Chapter Six

With our plan set firmly in place, Jason and I set out to explore the middle dome. Menderash led us to the doorway, which was in a denser part of the Jungle surrounding the domes, explaining why Jason and I had had trouble locating it before.

Menderash made generous use of his stegosaur morph's tail, and hacked a path for us. Once at the door, I pressed the button, and the panel slid open, with the standard thought-speak greeting.

The middle dome was clearly a storage facility, as it appeared to be filled to the brim with boxes. It was virtually a labyrinth of boxes.

"Bet there are supplies in these," Jason said. We grabbed the nearest loose box, and pried it open. It was so old and warped that it popped open easily. Inside were over a hundred small crystals, each no bigger than a grape.

"Diamonds?" I asked.

"I don't think so," Jason said.

"Diamonds are compressed coal," Menderash observed. "These crystals are clearly not. Observe the interplay between the light and the way the crystals refract."

"Taking your word for it, dude," I said.

Jason pried open a second box. "Hey! Blankets!"

"You two have fun," I said, as Menderash moved to open another box.

I returned to the front of the dome set, and paused. Muk-Luk was standing there; his back was turned from me. However his armor was bent, I could see his chest, split into two halves, like an open cupboard drawer, and his head was backwards and upside-down, like the cap on a sports drink bottle.

It took me a second to understand what I was looking at. His armor was opened, exposing the real him to the afternoon sunlight, but his back was turned towards me.

I stepped closer, and suddenly I heard the sounds of mechanical whirring, as the armor snapped back into place.

He turned and "looked" at me, though the faceplate on the armor head still possessed no eyes, and therefore "looked' probably wasn't the right word. "Faced" seems more appropriate.

"I enjoy the sensation of sunlight on my body," He said, apologetically. "I hope I did not alarm you."

He was determined to keep his true shape a secret. He casually dipped his left arm into the water bucket that Jason and I kept by the fire, to put it out in the evening. I saw the water level go down as the armor sucked some up…and then the truth hit me.

"You're a plant!" I said, pleased at having deciphered the mystery.

Muk-Luk froze.

"No I am not," he said after about a minute.

"You take a long time to digest meat," I said. "You enjoy the sensation of sunlight on your body, and your suit intakes water through a different entrance than you do food."

"On earth, in swampy areas, where soil quality is poor, and there is a lot of competition for sunlight," I said. "Certain plants have developed a means of compensation for the lack of nutrients. The Venus flytrap, the pitcher plant, the sundew…they all are carnivores, luring in insects and other small animals, in order to catch them and eat them. Thus acquiring the nutrients they lack."

"But I'm guessing that in the Kelbrid's case," I said. "You didn't develop lures…Instead, you developed…I don't know, a means of hunting your prey. Hunting requires intelligence. It requires outsmarting the creatures you intend to eat. It's believed by some scientists that humans developed sentience because we hunted for food, and I'm guessing the same is true of the Kelbrid."

"You're respectful of other species turf," I continued. "Because you've moved past the swamp where you first developed, and you vaguely remember what it was like to compete for sunlight, and it's not a fun memory, so you'd rather live and let live…Let everyone have their own turf…Their own sunlight. Because even though you need to supplement it, you still photosynthesize. Your armor's mouth speaks and can take in meat, for food…but to get water to your roots…you use the arms. Maybe the legs too."

Muk-Luk was dead silent for several minutes.

Then, his armor slid open again, revealing a small plant stalk, purple, and ridged like a coconut tree. It had two leaves, looking very much like flytrap leaves sticking off of its body. One was closed shut; tightly trapping the protoceratops meat we had given him earlier. The other was open and was red and bumpy on the interior. It reminded me of a tongue, and I think he had taste buds. Above the leaves were purple flowers, with some sharp looking barbs sticking out of the center.

Natural weapons. It could shoot those barbs, but sucking in air, into the flowers, and then launching the barbs at high velocity. I was right, this was a plant that hunted. The top of the plant's stem contained a large green pod, with a single vine sticking out of it. The vine was moving about inside the armor…Manipulating panels and operating controls.

(How did you figure that out?) Muk-Luk asked, now speaking in thought-speak. His verbal voice was just a manipulation of the suit's controls. Kelbrid have no mouths, being plants. Thought-Speak is their natural form of communication.

"Little gray cells," I said tapping my head and affecting a fake Belgian accent.

(I do not understand?) He said.

"I was observant," I said. "I paid attention. The clues were there, I just had to look for them, and put them all together. I love mysteries, and you were being very mysterious."

The Kelbrid's leaves twitched.

(I apologize for the deception,) He said. (When we Kelbrid first ventured into space, we expected to encounter alien life forms that were…Plant-like, such as ourselves. But it became clear to us fairly quickly, that most sentient life was meat, not plant. Even more terrifying, it was herbivorous. We were in a galaxy of creatures built and designed to eat us. And we, on our homeworld, would eat meat, ourselves. It was as if Ipthflaar had played a cruel joke on the Kelbrid.)

"It's not a cruel joke," I said. "My dad's a pastor, and he was amazed when the Andalites were revealed to the planet. He said 'Our God is so amazing…He seeded this entire galaxy with diverse and amazing life.' My dad sung hymns all week, it didn't shake his Faith, it made it stronger. God did what he did, because Life is wonderful, and diverse, and all of creation sings. He didn't make the life in the Universe to be a cruel joke on the Kelbrid…He made us different, so that we could learn from each other. So that in understanding our differences, we could see what made us special. He did it so that we could grow."

Muk-Luk's leaves twitched.

(You are a different sort of creature, human,) Muk-Luk said. (You are…Far more open-minded than many of the creatures that we encountered upon first exploring the cosmos. Many of them greeted us with suspicion and mistrust.)

"That's their problem," I said. "Not yours."

(Perhaps,) Muk-Luk said. (But it became clear, that if the Kebrid was going to continue to explore the galaxy…To meet new species…That our true nature would have to be hidden. So we redesigned our transportation machines…Built them to resemble meat—Animal-life—I mean, and began concealing our true nature from other species.)

The armor suddenly whirred and shut.

(You will not tell the others, will you?) He asked fearfully.

"Well I'd like to," I said. "I fancy myself a bit of a detective, and I love the triumph of solving a good mystery, which you definitely were. But…I won't if you don't want me to."

(I would prefer if it remained between us,) He said.

"All right," I said. "I won't tell them. But you know, my friends are pretty cool. I don't think they'll care if you're a plant."

(Please don't tell them,) He insisted. (Please…Not even your mate.)

"Mate?" I said startled. "I don't have a mate."

(Really?) Muk-Luk said. (I just assumed that you and Jason were mates, due to the increase in hormone production and pulmonary organ palpitations when you are near him. Granted, my knowledge of sexual reproduction in animal species is rather…Limited. Biology is not my field, but I thought those were the indicators.)

"Oh, God," I said mortified. "Please…I'll keep your secret…But promise me that you won't tell Jason about my hormone levels or heart palpitations."

(I…Promise?) He said. (It was a secret? I thought it was fairly obvious…The hormones alone almost drowned my usual sense receptors.)

"Oh, God." I said again, even more mortified.

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(Still no sign of Melissa,) Jason said. (I'm starting to get very worried about her.)

(Yeah, me too,) I said. It wasn't that I didn't like Melissa…I did. She was sweet, and cool, and just a genuinely nice person. But…She was a cool, older woman, with an awesome job, that I knew Jason thought was pretty freaking amazing…It might have been petty, and certainly not progressive of me…But, I was afraid Melissa was the kind of girl that Jason could fall for. His type, basically.

And that scared me more than any of the dinosaurs…So, even though I was worried about Melissa, I was also sort of glad that she wasn't around. I know…I'm a horrible person, right? I didn't think that she was hurt, mind you…But I wasn't complaining about her absence.

I crouched low. We were in the jungle near where the One ship piece was set to crash in the next hour or so.

Setting my trap required us to be fully prepared…But Jason pointed out that the One saw our 'combat morphs' last time, and if it sensed our presence right away, that it might somehow figure out a counter…So, we opted to morph animals that we were fairly certain that the One hadn't seen.

Jason was a Dracorex Hogwartsia, a creature that…No fooling, looked like a miniature European dragon with no wings. It was about the size of a carthorse, and super tough looking.

Menderash was lumbering nearby in his Gargoyleosaurus morph. I had gone Deinonychus, and was crouching in the bushes…Seemingly stalking Jason's herbivorous morph. This was a ploy, however…Or a ruse. And one we wouldn't maintain for very long.

In my Deinonychus claw, I held our Dracon Beam weapon.

(The trench is dug,) Muk-Luk said. (Let us hope that your plan works.)

(I think it has a good chance,) I said. (You said that it's not creative…So it can't anticipate a new plan that is implemented against it…And even if it could…What could it possibly do from its ship?)

(I do not know,) Muk-Luk admitted. (But the Kelbrid have been fighting the One for a long time. We try not to underestimate it.)

(I think that this plan will not only work…But it will work more than once.)

"I hope so," he said, switching to verbal speech. "I certainly hope so."

My sharp dinosaur hearing suddenly picked up a loud noise, and looked up.

(Incoming!) I yelled.

But Jason and Menderash were already departing from the crash site. Menderash was demorphing as well, since the Gargoyleosaurus was not a fast creature.

The Dracorex was, though, and within seconds he had departed.

The ship piece slammed into the earth, and sent out a minor shockwave where it struck.

(Okay,) I said, turning and darting back into the forest. I ran a hundred feet and leapt over the six-foot trench that Muk-Luk had dug with his plasma canon.

I landed on the other side and fired the Dracon Beam at the large brush pile that rested on the side I was just on.

It ignited instantly. Muk-Luk fired his canon at another brushpile.

Menderash fired a second Dracon that we had found in the storage dome. Within seconds, the forest was ablaze…But the fire did not spread over the trench that Muk-Luk had dug.

The One ship, however, had just crash-landed in the middle of a massive, but contained, forest fire.

I demorphed and remorphed quickly…Becoming a pteranodon again. I took to the sky, joining Jason and Menderash in their own Pterasaur morphs. Gripping the dracons in our wing talons, we circled the ship in order to shoot down any Unan Infected that attempted to fly away from the ship as we assumed that they did have the DNA for flight in their repository.

Muk-Luk joined us, his armor having sprouted large transparent beetle-like wings and firing rockets from his back like a jetpack.

None came, and the forest fire burned any infectee that did manage to stagger out. We circled for about an hour, before Muk-Luk began firing upon the metal spire with his plasma canon and vaporizing it.

(Whoo-Hoo!) Jason crowed. (Emily is a genius! Your plan worked brilliantly.)

(Indeed,) Menderash said. (This is optimistic…The One crash lands into forest fires…It is doomed from the moment it hits.)

"Let us still proceed with caution," Muk-Luk said. "The One learns. The next one might not be so easy."

(Erica had the coordinates narrowed down pretty darn good,) Jason said. (Why don't we pre-start the fire next time…See them get away from that!)

(Score one for the good guys,) I said. (Five more ship pieces to go!)

I should have known that Muk-Luk was right…It's never that easy.