"…traffic congestions continue to remain heavy throughout the downtown area as the entire city prepares to welcome the visiting dignitaries of the G-5 nations for their emergency summit in regards to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. The Marriott Resort where the meetings are scheduled to take place have been completely closed to the public, much to the disappointment of many summer vacationers and local beach bodies, but the summit is only expected to last a few days and then it will sun and surf time again for all those dying to get out of the house…"
Tellion changed the channel as the news reports carried on about the big meeting of several powerful national leaders. She didn't need to listen to the details, because she already knew about the meeting long before everyone else in the general public knew. And more importantly, she also knew something that everyone else didn't. The Yeerk plan to infest the heads of those important and powerful nations.
The plot had been revealed to her two days prior by Mr. King during one of their 'payment discussions' for her services. The plot had been very well hidden, even most of the rank and file Yeerk forces were completely oblivious to the plan itself, much less the details involved in making it happen. That was a bit surprising for Tellion, as she couldn't remember Visser Three being this secretive about any sort of operation. Tellion could only assume that it was the Andalite resistance's continued thwarting of his schemes was beginning to make the invasion forces' supreme commander rather paranoid. She was sure by now he had to suspect that there was at least one spy among his ranks, rightfully so.
Mr. King had come to her with information about the Chee knew of the plan, but also to ask for her advice and expertise on the matter. The Chee had learned, with great difficulty and risk to discovery of themselves, that the Yeerks had already managed to infest one of the national leaders that would be attending, but when and how long ago that was they didn't know. He had inquired to Tellion about her knowledge of Kandrona Rays, and ways that might help them to discover the controller leader.
When Tellion explained to him the various types of Kandrona Rays that the Empire had at its disposal, especially for long range subversive operatives, he appeared distraught. Not an easy thing for a sentient android. Tellion had used one of the bowls they had around the house for holding soups or salads as a means of demonstrating to him how small a Kandrona Ray generator could get. As long as there was a body of Kandrona Ray saturated pool liquid big enough for a Yeerk to fit in, then a controller would easily be able to have access to nourishment. The Kandrona Ray generator and accompanying liquid could be so small that it could fit inside a standard human briefcase. Assuming of course, that it was for a single Yeerk and the controller leader hadn't already infested some of his surrounding staff, which was all too likely. For a number of Yeerks between ten to twenty, they would need a generator about half the size of the one Tellion was currently using herself. A bit larger than a single operative model, but still fairly easy to disassemble and hide if they had a Kandrona Ray tech available. And she was almost certain that another had taken her place from the event of her untimely 'death'.
Mr. King took in all of her information and had assured Tellion that while the situation itself was not appearing very good, he and the rest of the Chee would be looking harder based on her expert advice to discover the identity of the controller leader and to also pinpoint the exact meeting place and time of the G-5 summit in the Marriot Resort. Once they had that information, they would pass it along to the resistance in the hopes that they could once again thwart Visser Three's plans.
Tellion certainly hoped that they could. After her harrowing experience with helping the Hork-Bajir escape, Tellion had chosen to remain inconspicuous for some time. She had already risked enough, and was lucky to have barely managed to escape with her life down in that dreaded place. She didn't want to risk herself again like that, not unless she had to. But try as she might, she was starting to feel the war closing in around her.
Everywhere she went now in her daily life, there were new Sharing branches opening up in all parts of the city, and their numbers were increasing at a rapid pace. Soon enough, no matter where she went, the war would be staring her right in the face. And here she was, still trying to stay hidden from it.
"Ok, that's everything!" Mark said in a chipper voice and his face beaming with joy. "Going to walk me out?"
Tellion smiled warmly at Mark, her one constant anchor of happiness in her life, and got up. "Of course." she told him as she went to his side.
"I still can't believe you talked me into this." Mark said. "I had a really good gig going at the old hospital."
"But there's plenty of other skilled doctors there." Tellion said. "You can do a lot more good at this new place."
Part of what she told him was true. But only part of it. In truth, when Tellion had first heard Mark talking a few weeks ago about being offered a position at a hospital in one of the neighboring cities, nearly an hour drive away, she had leapt at the opportunity to get him as far away from the city as possible. She was almost certain that the hospital he was currently working at had been infiltrated by Yeerk forces by this time, and due to his position, he would certainly be one of the first candidates selected for infestation. She had to keep him protected from that.
They stopped at the door and embraced each other. Her reasons for sending him away may have been based on a lie, but Tellion's love for Mark was the most genuine thing about her existence in this life. A love that she hoped honored Susan's life with him before the accident.
"It's going to be tough being away from you for so long." he said. "Are you sure you'll be ok without me around so much?"
Tellion giggle slightly, giving him a quick kiss before pulling back. "I've gotten a lot busier these last few months, so it's not like we would be missing out on time together. With my tutoring, and now doing these school activities, my days are getting full. I've got that field trip to the Gardens at the end of the week with Ellaine and her class anyway."
"Never would have figured you to be a responsible adult." Mark teased.
Tellion playfully punched his shoulder.
"I'm very responsible. Now you need to get going, or you'll be late for your first day."
Mark rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's not exactly how I'd want to make my first impression to my bosses."
"Of course." Tellion assured him.
They shared one more, far more passionate and emotional, kiss before Mark reluctantly pulled away and got in his car. He waved goodbye, which Tellion did in turn, before he drove away. Like many times throughout her double life, Tellion's smile faded once she had shut the door and was alone. She hated the continued deception against Mark, but she had to keep him safe. He was the most important thing in her life, and if anything happened to him, she didn't know what she…
Tellion busied herself with her routine morning tasks, such as making breakfast, cleaning clothes and tending to the garden. Only this time, when Tellion went out to inspect the various beautiful multi colored flowers that Susan had been so fond of, she tended them with a purpose. Once she had made sure that everything was taken care of with each plant, she used a small set of clippers and cut one type of flower off each plant. She took the cut off flowers into the kitchen and carefully arranged them into what felt like to her a majestic display. She then carefully wrapped them into a wet cloth and placed them in a small disposable vase.
After she had them all arranged to her liking, Tellion quietly left the house and walked the several blocks needed to get to the nearest bus stop. She again hated lying to Mark about what she was doing this day, but deep down she knew that he wouldn't fully understand her actions. And…she didn't want him anywhere near where she was going. Not today. Which was why she had chosen to take the bus instead of her car. She didn't want the chance of anyone seeing anything that could link her to her planned outing. This needed to be something that no one that knew her could know about.
She quietly boarded the bus and sat in the far back, keep her head low so that she wouldn't accidentally draw anyone's attention. She waited in silence as the bus traveled across the city, taking her close to where she planned on going that day. When the bus finally reached her desired stop, Tellion silently exited the transport and waited until had driven off before moving again. She looked around once to make sure no one was around. There were a lot of passing vehicles on the nearby highway, and lots of coming and goings at the mall on the other side of the highway, but only a few pedestrians walking around near her, and they were far enough away that Tellion felt safe enough to make her move.
She darted off of the side walk and into the open field that was overgrown with vegetation. After a few paces, she vanished from the road and into the overgrowth. Looking up, Tellion identified her landmark to follow. The massive metal construction crane that loomed over the surrounding landscape, even the tallest trees, stood like a homing beacon to her. Tellion let the branches slap and scrap across her exposed skin as she slowly wove her way through the thick foliage. She took extra care to not let anything happen to the flowers she had brought. By the time she had managed to make it to the other side of the small patch of forest, Tellion had various small scraps all over her arms and face. But the superficial wounds were of no concern to her. All that mattered was that she had made it though, and the flowers were still perfectly intact.
Tellion stepped out of the trees and onto a not so very well maintained street. She looked down one way, and saw the houses some distance away, but no activity among them. Looking the other way, Tellion felt her body tense.
There was almost nothing the other way, just a long stretch of road that was lined with trees and abandoned buildings. But none of that caught her attention. Her eyes were fixated upon something else. Something far more disturbing.
Tellion quietly approached the toppled light pole that lay discarded and seemingly forgotten by all around. Its metal frame near the bottom was crush and crumpled in, the permanent testament of the horrific moment that the inanimate object had unexpectedly become a part of her life. Tellion knelt beside it, observing the damage as if she were looking at a grievous injury. All along the jagged edges, she could see the residual streaks of different paint color grounded into twisted metal surface. Tellion didn't need to wonder about those streaks. She knew where they had come from. She hesitantly reached out her shaking hand and cautiously ran her fingers across the cold metal surface. Feeling those sharp edges pressing into her skin made Tellion shudder. It reminded her of that night…
Clearing the obstruction from her tightening throat, Tellion turned away from the discarded lamp post and walked slowly over to its equally twisted and shattered base. She didn't know why, but even after all the time that had passed, nothing had been done to repair the damage or replace the destroyed lamp post. Maybe that was strangely fitting, she thought. It remained as a permanent reminder of what had happened here. And the life that she believed had been wrongfully ended.
Not caring if anyone around saw her, Tellion got down on her knees before the shattered base and gently laid the clump of flowers against the concrete. She knew little of how to mourn the dead. Her people, it seemed, cared little for the deaths of their own kind. A Yeerk just died, and to her people, that was it. They were just gone.
Remembering those that had fallen from life was so alien to the society she had been born into and raised by.
But now, feeling herself being more human than Yeerk with each passing day, Tellion had known that she couldn't simply forget Susan. The life that had been granted to her had come at the price of Susan's life, and that loss needed to be remembered and honored by Tellion. She had studied human habits of mourning the dead, and bringing flowers to where their body had been placed, or at least where they had their life ended, seemed the most commonly accepted custom. And to Tellion, only the flowers of Susan's beloved garden felt appropriate to Tellion to use. She cared for them so much, it was only fitting that they be used for her act of remembrance.
Once she had placed the flowers against the concrete base, Tellion bowed her head, another human custom that she felt was appropriate for her in this moment.
"Susan…" Tellion spoke in such a soft voice that she barely heard her own words. "I don't know if you can hear me, or if you're still in existence somewhere else."
She gently placed her palms against the rough surface and pressed her forehead against the concrete base.
"This…life I was granted, I'm so grateful for everything. But I can't stop thinking about you, about that night. What happened to you, it…it wasn't fair. You didn't deserve to die. I don't know if I can ever be as great of a daughter, or a big sister, or a loving wife as you were. But I'm trying so hard to be all those things. I want to honor your memory, every day for the rest of this life that I've been blessed with. I want to believe that you would understand, that you would also be grateful that I've been able to bring joy and love back into the lives of everyone you were closest to. But…"
Even with her eyes shut, Tellion couldn't stop the tear drops from seeping through and falling onto the bright petals of the flowers under her.
"I'm still just a Yeerk. A filthy, lying and deceptive Yeerk. I know it doesn't make any sense, sometimes even to me, but I love Mark. Me, a parasitic slug that's wrapped around your brain and moving your body like a living puppet. I don't know how or why I'm able to feel this way, but I do. And that's what hurts me the most, because he doesn't really know what I truly am. I don't know if he were ever to see the real me, if he could…"
"And maybe, that's the price I have to pay for taking over your life. Cursed to love but never truly knowing if I can be loved unconditionally back for what I truly am. But I just wanted you to know, that I'll never forget you Susan. I will honor your memory every day that I still live. I will love Mark as much as you did. And I will do everything that I can to keep him safe from my people. Even…even if I have to forfeit my life for his. He will never be taken by my kind, not as long as I still breathe. I swear it Susan."
Tellion struggled to breathe as she felt the emotions overcoming her.
"Just please, please understand and believe that I'm speaking the truth to you Susan. Just understand…"
The heavy roar in the sky above broke Tellion's concentration. Her head instinctively lifted, and she watched the human plane passing overhead. Her eyes followed its path as it glided through the air, across the abandoned construction sight.
Seeing that plane, its trajectory, and where it passed over, Tellion instantly remembered something else from that horrific night. Elfangor's fighter, badly damaged and falling downwards into that large abandoned place. It was what had caused Susan's crash. It was what had caused everything that had led to Tellion being in the life she now had.
Looking at the collection of flowers, Tellion noticed the only one with blue colored petals among the assembled bouquet. She carefully removed it from the others and rose to her feet. Wiping away her wet eyes, Tellion touched her fingers to her lips, then placed them gently against the base of the destroyed lamp post. She silently offered one last thanks and a regretful goodbye to Susan before walking away from where her host's life had tragically been cut short.
Clutching the single flower carefully in her hands, Tellion walked the length of the metal fence the blocked the abandoned construction site from the rest of the world. She only had to traverse a short distance before she spotted a small tear in the lining. It wasn't very large, perhaps big enough for a child to slip through, or a smaller woman such as herself. Tellion nervously looked around again at her surroundings. No one appeared to be around. Now was as good of a time as any if she still dared to do what she was thinking of.
And dare she did.
Pushing aside the broken links, Tellion climbed through the tear in the fence with a bit of effort, but she made it through. What she found on the other side was even less appealing than the desolate street. Half constructed buildings and the bare frames of ones were scattered everywhere in the place. Some were even beginning to crumble and fall apart from a long time of neglect. Large mounds of discarded debris dotted the landscape. And there were a great many pits of various depths everywhere. This place felt more of a, well, she didn't know a proper word for it, other than it was desolate and dreary. It was not inviting in any way to her. Yet, she still dared to venture forth. Despite the unease this place held over her, Tellion needed to be here. She needed to do this next thing. For herself.
Taking a deep breath, she entered the abandoned construction sight. She wandered around for some time, looking for some place that she didn't really know. Tellion couldn't fully understand why, but a strange tingle vibrated in her gut as she passed near a fairly large open area of this discarded space of ground. She looked around, and just somehow felt that this was the right place.
The small patch of this vast world that Elfangor had his life ended by Visser Three.
She could never know exactly where it had happened. There was no trace of him ever having been here. Instead, Tellion gently laid the blue flower down in the muddy surface in the center of the clearing. Standing over that flower, looking down at it, a flood of emotions came over her and the words poured from her mouth with barely and conscious thought to what she was saying.
"Elfangor." Tellion said sadly. "You never knew me. And I never knew you. But…"
She was already crying, and made no attempt to stop herself from doing so.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had come to this world, and die so far from your home all alone here. Visser Three said that you cowered before him, that you begged him to spare your life, that you even offered to be infested rather than die, before he killed you. But…I don't believe that! I saw the video of your final battle, I saw you sacrifice yourself to save those that were still on the dome. I know that you died fighting to the end, and…I respect your courage and sacrifice."
Tellion clasped her hands over her chest.
"The Ellimist told me of your family. Your little brother, and your son. I know that they were on that dome, along with the other survivors, as it fell to this world. That's why you gave away your life to save them. I just…"
Tellion stared intensly at the flower, as if it were a gateway for her words to reach to Elfangor.
"I just wish that none of this had ever have to happen! I wish that your little brother and son didn't have to take your place to fight to save this world. I wish they didn't have to endure all the death and misery they're facing for this world that isn't theirs. And I wish so very much that this war wasn't happening. So much death and destruction, for nothing."
Tellion knelt before the flower, bowing her head again, the full conviction in her words pouring forth as she spoke to a dead enemy that she never knew.
"I know that Yeerks and Andalites are supposed to hate each other. But I don't hate your kind. And now here I am…a Yeerk mourning the death of an Andalite. How crazy is that? I wish you and I could have known each other, I would have shown you that we don't have to kill each other in this pointless conflict."
She brushed aside the tears in her eyes.
"But the one thing that I wish for the most in all of the cosmos, Elfangor, was that it had been me on the Yeerk home world when Seerow had come to us, and not Akdor. No matter how the rest of the Andalites had looked down upon us, I would have worked with him. I would have sacrificed anything to help show him, and all Andalites, that Yeerks and Andalites could have worked together to find a way to uplift my kind without going down this dark path that we've taken. I would have shown the universe that Yeerks and Andalites could have been friends!"
Climbing to her feet, Tellion stared longingly one last time at the blue flower that strangely held a nearly identical color to an Andalite's blue fur.
"I guess none of that matters now. You're dead, and I'm speaking to you as if you can really hear me. Regardless, I don't know if your little brother or son ever had the time to mourn your death. And if they haven't, then I'll mourn for you in their place. I feel, no I fully believe, that I at least owe you that, as one that's supposed to be your mortal enemy. If there is some kind of existence beyond the end of one's physical life, then I hope your spirit has found peace. Fair well, brave and noble warrior, Elfangor."
From somewhere behind her, Tellion's attention was captured by the noise of crumbling debris. And approaching footsteps.
Knowing that she couldn't let herself get caught in such a place by anyone, regardless of who they were, Tellion darted over to a nearby pile of rubble and slide into a slight hole on the other side. From her hiding spot, she saw a pair of men that were dressed in attire of the kind she had witnessed working in places like this. One of them held a strange looking device while the other walked almost carelessly behind him.
"I still can't believe that I let you talk me into this." the one at the rear said to the one holding the device. "I damn near broke my host leg back there climbing over all that crap."
"Oh quite your whining Elliar 5991," the other snapped as he fiddled with the device. "if this works, you'll thank me."
"It's a waste of time if you ask me Neviod 2429." Elliar grumbled. "The search teams went over this entire area three times and they barely found any traces of the Andalite fighter, or that scum Elfangor."
Nevoid looked over his shoulder at Elliar and growled. "Well maybe you could say all that a little louder. We could go back to the truck and you can use the bullhorn to shout it out to any humans nearby."
Elliar waved his arm around casually at the vast desolate space surrounding them.
"Yeah right. Who's going to hear us? There's no one here. There's nothing here! And if our commander finds out you snuck that out of the Yeerk pool for this stupid plan of yours, that's going to be big trouble for the both of us!"
"I'm telling you, I already talked to some of those team members. None of them ever used a deep ground penetrating scanner like this one! They just all assumed that whatever pieces were left of the Andalite's ship were scattered across the ground. With all the crevices and depression and underground areas built around here, something could have fallen into one of those places and been overlooked. Just think about it Elliar, if we find even a small portion of a remnant of that fighter, maybe bits of an ion fusion drive or a shredder focusing coil, think what that'll do for us. We'll likely get immediate promotions for our taking initiative, maybe even get an audience with Visser Three himself." Nevoid said.
"I'd just as soon not catch Visser Three's attention." Elliar replied. "You know what he does to those that screw up even just a little bit?"
As they randomly walked around conversing between themselves, the two controllers were completely oblivious to Tellion lurking nearby. She listened to them, and studied their faces. She couldn't remember why they seemed so familiar to her, until they both turned directly towards her. Then Tellion recognized the pair. They were the controllers that had stood over Susan on that tragic night, the ones that had carelessly stood by and simply let her die. Knowing that, Tellion couldn't help but have her hands clench tightly around the rubble she was resting them one. She wanted so badly in that moment to rush out from her hiding spot and attack them. Only her rational sense of her situation held her in check.
What could she, alone and with no weapon, hope to accomplish against a pair of controllers like them? Though anger was brimming up inside of her, Tellion remained hidden from their sight as the two controllers continued to wander around in random circles.
Suddenly, Nevoid stopped and stared brightly at the scanner.
"There! I got something!"
Elliar moved to his side and stared at the scanner screen. "No way."
"It's a faint signal. Very weak, but that's definitely a power fluctuation in the wavelength for Andalite technology."
"So you're saying that…"
Nevoid looked at his associate with a beaming face. "There's some Andalite tech here that the search teams missed! All we have to do is find it!"
Hearing Nevoid make that proclamation stole all the breath away from Tellion. Andalite tech. Lost by the search teams. Now discovered by this pair of ambitious Yeerks. Tellion didn't know what any of this truly meant for the fate of Earth, but nothing of it could be good.
Mercifully, Nevoid and Elliar were so immersed in their frantic search that they continued to miss Tellion lurking behind the rubble nearby. She studied them as they continued to walk about in circles, their faces full of opportunistic desire. After traversing several wide circles, Nevoid pointed to a nearby half built structure.
"There! It's coming from over there."
Elliar pushed past him and rushed to the decaying building. "Get a fix on it! I'll grab it."
"So you can take all the credit, you slippery little slim!" Nevoid snapped at him. "This was my idea! You didn't even want to come along!"
"And if it wasn't for my security clearance, you would have never gotten your hands on the scanner!" Ellair snapped back.
As the two began to argue between themselves, Tellion took the opportunity to dart from one bit of rubble to another until she was able to slip past the two and crawl through a small break in the outer structure and into the decaying building. Pressing herself flat against the wall, Tellion peaked out from an opening, and saw the two controllers still arguing among themselves about who would obtain the greater glory for their find.
Keeping her eyes fixated on them so that they wouldn't accidentally spot her, Tellion backed into the interior of the building. She took several steps back, and felt her heart ram against her chest when the floor behind her simply gave away. She fell backwards, hitting her shoulders against the rough rubble that lay underneath and tumbled downwards into the blackness below.
She landed rump first into a pool of freezing, disgustingly dark brown water with a faint splash. Hurt shot all through her frail body, and it took all of her willpower to suppress a cry of pain that she feared would alert the two other controllers to her presence. Wetness trickled down the side of her face, and she instinctively wiped from her forehead what she thought was water. When Tellion stared at her hand, and the bright red blood that covered her fingers, her stomach turned in pure nausea.
But then, through her blood dripping fingers, Tellion saw something between those red saturated digits. Something that was down at the bottom of this horrific pit with her. It was more than half buried under surrounding rubble, near the opening of a large sewer pipe, and it would have been overlooked by her…were it not for the faint glow radiating from the surface.
A soft, low blue light emanated from the surface, casting the bottom of the pit she squatted in with a comforting hue. Ignoring her throbbing head and the rest of her aching body, Tellion slowly, cautiously approached the object. Swallowing down a lump in her throat, Tellion carefully brushed away the bits of debris that was covering the glowing object. The dirt and broken bits of concrete gave way, filling her vision with a small shimmering cube, roughly two or maybe three times the size of the human puzzle game device known as a 'Rubix Cube'.
Tellion had never seen such a thing before. She knew very little of Andalite technology, only the basics that her superiors had bothered to teach her. She had absolutely no idea what it was that she was looking at.
What was it?
A part of a power core? A modulator fuse for a Shredder cannon? Some kind of long range transmitter or communication piece? Or maybe nothing of any real importance, just some kind of trinket that Andalites kept for enjoyment?
Tellion just didn't know what this thing was. The only thing she knew for certain was that it was definitely Andalite tech, she recognized the general symbolic structure of the Andalite written language along the cube's surface. But that was it. She had absolutely no idea what any of the writing on it meant.
The voices of the two controllers began to drift in from the opening in the floor above her. Tellion looked up, and realized that they were coming. She didn't have much time.
Tellion nervously glanced at the faintly glimmering cube, feeling almost as if it were calling out to her. Beckoning her to protect it from falling into Imperial hands.
Again, it was probably nothing more than just a family heirloom to Elfangor. Something of no true significance in the grand scheme of this entire conflict. But as she sat in that freezing water, blood trickling down the side of her face, Tellion couldn't help but feel a desire growing inside of her to not let it be taken by those controllers.
This, thing, whatever it is. Tellion thought, glancing once more up at the hole in the ceiling. It belongs to the Andalites. It was Elfangor's. It belongs to his little brother and son. Not to the Empire! You can't have it. I won't let you take it!
Sensing that she didn't have much time left, Tellion reached out to take the small glowing cube. Her hand hesitated as it hovered over the simmering blue surface that had illuminated her trembling fingers. Why did she hesitate now, when she knew time was of the essence? Maybe it was because she didn't know what this thing could do to her. For all she knew, it could be booby trapped to explode or something upon the first physical contact against its surface.
Tellion didn't know why, but as she stared at that comforting glowing cube just within her grasp and hesitated for fear of the unknown, she heard something the Ellimist had said to her a long time ago. Back when they had first truly met face to face and she had demanded he show her what had happened to Susan.
If you do this…it will morph the course of your life forever.
Tellion remembered those words. She didn't understand what they truly meant to her in this moment, but deep within the center of everything that she truly was, Tellion felt that he was speaking the truth. If she did this, if she touched that glowing cube, something in her life would be altered forever. There would be no turning back.
The voices of the approaching controllers brought Tellion back to the present. She couldn't hesitate anymore. She had to act.
Now!
Clenching her teeth and bracing for what could possibly be instant death, Tellion summoned up the courage to move and grasped the glowing cube. The reaction was instantaneous.
Instead of a blinding moment of an energy burst followed by oblivion, something else happened. The moment the skin of her fingertips made contact with the glowing surface, a tingling sensation vibrated up into her flesh. It started at the surface of her skin, radiating into her muscles underneath, and into the very bones under that. And it began to spread. Down her fingers, into her hand, through the length of her arm, and rapidly spreading to the rest of her body. As the tingling sensation coursed through her, the glow from the cube faded away. It was as if the light of the cube was being absorbed by her body.
Before Tellion had any time to truly understand what was happening, the glow faded away and she was plunged into darkness.
Up above, Tellion heard the two controllers suddenly snap.
"What the hell?!"
"What? What happened?"
"I lost the signal dammit!"
"Well maybe you don't know how to really work that thing. Or maybe it just crapped out on you."
"It didn't crap out on me, the signal just died!"
"Well we know that it was coming from in here. Let's just have a look around and see if we spot something. In the meantime, why don't you try to figure out what the hell's wrong with that thing."
She could hear them pacing about above her, searching in vain for the now plain cube that Tellion cradled protectively in her arms. They were going to find the hole sooner or later, and if one of them dared to come down to explore it, they were going to find her. Tellion was under no illusion that she had any hope of fighting her way through either of those controllers. They were bigger and easily much stronger than her. She had to evade them another way. As she instinctively backed into the surrounding darkness, Tellion felt her back press into the circumference of the edge of the sewer pipe. In the faint light from the hole above, Tellion could only make out that the width of the pipe was big enough for her to fit in, but beyond three or so meters near the entrance, she could see nothing except blackness.
Footsteps echoed near the edge of the hole above, and the beam from a flashlight pierced through Tellion's protective cover of darkness.
"Hey, do you think it might be down here?"
"I doubt it. The odds that it was blown into that hole from the initial blast is in tens of millions."
"Maybe, but that would explain why the search teams didn't find it."
"Well, if you want to crawl down there and wade through all that muck and filth Ellair, I'm not going to stop you. Have fun."
Tellion couldn't wait to see if Elliar would take Nevoid up on his challenge. If he dared to come down here, she would be cornered, no way out. She had to escape.
Without another thought given to it, Tellion cradled the Andalite cube in her grasped and crawled into the sewer pipe. She couldn't see anything, all she could do was feel the sludge she was pushing herself through, and the horrific smell that permeated all around her that was threating to suffocate her lungs. She took a moment to detach her control tendrils from the part of the brain that controlled the sense of smell before pushing on. Forward she crawled, weakly pulling her arm ahead of her small frame and propelling herself forward. Again and again, for what felt like hours, Tellion wearily dragged herself forward inch by brutal inch through that confined space. For a time, Tellion was afraid that she would become stuck in that endless length of pipe and slowly suffocate to death with no one ever knowing where she was or what had happened to her. As she felt her mind teetering on the brink of mental collapse, her ears heard the faint trickle of splashing water.
The sound felt like a saving grace to her, propelling Tellion to push herself even harder to reach the inevitable end, and her freedom. Soon enough, her weary eyes caught the faint trickle of light ahead. The end of the pipe, she had finally found it! Sensing that she was on the verge of freedom, Tellion willed herself to go even faster. As the light grew brighter, so did her hopes. And then, just like that, Tellion fell out of the end of the pipe and into another pool of sludge at the bottom of another pit. Yet when her head lifted upward, relief coursed all through her at the sight of the gentle sky above.
She had done it. She had escaped!
Elated by her accomplishments, Tellion madly scrambled up and out of the pit. And immediately dove into an overgrowth of foliage as the pair of controllers were quickly approaching her position. For a terrified moment, she thought that they had spotted her and were closing in to block her escape.
It was only hearing their angry words exchanged between themselves that she realized that they hadn't discovered her. Yet.
Their argument about not being able to find whatever it was they had been looking for distracted them enough for Tellion to crawl back further into the foliage. When her back hit into the chain link barrier that surrounded the site, Tellion realized that she was trapped in her with the two very angry controllers.
Tellion looked down at the filth covered cube that she was still cradling protectively in her hands. Even now, if somehow the two controllers were to hear or see her, the cube would be lost to the Empire forever. Without thinking of her next actions, Tellion gently tossed the cube over the top of the fence, and prayed that it wouldn't make enough noise to catch either of the controllers' attention. With perhaps a great amount of grace, the cube clattered to the ground on the other side with barely a noise. And neither of the controllers noticed it as they briskly walked past her hiding spot as their conversation quickly changed from blaming one another for not finding the device to how they were going to sneak the scanner back down into the Pool.
As they walked out of earshot, Tellion dared to breathe a sigh of relief. Only to have it crushed an instant later by the sound of the sharp breaking of tires from the other side of the fence. Tellion looked over her shoulder, and felt terror grip her heart when she saw a boy on a bike stopped on the other side of the fence. He didn't appear that old, maybe close to Ellaine's age, perhaps a bit younger. Yet, that wasn't what drew Tellion's fear. The terror griped her heart at the sight of him scooping up the blue Andalite cube.
"What the hell is this?" he said to himself as he inspected it. "Looks like some kind of nerd's pet shop class project."
No. Tellion thought. Throw it away. Forget you ever saw it. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into boy.
She wanted to cry out a warning to him, but if she did that. He would just run away. Or more likely, the commotion would draw the attention of the two controllers that still lingered nearby. Tellion was trapped, she couldn't do anything as the child continued to inspect the cube.
"Oh well," he said to himself as he placed the cube into his backpack. "I'll just sell it online to some gullible dumbass. I'll say that it's some kind of ancient Aztec puzzle box my dad brought back from his trip. Yeah, that should get me some real dough."
With an ominously twisted chuckle to himself, the child pushed his bike forward and drove off. Tellion wanted to shout out to him, or go after him, but with the two controllers lurking nearby, she was trapped until they left.
She waited anxiously in the shadows at the two controllers seem to take forever with their argument before finally climbing into their vehicle and exiting the construction site. When they were finally out of eyesight, Tellion counted to twenty, then leapt from her hiding spot.
Racing back to the opening in the fence where she had first come in from, Tellion ran the circumference of the construction site's perimeter until she reached the spot where the boy had found the cube. Her heart pounding against her chest, she madly searched about the surrounding area, looking for any possible trace of where the child had gone. But she found none. He was gone, and she had no idea where he had gone.
Knowing that there was nothing more she could do, Tellion reluctantly lowered her head in defeat and slowly began to make her way back to where she had gotten off the bus. First she would have to find a restroom facility to at least try and clean some of the filth that saturated her body and dress. Then she would have to get home, clean up her head wound, and find some way to make a reasonable excuse to explain the injury to Mark. And from there, she didn't know.
She didn't have the first clue of how she could possibly track down that child and get the cube from him.
Tellion felt so dejected in that moment. She felt like a failure. But…she guessed, it hadn't been a total loss. Despite everything that had happened, she had still managed to keep Elfangor's cube from falling into Yeerk hands so far. And there was also…
As she weaved her way through the dense forest that surrounded the construction site, Tellion looked at her trembling hand. The hand that had grasped the cube.
She couldn't explain why, but somehow, she still felt the faint tingle from its touch. As she stared at her finger tips, Tellion was only truly sure of one thing.
Something had happened to her when she had touched that cube and the light it had emanated seemingly had been absorbed by her body. Something about her had changed.
Tellion couldn't fully understand it, but she felt that the Ellimist's words to her had come to pass.
Her life had just been morphed forever.