Текст книги "Animorphs - 08 - The Alien"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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1 Animorphs Volume 08 The Alien K.A. Applegate *Converted to EBook by Dace K 2 Prologue

Before Earth . . .

"Prepare for return to normal space," Captain Nerefir said in thought-speak.

I was on the bridge of our Dome ship. It was an amazing moment. I had never been on the bridge before. I'd always been stuck in my quarters, or up in the dome. It was an honor to be on the battle bridge with the full warriors, the princes, and the captain himself.

It was because I was Elfangor's little brother. An aristhlike me, a warrior-cadet, wouldn't have been on the bridge otherwise.

Especially not an aristhwho had once run into Captain Nerefir so hard he'd fallen over and ended up bruising one of his eye stalks. It was an accident, but still, it's just not a good idea for lowly cadets to go plowing into great heroes.

But everyone loved Elfangor, so they had to tolerate me. That's the story of my life. If I live two hundred years, I'll probably still be known as Elfangor's little brother.

We came out of Z-space or Zero-space, a realm of white emptiness, back into normal space.

Through the monitors I saw nothing but blackness dotted with stars. And there, just ahead of us, no more than a half-million miles away, was a small, mostly blue planet.

"Is that Earth?" I asked Elfangor. "I didn't realize there was so much water. Can you get Old Hoof and Tail to let me go down to the planet with you?"

"Aximili, shut up!" Elfangor said quickly. He looked slightly sick and cast a dubious glance at Captain Nerefir.

I guess I had been thought-speaking a little loudly. Elfangor was worried that War-Prince Nerefir might have overheard. But I was sure I hadn't been that loud. I mean, I really didn't think that – "Old Hoof and Tail, eh?" Captain Nerefir said. "Is that what they call me?" Elfangor shot me a poisonous look. "I'm sure this aristhdidn't mean any disrespect." I think my brother would have liked to throw me out of the nearest airlock right at that moment.

Slowly Nerefir turned his two main eyes to ward me. He was a frightening old Andalite. A great warrior. A great hero. Elfangor's idol. "Ah, it's the ruffian. The wild brat who knocked me over." He nodded. "Old Hoof and Tail, is it? Well. I kind of like the name." He slowly winked one eye at Elfangor. "I suppose we'll have to let the ruffian live." Suddenly . . .

"Yeerks! We have a Yeerk mother ship in orbit over the planet!" the warrior at the sensor station cried.

3 "They're launching fighters! I count twelve Yeerk Bug fighters," another warrior cried.

"They're on an intercept course. They'll be in firing range in twelve Earth minutes." Captain Nerefir turned his face and his main eyes toward my brother, while his stalk eyes kept watch on the monitors. The humor was gone from his face. "Prince Elfangor? It is time.

Launch all fighters."

But Elfangor hadn't waited for orders. He was already halfway out the door. My tail banged into the doorway as I plowed after him.

"Get to the dome, Aximili," Elfangor said.

"But I want to fight!" I said. "I can fly a fighter as well as – "

"Do not argue with me, Aximili. Aristhsdo not go into battle. You are not a full warrior yet.

Go to the dome. You will be safer there."

"I don't want to be safe," I said. But a warrior, even a warrior-cadet, has to obey orders.

Elfangor was my brother. He was also my prince.

I could hear the thought-speak announcements coming from the bridge: "Yeerk Bug fighters closing fast."

"We are entering the outer-gravitational field of the planet." Elfangor and I came to a pair of drop shafts. Warriors were zooming down, heading for the fighter bays. I would have to go up to reach the dome. The upward drop shaft was empty.

It made me angry. Everyone was fighting but me. When it was all over, Elfangor would be even more of a big hero, and I would still be the little brother. The child.

Elfangor hesitated for just a moment before rushing on. He arched his tail forward. I reached forward with my own tail, arching it up over my back. We touched tail blades.

"You'll have your chance to fight, Aximili," my brother said. "Very soon your fighter will fly side by side with mine. But not in this battle."

"Yes, my prince," I said, sounding very stiff and formal. But as he turned to enter the dropshaft, I couldn't let him go thinking I was mad at him. I said, "Hey, Elfangor? Go burn some slugs."

"That's the plan, little brother," he said with a laugh. "That is the plan." It was the last I saw of him.

He disappeared down the drop shaft. I went upward to the great dome. The dome was the heart of our ship. It was a vast, round, open plain of grass and trees and running water from our home planet, all covered by a transparent dome.

4 I was alone there. The only non-warrior on the great ship. The only one without a battle to fight.

I could see the blue planet above me, hanging in a black sky. It had a moon, just a dead ball of dust. But the planet looked alive. I could see white clouds swirling. Its yellow sun's light sparkled off the vast oceans.

This planet was known to be inhabited by a reasonably intelligent species. We had learned a little about them in school.

My main eyes were drawn to the brilliant flares of engine exhaust as our fighters lanced to ward the onrushing Yeerks.

I was far from the battle bridge now, beyond the range of their thought-speak. I heard nothing in my head. And my ears heard only the sound of a gentle, artificial breeze ruffling the leaves of the trees. I stood on blue-green grass and watched tiny pinpoints of light as the battle was joined in orbit above the blue planet.

And then ... I felt it. A tremor that rolled through my mind. A wave of coldness ... a premonition. Like a waking nightmare.

I turned my stalk eyes away from battle, to ward the dead moon of the blue planet. And there I saw it. A black shape against the gray– white light of the moon. A shape like some twisted battle-ax.

"Blade ship . . ." I whispered. "A Visser's Blade ship!" Our fighters were all away. Our Dome ship had massive weapons, but the Blade ship was fast and maneuverable. Too fast!

The warriors on the battle bridge had no choice. They had to separate the dome in order to be able to fight. I felt a grinding, crunching sensation as the dome was released to drift free of the main line of the ship.

Then . . . silence as the dome floated free.

Slowly, the rest of my ship rotated into sight. Without the dome it looked like a long stick, with the huge bulge of engines on the far end, and the smaller bulge of the battle bridge in the middle. They were trying to turn to meet the Blade ship.

Too slow.

The Blade ship fired!

"NO!"

Dracon beams, bright as a sun, lanced through space.

The ship fired again. Again. Again.

An explosion of light! A silent explosion like a small sun going nova.

5 The ship ... my ship . . . blew up into its separate atoms. One huge flash of light, and a hundred Andalite warriors died.

WHUMMPPPFF!

The shock wave hit the dome. It was translated into sound. The grass beneath my hooves slammed up at me. A terrible rattling, shaking, heaving.

"Ahhhh!"

My knees buckled and I fell to the grass. Everything was spinning! Wildly, out of control! I could feel the artificial gravity weaken. The stabilizers had failed.

The dome was falling. Falling out of orbit.

The dome slid down the gravity well. Down to ward the blue planet. Red-hot glowing atmosphere turned the sky above me to fire. Emergency engines kicked in with a loud WHOOSH!, but they could only slow the descent, not stop it.

The dome hurtled at shocking speed down and down and down through the atmosphere.

Down toward the sparkling sea.

Crrr-UUUUUSSSSHHH!

The dome hit water! Boiling, steaming water It rushed over the dome. I was sinking! Sinking beneath the ocean of the blue planet. I was powerless. Terrified.

Alone.

After an eternity, the dome crunched heavily onto the ocean floor. Looking up, I could barely see the surface of the water a hundred feet or more over the top of the dome.

I climbed shakily to my four hooves. I was standing on a vast, open plain that was a piece of my own planet. A blue-green park, hidden deep beneath an alien sea.

And there I waited for weeks. I sent out thought-speak cries to my brother. I knew he would save me ... if he still lived.

But in the end, it was not Elfangor who found me. It was five creatures from the planet. Five "humans," as they call themselves.

They were the ones who told me of Elfangor's last minutes of life. He had broken Andalite law and custom by giving these humans the power to morph. I was shocked, but tried to hide it.

And they had witnessed Elfangor's death. His cold-blooded murder, by the Yeerk overlord: Visser Three.

6 Visser Three, who slaughtered my helpless, wounded brother.

Visser Three, the only Yeerk ever to infest and control an Andalite body.

Visser Three, known to all Andalites as the Abomination. The only Andalite-Controller.

He had killed Elfangor, and I had inherited a terrible burden. By Andalite custom, I would be required to avenge my brother's death.

Someday I would have to kill Visser Three.

7 Chapter One

The first thing an Andalite may notice about humans. is that they walk around on only two legs. It is very strange to see so many creatures balancing that way. But, despite this, they seldom fall over. – From the Earth Diary of Aximlli-Esgarrouth-Isthill

My full name is Aximlli-Esgarrouth-Isthill.

My human friends call me Ax. I am a young Andalite. I have four legs. I also have two arms.

And I have a tail.

I am told that I look like a cross between a deer, a scorpion, and a human. I've seen deer in the woods, and I don't agree. For one thing, they have mouths and I don't. And they have only two eyes, while I have four.

As for scorpions, I've only seen pictures. There is some resemblance, when it comes to the tail. An Andalite tail is also curved upward and tipped by a very sharp blade.

As an Andalite, I have the power to morph. It's not something we're born with – it's a technology. But we invented it, and we are the only race in the galaxy that has it.

Except for my human friends, that is.

They can morph, too. But it's thanks to Andalite science. And thanks to the fact that my brother broke our own laws to give them this power.

The one great problem with morphing is the time limit: two Earth hours.

That time limit was the problem as my human friends and I set about on a particular mission.

It was a mission that required careful planning and careful timing. It was a mission full of risks.

We were going to a movie.

"So, here's the deal, Ax," Marco explained. "You can watch the first hour of the movie. But that's it. We can get you to the mall theater, and you watch for an hour. Then we have to get you back to the woods to demorph."

A movie. Movies are an important part of human culture. I had decided, if I was stuck on Earth among these aliens, that I should at least learn about them. Maybe I would never be the big hero Elfangor was, but I could surely become the biggest expert on humans.

Of course, I would have to attend the movie in a morph. I couldn't go around in public in my own Andalite form. Humans would have been terrified. And the Controllers – those humans who are infested by the Yeerk parasites – would have tried to kill me.

Which would have ruined the entire movie experience.

I would have to morph. To take on a different body. But this particular morph was one I had done several times before. I didn't expect there to be any problems.

8 We were standing together under the camouflage of the forest where I now live. Prince Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias were all there. Although Tobias was some distance away.

"Okay, let's do this," Jake said, making sounds with his mouth to form words. He glanced at his watch. "Rachel? You have the backup plan ready? Where does Ax go if he needs an emergency demorph?"

"The dressing rooms at Nordstrom's. They're big and private. Best dressing rooms in the mall.

Cassie and I will be posted outside the theater, ready to rush him there if an emergency situation develops."

"And Rachel promises not to stop and shop in Junior Miss on the way," Cassie said, grinning.

Jake glanced up to the sky. Up above the tree-tops, a red-tailed hawk floated on a warm breeze. "Tobias!" Jake yelled.

"All clear," Tobias called down in thought-speak. "I don't see anyone." Tobias is a nothlit: a person trapped in a morph. It is what happens if you stay beyond the two-hour limit. Tobias is a human, but his body is that of a hawk. He has adjusted well to this bizarre new life. He lives in the forest with me.

For a long time I expected Tobias to ask me the question that must have haunted him day and night: whether it would ever be possible for him to escape his hawk body. But he never did. I guess he was afraid of the answer. So, I didn't volunteer one.

"Okay," Jake said. "Let's do it."

I began to morph. The first thing I felt was a slipping, melting, almost sickening feeling as my internal organs began to shift around. There was a scary little jolt as my second and third hearts stopped beating. I heard a grinding sound from inside my body as my spine began to shorten.

Soon I was in danger of falling on my face as my front legs shriveled. My arms grew thicker and stronger, but two fingers on each hand melted together to leave me with five-fingered hands.

My shoulders grew wider to support my large arms. And my hind legs grew sturdier as more of my weight was shifted onto them.

The stalks on my head began to retract, and as they did, my stalk eyes grew dimmer and dim mer, like someone turning off the light. Suddenly, they were gone and I only had two eyes.

I dislike that. Having just two eyes is so limiting. You can only look in one direction at a time. You can't even look behind you.

My spine continued to shorten. In fact, it sucked completely out of my tail, which left my tail as limp as a rope. Then the weak remnants of my tail simply withered away.

"Grab him, he's going to fail over," Prince Jake said.

9 He and Marco each took hold of me to keep me upright, as my front legs disappeared altogether.

"Hey, hey, clothing!" Rachel said, making a face. "Clothing. Don't forget the morphing suit, Ax."

As my body continued to change, my skintight morphing suit also appeared. It is a very difficult trick to be able to morph clothing. And all you can manage is something extremely tight.

"Are you done?" Prince Jake asked me.

I considered. I was standing precariously on two legs. I possessed two strong arms and ten strong fingers. I was mostly without fur. My eyes were weak and totally unable to see anything except what was in front of me. My hearing was good. My mind was functioning normally.

And I had a mouth.

"Yes," I said, using my mouth. "Yessss. Ssssss. Yes-suh. I am in human morph."

I had morphed into a human. The DNA came from samples I had long since acquired from Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Marco. I would have liked to have Tobias's DNA, but that was not possible since he is a nothlit.

My human friends have some differences, but each has only two legs, two arms, and two eyes. They each have one mouth.

Prince Jake is large and pale in color with brown hair. Cassie is shorter and darker in color, with darker brown hair. Marco is also shorter and medium color, with long brown hair.

Rachel is taller and pale and has yellow hair.

None of them has any sort of tail.

"This always makes my skin crawl," Marco said, staring at me in a sideways fashion. "It's like the four of us were run through a blender. I swear he has my eyes."

"What's gross is I'll look at him and think, 'Wow, is that guy cute,'" Rachel said. "Then I'll see something that looks like Cassie. Or worse, like me!"

"What? Rachel in love with her own looks?" Marco said, using an inflection of his mouth-sounds that humans call sarcasm. Then he looked troubled. "I'm still not sure this is a good idea. The Controllers could – "

"Uh-uh," Prince Jake interrupted. "We're not talking about Controllers, Yeerks, or Vjsser Three. We are taking a break. We've fought one battle after another. We destroyed the Kandrona. We beat that Veleek monster of theirs. And now we are taking some well-deserved vacation time. Ax wants to learn more about humans, so that's what we're doing."

10 I was never exactly a great student, but I could just imagine how my fellow Andalites would act when they finally rescued me. They'd ask, "So, Aximili, what did you learn about Earth?" And I'd have to say, "Um, well, not much."

The trick would be to learn about the humans without letting them learn too much about Andalites. There were things I could never tell the humans. Things that might make them turn against me.

"We should hit the Yeerks again while they're weak," Rachel growled. "We know the Yeerks won't get a new ground-based Kandrona for another week. They must still be starving for lack of Kandrona rays. We should hit them!"

Yeerks are a race of parasitic slugs. They live inside the brains of other species. They completely dominate the host body, making it a "Controller." There are Hork-Bajir-Controllers, Taxxon-Controllers, and more and more human-Controllers. Any human you know might be a Controller. There is no way to tell – unless you are an Andalite.

I sympathized with Rachel. But I also understood Prince Jake's caution. No warrior can fight all the time.

"Look, you guys," Prince Jake said. "We hurt the Yeerks. It was a good job. But we also know that they have a replacement Kandrona being set up, so don't assume they're weak.

Besides, if they are weak, they sure haven't shown it. I expected to see Yeerks dying left and right, and former Controllers walking free again. Hasn't happened. Somehow they've maintained."

"We can't know what is going on with the Yeerks," Cassie pointed out. "Just because we haven't seen them suffer doesn't mean they haven't."

"Okay, look, here we are again, talking about Yeerks," Jake said impatiently. "We have just come from a very, very unpleasant battle. And we came very close to ending up dead. And it's not the first time. So we are going to relax and be normal. We are going to the movie. And we are going to have fun. And no one . . . Rachel ... is going to look for a fight."

"Don't you love it when he gets all forceful like that?" Marco said to Cassie. "He's just so Schwarzenegger sometimes."

"Okay, Ax," Jake said. "Time to get dressed."

"Prince Jake, I am already wearing this garment," I said, pointing to the thing that covered my body. "Wearing. Ing. Ing-uh."

It is an amazing sensation, making sounds with your mouth. Actual words are formed by vibrating your throat and positioning your tongue. But some sounds are better than others.

"Ing" is a wonderful sound to make.

"Don't call me 'Prince,'" Prince Jake said.

"Ax, you're dressed like an escapee from the Ice Capades," Marco said.

11 "You can't go out in public wearing tights and a spandex top," Rachel said. "It's a major fashion 'don't.' Here."

She handed me a bag. In the bag were items of clothing. It took several minutes for me to dress successfully. There is a lot to remember, and every bit of clothing can only go on one way. Socks go on the feet and not on the hands, for example.

When I was done, they all stared at me. Even Tobias flew down to stare.

"Rachel, he looks like he's going to the country club to play polo," Marco said. "I knew we shouldn't let you pick the clothes. He's like a bully magnet. Even I want to beat him up."

"It's a classic look," Rachel said angrily. "Like you're Mister Fashion? A person who dresses like Beavis?"

"I think he looks cute," Cassie said.

"Well, that's the kiss of death," Tobias remarked from his perch in the tree above.

"It is?" I asked.

"Just an expression, Ax-man," Tobias said. "You'll have fun." Ax-man. That's what Tobias calls me some times.

"Come on, Ax," Prince Jake said, smiling. "Let's do this. If anyone tries to beat you up, we'll protect you."

12 Chapter TWO

I did not understand the plot of that story," I said.

We were in the movie theater. I was "sitting." This involves bending your body and resting on the fat deposits halfway down the back of your body.

"That was a preview, Ax," Prince Jake said. "It's just to give you an idea what the whole movie will be like when it comes out."

"Yes. I see. Why is the screen flat and two– dimensional? Flat. Flat-tuh."

"Because that's how movies are."

"Ah."

"You want some popcorn?" Marco asked. He held one of the open boxes they had obtained.

He moved it close to me.

"Is it food?" I asked.

"Well, sort of," Prince Jake said. "But, Ax? You know how you get around food, okay? So remember – don't get carried away."

I watched Marco eat some of the popcorn. I did as he did. I stuck my large human fingers into the box. I removed a handful of the food and stuck it in my mouth.

I chewed.

The texture was rough and strange. And the flavor! It reminded me of a food called pizza.

But there was just a hint of cigarette butts, which I also enjoy. Although Prince Jake had told me never to eat cigarette butts again. They are bad for you.

I took another handful of the popcorn. I chewed it. Another handful.

"This is excellent!" I cried.

"It tastes like it's about a week old," Marco said.

"What are these flavors? What are they called?"

"I don't know. Salt? Grease?"

"Salt!" I said, savoring the very sound of the word. "Salt! And grease! Greee-suh!"

"Hey, hold it down," someone behind me said. "The movie is starting."

"Salt. Salt-tuh. Grease. Greeeesss."

"Ax, don't talk so loud, okay?" Prince Jake suggested.

"Here, just take the box," Marco said.

13 He handed me the box of popcorn. I quickly ate the rest of it.

"Not the box," Marco wailed. "You don't eat the box"

"It tasted of salt and grease," I pointed out.

"Oh, man. Is it time to leave yet?" Marco asked Prince Jake. "Tell me it's time to leave."

The movie began. It involved humans and nonhumans in uniforms. It seemed they were in some sort of spacecraft.

"What type of ship is that?" I asked. "It looks somewhat like a Hawjabran freighter."

"That's the Enterprise," Prince Jake said. "It's not real. It's just made-up."

"Yes, I know," I said. "I do know what a real interstellar spacecraft looks like."

Marco and Prince Jake looked at each other. Both smiled.

I quickly became bored by the plot of the movie. For one thing, there was one character who was clearly an Ongachic female. But in the movie this creature was called a "Klingon." It made no sense.

However, by accident I made a tremendous discovery: There was more popcorn! It was in boxes on the floor. I hadn't seen it in the darkness. There was a half-full box right by my feet.

I quickly ate this new popcorn. Then I found something else beside it on the floor. It was a smaller box. Inside it were three small, brown globules.

I ate the brown globules.

At that moment, it was as if the entire planet had stopped spinning. The taste! It was beyond description!

Those brown globules were like nothing I had ever experienced. I felt my life had changed. I felt myself lifted up out of the world of everyday senses to some new level.

More! I wanted more!

I dropped to my knees and began to search. I crawled along the floor, looking for more. It was easier crawling than walking. At least when I crawled I had four legs. Also, the humans had coated the floor with sticky substances, which made it easier not to slip.

I found no more boxes of globules. However, there was a small, twisted plastic envelope.

And within that twisted plastic envelope I discovered a chunk that smelled very similar to the globules.

I stuck it in my mouth.

14 Yes! It was the same flavor. The same miraculous, heavenly flavor! And yet ... there were differences, too. It was crunchier. And there were other flavors.

The floor of the movie theater was filled with precious items! I crawled on. I had to squeeze past several seated humans who made loud noises as I passed.

"Hey, jerk! What are you doing?"

"Get away from me, you freak!"

But I could not be distracted. I wanted more of the amazing brown food! More!

Yes! Success! Another small box, and this one was half filled with brightly colored pellets.

And yet, inside each pellet, more of the magic brown food!

More. More! I wanted more!

There! A younger human was holding an en tire box of the brown globules! But I could not just take them. I must have permission first.

I looked up from the floor at the human. "Please give me your brown globules?!" I asked.

"Globules! Ules!"

"MOMMY!"

"What do you think you're doing?" another human cried.

"MOMMY! He's trying to take my candy!"

I heard a more familiar voice. It was Marco. "Where is he? Jake! Where's Ax?"

"I merely wish to enjoy the brown globules!" I explained to the screaming child.

Suddenly, I felt Prince Jake and Marco grabbing my arms. They lifted me up off the floor and dragged me away.

"Globules!" I cried. I snatched for the box the small human was holding. "Globules!"

15 Chapter THREE

There are many dangers for an Andalite in human morph. For one thing, there is the constant danger that you will fall off your two legs. The slightest push and you can topple over. But worse by far is the danger of taste. Taste is the sense that can drive an Andalite mad!

Especially if it involves cinnamon buns or chocolate. – From the Earth Diary of Aximili-

Esgarrouth-Isthill

By the time Marco and Prince Jake had half-dragged, half-carried me out of the theater, I was calm again. We emerged into a brilliant sunlit area where vehicles are parked.

"Okay, I think we have learned a lesson here," Prince Jake said. "No chocolate for Ax."

"Chocolate? Chock? Chock-lit?" I said, trying out the word. "The brown globules are called chocolate? What about the brightly colored pellets?"

"Actually, the globules are called Raisinets. The pellets are M&M's. Are you under control now, Ax?" Prince Jake asked.

I couldn't tell if he was angry or amused. "Yes," I said shakily. "I ... the flavor! It was just so wonderful."

Cassie and Rachel emerged from the mall be hind me. They watched curiously, but kept their distance. As always, we were careful not to appear to be a group. The Controllers are everywhere.

Suddenly, I heard a thought-speak message. "Hey, you guys. Was the movie that bad?" It was Tobias, on patrol far overhead. Of course, no one could answer him. Humans can use thought-speech only when they're in a morph. And since I was in a human body, I too was restricted to spoken language.

"There's kind of a thing going on," Tobias said. "Just around the corner from you. Some guy staggering around and screaming at the top of his lungs. Cops are coming,fast. I'm pretty sure I heard the word 'Yeerk.' He's heading your way."

Just then, I began to hear it, too. It was a human shouting in a loud, hoarse voice.

"Over there," Marco said tersely.

A man appeared. He seemed to be having difficulty standing up. He leaned against the outer wall of the store and staggered forward. Humans stared at him and moved away.

"Listen to me! Listen to me!" he cried, looking around wildly. "They're here! They're here!

They're everywhere! The Yeerks are here!"

My human body felt as if it had been jolted with electricity. Human bodies become very tense when surprised. I could see that Prince Jake and Marco were having the same reaction.

I heard sirens wailing and drawing closer.

"What do we do?" Marco asked.

16 Prince Jake turned quickly back to Rachel and Cassie. He made a gesture with his hand.

"Split up!" he said.

"They're heeeeere!" the man cried. "Aaaaah-hhh!" He suddenly clapped both his hands over his left ear. "Got you! Got you! Die! Die!"

"He's a Controller," I said. "The Yeerk in his head is dying."

Jake met my gaze. "I know," he said. "Been there."

I nodded. Jake had been made into a Controller, though only for a brief time. We had been able to imprison him and starve the Yeerk. Yeerks live in the brains of other species, but every three Earth days they must bathe in the Yeerk pool and soak up Kandrona rays.

Without Kandrona rays, they starve and die.

Kandrona rays are beamed from a device called a Kandrona. (Actually, it's a Kandrona Wave/Particle Generator.) The rays are beamed and then concentrated in the Yeerk pool, where the Yeerks feed.

We had found and destroyed the Earth-based Kandrona.

"Why is this happening now?" Rachel asked. "It's been weeks since we destroyed the Kandrona. Nothing ever seemed to happen. So why now?"

I shrugged my shoulders, the way humans do to indicate ignorance. "I don't know, Rachel.

Maybe the Yeerks have reached their limit. It would have been a strain on their resources to shuttle Controllers back and forth to the mother ship. Ship-puh. Maybe something was broken."

"I didn't think things just broke for you space people," Marco said.

"Things break," I said truthfully. "Break. Ake. Ake-kuh."

"Well, whatever. Scratch one Yeerk," Marco said harshly.

The man was screaming now and yanking at his ear. I could just see the slimy tip of the dying Yeerk as it slithered out of the man's head.

"Can't we help him?"

It was Cassie. She and Rachel had defied Prince Jake's order to split up. They were with us now as we watched, horrified and transfixed.

"We have to stay clear of this," Prince Jake said. "But maybe it's finally starting. It may just be this one guy, but there may be more. Finally! I expected this to start happening weeks ago.

Yeerks dying! Controllers suddenly free and human again." He grinned. It was a savage look.

"They'll die, and their hosts will be free! At first, people will think they're nuts. But when they have ten, twenty, fifty people all yelling about the Yeerks? They won't be able to cover that up. Not for long!"

17 His voice had risen, becoming higher, and the words came out faster. He was obviously excited.

Suddenly, an ambulance raced up, followed by two police cars, all with flashing lights and screaming sirens.

"Hah!" Marco said. "I'm sure some of the cops are Controllers, but they can't all be. Jake's right. The truth will get out! This is going to work! The truth is going to come out!"