Animorphs Primal: Invasion

Chapter 7

I guess we fell asleep because the next thing I knew was cracking my eyes open slowly to the sound of a conversation. The tv was still turned on but the volume was now turned down nearly all the way. Only brief whispers came out of it, but since I was just waking up it seemed as though it was loud enough to wake someone up. But that wasn't the conversation I was hearing.

Melissa was now snuggled up on me preventing any movement from my part without waking her. I slowly tried to wriggle out of her reach. She began moving when I managed to free my arm. I froze waiting for her to stop.

Once was finally able to leave the couch and leave her sleeping sitting down, I walked over to the main hall. The door we were always warned to not open was open. That's where the voices were coming from. I was curious about what was going on and what was really down there. So I stripped off my clothes and hid it back behind the sofa. As long as no one came over here and Melissa stayed asleep, I would be fine. Though I didn't want to find out what would happen if one of her parents found my clothes discarded on the floor next to their daughter.

I guess I'll be able to try out my Russet morph now. No way will a cheetah go unnoticed wherever the door leads. And the whole reason I stripped was so that I could morph something small so that I wouldn't get caught.

I could feel the familiar itch that took me back to last night as fur began to sprout out of my skin. My eyes began to adjust to the dark as they narrowed and changed shape. My mouth protruded forming a short snout as several strands of fur continued to elongate beating the others in size as they became whiskers. All the changes took longer than my first time. 4 minutes total. I guess it made sense because the events that lead to me morphing for the first time gave me an adrenaline boost.

The cat instincts suddenly popped into existence and took hold of me. I jumped onto the coffee table where there were several items placed carefully on top. Cat! I smelled a cat. There was a cat in my territory and it had touched one of the cups.

I pawed at it trying to push it off the table in retaliation to the scent. It was nearly falling by the time I was able to get a grip on my body. I almost gave myself away by breaking a glass cup. These instincts were proving to be more troublesome than useful.

A once over on my appearance let me discover that I was indeed the same age as Russet and would have been a near identical carbon copy if it weren't for the ear that was completely fine.

So it could heal injuries that the original animal had, but not the ones that were gained during a morph. That just didn't make any sense. But I did find it cute that I looked like a tiny orange Tiger.

Regardless, I ventured into the place I once promised never to go to in this household. But technically I was still true to my word. I wasn't the one going into the darn place, Russet was.

The stairs inside the closet-like room lead the way downstairs to a basement that I don't think even Melissa knew existed. At about half-way down something, something I heard, chilled me to the bones. Or rather, something I didn't hear chilled me to the bones.

<...incompetence, Iniss 226. There are reports that Andalites survived and crash landed, scattered, across the country> Andalites? Was Chapman working for Andalites? This was the same way Elfangor communicated after all. Did this mean that there were more humans in the resistance against the Yeerks?

Sure enough, as I rounded the corner the hologram of an Andalite met my eyes. He looked different than Elfangor. This one had a bit of longer fur on his chin that was changing from Blue to a purplish orange. His tail blade was certainly much longer and his eyes were narrower.

I was about to call the attention to myself with some thought speak when their next exchange stopped me with dread.

"Yes, I'm so terribly sorry Visser 2. I..."

<Visser 2. VISSER 2"> I could feel my body go numb with terror as the thought-speak rattled within my skull <I am no longer Visser 2. Thanks to that Andalite sum, Prince Elfangor, I have been stripped of that rank. The Yeerk Council has assigned me a new rank. Visser 5, after my failure to secure the Santur homeworld. For now, that is how you will all address me when I arrive on the planet>

These were Yeerks. Not Andalites. I almost gave myself away because I thought they were the good guys. If I didn't already feel the threat of the Yeerks was severe, I certainly did now. I decided to allow the animal instincts to take over the wheel and take a backseat while I listened to their conversation in order to make it seem as if I were a real cat.

"Yes, yes Viss...Visser 5," Chapman stuttered in terror.

<You're incompetence at securing your assigned town is spectacular. Many other Yeerk pools have been able to infest thousands of Yeerks already in the couple of years we've spent on earth, yet you yourself cannot even capture a simple thousand of able-bodied livestock. If it were up to me, I would have taken your sub-Visser rank long ago> Chapman gulped nervously as the Visser continued berating him. <Alas, only the Council 13 is able to do that. And they've deemed you capable enough to carry on for some reason>

<Ylio 1473, your former apprentice, has pleased me enough to spare you. So at least you've done something right.> Another hologram popped up. It was Jake's brother, Tom. He was another controller and he was in control of something called the Sharing. I needed to tell Jake about this.

My cat morph yawned at the lack of action and began to sniff around trying to find a place to rest. Because I was still a kitten, I was unable to reach the high places like counters and the chairs. Instead, I ended up laying down next to the hologram projector where it was warm enough for the comfort of the cat mind. A small purr of satisfaction escaped my throat attracting the attention of the Andalite Controller.

<What is this?> Visser 5's stalk eyes swivelled down to observe me causing the hologram panel to dissipate preventing me from reading anything more. It took all my willpower to not take control of my body and run away.

"That, sir, is a species of cat humans call a Bengal. I believe that it is Wirb 487 and my hosts' daughter's boyfriend's pet. He usually brings the kitten over during his visits to give my daughter's cat some company. Shall I get rid of him?"

<You know. A couple of years ago when I brought the first Yeerk Poolships, I encountered these species. They are quite ferocious> as if on queue, my paw tried to swipe at the Visser's hand that was extending over to try and touch me. My paw swipes caused an interruption to the hologram that made it waver a bit.

<They would have made a great host for us. If they weren't so small> a flash of his tail blade aimed to my ears startled me sending the instincts into a frenzy. I scrambled on the polished floor for a bit before gaining traction. I booted it out of there as quickly as I could.

I made it to the living room in a couple of seconds and began to demorph. Clothes are tough to get into when your adrenaline is pumping. But I managed to get them on quick enough.

Melissa was still fast asleep on the couch in the position I left her in. It was enough to calm my racing heart. She was just beautiful to me. Like an angel. I now had confirmation that she was indeed not a controller. Chapman called her his host's daughter, not by a Yeerk name. I leaned down and kissed her cheek softly.

"I love you, Melissa. And I will never let anything bad happen to you," I whispered.

I heard footsteps coming up from the basement. I quickly sat back down on the sofa and put my arm around Melissa to pull her into me. She snuggled up to me letting out a content sigh as Chapman locked the door to his secret room.

I could tell that Chapman walked into the living room even without opening my eyes. There was the sound of paper crinkling as I could suddenly feel his breath on me.

"Hello, Melissa. I'm a friend of your father. He wanted me to give this to you and let you know that he loves you. No matter what. He's paid the ultimate price to protect you, that's how much he loves you. I could get in trouble for doing this, Melissa. I know that I took him away from you, but that doesn't make me the bad guy. I'm just desperate to get my people what they need. Even if it means doing what other sentient beings think of as wrong. We aren't evil, just desperate."

For a moment, I kind of felt sorry for him. But I remembered what he was doing to everyone on earth. From what I heard, they already had thousands of people under their control. And that could happen to Melissa at any moment.