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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