Tobias' journey to provide logistical and provisional support has been successful, Jake, with what time he had until then, had made ample progress in mastering their ability to morph and preparing to utilize it to its fullest potential. Now that Tobias and his reinforcements have sequestered an old city-bunker as a base, Marco acquired the morphing power, and the poison the Animorphs were unknowingly devouring nullified, the Animorphs team is finally assembled. Jake, Marco, Rachel, Ben, Tobias, Harry, Alice, and Cassie waste no time to undertake their first mission; spy on a Sharing Gathering to determine the nature of the organization. Rachel, Jake, Marco, Cassie, and Alice patrol the crowd in plain sight to gauge the energy of the locals, whilst the rest contribute inhuman angles of sight to the mission.
Footfalls
Day 9, Afternoon
"I can't believe you're finally coming to a Sharing meet with me!" Tom excitedly proclaimed when the car stopped, me and Marco were wearing our swimming trunks, and Rachel and Cassie wore a bikini and a leotard, respectively. We were at the beach, after all, and the biggest first step to failing an infiltration mission of this kind is to not dress like the locals.
"Me neither," Marco said as he gave me a knowing look. I remembered back to the events that transpired before going here.
We were still flying back to Cassie's Barn, the mountains was quite a distance, Tobias' held the bag that contained Rachel, Cassie, Marco's and I's clothes...minus our underwear, we left that back at Ellen. By God, that sounds a whole lot creepier without the context, you better have read the chapter before this one first!
((Okay, now that we're not being overwhelmed by the new information,)) Rachel asked, her bald eagle's wings soaring high above the forest below. ((How did you lose the morphing cube?))
((Ah, it's how we discovered The Mercora's existence,)) Tobias explained.
((One day we did an inventory check and noticed it was gone,)) Alice continued. ((The only thing we caught was the trail the thief left behind. We waited until the offender returned and he spilled the beans on his operation upon his interrogation.))
((That's how they always said it went down, this happened around the time I was born,)) Tobias finished.
((And you onloy got the Cube back when you destroyed their stronghold...how long ago was it?)) I asked.
((One and a half months before you met Tobias' father,)) Ben solemnly clarified. ((So much is different, now...it's been a pretty crazy week for us, too.))
((For one, I was a wreck,)) Harry pointed out. ((Just two days earlier, unrecognizable.))
((And now we have to handle this parasite trying to take everything,)) Ben added.
Harry chuckled in our heads, ((Win some, lose some.))
((Lose some?)) Ben spat in our heads so hard the words almost hurt. ((At least you still have a Dad you can go home to!))
((Interesting topics, today!)) Cassie interrupted, stopping Ben in his tracks. ((I, for one, am really curious on to how Harry was...well, not doing so good.))
((...Have you ever heard of Hemovorvoros?)) Harry tentatively pointed out.
((Vaguely,)) I said. ((It's like some alien bio-plague, right?))
((And a totally bunk urban myth!)) Marco pointed out. ((At no point in any of my Dad's interaction with the ETCS' Virology and Pathology departments did anything resembling that show up. If it did exist, then its body count would not leave it relegated to an urban myth of government spiking the tap!))
((And take a look at us!)) Alice quipped back. ((We can transform into a flock of birds and fly wherever we want, turn into a pack of assorted beasts and savage whoever we want, and swim away from the crime scene and vanish without a trace into the ocean whenever we want. Think hard, do you really have the right to be so dismissive as to deny the existence of an alien disease?))
Marco stopped talking.
((It's not a plague, but a symptom of a genetic defect entirely unique to...people with my heritage,)) Tobias said. ((It's caused by a conflict of the genes that occur in our bones that caused the blood produced there to increase in viscosity until-))
((You die a husk whos veins are filled to the brim with black fetid sludge,)) Ben finished.
((Both me, and Mrs. Ellen were dying of it,)) Harry said. ((That Cube really fixed us both.))
((Then why is Ellen looking fine and you look so pale you should already be dead?)) Rachel asked.
((I was...a lot farther along then she was...Dad had to leave me rigged up to a Pemalite life support machine.)) Harry quietly answered, I could almost see him playing with his fingers.
((Wait, a second,)) Marco said. ((You guys may hate me for saying this, but we shouldn't be on this trip!))
Where's he going?
((Oh, what now are you getting cold feet?)) Rachel asked, half outraged.
((No, think about it, you have access to Pemalite computers, don't you?)) Marco pointed it out, his tone growing more accusatory. ((So why can't you just like, oh, I don't know, use the scanners on said computers to detect the alien presence that would be The Controllers. Going a bit further, why haven't you fully gleaned all of The P)emalite's technology by accessing this "Last Recorder" dealio, huh?))
Oh. That is a good question.
And at that Tobias and his group remained silent for a few moments.
((The Pemalites locked their stuff,)) Alice explained. ((Who wouldn't in their situation? They were in a war for survival against multiple species, only certain species can even hope to remotely access their tech, and we have no idea which ones those are other than Eyelizard, their computers are impossible to crack. The only reason we can interface with their technology at all is because the morphing power was derived from Pemalite science.))
((As for The Last Recorder,)) Tobias finished. ((Its hard scientific data was heavily incripted, it was the historical documents that were left behind up for grabs.))
((Is it me, or are we avoiding the topic of our plan?)) Rachel asked as we passed over the forest's edge, officially re-entering the fringe of civilization. ((How are we going to approach this?))
((I agree,)) Marco said. ((The worst possible way to go about this was to walk in blind like I did, I'm only lucky that nothing happened to me, then!))
((Clearly, some of us will be undertaking the mission as animals, and the others will be a part of the crowd,)) I determined as I sighted Cassie's Barn.
((The first items of our morphable clothes are probably being drawn up on the design board at the moment,)) I mused. ((So me, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco would be the most obvious choices for beach party patrol. But the question is, who's going to get a bit furry?))
I reviewed them all in my team, the first one was the most visually striking member of Tobias' backup.
((Ben, no offense, but you look way too...ah, intense, to not stick out at any place that's relaxed,)) I pointed out as I began circling down to fly into the barn's rafters.
((None taken, I prefer to keep my distance from people I don't know anyway.))
((Tobias...do you even have a swimsuit?))
((Ah ha, ha, no,)) he explained.
((So, Harry...?)) I asked partly to myself.
When my mind turned to Harry, and his deathly pale skin, emaciated body, and the fact his only article of clothing is something that would classify visually as a speedo, but is already very distinct from what people usually wear at the beach...it wasn't even a question.
((No brainer,)) Harry accepted before I even gave my verdict. Out of all of us, he's the one who is the least presentable.
((Alice?))
((Yep, I got this!)) She responded chipperly. ((I'm better at listening to things close to the ground anyway. Been too long since I got in the sun.))
((But what kind of animals should we go as?)) I asked.
((What are those birds that fly around the beaches and eat everything? I call one of those!)) Harry exclaimed.
((You mean, seagulls?)) Rachel asked as the open hole to the barn rafters came in sight, I folded back my wings and began the final dive.
((Yeah, I'll take a seagull!))
((I don't think that place has a seagull in the cages...)) Marco commented.
((And you're right, we don't have any seabirds here,)) Cassie said.
((Don't worry Harry,)) Tobias said. ((I got you covered. As for me, Red-tailed hawk.))
((I think I should turn into something good for spying from the ground,)) Ben concluded. ((That some bird wouldn't be too keen to snack.))
((You could go for a dog?)) I suggested.
((No, too big,)) Ben concluded. ((That aside, I think it would be safe to assume they're on the lookout for morphers. I'll stake it as a crick-))
((Wait, guys what are you doing?)) Tobias said, exclaimed.
((No! Brake! Brake!)) Ben shouted in warning.
((Don't fly in all at once!)) Alice shrieked in a panic.
I looked around myself to see that half of the team was flying into the rafters at the same time! We can't all fit! I snapped my wings out and flapped, stopping my momentum, too late!
((Brace for hard landiiiiing!)) I announced as the barn's red painted face rushed up to meet me.
Thump! Clunk! Ker-thunk! Thump!
All at once, four birds hit the side of the barn and another one flew into the rafters, the world spun as I landed on the grass.
((Oh no! is everyone okay?)) Cassie asked.
((Mission accomplished!)) I declared as the sun split into two, then three, then two, then three... ((We got 'em, guys!))
((Oh dear,)) Tobias commented.
((Seen better days,)) Marco groaned.
((Ha ha ha ha ha!)) Rachel laughed weakly.
((I do indeed think I am impaired.))
Wait, what the crap? What happened to Cassie's voice?
((That's Harry,)) another female voice explained...however, still not Cassie!
((Everyone's alive, but we need to get them inside,)) Tobias said, his voice was more nervous than before.
((Oh, come on, Toby,)) Rachel said. ((Stop being a wuss, join us, it's fun out here!))
((Fun? Are you kidding?)) Marco said in a crazy voice. ((What if someone sees me like this?! How am I going to explain to Cassie's Dad that I'm naked on the front lawnmower!))
Oh no, he's right. What if Cassie's folks do see me like this? I can't let that happen!
All of a sudden a pair of gloves hands picked me up...wait, when did I turn four years old?
"Time for the creepy man in a trenchcoat to put these birdies away," Tobias said snidely as he carried me into the barn, Cassie, some stranger with facial hair, and an old lady-
((Hey!)) The old lady called out indignantly.
Picked the others off the ground and walked into the barn in a hurry.
I chuckled to myself as I remembered the events.
Man, that could've been a disaster, I thought as I looked up at the cloudless sky. At the seagulls circling around, wailing.
All of a sudden, a red-tailed hawk came from nowhere and grabbed a seagull by the wings and just as quickly as it entered the scene, flew away with the struggling bird. Or, well, the bird was struggling for a good few seconds before it went limp.
Tobias, I thought as I let Homer out, and struggled against my grip on his collar, so eager to go to the waves and play, typical dog behavior. Tom's car is a green and black S.U.V. that drives as smooth as it looks. After a brief excercize in keeping my thoughts to myself when I demorphed, and Marco filling Tobias and his reinforcements in on his code talk, the mission was a go.
I looked at the crowd on the beach as Cassie got out, stood right next to me, took off her overalls, revealing her swimsuit in all of its cute glory. Everybody was dressed for the ocasion, a significant number of guys were wearing shirts.
"Whoa," I said. This event is bigger than I realized.
There were people playing volleyball, one of them holding a tennis racket. There were a dozen grills cooking hotdogs and hamburgers, close by were a number of foldable white plastic tables, multitudes of people were playing in the water, a lot of kids making sandcastles, and a few older people moulding more elaborate designs from the sand. Homer struggled against my grip, eager to join the fun, and likely knock over a few of the multitudes of trash cans that dot the beach.
"Is this a major event?" I asked as I finally let go of Homer's red collar, letting him run into the crowd, the golden retriever was only interested in the water. Homer was one of the most obvious sights as a dog, but he wasn't the only one there, so he didn't really stand out.
"Nope," Tom said. "The State-wide meetings are much bigger, We just cleaned up this beach and we're holding this party to celebrate. And to make sure that our hard work is not undone, littering is not permitted. Good thing Homer doesn't pillage the trash cans anymore."
"Yep," I agreed, letting him go. Homer bolted into the crowd, tongue hanging out his mouth in that classic happy dog playtime expression. Some girl accidentally slipped and fell as she walked backwards, tumbling over into the sand.
Rachel and Marco broke out in laughter, both wearing matching flourescent red and yellow swimwear, oddly enough.
Ben and Tobias are accounted for, and Harry will join the party soon enough. Everyone's accounted for but Alice.
Tom put a hand around my shoulder, shocking me out of my thoughts.
"This is going to be great!" He said, exuding genuine warmth and eagerness. And in that moment all thought of him being controlled by some alien or a traitor vanished from my mind. "You'll love it, man!"
"I think I might!" I agreed.
"Well, go off then, I have some things to talk about with the others."
"Others?" I asked.
"Yeah, the other full members, I'm somewhat involved in the decision-making around here. Later!"
"Later!" I said as we walked away from each-other. I turned to meet the others.
"Well, now that we're dropped off, it's time to look for the Mexican food!" Marco declared, clapping and rubbing his hands together as if still lathering his sunscreen on. "Where first?"
"Would we even still need sunscreen?" I asked.
"No, it shouldn't get too hot," Rachel clarified.
"That wasn't in code," I clarified. "Did The Disco give us a permanent sunscreen?"
"Oh..." Rachel said, in response everyone's expression grew thoughtful.
"That's a good question..." Cassie whispered.
We decided on where we would go, ultimately, Rachel would linger at the food court and share gossip with the Sharing members, Marco would wander around, flirting with whoever seemed important in order to find info. I would stick by the volleyball court that was set up and Cassie would go swimming, I had no idea what I would find out, and I talked with a lot of the people and tried to focus on the Sharing members. They all said pretty much the same thing, how The Sharing was awesome, a few of the members laid out a few criticisms, but on the whole their attitude was purely positive.
((I'm in the skies and alive!)) An eager voice sounded off in my head, that could only be Harry.
The second I looked back on the ground I saw Alice, I barely recognized her in her bright swimsuit, sunglasses, and the reflective tanning foil she was using to sunbathe. But her very pale complexion was unkmistakable.
((Like what you see?)) Alice's voice flirtatiously spoke up in my head.
((Glad you could make it,)) I said before a different voice suddenly spoke up from behind me.
"Hey, how's it been?"
I turned around to see who had said that, and Jacob Skridge was standing right next to me. He was wearing a green pair of sim trunks, and his orange shirt was wrapped around his waist, revealing his decently tan skin.
"How are you doing?" I said, remembering the night I ate all of his product. "I'm sorry about your meat shop closing down."
"That's just life," he sighed, shaking his head in defeat. "Not so well, we've already been struggling, even though we sold the building we're having issues finding a new job to sustain us. Thankfully these guys seem eager to help out."
"Ah, that's good," I said. But then I remembered; this was an investigation, if Marco was right about The Sharing, then Jacob's problem would be replaced by an infinitely worse one. I felt a sensation of pity in my gut for the guy.
"Do they have any job opportunities for your families?" I asked.
"Yeah, they're having talks with employers right now," Jacob said. "So far it's going really well, I might even be able to get one!"
"What about child labor laws?" I asked, an eyebrow raised. "We're not 16 yet."
"Ah, that, right," Jacob deflated, I felt bad for bursting his bubble, especially after seeing him so depressed in what used to be his family's meatshop. "It might've been a volunteer thing, but I don't want charity. If I am to get the money I need to live, then I'm going to work for it. They're paying me for the burgers."
I nodded in understanding.
So, you game?"
"Sure," I agreed.
And so we played volleyball in teams of three each with a very pretty looking girl standing at the side, serving as referee. It was a match to see who could win, no limit to the number of matches, the other team loses when they get more than six points below the score of the other team. We competed once, twice, six, eleven, sixteen matches and counting, the other people on both myself and Jacob's team started visibly showing signs of exertion. We were the ones who were the least spent, in time the matches were just between him and me, the other four players ducked out and we drew a little crowd.
"Jake! Jake! Jake!" Cassie started cheering, done with her swimming episode.
"Skridge! Skridge! Skridge!" The other side cheered, a little bit later I realized that most of them were Sharing members, which included Tom.
((this is Ben,)) a voice called out in my head, causing me to flinch very visibly and botch a hurdle that would've launched the ball back into the other court. ((I've found something.))
"Ha! Are you going easy on me?" Jacob gloated.
"No!" I said, smiling. And I really wasn't, I was dashing around, trying my hardest to get the ball to land on his side, we were even, but my breath came in hard and a little painfully, while he jogged up and took the volleyball we were using.
((I hear you,)) Tobias reported.
((Me too!)) Harry agreed.
What kind of juice are you drinking? I wondered with a surprising amount of frustration. Some coffee with an unholy amount of coke in it?!
"Well, too bad. I can do this all day!" He boasted, laughing.
His two teammates, who were still on the sidelines, resting, shared a knowing look between eachother. It only lasted for a moment, and I barely caught it as I was getting up before they returned to normal, but that glance at each-other set off all manner of alarm bells.
"Fortunately for you, I'm going to show you mercy. Let's get some grill!" I said. "I'm starving!"
"Same here," Jacob agreed, dropping the volleyball into the sand to join me in the line that was forming. The grill guy group (huh, nice phrase!) kept their compelted products in these sort of wierd coolers that someone explained to me were supposed to keep hot things hot, and they had just taken them out and were beginning to put them on racks. They had plenty of normal coolers as well, these contained the classic condiments they were putting on the tables for the hotdogs, and burgers, like ketchup, cheese, pickles, mustard, onions, relish, lettuce, tomatoes, next mayo, then chili, and then BBQ, there's guacamole, and now...horseradish...? Cranberry jelly? Are those ground up doritos?
Other than the strange variety of condiments and toppings, I wasn't seeing anything else out of the ordinary.
((What did you find?)) Marco asked, impatiently.
((I have a lead,)) Ben reported. ((Don't do anything suspicious, I'll report back once I'm done investigating.))
((Where are you?)) Cassie asked, concerned as she walked up to me and held my arm, I reciprocated, hooking my elbow around her and holding her hand.
((Don't try to look out for me, I'll be perfectly fine,)) Ben said. ((Don't put yourself in danger for my sorry sake unless I ask, got it?))
"Sheesh," Rachel whispered behind me. "The tone on that guy!"
((He lost everyone who ever mattered to him,)) Tobias piped up. ((Ben doesn't want to lose us too, when it comes to safety concerns, he never cuts corners.))
It didn't take long for me to make my plate, Cassie was feeling brave and got horseradish on her burger, while Rachel put the dorito-dust, ketchup, cranberry jelly on her dog to create a true abomination. Thankfully, they had normal chips, as well as all manner of drinks in the coolers, gatorade, soda, ginger ale.
"Man, these guys have everything!" Rachel said.
"I know, right?" Tom mentioned from nowhere, causing me to jump in surprise.
"Ha ha ha! Sneak up on you?" He asked.
"You scared me half to death!" I exclaimed.
Then all of a sudden a girl screamed, I looked back and saw her drop her styrofoam plate on the sand, spilling her salad, she took her red gatorage bottle and threw it into the air.
"I hate you!" She shouted. I looked up to see where she was aiming her drink and caught a glimpse of a seagull with a hotdog in his gullet. And I couldn't help but wonder whether or not that was Harry.
"Look out ladies and gentlemen," Tom commented. "We got some brazen birdie bandits on our hands!"
"How many plates did they pillage?" Cassie asked, holding her hand protectively over her own lunch.
"Oh, I think that girl's the seventh," Tom said. Meanwhile I was watching the seagull flap towards the treeline of the nearby forest.
"Hey! Where'd you get that butterfinger?" Rachel accused, pointing to his plate. "Those aren't on the tables!"
"Oh, full member priviledges," Tom explained with a smile. But a couple of people walked up.
"Hey, Tom. Convent's starting," the guy said, pointing his thumb to the dunes. "Wouldn't want to be late."
"So is that the downside of being a full member?" I asked with a smile and a joking voice. "You get butterfingers in exchange for attending meetings?"
"Ah ha ha, later kiddos!" Tom went with the pair, waving at us before turning around and walking to the dunes.
((Tobias, follow my brother,)) I said. ((He's walking into the dunes with a guy, and his arm is locked around the elbow of a girl in a blue bikini.))
((You bet,)) he said, I looked up for signs of him, but didn't see him. I was confused at his absence until I remembered he had a hologram.
"I think we should see what Marco and Alice has to say about the ethnic food options," I whispered to Rachel and Cassie.
And so we walked over to where Alice was seen previously, unsurprisingly, she was still sunbathing, only this time she had a plate of food sitting on her lap, Rachel returned with Marco soon afterward.
"So, you find anything flavorful?" I asked the team.
Marco shook his head in dismay.
"Nothing," he said. "Their boat floats perfectly."
"I only saw a couple of people share a glance when I was playing that volleyball game with jacob. It lasted only for a single moment, but it was super suspicious. Beyond that, I have nothing."
"Alice?" I asked. "Did you hear something?"
"A bit more than hear," she said, smiling, she folded her tanning foil and sat up in the beach recliner. She pushed her sunglasses up her nose, and I saw them briefly flash, and not in the way that would indicate the sun's glare was responsible.
"What are those?" Rachel asked.
"They're connected to the googly guy," Alice whispered. "I can see and hear everything he hears and sees, and so far they're at Ben's hang out spot."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Rachel asked.
"Well, I was talking to him and pretty focused on his photography. He's picking up on some very interesting things. The meeting's just about over when it comes to talking about the really important stuff."
Bingo. The word echoed in my head, my lips pressed against eachother and the world seemed to darken with my focus.
"What did you-?"
((Alright, I'm done,)) Ben reported, interrupting me. ((I got everything I needed.))
I took a deep breath, steeling myself for any possible answers that I would not like.
((What did you find?)) I asked Ben in a steady voice.
((Pull the Eyelizard out, I think we should discuss this in the meeting zone.))
((Already on it, direct directive control is offline, he should be on his way here, now,)) Alice gladly reported, taking off her sunglasses and putting them in her chest, getting up from her seat, taking her plate with her.
((I...)) I sent out, unable to finish the thought. ((Okay, we'll meet by the stream.))
"Oh dear!" Alice said. She had pushed the trash can's lid open and had dropped her plate in it, however she was still peering inside of it.
((It's Eyelizard)) Alice said. ((He appears to be eating the trash can's contents!))
"What?" I asked. "He's eating garbage?"
"Well, he was caught on camera, doing that to an old couple's garbage bin," Cassie pointed out.
((How comforting, the living camera alien lizard is also part trash panda!)) Marco snidely commented.
((This complicates things,)) Tobias said. ((I'm landing now, I'll extend my hologram over the the trash can so you can carry him and myself away without being noticed.))
We waited for a few moments, but I heard a rush of air and the sound of something landing on the sand, I looked at the source of the sound and saw nothing, the air shimmered and a red tailed hawk appeared with a string wrapped around his ankle, with an alien device the siz of a marble that was blinking.
Eyelizard forced himself out of the trash can and jumped onto Alice's shoulders, curious, I looked down there to notice that the entire garbage can't contents were just gone.
"Why does he eat trash?" I asked as we began to walk away.
((I have no idea, maybe sustenance?)) Tobias clarified. ((I'm just as lost on this as you are.))
Then all of a sudden Homer came back, running in the usual joyful way dogs do, complete with his own collar.
"Right on scheduel, Ben," I said.
((Let's go,)) he said as we started making our way out of the party, and to discuss his findings. I felt dread and uncertainty at what the mechanic has to say.
We settled down into the little secluded grove where the real Homer was tied up to a tree, collarless, Ben had Homer's red collar taken off and put back on the real deal. Just then he demorphed, emitting the sound of rushing sand, his leg bones changed their size and length, he tooka few steps forward as his paws turned to hands and feet, he reared up on both of his hind legs and leaned on the tree trunk that Homer was tied to. His muzzle shortened and his hair receded back into his grey skin, which turned into the really pale tone that was obvious on his shirtless form. His pants, boots, and gloves oozed from his body as his tail disappeared, his ears retracted slightly before shooting up like lightning and hardening as they got their cartiledge and took their proper shape again.
Ben was inexperienced morphing dogs, and Homer was horrified, he had no idea what he had just seen. Ben was breathing hard after the demorphing.
"Take deep breaths," Cassie gently said.
After a few moments Ben stood straighter and stopped breathing before turning around to face us, his eyes inscrutable as ever.
"What did you find?" I asked.
He stared at me knowingly, the expression in his eyes sent chills down my spine.
"It's Them."
The entire gathering was silent, the chirping of the birds and the balling of the stream could be heard clearly, yet they seemed all the more distant, as if they were an echoe from a far away dream. Nothing felt real after what Ben had jsut confirmed, the horrible reality we were facing.
"Jake..." Ben continued. "I'm sorry."
"No. No, that...that..." I blinked away the denial and grit my teeth before snapping my head back up to look Ben in the eyes.
"You have recorded evidence, don't you?" I asked forcefully.
Alice gave Ben a glance.
"Show me," I demanded.
Ben nodded, and Eyelizard jumped from Alice's shoulders to his outstretched hand, the holographic projection came alive in the middle of the stream's pebbly bank.
It was a meeting held in a massive tent, there were a dozen people there, including a few I recognized at the beach party, and their tone was not in any celebrating mood.
"We still have an issue involving the ship," the man leading the conversation said in the recording. "We're not getting enough supply to satisfy their demand."
"Pause," Marco said, and just like that, the images stopped moving.
My best friend pointed his finger at the tall man who had jsut spoken.
"That's him," he said tensely. "That's The Sharing leader, the one with the limp, I don't know how high ranking he is, but he's one of the big shots."
He sat back down as I noticed that he had a cane planted in the sand.
"Continue," he concluded, and the recording continued to play.
"Do we not have enough material?" A girl with a fake looking pair of legs said.
"We're drowning in material," a black man said. "Especially after the thrashing we got last month. Plenty of bodies to go around, it's the rate of extraction that's the real issue."
"A good if hard earned victory, but the quotas are increasing as well," another girl said. "Our current rate of production won't be able to keep up. We need to increase our rate of extraction and acquisition of more material."
"Why not the hosts?" The blond with fake limbs proposed, and my stomach plummeted as I repeated the words in my head.
Why not the hosts.
"Material? What material?" Rachel whispered.
"They're all coming back here anyway, we'd get our extra material from there."
"No," The Leader said, glaring at the girl with the prosthetics. "We only had to decieve the Andalites once, and now that that gamble's paid off, everything's flying smoother since then. But those hosts are scourged, and decreasing in number, if we give a bad product we betray the trust that was so painstakingly built."
"Organ harvesting," Marco said with a voice like ice, his face pale, the video paused again. "They're chopping people up, packaging their organs, and selling them to the highest bidder."
"And the demand's increasing..." Rachel whispered as Cassie shook her head in disgust.
"But that can't be their only goal!" I pointed out. "The biggest alien threat on the planet and they're just here to harvest our organs? Something's not right \, we're not getting everything."
"Are you done, yet?" Ben asked.
We nodded and the video continued playing.
"It's not my fault Visser 1 failed to account for the intricacies of human dietary needs!" The girl defended herself.
Visser, she said Visser. It's true. It's Them, the Controllers.
"But it was the fault of everyone here that the full information on the effects of months of space travel would have on human bodies wasn't properly compiled and taken into account before the first shipments were sent away!"
Then Tom entered the tent along with the two people he was with.
No.
"So, what's the issue?" Tom said.
"Demand for our 'product' in increasing," The Leader said. "And we're short on personell to cut out and package our products, and we're going to need to acquire more bodies to keep up with the increasing demand."
"Hmmm," Tom pondered, not raged, not angrily demanded what was going on, not a single hint of disgust or outrage on his face. Was he ignoran-
"Try to contact the native human trafficking rings," each word out of Tom's mouth crashed into my skull like a train. "Infest the tip ends of their operating chains, as for money to buy them off, we can raid the cartels, they have a ridiculous amount of cash."
"And the shortage of surgeons?" The Leader demanded. "Our numbers of hostless are too low to infest both the human trafficking rings, and the doctors needed to extract the organs."
"Ah, the things one does for money," The girl with prosthetic limbs mused, eyes clsoed and head held in her hands. She almost looked cute with that expression of hers...
"I have an idea for how to get around that one..." Tom said, holding his finger up. "The solution's staring us right in the fac-"
"Enough!" I said, my voice hoarse. "Stop it, I've seen enough!"
Then the hologram disappeared in an instant, and we were back in the stream's bank, we were so far away that the beach party was distant, but it ddin't matter. The truth came crashing down into me like a tidalwave of bricks, I stood up, getting off of a rock I didn't realize I had sat down on, I stood tall, stumbled for a few seconds before the full weight of the truth brought me down to one of my knees.
He was one of them.
Tom, was one of Them!
I blinked, the tears coming slow at first, but before I knew it I leaned down lower to the ground until my face was in the gravel and the tears just came. I sobbed harder than I ever had in my entire life.
My nose was runny, my breaths came in gasps, and I punched the ground, not caring that the gravel hurt my hands.
"Jake..." Marco said, walking over and kneeling down at my side as Cassie put her hand on my back, Rachel grabbed my arm and picked me up, forcing my face into her shoulder as I continued to uncontrollably sob.
Ben hissed, and hit a tree with his hand, Harry was silent the entire time, not having a single clue on how to reacted, and Tobias looked down, Alice's face was neutral, but she was mroe still and silent than I had ever seen her.
"I'm so sorry."
And there wraps it up, Footfalls is done, I truly hope you enjoyed this update. Please tell me what you think, I'm particularly proud of this one, the first official Animorph mission is a success. And I will take this opportunity to inform you that instead of once a month, I will try my absolute best to post twice a month, once every two weeks so as to make the story progress faster. Thank you for reading, and please do tell me what you think.