Chapter Three

We followed the tracks for about an hour, when we reached a small stream. It wasn't deep, we could wade across even in Troodon form, but…

(No tracks on the other side,) Jason said.

(He might have waded through the stream for a bit before coming ashore again,) Menderash said.

(Which means that there's no way to track him,) I responded.

(Not with any of our current morphs,) Jason said. His head suddenly perked up. (Hey, neat!)

About a dozen large dinosaurs were wandering out of the forest, each about 30 feet long. Their leathery skin was the color of deer skin, and their head looked like a smooth crescent moon, with a long curved crest coming out of it's head right above the eye.

(Parasaurolophus,) Jason said. (Excellent. They were supposed to be among the rarer species of hadrosaurs. But they're a personal favorite.)

The Parasaurolophus each bent down at the stream and began to lap up the water.

(What are the crests for?) Menderash wondered.

(Scientists aren't really sure,) Jason said. (There are a lot of theories, but dinosaurs are only known from their fossils. You can't tell a skunk or a porcupine's natural defenses from only it's skeleton. Everything's guesswork in paleontology.)

(What are the hypotheses?) Menderash wondered.

(Well, the crest itself is hollow, with multiple chambers,) Jason said. (Theories range. That it was a resonance chamber, so that the Parasaurolophus could communicate with others. The crest is larger on males, so maybe it was used as a display, to attract mates. Some people think it might have been a thermo regulator for the hadrosaur's body temperature. There's even a bizarre, totally out-there, theory that I heard once, that the chambers contain flammable chemicals, and that the crest allowed Parasaurolophus to breath fire as a deterrent to predators. Like an oversized version of the bombardier beetle.)

I blinked and looked at Jason incredulously.

(That one's probably not true,) He said. (It is a little out there. The most likely theory is that they are resonance chambers. That Parasaurolophus communicates with them. There's even a Youtube video someone made of a hypothetical Parasaurolophus call.)

The big male of the heard suddenly let out a low sound, that eerily sounded similar to when you blow your breath over a nearly empty coke bottle, and a sound comes out.

(Cool,) I said.

(I don't think we're going to find the Kelbrid tonight,) Jason said sadly. (Let's rendezvous at the Pemalite ship, and see if Melissa has returned there.)

(Actually,) I said. (Let's take Menderash cliff diving first. We're not far from the edge, and he needs to ditch that Harris Hawk in favor of a local flier.)

(Good idea,) Jason said, as we turned away from the Parasaurolophus herd. The Parasaurolophus responded with a low haunting melody.

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The sun was almost up by the time we returned to the wreckage of the Pemalite ship. Menderash had picked up a new morph, a pterasaur with a funky looking head. Jason had called it a "Tapejara".

My own flying reptile morph, was a Pteranodon. Between the three of us, were were nightmares from the skies that very few creatures would have ever messed with.

We landed in front of the "head-half" of the Pemalite ship, and rested on all fours. A lot of movies and TV shows treat pterosaurs as being basically big birds, but when we were on the ground, we were more quadrupedal than anything else. We were just too large to live in trees.

We began demorphing to human and approaching the ship. Erica stepped out.

"Good news," she said.

(You found Melissa?) Jason asked.

"No…," Erica said. "But the Pemalite ship's nano-repair matrix has activated."

(Meaning?) I asked, just as my human lips reformed.

"The ship is fixing itself," Erica said. "In a few weeks, she should fly again."

"That is good news," Jason said. "Any chance the food synthesizer's still working?"

"Ah…No," Erica said. "That's in the aft section." She pointed across the clearing to the other half of the ship.

"There's nothing usable in that section right now," Erica said. "You're on your own in terms of food, for now."

"Pity," Menderash said. "I am rather hungry right now. I have not eaten in human form for several weeks."

"Emily and I can hunt," Jason said. "And we know a few of the safe-to-eat local plants. But first…I think you guys should see something."

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"It's huge," Erica said.

"Is this the Pemalite facility?" I asked. We had returned to the building that Jason and I affectionately called the "clone dome." It was where the two of us had been living since crashing on the planet.

"It looks similar to Pemalite technology," Erica admitted. "But it's not the medical research facility we came here looking for. Don't worry though...I'm scanning for that. If it still exists, I should find it, eventually."

"There is a panel here," Menderash said. "It looks vaguely like a bio-lock."

"Go ahead and press it," Jason said. "It's programmed to keep animals out, but it let's humans in."

"So it is a bio-lock," Mendernash said, and he pressed the panel. Nothing happened.

"What?" Jason said.

"My DNA pattern is not authorized," Menderash said.

"That's impossible," Jason said. "It let's Emily and me in all the time. This is where we've been staying."

He walked over and pressed the panel.

(Authorized DNA Pattern detected,) the computer thought-speak voice intoned. The door slid open.

"Jason," Menderash said. "It is not human DNA that is authorized. It is your DNA. Your DNA and Emily's specifically that have pre-programmed access."

"How the hell is that possible?" Jason demanded. And I couldn't blame him. We'd both had access to the dome for two weeks now…We'd sort of taken it for granted that we could get in and out. But now Menderash was telling us that was because…Only we could get in and out.

"I do not know," Menderash admitted. "It does not make logical sense. Perhaps you accidentally programmed your DNA into a computer matrix somewhere else on the planet?"

"This is the only technology we've found since we crashed here," Jason said. "And I found it the first day."

"Then," Menderash said, pausing. "I have absolutely no idea how that is possible."

"It's like you were expected," Erica said. "Someone knew you were coming, and preprogrammed your DNA into the lock…"

(Unscanned Naltron Cell Storage detected,) the computer said as I stepped inside. (DNA sample scanning commencing. Complete. Biodiversity update.)

It did this every time we entered the dome with new morphs. In this case, my Troodon and Pteranodon morphs. Two tubes slid out of the ground on the far end of the dome, containing a baby Troodon clone, and a baby Pteranodon clone. The clones would be released into the wild later, after it was artificially aged a bit.

(Unscanned Naltron Cell Storage detected,) the computer repeated as Jason entered. (DNA sample scanning commencing. Complete. Biodiversity update.)

Another Troodon Clone was added as Jason stepped in.

"Something is scanning your morphs?" Erica asked as she entered.

"And cloning them," I commented, gesturing towards the tubes. Erica did not look at the tubes though, her eyes fell on the strange squishy mattress that Jason and I had been sharing for the past two weeks.

"Two weeks," She said, turning and looking at me. "Two weeks, and you have been sharing the same bed, and not once have you mentioned your feelings towards him? How dense are you girl?"

"We needed to share body heat," I said, hushing her. "Be QUIET."

"And nothing happened?" She said incredulously.

"I thought he might kiss me the first night," I admitted. "But no…Nothing did."

Erica sighed exasperatedly as Menderash entered.

(Unscanned Naltron Cell Storage detected,) the computer said as he stepped in. (DNA sample scanning commencing. Error. Rescanning. Error. Rescanning.)

"Okay," Jason said frowning. "It's never done that before."

(Error. Rescanning. Rescan complete. Biodiversity update.)

Five new tubes emerged from the ground. The first one contained a hawk fetus, the second, a Stegosaur, the third one a Troodon, and the fourth one was a Tapejara.

But it was the fifth tube that caught us all off guard.

The fifth tube contained a young, but very distinct, Andalite.

Menderash's eyes widened in shock and he ran to the tube. We quickly joined him.

(That is me,) he said, his thought-speak voice filled with shock. (That is a younger…Clone…Of my original Andalite self.)

"How?" Jason asked.

(I can only speculate,) Menderash said. (When you morph, your DNA patterns are stored in specialized hyper-cooled Naltron capsules. This allows the morphing matrix to access them later. When you are in morph, your original DNA is stored in a similar, but slightly different Naltron capsule. To be retrieved upon demorphing. Entropic cascade failure…The time limit…happens because the second capsule type degrades faster. But the second capsule type IS a necessity in order to trigger the demorph. If the capsules were identical, then there would be dangerous glitches. The morph matrix needs to distinguish between the original DNA and morph DNA.)

"So…" Jason said.

(So…This cloning technology does not. It must have detected a stray Demorph Naltron that contained my original Andalite DNA, scanned it, and cloned it.)

"Can you use that stray capsule to morph into an Andalite?" I inquired curiously.

(No,) Menderash said. (It is a demorph capsule. It won't register with my morphing matrix. My template was reset. This human body is my 'true form' now. It is the only demorph capsule that will register in my morph matrix. The Andalite capsule is a fluke…A…Ghost program, if you will. It will likely break down eventually and cease to exist altogether.)

"Oh," I said. "That's…Kind of sad."

(Of course,) Menderash said. (I could always acquire this clone. That would put a proper morph capsule into my bloodstream.)

"You could be your old Andalite self again," Jason said. "If…You know…We can get this tube open before the clone is released into the wild."

(Do you know how to do that?) Menderash inquired.

"Um…No," Jason said. "We've never had to before. The Morph Clones were just a weird quirk before."

(I am inclined then…To let the machine do it's job,) Menderash said. (Tampering with it might be a bad idea. And besides, the clone is currently far younger than I was when I became a nothlit. Let the artificial maturation process continue. Let the clone be released into the wild. Maybe then we can track it down…And I can acquire it.)

"If we're going to be hunting Andalites later," Jason said. "You'll need a good morph for hunting. Menderash, it's time we introduced you to George and Martha."