The author wishes to thank Kim Morris for her

help in preparing this manuscript.

For Michael and Jake

Cover illustration by David B. Mattingly

Art Direction/Design by Karen Hudson

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this Crumph! Crumph!

book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any pay-The thudding of fists against human flesh is

ment for this "stripped book."

not a pleasant sound. It is particularly sickening

No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored when heard through a metal pipe. The sound echoes

in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permis-and is magnified.

sion of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to

"That's enough. Stop it," a human voice com-

Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

manded. The sound was muffled, vague, indis-

ISBN 0-439-10677-X

tinct. I was feeling the voice through my six legs,

Copyright © 2000 by Katherine Applegate.

through my antennae.

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.

"But he's told us nothing," a second human

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argued.

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5/0

I should not call them humans. They are human-

Controllers.

Printed in the U.S.A.

First Scholastic printing, February 2000

There is a difference.

Human-Controllers are humans whose bodies

and collaborator, Mr. King. We had all seen the

have become hosts to the Yeerk invaders.

front page article on The Sharing, the Yeerk front

Yeerks! Foulest creatures of the universe.

organization. We had been suspicious that the

Gray slugs who enter the body through the ear, fit

paper had become yet another Yeerk-run organi-

themselves into the human brain, and take over.

zation. Mr. King had thought it safe to break into

Mind and body.

the offices of The Chronicle and examine their

Of course, not all hosts are human.

computer data, find the truth.

Visser Three, leader of the Yeerk Earth inva-

Apparently that was a mistake.

sion, has an Andalite host.

"Talk!" human-Controller Two shouted. "What My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill. I am

are you doing here? Who are you? Why are you

not human. I am Andalite. The only Andalite

snooping?"

among the group that calls itself the Animorphs.

Crumph!

Four humans. A red-tailed hawk. Me.

"I said stop it!" human-Controller One re-

We are the resistance. We fight the Yeerk in-

peated angrily. "If you kill him, Visser Three will

vasion until help from my home planet arrives. Or

execute us for wasting a potential host body."

until we die.

There was a long pause before human-Controller

The latter possibility seems ever more likely.

Two spoke again. "Visser Three will execute us

It would be unwise to tell you very much

for incompetence if he finds out we couldn't beat

more. The Animorphs and I have many secrets to

the truth out of a mere human. Let's kill him and

keep. And I, as an Andalite, have the secret of

incinerate the body. Visser Three will never learn

my own race to keep.

that we failed."

Crumph!

"Visser Three will wonder why we did not sim-

The sound again. Had we not been on the

ply infest him and learn the truth."

pipe we would not have heard it. Roaches feel vi-

"I tell you there is something wrong with this

brations. The pipe carried those vibrations di-

human. I tried to enter the ear canal, but it's

rectly to us.

blocked in some way. You don't believe me, you

We were making our way up a corroded, rusty

try it!"

metal pipe within the interior wall of a two-story

<Ax? What happens if they hit the Chee with

office building. Our mission, to rescue our friend

a Dracon beam? Can they fry him?> Prince Jake

2

3

asked me in the thought-speak language we use

Prince Jake's voice was sharp and urgent.

while in morph.

<Follow me and get ready to morph.>

<l am assuming that it would depend on the

<Why doesn't Mr. King just walk out of there

amount of power used. A low setting might only

and save us a whole lot of trouble?> Marco

disturb the Chee's holographically projected body.

asked.

It would reveal the android beneath. But a full-

<What's the problem, Marco, missing the

power setting could very possibly destroy Mr.

Rugrats marathon?> That was Rachel. Rachel

King entirely. Which would be worse from our

never found reason to resist action.

own narrow perspective? It is an interesting ques-

For my own part I sympathized with Marco.

tions

The Chee were frustrating. Very useful allies. But

<Thanks, Spock,> Marco said, using the hu-

also liabilities. My human friends have a certain

man tone I've come to recognize as sarcasm.

sentimental sympathy for the pacifism of the

<Sure you're not a Vulcan?>

Chee. I do not.

<Vulcans are fictional creatures,> I replied.

<Rachel, have I mentioned that I consider

<And not a particularly convincing creation. Vari-

you the most attractive cockroach around? Psy-

ations among real alien species tend to involve

chotic, yet with a certain cockroach style.> •

more than cosmetic variations in ear formation

Rachel laughed. <Anyway, there's two of

and eyebrow alignment. As I believe you may

them and five of us. So don't wet yourself.>

have noticed.>

<We're here,> Prince Jake announced.

Marco said, <Hey! Who just crawled over my

<Any idea where "here" is?> Cassie inquired.

back?>

<Here's where there's an eighth of an inch

<Sorry,> Cassie said. <Lousy visibility.>

crack,> Prince Jake explained. <That's good

The sound of a new blow came echoing

enough for me.>

through the pipe again. "Talk! Talk or we'll kill

Prince Jake navigated a bend in the pipe and

you!"

crossed to the wall itself. Above him was a tiny

We were inside the wall. To one side, the tor-

thread of light. I followed.

ture. On the other side? We would have to find

Prince Jake flattened his body. Disappeared

out.

between two boards.

4

5

I did the same.

We emerged into the light. I fought the in-

stinct to panic and retreat back into the base-

board. I waved my antennae, checking for danger.

<AII clear,> Prince Jake announced, although

his roach senses were no better than mine. He

had to be making an educated guess. <De-

morph!>

<Let's rock and roll,> Rachel said.

Rock and roll is a type of human music. Its

relevance to the battle before us was a mystery to

me.

Morphing is an odd and disturbing process.

It is never the same twice. The last time I came

out of cockroach morph, my hind legs were the

first portions of my Andalite anatomy to emerge.

This time, it was my eyes.

The two that are on stalks. Not the ones on

my face. I had no face at the moment so eyes

would have been quite out of place.

I felt the nub of both stalks pushing out

through my hard, insect exoskeleton. My head

split with an audible crack.

It was not painful. At least not in the conven-

tional sense. But there was a sense that it should

hurt. Therefore while there is no actual pain,

6

there is the anticipation of pain. Which, in its

trapped forever in his original form, never able to

own way, is quite painful.

morph again.

My two eye stalks emerged and I was able to

He has chosen to remain a red-tailed hawk.

see the others with far more clarity than the

He usually provides air surveillance for us during

roach's dim senses allowed.

a mission.

Marco. Rachel. Cassie. And Prince Jake. All

Prince Jake looked at the others. And then at

demorphingfrom roach to human. Neither transi-

me. "Ax, you go in as yourself. Everybody else,

tion, roach to Andalite or roach to human, is at-

battle morphs. We're doing this fast. And we're

tractive to watch. I try to be sensible about such

doing it right."

things but it is simply disturbing to watch human

We heard the door to the next office open and

flesh grow out of a roach's hard, caramel-colored

close.

exoskeleton. The melting of enlarged roach mouth-

"I brought in three Dracon beams," human-

parts to re-form as human mouthparts is particu-

Controller Two said. "Enough to reduce him to a

larly unsettling. Possibly because for an Andalite

little pile of ash."

all mouths seem alien.

Prince Jake began the tiger morph. His eye-

We were in a room filled with what appeared

teeth grew, surging forward like plunging dag-

to be filing cabinets. There were newspapers

gers. Two sharp tiger ears sprouted from his hair

piled high in stacks. The sound of torture came

before his own human ears disappeared, creating

from the other side of the wall.

a very odd appearance.

<Still clear outside here,> Tobias reported.

His forearms bent at an odd angle, growing

He sounded bored. <Just watching the moon go

shorter and sprouting orange-and-black fur.

by overheads

The others were right behind him. Or, in

Tobias is a nothlit, a person who overstays the

Cassie's case, ahead of him. She is quite tal-

two-hour limit and becomes trapped in morph.

ented at morphing. I was soon in the company of

He has, in fact, reacquired his power to morph

a tiger, a wolf, a grizzly bear, and a gorilla.

and could, should he choose to do so, resume

If someday an Andalite reads this and won-

human form permanently. Assuming he would

ders what these animals represent, I should point

be willing to become a sort of human nothlit,

out that the animals of Earth are often very pow-

8

9

erful, capable of doing tremendous damage with

Fwapp! Fwapp!

a combination of claws, teeth, lightning reflexes,

I whipped my tail over my head and sliced the

and highly acute senses. Among the animals of

bent Sheetrock so that it fell away with a clatter

Earth, these four, each with its own strengths

and a puff of dust.

and weaknesses, formed a powerful force.

Cassie was through the gap in a flash of gray

For human readers I should explain that my

fur, teeth bared. Jake was right behind her.

own Andalite body is of course sufficient for bat-

"Andalites!" the two human-Controllers

tle situations. I have four eyes, four legs, two

screamed.

arms, and a tail blade that can slice a human in

The Yeerks believe we are all Andalites. Actu-

half with one swipe.

ally there was just the one Andalite. Me.

Well, perhaps two swipes. I may perhaps have

I felt that would be enough.

a tendency to overstate my capabilities.

<They're right on the other side of that wallf>

Cassie said. Her wolf senses could pinpoint our

targets within a few feet one way or the other.

<Too bad there's no door,> Prince Jake said.

<Rachel? Marco? Ax? Make a door.>

Rachel stood. Eight hundred pounds of loose,

shaggy brown fur over massive muscle and bone.

KABOOM!

Rachel slammed into the wall.

The flimsy drywall cracked from baseboard to

ceiling in several places.

"What the . . . ?" Before the human-Controller

on the other side of the wall could finish his

cry . . .

SNAP!

Marco grabbed the cracked wallboard and

ripped it back.

10

11

The second Controller fired two shots at

Rachel. One missed. The other nicked her shoul-

der. It was badly aimed. Most likely because

Marco was shaking him like a rag doll.

Fwapp! Fwapp!

I hit each of the Controllers with the flat of my

tail. Both fell unconscious.

The seemingly near-dead Mr. King sat up,

suddenly whole, healthy, and unscarred, calmly

snapped the handcuffs, and said, "Thanks for

coming to get me."

<Keep up the pretense,> I warned. <There

may be others of the enemy around.>

"Ah, yes." The wounds, the blood all reap-

It was a small room. Badly lit. One wall was

peared instantly. He let out a very convincing

formed of reinforced glass and beyond that glass

groan and slumped.

a dark office.

Marco dropped the human-Controller and

I should have worried about that. We all

picked up Mr. King. <Okay! Let's get out of

should have. But our attention was drawn to what

here.>

appeared to be a badly beaten human, barely

Rachel swung her arms from her enormous

holding onto consciousness, slumped on a chair.

shoulders, impatient. <That was too easy,> she

His arms were bound behind his back with metal

complained. <Maybe . . .>

chains called handcuffs. His ankles were like-

<Uh-oh!> Marco said.

wise affixed to the legs of the chair.

Something was moving beyond the reinforced

One of the human-Controllers was drawing a

glass. Several somethings. Hork-Bajir! And one

gun. He took aim at Cassie. Cassie's teeth found

shape that was terribly familiar.

his arm in midair. The man screamed.

Visser Three!

BLAM! His shot went wild.

<lt's a trap!> Prince Jake shouted.

BLAM! BLAM!

I stared at the heavily muscled adult Andalite

12

13

body. At the tail blade that could kill with one

Prince Jake rolled off the visser and onto the

swipe. Looked with hatred at the only Andalite-

floor. His fur burned and smoked where a Dracon

Controller in the galaxy.

beam had penetrated the muscled shoulder.

Visser Three had no right to that body. No

<To the door!> Prince Jake yelled.

right to the eyes. The brain. The strength. The

Marco yanked it open.

speed. No right to the morphing power.

An armed Hork-Bajir stood in the doorway.

Visser Three is an evil thing. A Yeerk slug

More behind him. How many? Too many.

within the brain of an Andalite who had once

We were blocked in two directions. The only

been called Alloran-Semitur-Corrass.

way out was the hole we had made to get in.

Alloran's was a hideous fate. He was still

No time to think. The visser was on me.

alive. His mind and memories intact. He was a

Fwapp!

slave of his own enemy. And he knew the depths

He struck. I felt his blade bite. Felt my left

of his own powerlessness.

front leg go numb from the blow.

Crrrraaassshhh!

Fwapp!

The glass partition fell in splinters.

I blocked, but he knocked my tail, whipping

The visser leaped. Straight for me.

back. Too strong! I was as fast, but he had power

Fwapp!

I couldn't match.

I blocked the blow. Barely. He was fast, very

Fwapp!

strong. Stronger than me.

I felt the wind of the blow on my exposed

But I was not alone.

neck.

"ROOAARRRR!" The tiger's roar shook the

I drew back and then made a lunatic feint. It

light fixtures! Their fluorescent glow flickered!

threw him off balance.

Jake bounded over three desks and landed,

Small victory. And temporary.

claws extended, on the visser's back.

The visser ducked his upper body, clearing

His claws raked deep and drew blood.

the firing line, and roared, <Fire!>

Tseeew! Tseeew!

<Down!> I yelled.

The Hork-Bajir were firing. All that saved us

Tseeew! Tseeew!

was the care the Hork-Bajir had to take not to hit

Beams singed the fur down both sides of my

their master.

back. The wall behind me was all burning wall-

14

15

board and wood, half-incinerated by the Dracon

beams.

<Rachel! Get the Chee out!> Prince Jake

ordered.

Tseeew! Tseeew!

<Ahh!> Jake cried. One of his legs was simply

gone, a sizzling, bleeding stump.

<Marco! On me!> Rachel yelled. She charged

toward the exit door, straight into the nearest

Hork-Bajir blocking our path. The Hork-Bajir

folded, crumpled. Marco was right behind Ra-

chel with the Chee on his shoulder.

Tseeew! Tseeew!

A hole the size of a fist burned through

Rachel. But the grizzly is not easily stopped.

<l I larco! Take care of Mr. King!> Prince Jake

<Out the way we came in!> Rachel yelled.

ordered. <Rachel! Hang back with us. Tobias! If

They pushed back through our own doorway.

you're still out there, get ready to cover Marco!>

Into the file room.

We plowed down the hallway, staggering,

<The hallway over here is clear,> Rachel

bleeding, scared. Not fast enough. The Hork-Bajir

yelled. <Comeon!>

were rushing up behind us, slashing, cutting into

<Okay, bail out!> Jake ordered.

muscle and sinew.

But before I could run, a sound. My stalk eyes

I killed one with a lucky swipe of my tail. He

swung upward in response to the noise. Ceiling

fell and tripped one of his brothers. The two of

panels were being pulled up as if they were trap-

them sprawled, delaying the rush by a split sec-

doors.

ond.

Hork-Bajir began to drop like hailstones.

Down a dark hallway, walls all around, hem-

ming us-in, a tunnel, and with Hork-Bajir roaring

after us. If they were ahead of us as well . . .

Stairwell leading down. Freight elevator just

16

17

ahead. Hallway took a turn just past the elevator.

My chest was tight with panic. I could hardly

Which way? Prince Jake's decision, but Prince

breathe.

Jake was weakening, stumbling. How much

My hearts ached for my parents. They had

longer could he keep going on three legs?

lost one son on this distant planet. I feared they

I wasn't much better off. Bleeding. Stagger-

would soon lose a second.

ing. Hurt.

DING!

"Sssree! Sssree!"

The doors to the freight elevator opened. The

A frenzy of squealing from below!

Hork-Bajir wavered, distracted.

Taxxons!

<DOWN!> Jake roared.

Enormous voracious centipedes. Drawn by the

<FIRE!>

carnage. Forcing their way up the narrow stairwell.

Tseeewww! Tseeewww! Tseeewww!

Scrambling over the fallen Hork-Bajir, tearing

Dracon beams burned. Inches above us.

limbs and pieces of flesh from their still-breathing

And now . . .

bodies.

Tseeew! Tseeew!

Visser Three stepped into the hallway directly

Shredder fire! The sound, so like a Dracon

ahead. How? Some back way. We were surrounded.

beam, was different enough for any Andalite aristh

<The elevatorT> Prince Jake gasped.

to recognize.

I slammed the button, willing it to come

Tseeew! Tseeew!

quickly.

Shredder fire, point-blank at the wall of tight-

Where was Marco? He had gone down the

packed Hork-Bajir.

hallway where the visser now appeared. Had he

<More Andalites?!> Visser Three yelled, his

escaped? Or was he already a prisoner?

thought-speak voice torn between outrage, fear,

<l knew a front-page article on The Sharing

and simple disbelief.

would bring the Andalite bandits from under-

Four Andalites jumped from the elevator like

cover^ Visser Three sneered. To his troops he

bucks clearing a fence. They were everywhere at

said, <l don't want them dead. Lowest power set-

once. Firing. Whipping their tail blades with

ting. Aim carefully.>

deadly precision.

The Hork-Bajir lifted their Dracon beams.

They were magnificent.

18

19

I fought beside a young female.

The battle was over.

She had impeccable timing. She was danger-

Shell-shocked Hork-Bajir began gathering up

ous. She was beautiful.

their dead. Taxxons waddled back down the stair-

CRASH!

well, dragging what meat they could take away

The hallway wall collapsed and the battle spilled

with them, to disappear into some secret base-

back into the interior office space of the build-

ment hiding place.

ing.

Then, through a cloud of plaster dust, I saw

The female kept up a steady stream of fire as

one of the Andalite warriors jump over the body

we forced back the Hork-Bajir line.

of a fallen Hork-Bajir and land face-to-face with

Windows shattered. Desks splintered. Plaster,

Visser Three.

tangles of wire, and debris poured from the ceil-

Of course! These Andalites were not under

ing.

Prince Jake's orders.

The Yeerks were losing.

The Andalite lifted his shredder. It would be a

Suddenly, the shrill sound of police sirens

point-blank killing.

penetrated the noise of battle.

I felt a surge of hot joy in my heart.

<Hey, cops are on their way,> Tobias an-

Visser Three looked at the Andalite. <Arbat!>

nounced. <Get out!>

The Andalite's eyes flickered and his finger

<Did Marco make it out?> Prince Jake de-

hesitated on the shredder.

manded, unwilling to run till he was sure we were

Fwapp!

all safe.

With the flat of his tail blade, the visser

<Yeah. Jumped out of a window and the Chee

smacked the weapon from his assailant's hand.

threw up a hologram, made it look like they were

<You never could see that one coming, could

a parked car.>

you, Arbat?> Visser Three laughed. <That's what

<Visser,> Prince Jake snapped. <Maybe those

comes of thinking too much and tail fighting too

cops are your people, but maybe not. Walk away

little.>

and you live, for now.>

The one he had called Arbat let out an An-

The visser did not deign to respond. He

dalite curse.

slammed his way past a Taxxon, leaving the crea-

Visser Three leaped to safety behind a pha-

ture oozing goo from a deep gash.

lanx of Hork-Bajir.

20

21

Prince Jake said, <l don't know who you guys

are, but first: Thanks. Second: Get out of here.

The cops get in on this and we'll have a massacre

of innocent policemen.>

• <Withdraw. Now!> one of the Andalites com-

manded.

<Everybody out!> Prince Jake ordered.

<Wait!> I cried as the Andalites galloped

down what was left of the hall. <Who are you?

Where can I find you?>

The female turned. <l am Estrid-Corill-

Darrath. Do not worry. We will find you, Aximili-

Esgarrouth-lsthill.>

fl.

n hour later, we were in Cassie's barn,

Cassie's family runs the Wildlife Rehabilita-

tion Clinic. At any given time, the clinic houses

several dozen wounded or ill creatures. Often ex-

otics.

There are also squirrels, rabbits, pigeons, and

grackles. Common creatures that come and go,

drawn by the seeds and oats that lie scattered in

and around the barn.

"No doubt about it," Marco said, waving a

copy of The Chronicle. "A propaganda mill for Yeerks. Part three in a five-part series on The

Sharing."

The Sharing exists to recruit human hosts,

22

23

"He's right, Ax." Cassie held a defanged pit

willing and unwilling. It poses as an innocuous

viper she had found abandoned in the school-

family-oriented group.

yard. Gently she pried it from her arm and placed

For every Yeerk that has a host body, there are

it in a large tub beneath a heat lamp.

thousands of Yeerks that do not. They live in a

"We know it's hard for you, and that you're

dank pool where they feed on Kandrona rays.

lonely a lot of the time," Cassie continued.

And wait.

" B u t . . ."

They wait for host bodies.

"But we have to be realistic," Marco finished.

They would not wait much longer.

"This might be the fleet. Or it might be some

<lt seems obvious that the Andalite fleet has

fresh hell."

arrived,> I said. <The Yeerk invasion will soon

Prince Jake crossed his arms. "How do we

cease to be a problems

know these new Andalites aren't Yeerks with An-

"Not so fast, Ax-man," Marco warned.

dalite host bodies?"

<How can we lose when even our females

<Right,> Tobias agreed. <Maybe a sub-visser

fight like trained warriors!> I heard the old An-

and his posse looking to leapfrog to the top by

dalite vainglory in my voice. I thought I had out-

taking out Visser Three.>

grown the impulse to boast. But the thrill of

<lmpossible!> I protested.

fighting side by side with another Andalite had

"In a world where slugs can take over entire

reawakened all the pride of my people.

civilizations, anything is possible," Marco re-

For the first time since I'd found myself

minded me.

stranded on Earth, I felt that the future might be

<The female knew my name. The only way

hopeful.

she could know that is via the message I trans-

So I did not understand the look of wariness

mitted to the home planet, or through the forces

and pity transmitted from face-to-face.

we encountered on Leera.>

Cassie. To Rachel. To Prince Jake. To Tobias. To

"Funny you should mention Leera," Marco

Marco.

said. He did not say anything more. He did not

Marco spoke. "If I've learned one thing, it's

have to. There, for the first time in my life, I had

this: It may walk like an Andalite. It may talk like

learned that even an Andalite may be a traitor.

an Andalite. But that don't mean it is an An-

<These warriors are true Andalites,> I in-

dalite."

25

9A

sisted. <l know this. When I fought beside the fe-

Shame was quickly replaced by anger.

male, I felt a sense of connection unlike anything

<Doyou doubt my loyalty?> I demanded.

"No, I don't," Prince Jake said firmly. And

I have felt before.>

with a sharp look at Rachel he added, "Neither

Another look passed from face to face. This

does Rachel. I just don't want you to do anything

time, it appeared to be one of amusement.

without talking it over with us first. Okay?"

"Ax," Cassie said. "I think you have what is

<l am a true Andalite warrior,> I said angrily.

commonly known as a crush."

<And a true warrior never reneges on his oath to

<A what?>

his prince.>

"A feeling that makes it hard for you to see

I left the barn and galloped until both my

the truth, if the truth is unpleasant," she ex-

hearts were pounding. I was angry, but that emo-

plained.

tion cooled quickly enough. The emotion that re-

"Yeah, you know, like the way Cassie can't

placed it did not cool.

see that Jake is really just a pinhead," Marco

She was beautiful.

said.

She was so beautiful.

Prince Jake threw a horse comb at Marco that

Marco dodged. Marco and Prince Jake are best

friends. This sort of behavior appears to be typi-

cal of male friendships.

"Until we figure these guys out, let's just

hang loose," Prince Jake said.

"Yeah. Like maybe not change our minds

about who is in charge and who isn't," Rachel

said bluntly.

I felt myself flush. In the Leera incident I had

changed my allegiance from Prince Jake to the

Andalite officer who betrayed us.

I was still ashamed of this. But I had sworn

never to abandon my prince again. Unless it was

at his command.

26

27

I assumed the attack position again.

<Would you mind not doing that while I'm sit-

ting here?> Tobias asked.

<They said they would find me, I may be

called upon to fight at any moment. I must be

ready. I must practices

Even though I am only an aristh — what hu-

mans would call a cadet — in the Andalite mili-

tary, I had undergone rigorous training at the

academy. Tail fighting is a sport, an art, and a

deadly combat skill.

I had a feeling that I was about to be tested. I

did not want to disgrace myself.

<Okay. But you know, it also wouldn't hurt

f\EEERRRACCKKKK!

to take a look around town. See if there's any

I leaped out of range before the tree limb

sign of Andalite troop presence. You know,

could fall on me. The limb I had severed with one

maybe a couple dozen of your folks down at the

mall. Besides, I found twenty bucks this morn-

blow of my tail.

ing. Which sounds like a visit to the food court

<Good shot!> Tobias circled downward, land-

to me.>

ing in the tree.

<Cinnabon?>

Tobias is interesting. A nothlit, but now an al-

<Cinnabon for you. Me, I'm a taco kind of

most voluntary one. He has lost his human life,

guy. When I'm not enjoying fresh mouse.>

but not his human friends. He belongs. But at

Cinnamon buns!

the same time, he does not belong.

I paused. I am extremely fond of cinnamon

Like me.

buns. I am so fond of them, it is hard for me to

Perhaps that is why he is my true shorm.

restrain my joy in eating them.

What humans would call a "best friend." Or

I have now had much practice eating cinna-

"soul mate." That and the fact that my brother

mon buns. But from time to time, I still have dif-

was Tobias's father.

ficulty containing my enthusiasm for the taste

Flesh poured down the bones like liquid and

sensations that come from these tasty treats.

molded thighs, calves, and feet.

This is one of the things I must explain to my

I concentrated. I would have to demorph to

people: the incredible joys of acquiring human

Andalite before morphing to human.

morphs and using the mouth to ingest intensely

Though we have agreed that it is immoral to

acquire the DNA of sentient creatures, we also

flavored items.

have agreed upon exceptions now and then. I ac-

I began to morph a northern harrier. The blue-

quired a bit of DNA from Jake, Marco, Cassie,

and-tan fur of my body began to grow longer and

and Rachel. Thus, when I am human, I vaguely

shingle. Layer upon layer of feathers appeared

resemble all of them, but duplicate no one.

upon my shrinking body.

It is a moral compromise.

<l take it that means yes — especially since

We have all learned to make them.

I've already hidden our outer clothing on the mall

The question was how I could make such op-

roof,> Tobias said.

portunities available to my fellow Andalites once

We flew over the main part of town. Together.

they landed and defeated the Yeerks.

But not close. If Tobias and I were seen flying in

"Come on," Tobias said as soon as I had mor-

tandem, it might attract attention. Yeerk atten-

phed from Andalite to human and was properly

tion.

dressed in my artificial skins. "Let's hit the 'Bon

Once we had landed safely on the mall roof,

and the Taco Bell."

Tobias began morphingto human.

I followed Tobias toward the small stairwell

The sharp angles of his scowling hawk head

off the roof used by workmen. Through that door

blurred and rounded out. Flesh appeared on his

and down two flights of stairs was a door that led

face first. It swirled and rippled like dough as it

into the mall.

arranged itself into human eyes, a human nose,

We heard the commotion the moment we en-

and a human brow.

tered the first floor. It was coming from the food

His bird legs grew enormously long until what

court.

began to protrude was no longer bird leg, but

"Beanzuh! Beanzuh! Zuh!" I heard a girl

bone. The bone formed a femur, a patella, and a

shout.

tibia. Claws became toe bones.

"Somebody get security!" a woman yelled.

"What's going on?" someone else asked.

"Some girl went berserk in the food court,"

another person answered. "Eating everything in

sight and yelling like a lunatic."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Which answers the

question of whether the Andalites have landed."

We ran.

C-H-FhPT-E-R 7

B eanzuh! Jelly beanzuh! Beanzuh! Zuh!

Zuh!"

We forced our way through the crowd that had

gathered around the food court.

A girl around Cassie's age sat crouched in

front of bins of blue, green, yellow, red, and

black jelly beans at the Candy Land store. She

wore a Burger King tunic and slacks. Backward.

A harassed-looking young woman was trying

to persuade her to get away from the bin.

"So sweet. So delicious!" The girl was almost

weeping with joy. "The taste . . . overwhelming!"

"Well. This is not good," Tobias said. "Your little friend Estrid?"

"I believe that is likely."

3?

33

(W

Estrid ignored the Candy Land lady. She

"We're fine," Tobias insisted. "Fine. Come

crammed more bright pellets into her mouth,

on, sis. Let's go home." Tobias took one arm and

rolled her eyes, seemed to be transported by

I took the other.

Estrid looked at each of us, and then let out a

pleasure.

horrible, ear-piercing scream. "Nooooo! Bean-

A mall security guard moved toward her.

zuh!"

"Okay. Let's go."

"Now, sis," Tobias soothed. "Don't make a

Tobias hurried forward and put his hand on

the guard's arm. "No wait! She's my sister. She's

scene."

having a bad reaction to her medication."

"Sssssseeene. Sssseeeeenuh. Nuh. Nuh. Nuh."

"The green are the best!" Estrid said.

While she was momentarily diverted by the

novel sounds her mouth could make, I leaned

The guard looked hard at Tobias. As if he

close and whispered, "It is I, Aximili. You are

weren't sure whether or not Tobias was telling the

having a reaction to mouth-pleasures. It will be

truth. "She's on drugs?"

fine. Come with us and be quiet."

"It's a seizure thing. She was dropped on her

On our way to the door we used to access the

head when she was a baby."

mall, I saw a girl inside the doorway of Express.

"No, the blue! A blue that saturates the very

She was examining some artificial skins.

soul with pleasure!"

And she was an exact replica of the girl we

"Then we should call an ambulance," said

were half-carrying, half-dragging. Her long hair

the Candy Land lady.

"I like the red ones," a kid in the crowd called was red and very wavy. Her eyes were deep blue.

And her face was covered with cinnamon-colored

out.

freckles.

"It's happened before," Tobias said. "We

Cinnamon. Delicious.

know what to do. She calms down . . ."

"Hey!" a male voice shouted behind us.

"Yes! Red! Red-duh!"

"What are you doing with my sister?"

" . . . Eventually. We have some other medi-

Tobias turned. "Holy . . . come on!"

cine at home. If we can just take her with us,

In order to look behind in human morph it is

everything will be fine."

necessary to turn one's head. A dizzying action

We both moved toward the shrieking girl.

on only two legs.

"But . . ." the security guard said.

35

QA

I did so and understood the cause of Tobias's

alarm.

A very large young man and four of his com-

panions were chasing us.

"She must have morphed his sister. He thinks

we're abducting her! Great," Tobias wheezed.

"Haul buns."

"Bunzzzzz," I repeated, unable to resist the

impulse. "Zuh. Zuh. Zuh."

"Please, Ax," Tobias yelled, breaking into a

run. "Not now!"

e

w escaped from the mall. It was not our

most challenging escape.

Estrid morphed to kafit bird and flew away.

But not before I had arranged for a meeting with

her superior. We needed to know what was hap-

pening with the Andalite invasion force.

Or, at very least, we had to warn them about

the dangers of morphing humans.

A few hours later I was in the air, in harrier

morph.

<How much further?> Prince Jake asked.

<lf the directions are accurate, less than a

mile. There is a fence ahead.>

Prince Jake was on the ground. Traveling in

wolf morph. It would have been unwise for me to

37

<Where is he?>

travel long distances through the woods in my

<Near. He fears a trap.>

own true body. I live in some fear that human

Before I could respond, I saw her main eyes

hunters might see me and shoot me as a deer.

widen. One stalk eye whipped around. Jake had

Shooting deer is a human sport. Human hunters

approached and begun to demorph.

are apparently unaware of the fact that deer are

Estrid glared angrily. <l told you to come

harmless herbivores.

alone,> she said,

In the distance ahead, beyond the fence, I

<And I told him not to,> Prince Jake said in

could see thick trees around a shallow pond. The

thought-speak just as he completed his demorph.

scene fit her description.

<But he is human!> Estrid exclaimed. <And

Estrid had refused to guide me to the An-

with the power to morph! How can this be? Wait,

dalite ship. She was not authorized to reveal its

were those humans in the battle where we met?

location. Commendable caution. But she had

Morph-capable humans?>

agreed to arrange a meeting with her commander

T i l discuss that with your commander," Jake

in this spot.

said calmly.

Estrid was waiting at the edge of the thicket.

<This human is Jake. He is my prince,> I ex-

How odd that the sight of one of my own

plained.

people should seem so strange. It was almost

Estrid looked as if she might laugh. To an An-

disturbing, somehow. It made me feel lonely,

dalite the notion of an alien as a prince was hu-

which made no sense. Why should the sight of

morous.

this single, lovely female make me feel lonely?

But she restrained herself.

I flew a few hundred yards ahead of Jake

<l am honored to meet you, Jake.>

and landed on the ground in front of her. I de-

"Likewise."

morphed quickly. If this was all somehow a

Then Estrid put a hand on my arm and

Yeerk ambush, then my presence would trigger

thought-spoke privately to me. My hearts flut-

the attack. Better me than my prince.

tered at the touch.

I stood, awkward. Waiting, No Dracon beams.

<May I ask you a favor? My experimentation

No Hork-Bajir. No Taxxons. No ambush.

with human morph was unauthorized. Will you

<Welcome, Aximili,> Estrid said. <My com-

refrain from mentioning it to my commander?>

mander is eager to meet you.>

39

For a moment, I was too stunned to answer.

did react to Gonrod's careless words. "Your rank

Such a breach of discipline! Perhaps females

is commander and you're the highest ranking An-

dalite commander within light-years?" He looked

were allowed more latitude and thus felt free to

at me, questioning.

take more liberties.

I was almost too disappointed to respond. I

I did not know. But I could see no harm in

did not abandon hope. But my optimism was

protecting her from what might be a harsh pun-

sharply reduced. I could only confirm what

ishment.

Prince Jake suspected. <Commander is a rank

<l will say nothings I promised.

most often held by an Andalite in command of a

We moved carefully through the dense trees

single ship. A single small ship.>

until we reached the banks of the pond. Three

"I see."

Andalite warriors stood tense and watchful.

<There goes our plan to bluff the enemy into

I said nothing. Aristhsdo not speak until spo-

thinking they are outnumbered.> Aloth let out a

ken to.

crack of laughter. Highly insubordinate.

Most arisths.

<Silence!> Gonrod looked only at me. He

<This is Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill,> Estrid said.

refused to acknowledge Prince Jake. <Aristh

Aximili, inform this human that we are not pre-

<These Andalite warriors are Commander Gonrod-

pared to discuss strategic matters with him.>

Isfall-Sonilli, Intelligence Advisor Arbat-Elivat-

<Commander Gonrod, Prince Jake is the

Estoni, and Aloth-Attamil-Gahar.>

leader of the human resistance on Earth.>

I saw Commander Gonrod's face tense at her

<Really? And how many warriors does he

forwardness. But he did not reprimand her. Ar-

lead?> Commander Gonrod asked me.

bat's eyes smiled slyly.

"Not enough," Prince Jake said bluntly.

<And this alien?> Commander Gonrod de-

<No. Not enough. But morph-capable. I was

manded.

briefed before we began this mission.> Gonrod

<This is Jake. My prince.>

reluctantly addressed Prince Jake. <l know you

Gonrod snorted. <Your prince? You insult the

were involved in the war on Leera. I also know

highest ranking Andalite within light-years by an-

that an entire ship full of Andalite warriors died

nouncing your allegiance to a human child?>

Prince Jake did not react to the insult. But he

AH

41

and your band, whoever they may be, will cease

and that you and your humans survived. Now, I

to fight. That is an order.>

asked, human, how many warriors do you com-

"I don't take orders," Prince Jake snapped. "I mand?>

give them. And now, this meeting is over." He

<Those warriors on Leera died because of —>

turned and began to walk away.

I began, but Prince Jake silenced me with a

<Aristh Aximili!> Gonrod shouted. <Stay

raised hand.

where you are.>

"We were on Leera. Let's leave it at that. I

<Commander Gonrod. I respectfully remind

don't want to bring up anything embarrassing.

you that an Andalite's allegiance is to his prince.>

No point. But you'll understand if I say that I'm

<You are disobeying a direct order.>

not prepared to discuss my forces with you. Not

I followed Prince Jake.

yet."

<Aloth! Arbat!> Gonrod shouted. <Shredders

<You, a human, do not trust an Andalite com-

on lowest setting. Fire on Aristh AximilL>

mander?1^ Gonrod cried.

Aloth spoke. Mockingly. <Perhaps the human

is not aware that Andalites are known throughout

the galaxy for their integrity.>

<Silence!> Gonrod roared again,

<Perhaps we should proceed by outlining our

common goals,> I suggested diplomatically.

"Perhaps we should begin by finding out ex-

actly what we can count on in terms of Andalite

support," Jake countered, staring fixedly at Gon-

rod.

<Support?> Gonrod snorted again. <You con-

sider us support? Are all humans as ignorant and

arrogant as you, man-child?> Gonrod began to

pace. <You are an untrained human child, play-

ing at war. We are highly trained warriors. You

43

"Those snakes are faster. One move from your

boys and they will die."

Gonrod said nothing. He seemed at a loss. It

was shocking to see in an Andalite commander.

But Arbat was so calm as to seem almost

bored. <So, you've set a trap for us. Very clever.

Now what?>

Prince Jake seemed uncertain whether to

continue addressing Gonrod or Arbat. "Now we

stop playing games. You're not the Andalite fleet.

And I'm not going to snap a salute and say 'yes,

sir!' We deal as equals. Which, to be honest, is

generous of us under the circumstances."

Arbat half-closed his eyes in a smile. <What

do you say, Commander Gonrod? As the Intelli-

<Unfortunately, Commander Gonrod, I am

gence expert I'd have to say we're not in a posi-

being prevented from using my weapon,> Arbat

tion to bargain.>

answered. <l believe Aloth is similarly situated.>

But Gonrod had recovered. <l command,

Aloth had apparently not noticed. Now he

looked down in horror. A pit viper wound itself

here. Am I clear on that?>

around his right foreleg. Cassie, of course. And

"No, sir. This is Earth. This is a human

a cobra reared up just between Arbat's legs.

planet. We are not the Hork-Bajir. We know how

you 'rescued them.' As long as you're on Earth,

Marco.

you'll get along with us. Am I clear on that?"

Estrid took a step forward and reached for her

Fool. An embarrassment. Gonrod was behav-

own shredder.

ing very badly. What was the point in this? I

Fwapp!

looked at Estrid. She refused to acknowledge

I brought my tail blade to a quivering halt mil-

me. But I could see the evidence on her face that

limeters from her throat. Her eyes blazed in

she, too, was humiliated by this ludicrous dis-

anger.

play.

"Andalites are very fast," Prince Jake said.

45

<An assassination team? Who is the assas-

For his part, Aloth was a seemingly straight-

sin?>

forward warrior. He was awaiting orders, his expres-

<l am,> Aloth said.

sion professionally blank. Whatever he thought of

I tried not to stare at him. I had never met an

his commander, he concealed it.

assassin. I had not known any existed in the An-

Arbat was a different matter. Arbat's con-

dalite military. The notion of such a thing did not

tempt for Gonrod was scarcely camouflaged.

make me comfortable.

"Now," Prince Jake said, "who are you? Why

<And I am an Apex Level Intelligence Advisor.

are you here?"

Veteran of over twenty conflicts,> Arbat finished.

Gonrod nodded to Arbat and Aloth. They

<Gonrod is in overall command of the mission. I

dropped their weapons.

will direct the specific actions of terminating the

Cassie and Marco withdrew. Not far, but a lit-

target. >

tle, at least. Of course I knew that Rachel and To-

I automatically straightened my shoulders.

bias were still to be accounted for.

Apex Level Intelligence is the highest level of ad-

I lowered my tail blade and Estrid lowered her

visory to the War Council. Not soldiers, precisely.

shredder.

They are military adjuncts. Strategists. They

Arbat stepped forward and spoke. He was an

plotted. They planned.

older Andalite. Much of his blue fur was tanned.

And they knew everything.

<After the unexpected victory on Leera, major el-

Did Arbat know the truth about Elfangor?

ements of the fleet were ordered to Earth. But it

About me? Likely. Our eyes met, but I could read

was diverted to the Rakkam Garoo conflict in the

nothing in their ironic, self-possessed gaze.

Nine-Sifter system.>

Gonrod was a fool. Arbat was not.

<What, are you people on call for every war in

"What about Estrid?" Prince Jake asked.

the galaxy?> Marco muttered.

Gonrod looked slightly embarrassed. <Female

"So Earth waits. Again," Prince Jake said.

arisths are a new addition to the military. She

"You're not the fleet, so who are you?"

was assigned to this mission by accident.>

<Unit 0. A sabotage and assassination

Estrid's four eyes stared at blank space.

team,> Arbat explained. <Commander Gonrod is

Blinked rapidly. A sign of embarrassment. I felt

one of the ablest pilots in the fleet. Aloth is a

sorry for her.

warrior.>

47

"In other words, she's a rookie?" Jake said.

Estrid lifted her head. <l have trained hard,>

she replied in a steely tone. <Make no mistake. I

intend to carry my weight.>

Fwapp!

I reeled as the force of her small, female tail

blade caught the side of my neck, knocking me

off balance.

While I struggled to keep my footing, a sec-

ond blow caught me behind the back legs, caus-

ing my knees to buckle. My rear end fell to the

ground and pinned my tail beneath me.

Fwapp!

A third blow sent my front end sprawling. I

TLstrid placed her front left hoof on my

tried to break my fall with my hands. But An-

throat. <Any questions?>

dalite arms are not as strong as human arms. I

<Very impressive,> I conceded.

fell, my chin scraping the grass.

It was a classic and beautifully executed

hald-wurra. Old Andalite for "victory in three swipes."

She removed her hoof and reached down to

assist me. I took her hand. Sprang to my feet.

Pulled her arm behind her back and lifted my tail

blade just in time to block her defensive swipe.

There was a loud clatter as our blades

clashed. I released her arm and disengaged my

tail. Sprang backward.

<l am betting on Aximili.> Aloth eagerly

stepped forward to get a better view.

AQ

<You are a fool,> Arbat told him. <She will

She laughed. <You hope.>

have him in two moves. But I accept the wager.>

CLANG!

WHOOSH!

She blocked my tail blade with hers. The im-

I pulled my head back. Her tail blade, turned

pact of the blades rang out through the trees.

I began to fear I might actually lose. It would

to present the dull edge, missed my throat by

be unbearably humiliating in front of Andalite of-

centimeters.

"Ax?" Prince Jake's voice was full of genuine

ficers.

<Go, Ax-man!> Tobias yelled from wherever

alarm.

he was hiding.

<Please do not interfere,> I said abruptly. I

We sprang apart, both of us breathing hard.

swung my tail hard. Not as hard as I could.

She lowered her head and raced straight at me. I

She drew back her head, just as I expected,

leaped out of the way and she sideswiped me. I

allowing my tail to double back with even more

was knocked at an angle.

momentum and speed. As it neared her head, I

It took me a moment to recover. And to re-

turned it so that the flat side caught her.

member something I had been taught on the first

The blow caught her off guard. She tumbled

day of my training.

to the ground. Rolled and sprang up nimbly again.

Estrid bucked forward, preparing to pivot on

She was not going to be easily defeated. <You

her front legs and deliver another tail blow. I piv-

have a good swing,> she said. <But mine is bet-

oted, too, turning out of the way.

ters

She missed me. Overshot. The weight and

Fwapp! Fwapp!

momentum of her tail sent her tumbling forward.

She was right. I had never seen a tail move so

She rolled over her head and neck and landed on

fast. In the blink of an eye, she caught me with

her back with a cry of pain.

the exact same move. This time I fell and rolled.

Arbat ran forward. <Estrid!>

Sprang up. Not as nimbly.

She lay still for a moment. Then she began to

<Ooh, that had to hurt,> Marco commented.

laugh. <You beat me with the simplest move in

<You did that very gracefully,> Estrid ob-

the lexicons

served.

<Sometimes the simplest solutions are the

I was glad my fatigue had not shown. <Thank

most effectives I replied.

you. You will not see me do it again.>

51

I was not equally controlled. I jerked involun-

If she had been a male, I would have begun to

tarily.

boast. But it seemed less than gracious to boast

about beating a female. Even one who was very,

Prince Jake's eye narrowed. "So you're here

to . . ."

very good.

<To assassinate him,> Arbat answered. <Yes.

Aloth chuckled happily. He had won his bet.

Our mission is to kill Visser Three.>

Prince Jake watched me with a frown. He

shook his head slightly and rolled his eyes up-

ward. It is a human expression with several in-

terpretations. In this case I believe my prince

thought I was behaving foolishly.

I would have helped Estrid, but Arbat was al-

ready pulling her to her feet.

<l apologize,> she said to him. <You have lost

your bet.>

<You fought well,> he said proudly. He looked

at me with new respect in his eyes. <But you

fought better. You have not forgotten your acad-

emy training. And you show the sign of a great

deal of experiences

<There have been battles,> I said.

Arbat gave me a speculative look. <l believe

we have common goals, Aximili. I believe you

and I have much in common. Visser Three killed

your brother. What Visser Three did to my brother

was worse than death.>

"What did he do?" Prince Jake asked.

Arbat's face betrayed no emotion. <My

brother is Alloran. Host body to Visser Three.>

53

some spilled seed. One appeared not to be hun-

gry. Instead of strutting and circling, he stood to

the side, staring about him with an unwinking

eye.

<Does that grackle appear ill?> I asked

Cassie.

Cassie looked at the bird and frowned. "I

can't tell."

The bird flapped its wings and flew up into

the rafters. Walked vigorously along the hayloft,

pecking at stray straws.

"Looks healthy to me," Rachel said.

"Forget the birds," Marco snapped. "We have some stuff to deal with here."

Revenge is pointless and immoral," Cassie

He was right, of course. At least about the im-

portance of the issue. I hoped he was not right

insisted.

about Arbat.

"Revenge is just another word for justice,"

Arbat had revealed that Visser Three occupied

Rachel said, her face hardening.

"He's talking ibout killing his own brother,"

his brother's body. I understood why Arbat had

hesitated when he had the chance to kill the

Cassie argued.

visser. I understood. I sympathized.

"He had a chance. Back at the newspaper,"

And yet, I worried.

Marco said.

Any Andalite — and many humans — would

"He wasn't prepared," Rachel argued.

rather die than continue to serve as host. But to

"Visser Three doesn't give a lot of second

perform the killing or not is an agonizing deci-

chances," Marco said. "Maybe these guys are

sion. As it should and must be.

just blowing smoke. Maybe Arbat isn't as bad as

Marco's mother is a Controller.

he thinks he is. Although Aloth looks like trou-

Prince Jake's brother, Tom, is also a human-

ble."

Controller.

I watched a group of grackles pecking at

55

I did not tell Arbat that I, too, had been un-

"Sounds like a plan to me," Rachel said.

"It's a terrible plan. Don't help him, Ax,"

able to kill Alloran. Not even when the former war

Cassie begged. "Alloran is still alive. Where

prince had begged me for death as the slug that

there's life there's hope."

was Visser Three temporarily abandoned Allo-

"Great cliche," Marco sneered.

ran's poisoned body.

<An Andalite warrior would rather die than

I could not. To my unending shame, I could

serve as a Yeerk host,> I said.

not bring myself to kill him. And just as Alloran

<l guess it's a live-free-or-die thing,> Tobias

had feared, the Yeerks had revived him. Visser

said quietly. He sat on a rail overhead.

Three had reinfested him.

"Well, it's just cowardly," Cassie insisted,

So we had listened as Arbat explained Unit

putting her hands on her hips. "The easy way

O's mission.

out. If you're dead, you don't have to fight for

The War Council had ordered Visser Three killed.

your freedom, do you?"

Visser Three was a continuing embarrassment to

There was a long silence. No one said any-

our people. We had allowed him to keep an An-

thing. I looked to Prince Jake, but he was sitting

dalite host and had been unable to stop him.

with his head in his hands.

Visser Three was an enemy. We were at war. It

"Jake?" Cassie said.

made sense.

No answer.

But why had Arbat been chosen for the mis-

Marco stood impatiently. "Are we all in denial

sion? Surely it must have occurred to someone

or what? Why are we even arguing about this like

that organizing and ordering the death of his

it matters? I mean come on. We know what this is

brother was a particularly difficult thing for him

about. We're sitting here fighting out the same

to do.

disagreements, asking ourselves what we should

"War is one thing," Cassie said now. "Murder do next. There is no next. It's over. It's so over, isn't

is another. What do we gain by helping Arbat and

it? I mean, we fight because we think the Andalites

Aloth assassinate the visser?"

are coming someday, someday. We've been carry-

I spoke. <By Andalite custom, the murder of

ing out a delaying action. Slowing the Yeerks

a family member must be avenged. Perhaps to-

down so it wouldn't be too late by the time the

gether, Arbat and Aloth and I can succeed where

big deal Andalites came along."

each of us alone has failed.>

57

R £

Rachel let out an exhausted sigh. "As much

presented with another complex problem, more

as I hate to admit it, Marco's right. The fleet is

dangers, more futility.

not coming to the rescue. The Andalites aren't

I scanned each of their faces with my stalk

here to help save Earth. They're here so Arbat

eyes. These were not the humans I had known for

and the Andalite command can settle their score

so long.

with the visser. This isn't the Marines storming in

Prince Jake stood. "If the Andalites were seri-

ous about helping us, they'd have sent an invad-

to save us."

ing force. And Cassie's right, they trade Visser

"Exactly!" Cassie said. "It's personal. It's po-Three for some other visser, how does that help

litical. But there's no strategic value to the mis-

us? And Marco's right, too. We're tired. We're so

sion. No real military advantage. So that just

tired there are times I don't think I can get up

makes it murder."

the energy to breathe. And now, instead of help,

"Hey, Cassie, you know what?" Marco snapped.

big-time help, we have what are obviously the

"Who cares? I mean, who cares about all your

dregs of the Andalite forces. Gonrod's a fool.

moralizing? Are you even paying attention? What

Aloth is just a foot soldier. Estrid's a rookie. And

do you think, that the six of us are going to win

Arbat's a guy off on his own."

this war? By ourselves? Four kids, a bird, and an

"So what's our plan?" Rachel demanded.

alien? Six kids who can turn into animals, big

Prince Jake said nothing.

deal! We've hurt the Yeerks, we've frustrated

It was sad. That is what I realized. Very sad.

them, we've slowed them down, but we're peb-

We had turned to Prince Jake so many times and

bles in their shoes. This has always been about

always he had been there with an answer, a plan,

us being the resistance until the Andalites could

or at least a hope.

do a D-Day and save our sorry butts."

Marco slapped Rachel lightly on each cheek.

I had never heard Marco speak so harshly to

"Wise up. Any plans we had — or have — are

Cassie. But more shocking still was that Jake did

basically worth squat at this point. The war is

not step in to silence him.

over. Earth lost."

I had been so distracted by Estrid, by seeing

The explosion was instantaneous.

my own people again that I had overlooked how

Rachel lunged for Marco. "Don't you EVER

devastating this news would be to my friends.

touch me again!" she screamed.

They had hoped for salvation. Instead they were

Rft

59

Marco fell to the ground and shielded his face

with his arms. "Get off me. Get off me, you

wacko!"

"Stop it! Stop it!" Cassie cried.

Tobias fluttered to the ground. Laughed bit-

terly. <That's it. I can't take this anymore. I'm

losing my mind. I'm out. Out of here, out of this, I'm done, man.> Tobias flapped his wings and

flew from the barn.

mm

""ft, right, stop it, Rachel!" Prince Jake pulled her off Marco. Shook her hard.

Rachel reeled back and raked her hair from

her eyes.

Marco stumbled to his feet. "Face facts," he

panted. "The Andalites don't care. This isn't

about Earth. It's about boosting Andalite morale

by wasting the guy who made an Andalite a

host."

There was a long silence. Everyone looked at

me. Staring as if they expected — hoped — that

I would deny the truth of what Marco was saying.

"Ax?" Prince Jake prompted.

I shook my head. What was there to say?

cc\

61

Cassie took a broom from the corner and be-

Prince Jake frowned. "Then what do we want

gan to sweep up the glass. "Count me out, too,"

to do?"

she said softly. "If this war is unwinnable, how do

"I know what I'm going to do." Rachel angrily

we justify killing Hork-Bajir? Basically, they're

kicked a metal bucket. It clattered along the dirt

prisoners of war. Innocent victims."

floor of the barn.

"Cassie," Prince Jake pleaded.

Two injured geese sent up an alarmed gabble.

A tear rolled down her cheek. "I can't do it

A small brown rabbit who had been sitting beside

anymore." She dropped the broom and ran from

a bale of hay dove into a stall and disappeared

the barn.

from sight.

Marco thrust; his hands into his pockets.

Five or six grackles who had been pecking in

"Guess I'm out, too. I'm going to enjoy what time

the dirt squawked and flew up into the rafters.

I've got left. Acquire a surfer dude chick magnet.

"Rachel/1 Cassie said quietly, putting her

Hangout."

hand on Rachel's arm. "Please. We need you."

"Marco," Prince Jake whispered. "Please."

Rachel jerked her arm from Cassie's grasp.

Marco put his hand on Prince Jake's shoulder.

"From now on I'm doing it my way. No more

Let it slip off as he backed away. "Jake. Ax-man.

Geneva Convention warfare. If I'm going down,

Live long and prosper."

I'm taking out all the Yeerks I can before I go."

Prince Jake and I were alone.

She stalked toward the door.

We looked at one another. <l am still yours to

"Rachel!" Prince Jake shouted.

commands I offered him my hand to shake as

Rachel whirled around. Her face red with

humans do.

anger. "I'm through taking orders from you," she Prince Jake gripped it. His eyes were sad. "I

said through clenched teeth. "I'm through with

can't hold you to your oath. The others are right.

Marco and his stupid jokes. I'm through with

It's over. Go on. Do what you have to do. And if

Cassie's hypocrisy."

you can, go home."

Rachel lifted her fist and punched a lantern

Prince Jake squeezed my hand tightly, for-

hanging from a hook. The glass splintered and it

getting that Andalite hands are not as strong as

fell to the ground.

human hands. I knew it was an expression of

"I'm through with all of you," she hissed. And

affection. I tried to return the pressure.

stormed from the barn.

63

an

Prince Jake straightened his shoulders and

lifted his chin. "Good-bye," he said. "And thank you. For everything."

He walked slowly from the barn. His silhouette

disappeared into the bright glare of the morning

sun.

I stood alone.

Remembering.

It was peaceful for the first time in a long

time. No arguments or debates. Quite pleasant,

really.

<Estrid,> I said finally. <lf you are going to

acquire Earth morphs, you must learn how to use

them. Rabbits do not commonly chase large four-

The Andalite ship was cloaked in a large

footed creatures like myself across a field and

empty field outside the fence of a family enter-

then into a barn full of shouting humans.>

tainment center called The Gardens. I knew The

Under the bottom slat of a stall gate, the

Gardens well. Within it was a zoo where Prince

small brown rabbit appeared. Estrid quickly de-

Jake, the others, and I had acquired a number of

morphed and blinked with embarrassment at her

useful morphs.

mistake. <l have much to learn.>

We flew there from the barn. Before we left,

<l will teach you,> I said simply.

Estrid acquired an Earth bird morph. A crow. We

Her four eyes looked at me and shone. <You

flew, but far enough apart to allay suspicion.

will be happier with your own kind.>

As we descended, a square "hole" appeared

in the sky. The upper hatch of the ship. We flew

inside and it slid shut behind us.

<This is the upper deck,> Estrid explained.

<Let us demorph and I will take you down to the

command deck.>

65

fid

I felt grateful for her willingness to protect my

We demorphed and she led me through the

prince.

hallways and corridors that connected what

But what kind of an aristh would agree to

seemed to be several wings. It was large for a

withhold sensitive intelligence information from

warship. Small for a transport.

her superiors?

<This ship is designated the Crusader. It's an Had she been instructed to gain my trust in

MSTL-37,> she explained. <A Mobile Science

order to spy on me?

and Technology Lab ship. Pretty much obsolete

Or was she simply undertrained? Unsuited to

by now.>

the military because of her gender?

<An odd choice of ship to send on such a

I resolved to keep my guard up and my eyes

missions

open. I watched her fingers dance across a con-

She shrugged. <lt was what they could spare.

trol panel as she programmed in an access code

The fighters and transports were needed in Nine-

for me.

Sifters

Her hands were small. And graceful. When

We stood in front of a drop shaft and waited

she was done, she turned her four eyes on me.

for the doors to open. <Estrid, I would like to ask

My heart rates accelerated.

a favor of you.>

I had noticed her four eyes staring at me

Her four eyes looked curiously at my face.

quite a bit.

<l still respect my former prince. We fought

That, too, was odd.

many battles together. I would appreciate if you

The first lesson every aristh learned at the

would refrain from reporting that he was unable

academy was: "Two eyes out front. Two eyes

to maintain control of his warriors. I would not

scanning." Always. A soldier never, ever, focused

want the others to lose their respect for him. He

all his attention on the same spot.

has fought a good fight.>

The shaft dropped us two decks and held us

- <You kept my secret. I will keep yours.>

there. We stepped out onto the command deck.

The drop-shaft door opened and I stepped in

Gonrod, Aloth, and Arbat were waiting.

beside her.

<Aximili!> Arbat stepped forward to greet me.

I was uneasy. My request had been a test. But

His voice was welcoming.

I was not sure whether she had passed or failed.

66

67

Intelligence Advisor is the highest rank in the

I saluted and made the traditional Andalite

intelligence division. An aristh the lowest rank

bow. <Commander Gonrod. My prince has re-

in the regular military. On Earth I had followed,

leased me and I now pledge myself to you.>

not led. Nor had I succeeded in killing Visser

Gonrod appeared mollified by the respect I

Three. Additionally, I had violated — by word

showed him.

and deed — more Andalite military codes than I

<We are quite informal on this mission,> Ar-

could count.

batsaid.

So why was Arbat treating me with such elab-

Gonrod bristled. <But the chain of command

orate respect? Respect that I had not earned by

is clear.>

Andalite standards.

<Of course. Of course,> Arbat said to Gonrod.

He wanted something from me.

<l did not mean to imply otherwises

But what?

Arbat walked over to a workstation where

Aloth calibrated a collection of handheld shred-

ders. <With one of these, I hope to destroy Visser

Three.>

<How can I help?> I asked him.

Arbat took my arm. Guided me to the terraced

perimeter of the deck where we could look out

through the windows at the barren scrub grass

outside. He thought-spoke to me privately. <l am

willing to do anything it takes to destroy Visser

Three. Are you?>

<l look forward to the day when Visser Three

no longer threatens free people,> I answered

guardedly.

<l trust you, Aximili. You have done well to

survive here. I hope to benefit from your advice

and experiences

I shifted my weight uneasily. An Apex Level

69

A R

Aloth snorted. <And retired for the last six

wars! He's a teacher now! A professor of techno-

logical history.>

Like many soldiers, Aloth had little respect

for anyone who was not a soldier.

<He teaches at the academy?> I asked.

<No! At the University of Advanced Scientific

Theory.>

The UAST was full of brilliant thinkers. But

they were notorious for their impracticality. Not

known for their battlefield skills.

It seemed very strange that the War Council

would send an aging professor of technological

history to direct an assassination.

TTrbat broke off when he heard the heavy

But then, the military had obviously under-

gone many changes since I left the home planet.

clop of Aloth's hooves approach.

<Female arisths. Have they worked out well?>

<Aristh Aximili,> said Aloth. <Commander

Aloth snorted again. <l keep waiting for Estrid

Gonrod has asked me to show you around the

to find some way of making herself useful.>

ship.>

<Does she have no duties?>

<Excellent!> Arbat beamed. <Show our new

Aloth shrugged. <None that seem necessary.

comrade around.>

Gonrod and I both tried to make a detour and

I saluted Arbat and quickly followed the as-

drop her at a base. But Arbat was adamant that

sassin down the corridor.

she remain on board.>

<lf I hear one more war story from that old

<Why?>

wind machine I may have to self-destruct,> Aloth

He shrugged. <l cannot think of any reason

said when the shaft doors closed behind us.

why he would want an inexperienced female

I was shocked. But I could not help chuck-

aristh on a mission like this. Especially one who

ling. <How can you talk that way about an Apex

is not exactly regulation issue. She behaves more

Level Intelligence Advisor?>

70

71

like a princess than an aristh. And Arbat treats

<What is on the second tier?>

her that way.>

<Nothing. Used to be a lab. Now it is sealed

up so we do not have to waste energy on environ-

Aloth's lazy insolence was gone now. He

mental adaptation conversion. Think you can get

seemed lost in troubled thought.

around without getting lost?>

<Does her presence concern you?> I ven-

<l believe I can. Where is my action station in

tured, prepared for him to snub me. He did not.

the event the ship comes under attack?>

Instead, he resumed his lazy warrior's swag-

Aloth shrugged. <This ship does not have

ger. <l suppose not. She is probably here be-

enough firepower to stop a broken-down Skrit Na

cause inter-gender staffing is some pet project

freighter. If a hot Bug fighter comes after us . . .

Arbat sold the War Council on. Or maybe she is

put it this way: If we're attacked your action sta-

somebody's niece and he got her fast-tracked

tion is kissing your tail good-bye.>

through the academy.>

Aloth laughed cynically. I did not see the hu-

Aloth gave me a significant look and laughed

mor.

cynically. I had the feeling I had just missed

<Come on. That is the tour. Let us go back to

something. But if that were true about Estrid, it

the command deck. The old wheeze wants to

would explain many things.

"debrief you.">

<l guess none of us are exactly what you

would call "regulation issue,"> Aloth added with awry laugh.

<No? What do you mean by that?>

<Nothing I feel like explaining to an aristh}>

he said with a chuckle. <Not even the brother of

Elfangor. Now stop asking me questions and lis-

ten for a change. You might learn something.>

This was the dynamic I understood. The good-

natured snubbing a lowly aristh would expect

from an experienced warrior.

<We are on the third tier. There is the engine

room. Storage. Quarters. Yours are at the end.>

72

73

<AIIoran's from the old days. Back before we

used DNA encryptions

<| see. Then our most likely means of finding

him would be at the next meeting of The Sharing

at the Community Center. He often attends. Not

always. But often. Failing that, he is often in the

Yeerk pool complex.>

I explained what The Sharing was, and how

Visser Three was often present in human morph

to address those who attended. I told them also

about the location of the Yeerk pool.

<How many Yeerks would be present at the

meeting?> Arbat asked.

<We are only interested in one Yeerk,> Gonrod

I Moments later Gonrod, Aloth, Arbat, and I

snapped. <Our orders are clear and specific. One

met on the command deck. Estrid was not pre-

target. And then we are done. If Aloth can hit the

sent.

target>

<Tell us about Visser Three.> Arbat seemed

<Aloth will hit the target,> Arbat said coldly.

eager. Gonrod less so. <Where is he when he is

<Will I? It is not an easy thing to do,> Aloth

said. <Take aim at a target, a living target, aim

not on his Blade ship?>

for the kill, fire, watch to see the damage. Take a

<l do not know,> I answered. <How did you

life. And this is no ordinary target, Arbat, but

find him in the newspaper office?>

your brother. J have a brother, too. I wonder,

<We did not,> Arbat said. <We found you.

when the time comes, whether you will find it so

Our ship sensors were programmed to locate your

easy to give the final order.>

DNA pattern. We were able to download it from

Arbat ignored Aloth. Or tried to.

your academy records.>

<lt is a question we would all like answered,>

<Could we not do the same with Alloran's?> I

Gonrod said.

asked.

74

75

<lt is a question that will be answered when I

<There will be no enlargement of the target!>

give that order and rid the galaxy of the Abomina-

Gonrod snapped. <We carry out our orders. And

t i o n ^ Arbat snapped. It was the first time I had

then we leave.>

seem him lose what my human friends would call

I saw Estrid in the arched doorway that led to

"his cool."

the exit corridor. <Commander Gonrod,> she an-

He recovered quickly. <l need as much infor-

nounced. <l am going on a tour of The Gardens

and would like Aximili to accompany me. He can

mation as I can gather. May I continue with the

familiarize me with Earth creatures.>

questioning of this aristh?>

I drew in my breath. I had never heard an

<Very well.> Gonrod's permission was grudg-

aristh "announce" his plans and desires to a su-ing. He peered nervously at the various surveil-

perior officer. Typically, he waited for orders.

lance screens. It was something he did every few

Gonrod's eye stalks quivered angrily.

seconds. He seemed extraordinarily ill at ease for

a commander.

Estrid appeared to have no idea she had com-

<The Yeerk pool? Would it be possible to gain

mitted a breach of military conduct.

access?> Arbat pressed.

I watched unhappily. I hated to see her re-

<We will not go there!> Gonrod insisted

buked.

shrilly.

Strangely, Gonrod did not do so. <Very well,>

Aloth suppressed a snicker.

he answered curtly.

Gonrod threw Aloth a belligerent look. <The

<Come, Aximili,> she said happily.

aristh has presented us with a perfectly good tar-

I followed her to the exit hatch. The Earth

get. We will attack this meeting of The Sharing.

hour was late. The Gardens were closed. There

Tomorrow morning. We will hit Visser Three. And

were no humans to watch us disembark and de-

we will leave.>

scend to the ground on the cloaked ramp.

Arbat opened his hands, as if appealing to

Still, I was uneasy.

Gonrod's reason. <Commander

Estrid was beautiful. She was a well-trained

T if the targets

fighter.

were enlarged, and we were to kill many, perhaps

But she was no soldier.

thousands, of Yeerks, surely that would be

Who was she?

preferable.>

76

77

in the history of the academy. Arbat says he's a

top sniper.>

<Arbat says.> Again.

Suddenly, I understood. How could I have

been so obtuse?

Estrid was Arbat's niece! Of course. That was

what Aloth had been hinting.

Arbat might now be a professor of technologi-

cal history, but he was still Apex Level Intelli-

gence. He whipped a big tail at the War Council.

No wonder Estrid was allowed so much li-

cense.

Estrid's four eyes looked to me. <l won-

der . . .>

i . n the daytime pigeons and squirrels crowded

<Yes?>

the walkways of The Gardens.

<The pellets called jelly beans. I would love

But at night the sidewalks are clear. There

to taste them again before leaving Earth.>

was no sound except our eight hooves clopping

<l believe we could find some pellets close by.>

slowly along. Normally I might have worried

Side by side, we trotted through the cool,

about security personnel spotting us. But of

dark night toward the main building. The Visi-

course Estrid knew nothing about this. And I was

tors' Center. Outside the building was something

confident that we would not be bothered.

Jake and Marco called a "vending machine." A

<Arbat says Earth has more variety of species

large glass box containing delicious foods.

than any other known planet. When we scanned

No cinnamon buns or jelly beans. But many

DNA patterns for you the computers were nearly

other things that would delight Estrid.

overwhelmed.>

I turned and delivered a kick to the machine.

<Tell me about Arbat and Gonrod,> I said.

Brightly colored packets fell from hooks inside

the machine down into a bin into which I was

<Arbat says Gonrod is an excellent pilot. And

able to reach.

that Aloth scored the highest target impact rate

78

79

It was probably not a good thing to do. Hu-

She laughed. "Mouth-speaking is very amus-

mans are very touchy about ownership.

ing. Uh Mew Zing."

<What are they?> Estrid asked.

"Yes, mouths are very interesting. M&M's.

<You will enjoy them,> I promised, beginning

Chock-lut. Watch this . . ."

to morph to human.

I stuck out my tongue and let it rest lightly on

Estrid's eye stalks receded into her skull. Her

my upper lip. Then I blew out my breath. "Thhh-

legs and arms retracted. She lay on the ground, a

hbbbbbbbbbbb!!!"

round ball of blue-and-tan fur.

Estrid shrieked with laughter.

The fur disappeared and became smooth and

I did it again. "Thhhhbbbbbbbb!!!"

pink. Then, with one burst, the round ball be-

"What does it mean?" she gasped.

came a human. Fully clothed. In what humans

"It is called a raspberry," I said. "I do not would consider normal clothing.

know why."

I was amazed. I had never seen such an effi-

"It would be very hard . . . hard-duh to have a

cient morph. And the ability to morph something

mouth all the time. Tie-yem. Time-uh. It would

other than skintight bicycle shorts and T-shirts

be very difficult to concentrate on a plintcona-

took almost supernatural powers of concentra-

rhythmic equation for more than two minutes.

tion.

One would be too busy tasting chocolate and

"You are an estreen . . . nuh," I said.

making rasp . . . berries . . . suh!"

"My mmmmmother. . . ruh. She was a

"Thhhhhbbbbbbb!" The vibrations made my

morph . . . ph dan . . . dancer. . . ruh! Dancer-

lips tingle.

uh. I learned much from herrrrr!"

She leaned close, watching my mouth in-

I opened one of the packets and poured the

tently. So close I could feel the tendrils of her hu-

man curls tickling my face.

contents into her palm.

"They have another use for mouths," I said.

She popped them into her mouth and her face

"In addition to eating and making mouth-

began to glow. "Bright pellets . . . ssss. Wonder-

sounds?"

ful .. . ful-luh. Jelly beanssssuuhh. More. More."

"Yes. Would you like to experience it?"

I poured the rest of them into her hand. "Not

"Is it pleasurable?" she asked.

jelly beansuh. M&M's. The flavor is called choco-

I shrugged my large human shoulders. "I do

late. Chock-lut"

80

81

not know. I have never performed the action be-

fore. It requires two individuals, each possessing

a minimum of one mouth."

"Let us experiment. Ment. Expeeeeriment."

I took Estrid's face in my hands and I pressed

my lips against hers.

I have no words to describe the sensation,

It did not tickle the mouth or cause my lips to

tingle.

It caused a chaotic flutter in my stomach.

Small bumps broke out up and down my arms. I

only had one heart now, but it thundered.

I pulled away.

"That was pleasant," Estrid said. "But not as Later, Estrid and I flew through the night.

pleasant as chocolate."

Side by side. This, too, was pleasurable.

"No. But pleasurable," I said.

I almost wished we could spend the rest of

"Yes."

our lives like this. Together. Free. No more war.

"Yes."

No more duty. No more fear.

It was possible. If we remained in morph be-

yond two hours, we would become nothlits, like

Tobias. We could go where we would never be

found.

Not by the Yeerks. Not by the Andalites. And

not by the Animorphs.

For one brief moment, I considered it.

<Where are we going?> she asked.

I remembered the way she had looked at me

82

83

as we kissed. With admiration? Trust? Some

<lt is Rachel,> I told Estrid sadly. <The angry

other emotion?

one.>

We could simply fly away. We could become

The teenagers ran screaming into the restau-

something or someone else. Life would no doubt

rant.

be simpler. Life would be a matter of life or

Rachel lumbered through the parking lot.

death, survival or failure, simple, black or white

BLAM!BLAM!CRASH!

choices.

One by one, she bashed in windshields and

But in reality life seldom comes in simple

windows, slammed foot-deep dents into the sheet

shades of black and white. The choices in the

metal. Horns and alarms wailed.

real world, the choices we most often face, are

Whooo-OOP! Whooo-OOP!

all in shades of gray. And I lived in the real

SKKareeeeee!

world.

Rachel raged through the restaurant door.

<l would like to see my old friends once

The people inside screamed in terror. Broke

more,> I said.

windows. Poured back into the parking lot.

<Why?>

<What is she doing?> Estrid asked. <Are

<We were together through more battles than

those human-Controllers?>

I can count,> I said. <They are no longer my

<The restaurant is managed by a human-Con-

comrades in arms. But I am not indifferent to

troller^ I answered. <l do not know about the

them.>

other humans. I fear her destruction is indiscrim-

<Loyalty is admirable,> she said.

inate. Prince Jake would never have allowed it.>

<Yes. It is,> I said dejectedly.

I saw someone else come out of the restau-

We flew over town toward the barn. Over the

rant.

mall. Past the school. Over a cluster of stores

Cassie.

and restaurants. I took my time.

She ran into the shadows and disappeared.

Then, <Oh, no! Estrid, circle down with me,

Moments later, an owl emerged from the dark-

but remain at a safe distances

ness and swooped into the sky.

A terrible spectacle was unfolding below. In

<Hurry.> We followed Cassie from a distance.

the parking lot of a McDonald's a grizzly bear was

She flew back to the barn.

terrorizing a group of humans.

Estrid and I flew quietly through a hole in the

84

85

roof and perched on a beam where we could

"Shut up, Marco!" she yelled. "Jake! Are you watch without being seen.

going to help me or not?"

Marco lay on top of several bales of hay. He

Two grackles in the rafters attacked a third,

was drinking a soda and reading a magazine.

driving it away. Jake jumped and dove back down

"Marco!" Cassie cried, in human form now.

into the stall.

"You've got to help me, Rachel's going totally

"Not." Marco smirked and continued reading.

postal at McDonald's."

"What about Rachel?" Cassie cried, her voice

"Not my problem. Me, I like Burger King."

breaking.

Cassie snatched the magazine from Marco's

Marco yawned. "Listen, if she shows at the

hands. "She's going to kill somebody."

beach tomorrow, I'll talk to her. Now, why spoil

"What's it to you? I thought you were out of

her fun?"

this."

Cassie stood for a moment, shaking with fury.

"We can't just stand by while innocent people

"YOU JERKS!" she screamed. "GET OUT!"

get hurt."

<l have seen enough,> I told Estrid. We qui-

Marco shrugged. "Speak for yourself."

etly made our way out of the hole in the barn

"Where is Jake?" Cassie demanded. "He'll

roof, and took wing.

help me."

<l pity you, Aximili,> Estrid said. <How did

Marco took the magazine from Cassie's hand

you endure it? How could you bear to live among

and reclined again. "Don't count on it."

such inferior creatures?>

"Why? Where is he?"

<They have fought well in the past. But they

"I'm in here," a voice answered.

are demoralized by the prospect of certain de-

Cassie peered over the door of one of the

feats

stalls. "Jake! What are you doing there?"

Her voice was skeptical. <Perhaps. But no

Prince Jake's head emerged. "Hiding. Tom's

Andalite would behave so. Even in defeat, we are

proud.>

been picking on me all afternoon. I can't take it

She sounded arrogant and vain.

anymore."

Like me.

"Then fight back!" Cassie cried.

Marco snickered. "Whoaaa! What happened

to our resident nonviolence advocate?"

86

87

touring The Gardens,> Estrid told him. No men-

tion of the barn.

Arbat clopped into the room. <What did you

learn?>

Estrid and I drew a simple map of the Commu-

nity Center. Then Gonrod ordered us to get a good

night's rest. We would attack the next morning.

<l would be honored to keep the first watch,>

I said.

Gonrod nodded. <Very well. But touch noth-

ings

The crew left the deck and disappeared.

The deep humming of the engine and atmos-

pheric adjusters thickened the silence. I was free

< I hat is the third time tonight I have seen

to think now.

that fierce-looking bird with the sharp beak!>

I thought about Estrid. Her grace. Her intelli-

Estrid said.

gence. How much I enjoyed watching her in bird

We were approaching the ship. I looked to

morph. How much I enjoyed kissing her in hu-

where a red-tailed hawk soared high overhead.

man morph.

Above a large grackle.

I smiled, remembering her delight over the

<Earth has many species of birds,> I re-

M&M's.

minded her. <And each species can have hun-

Then my breath caught in my chest.

dreds of thousands or even millions of members.>

I had missed something. Something impor-

<lt looks familiar.>

tant.

<Birds all look similar,> I said.

Probably because of my feelings for her.

We flew through the hatch. Demorphed and

"It would be very difficult to concentrate on a

returned to the command deck.

plintconarhythmic equation for more than two

<Where have you been?> Gonrod demanded.

minutes."

<We went to look over the target site after

Plintconarhythmic physics!

88

89

Cutting-edge biochemical engineering. Even

DATA! AVAILABLE TO APEX LEVEL CLEARANCE

Andalite intellectuals do not attempt to learn its

ONLY! ENTER CODE.>

elegant but complex formulae and postulates.

Fwapp!

They say that no one really understands it. It

A tail blade was pressed hard against my

requires thinking coherently in n-dimensions. It

throat.

is the plaything of geniuses.

<Spying is a capital offense.> Aloth.

Why would Estrid be concentrating on a plint-

<l am not spying.>

conarythmic equation?

<Then what are you doing?>

<lt means nothings I told myself. <lt is a

<l have forgotten much,> I lied. <l was trying

saying. A pleasantry.> Like when Marco says that

to familiarize myself with the workings of the

something "isn't exactly rocket science." Or when ship.>

Rachel sneers that someone is a "regular Ein-

He released me and I let out a long breath of

stein." Just a phrase to illustrate Estrid's point

relief.

that taste can be distracting.

His stalk eyes perused the screen. He saw the

Just a saying.

message. His eye stalks slowly turned back

Gonrod told me to touch nothing. Nonethe-

toward me. <Trying to familiarize yourself with

less, I approached the access unit on the main

the ship? Or with your comrades?>

console.

<Both. I would not regard that as spying.>

Estrid's four eyes had been on the control

Aloth slouched against the console. <So. It

panel when she programmed in my access code.

has begun to occur to you that you have fallen in

I had watched her fingers.

with a bad crowd? Eh, brother of Elfangor?>

I would use that code now.

<l am simply curious.>

I pulled up the stats on the ship. Estrid was

Aloth looked intensely at me. <l trained for a

right. An old MSTL-37. Obsolete for scientific re-

while under your brother. Different from most

search and pressed into service as a medical

princes. Most of them . . . it is almost as if life

transport for the wounded and dead in the last

has never handed them anything but easy graz-

two wars.

ing. But Elfangor... he had lived. You could

I tried to call up the personnel records.

tell. He had seen things.>

A green light began to blink. <ENCRYPTED

<Yes. He had.> I did not know what else to

90

91

say. I did not trust Aloth's intensity. The assassin

<Yes, you see, Aristh Aximili, I am not a hero was a dangerous person.

of the people. But at least I am not a coward.>

Aloth laughed his cynical laugh. <You want to

<Are you saying I am?>

know the secrets? You want to know who we are?

He laughed. Surprised. <You? No, I meant

I will tell you, little Aximili. You know what I was

Gonrod. He was in the same prison as me,

doing before I "volunteered" for this mission?> though he faced a lesser sentence. His crime was

<No.>

cowardice under fire.>

<Sitting in military prison. Life sentences

A coward and a murderer. Both Andalite offi-

I took a step back.

cers. Were these "my own kind"?

<Do not fear me, little aristh. I am no danger

<We were offered the promise of pardon if we

to you. My crime was that I had no use for

successfully completed this mission,> Aloth con-

hypocrisy.>

tinued.

<Hypocrisy is not illegal.>

<And what about Arbat?>

<Not all hypocrisy,> he agreed. <lf it were,

The assassin shook his head. <As far as I

what would we do for leaders? They would all be

know, he is here to assassinate Visser Three.

in jail. Now me, I was caught selling organs. Off

Gonrod is a coward, but an excellent pilot. His

the battlefield. They are of no use to the dead,

job was to get us here in a substandard ship.

right? Why should someone not make use of

Mine is to kill Visser Three if Arbat can get me

them? And why should I not receive something

close enough to do so. With your help Arbat may

succeed. Meaning that I succeeds

for my trouble?>

The Andalite Battle Code prohibits the selling

<l see. That makes sense.>

<Does it? I am not sure anything makes sense

of organs off the battlefield. It might encourage

on this missions

the less scrupulous to hasten a comrade's end.

I did not have anything to say to that. But I

Or cause it.

had a question. <Aloth, who is really in com-

A crack shot and a sniper could ensure a

mand of this unit? Arbat? Gonrod? Or is it you?>

steady supply of organs. No wonder he had been

Aloth laughed again. <Sometimes, little aristh,

sentenced to life.

I think it is the female.>

I was careful not to let my disgust show.

92

93

the south door. Stop any guards before they raise

the alarm. Aximili and I will do the same at the east

entrance. Both halls are long. Any disturbance will

not be heard in the main meeting room.>

Aloth handed out shredders. When he gave

Arbat his, Aloth said, <You know, Professor, if

you get there before me, you can do the job.>

Arbat answered coldly, <lf I do, I will.>

<Shall we make a wager on it?>

<No. We will do better than a wager, /will kill

Visser Three. That is an order, Aloth. You will

stand by unless I fail. Is that clear?>

<Arbat, Aloth is a trained sniper. You —>

Gonrod began.

<Treparefor landings Gonrod instructed.

Arbat drew his shredder, twisted the power

Our ship hovered over the park. Cloaked, of

setting, and said, <Aristh? Grab that empty data course. For the last hour we had watched people

disc. Throw it. Any direction, any speed.>

arrive.

I did not know whom to obey, what to do. But

Visser Three's limousine had pulled up to the

Gonrod did not countermand the order.

entrance five Earth minutes earlier.

I grabbed the disc. It was the size of a human

The ship's sensors had probed the building

coin. I threw it with a quick flick of my wrist. It

and given us a map of the Center's interior lay-

flew over Arbat's shoulder.

out, including one extremely large meeting room.

Arbat followed it with his stalk eyes, aimed,

The sensors had even located what we be-

fired over his shoulder. The disc flamed.

lieved to be yet another entrance to the Yeerk

It was not an impossible shot. I might have

pool. A room that seemed to have no floor. No fi-

made it. With practice. But it was an impressive

nite measurable depth.

shot nevertheless.

<l remind you our mission is specific and lim-

<One does not rise to Apex Level without

ited^ Gonrod said. <Aloth and Arbat, go in through

some basic skills,> Arbat said.

94

95

Aloth nodded. <You take the first shot, Pro-

the ship been visible it would have made quite a

fessors

bizarre sight, a large metal ovoid shape resting

Aloth handed me a shredder and began care-

like some nesting bird atop the Community Cen-

ter.

fully checking his own with the slow, practiced

We descended the steep ramp to the gravel

ease of a person who had done this many times

roof. The jump to the ground would be easy

before.

enough.

<What about me?> Estrid said.

It was risky to attack in our own Andalite

<l have decided you will stay on the ship,>

forms. But it was the only way we could get to the

Arbat said. <That is to say, Commander Gonrod

building with our shredders. And there was a mil-

decided,> he amended.

itary purity about attacking as the Andalite war-

<l refuse!> she protested hotly.

riors we were.

Gonrod whirled on her. <You refuse an order

<Good fortune, everyone,> Gonrod said.

from your commanding officer?> he thundered.

<We will need it,> Aloth said mordantly.

<But I . . .>

<Let us rock and roll,> I said, and laughed at

<SILENCE! YOU WILL DO AS YOU ARE

the meaninglessness of the statement.

ORDERED!>

Aloth and Arbat galloped swiftly to the south

There was a stunned pause.

face and leaped over the parapet of the roof.

It was Arbat who had exploded.

Gonrod and I ran at right angles to them. I

Estrid recoiled slightly. Trembled. But obeyed.

leaped, landed easily on the grass below.

<There is a first,> Aloth said. <The girl actu-

Two human-Controllers were on guard.

ally listening to someone.>

"Anda —"

I watched Estrid carefully. She was listening

Tseeewww! Tseeewww!

to some private thought-speak from Arbat. She

They slumped.

was angry. And something else . . . scared?

Gonrod jerked his head, indicating that I

Gonrod may have been a failure as a com-

should follow him. I could hear Visser Three. He

mander, but he was a genuinely great pilot. He

was in human morph. His powerful voice boomed

laid the ship down to a perfect hover not six

through the facility.

inches from the roof of the main building. Had

96

97

<That is him,> I said.

three human-Controllers drop. One. Two. The

We made our way up thickly carpeted steps to

third spun and raised his weapon. And down he

the second floor.

went.

Tseeew! Tseeew!

Impossible not to feel pride mixed with the

Two more human-Controllers dropped before

fear. Within seconds this gaggle of Andalite re-

they could so much as yell.

jects had penetrated the Yeerk security. All with-

I began to wonder if we might, just might,

out an alarm being raised.

manage to do this thing.

But now Visser Three was demorphing. This

The central meeting room was two stories

was a meeting of the Inner Sharing. Controllers

high with a second-floor balcony surrounding it

all. There were none of the vague, simple fools

on four sides.

who clustered in the swimming pool, the game

A human-Controller heard us. Turned.

room, the playground, and thought that this orga-

Fwapp!

nization would give them a sense of belonging

I hit him, knocked him to his knees, and hit

they lacked.

him again to make sure he stayed down for a

These were not the "wanna-be's," as Marco

while.

would call them. These were the hard-core.

We looked down from the balcony. Visser

Visser Three stood there now, an Andalite-

Three was on a stage, at the podium. No doubt

Controller. The Andalite-Controller.

the podium was shielded, armored. But the up-

And Arbat was within twenty feet. An easy

per third of the visser's human morph was in

shot. A clear shot. He could kill the Abomination.

plain view.

And his brother.

I could kill him. I could. Should.

I knew suddenly, with the clarity that some-

But I felt relieved knowing that Arbat had

times comes from moments of great stress, that

taken the honor of the first shot. Relieved that I

Arbat would miss.

did not have to take aim, squeeze the shot,

I lifted my shredder and took careful aim.

watch the visser's head flame.

Tseeewww!

Across the room, on the balcony nearest

Shredder fire streaked past Visser Three's

Visser Three, just above him to his right, I saw

head.

98

99

Arbat had fired.

He'd blown a hole in the curtains gathered on

the far side of the stage.

An easy shot.

A miss.

C-hff^FT-E-R 5 U

!

fll loth fired.

Tseeew!

Too late! The visser was down, whipped around

behind the podium.

Still in my view. Still in my sights.

Had to fire. He'd murdered Elfangor.

Had to fire.

Aloth fired again. The podium sizzled and

jumped with electrical discharge.

Had to . . .

Reinforcements coming. Two Hork-Bajir burst

in through a side door. Why were the human-Con-

trollers not firing?

Of course. They were disarmed. The paranoid

leader could not stand up there and address a

100

101

meeting hall full of armed men, Controllers or

scrambled up to the balcony using their com-

not.

rades' various blades and horns as steps.

Gonrod fired.

Tseeewww! Tseeewww! Tseeewww! Tseeewww!

The visser's back was seared by the beam.

Tseeewww!

Gonrod fired wildly. In panic. His shots were

<Shoot, Aximili, shoot!> I screamed at my-

doing damage, but not enough.

self. <Shoot!>

And me? I stood frozen.

I fired. Did not even know I had, did not real-

Four Hork-Bajir propelled themselves over the

ize I had made the decision.

balcony railing.

I felt the warmth of the weapon in my hand.

Tseeewww! Tseeewww! Tseeewww! Tseeewww!

Saw the beam incinerate the stage floor where

Four Hork-Bajir dropped with neatly placed

Visser Three had been just seconds before.

holes through their chests. The bodies fell heav-

Miss!

ily. Gonrod must have shot. I turned my eye stalk

No, not a miss. I had waited too long. I had

to look. But he was no longer with me.

let the moment pass.

Aloth! He had come running around the bal-

The visser was morphing something small. A

cony.

part of me, a far-off, rational part of me noted

Arbat? Where was he? And where was Gonrod?

that the visser had begun at last to learn that

<Jump!> Aloth yelled.

sometimes bigger was not better.

I snapped out of my trance. Side by side

Hork-Bajir bodyguards closed in around the

Aloth and I ran down the balcony and hurdled

podium. Screaming human-Controllers poured

over the side. I landed badly, sprawled amidst

out of the meeting room, emptying it in seconds.

chairs. I scrambled up. Nothing broken.

But the meeting room did not stay empty for

Tseeew! Tseeew!

long. Five doors around the room opened, and in

Aloth fired into the mass of Hork-Bajir.

charged a battalion of Hork-Bajir.

Above!

Gonrod let out a gasp. A battalion of Hork-Bajir

Two Hork-Bajir dropping down onto Aloth.

is terrifying to behold.

Tseeew!

The Hork-Bajir spotted me and Gonrod on

I fired and hit one in the arm. The other fell

the balcony almost immediately. With surprising

hard. I used my tail and dropped him.

agility, they formed a pyramid. Other Hork-Bajir

102

103

Aloth gave me a curt nod. Then, <Let us get

All he needed was room so he could get up. And

out of here, Aristh.>

out.

We ran, out through one of the doors. Out into

The Hork-Bajir began to retreat.

a corridor. Arbat was there. He was firing me-

With one eye stalk I watched Aloth climb to

thodically from left to right, forcing back the

his feet.

Hork-Bajir.

Tseeewww!

<Arbat! This way. We will cover you!> Aloth

Aloth sank to the floor. He was dead. Shot

yelled.

cleanly through the head.

Aloth and I began to fire into the mass of the

By Arbat.

enemy. Arbat fell back to join us. The Hork-Bajir

An accident?

were taking cover in doorways.

No. Impossible!

<Visser Three! He escaped!> Arbat cried.

<Retreat!> Arbat ordered, thundering past

<Forget Visser Three. The mission is aborted.>

me.

<Where is Gonrod?> I asked.

Aloth was dead. Gonrod probably as well. Ar-

<l think he is . . .> Aloth looked to the left,

bat was in charge.

momentarily diverting his eye stalks.

Murderer!

Hork-Bajir, behind us!

My mind reeled. What could I do? The Hork-

I spun.

Bajir were massing for a new charge.

<Arggghhhhh!> Aloth fell heavily, both front

I retreated.

knees slashed by a Hork-Bajir. He lifted his

Ran. Ran with my brain replaying it again and

weapon but the Hork-Bajir brought his elbow

again. Arbat had shot Aloth!

blade down and slashed him from shoulder to

Out. Into the air of Earth.

hock.

<l have you,> Estrid called tersely from the

I fired. The Hork-Bajir fell. Then I advanced.

ship. <Keep going. Just ahead of you!>

Wading in and strafing as I had seen Arbat do.

The cloaked ship shimmered and appeared,

My tail snapped and whistled as it sliced the

hovering above the playground. Two children and

hands of a Hork-Bajir who attempted to grab my

their parents would have a story to tell that no

arm. Other Hork-Bajir drew back in alarm.

one would believe.

Aloth was hurt. Badly. But he could survive.

I leaped for the ramp, Arbat right beside me.

104

105

The cloak came down.

Arbat answered smoothly. <We could not take the

<Aloth?> Estrid demanded.

chance that another Andalite body would be-

<Get us out of here!> Arbat yelled.

come a Yeerk host.>

The ship powered up and away.

I shook. With anger. Fear. And with confu-

When we reached the command deck, I drew

sion.

in my breath. Gonrod was already on board.

Arbat had had two opportunities to kill Visser

Working frantically at the controls, Estrid beside

Three. He had failed in both instances. And he

had killed the officer who had been ordered to

him.

kill the visser if he did not.

<l am throwing out plexine vapor over a two-

thousand-mile grid,> he said. <That should keep

What was going on here? What possible mo-

tive could he have for sabotaging his own unit's

their Blade ship sensors from picking up our at-

mission?

mospheric disruption. Where is Aloth?>

Estrid spoke to me. <Aximili. You are upset.

<Aloth is dead,> I told him tightly. <He

Calm yourself.>

looked away from the fight — looked for you —

<She is right,> Arbat said. <Let us not mourn

and was injured.>

a fallen warrior. Let us honor his memory by

Gonrod yanked a lever. The ship made a sharp

avenging him.>

vertical ascent. <l thought it best to retreat for

He turned both eye stalks in my direction.

strategic reasons.> Gonrod's voice was defen-

<Now, tell me about the Yeerk pool.>

sive.

Retreated? Gonrod had run like a coward!

<The record will reflect that you retreated for

strategic reasons in order to allow us to escape,>

Arbat said as we rocketed upward. <lt will also

reflect that I terminated Aloth because he was

too injured to escape,> he added, holding my

gaze.

<He was not!> I protested. <He could have

gotten safely back to the ship. With our help.>

<But we could not take that risk, could we?>

106

107

you of command, you would then have no choice

but to follow my orders.>

<Relieve me? On what grounds?>

<l believe you know.>

Gonrod's voice quivered with indignation. <But

the War Council . . .>

<l will take full responsibility^ Arbat assured

him. <The War Council and I have — an under-

standings

It was a masterpiece of understatement. The

Apex Level of Andalite Intelligence pretty much

ran the War Council.

<The aristh will lead us in,> Arbat told Gonrod.

<Tonight>

<LlJe will not attack the pool,> Gonrod in-

Gonrod did not argue. Estrid remained impas-

sisted as he expertly landed the ship near the

sive. She took neither side, but of course, in

pond where we had held our initial meeting.

practical effect, that made her Arbat's ally.

<We must,> Arbat told him.

Gonrod landed the ship back at The Gardens.

<Those are not my orders from the War Coun-

We all agreed that we needed rest. All we could

c i l ^ Gonrod's voice was almost tearful. <l am in

possibly have agreed on at that particular mo-

command. I refuse to attack the pool without or-

ment.

ders. It is too risky. Do you understand? If we

I went to my quarters. Moments later I was off

were captured, the Yeerks would have more An-

the ship and in the air.

dalite hosts. You said so yourself. That is why you

I needed computer skills well beyond my own.

It is one thing to penetrate human computer se-

killed Aloth.>

curity — if you can even call it security — it was

Arbat's answer was laced with menace. <Let

a different thing altogether to abrogate Apex

me remind you that I am Apex Level Intelligence.

Level Security measures.

If I chose to exercise my prerogatives and relieve

109

I returned to the ship an hour later. In time

<Faster,> I said.

for my own watch on deck.

He pressed a finger into one of the console

<l am your relief, Gonrod,> I told him.

ports and his joints whirred and clicked. "Here it

He seemed far away. Distracted. But he ac-

comes."

knowledged me and returned the ritual reply. <A

I saw the computer screen light up.

most welcome relief. The ship is yours.>

<ENCRYPTED DATA! APEX LEVEL CLEAR-

Gonrod left the deck.

ANCE ONLY! ENTER CODE.>

I took a deep breath. Entered myself in the

The screen began to blink. Counters appeared.

computer as the officer on duty. Then I said, <lt

Images scrolled past in a blur.

is safe.>

"Here we go. We're in. Who are we looking

The panel of monitors before me shimmered.

for?"

And out of the image stepped a thing that seemed

<Start with Aloth-Attamil-Gahar.>

to be made of steel and ivory. A machine whose

There was a brief pause. Then Aloth's name

form vaguely suggested that of an Earth canine.

and record appeared. He was already listed as

The android met my gaze, then shimmered

"Killed in Action."

again. Where the android had stood was now a

<Request detail,> I instructed.

man who called himself Mr. King.

A pause.

Mr. King. The Chee. Android.

"He was killed in action in some system called

<Your holographic technology is genuinely

Rakkam Garoo," Mr. King said. "A ship called impressive,> I said. <Thank you for your help.>

Ralek River. The ship was destroyed."

"The Chee owe you," he said simply. "Now,

<l see. NowGonrod-lsfall-Sonilli.>

let's see about this security system."

Pause.

He switched off his familiar appearance and

"Same story. Identical."

reverted to his true form.

<Arbat-Elivat-Estoni?>

<Can you not remain disguised while here? I

Pause.

am concerned that someone may come up here.>

The android turned his canid face to me. "You

"It's a question of energy demand," he said.

have a bunch of unlucky friends. This one was

"I can stay 'human' and do it slow, or I can divert

also killed aboard the Ralek River."

all energy to the job and get it done faster."

<Yes. Quite a coincidences

110

111

"Is that it?"

<One more name: Estrid-Corill-Darrath?>

Pause.

"No record."

<Try again.>

"Says, 'No record of personnel by that name/"

<Try accessing the academy files.>

This time the pause was longer.

"Nope," Mr. King said. "Nothing."

I was feeling sick. Scared. Impossible. It was

all impossible.

A tired old ship sent on a vital mission staffed

by misfits who were already listed as dead.

My hearts began a dull, sickening thud.

J. thanked Mr. King for his assistance and

The Andalite War Council did not expect this

then left the command deck in search of some

ship to return. The Andalite War Council did not

answers.

want this ship to return.

I took the drop shaft to the third tier, moving

This ship was on a suicide mission.

slowly and cautiously. I passed Aloth's empty

quarters. Gonrod's door was closed. So was

Estrid's, but I knocked softly.

No answer.

I pressed my ear against the door to see if I

could hear her stirring. I heard nothing. At least

nothing from inside Estrid's room.

A vibration in the wall. Sound conducted by

the metal tubing that reinforced the seams of the

ship.

113

n ?

I heard the clink of plex against plex. The

contaminant and carefully began to place a cap

faint rattle of metal. And then, the sound of

on the second vial.

hooves.

She saw me. Jerked in surprise. The vial

The sound was traveling up from the second

slipped from her hand.

tier. The tier that was supposed to be sealed off.

<NO!>

The lab.

Her terror galvanized me. I dove forward, my

I stepped back into the shaft and off at the

back legs skidding on the floor. I fell heavily but

second tier. The hallway was dark.

reached out my hands and caught the vial.

Estrid groaned and her knees buckled. She

I stepped forward and felt the creepy crawly

sank down. Held a trembling hand out to me.

sensation of passing through a force field.

<Give it to me.> Her voice shook. <Please. Care-

It was easy to figure out what the force field

fully.>

contained. My stomach turned. It smelted like

<What is it, Estrid?>

death on this floor. Sour. Putrid. The rot of dis-

Her expression hardened. <That is not your

eased flesh. The force field kept the stench from

concerns

permeating the ship.

I rolled to my feet, still holding the vial.

And no wonder. The wall was lined with cas-

<Careful!> she cried, scrambling up herself.

ket vaults. Empty now, but still redolent with the

I began to open the vial.

hideous odor of death.

<N0!> She lurched forward,

I picked up my hooves, careful to make no

I held it out of reach. <l have grown very tired

sound as I made my way toward the source of the

of being lied to,> I said. <l want the truth.>

faint noises.

<Go ask Arbat>

The smells of death receded and were re-

<l am asking you.>

placed by the smell of decontaminant. I stopped

<l cannot answer.>

outside a door. Yes, she was in there.

<Ah, but you can,> I said. I held the vial gin-

I slid the door open manually to minimize

gerly and twisted open the cap.

noise.

<No! You idiot!>

Estrid stood at a lab table, pouring the con-

<Question number one: You are not an aristh.

tents of one plex vial into another. She dropped

Are you?>

the first vial into a steaming container of de-

114

115

Her eyes flickered. <No,> she said after a

A young female! So, of course, they forced me

long pause.

into sub-particle fusion.>

<Yes and no

The eyes on her face flashed with anger. <l

T> she amended. <l was made an

was so intellectually frustrated, I wanted to die.

honorary aristh for this mission. But I have never Then I met Arbat.>

attended the academy.>

Now her eyes shone. <He saw past my youth

I am ashamed to say that my first feeling was

and my gender. He saw what I could do if I had

one of embarrassment. That a female, one that

the freedom and the tools. His influence changed

had never even attended the academy, had very

everything. I received my own lab. Permission to

nearly beaten me in one-on-one combat. <lf you

follow my own area of interests

did not attend the academy, where did you learn

<Plintconarhythmic physics?>

your tail fighting?>

She nodded.

<l have a brothers she explained.

<Theoretical or applied?>

My embarrassment was not alleviated. <l,

<Applied.>

too, had a brother with whom I tail fought. But it

<Yes, of course.> Slowly. Carefully. I placed

took years of academy training for him to achieve

the vial on the counter. <What is it?> I asked, al-

your level of skill.>

most certain that I would rather not know.

<My brother is Ajaht-l_itsom-Esth,> she said.

<A prion virus, of sorts. I would explain, but

Ajaht-Litsom-Esth! I could not help laughing.

you . . .>

Ajaht-Litsom-Esth is the highest scoring exhibi-

<No. I would not understand^ I admitted.

tion tail fighter on the Andalite planet.

<l discovered it. By accident, really. When I

<And are you also Arbat's niece?>

confided in Arbat, he sealed off my lab to the rest

<No. His student. At the University of Ad-

of the faculty and my research was classified as

vanced Scientific Theory.>

Apex Level Weapons Intelligences

I was astounded. <But you are . . .>

<lt is a weapon?>

<Young. Yes. I am a prodigy. A genius. I do

She nodded. <Three benign particles. In

not mean to sound immodest, but it is true. It

combination, they form a quasi-virus. A program-

has not been easy,> she said softly. <At the uni-

mable virus. Deadly to Yeerks.>

versity, they treated me as a joke when I arrived.

116

117

I shivered with revulsion. Germ warfare.

Her eye stalks drooped. <There is one prob-

l e m ^ she continued. <One of the components is

subject to . . . to simplify, it has a volatility that

could cause it to mutate in a Yeerk with a human

host.>

<Meaning?>

<Meaning it could become deadly to humans

a l s o

n ow it was all clear. Crystal clear.

Gonrod and Aloth were dupes. This mission

was about Arbat and Estrid. Gonrod was an ex-

pendable pilot. Aloth? A thug.

The War Council sent them to Earth with the

understanding that their mission was to assassi-

nate Visser Three.

The reality was that Estrid and Arbat were

here on a genocidal errand for which no one on

the War Council was willing to take official re-

sponsibility. Not after the disaster on the Hork-

Bajir planet.

In fact, the War Council might know nothing

of this mission at all. Was Arbat a renegade?

No wonder Arbat had not wanted Visser Three

118

119

mental about one species. There is too much at

stake.

<Aximili, if you only understood the elegance

of the equations. If you could grasp the mathe-

matical beauty. . . . We are on the verge of de-

ploying a weapon that, once it is perfected, will

make us invulnerable! We will have absolute

power throughout the galaxy! We can destroy the

Yeerks. But not only the Yeerks. We can stop all

wars, all destruction, annihilate all enemies of

decency and goodness before they can carry out

their evil!>

<Estrid, if you are prepared to kill everyone,

anyone that opposes you,> I asked her, <how are

TTrbat stood in the doorway, holding a

you different from the Yeerks?>

shredder on us.

<Weare Andalites!>

<l have relieved Gonrod of command,> Arbat

<EstridT you cannot do this.>

answered. <He is confined to his quarters.>

<Yes, she can,> said a voice in the doorway.

I said, <Arbat, have you told Estrid that her

<And she will.>

name, her presence here on this ship, her very

existence, has already been wiped from the data

banks?>

That caught Arbat by surprise. <How —> But

he caught himself quickly. <A security precau-

t i o n s

<No. Preparation for a suicide missions I

turned my face to Estrid. <You may imagine that

this terrible deed is approved of by the people.

But it is not. The Andalite people would arrest

122

123

you and charge you as a criminal. That is why the

Bright green streaks shot from floor to ceiling,

people will never be told. It is why only the dregs

creating bars. A laser cage around the two of us.

of the Andalite military — Aloth and Gonrod —

Arbat took the vial from the counter. <l am

could be used.>

sorry. You will die, Estrid. But not in vain.>

<You have said enough, Aristh,> Arbat

<Arbat! It is not too late. Do not do it,> I

snarled.

begged.

<They needed you, Estrid. They needed a per-

To my surprise his old, world-weary eyes shone

son of your genius to manage the "weapon." But

with emotion. <This war must end, Aristh. It has you, like Aloth and Gonrod, will never survive. Ar-caused too much suffering. Too much killing.

bat cannot allow it. Only he can survive. The

Think of all the bright young scientists, artists,

Apex Level Intelligence agent who passed him-

and thinkers conscripted year after year to feed

self off as a professor. Why? To find someone like

this war. So many brilliant and creative minds

you, Estrid.>

turned from decent pursuits to the job of killing.

Estrid focused her main eyes on Arbat. <ls it

Good Andalites all. Good Andalites forced to

true what Aximili says?> she asked.

make hard, cruel decisions.>

Arbat glared at us both, but then his face

I would have liked to tail-whip him. None of

softened when he looked at Estrid. <Yes. I am

this was about the Yeerks, the humans, or even

truly sorry. I have deceived you. If it is any com-

the Andalites. It was about what he saw as his

fort, it was to protect you.>

duty. His right. The self-pity of the murderer.

<Protect me? From what? You brought me

<This is not the way to end it,> I told him.

here to die.>

He shook his head. <That is not for you to de-

<To protect you from history's judgments he

cide. The strong must decide. The weak can only

said, his voice thick with emotion. <The people

obey.>

must be led by the few who are willing to make

Arbat turned and galloped from the lab.

the very hard choices. The people are happy in

Estrid tried to follow.

their ignorance. But we in the Apex Level cannot

ZZZZZZZ!

allow ourselves to be sentimental.>

The green laser bars erupted in a shower of

He pressed a button. A control panel slid

sparks when Estrid made contact. She was

from the wall. Arbat quickly programmed it.

knocked to the floor.

124

125

I leaned down. <Estrid!>

One morphing mass emerged as a bird rather

than a human.

<i am fine.>

I helped her to her feet.

<The bird with the red tail,> Estrid said.

<Tobias. You met him. They all came aboard

<l am sorry, AximilL>

with me this afternoon. They have used my quar-

<lt is not your fault.>

ters to demorph and remorph as necessary.>

<lt is. I betrayed you. And your human friends.

Tobias ruffled his wings. <Hey, Ax.>

I have been a fool. A criminal fool. Arbat con-

"Go, Tobias, stay on him," Prince Jake said.

vinced me that humans were not worth the loss

<Later, everyone. The Animorph Air Force has

of more galactic life. Unwilling to carry their

a missions

weight in the fight for freedom. Eager to give

Tobias flew out of the room and caught the

up.>

breeze of the drop shaft.

She took my hands. <l did not tell Arbat

Estrid looked at me, half amazed, half angry.

about your friends. But I did not have to. He was

<lt was all a deception. You misled us. You lied

in the barn, too. In a bird morph.>

to your own people.>

<Yes, I know,> I answered.

I shook my head. <No. I have learned some-

Her stalk eyes whipped around in amaze-

thing, Estrid. These are my people. Anyone who

ment. <You knew?>

believes in freedom, anyone who resists tyranny,

I nodded. <We all knew. Or at least, sus-

anyone who pursues peace is "my people." An-

pected^

dalite, Hork-Bajir, or human.>

Marco walked calmly into view. "Hey, Ax-

"Yeah," Marco said. "Besides, we humans

man. You're looking slightly trapped."

make a mean cinnamon bun."

<Where are the others?>

I laughed. <That is definitely true.>

Marco made a sweeping gesture encompass-

ing the lab. "We're here. The place is crawling

with Animorphs. Literally."

In various places human forms were growing

up out of tiny points. Flea morph. Fly morph.

Roach morph.

Cassie and Rachel and Prince Jake.

126

127

My human friends were in battle morph.

Estrid and I had demorphed to Andalite. Tobias

was somewhere outside, flying above, watching.

No doubt berating himself unnecessarily for hav-

ing lost Arbat.

<Tobias?> I called in private thought-speak.

<Yeah, Ax-man?>

<He is here.>

We walked softly through the dark and empty

Community Center. Maybe Arbat had eliminated

all Yeerk security. Maybe not.

<What are we looking for?> Jake asked me.

<This.> I stopped in front of a door with a

sign that said ORIENTATION ROOM, NEW MEMBERS

e flew to the Community Center. It would

LU

ONLY. <This is where the ship's sensors showed a

be Arbat's most likely path into the Yeerk pool.

possible deep hole.>

But, unfortunately, it was only an educated guess.

I looked at the door. There was a lock. But it

Tobias had been unable to follow him. Arbat,

had been broken. <Arbat,> I said. <He may not

ever the intelligence professional, had morphed

be in Andalite form. He may well be human.>

to human and entered a train station.

Marco pushed the door open. A dark and

Whether he had emerged, or in what shape,

seemingly endless staircase yawned before us.

we could not tell.

<Basement?>

However we were soon certain of which way

Cassie said, <No. I can hear screams. I know

he had gone.

that sound.>

It was very late at night but the Yeerks still

Cassie's wolf morph is possessed of incredi-

kept up a guard. We found the first human-

bly acute hearing and sense of smell.

Controller lying sprawled by the trash. Another

<Yeah. I was afraid of that,> Marco said.

slumped in the doorway. A third lay facedown in

<You know, I keep saying I'm never, ever going

the hallway.

back down there.>

128

129

<Say it again,> Rachel said. <Maybe it'll

into the vast openness of the Yeerk pool complex.

After this point we would be visible to anyone

make you feel better.>

looking up from below.

<l am never, ever going down there again.>

<No Arbat,> Rachel said.

<TicktockT people,> Prince Jake said. <We

<He's down there,> Prince Jake said. <No

want to get Arbat before he reaches the pool. Let's

choice. We have to go after him. Demorph. It's

move.>

the only way. Ax and Estrid? I think a pair of An-

We ran down the stairs. Level after level. Tiger

dalites might be a little conspicuous.>

pads and bear paws and Andalite hooves all rush-

I began to morph to human. Estrid did the

ing, tripping, rushing again.

same. The Yeerk pool complex would contain hu-

As we descended, the sounds of the Yeerk

mans, Hork-Bajir, Gedds, and Taxxons. But only

pool — the screams, the cries, the rumble of

humans would be expected to come down this

equipment, became loud enough for Andalite

particular stairway at this time of night.

senses to hear.

"What natural weapons do these humans'

Estrid said, <Aximili, I am afraid.>

bodies have?" Estrid asked.

<Soam L>

"Unless you've eaten a lot of beans, none,"

Down. Faster and faster. Down.

Marco said.

Suddenly I slipped. Fell. Rolled down several

"Keep your heads down, don't make eye con-

steps.

tact," Jake instructed. "We don't want to be

The smell was awful. Part of the staircase was

ID'd. Don't move fast or seem to be looking

wet with slimy pool water. Gore. Chunks of flesh,

around. Now, go!"

piles of quivering entrails. Evidence of a recent

We walked down the stairs again. On only two

Taxxon feeding frenzy.

legs.

I jumped up, wiped the gore from my flanks. I

We could see the pool now. Hork-Bajir and

tried not to think of it. Tried to focus on what

human guards stood watch as other Hork-Bajir

mattered. Arbat had to be stopped. No time to

and human-Controllers filed down the two steel

think of the filth, no time to imagine the hor-

piers that traversed the main part of the leaden

ror . . .

pool. Each pier was lined with locking collars.

Ahead the stairs emerged from the ground

131

130

As guards supervised, the Controllers kneeled

cess to human experience, human knowledge. A

down and placed their necks in metal collars.

human morph is only instinct. Harder to control,

When the collars snapped into place, a small

harder to understand easily. As I knew from expe-

gray slug crawled out of the Controller's ear and

rience.

fell into the dank pool with a soft plop!

I tried to think. Time was running out. Arbat

The hosts were then momentarily free. Free at

might already have struck. How to spot an An-

least to control their own mouths and eyes. They

dalite in human morph?

could cry. They did. They could beg. They did

What was different? Two legs, not four. No tail.

that, too.

Two eyes, not four.

'This is obscene," Estrid whispered fiercely.

"Estrid! Look for humans who turn their heads

"Pretend to be unconcerned," I said.

frequently."

"Spread out," Prince Jake muttered as we

"What?"

merged with a group of human-Controllers.

"We are accustomed to seeing in all direc-

Estrid and I stayed close, but drifted from the

tions at once. Humans are used to not knowing

others. Human-Controllers everywhere. Some

what is behind them. Look for —"

jocular as they hooked up with Yeerk friends.

I froze. A middle-aged man. Walking down

Most just businesslike. They were here to feed,

the length of the crowded pier, escorted by a

not socialize.

nonchalant Hork-Bajir.

Faces everywhere. Hundreds. Which was Ar-

The man turned as a Taxxon passed behind

bat? Impossible to say. Impossible to guess

him. Turned again. Turned.

where he would be in this . . .

No proof. Not enough to be sure. A feeling . . .

No. Not impossible. He would pursue his mis-

"There!" I started to run toward the pier.

sion as swiftly as possible. He would deliver the

Estrid raced alongside me.

virus into the pool.

<Jake!> I cried out in private thought-speak.

The pier. Of course.

<He's a middle-aged lightly colored male human.

On the pier!>

But how to spot him? He would look human.

"Must be late for a feeding," a Controller

Would be human. Just like all these human-

laughed as I brushed past him.

Controllers.

The middle-aged man knelt. Placed his

No. Not like them. The Controllers all had ac-

132

133

head into the collar beside a kneeling Hork-

Bajir.

The Hork-Bajir guard leaned down to fasten

the collar. The man reached into his pocket.

Too far away!

"Arbat! No!" Estrid yelled.

The man jerked his head up. His movement

was quick and unexpected. The Hork-Bajir guard

n -H --;•> T -E -R J B J E

was knocked off balance, teetered almost comi-

cally.

Arbat reached to grab the Hork-Bajir. Or so the

Hork-Bajir thought. Arbat grabbed the guard's

Dracon beam from his holster with one hand and

shoved the off balance Hork-Bajir off the pier.

Arbat spun, raised his weapon, and aimed.

± dove forward. Tackled Estrid. We fell be-

hind a large, lumbering Taxxon.

Arbat fired.

Tseeewww!

The bloated Taxxon broke open. The foul con-

tents of its stomach spewed in every direction.

Blood. Bile. Entrails.

<Battle morphs!> I heard Prince Jake yell.

Faraway or near, I could not tell.

"Estrid!" I dragged her to her feet, slipping in the gore.

Another Taxxon was rushing in our direction,

eager to eat what was left of his former comrade.

Hork-Bajir guards, pounded along the steel

pier, trying to locate the source of the trouble.

134

135

There was chaos but in seconds the Hork-Bajir

I yanked Estrid around behind a large wooden

might restore order.

crate, pulled her down, dragged her after me as I

Then Estrid and I would be dead.

crawled into the space between the crate and the

"Andalites! Andalites!" I shouted. I yelled

side of the human-Controllers' cafeteria.

and waved my hands, pointing always down the

"Estrid, demorph!"

pier. "Andalite bandits in Hork-Bajir morph! The

"They will kill us!" She was frightened. Fright-

Hork-Bajir are Andalites!"

ened deep down inside. Frightened in a way that

Estrid joined in. "Help! Help! Security! An-

was erasing any thought but the screaming, des-

dalites have morphed the Hork-Bajir!"

perate need to live.

Chaos would reign a while longer.

I knew the feeling.

But Arbat, too, took advantage of the confu-

"We have to stop Arbat and we need fire-

sion. I spotted him running.

power," I said.

<He is heading toward the cage area!> I

"Why? To save these filthy Yeerks? Look what

yelled.

they do. Look at what they are! They are going to

<l see him! I'm on him!> Rachel yelled back.

do that to us, Aximili! They will drag us down that

I had lost sight of Arbat. And I could not see

pier, they will force us . . . NO! Kill them all!"

Rachel. But I got a grim satisfaction from the

"Estrid, you said the virus may mutate. You

thought of what the intelligence agent slash pro-

said it might affect humans as well."

fessor would see when next he turned around to

"Might. Maybe. But maybe I fixed it. Maybe

look.

my last adjustments eliminated the random flux.

Estrid and I lurched, slipping and sliding, off

I do not care! They are not our people. I am not

the pier. Back onto packed dirt. We shoved our

going to let the filthy slugs do that to me!"

way through the crush of human-Controllers.

I was half demorphed. <Stay here,> I said.

"Cowards!" someone yelled at us.

<Stay low, do not move.>

Then, <l lost him!> Rachel yelled in frustra-

"Do not leave me!"

tion. <Past the cages.>

<Estrid, you are beautiful, you are brilliant.

I had to get Arbat. He could demorph, re-

But I really do not think I like you very much.>

morph, and we would lose him permanently. And

I took a deep breath. Tried to steady my nerves.

possibly lose much of the human species.

Impossible.

136

137

I leaped out.

The Hork-Bajir could have burned them down.

Fwapp! Hit a Hork-Bajir.

Those humans knew that. They were putting them-

The cages. The nearest was a hundred feet

selves between the supposed Andalites and the

away.

Yeerks, ready to face Dracon fire.

"Andalite!" a human-Controller screamed in

The Hork-Bajir had no orders to massacre

my face.

hosts. Visser Three was not in the pool. No one

<Correct,> I said and knocked him down.

else would dare give the order.

I ran for the cages.

I attacked the force that hemmed in my

Pandemonium! Dracon fire from three differ-

friends. Struck left and right, took them by sur-

ent locations. Screams. Shouts. The roar of furi-

prise. But all for nothing. We could fight, but we

ous Hork-Bajir. The slithery squeaks of ravenous

could not win.

Taxxons.

I saw Cassie knocked unconscious.

I ran.

Saw Prince Jake slashing with one paw, the

Tseeew!

other front paw gone, a stump.

The shot missed, the human-Controller had

Tseeew!

been in too much of a hurry.

A beam caught Marco full in the belly. A hole

Fwapp! Now he could take his time.

appeared in his rough black fur. He fell. Re-

ATaxxon blocked my way. I leaped.

leased his grip on Arbat.

Ahead, a battle. A tiger, a wolf, a bear, a go-

Arbat ran. No one stopped him. Why would

rilla, surrounded, backs against a row of cages.

they? He was a human-Controller being held by

Marco held a middle-aged human by the neck

the Andalites.

with one hand and fought with the other hand.

He ran, pushed through the attackers. Ran

Their backs were to the cages. It would have

toward the reinfestation pier. I saw the green vial

been child's play for the Yeerks to simply shoot

in his hand.

them through the bars. Shoot them in the back.

<Prince Jake! Arbat. . .>

But the human hosts in that cage, slaves of

<Go!> Prince Jake said.

the Yeerks temporarily free of those Yeerks, stood

I hesitated. How could I leave my friends?

there, arms linked, blocking the shot. A human

They were dying.

shield.

I turned, ran, raced after Arbat.

138

139

He made the pier. No one guarded it. All the

Hork-Bajir had gone to the fight. Three Taxxons

shuffled along its length. Voluntary hosts await-

ing reinfestation.

Arbat raced to the end of the pier. He was pant-

ing, wheezing. The middle-aged human morph was

not athletic.

He fumbled, hastening to open the vial.

<Arbat!> I yelled.

"You!"

One of the Taxxons noticed us at last. The red

jelly eyes jiggled. But I was not concerned.with

the Taxxon. No Taxxon would attack an Andalite.

<Do not do it, Arbat.>

"You are very fast, Aristh Aximili. But you are

<l lo!>

not fast enough to cover fifty feet before I can

Tseeew!

open my fist."

The beam passed so close to me that I felt it

<lt is wrong, Arbat.>

singe my stalk eyes.

"It is war, Aristh Aximili."

The beam hit Arbat's human hand.

He smiled at me. And he began to open his

The hand, and the vial it held, sizzled and

hand.

burned and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

I turned one stalk eye back to see Estrid. She

lowered the Dracon beam.

<Good shot,> I said.

<Yes. I suppose it was.>

Blood pumped from Arbat's stump. It didn't

matter. Arbat had only to demorph to end the

pain of the wound.

<lt is all over, Arbat.>

140

141

fib

<Now what?> Estrid asked me.

<lt can't be done,> I whispered, not daring to

I nodded toward the shore where part of the

hope.

force besieging my friends peeled off to come

Through the hole, into the Yeerk pool flew the

roaring after us.

old ship, the tired, out-of-date relic named the

<Now we die,> I said. <But we die as honor-

Ralek Riven

able Andalite warriors.>

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

<Do not let them take me alive,> Estrid said

The ship's shredders would never be a match

to me. <Even if you do not approve of me, Axim-

for Bug fighters let alone the Blade ship, but they

ili.>

were more than enough to stop the onrushing

A wave of Hork-Bajir rushed at us. I braced

Hork-Bajir.

for the attack. Estrid beside me.

Ten feet of pier between us and the Yeerks

Arbat chose not to join us.

sizzled and evaporated.

"Andalites!" he screamed, pointing at us with

TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

his remaining hand. "Andalites! Look what they

A line of destruction burned between the

did to me!"

half-dead Animorphs and their attackers.

And then the Yeerk pool just to our left began

The ship flew low and slow, hovered directly

to boil. There was a red circle, fifty feet in diame-

above us.

ter, projected on the roiling liquid and everything

Tseew! Tseeew! Hork-Bajir were firing back

within that circle was boiling, steaming, hissing.

with handheld Dracon weapons. Like trying to

I stared, transfixed. Estrid, always the physi-

kill an elephant by throwing rocks.

cist, saw what I had missed.

A ramp lowered. I pushed Estrid toward it and

<No, up! Upthere!>

leaped aboard myself.

I raised my main eyes to the domed roof of

"Wait!" Arbat yelled.

the Yeerk pool. There, at the highest point, a

I hesitated.

hole! Stars! I saw stars!

"I am an Andalite, too! I am one of your own

The red beam stopped suddenly. The wide-

people!"

angle shredder beam on the Ralek River must

He reached up toward me with his one human

have taken five minutes to slowly burn its way

hand and his one bloody stump.

through the earthen dome.

<Go,> I told Gonrod.

142

143

The ship lifted and slid toward the cages.

If Arbat had thought to demorph instantly he

might have lived a while longer. He stood there,

raging, trapped on a segment of pier, alone.

Alone but for the Taxxons whose eternal hunger

would not let them ignore the smell of his blood.

T\achel and Cassie went to the mall to buy

Estrid a cinnamon bun. I gave it to her as a going-

away present. Told her to enjoy it on the long trip

home to Andalite space.

Gonrod had flown the ship back to its berth

beside The Gardens. It made sense. After the

daring assault on the Yeerk pool, every Yeerk ship

in Earth space was on high alert. A day spent

waiting would make escape easier.

It might have been no great loss if the Ralek

Riverwere destroyed, but a pilot like Gonrod, in-

sufferable as he might be, was a treasure.

<ls this as delicious as the jelly beans?>

Estrid asked, holding the warm paper box.

<Even more,> I said.

144

145

4S

<And this is why you care for these humans?>

"Why wouldn't he be?" Marco said. "You heard I thought of the human hosts who had made a

him. He didn't even like her."

shield of their bodies to protect my friends. Thought

Cassie said nothing but squeezed me a bit

of the many, many, uncountable times Prince

tighter. Cassie is not easily deceived.

Jake or Rachel or Cassie or Marco or Tobias had

"Let's get something to eat, man, I'm

risked death to help me.

starved," Rachel said.

<Yes,> I said. <That is why I like humans. It

"Anything but McDonald's," Tobias said.

is all about the cinnamon buns.>

"What, the mouse hunter is getting picky about

<Aximili, come home with me. Together, the

burgers?" Marco said.

two of us and Gonrod, we can make the people

"No, that's not it."

realize the truth.>

Prince Jake raised an eyebrow. "Tobias? Is there

I shook my head. <My fight is here,> I said.

something you need to tell me?"

<ls it because you still do not like me?> She

Tobias shrugged. "Well, you know, I saw Yeerk

tried for a lighthearted tone.

reinforcements pouring into the Community Cen-

I nodded. <l still do not like you,> I said.

ter so I knew you guys were in trouble, right?"

I left the ship. Walked away from my chance

"Right. So you went for Gonrod."

to be home again. I rejoined my friends.

"Exactly. I asked him if we could burn

The Ralek River took off. Did it escape Visser

through into the Yeerk pool. He said, "Maybe,

Three's dragnet? Did it make it safely into Zero-

but only at the thinnest point." Anyway, late as it

space?

was, even the night cleanup crew was gone . . ."

I do not know.

"No," Prince Jake said. "You didn't. You did I walked away and did not look back.

not obliterate a McDonald's."

I morphed to human as we six walked to-

"Like it was never there," Tobias said with a

gether. Even Tobias became human, I think to be

laugh. "The Yeerks will fill the hole before any-

near me, to "hang" as the humans say.

one realizes what's down there underneath the

Cassie put her arm around my shoulder. It is

ground, but if we want burgers, I'm thinking

a human gesture of comfort. "You okay?" she

Burger King."

asked.

"I would like a burger," I said. "Burrr-ger."

146

147

We walked along the dark streets, my friends

and I. My more-than-friends. We laughed, so re-

lieved to simply be alive. We joked.

Cassie held my hand, and in the darkness

where no one could see, I cried.

I crashed through the underbrush, trampling

saplings and ripping through sticker bushes

without a second thought.

The scent of the real Cape buffalo was thick

in my nostrils. I followed it deeper and deeper

into the woods until the screams and shouts of

the Controllers back at the roadblock were com-

pletely lost.

The buffalo's hearing — my hearing now —

absorbed and gauged every sound, checking for

any potential threat to my herd.

My depth perception wasn't so great but I

had a three-hundred-and-sixty degree wide-angle

range of vision, which was going to make it pretty

rough for anyone to sneak up on me.

This was a good thing.

I couldn't run very fast — nowhere near the

speed of my wolf morph — but what the buffalo

lacked in miles per hour, it definitely made up for

in sheer bulk and muscle. Nobody, and I mean

148