"So, are you going to start telling this story of yours, or is this going to be some kind of a Q&A or something?"
"It all began on my familys annual camping trip," she said.
And so she told him, remembering all of the things that had happened as she did: the way the seemingly-placid ground had exploded into a veritable storm of tangled vines, spikes as long as her fathers fingers, and acid that had stripped the bark from nearby trees; the oppressive darkness of Darkons base, and the horrifying feel of that ancient, evil mind pressing into hers; the pain of the transformation, and the feeling of nearly having her basic humanity stripped away; the knowledge that she hadnt exactly escaped unscathed in any case. She told him all of it, and through it all, Marco just sat back and listened. He seemed to know that he didnt need to say anything, or else he just had nothing to say, but she was grateful for his support in either case.
"Then, I woke up in the barn, and you pretty much know what happened after that," she finished, feeling more calm for having unburdened herself to someone who seemed like he would understand.
"Wow; and here I thought the Yeerks were bad news," he said at last, looking slightly uneasy. "These Radam of yours sound like they could eat Hork-Bajir for lunch."
"Im not so sure they couldnt," she said solemnly. "You saw how I handled those sharks, after all. Still, I dont think Ill be taking him on solo anytime soon. Hed probably attack one of you guys just out of spite."
"Yeah, youve probably got a point there, Shara," he said, still feeling a bit shell-shocked at the huge mass of revelations that a certain Teknoman had just dumped on him.
The Radam made the Yeerks look like E.T. in comparison: puny, feeble, and weak. And Darkon the guy may have had a stupid, Saturday-morning-cartoon name, but he sounded like the kind of person who would give Visser Three nightmares. Heck, hed just heard of the guy secondhand, and he had the heebie-jeebies just thinking about him.
Not something he liked the idea of, but better to know than be wondering what happened when the Radam finally decided to make their first offensive. That they would make one was a fact that couldnt be denied; they were alien invaders, after all.
"Anyway, I should get back to the barn," Shara said, after the silence between them had gone on for long enough that it was starting to become slightly awkward. "Cassies probably starting to wonder about me."
"Yeah," he said, as she stood up. "Shara?"
"What is it, Marco?" she asked over her shoulder.
"You can always come back here," he said; they understood each other, so he thought it was only right that he offer her a sounding-board of sorts. "I mean, if you want to."
"Thanks, Marco," she said, with a gentle smile. "I might do that sometime."
There wasnt really anything more to say after that, and as he watched Shara go back to the window, morph, and then fly away, he sat back on his bed to think. There were a lot of things to think about, foremost among them of course just how a small band of animal-morphing freaks was going to do any damage to the Radam. Sure, they did okay emphasis on okay against the Yeerks, but one-on-one against any one of their Teknomen, they would all be killed.
That armor of theirs was nigh-impenetrable, and their weapons could cut through human and other flesh like butter. Sure, they had two Teknomen on their side, but given what Darkon had been able to do to Slade, he wasnt stupid enough to think that just having them was enough. Theyd need something more.
"Too bad I have no idea what that is," he muttered, folding his arms and leaning back against his headboard.
Hed ask Shara more later, but he had a feeling that shed told him all the important parts of the story already. Still, it was always better to be sure. There just might have been something he missed.
He hoped so, for everyones sake.