Categories > Books > Animorphs > The Progression
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This chapter briefly touches upon what may have happened with Sept. 11, 2001, as it happened in this universe. Check The Beginning and you'll see that it was published mere months before 9/11. That final book also mentions terrorism becoming a serious problem with visiting and resident aliens. I realize how much of a sensitive topic this is for lots of people, especially after what just happened recently in London. My sympathies go out to everyone and anyone who lost someone or something on that terrible day in //New York City//, as well as more recently in //London//.
CHAPTER 4
Tobias
A small celebration of sorts took place on board the Rachel as Ax was welcomed back.
he said for all of us to hear as the Rachel zoomed through Z-space.
Menderash looked thoroughly shocked at seeing his commanding superior act so... /juvenile/. But then again, I guess he couldn't blame Ax. He was able to regain his composure just as Ax finished devouring his Cinnabon in what I was sure was record time.
"Poor, poor Cinnabon," Marco said aloud, with mock sorrow as he shook his head. "It never stood a chance." Santorelli snickered at this, and Jeanne had to hide a grin.
Ax had now reverted back to his true Andalite form, and was now business again.
he said, addressing the only other Andalite on board.
he said, bowing dutifully and trotting over to the console.
Things became more relaxed from there as Ax acquainted himself with Santorelli and Jeanne, thanking them again for helping to rescue him. Ax and Jake did some catching up, and in a good sort of way, it was nice to watch them talk like old friends. For the last two years, especially since Visser One's trial, Jake and Ax very rarely were able to contact each other. Both were busy training future soldiers or commanding them; Jake told about his experiences training people even older than himself, Ax talked about the incidents which some clumsy arisths caused every now and then... Time certainly had gone by.
After all was said and done there, he came over to me.
he said quietly in what I was sure was private thought-speak.
I couldn't bring myself to talk... I really didn't know what to say.
Deciding to change the topic, Ax commented,
Ax said.
Ax said, looking slightly amused.
Ax did have a valid point there: While Andalites were definitely more advanced than humans, human science went at a quicker rate than Andalite science had. The Andalites were willing to slowly trade technology, one bit at a time, as not to cause such a major leap in technology and all the chaos that would have come out of it. Most of it went towards commercial purposes and space travel; understandably, weapons were out of the question.
Neither of us could forget how Ax accidentally helped create something which he later used to contact the Andalite home world.
I had to mentally laugh at the image of that.
I didn't know what to say. I had lived the last three years as a loner.
He nodded (a human gesture he had obviously picked up from us), and replied,
I bade him farewell, and flew out an open window.
Instead of all of us going back to California, we were able to get some rooms in New York City, where our clothes were shipped to us. We were able to keep it low-key as not to announce our presence to tons of people who wanted to welcome us back (and a few who wanted to give us hell for whatever warped reasons they had). Jake and Marco shared a room, I got paired up with Santorelli, Jeanne got a room all to herself... and, surprisingly, Ax and Menderash were able to make do in a nice, big hotel room. At least we picked a hotel close to Central Park, should one or both of them want to go out and graze.
Here, I was back among human civilization again... oh great, now I was brooding to myself again.
Actually, I had done plenty of brooding over the past three years: Whether or not I should live the rest of my life as a hawk or a human, how I missed Rachel, etc. However, I knew what was going on with the other Animorphs all the time, since I could see newspapers from far away and see what was going on with them.
I spent a lot of time hanging out with my namesake, Toby Hamee, the Hork-Bajir seer. Often, I felt like she was the only one I could talk to. Even with the rest of her fellow Hork-Bajir living their simple lives in Yellowstone, maybe she felt a bit like an outsider because of her higher intelligence... in fact, probably the same way her ancestor Dak Hamee felt all those years ago back on the Hork-Bajir home world.
I kept thinking to myself... did I want to rejoin the human race? Back then, Rachel seemed like the only reason I would have given up being a bird forever. I preferred an overall good life as a hawk than the fairly miserable life I had had as a human.
Then again... there was now the new Kelbrid doohickey which could undo "/nothlit/-ism," as Marco had called it. That was worth considering. Just like after I got the morphing power but before I first became trapped as a bird... I would be mainly human, and become a bird again if I chose. Maybe if I ever encountered the Kelbrid again, I could ask them.
A couple of days later, Ax asked if I wanted to go for a walk in Central Park with him.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This chapter briefly touches upon what may have happened with Sept. 11, 2001, as it happened in this universe. Check The Beginning and you'll see that it was published mere months before 9/11. That final book also mentions terrorism becoming a serious problem with visiting and resident aliens. I realize how much of a sensitive topic this is for lots of people, especially after what just happened recently in London. My sympathies go out to everyone and anyone who lost someone or something on that terrible day in //New York City//, as well as more recently in //London//.
CHAPTER 4
Tobias
A small celebration of sorts took place on board the Rachel as Ax was welcomed back.
he said for all of us to hear as the Rachel zoomed through Z-space.
Menderash looked thoroughly shocked at seeing his commanding superior act so... /juvenile/. But then again, I guess he couldn't blame Ax. He was able to regain his composure just as Ax finished devouring his Cinnabon in what I was sure was record time.
"Poor, poor Cinnabon," Marco said aloud, with mock sorrow as he shook his head. "It never stood a chance." Santorelli snickered at this, and Jeanne had to hide a grin.
Ax had now reverted back to his true Andalite form, and was now business again.
he said, addressing the only other Andalite on board.
he said, bowing dutifully and trotting over to the console.
Things became more relaxed from there as Ax acquainted himself with Santorelli and Jeanne, thanking them again for helping to rescue him. Ax and Jake did some catching up, and in a good sort of way, it was nice to watch them talk like old friends. For the last two years, especially since Visser One's trial, Jake and Ax very rarely were able to contact each other. Both were busy training future soldiers or commanding them; Jake told about his experiences training people even older than himself, Ax talked about the incidents which some clumsy arisths caused every now and then... Time certainly had gone by.
After all was said and done there, he came over to me.
he said quietly in what I was sure was private thought-speak.
I couldn't bring myself to talk... I really didn't know what to say.
Deciding to change the topic, Ax commented,
Ax said.
Ax said, looking slightly amused.
Ax did have a valid point there: While Andalites were definitely more advanced than humans, human science went at a quicker rate than Andalite science had. The Andalites were willing to slowly trade technology, one bit at a time, as not to cause such a major leap in technology and all the chaos that would have come out of it. Most of it went towards commercial purposes and space travel; understandably, weapons were out of the question.
Neither of us could forget how Ax accidentally helped create something which he later used to contact the Andalite home world.
I had to mentally laugh at the image of that.
I didn't know what to say. I had lived the last three years as a loner.
He nodded (a human gesture he had obviously picked up from us), and replied,
I bade him farewell, and flew out an open window.
Instead of all of us going back to California, we were able to get some rooms in New York City, where our clothes were shipped to us. We were able to keep it low-key as not to announce our presence to tons of people who wanted to welcome us back (and a few who wanted to give us hell for whatever warped reasons they had). Jake and Marco shared a room, I got paired up with Santorelli, Jeanne got a room all to herself... and, surprisingly, Ax and Menderash were able to make do in a nice, big hotel room. At least we picked a hotel close to Central Park, should one or both of them want to go out and graze.
Here, I was back among human civilization again... oh great, now I was brooding to myself again.
Actually, I had done plenty of brooding over the past three years: Whether or not I should live the rest of my life as a hawk or a human, how I missed Rachel, etc. However, I knew what was going on with the other Animorphs all the time, since I could see newspapers from far away and see what was going on with them.
I spent a lot of time hanging out with my namesake, Toby Hamee, the Hork-Bajir seer. Often, I felt like she was the only one I could talk to. Even with the rest of her fellow Hork-Bajir living their simple lives in Yellowstone, maybe she felt a bit like an outsider because of her higher intelligence... in fact, probably the same way her ancestor Dak Hamee felt all those years ago back on the Hork-Bajir home world.
I kept thinking to myself... did I want to rejoin the human race? Back then, Rachel seemed like the only reason I would have given up being a bird forever. I preferred an overall good life as a hawk than the fairly miserable life I had had as a human.
Then again... there was now the new Kelbrid doohickey which could undo "/nothlit/-ism," as Marco had called it. That was worth considering. Just like after I got the morphing power but before I first became trapped as a bird... I would be mainly human, and become a bird again if I chose. Maybe if I ever encountered the Kelbrid again, I could ask them.
A couple of days later, Ax asked if I wanted to go for a walk in Central Park with him.
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