Animorphs Reborn #1 The Sanctuary (Sequel to Animorphs #54)

Animorphs Reborn #1 Chapter 4

We turned back towards the Blade ship, flew straight towards them again, purposely flying over them. Once we got past them, and both their Dracon beams were aiming away from us, we started to speed up. We needed to get to Z-space as fast as possible, to get away from them in order to fix Rachel.

We couldn't stay in Z-space for too long, because of the damage, so a few hours later we reemerged in real space. In Z-space we had been changing directions often, it was the only way we could try to lose the Blade ship. They probably would find us again before too long. We didn't have any idea where we were, but there was a brown planet nearby.

Menderash pointed it out to us, "There's a planet over there. Should we attempt to land and find shelter?" he asked Jake.

"We need to find out if it's safe first, can you check the air and pressure before we break atmosphere?" Jake said.

"We just need to get close enough..." and he started flying towards the brown planet. It looked like it was all brown, but there seemed to be a faint difference in the shade.

"Tobias, what does the surface look like?" Jeanne obviously noticed the same thing as me.

"Yess, Tobias, what dus ze surfise look like?" I loved her accent. It was so fun to mimic. Of course, they didn't know I was actually serious and wanted to know the answer too.

They book looked at me as if I was a moron, then Tobias said, <It looks like it's a dirt planet with dirty water. We're not close enough to see if there's any plants or civilisation yet.>

Menderash continued to fly towards the planet, pressing certain buttons as the distance between us and the strange planet decreased.

I realised that Menderash probably didn't find this as unusual as any of the rest of us did. We had never been on a space ship landing on an unknown planet before. It probably had been one of his jobs on Ax's fleet ship, before it crashed.

"It appears to be stable for our frail bodies." Menderash said. "It is oxygen-based, like Earth and the pressure is almost a perfect match to cabin pressure." he didn't like being human much, it probably made him feel weak after having a tail for the rest of his life. I wondered how useful he'd be since he couldn't battle, he couldn't morph out when he was injured, and human bodies aren't exactly strong. "The chances of this planet having any sentient life are slim, but if they do, they will probably be controlled by Kelbrids." Menderash sighed, "We are still deep in Kelbrid space."

"I hate this!" I yelled. I was allowed to make outbursts because I was the most childish, and I made use of that privilege. "At least on Earth we knew what we were up against, we have no idea what Kelbrids even look like, and how are we going to know what's a Kelbrid and what isn't when we first land?"

<The Kelbrids will probably be the ones standing around not doing any work, while the workers find them food and resources,> Tobias said, <but that's assuming this is a standard enslavement, like those on Earth, or with the Yeerks.>

"But what about hiding the ship when we land? If we just land and there're people down there, they'll be all over us like flies to dog poop."

"That's why we have a hologram force field, Marco." Menderash reminded me.

"Okay then, fine." I admitted defeat. I knew I was forgetting something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It seemed important though.

It took us another half hour to get close enough to the planet for Rachel's more accurate sensors to be in range of the planet.

<It looks like there are cities down there.> Tobias said. His eyes were amazing, but I wondered how good they were from this distance. They were only designed for seeing a few hundred feet below.

"Yes, sensors confirm there is life on the planet. I will engage the force fields now, before we begin descent."

"Good." Jake said.

Menderash glided the ship down towards the atmosphere. He made the ship angle toward the planet in a way that the gravity caused us to orbit the planet slightly, as we were getting slowly pulled towards the surface.

When we could see the ground clearer, about 200 feet above the buildings, if you could call them that. They mostly looked like small mud huts. I couldn't see any openings to them either, so I didn't know how the creatures got inside. Tobias probably knew, but it was unimportant, and we would probably see them closer up later.

Menderash landed the Rachel in a small clearing, in a collection of dead plants near one of the settlements. It was all we could find for now.