I would ever let anyone end our game before a winner was declared?" Crayak responded.
"Fucking Gamers." Puck shouted as Crayak and Ellimist pulled me completely from his grasp. "No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
I woke up and rose from my bed. I was in my quarters on Proteus. I looked around and saw the Winged Knight (the Ellimist), and the Drode standing around my bed looking somewhat at me and somewhat at each other.
"Now, where were we?" asked the Drode.
I woke up and rose from my bed, for real this time. I was alone in my quarters.
July 28, 2000 3:25 PM
"Ayla," I summoned, "what time is it?"
"1525 hours." Ayla answered. "Our arrival at Gianna Draquen will not be for another three hours. Do you want to sleep and be restful some more?"
Sleep? Restful? Decidedly not. "I really don't."
I got up and dragged my self to my private bathroom. I had long removed the Andalite toilet and replaced it with an old fashioned porcelain john. I looked in the mirror of my bathroom at my reflection. My hair was getting longer and I hadn't shaved for awhile. I was starting to look more and more like Kurt Cobain. Or a hippy who showered.
It has been three days since we left the Hork-Bajir World. I was still getting used to having people living on my ship. Bonehead von Buffalo, the freak of technology and Babylon Skorre, a Neo Hork-Bajir with a disconcerting history have joined my "crew". Babylon did not have the morphing power, but he was a hard worker. Before leaving, Babylon procured for us a grove's worth of trees and three acres worth of grass to be planted in the Jungle Room which was originally three separate rooms on the front-port section of the top deck of my ship. Even with all that room, Babylon said it was too small and asked my permission to expand it. I gave him permission so that's what he's been doing. It's a good thing; we might need the food. I had stockpiled food for myself (mostly stolen from supermarkets), but the kitchen is on the main deck so all except the canned goods were destroyed when Councilor Four and Nodnarb flooded my ship.
While Babylon said he could live off the bark of the Amazonian trees I had stolen for Hellboy, eating off of canned foods for the last month made me appreciate the concept of variety.
I was mostly concerned about Bonehead. He could theoretically morph human or hork-bajir and eat as I or Babylon eats, but I felt he should be able to eat in his own body if he wanted to, so I made sure we got a lot of grass for him. Kirag had mentioned how good a gardener Babylon was, so I trusted him to take care of the plants.
After living here for a few months, I have done many things to grow into my new home, including how to navigate this massive place. Proteus had three parts: A front, a back, and a middle. The back was mostly engines and a vertical labyrinth of engine rooms. The front was mostly the bridge. The middle was four floors (or decks) atop control rooms and a large bay of Sea Bugs.
The first floor I called the Mech & Tech Deck. When I claimed Proteus, back when it was the Sea Blade, the first floor was mostly labs and maintenance offices. In here I put in a bunch of machine toys I stole from the Pemalite ship and modified them so they would build droids and weapons. I called it my Factory. They worked well until they were all damaged by the flood. I hadn't gotten around to fixing them yet; the Pemalite self-repairing technology only went so far. The Cold Pod room and the experimental Holo Pod room were also on this deck.
The second floor I called the Main Deck, since that floor had the side hatches that would be used whenever we made port at a station. That deck had a big empty space where the side hatches were toward the front of the ship. (One of the side hatch doors still had the imprint of a strong gorilla hand prying it open). The front half also had large, multi-purpose conference rooms for seminars and the like. The back half had an Olympic swimming pool size yeerk pool that was devoid of any yeerks, so I drained it and turned it into an actual swimming pool (which I should probably use more).
The third floor was the Commander's deck, since that's where the officer's quarters were. That's where I spent most of my time, and where I did most of my "homey redecorating". I lived in what was most likely the quarters that Visser Three used. Bone and Babylon each stayed in one of the seven remaining officer's quarter's in that part of the ship (I converted one into the new Yeerk Pool room). Actually, Bone's quarters were right across the hall from mine; I wanted to keep an eye on him. Both the Commander's deck and the Main deck had entrances into the Bridge.
The fourth and top deck was quickly becoming the Jungle deck as I found out when I went up there to check on Babylon.
I exited the large lifts, expecting for my foot to catch floor, when I stumbled into a three foot drop and landed flat on my face. As I picked myself up, I looked around and saw what Babylon had done to the top deck of my ship. All the floors and walls had been ripped out from the front part of the ship; it was now one big empty area the size of three supermarkets. The trees, plants and grass that used to be in the Jungle room were now in large pots or in stacks in the back of the ship. My Andalite waterfall decoration, however, was still there. Hellboy was seen slithering about lackadaisically as Babylon was fooling around with what I believed to be the water main for the deck.
"Babylon, what the hell are you doing?"
Babylon answered me without taking his eyes off of what he was doing. "I'm taping into the water pipes of the ship so that we can set up an automatic watering system for the new floor."
"New floor?"
"I'm replacing the floor with an ennos strayfa. That's an andalite term for indoor field or something. Basically, the new floor will be wire mesh on top of soil with grass growing through it, like what the old Andalite ships had before they made Dome Ships."
Sure. Whatever. "Is Hellboy going to be okay wandering around here?"
"Should be. The ship's computer fed it some smelly dead animal earlier."
"The ship's computer is named Ayla."
"I thought the ship was Proteus."
"The ship is Proteus. The computer's name is Ayla, and we treat her with respect else she gets very testy with us."
"I can hear you, you know!" Ayla chimed in. Babylon heard Ayla's voice and turned his head around looking for where it came from.
"Who said that?" Babylon finally asked.
"I did." Ayla said. "I'm the ship's computer."
"The ship's computer can talk?"
"You're not very quick on the uptake, are you Babylon?" I asked.
Babylon blinked at me. "Up what take?"
He maybe leaps ahead of his fellow unas Hork-Bajir, but he's still a Hork-Bajir.
"What made you do it like this?" I asked Babylon motioning to the mess he'd made of my top deck."
"I heard stories about the old Andalite ships and how they had hallways of grass and figured that should work here. The computer told me how to set it up."
"I have a name!!!" Ayla insisted.
"Sorry, Layla told me how. She didn't talk to me though, just showed me pictures. I didn't know Layla could talk."
"Ayla." Ayla corrected. "My name is Ayla, you big purple freak."
"Ayla, be patient. He's Hork-Bajir." I suggested.
"Yeah." Babylon agreed. "Wait, what?"
I decided to change the subject. "We'll be arriving on Gianna Draquen in less than three hours, so in about two and a half hours, I want you to report to the Main Deck conference rooms. You can't morph, so you'll be holding our supplies."
"If Ayla is the computer, what's the cat's name?" Babylon asked off-the-subject.
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Yes. Two and a half hours; Main Deck Conference rooms; I'm the pack mule. What's the cat's name?"
Before I could think to ask him where he learned the term 'pack mule', I answered his question. "The cat's name is Megadeth."
"And the other one?"
"What other one?"
"The other cat."
"You mean the leopard in the Holo Pod room?"
"No, not the big cat. The little one. Megadeth was playing with someone in the hallway when I got up this morning, and it looked exactly like him."
Exactly? "Ug, it must have been Bone."
"But Bone's a buffalo."
I gave him a hard, frustrated look. He may talk better than an unas Hork-Bajir, but he sure isn't much smarter. "Take your time."
He squinted in a human expression of confusion, than his face softened in an expression of realization. "Oooooh, right."
"There it is." I said. "Which reminds me: What's this about you yelling at him for knocking stuff over?"
"He was bothering me. He kept knocking over the fruit trees, and then he mouthed off to me."
"Be nice. He's a freak of technology; he's a little . . . ."
"Annoying?" Babylon tried.
"Rambunctious." I supplied as I began to leave. "Rest for an hour before you report to the conference rooms. I don't want you all tired from working before we go into a hard battle."
I got into the big lifts and went back down to the Commander Deck. Bone was the other unknown quality on my ship. He may have been like a child, but he was not as naïve as he seemed. Still he did irritating things and now that he had a personality, it was not without quirks. One of which I noticed is music. The dumb buffalo loves to sing and dance, and the irritating part about it is that he's actually good at it. He can't sing in his own body (though he sometimes bellows in tune with bass riffs), but I've heard him sing in a number of his morphs: Nomar the Hork-Bajir, Laet the Hork-Bajir, Toadie the Mini-Titan, even Quafijinivon the Arn (of whom I've heard is actually tone-deaf). In each morph with their different vocal ranges he sings perfectly. Every time.
The most disturbing though is his composite human morph. His speaking voice sounds a lot like mine, but his singing voice sounds a lot like that Carter guy from the Backstreet Boys. That's not a comforting thought. I'm not the musical type, but even if I was, I'd prefer to sound more like Trent Reznor or Gavin Rossdale or Billy Corgan than a Backstreet Bitch.
Okay, maybe not Billy Corgan.
What's worse is that his taste in music isn't at all like mine. He's loves pop, dance, and R&B music. He's also gotten into ska music which irritates me since I hate trumpets, but at least a trumpet is a real musical instrument. He's also having Ayla download music from other planets. Some of it's all right like the weirdly melodic Leeran string-instrumental music or some hard Hawajabran music style called Gungu Dragarrl, which means "deep bellowing". Some of it's annoying like Skrit Na vocalists (whose music sounds like screeching with a tambourine) or that one Ongachic folksong I was forced to listen to repeatedly so Bonehead could be calm enough to acquire the 'Sneaky and Mean Tree Cat' (the leopard).
The one time I want him to acquire something and he gets skittish. And if he acquired and morphed Megadeth, I still need to talk to Bone about acquiring things without telling me.
Then again, I never really bothered to tell Jake about all the creatures I acquired. Why does it bother me so much?
"Bone! Let me in." I said as I knocked on Bone's door.
"Door open" said the voice of Bone's human morph.
I walked in and Bone was bouncing a soccer ball off his human head repeatedly. 'Heading' the ball, I think it's called. After a minute, I realized the ball was holographic. Where the wall to Bone's quarters should be there was a hologram of a soccer goalie and net. I noticed Megadeth lying lazily in the pile of hay that Bone slept in.
"Bone, what are you doing?"
"I'm playing fútbol!" Bone said as he bounced the ball on his head three more times before he did a COMPLETE BACKFLIP, kicking the holographic ball into the holographic goal.
"GOOOOOOOOAAAALL!" Ayla yelled, doing her Latin American sports announcer impression.
"Oh yeah! 'I Beat iiiiiiiiiiit!! Beat iiiiiiiiiiiiiit!/ Computer Fútbol Goalie's Defeated!'" Bone sang to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
As he moonwalked. I'm not joking. Bonehead, who just became a human for the first time a little more than a week ago, was doing the Michael Jackson Moonwalk. While singing a Michael Jackson song. With his OWN WORDS!
"'My kicks are awesome/ Everyone knows/ It doesn't matter/ If I've hooves or toes/ I'll Beat it! Just Beat it!'" He finished singing and dancing and turned to me. "I beat it, Boss. Woo!"
"Yeah, that's great. Listen, we have about two and half hours before we land on Gianna Draquen. I want you go to the top deck and eat something."
"Last time I went up there Babylon yelled at me."
"You knocked over his trees, and then you mouthed off to him." I pointed out.
"So? I knocked over some of the apple and orange trees. I even broke a branch off of one of the pear trees and he's fine with it, but I slightly bump into the maple trees and he has a fit. He's got a bad temper, Boss. It's just like that thing with his dumb, little spice garden."
"You ate half his ginger than threw up on his talons."
"You know, he had, like, twice as much ginger than anything else in that dumb garden so really all I was doing was evening things out. And I already said I was sorry for throwing up on his hooves."
"Talons. Hork-Bajir have talons, not hooves. Be nice to Babylon. Everything's new to him, too. He's a Hork-Bajir, he's a little . . . ."
"Stupid?"
"Slow." I supplied.
"Whatever. If I hafta eat, I wanna eat in human morph." Bone said with fake breeziness.
I knew what he wanted. "You mean you want to eat cookies in human morph?"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeese?" Bone pleaded, jumping up and down like a five-year-old. (A sixteen-year-old human jumping up and down like a preschooler.)
"Go." I relented.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Bone said as he ran out his door toward the kitchen on this deck
"Then demorph and rest!" I called after him, but he was already halfway to the kitchen and ignoring me.
"Boys will be boys, David." Ayla supplied.
"I don't need a boy. I need men."
"Ahem!" Ayla prompted.
"Or women . . . You know what I mean. He likes to dance and sing and eat cookies. That doesn't sound like a warrior. That sounds like a cast member of Barney & Friends. What's going to happen if . . . when he goes into battle?"
"David, try to remember that he's from the African Wilderness. That's like the Compton of Mother Earth."
She has a point. It's not like the Savannahs of Africa are the happy land of bunnies. Grown men and warriors go into the wilderness of the Dark Continent and don't come back in one piece.
I picked up Megadeth in my arms. He purred for a second than went back to staring at stuff. "Well, back to work." I said. "Ayla, warn me if Bone gets sugar-high."
For the next two hours I worked on establishing a remote link to Ayla on the Protimus-Bot Controller. With Ayla's assistance, the PBC would act as almost a mini-terminal to Ayla and would allow me contact her, even when I was off the ship. It reminded me of a Palm Pilot, so I dubbed it the Palm Proteus.
We approached the planet, two hours later. We weren't landing on the planet, but docking with the Space Station above the planet. I wasn't sure why.
As Babylon was our 'pack mule', he carried our supplies. I was surprised when he came to the conference room with a shoulder bag that made him look like the Green Goblin. He loaded it up with some weapons, including nine doses of Protimus-Bots.
"Be thrifty with the weapons, Babylon. With the factory all tore up, I can't make any more."
"No problem." Babylon responded.
"I've compiled a list of Dayang-made components that would help us, David." Ayla chimed in.
"Good thinking, Ayla." I said. "Have seen Bone?"
"He should be coming off the large lifts in few seconds."
On cue, Bone trotted from one of the large classroom-sized elevators on starboard side of the ship.
((Sorry I'm late, Boss.))
"Did you lock Megadeth in the lounge on the Commander's Deck?"
((Uh-huh, that's what took me so long. Dumb kitty's always running away from me.))
"Can't imagine why. You're so good with small animals." Babylon sarcastically grumbled.
((I said I was sorry for stepping on Zombie's tail, Dork-Bajir!))
"Bonehead."
((That's my name. Don't wear it out!))
"Knock it off, you two!" I berated. Zombie was the name of Babylon's pet Hruthor, a blue-grey reptile from the northern-'Outside', the part of the Hork-Bajir world beyond the equatorial valleys. Unlike the wildlife in the valleys, the snakes and lizards of the Outside were not engineered by the Arn but evolved from the survivors of the cataclysm that created the deep valleys in the first place. They're something of a mystery, even to the Arn.
Still, there's no mystery that if something the size of a buffalo steps on the tail of something the size of Jack Russell terrier, it hurts!
"Zombie will be fine, right?" I asked Babylon.
"He's in his aquarium in my quarters. I gave Layla his feeding schedule, per your suggestion." Babylon answered.
"My name is AYLA." Ayla corrected.
"You're going to feed him though, right?"
"Yes." Ayla grumbled. "About 60 grams of turoo bugs every day."
"By the way, Boss, how long are we going to be planetside?" Babylon asked.
"Don't know." I answered. "But we best be prepared for anything."
"But we're estimating a maximum of about three or four days, right?"
"Why is this an issue?"
Babylon stammered. "Eh, uh, it isn't."
That's weird. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Did Ayla get Zombie's feed schedule right?"
"Yeah. Just drop the bugs in his aquarium. They'll go to him. No one's really sure why. Thanks, Layla."
"Ayla!" Ayla corrected.
(('Got me on my knees, Layla.')) Bone thought-sang.
"Don't you start." Ayla warned. "We're docking with Port 37 of the Super-Atmo Space Station of Gianna Draquen."
"Let's go." I said. Then I got a silly idea. "Bone, stand still."
I threw my leg over Bone's back and mounted him like he was a horse.
((Hey, whatcha doing?)) Bone said.
"I'm bestriding my loyal, noble steed."
((I'm not a 'loyble' steed!)) Bone protested. ((You can't ride me like some sort of hoof animal!))
"Bone. You're an animal. You have hooves. You are a hoof animal."
Bone looked at his hooves like the thought never occurred to him. ((Yeah, but . . . I'm . . . . no.))
"I'm not hurting you, am I?" I asked.
((No, but that's not the point. This is undignified!)) Bone grumbled.
"Come on. Where would the Lone Ranger be without his horse, Tanto?"
"Tanto's the sidekick. Silver's the horse." Babylon corrected.
"You can be both, Bone." I responded to Bone's look of annoyance. It was weird to see so many human expressions on a buffalo's face.
Bone trotted to the port side hatch, learning to keep his back straight so I don't fall off.
((I feel stupid.))
"Come on, I'm supposed to be a big hero to these guys." I rationalized. "I gotta look powerful to command respect. Ayla, open the hatch door."
Ayla opened the hatch door and four dayangs had beam weapons pointed at us.
((Oh yeah. That's respect for ya.)) Bone chimed in.
Dayangs are strange creatures, seemingly a creature with two parts. Their lower bodies looked like a normal animal without a head. It had two arms (called ground arms) that could be used as legs and ended in six-fingered (5 to 1), opposable hands, and two legs that were shorter and sturdier. On top of the that was the upper body, a chest with a head and two arms (called main arms) that ended in four-fingered, opposable hands (3 to1). They also had four thin tentacles moving wildly out of their back. Their dog-like heads had satellite dish-shaped ears and three eyes, two green simple eyes and one red compound eye. Their skin was various shades of brown. They had fur (the color of which differs) on their main arms, the tops of their heads, and the sides of their lower bodies. If they were male, they also had hair on their shoulders.
"$Guards, stand down.$" said a melodious dayang voice in Draque, the dayang language.
A thin dayang with brown fur walked toward us as the Guards left us. The Dayang had no hair on its shoulders, leading me to believe she was female. That and the general way she gestured with her tentacles was interpreted by my translator as feminine.
"$Greetings, Sir David. I am Third Officer Chydla Feezor-641. I apologize for the inhospitable welcome, but we're in a state of martial law right now.$"
((What's he saying? I don't understand him.))
"Her, Bone." I quietly corrected. "$No problem, Officer.$" I answered in Galard.
Chydla switched to Galard as well. "$Galard, yes, of course. Again, apologies.$" Chydla stood at attention, but the way her compound eye was glowing was interpreted by my language implant as nervousness.
((Ah, Galard. That I understand.)) Bone said.
"$You've brought allies, I see. Captain Hollin will be pleased. He is waiting for us at the Great Elevator-Cindre. If you'll follow me.$"
"$What's the situation with the Morphing bandits?$" I asked.
"$Captain Hollin will debrief you,$" Chydla answered, "$but between you and me, former Captain Gwarver and his terrorists have been making our lives a never-ending punishment.$"
((Let's call them 'Terrormorphs!')) Bone suggested. ((That's a cool name for villains!))
"This isn't a Saturday morning cartoon, Bone." I chided. "$Forgive my cohort. He has a loose tongue.$"
"Ter-ror-morphs." Chydla repeated, using the English words. "$I'm not sure of its meaning in your language, but it seems to fit.$"
"$Evil is not lost in translation.$" Babylon said in Galard. For someone kind of mentally slow, he says the darkest, wisest things sometimes.
"$You speak Galard, Babylon?$" I asked him.
"Galard. English. The Hork-Bajir-Arn language. A little Spanish and Yeerkish too. It's hard for us sometimes, though." Babylon replied in English. Then in Galard, "$We hork-bajir have a tendency to confuse the languages. We forget which words and which rules go with which language.$"
"$Your two cohorts could get language implants once we're planet-side.$" Chydla suggested. "$The Rogin Gavic's science officer is also in Cindre right now. I believe you're familiar with him. I'm sure he would be happy to do it.$"
"$Dr. Orbin? Yes, he is a good friend.$"
We approached a large, vertical tube of some sort and standing near it was the large, familiar frame of the other red-haired dayang I knew: Captain Hollin.
"$David Hunting! You've arrived at last.$" Captain Hollin greeted me. "$And you've brought others.$"
"$This strangely colored Hork-Bajir is Babylon Skorre and this mighty creature is Bonehead von Buffalo.$" I introduced.
((I'm a 'loyable' steed.)) Bone offered.
"$What a strange creature.$" Hollin commented. "$Come. We shall enter the Great Elevator of the City of Cindre. I'll debrief you on the way down.$"
"$This elevator goes all the way down to the planet surface?$" Babylon asked.
"$It does, my simple Hork-Bajir ally.$" Hollin answered as Bone (and I atop him), Babylon, and Chydla followed Hollin into the baseball-diamond-sized elevator.
The Elevator began its slow descent and I could see that the walls of the elevator were transparent. We could see outside as the elevator lowered. Bone became so enraptured by the view I had to dismount from him to talk to Hollin.
"So what's the story?" I asked him in English.
"$Captain Gwarver and his five fellow terrorists have been causing disturbances around Gwarver's hometown, the City of Cindre.$"
"$Where we're headed.$" Babylon realized.
"$Yes. They have the Andalite ambassador and an attendant as prisoners. We've searched everywhere, but for whatever reason we can't hear any thought-speech cries. We fear the worse.$"
"$That doesn't make sense. Gwarver wouldn't kill his only bargaining chips.$" I said.
"$Maybe he's just keeping them unconscious so they can't make thought-speech cries.$" Babylon wondered.
"$What about the other andalite? The one you caught snooping in restricted areas?$" I asked.
"$He's being held in a Ramonite Box. As I said before, he's being less than co-operative.$"
"$Sir Bonehead, please stay away from the walls of the Elevator as we enter Atmo. They can get quite hot.$" Chydla warned Bone.
((It's so pretty!)) Bone commented, not at all listening. ((OW!))
"$What's the nature of Gwarver's attacks?$" I asked Hollin.
"$He and his terrorists attack civilians, inciting chaos and pandemonium. He continues to do this to coerce us into giving him a spaceship. We, of course, cannot acquiesce to this.$"
"$His last attack was at the Cindre Liript Class of 5478A's Twenty-year reunion.$" Chydla explained. "$My father was there. He suffered a cardiac arrest in his lower body because of Gwarver. He survived. Barely.$"
"$Do we know the identities of the other morphers?$"
Hollin seemed to waver. "$Yes. Three are former crew members of Rogin Gavic. One we believe to be a female named Lebla Synda-300, a doctor's assistant at a robotics lab. The last we've confirmed is a convicted serial killer named Kartar Legles-283. The Media call him Krull,$" which means 'stab' in Draque.
"A morphing serial killer." I said, forgetting my Galard. "Lovely."
"$And the names of the former crew members of Rogin Gavic?$" Babylon prompted.
Hollin seemed to waver, "$Well one was a lieutenant in my command named Frozeon Andsomgi-371.$" Hollin said as his compound eyes slowly glowed darker, an expression of hesitation. "$The other two are . . . $"
((WOW!!!)) Bone suddenly yelled. ((Look at this!!!))
We all turned to Bone to look out of the Elevator's windows. We had entered into the atmosphere of Gianna Draquen. And the atmosphere was full of creatures, hundreds and hundreds of them.
"Great Mother Sky!" Babylon muttered. "The entire atmosphere is congested with them."
Giant bugs and birds of many sizes filled our view. Some flew close enough to the elevator and glided or fluttered down to watch us.
"$This is the reason for the Super-Atmo Space Station. To make space launches from the planet surface would disturb countless flocks and hordes.$" Chydla explained.
"$Planetary launches and landings are now illegal.$" Hollin added.
((What creature is this?)) Bone hyperactively asked. ((What creature is that?))
"$That's a Derif Lazunbi. And that's an Orcloguz.$" Chydla patiently explained, pointing to each one with a tentacle as it flew from our sight. Then a big, brown, fat insect hovered up to the window and followed us down. Chydla pointed to it. "$And that's a Belga Vibrat, although they don't usually soar to this altitude.$"
"$I've got a bad feeling about this.$" Babylon said in the Hork-Bajir-Arn Language (or HBA-L.)
((So, Hollin. You've brought back the Saboteur, the morphing-human. I always knew the two of you conspired to ruin me!!!)) said a thought-speech voice.
"Gwarver?" Hollin wondered, surprised. "$The Belga Vibrat. It's Gwarver!$"
((Ha Ha. I can't hear what you're saying, but I'm sure you've figured it out, my former First Mate.)) Gwarver taunted.
I morphed into Ursa Wulvef and faced the big, brown bug. ((I'm here to take you down, Gwarver.)) I threatened.
((Interesting Homo Sapien idiom, David Hunting. I've come to do something similar.))
I turned around instinctually and saw two larger flying creatures. One looked like a big bee with blades for insect arms. The other looked like a big white, flying dinosaur.
I demorphed to human. "This could be . . . . . bad."
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The first part of this chapter contains allusions and characters featured in Elcolo9's "The Antimorph Saga."