<I'll talk to you about it. Later. Ask me later.>

And Ax says, <I will attempt the Frolis maneuver now. Is a male human form acceptable?>

"Yes, but give us a minute to find some clothes - a minute is one-sixtieth of an hour -" Swans duck into the house and raid Charlie's closet.

<That took two and two-fifths minutes, if the conversions I have are correct,> observes Ax, when he accepts the clothes. He starts morphing.

"I don't know if they're exact, it seems unlikely that morph limitations map that closely onto hours. You can do math that sophisticated in your head?"

<I can keep time,> explains Ax. He completes his morph. He's an odd blend of the bunch - a little Swan family resemblance, but not enough that people would think them definite cousins. A little Trouble, in the hair, around the eyes; Ethan's nose, Robin's chin, a mixed build that's too short for the clothes. He is pretty puzzled by the clothes.

"Would you," sighs Ethan, "like some help with those?"

"Yes," says Ax, and then he tilts his head. "Yyyyye. Yesss. Sssss."

Andi (facing the wall) giggles.

Ethan raises his eyes to the ceiling and then endeavours to assist.

Ax continues playing-with-sounds while he dons the outfit.

"Is it really such a fascinating novelty?"

"It-t-t-t-t is! Zzzz. Izzz."

"Right." He snorts and tugs down the hem of Ax's new shirt. "He is dressed, ladies. You may cease to shield your maiden eyes."

Ladies cease to shield their maiden eyes. "It'll do," sighs Bella. "Okay. Ax, let's go in and you and me get each other up to speed on - everything - and then you can sleep in here in your normal form, I hope you were paying attention to how the clothes worked for future reference."

"Yes, Princess - prrrrrrinn-sessss! - Belllllllll-ah."

"Maybe you should just thoughtspeak for efficiency."

"Efficiency or comedy. What a choice."

"It's three in the morning. My appreciation for comedy is a little limited."

"There is that. And where shall we hold this conference?"

"Living room," shrugs Bella, and she pushes through the door into the house. When everyone - except the absent Trouble, who she presumes is off brooding somewhere - is situated comfortably, she summarizes the adventures of the Animorphs to date.

Ax, who communicates mostly by thoughtspeak but occasionally pauses to pronounce things in fascination, answers her questions, explains what he can about the Frolis maneuver and how to perform it, watches a clock with a second hand for one minute and announces that the actual limit on morph time is two hours, four minutes, and thirty-one seconds, but it will begin to be difficult to demorph if one approaches too close to the end of that time. He is also confused about how Bella has been able to conduct so many experiments in such a short time; apparently morphing is more tiring to Andalites than it seems to be for humans.

"I wonder why that is," says Ethan.

"Me too," says Robin, thoughtfully.