Falling! Falling! I seemed to be falling through an endless void, a void with nothing but lights and colors and emptiness. I was falling and spinning and confused, overwhelmed and crushed and dying. No oxygen. No stopping. No hope.
Then. something something beneath me. Hard. Smooth. A floor. I think I might have been glad of this, except I couldn't really think that well yet. I was conscience, but not totally. Sort of like when you wake up on the weekend and you're awake, but not awake enough to know you're awake? Anyway, I was just lying there stupidly for a second, then I felt a slight breeze as my mask was being lifted off, then the motion of being dragged. Then I stopped. At that point I came to. I came to in stunning effect.
"Yahhh!"
<Ahhh!> Both voices, regular talk and thought-speech, because that was what it was, paused.
<SANDRA?>
"Okay, I'm not even going to ask you how you can talk OR how you know my name. But I AM going to ask this: Can you help me here?"
There was another, long pause. <Why are you trusting me? I could kill you right now.>
" A little voice in my head is telling me you're not gonna, okay, Monkey-boy? Now can you please help me here? Ms. Patty Duke Vader came out of that portal, and is probably gonna be fried if we don't help her."
<Um, whatever you say, Ms. P- duck!> I heard a zap. Dracon beam.
"We are SO audi!" I felt big hairy arms grab me. Now, I guess I could have said something to show my conscious-ness, but I didn't. I guess I was just a little shocked by the situation. I mean, first I learn that my principal is this inter-galactic slug from the far reaches of the science-fiction universe. Then I learn that this dance is by the same kind of smart tapeworms. Then I jump through this inter-dimension portal which could have substituted for the one in Star Gate and find myself in the Animorph universe.
Millu would- oh no. Millu! She was back there. Facing Hork-Bajir. I hadn't realized. I was absolutely horrified. I mean, Millu is tough, but Hork-Bajir? Hork-Bajir? She was good as dead. And I had done this. I felt sick. I probably cried, except that the foul black air around me burned my skin, and evaporated any tears I may have shed instantly, so there was no way to tell. Marco was obviously running as well as a gorilla could run, and I finally realized that the air was smoke, and recalled reading from some book that smoke was worse than fire, and tried to hold my breath.
I sympathized for Marco. You try running in a big muscle-prone body that bends over like that. Then try it in smoke. The girl he was with was coughing, but was more or less okay. My mind began to race. Girl? What girl? Who was she? I dismissed Animorph-hood; she had obviously no idea who (or what for that matter) Marco was. So was she an innocent bystander who happened to trust telepathic gorillas? Or was this AN Animorph universe, not THE Animorph universe, where some things were book-smart but others out of whack? These thoughts, of course, gave me no answers.
Suddenly, the heaving ape stopped. I could sense through my eyelids that we were in darker territory. Where were we?
<Good. You're al-riiiiiiigggghht. Um, why is SHE here? And who's that?>
<I honestly don't have the slightest idea. I was just trying to find my way through the smoke, and then here she is, carrying some unconscience Star Wars Olsen twin wannabe here, and asking for my help. I'm thinking a Controller would not do this unless they were high on oatmeal, so what else should I have done?>
I took a deep breath. The air here was better than the outside, but it still stank. "Actually, Marco, I would prefer not to be called 'Star Wars Olsen twin wannabe'."
I hit the floor. I guess they were just slightly surprised. "Marco?" I heard the girl ask. "Did you just say Marco?"
I was not in the best possible situation. My eyes were blinded by the smoke and I was lost, alone in the enemy's stronghold. The Yeerks had most likely put on the air filtering system, but it would be several minutes until the compound would be filtered entirely.
<Prince Jake! Cassie!> I yelled. <Marco! Tobias! Rachel!>
No answer. Probably they are hiding somewhere, I told myself. They're probably fine and in hiding. It would be easy to be out of thought-speak range here. At least that was what I hoped. I stopped. There was a presence around me. The smoke hid them, but they were there. I didn't know what they were, but I found that out quickly
<Ahh!> Hork-Bajir! Everywhere! As if they had been waiting.
"Hurokarg Andalite!" one of them shouted. There could have been twenty of them, at the minimum. The smoke kept hiding some of them, so I couldn't count. But it didn't matter. Too many.
They piled onto each other, each wanting a piece of me. Despite the hopelessness, I fought. My tail-blade delivered glancing blows. But there were too many. They had surrounded me. I couldn't keep it up much longer. Eventually, I was knocked down by one of them. He leveled his Dracon Beam to finish me off. He said nothing, but an evil grin spread across his face. He was just about to pull the trigger, but then…
FFWWAAP! He went down. FFWWAAAP! FWWWAPPPP! FFWWAAAAAPPPPP! Two others joined him on the floor. The third Hork-Bajir dodged, and I was able to catch a glimpse of this new threat.
It was an Andalite. To be more specific, it was an Andalite female. I don't know which shocked me more. Not to be chauvinistic. The reason this stunned me is simple: females were not permitted into the military. So how did she get to Earth?
But this was not the time to freeze. I had to help her, whoever she was. I got up and tried to help her. But it was impossible. Even with two Andalites you could not overcome twenty Hork-Bajir. She read my mind.
<We can't fight here. We must retreat or we will be destroyed.>
<Agreed,> I said and looked for an exit. The Hork-Bajir had surrounded us, but there was small gap in the circle. We fought our way through and began running. They were right behind us.
<Over there!> I yelled.
An air vent. A very large one at that, big enough so that we only had to duck slightly. I took the cover off and we dodged inside. The Hork-Bajir went to crawl after us, but after awhile lost them. We stood there a moment, ducking our heads, gasping for air in a big, black, round air ventilation system.
<Who are you?> I asked her, after a moment.
<My name is Jeka-Linquan-Vahac. Who are you?>
<I am aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.>
<Hmm. You look like one. An aristh, I mean. You're awfully young. Not that I should comment. Well, as long as we're exchanging ranks, I might as well tell you my rank: terrylprej warrior, from the Macolvetir academy. So, you must be one of the "Andalite bandits" the Yeerks keep mentioning, no?>
<Yes,> I answered. Macolvetir. I vaguely remembered something called that on the home world, but it hadn't meant anything to me then. Suddenly I was suspicious.
<Wait. How did you get here?>
<I morphed one of the Controllers and got past a Gleet BioFilter. Oh, you mean how I got to Earth in general?> She quickly explained the situation. I was shocked but still tried to digest this as she rushed on. For good reason. We began to trot as well as we could in the cramped space.
<So Darij, Malitike, and Yuoptrew have escaped but I don't know where they are, nor do we know the location of your Andalite friends.> She thought for a moment. <I guess we should explore these vents, I guess; one of them might be in here.>
<Yes,> I agreed. I hesitated. Should I tell her about the "Andalite bandits"? What took place on the Ascalin was still painfully clear in my mind. On the other hand, she had obviously fought against the Yeerks. She had saved my life. So how could I withhold this information from her?
<Je-> I began
<Look!> Jeka said suddenly.
Just ahead of us, the solid floor beneath us gave way to a thin wire sheet of holes. We could see below to the room beneath. It was small, pale blue in color. It was jammed full of various types of machinery. A storage room. There were four Hork-Bajir there. We tried to make as little noise as possible as we gingerly moved across the panel. We continued walking. Then shuffle, shuffle. We froze.
<Did you hear that?> Jeka asked.
<Yes.>
Shuffle, shuffle. Shuffle, shuffle. Jeka looked at me. <Someone's in the tunnel.>
<Maybe we should move.>
<Absolutely.>
We trotted a little faster. Suddenly the vent parted. The right vein seemed to swerve down. The left branch seemed to go up a slanting ways.
<Which way?>I asked.
<I don't know,> she said, seeming a tad irritated.
<Up?>
<Fine with me.>
We went into the left vent and started to walk up the slightly slanted floor. Suddenly we reached the top. The vent became darker. I could barely see. We continued, feeling our way through the darkness. We walked there ten minutes, unable to see. But then, a light. Something of a high-tech version of a human flashlight. And then I could see. And what I saw were many, many Taxxons. All with Dracon Beams.
<Oh boy,> Jeka whispered.
I had been walking along a compound wall, scraping past the back of buildings. The smoke was starting to clear. I could see in feet now, not inches. Not that sight was that important to a wolf. What was important to the wolf was that it could now smell something besides smoke. I was looking for an under-compound facility. When we were at Erek's, I had seen a few of these little rooms under the main compound. I had asked him about them. Erek didn't know what they were for, but that they were probably just for bulk storage and that he doubted many Yeerks went down there. Which was what I then was hoping, trying to find a latch to one of the things. I remembered that most of them had connected to the compound from the edge of it, sort of encircling from below, and I prayed that the others would think the same thing and that I would meet one of them. If there's anything worse than just coming out of a battle and being trapped within your enemy's walls, it's facing these horrors alone.
It took a good twenty minutes before I found one. I practically jumped for joy. The smoke was now fully gone and it would have been a matter of minutes before some Controller thought of looking behind the buildings. Everybody was on a high state of alert. Escaped Andalites, escaped, meddlesome "Andalite bandits", destroyed portal, Visser on his way, blah, blah, blah. I caught bits of talk from between the buildings. I'd be so dead if I was caught I didn't even want to think about it. Thus, I was glad when I found it. With my teeth I opened the door and walked down the steps. I looked around in my wolf body. Small. Blue. Crowded.
<Cool,> I whispered. <This is per-> Sounds! I ducked into an empty crate and shut the back where I had jumped in. It was stuffy and uncomfortable. I also couldn't see a thing, but this was not a problem. I could still hear. So I listened. Hork-Bajir. Three of them. Great.
<This was so NOT the plan,> I muttered. They were talking, some English and some of the Hork-Bajir's own, natural language. Suddenly, I heard several stomping noises. A fourth Hork-Bajir burst into the room from the stairs I had taken.
"Rokar Andalites," the new one gasped. There was a brief pause.
"How many?" another asked.
"Two. Headed into hyrolifew system."
"Send Taxxons," one said. "Block their fopira. Can't wequar. Visser will defrub your zoplikra."
I then heard an odd, mechanized sound, something like vvvvvvRRRRRRRzzzzzzzz.
"Querkaar the Taxxons. Andalites in the hyrolifew system." Suddenly, I heard several small, padded sounds that seemed to come from above the room. The Hork-Bajir did not hear them. A small chill crawled up my back. I suddenly had some idea what the heck "hyrolifew" meant. Trying to make as little noise as possible, I pushed open the back of the crate I was in. I was hidden by the huge amount of junk in the room. I needed to warn them and I need to warn them now. I didn't know whether they meant the Animorphs or the escaped Andalites Tobias had heard about, but I needed to warn them. Behind the thingamabobs in the room I demorphed. I had no choice. Morph-time was low and the wounds I had gotten during the battle were finally starting to affect me. Also, I needed to be human for what I was about to do. I crawled on my hands and knees and reached the stairs. I went up them terrified that one of the Hork-Bajir would see me. They didn't. I stepped out of the room and into the compound. By this time the Controllers were checking behind the buildings. One of them, a man, maybe thirty years old, ran to me.
"Did you see them?" he gasped.
He probably would be one of the Yeerks who would have their zoplikra defrubed if the Andalites got away, I guessed. He looked like was about to have a nervous breakdown. I shook my head vigorously and he continued running, eyes wide, hair tangled. I took a deep breath (a good feeling; the smoke had kept me from taking one for an eternity) and started running the opposite way, looking for an opening, hoping desperately that the Taxxons had yet to get them. Then, opening! But not an open opening.
"Oh, no," I whispered.
You see, a virtual army of Taxxons, all armed with Dracon beams, were marching into a ventilation system opening. I looked for a morphing place, but couldn't find one, except for in a crowd of Controllers that came by like a tidal wave. I took another deep breath and jumped into it. I focused on the wolf. After I finished morphing I ran all-out into the system. I heard a shout go up and a Dracon flash. But I was already in the vent, running to catch up with the Taxxons. I would take them from behind, I told myself. I would take them from behind. But first I would have to catch up with them. As I ran, however, I started to think. I began to realize why the vents were so large. They were not merely the filtering system, they were also Taxxon tubes. Like the Geoffrey's tubes in Star Trek, a place where Taxxons could work on technical stuff throughout the compound. That's why they had sent the Taxxons. The very vents had been designed for their use. With their superior agility in the tunnels, the Dracon beams, and just the number of them, the Yeerks planned to take them down. It was up to me.
Ultra Morphs 1, Part 7- Exit, Stage Right!