B48C14/15 - Explanation

My brain kicked into overdrive.

<Wait!>

David cringed.

<No,> he protested softly.

I stood up on my hind legs.

<Reality check.>

<Everything I told you is true,> David said quickly. <I escaped from the island. I have a plan to rule the world. I . . .>

<Rats are not sentient creatures,> I interrupted. <They don't take orders. They don't organize. They can't be rallied like troops. And they don't attack people on command.>

David chittered and lay on his belly.

<You might be a rat with human intelligence but that doesn't make you Dr. Dolittle. You can talk to me and you can talk to your punks. But you can't "talk" to other rats.>

<You don't know what you're saying! You don't know anything!> David cried. <Shut up! Shut up!>

<Which means that what happened outside the barn couldn't have happened,> I went on, my brain whirring. <And what you said happened on the island - your building a loyal following - couldn't have happened. Which means that this, right now, can't be happening, either!>

I looked over at Cassie.

She was smiling. And then Cassie wasn't Cassie. She became a creature we had encountered before.

The Drode!

An intergalactic trickster.

Two legs. Body held forward and balanced by a stubby tail. Like a bird or a small dinosaur.

Its hands were flimsy. Weak. Its head was vaguely human in shape. The eyes in that head, wide-set.

Intelligent.

Laughing.

Cruel.

The Drode.

The creature who'd once offered me a deal. Who'd called me "Rachel of the dark heart."

The Drode.

Sidekick to the most powerful and malevolent force in the universe.

A force that had vowed revenge when Jake doomed its childlike killers, the Howlers.

A force that could be balanced only by the Ellimist. A being whose powers were equally comprehensive. Whose motives were seemingly good.

But this was not the Ellimist. This was the force that had haunted Jake's dreams.

And now, I realized, mine, too.

<Crayak!>


(...)


<What are you doing?> I demanded. <What's this all about?>

<It's about payback,> David sniveled.

I laughed.

<You're telling me that the all-powerful Crayak is working for a rat?>

The Drode giggled.

<Rachel, Rachel. Who knew you had a sense of humor? No, Rachel. The rat works for Crayak. Whatever puny scores the rat has to settle are of no interest to us. No, we seek your help in a larger payback. We once told you we had hopes for you, Rachel. Do you remember? We still do.>

<What do you want?>

The red eye that was Crayak pulsed and seemed to grow some sort of extension from below. A body of sorts? Or a machine? A little of both or neither. Then Crayak spoke.

"I want to help you realize your full potential, Rachel. We have watched you. With interest and with growing admiration. Why are you content to follow when clearly you should lead?"

<So this is about Jake? I remember now. You told him he'd suffer for what he did to the Howlers.>

"No. This is about you, Rachel. You could be so much more than you are." It sighed. "What a waste it would be to see you finish out your days as a rat."

<I'm not worried,> I lied.

"We know you are brave." Crayak's tone was condescending. "But do no disappoint us by being a fool. Unless you want to become a nothlit, you need my help."

<I don't need your help,> I countered. <Because it's pretty clear that none of this is really happening. Do you think I'm an idiot?>
Crayak, the conglomerate of life and technology, chuckled. "What do you mean?"

<I mean this whole thing is an illusion. David's story. Rats can't be led like an army. They can't form alliances, and they can't decide to stow away on boats. Which means that David cannot be here. He is an illusion. And I seriously doubt that I'm a rat. Look, you're all just a nightmare. A seriously foul dream.>

"Excellent, Rachel. You are a skeptic. A good quality in a strategist. And a leader. David? You've had your fun but Rachel got the best of you. I told you that if she guessed there was more here than what meets the eye, you had to tell her the truth. Tell her.>

<I am here,> David admitted grudgingly. <But everything was Crayak's doing. I don't' have a rat army. Rats don't understand much of anything. You can't talk to rats.>

David's rodent body fairly emanated rising panic. Hysteria. So did his voice.

<Do you have any idea just how bad it was for me on that rock, Rachel? Not another sentient creature. And having to defend myself from the others? From other rats? From birds of prey? From the rain and the cold and ->

"I didn't tell you to whine!" Crayak thundered angrily.

<Okay! Okay!> David turned to me. <Crayak got me off the island.>

<In exchange for what?> I asked.