Текст книги "Animorphs - 08 - The Alien"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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"What?"

"Pinocchio was a little boy carved out of wood. He wanted to be a real, live human."

"I do not want to be a human. I merely wish to study them."

Marco smiled. "What a coincidence. And I want to study Andalites."

It took several minutes for me to understand what he was saying. "Oh. Prince Jake asked you to press me for information."

"Jake was a little ticked off that you didn't tell us everything you know," Marco said. "Rachel was even more ticked. Come on, we have to catch the bus. You want to learn about humans, right? I thought I'd take you to a book store. Smart as you are, you can learn to read English."

"Bookstore? Book-kuh-store?"

"Yeah. Books. Fiction. History. A hundred thousand books all about the human race. And you get to choose any of them you want. We have no secrets, unlike certain species I could mention who don't even tell us a little thing like how they eat with no mouth."

"I see. You open your society to me. Soci-eteee. Teee. And you want me to do the same in return."

"I told Jake I could cleverly weasel all the in formation out of you, but he said, 'No, Ax is a friend. Show him we have nothing to hide. Maybe he'll finally decide to trust us.'"

34 I felt a pang of guilt. They were treating me with trust. They had never done anything to hurt me. On the contrary, they had been wonderful to me. Good in every way.

"I have reasons for keeping secrets," I said.

Marco nodded. "Yeah, we know. Rachel says you probably aren't allowed to interfere with primitive races like humans."

I was surprised. It was very close to the truth. At first I did not know what to say.

Marco smiled a cold smile and nodded his head. "So that is it, right? Kind of too late for that attitude, isn't it? After all, the Yeerks are interfering with us like crazy."

I had no answer to give. But as I looked around at the street, at all the humans in their cars, and all the humans lurching along on two legs, it occurred to me just how defenseless I would be without Prince Jake and Marco and the others.

We had reached the bus stop. Suddenly Marco slapped his pants. "Oh, man. I left my money at home. We all pitched in for your book fund. I left it on my desk. Come on."

"Where are we going? Ing? Ing-ahng-ing. That is a very satisfying sound."

"Yeah, everybody loves a good 'ing.' We have to run over to my house. Don't worry, it's just around the corner."

Marco led me down the street. There were houses on both sides. Big, boxy structures with transparent rectangles here and there.

"That is Prince Jake's house," I said. I had spent time in Prince Jake's house.

"No, it's just the same model as his house. This is a subdivision. There are only like five different models of houses. They all look alike. Welcome to the suburbs. But it beats the place I used to live in."

He was correct. There were only five types of house. Although some had more grass, and some had less. Also, some houses were decorated with items that had been placed on the grass.

"What is that decoration?" I asked.

Marco followed the direction of my gaze. Then he rolled his eyes upward. "That's a Big Wheel."

"It is very attractive. Very colorful."

"Uh-huh. I'd love to tell you how it works, but it's the very height of human technology, so it's secret. Primitive races could get hold of Big Wheels, and then who knows what might happen?"

I am still learning about human mouth– sounds. But I am very sure Marco's sound was "sarcasm."

35 "There's my house. My dad is home, working. He sprained his ankle, so he's using his home computer. Don't be weird, okay?"

"No. I will not be weird. Weeeerd. Weeeeer– duh. I will act like a normal human."

"You act like a normal human and you'll win an Oscar," Marco said. He led the way up to his house and opened the door. "Okay, look, you wait right there by that table. Don't go anywhere. If my dad comes in and talks to you, just say 'yes' and 'no.' Got it? Yes and no answers only. I'll run up to my room. I'm gonna call one of the others to meet us at the bookstore. You're already driving me nuts."

I stood by the table. There was a primitive computer on the table. It even had a solid, two-dimensional screen. And a keyboard! An actual keyboard.

I touched the keyboard. It was amazing. Andalite computers once had keyboards, too.

Although ours were very different. And it had been centuries since we'd used them.

On the screen of the computer was a game. The object of the game was to spot the errors in a primitive symbolic language and correct them. Of course, before I could play I had to make sense of the system. But that was simple enough.

Once I understood the system, it was easy to spot the errors. I quickly rewrote it to make sense out of it.

"I win," I said to myself.

"Hello?"

I turned around. It was an older human. He was paler than Marco, but other features were similar.

Marco had warned me to say nothing to his father but "yes" and "no."

"No," I said to Marco's father.

"I'm Marco's dad. Are you a friend of his?"

"Yes."

"What's your name?"

"No," I answered.

"Your name is 'No'?"

"Yes."

"That's an unusual name, isn't it?"

"No."

36 "It's not?"

"Yes."

"Yes, it's not an unusual name?"

"No."

"Now I'm totally confused."

"Yes."

Marco's father stared at me. Then, in a loud voice he yelled, "Hey, Marco? Marco? Would you ... um ... your friend is here. Your friend 'No' is here."

"No," I said.

"Yes, that's what I said."

Marco came running down the stairs. "Whoa!" he cried. "Um, Dad! You met my friend?"

"No?" Marco's father said.

"What?" Marco asked.

Marco's father shook his head. "I must be getting old. I don't understand you kids."

"Yes," I offered.

After that, we went to the bookstore.

37 Chapter SEVEn

Books are an amazing human invention. They allow instant access to information simply by turning pieces of paper. They are much faster to use than computers. Surprisingly, humans invented books before computers. They do many things backward. – From the Earth Diary of

Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

It was evening of the next day. I was in the woods. I was reading a book. The book was called the World Almanac. Did you know that twelve percent of households have a dehumidifier? Did you know that a sheep can live for twenty years? Did you know that humans used to believe the sun orbited Earth?

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. "Ax! Everyone is looking for you. Stay right here. I have to get them."

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.

"What is the matter?" I asked.

"What's the matter?" Marco demanded. "You're asking what's the matter? I'll tell – " 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 estreenswho change shape in fantastic, beautiful ways.

38 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.

"I don't understand the question."

"My dad's computer. You did something to it, didn't you?"

"I...I merely played the game."

"Game? GAME?! That was no game, that was my dad's work!"

"No. It was a game. You had to find the errors in the instructions." Suddenly an idea occurred to me. "Oh, I understand. Your father designs games for children." 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. "Yes, it could be used for that purpose. But it was so obviously full of errors ... I assumed it was a child's game."

"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."

"Einstein. Yes. I read about him in the World Almanac. He was the first human to realize that matter and energy – "

"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.

39 "What is a radio telescope?" I asked Marco.

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.

"I see. A primitive sensor. Yes, that would make sense. Of course, with the changes I made .

. ."

"What?" Marco snapped. "What about the changes you made?"

"The changes I made would only . . ."

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 bro ken 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.

40 But before I did that. . . would it be wrong to contact my family? Would it be so wrong to once again see them?

"I am not hiding anything," I lied. "Nothing at all." 41 Chapter Eight

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 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. Billions of miles 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 Elfan-gor, 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 my parents. He never treated me like a younger 42 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. My 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.

"Cassie?"

She loomed up from the darkness. How had I missed seeing her? I looked closer. Cassie began to change. She kept her own human face, but the ghostly gray-white mane of a horse.

And her legs ended in hooves, not human feet.

"You morphed a horse," I said.

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 don't believe he would be angry," I said. "I am no expert on humans, but I believe Prince Jake has a special affection for you."

Cassie laughed quietly. "I doubt it. I'm just a friend. And a fellow Animorph."

"Then why do you sometimes hold hands and intertwine your fingers?"

"Oh . . .well, you weren't supposed to see that."

"Why not?"

"Um, it's kind of a long story," Cassie said. "Just forget it, okay? How is your study of humans going?"

"I have read the World Almanac."

"So, what do you think?"

"I think humans are interesting."

"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 think there is a second reason why the Yeerks wish to enslave your species," I said.

43 "Aside from being able to have a lot of human hosts? Why?"

"They're afraid of you."

"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 – "

"Every species fights wars," I said. "In the past, Andalites made war on other Andalites.

And the Hork-Bajir used to have a biological time clock that set them all warring every sixty-two years. As for the Taxxons . . . they are cannibals."

"Yeah, well, we humans haven't been exactly perfect."

"Every species has something to be ashamed of," I said. "Every species carries some terrible guilt."

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 discovered radioactivity in 1896. In 1945 you exploded an atomic weapon. Forty– nine years. In 1903 you flew for the first time. Sixty-six years later, you landed on your moon."

"You really did read the World Almanac, didn't you?" Cassie said with a smile. "You're saying we do things quickly?"

"I'm saying that if the Yeerks don't destroy you now, they know that fifty years from now, humans will be capable of faster-than-light travel. And a hundred years from now . . . who knows?"

"How long did it take you Andalites to do those things?"

"I...I don't remember," I lied.

"I see," Cassie said. I believe her tone of voice is called "disappointed."

"I..."I hung my head. "I am bound by my oath as an Andalite warrior. We must never give Andalite technology to any other species, and we try not to, you know, talk about ourselves to other species." 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'm not Elfangor," I said finally. "I'm more like you. Just a young one. Elfangor was a great prince. My people might understand and forgive what Elfangor did, because he was an important person."

44 "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."

"I have eaten already."

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."

"Do me good? Do I seem ill?"

"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.

"How would you explain to your family who I was?"

Cassie shrugged. "You morphed Jake once, right? So be Jake."

45 Chapter SEVEN

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.

46 I discovered that chili is brown and red. It contains several ingredients and smells a lot. There was also something called jalapeno 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 tastebuds 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!

Oh! An Andalite would never understand. This was what being human was all about. Taste!

The glory of it. The incredible wonder of it.

"This is a wonderful food!" I cried.

"Excuse me?" Cassie's mother said.

"Ah HAH! At last. Someone who understands the joy of hot food!" Cassie's father cried.

I realized I had eaten my entire bowl of that marvelous chili. I wanted more. That taste! That feeling! I wanted more!

"There's plenty more," Cassie's father said. He filled my bowl again.

"Um, Jake?" Cassie said. "You really don't have to eat that much."

"I'll eat yours!" I cried.

My eyes were bulging from my head. My skin was tingling. My stomach was making sounds.

But still, I wanted more.

"I love this kid," Cassie's father said. "I wonder if his parents would let us adopt him. Jake, you are a very discerning, intelligent young man."

"He's insane," Cassie's mother said. "There's no other explanation."

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I suspected that Cassie had kicked me under the table.

I looked at her. She smiled sweetly, and then kicked me again.

"That's probably enough chili," she said. She was staring at me in a very direct way.

"Yes. That is enough chili," I agreed. I pushed the bowl away. "Chili. Hi. Chee-lee."

47 "I used habanero chilies," Cassie's father said. "The hottest substance known to man."

"Not as hot as the temperature created during nuclear fusion," I pointed out.

"So how is school, Jake?" Cassie's mother asked.

I knew what this activity was. This was called "making conversation." The rules were that each person would ask the other person a question.

"It is fine. And how is your work caring for animals?"

"Same old, same old," Cassie's mother said. "Although we are about to have some new camel babies."

Cassie's mother is a veterinarian at the zoo, a place where nonhuman animals are kept.

"So, Jake, you think the Bulls are going all the way again this year?" Cassie's father asked.

I could tell that Cassie was growing tense. She was afraid that I would not understand the question. But thanks to my reading of the World Almanac, I knew the "Bulls" were a sports team.

"Yes," I answered. "They can go all the way."

Then, it was my turn to ask a question. That is how "making conversation" works. "So, did you know that the cream separator was invented in 1878?"

Apparently, they did not know. Cassie, her mother, and her father all stared at me in surprise.

After that, we watched television for a while. It was a fictional depiction of a family. I watched it, and watched Cassie and her parents.

A human family was a good thing to learn about. I had seen Prince Jake's family. And now I was seeing Cassie's family. They are different in some ways. For example, Prince Jake's family performs a brief religious ritual before they eat. Cassie's family does not. And in Prince Jake's family, the father falls asleep while watching television. In Cassie's family, it was her mother who began to fall asleep.

"I must go," I told Cassie. "It has been almost two of your hours."

Cassie's mother revived long enough to say that I was crazy, but I was "still so cute."

Her father winked his left eye at me and waved as I left. Then he laughed at something from the television.

Outside in the cool evening air, Cassie sighed heavily. "Well, we got through that without it being too much of a disaster. Come on. I'll walk you out a ways, till you can morph back without being seen. By the way, here's a book for you, since you're done with the World Almanac. It's a book of quotes. Stuff that famous people said." She held it out for me to take.

"Thank you," I said.

48 I felt strange walking into the dark. Walking away from Cassie's house. Strange. As if it were cold out, although it wasn't.

"So what did you think of my parents?" Cassie asked.

"I liked them," I said. "But why has your father removed the hair from his head? Hair. Hay-yer. I meant to ask him, but forgot."

"He's going bald," Cassie said. "It's probably better not to mention it. It's a normal thing for humans. But some people get sensitive about it."

"Ah, yes. My father's hooves are getting dull. It's normal as well, but he doesn't like to talk about it."

"What's your father like? And your mother?"

"They are ... just normal parents. They are very nice. They are ..."

"Goon."

"My throat feels strange," I said. "Like there is an obstruction. I am having difficulty speaking. Ing. Is this normal?"

Cassie put her arm beneath mine. "You miss them. That's normal."

"An Andalite warrior may spend many years in space, far from his home and family. That's normal."

"Ax. You said it yourself. You may be an Andalite warrior, but you're still a kid, too."

I stopped walking. I was far from the light of the house. I could change back into my own shape without being seen. I realized I was looking up at the stars.

"Where are they?" Cassie asked, following the direction of my gaze. "If you're allowed to tell me that."

I pointed with my human fingers at the quadrant of space where my home star twinkled.

"There."

I watched that star as I melted out of my human form and returned to my true Andalite body.

"Ax, you know that Jake and Tobias and me, and even Rachel and Marco, we all care about you. You know that, right? You're not just some alien to us."

"Thank you for the chili," I said. "It was wonderful." Once more an Andalite, I ran for the forest.

I spent part of the night reading the book of quotes. I should have been resting, but I felt disturbed.

49 More and more I thought of how easily I could turn the radio telescope at the observatory into a Z-space transmitter. The idea of contacting my parents filled me with sadness and longing.

"They could tell me what to do," I thought. "They could give me instructions." And in another part of my mind I thought, "Wouldn't they be proud that I was fighting on against the Yeerks? They would all say, "He's an other Elfangor. A hero."" I'm not proud that I was thinking that. But I have to tell the truth. And the truth was, I wanted everyone back home to think I was being very brave, all alone on Earth.

Already in my mind a plan was taking shape.

I found a quiet place and prepared to sleep. I closed my main eyes, leaving only my stalk eyes open to look for danger. I relaxed my tail until it touched the ground.

Lonely.

Yes, it was lonely to sleep in a forest on a planet far from home. It was lonely to be the only one of my kind.

It was lonely knowing that Cassie was asleep in her home, and Marco in his, and Rachel and Jake. All had homes.

All but me. And Tobias.

Tobias. He would understand. But would he help me? If I did what I was planning, would he help? And could I trust him?

I raised my tail and opened my main eyes. I knew the place where Tobias slept. I found him easily. He stood with his sharp talons wrapped around a branch.

"Tobias?" I called.

"Huh? What? Ax? What's the matter?"

"Nothing is the matter. But ... I have a questions "I hope it's a good one. I was sleeping."

"Tobias. Are you my friend?"

"That's what you woke me up to ask?" He opened his wings and seemed to be stretching.