The Alien Page 5
It’s a wonderful book.
The book told me many useful things. It took humans only sixty-six years to go from inventing the first flying machine to landing on the moon. It took Andalites almost three times as long.
Humans are a very clever species. Someday, if they survive, they could be one of the great races of the galaxy.
Of course, Andalites will always be greater.
I was standing by the stream, with one hoof in the water, drinking, when my stalk eyes saw a swift shadow falling from the sky.
Tobias opened his wings and shot just over my head.
He had kept most of his speed, so he swiftly disappeared above the trees. But a moment later he was back, with four other large birds of prey following him.
Tobias took a position on a branch. The others landed on the ground. I knew then it was the other Animorphs.
They quickly began to demorph. Prince Jake grew out of a falcon’s racing body. Rachel emerged from a huge bald eagle. Cassie and Marco had both acquired osprey morphs, and were now becoming human again.
I felt a tingling of worry. They had obviously been searching for me, and were in a hurry.
But just at that point, Marco crossed the line from thought-speaking morph back to human. His human mouth was still a beak, however, so he just squawked.
I watched Cassie as she made the change. Cassie is a natural estreen: a person with an ability to make morphing almost artistic. On my planet it is an art form. There are professional estreens who change shape in fantastic, beautiful ways.
Cassie was not a professional, but she had the talent. As she morphed, she formed pleasant shapes. For a while she had an enlarged osprey’s head, as large as a human head, and vast wings attached to a human body.
When the others morph, they are much less subtle. For them, human parts simply ooze out, while feathers melt away. It is very unappealing. The humans find it frightening and disgusting as well, I believe. And they even recognize that Cassie has a talent for morphing.
“What did you do?!” Marco’s human mouth had reappeared.
“My dad’s computer. You did something to it, didn’t you?”
“Game? GAME?! That was no game, that was my dad’s work!”
Cassie started to laugh, then silenced herself.
“No, Ax, he writes software programs for high-tech uses. He was working with astronomers at the observatory. They were designing a program for aiming the radio telescope at the new observatory.”
I nodded, as I had seen humans do.
“If you say ‘game’ again, I swear I’m going to punch you,” Marco said.
Prince Jake put his hand on Marco’s shoulder. “What Marco means is, it was not a game, Ax. His father is going nuts about it.”
“My dad says you may have created some whole new branch of computer software, plus, at the same time, opened up new ways to do astronomy. He showed it to the guys at the observatory. They are totally losing it! They’re talking about Nobel prizes! I had to convince my dad it was just an accident. I told him you were an idiot, and you were not the next Einstein.”
“Ax!” Rachel exploded. “Are you not getting this? What if some Controller hears about this new software? Don’t you think they might guess it was an Andalite who came up with it?”
It hit me quite suddenly. She was right. If those equations were supposed to be real, not a game, but real . . . Then I had just pushed human science ahead by a century. Maybe more.
“I think he just got it,” Marco said sarcastically.
He shrugged. “Like I would know? What am I, a science teacher?”
“A radio telescope is a telescope that sees by picking up radio waves and other radiation from outer space,” Cassie said.
Marco gave her an incredulous look.
“Not all of us sleep through science class, Marco,” Cassie said.
“What?” Marco snapped. “What about the changes you made?”
Suddenly I stopped. The truth . . . the whole truth . . . was beginning to dawn on me. A radio telescope? A huge, high-powered collector of broad-spectrum energy?
My mind raced through memories of classes from a long time ago. I could almost picture my teacher explaining . . . yes. Yes! With the right adjustments, the right software . . . Yes, I could bounce the collected energy back, focus it, modulate it with my own mind, and . . .
And break into Z-Space. Zero space.
I could use the system to send messages through Z-Space! I could communicate with my own world!
I felt it as a blow that made me weak. It was true. I could use that radio telescope to call my home world. To call my people. My family.
I don’t think I had ever admitted, till that moment, just how much I wanted to see another Andalite.
“Ax, what are you hiding now?” Rachel demanded.
I tried to concentrate on her question. But my mind was spinning. It made me feel weak. I could contact my home planet. I could.
But at the same time, there was another truth: I had to destroy this technology. I had broken the law of Seerow’s Kindness. I had given the humans a huge advance in technology!
“Ax, Rachel asked you a question,” Prince Jake said tersely. “What is this? What’s up with you?”
My duty was clear. I could not tell my human friends what I had done. I had to erase the damage.
But before I did that . . . would it be wrong to contact my family? Would it be so wrong to once again see them?
I lied.
They left, and I ate. I feed at dark whenever possible. It is not the way I would do it at home, but I must always be very careful not to be seen.
When I run in the open spaces it must either be dark, or Tobias must watch over me.
My friends tell me that from a distance I look like a normal Earth animal. A deer, or perhaps a small horse. But if any human saw me clearly, he or she would immediately know that I am not an Earth species.
So I eat at night, running wildly through the open grassy fields where Cassie’s farm meets the edge of the forest. I run beneath a single moon, so different from the moons of my own world. The moon of Earth rises and sets. On some nights it cannot be seen at all. There are always at least two moons in our sky. And when all four moons are in the night sky, it is nearly as bright as day.
Home. Eighty-two light-years away. Sometimes I hurt from thinking about my home. A warrior has to overcome that. But on nights when I stood alone in the forest, or ran alone in the fields, I couldn’t help but think of home.
And now it was worse. So much worse, thinking that I could talk to them, if I really wanted to.
I could turn the humans’ radio telescope into a Z-Space communicator. But if I did, I would have broken our own law. I would have given the humans an advanced technology.
I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t Elfangor. I
couldn’t just decide to break the law of Seerow’s Kindness.
And yet, in the back of my mind, there was another thought. I had already accidentally transferred the software to the humans. It was an accident, so I hadn’t broken the rules. And if I went to the observatory to wipe out the software . . . I would actually be doing the right thing.
I could go to the observatory and erase the software. But before I erased it, I could use it to call my home. Would that be wrong?
In my memory I saw myself with my father and mother. And Elfangor was there, too. He was alive in my memory.
I remember when I was very little and Elfangor, who was already a great warrior, came home on leave. I barely knew him. I’d seen his communications, but I’d never met him face-to-face. He had been away when I was born, off fighting the Yeerks.
But we went running together, just the two of us. Me all clumsy. Elfangor like some creature from an Andalite myth, so fast and so powerful.
It was kind of a shock to me. Until then, I guess I’d thought I was the most important person in the family. But it was hard to feel very important with Elfangor around.
He didn’t say much to me. He didn’t give me some “big brother” lecture. He was just himself. He talked to me the same way he talked to our parents. He never treated me like a younger Andalite, and that was great. After that, there was never any question in my mind what I wanted to be when I grew up: I wanted to be a warrior. I wanted to be like Elfangor.
And now he was gone. Our parents might not even know. For sure they didn’t know I was still alive.
I slowed my run. I was far across the fields. I could see the lights from Cassie’s farm. Foolish! I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I had grown careless.
I turned to head back toward the forest.
“You might as well hang around for a while,” a voice said.
She loomed up from the darkness. How had I missed seeing her? I looked closer. Cassie was in mid-morph. She kept her own human face, but sported the ghostly gray-white mane of a horse. And her legs ended in hooves, not human feet.
As soon as she was fully human she responded. “I do that sometimes. I like running. But don’t tell Jake. He’d be mad at me using morphing for personal things.”
I said.
Cassie laughed quietly. “I doubt it. I’m just a friend. And a fellow Animorph.”
“Oh . . . well, you weren’t supposed to see that.”
“Um, it’s kind of a long story,” Cassie said. “Just forget it, okay? How is your study of humans going?”
“So, what do you think?”
“Uh-huh. What do you really think?”
I hesitated. She seemed to want a more complete answer. But you can never be sure with humans. Often they become offended by small things.
I said.
“Aside from being able to have a lot of human hosts? Why?”
“Afraid of us? Why?” She laughed. “Have you been reading all the stuff about wars? Humans aren’t just about fighting wars. It may seem that way, but —”
“Yeah, well, we humans haven’t been exactly perfect.”
She looked closely at me. I could almost see her wondering whether I meant Andalites as well. But she decided not to ask that question. Instead she asked another. “So if it isn’t the wars that bother you, what is it?”
“You really did read the World Almanac, didn’t you?” Cassie said with a smile. “You’re saying we do things quickly?”
“How long did it take you Andalites to do those things?”
I lied.
“I see,” Cassie said. I believe her tone of voice is called “disappointed.”
I hung my head. It sounded pathetic, even to me.
“Not even if it might help us beat the Yeerks? But isn’t that what your brother did, when he gave us the power to morph?”
I could not think of an answer. It was true, of course. Elfangor had broken our laws.
“Did I say something wrong?” Cassie asked.
“I see,” Cassie said. “You know what? Why don’t you morph to human and come inside? You could meet my mom and dad. We’re just about to have dinner.”
Cassie raised one eyebrow. “You’ve eaten, huh?” She seemed about to ask me a question, then decided against it. “Okay, but you could still come in. You don’t have to eat much. Just hang out. Come on, it would do you good.”
“No. Just lonely. You seem very lonely.”
The word pierced me. I was surprised how much it hurt.
Yes, I was lonely. But I didn’t think the humans knew.
Cassie shrugged. “You morphed Jake once, right? So be Jake.”
Humans have very odd tastes. They think their music is beautiful. They are wrong. It is awful. All of it. And they completely ignore their greatest accomplishments: the cinnamon bun, the Snickers bar, the hot pepper, and the refreshing beverage called vinegar.
— From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
Being in Prince Jake’s body is no different from being in my regular human morph. Except that it is slightly larger. Since the morph was formed from his DNA, I looked exactly like him. Cassie insisted I borrow a garment called “overalls” and a pair of boots from her barn before entering her home. Humans are very particular about clothing. I still do not understand why.
“Hi, Jake. Cassie talk you into helping her muck out the barn again?” Cassie’s father asked me as I walked into her house.
He was a male — as all human fathers are. His hair was dark brown, but it seemed to have been removed from much of his head. He wore round transparent lenses on his face, which, I am told, are for correcting faulty vision. His complexion is darker. He had the usual number of legs and arms.
“No,” I said. “She asked me to eat your food. Food. Ood-duh.”
“Well, someone has to eat it. Might as well be you who suffers. I cooked tonight. Made my world-famous chili.”
Cassie’s eyes suddenly widened. She looked frightened. “Oh. Chili? Um, Jake said he wasn’t really hungry. He already ate.”
> “Is chili a very frightening food?” I asked Cassie.
Her father grinned. “Mine is.”
“Is that Jake I hear out there?” someone called from the next room. A female appeared who I assumed was Cassie’s mother. She had dark hair, but much more of it than Cassie’s father. Her hair had not been removed.
She stuck her two arms in my direction and walked toward me. “Oh, you just get more handsome every time I see you, Jake.” She wrapped her two arms around me and squeezed me briefly. Then she released me. “Are you staying for some of the Chili of Doom?”
“Yes, I asked him to join us,” Cassie said. “But he’s not very hungry. In fact, he just ate. So he probably won’t want any chili.”
Cassie’s mother smiled at Cassie’s father. “Isn’t it just precious the way she tries to protect him?”
“Too late,” Cassie’s father said. “He’s trapped now. There is no escape.”
In order to eat we had to sit down in front of a table. I had done this before while impersonating Prince Jake at Prince Jake’s home. So I knew how to do it. I knew what a fork was. Also a spoon and a knife.
I discovered that chili is brown and red. It contains several ingredients and smells a lot. There was also something called jalapeño corn bread. And there was a bowl of pieces of different fruits.
After so many warnings, I was very nervous about tasting the chili. But I sensed that Cassie’s father would be offended if I did not try some. So I ate a spoonful.
I think that as long as I live, I will never forget that experience.
The chili was hot in temperature. But it was also hot in a totally new way.
The taste buds of my human tongue seemed to explode! They burned with an intensity of flavor like nothing I’d tasted before or since. Every nerve in my body seemed to tingle. Water dribbled from the tiny ducts beside my eyes.
It was not as wonderful as chocolate. But it was intense! So incredibly intense!