5If you had trouble parsing the Gedd dialogue in the last chapter, try it again. I simplified a lot of it, on the basis that clear dialogue is more important than accurately reflecting KA Applegate's style and grammar.
My name is Taicor, and this is my story. Not that anybody will ever hear this, besides Taisk, of course. There's too much danger of being discovered, but I just felt like it was something I needed to put into words. I guess it comes from my parents. They're both harpers, and I was pretty much raised in the Harper Crafthall. Even though I chose not to apprentice there, it seems some of the harpers' teaching habits stuck with me.
I guess I should start with why I can't tell this story to anybody else. It's because it's too dangerous. If the wrong person heard and found out about me, I'd be dead. Or even worse, I'd be infested, and then they'd get everyone else who was there with me. The yeerks can't afford to let witnesses get away.
Pern is being infested by alien parasites. Wow, that sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud. Even so, it's completely true. I still have some trouble believing it myself, but I saw enough tonight that I can't do anything but accept it.
It started with mine and Taisk's nightly patrol. Now, Taisk is pretty big for a watch-wher, even a bronze, but he's only one turn old, and I'm still in the process of training him-with the help of the senior wherhandlers, who are also training me. Someday, we'll take over the job of guarding High Reaches Hold at night from Morag and Nalina and their whers, but that won't be for a long time. We started taking my wher out on regular patrols around the Hold to get him used to the schedule, though, every night after the sun went down.
By now Morag and Nalina trusted me and Taisk enough to take the walk by ourselves. The Hold had been pretty quiet at night lately, and besides, if there was trouble, Taisk could always call to one of the older whers to help. We were in Taisk's den getting ready for the patrol when the trouble started.
I mean, not the yeerks, not that trouble, not yet. I'm getting there. But that was when Idynn showed up and said he was tagging along on our patrol tonight. Idynn is the by-blow of High Reaches' Lord Holder, and he's also a smarmy and arrogant bastard. He was off hobnobbing with other lordlings in Ista for a few turns, but ever since he came back, he's been getting into everyone's business and asking annoying questions about how things get done and why. Basically, he and I don't get along.
I asked him, "Why do you want to come with us?"
He shrugged. "I want to see what a normal wher patrol is supposed to be like. How long it takes, what the typical route is, things like that. I won't be in the way, will I?" He lifted dark eyebrows questioningly, almost as if it was a challenge.
"No," I bit out. It probably wouldn't be too much trouble really, except for the fact that I didn't want to spend an extra hour with him. But I couldn't exactly turn him away for that, and besides, if he was here, Idynn had almost certainly gotten the approval of Morag and Nalina first, so there was no point in arguing. "Fine then, let's go."
Taisk did a marvelous job of ignoring Idynn after his initial inspection of him. Since it was early in the night, the wher was still full of energy and eager to get out for a while and work some of it off. I led Taisk through the usual route at a brisk pace, and let Idynn follow us however he wanted. I wasn't going to make an effort to slow down for him.
It was late enough that most Holdfolk were indoors already, if not already asleep, and the exterior of the Hold was pretty much deserted. We took a winding path through the tended fields and beyond that to the edge of the forest without seeing a single other person. Idynn didn't say much, and neither did I, but when we hit the tree line, Taisk started making a low, rumbling huff sound that meant he'd caught scent or sight of something odd.
Idynn gave a sidelong glance at the watch-wher. "That's not a routine reaction, is it?"
I shook my head. "Nope. He's caught the scent of something. Probably a lost drunk or something, but we'll check it out." Taisk continued making that huffing noise as I grabbed the heavy collar clasped around his thick, stubby neck. I gave the word and he stalked off along the forest's edge, toward whatever he'd found, with Idynn and me following. Rather than heading further into the woods, we were getting closer to the shoreline, and we ended up in a tiny cove between the beach and the forest, maybe a mile out from the Hold proper. It wasn't empty, either.
Two girls my age were kneeling on sandy ground, beside the old and battered remains of a skiff. One of them had a hammer and nails beside her, while the other held new wooden planks in her hands. It wasn't difficult to figure out they were trying to repair the boat. They both looked up in alarm as Taisk stalked into the cove, still growling, along with me and then Idynn.
"What are you doing out here?" Idynn demanded.
The taller of the two girls looked at him—her blue eyes were defiant. "We're fixing a boat. Isn't that what it looks like we're doing?" She had dirty blonde hair that was cropped short for a girl. In fact, I thought I vaguely recognized her as one of the local Hold girls.
Her friend looked a little apologetic as she stood and faced us. This girl, I did recognize. Her name was Faissi, and her father was one of High Reaches' resident fishermen and a journeyman seacrafter. Faissi seemed to accompany him whenever he came around the Hold, which was fairly often, even after sunset.
She was also really pretty. Like, strikingly, head-turning pretty. She was shorter than the other girl, but her skin was smooth and the darkest, ebony brown I'd ever seen. Her hair was long and shiny black, tied in curling braids. Faissi looked nervously at Taisk, who looked both girls over head to toe, still growling. I placed a hand on the watch-wher's snout to quiet him, while Faissi started to explain. "We didn't steal it or anything. It was being junked, so we picked it up and decided to fix it ourselves."
I gave a shrug. That explanation was good enough for me, though I did have one question. "Why are you out here at night, though?"
The other girl flushed. "There's a lotta work to be done on a farm, don't have much free time till after dark, especially with having to watch the younger kids."
"And I spend most of my days helping my father," Faissi added. "He doesn't like me going out after dark, though. Joah's parents don't know she comes out here to help me, either, so we'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about us." Faissi gave a dazzling smile as she glanced hopefully from me to Idynn.
Ever the stuck-up lordling, Idynn snorted. "I really should, actually. Even if the boat was junked, we could have used the wood for something useful." But with three pairs of eyes pleading silently with him, he relented. "But I suppose I can let it slide this time," he added with a sigh.
"Oh, thank you," Faissi's voice was filled with relief, but her eyes were focused on Taisk, who was still growling audibly. I looked down at him; he seemed fine with Joah and Faissi, but he was upset about something, and I realized there might still be somebody else out there. Idynn realized it about the same moment I did, staring hard at the bronze wher.
I managed to ask, "What's wrong, Taisk?" but even before I finished the wher was running off, finally frustrated with our inability to sense whatever it was he'd found. I immediately yelled for him to stop, but Taisk didn't listen, he just kept running off into the forest. I followed him, along with Idynn and the two girls. We were all more curious than smart, I guess. And now we're getting to the aliens.
See, what Taisk had found wasn't a drunk or a bandit or a wild wher, like I expected. It wasn't anything I'd ever seen or heard of before on Pern. It had the four hooved legs of a goat, except the creature was larger and more slender. But where the head should have been, the body melded seamlessly into the upper body, arms and legs of something that could almost have a teenage boy, but for a few noticeable differences. For one thing, it was covered in pale blue fur, and while it had two bright green eyes where one expected to find them, the creature also had a second pair of eyes mounted on short, flexible tendrils sticking out of its head. Also, while it had three vertical slits for a nose, it had no mouth at all (and don't ask me how that's supposed to work).
But, once you got past all of that, the creature seemed harmless, almost cute, even…if you ignored the tail. It was long, thickly-muscled, and arched up over the creature's back to hover around the shoulder, and that tail was tipped with a small but very sharp blade. That tail was constantly tensed and ready to strike at Taisk, who was standing his ground right in front of the being. I got the sense that tail could have done enough damage on its own to deter a watch-wher, but one of the creature's many-fingered arms was holding a handheld device of some sort, aimed at Taisk. I would have been more worried about that object, but I was preoccupied with the shock of seeing something that was definitely not from Pern, and anyway, I didn't find out it was a weapon until later.
The alien, because that's what it was, of course, didn't move at first, even as the four of us burst out of the bushes and stopped in our tracks. The eyestalks moved around to focus on us, and the tail twitched slightly, but the alien's main eyes and outstretched arm both stayed focused on Taisk. We all just paused like that for a moment, taking everything in.
The girl, Joah, was the first of us to speak up. "What, by Faranth's scorched shell, is that?"
Faissi was next. "It doesn't look like anything else on Pern…do you think it's intelligent?"
"It looks intelligent…I guess," Idynn added. "More like a person than a herdbeast, at least. I wonder if it understands us?"
Meanwhile, I was focused on getting my watch-wher's attention and figuring out if he was about to attack the creature or not.
I understand you. We all heard it in our heads at the same moment, as clear as dragon voices were said to be: words without any physical sound.
The four of us looked at the alien, surprised, and I mumbled, "Oh, of course. It's got no mouth, so that's how it talks. Like a dragon." For the first time, it moved, turning its human-like head so that its main eyes were staring at me. At the same moment, one of the being's stalk eyes twisted around to Taisk, who abruptly fell silent. I stepped forward and grabbed onto his collar, mainly because I didn't know what else to do.
Is this creature your pet? The alien voice asked. I have tried to explain to it that I am not a threat, but I'm not sure it understands. And what is a dragon? I'm not that great at interpreting the mental emotions of aliens, but the voice sounded calm, but also a little curious, especially at the end.
"Taisk's not a pet, he's my partner. A watch-wher," I explained. "A dragon's…umm, sort of a bigger, smarter version of a wher, but with proper wings instead of small and stunted ones, like Taisk's got." I glanced at Idynn and the others—they didn't look like they had any more idea what to do from here than I did. I placed a hand on Taisk's snout and made a shushing sound to let him know everything was alright. He settled down and sat back on his haunches. At the same time, the stranger lowered its arm with the weird object, and it seemed to relax just a bit.
I am not of this planet—Pern, you called it? Its voice was solemn. I am an andalite, and I come from—well, very far away. There's no time to explain all of it. We are all in very grave danger. Especially right now.
"Danger?" Idynn said skeptically. "From what? Thread isn't due to fall for a few more days, and the only other thing to worry about around here is wild whers. Taisk is enough to scare away any of them, so—"
This danger isn't native to your planet. There are other visitors to this world, and they are…invaders. Conquerors. As the alien spoke, it seemed to be growing more nervous, rushing its words as we stood around. Taisk was stiffening as well, scenting the air and peering into the dark woods. I got a bad feeling about that.
"Taisk, is someone coming?" I asked. The bronze wher huffed, which was an affirmative sound. The blue alien also looked to the wher, and its eyes widened. It jerked away.
They are coming, we must hurry! The stranger looked back at us, seeming to assess each of us in turn. If you want to remain safe, you may come onto my ship. Otherwise, I cannot assure that the yeerks—the invaders—will not find you. The alien set off deeper into the woods, just slow enough to allow us to catch up if we chose to.
I didn't know exactly what would happen if these alien 'yeerks' caught us, but I didn't want to find out. I started running after the alien, and Joah was right behind me. Faissi glanced uncertainly at Idynn, who started to say something, but gave up and chased after Faissi and the rest of us.
The andalite pushed aside the branches of a hardy shrub, and it was only then that I noticed the well-camouflaged ship hiding behind the undergrowth. Although to call it a ship would be a stretch, even to someone like Faissi, since it didn't bear any resemblance to a galleon or schooner. It was round and smooth except for a pair of stubby wing-like extensions, and made out of some sort of metal. Its most noticeable feature was a "tail," startlingly similar to the andalite's own tail, arching up and over the rest of the ship until it disappeared underneath a cover of clinging plants.
The andalite must have done something I couldn't see, because a hole suddenly appeared in the side of the "ship," which the andalite ushered us through. I went first, along with Taisk, and the others followed. The inside of the craft looked a lot like the outside—smooth, rounded walls with no corners, and all of it made out of metal. There was a panel of some sort, on the opposite wall from us, full of knobs and buttons, but there was no chair or other furniture of any kind. We were gathered in one large room, but I saw what looked like doors that led to other, smaller rooms. I heard the swooshing sound of the door closing behind me, and I turned to see the alien facing me, Idynn, Faissi, and Joah.
Well, it said after a pause, I suppose this is proof enough that none of you are yeerks. No yeerk in the galaxy would willingly walk into an andalite's ship.
"Well, if you know so much about these yeerks, shouldn't you know already what they look like?" Idynn asked.
The andalite made a sighing sound. It is not that simple. The yeerks are a race of parasites. In their natural form, they are small, sluglike creatures, but they can crawl inside the bodies of other sentient beings and control them, even access their memories. That's what makes them so dangerous—they've already enslaved five or six different species across the galaxy, and if they are on Pern, then your people are almost certainly their next target.
The alien's giant green main eyes blinked slowly. I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Erithea-Salahar-Derahi. You may call me Erithea.
"Hi, Erithea. My name's Taicor," I said, because after just being told that your world's being invaded by a second form of deadly extraterrestrial life, and this one is even smart enough to plan a secret invasion instead of being a mindless, voracious fungal spore that falls on a regular schedule like Thread does, what else are you supposed to say?
The andalite, Erithea, didn't seem bothered. Taicor. It sounds like his name? At least I thought there was a questioning tone at the end of that, as Erithea gestured to Taisk. It didn't take long for me to catch on.
"Oh, yeah. Whers take their names from their handlers, or sometimes the Hold they defend. Not really sure how it works; it's just what they do." I shrugged.
I see, the andalite said. Maybe Erithea really did understand, maybe it was a bald-faced lie. I didn't know the alien well enough to tell. The stalk-eyes twisted around again, taking in the rest of the group.
"I'm Joah," she spoke up immediately, "And this is my friend, Faissi."
We all kind of glanced at the last member of the group. Idynn crossed his arms and frowned. "I'll take your word for it that you came from another world, but I find it hard to believe this invasion story. We live in a major Hold; there's no way the news wouldn't have spread all over if there were others," he told the andalite.
"The obnoxious skeptic is Idynn," I added helpfully, ignoring his poisonous glare.
"He does have a point," Faissi said, noticing that the alien's eyes had all narrowed at Idynn's statement. "How could something like that go entirely unnoticed? Surely people would notice something odd?"
I'm not sure, Erithea admitted. I-I haven't been here long, and I didn't know the yeerks were here at first. It's hard to tell how long they've been here or how entrenched they have become, but I know that they are here now, and they are a clever and subtle race. The last part was said with extreme reluctance. They would be smart enough to keep themselves hidden, even on a world that was…unwary, until they were absolutely certain they could take it all. They were looking for me once they discovered me, and probably still are. Here, Erithea moved over to the strange panel and pushed a few things.
What had just been a solid wall melded into a window, showing the forest we had just left. Along with the familiar sight came sounds from outside as well. It wasn't just the normal sounds of the woods at night, though. There was the startling sounds of several large creatures stomping around just as they burst through the undergrowth into the clearing. Even after everything Erithea had said, I was surprised to see that they were human, and yet there was something just a little off about them. The first was a big, burly man with the shoulder knots of a journeyman miner. The second was a lithe, muscular woman, her dark brown hair braided and pinned up.
You do not have to worry about being discovered, Erithea assured us. They cannot see or hear inside the ship, even though we can see and hear them, and the ship itself is stealthed—disguised from the outside.
The woman scowled irritably and brandished a metal object in her left hand, similar to the one Erithea carried. "What is that?" I asked in a whisper.
It is a projectile weapon used by the yeerks. They call it a dracon beam, though its design was stolen from that of andalite shredders like my own, Erithea explained.
"Wait, you pulled a weapon on—"
"Shh!" That came from both Faissi and Idynn, who I guess had forgotten that we were supposedly silent and invisible.
The woman outside swiveled and yelled behind her, "Well, come on and get out here. We haven't got all night!"
Slithering effortlessly out of the forest came another creature, and like the andalite, it was immediately obvious it did not come from Pern. It looked more like something that had crawled straight out of my nightmares. Someone let out an audible gasp, maybe one of the girls, or it might have been Idynn. The creature vaguely resembled a sandworm of the Igen deserts—a vast, round, segmented worm with hundreds of tiny legs running along the bottom of a ten-foot-long yellow body. One end of the beast opened into a circular mouth that was lined all around with bulbous red eyes. I didn't usually mind insects, but it made my skin crawl to look at the thing.
A taxxon—or rather, a taxxon-controller. They are one of the species the yeerks have taken over, Erithea explained.
The humans, or as Erithea would have called them, human-controllers, regarded the taxxon with a bored expression. "Well, found anything yet?"
After a moment, a monotone, inhuman voice replied, "It came this way; the andalite cannot be far. You keep a watch out for natives."
"It's the middle of the night," the man said. "According to my host, all of the humans in the area will be asleep by now." He gave a careless shrug. "And if not, it's easy enough to track one down. We can just infest anyone who stumbles upon us—or feed the interlopers to you, my friend." The huge worm practically slobbered at that, letting a huge red tongue slip out of its mouth. A nasty shiver ran down my spine.
Erithea's stalk eyes twisted to Idynn as the andalite said mildly, I trust you believe my words now?
Idynn, face white as snow, didn't argue, and neither did anyone else. The controllers stalked around the clearing for a few more minutes, but as Erithea had said, they couldn't seem to find the ship, and eventually they wandered off further into the woods. Erithea nodded in satisfaction after they had disappeared. It would be best to leave now while I can, until they give up and return to their base. I'm concerned that you may be discovered if you leave now, though. Will your absences be noticed within the next few hours?
I shrugged. "Morag and Nalina will expect Idynn and me to be out late."
Joah added, "Nobody should notice me missing till early morning."
"Me too," Faissi added with a nod.
The andalite did something very strange then. It was like a smile, but with no mouth, it was only noticeable through the alien's eyes. It seemed friendly. I shall have you back in plenty of time, then. In the meantime, I can take us where the yeerks would not think to go; it's on the other side of the planet.
I said, "What?" but Erithea was already fiddling with the controls again. Very slowly, we started to rise into the air, though I might not have realized without the "window" of the andalite's ship.
"It flies?" Joah asked delightedly.
Erithea laughed in our heads. Of course! How else would I get around?
Both Joah and I gathered in front, staring at the shadowy landscape rushing past beneath us, and even Taisk leaned against me and crooned. Faissi stood back, watching with a smile. Idynn was the only one who seemed ill at ease. "I don't like heights," he muttered. "Too much like riding a dragon."
A stalk eye swiveled toward him. Dragons are something humans can ride, then? And your earlier words implied that they use thought-speak as well?
"Thought-speak?" Faissi asked.
Speaking mind-to-mind, the way I do. There are a handful of species we andalites have met who also use it, but it seems to be a rare ability, Erithea explained.
"Oh, yeah. People say they can, at least. I've never heard of a dragon addressing anybody who isn't the rider they're bonded to, though. And they don't often leave the Weyrs where they live, either." I should know; like many children, I was more or less obsessed with dragons when I was younger, and dreamed of being chosen to stand at the hatching of a dragon's clutch. Of course, then I decided to become a wherhandler, and I got Taisk's egg instead.
I had the feeling there were a lot more questions Erithea wanted to ask, but I guess steering her ship took a lot of concentration. She didn't add much to the conversation between us humans.
"Seems to me we should be thinking about what to do next," Joah said.
"Besides going home and keeping our heads down?" Idynn replied with raised eyebrows.
"'Course not!" I said. "We've got to help stop the yeerks. For all we know, we're the only ones who even have a clue what's going on."
"Tell the Weyrs, then. They are sworn to protect Pern, after all," Idynn said.
"Maybe," Faissi said, "But how do we know the Weyrs haven't been infiltrated already? Could a yeerk take over a dragon?"
I don't know. Erithea's mental voice was terse. It depends on several factors, but generally yeerks have an easier time infesting a species that's large and sentient.
Joah frowned. "That's probably a yes, then." Because dragons are as smart as humans, and much, much bigger.
"I suppose it doesn't matter much. Compared to what Erithea can do, we'd be useless, I think." Faissi's voice was quiet, but frustrated.
Erithea's stalk eyes turned to us with a sense of incredulousness. I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not a soldier. I never expected to come face to face with yeerks—we were scientists! I haven't even been in contact with other andalites since—since my family died.
A sense of crushing loss and despair swept over me, and by their expressions, everyone else. The andalite's thought-speech seemed to be made up of feelings and concepts as much as actual words, but I hadn't felt such a concentrated burst of emotion before.
Two people said "I'm sorry," almost simultaneously—Faissi and, I was surprised to see, Idynn. Joah and I agreed, and even Taisk made a comforting humming croon as he sensed the tension. The bronze wher's faceted eyes whirled gently with various colors, as they did whenever he felt particularly strong emotions.
Straightening as though regaining composure, Erithea nodded. Thank you. I don't know what we…or anyone else…can do to stop this invasion, but I appreciate whatever you can do anyhow. And slowing it may be enough-as soon as a spaceship passes close enough to this section of star systems, I can communicate through my own ship, and my people are more than a match for the yeerks.
Despite Erithea's proud and confident statement, it's possible I should have asked why it was the andalites hadn't already defeated the yeerks.
The trip took less than an hour, which amazed us all. Even dragons couldn't travel that fast, not if they were flying straight over land, anyway. What was almost as startling was our destination.
"The Southern Continent?" My mind boggled.
Yes. My family decided it would make an excellent base of operations for our biological survey. Frankly, I'm surprised your people haven't already settled it.
"Well, we did, a long time ago…before we went north. But it's supposed to be barren," I said. "Without dragons to destroy the Thread before it hits the ground, there shouldn't be any plants left." During the trip, we had explained a bit about the deadly spores we called Thread, as well as the responsibility of the fire-breathing dragons and their riders to protect Pern from it.
Erithea landed the ship along a narrow strip of open land between the shoreline and an improbably lush and thick tropical forest, and then smugly said, Well, I don't wish to insult your species, but clearly, they were mistaken about this continent. The door of the ship slid open, letting a gust of warm air stream inside, despite the late night. We had traveled almost straight south from High Reaches Hold, rather than traveling east or west through time zones.
Taisk sprinted outside to explore the shoreline, and the rest of us followed. The andalite was last, hands clasped around a small, blue cube. All four eyes focused on us. Whatever was going on, Erithea was serious about it.
Saying we are completely defenseless would be inaccurate. I have given a lot of thought to whether or not to reveal this secret to you. This is an Escafil device; it's against our laws for me to even have it, and worse still to share it with non-andalites, but, Erithea sighed, nostrils flaring. The situation is dire. It may give us the edge we need to defend this planet.
"What does it do?" Joah asked what was on my own mind.
Picking words very carefully now, Erithea explained, After the war with the yeerks began, our scientists designed a morphing technology that would assist our spies in infiltrating the yeerk ships. It wasn't as effective as they had hoped for, involving its original purpose. However, on an established planet, against a relatively small force of yeerks, considering they haven't yet overrun this planet, it may help to fend them off. Put simply, activating the device will grant each of you the ability to touch any animal and "acquire" it. You will then have the power to turn into that animal at any time. It is something the yeerks won't expect, and… The stalk eyes moved to stare towards Taisk, Some of the native lifeforms I've seen already are quite formidable.
We all paused to take it in. "We use that," Idynn said, "And we can turn into anything we touch?"
Yes. Any animal, at least, Erithea replied. Though there are some limitations. It is useful for guerilla tactics, hit-and-run attacks, which is to our benefit, I believe. You want to help, the andalite offered the cube in one hand, This is how you can do it.
Joah actually beat me to the Escafil device, but only barely. There was no way I could justify to myself giving up now. Faissi hesitated, glancing apologetically at her friend. "My father…I'm all he has. It's too dangerous."
Idynn hadn't moved at all. "Sensible," he said approvingly. "Taicor will no doubt do as he pleases, but you girls shouldn't be asked to fight."
"Excuse me?" That was Joah, glaring heatedly at Idynn.
"That wasn't—here. I'll do it." Faissi stepped forward to place her hand on the device as well.
Erithea's eyes narrowed on Idynn. I suggest you drop that line of thought right now. I'm afraid you boys are outnumbered.
"Oh."
"…Oh."
At least it was Idynn who said it and not me. Okay, Erithea did sound like a feminine name, but how could you expect to tell the difference with an alien?
Idynn rallied, though I could tell his face was flushed with embarrassment. "Regardless, who says I want any part of this farce?"
I protested. "They're a threat to everyone, including us! You heard those controllers. They would sooner kill us than look at us—or infest us, and frankly, I've not sure which one would be worse!"
He opened his mouth as though about to speak, but apparently he thought better of it. He shook his head. "Fine, whatever. I'll help—for now. But I'm not promising I'll stick around."
As soon as Idynn placed his hand on the cube, a sharp tingling sensation passed from my fingers and up my arm. I drew my palm up to my face for inspection as the feeling dissipated, but nothing seemed different. "That's it?" Idynn asked with his customary skepticism.
Yes, that's it, Erithea said. She paced along the shoreline, twisting her stalk eyes back to watch us. Would you like to try it out now? I can show you.
I glanced at Faissi. She and Joah looked as curious as I did. "Sure," I said.
I have already acquired a native creature as a test. I've noticed similar creatures tend to flock to me whenever I'm morphed. Don't be alarmed.
Trust me, that warning was appreciated. I had a vague idea that changing your shape was a quick and seamless process. I was wrong.
It started with Erithea's tail—its tailblade seemed to melt and dissolve, but didn't disappear entirely. It just became a featureless, smooth tip, matching a second prong extending from a forked tail tip. Next was her stalk eyes, shrinking down until they disappeared into her head, which was bulging out into a sort of muzzle. The andalite's front pair of hooves were sucked into her body, but at the same time, huge, leathery wings were sprouting out of her back. After that, it got hard to make out details. For one thing, it was vaguely nauseating to watch, but Erithea was also getting smaller rapidly. Her fur turned golden and then turned to bare flesh. The entire process took about two minutes, and the result was something I had never seen before-only heard about in old folktales.
"A fire lizard!" Joah said, actually clapping her hands in excitement.
It was like a dragon in miniature: four clawed legs and a pair of long, webbed wings extending from the shoulders. The tail was long and forked, the neck matched the tail in length, and the head was wedge-shaped with large, faceted eyes similar to an insect's, filled with swirling colors. The skin was smooth and supple, and the gleaming gold hide meant that this fire lizard was a queen, largest and most dominant of the five colors. Not that two and a half feet from nose to tail was particularly large.
"I half-thought they were extinct. No one's ever caught one. They say it's impossible," Faissi said.
I only managed to acquire this one by stunning it temporarily with my shredder. Unfortunately, you can't simply acquire it from me. It has to be directly from a living animal. But they seem to be rather common in this area, especially along the beaches…and they seem to be attracted to this form. Erithea said this almost shyly. As if on cue, five more fire lizards flew around our group, perching in the branches nearby and staring with marked interest at Erithea. The biggest was a bronze, only slightly smaller than Erithea's gold morph, and the smaller fire lizards present were a brown, a blue, and finally two small greens.
As for catching one of them to acquire, well, we all gave it a shot, but their reputation for being impossible to catch was well-earned. When Joah tried to leap up and grab the bronze's tail, he made a loud chirping sound and abruptly vanished with a quiet pop. We were all startled, but Erithea most of all. What was that? The fire lizard disappeared completely.
"I think it went between," I said. "That's what dragons do: disappear from one spot, reappear somewhere else a few seconds later, and it doesn't matter how far away they travel." Knowing she would ask, I added, "Between is sort of a space between places, I guess. It's supposed to be very dark and very cold. The only way to access it seems to be by dragon…or fire lizard."
Biological teleportation… Erithea sounded awed. I've never heard of such a thing.
It was actually kind of reassuring to know more about something than the alien did, to be honest.
It took time, but the fire lizards wouldn't leave Erithea alone. Every time they popped between or flew away, they would come back, staying just beyond our reach. At last, after more than an hour of trying, we managed to coax them close enough to touch, provided we remained absolutely still and preferably near Erithea. The first to acquire one was Faissi; she got one of the green females onto her arm, and Erithea told her how to concentrate on the fire lizard and remain focused on acquiring what she called its "DNA." The fire lizard went still and calm once Faissi started to acquire it, which seemed to be a normal side effect. Joah took the opportunity to acquire the same green during the few seconds the dormancy lasted.
With a bit of patience, I got one as well. The blue settled onto my shoulder, his eyes whirling with curiosity, and as soon as his tail lightly gripped my neck, I started the acquiring. He went as still as the green had, and I grinned. Idynn was the last, but he finally acquired the brown fire lizard; the bronze had reappeared several times, but he was too skittish or too clever to approach us.
Erithea was starting to twitch her wings nervously. I'm glad that's done. I need to demorph. The process wasn't any better in reverse. I'll leave it at that. All of the wild fire lizards squawked and disappeared between as soon as she started to demorph, and I didn't blame them. As soon as she had regained her own body, she explained some of the important aspects of morphing. The instincts can be a trial to deal with the first time you morph a creature; it's easy to get lost in the animal's mindset, although it gets easier over time. However, it is absolutely vital that you do not spend more than two hours in the same morph.
"Why? What will happen?" Idynn asked.
You won't be able to morph back, Erithea said bluntly. It's what we andalites call a nothlit. Someone who is trapped in a body not their own and have lost all morphing ability entirely.
There was shuddering and gasps of fear from all of us. "Okay, don't get caught in a morph, then." Another thought occurred, and I added another question. "How will we keep track of the time?"
The andalite's main eyes blinked. You can't track it naturally?
"Uh, no."
Oh…I suppose I can watch the time limit for all of us, then. We shouldn't remain in morph any longer than necessary, anyway. Speaking of time, we should start our return to your home. The yeerks will have given up their search by now, and it's best to be back before morning. Erithea turned her stalk eyes to each of us, lingering on me and Joah. Please don't attempt to morph on your own until we can meet again. It will be safer that way.
I sighed, but agreed. The ship landed in the cove where Joah and Faissi's boat was stashed, and as soon as we exited, we all sort of wandered off to our own homes. We had enough to think about, me as much as the others—I was more accustomed to a nocturnal schedule, and Taisk was wide awake as well, not eager to return to the den where he spent his days. And there's a lot of things I've been wanting to put into words that no one will hear apart from Taisk. Anyway, Erithea only asked us not to morph anything. She didn't say anything about acquiring something else…and Taisk is right here.