Two of Us

Back to Diana's Space Cases Fanfic
Back to Part 1 of Two of Us

Click here to e-mail me!

As Harlan groggily drifted back to consciousness, he couldn’t help but think that something seemed wrong. It’s too bright, he realized slowly. Did I oversleep? Did Bova decide to be funny and turn the light on in the middle of the night? He rolled over, sitting up to survey the situation - and it was pure instinct that saved him from a nasty fall. When he felt himself losing his balance, felt empty air beneath him, he grabbed for the branch, swinging himself to the ground. “Hunh - all those years of early-morning gymnastics classes paid off!” he said, turning to the tree that Radu had been leaning against . . .

“Where’d he go?”

A thousand thoughts rushed through his mind in a microsecond. He took off. He went back to the Starling, he lifted off and left me behind . . . I’m on my own now. Even as the suspicion entered his mind, though, it was accompanied by a realistic voice in the back of his mind. Radu wouldn’t just take off, he realized. He was so nervous wandering around this place last night, there’s no way he’d just go exploring on his own.

But if he didn’t take off . . . could something have happened to him? The young human couldn’t help but feel guilty. If something did happen to him, it would have been my fault . . . he wanted to go back to the Starling to sleep. If I hadn’t been falling asleep on my feet, we would have been able to make it back . . . actually, that was our problem in the first place. I didn’t trust him enough to let him pilot for a while, so I wasn’t paying attention and we ended up in the middle of that asteroid field . . . W-wait a minute. I let him keep watch on some isolated compost heap in the middle of who-knows-where, but I wouldn’t let him pilot the Starling back to the Christa?

The thought bothered him. He had always hated Andromedans - and, even more than that, he’d feared them. Before the violent impact they’d had on his life as a small child, he had never heard the name . . . but after that, the word ‘Andromedan’ was enough to conjure up images of bloodthirsty monsters, savage beasts who had violently ripped Harlan’s father out of his life. But did he really still think of his navigator as an Andromedan? How would he have felt six months ago if he’d had Radu by his side in this situation? He didn’t even have to answer the question, remembering regretfully the “welcome” he’d given to the young Andromedan at Starcademy not so very long ago. Well, he’s smart, he said to himself, trying desperately to justify his current train of thought, and he’s definitely a guy I’d want on my side in a fight . . . I guess I’d rather have him backing me up than, say, Bova. Even that thought was along a different path than he’d have gone a few months earlier, he realized, remembering what he’d said to Radu when they’d first boarded the Christa.

“Why not stick with Catalina and me?” Radu had said. “You know, it might be . . . safer.”

“Safer,” Harlan had repeated. “With an Andromedan watching my back? No thanks.”

Wincing at the memory, the young human turned his attention away from his introspective thoughts to the scenery around him. As he’d continued walking, the sky had began to lighten a bit; there was at least some light being cast on his path now, but it looked like it was going to be a gloomy day. It sure looks like Earth, he thought, but . . . something doesn’t seem quite right.

Suddenly, he began to feel a faint shred of hope; ahead of him . . . could it be? The glow coming up over that hill certainly looked like streetlights. A sign of civilization - a small town, most likely, but civilization nonetheless. He quickened his step.

Since he’d been a small child, Harlan had always seemed to be struck with a strange, twisted kind of luck; the incidents that led up to him and his classmates boarding the Christa had been only the most extreme example. On this particular occasion, he happened to break out of the woods at just the right angle to step into a very familiar panorama.

Any Earth cadet who had spent as much time in the director’s office as Harlan Band would recognize this particular landscape, which hung over the desk of Elias Goldstein, director of the embassy and pre-Starcademy training station on Earth. The sun coming up from behind the hills; a medium-sized city visible in the valley, with country houses on the edge, pastured areas and animals grazing, suburban houses, all identical, in small housing developments. You could see the beach in the distance . . . the woods at the edge of the city went undisturbed all the way to the mountains. He’d seen this landscape before, in a painting of the location the Earth embassy had been founded on - the way it had appeared 25 years before the embassy had been established.

Harlan was not much of a history student, but even he knew how the Earth embassy had come into being. The five brave warriors, fighting from the time they were children . . . the first to make contact with aliens, the mysterious Andalites, who had made an alliance with Earth that had been almost forgotten by Harlan’s time . . . the ones who had saved the entire human race from a fate worse then death. It was because of the help they received from the Andalites that the humans had been so quick to accept the Rigelians as ‘neighbors.’ Every young boy who ever wanted to go into Starcademy idolized this group - especially their leader. Jake. The idol of every aspiring STARDOG - before he entered high school, he’d led more guerrilla battles against the enemy aliens than most warriors hoped to lead in their lifetime. There were other members of the team, too - Cassie, the group peacemaker. Jake’s cousin, Rachel, the warrior of the Animorphs. His best friend, Marco, the group comedian. Tobias, the strange outsider who had stayed in his red-tailed hawk morph too long and been trapped for all time. And Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil, the young Andalite who had been rescued by the Animorphs after his ship crashed on Earth. The story was intriguing - one of the few that Harlan had actually paid attention to in his elementary school history classes. But he knew for a fact that after the Yeerks were defeated, after alien life left Earth’s atmosphere - for a while . . . the embassy had been built within a few years, while the “Animorphs” were still in their late teens and early twenties. And their story had happened in the late twentieth century - two hundred and fifty years earlier.

If the embassy’s not here . . . something’s wrong, he realized. I’d better watch my back.

Earth year 2261? This is impossible! Too good to be true! A human from the future? This could be the break in the battle against the Andalite bandits!

Who’s there? Radu repeated.

Who’s there? Oh, I wouldn’t worry about finding out, Radu. You will be growing very familiar with me in the future.

How do you know my name?

I know more than that, the voice said quietly. You are Radu 386, the misfit member of the Christa’s crew. Your crew has five members; Harlan, Bova, Rosie, Catalina, and yourself. Harlan does not like you because you are Andromedan, and his father was killed in a war with the Andromedans eleven years previous to the timeframe you are from.

Radu was panicked. Where was this mysterious voice coming from? How could its owner know anything about him, much less the rest of the crew? This, coupled with the frightening feeling of paralysis he’d been experiencing, and the disconcerting sensation of having images, thoughts, surface in his mind unbidden, as though someone else were searching through his memory . . . could this voice be coming from within his own mind? Was he just going crazy? Or . . . or was this something else?

Foolish Andromedan, the voice said. I guess your pet human never told you the story of the humans and the Yeerks.

The what?

The undisputed lords and masters of the galaxy. The ones who have bent many species to their will. The Gedds, the Hork-Bajir, the Taxxons . . .and now, the humans.

What are you talking about?

We are parasites. We infest the brains of other species. Especially those who might prove useful to us, like you - and your human friend.

You’re lying! Radu said silently. There’s no way you could be inside my head! It’s impossible!

Is it . . . really? the voice asked. Well, all right, then. Why don’t you think of one of your deepest, darkest secrets . . . and I will know what it is. In a microsecond.

I don’t believe you, the young Andromedan said. I won’t do it.

All right, then. I’ll do it for you. Suddenly, Radu’s mind was filled with a single image - the Spung girl who had boarded the Christa when her ship had suffered a massive power loss. Elmira. The girl whose people were supposed to be fiercely hated by all Andromedans . . . and yet, somehow . . . you can’t bring yourself to hate her. As a matter of fact, your feelings for her are far from hate.

Radu could barely think - whatever this creature was, there was no possible way it could have the knowledge it had just relayed back to him. Unless its story was true.

You see now the position you are in, the Yeerk continued. I access your memories as if they were my own. I know your every secret - your every dream - your every fear. You are mine.

H-how did you do this?

Once my comrades transported you back here, to the Yeerk pool we have built under this pathetic human city, they dipped your head into the Yeerk pool, and I entered through your ear canal.

Those words, coupled with the pain he’d been feeling on the side of his head and the strangely muffled way the noises around him had been sounding since he regained consciousness, made a cold hand grip at Radu’s heart. An Andromedan’s hearing was absolutely essential to his well-being; those who were deafened by age or by circumstances beyond their control were often ostracized, no longer able to communicate with their community.

Don’t worry, the Yeerk said in a sickly sweet voice. I wouldn’t risk having your second-most valuable asset destroyed. I made my entry very carefully. It laughed.

Somehow, those words did little to reassure the young Andromedan. What now? he wondered.

Now I take you to see our great leader, Visser Three, the Yeerk said with a slight sardonic tone in his voice. He will be very interested in hearing what you have to tell him.

I’m not telling anyone anything! Radu tried to say - but the words died in his throat.

“Oh, I think you will,” the Yeerk said flatly. “I don’t think you have much choice in the matter.”

At those words, Radu suddenly realized just what kind of enemy he was up against. When the creature had spoken, it had been out loud - and the words had come from his own mouth. His voice had echoed in his ears - but his mind hadn’t formed the words. He was a prisoner within his own head. A -

A slave? Yes, indeed, my dear Radu, you are my slave. And you will be - for the rest of eternity. There is no escape.

Why are you doing this? What do you want from me?

What do I want? Well, it’s quite simple, really. I want your human.

What?

Once you had been stunned by an overly nervous patrol member last night, the team took a better look at you. Almost immediately, they realized that you were not human. None of them were familiar with your species, so they prudently decided to take you as prisoner until they could find out more information. Once they brought you back to the Yeerk pool, I was lucky enough to be the one next in line for infestation. And I have stumbled on the key to my plan . . . a decoy . . . that will lead me to a human from the future.

Why would you want a human from the future? the young Andromedan asked, utterly confused.

It all boils down to human arrogance. They have a great affinity for heroes - a foolish thing, really. If there are human heroes or great Andalite warriors that emerge in the battle for this planet, the humans will keep their names, their legacies alive for as long as free humans exist. From your perception of the human you know, it’s clear he’s not been infested. There are some free humans remaining on this planet in the year 2261. And if there is even the most remote possibility that this one would know of the Andalite bandits, he will be found. There was a long silence. Even now, you are thinking that if anyone were to know the story of this war, it would be Harlan. This is just the kind of thing that would appeal to him, you think . . . Well, Radu, you have just sealed your friend’s fate. Now - where can we find him?

Radu tried desperately to squelch his thoughts down into some remote corner of his mind, some section, somewhere, where the Yeerk would not be able to reach them. But even as he tried, he felt his mind begin to retrace his steps, involuntarily, to the previous night’s campsite - to the conversation he’d had with Harlan.

“D-do you need any help getting up there?”

“Nah, I’m all set. I must have climbed a thousand trees in my lifetime.”

Suddenly, the Yeerk began to laugh maniacally. The fools! he said. The imbeciles! When Visser Three discovers this, he is going to have their heads! The human was within their grasp - only a few feet away - and they failed to notice him! If I had been permitted to go out on patrol tonight, as I wished, this never would have happened . . . they will pay dearly for it. Better them than me.

At those words, Radu realized something. Whoever this Visser Three was, the Yeerk was afraid of him.

You can stop calling me Yeerk, Andromedan, the voice said suddenly. I am Ackbar 197. Remember the name, Radu. It will be the name of your lord and master - for the rest of your miserable life. I will be promoted, without question; the one who captures the human? The one who may very well capture the Andalite bandits? And as for you, Radu, you will watch, a prisoner in your own mind, as Harlan is captured and infested. Worst of all, he won’t know what’s happening until it’s too late. All he’ll know is that his Andromedan crewmate - the one whose single-minded people prize loyalty above all else - has betrayed him.

It was at this point, locked within his own mind, that the young Andromedan began to cry.

The leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth stood silently, unimpressed. A strange-looking creature, he resembled, at first glance, a cross between a strange human and a small deer. Dainty hooves; a deadly tail, with a blade shaped like a scorpion’s stinger; a mouthless face, with only three small slits where the mouth ought to be; two arms with too many fingers; and two mobile eyes mounted on antler-like stalks that turned one way and another so that the larger main eyes could focus on one thing at a time. At first glance, he appeared merely unusual; but one look at his eyes gave you the feeling that something threatening lurked just out of sight.

You will not attempt to find him - you will find him, Visser Three said silently, in the thought-speak that was the natural communication method of Andalites. Your host should prove to be quite useful in that respect - that is, if you can keep him under control.

“He has a very strong will,” Ackbar said cautiously. “His loyalty to his friends is almost excessive - perhaps if I had some Hork-Bajir or Taxxon wearers accompanying me as backup, I would stand a better chance of maintaining control.”

Hork-Bajir and Taxxons? If you wish to draw the human press to our operation while going to recover the human, please do . . . but I would advise you to reconsider. Threateningly, the visser added, Perhaps, if you are going to have that much trouble with the host brain, it should be given to another, more deserving Yeerk.

“N-no, Visser,” Ackbar said quickly. “I am able to control my host.”

Good.

As Ackbar directed Radu’s legs to move him away from the visser, the young Andromedan listened in astonishment as he began to speak, silently, within Radu’s head. The visser is not so competent as he’d like to believe . . . if it were not necessary to have relief standing by for this mission, I would have preferred that he not know about it at all, but taking out Hork-Bajir and Taxxon troops requires his authorization. If the Yeerk had been able to, he would have shaken his head. The first thing we learn in command training is that a host’s wearer is most adequate to judge their capabilities and capacity for rebellion . . . if the Council of Thirteen heard of this foolishness . . . capturing that Andalite host body gave him a false sense of security, as though that one deed earned him permanent impunity. But he has no concept of military tactics. He is letting a valuable host body out on its own, with no backup, to capture a human who likely has knowledge of the Yeerk invasion and would be on the alert if his crewmate was acting strangely. Not only that, but he’s let the Andalite bandits slip right through his fingers more than once; if he does not show some success in capturing at least one or two of them soon, the Council of Thirteen may have him demoted to Visser Four or even Five. If that does not change his attitude . . . well . . . Esplin Nine-Four-Double-Six the Greater may find himself stripped of rank all together. If that happened, he wouldn’t even be allowed to keep that valuable Andalite body. It would be passed off to another, more deserving Yeerk. If my plan is successful - if I can acquire this human and use his knowledge to capture the Andalite bandits, I will certainly begin to move up the chain of command. Then, when Visser Three is demoted, I will have a good chance of getting rewarded for my efforts - perhaps I will even be given that Andalite host body of his!

As they approached the steep, railless stairway leading out of the pool, a human suddenly appeared in front of them. Radu’s heart lightened for a moment - but almost immediately, he realized anyone in this strange place, working among the aliens, must be in the same state as himself. It didn’t matter whether this human boy would have helped him or not; he was helpless to do anything, a prisoner, watching through his own eyes but unable to change the events unfolding before him.

“Good luck,” he said flatly. “Try to bring the host back in one piece - if you take the human, I’m supposed to get this one as my next assignment.”

With that cheerful sentiment in mind, Radu once again felt the disconcerting sensation of his body moving forward without any commands from his brain. Until this point, the only glimpses he’d had of the scenery were the quickest observations of someone too familiar with a location to spend much time sightseeing. But as he began ascending, he got a very clear view - almost as if Ackbar wanted him to know what the young Andromedan was thinking of fighting, he turned his head, allowing him to see the place as a whole. That sight would remain with him for the rest of his life.

Almost simultaneously, Ackbar gradually began to decrease the screening levels of Radu’s hearing, allowing him to hear several strange sounds - a deep swooshing sound which he gradually realized was the liquid in the pool hitting the sides, alien languages murmuring at various volumes, an occasional word in the universal language . . . but accompanying it were sounds far less reassuring. Screams, cries for help, coming from cages around a central silvery-gray pool. Some of these held the tall, bladed monsters he’d seen in the forest; others, far more disturbing, were host to humans. Their reactions varied; some screamed, others cried, a few just sat and waited quietly, their spirits broken. At that horrible sight, Radu suddenly came to a conclusion.

Listen, Yeerk, he said silently, you can do what you want with me. But I won’t let you destroy this planet. You’re not going to get Harlan.

Click here for Part 3 of Two of Us