Animorphs Fan Fiction ❯ The Daughter ❯ Escaping ( Chapter 6 )

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I picked myself up of the ground, glaring at the door. Daren raised an eyebrow.

“That went well,” he said facetiously. “What I want to know is, how in God’s name David’s human again?”

I snorted. “That one’s not to hard to guess. The Ellimist is behind us in this war, or so we think. He gave my father back his ability to morph. Crayak is obviously for the Yeerks. I assume he can do the same things the Ellimist can, so he probably gave David back the ability to morph. David sided with the Yeerks, and when the procedure for reversing the condition of nothlits came out, he used it. What I want to know is, why isn’t he a Controller?”

“What makes you think he isn’t?” Daren asked.

“His interaction with Visser Three. No Yeerk of lower rank would dare talk to the Visser like he was an equal. If he’d been of higher rank, he would have let his contempt show more. And Visser Three would never tolerate competition. So the only possible answer is that he is not a Controller.”

Daren nodded. “No-one’s ever figured out why Visser Three didn’t get demoted when he lost Earth. Maybe it was because he brought the Council of Thirteen the ultimate ally.”

“David,” I said, incredulous. Daren nodded again.

“He knows the Animorphs. He knows them well enough to have predicted their reactions to our kidnapping. He knows how they would think to use morphs and weapons, because he’s human as well. That’s probably why he’s not a Controller, too. A free-thinking human who’s willing to help them is more valuable to the Yeerks than another host body.”

“Well, whatever their motivation, it makes our escape a lot harder,” I sighed, looking at the ceiling.

“Depends,” Daren said, smiling at me. “Got any more brilliant ideas?”

I smiled back. Daren’s smile always made my heart want to stop. Yes, I like Daren. Is that a problem?

“No,” I said. “No more brilliant ideas.”

“So we stick with the original plan.”

“Well, if they were going to kill us, they would have already done it,” I said, optimistically. “So even if the plan doesn’t work, I doubt we’ll be any worse off.”

We sat in silence for another few moments. I think that Daren was about to say something, just to break the silence, when the door slid open.

Three Hork-Bajir stood in the doorway. They were armed with dracon beams.

“Come,” the leader ordered. Daren and I looked at each other, and obeyed. We walked down the corridor, and out onto the landing field. And then we got our first glimpse of the Taxxon homeworld.

The sky was a dull brown. I didn’t see any plants, anywhere. Just red-brown dirt. It was honestly the dreariest planet I’ve ever seen.

The spaceport was busy, with Taxxons, Hork-Bajir and other species hurrying everywhere. But they gave our guards a wide berth. I think it had something to do with the yellow livery they were wearing. Yellow marked them as attached to Visser Three, and if you want to keep your head, you don’t give the Visser a reason to be angry at you.

We passed six doors before our chance at escape came. It came by total accident, and we almost missed it. A Taxxon and a Hork-Bajir were arguing. The argument grew more and more heated as we approached. Just as we were passing them, the Taxxon attacked the Hork-Bajir. The Hork-Bajir slammed into the leader of our guards, knocking him down. Within seconds, the Taxxon was on top of them, ignoring our guard’s orders to stop.

I didn’t think, I acted. Swinging around, I grabbed my guard’s wrist and hauled him into the pile. Daren tripped his guard, who fell face first.

Without their leader giving orders, they seemed unable to do anything. But twelve more people were rushing over. “Split up!” Daren yelled, running to the left. I ran to the right, towards a bunch of tunnels and corridors. Just as I hit the first door, I heard the sound of the lead guard yelling at the mob to follow me. I frantically searched for someplace to hide. My eye fell on a ventilation shaft, over to my left.I hesitated. Going into the ventilation system was one of the oldest tricks in the book. But I hadn’t seen a single human-Controller in the mass of people outside, and the other species might not think of it.I ran to the vent, and pulled off the grate. I’d only just slid into the shaft and pulled the grate back into place when my pursuers ran into the hall.

Hardly daring to breathe, I waited. After about fifteen minutes, the sounds from outside stopped. Very carefully, I pushed the grate out again. I slid out of the vent, coughing from the dust. I needed someplace to hide until I could figure out what to do. I tiptoed over to the nearest door, and put my ear up to it. There was no sound from inside, so I hit the release and went in.

It was a storage room, for uniforms and rations, and two crates of dracon beams. I looked around. It looked like this place didn’t get much traffic. There was a fine layer of dust on everything, and a feeling of loneliness
pervaded the atmosphere.

“Well,” I said to myself under my breath, “that means that it’s unlikely that anyone’ll come in here.” I grabbed two ration packets, a water bottle and a dracon beam, and sat down behind one of the crates. I ate one of the rations and drank half the water. Now that the fighting was over, all the adrenaline rushed out of my body, and I was suddenly exhausted. I closed my eyes, promising myself that it was only for a second.... and I fell asleep.