It's the beginning of the end. . . .

Time stopped.

He came to me. The Ellimist.

The puppet master came to watch my final act. It figured. He

was in his saintly old-man guise. As fake as everything else about him. The all-powerful weakling. The mighty manipulator.

"You," I said accusingly.

"Yes."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "Who are you to play games with us? You appear, you disappear, you use us. Who are you? What

are you?"

And then, f o r what seemed a very long time, the Ellimist told me. I saw. I understood.

But I also knew he would not save me. That he couldn't under

the arcane rules of his millennia-long war with Crayak,

The Ellimist was there to honor me, and I guess t h a t was nice of him. Wasn't going to help me much.

I wanted so much to live. I wanted so much to stay and not

leave. In a moment no answer would m a t t e r to me, but just the same, I wanted to know what I guess any dying person wants to

know.

"Answer this, Ellimist: Did I . . . did I make a difference? My life, and my . . . my death . . . was I w o r t h it? Did my life really matter?"

"Yes," he said. "You were brave. You were s t r o n g . You were good. You mattered. . . . "

CHAPTER 1

My name is Rachel.

I knew what was coming. I knew.

I'd seen it in Jake's eyes.

And you know what? I was scared.

I never thought I would be. Cassie thinks I'm

fearless. Marco thinks I'm reckless. Tobias . . .

OCRed By Arpit Nathany

well, Tobias loves me.

I guess they all do, in different ways. Jake,

too. But Jake had to do the right thing.

I felt sorry for him, you know? He's carried the

weight so long. He's made hard decisions. None

as hard as this maybe. I didn't blame him, not

even for a minute.

But I was scared.

1

I guess no one wants to die. I guess everyone

then flatten themselves out, spread themselves

is scared when the time comes.

down into the crevices, tie directly into your

We were so close. We were right there, right at

synapses. They take control. Absolute control.

the finish line, I'd already survived so many times

They read your thoughts, they sense your

when I shouldn't have. It seemed unfair. To come

emotions. What your eyes see, they see. What

this far, get this close . . .

your tongue tastes, they taste. If your hand moves,

Jake gave me the job because he knew that

it's because they moved it. If you speak, it is the

only I could do it. Would do it. Ax might have, sure,

Yeerk who has spoken through you, made you

but he was needed for his skills. Me, I'm not the

into a ventriloquist's dummy.

computer genius. I'm the one you send when you

Over the course of years they spread like a

need someone to be crazy, to do the hard thing.

virus. Invisible. Undetectable.

I don't know whether I'm proud of that or not.

They are your teacher, your pastor, your best

I was Jake's insurance policy. He thought

friend. They are the police officer, the TV news-

maybe he wouldn't have to use me. He hoped,

man, the soldier. Anyone.

anyway. But down deep he knew, and I knew, and

Jake's parents had recently been taken; they

we both hid the truth from the others because

were human-Controllers — people controlled by

Cassie couldn't let Jake make that decision, and

Yeerks.

Tobias couldn't let me, and those two, by loving

Jake's brother Tom, my cousin, had been a

us, would have screwed everything up.

Controller for a long time. He was a powerful

It was a war, after all. A war we had to win.

Yeerk. Jake still cared for him, still hoped some-

We hadn't asked the Yeerks to come to Earth.

how he could be saved.

They made that call on their own. They're a para-

Jake had sent me away with Tom.

sitic species, not very big or impressive to look

I understood. I approved. If Jake hadn't sent

at, just these snail-like things that can enter your

me I'd have gone anyway.

head through your ear. They have a capacity to

Still, though, I was scared.

anesthetize the inner ear enough to allow them to

I had power myself. We all did. The strange,

burrow through the soft tissue. It still hurts but

unsettling power to absorb DNA from any living

not as much as it should.

creature, to then alter our physical bodies to be-

They dig their way straight to your brain and

come that creature.

2

3

I've been a whole zoo, you know. Everything

that barrier and soar through the air. . . And

from a fly to an elephant. Bat. Owl. I've flown,

then, splash! And do it all over again.

way up in the sky with eagle wings. I've flown up

So, anyway, we decided we had to try and

there with Tobias. Way up in the clouds. If there's

stop the Yeerks. Jake and Tobias and Cassie and

something better than that, well, I never found it.

Marco and Ax, who is Elfangor's little brother,

It's not magic. Just technology. Of course tech-

and me. We lived this secret life. We fought and

nology always seems like magic at first. Haul a

mostly lost, but we survived. We frustrated the

tenth-century knight into the modern age and

Yeerks. We ruined Visser Three's life, though he

show him your cell phone or your TV or your com-

still managed to be promoted to Visser One.

puter or your car. Magic.

Maybe we did too good a job frustrating the

This technology came from the Andalites. The

visser. The Yeerks grew tired of infiltration. Visser

Andalites are enemies of the Yeerks, and I guess

One had been craving open war. And when we

allies of ours, though right at the moment they

blew up their ground-based Yeerk pool, the source

were more likely to annihilate Earth than the

of their food, the center of their lives, it was

Yeerks were. You know the old saying, "With

gloves off.

friends like these, who needs enemies?"

So much the better as far as I was concerned.

Anyway, it began with a chance meeting. An

The time had come to settle things.

Andalite prince named Elfangor crashed his

The Yeerks obliterated our town to create a

shot-up fighter in our path. Coincidence? No,

dead zone around their construction of a new

history. And a helping hand from the Ellimist

Yeerk pool. They were in a hurry. Without a func-

who of course never lends a helping hand.

tioning pool they were getting hungry.

Elfangor died, but not before he told us what

But there was a worm gnawing at the Yeerk

was happening and gave us the morphing tech-

race. They had acquired morphing technology

nology.

themselves — in part because of what Jake

I've been a rat. A dolphin . . . oh, man, do

thought was Cassie's betrayal.

they have fun. That rush when you're zooming

Cassie sees further than I do. Further than

straight up through the water, when you see the

any of us. She sees deep. The girl cannot dress or

ripply surface of the sea, when you blow through

accessorize to save her life, she's a girl who

4

5

wears manure-stained Wal-Mart jeans for crying

Yeerk Pool ship. Tom had control of the visser's

out loud, but Cassie sees connections and possi-

own personal Blade ship.

bilities that others don't.

Tom — the Yeerk in Tom's head — was clos-

She let Tom take the morphing cube. And that

ing in for his final act of betrayal: He would kill

changed everything. Some Yeerks began to see a

his master, Visser One, and doom his fellow

way out of their parasitic lives. The hunger-crazed

Yeerks. He thought we were already dead.

Taxxons — a race held captive by the Yeerks —

Surprise, Tom.

began to dream of a life without their Yeerk over-

My favorite morph was the grizzly bear. Seven

lords. A revolution was brewing.

feet tall standing erect. You cannot imagine the

At the same time, the Andalite fleet was clos-

power, especially when united with human intel-

ing in, ready to obliterate Earth as the only way to

ligence and knowledge. Compared to my grizzly

stop the Yeerk infestation. They had watched the

morph a human being is like something made

Yeerks concentrate their forces on Earth. They

out of glued-together Popsicle sticks.

were ready to bring down the curtain: Obliterate

How many times have I felt that change as

Earth and the Yeerk Empire would be gutted.

muscle piles on muscle, as the thick brown fur

Too bad about those creatures who got in the

covers me, as the rail spike claws grow from my

way. What were they called? Oh yeah, humans.

fingers?

But Tom betrayed his visser, betrayed the

The grizzly bear and I had been through a lot

Yeerk race. Not for the sake of poor old humanity,

together.

but for his own ambition. He would escape with

I would go to grizzly to kill Tom.

the morphing cube and with a hard core of faith-

ful Yeerk supporters. He would abandon the Yeerk

people to the Andalite vengeance, destroy the

hated Animorphs, and if H. sapiens was annihi-

lated, too, well . . .

That's where Jake saw his chance. Tom's

Yeerk is smart. Jake is smarter.

Now Jake and the others had control of the

6

7

I hit the deck, a fall of thousands of times my

own height. Flea didn't care. Not even a bruise.

A strained voice said, "That's . . . that's not a

waste dump. They aren't dumping waste! That's

the pool. The main pool. It's been flushed."

There was an audible gasp from several voices.

The human-Controllers and Hork-Bajir-Controllers

CHAPTER 2

who were Tom's bridge crew.

"Sensors showing . . . it's our people. Sixteen

thousand . . . maybe seventeen thousand."

Tom cut in harshly. "It saves us the trouble of

killing them ourselves." Then, in an undertone,

"But why? Why would the visser flush . . . what

does this mean?"

I was a flea on Tom's head. A flea can't see

It means Jake's alive, Tommy boy. You'll fig-

much really, just an impression of light or dark.

ure it out in a minute, Yeerk. But I'm guessing it

Not my favorite morph. But if you want to hide

will be too late.

out, unnoticed, on a human body, you can't beat

Away from blood. That's where I had to go.

the flea. And with practice you can learn to un-

The flea's senses were all attuned to the warm

derstand speech from the distant, distorted vi-

scent of blood. But that scent represented dan-

brations that reach your quivering antennae.

ger to me now, and I hopped away, each bound-

My time was coming, and I had to find a place

ing leap the equivalent of a human jumping over

to demorph and remorph. I fired the spring-loaded

the Grand Canyon. Try getting a flea morph to

legs and catapulted into the air.

move away from blood. Amazing how much resis-

It took forever for me to fall. The first time you

tance you can get from a brain that's about ten

do it it scares the pee out of you. Falling and

cells big.

falling like that. Like you jumped off the moon

I felt shade. Absence of light. Distance from

and were falling to Earth.

vibration. No scent of blood.

8

9

Was I in a safe place? Surely not, but maybe

I saw the viewscreen light up. I saw Visser

safe enough.

One's Andalite face. It was different. There was a

I began a slow, cautious demorph.

dull look in his usually aggressive eyes, a slack-

I heard a yell.

ness in the normally tensed body.

"The Pool ship is preparing to fire!"

"You seem to be experiencing some engine

"Hard left!" Tom yelled.

trouble, Visser," Tom gloated.

A moment later, Tom laughed. "The visser's

I was completely demorphed now. There would

lost maneuvering ability. The Pool ship handles

be no room for me to morph all the way to grizzly

like a drunken Gedd at the best of times, and

and stay concealed. Every eye on the bridge was

now look at it."

watching the screen, but a seven-foot bear loom-

Someone else reported, "His Dracon cannon

ing up will definitely attract attention.

is powering down. I show his reserves at less than

I started the morph. If it turned out I wasn't

ten percent."

needed, well, then it would be fatally stupid of

"Are they? Well, well," Tom said. "Hail the

me. But I had no real doubt.

visser. On screen."

Visser One said, <The Empire will track you

I was halfway demorphed. I was a hideous crea-

down and kill you, you do understand that, I

ture made up of armored plates and prickly legs

hope?>

and human flesh spreading across me like a wave.

"Oh, I doubt it. I think the Empire will have

The sickest imagination could not conjure up the

its hands full," Tom said cheerfully. "The An-

true creepiness of a half-flea human. Human eyes,

dalite fleet is rather close by. It's possible that I

my own eyes, bulged from an insect face.

misled you on that point."

I could see. Not well, confused, distorted, my

He was all but giggling.

visual cortex still more flea than human. I was

Then, the viewscreen widened out and he

still on the bridge of the Blade ship. I was actu-

saw, and I saw, the lithe Bengal tiger standing

ally crouched beneath an unoccupied control sta-

near the visser.

tion. It was like hiding under a desk. Fortunately

Tobias was there, too.

it was designed for a Hork-Bajir body, so there

Tom saw the tiger and knew it was Jake and

was some room.

knew in that split second that he had been out-

10

11

maneuvered, outfought. He took a step back,

ever they saw a morph. It was strangely gratifying

like he'd been punched. "You're not dead!" he

that at last they knew who we were.

cried.

I said, <That's right, genius: Animorph.>

<l noticed the same thing,> Visser One said

I did what I do better than anyone. What Jake

dryly.

counted on me to do.

Tom yelled, "Bring us around to target the

I attacked.

Pool ship's bridge. Do it! Now! Now! Bring us

around!"

At that moment I could have morphed all the

way to elephant without being noticed. Tom's

panic was infectious. They all knew they'd been

had.

But they didn't know how. Tom's reaction was

pure instinct: shoot. He'd forgotten that the Pool

ship was helpless. The sight of Jake — who

should be dead — standing there with the other

Animorphs, standing there alive and apparently

in control of the Pool ship . . . all Tom could

think of was shooting.

The danger was closer than that.

Jake looked at me. Like he knew I was watch-

ing him.

<Rachel,> he said. <Go.>

<Rachel . . .> Tobias said.

<l know, Tobias. I know.> I said.

I was still not completely morphed when some-

one shrieked. "Animorph!"

After all these years of the Yeerks thinking we

were Andalites, always yelling "Andalite!" when-

12

13

I swung a paw at him, and it should have

been all over right then, but I missed. He dropped

and I missed.

I reared up to my full height and Tom rolled

into a ball. He was down under my legs. I swiped

his back and laid his spine open. But I didn't

stop him.

He was through my legs and behind me and

CHAPTER 3

staggering toward the exit.

I spun, dropped to all fours and bounded to

cut him off. I reached the exit a split second be-

fore him and shouldered him aside in the

process. He spun like a top and fell on his butt.

I was in a clumsy stance so I just sort of

dropped on him. It was like some WWF body

I charged straight for Tom, on all fours, head

slam, only I wasn't faking it. He grunted and I

down, an express train of muscle and fur, claws

saw blood gush from his nose and mouth.

and teeth.

Too easy. My final battle. It couldn't be this

I hit him with my lowered head and knocked

easy.

him back into the viewscreen. Not enough to take

I drew back, ready to go in and finish the job.

Tom out, but I had to try and damage the ship.

But I had wasted too much time. There were oth-

Tseeew!

ers on the bridge. And I had overlooked the fact

Someone fired a Dracon beam. I felt the sear-

that we were no longer the only ones who could

ing pain in my right flank but it didn't matter. I

morph. Every member of Tom's handpicked crew

was in berserk mode. Pain was something that

could morph, and I was surrounded now by a half

could be stored up for later. Right now I was an en-

dozen half-morphed beasts.

raged bear. I slammed a shoulder left, slammed a

shoulder right and felt crumpling metal.

Tom himself was starting to morph, but he

wasn't my main problem now.

Tom yelled, "No shooting! You'll destroy the

<Rachel! Behind!>

bridge! Morph! Morph you idiots!"

15

14

No one moved.

It was Jake. He was watching the fight from

<Scared?> I asked.

the Pool ship.

I spun, slashed horizontally and something

No answer.

that may have been a half-morphed leopard crum-

<You should be,> I said, almost laughing.

pled like a Dixie cup.

I lunged, straight for the polar bear. Go for the

The main weapons station was right there, a

main opponent first. Go for the danger. I barreled

sort of waist-high, freestanding lectern. I threw

straight into him. It was a train crash. I slammed

myself back into it and heard a nice crunch as it

him, my shoulder into the side of his head.

toppled.

He had a bear morph. I was my bear morph.

Experience is very helpful.

But that was more seconds lost while the

Yeerks were completing their morphs. All but Tom.

The polar bear staggered. I extended my claws

His scarred back was crusting over with reptilian

and in a move no real bear had ever learned, I

scales, but he was nothing recognizable yet. And

drove them straight into him, like four daggers,

in any case, I had plenty to keep me busy.

right beneath the front right shoulder: the heart.

I faced two lionesses, a cape buffalo, and a polar

I hit him again before the cape buffalo slammed

bear. It was a whole zoo full of dangerous animals.

me and knocked me, windless, rolling into the

The polar bear was my equal all by himself. The

bulkhead.

cape buffalo maybe as well. I could take either li-

The buffalo backed up and came at me again,

oness, but the combination was going to be rough.

the wide, thick horns like a battering ram. But

For a wondrous, frozen moment we all waited,

the beast's hooves were designed for dirt and

stared, breathed, tensed, expectant.

grass, not the slippery floor. He didn't fall but he

I felt. . .

lost a lot of speed and momentum. He hit me in

I felt exalted.

my exposed belly. It would have killed me if he'd

It was my moment. This was my place and my

been up to speed. Even so it crushed the last

time and my own perfection.

ounce of air from my lungs. I felt like someone

I was no longer afraid. Weird. If I'd had a

had dropped a house on me.

mouth I'd have smiled.

A lioness was on my face, clawing madly, like

<Well?> I said.

a crazed alley cat. The other one was trying to

16

17

bite my neck — a waste of time. No one bites

I tried to stagger forward, but the buffalo had

through a grizzly's fur.

done some damage now. My hindquarters were

I was down, buried under mad fur. I was down,

numb and weak. He was hitting me with short,

slashed at, punched, hammered, clawed. My

sharp blows, like a boxer rabbit-punching. He'd

legs were in the air, helpless!

figured out that he couldn't really wind up and

I drew my legs close and shifted my weight.

deliver a killing blow.

Got my legs under me. I lifted myself and the two

<Tom! Rachel, Tom! Look out for Tom!>

lions. I shook myself violently and threw off the

Jake's voice was far away. Strange.

lion who'd been on my face. I aimed a blow at

The slick floor that handicapped the buffalo

her but she was too fast.

now worked against me, too. I couldn't get enough

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the polar

traction with my blood-slicked pads.

bear demorphing. It's the only way when your

Had to get the Yeerk with the polar bear

morph body is dying: demorph and fast. Die in

morph. He was demorphed now. Ready to start

morph and you're dead. Period.

morphing and come back rejuvenated.

But I was missing something. Something

So heavy. Floor all covered in blood. Wow,

nagged at me.

they were really bleeding.

<Tom!> Jake yelled. <Tom!>

My front right leg suddenly buckled. It was

The cape buffalo butted me in the hindquar-

a pail of ice water in my face, a sudden realiza-

ters and spun me around. The lion on my back

tion.

was reaching around like it was trying to strangle

My blood. That was my blood on the floor.

me, digging busy claws into the folds of loose

White fur began to ripple across the morphing

skin around my throat.

Yeerk.

The second lion charged gamely, leaped and

<He's a snake!> a voice cried. <Rachel!>

sank its teeth into my left haunch.

No, he's a bear, I thought.

Had to take down the Yeerk with the polar

A flash of movement, so fast it was a blur.

bear morph. Had to stop him remorphing. I'd

Something in my eyes! Burning. I couldn't see.

been lucky once, experience had told. But I

That's okay, okay, bears can't see alt that well

couldn't count on a second easy win against a

anyway, I had . . . I had . . .

polar bear.

A cobra, some distant, strange, analytical

18

19

part of my brain noted. Tom's morph: a cobra.

<No!> Tom cried in outrage.

The venom was in my eyes.

I brought my paw to my mouth.

I couldn't think. Couldn't see.

<Sorry,> I said vaguely.

Demorph.

<Jake, stop her!> the Yeerk screamed with

No. Bear. The lions on me.

Tom's mouth.

Weak. Strange to be the bear and be weak.

I bit down on the snake.

Strange.

I realized I was no longer standing. I was flat

on the floor. I heard my own slow breathing. I

should be panting.

Something striking at my face again and again.

The cobra. Couldn't even see him.

I had failed. Tom. Alive.

<Die, human,> he said. <Just die.>

<Rachel!> Tobias cried.

<Help me, Tobias,> I pleaded.

<l can't. . . I . . .>

He didn't understand. <Help me get him.

Help me get him!>

<Okay. Okay. He's . . . your left paw, toward

your face. Get ready. Has to be fast.>

<l'm ready.>

<Now!>

I jerked my paw, claws extended toward my

face.

Tom shrieked. I couldn't see him. But I felt

something squirming. Like a worm on a fishhook.

The snake was impaled on my claws.

20

21

me, his strength the equal of my own grizzly, but

now I was just me, just Rachel.

I could see the viewscreen. I could see my

best friend Cassie. Jake. Marco, funny Marco. Ax.

Tobias.

He had morphed. He was his human self once

more. He'd done that for me. And because he

CHAPTER 4

was crying. I understood. Humans cry, hawks

don't.

"I love you," I said to the screen.

And oh, god, how could so much regret and

so much sweetness and so much sadness all be

present in that single moment. I was already

dead and missing my unlived life. I was already

dead and Tobias was mourning.

I lay there in suspended animation.

I tried to smile. For him.

I felt myself floating.

The bear was melting. Old grizzly bear, my

The polar bear said, <You fight well, human.>

friend. Good old bear.

Then he killed me with a single blow.

I demorphed. The snake was still in my mouth.

Motionless.

I demorphed.

Time stopped.

I was Rachel again, the human Rachel, alive,

He came to me. The Ellimist.

unhurt. I could have bounded up and gone off to

The puppet master come to watch my final

the mall to shop. But I didn't kid myself. I didn't

act. It figured. He was in his saintly old man

hope.

guise. As fake as everything else about him. The

I spit the snake out.

all-powerful weakling. The mighty manipulator.

I was surrounded on all sides. I was only a

"You," I said accusingly.

weak human girl now. The polar bear loomed over

"Yes."

22

23

"Who are you?" I demanded. "Who are you to

play games with us? You appear, you disappear,

you use us, who are you, what are you?"

And then, for what seemed a very long time,

the Ellimist told me. I saw. I understood.

But I also knew he would not save me. That

he couldn't under the arcane rules of his millen-

nia-long war with Crayak.

CHAPTER 5

The Ellimist was there to honor me, and I

guess that was nice of him. Wasn't going to help

Jake

me much.

I wanted so much to live. I wanted so much to

stay and not to leave. In a moment no answer

would matter to me, but just the same, I wanted

to know what I guess any dying person wants to

No one moved.

know.

I don't think anyone even breathed.

"Answer this, Ellimist: Did I . . . did I make a

Toby, the leader of the free Hork-Bajir, burst

difference? My life, and my . . . my death . . .

onto the bridge. She was scarred and bloody.

was I worth it? Did my life really matter?"

<Jake, they're surrendering. We had to promise

"Yes," he said. "You were brave. You were

them amnesty and a chance to acquire the morph-

strong. You were good. You mattered."

ing power. >

"Yeah. Okay, then. Okay, then."

I heard her words.

I wondered if —

<What's the matter?> Toby asked.

She noticed Tobias. She'd only seen him in

human morph a few times. Toby is named for To-

bias. The free Hork-Bajir see Tobias as their lib-

erator. And Toby, the Hork-Bajir seer, was named

in his honor.

24

25

On the screen I saw the Blade ship slowly

<Jake, I need your okay,> Toby pressed. <The

picking up speed and pulling away. They didn't

Yeerks want you. They want your assurances

fire at us.

<A pack of traitors,> Visser One said, but the

Tom was dead.

fight had gone out of him.

And I wondered how I was ever going to ex-

Tom was dead. Rachel was dead. How would I

plain it. I had ordered my cousin to execute my

explain this to my parents?

brother. How would I ever explain that?

Silly to think of that right then. Silly and stu-

All these years I'd fought to keep us all alive,

pid.

to stop the Yeerks, always with the hope that

<Jake . . .> Toby urged.

someday I would save my brother, that he would

<Rachel,> Cassie said softly. <Toby, we lost

come back, that he'd be Tom again. That was

Rachel. And Tom is dead.>

why I'd enlisted in the war to begin with. I was

Toby absorbed that, then said, <Jara Hamee,

going to save Tom.

my father, died bravely in battle here today.>

Tom was dead. The Yeerk in his head was

Still I couldn't say anything. How did I ex-

dead.

plain . . .

And Rachel.

Marco was still in gorilla morph. He said, <lt's

And how many others?

okay, Toby. Tell the Yeerks that Jake will be along

General Doubleday's soldiers who had pro-

in a minute. Tell them Visser One is our captive.

vided the suicidal diversionary attack on the

Tell them we approve the deal you made.>

ground.

<My people may not agree,> Ax said.

The auxiliary Animorphs who had gone with

<Yeah?> Marco shot back. <Guess what? This

them to trick the enemy.

is our planet. These are our prisoners. This is our

How many of Toby's people?

victory. If the Andalite high command doesn't like

Seventeen thousand Yeerks, frozen. Flushed

it they can come and try to take a piece of us.>

into space.

Cassie came to me and sort of leaned into

Plus.

me, as close to a hug as we could get right then.

Plus.

I was afraid she would say something sympa-

All at my command.

thetic, I was afraid she would comfort me, and if

26

27

she had I think that would have been it, I think

you have for me will be nothing compared to

my brain would have just shut down because all

what the Council of Thirteen would sentence me

the pain would have suddenly been real and

to. They really don't approve of vissers who lose

deep inside me.

Pool ships.>

Cassie said, <We still need you. You're not

<No. No more killing,> I said.

done yet, Jake.>

"What do you mean, no more killing?" Tobias

The right thing to say. Cassie was good at

demanded, breaking his ringing silence at last.

that. I noted the effect on me, observed my reac-

He stabbed a finger at the visser. "He's the one

tion from a million miles away.

responsible for all this!"

I sighed. Okay. Yeah. I still had a job. Do the

<He's a prisoner of war,> I said softly. <We

job.

don't kill prisoners.>

<Everything else can wait,> Cassie said.

<No, of course not,> Visser One mocked.

Yeah. It could all wait.

<You merely destroy the ground-based Yeerk pool

I took a deep breath.

and kill thousands. And you add another seven-

<Okay, Toby. Okay, I'll be right there. Tell

teen thousand here on this ship. All defenseless,

them what Marco said and I'll get there soon to

unhosted Yeerks. But you don't kill prisoners.>

back you up.>

<Marco?>

Toby left with a last, curious glance at Tobias.

<Yeah, Jake.>

Me, I couldn't look at Tobias. I didn't care if he

<The visser is going to remove himself from

saw the way I avoided his eyes, I didn't care, I

this Andalite body he has stolen and inhabited

couldn't look at him.

for so long. Find a safe place for him. Watch over

I wish to god Tobias had just come after me.

him.>

Right then. I would have welcomed it.

<You got it.>

Instead I focused on Visser One. How had this

<Cassie? Go get Erek. If he wants the Chee

happened? How had he survived and Tom died?

secret to be kept he needs to hide himself. We

How did he still live? How could that be the re-

may have guests soon.>

sult?

<Anything else?> Cassie asked.

<l imagine it's time to kill me,> Visser One

<Like what?> I snapped. <An apology? To

said. <You'll be doing me a favor. Whatever death

that robot? "Sorry we blackmailed you into help-

28

29

ing us?" No. He drained off the Dracon beams

Ax hesitated. He turned his main eyes to me

and because of that the Blade ship got away. Be-

even as his stalk eyes remained focused on the

cause of that Rachel died in vain. Because of

visser. <Prince Jake, there is a specific regula-

him who knows what will happen?>

tion forbidding me as an aristh from contacting

Cassie hesitated, looked down, then turned

the civilian media net. I am required to work

to go.

through the chain of command, my prince.>

I began to demorph, then stopped myself.

He wasn't fighting me, just asking for dispen-

The visser was still a dangerous foe with a bot-

sation. The repetition of the word prince signaled

tomless grab bag of powerful morphs at his com-

his willingness.

mand.

I began to demorph, moving from tiger to hu-

I spoke to Ax in private thought-speak. His

man, from thought-speak to spoken word. <Ax,

tail blade flashed and caught the visser unpre-

as your prince I'm ordering you to ignore those

pared, a flat-side smack against his temple. His

regulations and do what I've told you to do.>

host body, the long-enslaved Andalite war prince

<Then I must obey.>

called Alloran, slumped unconscious.

"Yeah. Now, I have to go see about Toby and

<l know you can still hear me in there, Visser.

then I'll be back. I want to see one slug in a jar

I'll make this simple: You exit that body. You do it

and a ticked-off Andalite on screen when I get

right now because if you don't we're going to cut

back."

our way in and yank you out.>

I left the bridge, trotted to catch up with Toby

<Tobias? Marco? Find a box, a jar, something

and followed her to engineering where the signs

to hold this Yeerk in when he emerges. If he

of a severe battle were evident. Hork-Bajir bodies

doesn't come out within two minutes, do it the

were stacked in the corridor. Their blood was

hard way.>

everywhere. Impossible to be sure which were

<That would be my pleasures Marco said.

free Hork-Bajir, our allies, and which had died

<Okay, Ax,> I said. <Dial up the Andalite high

still enslaved to the Yeerks.

command. Tell them to stand by for a communi-

Toby's people controlled the doorway into en-

cation from me. And open a simultaneous chan-

gineering where the dispirited Yeerks had taken

nel directly to the Andalite home world.>

refuge.

30

31

"Do they have a spokesman?" I asked.

you'll be escorted to the pool in groups of six.

Toby yelled, "Sub-Visser Seventy-four, the

You'll exit your host bodies."

Animorph leader Jake is here."

"And be helpless again," the Yeerk said bit-

A battered-looking Hork-Bajir female stepped

terly.

into view. I looked her up and down, putting on

"I keep my word," I said.

my hard act. "We have the ship. We have Visser

I started to leave then stopped. "Toby? I'm

One. You're not in much of a position to make

sorry about Jara Hamee. He was . . ."

demands."

"He was the first of the free Hork-Bajir," Toby

The sub-visser showed nothing. "Human, you

said fiercely. "He was the father of his people.

cannot frighten us. We have no hope left and that

And he was my father."

gives us strength. We will not die of Kandrona

I started back for the bridge.

starvation — better to die here, now, in battle.

We'll kill some more of your people before we do."

I nodded. "Fair enough. You want amnesty,

access to Kandrona rays, and morphing technol-

ogy? You'd accept permanent morphing and relo-

cation?"

"As opposed to slow death by starvation or

even a quick death now? Yes."

"I don't have the morphing cube. But I pledge

to use all my influence to gain agreement from

the Andalites when they come."

She stood there, straight, almost at attention

for a while, then slumped. "It has come to this

after all."

I nodded. "Yeah. The onboard Yeerk pool

needs to be refilled. Send some of your people

under Toby's supervision to handle that. Then

32

33

a white dress to dig in the mud and somehow

never get a spot on her.

But the war had touched her. She'd changed,

and she'd known she was changing. The war had

revealed a hidden part of her soul. She alone, of

all of us, she alone liked it. Loved it, even. She

had enjoyed the fight.

CHAPTER 6

Sometimes I imagined her as a Viking. Or as a

knight on a quest. That's what she was: a joyful

warrior.

Cassie

And she had died fighting against impossible

odds.

Like a hole inside me. Like someone had

taken a knife and carved a hole in my chest. Like

Rachel dead? How could that be? How

I might cave in, be swallowed up and disappear

could that be real?

in that hole.

She'd been my best friend forever. Teased me

Beautiful Rachel.

about my clothes as I teased her about her ob-

Poor Tom.

sessive shopping. How long ago had that been? A

And now, all of us, the survivors. The victim-

hundred years?

perpetrators.

She'd wanted to be a gymnast but thought

I found Erek. I simply walked through the

she was probably too tall ever to be really good.

Yeerk ship calling out in thought-speak. A wolf

And of course all that was in the past, too.

prowling strangely empty, silent corridors.

She had this way of seeming untouched by

He appeared before me. He's an android, one

what went on around her. Unaffected. Above.

of a long-lived species called the Chee. Their cre-

She was a person who could walk through a car

ators, the Pemalites, are extinct, but the pacific

wash and come out dry. She could move through

instincts of the Pemalites live on in these mag-

a mosh pit and never be jostled. She could wear

nificent thinking machines.

35

34

Erek is at least five thousand years old, and

"So, you, too, huh Cassie?"

the person we knew by that name was really just

"Jake did what he had to do."

a holographic projection that disguised the ma-

"Did he? Someone flushed the Yeerk pool into

chine beneath the illusion.

space. Did he have to do that, too? They were un-

I demorphed.

hosted Yeerks. They were harmless."

"Hi, Erek."

"We needed a div —" I stopped myself.

"Hi, Cassie." He smiled sadly. "Jake sent

"A what? A what did you need? A diversion?

you."

You're going to tell me you needed a diversion so

I nodded.

Jake massacred seventeen thousand sentient

"I see. He feels guilty."

creatures? A diversion?"

"No. Not guilty."

I took a deep breath. "Jake says maybe you

His eyes narrowed. "Then what? He used me,

should get off the ship, Erek. The Andalites will

blackmailed me, manipulated my programming

most likely be coming aboard soon. It's up to you

to get me to break through the security grid and

whether you go on keeping your existence secret.

take control of this ship."

We won't divulge it."

"You drained the Dracon beams."

"I see."

"What did Jake expect me to do? I had given

"Bye Erek."

him control when he needed it. I wasn't going to

He nodded. Then, as he was passing, he took

enable him to kill."

my arm in his pseudo-hand. "Take care of Jake.

"The Blade ship got away. Rachel . . . Jake had

He's going to need you."

Rachel with Tom. Rachel and Tom are both . . .

and the ship got away anyway. Thanks to you."

The Erek hologram disappeared. He was an

android now, a thing of steel and ivory vaguely in

the shape of a dog walking erect. "And I'm sup-

posed to feel regret because Jake ordered his

cousin to kill his brother and I didn't allow him to

massacre everyone else on the Blade ship?"

That made me mad and I guess I showed it.

36

37

form. The red-tailed hawk perched on a railing.

The laser eyes drilled into the Yeerk. I was not at

all sure that Tobias wouldn't swoop over and nail

the visser. I wasn't at all sure I'd stop him.

I'm probably the least emotional of the group.

It's always been my virtue and my failing that I

see the clear path from A to Z without the distrac-

tion of moral considerations. I don't want to say

CHAPTER 7

I'm ruthless, I'm not. But I have the ability. I can

see the ruthless way clearly. I have to sort of add

Marco

the morality back into the equation after the fact.

I had no deep qualms about the seventeen

thousand, any more than I had about our attack on

the ground-based Yeerk pool. I knew why Jake had

Ax and I watched fascinated, repulsed,

sent Rachel to Tom. I agreed with his thinking.

maybe a little triumphant, as the Yeerk crawled

But then, I wasn't in love with Rachel. I wasn't

slowly from the Andalite ear.

some lonely kid trapped in a hawk's body, half in

I had found a lockable briefcase, a very hu-

one world, half in another with only Rachel's love

man artifact stuffed under a control panel. It was

tying me to my humanity.

filled with chocolate chip cookies. Some Yeerk,

Maybe Tobias would eventually accept what

probably a human-Controller, had developed a

Jake did. Maybe not.

sweet tooth and it would be hard to get a good

It was weird. I was watching our greatest foe

cookie on a Yeerk ship.

place himself literally into our hands. We had

I ate a cookie and held the case open for the

beaten Visser One.

slug-like creature that was the true Visser One.

Maybe later we'd celebrate.

<l could easily cut him in half,> Ax said con-

"Ax, pick him up."

versationally.

Ax picked up the Yeerk holding him between

<Yeah, well, better not, I guess.>

two fingers, gingerly, as though it was something

Tobias had returned to what was his normal

dirty.

38

39

He dropped it into the briefcase. I closed the

<Do you seriously expect to me to believe that

lid and turned the combo lock.

humans have seized control of a Yeerk Pool ship,

"I guess we won, Ax."

aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill? Clearly you are

<Yes.>

a Controller. Just as clearly this is a clumsy

"Shouldn't someone be singing 'God Bless

trap.>

America'?"

Cassie returned. She took in the scene and

Ax looked puzzled and decided to let it go. He

decided to stay quiet.

said, <l must access the communications array

"He's got us there," I admitted. "He has no

and carry out Jake's orders.>

way of knowing whether we're really us or Con-

The remaining Yeerks on the bridge were be-

trollers."

ing very cooperative now. Seeing your great

Ax said, <There is a Yeerk Blade ship head-

leader in a box will do that, I guess. Anyway, they

ing . . .> He consulted a display panel and gave

followed Ax's instructions.

the coordinates. <You may be able to intercept

It took a few minutes and then, on the screen

them.>

there appeared a wary Andalite face.

The Andalite officer said, <Anything else,

<What do you want, Yeerk?>

Yeerk? Is there another part to this pitiful at-

Ax said, <We are not Yeerks. I am aristh Aximili-

tempt at a trap?> He was about to sign off.

Esgarrouth-lsthill, the brother of Prince Elfangor.

Jake arrived. "Where do we stand?" he asked

You have correctly identified this signal as origi-

me.

nating from a Yeerk pool ship, but this ship is

I motioned at the screen. "This genius thinks

now under the control of. . .> He frowned, un-

we're Controllers trying to set him up."

certain, and turned a quizzical stalk eye to me.

Jake nodded. "Perfect," he said dryly. "How

I shrugged. "This ship is under the control of

do we get around this?"

the Earth Liberation Army." I grinned. It was a

<Tell him you'll surrender the Pool ship to

wonderfully grandiose name for a handful of

them.>

kids.

It was Visser One! No. No, it was the Andalite

Ax repeated it word for word to the skeptical

Visser One had infested for so many, many years:

Andalite.

Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. I'd forgotten all about

40

41

him. Ax had knocked him unconscious, now he

officer-of-the-day Offeran, you're going to want to

was coming around. He climbed to his hooves,

contact the captain because you have just cap-

looking like a stunned blue deer.

tured a Yeerk Pool ship. We will advance at space

The Andalite officer said, <So the deception

normal speed to any point you name. All Bug

is over. I see the visser has revealed himself.>

fighters will be deployed around the ship, and as

Alloran started to say something, then turned

we reach the rendezvous point you will see all

his face and main eyes to Jake. <With your per-

Bug fighters self-destruct. At that time we will

mission?>

detach the Pool ship's main engines. All weapons

That was one weird moment. Alloran was an

will be powered down. This ship will be perfectly

arrogant, determined, even criminally ruthless

helpless.>

Andalite war prince. Or had been once, long ago.

That got Offeran's attention. He turned a

And then, for a long time, that face had been the

shade of lighter blue. It was kind of as if in the

face of our deadliest enemy, Visser Three/One.

middle of World War II the Japanese Navy had

And now he was meekly waiting for Jake's okay.

called up the U.S. Navy and said, "Hey, we're go-

Jake nodded and in a very respectful tone

ing to turn over our biggest aircraft carrier to you.

said, "Please continue, War-Prince Alloran."

Come on over and pick up the keys."

Alloran's main eyes flickered, a slight display

Suddenly the scene changed. The face on the

of emotion. <Who are you?> he demanded of the

screen was older. This Andalite had a burn scar

Andalite officer.

on his scalp and was missing one stalk eye.

<l am Offeran-Jibril-Castant. I am officer of

<Captain-Prince Asculan-Semitur-l_angor,> Ax

the day aboard the Andalite Dome ship . . .> He

said in private thought-speak.

hesitated and there was a slight, ironic smile. An

"Big time?" I whispered under my breath.

Andalite smile, of course, which is all in the

<Very big time.>

eyes. <The Dome ship Elfangor.>

The captain favored us with a long, hard, seri-

Ax swelled about a size. <A Dome ship named

ous look. Then he said, <Visser, I refuse to —>

for Elfangor. There is no higher honor for a war-

I saw it coming. The old Andalite was going to

riors

chill us. It wasn't my place to butt in, maybe, but

<A well-named ship,> Alloran said. <Now,

I couldn't let this old creep screw everything up

42

43

by committing himself. Once he said what he

briquette because you think it's the only way to

was getting ready to say it would be impossible

stop the Yeerks.

for him to climb down.

"Because of your devotion to duty it may al-

"Hey, Ax-man," I said brightly. "Is it true the

most seem a disappointment to reach your goal

Andalite home world is watching all this? Can I

at long last, only to discover that your foe has es-

wave to them?" I waved like one of the idiots out-

sentially surrendered."

side the 7bc/3yshow. "Hi, everyone! Howard Stern

Translation: It's over.

rules! Yaaaah!"

"At this point we have to set aside the neces-

Well, that stopped everyone and everything

sary ruthlessness of war, the suspicion and hostil-

dead. You could practically see the wheels turn-

ity, and turn instead to the more satisfying duties

ing in old Asculan's nasty-looking head. Jake

of making peace."

looked for a minute like he might slap me silly.

Translation: Your people back home are watch-

And Ax basically turned to stone.

ing and if you come in guns blazing, annihilating

But then Jake gave me a nod. He got it.

a peaceful people, your own peaceful civilians

So did Alloran. <l should have mentioned

will never stand for it.

that under orders from his prince, aristh Aximili

"Our victory could never have occurred with-

has patched this communication through to the

out the support of our Andalite friends."

civilian net.>

Translation: Look, we're willing to share the

Asculan had a mean look to him now. Furious.

credit. You people did squat for us, but we're

He was a person in a trap. A powerful person in a

willing to spread the kudos around freely.

trap, not used to being trapped, not liking it.

"I look forward to our two peaceful peoples

Jake stepped into Asculan's line of sight.

working closely together, to forming a deep and

"Captain Asculan, we know that the Andalite

abiding friendship. We have so much to learn

fleet is devoted to the destruction of the Yeerk

from our Andalite brothers, just as we have al-

threat. And we know that you must be personally

ready learned so much from the great Elfangor

committed to that goal."

and his no less courageous and resourceful

I translated in my head: We know you've

brother, Aximili."

come here to turn Earth into a great big charcoal

Translation: The Dome ship Elfangor is going

44

45

to come in and annihilate all of the real Elfan-

gor's work? Kill his little brother who happens to

be a ready-made Andalite hero? Guess again, you

mean old fart.

The captain listened to all this impassively.

But I could see the steam sort of leaking out of

him. By the end of Jake's little speech his eyes

were glazed over. He knew he'd been trapped but

CHAPTER 8

good, and the truth was, he was probably re-

lieved.

J a k e

<Who exactly are you?> Asculan asked Jake.

I jerked a thumb at my friend. "This is Jake.

Jake Berenson. President of Earth."

We flew the Pool ship to a rendezvous point

just beyond the moon's orbit. As we'd promised,

we deployed the Bug fighters by remote control

and blew them up. We detached the ship's en-

gines and waited. Waited for hours.

Then, in a rush, perhaps two dozen of the

slightly goofy-looking Andalite fighters came

swooping around us. They surrounded us, shred-

der weapons aimed. It was a hair-raising mo-

ment.

Then the Dome ship Elfangor and another

Dome ship came in from different directions.

Dome ships are very cool and typically Andalite.

They're built a little like palm trees. There's a

46

47

long trunk with engines at one end and a bulge

Tobias sent him a murderous look that stalled

for weapons and living quarters in the middle. On

the laughter.

top you have a big glass dome over grass and

Very quietly Cassie said, "Tobias, this is a big

trees and even streams and little hills. The An-

moment. Don't you think Rachel would want us

dalites are a grazing species: They love an open

to enjoy it as much as we can?"

meadow.

<l don't know,> he snapped. <lf she were

Dome ships are also exceedingly well armed. I

alive I'd ask her.>

don't know who wins a straight-up fight between

The Andalite contingent swept onto the bridge.

a Yeerk Pool ship and an Andalite Dome ship.

They were playing their own roles.- The warriors

But I know who wins when the Pool ship is dis-

very intimidating, fanning out to keep everyone

armed and without engines.

covered, the captain himself moving with self-

The Andalites ran sensor probes and satisfied

conscious dignity.

themselves that we were powered down and that

The junior officers must have been mostly

no other Yeerk ships were in the immediate vicin-

technical types because they looked around like

ity.

starving men at the big brunch buffet. They

Asculan arrived soon after by shuttle, along

couldn't stop themselves from touching the Yeerk

with a half dozen tough-looking Andalite marines

display panels and controls with greedy fingers.

and as many officers. I sent Ax to meet them at

They exchanged giddy looks that said, "Can you

the space dock. I waited on the bridge. Marco

believe we're on a Yeerk Pool ship?"

had insisted, saying that I had to play the part of

All of them, including the warriors, kept steal-

the big boss.

ing looks at Alloran. He had been infamous even

"The boss doesn't go down to the airport, he

before being made into the first and only Andalite-

sends a limo or whatever. The boss waits in head-

Controller.

quarters."

I took a deep breath and said, "Captain,

"Is that so?" I said.

thanks for coming over. As soon as we can settle

"Yeah. Look, Jake, you're a sixteen-year-old

some details, I'll be glad to turn this ship over to

kid. But the Andalites don't know that, right?

you."

Play the part, fie the part." He laughed.

<Details?>

49

48

the Andalite people. I am aware that you are

"Yes. The Yeerk prisoners of war have been

morph-capable yourself, as well as a number of

promised the opportunity to be subjected to the

your people. Despite the fact that this was ille-

morphing technology. So have a number of

gal, we don't intend to take any action against

Taxxons down on the surface."

you for that. But the technology will not be made

<Denied,> the captain said.

available any furthers

It took me aback. I hadn't expected a flat de-

Cassie said, "Sir, don't you understand? This

nial.

is the way out. The Yeerks are parasites who re-

"I promised them."

quire other bodies in order to see, to move about

<You had no right to promise what you do not

freely. As long as that's the case they'll be trou-

own.>

ble. Maybe not for us or for the Andalites any-

I didn't want to get mad. Fortunately I had

more, but for someone."

Marco to do that for me.

<Now you're proposing the technology be

"Hey, we're handing you a Yeerk Pool ship.

made freely available to the entire Yeerk species?>

And by the way, there are another couple of dozen

Asculan laughed derisively. <You can't be seri-

major Yeerk vessels back in orbit around Earth

ous. This will never happen. No Yeerk, no Taxxon

and you can snap them up easy. Thanks to us."

will ever be given the morphing technology. Am I

<We're very grateful,> Asculan said blandly,

clear?>

speaking to me and refusing to directly acknowl-

No one said anything. I was stunned. It was

edge Marco. <But Yeerk technology, while no

clear to me now: We had no way to convince the

doubt fascinating to my officers, is less sophisti-

Andalite military. They had their "weapon," they

cated than our own. It is of interest, but no more

were going to keep it. And if that meant the war

than that.>

continued, that was fine with them.

Marco erupted. "We won your lousy war for

And what did I have that could make them

you, you pompous old —"

change their minds? Nothing. With the Pool ship

"My promise to the Yeerks and the Taxxons

and its information in their possession they'd be

will be honored," I said, trying my best to sound

able to destroy the remainder of the Yeerk fleet.

determined and confident and forceful.

As for the Taxxons on Earth and the remaining

<The morphing technology is the property of

51

50

But, then, Ax said, <Captain-Prince Asculan,

leaderless, cutoff, isolated Yeerks on Earth, that

I hereby declare a challenges

wasn't the Andalites' problem: They knew we'd

A dozen Andalites stopped breathing.

deal with that.

I looked at Marco. He shrugged. He had no

Checkmate.

clue either.

I was honestly tempted to surrender the point.

Asculan laughed. <Aristh, you are not in a po-

We had won. Earth was saved. What did I care if

sition to declare a challenge. You would have to

the Taxxons on Earth were rounded up and

be of princely rank or have the support of an An-

killed? That's what would happen, there was no

dalite of princely rank.>

alternative, Taxxons could never be allowed to

Silence.

live on Earth. And what did I care for promises

Then, <l hold that rank,> Alloran said.

made to the Yeerks on board the Pool ship? I had

Avery long silence.

tried to keep my promise. If I failed, so what?

In a low, dangerous tone, Asculan said, <Allo-

Marco must have read my mind. He drifted

ran, you are under suspicion already for your ac-

up beside me and whispered in my ear. "We give

tions on the Hork-Bajir world, I wouldn't —>

in now, they own us."

<What I did on the Hork-Bajir world was pre-

As often was the case, Marco was seeing

cisely what you and the fleet were preparing to do

things I'd overlooked. He was right: The human

to this world,> Alloran shot back.

race had just opened their first negotiation with

Asculan focused all his eyes forward, a sign of

an alien species with far superior technology. If

intense concentration for an Andalite. <l was un-

this relationship started from an acceptance of

der orders. You acted alone.>

Andalite superiority and human weakness it would

<l still retain my rank,> Alloran grated. <l am

always be that way. We'd end up being second-

a war prince. This aristh has declared a chal-

class citizens on our own planet.

lenge and I support his challenge. The require-

But what was I supposed to do about that?

ments of the law are satisfied.>

I looked at Tobias. Nothing. He was gone into

At that moment I think if someone had so

his own world. Cassie could only look troubled.

much as sneezed there would have been a fight.

And Ax, well, Ax had done what he could, he had

Asculan's tail blade was twitching. He was ready

defied his own leaders, but he was, after all, an

to throw down.

Andalite.

53

52

But not all the Andalites shared his feeling.

determine the fate of the world. This was an all-

Some of the officers and even some of the war-

Andalite show. Their law, their sense of right and

riors looked troubled. Troubled by their boss. An-

wrong. I resented it. But I couldn't do anything

dalites take their laws seriously.

but hope it would work out.

"Is someone going to maybe tell us what a

At last Asculan said, <l will confer with my of-

challenge is?" Marco muttered.

ficers^

It was Ax who answered. <lt is the right and

He seemed to think we should all leave the

obligation of any Andalite warrior to challenge

bridge and let him hold his meeting.

the order of a superior if he believes that superior

"I fought for this ship, Captain," I said. "You

is violating the fundamental rights of the elec-

were invited aboard."

torate — the people.>

Probably not a good idea to antagonize the

"You're kidding," Marco said. "How do you

old monster, but I wasn't going to start playing

people ever fight wars if you can challenge any-

the wimp now. We had paid for this ship. It was

thing your superior officer tells you to do?"

ours. If we gave it up it would be to allies, not

<lf my challenge fails I will be harshly disci-

overlords.

plined^ Ax said. <l will be exiled. Permanently.

Asculan led his officers away. The rest of us

And my tail blade . . . My tail blade will be cut

let loose one very long sigh.

off.>

"What now?" I asked Ax.

Alloran said, <Asculan, under the law you

He couldn't answer. He seemed to be shiver-

may declare an emergency and continue until we

ing.

can arrange for the challenge to be judged at a

Alloran answered instead. <Asculan will con-

later time. But I do not see how a court could

tact the fleet high command. They will talk to

agree that this negotiation over prisoners can

their political advisors and try to decide whether

possibly be called a legitimate emergency. In

they can win a challenge. It would be a sort of

which case you would lose your rank and position

trial, with each side presenting evidence and wit-

and be exiled.>

nesses. The entire Andalite electorate would

<l know the law,> Asculan snapped.

have a vote. It would consume perhaps half a

day.>

I felt like a bystander at an event that would

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55

know who did that? Do you know who moved my

Marco said, "So what are the odds?"

tail? I did. I did. I did it.>

Alloran shook his head. <l have been away

I smiled, but more for him than for me. If he

from the home world a very long time. I do not

would forever be the Butcher of Hork-Bajir, what

know much about my people anymore. But the

would my name be?

high command will make a cautious assessment.

Alloran's exuberance seemed to shake Ax out

They are not bold or adventurous, they are more

of his funk and he raised his own tail to touch the

politicians than warriors. If Asculan comes back

blade to Alloran's. <Welcome back, War-Prince

here prepared to go forward with the challenge, it

Alloran.>

will mean they are very, very confident of win-

Asculan did not return to the bridge. He sent

nings

one of his junior officers, a calculated insult. But

"Okay. And by the way, Alloran, thanks for

I guess no one really likes to admit face-to-face

standing up for Ax. And all of us."

that they're beaten.

Alloran turned his main eyes to me. He gave

<Captain Asculan issues the following orders:

me a strange look. <l never hoped to be free

Four morphing cubes will be made available to

again. You freed me. I have done what I have

aristh Aximili to use as he sees fit. Aristh Aximili done in my life. I am what I am, though I may

is hereby elevated to the rank of prince. Prince

have gained at least some wisdom through the

Aximili is appointed liaison between the Andalite

years of enslavement to Visser One. Just the

fleet and the people of Earth.>

same, I will always be Alloran, the Butcher of

Asculan's officer waited, expecting a reply.

Hork-Bajir. Alloran, the only Andalite to be taken

Ax said, <Thank the captain for me. I will

alive by the Yeerks. But, disgraced, even de-

carry out my duties to the best of my ability. My

spised, for whatever I am worth, I am yours to

challenge is hereby withdrawn.>

commands

And at that moment, with that polite ex-

The speech was delivered in a low thought-

change of messages, the war against the Yeerks

speak tone, all emotion severely controlled. But

was over.

then Alloran whipped his tail blade over his

head, so fast it cracked like a whip. He smiled

the subtle Andalite smile and yelled, <Do you

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56

•The Yeerk crews were shuttled to the Pool

ship where they left their host bodies to return to

the now-refilled pool. Newly freed human and

Hork-Bajir worked with Andalites to keep the

ships flying.

Jake had one more run-in with Asculan over

possession of the great trophy prisoner, Visser

One. But Jake won that confrontation, too. Visser

CHAPTER 9

One remained our prisoner.

Cassie

We Animorphs and the newly minted Prince

Aximili, with our prisoner, landed Ax's official li-

aison ship, a sleek Fast-Courier, right in the mid-

dle of the Mall in Washington. Not a mall, the

Mall, a sort of open green space with the Capitol

Things happened quickly.

Building at one end, the Smithsonian Institution

With terms now approved, the Yeerks on the

and various government buildings on both sides,

Pool ship formalized their surrender.

and the obelisk of the Washington Monument at

The Pool ship joined the Andalite fleet in en-

the far end.

tering close Earth orbit where we contacted the

We called ahead, not wanting to terrify any-

remaining Yeerk ships and gave them the stark

one. There were roughly a thousand cops and

choice: Resist and die, or surrender and be trans-

twice that many newspeople waiting for us.

formed.

It was, as Marco said, a "shiver-my-spine mo-

Some Yeerk ships contacted the Yeerk home

ment."

world and received instructions to fight. But the

A sea of microphones and video cameras and

flashbulbs. Ax and Jake, and to a lesser extent

Andalites had all the technical data of the Pool

Marco and I, gave a sort of brief explanation of

ship — including disabling codes, combat tac-

what had been happening, and where things

tics, communications ciphers. The ships that re-

stood now.

sisted were destroyed. The rest surrendered.

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58

Ocean from the spot in the cemetery where

Needless to say, it was kind of a big news day.

Rachel's monument would be placed. There was

Tobias was silent throughout. If he even heard

an honor guard of free Hork-Bajir. Two dozen An-

the questions he didn't show it. And then, as

dalite warriors stood at attention. Our friend and

Marco was telling yet another amusing anecdote,

ally General Doubleday was there and quite a few

Tobias spread his wings, caught an updraft, and

men and women in uniform.

flew away.

Jake and Marco and me and Ax. We all gave

The next day an Andalite scout ship reported

little speeches. The President of the United States

finding a human body floating in space. Young,

was there. He gave a speech, too.

female. The Blade ship had jettisoned her body

I guess Rachel would have liked it, in her

before going into Zero space.

own way. She would have laughed. She would

The Andalites brought her to California. Near

have thought it was all way over the top, but at

the devastation that was all that was left of our

the same time, she would have liked the atten-

homes.

tion.

I was there when Rachel returned. Her mother

Would have, but she was a few ounces of ash

was there, too. The Andalites treated her body

in a jar resting inside an open wooden box.

with great respect. She had been wrapped in

The ceremony was almost over when I saw

some sort of soft cloth. I guess it was the Andalite

him. I'd been watching the sky. I knew if he was

way.

still alive, he would come.

They uncovered her face and Rachel's mom

He wheeled high overhead, riding a thermal.

and I identified her.

His hawk eyes would see everything of course,

Two days later, Rachel's body was cremated.

even from half a mile up.

It was inconceivable that she'd ever want to be

But as the band played some horribly de-

buried in the ground. She ended up as a few

pressing music, down he came. He swooped

handfuls of ashes in a pretty china urn.

down and landed on the box, wings flaring. One

Everyone was at the memorial ceremony. By

of the ushers moved to chase him off. Jake took

this point our story had swept the planet. Every-

the man's arm.

one alive knew our names.

Tobias closed his talons around the urn's small

The memorial had to be held outside. Fortu-

handle. He glared fiercely at Rachel's mom. She

nately it was a nice day. You could see the Pacific

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60

was crying, had been all along. She sobbed and

nodded her head, giving her permission.

Then Tobias looked at me. I said, "Yes, To-

bias. She would want it."

I don't know where he found the strength to

lift that urn, but he did. He flew away, low at first,

then, catching a thermal, he bore the urn away

CHAPTER 10

into the sky.

Marco

ONE YEAR LATER

My career was going pretty well. I was past

the point of being a fad, anyway. I'd done seven

appearances total on Letterman and Leno, plus

several times each on Jon Stewart and Conan.

The Today Show, Good Morning America, Oprah?

Been there. Bill O'Reilly called me a genuine

American hero. I'd been on CNN so many times

that Greta Van Susteren and I were practically

roommates. Guest-VJ on MTV? Of course.

And all of that is over and above the rounds of

interviews that came in that first wild month after

the defeat of the Yeerks. I mean, in that first

month you couldn't keep track of how many

shows I'd been on. Jake and Cassie and I were

bigger than all of Hollywood, D.C., and Manhat-

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62

tan put together. We weren't just celebrities, we

that game and the bookers for the shows knew it.

were the only celebrities. We had senators and

Jake did not do good panel. He wouldn't sit there

big-league rap producers and hot starlets fetch-

and trade jokes with Dave. There was too much

he didn't want to talk about. Jake was still carry-

ing us sodas and Kit Kat bars.

ing the world on his shoulders, and it showed.

So cool.

As for Cassie, well, she was worse, if that's

That first month we owned the world. But that

possible. She had the tendency to wander

was the easy part: We had a story to tell and

around in all the moral subtext of everything.

everyone wanted the details of how we and our

She'd take some story about a cool, rock 'em

weird alien friend and all our animal morphs had

sock 'em battle we'd been in and turn it into this

saved the world. The tough part was to keep it

mope about the morality of self-defense.

going after we stopped being The New Thing.

So basically, with neither of those two being,

I had become the unofficial spokesman for

shall we say, Hollywood, that job fell to me.

the Animorphs. Jake wasn't interested in doing

Bread and butter, baby. Could I do panel?

it. Neither was Cassie. And as for Tobias, well, no

Sure I could do panel. I was as much of a hero as

one had seen him or heard from him since

any of the Animorphs and unlike Jake the Yeerk-

Rachel's funeral.

Killer and Saint Cassie, I was fun.

It wasn't that Jake and Cassie never gave in-

I got a gig as "technical advisor" to a Spiel-

terviews, but Jake was too serious and heavy for

berg movie about us. Animorph. Come on, you

the media. Jake was on his way to becoming this

gotta love that. I did all the shows to plug that

icon, this national hero figure. He had that whole

deal. Sample dialog: "I loved working with Steven,

tragic-hero thing going on. People knew about

he is absolutely devoted to accuracy, and I knew

him sending his cousin to take out his brother

he was the man who could be trusted with our

and they ate it up. I am not kidding when I say

story."

that some congressperson actually suggested

I wrote a book, with some help from a ghost-

carving his face onto Mount Rushmore. Nothing

writer. The title was The Gorilla Speaks. Number

came of that, fortunately.

one on The New York Times best-seller list, num-

So, anyway, everyone acted like they wanted

ber one on the PW list, number one on the Web.

Jake to do their show, but Jake wasn't really into

65

64

Undersecretary of the Interior for Resident Aliens.

Cassie wrote a book, too: Insights on the Ani-

It paid less than I spend on corn chips, but hey,

mal Mind. I think it topped out around number

Cassie was seventeen, like me, and she was

seven. Not that I'm competitive.

meeting with the President and spending most of

I had just been signed for a regular acting job.

her time with the free Hork-Bajir. They'd been

I was going to be Nick Lang, a wisecracking mu-

given Yellowstone as a habitat. They lived on

tant superhero sort of guy who can turn into ani-

bark and cared for the trees and the tourists

mals. I wasn't the main star, I was the main

loved it. Yellowstone was so mobbed with tourists

supporting player, (and the main special effect),

wanting to see Hork-Bajir swinging from the red-

which is what I wanted: I needed time to "work

woods or whatever that there was a year-and-a-

on my craft" without the pressure of carrying the

haIf waiting list to get in.

entire TV show. We were going to be on Fox in the

Arbron's Taxxons — those that had survived

old X-F/7estime slot, which was kind of cool.

the battle — had fulfilled another of Cassie's far-

The acting job was especially great because it

seeing dreams: They had, as agreed, perma-

kept me alive as a product spokesman. I had a

nently morphed to anaconda and various other

three-year deal with Pepsi, plus smaller deals

way-too-big snakes. They'd been relocated to the

with Alamo Rent A Car and Gap/Old Navy. You

Brazilian rain forest, which was now protected by

would not believe the money.

Brazilian law and hefty U.N. payments. If you

So, a year after the end, I was seventeen and

were a guinea pig walking around the rain forest

rich from book deals and product endorsements

now you were toast, but the former Taxxons left

and acting contracts. I had a beach house in

people alone.

Santa Barbara (close to Hollywood, but with less

Arbron himself went down there with them.

traffic) and an apartment in New York. I owned a

He could not morph again, of course. He was an

canary-yellow Viper, a red Maserati, and a desert-

Andalite nothlit. Many years ago, far away, he

camouflage Humvee. I dated girls who wouldn't

had stayed too long in Taxxon morph and had

have looked at me before. I ate in cool restaurants.

been unable to demorph. And now he was Taxxon

. And maybe you're expecting me to say it was

for good.

all an empty experience, that my life wasn't all

Arbron was shot and killed by poachers. It

that great, but you know what? I was happy.

was a big incident for a while. They caught the

We all should have been happy. Cassie was

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66

Andalite tourism was the coming thing. The

poachers and put them away. Everyone said how

numbers were limited — interstellar travel isn't

terrible it was. But you know, Arbron was proba-

cheap, you know. But the big thing was for

bly grateful. He had saved his adopted people,

wealthy or influential Andalites to come to Earth

but he had been a prisoner of that awful Taxxon

and acquire human morphs. Then it was off to

hunger, and that's no way to live.

the mall food courts to raid the Cinnabon and

The Andalite ambassador to the United Na-

Mrs. Fields.

tions took charge of the body — what was left of

I am not kidding. An Andalite with a mouth is

it. Arbron was flown back to the Andalite home

a dangerous thing when there are cinnamon buns

world and given a quiet funeral.

around. Having no mouths or sense of smell

Anyway, Cassie was a government pooh-bah,

themselves, they have no natural defenses against

always racing around here and there in govern-

the appeal of flavor — as we had witnessed time

ment jets and helicopters, making sure Toby and

and again with the Ax-man himself. You do not

her people were good and just generally saving

want to get between a newly morphed Andalite

the world. Also taking college courses at night

tourist and a chocolate chip cookie.

because she still wants to be a veterinarian like

Andalites and humans mostly got along well.

her mom and dad. That's Cassie for you: Save the

Andalite civilians are about three degrees more

rain forest, save some cow with a hernia — the

humble and lovable than the Andalite warriors

girl just does not get the whole celebrity thing. I

we'd always met.

mean Wal-Mart practically begged her on hands

Some people had been afraid the news that

and knees to take a million dollars to do ads for

aliens were real would freak the entire human

their jeans, and she said she didn't have time be-

race. They were wrong. Duh. Humans had been

cause there was some controversy over an access

watching Star Trek and Star Wars and reading

road into some forest somewhere.

Heinlein and Simmons and Orson Scott Card for

It boggles my mind.

too many years. Humans weren't freaked by

And Ax was doing great as well. He was an of-

aliens — they'd been expecting them for years

ficial prince and this huge hero back on his home

and were just relieved they weren't The Borg.

planet. He had stepped out of Elfangor's shadow

Ax worked out technology-transfer deals with

at long last, and was not only a hero but the one

some of the big corporations. They have to keep

and only expert on all things human.

69

68

this sense that he was out of phase with everyone

it slow because if you just dump a hundred years

else. Like he was a half step ahead or behind.

of technological advances overnight the stock

Of course this just made him into the strong

market goes nuts. It worked out okay, though.

and silent type and he always was a big, good-

The Andalites can definitely teach us a lot about

looking guy, so he got marriage proposals (and

computer architecture. But it was Microsoft and

other proposals) from girls as young as twelve

Sony and Adobe and Nintendo that came up with

and women old enough to be his grandmother.

the killer apps. I mean, the new Palm Pilots will

No interest.

be actual pilots.

He loved Cassie, of course, but I don't know

The Andalites flatly refused to let us share

what happened there. I know when I talk to

their weapons technology. But NASA has had a

Cassie I ask her if she's seen him and the answer

definite revival: The first human Zero-space vehi-

is always no. The same when I talk to Jake, al-

cle will be built jointly by Boeing and Lockheed

though he always says he's just about to call her,

and be ready for launch in three years. H. sapi-

just about to.

ens was going to the stars. Look out, universe,

Write a book? No thanks.

we're coming to build a Starbucks near you.

Endorsements? No thanks.

As for Jake, well, my boy Jake has always had

Every college on the planet tried to recruit

a serious side to him. I mean, I tried to talk to

him. No thanks. West Point offered him a gig as

him about things. But some guys shake off a war

an instructor in the Tactical Application of Emerg-

and move on, and other guys don't.

ing Technologies and Xeno-Warfare. No thanks. If

Jake carried Tom and Rachel and those sev-

he'd been old enough he could have run for pres-

enteen thousand Yeerks around his neck like the

ident as the candidate of Democrats and Repub-

Ancient Mariner and his albatross.

licans both. Jake was the biggest hero the world

Being Jake he didn't lose it. He didn't go off

had ever seen because he was a hero for all hu-

and become some kind of drug addict or have

mans, not one nation. He had saved the lives and

some big breakdown or whatever. He was still

freedom of the entire human race. I mean, he

Jake. But he was a different Jake. Smaller and

could have snapped his fingers and had anything

bigger at the same time, if that makes any sense.

he wanted.

He was closed off, inward. He would sound al-

The problem was, he didn't want anything.

most like the old Jake sometimes but you just got

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70

Except for Tobias to come back! For Rachel and

Tom to be alive. For the chance to unlive one

fateful moment when he gave the order that

doomed seventeen thousand defenseless Yeerks.

I worried about him.

Okay, I worried about him while sitting by my

pool or driving my Maserati or escorting some

bubbly Hollywood honey past the rope line at the

CHAPTER 11

most exclusive clubs. I worried about him.

Cassie

I hadn't seen Jake or Cassie in a couple of

months when my lawyer called to say the date

had been set.

And now, the three of us would be together

again. In The Hague, Netherlands.

"Is Jake here yet?" I asked Marco. I figured

We were to testify in the war crimes trial of

I might as well find out right away. I wasn't eager

the Yeerk prisoner, Visser One.

to see Jake. I mean, yes, I was. But the Jake I

was eager to see might not even exist anymore.

The Jake I wanted to see was the one who had

talked about us being together after the war was

over.

The war was over. We weren't together. Now,

this reunion was just bound to be awkward if not

painful.

"I haven't seen him," Marco said.

"When did you get here?"

"Here?" Marco looked around, puzzled. We

were in the modern lobby of one of The Hague's

best hotels. "Oh, here at the hotel? I'm not stay-

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72

ing at the hotel. My business manager set me up

Maybe I'm in eagle morph and I happen to see

in a rented villa. There's a fence, a gate, it's eas-

him."

ier to keep the groupies away."

"So how is he, really?"

I laughed and he grinned in response. "You're

"I'm not exactly a psychiatrist, Cassie."

actually completely serious, aren't you?" I asked.

I wasn't going to accept that. "Marco, you

"Cassie, how long have you known me? Am I

have a very subtle mind and you're a good ob-

ever completely serious?"

server. And he's your best friend."

I felt a wave of affection for Marco. We had

The waitress brought us beverages and a plate

never been the closest of the Animorphs — our

of some kind of snack. She gave us the familiar

connection went through Jake, it wasn't direct.

"I know you!" smile and left only reluctantly.

But here we were, in some way the only two real

"She wants me," Marco said. Then, realizing

survivors. We had even prospered. Each of us

that I wasn't going to be diverted, he sighed and

was far better off by most measures than we'd

said, "Like I say, I'm no psychiatrist. But he's de-

have been without the war.

pressed. You know, like not just sad but some-

"Is Jake staying at this hotel?" I asked.

thing deeper? Like clinically depressed. Like a

Marco nodded. Then, with sudden fire, he

party balloon with half the helium gone. Like a

said, "I wish he would see you, Cassie. You're

flashlight with low batteries. He hangs around

what he needs. I mean, I try and talk to him but

the house with his mom and dad. Sometimes

you know Jake, he can go totally opaque when he

he'll go for a drive — you know, at least he kept

wants to. You ask him if he's okay, he says, 'Sure.'

the free Jaguar. I mean, if he'd refused that I'd

You ask him if he needs anything, it's 'No, I'm

have had to kill him personally. And," Marco

good.' But he never seems to do anything. Not

added with a significant look, "he goes to see

that I know of anyway."

her."

"How often do you see him?" I asked.

I knew who Marco meant by "her."

Marco started to answer, stopped, gave a

"He doesn't put flowers on the memorial or

guilty shrug. "Officially? As in, I see him and he

whatever, there are always lots of those. He goes

sees me?"

when no one's around, late, after hours. The guys

"Ah. You're spying on him?"

at the gate let him in. He parks and just kind of

"I'm still an Animorph. I still like to fly.

sits there like he's hanging out with her. I don't

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75

one to morph to dolphin or falcon or whatever

think he talks to her. Sad as it is to say, I wish he

might not be a good way to let them put the little

did. Talking to a dead person is better than not

stuff in perspective."

talking at all. He sits there for an hour, some-

"Morph therapy? I think I feel another best-

times two, stares out at the ocean. Watches the

selling book coming on. Oh, man, Oprah would

sun go down. Then he leaves. Sometimes I think

eat that up. And you know the Andalites are say-

he's waiting there hoping Tobias will show up."

ing now they may make morphing technology

Tears were welling in my eyes. The image was

more widely available on Earth."

too sad. I'd been to Rachel's memorial too. But

I frowned. "Really? Why?"

not like that. "Rachel would be so mad at him."

"They want a Krispy Kreme franchise back on

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "Get over it. Shake it

the home world. You have a fair number of An-

off. That's what she'd say."

dalites who possess a human morph now, all

"You think that's what he should do? Shake it

back home after their tour on Earth. Still looking

off?"

for a donut."

"Don't you?"

The idea was so absurd I had to laugh. "We're

I wasn't sure what I thought. "Sometimes I'm

going to trade donuts for morphing technology?"

ashamed that I have moved on, you know? I guess

Marco and I sat there in silent enjoyment for

I wonder if there's something wrong with me

a moment, sipping our Oranginas.

when I enjoy the day, or enjoy my job or my

"I think you're right," Marco said after a

classes."

while.

"You still morph?" Marco asked.

"About what?"

The question surprised me. "Yeah. Of course.

"Morph therapy. I think it could be useful

I . . . I don't know, I guess I couldn't see why I

when someone is in a funk, let's say."

shouldn't. It helps with my job. It's just easier

I looked at him to see whether he was kid-

getting around way back in the woods if I'm fly-

ding. He looked back. All of a sudden neither of

ing, or in wolf morph."

us was kidding.

"I can't be sure, but I have this feeling Jake

hasn't morphed since . . . since."

"It gives you a different perspective," I said.

"I mean, I've often wondered if allowing some-

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76

ecutors said he was eligible for something like

eight hundred years in prison. And since they

had about a hundred witnesses drawn from for-

mer human-Controllers, Hork-Bajir, and we Ani-

morphs, there wasn't much question about the

outcome.

Alloran would not be allowed to testify. It

CHAPTER 12

came too close to being self-incrimination, the

courts said.

J a k e

It had taken a year to organize the trial. The

biggest problem was how to have the accused be

present and involved in the proceedings. There

was no way the visser could be allowed to take a

host body. I mean, how does a court order one of

the very things it considers a crime?

"...Did conspire to subjugate the people of

Fortunately Ax's people were willing to help.

Earth through subversion, terror, and violence.

Very willing. Andalite technicians created a Yeerk

Four. That the defendant did conspire to over-

box. It was about the size of a hardcover book. It

throw all legitimate forms of government through

contained a miniaturized Kandrona source, a

subversion, terror, and violence. Five. That the

computer-interface, and a voice synthesizer. The

defendant did commit numerous acts of at-

visser could hear and "see" and speak. The box,

tempted murder. Six. That the defendant com-

painted lavender for some obscure Andalite reason,

mitted murder in the specifics contained in

sat on a pedestal facing the curved judges' bench.

appendix 2C. Seven. That the defendant com-

There was a panel of five judges, American,

mitted or caused to be committed numerous acts

Dutch, Chinese, Kenyan, and Chilean.

of torture in the specifics contained in appendix

The visser had half a dozen appointed lawyers.

2D. Eight. That the defendant did . . ."

They looked very professional, very slick, and like

The reading of Visser One's indictment was

they knew they had zero chance.

going to take a while. The War-Crimes Tribunal

There was a gallery down one side of the

didn't have a death penalty, just prison. The pros-

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78

anyone lately. Maybe I was getting stupid in my

courtroom for media. They had crammed what

old age.

looked like a hundred cameras of every conceiv-

Part of me wanted what we'd had in the old

able type into a space smaller than a men's

days, Cassie and me. But that wasn't possible. I

room.

knew that. I had come to accept that all of that,

The whole world was watching. We were live

all of what I'd had with Cassie, Tobias, Ax, even

on every station everywhere.

Marco, all of it was "in the war." And the things

The building was ringed with security. Proba-

that were "in the war" didn't seem to translate

bly half the people sitting in the audience were

into real life. Like they were written in incompat-

security or intelligence people. American, French,

ible computer languages or something.

British, Russian, Chinese, Indian, Israeli . . . it

I still cared for Cassie, for all of them. I al-

was like a security convention. And that wasn't

ways would. My life was divided into three parts:

even counting the overt security inside the room,

before, during, and after the war. And that mid-

a dozen heavily armed Dutch Special Forces

dle section was so overwhelming, so big, so in-

guys.

tense, it made the other two portions seem dim

People were very determined that the visser

and dark and dull.

not escape.

That's how I felt now, pretty much all the

Marco leaned close and whispered, "If any-

time. Dark. Dull. Slow and stupid. Distracted,

one so much as farts there's going to be about

but not by anything in particular. Just like there

ten thousand rounds fired off before you can say,

was something else I should be thinking about

'It wasn't me!'"

but I couldn't recall what it was.

I smiled.

I understood Tobias. I didn't think he ran

Marco was enjoying this. But then, he en-

away out of rage or even out of grief. I mean,

joyed the attention. If he made it through his tes-

maybe at first, yeah, but I wondered if maybe,

timony without making a dozen bad jokes I'd be

like me, he wasn't just looking for simplicity.

amazed.

Maybe.

Cassie was sitting just beyond him. We had

Why wasn't Marco like that? He thrived on it

exchanged smiles and awkward hugs. I had

all. The attention, the fame, the excitement. Maybe

dreaded this for months. I didn't know what to

he was just more resilient.

say to her. I didn't seem to know what to say to

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80

head lawyer was on her feet looking nervous and

Ax was to my right. Not sitting, they had

smug at the same time.

removed chairs so he and Alloran and an offi-

The president of the court, the Chilean judge,

cial Andalite legal observer named Salawan

leaned forward. "What is the nature of your ob-

could stand comfortably.

jection?"

" . . . mayhem. Sixteen. That the defendant

"Your honor, this witness should himself be

did perform medical experiments upon human

under indictment as a war criminal. If the al-

subjects without permission. Seventeen. That

leged war crimes of the Yeerk military officer,

the defendant did drive more than a million

Visser One, are to be tried in this court, it must

people from their homes. Eighteen. That the de-

be in the pursuit of impartial justice. Truly impar-

fendant did .. ."

tial justice cannot be applied only against one

I wondered what the visser thought of all this.

side in a conflict. If my client is to be tried for his

It was a very un-Yeerkish scene. The Yeerks re-

actions in the human-Yeerk war, then so must

served trials only for the highest-ranking officers.

the actions of this witness. With all due respect

And they would certainly never try a member of a

to this court, this witness is a mass murderer. A

different species. They had quicker, more direct

war criminal."

ways of dealing with aliens.

The objection was denied. My testimony was

Suddenly the reading of the indictment was

to proceed. But I found I couldn't speak. I felt

over. The prosecution was ready to call its first

like I was choking, like the air wouldn't come.

witness.

Billions of people were watching my reaction.

"We call Jake Berenson."

Billions of people saw me freeze. Billions of

I stood up. My legs were stiff from sitting.

people thought, This is the famous Jake the

I walked to the front and sat down in a chair

Yeerk-Killer? He doesn't look like much.

placed in a little booth so that I faced the judges

"Apparently the witness is having some diffi-

and the defendant. It seemed odd to see Alloran,

culty," Visser One's lawyer said with only the

the face I associated with Visser One, standing

slightest smirk.

behind the prosecution desk, free, while my en-

"The witness is disconcerted by this unjusti-

emy was represented by a blank lavender box.

fied and vicious assault," the prosecutor said

"The defense objects to this witness."

heatedly.

A murmur through the courtroom. Visser One's

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82

w

leader. Marco inventing the name: Animorphs.

The Chinese judge asked if I needed a mo-

Leader of the Animorphs.

ment to compose myself.

The tiger. My battle morph so many times. So

"No," I said. "I'm ready." But I wasn't. I was many battles.

fighting the urge to run from the room.

The prosecutor prodded me with questions. I

"State your name and occupation, for the

answered them. But memories filled the court-

record."

room. I couldn't get them out of my head. And

"Urn, Jake Berenson. My occupation? I guess

each question triggered more.

I'm unemployed."

When they adjourned for the day I didn't no-

"Are you a student?" the prosecutor sug-

tice at first. I'd been on the stand for just an

gested helpfully.

hour, I had barely begun my testimony. And then

"No. Not really."

would come cross-examination.

"All right. Please tell the court how you first

What was the matter with me? I knew I was

became aware of the presence on Earth of the

screwed up. I knew I'd made a fool of myself. I'd

Yeerk species."

let everyone down.

"All right," I said. But then memory crowded

I left the courtroom straightaway and found

in and pushed the court into the shadows. I re-

my way back to my hotel room. I sat on the bed

membered being at the mall with Marco and To-

and just held my head in my hands and stared. I

bias. We ran into Rachel and Cassie. We decided

don't know how long.

to walk home together. We decided to take a

I heard a noise. I looked up.

shortcut through the construction site.

A gorilla.

A light in the sky.

Marco, of course. Cassie was demorphing, ris-

The Andalite fighter. The wounded alien crea-

ing from the carpet in one corner. Out of the cor-

ture, the Andalite, staggering, falling.

ner of my eye I saw Ax.

The attack of the Yeerks. Chapman.

<Hey, Jake,> Marco said.

Seeing Tobias morph to a cat.

Then he swung his cinder block gorilla fist

My first morph.

into the side of my head.

My first battle. The Yeerk pool.

The realization that Tom was one of them.

The decision, not my decision, that I was the

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84

I kicked hard and started to rise. I ripped

off my shirt, buttons twirling away in the water.

I took my shoes off. I was going to freeze to

death.

Then, air!

I sucked in deep, spit water, breathed again.

A wave crashed over me, buried me, turned

me upside down. Then, air again. But air wasn't

enough. I was freezing. I couldn't see anything

CHAPTER 13

down in the valley between waves. No boat, no

J a k e

shore, no plane. How had I ended up here?

Already couldn't feel my fingers. Thought

slowing.

Dolphin. That was it, dolphin. I reached for

the DNA that still flowed through my veins.

I woke up falling.

I felt the changes begin. My skin was as gray

"Aaaahhhh!"

as a corpse's. My hair was gone. My numb fingers

Not a long fall, but it was into water, into

were melting together, webbing, then stretching

waves, into dark gray waves topped with foam.

out to form fins.

I hit facedown and sank maybe ten feet down.

My legs twined together like two strands of

Salt water in my mouth, down my throat. It

overcooked spaghetti. The flesh melted, pain-

was freezing. Brutal cold, shocking cold. I wasn't

lessly. I heard the interior sounds of bones shift-

groggy anymore, I was wide-awake, but disori-

ing, the gloopy sound of organs disappearing or

ented. Which way was up?

being replaced, relocated.

Sunlight. Cold and far, far away. I kicked

My mouth and nose pushed out and out,

madly, moved with painful slowness. Could I even

ridiculously far. All at once a hole grew in the

reach the surface? I was a slug. My clothing bil-

back of my neck.

lowed and knotted around me, twisted me, ham-

I was no longer cold. I was definitely mad.

pered my movements. Shoes full of water, like

I kicked my tail hard, trying to lift my dolphin

lead weights.

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86

body high enough to see over the wave tops. Not

Again. Again. Again.

enough. I would have to jump.

The dolphin body was beginning to tire, but I

I sucked air through my blowhole and dove

didn't care. I wanted to be tired. I wanted to

down deep. Ten feet; twenty feet, thirty. Down

drain every last ounce of energy from the crea-

into darkness. I fired a series of clicks and the ul-

ture as I flew and splashed and flew again.

trasonic waves bounced back in patterns that re-

Ultrasound now painted the picture of three

vealed a school of fish behind me at about my

other dolphins. They were clearly "visible," but

same depth. And a hint of something larger at a

they kept their distance.

greater distance.

I swam hard till the dolphin body was worn

At thirty feet or so I twisted and began power-

out. Not easy to wear out a dolphin in the water.

ing toward the surface.

I was not far from the beach. I could see the

Up like a rocket. Speed was so easy. So easy

buildings of The Hague, not at all far off. I

to kick my tail and fly straight up through the wa-

headed for shore and beached. I demorphed in

ter.

the freezing surf and staggered heavy-footed up

Faster and faster and the bright barrier be-

the beach.

tween sea and sky was right there, shimmering

My friends were right behind me. I waited for

above me, and I blew through it!

them. We were wearing our morphing outfits.

I burst from the water and sailed high and for

Like the old days. No shoes, of course, we never

a perfect moment I held sea and sky within me,

had learned how to morph shoes.

all encompassed within my brain.

There weren't many people on the beach. Just

I flew, and I completely forgot to look around.

an old couple taking a walk and a woman with

I splashed down and reminded myself sternly

her dog.

that I had a job. I had to see where I was, figure it

"I guess you guys think you're clever," I said,

out, try and make sense of it all.

squeegeeing water out of my hair.

Down and down, and up, up, up, into the sky!

"More like desperate," Marco said. "You've

had your head up your butt for a long time, Jake.

<Aaaahhh!>

Which is your business. Unless it's our business.

Again!

Like when you screw up testifying against Visser

Down and up, so fast, as fast as I could go. As

One."

high as I could fly.

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88

I nodded. I couldn't argue. But if they thought

"So as long as you're playing defense it's not

the result was me all happy they were wrong.

possible to commit a war crime?" I asked. "That's

"She called me a war criminal," I said.

pretty close to just saying that the winner makes

"She's wrong," Cassie said.

the rules because it's the winner who writes the

"Did what you had to do, man," Marco said.

history."

"We all did."

She grabbed my arm and searched for my eyes,

<Jake, it was I who pointed out the possibili-

forcing me to look at her. "No, Jake, it isn't.

ties to you,> Ax said. <l pointed out that the

There are a lot of close calls in history, lots of

Yeerk pool aboard the ship could be drained.>

wars where the blame is evenly split between the

"Yeah, but I made the call. I pulled the plug.

sides. This isn't one of them. Before they came

So why don't you tell me: How is that prosecutor

to Earth no human ever attacked a Yeerk. No hu-

wrong? How is Visser One evil and I'm not? I'd

man ever harmed a Yeerk. This one is clear: We

really like to know that." I had intended it to be a

are the victims. They made war on us."

rhetorical question. I hadn't meant to sound so

"That's good," I said softly. "All of that is

plaintive.

good. We have justification. We're the good

Cassie took it seriously. "Jake, I've thought a

guys."

lot about this."

Marco said, "That's right, Big Jake, we are."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we know."

I nodded. "That's good for the big picture.

"I've had to think about it because I've done

See, my problem is a little more personal."

the same things you've done, Jake. You were the

<What do you mean?> Ax asked.

leader, but if you're a war criminal then so are we

"Well, Ax-man, you're right, you did call my

for following you." She shivered. It was cold and

attention to the possibilities on the Pool ship.

the breeze was gusting. "I've had to make my

And when you did that I guess I should have

own peace with things I've done."

thought, Well, Jake, it's a harsh, terrible thing to

Despite myself I was hanging on her words.

do, but you're justified because, after all, you're

And despite myself I was remembering kissing

the victim here. But that's not what I thought.

her.

You know what I thought?"

"Jake, you can't. . ." She took a deep breath.

Cassie released her grip on me. But Marco

"You can't equate the victim and the perpetrator."

just took a step up close, right in my face.

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91

"I know what you thought, Jake. You thought

I was suddenly exhausted. Worn out all the

Die, you filthy worms. Feel the fear, Yeerks. Feel

way, deep down. And everyone had run out of

the pain. Feel the helplessness. You wanted

things to say.

them to suffer and the idea of them suffering and

After a long, awkward silence I said, "Anyway.

dying made you happy. You were thrilled. You

T h a t . . . " I gestured out toward the water. I

were high."

wanted to say that it was the first real joy I had

Cassie winced. She looked away.

felt since seeing Rachel kill Tom. But there was a

I said, "Yeah, Marco. That was about it: word

wall between me and Cassie. And Marco, well,

for word."

he's a guy and we guys don't do a lot of emo-

tional stuff with one another. "Anyway. I'll be

"Well, dude, you don't get to be a war crimi-

good tomorrow, on the stand."

nal by thinking bad thoughts. It's what was done,

not what was felt or thought. You have to judge

the act. You were acting in self-defense. You

CNN: Breaking News.

were enjoying the fact that you were winning.

"We have this just coming in. The five judge

Two different things."

panel in The Hague has returned convictions on

twenty-two of twenty-five counts of war crimes

Cassie seemed less certain. Far less. She

against the Yeerk, Visser One.

seemed ready to join in with Marco, but she

couldn't bring herself to do it. She tried to hide

"Visser One, of course, led the Yeerk invasion

it, but there was this look in her eyes, this side-

of Earth and was in command of all Yeerk and al-

ways look at me.

lied forces at war's end.

"The decision means that Visser One will al-

<Prince Jake,> Ax said, giving me back the ti-

most certainly never be released from the specially

tle he'd given me long ago, <l am not a human.

constructed prison facility that has been built in

But it seems to me that it is up to your own

Kansas.

people to decide the morality of your actions.

Their decision seems clear. My people agree with

"The trial was televised live around the world

that assessment. We, the An'rmorphs under your

for three weeks during which time seventy-three

leadership, stopped the Yeerk threat. We saved

witnesses took the stand to substantiate the

Earth. We may have saved my people as well,

charges and allegations. Jake Berenson was the

surely we saved many, many Andalite lives.>

first witness, followed by the rest of the living

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92

and available Animorphs, and many, many oth-

ers.

"And now, we're going to go to our CNN legal

analyst, Greta Van Susteren, for analysis of this

truly unique moment in legal history."

CHAPTER 14

A x i m i l i

TWO YEARS LATER

< Launch two fighters. They are to go in with

sensors on full active, no stealth measures. If

whoever is hiding behind that moon is peaceful

we do not want to sneak up on them. If they are

not so peaceful . . . well, let them think they are

facing nothing but a pair of careless fighters.>

<Yes, Prince Aximili.>

Even after the last year aboard the Intrepid, I

sensed that my first officer did not entirely approve

of my habit of explaining my actions for the deck

crew. It was not usual. Captains typically played

the part of far-distant and all-knowing gods. I pre-

ferred to continuously train and retrain. The more

the deck officers understood, the more they would

learn and the more valuable they'd be in a crisis.

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94

Not that we'd encountered any crises. Rather

guy" was hiding out there, and we were sensors-

we had chased interstellar ghosts and rumors

down so we didn't glow like a great big radiating

ever since that first, faint intercept that may or

beacon.

may not have been from the Blade ship.

A window appeared in the main screen. I saw

Well, maybe the Blade ship was lurking be-

the face of one of the fighter pilots. Fighter pilots

hind this cold, dark moon at the edge of nowhere,

have a certain look, easily identifiable, a mix of

or maybe the Skrit Na freighter had just been

swagger and competence and pretended bore-

confused about what they claimed to have seen.

dom. As if playing the role of bait for a Blade

The Skrit Na did things for their own impene-

ship was just another training run.

trable reasons: They had, after all, made a number

<This is fighter one, Calarass reporting.>

of trips to Earth, long before the Yeerks had dis-

<Go ahead,> Menderash responded.

covered that planet. And what had they done

<There's a ship back here, all right, but not

with the people of Earth? Kidnapped them briefly

the Blade ship. No evidence of the Blade ship or

for absurd medical tests, and on occasion killed

any active, hostile vessel on our sensors.>

some Earth creatures called cows. Had any of

I nodded. <What do you have then, Calarass?>

that had a purpose? Perhaps to the Skrit Na

He shrugged. <Unknown, Captain. All I know

mind, but not to anyone else.

is that it is very big, it is powered by old-fashioned

<Fighters away,> my tactical officer reported.

ion engines, and it has been hit by some kind of

I saw the fighters come into view on the main

energy weapon. Possibly a Dracon beam. I am

screen. They lit up their sensors and fired their

showing no life signs.>

engines. In seconds they were just bright pin-

I stilled the excitement in my hearts. Dracon

points against the moon's dark green backdrop.

weapons were widely available throughout the

<Take us to stage-two alert, just in case,> I

galaxy. The destruction of the Yeerk Empire had

spawned a lot of illegal arms trading. And the

ordered. <lt never hurts to have everyone know

Blade ship was not the only renegade Yeerk out-

their battle station. And go to silent runnings

fit. Still, if it had been a Dracon weapon that at

<Stage two alert. Silent runnings First Offi-

least increased the chances we were on the trail

cer Menderash ordered.

of the Blade ship.

Now we were moderately ready in case a "bad

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96

stop fighting and go home to your meadow and

your scoop, back to your peacetime occupation,

I took a moment to consider. Another lesson

your family and friends.

for the officers: Unless you're being fired on,

I guess some warriors did want all those

think before you act.

<Prepare a boarding party. I will command.

things. At some level I did, too. But how do you

F.O.? Full sensor sweep on the unknown vessel.

weigh the sharp rush of battle against the slower,

Take us in.>

more contemplative joys of watching your trees

This sort of mission wasn't supposed to be

flower?

performed by me. The captain generally stays on

I left the bridge and went aboard the clumsy-

the bridge. The T.O. normally led boarding par-

looking boarding craft. It was designed for

ties. But I was bored. And I knew the T.O. wouldn't

docking — voluntary or forced — with any con-

argue: I wasn't just the captain or a prince, I was

ceivable craft. There were four grapples, basically

Aximili of Earth. The Aximili. A living legend.

legs of a sort, with the option to use magnetic,

I couldn't complain about being bored, of

adhesive, or intrusive attachment. It was not a

course. The fleet command had given me what

fast or well armed or attractive craft. And it had

was easily the best assignment around. The bulk

room for only two dozen Andalites, all of us

of the fleet was engaged either in flying blockade

jammed in hoof-to-tail.

around the Yeerk home world, convoying traders

The pilot was at pains to handle the craft

back and forth to Earth, or escorting scientific

smoothly, what with me, the Living Legend, be-

missions.

ing aboard. I was worried he might overcorrect

The Intrepid was just about the only ship out

and humiliate himself. He did, and we nicked

"looking for trouble," as Marco might have put it.

the side of the bay.

Every officer in the fleet was jealous of us. Espe-

I sighed. As captain I was expected to point

cially now with so many being eased out of ser-

out the error. But as the Great Aximili any harsh

vice. The fleet's size was being sharply reduced.

word from me carried ten times the usual weight.

War's end meant the end of glory and advance-

<Check that stick, Warlatan, the interface

ment for warriors.

may be a bit balky.>

They all had secondary occupations — that

<Yes, Captain.>

was part of our code, that "warrior" was a tempo-

I could see the alien vessel now. The two

rary occupation. You were supposed to want to

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98

want a sensor grid established. Link with all four

scout fighters were on-station, one at the bow,

fighters and the docker with main sensors. Let us

one at the stern, armed and ready. Two additional

see if we can pinpoint this alleged DNA. It would

escort fighters kept pace with us, deployed up-

take a year to search that ship on hoof.>

and-down.

This took a few minutes during which time we

It was not a type of craft I had ever seen be-

drifted closer and closer to the silent behemoth.

fore. It dwarfed even one of the old Dome ships,

<We have a fix,> the T.O. reported. <Now a

big as they were. It made my cruiser-class Intre-

ninety percent probability that Earth-type DNA is

pid look like a toy.

present in one locations

It was built in a sort of star-burst pattern.

No one said anything but there was a sort of

Asymmetrical. As if someone had picked up a

silent murmur of excitement. Warriors shifted

few dozen Earth-style habitations they call sky-

their stance, surreptitiously glanced at the charge

scrapers and welded the bottoms together. Each

indicators on their Shredders, nudged each other.

skyscraper was different in shape, size, and

<Sensors continue to show no life signs,> the

color, some quite fantastic.

First Officer said. <However, Captain, since this

Still, it was easy to see the extrusion that had

is a very unusual situation, perhaps you may wish

been blown apart by energy weapons.

to reconsider whether the T.O. should be given

My hearts began to beat fast again. How many

command of the boarding party. Or myself.>

ships would dare to take on this behemoth?

<You sense danger, First Officer Menderash?>

Surely the Blade ship had been here.

He hesitated. Then, <Yes.>

F.O. Menderash reported in from the Intrepid,

<Despite the sensor readings showing this is

which was now in sight of the alien vessel as

a dead ship?>

well. Sensors showed no life signs. However, sen-

This time more forcefully. <Yes, Captain.>

sors did show what might be traces of DNA.

<So do I. Just the same, here I am, might as

I frowned. <DNA? Specifically? Earth origin?>

well go forward. Take us in for docking. Let us go

<The readings are quite possibly inaccurate,>

see what this DNA is.>

the tactical officer interjected. <The amount of

material is very small and the ship, as you can

see, Captain, is enormous.>

<Yes, I had noticed that,> I said dryly. <l

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100

of democratic nations around the world. I had

Americans, British, French, Japanese, German,

and Norwegian soldiers in this particular class.

Terrorism had grown as a problem. Many of

the worst were religious cults convinced that the

presence of alien species on Earth was delaying a

hoped-for Armageddon. Some were antigovern-

ment paranoids who had convinced themselves

CHAPTER 15

that the Andalites were taking over Earth. Others

were sort of latter-day racists who simply needed

J a k e

someone to hate and focused on the Hork-Bajir.

Then there were the ecology extremists who just

hated anything new and technological.

Terrorists had begun to attack Andalite tourists

and free Hork-Bajir. And the Andalites had agreed

Controlling the animal mind and instincts

to make a single morphing cube available, on

are hardest the first time. The instincts can carry

condition that it remain in Andalite custody and

you away, especially in prey animals where the

be used only for antiterror forces.

fear reflex is overwhelming. After that first time it

We'd always known it was a bad idea to get

becomes easier. Which is why you never go into

between an Andalite tourist in human morph and

battle with an untested morph."

a chocolate chip cookie, a cinnamon bun, or (to

"But, Professor, you did."

the great relief of the beleaguered tobacco indus-

"Yeah, well, I did lots of stupid things, Ser-

try), old cigarette butts.

geant Santorelli. I was a kid when I started. I

On a more serious level, Andalite-Earth trade

think your respective governments are kind of

and tourism were becoming big business. The

hoping that you professionals will learn the good

Andalites liked the status quo as much as hu-

habits from me, not the bad ones."

mans did.

I was instructing a class. My third in the last

I needed a job. I needed to do something use-

year. It was a special class of two dozen men and

ful. And I was the reigning expert on using ani-

women, chosen from among elite antiterror forces

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102

up arranging dates for me with whatever starlet

mal morphs for infiltration, surveillance, and

happened to be willing.

combat.

The Defense Department was my official em-

They called me Professor. A joke, obviously, I

ployer and they flew me in a private military jet

still hadn't formally graduated from high school.

from Santa Barbara to Twenty-nine every day of

But they had to call me something, these amaz-

class. Flew me back in the evening. I would sit

ingly fit, smart, disciplined men and women,

there pretending to work on lesson plans, stare

some of whom were twice my age.

out the window at the sun setting over the Pa-

Classes were terribly Top Secret, naturally.

The "school" was a squat cinder block building

cific, and watch the birds below.

in a forgotten corner of the Twenty-nine Palms

I had seen red-tailed hawks at times. But

Marine Corps base. Way out in the California

there was no way to know.

desert. Nothing around.

I spoke to Cassie every couple of months. She

I lived in Santa Barbara, now. After the trial of

was seeing some guy . . . actually, a good guy. I

Visser One, and endless nagging from Marco

had met him at one of Marco's parties. I couldn't

(and his agent and manager and assorted Holly-

exactly remember his name. He worked for the

wood friends), I finally wrote a book. It was an

governor of California on environmental concerns.

autobiography, of course. I hated doing it. But it

He and Cassie spent a lot of time working to-

was a way for me to tell people more about

gether with the Hork-Bajir in Yellowstone.

Rachel and Tobias, the Forgotten Animorphs, as

It was a Friday, the last day of class for the

people called them.

week and my students were glad to be done with

The book made way more money than I

me for a while, and I was glad to be heading

needed. I bought a house for my folks and finally

home.

moved out on my own. Tom was gone. My hang-

My ride was waiting outside the building.

ing around my parents' house till I was thirty

They drove me back and forth in a Humvee with

wasn't going to bring him back.

all kinds of security — a courtesy befitting my

Marco lived half a mile from me, in a house

status as an official hero.

about seven times bigger than mine. We'd started

I had been given the Presidential Medal of

hanging out again. And after awhile he'd given

Freedom and a similarly exalted medal from pretty

104

105

We waited and after a while a convoy of Hum-

much every nation on Earth. Some before the

vees appeared through the wavy heat lines of the

trial, some more afterward. If I'd suffered any-

tarmac. Two Andalites, not one, rode in the horse

thing tangible from having the title of "war crimi-

trailer towed behind a Humvee. These Andalites

nal" applied to me, I never noticed it. And I'd

had never taken offense at this unusual mode of

gotten so I almost didn't notice the security that

transport, and it worked better than trying to

followed me everywhere since I'd become terror-

cram them into a car.

ist target number one.

The two Andalites descended the ramp. I

The Humvee pulled up alongside my parked

went to greet them and led them under the

jet and I waited, as I'd learned to do, for the ma-

plane's wings, out of the sun's direct rays.

rine driver to come running around and open my

<l am Prince Caysath-Winwall-Esgarrouth. This

door. The delay gave time for the two security

is Menderash-Postill-Fastill. First Officer of the

men to jump out and ostentatiously scan the

lntrepid.>

area.

<Ax's ship? I mean, excuse me, Prince Axim-

"Kind of hot out today, Professor," the driver

ili'sship?>

said as I climbed out.

<Yes,> Caysath confirmed. <Menderash is the

"Yeah, but it's a dry heat," I said. "See you

only known survivor of the lntrepid.>

Monday, Corporal."

I guess I looked pretty stupid for a minute as

I pushed my sunglasses up on my nose and

that news sank in.

headed for the plane. Then I stopped. One of the

"Are you telling me Ax is dead?"

security guys was pressing his earpiece in and

Caysath slowly shook his head. It was a habit

listening intently. He raised his wrist and spoke

they learned as part of communicating with hu-

to his walkie-talkie. "Roger that. I'll ask."

mans. <No. He is not confirmed dead. Only miss-

"Ask what, Major?" I said.

ing. In fact, we have reason to believe that he

"Sir, an Andalite has landed, unannounced.

may still be alive, but a prisoners

He's here on base. Asking for you."

"Whose prisoner?" I snapped.

"Prince Aximili?"

It was Menderash who answered. <The Blade

"I don't think so, sir. They can bring him

ship.>

straight here if you okay it."

I nodded. "Let's get into the shade, at least."

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106

stand, it is a thousand times easier to detect life

signs than to detect a tiny sample of DNA, we

were sure the alien vessel was dead-in-space.>

I nodded. "Go ahead."

<The docking was uncomplicated. They grap-

pled and cut through the outer hull. Prince Axim-

ili and a dozen heavily armed warriors boarded.

For a while they merely reported back on the in-

CHAPTER 16

terior of the ship. It had clearly been inhabited at

some time. But there was no sign of current ac-

J a k e

tivity. None. If there had been, I never—>

<Just proceed with the story,> Caysath said

gently.

<Of course.> Menderash stopped the agitated

quiver of his stalk eyes and forced himself to

We returned to base so that Menderash could

stand still. <They used handheld sensors to pin-

explain. My heart was pounding. My pulse was rac-

point the DNA sample. Prince Aximili picked it

ing. I was a little embarrassed by my response,

up, held it. He said, <lt is a few hairs. White.>

but this was Ax, one of us.

Then, he frowned and said, <No, not truly white.

One of mine.

Colorless almost. Hollow.>

Menderash was telling the story.

I knew what was coming next. I knew the ani-

<We approached the unknown alien vessel.

mal with hollow, colorless hairs that from a dis-

Prince Aximili ordered the docking ship to board

tance seemed white. Polar bear.

at a place near the suspected DNA reading.>

It was a Yeerk with a polar bear morph that

"No life signs?"

had killed Rachel.

<None,> Menderash answered. He was visi-

<Then the prince shouted for the warriors to

bly shaken. I realized then that he was carrying

draw weapons. He ordered me to raise defenses

the weight of this. I knew the signs. <We ran

on the Intrepid and go to condition one. A split

every sensor reading we know. You have to under-

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108

second later the alien vessel fired at us. It was a

us watched, too. Their envy was obvious. Neither

very powerful weapon. They caught us only half

had seen combat.

ready. See, sensors are less effective when used

<And then, the engines went. We lost most

while defensive force fields are raised. The at-

life support. We called for help, but. . . Norshk

tack crippled the Intrepid. Half our people . . .

pirates hit us and we couldn't even put up a

there were many casualties. Chaos, as you can

fight. Help came, but too late. Air gone. Cold.>

imagine. Blood. Computers down . . . Communi-

He lost the thread of his story, looked embar-

cations down . . . The T.O., he was, he was

rassed, and fell silent.

sucked out into space before the force fields

Caysath took up the narrative. <Menderash

could close the breach.>

believes the thought-speak cry came from the

"The alien vessel, not the Blade ship, fired?"

Blade ship, which emerged from within the alien

I asked.

vessel and fled at top speed. The alien vessel fol-

lowed the Blade ship and fired repeatedly at the

<Yes. It was fully operational. Alive. Very much

Intrepid, which followed for a while. But their en-

alive. My duty was to the ship. Standing orders

gines were damaged and they couldn't keep pace.

were to save the ship. I had no choice but to

The Blade ship and the alien vessel then entered

withdraw. All four fighters were lost. We pulled

Kelbrid space. >

back. But just before I did, before I could, I

"What's that?"

heard him. Prince Aximili, the captain. Not by

link, but through normal thought-speak. Very

Caysath hesitated. Looked at me with his big,

main eyes. Waited.

weak. Far away.>

"Yes?"

"Please, wait outside," I told the marines.

Once they were gone, Caysath said, <The Kel-

<The doctors believe I suffered a temporary

brid claim an empire that borders the far reaches

stress reaction. An hallucination. That I was

of our own territory. They are dangerous. Warlike.

hearing things.>

Aggressive. But also very trustworthy. We have a

"What is it you heard, First Officer?"

treaty with one simple proviso: We do not enter

<Prince Aximili. He said your name. Just your

Kelbrid space, they do not enter ours.>

name. Jake.>

"Was this alien vessel a Kelbrid ship?"

Both Andalites watched me, waiting to see

<We do not know. We have never seen a Kel-

my reaction. The marine guards in the room with

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110

_,

In answer, Menderash began to morph. He

brid. They, likewise have no direct knowledge

was morphing to human.

of us.>

"He's still an Andalite," I said.

"Are they in league with the Blade ship?"

<ln two hours, I will no longer be an An-

<There is no way to know.>

dalite,> Menderash said.

I was getting impatient. "These Kelbrid would

have reason to want a live Andalite. First rule of

intelligence: Know your enemy."

<Yes.>

"So what are you doing about it?"

He looked very closely at me. <Nothing. We

cannot enter Kelbrid space without starting a

war. No Andalite ship, no Andalite warrior could enter Kelbrid space. The risk is far too great,

even to attempt to rescue Prince Aximili.>

"No/4nda//'teship."

<Absolutely not.>

He was definitely leading me somewhere.

Where? Then it hit me. "There must be any num-

ber of surrendered Yeerk ships around."

<l believe there are,> he said blandly. <l be-

lieve, to name just one example, that there is

a Yeerk prototype ship in orbit above us at this

very moment. Very fast. Heavily armed. A sort of

smaller version of a Blade ship. We think it was

a Yeerk attempt to design an lntrepid-o\ass ship.

Yes, I believe such a ship, a definitely non-Andalite

ship, is in orbit at this very moment, fully fueled,

fully armed.>

"And who is going to fly it?"

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112

entire ongoing satire of my wardrobe would have

had to change. Not that I was exactly fashion-

able, but now, instead of being pestered by Wal-

Mart to do endorsements, I was being pestered

by Patagonia.

Ronnie was just slightly ahead of me, the

slope was very steep and he was digging his feet

in very carefully.

C-H • F T :f^ 1 7

I had resisted the whole dating thing for a

longtime. And I resisted it with Ronnie in partic-

C a s s i e

ular because we had to work together. Plus he

was six years older than me.

But, after The Hague, I knew I had to move

on. I wasn't just Cassie the Animorph anymore. I

had been moved out of the Interior Department

I was with Ronnie Chambers, my state of

when the new President was elected. She had

California counterpart of sorts. He was the gover-

appointed me instead to the new position of

nor's liaison to the Hork-Bajir. We had left our as-

Special Assistant to the President for Resident

sistants and even my omnipresent security detail

Aliens. I was nineteen and I was in the President's

behind. We were scouting out a new valley as a

sub-cabinet.

possible extension of the Hork-Bajir territory. The

Of course, yes, I would always be Cassie the

Hork-Bajir were a growing population.

Animorph. There was yet another movie coming

It was a hard climb, but we were high above

out about us and my part was going to be played

the summer's heat and I had come to really love

by an actress who was about a foot taller and

searching out the endless still-undiscovered se-

twenty pounds lighter than me. So there'd be the

crets of Yellowstone. I was getting to be a hiking

inevitable "Where are they now?" stories about

jock, even eschewing morphing except in cases

Jake and Marco and me. And of course the in-

of emergency or special need.

evitable bogus Tobias sightings.

I'd spent so much time in hiking boots and

I really wasn't trying to "Put all that behind

wool socks and L.L. Bean plaid shirts that Rachel's

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114

me." I was Cassie the Animorph, always would

Washington and Patton and Batman. It was im-

be. I was in history books, after all. But I had a

possible not to be a little intimidated by all that.

different life to lead now. I was going forward. At

Ronnie made a thoughtful face and looked

the moment I was going forward uphill toward a

around. "You know what? I'll just head toward

pair of very muscular legs.

that outcropping up there. That should be a good

And then I spotted the falcon.

observation post. Whenever you're done . . ."

Don't ask me how I knew. There were occa-

"Thanks, Ronnie."

sional peregrines up here, real ones. But I knew.

Jake came spiraling down, then straightened

"Ronnie?" I said.

out to land on a fallen log. He hopped off the log

"Yeah?" He stopped and held on to a sapling.

and began to demorph as soon as his talons were

He smiled down at me. "What, you need a break?

on the ground.

I told you not to eat those pancakes. I told you

<Stand in front of me,> he said. <l'm going to

they'd slow you down."

roll right down the mountain if I demorph in the

I generated a smile that he read as fake.

wrong order.>

"What's the matter, Cass?"

He demorphed without problems. And then,

"There's a friend of mine coming."

there he was: Jake. Not the old Jake, exactly, a

He looked down the hill. Then up. I pointed

little bigger, an inch or two taller. Jake as a

straight up at the peregrine falcon inscribing cir-

grown-up, I thought. But then, no, that was wrong:

cles above us.

Jake had been a grown-up for a long time.

"One of them?"

"Hi, Cassie."

"Jake."

Jake always called me Cassie. Never Cass like

"Oh."

Ronnie did.

Ronnie knew about my relationship with Jake.

"Hi, Jake. Is something the matter?"

I'd probably bored him half to death talking

He winced, a rueful acknowledgment that

about my relationship with Jake. I felt sorry

only some problem would have brought him to

for him — Ronnie was a man's man, smart,

see me.

confident, decent, funny. But in the public imag-

"It's Ax. Some Andalite bigshot came to see

ination, Jake was still some melding of George

me yesterday. Ax was on a deep-space mission

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117

alien species involved," Jake said. He smiled in a

and his ship was attacked. He was taken pris-

way that was so much like Rachel. That same

oner."

self-mocking swagger. How had I never noticed

"Oh, my god," I said, and without thinking

that similarity before?

grabbed Jake's arm.

"Marco will be going with me," he added.

"Yeah. It was the Blade ship. It disappeared

"He will? He agreed?"

into some place the Andalites can't follow. Not

"No, not yet. I haven't asked him. But he

without triggering a major interstellar war. It's

will."

some treaty. No Andalite ships. No Andalites pe-

I didn't want to say the words. I didn't want

riod. Thing is, the Blade ship may have taken Ax

to. But Ax was more than a friend. How many

across the barrier in order to use his presence

times had he risked his life to save mine? I

there as a trigger, to cause a war between the An-

couldn't count the number of times I'd been

dalites and these Kelbrid."

down and only his flashing tail had brought me

I had barely absorbed the information about

out alive.

Ax being in trouble. I was slow on picking up the

"I'll go, too," I said. "I just need a day to wrap thread of Jake's statement. Then it dawned.

things up and . . ."

"They're asking you to go after Ax?"

He was shaking his head. "No, Cassie."

He made a wry smile. "Of course not. That

"Look, if it's because of us, because of, you

would be a violation of the Andalite- Kelbrid

know, you and me, hey, that's separate and apart

treaty. They can't ask me to do any such thing. Of

from saving Ax. Ax is one of us."

course, if I just happened to find a nice, new,

"That's not it, Cassie," he said, all the swagger

gassed-up and ready-to-go captured Yeerk ship,

gone now. He was the old, awkward Jake now,

and if I just happened to decide to go off on my

struggling to express feelings instead of making

own to rescue my friend. . . .well, you get the

lightning decisions. "Look, Cassie, you're doing

picture."

what you need to do and were born to do. Part of

"Jake, this sounds . . . I mean, one ship? You're

what we won was freedom for the Hork-Bajir

supposed to go into some hostile space with one

people. And a place for them here on Earth.

ship, and rescue Ax from the Blade ship and pos-

That's something we won. It's in the bank. It's

sibly a whole alien empire?"

real and it's good and your job is to protect it.

"Plus it seems there may be a third, unknown

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118

friend. So are all of us, even if he doesn't want it

Me . . ." He shrugged. "Look, for better or worse,

that way. So tell me how to find him."

this is what I do. This is what I am, not what you

A few minutes later, after watching Jake morph

are."

and fly away, I climbed up to where Ronnie

"I'm still pretty good in a fight," I said.

waited.

He laughed. "Pretty good? Cassie, you're a

I knew I had said good-bye to Jake forever.

one-woman army. But you're the soldier who has

fought her war and moved on. That's good. It's

not me, though. Come on, Cassie, we both know

this is a lifeline for me."

I brushed away a tear. I didn't know how I

felt. Relieved? Rejected?

"So you just came to say 'good-bye'?" My

voice quavered miserably.

"No. I mean, yes, to say good-bye. For now.

But also, I came for Tobias."

I stared at him.

"Don't bother to tell me you don't know where

he is," Jake said. "I'm sure he's sworn you to se-

crecy. But you have to ask yourself what's best

for Tobias now. Ax was his shorm. He has to go,

you know that, even if he does hate me."

"He doesn't hate you, Jake. He never did. His

heart was broken, that's all. And you know, To-

bias never had anyone. No one before Rachel. No

mother, really, no father he could ever know.

Rachel was the first and only person who ever

loved Tobias."

Jake nodded. "Yeah. I know. But Ax was his

120

121

"mine" before, and I'd ended up with talons full

of dirt and grass.

I could see him twitching his nose. No, he

knew. He was just waiting to mess with me.

<Okay, Old Man Mouse, you live for another

day. I'm not falling for it today.>

I shifted my gaze, slowly scanning my meadow.

It was a nice meadow. Up-country where the air

CHAPTER 18

was clear and clean, and sunny days baked the

wildflowers and gave me the updrafts I needed.

Tobias

The bouncing little stream drew plenty of small

prey — except for the year before when the

drought had just about starved me out. But now

the high snowcaps were melting and the stream

The world's smartest mouse wiggled his nose

gurgled along, and the mice and rats and shrews

at me. Oh, he knew I was watching, all right. He

and rabbits and skunks and moles — all the

knew.

juicy prey animals — were present in abun-

He was brown, not especially plump or juicy-

dance. All mine during the daylight hours.

looking. He had a tail that I had shortened by an

At night the meadow belonged to the owl who

inch on a previous encounter. But since that one

lived in the lightning-struck aspen. But he kept

close call he had outsmarted me every time I'd

his hours and I kept mine, and there was food

gone after him.

enough for both of us. The only real competition

It was a lesson in humility. I was a red-tailed

came from the occasional wolf pack or a lone

hawk with the mental powers of a human. I was

cougar, but I still had all my morphs available,

being out-thought by a mouse. The question was,

and it's a rare alpha wolf who'll decide to keep

should I even try? I had a nice perch, all I had to

his pack in bear country.

do was spread my wings and swoop right down on

Today, though, I had a different problem:

him. By all rights he was mine. But he'd been

campers. They had set up their tent the night be-

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123

fore, across the meadow, right beside the stream.

that we also have extraordinarily good hearing. I

They'd made a safe, careful fire of fallen branches,

could hear the music. I could hear them talk.

and they had at least had the decency to dig a

I had hoped they'd move on with first light.

slit trench a good distance away from my water

But they were dawdling, indecisive, as though

supply, so they weren't complete idiots. But I

not sure they wanted to leave my meadow. Well, I

didn't like having them there.

could change their minds for them in a hurry if I

Hikers seldom came to my meadow. It was far

needed to.

from the regular trails and far from the places

I didn't know what to do. If they stayed an-

where they could easily observe Hork-Bajir in the

other night she would play her flute again. Which

trees. These two were hardcore crunchies, I guess.

shouldn't bother me. But if there's one great les-

They followed all the rules and customs, made

son to surviving alone, it's this: Don't lie to your-

sure they collected their trash and banked their

self.

fire and when the girl played her flute it was with

I was all I had, and I had to tell myself the truth,

professional skill.

and the truth was that their presence bothered me.

It had bothered me, the flute. It was a favorite

So, as I raised my predatory gaze from Old

instrument for hikers, and was usually played

Man Mouse and saw that the girl was getting

with the skill level you'd expect of a preschooler.

ready to drink from the stream, I thought I'd bet-

ter run them off. I didn't want to feel bad, I

But this was different. Last night I'd moved in

wanted to catch myself a nice, plump skunk pup.

closer to hear and to see. She had the moves of a

I didn't want to mope, tortured by miserable,

professional, the ease, the focus, all that.

pointless longing.

The music had reached me and I guess so

Then, before I could act, the girl froze. She

had she. She didn't look anything like Rachel.

stared and called softly but urgently to her friend,

And the guy with her didn't look anything like

and pointed.

me, obviously. But something about them, the

A Hork-Bajir was leaping from tree to tree.

two of them, the couple, they looked like what I

My mood picked up instantly. It was Toby. She

thought we'd look like. They were in love, even

had reached her full size now, a big, dangerous-

a hawk could see that. And although a hawk's

looking goblin.

visual acuity is well-known, fewer people know

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124

speak. <Hey, Ken and Barbie, knock it off. This

I opened my wings, skimmed low over Old

is my meadow. You want to stay, sit down and

Man Mouse's burrow, just to keep him on his toes,

stay quiet!>

flapped and skimmed the flower tops toward my

It was harsh of me, but I had to yell at some-

Hork-Bajir namesake.

one. I was disturbed. Thrown off stride. I hadn't

<Hi, Toby. Longtime no . . .>

spoken to Jake in years. Not since Rachel . . .

Only then did I see the wolf who trotted along

But I was so surprised, so taken aback that I

easily beneath the swinging Hork-Bajir. A wolf?

had trouble summoning up the rage I thought I

Had to be Cassie.

still felt toward him.

Toby dropped to the ground.

He assumed his normal shape. Older than

"Hello, Tobias. I hope you are well."

when I'd last seen him. The last of the boy gen-

<Tolerable,> I answered guardedly. I landed

eral had disappeared to be replaced by a young

on a low branch, just above Toby's eye level. The

man with an old man's eyes.

wolf wasn't saying anything yet, but there was no

The campers were barely breathing now, a

way it was a normal wolf.

hundred feet away, staring like nitwits. Of course

"Tobias, I have done something you may dis-

they'd recognize Jake. And unless they were

approve of," Toby said. She was always ridicu-

dumber than I thought, they'd figure out who I

lously deferential when addressing me. It was a

was. Even in this very-much-altered world, there

bit silly, what with her being not only the de facto

weren't a lot of birds who'd yell at you.

head of the Hork-Bajir, but also, under U.S. law,

<Well, Jake,> I said with what I hoped was a

officially the Governor of the Hork-Bajir Free

rock-steady thought-speak voice, <what's up

Colony and a nonvoting observer-member in the

with you?>

House of Representatives.

"I'm doing good," he said.

I could be mad at her or I could trust her. I

<You're older.>

decided to be both. <AII right, who is it?> I de-

"So are you."

manded sharply.

<Well, it was fun catching up. Bye.> I spread

<lt's me, Tobias,> Jake said.

my wings.

He began to demorph. Now the two campers

"It's about Ax," Jake said.

were snapping pictures like mad and that didn't

I should have flown away. I knew I should

improve my mood. I yelled at them in thought-

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126

have. But Ax had said I was his shorm. It's an An-

dalite word for someone who is closer than a

friend.

During the war we'd both been exiles in the

woods, Ax and me. Neither of us had a real

home. His family was a billion miles away, mine

didn't really exist. Only later did we discover that

CHAPTER 19

Ax and I were, because of almost unbelievable

circumstances, actually related.

Marco

I could fly away. If I didn't, I was trapped. I

would be trapped with Jake. Again.

<What about Ax?> I asked.

I had nine million four hundred and thirty-

two thousand dollars in my Merrill Lynch ac-

count. Mostly in stocks, some bonds.

My TV show was doing fine, winning its time

slot, although viewership in the critical demo-

graphic was falling off a little.

I had a girlfriend. She was a model/actress.

She was not, shall we say, a genius. But she

was beautiful and sweet and about a foot taller

than me.

I had seven cars. A butler named Wetherbee.

(Actually his name was McPherson, but I liked

the sound of 'Wetherbee.') I had two maids. I had

a time-share deal on a jet. I had the house in

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129

"Uh-huh. Some reason why you're morphing

Santa Barbara, the pied-a-terre in New York and

to lobster?"

was looking at a little place in Tuscany.

<Ummmm. . . I dropped my keys down in the

So exactly why was I spending my time morph-

pool? I was going to go get them?>

ing to lobster in order to crawl along the bottom

"Well, then it's a good thing you have the

of my swimming pool?

ability to turn into a lobster, because otherwise,

I hadn't done the lobster morph in a long,

what would you do? I mean, normal people, they

long time. It seemed like a million years ago I'd

drop their keys in the pool, they're just totally

used it to escape the Yeerks by hiding in a gro-

helpless. Those keys stay down there. Forever."

cery store's fresh fish tank.

I stopped the morph before I lost my eyes and

The days, man. Those were the days.

began to reverse it. As soon as I had a mouth I

I watched, fascinated, as my skin turned hard.

said, "You seem perky, today. You want some-

It was cool. Like my fingernails were expanding

thing to drink?"

to cover my entire body. Not red, by the way, no

"What are you going to do, morph to cow and

lobster wants to be red because you don't get red

squeeze me out a glass of two percent?"

until you've been boiled. No, this was more of a

"I take that as a no? Wetherbee? Can you

mottled blue thing.

bring out a diet Coke?" I looked closely at Jake.

My fingers melted together and covered over

"There's definitely something wrong with you,

with blue fingernail and my whole hand began to

Jake. You're being way too clever. Way too quick.

swell up. Like I'd hit it with a hammer. Then this

What's up? You finally go on Prozac?"

big mass split in two, separating into the halves

He winced a little and I was sorry I'd opened

of a pincer.

my mouth.

Tiny, waving legs erupted from my diaphragm

I flopped into a chaise longue and waited. He

and that's when the doorbell rang.

had something to tell me. Jake has no poker

Wetherbee would get it and get rid of what-

face.

ever fan was there for an autograph.

He sat down, too, but on the edge of his seat.

I was just losing my legs and eyes when Jake

He glanced up and smiled a little. I looked up

walked in.

and saw a hawk, circling high in the air, directly

"Well, if it isn't Lobster Boy."

above us.

<Hey, Jake. Remember this morph?>

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130

I nodded. "Good for you. At least you have

In a heartbeat it was as if everything around

that much sense."

me turned translucent, like it was all fake, a set

Jake shrugged. "She's doing what she needs

created with the help of trick lighting. Now, with

to be doing."

the sudden change, it was like I could see right

"And I'm not?" I demanded.

through the walls of my very nice house. Right

He ignored that. Which made me mad, be-

past old Wetherbee and the silver tray with my

cause it's not like what I do for a living is just

Coke. The last three years were magically re-

negligible. Granted what Cassie does is more im-

duced to a daydream. An old reality emerged

pressive and admirable, if you care about that,

from beneath the illusion.

but I had a TV show. I was a millionaire.

I reached for my drink and my hand was trem-

"So now you're rounding up the old gang,

bling.

huh? Like one of those over-the-hill-gunfighters

Jake waited, patient now that he knew that I

movies? Like our parts should be played by Clint

knew. He was watching me, waiting for my reac-

Eastwood and James Garner?" I glanced at To-

tion. Waiting, but not like he had any doubt

bias. "And Foghorn Leghorn?"

about me, the smug jerk.

<Marco, you're not even twenty,> Tobias said.

"You're about to ruin my life, aren't you?" I

<l'm old, for a red-tail. You, you're not even old

asked him. I sounded more self-pitying than I'd

enough to drink.>

intended to.

"Yeah? Well, I aged in gorilla years." I pouted

"That depends."

for a moment, very annoyed that neither of them

"Yeah, right. So, what is it?"

was buying my act at all. And, being annoyed, I

He told me, and every word was another nail

lashed out a little.

in my coffin because, what was I going to do?

"You sure you're up for this, Jake? You haven't

Refuse to help save Ax?

exactly been living the American Dream since

At last Tobias swooped down and landed on

your last war."

my patio table.

That got him, and again I was mad at myself,

"So where's the other Horsewoman of the

which made me madder at him.

Apocalypse?" I asked.

Jake said, "Well, maybe we live and learn."

"Cassie? She's not coming on this one," Jake

"What have you learned?" I challenged. "You've

said.

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132

my life on the line with you again, the price you

been all depressed, and now you see a way out of

pay is to listen to me now." I took a deep breath.

it because someone's giving you another chance

"Back in the day, Jake, you made more heavy de-

to play war?"

cisions than any ten men would have to in a hun-

"Maybe," he admitted softly.

dred lifetimes. You made life-and-death calls.

I groaned. Being ticked off was stupid of me.

You got us up to our butts in alligators, and you

And we had important stuff to discuss.

got us back out. And, sorry, but it's not what

"Okay, Jake-man. I'll cut the baloney if you

people think, that you were some kind of military

will." I leaned toward him. "You're my friend. Ax

genius. I'm better at tactics than you are."

is my friend. On a good day I can even stand the

<And humble, too,> Tobias muttered.

flea-bitten buzzard here. But you have to get real:

"It's true, and Jake knows it," I shot back.

You've been messed up behind some hard deci-

"Jake, you won because you didn't scare. You

sions you made. And now you want to go make

didn't panic, you didn't scare, and you didn't

more hard decisions?"

play a part or strike poses wondering what history

Jake glared fiercely. "I learned from my mis-

would think. You made the right calls without re-

takes. This time, maybe I'll do it differently.

gard to all that. But then, when the shooting was

Some things at least."

all over, you started questioning everything you

Ah, so there it was-. Jake was going to give

did. You armchair quarterbacked your entire life

himself another chance. This time he would be

and decided you made mistakes. Well, no kid-

the warrior who never sinned. He would be Sir

ding. Surprise: You're not a god."

Galahad. I felt sorry for him, and I knew I should

Jake nodded. "This time I won't make mis-

probably just shut up. But I was his friend, and a

takes."

friend tells you the stuff you don't want to hear.

"Don't tell me that," I said. "You want a zero-

"Okay, Jake, I'm in. I'll go with you. You know

screwup fight?"

that. But here's what you need to realize going

"I got Rachel killed. Wouldn't you like me to

in: If you're in charge yourre going to end up right

keep that from happening to you?"

back in the same swamp you didn't like the first

"Yeah, I really would. But you start thinking

time."

that way, and that's when you'll get me killed.

"Marco, I —"

You have to trust your instincts, not your doubts.

"Shut up for a minute. Listen. If I'm putting

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134

I'll trust my life to your instincts. If we're fighting

again you have to be able to make the same kind

of crazy, reckless, ruthless decisions you made

before. We beat an empire, my friend, the six of

us, and we did it in large part because you didn't

know any better than to trust your own instincts."

I stopped talking and Jake didn't say any-

CHAPTER 20

thing. I could tell I'd had no effect on him. Or at

least not the effect I'd hoped. All I'd managed to

J a k e

do was send him spiraling back to that awful day

aboard the Pool ship.

After a while, he shook himself, smiled and

said, "So, you're in, right?"

And of course, I was.

We drove through the desert night, silent most

of the way. Me, Marco, and a human-morphed

Tobias crammed in the front seat of a truck

borrowed from the Twenty-nine Palms motor pool.

A Humvee followed behind us with the now-

permanently human Menderash and two volun-

teers recruited from my counterterrorism class.

I'd put it to the class that I needed volunteers

for a mission that would very likely prove suici-

dal, that was illegal, that would involve their dis-

appearing without a trace, without the approval

of their governments, without notice to their fam-

ilies. They wouldn't be paid, promoted, or well-

treated. I would be in charge and they would be

low men or women on the totem pole.

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136

who would take care of you and the winged won-

All but three volunteered. It was a measure of

der here?"

my fame, I guess. It made me feel a little bad,

"Marco, you were bored out of your mind."

like I was taking advantage of them. I decided to

"Yes, I was."

take two of them, Sergeant Santorelli, a U.S.

"If I hadn't asked you to come you'd have

Army Ranger who was five years older than me,

killed me."

and a French Deuxieme Bureau trainee named

"Yes, Jake, I would."

Jeanne Gerard. I chose them both on the strength

"But that's not going to change the fact that

of their lack of any close family.

you'll be whining endlessly about the wonderful

I could have had more, but I felt six people

life you gave up, is it?"

was the right number. It had worked before.

"I really doubt it."

Unfortunately, Jeanne was beautiful. A prob-

"Uh-huh. What's GPS say?"

lem I should have foreseen.

Marco peered at the dimly glowing display.

We hit a hard bump and Marco said, "See?

"Better turn off your lights. We don't want to just

You really should have put Jeanne up here with

drive up and look like complete amateurs."

us. A bump like that might bruise her. I could

I killed the lights and slowed way down. The

have protected her."

Humvee followed suit. We drove on till Marco

He made a point of carefully pronouncing her

said we were there. I stopped and turned off the

name Zhann. I sighed. "This is going to be a

engine. In the black desert night I could see a

problem, isn't it?"

slight glow. It was impossible to tell the distance

"What? Me and Jeanne? No problem at all. Ob-

with no visual points of reference but the GPS

viously she wants me, and what woman doesn't?

said we had only three hundred yards to go.

So I don't see any problem at all."

We climbed out and stretched our legs while

I looked at him. "Marco."

the rest of our troop joined us.

"Yes, Jake."

I said, "Okay, Santorelli? Jeanne? Call this

"If you wanted to chase women you could

your first nontraining mission. Our job is very sim-

have stayed home."

ple but it can be easily screwed up, so pay atten-

"Believe me, I wish I had. I had a good life. I

tion. Ahead is an Andalite shuttle. There are two

had it all. They're going to have to cancel my

Andalite crew on board. They've been told to park

show, do you realize that? But, hey, without me

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138

their craft there and wait for a terrorist turncoat

"They are Andalites," Menderash grated. "Six

who will bring them vital information. Nothing

is hardly enough."

else. Everything is on strict need-to-know basis."

I smiled. "It's all in which morph you choose.

"Hi, I'm Marco," Marco said to Jeanne. "I

Okay, tell you what, we'll do it with just two of us.

have my own TV show."

Tobias? Please demorph and then to Andalite."

"Here's the deal: We need to take down these

It was a test for both of us, Tobias and me.

two Andalites but not hurt them in any serious

Would he follow my orders? If not, best to find

way. Is that crystal clear? A good pop alongside

out now. He said nothing. But he began to morph.

the head and they'll go down. But no cutting,

A few minutes later the two Andalites on the

slashing, or stabbing. These are our allies. We

shuttle thought they heard a thought-speak cry.

want this to look real, but we don't want anyone

They opened the hatch to investigate and out in

to go to the hospital."

the desert at the limits of their vision, they got the

Everyone understood. Or so they said.

impression of a running Andalite. Maybe it was a

It was all a setup. Caysath had made the

wild mustang, but they couldn't be sure so they

arrangements. We needed a ship to reach orbit

trained all their eyes forward. It was thanks to this

where we could "steal" the parked Yeerk craft.

that they didn't see the gorilla drop from the top

And the Andalites needed deniability.

of the shuttle and knock their heads together.

After we used the shuttle to reach the Yeerk

It was a severely disgruntled Menderash who

ship we would crash the shuttle back into the

took the controls of the shuttle as we lifted off.

desert. The official story would be that terrorists

"They were shamefully careless. Andalite war-

seized the Andalite shuttle but were unable to fly

riors taken from behind? Shameful."

it and crashed. The two Andalite guards would

"You know, I could be kind of a mentor to

testify that they were overpowered. The State De-

you," Marco said to Jeanne. "If we worked closely

partment would yell at the Andalite government

together I could teach you all I know."

for being careless. Everyone would be happy.

"But what could I possibly do to repay you?"

"Six against two," Jeanne said. "This is per-

Jeanne asked.

haps overkill?"

"Well . . ." Marco leered, and was about to

"Keel. Ovair-keel," Marco echoed. "I love your

offer some specific ideas when Jeanne inter-

accent."

rupted him.

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141

ened boomerang, ends raked forward and ending

"I know! Perhaps someday I could introduce

in nasty-looking Dracon cannon. The core of the

you to my cousin Michelle. She likes short men.

ship was a flattened and tapered cylinder placed

Even as short as you."

above this seeming wing.

Marco winced. "Ah. Beautiful and mean. I

"It looks tough enough," Marco said.

like you." He caught my eye. "Jake, when you get

Menderash said, "It is very fast and packs a

a minute could you help me pull this knife out of

very powerful weapons array, for its size. It car-

my chest?"

ries no Bug fighters but does carry two small

We reached orbit and I watched both Jeanne

shuttlecraft. The Yeerks intended these cruiser-

and Santorelli closely. It was their first time off-

class ships to keep track of what they imagined

planet. Santorelli tried hard to be cool about it

would be a far-flung empire. As well as for escort

but there was no hiding the slow smile of plea-

duty."

sure.

"Well, it's ours now," I said. "Okay, Mende-

"Cool, huh?" I said, nodding toward the day-

rash. Let's go aboard."

night line of Earth far below.

He hesitated.

"I've seen it on TV," he said. "This is better."

"What?" I asked. I had worried from the start

"Objective locked in, Captain," Menderash

that a former Andalite first officer would have a

reported.

hard time taking orders from me.

It took me a beat to realize he meant me. "All

"It's nothing, Captain. Just a custom. An An-

right. Take us in. Let's see what she looks like."

dalite custom. We always name a ship before the

The ship in orbit was unlike any Yeerk craft

first crewman boards — it's an old notion, a su-

I'd seen before. It had the usual air of danger

perstition, really. The thinking is that the ship

and hostility — the Yeerks favored the tapered,

must know who it is before the crew can know it."

sharp-edged look generally. But in this case the

I relaxed. "Fair enough, Menderash. Our own

aggressive, muscular silhouette achieved a cer-

superstition is that a ship is never an 'it,' it's al-

tain beauty.

ways a 'she.' Even if the ship is named after a

It was a quarter the size of a Blade ship,

male, it's a 'she.'"

maybe five or six times as big as a standard Bug

The six of us stood there contemplating our

fighter. The overall impression was of a sharp-

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143

dangerous-looking new home, set against the

sunrise over Earth.

"So what do we call her?" Marco wondered.

<She's beautiful,> Tobias said. <She's beau-

tiful and dangerous and exciting.>

I turned in surprise to look at Tobias. He stared

back at me with his eternally fierce hawk's gaze.

Marco laughed, realizing what we were think-

CHAPTER 21

ing. "She would love it. A scary, deadly, cool-

looking Yeerk ship on a doomed, suicidal, crazy

Marco

mission that no one can ever know about? She

would love it."

So it was that we went aboard the Rachel.

The Rachel was fast.

We blew through normal space and into Zero-

space before either of the two Andalite ships in

orbit could react.

Later we picked up their Z-space communica-

tions. They made a lot of noise about the "theft"

of the Yeerk prototype ship. It was almost too

much. But I guess they wanted the news to get

out: The Rachel was not Andalite, not associated

with Andalites, not sanctioned byAndalites. Nope.

Clean hands and innocent looks all around.

The fact that this Yeerk ship was fully stocked

with human food? That the quarters designed for

Hork-Bajir had been converted to human propor-

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144

tions? That certain controls designed to be ma-

Four days of Menderash and I was a long way

nipulated by Taxxon pincers now perfectly fit hu-

from being an Andalite-quality pilot, but I could

man hands? Well, what would the Kelbrid ever

take the ship from point A to point B. With lots of

know about that?

help from the computer.

Santorelli and I went to do an inventory of the

Menderash naturally plotted our course. Jake

supplies. We found water, vitamin pills, a good

had talked it over with all of us, but it was

supply of various awful-looking freeze-dried foods

Menderash who knew the last course taken by

and six dozen Cinnabons.

the Blade ship, so my opinion was not all that

"Do AndaNtes have a sense of humor?" San-

valuable.

torelli wondered.

The theory was that we would simply draw a

"We've never been entirely sure," I said.

straight line. (Well, figuratively straight. Turns out

The cinnamon buns didn't last long. We spent

space is curved. Who knew?) And try to jump

four days in Zero-space, which is like being

past the place where the Blade ship would now

buried in marshmallow sauce, and before we

be, assuming it had continued on its merry way

reemerged into the familiar universe of black

for the last three weeks.

space and white stars, all fresh food was long

A big assumption, but it was all we had.

gone.

We emerged into real space with all guns

loaded and the six of us ready for trouble. What

Menderash was in charge of piloting and fly-

we found was a whole lot of nothing. We were six

ing the Rachel, but Jake wanted as much cross-

light-years from the nearest planetary system. It

training as possible, so we all took turns under

was back the way we'd come.

the nothlit Andalite's tutelage. Menderash was a

taciturn guy — as I guess you'd expect from an

So it was back into Z-space, and throw the

officer who'd lost his entire crew and chosen to

ship into reverse. (Menderash grits his teeth

permanently abandon his usual body. He was

when I say things like that.) We popped back out

careful to be deferential to Jake, and I think he

of Z-space practically on top of the second

had real respect for our fearless leader. But when

biggest of four planets around a star that was

he taught navigation or piloting skills he was a

ready to go nova at any minute. And of course, in

whole different guy. He was like that psycho drill

celestial terms, "any minute" means maybe this

sergeant from Full Metal Jacket.

millennium, maybe the next.

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146

"Hey, Menderash, I have a ship here. Urn . . .

"This is Kelbrid space," Jake said, "so we I think they're hailing us. That's the red num-have to assume that this planet may have Kelbrid

bers, right?" It was just the two of us on the

remote sensors or even a Kelbrid outpost. Let's

bridge, everyone else was either sleeping or eat-

remember that we are a peaceful ship on a mis-

ing.

sion of exploration."

He stalked over and stared at my screen for

We spent the next six weeks wandering around

about a second. Then, "Captain, to the bridge!"

the system, seeing some cool things on strange

"What is it?" I asked.

worlds, but no evidence of Kelbrids. We were

But before the Andalite could answer, Jake

starting to wonder whether there was any such

was there, looking frowzy and flat-haired. He'd

thing as a Kelbrid. And we definitely saw no sign

been sleeping, I guess.

of the Blade ship or the mysterious alien craft

"What is it?"

that had fired on Ax's Intrepid. We moved on to

"That was my question," I muttered.

the next nearest system. And the next.

"Ship approaching in normal space, Captain.

Half a year went by, but it seemed longer. I

They've hailed us. Standard inquiry: our point of

had brought along some DVD's but there are only

origin and destination."

so many times you can watch Airplane!, espe-

"Okay. Answer them."

cially when you have to explain every joke to a

We gave out our story, that we were the Enter-

former Andalite.

prise, a peaceful, deep-space exploration ship

It became obvious that this was going to be a

from The United Federation of Planets. We fig-

long trip. You can't just go toodling around a bil-

ured no one in this far corner of the universe

lion square light-years and find what you're look-

would have seen Star Trek reruns. It was our little

ing for.

joke.

In the end, even after many months, we didn't

Here was the problem with that thinking: The

find the Blade ship. They found us.

Yeerks we were chasing had spent years on Earth,

I was manning the sensor station (and using

many with human hosts.

the ship's computers to play Tomb Raider V),

"Receiving response," Menderash said. "And

when I spotted the orange squiggle indicating an

a request for visual, two-way communication."

unknown ship within range.

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148

<Uh-oh,> Tobias said. He had rushed to the

That tightened a few sphincters.

bridge, along with Jeanne and Santorelli.

The Yeerk captain nodded in a genial sort of

"What do we show them?" Santorelli won-

way in response to Santorelli. "That's quite a

dered.

ship you have there . . . excuse me, I don't know

"Not me," Jake said. "If it's the Blade ship

your name."

they may recognize me. Or Marco, or Tobias, for

I made a slashing gesture with my hand, cut-

that matter." He looked quickly at the faces of

ting Santorelli off before he could say something

his people. "Santorelli, you're the best B.S. artist

wrong. "You're Rakich-Four-Six-Nine-One of the

aside from Marco. So you're the captain. Jeanne,

Flet Niaar Pool."

you stand with him. Everyone else out of view.

Santorelli repeated it.

Narrow the audio channel to pick up Santorelli

The Yeerks seemed to buy that. "I am Eff I it-

only. Okay, open communications."

One-Three-One-Eight of the Sulp Niar Pool," their

The image that appeared to us was of a hu-

captain replied. "Well met. And what exactly are

man. A man, maybe forty years old. Laughing,

you doing here, brother? And how do you come to

with hands on hips. "So, you come from the

be flying a new cruiser-class ship?"

Federation, do you? And where is Captain Pi-

"I might ask the same of you," Santorelli shot

card?"

back. "I find it hard to imagine what business a

Santorelli shot a look at Jake. But this was

ship of the Yeerk Empire has in this far-flung

more my specialty than his.

quadrant."

"You've always thought of yourself as more of

Menderash whispered, "He's powering up his

a Captain Kirk," I whispered.

weapons and maneuvering to bring them to bear."

After that first panicked glance Santorelli be-

"He thinks we're from the Yeerk Empire.

trayed no sign that he was listening to anyone.

Maybe here to hunt him down as a traitor," Jake

He assumed a wide, cocky stance and said, "I've

said quietly.

always thought of myself as more of a Captain

Efflit 1318, his voice considerably more

Kirk."

guarded now, said, "My mission here is classi-

"Sensor confirmation: It's the Blade ship,"

fied."

Santorelli nodded skeptically. "As is mine."

Menderash hissed.

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150

For a long moment the two ships were silent.

less? Would he trust us enough to let us destroy

Both had powered weapons. Both were maneu-

him?

vering for an edge, should firing break out. But

"You will place yourself under the command

in a fight we were toast. We were tough, but

of The One?"

we couldn't win against an alert and ready-to-

Santorelli's eyebrows shot up. "The who?" he

rumble Blade ship. And the real problem was

blurted.

that although we were fast enough to run away,

I looked at Jake. At Tobias. At Jeanne. There

we were aimed toward the Blade ship. We'd have

was a sort of collective shrug.

to turn around if we were going to run away, and

"I command this ship," Efflit 1318 explained,

while we turned, they'd blow big holes in us.

"but I serve at the pleasure of The One Who Is

"We have to blink first," Jake said. He gave

Many. The One Who Is All. We are not alone,

Santorelli instructions.

Rakich-Four-Six-Nine-One. We are not this ship

Santorelli said, "It occurs to me, Efflit-One-

alone. We are the seeds of a new empire that will

Three-One-Eight, that it would be a tragedy if any

far outshine the old, under the leadership of The

misunderstanding occurred here between us."

One." Weird to see that wild, messianic glow in

"Indeed? And what misunderstanding could

the eyes of a man you knew was really just a Yeerk

occur, Rakich-Four-Six-Nine-One?"

slave. It was a disturbingly human expression.

Santorelli sighed. He acted the part of a de-

Santorelli said, "Urn, who is this . . . this

flated man. "There is no empire, Efflit-One-

One?"

Three-One-Eight. The empire is finished. I . . .

"I will invoke his presence," the Yeerk said.

my crew and I seized this ship and escaped as

He closed his eyes and raised his face.

the Andalites closed in. We had heard that a

"Okay, this is unexpected," I whispered.

Blade ship had escaped and survived. We have

There was a long, silent pause during which

been looking for you ever since. For more than

time the two ships drew closer and closer. Too

three years."

close now to do anything but play the game

Efflit nodded. But would he buy it? He and

through. If this was a ruse, it was a convincing

his people were all alone in the universe. We rep-

one. If it was a ruse, we were dead.

resented the only brother Yeerks he was ever

I glanced at Jake and wished my heart wasn't

likely to see. Was he lonely enough to be care-

jackhammering away.

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153

Suddenly the screen image went blank. The

imagine that it was just bluffing. The sound of it

human-Controller was gone.

reached deep down inside you, beyond speech,

<What the —> Tobias demanded.

beyond thought-speak.

But then the screen glowed to life. More than

Jake stepped out in front of Santorelli.

the screen. Trie whole front of the bridge was

"I'm here," Jake said calmly.

glowing, a light so bright it seemed to shine right

"You have done well to come this far. You

through the bulkheads.

have come to find your friend. But the Andalite is

Within the searing light, an image appeared.

part of me now. As you will soon be."

It was alien, not Yeerk. That was to be expected

Jake stared back at the foul thing on the

from the Yeerks, they were, after all, parasites, so

screen. I saw what he saw, and I felt as if my

you never saw the Yeerks themselves.

brain was shutting down. In that shifting alien

But there was something very wrong with this

face was every corruption, every evil, and such

particular alien.

power that it seemed impossible it could be pres-

The face that filled the screen and more was a

ent in just the narrow confines of the onrushing

shifting image, a slow dissolve from what might

Blade ship.

be a robot's face, a machine with a rat-trap

"Can we shoot?" Jake asked Menderash, mak-

mouth and steel eyes, into a sweet, feminine, al-

ing no attempt to conceal his words from the alien.

most elfin visage, and last, and most enduring,

"His Dracon cannon have longer range and

into the face of Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill.

greater power," Menderash reported grimly. "And

<Ax?> Tobias whispered.

his defensive fields have been enhanced. I doubt

The face that belonged to our friend Ax split

our cannon can penetrate them."

wide open across the bottom and revealed a new-

"Thought so," Jake said, still weirdly calm.

formed mouth full of red-rimmed teeth.

"But we're faster."

"Save your tricks for this Yeerk fool," The One

"Yes."

said. "I see the truth. I see all. Step into view,

"Okay." Jake took a deep breath. He looked

Jake the Yeerk-Killer. I know you are there, I feel

around the bridge at each of us. At Tobias. At

your mind."

me. "What was it, Marco? 'Crazy, reckless, ruth-

There was no doubting that voice. No way to

less decisions'?"

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155

I nodded, wishing I had kept my mouth shut.

There was a dangerous smile on Jake's face.

Rachel's smile.

"Full emergency power to the engines," Jake

said. "Ram the Blade ship."

I know, I know, it's rotten of me to leave you

hanging at the end like that. But I figured the An-

imorphs should go out the same way they came

in: Fighting.

Well, here it is at long last: the final chapter

in the Animorphs story. It began in the summer

of 1996. It ends in the summer of 2001. Five

years, 54 regular titles, 4 Chronicles, 5 Meg-

amorphs and 2 Alternamorphs. An amazing num-

ber of you have read all those books. I am deeply

grateful.

I had a lot of fun writing these characters. I

know it sounds pretentious to say that I'll miss

them, but I will. It seems strange to think that I

won't ever again write "My name is . . ." It

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156

makes me a little sad to say good-bye to

Andalites, Hork-Bajir, Chee, Taxxons, and even

over there, in that new universe. If not, thanks

Yeerks. It was fun sitting down every day at my

from the bottom of my heart for everything.

computer to invent that strange universe.

If you're coming along on the next trip, grab

There are a bunch of people to thank. (Hey,

onto something because we're going to start off

what is this, an Academy Awards speech?) First

by blowing up the entire world. Then the real

of all, Scholastic, in particular Jean Feiwel, Tonya

trouble will start.

Alicia Martin, and Craig Walker. Also the talented

You may now demorph.

folks who created such great art for the series.

And, of course, the people who never get men-

— K.A. Applegate

tioned but who are responsible for the crucial

step from publisher to bookstore: the sales and

marketing force.

Mostly, I want to thank you guys, the readers.

You praised, you complained, you extolled, you

demanded, you asked questions that sometimes

I couldn't answer. You told your friends, you

started Web sites, you sent letters and e-mails,

and wrote fan fiction. You pointed out every error

I made. You were thoughtful and critical and

imaginative. You were loyal.

I want you all to know that it is my choice to

end Animorphs. Much as I'll miss it, the time

had come. Time to say good-bye, Jake. Good-bye,

Cassie. You, too, Tobias and Marco and Ax. Good-

bye, Rachel.

And now would be the time for me to say

good-bye to you . . . but, I'm off to a new series

called Remnants, and I'm hoping I'll see you

158

159

Up close, so near Earth, the Rock looked very

small. Seventy-six miles in diameter, it was nothing

next to the planet measured in thousands of miles.

But, up close, so close, Jobs could see the speed

of it. Against the backdrop of space you couldn't

sense the awesome speed. But now, as it angled into

the atmosphere, in the brief second in which it could

be seen outlined against blue ocean, it seemed im-

possibly fast.

The Rock entered the atmosphere and for a flash

became a spectacular special effect:The atmosphere

burned, a red gash in its wake.

It struck the western edge of Portugal. Portugal

and Spain were hit by a bullet the size of Connecti-

cutThe Iberian peninsula was a trench, a ditch.

The Mediterranean Sea, trillions of gallons of water,

The entire planet shuddered. It was possible to

exploded into steam. Every living thing in the water,

see it from space:The ground rippled, as if rock and

every living thing ashore, was parboiled in an instant

soil were liquid. The shock wave was an earthquake

Portugal, Spain, southern France, all of Italy, the

that toppled trees, collapsed every human-built

Balkans, the coast of northern Africa, Greece, south-

structure around the planet, caused entire mountain

ern Turkey, all the way to Israel was obliterated in

chains to crumble.

less than five seconds. They were the cradles of

The oceans rippled in tidal waves a thousand feet

Western civilization one second, a hell of super-

high. The Atlantic Ocean rolled into New York and

heated steam and flying rock the next.

over it, rolled into Charleston and over it, rolled into

The destruction was too swift to believe. In the

Miami and washed across the entire state of Florida.

time Jobs could blink his eyes, Rome and Cairo,

The ocean waters lapped against the Appalachian

Athens and Barcelona, Istanbul and Jerusalem and

Mountain chains, swamped everything in their way,

Damascus were gone. N o t reduced to rubble, not

smothered.all who had not been killed by the blast

crushed, not devastated.This wasn't like war or any

or the shock wave.

disaster humans understood. Rock became gravel,

People died having no idea why. People were

soil melted and fused, water was steam, living flesh

thrown from their beds, dashed against walls that

was reduced to singed single cells. Nothing recogniz-

collapsed onto them. People who survived long

able remained.

enough to find themselves buried alive beneath

The impact explosion was a million nuclear

green sea many miles deep.

bombs going off at once.The rock and soil and wa-

Jobs saw the planet's rotation slow. The day

ters that had once defined a dozen nations formed a

would stand still for the few who might still be alive.

pillar of smoke and flying dirt and steam.The mush-

The impact worked its damage on the fissures

room cloud punched up through the atmosphere,

and cracks in Earth's crust. Jobs watched the Atlantic

flinging dust and smoke particles clear into space.

Ocean split right down the middle, emptying millions

Jobs could see a chunk of Earth, some fragment

of cubic miles of water as if it was of no more conse-

left half intact, maybe twenty miles across, spin slowly

quence than pulling the plug on a bathroom sink.

up in the maelstrom.There were houses. Buildings. A

The planet was breaking up. Cracking apart. Im-

hint of tilled fields. Rising on the mushroom cloud,

possibly deep fissures raced at supersonic speeds

flying free, entering space itself.

around the planet. They cut through the crust,

through the mantle, deeper than a thousand Grand

Canyons.

Now the Pacific, too, drained away. It emptied

into the molten core of Earth Itself. The explosion

dwarfed everything that had gone before. As Jobs

watched, motionless, crying but not aware of it, Earth

broke apart.

It was as if some invisible hand were ripping open

an orange. A vast, irregular chunk of Earth separated

slowly from the planet, spun sluggishly, slowly away.

The sides of this moon-sized wedge scraped against

the sides of the gash, gouged up countries, ground

down mountains.

And now this wedge of Earth itself broke in half.

Jobs saw what might have been California, his home,

turn slowly toward the sun. If anyone is left alive, he

thought, if anyone is still alive, they'll see the sunrise

this one last time.

Earth lay still at last. Perhaps a quarter of the planet

was bitten off, drifting away to form a second and a

third Earth. The oceans were gone, boiled off into

space.The sky was no longer blue but brown, as dirt

and dust blotted out the sun. Here and there could still

be seen patches of green. But it was impossible to be-

lieve, to hope, that any human being had survived.

All of humanity that still lived was aboard the shut-

tle that now slid slowly toward the distant sun

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 18

CHAPTER 19

CHAPTER 20

CHAPTER 21