Текст книги "Animorphs - 09 - The Secret"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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I'd been feeding them thawed frozen grasshoppers and thawed mice I'd brought from the clinic. Just as I'd been giving Tobias food since he was too busy to hunt properly. But these skunk kits couldn't be fed by humans all their lives.

Suddenly ... a crashing sound! Something rushing through the woods, careless, wild, noisy.

And coming right toward us!

I started to lead the kits back to the burrow, but the noise was getting closer. It was coming too quick! I tried to smell what it was, but the breeze was blowing the wrong way.

Then . . . ROWR! ROWR! ROWROWROWR! A dog!

A wolf would have known better. A wolf would have seen the black-and-white fur and decided he had an appointment somewhere else. A bear would have known. Just about any wild animal knew better than to annoy an adult skunk.

But this big happy dog was not wild. He lived with humans. He knew absolutely nothing about skunks.

Without even thinking, I turned my back to the dog. I raised my tail in warning.

The dog kept coming. Drool was dribbling from one side of his mouth, and his tongue was hanging out the other side, and he was having about as good a time as a dog could have. He was in the woods, and he had a bunch of little black animals to play with.

The kits were still lined up. They were watching me intently. It almost made me want to laugh – if I could have. It was a big moment for them – they were about to learn why no sensible animal picked on adult skunks.

I had no experience in spraying. But the skunk mind within my own knew exactly what it was it had to do.

I aimed.

I looked over my shoulder to judge the distance.

I targeted that dog's face, and I fired.

Just at the instant when I fired, I had the strange sensation that I knew this dog from somewhere. But it was too late by then. Way too late.

67 At a distance of ten feet, the spray hit with the accuracy of a laser-guided smart missile.

ROWR? ROWR?

The dog stopped dead in his tracks. The look in his eyes was sheer horror. How could it be?

How could the little black-and-white creature have done this to him?

And then, I heard something that made me feel really bad.

"Homer? What's the matter, boy?" Jake asked. "Oh. Ohhhhh, Homer. I told you not to follow me into the woods."

"Rrrreww rrrreeewww rrreeewww," Homer whined pitifully.

Jake, Marco, Rachel, and Ax all came up at a run. Marco was already laughing.

"You hosed Homer!" Marco giggled. "Cassie sprayed Homer! Wait, that is Cassie, right?"

I seriously considered pretending to be some other skunk.

"Sorry, Jake," I said.

"Man, that is nasty," Rachel commented. "No offense, Cassie. But I mean . . . gag! Oh. Ugh."

"Fascinating," Ax said. "That is possibly the worst thing I have ever smelled. " Homer tried to nuzzle up to Jake, but as much as Jake loves his dog, he was not going for it.

"I don't think so, big guy. I told you to stay home. But oh no, Homer, you had to come with me. Now, go home. HOME, boy!"

Homer decided home might be a better place than the forest, after all. He trotted off, tail between his legs.

"I believe the smell is causing me to become deranged," Ax said calmly. "I may have to run away in panic."

"Take me with you," Marco muttered.

"Well, this is perfect," Jake said. "Wonderful. My parents are going to so appreciate it when Homer gets back to the house reeking of skunk. Man, let's move away from this spot, okay? I mean, jeez, that's just awful."

We moved away from the scene of the stink, back toward the den. I led the kits inside, where they seemed happy to curl up and sleep. It had been an exciting outing for them.

I went back outside and demorphed. "Homer will be okay if you bathe him in tomato juice and leave him outside for a few days," I said to Jake. "Sorry."

68 "Not as sorry as Homer is," Jake said. "But we have bigger problems. Look, Cassie, we came to find you and Tobias. That guy Farrand? Ax and Marco tapped into the Yeerk computer at the logging camp."

"Yeah," Marco grinned. "The Ax-man knows his way around computers."

"Yeah, well, we found something out. Farrand isn't arriving this weekend. He's coming early.

He's coming to cast the final vote on the logging in this forest. In fact, he'll be here in about an hour."

We have an hour to make plans and get ready," Jake said. "One hour. Less, since we have to get into position."

"Okay, what do we know?" Marco asked. "We know this Farrand guy is the one who makes the final decision on the Yeerks going forward. We know he's not a Controller or he would have already voted to let the logging begin."

"We know the Yeerks won't leave it to chance," Rachel said. "He's coming here to the site.

They'll be ready to do an involuntary infestation. They have some slug sitting in a vat right now, waiting to crawl in the man's ear."

"They may just try to persuade this human," Ax suggested. "They prefer voluntary infestations. And if they can get this human to give them his vote, they may simply let him go. "

"So what do we do, attack?" Rachel asked. "Just storm in and mess everything up?"

"Hey. Shhh," Tobias said.

"What?" Rachel asked him.

"Don't you guys hear that? Even human ears should hear that. " We all listened very intently. Then it came, carried on the breeze – the sound of diesel engines.

"Probably just our friends the Yeerks, moving their heavy equipment around. Putting it in nice, neat rows for the commissioner," Jake said. But then he thought it over and added, "Tobias? You mind going up to take a look?"

Tobias flapped his wings and soared above the treetops and out of sight.

"Okay, back to business," Jake said. "One way or the other, this Farrand guy is the key. If he votes yes, the Yeerks can log in this forest. If he votes no, they can't. Not without attracting way too much attention."

"Assuming they let Farrand live long enough to vote no," Rachel said.

"That's our job, then," I suggested. "We have to keep Farrand alive, and keep them from making him a Controller."

69 Everyone nodded.

"Too bad I have no idea how to do that," I admitted.

Just then, Tobias came rocketing down out of the sky. "They've already started!" he yelled as he shot past to land on a branch.

"Started what?" I asked.

"The Yeerks. They've started cutting trees. And they are coming this way!"

"Well," Jake said. "I guess that settles the question of whether the Yeerks are going to infest this guy."

"They don't care what this guy sees when he gets here," Rachel said. "They don't care about convincing him. This poor man already has a Yeerk slug with his name on it."

"You wouldn't believe how fast those machines can rip through trees!" Tobias said, obviously shaken up. "They're cutting trees like a farmer cuts wheat. "

"And we have one of your hours to help this commissioner," Ax said. Then, he focused his two stalk eyes on the skunk burrow. "The small ones are right in the path of the loggers, if Tobias is correct."

I expected Marco to make some snide remark about how no one cared about the skunks at a time like this. But to my amazement he said, "Hey, no one messes with the skunks. Those skunks are under official Animorph protection." He winked at me and gave me a mocking clenched fist salute. "Save the skunks, Earth Sister!"

Marco is such a pain in the butt. But then, just when you think he's going to drive you crazy, he'll come through big time for you.

"Yeah, these are our skunks," Rachel said. "No one messes with our skunks."

"Excuse me? Hello?" Jake interrupted. "A plan? A plan, please?"

"Well ..." I began.

"What?" Jake asked me.

I shrugged. "If Farrand is the key, we need to grab the key. Right? Chances are they'll have to turn the force field off in order to get him into the camp. That's when we get him away from the Yeerks. No matter what it takes."

"Grab Farrand," Marco said. "Simple. Elegant. And yet, given the Yeerk power in that compound of theirs, completely suicidal. I'm surprised at you, Cassie. Usually Rachel's the one to come up with a totally suicidal plan."

"You have a better idea?" Jake asked Marco.

"We could go home and watch TV."

70 "I'll take that as a no." Jake rubbed his hands together. "Okay, then. We snatch this Farrand guy as soon as he shows up. In the meantime, we have to slow down those tree-cutting machines."

Rachel grinned. "Cool."

I felt sick.

71 Chapter Eighteen

There was only one way for a person to reach the Yeerk logging camp by car. They had to drive down the long, dirt road that the Yeerks had cut through the forest.

Jake wanted me to go with Tobias and see if we could spot Farrand coming in.

Jake made some quick decisions. He, Marco, Rachel, and Ax took off, leaving me with Tobias.

I looked up ruefully at Tobias. "You and me, I guess."

"I'm always glad to have you along," Tobias said.

I began to morph into an osprey. It was my bird of prey morph, and the only thing I had that could keep up with Tobias in the air. "Look, Tobias? This has been bothering me. And since .

. . you know ... I want to get this off my chest. I'm sorry I got mad at you over the skunk kit.

You were just doing what you had to do," I said.

I could feel my bones thinning and hollowing out. Gray feathers began to paint their patterns on my arms.

"I could live off food you guys brought me," Tobias said. "I don't have to hunt. "

"Okay, then why do you?" I asked, just before my mouth mutated into a beak.

"Because I'm not just a human. I'm also a hawk. Hawks hunt live prey. Would it be better if I let you do my killing for me? Is it more moral if I eat a frozen mouse you get from some supplier?"

"Look, Tobias, I know all about how nature works. I know about predators and prey. It's just.

. . it's just confusing. I mean, where does right and wrong come into it?" Snowy-white feathers were growing all down my front, replacing the fabric of my morphing suit. My feet were becoming pale gray talons.

"I don't know. I guess if I were running around killing animals I didn't intend to eat, that would be wrong. But hawks have a right to live, just as much as a mouse or a skunk." My human eyes were giving way to the incredibly amazing hawk vision. There was some color distortion because these eyes were adapted for seeing through water. The osprey eats fish. Nature designed them to see fish, even below the shimmering surface of a lake or river.

"Ready to fly?" Tobias asked.

I flapped my wings a couple of times.

"Let's g," I said, trying to sound like Rachel.

Tobias flapped his wings, caught a headwind, and suddenly shot almost straight up. I opened my wings and contracted the tireless flying muscles. Flap, flap, flap, and I also caught the breeze. I flapped to get above the trees, then a stronger breeze came up and I soared high.

72 It's like stepping on a very fast escalator. Zoom! I flapped hard, wanting the sensation of speed.

Tobias was ahead of me, and as I flew, I watched him. I watched the incredibly subtle movements of his wings. He almost seemed to be able to move individual feathers. For him, the wind was not invisible. It was a road, as clear as if it was blacktop.

As I followed him, I sensed the osprey brain beneath my own, adjusting and reacting to the wind. My eyes saw every small detail. They marked each animal, each hole where an animal might be hiding. I saw a bright stream, and saw the shadows of fish flitting through the rocks.

My osprey had been designed by nature for this-, flying high and finding prey. Just like Tobias. We flew up and up. The tops of trees were like some bumpy lawn beneath us. I could see all of the Yeerk logging camp. And I could see the massive yellow machines that were slicing through the trees like hot knives through butter. Already there was an ugly scar of stumps. A scar that spread like some terrible disease, eating the forest away.

Tobias veered right, toward the long, winding road through the trees. I banked my wings and went after him.

The stream joined a small river, rushing and bubbling alongside the road. Through the water, through the foam and bubbles, I saw the schools of fish darting. And I could feel the osprey's brain considering the situation. Measuring the distances. Calculating the angles. Planning the way it would skim low over the surface of the water, then lower its ripping talons at just the perfect moment to strike. To snatch a fish right out of the water.

I knew that Tobias was making the same calculations as he flew over mice and rats and rabbits . . . and skunks.

Tobias and I were two superb, beautiful killers, riding the wind, while our prey cowered beneath us.

But he was right. We had as much of a right to live as any of our prey. And we had been designed by millions of years of evolution to be predators.

"There," Tobias said. "A Jeep. "

I looked and saw the vehicle coming down the road. Then, with my amazingly acute hawk vision, I saw right through the windows, as though the glass were the surface of a stream.

"Three guys. One driving, and one beside him. There's one guy in the backseat, and he looks older. "

"Yep. And on the side of the Jeep it says Dapsen Lumber. My guess is the driver and the other guy are Controllers. The guy in the backseat is looking all around like he's very interested in what's going on. "

"They'll reach the camp in a few minutes. As soon as we see how this Farrand guy reacts, we'll know if he's already been made into a Controller," I said.

"How's that?"

73 "The Yeerks have gone ahead with logging," I explained. "If Farrand is still a true human, he'll be massively upset. If he's calm, he's already one of them. "

"Good point," Tobias said.

"What do we do? I mean, if he's a Controller already?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess we focus on attacking the logging operation itself. "

"Really? You know what we'd do if he were a nonhuman Controller?" I asked. "We'd go after him and whatever happened, happened. Right?"

"You mean, like a termite?" Tobias asked dryly.

"Yeah. That's exactly what I mean," I said.

"Look, Cassie, you're human. Homo sapien. Your job is to keep yourself and your species alive. That's all nature wants from you. That's the whole point of evolution – to survive. " He sounded angry.

We were following the Jeep now, heading back toward the logging camp. It would happen in just a few minutes. In just a few minutes Farrand would see what was going on, and we would know what he truly was.

One of us, or one of them.

"Survive," I said flatly.

"That's the law of nature. The number one law. And humans are part of nature."

"Then so are the Yeerks, and we're no better than them. "

"I guess we'll have to worry about that one later," Tobias said. "Look. " The Jeep pulled to a stop in front of the Yeerk fortress.

Farrand flung open his door and jumped out. I could easily see him waving his arms. Even from where I was I could see the anger on his face.

Then from the building there came a man.

And yet... this man felt wrong. Even from up in the air, I felt a chill that seemed to emanate from him.

"Him," Tobias said.

I knew instantly what Tobias meant.

"I only saw him once in a human morph, but it's him," Tobias said.

74 Visser Three.

Visser Three.

The leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. The only Yeerk in all the universe to have taken control of an Andalite body. The only Yeerk in all the universe with the power to morph.

It shouldn't have surprised me that he would use his human morph. It made sense.

And yet I felt a cold rage deep inside me at the sight. It wasn't logical, but I felt it just the same. He was a fake human. He was using human DNA and human form as part of his plan to enslave all of humanity.

"Visser Three," I said to Tobias.

"Yeah," he agreed. "He looks so normal. Except for the fact that he gives you the creeps. "

"I have a bad feeling about this," I said. "I don't think they're going to wait long. I think they're going to take Farrand right away. "

Farrand was walking toward Visser Three, still waving his hands wildly toward the heavy machinery that was chewing through the trees. Visser Three was smiling. It was not a nice smile.

"Where are Jake and the others?" Tobias wondered.

"Oh, man," I said. "This is going to happen real -"

All of a sudden, Visser Three lashed out and slapped Farrand across the face. The commissioner staggered back. He held a hand to his cheek.

The two men from the Jeep rushed to grab Farrand's arms. Farrand was an older man. He was helpless.

"Cassie. Look. That's either Jake, or there is some other tiger loose in these woods!" I looked toward the clearing. Now I could see it – a huge, orange-striped tiger was racing toward Farrand. But he was too far away. It had all happened too suddenly. Jake wasn't in position. I didn't even know where the others were. Probably still morphing.

"It's up to you," I said.

I adjusted my wings, aimed for Visser Three, and dove. Down, down, down. Faster and faster, till my wings were vibrating and my bones were rattling from the speed.

The target, Visser Three's human head, grew larger. Larger. Larger!

I raked my talons forward, I flared my wings just enough to keep from overshooting, and I struck. I could feel my talons bite into his scalp. And then I was out of there, carried away by my own momentum.

75 "Aaarrrgghh!" the Visser yelled.

At the same instant, Tobias hit one of the guys from the Jeep. Tobias has more experience than I do. His aim is better. The guy he hit would be wearing an eyepatch for the rest of his life.

"Yeee hah!" Tobias cried.

Farrand broke free of his remaining captor and ran.

"Get him!" Visser Three yelled. "Full alert!"

The uninjured guard went after Farrand. He caught him easily and knocked him facedown in the dirt. I saw Jake closing in fast, a black-and-orange streak.

Looking past him, I saw that there was a second battle out by the edge of the forest. Two wolves – Rachel and Marco – were on the Controllers operating the machines. The perimeter guards had come running, automatic weapons ready.

Suddenly, fast as a gazelle, Ax ran to help Rachel. The nearest guard turned to take a shot.

Ax's tail flashed, and the Controller no longer had a way to pull a trigger.

Just beneath me, the other Controller from the Jeep kicked Farrand, who was struggling to get up. That was too much for me. I wheeled in the air and went back for a second run.

"Cassie!" Tobias cried a warning.

The front door of the building flew open and they began spilling out – a half dozen human-Controllers, each armed. And worse ... far worse, four big Hork-Bajir.

But it was too late to back off. I was already diving.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

I heard the first two bullets go whizzing past me.

I felt the third bullet hit my wing. It went straight through my right wing, and I tumbled from the air, suddenly as ungainly as a chicken.

I fell. Helpless, I fell.

WHUMP!

I slammed hard into the ground.

Dizzy and confused, I thought I saw Jake leap toward a Hork-Bajir warrior. But I couldn't be sure. I was fading. Fading . . .

My world grew small and dark. I could no longer see anything far away. I could focus only on the ground right before me. An ant was marching by, carrying a dead bug. Maybe I was 76 just imagining things, as I sank into unconsciousness. Maybe my brain was making up things that weren't there. But I could almost have sworn that the ant was carrying the dead, dried-out husk of the termite queen.

And then everything went black.

77 Chapter NINETEEN

I woke up in a sort of large box. It was dark, but not totally without light. There were small round holes drilled in the sides of the box. Airholes. I could see the commissioner, Farrand, unconscious on the floor beside me.

He looked old. He was mostly bald and had hair growing out of his ears. There was blood trickling from a shallow cut on his forehead.

"Turn on the perimeter defenses!" Visser Three yelled.

I could hear him clearly. I was still an osprey, but ospreys have good hearing. It was strange, being able to hear the Yeerk Visser's voice. We always encountered him when he was in his own stolen Andalite body. Then he communicated only in thought-speak.

"You! And you! Keep your eyes on that box," Visser Three snapped. "If anything . . .

anything, no matter how small tries to get out of there, destroy it! There's an Andalite bandit in that box, and there had better be an Andalite bandit in that box when this is over. Or I'll destroy you both!"

Andalite bandit. That was me. Of course, if I didn't get out of the box, I would have to demorph eventually and Visser Three would see the truth – that I was a human.

And I would have to demorph soon. My wing felt like it was on fire. The pain was terrible.

"Visser! The Andalite bandits have turned the heavy equipment toward us!" someone yelled.

"Then turn on the force field!"

"But ... but Visser... our own people will be trapped outside of the force field."

The Visser's voice suddenly became very quiet. A very dangerous kind of quiet. "Did I just hear you question my order?"

"No! No Visser! I'm turning on the force field!"

Farrand moaned. He moved his head a little, but then became quiet again. Okay, Cassie, think. Think.

Obviously, my friends were still fighting. They must be winning, or the Visser would not turn on the force field.

They had seized control of some of the machines and turned them against this building. As soon as the force field went up, the heavy equipment would be useless.

And time was on the side of the Yeerks. Visser Three would have called in more help. The Bug fighters full of fresh Hork-Bajir could be landing any minute. When that happened, all would be lost.

We were done for.

No! Think, Cassie!

78 This was the game of predator and prey. This was war. What was the Yeerks" weakness?

What did they need that I could take away?

Farrand moaned again.

Of course!

I took a deep breath. I began to morph quickly out of the pain-wracked osprey body, back to my own human form. Morphing works on DNA, and DNA is not affected by injuries. My reconstructed human body would be normal.

It was cramped in the box, with two humans in there. I was hunched over Farrand when his eyes fluttered open. I was already beginning my next morph. What the man saw was the face of a girl. But a face that was sprouting luxuriant black-and-white fur.

His eyes closed again. He would think it was all a dream. Hopefully.

"Hah!" I heard Visser Three crow. "The force field has stopped them!"

"Visser! The first Bug fighters will land here in fifteen minutes."

"Got them!" Visser Three said. "This time, I've got them!" He was using thought-speak. The Visser had demorphed.

I focused all my thoughts. I knew what I had to do. But it was dangerous. I had to communicate with the Visser in thought-speak. And I had to do it without giving him any hint that I was a human.

No long conversation. Monotone voice. As few words as possible. No images of any kind.

"Visser," I said. "I'll kill the human. "

That was Visser Three's weakness – he needed Farrand alive. That was the pressure point.

By threatening to kill Farrand, I threatened the Visser's plan.

See, you can't make a Controller out of a corpse.

The Visser instantly understood.

"Everyone in this room! Weapons on the box! Be prepared on my command to shoot the Andalite without hitting the human! It may be in any sort of wild, deadly animal morph! Do not let it escape. "

I got into position. The human me was scared. But the skunk me was perfectly calm. The skunk knew it had the ultimate weapon.

Suddenly, the door of the box flew open.

79 Visser Three stood there in his Andalite body, with his deadly Andalite tail cocked and ready to strike.

Beside him, on either side, stood half a dozen armed human-Controllers. And in between the humans, towering above them, five huge Hork-Bajir warriors.

The human-Controllers leveled their weapons.

The Hork-Bajir had weapons, too, but they didn't need them. Hork-Bajir are weapons, seven feet of ankle blades, knee blades, elbow blades, forehead spikes, and armored tail– like Stegosaurus meets Klingon.

All this awesome deadly destructive power stared down at me.

Visser Three aimed his Andalite stalk eyes at me. His main eyes were already staring in amusement.

"This is the best you could do, Andalite scum?" He laughed. "Such a terrifying beast you've morphed!" He laughed again.

He laughed at the chubby, cat-sized black– and-white animal in the box. Laughed at the way I stood with my back to him, tail raised, looking over my shoulder.

A skunk can fire its scent with amazing accuracy up to about fourteen feet.

The Visser was only six feet away.

"Kill it," Visser Three ordered coldly.

But I fired first.

80 Chapter twenty

A skunk can fire its scent in five to seven shots.

I fired once and hit the Visser in the face.

I fired again and hit the nearest Hork-Bajir on the left. Again and hit two human-Controllers.

Again and again, all within about three seconds.

"Aaaarggghh!"

"Oheaguheaguheaohhhhh.ohhhh!"

"Heruntgahal! Stink! Arrrr!"

The Visser staggered back, blinded and reeling from the mighty stench. The human-Controllers covered their mouths with their hands. Some even dropped their weapons.

The Hork-Bajir I was worried about. I didn't know if Hork-Bajir even had a sense of smell.

Turns out they do.

Turns out they have an excellent sense of smell. Too bad.

The Hork-Bajir were the first to panic. One fired his Dracon beam wildly.

"Don't shoot, you fools!"

Visser Three screamed. "You'll hit the human! Or me!"

Actually, what they had hit was the floor. A big, smoldering hole appeared in the wood.

"Reeking fernallgahall" one Hork-Bajir kept bellowing in the odd mix of English and their own tongue.

Then the Hork-Bajir lost it completely. They turned and ran for the door.

Personally, I didn't see what they were so excited about.

It didn't smell bad to me.

They ran. The human-Controllers, the Hork-Bajir, and Visser Three. They ran from the horror of my skunk smell.

I waddled as far as the doorway.

I saw an amazing scene. The force field was still on. Three massive tree-cutters, diesel engines roaring and billowing smoke, were straining against the force field like mad dogs on a leash.

Inside the force field, the totally demoralized Yeerk forces.

81 Outside the force field, a bizarre zoo – a tiger, a grizzly bear, a gorilla. And something no human zoo had ever held – an Andalite. Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Ax.

Around the clearing, a handful of human– Controllers and Hork-Bajir warriors sat nursing wounds. Some were just lying in the dirt.

It was a weird and tense scene. If the force field came down, the tractors and tree-cutters would hit the building within seconds.

On the other hand, even though they were reeking of skunk smell, and staggering and half-blind, the forces inside the field were stronger than Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Ax.

Of course, if the tree-cutters hit the building, they would probably kill Farrand. The Yeerks didn't want that. Neither did we, but Visser Three didn't know that.

"What happened?" Jake asked me in a private thought-speak whisper.

"I sprayed them," I said. "They didn't like it. "

I'm pretty sure tigers can't normally smile. But I could have sworn Jake did.

Jake must have privately told Ax what happened. Ax was the only one we could trust to speak to Visser Three. He was the only true Andalite.

"Visser," Ax said.

"It seems to me that we have a standoff."

"Don't try to bargain with me, fool," Visser Three sneered. "I have forces on the way. " Ax nodded. "I wonder how your Blade ship will smell after you spread your newly acquired stench through it?"

"The smell ... it will go away," the Visser said.

"Visser, my human host has a memory of -" one of the human-Controllers began to say.

The Visser's tail blade snapped through the air. It pressed against the human-Controller's throat. A twitch would send the Controller's head flying.

"Do not interrupt me," the Visser said calmly. "You were saying?" he asked Ax.

"The smell would go away in about seven Earth days ... if you were in the open air," Ax said calmly. "In a spacecraft? Airtight, closed up, cramped? You'll never lose the smell. Ever.

However. . . thanks to Andalite chemical technology there is a way to remove the stench. Let the human Farrand go free. He's unconscious and hasn't seen what you are. Let him go, we'll give you the secret of neutralizing the stench, and we all walk away."

"I'll dispose of you myself!" the Visser shrieked. "Andalite filth!" 82 "Visser, we both know how impossible it is to remove a smell once it gets into a spacecraft.

You would need a full refitting at a major space dock. Your Blade ship would be intolerable.

"

Visser Three just stood there. Just stood there and stared. His stalk eyes drooped a little. "Get the human," he muttered to his Hork-Bajir.

"Visser..." one Hork-Bajir moaned, clearly reluctant to go back where the smell was even stronger.

"This has not been a good day for me," Visser Three said. "Would you really like to feel as bad as I do?"

The two Hork-Bajir went back inside and very quickly reappeared, dragging Farrand. They dropped him in the dirt.

"Have one of your men drive him to the nearest human hospital. When he is safe, we will tell you the secret. And no tricks. We'll be watching caret Ax rolled his stalk eyes skyward.

Visser Three followed the direction of his gaze, and saw, high in the sky, a bird of prey with a rust-red tail.

"You do realize that one day I will have you all," Visser Three said. "With all your clever tricks, I will still find you."

"No, I do not think so," Ax said. "We are sure to smell you coming. " 83 Chapter twentyone

The Yeerks drove Farrand to the hospital. Once we knew he was safe, Ax told Visser Three how a certain kind of juice would help get rid of the skunk smell.

The Visser was still screaming when we disappeared into the woods.

The next day, Jake, Marco, Rachel, Ax, and I were able to bring the skunk mother back to her den. She waddled inside, and a few minutes later, waddled back out followed by Joey, Johnnie, Marky, and C.j.

They ignored the four humans and the Andalite completely. After all, mother skunk was back with her kits. And mother skunk wasn't afraid of anything.