Aldrea and Dak, Part One

Aldrea is an Andalite. Dak is Hork-Bajir. Their home planets are thousands of light-years apart. Yet they loved each other, and died together.

Theirs was NOT the kind of love that defied boundaries of spacetime, hatred and mistrust between the races of the galaxy, or even their own personal differences. It was a love that embraced all these things. That is, after all, the point of love: not to defy, but to embrace. They lied to each other, mistrusted each other, resented each others' races and people, and even hated each other sometimes. But they loved each other: not despite all that, but because of it. It is not love if it fails to make you feel bad about yourself at some point of time. That which doesn't show you who you are by pointing out your strengths as well as your weaknesses, is not love. And therefore, Dak and Aldrea loved each other. =]

Dak and Aldrea saw each other as they truly were, and with time, understood, helped and learned from each other. Dak was, at first, enamored by Aldrea's Andalite intelligence and the world she had in store for him. She told him stories from across the galaxy, of all the different races and species that inhabited it. She told him of the technology of the Andalites, of how one could travel through Zero-space or morph into any other creature by just acquiring its DNA. He began to worhsip intelligence, and was embarassed by his own "stupid, simplistic" people. He put all his belief in a benevolent galaxy. And a Hork-Bajir has a great amount of belief. All of it, or almost all of it, broke down the moment Dak realized that the galaxy was actually at war, and that he and his brothers needed to become ruthless, mistrusting mercenaries and killers in order to survive. And what's more, he found that Aldrea already was one.

Aldrea then told him also of the Yeerks, a race of slugs that invade the brains of other sentinent species and take over their bodies and planets. A Yeerk-controlled person was no different from a normal person in terms of outward appearance and behaviour. But the slug inside had total control over whatever it infested. In the course of this war, Dak found that everyone around him had used him and his people for their own purposes all along. As a direct result of his disillusionment, he began to mistrust Aldrea, and his respect for her was punctured. He saw what the Andalites really were. What Aldrea was.

~~~

"When the battle begins I will race for the closest parked spacecraft," I explained. "The most important thing is that we get a message out to the Andalite fleet. Everything rests on that. It will be upto you to carry on the battle once it has started. You must not weaken. Attack, attack, attack. Don't give the Yeerks a chance to re-group. Don't forget: The Hork-Bajir in that camp are not Hork-Bajir. They are Yeerks."

Dak nodded his horned head. "Have you fought in many battles, Aldrea?"

I was surprised by the question. "No. Of course not. But I have studied -"

"Have you ever killed a fellow Andalite?"

"No! Why would you -"

"You ask me to kill my own people today and to lead my people in killing their brothers," Dak said. "You say they are not Hork-Bajir, but Yeerks. But when the dead have given up their souls to Mother Sky, there will be Hork-Bajir bodies lying dead."

"Dak, we've been over this and over this!" I exploded. "It's too late to be worrying about all that. This is a war! If you want your people to survive, you will -"

"Be quiet, Aldrea," Dak said. He didn't shout. He said it calmly, in a low voice. "These are my people who will die today. Be quiet, Andalite. Be quiet."

~~~

"Will you allow us to enter?" I asked.

"Listen to me, genius, this isn't a place for you. Why don't you go find some tree branches to chew on?"

Genius. It was one of the several sneering terms the Andalite warriors had for Hork-Bajir. I ignored it.

"Listen, you - " Aldrea began to yell.

I cut her off. "Simple question, friends. Will you allow us to enter? It only requires a yes or no answer. Yes or no?"

"Move along," the warrior said coldly.

I turned and walked away. Aldrea came up beside me.

"I guess you have to expect that. The rudeness, I mean. These warriors are under constant pressure, constant danger, far from home. They aren't always going to be very sensitive."

"Their insults mean nothing," I lied. "The fact that they are hiding something means something."

"Let's ask Alloran."

"No. He gave the orders to guard that place. I guess we'll have to forget about it."

Aldrea jumped ahead and blocked me. "Don't lie to me, Dak. You're going to try and find out what's in there. You just don't trust me to help you."

I was determined to remain calm. But I wasn't able. Instead I shouted. "We have fought side by side with your people and you Andalites still treat us like inferiors! Like errand-runners or servants or like idiot clowns to amuse you!"

"They didn't know who you are," Aldrea said. "They figured you were just some regular Hork-Bajir."

"Ah, yes. They assumed I was just one of the stupid Hork-Bajir. The simpleminded Hork-Bajir. The expendable, irrelevant, foolish Hork-Bajir."

"That's not what I meant."

"Of course it's what you meant," I said bitterly. "You Andalites have more respect for the vicious Yeerks or the cowardly Arn than you have for the Hork-Bajir who fight and die at your sides. All that matters to your people is intelligence. Well, I've learned enough about Yeerk and Andalite and Arn intelligence to make me sick."

"You're upset. I understand that."

I laughed. "You almighty Andalites. There is no limit to your arrogance, is there? Well, let me tell you something: We may be simple people. But we don't use biology to invent monsters. And we don't enslave other species. And we don't unleash a plague of parasites on the galaxy, endangering every other free species, and then go swaggering around like lords of the universe. No, we're too simple for all that. We're too stupid to lie and manipulate. We're too stupid to be ruthless. We're too stupid to know how to build powerful weapons designed to annihilate our enemies. Until you came, Andalite, we were too stupid to know how to kill."

"That's quite a speech," Aldrea said softly. "You've been wanting to say all that for a long time, haven't you?"

The anger had burned itself out. I felt hollow. Not better, not relieved. Just empty and tired. "We were peaceful people, tending to our trees, ignorant of our creators. Unaware of everyone else in the galaxy. Now look at us. Now look what has become of us. The despised children of the Arn. Slaves of the Yeerks. Tools of the Andalites."

Aldrea stood close to me and pressed her upper body against my chest. I put my arm carefully around her shoulders. We stood there on the walkway for a long time, blind to all who passed.

"I will help you find out what they are hiding," Aldrea said. "Tonight, when the Arn are asleep."

"You can't go against your own people," I said.

She looked at me then, with all her eyes. "Dak, I hope it never comes to a choice between my people and ... and you. But if it does, I'll stand with you."

I smiled. I appreciated what she'd said. But I didn't believe it.

~~~