the alien

[instar]

There are no more five-person meetings at the Swan household. They're a circle: Bella-Andi-Robin-Ethan-Trouble-Bella again. They meet in twos, threes, pass around information, get it all down in Bella's cipher in Bella's notebooks. They have a list of members of the Sharing, mostly procured by Ethan and to a lesser extent Trouble, but no safe way to learn if these people's behavior has changed; they have seen no more aliens, observed no more disintegrations, caught no one ducking into anything that is an alien hideout.

The twins try to behave normally with their father or his pod person, whichever the person who calls them is, for a value of "normally" that involves adamantly continuing to want nothing to do with the Sharing.

And sometimes crying and refusing to tell Renée what's wrong.

School proceeds. No one's grades see more than a minor downturn as a result of all the alien business.

Andi and Robin play music. Andi's getting pretty good on the drums, although her teacher moves away and she has to hunt up another one, who she sticks with for four lessons before deciding to go self-taught.

Bella tightens up her cipher. It began as a letter substitution and since then has evolved to include plenty of personal shorthand - she turns the ratio of shorthand to straightforward letters up as far as she can and still read the thing herself. She abbreviates, she leaves out spaces, she names things in roundabout ways, she refers to things many notebooks ago that she can find easily that anyone else could spend hours hunting for, if she has to record names she finds ways to describe the spelling without ever placing all of the characters in sequence. Maybe the aliens have super-cryptanalysis and super-OCR and can eat her notebooks in one bite and know everything they know; but maybe not, and maybe if she's careful enough she'll look like she's writing her paranoid diary and not like she's taking notes on the quiet invasion.

Trouble comes over a lot. He stays over a lot. Renée has a quiet conversation about him with Bella, in which Bella is vague, pretends ignorance, suggests that maybe he just likes it here, maybe his folks are allergic to gluten and won't eat his baked goods? Renée leaves it alone.

May begins.

Comments

[pandion]

Andi follows.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble does it about the same time as Bella.

[hold_infinity]

Robin and Ethan are last, on adjacent sides.

[morphbox]

The alien's many-fingered hand is the last to be placed on a side of the box. A sort of pleasant shock runs through all five of the kids.

<You must never -> The Andalite's stalk eyes still in their search. <The Yeerks are coming; we are running out of time. Never remain in morph for more than - two hours. Never. If you do you will be trapped, unable to demorph, in the form you overstay. Now run. The Yeerks -> One of his stalk eyes twitches. <Visser Three is with them. They must not catch you.>

[instar]

"I can't - run," Bella murmurs, taking the box and handing it to Andi, "I fall -"

[morphbox]

<You cannot be here when they land - they are already narrowing their search - acquire one of your friends, if they can run where you cannot,> suggests the Andalite, collapsing ungracefully, legs folded under himself.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble crouches down beside him, concerned but helpless.

[instar]

Twins' hands clasp each other tighter. "I just concentrate on her...?"

[morphbox]

<Yes. Quickly.>

The Andalite is looking at Trouble with three eyes, now, one still nervously following lights in the sky as they search.

[pandion]

Andi's eyelashes flutter.

[instar]

Bella bites her lip.

And they're already sisters, so it's subtle, but she -

[pandion]

- changes.

[morphbox]

<You must run, now. Hide, and better than you did from me. They must not catch you, and they are coming.>

[palmofyourhand]

Ethan pulls Robin away from the group and starts running.

[hold_infinity]

Robin follows his lead.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble lingers, putting a tentative hand on the alien's blue-furred arm.

"I don't want you to die," he murmurs.

[pandion]

The twins, distinguishable now only by outfit, bolt. They find a concrete wall with small holes in it, presumably intended for wiring or plumbing, so they can still see what's going on.

[morphbox]

<The injury is irrecoverable. If it were not, I could not risk being taken alive, in any case.>

(The other kids can still hear him, but fainter.)

And then he lifts his hand to touch the side of Trouble's face.

[aeskhyne]

Trouble smiles sadly.

[morphbox]

When Trouble doesn't run, the Andalite says:

<...Your mother... Tell me about your family, Trouble.>

[aeskhyne]

"Well, she believes in aliens," he says, grinning.

[morphbox]

The Andalite closes his eyes.

<Hide,> he says again. <They are coming.>

[aeskhyne]

"Can I—" says Trouble, putting his hand over the Andalite's hand on his face.

[morphbox]

<Yes. If you can do it quickly.>

[aeskhyne]

He nods.

He concentrates, thinking about - fur under his fingers and having no mouth (how do they eat?) and those watchful eyes and that amazing tail. Imagining himself as the Andalite.

Imagining himself as other people has always been easy.