I mean, the quote is more that she is not sure of what the cube even is, so she is doing the thing of trying to relate its function to something she knows. She isn't really associating it, more like trying to uncover how she could use it.
The Soldier: A Young Girl's Record of an Alien Invasion [Youjo Senki/Animorphs]
- Thread starter Ellf
- Start date
Possibly just falling back into habit into a stressful situation. Probably the most danger she HAS been since her days in the war.
Khona Moshr
Pink Flamingo Cabal Healer(they/them)
- Location
- Alabama
- Pronouns
- They/Them
One fun thing will be will tanya be a stabilizing influence on Rachel or will her being in danger cause Rachel to go more aggressive and self destructive then in canon?
Kuriboh
Self Insert Junkie
- Location
- Ohio
It was when they were getting the morphing power from the cube. She mentioned the energy it was giving off felt similar to magic but differnt.
That's where her attempting to use it like a orb came from, but then nothing happened.
- Location
- Ylisse
The protags don't kill anyone in this chapter, but by the end of this book they'll be doing things like tearing out people's throats with their morph's teeth.
- Location
- new york
It's been some time since I read the books.
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Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
I mean, the death of Elfangor was about as bloody as the original, but perhaps more well-described. Tanya [Redacted], formerly Tanya von Degurechaff, is not an OG Animorph. She is a crossover character. Who uh... has a particular set of skills.
- Location
- Denver, CO
I believe it comes form a couple of places. The first is that when she touches the cube she gets a rather familiar feeling. This is the specific passage from last chapter:
The second part is just speculation on my part, but I imagine that Tanya is keenly aware of how vulnerable she is in this situation. That, combined with the threat to her family, has her reaching a bit in search of comfort. I'm sure she knows intellectually that it will not be as simple as "get box = get magic", but between the aforementioned similarities in the "tingle" and the stress of the situation she may be operating at less than 100%.
Chapter Five
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Chapter Five
I ended up falling asleep in Rachel's room that night, as my twin was at her friend's house. I felt leaving Rachel alone that night would be bad for her mental health after what we did. Plus, a selfish side of me noted, it was comfortable in her bed next to her. Were I a normal child, I suspect nightmares would have been possible. Our lives had been upended, after all. We had found out that not only was humanity not alone in the universe, but there was an actively hostile alien race looking to enslave us all. This would not be something that a normal child would easily be able to reconcile, which was why I stayed to observe my sister.
Rachel had no visible nightmares with me there with her, even if the guilt at leaving Jake behind ate at her. She apologized to him profusely when he'd called to check in the night before, and she verified that the others had returned to their homes safely. She let me know before we laid down to sleep, and it did bring a small comfort to me.
I awoke the next morning to my sister getting out of bed. There were certain morning routines that you did not interrupt in our home. Rachel's was among them, lest you risk having your head bit off. I might have gotten away with it once or twice, but we did have extra bathrooms in our home because there were four of us.
I made my way to the hall bathroom, rather than Rachel's, and dealt with what I needed to do. Sara, our little sister, toddled toward it as I came out. Her brown hair was a mess in the morning, and I frowned. While I could leave it for Mom to deal with, I didn't want to have to help out.
"Tanya why isn't Jordan here?" asked Sara as she stood in the doorway.
"She spent the night at Lily's," I said. "Before you ask, I wasn't invited."
"Why?"
"Lily is Jordan's friend, not mine," I said.
"Why?"
"Because she and I don't have all the same friends," I said.
"Why?"
"Do you really care?" I asked, crossing my arms. At nearly four years old, Sara should have been past the "Why?" loop already, but sometimes I swore she did it just to rile us up. It worked more on Jordan and Rachel than myself, but there were times I wanted to shake my little sister. Of course, after the previous night, I just was happy to see her. And I doubted that the Yeerks would bother taking someone so young if they could have someone older. She didn't need to know though.
"You spent the night with Rachel," she said. "Can I come next time?"
"Maybe when you're older," I said noncommittally. "Go on, Sara. Do what you need to, and when you're done, I'll come in and help with your hair."
"Okay," she said and went into the bathroom.
While my younger sister did what she needed to do in the bathroom, I pondered the previous night. I'd killed for the first time in this life, and my older sister had as well. For Rachel, it had been three aliens, but I had killed the human host of one of the Yeerks. Yes, the Andalite, Prince Elfangor, had said that there were likely collaborators, people who willingly allowed themselves to be infested. However, I had no clue if the woman I'd killed had been one of them. I'd simply thrown a knife. Perhaps the Hork-Bajir had been an innocent as well, but it wasn't a human being. I could rationalize away dehumanizing an enemy that was never human to begin with, and I had no doubt that my sister could do the same.
"Give me liberty or give me death" was said by Patrick Henry in 1775, before the Revolutionary War started. While he was speaking about the rights of the American Colonies, the sentiment applied here. Better to be dead than to be enslaved by one of those aliens, especially with how they acted last night.
"Tanya, I'm done," Sara said from within the bathroom, and I smiled, heading inside.
Brushing Sara's hair was a soothing exercise for both of us. I knew how to do it in such a way that the knots her hair mysteriously developed overnight would come out without much pain. It took some time, but once I finished, I smiled at her, as comfortingly as I could. "There you go, Sara."
Sara laughed. "You look silly."
I blew out a sigh and patted her head. "Go and bug Mom. I'm sure it's breakfast time soon."
"Kay," she said and skipped out of the bathroom, to my irritation.
My smile did not look silly. My friends liked it when I smiled, especially when we were playing sports. They took it as a sign that we were about to win. Of course, that wasn't always the case, but I had fun sometimes.
I went into my room to change clothes, and Rachel followed me in with my bag in hand. She walked over to my dresser and pulled out a green blouse and a pair of jeans, along with appropriate undergarments, throwing them on the bed. "Go ahead and get changed, Tanya. But we need to talk."
I nodded, doing so. She'd already changed, herself, into a similar outfit, only with a red spaghetti-strap blouse instead.
"About last night?" I asked.
Rachel nodded. "Yeah. And what we're going to do with… this stuff."
"That depends," I said. "What do you want to do?"
She shrugged, looking inside at the weapon we'd liberated from the Hork-Bajir Controller last night and the device that gave us the ability to morph. "I'm half-tempted to just try and destroy both things, but I don't even know how. And… with what we saw… what we did…"
"We had to," I said.
"You killed someone," Rachel said, her voice pitched low. "And… I know: she was controlled by that… Yeerk that came out of her, but… still. Tanya, you shouldn't have been in that position in the first place."
"None of us should have," I said. "It's happenstance that we ended up there at the exact time an alien ship decided to land. A coincidence, really." One that seemed remarkably convenient, in some aspects. As if we were placed there. Then there was the fact that the Andalite seemed to recognize what Being X had done to me, only claiming that it was Ellimists. Whatever those were. Perhaps it was an Andalite term for things like Being X?
Which meant there was more than one. Wonderful.
Focus. One enemy at a time.
Rachel snorted. "Your vocabulary… You read too much, Tanya."
"I do not," I said, crossing my arms. "Reading is a perfectly normal pastime."
"We can argue about that later," Rachel said. "But yeah. And your quick thinking about the cube… who knows what would have happened if one of them had picked it up?"
I nodded. "The woman mentioned Chapman giving orders. They wanted us dead, leaving only the heads for identification."
"I knew someone sounded familiar," Rachel said, frowning. "That's something we should bring up when we see the others."
I nodded. Knowing at least one person as a Controller was a start. But we needed to know more. We knew far too little about our enemy, and it would be difficult to recruit any sort of allies as things were. "When are we going?"
"I told Cassie that I'd be by around noon," Rachel said. "We can ask Mom if you can come with. I think her dad has some animals that might be… interesting to try and test out."
"You mean morph," I said. "Like what…" I didn't mention that I may have acquired that alien. Not yet. It would be useful later, but I wanted to be sure before I tested it out. And I would also want to try the power out with an Earth animal first.
She nodded. "I'm not sure if I want to be the first person to do it, but understanding what we are doing before going in…"
"We know next to nothing about these Yeerks," I said. "Our greatest asset is that they don't know about us. At least, as far as the fact that we have this power, anyway. And a weapon."
"Yes," Rachel said. "We need to know more. And there's not really anyone else we can rely on. Not without knowing more. How can we know someone is a Controller unless the Yeerk does something like last night? Do they have weaknesses? We're supposed to fight these things, but… it won't be easy."
I nodded. And ideally, they wouldn't be fighting at all. Somehow, given the look that Rachel was giving me, I felt like she was feeling similar feelings.
"We're not telling Jordan," Rachel said. "Not yet anyway."
I nodded. Protecting our sisters and the rest of our family was important. "Are you okay?"
"Yes… no. Not really," Rachel said. "I keep wanting to have last night be a dream, but then I just look in this bag. We really were there. We really saw aliens, and you and I… really killed two of them."
"Three of them, and one human," I said. "The Hork-Bajir had a Yeerk in its skull too."
"And we don't even know if the Hork-Bajir was male or female," said Rachel.
"Or if they have sexes, the way that humans do," I said. "For all we know, there's three biological genders in Hork-Bajir. Or one. Or none. I don't even know."
"It's not like the Andalite was able to tell us much," Rachel said, frowning. "That poor thing. What Visser Three did was… disgusting."
I nodded. "Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul sacrificed himself so we could get away. He might have been able to morph, but if he had, Visser Three might have found us. And we'd be dead. Or worse."
Rachel shuddered, but then she suddenly wrapped me in a hug, dropping the bag. "Don't even think like that. If anything had happened to you last night, I would have…"
I leaned into the hug. My sister was a very physical person, and sometimes I had to placate her with things like this. It helped that they weren't uncomfortable to be in. Jordan and Sara liked them as well, and if I were honest, our parents were probably the ones who instilled that in us.
Rachel pulled away slightly. "I hope Melissa's not a Controller. If she is…"
"Maybe we can find a way to free her," I said. "If she is. We don't know how things work. How they work."
"So, what then?" asked Rachel. She frowned at me. "Are you sure you're okay?"
No, I was far from okay. The quiet life that I'd come to enjoy was being taken from me, and I'd been thrust into a war where the only compatriots I had were children. Children that were older than me, sure, but they were still children. This was far from an ideal situation, and… why was Rachel brushing my cheek? Were there tears? Was I crying?
"I… don't know. Last night was… bad," I said. "And if we fight, it will be worse."
"But if we don't, they'll win," she said softly. "And Earth will be doomed. Humanity as we know it will be gone."
"I don't want you to fight," I said, and she let out a sharp laugh.
"Isn't that my line?" Rachel asked. "Tanya, you're not even eleven yet. And you and I both killed last night. We watched an alien brutally murder another alien. We shouldn't be the ones fighting, but we know what's out there. And we have the power. We can't just dump this on someone else."
"Especially if we don't know if they're the enemy," I said.
"Exactly," Rachel said, and she brushed the tears off my face again then stood. "Come on, let's go get some breakfast. We need to be ready for Cassie's."
I rubbed my face a little as I stood. Feeling this overwhelmed by what happened could only be chalked up to my age. How was my sister, who as far as I knew was on her first life, dealing with this better than me? She'd never experienced war before. Was it some sort of naivete? Or was she just hiding it better?
I forced myself to calm down, thinking of breakfast. "Do you think I could have some coffee this morning?"
Rachel's laugh this time was more a teasing one. "Fat chance. You know what Mom said."
"No coffee until I'm a teenager," I said, frowning. "After last night though…"
"She doesn't know," Rachel said. "But maybe I can sneak you some, if she's not in the room."
That would have to do. My sister really did seem to care about me.
I would ensure she survived this. No matter what I needed to do.
I really enjoyed how Tanya cried, then responded to it mentally. Great job so far!
Chapter Six
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Chapter Six
Cassie's parents owned a farm not too far from the edge of town. It was nearly a three-mile bike ride from our place to get there, and it backed right up onto the edge of the woods. At one point, it likely had been used for its original purpose, and they do still have horses and a cow. However, the time of it being used to grow food is long gone. The red wooden barn has been converted into the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. Both of her parents are veterinarians. Her father runs a charity veterinary clinic out of the barn that focuses on local wildlife like birds, skunks, deer, and the like. Occasionally, I've even seen a wolf or bobcat being treated by her father.
Her mother worked for a nearby theme park that we knew as The Gardens. The park was divided into two areas: one, a more traditional amusement park with rides including roller coasters and a few more childish rides, and the side Cassie's mother worked for, a zoo. Technically, it was called a wildlife park, but it had some more exotic animals to the area. There were elephants, big cats, and there was even an aquatic area.
When we arrived at Cassie's farm at a bit before noon, she was standing near the horse paddock, lightly petting one of the horses she had on the farm. She waved us over with a smile, never taking a hand from the horse. It seemed almost to be in a trance under Cassie's touch.
"Rachel, Tanya, I'm glad to see that you guys are all right," she said. She looked at me with a small frown. "I wish you'd stuck with us."
"Tanya had good reason," Rachel said. "And Jake and I managed to draw off the big guys. Are you okay?"
Cassie shook her head. "You'd think I would have had nightmares, but… I think what we saw was worse than what my mind could dream up."
"What are you doing?" I asked. "You're not just petting her."
Cassie shook her head. "I want to try it. The power that he died for. But I wanted to wait until you were around, just to make sure."
"And your first time is going to be a horse?" Rachel asked.
"Why not?" Cassie asked. "She's an animal that we have here." She let go of the horse, and the black mare seemed to stay in its trance for a few seconds. I mentally counted them. Approximately fifteen. I would need more data before making a judgement.
The horse nickered, and Cassie pet its head again.
"So, when are you going to try?" Rachel asked.
"Let me get Smokey settled in her stall, and then we can try this. You two can come inside as well," Cassie said, as she took the horse by the reins and led her into the nearby stable which connected to the barn.
I caught a glimpse inside at the cages Cassie's father kept animals in. There were two birds in there along with a few other animals that I could hear but not see.
"Right," Cassie said, as she stowed the horse away. She stepped into another stall of the stable, and she nodded to us. "I'm going to try it."
"You're going to turn into a horse?" Rachel asked.
"That's the plan," Cassie said. "Turn into it, turn back. See what it feels like. You mind being my timekeeper?"
"You're not going to stay long, right?" I asked. "The Andalite said two hours."
"Not long this time," she said, and her body already started to change. The hair on her head started to grow out, and pushed along the back of her neck as her neck elongated. She shrugged out of the coverall she'd been wearing as fur started to run along her arms and chest. Her face stretched out into a horse's muzzle, and her arms started to change, lengthening to become a horse's legs, even as the lower part of her body moved out behind her.
"Where is she getting the extra mass?" I murmured. This was like magic, in that what was happening should not have been possible. But it clearly was.
There was some tearing and stretching along with cracking of bone and popping as the morph continued. Cassie's clothes, or what was left of them fell to the ground beside her, as she stood on four legs. Not long after that, a bushy black horse tail pushed out of her rear, and she let out a rough whinny. An identical copy to Smokey the horse stood in the stall before us.
"Cassie?" Rachel asked, looking at the horse.
The horse that was Cassie nickered and stepped up to my sister. She nuzzled at Rachel, and then she turned to me to do the same.
I will admit that horses are beautiful animals, but they are also large. Cassie now dwarfed me by several times. "Cassie, are you in there?"
<Oh, that's a rush.> Cassie's voice resonated in my head, and I assume my sister's as well. <I want to head into the field and run around a bit.>
"That is you, Cassie, right?" Rachel asked.
<Yes, Rachel, and you don't know what it's like. The stall is too small. I want to have more space. I don't want to—>
"Morph back," I said.
<Pardon me?> Cassie asked.
"It took you ninety seconds to morph into this form. We don't know when the timer specifically starts. Morph back. You can always morph into this form again in a little bit to try it out more," I said.
<I'd like to go out in the field, though.> Cassie nickered after her speech. Was the horse body influencing her somehow? I supposed that the different brain would cause something to happen. If we were expected to know how to use the bodies after morphing into them, then there must have been some sort of instinctual transfer.
It made me a little nervous to morph into anything with that.
"For Tanya's sake, maybe you should morph back, Cassie. She's right that you could try running around the field after morphing again," Rachel said, keeping her voice calm and almost soothing, as if she were talking to a real horse rather than her friend. Maybe my sister had picked up on the same thing I had.
<Fine,> Cassie said, and her body started to shift back. The muzzle slowly merged back into her human face, and her upper body shifted to a human's, legs shifting back to arms, and rear legs shifting to legs. One thing I noted. The clothing she'd been wearing had disappeared entirely, leaving her skyclad.
"Whoa!" Rachel exclaimed. "Tanya, go get her a blanket."
"From the barn?" I asked.
"Yeah," Rachel said. "Cassie, are you okay?"
"It's… okay. The blankets aren't that far in, Tanya," Cassie said. "I've also got some other clothes in a cubby just inside the main door, to the right. Could you just grab them all? I've got some ideas."
I nodded and ran off.
The inside of the barn smelled like a mixture of hay, iodine, isopropyl alcohol, and varying kinds of animal waste, recently cleaned. In the far corner were the pens that Cassie's father would keep the larger wildlife in, which currently held a single doe with a tracker and a light bandage. Sitting on several tables were cages sized for birds of prey, and two were even occupied at the moment.
One cage held a hawk of some sort that had a broken wing. I was never any sort of expert at ornithology, but I recognized the natural beauty of the bird, including its red tail feathers. However, the bird in the cage next to it was even prettier. From a distance, it resembled a bald eagle, but as I got closer, I could see its darkly barred wings and tail. It had a black bill and its legs were a bluish-gray. This one had something resembling a necklace in dark feathers on its upper breast, and it seemed to be favoring its right talon. The left seemed to be missing a claw, almost.
"Liking our guests, Tanya?" asked an older male voice, nearly startling me. I wasn't surprised at his presence. I knew Cassie's father was likely working today, and he had a job to do.
"They're beautiful animals," I said, and in an earnest tone, I decided to play up my age a little. "What are they, exactly, Doctor?"
"You know you can call me Walter, Tanya, just like your sister," said Cassie's father. "And the bird on the left is a red-tailed hawk. He's got a broken wing at the moment, but he'll heal fine. On the right, she's an osprey. I think you can see the issue she has."
"That doesn't grow back, does it?" I asked.
"Not precisely," said Walter. He gestured for me to follow him, and I did so. I'd have to get Cassie her items soon, but nothing said I couldn't make a small detour. Plus, it would arouse suspicion if I just came in and out so swiftly. "We're working on some prosthetics that can function like the original. It's not fully complete yet, but I hope that she can adjust."
I nodded. "She seems strong. Does she have a name?"
He shook his head. "I try not to name them, as it might make it harder to release them when they're healed. After all, they're not the ones my wife treats."
It made some sense, but I frowned as I looked over the osprey. "When do you think they'll be heading back then?"
"Probably another two weeks of healing for the red-tail, but the osprey needs another three," he said. "Would you like to hold her?"
"Maybe just pet," I said. "I can't stay in here long."
He nodded and he pulled on a hawker's glove. I doubted he had one in my size anyway. The leather gloves were a little large. He carefully opened the cage and guided the osprey out onto his arm, and he held the osprey within my reach.
I held out a hand and carefully started to stroke her feathers. Like the night before, I focused as I pet her. I wanted to acquire something that could fly, and this bird wouldn't have any issues doing that. I felt the telltale tingle of energy going through me as the bird settled into almost a trancelike state.
"Huh. You might have a knack for this, Tanya." Walter smiled at me, not patronizing in the least.
"I think she just likes me," I said, and after a second, I pulled away. "Oh, I was supposed to get some stuff for Cassie in here. She said she kept a change of clothes in a cubby?"
"Over there." Walter pointed. "What happened to the clothes she was wearing? And why isn't she just going to the house?"
Your daughter shredded her old clothes turning into a horse. Well, I couldn't really say that, exactly, but a proper lie needed to have a grain of truth in it. "I think one of the horses did something. She wanted to be nearby in case the horse did something more though."
Walter nodded. "I'm going to be heading into town soon to get some supplies. Let Cassie know for me, will you?'
"Okay!" I said, and I quickly gathered up the clothing and ran outside.
Rachel was waiting next to the stable with a cocked eyebrow. "Took you long enough."
"Her dad was in there," I said. "And there were some birds. Where's Cassie?"
Rachel nodded to the paddock across from the stable, where a black horse was trotting around. She was increasing her speed and decreasing it, sniffing at various things as she went around the edges of the paddock.
"Cassie! Tanya's back," Rachel said.
The horse trotted back over, and she paused at the edge of the paddock. <Did you find everything?>
"I have the blanket, and it looks like a coat and some other clothes…" I said, looking into the bundle.
<Throw the blanket over me. I'll put on the other clothes after I turn back. I've got some practicing,> Cassie said. <There's some stuff I want to get from inside too, once I turn back.>
"Okay," I said, and I did as she suggested. Then I placed the clothes in the paddock while she morphed back, choosing not to look at her.
<I have some older stuff inside if either of you want to do some prac—> Cassie's telepathy cut of as her head reformed completely into a human form. She cleared her throat as she wrapped the blanket around herself to keep some dignity. "If either of you want to do some practice too. Of course, you'll have to acquire a morph."
Familiarizing oneself with a weapon before using it in any sort of combat was not a bad idea, and given this was a controlled environment, I could justify some things. "I'd like to try something."
Rachel gave me a funny look. "Oh? What are you going to morph, Yaya? An ant?"
I returned her look with one of my own. Then I focused on the osprey and letting the energy suffuse me. Picturing myself turning into the osprey, similar to how Cassie had turned into Smokey the horse.
Shortly after I started, my arm started to itch, then my chest. A cracking and popping sound came from my hands as I glanced down at them, holding what was slowly becoming feathered wings in front of my transforming face. I grew smaller, shrinking in height to just under two feet tall. My clothes tented around me, and I carefully nudged myself out of them as my eyesight shifted, suddenly distorting slightly in color and improving significantly. I could see movement on the other side of the paddock, in the grass. A small mammal, perhaps a mouse, was sniffing at some of the blades of grass.
I could see the waves of warm air as they rose from the ground, and I stretched my wings, looking around as the morph completed. Two tall, bipedal things stood near me, hairless save for the loose skins that hung on them. They were not prey, but they were possibly a danger. I had to keep watch on them as I decided what to do.
Flapping my wings, I landed on the wooden perch that put me at eye level with the bipeds.
"Tanya?" asked the light-haired and fair-skinned one. A sense of familiarity passed through me at the sound of that voice. "Yaya, is that you?"
I let out a cry from my beak, warning them back. I had my talons, ready to defend myself if it became necessary.
"Tanya, you're thinking like the bird," said the darker one. The skins on her were especially loose. "Come back to us."
I was beginning to get a little hungry. Instinctively, I knew there were streams nearby. I could find some food, some fish within them to eat. But first, I needed to know why the two were familiar. Why they were using the name… Tanya.
I shuddered, my feathers ruffling up as I did so, and I asserted myself within my own mind. I was human, but I was also the osprey at the moment. And the osprey was not on comfortable ground. How did the telepathy work?
"Cassie, how did you use the thought-speech thing?" Rachel asked, seeming to sense my struggle.
"I thought at the two of you," said Cassie. "I figured that if it worked for the Andalite last night… and Visser Three in morph, it might work for me. Tanya, try and think at us. Let us know you're you, please."
I started to think, but I stopped myself, wary. How would my thoughts sound? Would I sound like Rachel's younger sister? Would I sound like the one that was called the Devil of the Rhine? Would I sound like someone else entirely? What voice would they hear when I used my mind? What voice did I hear?
"Yaya, you can do it," Rachel said, comfortingly. "Tanya, just let us know you're in there."
Well, not communicating with them would be counteractive to any sort of operation we would do, anyway. <Rachel? Cassie?>
If my voice sounded odd to them, the looks on their faces betrayed none of it. Instead, relief washed through them, and I saw it all with the perfected hawk vision of the osprey.
"Oh, good," Rachel said. "You were acting… like—"
"Like a cornered osprey," Cassie said.
<It's still in here too,> I said. Well, not said, but close enough. <But I'm me. You don't have to worry.>
Rachel nodded. "We should head inside for a little bit, while Cassie changes. I also want to take a look at the newspaper."
<You do that,> I said. <I want to stay out a little longer. I have maybe a little over an hour and fifty minutes left in the morph, and I want to make use of it.>
"Doing what?" Rachel asked.
I flared my wings, flapping some to gain some height. <I'm going for a flight.>
I didn't bother to wait for her response as I took further to the air. I did, however, watch my sister's expression change from worry, to annoyance, to anger, and back to worry as I gained even more height. While a flash of guilt passed through me as I did this, at the idea of being a bad sister, a different feeling was far more important.
I was free again.
I could fly.
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Khona Moshr
Pink Flamingo Cabal Healer(they/them)
- Location
- Alabama
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Tanya isnt beating the allegations of being abit of a brat with this attitude.
Chapter Seven
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Chapter Seven
There is something entirely freeing about flight under one's own power. With naught but the air between you and the ground, it truly is something magical. In my last life, I rarely got to enjoy flight for the sake of it, usually using it for its strategic advantages and tactical vantage points for attack. With the sensors I had then, I was usually able to spot an enemy sooner than they would be able to spot me. Then other things would happen, and I was a perfectly competent soldier, willing to do what was necessary to survive and win the war.
Here, I would do the same, but my goals were different. I had family. I had comrades who, while older than me, were still children without the experiences I had. They hadn't had any formal training, and we were all being thrust into this war.
Is it any small wonder, that given the chance, I took flight? Now, flying as an osprey was different than flying as a mage. For one, there's a size differential. Ospreys, on average, have a wingspan that can span an average of five feet, yet they weigh approximately two to four pounds. If I had a nose, I'd snort. I've become so American. In standard units, that is approximately 1.4 m average wingspan and between one and two kilos. The difference in momentum a human body has compared to a hawk of any sort is measurable. Plus, an osprey is designed to fly.
The hollow bones, the feathers on aerodynamic wings, and the body all came together to make a natural flying machine that would be the envy of any aerospace engineer out there. The way my wings caught the thermals, those jets of warm air that rose from the sun-heated ground, meant I didn't even have to flap my wings that much to keep aloft. I could just hold myself there, circling the woods near Cassie's farm. Yes, I found myself drifting more toward the nearby river, but that was because I was slightly hungry. Ospreys eat fish, after all. Their eyes are specially designed to spot fish in the water, and as I flew over the river, I could easily see the telltale flickers of scales.
Would I dare eat a fish like this? The part of me that was the osprey certainly wanted to. I could feel its instincts clawing back at me, the more I stared at the fish. It wasn't like I hadn't had sushi before. This would just be a little fresher. I still had time left on my morph, and I supposed that if I went back to Cassie's place, food would likely be available.
Still, I continued my flight. With roughly an hour and fifteen minutes left in my morph before the time limit the Andalite impressed on us would be up, I felt that I would need more time. Being up in the air offered perspective. Our biggest asset right now was our anonymity. The Controllers didn't know who we were, nor did they know we had this power. What we lacked, primarily, was information. We knew what our enemy looked like, what they had control over, and we'd seen the sheer damage some of those alien weapons could do. We'd also seen their leader.
Visser Three. The Andalite-Controller
My eyes followed another fish in the water as I thought. That being was a true monster, wasteful, inefficient and cruel. He could have just killed Prince Elfangor with the Dracon Beam, but he'd wanted to savor it. It was horrifying the way he did it, and that he could do the same to me or worse, my family, genuinely frightened me. Who knew what other morphs he had in his arsenal? All we had access to were the animals of Earth. And a single Dracon Beam that Rachel and I would need to figure out how to use.
There! The fish!
Tucking my wings, I dove down at the water, reaching my maximum aerial speed. Bringing my talons to bear, I snatched the fish from the air just as it leaped out of the water. Carrying the fish, I settled down on a nearby branch and began to eat, using my hooked beak to tear at the animal. The taste buds an osprey has aren't located merely on the tongue. The sense of taste I got from the fish came from the roof and base of my beak along with the tongue in question.
<Tanya!> Rachel's voice echoed in my head. <Tanya, where are you?>
I looked around, midway through a swallow. Another osprey in the area, clearly female, flew nearby. She had similar coloring to me, and she looked to be about the same size. She wasn't competition for my fish, as I was already eating, but she was there.
Wait. She had the exact coloration I did. Add Rachel's voice…
<I'm over here,> I said, still eating my fish. I did attempt to try and direct where my voice was coming from. The specifics of this telepathy weren't something I had fully tested yet. <On the branch.>
The osprey in the air circled around once more, her eyes locking on me. She dove down, settling on a branch nearby. <Tanya, tell me you aren't eating a raw fish.>
<You've had sushi before,> I said.
<That was different!>
<And you're tempted to try some, aren't you?> I asked. <The bird wants to, doesn't it?>
<A little. Listen, you've been morphed for over an hour now,> Rachel said.
<An hour and thirty-five minutes, yes,> I said. Internally, I frowned. This was going to be cutting it a bit close. I finished off the fish, and I swooped to the ground. <I suppose I should morph back.>
<Probably a good idea. I'll do it with you, so that we are on the same timer.> Rachel followed me to the ground.
Morphing back to a human is not unlike morphing to an animal. The disturbing sounds are still there, and the pins and needles feeling does spread throughout the body. I wanted to keep my wings as long as possible, so I focused on changing those to my arms last. It was strange, but it wasn't hard to keep my wings there as I did it. However, I found that the morph almost didn't want to go that way. I had to coax it. Still, as I stood up on my human feet again, and gave a flap of my wings on my human body, I laughed.
Then I saw my sister. Rachel morphing was nothing short of horrifying. As the morph passed through her body, it changed in no logical order. Her head seemed to grow horrifyingly large first, before the body shifted, losing feathers, and her human legs stuck out, growing a little at a time. I wished I hadn't looked, as I needed to look away quickly. As she finished up the morphing, I shivered.
After all, the morphing technology didn't factor in clothing.
Rachel covered herself slightly, but it wasn't like we hadn't seen each other nude before. We were sisters, after all. "I really need to figure out how Cassie does it."
"Does what?" I asked.
"She figured out how to keep some clothes as she morphs back," Rachel said. "I guess it probably takes practice."
Must be fooling the technology into thinking the clothing was a part of the body, somehow. Maybe it was a self-image thing? If I had focused on wearing something like my gymnastics leotard, would I be able to morph back in that? Something to test later.
"I guess," I said.
"You should have morphed back at Cassie's farm," Rachel said. "I had to go in the barn and get the morph so I could follow you."
"You didn't need to follow me," I said. "I was keeping track of time."
"Yaya, you're my little sister. If Jordan or Sara did the same, I'd follow them too," Rachel said. "And what if you lost track of the time? You could have been stuck eating more fish like that every day. And not able to turn back."
I closed my eyes. "I wanted to fly."
"You could have waited. There were better times to do it," Rachel said. "Also, Jake, Tobias and Marco are coming by the farm. You should be there when they do."
I sighed, opening my eyes. She wasn't entirely wrong. Plus, being there would mean I could ensure that they would know at least some of what they were getting into. I could not allow them to make the same decisions I did. At least I had the excuse of not really being the age I appeared to be. They were. The idea of child soldiers is abhorrent, but in this case, there wasn't much choice.
"I guess seeing them could be good," I said. "I'm curious about Tobias and Marco. I don't know them that well."
"Marco's Jake's good friend," Rachel said. "I don't really know much more about him, but Jake doesn't have terrible judgement. For a boy. As for Tobias… well, we've both seen him around school."
I shrugged. They both seemed amiable enough, up until the events happened. But they were still children, not soldiers who had signed up for this. They all were. As was I, in practicality. "I suppose we can head back."
Rachel nodded. "I'll have to show you the newspaper when we get back." And she started to morph. I did the same.
Ninety seconds later, we had taken to the air. It was easier to keep the osprey at bay this time, maybe because I was less hungry.
<What's in the newspaper?> I asked, shifting to catch a thermal.
<News about last night,> she said. <They claim it was fireworks, set off by some kids. The police are looking for information about it.>
Controllers. So. They had infiltrated the police department as well. It made sense. Surely they couldn't have all the police under control, but all it would take was some key personnel.
<Fun.>
Rachel mentally snorted, but she followed me. As she caught a thermal of her own, she let out a cheer of joy. It would seem that she found some fun in the flight as well, now that she wasn't focused on finding me.
<Okay. I won't say that I'm not still a little mad,> Rachel said. <But I think I understand a little.>
<It's freeing, more than the parallel bars. Actual flight, rather than simulated,> I said as we soared our way toward Cassie's farm. I caught a glimpse of a dark-haired boy and a blond arriving on bicycles of their own. They looked to be at least ten minutes out. If we focused on our flight, we'd arrive in a fifth that time.
<Huh. Looks like that's Marco and Tobias already,> Rachel said. <I'm glad they came.>
<So, do you like Marco, or something?> I asked, not really able to stop myself. I wasn't entirely sure why I even cared. However, I had heard that sisters were supposed to tease each other sometimes about people they like. I won't say that I am perfect at it, but a little bit of levity can help morale when war is imminent. It worked with the 203rd. They certainly were happy when I showed them my own happiness, and morale raised. <I suppose he's cute enough.>
<What? No! Believe me, I do not like Marco, Yaya. Though… do you?> she asked.
<I don't know him well enough,> I said. <I have no real opinion of him outside of him being our cousin's friend.>
<Liking Marco. That's a laugh.> Rachel made to land, circling over Cassie's farm. Her voice came out as if she were whispering in my ear. <We do need to decide if we're telling the others about the Hork-Bajir and his weapon. You were almost caught.>
<And the cube?>
<We're telling them that we have it,> Rachel said. <But we'll hold onto it until we can figure out what to do with it.>
<Right. I don't think hiding a resource from the others would be a good thing,> I said. While operational security was something that we needed to drill on, hiding the fact that we had an alien weapon could only backfire in the future. <And you didn't mention the human host.>
<Tanya, the Hork-Bajir was the only host we killed, and we did it together. Understand?>
It occurred to me that I didn't know how good a liar my sister was. I guess I was about to find out.
<Understood. Yes ma'am.> I dove toward the farm, ready to land.
<Don't you ma'am me!> My sister followed, clearly annoyed.
Good.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Seriously, that guy's a fucking psychopath. Like a saturday morning cartoon villain who's actually allowed to kill people.
Wait till she finds out that he had to scour the fucking known galaxy for a collection of morphs comparable to what she could pick up at the zoo if they don't fuck up and get the Yeerks watching it.
Heh. Second-best estreen in the Animorphs?
I Wonder if Tanya is able to morph into a magicaly capable human
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
She has no idea how to build computation orbs, and I kind of doubt she'd get the Ellimist help she'd need to acquire her past life.
Chapter Eight
Ellf
Apprentice Wizard
- Location
- Virginia
Chapter Eight
When Rachel and I stepped out the front door of Cassie's house, fully clothed, Tobias and Marco were putting their bikes near ours. I walked over to grab my bag, making sure that the weights of both the cube and the Dracon beam were securely inside, and I slung it over my shoulders. I glanced over to Cassie as she ran around the field. I had no way of knowing precisely when she morphed, but I trusted that she would be responsible. I could attest to the fun morphing could be and couldn't blame her for enjoying herself.
My sister had greeted the boys before I made my way over to where they waited outside the barn. I gave a look over both boys with my human eyes. They wore different clothes than the night before, which wasn't entirely unexpected. Despite recent happenings, this was still real life. Even the 203rd had changes of uniform when on the Front.
"Tanya, right?" Marco asked as I approached. At my nod, he continued. "Good. Glad I didn't forget something despite the mind-melting horror of last night. God, I wish I could forget it."
"You aren't the only one," Rachel said.
"But it did happen," I said. "That much is undeniable. We now have the capability to morph."
"Yeah," Tobias said. "It's really cool!"
"Capability to morph?" Marco asked, giving me a sharp look. "What, did you swallow a dictionary?" He turned to Tobias. "And what's cool about it? It's freaky."
"You haven't tried yet, have you?" Rachel asked.
"And? With what happened last night…" Marco shook his head. "Let's wait till Jake gets here. There's something he needs to see, anyway."
Marco held out the newspaper, and I snatched it from him, my eyes locking on the article that Rachel mentioned. Reports about flying saucers… a dismissal from a police spokesperson, blaming the lights and sounds on teenagers at the scene that ran away… fireworks discovered at the scene. They were even looking for us, offering a reward for information. Interesting. It seemed our enemy had a very good incentive to try and keep us quiet. There was no mention of a missing woman or a presumed dead woman.
"Well. That isn't completely surprising, given what I heard some of the Human-Controllers saying last night," I said. "They wanted the Hork-Bajir to just kill us. Keep our heads for identification. I suspect now, they would possibly want us as hosts in order to not only keep us quiet, but the moment any of us were taken, they would gain the same ability as Visser Three."
"But they don't know that last part," Rachel said. "They just want to make sure they tie up loose ends."
"You know, I thought she was creepy," Marco said. "I guess it runs in the family."
"They're alien infiltrators whose win condition involves the entirety of humanity as hosts," I said. "Or at least as many of us as they possibly can have. Keeping the invasion silent until they can ensure compliance makes sense."
"She's right," Tobias said. "Especially given their weaknesses."
I looked at Tobias. He had stayed back with the Andalite, and while Prince Elfangor had recognized the meddling of Being X in me, had he also recognized something similar with Tobias? From what I knew of the boy, he had similar problems with schoolmates as I had. Jake helped him out, sure, but was it enough that Tobias had not needed to exercise his own capabilities? Perhaps the privacy that the Andalite had given Tobias was further support for him, as he had attempted with me.
"What weaknesses?" I asked.
"They can't stay in a host indefinitely," Tobias said. "They need to gain nutrition." He held up a hand, rubbing his head. "Sorry, I'm not even sure where this is coming from, really."
That was an impressive way to impart information without giving away the game. Professor Schugel and Mary Sioux had proven that there were other ways that Being X would interfere with not only my life but that of others. I was not so arrogant as to think that the demon's only existence was to focus on me, even if it felt that way at times.
Perhaps Prince Elfangor had given some advice for someone who had experienced interference, as he had me. Of course, outright revealing that I knew Tobias also had contact with an extraplanar being was right out. He likely guessed the same about myself, but as he hadn't said anything, I would respect his choice. Instead, I would focus on what he meant by his statements. "What do you mean, nutrition? They aren't able to absorb what they need from their hosts?"
Tobias shook his head. "I… It's complicated. I'm still sorting some things out. But they can't be there more than three days without getting something called Kandrona Rays. They need to absorb them every three days or they starve."
"Well, that's helpful," Marco said. "And just what are those?"
Tobias shrugged. "Something to do with Yeerk Pools and… It's a lot."
"It is," Rachel said, smiling at him. "But any information is better than what we have. Do either of you know when Jake's coming?"
"He said he had some chores to do before he could come," Tobias said. "I had time to head home and grab my bike. I think he shouldn't be that much longer."
"You were at Jake's place?" Marco asked. "What were you doing?"
"Morphing," Tobias said. "I turned into Dude, and he turned into Homer."
I knew Homer was Jake's dog from the last time we visited him. It had been a couple years, but I remembered the golden retriever as a friendly thing. Both Jordan and I had been far more interested in playing with the puppy than in whatever Tom, Rachel and Jake had been doing. It was an understandable first morph for our cousin. I assumed Dude was another pet.
"What did end up happening to you, last night? You were separated from us when everything happened." Tobias frowned. Perhaps, given his origins, he expected more from me. Staying with the group might have been a prudent matter in most cases, but we all did survive.
"I was on the other side of the clearing," I said. "It made more sense to separate."
"We'll only do the story once everyone's here," Rachel said. "But Tanya's safe. Obviously."
"With the separation, how do we know that Tanya's not one of them? Do we even know if—"
A resounding smack came as my sister punched Marco in the jaw. Her lip was curled into a snarl as she stood over the Hispanic boy "Don't you ever say that again."
"What?" Marco asked, rubbing his jaw. "We don't know!"
"I know!" Rachel yelled. "I know what happened with Tanya, and I know where she was."
"And what about you?" asked Marco. "How are we supposed to know about you too?"
This was unacceptable. While the paranoia about the whole situation was understandable, dissension in the ranks was not something that we could afford at this point. There were merely the six of us, after all. Infighting would cause worse problems, not allowing us to focus on those who were necessary. The Yeerks could only benefit if that happened.
"Marco," I said calmly. "If either of us were Controllers, would the paper be asking for information about us?"
"What was that?" Jake asked as he came up to the barn. He looked between Rachel, Marco and myself, frowning. The disappointment that he obviously felt was evident in his voice. "What are you doing?"
"Your friend made a comment about Tanya," Rachel said. "He thought she might be a Controller."
"I didn't say she was! I just said how do we know? And then you go off and hit me!" Marco said, climbing to his feet and rubbing his chin. "You hit hard, for a girl."
As my sister's eyes flashed with anger, Jake spoke up. "Marco, Rachel, stop. Hold on a second. I'm a little behind here. What's going on?"
I grabbed the paper and walked it over to my cousin. "You should read this."
Jake took the paper from me, and his eyes scanned over the very article that we had all focused on. His face went through a variety of emotions as he read. He paused, clearly about halfway down. "Cool. So, the cops know about it now. That's a relief."
I shook my head.
"Read further," Rachel said, gesturing to the paper. She'd given a baleful glance at Marco once more before focusing on our cousin.
Jake looked back down, and anger flashed through him. It was obvious. "But… that's a lie! They're lying. This is a total lie."
"Ding ding ding ding! Correct answer. Johnny, tell our contestant what he's won." Marco rubbed his chin again as he frowned despite his flippance.
"Did you see the last part?" Rachel asked.
Jake glanced back down again.
"They're looking for us," Marco said.
"Why would they… But why would the police lie?" Jake asked. He clearly knew the answer already, but he didn't want to voice it, lest it be true.
Marco laughed derisively. Foolish boy. Perhaps his status as Jake's friend would let him get away with it, or perhaps our cousin just had some good will to him. Marco said, "Let's see, Captain Brilliant – could it be because they're Controllers?"
"Likely not all the police," I said.
"Definitely not all of them," said Tobias.
"But it begs the question, who else could be them?" Rachel asked. "Teachers? People in the government? News reporters? People on TV?"
"Chapman," I said calmly. "That one Controller at the construction site mentioned him by name."
Jake's eyes widened. "What?"
"A woman ordered a Hork-Bajir near me," I said. "Said that Chapman ordered that the kids be killed, leaving only the heads for identification."
Jake blinked, and he snapped his fingers. "I knew that voice was familiar."
"Of course," Marco said. "Our Vice-Principal is an alien. It all makes sense now."
A nervous bout of laughter went through them all, and we all found ourselves quiet. It was a good reminder that they were all children, and this had been thrust upon them. They did not excel at an area, nor did they choose this war that was coming. I sympathized with them. In an ideal world, there would be no war, no Yeerks, merely a lasting peace that could stand the test of time.
This world was far from ideal, and with the interference of something like Being X, it would only get worse. These children were my responsibility, my new 203rd to worry about. There was no rear lines to hide behind here, but we had to do this smartly.
Marco spoke up after a minute of silence, giving voice to some of my concerns. "Look. Why do we have to deal with this at all? I say we just forget it. We never talk about it. We never morph. We just deal with our lives."
"Could you?" I asked as both Tobias and Rachel looked to Jake, expecting him to say something. "Could you really forget about it? Could you stop yourself from doing something, anything, knowing something is wrong?"
A hand was placed on my shoulder. Jake's. He squeezed it in a supporting manner. I stopped speaking.
"Marco, look. I halfway agree with you, b—"
"We could get killed!" Marco yelled. "Don't you get it? You all saw what happened with the Andalite! And there's a kid here. Do you really want your little cousin fighting this? This is radical stuff, Jake. This is real. Real! We could all get killed!"
I glanced at Marco, frowning. These were thoughts that I'd had about the last war, ones I kept inside. The difference there was that I was actually in the military. As a member of the military, I would have been expected to perform at a level required by my rank. Of course, I made sure that there were no flaws in my performance, as my brass were clearly warmongering maniacs and who knew what they would have done to me if I failed them? Here, however… Marco was a child, and so were the others. No child should fight in a war. No child should be forced to be a soldier.
Marco shook his head. "Look. I think these Controllers are jerks. But if something happened to me… my dad… after Mom, I don't think he'd be able to take it. No, he wouldn't be able to handle it."
Ah. Worry about family. That I understood. "You aren't being a coward, Marco. You care about your father."
Marco nodded. "If something happened to me. If I died? He would too. He's only hanging in there because of me."
I offered him a small, reassuring smile. The sickly grin I got in response had to be because of his worry about his father. "You don't need to fight, Marco. There are many things that can be done to support the effort that don't involve fighting."
Marco nodded again, and he looked around. "So, where's the last member of our group?"
"There's Cassie," Rachel said, nodding at the field.
I had to shield my eyes a little to catch a glimpse of the black horse that she had morphed. Her mane shimmered in the breeze as she galloped toward us. She clearly was enjoying her time in the morph, and given what horses were like, I could understand it. I almost was curious to try that morph myself, but I wanted to master the osprey first. The new instincts that the morph introduced were interesting, and for a brief moment, I was reminded of the trout in my stomach. At least, I thought it was trout. It might have been another fresh water fish. I would need to check out some sort of fish identification.
"We've been here a while," Rachel said. "And Cassie's gotten pretty good at it. Tanya can do some, but look at how fast Cassie can go."
Cassie nickered softly, nodding her head to me, and then her form began to melt away from her. The long muzzle of the horse became a human mouth, and her eyes became human. She paused for a second, grinning widely, still with horse teeth.
"Hey kids!" Cassie said.
Marco fell down to the ground hard on his rear. I suppose that he had yet to actually see a morphing outside of what Visser Three had done the night before.
As Cassie continued her morph, I saw what Rachel had mentioned when she came to get me. She had somehow managed to keep a skintight blue aerobics outfit on. She continued her morph in such a way as to keep herself half human and half horse, looking almost like a mythical centaur as her hands came out yet all four legs remained. It was honestly, quite impressive. I would have to work hard to pull something like that off, and she seemed to do it with little effort.
Then suddenly, we heard the squeal of tires on gravel, and as a group, we spun around. Down the road came a black and white car, clearly marked with the local police department's logo.
"The cops!" Tobias stated the obvious.
Jake let out a word that normally he wouldn't, and he glanced back at Cassie. "Cassie! Morph! Now! We do not want to explain a half-horse, half-person."
"Which way?" Cassie wailed, almost a whinny. She looked like she was fighting the urge to rear up in fear. "Horse or human?" She didn't completely fight it off, as she partly reared on her hind legs.
I suppose that even partially morphed, the horse still had an influence on her psyche. The strength of its instincts probably combined with the adrenaline to make her want to just run.
"Human, human, human!" Jake said, and he glanced at the rest of us. "Quick, everyone in front of her. Tanya, you stand out front of all of us."
Without thinking about it, we all moved to comply, blocking the view of Cassie from anyone just as the police car came to a stop, tires squealing between the brakes and gravel. The driver's side door opened, revealing a dark-haired patrol officer, dressed in police blues. He had a pair of aviator sunglasses on as he walked up to us.
My cousin, for some reason, was waving at the officer.
"Afternoon," he said. He looked at the four of us curiously. "You kids, uh… hiding something?"
I deferred to the others, without looking back. Cassie was supposed to be quick on the morph, and as long as the officer didn't see it, and she was human by the end, things would be fine.
"Hiding something?" Jake asked, but his voice cracked somewhat. That sort of thing would need to be drilled out of him when presenting to an enemy force. Yes, while the officer might not have been an enemy, at this point, it was best to treat most interactions with people as if they were enemies.
"Yeah," said the officer, pulling off his sunglasses. "Looks like. Step aside, all of you."
Calmly, I ran myself through a mental formula that I was certain wouldn't work as we stepped aside. If Cassie had not finished morphing, I would have to deal with this officer in some fashion. I needed to start carrying knives on me, at the least, if I could not acquire some sort of firearm that wasn't a Yeerk weapon.
Luckily, that choice was unnecessary today. Cassie had finished morphing back to human while we hid her, and she stood in place, just giving the officer a daring look. For the first time, I wondered if Cassie had had negative interactions with the police in the past.
Of course, the officer looked puzzled at Cassie being there, but he shrugged.
"Can we help you, officer?" Rachel asked. She sounded responsible.
"We're making some inquiries," said the officer. "We're looking for some kids who were shooting off fireworks at the construction site across from the mall last night."
Marco suddenly started to cough, and I walked over to him and rubbed his back.
"Something wrong with him?" asked the officer.
"Nope," Jake said. "Not at all."
"Something went down wrong," Marco said, rubbing his throat. "I think I swallowed a bug or something."
The officer winced slightly. "Right. Look. We want these kids. We want them real bad. See, it was dangerous what they did. Could have been someone hurt. So, we want to find the kids."
I blinked. Would that all the alien parasites were this obvious. This officer clearly was not the one piloting his own body. No officer would outright admit to possible suspects that they want the kids "real bad." I asked, "pardon me, officer, but what is it you would want us to do?"
"Any information you can give, if you know anything at all about the construction site last night, you should tell me," said the officer.
"Sorry, don't know anything," said Jake. "None of us were anywhere near there last night."
The officer nodded, and he looked closely at Jake. I wondered what was going through the Yeerk's head as he examined our cousin, but I suspected that I would find out soon.
"You know what? You look kind of familiar," said the officer. "You look a lot like a young man I know, named Tom."
Oh. That was not a good sign.
"He's my brother," Jake said. He was doing an excellent job of concealing his worry from the officer, at least beyond the normal talking to police worry. Still, telling the officer that information did not seem right. If my suspicions were correct, it would not surprise me if Tom, Jake's older brother, was more than he seemed lately.
Dealing with that would make things hard.
"Oh, Tom's your brother, eh? Well, he's a good kid. I know him from The Sharing. I'm one of the adult supervisors for it. Great group, The Sharing. You should come to a meeting." The officer seemed intent on Jake for that moment.
"Yeah, um… Tom invited me to it already," Jake said. "I'm thinking about it."
"You should," said the officer. "We have a lot of fun. It's a great place to meet some new friends and reconnect with old ones. You all should come by."
"We'll think about it," Rachel said.
"Yeah," Jake said.
The officer nodded, and he reached into his pocket, pulling out business cards. He handed out one to each of us. "Well, make sure you call me if you hear something, anything, about those kids in the construction site. I should warn you—they might come up with some wild and crazy story to conceal their guilt. But you all are too smart to be fooled by that, aren't you?"
"He's a regular genius," said Marco with a grin. "So's she, I suppose." He gestured at me afterward.
The officer nodded, and he took down our information. "I have some more to do today, but please, call that number and leave a message if I don't answer."
We all nodded, and the officer got back into his patrol car and drove off down the road, presumably to go and bother more kids about the night before.
Once he was safely away, Rachel turned to each of us. "Okay, rule number one, we don't do anything to attract attention. We need to make sure we stay secretive, keep everything a secret. Especially morphing."
"Yeah, I guess that was stupid of me," Cassie said. "Sorry. Just… man! It's so amazing running like that. Out in the open spaces, running and running…" She had a wide smile on her face.
"I can't blame you," Rachel said. "But we need to be careful about the demorph too."
"How'd you do clothes?" Jake asked. "When Tobias and I did it… well, let's just say it's a good thing none of you girls were there and leave it at that."
"Tanya and I also had that problem," Rachel said. "Cassie did too at first."
"I did," she said. "But I figured out after a little trial and error that the skintight clothes can work. No clue what we'll do come winter."
We would have to start keeping stashes of clothing around town, if that happened. And we'd need to check on them, to be certain that they were good areas to morph and morph back.
"That won't be a problem," Marco said. He crossed his arms. "Because there isn't going to be any more morphing."
"Maybe Marco is right," Rachel said, giving me a long look. "This is big. Maybe too big for us. We're just kids, after all. We need to tell someone important. Someone we can trust."
"How can we trust anyone?" Tobias asked. "Anyone could be a Controller. And if we happen to find the one person who isn't, what if they tell someone who is? The wrong person told, and we're dead. Or worse. And the world is doomed. Besides, we were given this power."
"And I don't want to stop using it," Cassie said. "You all realize what we could do with this power, right? We could communicate with animals, maybe. Help save some endangered species."
"If we lose, humans could become the next endangered species, Cassie," Tobias said.
"What do you say, Jake?" Cassie asked.
"Me?" Jake asked. He looked over to me. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Marco's right. We could all get killed. Rachel's right in that this is way too major for a group of kids. But Tobias is right too. The whole world is in danger, and we can't trust anyone."
"Except each other," I said. "And those whom we vet somehow."
"Oh, you have an idea on how to 'vet' someone?" Marco asked.
"Everything has a weakness," I said. "If we figure a way to deal with the Yeerk inside, possibly by starving it, possibly by other methods, we suddenly have a former host."
"And then what?" asked Marco. "They can't go back."
He wasn't wrong about that. However… "They'd be free, and necessarily grateful to us."
"Unless they were volunteers," Tobias said. "Remember, the Andalite said that some hosts volunteer."
"And what would they do? Besides give us information?" asked Marco.
"Help us fight," I said.
"With what?" Jake asked. "Marco and Tobias are both right here, Tanya. Even if we could free a host safely, would they be able to do anything?"
"They could use the same power we have," Rachel said. She nodded to me. "Show them."
I slipped my bag off my shoulder and opened it up. I reached in and pulled out the small blue cube that we'd used the night before.
"That's…" Marco frowned. "The right people… maybe. But finding them…"
"I also acquired this," I said, pulling out the Dracon beam. I held it out for a second before dropping it back into my bag and covering it with the papers. I also placed the cubic device back inside.
"How?" Tobias asked. "What happened?"
"We got the drop on a Hork-Bajir last night," Rachel said. "And we used that to kill it and get rid of it. It's how we got away."
I nodded. "And with that and the device… we could maybe find someone to help."
"But we would need to trust them first," Tobias said. "And that's hard to do when we can't tell who has a Yeerk in them or not."
Jake nodded.
"So, what should we do?" Rachel asked, looking at our cousin.
"It's not really up to me to decide," he said. He wasn't wrong. This decision, though it affected all of us, was about whether we should do something dangerous, even if it's to save the world.
"Maybe we should vote on it," Rachel said.
"I vote we live long enough to at least get our driver's licenses," Marco said. Then he looked at me. "Oh, and a couple years beyond that, I guess."
"I vote we do what the Andalite said – Let's fight!" Tobias said. He gave Marco a sharp look.
"You've never even been in a fight, and now you want to go and be Bruce Lee?" Marco asked. "You can't even handle the punks at school. Hell, she handles them better than you. Suddenly now, you want to go and kick the butt of that Visser Three creepo?"
Tobias said nothing, but I could tell he was holding back an affirmation of his experience. The influence that Being X must have had on his life was none of Marco's business, but it clearly made him want to fight.
Rachel looked at me and frowned before looking at Tobias. "I'm honestly not sure. Even with the box, we can't just dump this on someone else. I don't think I could look the other way. But Tanya's here."
"I will abide by the decision of the group," I said.
"And it's a decision we could wait and think over," Cassie said. "It's a big decision. It's not like we're trying to decide between pants and a skirt."
"Yeah, let's wait for a while," Jake said. "In the meantime, we don't say anything to anyone about it. We go back to a normal life. Rachel, Tanya, keep those things hidden. Until we have a better place to hide them, I'm going to have to trust you."
"Got it," Rachel said, and I nodded. "And we'll do our best to act normally."
"Good. In the spirit of that," Jake said. "Marco, want to come over for the afternoon?"
"Sure," Marco said. "It'll be good to not worry about some things."
"Before you go," I said. "Can I talk with you, Jake? In private?"
"Sure, I guess," he said. "What about? If you can say out here."
I grimaced. I didn't want to bring up everything in front of the group and possibly undermine his perceived authority. I doubted it would hurt too much, and this was too important to wait on.
"It's about Tom."
The thing he's not realizing is that ignoring it doesn't make it stop being real.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Did Tanya pick up that the cop is an obvious Controller, and guess that Tom's probably one too based on the shared membership in a creepy cult?
You know? It's kind of nice for the Animorph crew to have someone like Tanya around. They could be rather. . .willfully blind at times from what I remember of the books, and would need to have things beaten into their heads in order for things to sink in, hopefully with Tanya's more mature outlook they'll be able to avoid some of their earlier mistakes.