Once more, I'm sorry for the long wait. I hope you enjoy this chapter anyways.

Oh, and I would like to dedicate this chapter to everyone who has reviewed this story, or added it to their favourites ar story alerts. Honestly, you keep me writing this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs. And in case you where wondering, I didn't own them in the last chapter. I simply forgot to type a disclaimer there.

Wars and war stories

As it turned out Alloran had been right. The trip was long, and since there wasn't much to do on a little space ship, it was boring.

For a short time we had been "Z-space traveling" as Elfangor called it. But this proved rather inaccurate since we didn't end up in Earth's orbit, but somewhere between Mars and Earth.

Of course this was already a lot closer than Saturn had been, but we couldn't go very fast for the rest of the trip. Something to do with relativity, if I understood Elfangor right.

So we all had to find a way to pass the time.

Alloran kept mostly to himself.

He worked either at the controls or – more often – retreated to his quarters. Once again this behavior reminded me of my dad after the war. I really wondered what had happened to Alloran in the past. Clearly he had fought many battles, but what exactly happened to him?

Arbron however was totally occupied with his computer. No one knew what exactly he was doing, because he only told us he was (unraveling a mystery.) Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Chapman didn't talk to anyone as well. Not that I wanted to talk to that jerk, so I wasn't bothered by this.

Elfangor and I talked most of the time. It was interesting to be able to talk to someone from a different culture and even planet.

I had decided that I would forgive Elfangor for the "erasing my memory" part.

It wasn't his decision, he just had to follow orders and I couldn't expect him to throw away his future just because of some girl who he barely knew.

So we looked out at Earth while I tried to explain my planet to him.

"The brown-and-green parts are land. The blue is ocean. Water. See that bright white at the bottom? That's ice. It's called Antarctica. It's very cold."

(What sort of ice?) Elfangor asked. (Frozen carbon dioxide? Methane?)

Elfangor asked a lot of questions. It was obvious that he was curious and wanted to learn as much as possible. I thought this was kind of adorable. And so I told him everything I knew.

"Water. Just frozen water." I answered his most recent question.

It had never really occurred to me that ice could be something else than water. But now that I thought about it...

(Ah. Of course. That would make sense. And where do you live?)

"Well, see that continent there? The one on the upper left part of the planet? See where the line between night and day is? Almost right on that line."

Home .. Where my mom was still waiting for me. I had been away for days! She must be crazy worrying about me. If there was just a way to let her know that I was on my way home. I could only hope that she didn't think I had run away. Not after what dad did …

"My mum must be dying from worry. I've been gone for four days already."

Somehow Elfangor seemed to be shocked by my statement. He tried to calm me down right away.

(Yes, but soon you will be home. Then she won't worry any more. Maybe she won't have to die.)

And once again he had totally misunderstood me. It just kept reminding me that he wasn't much older than myself and that somehow this situation was new to him as well. I couldn't help it – even through I still missed my mum, I smiled when I explained it him.

"That's just an expression."

Just then I remembered how my mum used to tell me these exact words, when I was taking her too seriously again. I noticed the tears coming up in my eyes. To distract myself, I asked Elfangor the first question that came to mind.

"Do you have a mother at home? Does she worry about you?"

I could see clearly that he wasn't comfortable with this question. He obviously was homesick but he didn't want to admit it, probably because Alloran was nearby. Maybe he wasn't supposed to be homesick? Some military expectation? I immediately regretted asking, but then, after a moment he answered.

(I suppose she does. My father doesn't through. He was in the military, too, when he was young. Of course, we had peace then. I suppose maybe they worry I'll get hurt or whatever.)

They had peace then. So now there was a war. Once again my thoughts went back to my dad. When he had returned from Vietnam., he had been so strange. He never laughed or joked. In fact, he rarely talked. He just sat around staring at the wall and then he started drinking. It's not like he became crazy and started hitting us or anything, but... He must have noticed that we didn't know how to deal with it. So one day...

Without thinking I told Elfangor. "We just had a war. That's … that's what happened to my dad. He was in it. He didn't get killed or anything. But he kind off … I don't know. After he came back I guess he couldn't cope with reality. So he left."

I was totally lost in my thoughts, until Elfangor asked: (You have wars? But you don't have space travel. Who do you fight?"

For the first time in a while Chapman spoke up.

"We fight each other." he explained to Elfangor, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

But, honestly, I could understand Elfangor. Why did we fight each other? Just because someone believed something else, or wanted another political structure, or had another skin color?

And – of course – Chapman couldn't stop himself. He turned around to looked at me, winked and said: "So, Loren, Daddy went nuts, huh? Another whacked-out 'Nam vet? I suppose some guys just can't take it."

I was shock. How could he...? This was so …. I didn't even have the words to describe it. I turned around, ready to yell at this insensitive, rude, unthinking idiot again, when -

(Have you been in a war, human?), Alloran cut in. I was surprised. Alloran hadn't talked much since we first met, and if he had talked then to the ariths, never to Chapman or me.

Chapman seemed to be equally startled. "Me? No. Of course not. That war's over" he answered.

Alloran's voice was cold when he replied to this.

(Then be quiet, fool. Those who have been to war understand. Those who have not have no opinion worth hearing.)

Then Alloran turned to me. His voice changed. Now he sounded friendly and I had the feeling that he understood what I had been talking about.

(Even those who return from war may never really come home.)

Alloran went back to work at the controls again, but Chapman, Elfangor and I were silent.

I guess we were all shocked about Alloran's statement.

Why does he help me against Chapman? What does he now about this kind of situation?, I wondered to myself. Well, at least the second question was easy to answer. I had once before noticed the look in Alloran's eyes, that was so similar to the one in my dad's eyes after the war. Alloran knew this kind of situation exactly, because he himself felt this way.

But what kind of war was going on here in space? Had it something to do with this Yeerk empire they had mentioned earlier? Who had started this war, and why? What was it all about?

I didn't want to ask these questions right now, I had the feeling that neither Alloran nor Elfangor wanted to talk about the war right now, so I decided to change the topic.

"Anyway … tell me this. When you erase my memory, I won't remember any of this? Not even you?" I asked Elfangor.

He didn't answer, but his silence told me all I had to know. Still, I couldn't bring myself to be angry at him. Somehow, even through we had only met less than a week ago, I already thought of him as a friend.

"It's OK," I tried to reassure him. "I'm not mad at you. You're taking us home. And you saved us from these Skritchy Noses."

(Skrit Na), Elfangor corrected me at once.

"I know. It was a joke. Maybe not a very funny joke, I suppose."

(Ah. Humor. Yes, Arbron does that sometimes.)

"But not you?" I asked him.

(I suppose I'm not very funny.)

I laughed a little at this. Truth be told, I never like the guys who made a joke out of everything. There were things to make fun about, yes, of course, but not everything. There were serious topics as well, and you shouldn't just treat them as a joke.

"That's OK." I told him. "I like serious guys. I suppose if the memory is going to be erased, it won't hurt if I ask questions. so. How come you don't have mouths?"

And more important, I added silently, how do you eat without them?

But, as always, Chapman cut in, without having been asked. An of course he used one of his stupid, annoying remarks.

"Loren, how can he answer that question? He doesn't have a mouth. We do. Why do we have mouths? Stupid question. I have a better question."

With this he tried to look Elfangor in his eyes. Well, I said tried, because Chapman obviously couldn't decide which eyes to look at. He ended up turning his look from Elfangor's stalk eyes to his main eyes and back.

I had to keep myself from laughing. Finally, this stupid guy was getting unsure – and it was at something simple like making eyes contact.

"Look, Elfangor, maybe we got of a bad start, you and me. I wasn't in a great mood, you know? But hey, you guys are really missing out at something here. Do you have any idea how much money we could get for this technology on Earth? I mean, you could ask for anything!"

Of course. Money. Because that's the most important thing in the world. I really couldn't believe this guy.

Elfangor started laughing.(What would we do with Earth money?), he asked and I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

Of course, it's not like I don't realize why we need money. Without money, you can buy food, have a house and so on. But it's not the most important thing.

Chapman only shrugged. What would he say next? That we could rule the world? Honestly, that would be too dump, even for him, right?

"OK, forget money. How about power? We could snap our fingers and have all the presidents and prime ministers on earth waiting on us. We could rule."

I almost started laughing. Just what I had thought. Being rich and ruling the world. That was all this guy cared about.

(We're Andalites), replied Elfangor. (Not Yeerks. We aren't interested in ruling other species.)

So the Yeerks were ruling other species? Was this why the war had started? Were the Andalites trying to help?

Chapman, however, didn't ask for more details on this topic. "Ah. Well, that's good, I suppose. Yeah, that's a good thing. But we could bring peace to Earth. No more wars."

Now I was surprised. This was definitely the first good idea this boy had had since I met him. I was just about to tell him, when -

(Ok. That's it. That's it. Elfangor!) Arbron suddenly called out.

He must have somehow found what he had been looking for on the computer. Elfangor walked over to him, and for once Chapman and I did the exact same thing. We were watching the Andalites and listening to their conversation.

They were watching some sort of animation, and … well, I didn't get most of it, but apparently it was something that had been on the Skrit Na's computer. It had been encrypted and, for some reason shouldn't be real.

Suddenly Elfangor called out: (Alloran! Prince Alloran! Sir, you should see this!)

Now Alloran joined them. Together they watched this animation again. Alloran check for more files on this strange recording.

I could only guess, but Arbron must have discovered something very, very important and improbable. The three Andalites looked at the screen in total shock.

"Hey, what's the matter with you guys? You all look like you've seen a ghost." I couldn't resist asking. After all, what they had found must have a great meaning, and I didn't like being left out. Unfortunately my question got them talking at almost the same time, and once more I had a hard time understanding them.

(The Time Matrix! I thought it was only a myth), Arbron started, just when Elfangor cut in.

(The second Skrit Na ship! The Skrit Na dug it up. They have it aboard the second ship, the one that escaped into Zero-space!

Alloran then took over.

(The Time Matrix! Hidden for fifty thousand years, and now dug up by the Skrit Na. The deadliest weapon in all of galactic history … and no one but us to go and get it back.)

Alloran seemed younger. Somehow he enjoyed this new development.

(Elfangor! Arbron! Get back on that Skrit Na computer log, both of you. We need to know where the second ship ran to! Now!)

While the two younger Adalites turned back to the computer, Alloran informed Chapman and me.

(I apologize, aliens, but we cannot take you straight back to you planet. There is no time to waste. The existence of the entire galaxy is at stake!)

I understood that there were two things following from this.

First: This Time Matrix was a very important weapon, and since the Andalites were currently in war, we would be in this war soon as well.

And second: I was stuck with Chapman for longer that I had hoped, since we were now traveling through the whole galaxy together.

I didn't know, which one I liked less.

So, I guess you already know what comes now, right? I case you forgot:

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