the airplane

[instar]

Bella, Andi, and Robin all get on the plane. Bella and Robin have toothbrush caps in their pockets containing flies. Nothing in particular happens when they go through security. They fly for an hour, and then Bella, rather than risk crunch time due to turbulence or a line for the bathroom a little later on, gets up to take Trouble into privacy for demorphing and remorphing.

She takes the toothbrush cap out of her pocket and sets it on the tiny little counter, and then flattens herself against a wall to give him room.

Comments

[instar]

"Anybody have a way to get ahold of a marine mammal that doesn't involve flying to Seattle? Can fly to Seattle if we have to, it's just a long way. We have a few days before Renée gets up here to console us, we're just lucky she's on the road trip and not answering the home phone."

[hold_infinity]

"Not that I can think of," says Robin. "Are we rescuing the underwater Andalite, then?"

[instar]

"It seems worth doing if we can do it. Any objections?"

[hold_infinity]

"Not from me."

[palmofyourhand]

"I'd love to know what we plan on doing with this underwater Andalite once we rescue them."

[instar]

"Find out what morphs they already have, work out a plan from there to get them a pigeon or crow or something, hide them roughly the way we're already hiding Trouble and Charlie, and pump them for information," Bella says. "We may need some kind of permanent hiding setup. I guess once Charlie is legally dead me and Andi inherit all his stuff - Dad, you cool with donating to the general cause of ridding the Earth of Yeerks?"

[sundayfish]

"Yep," says Charlie shortly.

[palmofyourhand]

"I'm not surprised," says Ethan.

[sundayfish]

"I'd be talking about telling the authorities or something to take the pressure off you kids but I've seen enough to know that's suicide - if they don't have the authorities they have their spouses or their kids or their assistants."

[instar]

"I had worried about you taking that position," says Bella. "I'm glad I was mistaken."

[aeskhyne]

"No kidding," says Trouble. "Okay, so back to the rescue job. What's your plan for getting the morphs, Bella?"

[instar]

"Seattle has an aquarium. It has orcas. You get to play killer whale bait."

[aeskhyne]

He beams.

[sundayfish]

"Do I want to know?"

[instar]

"You have less than zero desire to know, Dad."

[aeskhyne]

Trouble giggles.

[sundayfish]

"Right. I don't have a pigeon morph."

[instar]

"You can sit on somebody's foot in the beetle form. I hope, anyway - if you don't think you can stick on there might have to glue you, have somebody else carrying a little tube of glue, you'll come apart on demorphing."

[aeskhyne]

"...Are you sure about the coming apart?" wonders Trouble. "I mean, probably, yeah, but we might want to check first."

[pandion]

"Oh, wow, you do not know Bella that well, she combined morphing and every household product that exists the first week we had it," groans Andi, "yes, he'll come off when he demorphs."

[instar]

"He will probably come off when he demorphs," says Bella, "and the worst case scenario isn't irrecoverable if it's just a little dab of glue - Andi, you kind of confound all the results because you're so fast and controlled and you're the one I was trying stuff with."

[palmofyourhand]

"Do you think," says Ethan, "that it might be a good idea to let the rest of us know your results when you do these little experiments?"

[instar]

"I'll go over everything I found when we're back in Phoenix if you like - I don't have the relevant notebook with me so I'd be working from memory and nothing springs to mind as usefully as the glue thing."

[pandion]

"Most of it was boring. She made me pierce her ear to see what would happen when she morphed after," recalls Andi. "The earring she borrowed from Mom came out when she morphed me and the hole was gone when she morphed back."

[palmofyourhand]

"I'm sure it was very boring," says Ethan. "Which is why I want to know all about it, so I'll never have to do any of it myself."