Tobias and Me 9

Me and the other Animorphs had done some risky things in the past. Our first mission was at a Yeerk pool and later we had followed a strange message. Luckily the latter had led us to Ax, Elfangor’s younger brother. So breaking into a Yeerk base to steal a ship to fly back home wasn’t exactly out of the norm.

What did make this seem different, at least to me, was that I was bringing Cat on this mission. Even though there was no other choice, the fact was that this was her first mission and I didn’t know how she would handle it.

Would she make it so that we couldn’t complete the mission or would she not let anything faze her?

Remember, act natural. I reminded her as we entered the base.           

I know! She shouted.

I was very glad that I had told her multiple times about private thought speak as we walked towards the base. If I didn’t, that shout would’ve given us away.

As we were stopped by the guards, I grew highly nervous. What if they asked us something and then I couldn’t reply? I couldn’t understand the Hork-Bajir Controllers on Earth so how would I understand these ones?

Fortunately all it turned out I had to do was act confident. I looked them in the eyes as they talked and acted like I knew what they were saying. I had used the same tactic with my Aunt and Uncle. I pretended to act like I gave a shit so that they would act like they cared. In the brief moments they felt like acting as if they cared so they could give themselves a little ego boost.

This worked on the guards as they thought that I was actually listening when I didn’t know what the Hell they were saying. I looked at Cat, through the corner of my eye, to see how she was holding up. She seemed a little nervous but she was acting calm enough. Hopefully she didn’t do anything that would alert the Controllers to the fact that we were just two scared kids.

The guards waved us through after a few minutes.

Why didn’t they ask you why you didn’t have a Dracon beam? Cat asked as she patted her own that was on her leg.

 I assume they were reprimanding me for losing mine. I replied. You did give me a few cuts so it looked like I had been in a fight.

You’re sure the Yeerks can be fooled like that?

Hopefully.

With that we continued walking towards the Bug fighters. I did my best to not arouse suspicion and Cat tried to walk around confidently. There were more types of Controllers than just Hork-Bajir and I really hoped we didn’t have to fight any of them. Especially Taxxons who were just creepy. Any creature that was known for being a cannibal and self-cannibal wasn’t one I wanted to be around.

As we were close to the Bug fighters I heard some shouting and turned my head towards the sound. Shit! How would a Controller react? I didn’t know what the Hork-Bajir Controller was saying so I couldn’t even form a way to deceive him.

I was preparing to act annoyed with the Controller and suddenly I heard a Dracon beam go off. I went into a defensive stance and then saw it had been Cat firing her Dracon beam.

Guess they weren’t fooled. Cat said.

Figured that out. I replied.

So what’s the plan now?

Run to a ship and hope we don’t die.

She didn’t seem happy about that and I didn’t blame her. We were so close to escaping and now the chances of her dying on an alien planet had just been upped.

Before I could get too far into worry, a Hork-Bajir came up to me and I had to block his blades with my arm. I twisted away before he could seriously wound me but I wasn’t able to land a blow myself. Not even when I had tried to head butt him with my head blades after I had gotten up.

The Controller died from one of Cat’s Dracon beams blasts and I picked up his Dracon beam. I didn’t bother with the settings as I couldn’t tell how to read them and I just assumed that they had been set to kill. It didn’t seem like he had had time to readjust to stun.

I aimed at a Taxxon Controller and watched him go down.

Taxxon. I told Cat. Cannibalistic space worm, basically.

I watched as some of the Taxxon Controllers got distracted by the dying Controller. It was what made the Taxxons horrible. The fact that they would forget everything when presented with fresh meat was more than a little disturbing. Hell, the Yeerks couldn’t control them from that instinct.

Well…most of the Yeerks as now some Controllers, both Hork-Bajir and Taxxon, were coming after us. I raised my Dracon beam and pointed to a Bug fighter.

Let’s go to the one that’s three fighters over to the right of that one. I told Cat and she nodded.

As we raced over to the fighter, we shot back at the oncoming Controllers. While Hork-Bajir were a walking arsenal, guns did help. Some of their blasts singed my skin and I tried not to let the burns distract me. I couldn’t let them distract me.

The fight soon became a cacophony and I could tell Cat was having some trouble. She had never really heard anything, at least not to the degree a Hork-Bajir does. They have hearing that is even better than a human who is able bodied.

Soon we were rushing inside the fighter with Cat bringing up the rear. I had more experience with a Bug fighter so I had to go first. I wanted her to go in first but that wouldn’t be wise. I quickly shut the door to the fighter and raced to where I could pilot the thing.

I was soon speeding up through the air out into space. As I was rushing to try and figure out the Z-space controls, something struck me. It was Cat. She was more than just a human to be saved to me. She was something more.

I wanted to be with her no matter how little time that would be. I wanted to fly with her and have picnics in my meadow with her.

“Tobias!” Cat shouted and I came back to the present.

“Sorry.” I said as I dodged fire from other Bug fighters.

Just as a killing blast was headed our way, we went into Z-space with me hoping that our next destination would be Earth.

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All of Tobias and Me