Two of Us

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This story takes place between Books 22 and 23 of the Animorphs series, and at the tail end of the first season of Space Cases.

“You and me . . . getting nowhere on our way back home . . .
You and I have memories longer that that road that stretches out ahead.”
Somewhere between the first and second seasons of Space Cases, the relationship between Radu the Andromedan and Harlan Band the human underwent a change. Although we could see this happening throughout the first season, I always thought that the change happened a bit too fast. Perhaps the reason behind this is simply that the creators of Space Cases, Peter David and Bill Mumy, didn’t have enough time to spread their story arc out the way they wanted it, and they had to compact it a bit. However, I’d like to think that there was another reason . . . and maybe, if I’m lucky, it involved the heroes of my other favorite series . . .

“So, have you guys managed to kill each other yet?” Catalina asked, her image vaguely staticky on the tiny visual screen of the Christa’s shuttle, Starling 8.

“Not yet,” Harlan said flatly. “We made it to the asteroid with no problems; we’re on our way back now. We should be at the rendezvous point with the Christa within a few hours.” He muttered something else unintelligibly under his breath; however, judging by the look of surprise on Radu’s face, just visible over Harlan’s shoulder, the comment was none too polite.

Catalina couldn’t help but smile at the human’s behavior, although she knew that his current attitude was far from humorous. Maybe it was the extra work in the ComPost to prepare for the rough area of space they would be passing through during the next few days; maybe it was just the stress of their latest adventure wearing on Harlan a bit more than it normally did. Whatever the reason, the omnipresent tension between Harlan and Radu had recently shot up to almost unbearable levels, and the rest of the crew was getting sick and tired of their constant bickering. Finally, in desperation, Commander Goddard sent them on a penalty mission; leave the Christa in a Starling, go to a small asteroid that didn’t require much deviation from the Christa’s regular course, and collect samples. A fairly minor mission – probably less than twenty-four hours total. Unfortunately, with this pair, the problem needed to be looked at in a slightly different way. Collecting samples from an asteroid by going out in a two-person shuttle. Being away from the Christa for almost a full day. Alone. Together. She could only imagine what kind of abuse Radu had been dealing with over the last twenty-four hours. “Okay,” she said out loud, refraining from any comment on the situation. “It’s 14:30 now; we’ll prepare to be at the rendezvous point for 18:30. Does that sound about right to you?”

For a moment, there was no response. “Harlan!”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that sounds fine.”

The young Saturnian got a suspicious look on her face. “Harlan, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” he said with a yawn. “Just a little tired.”

Catalina rolled her eyes. He stayed up the whole time piloting, she realized. Of course, he couldn’t let Radu pilot for a few hours or anything . . . he might fly them into a star or something. She sighed. Harlan was a nice enough guy – most of the time - but sometimes his stubbornness really got on her nerves. Couldn’t he see by now that Radu was totally different from the Andromedans their people had fought during the war? She was about to comment, but suddenly stopped as she heard the door swoosh open behind her. “Okay,” she said in what she hoped was an official-sounding voice. “Catalina out.”

“Wow, she shut that thing off pretty quickly,” Harlan said without looking at his crewmate. “Was it something I said?”

“I don’t think so - you didn’t say much,” Radu said quietly.

Harlan sighed. “It was a joke.”

“Oh.”

There was a long, uncomfortable silence of a few minutes before Radu finally spoke. “You know, Harlan, you do seem kinda tired,” he said cautiously. “Commander Goddard always says that a pilot who’s not alert is one of the biggest dangers to a ship - maybe you should let me sit there for a while.”

“Like I told Cat, I’m fine!” the young human said aggressively.

“Okay, okay,” Radu said hurriedly, not wanting to start another argument.

Once again, the cockpit descended into a deafening silence.

Radu sat in the copilot’s seat, checking and rechecking the navigational coordinates. The silence was unnerving; worse than waking up in the middle of the night, when he was almost guaranteed to hear some sign of activity, even if it was only Thelma having a long one-sided dialogue with the Christa. In the Starling, the only sounds were the engine burning fuel and the oxygen system hissing softly.

Suddenly, as if some subconscious part of his brain had given him a warning, the young Andromedan’s attention snapped back to the events unfolding around him . . . just in time to notice the sight which had become visible through the viewscreens on either side. “Harlan! Look out!”

As the human snapped to attention, working quickly to steer them out of the danger zone they’d gotten into, Radu winced in anticipation. He could already tell it was too late.

Seemingly within moments, the Starling had been completely surrounded by strange asteroids, shaped almost like living creatures. The obstacles were too numerous to get away from easily. The young Andromedan could hear the engine’s internal mechanisms squealing in protest as Harlan tried desperately to make the tiny shuttle swerve away from the asteroids, but there wasn’t enough time; there was no way they could avoid a collision. All they could do was brace themselves for the inevitable impact.

It came far too quickly; faster than either of them could have expected. For an instant, it almost appeared that Harlan had been successful and they would be able to slip between two of the colossal things. But then, the two enormous pieces of rock came crashing together right in front of their ship, sending millions of tiny sand grains flying in all directions. In the next second, the Starling hit something - and then everything went black . . .

As Radu regained consciousness, his first feeling was of overwhelming relief. I’m alive, he realized. We made it through the asteroid field somehow. Suddenly, though, he realized that something in the environment outside the Starling seemed wrong. When the collision had occurred, the young Andromedan had been gazing out the window at black space and greenish-gray pieces of rock; now he could see patches of cloudy gray sky, filtered through leafy green objects which he slowly realized must be trees . . . he’d seen holograms of them before. But there aren’t any trees floating in space, he said to himself. Did we crash-land on a planet somewhere? How did we avoid being crushed between the rocks? Where did we land? There wasn’t any planet on the scanners . . . Harlan just checked them before we made contact with Catalina . . . Suddenly, the young Andromedan felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he realized he’d forgotten about his crewmate. Radu had apparently survived the crash with no injuries . . . but had Harlan been as lucky?

Once he’d confirmed that his crewmate was still in one piece and focused his hearing to ensure that he was still breathing, Radu relaxed a little. Cautiously, he pushed the Starling door open to give them a little more room and some fresh air. When he tried to stand up, though, he found his head spinning. The Starling must have gone through some serious spirals before it crashed, he said to himself. As he contemplated this a bit more, he realized with relief that Harlan was waking up as well.

“Uhh . . . what’s going on?” the human muttered.

“I think we crashed,” Radu replied.

Those words woke Harlan up. He sat up quickly - and as soon as he saw the landscape outside, he realized something was wrong. “What the . . . where are we?” He jumped up, checking himself for injuries, and then began examining the exterior of the ship for damage. After a few seconds, it seemed to occur to him that there had been another crew member in the Starling when it crashed, and that it might be a good idea to inquire after his health. Without even looking at Radu, he asked, “You okay?”

“I - I’m not exactly sure,” Radu said hesitantly.

Harlan turned toward him, wearing an expression that might be interpreted as mildly concerned.

“For a minute, I just had - had this funny feeling. When I first stood up, I felt really disoriented. It was like . . . ” Suddenly, the pieces came together in his mind. “It like was the feeling I got when we went through the white circle, when it took me a second to get used to the new coordinates.”

Harlan looked blank. “What are you talking about?”

“W-well . . . ” The Andromedan looked hesitant. “M-my people have - well - kind of a built-in sense of direction. We always . . . just kind of know where we are - on a ship, or - or in relation to the rest of the universe. When I get transported from one place to another in a big leap, like with the white circle, it takes me a minute to readjust. I should be all right now, though.”

It took a minute for Harlan to realize what his crewmate was saying. “So,” he said slowly, “we didn’t just crash onto some planet a few miles below that asteroid field. We got brought a long way . . . and somehow, we managed to land without disturbing any of the trees, and without a scratch on either of us or on the ship.” There was a long pause. Then the human asked quietly, “Do you know where we are?”

“Well, I thought I did . . . ” He looked uncertain. If I tell him what my gut feeling is, he’ll think I’m making some kind of joke. He’ll never believe me.

“But . . . ” Harlan prodded.

“But . . . there’s no way I could be right. I think we’re . . . well . . . I thought we were on Earth.”

“Earth?” At the word, Harlan jumped up from his position, still crouched by the Starling . . . but a quick glance around left him subdued. “No way! Look at this - trees as far as the eye can see in every direction? No signs of houses or civilized life? I don’t think there are too many places like this left on Earth.” He turned cautiously to his crewmate. “Do you hear anything that might be a sign of humans? Hovercraft . . . anything?”

Radu was quiet, concentrating. The sounds of a forest were alien to his ears, of course, but after a few minutes he managed to sort out some of it, based on basic-Earth-knowledge holotapes he’d watched on the space arks before going to Starcademy. Insects, small creatures running through the plants under the trees, larger creatures chasing them, the occasional high-pitched squeal of something not fast enough to get away . . . He shuddered. The whole idea of a world with miles upon miles of pure life, no technology, relatively few members of the sentient species, left him more than a little nervous . . . Radu’s world was metals and instruments, dehydrated foods and silent, non-living corridors. “No,” he said with a subtle shudder. “No signs of civilization.”

Harlan shook his head. “We could be a thousand miles from anywhere,” he muttered. But suddenly, his face got the faintest glimmer of a hopeful look. “But if this is Earth . . . ”

Radu nodded - he knew what must be running through his crewmate’s mind. Even though the young Andromedan had never been very well-liked back home on the space arks, the thought of seeing his own people again . . . walking through familiar surroundings . . . the opportunity to see something even remotely resembling home . . . “Let’s start walking,” he said mildly.
We’re the Animorphs. Cassie, Marco, Rachel, Tobias, Ax, and Jake. That’s me. We can’t tell you our last names. We wish we could. We can’t tell you the name of our school, or our town, or even the state we’re in. The Yeerks are everywhere. And if they knew our names or where we lived, they could find us, and then . . . well, let’s just say we don’t want them to find us. If they ever did, it would be the end. Not just of us, but of the entire human race.

We used to be just a bunch of ordinary kids, but that all changed in an instant. One night when Jake and I were heading home from the mall, we hooked up with the others and decided to take a shortcut through an abandoned construction site . . . I guess we figured it was better to hook up with an ax-murderer than get grounded for being late. Suddenly, though, we saw some weird lights in the sky. They belonged to the ship of a dying Andalite warrior; the first of the aliens we’ve met. The one who told us what was going on behind-the-scenes on our own planet. Now we’re the only humans who know the truth - the only free ones, anyway.

Like many other planets, Earth is under invasion by a species of mind-stealing creatures called Yeerks. The Yeerks are a parasite species, nearly helpless without hosts - but once they enter another creature, through the ear, they take the host body over. Completely. They wrap themselves around the brain and control everything from speaking to blinking the eyes. In this state, the host, whether human, Hork-Bajir, Taxxon, - or Andalite - is known as a Controller.

There are six of us. Five human kids and one lost Andalite warrior-cadet; a tiny, pathetic little army. The Andalites fight the Yeerks wherever they go throughout the universe . . . but they can’t be everywhere at once. Ax has contacted his home world, asking them to send reinforcements, but it might be a year or two before they’re able to make it back to Earth. Until then, we’re on our own. We fight our own battles. The only weapon we have is the Andalite technology we got that night in the construction site; the power to morph. To become any animal we touch. But that’s a long story. We have another one to tell now.

The future is always on our minds. That’s what we’re fighting for, after all; the freedom of our children. The freedom of Earth’s children for generations to come . . . but we never really considered the point seriously before. We never stopped to think, for example, about what one of those children might look like. Now we know. We’ve met one.

Things started off innocently - well, as innocently as they ever do, now. We had just gone through a horrible few days, and were trying to take some time off from alien-fighting. We were trying not to even mention the Yeerks - to pretend, for even a little while, that we were just ordinary kids. But we quickly realized that this time, at least, we weren’t going to be so lucky . . .
“Well, this is wonderful,” Harlan panted. “We’ve been walking for hours, and we still haven’t run across anything.”

Having hidden the Starling under some fallen brush, the pair had begun their trek through the woods in search of civilization. For the last hour or so, Radu had been attempting to keep a balance between listening to his crewmate and keeping an ear open for the strange and potentially threatening sounds of Earth. Suddenly, though, as he refocused his hearing on Harlan once again, he realized that the human was breathing hard, and that his heart was pounding. We’ve covered a lot of ground, he realized guiltily. I always forget that humans don’t have as much endurance as Andromedans do. He hasn’t slept all night, either . . . he must be exhausted. If I suggest he’s tired, though, he’ll just get defensive . . . I’d better try something else. “It looks like the sun’s going down,” he said, hoping he didn’t sound too nervous. “Maybe we should stop for the night . . . I don’t want to be wandering around after dark.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Harlan said, sinking to the ground almost before the words were out of his crewmate’s mouth.

“Don’t you think we should head back to the Starling to sleep?” Radu asked nervously, taking a look around him at the fading light and the menacing shadows of the trees.

“Nah,” Harlan said sleepily. “If we get off the ground, we should be all set. You said we’re in North America . . . there’s not much here that would be able to shake us out of a tree. But we should probably have someone stay up to keep watch, just in case.”

“Y-you can go to sleep for a while if you want,” Radu said hesitantly. “I’ll keep watch.”

“No, that’s okay . . . I’ll keep watch first,” Harlan said. But even as he did, he could feel himself falling asleep. He was exhausted . . . so tired that the thought of climbing up into a tree and letting Radu take first watch actually sounded pretty good . . . Leaving him on guard? Do I really trust an Andromedan that much? Almost as he finished the thought, however, he could feel his eyes starting to close. You’ve got no choice, he realized. If you take first watch, you’re going to fall asleep . . . it won’t do anybody any good if you’re both out cold. “Actually . . . ” he said quietly, “why don’t you go first.”

“Sure.” There was an awkward pause, and then Radu allowed himself a skeptical glance at the large tree beside them. “D-do you need any help getting up there?”

“Nah, I’m all set,” Harlan said. “I must have climbed a thousand trees in my lifetime.” He clambered up to a low branch - not as effortlessly as he would have liked, but gracefully enough to satisfy his pride. Settling in the branches, he could already feel himself starting to drift off. He could only hope that when he woke up, things would still be in one piece . . .
A few hours later, the forest had grown strangely quiet, as it often does during the wee hours of the morning. There were no sounds, except for the occasional cry of some unlucky animal that had been caught by a predator. High above the ground, Harlan was still curled in the broad branches of the tree, dead to the world. Radu was sitting nervously underneath, jumping at every little noise.

Logically, the young Andromedan knew that he should have woken Harlan up long ago to take a turn at watch, but he simply couldn’t bring himself to turn his back on the wilderness of Earth. Finally, though, Radu realized that despite his nerves, he had come dangerously close to dropping off. You’d better wake him up, he said to himself. If you drop off, some Earth animal could come out of the brush and eat you both in one gulp before you even knew what happened.

Not so far away, a pair of strange creatures walked quietly through the woods, flanked by a group of humans. They were fearsome-looking things, seven feet tall, with sharp blades at wrists, ankles and knees . . . but the face was most fearsome of all. Three blades curving from the forehead . . . and a mouth like a falcon’s beak.

“Are you certain you heard something this way?” the first strange creature said to his comrade.

“Yes, I am sure. It sounds like a humanoid.”

“Probably just some vagrant who was ejected from his home,” one of the humans said disdainfully.

“Either way, our instructions are to investigate any strange sounds or incidents in our sector . . . and that is what we’re doing.”

“If it turns out to be nothing more than a human bum, and the Andalite bandits get through our entrance to the Pool because of your stupidity, Visser Three will have your head.”

“Don’t worry,” the taller of the alien pair said flatly. “I will take complete and utter blame for it.”

As the two Hork-Bajir Controllers - for that is what they were, Yeerks patrolling an area in their current host bodies - approached the site of the suspicious sounds, Radu was getting up the nerve to wake his crewmate when a strange sound snapped him to attention. Footsteps. Human, part of his brain said reassuringly. Nothing to worry about. Suddenly, though, a frightening sound snapped him to attention - clawed feet. Larger than any other creature he’d heard so far that night. Spung?!

Immediately, Radu snapped to a state of full alertness. His heart was racing; he was breathing more quickly; and, he realized almost immediately, he was making at least three times as much noise.

“All right,” one of the young humans said to the taller of the two alien creatures, “you were right. There is definitely someone out there - let’s go.”

Almost before the young Andromedan had time to react, dim forms began to materialize between the trees. Two huge creatures - at least half a meter taller than him . . . and, he quickly realized, not Spung at all. These creatures were far more threatening - with their blades, they could slice and dice him six different ways before he had a chance to move. Too many for him to fight alone, he realized with a sinking feeling, but he had no alternative. He was about to go for the nearest one - when he saw a sight that momentarily confused him. Humans, standing in the shadows. Traitors? he wondered. If we’re on Earth . . . are those people UPP traitors?

Suddenly, one of the humans made a sudden motion. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a vaguely weapon - a blaster. She pulled the trigger, and as if in slow motion, some kind of red beam lanced from the tip of the device. Instantly, all was blackness.

Click here for Part 2 of Two of Us