Categories > Books > Animorphs > The Progression
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.
This chapter is dedicated to Bridget3, whose ongoing story "The Kelbrid Chronicles" is entertaining, and holds much potential.
CHAPTER 5
Jake
To say that everyone on Earth was excited and/or nervous was a supreme understatement.
Even though the United Nations had released a censored version of the message from the Kelbrid which I had delivered, everyone was still all excited about this new alien race (former rivals of the mighty Andalites themselves, no less!), and it seemed like the rumor mill wouldn't stop turning. People were running bets on things from what they would look like to what they would want to do with the human race.
Me, Marco, Santorelli, Jeanne and even Tobias had gotten a slap on the wrist for running off like that, but were just as quickly let off the hook for doing our part in rescuing the great Prince Aximili and temporarily defeating some terrible new foe. I think it was because we (or at least Marco and I) were essentially heroes, and they we afraid that something terrible would happen if they crossed us. Ax and Menderash more or less went through the same thing with the Electorate. Overall, it went like this for all of us: "Where have you been? Are you all right? You shouldn't have done that. Don't do that again. Now why don't you go back to whatever you were doing before?"
Marco put some hype on it with some interview on the Letterman Show, which got even worse for me when he slipped about my battle with Alam 606 in her polar bear morph. After that, all the talk show hosts practically begged and groveled before me to speak about my battle with the Yeerk who killed my cousin. Obviously, the idea of me avenging my late cousin had much appeal; the scary part was, I would have expected it more from honor-bound Andalites than my own fellow humans. It took about a week before I could look at Marco again without wanting to morph into a tiger and give him hell for what he said.
My parents and relatives actually seemed rather happy that Rachel's killer was now dead, but then again, I guess I couldn't blame them. Heck, even I wanted that blasted Yeerk dead! With her (as in Alam 606) and the Blade ship gone, everyone seemed slightly happier because of that.
Meanwhile, on the Andalite home world, they celebrated the return of their beloved Prince Aximili, and Menderash was also enjoying how he was no longer a nothlit/. The fact that the Kelbrid had found a way to reverse the /nothlit thing had caused quite a stir among Andalites. Personally, I think it hit their pride, since the Kelbrid had found a solution to the Andalites' problem.
Tobias hung around with Cassie or Toby. I came by to talk with him from to time, and hopefully put some things behind us. However, I could see that Tobias had a sort of limp to him ever since we returned from rescuing Ax. Whatever it was, I hoped it would get better, and soon.
It took about a month for the Kelbrid to come, but eventually, they came.
They had chosen a spare desert area in Nevada, just out of sight from Las Vegas. A landing zone was set up, and was about the size of a baseball field in a major league stadium. Adjoining it was a complex made of portable buildings, were the conferences with these Kelbrid would take place. The American military, along with military forces from other countries, were keeping security tight, and cameras from the press had to be kept at a distance. It felt like Visser One's trial in The Hague two years before.
For now, we stood in the shade of tents built up, waiting for the Kelbrid to come.
"Is it me, or does this look suspiciously familiar from that Mars Attacks! movie?" Marco whispered in my ear. "The aliens act nice, give coordinates to land here in the American desert, everyone waits for them..."
As much as I wanted to swat Marco at that moment, I had to admit, the resemblance to the scene from that movie did seem uncanny.
When I didn't respond, Marco shrugged and went off somewhere.
Nearby, Toby Hamee and a few other Hork-Bajir were talking amongst themselves, with Tobias perched on his namesake's shoulder. Ax and Cassie spoke amongst themselves in another area, while her fiancé, Ronnie Chambers, met with the Andalite delegates who had come here, including Menderash himself. In fact, I could also make out and recognize Prince Galuit, whom we had met during our strange adventure on Leera.
Looking closer, I could see Alloran-Semitur-Corrass among them.
Even to this day, I still had some trouble breaking the habit of associating that face with Visser Three/One. Of course, it's not like it was Alloran's fault. I wondered how well he had adjusted to the Andalite home world after his years-long absence as the host for one of the worst Yeerks ever. From what I could gather, he was still pretty unpopular among Andalites for his actions on the Hork-Bajir world all those years ago, even before he became a slave to the Yeerks. The last I had seen of him was at Visser One's trial, and all I knew was that he had a wife and two children, both of whom were adults now, and he was trying to make up for lost time.
All things considered, I felt really sorry for the guy, and hoped I never had to go through anything like that.
He must have noticed me glance at him, because he nodded to me before turning his attention elsewhere.
A few moments later, everyone was stirring, and on the large screens set up around the area, images appeared. A ship had just dropped out of Z-space and came to a slow cruise in Earth's orbit.
We were watching all of this with the help of a new breed of satellites which had been launched in the past few years. Marco's dad had helped worked on designing some of the systems, and with the input of countless other people working on the same project, the output was a satellite which could also act as a camera, observing anything that came to or left from Earth. The quality of what we were seeing was amazing.
The ship looked dark at first, but as the sun's rays bounced off of it, I could see that it was made of a shiny, sleek metal. In fact, looking closer, it almost looked as though the surface of the ship itself was made of overlapping metal feathers, like on a bird's wings.
The shape of the ship itself looked like a giant F-117 stealth fighter with its face more curved around the edges, but with the wide wings of a B-2 stealth bomber. Behind it was what looked like a long stinger or tail, making the ship look like a giant arrow, or maybe a manta ray.
Even my description of it seemed to be woefully inaccurate, because I couldn't describe how amazing it was, with its shape that gave off a sense of speed or flowing movement. Everyone else was excited as well.
The satellite's camera showed the ship from an angle overhead, but we could just make out a shaft of light starting to come out from the bottom of it. We guessed it was a hanger opening.
Four stubby little fighters, all with forward-swept wings, flanked a somewhat bigger ship, which we guessed was the shuttle. It had two long, curved wings swept backwards, looking like scimitar blades. The central wing looked like a tall dorsal fin, though not as big or as long as the two other wings. Like the bigger ship it came from, it had a gray, feathered appearance to it.
The five smaller ships descended through Earth's atmosphere, and within minutes, we could see them from where we stood.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath and the four fighters formed a square around the shuttle. They hovered in mid-air, more than a hundred feet above the ground.
Just then, parts of the bottom of the shuttle opened up, and some things flew out of them. With the help of cameras, we could see what they were.
They looked like angels at first, but then things became clearer. They looked like a cross between humans and birds: They stood on two legs, and had two arms ending in talon-like hands, but their bodies were covered in feathers which were various shades of grey. Their heads were definitely bird-like, and they wore helmets which seemed to have plumes on them (kind of like some helmets worn by ancient Greek and Roman soldiers), but were later realized to be feathers grown on the head. Each Kelbrid warrior was as tall as a Hork-Bajir, and there was also a slight resemblance with the basic body structure, such as the legs being bent back (as opposed to forward, like on humans). They also wore armor which first looked like gold, but had a strange orange-red glint to it. Even as they flew gracefully, they each carried a slender staff as tall as they were, with the top ending in a scythe much like an Andalite's tail blade.
Ten of these Kelbrid warriors were flying gracefully around the ship as it slowly descended. As it descended, all three wings folded back, kind of like those Imperial shuttles you see in the Star Wars movies. After it landed, the flying Kelbrid warriors (whom I guessed were bodyguards), touched down in front of the ship, in two rows of five. Each stood at attention like statues, kind of like those guards you see at Buckingham Palace who don't move, no matter what. Each had their "scythe-staffs" in their right hands, each as stiff and straight as they were. All ten stood facing in our direction as the shuttle went through the final landing procedure.
With a hiss that could be heard from we were in the silence, the front of the shuttle opened like a kind of mouth. The Kelbrid guards all turned to face each other now as the shuttle's passengers exited and came toward us.
There were only three of them. The Kelbrid in the lead was wrapped in a purple shawl and robes (which also shielded his head and most of his face from the desert sun), and judging by how he was slightly hunched over and had feathers that looked duller and paler compared to those of the warriors, this Kelbrid may have been relatively old by whatever standards they had. In almost sort of a V-formation, there were two other Kelbrid behind him, both of which looked younger and sturdier. On the lead Kelbid's rear left was one dressed in a sort of blue-green tunic, carrying what looked like a sort of alien briefcase. On the rear right was another Kelbrid whose function or purpose I could only guess at; he wore armor that seemed light, compared to the armor of the still-standing ten Kelbrid guards, which looked to be sown together like the armor of an ancient samurai warrior, but also a bit like a Roman legionnaire's armor, and carried a scythe in one of his claw-like hands.
This chapter is dedicated to Bridget3, whose ongoing story "The Kelbrid Chronicles" is entertaining, and holds much potential.
CHAPTER 5
Jake
To say that everyone on Earth was excited and/or nervous was a supreme understatement.
Even though the United Nations had released a censored version of the message from the Kelbrid which I had delivered, everyone was still all excited about this new alien race (former rivals of the mighty Andalites themselves, no less!), and it seemed like the rumor mill wouldn't stop turning. People were running bets on things from what they would look like to what they would want to do with the human race.
Me, Marco, Santorelli, Jeanne and even Tobias had gotten a slap on the wrist for running off like that, but were just as quickly let off the hook for doing our part in rescuing the great Prince Aximili and temporarily defeating some terrible new foe. I think it was because we (or at least Marco and I) were essentially heroes, and they we afraid that something terrible would happen if they crossed us. Ax and Menderash more or less went through the same thing with the Electorate. Overall, it went like this for all of us: "Where have you been? Are you all right? You shouldn't have done that. Don't do that again. Now why don't you go back to whatever you were doing before?"
Marco put some hype on it with some interview on the Letterman Show, which got even worse for me when he slipped about my battle with Alam 606 in her polar bear morph. After that, all the talk show hosts practically begged and groveled before me to speak about my battle with the Yeerk who killed my cousin. Obviously, the idea of me avenging my late cousin had much appeal; the scary part was, I would have expected it more from honor-bound Andalites than my own fellow humans. It took about a week before I could look at Marco again without wanting to morph into a tiger and give him hell for what he said.
My parents and relatives actually seemed rather happy that Rachel's killer was now dead, but then again, I guess I couldn't blame them. Heck, even I wanted that blasted Yeerk dead! With her (as in Alam 606) and the Blade ship gone, everyone seemed slightly happier because of that.
Meanwhile, on the Andalite home world, they celebrated the return of their beloved Prince Aximili, and Menderash was also enjoying how he was no longer a nothlit/. The fact that the Kelbrid had found a way to reverse the /nothlit thing had caused quite a stir among Andalites. Personally, I think it hit their pride, since the Kelbrid had found a solution to the Andalites' problem.
Tobias hung around with Cassie or Toby. I came by to talk with him from to time, and hopefully put some things behind us. However, I could see that Tobias had a sort of limp to him ever since we returned from rescuing Ax. Whatever it was, I hoped it would get better, and soon.
It took about a month for the Kelbrid to come, but eventually, they came.
They had chosen a spare desert area in Nevada, just out of sight from Las Vegas. A landing zone was set up, and was about the size of a baseball field in a major league stadium. Adjoining it was a complex made of portable buildings, were the conferences with these Kelbrid would take place. The American military, along with military forces from other countries, were keeping security tight, and cameras from the press had to be kept at a distance. It felt like Visser One's trial in The Hague two years before.
For now, we stood in the shade of tents built up, waiting for the Kelbrid to come.
"Is it me, or does this look suspiciously familiar from that Mars Attacks! movie?" Marco whispered in my ear. "The aliens act nice, give coordinates to land here in the American desert, everyone waits for them..."
As much as I wanted to swat Marco at that moment, I had to admit, the resemblance to the scene from that movie did seem uncanny.
When I didn't respond, Marco shrugged and went off somewhere.
Nearby, Toby Hamee and a few other Hork-Bajir were talking amongst themselves, with Tobias perched on his namesake's shoulder. Ax and Cassie spoke amongst themselves in another area, while her fiancé, Ronnie Chambers, met with the Andalite delegates who had come here, including Menderash himself. In fact, I could also make out and recognize Prince Galuit, whom we had met during our strange adventure on Leera.
Looking closer, I could see Alloran-Semitur-Corrass among them.
Even to this day, I still had some trouble breaking the habit of associating that face with Visser Three/One. Of course, it's not like it was Alloran's fault. I wondered how well he had adjusted to the Andalite home world after his years-long absence as the host for one of the worst Yeerks ever. From what I could gather, he was still pretty unpopular among Andalites for his actions on the Hork-Bajir world all those years ago, even before he became a slave to the Yeerks. The last I had seen of him was at Visser One's trial, and all I knew was that he had a wife and two children, both of whom were adults now, and he was trying to make up for lost time.
All things considered, I felt really sorry for the guy, and hoped I never had to go through anything like that.
He must have noticed me glance at him, because he nodded to me before turning his attention elsewhere.
A few moments later, everyone was stirring, and on the large screens set up around the area, images appeared. A ship had just dropped out of Z-space and came to a slow cruise in Earth's orbit.
We were watching all of this with the help of a new breed of satellites which had been launched in the past few years. Marco's dad had helped worked on designing some of the systems, and with the input of countless other people working on the same project, the output was a satellite which could also act as a camera, observing anything that came to or left from Earth. The quality of what we were seeing was amazing.
The ship looked dark at first, but as the sun's rays bounced off of it, I could see that it was made of a shiny, sleek metal. In fact, looking closer, it almost looked as though the surface of the ship itself was made of overlapping metal feathers, like on a bird's wings.
The shape of the ship itself looked like a giant F-117 stealth fighter with its face more curved around the edges, but with the wide wings of a B-2 stealth bomber. Behind it was what looked like a long stinger or tail, making the ship look like a giant arrow, or maybe a manta ray.
Even my description of it seemed to be woefully inaccurate, because I couldn't describe how amazing it was, with its shape that gave off a sense of speed or flowing movement. Everyone else was excited as well.
The satellite's camera showed the ship from an angle overhead, but we could just make out a shaft of light starting to come out from the bottom of it. We guessed it was a hanger opening.
Four stubby little fighters, all with forward-swept wings, flanked a somewhat bigger ship, which we guessed was the shuttle. It had two long, curved wings swept backwards, looking like scimitar blades. The central wing looked like a tall dorsal fin, though not as big or as long as the two other wings. Like the bigger ship it came from, it had a gray, feathered appearance to it.
The five smaller ships descended through Earth's atmosphere, and within minutes, we could see them from where we stood.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath and the four fighters formed a square around the shuttle. They hovered in mid-air, more than a hundred feet above the ground.
Just then, parts of the bottom of the shuttle opened up, and some things flew out of them. With the help of cameras, we could see what they were.
They looked like angels at first, but then things became clearer. They looked like a cross between humans and birds: They stood on two legs, and had two arms ending in talon-like hands, but their bodies were covered in feathers which were various shades of grey. Their heads were definitely bird-like, and they wore helmets which seemed to have plumes on them (kind of like some helmets worn by ancient Greek and Roman soldiers), but were later realized to be feathers grown on the head. Each Kelbrid warrior was as tall as a Hork-Bajir, and there was also a slight resemblance with the basic body structure, such as the legs being bent back (as opposed to forward, like on humans). They also wore armor which first looked like gold, but had a strange orange-red glint to it. Even as they flew gracefully, they each carried a slender staff as tall as they were, with the top ending in a scythe much like an Andalite's tail blade.
Ten of these Kelbrid warriors were flying gracefully around the ship as it slowly descended. As it descended, all three wings folded back, kind of like those Imperial shuttles you see in the Star Wars movies. After it landed, the flying Kelbrid warriors (whom I guessed were bodyguards), touched down in front of the ship, in two rows of five. Each stood at attention like statues, kind of like those guards you see at Buckingham Palace who don't move, no matter what. Each had their "scythe-staffs" in their right hands, each as stiff and straight as they were. All ten stood facing in our direction as the shuttle went through the final landing procedure.
With a hiss that could be heard from we were in the silence, the front of the shuttle opened like a kind of mouth. The Kelbrid guards all turned to face each other now as the shuttle's passengers exited and came toward us.
There were only three of them. The Kelbrid in the lead was wrapped in a purple shawl and robes (which also shielded his head and most of his face from the desert sun), and judging by how he was slightly hunched over and had feathers that looked duller and paler compared to those of the warriors, this Kelbrid may have been relatively old by whatever standards they had. In almost sort of a V-formation, there were two other Kelbrid behind him, both of which looked younger and sturdier. On the lead Kelbid's rear left was one dressed in a sort of blue-green tunic, carrying what looked like a sort of alien briefcase. On the rear right was another Kelbrid whose function or purpose I could only guess at; he wore armor that seemed light, compared to the armor of the still-standing ten Kelbrid guards, which looked to be sown together like the armor of an ancient samurai warrior, but also a bit like a Roman legionnaire's armor, and carried a scythe in one of his claw-like hands.
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