Chapter 1

((And so my journey begins. I have ridden myself of the old calendar, and will now have to adjust to the strange and nonsensical dating methods utilised by the Earth populations. Today is the 27th of August, in the year 2006, according to my sources. In approximately 3 Earth hours, it will be the 28th. Then in a few days, it will be the 1st of a month called September. It may take me a while to adjust to this unusual and frustrating calendar, but that won't be the biggest concern I will face. This will be my first visit to the planet Earth, and there will be a lot more to learn than simply the time. I have gone through plenty of lectures on this strange blue planet, and though there are a few cultural similarities, the dominant race – Humans – are different to us in too many ways to count. I have heard stories from friends who have travelled to Earth before, and they talk of great metal structures that touch the clouds, huge swarms of humans invading streets made of dull grey concrete, a media that twists and turns to misguide its gullible followers, corruption on a vast political landscape... From what I have heard, Humans are a very unusual species, and one that is greatly and worrying varied. Violent, corrupt, hateful, and yet they are also the opposite of those things, all at once. They create masterpieces of art and music, great cultural revolutions, and yet at the same time they would create art or music of the most deprived, most uncouth and uninspired kinds; start brutal, unnecessary wars; murder and deceive for some of life's most trivial pursuits. I hope that the Humans I will meet will be of the more well-intentioned and respectful kind, but I understand that this may not be the case. We Andalites have developed a reputation among these creatures, and not an entirely positive one. Human perception of us is largely shaped by the Yeerk war that ended just years ago, one that we played a major and not always a helpful part in. I should avoid talking about the war with the humans, if I am to avoid confrontation. I am not here to confront these baffling creatures. I am here to protect them. I am-))

((Nicalor. Sir!))

I sighed inwardly, my main eyes closing in anger at the unwarranted disruption from behind me. ((Ayattil, what have I told you about interrupting my diary entries?! Only in emergencies!))

((But, sir,)) The lowly assistant squirmed. ((This is an emergency!))

I turned to fully face him, crossing my arms loosely over my chest. Ayattil was quite short and stocky in build, his meek body constantly shuddering like it were in eternal distress. His eyes were bland and dopey, void of much more than a few mindless thought processes. This rather pathetic example of the species was none other than my own personal assistant.

((And what, may I ask, is this emergency?)) I demanded of him.

((We forgot to pack the camera, sir.))

I shook my head and flicked my tail in annoyance, unfurling my arms. ((Must you interrupt me for the sake of a missing camera? They will have cameras on Earth, Ayattil!))

Ayattil adjusted his weight from his left to his right hooves, scratching lightly behind his ear. ((Are you sure, sir?))

((I am sure, Ayattil, and if you are to remain as my assistant, I highly advise you not to interrupt me any further with such trivial issues. Only disturb me if there is a real emergency.))

((Like what, sir?))

((I don't know, Ayattil,)) I huffed. ((There aren't many situations dire enough to warrant your tedious presence. Haven't you finished sorting through the food and water supplies, yet?))

((Not yet, sir.)) He reported blankly.

((Well why don't you make yourself useful and attend to such matters?)) I grunted, turning all four eyes away from him and back to the hologramatical journal before me. My ears picked up on Ayattil's hurried departure, but by now I had lost my previous trail of thought and decided to forget the rest of the journal entry.

((End journal entry. Mark Earth date 27th August, 2006. Entry number 1.)) The computer bleeped as the information was stored within its complicated software, small lights blinking in response to my thought-spoken orders. ((Close file "Earth Journal: Nicalor-Garroon-Charod". Now, show travel information for the home world to Earth voyage.))

With a buzz, the hologram of my journal vanished, instantly replaced by a large 3D collection of graphs, numbers and maps. A small cylindrical bar flashed at the top of this puzzling collection of military-standard data, displaying the amount of the long voyage we had completed. We were almost at our destination, and another section of information indicated to me that it would take only another three days before we landed.

The ship would land on the outskirts of a city called New York. According to my Earth sources, this was one of the larger Human settlements present in the nation named The United States of America. There would be lots of Humans there, something which unnerved me to no end. We were to land the ship in the early evening at a territorial Andalite base that had been built the previous year, and leave with all of our equipment before the vessel was taken into repairs. After landing, we would be escorted into the city, where we would spend the next few years camped up in some horrible Human building known as a hotel, which had been manipulated to impersonate an Andalite dwelling.

That is what they told us. I wasn't quite sure how well the Human hotel staff knew Andalite dwellings, though, and my head told me that the room would be less than satisfactory.

All ten of us aboard this small transport vessel were to be taken to a hotel on the south side of the city. Two of us were scientists to be placed in Human laboratories. Their job on Earth was to work on Andalite taste development, something which our Government was desperate to invest in after our people began visiting Earth on a regular basis.

I wasn't a scientist, so that didn't include me. I was to perform a completely separate mission. I was a detective, and I had been sent to Earth with my assistant, the less-than-competent Ayattil-Redthun-Askill, to investigate crimes committed against the Humans by my own people. That was something else that our Government had great interest in. Our alliance with the Humans came with some great benefits that they would dearly miss, were our ties to end.

The rest of our group were heading to Earth to do odd-jobs here and there, mostly working with and around Human governments to deal with issues regarding Andalite tourism.

We were heading to a hotel that we would all be sharing for the next two years. It was a trip that I had long been looking forward to, and one that I also dreaded for several reasons. I didn't really know enough about the Humans to be able to openly converse with them. I had worries of confrontation and persecution, without the adequate permissions that would allow me to defend myself. I had worries of further damaging our peoples reputation in a population of creatures whose ideals are so easily swayed and generalised.

I had to push aside the fears I had about this job placement. As well as the usual detective work I would be undertaking, this trip would give me plenty of opportunity to explore a world that wasn't my own. The Earth was a large and diverse planet, and I would be spoilt for choice when it came to Human art and culture. I could take trips to local galleries to sample the primitive Human artwork. I could go to the museums and tell the staff there how they were wrong about their histories.

I could go to a restaurant. That was what I was looking forward to most of all. However, such would require that I take up a Human morph. They had the amazing power to taste their food, something which our own evolution had fatally left behind.

The ability to taste is what had intrigued our people so much to the comparatively primitive Human race. It is not the culture that brings Andalite in droves to Earth, nor is it the art or the music or the scenery. It is the food.

It was something that I had never experienced. That issue, however, would be resolved very soon.

((Computer,)) I spoke to the microphone that picked up my thought-speech from the other side of the room. ((Bring up the file "Human Information".))

The hologramatic monitor flickered and beeped, bringing up a small file and opening it up wide. The 3D images that were birthed filled the far side of the room in a lush white-blue glow. They were great images of Earth people and places. A Human named King Henry VIII, a view of a man-made structure called Mount Rushmore, a bustling street from the city known as Tokyo.

((Computer, access sub-folder.)) I instructed the machine. ((Sub-folder title: Human Food.))

Again the computer buzzed into life and emptied a folder, its contents expanding and filling the room as three-dimensional holograms.

Buns. Bagels. Beefburgers. So many kinds. So many flavours that would soon be revealing themselves to me through a middle-man Human tongue. They decorated the room and slowly rolled over the walls, each looking ever more appealing than the last.

So many stories had touched my ears, detailing every little aspect of every little delicacy. Not only do Human foods have single defining tastes, but the Humans had cunningly combined foods into masterpieces of multiple flavours, numerous layers of sense temptation that would often drive our people to the very edges of sobriety.

The computer rotated the foods around the room in a slow, hypnotic dance, and something breezed in front of me just below my eye line. A small cardboard container with a large yellow 'M' on the front. Within that container and popping out of the top like the hair on the head of an unkempt juvenile sat a collection of slender yellow cuboids. Fries, apparently French.

I tried to imagine the smell, the taste and the texture, but for now those were still out of reach.

My body shuddered in an uncontrollable urge, but I pressed the bladed tip of my tail to my arm to calm it down. I had strict orders on this trip to the planet Earth, orders that required me not to get distracted indulging in Human activities, like eating with a tasting mouth. My job, and hence my quality of life, depended on performing my duty in a dignified and responsible manner. Perhaps I would indulge in such delights once or twice a day, but I could not let it get the better of me. Part of the reason Ayattil was coming along was to ensure that I get my job done professionally - He may have been a comparative simpleton, a bumbling fool, but he was loyal to his duty, and was told to alert me if I ever got lost in the high-induced sea that Human taste brings.

I shouldn't have been getting so distracted. ((Computer, close sub-folder. Close folder.))

The machine obeyed, closing both of the huge 3D mosaics and returning to its visually quiet, unused state. The whirring sounds ceased, and the room was once again empty, void of the wonderful hologramatical images. I stared up at the familiar grey ship walls, without décor or a window that gazed out to the stars. Control panels lined the sides of the room, flickering and bleeping in a mechanic drone.

How I longed to finally be rid of the monotonous room and this cramped, stuffy ship. I wished to roam a field of grass and sit out under the single Earth sun, but our trip would take us straight from this ship to a huge Human city. There weren't many fields from what I had been told. Streets were their fields, buildings their trees. For most of the two years I would be hopelessly lost in the strange Human habitat. I was grateful for the fact that I wouldn't be alone, however.

My need for the computer was over, and now I was free to wander the small ship as I pleased. I left the room and swaggered nonchalantly down the narrow illuminated hallways, destined for the sleeping quarters that sat at the back of the transport vessel. The corridor lead into another, slightly wider one, with ten doors separated into five on either side. My own quarters lay behind the third on the right, but I instead made my way to the fifth on the left.

After I had taken a brief moment to correct my posture and groom the fur on my chest, my hand raised and gently knocked on the door. There was some rustling from within, before the narrow door finally opened to reveal a familiar feminine face.

It was the face of one of the ship's scientists. Her name was Ardina-Eskallon-Taryal, a graduate of one of the most prestigious education centres on our home world, who specialised in extra-terrestrial life. Over the years, she had travelled to many distance solar systems to perform research on sentient beings that were deemed less intelligent than our own. Her work on Earth was to be a little different than what she was used to, and would consist of working alongside other Andalite scientists to uncover the secrets of taste.

My nose caught her delicate and delightful aroma, and my eyes trailed down over her perfectly groomed purple fur. She was an image just as tempting and wonderful as the Human foods that I had observed from the ship computers, if not more so. She was a work of art.

I had been chasing her for this entire trip, and it wasn't like she hadn't noticed. Ardina was a very clever and insightful person. She smiled with her eyes. ((Nicalor. Hello again.))

I steadied myself on my hooves. Ardina had always told me to stop with the ridiculous need to make myself seem so formal whenever we met, but it came so instinctively that I couldn't help myself. My legs lifted me up tall, and my arms fell confidently to my side. ((It's lovely to see you again, Ardina.))

She shook her head from side to side and chuckled gleefully. ((We see each other every day.)) Then, she backed into her room, allowing me to pass. ((Please, come in.))

I strolled in as casually as I could and politely commented on the living quarters that she inhabited. She put up with my obvious attempts at flattery and shushed me soon enough, guiding me around the small room that closely resembled the grassy open land of our planet.

((Only three days until we arrive.)) I said after having leant myself against a fake tree that closely imitated one from our home world. ((I'm really beginning to look forward to it now.))

((As am I.)) She responded, standing a few feet before me, her perfectly slender and well-groomed body illuminated by the ceiling lights. ((I thought I would spend the first few days adjusting to the Earth climate and atmosphere. I should get myself properly introduced to my room and the Human staff.))

((It should be easier to do if you are around people you trusted.)) I suggested with such an obvious implication.

((Of course. I'm sure Ayattil will make great company.))

I flustered, twisting all four eyes to her. ((But… I… You…))

She smiled again and moved her body in such a subtle yet incredibly suggestive manner. ((That was a form of Human humour, I believe. That is something else we must get used to.))

((Yes, of course…)) I choked with a hint of embarrassment. I stiffened up, and continued, ((I was planning to explore a place called Central Park. I understand the Humans in New York are very proud of it. Perhaps you could visit with me shortly after we have landed and unpacked?))

Her face shone, sending my hind legs into a noticeable quiver. I tried my best to hide them behind the fake tree.

((I would love to visit this Central Park place with you,)) She said. ((But I would like to make a few more visits before then.))

((Ah. Well, maybe we could go to a Human museum, or an art gallery. We could-))

She raised her hand to hush me, putting an end to my rambling. ((Not that kind of visit.))

Her delicate right hand swirled towards me and gently rubbed at my chest, her fingers teasingly caressing their way up to and around my neck. My front perked up under the attention, but my hind legs shook even more violently. My middle was somewhere suspiciously and dangerously in between.

((Oh.)) I stammered. ((Wonderful.))