Текст книги "Animorphs - 18 - The Decision"

Автор книги: Katherine Alice Applegate

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Animorphs The Decision

Converted to E-Book by:

Kamal Raniga

My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth– Isthill.

I don't know if my fellow Andalites will ever recognize that name. I guess some of the story I'm about to tell will appear in the scientific journals. I mean, the accident that occurred to me has certainly rewritten the science of Zero-space mass extrusion during morphing.

But I doubt that my real name will be used. I doubt that the whole truth will be told. And I guess that's a good thing. You see, there are traitors among us. Yes, traitors among our fellow Andalites. Andalites working for the Yeerks.

I am the only living Andalite witness to the Ascalin incident. Only I–and my human friends, Prince Jake, Cassie, Tobias, Rachel, and Marco–know what truly happened aboard that ship on war-torn planet Leera.

And even though I know what happened, I will never know why it happened.

I know it seems impossible even to conceive of Andalites as traitors. I know the very idea makes any decent Andalite sick inside. But I am telling the truth. The Ascalin incident happened. We were betrayed by one of our own.

My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth– Isthill, brother of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. And I swear by his memory that everything I say here is true.

I am the only Andalite presently located on planet Earth. Don't bother looking Earth up on any of the databases. You won't find much information. The truth is, we lost a Dome ship in orbit above this planet. The Yeerks destroyed it. We lost my brother, Prince Elfangor, in that battle, too. But before he died, Elfangor broke our law and gave the secret Andalite morphing power to five human youths.

The Yeerks are after this planet now. They are invading Earth in their usual style. The Yeerk parasite slugs have an easy time entering human heads, wrapping themselves around human brains.

Enslaving humans as they did the Hork-Bajir and the Gedds. As they hope someday to do to us.

I live among these humans now. With the group of young humans who were given the morphing power by Elfangor. They call themselves Animorphs. They resist the Yeerk invasion of Earth. All alone, as far as we know.

I live with humans. I respect them. But my hearts are still Andalite. No matter what anyone ever says about me and about what happened on Leera, I am true to my own people.

And yet there are times when I wonder: Who are my own people? My race, my species? My family? My friends? My allies?

My human friends insist on reducing my name to "Ax." You see, humans communicate by making mouth-sounds. (most Andalites understand the concept of a "mouth," I believe.) And although my full name is easily pronounced in Andalite thought-speak, it is somewhat long and complex for primitive human mouth-sounds.

I am alone on this planet. The only one of my species. The only Andalite among all the humans. So I have used the morphing technology to create a human morph. And sometimes, for two hours at a time, I become human and pass among humans as one of them.

I am very good at passing for human, if I say so myself. I have learned the customs and habits perfectly so that I seem entirely normal.

That's how I am able to pass even in the most human of places. For example, the mall. Which is a place full of shops, most of which sell artificial skin and artificial hooves.

Technically known as "clothing" and "shoes."

The mall also houses the most wonderful eating places. You see, in addition to making sounds with their mouths, humans use them to eat. They place foods into the mouth opening and grind the foods with teeth while adding saliva. This involves a sense called "taste."

Taste is very, very powerful.

Oh, yes.

I was wearing artificial skin and artificial hooves like a human. I approached the counter of my very favorite eating place.

"Hello," I said, making mouth-sounds with my human mouth. "I will work for money. Muh-nee.

Mnee."

I should explain: Money is a sort of abstract human concept. You give amounts of money to various people in society and they in turn give you useful items.

"Do you want to order something?" the human said to me.

"I require money so that I may exchange it for the delicious cinnamon buns," I explained.

The human blinked his eyes. "So ... you do want to order, or you don't?"

Obviously this was a less-intelligent human. "I wish to perform labor, lay-ber, lay-burrr, and to have you give me money. Then I wish to use that money to acquire delicious cinnamon buns. Bun-zuh."

"I'll get the manager."

"Bun-zuh," I said. I find the z sound especially enjoyable. It tickles the mouthparts.

Many sounds are amusing.

The manager came and I explained my request to her.

"Well, I can't give you a job," she said.

"I think you're under age. But I guess if you're hungry I could have you clear some of those tables and give you some food."

This was acceptable to me.

"Poor kid," she said to the other human as I turned away. "A little off in the head, maybe.

But a good-looking boy."

I soon discovered what she meant by clearing tables. In this part of the mall there are many tables, surrounded by eating places. The tables were littered with delicious things!

On the first table I found thin, crisp, salty-greasy triangles covered with a bright yellow secretion. I ate them and they were very good.

On the next table were liquids. I drank them. One was hot, one was cold. Along with the liquids was a square of crumpled paper.

Smeared inside the paper was a reddish, semiliquid product. I licked it. It was fine, but not wonderful.

Then at last, I saw what I wanted.

Two large, steaming hot, glistening cinnamon buns. Two humans were sitting very near the cinnamon buns.

They were going to eat my buns!

I raced over as quickly as my wobbly human legs could go. "I am clearing these tables!" I cried.

The humans looked at me. "We haven't even eaten yet."

"Good," I said, relieved. I grabbed the two cinnamon buns and carried them away.

"Hey! Hey, stop!"

I began to shove the first bun into my mouth.

Oh, the joy! Oh, how can I even explain to an Andalite who has never possessed the sense of taste? The sensation! It was a pleasure beyond any pleasure imaginable. The warmth, the dripping, sweet goo of the cinnamon bun!

"What are you doing?" the manager cried as she came running over.

"I amm glearing khe khables," I said. It is very difficult to speak while eating. Just one of the many design flaws in humans.

"I am terribly sorry," the manager said to the humans who were trying to take my cinnamon buns. "I'll get you two fresh buns. And you," she said, pointing one of her powerful-yet-stubby human fingers at me, "come with me."

She pulled me away, causing me to drop a small portion of the bun from my mouth. She took me into the eating place and made me sit on a chair. This involves bending the two legs and resting the weight of the body on a raised platform by pressing the fatty pads at the top of the legs against the platform. It's hard to visualize unless you've seen it.

"Okay, now look, son, if you're that desperate for food, there's a tray of buns here that are just a bit stale. You can help yourself. You poor kid."

She indicated a square array of cinnamon buns. Perhaps a dozen in all!

"For me?" I asked in a voice choked with emotion.

"Sure, son. Go ahead and have one."

Let me make one final point here: human mouth-sound language is very fuzzy at times.

"Have one," she'd said.

One mouthful? One bun?

One tray?

It was certainly not my fault if there was any confusion.

"So there I am," Marco said. "Cruising through the food court, minding my own business, thinking, Hey, why not snag a taco? when I notice the paramedics and this crowd all gathered around the Cinnabon."

Marco is one of my human friends. He is shorter than some humans of his age. He has dark hair and dark eyes and likes to make jokes. Jokes are humor. Humor is more common among humans than among Andalites.

I think they have to resort to humor. It helps them deal with the embarrassment of being so wobbly on their two ridiculous legs.

"And I swear, it was like this sudden, psychic feeling. I knew, I mean, I knew somehow the Ax-man was involved. So I go over and ask someone in the crowd what's happening. And she says–"

"She?" Rachel interrupted. "Let me guess. Some good-looking girl who normally would never even talk to you? But you figured since there's a medical emergency that would be a good time to hit on her?"

"Exactly," Marco said.

Rachel is a female. She has gold hair and blue eyes. She is tall for her age.

"Anyway, she tells me, "Some kid went crazy and ate an entire pan of cinnamon buns." Now, who, I ask you all, who do we know who would eat an entire pan of cinnamon buns?"

Marco, Rachel, and the others–Prince Jake, Cassie, and Tobias–all looked at me and stretched their mouths horizontally to make grins. All except Tobias, who is a nothlit: a person trapped in morph. He is a hawk and has no lips.

I felt I had to say something. I was not aware of the precise specifications for human stomachs,"; I explained. It seems there is some sort of limit on the quantity that may be consumed. Passing that limit caused an unpleasant sensation in the stomach area. It also caused me to become dizzy."; "The sugar rush of all time," Cassie said.

Cassie is no taller than Marco. She has dark hair and eyes. Cassie is very interested in animals. By "animals,"

humans mean all animals aside from themselves.

I was out of my human morph and back in my own body. We were in the forest that begins at the edge of Cassie's farm. This is where I live.

Tobias and me both. He eats mice, mostly in the morning. I leave the forest at night and go running across the fields, absorbing grass through my hooves, the way any sensible creature should.

We were waiting there in the woods for the arrival of a strange ally: Erek, the Chee.

The Chee are a race of androids. They were created by a now-dead race called Pemalites.

The Chee and the last remaining Pemalites came to Earth thousands of years ago. They were escaping the devastation of their home world. The Pemalites did not survive. Their principled, non-violent, but shockingly powerful androids did.

Prince Jake looked at his watch.

Humans are always lost in time. They are constantly certain that "x" is later or earlier than they thought. I have never known a human to say, "Oh, look, it's exactly what time I thought it was."

Prince Jake said, "I was about to mention that Erek was late, but I guess it's still earlier than I thought it was."

You see what I mean.

He's coming now,"; Tobias said. He can move very quietly when he wants to. But I can see him from up here."; Hawks have excellent hearing and really extraordinary powers of sight. But still, they can only look in one direction at a time, just like humans.

Erek approached–exactly on time, of course. He appears to be a normal human boy. But of course that is merely a very advanced holographic illusion. Beneath the hologram is an android of gray and white metals, somewhat resembling an Earth dog walking on two legs.

The Chee are incapable of violence. A prohibition against violence is written into their programming. Yet with our help, Erek was once able to disable that programming. He saved our lives in a terrible battle. But he chose then to surrender the power to do violence.

However, even though they cannot do battle, the Chee have managed to infiltrate the Yeerk organization on Earth. And from time to time Erek brings us useful information.

"Hi everyone," Erek said.

"Hey, Erek," Marco said.

"What's up?"

Erek shrugged, exactly like any other young human of his apparent age. "Not much. Just something strange. Something that doesn't make sense. At least not as far as we can see."

Prince Jake nodded. He looked up at Tobias. "Are we clear?"

Tobias dropped from the branch he was on, flapped his wings, and soared above the treetops out of sight.

"Sorry," Prince Jake said to Erek. "I want to be sure we're safe."

Erek made an amused grin. "Do you think I came alone? Three of my people are spread out around us, keeping watch. Tobias will never spot them, not even with his eyes."

"Oh? Want to put some money on that?"

Prince Jake asked.

Tobias flew back and landed on the same branch. He began to calmly preen his feathers.

All clear."; "You didn't see anything at all?" Prince Jake asked, sounding disappointed.

Well, I saw two Chee projecting tree holograms, and another one trying to pass himself off as a rock, but nothing to worry about."; The humans and Erek all laughed.

I know these woods,"; Tobias said smugly. ally think you can just park some big old holographic willow tree where it doesn't belong and I won't notice? Puh-leeze."; Erek did a sort of bow toward Tobias.

"Remind me never to underestimate you, brother hawk." Then, suddenly serious, he told us what he'd come to say.

"The second-ranking guy in the Secret Service, a man named Hewlett Aldershot the Third, is in a hospital in a coma. He was hit by a car while walking across the street. We don't know why he's here in this area. But we do know this: No one even knows he's in the hospital."

"His family doesn't know?" Cassie said.

"No. No one. Not his family, not his boss, Jane Carnegie. No one. The hospital is heavily infiltrated by Yeerks. Half the staff are human-Controllers. His name isn't even in the hospital computers. And, oh, by the way, the car that hit him? A minivan belonging to none other than our friend Chapman."

Prince Jake nodded. He is the leader of the Animorphs. I consider him to be my prince.

As an aristh, I require someone to be my prince.

"Well, well," Prince Jake said. "I guess we'd better check it out."

I have a question,"; Marco said. If you already have a Hewlett Aldershot and a Hewlett Aldershot, Jr., what kind of parent is going to go and inflict that name on a third kid? He must have gotten beat up after school every single day of his life."; It was the next day. Marco, Rachel, and I were on the ledge of a third-story window. We were in seagull morph. According to my human friends, seagulls are like pigeons. They can go anywhere without looking suspicious.

I am sure they are right. Although I have no idea what a pigeon is. Nor can I imagine what a "suspicious" bird might be.

I'm just saying for all we know, Chapman just ran this guy down because he couldn't stand that name."; Rachel sighed. Why does Jake make me go on missions with you, Marco?"; What, I shouldn't talk? I shouldn't make conversation? We've been hanging around on this stupid ledge for an hour and a half. Me, you, and Ax."; Just an hour and a half?"; Rachel said.

Funny, it seems so much longer. The time when you're talking just drags on and on and on, Marco. On and on and on and–"; Very funny."; Actually, it has only been one of your hours and eighteen minutes,"; I said helpfully.

One of our hours,"; Marco said. ally know, they really are your hours now, too. This is Earth. You're stuck here. Go ahead and set your watch to local time."; Marco was bored. We all were. But Marco gets snappish when he's bored.

We were on the sill outside the private hospital room of Hewlett Aldershot the Third. This was our second shift on the windowsill. We'd done a shift earlier in the morning, waiting for close to the two-hour limit. Then Prince Jake and Cassie had taken a turn, then it was back to us.

This is so totally not what I want to be doing on a beautiful Saturday with major sales on at Express and Old Navy,"; Rachel complained. It's my turn to go fly around. Be right back."; She flapped away, leaving me and Marco.

We fluttered our wings a little and jerked our heads and marched back and forth on the stone sill. We were trying to act like seagulls. That's why Rachel had to fly off. It was the right thing for a seagull to do.

Is there something unusual about the name Hewlett Alder–look!"; I said, interrupting myself. A new human is entering the room. And I believe he is familiar."; Rachel!"; Marco yelled in thought-speak.

Go find Jake and Cassie and Tobias.

We have company!"; Who?"; Visser Three in his human morph,"; I said. The Abomination!"; Seagulls have eyes on the sides of their heads. So I turned one eye to stare in through the window. Yes, it was him. Visser Three, leader of the invasion of Earth.

Visser Three is, of course, the only Yeerk ever to successfully seize and infest an Andalite body. When he took that body, he also got the Andalite morphing power that went with it.

So only Visser Three, among all the Yeerks in the universe, has the power to morph.

I felt the slow rage I always feel on seeing the foul creature, my brother's murderer.

Once I came close to avenging my brother.

Once I almost destroyed Visser Three. But in the end, I failed, and he still lives.

The next time there will be no mistakes.

Whoa. Visser Three, and in human morph,"; Marco said nervously.

Definitely something major going on."; Two human doctors came into the room.

They spoke to the Visser. They spoke respectfully. Fearfully. Shaking. I could not hear them through the glass, but clearly they knew who and what Visser Three was.

Visser Three began to demorph. To return to Andalite form. From the human head, the twin stalk eyes appeared. From the human chest, the front two legs began to grow. From the base of the human spine, the long, swift, dangerous Andalite tail began to extend.

To my left, a swift flash of brown and tan with a hint of red. Tobias, swooping past. I kept my other eye focused through the glass.

The blue and tan fur rippled across the formerly human skin. Visser Three was on four legs now, tail cocked and ready.

He is very sure he's safe in this place,"; I said. Otherwise he would never demorph like this."; The doctors aren't too happy, though,"; Marco observed.

The doctors were shaking. Obviously, something was wrong. Then in a flash, Visser Three pressed his tail blade against one doctor's throat.

One twitch would send the doctor's head rolling across the floor.

Now that he was back in his Andalite body, we could hear Visser Three's unguarded thought-speak. I gave orders that this human be cured!"; he raged. There is no point placing one of our people in his head if he's unable to move."; The doctor said something. Something very respectful, very careful.

I don't care about his brain stem, I want him repaired! Do you have any idea how useful this human would be to us? He is the number two man in the organization that guards their president. He would have access to half the secrets on this planet. That's why I arranged for him to be injured and brought here."; Prince Jake and Cassie flew by, both in seagull morph.

What's up?"; Prince Jake asked.

Visser Three, Prince Jake."; Don't call me "prince." Yeah, I hear his thought-speak. I meant, what do you see?"; The Visser is busy terrorizing a pair of human-Controller doctors,"; I said.

Just then, Visser Three withdrew his tail blade. The doctor collapsed and fell to his knees on the floor. His fellow doctor looked at him with pity, but made no move to help him.

ally leave me with no choice: If I can't use this creature as a host, I'll have to acquire him and morph him. I can't spend all my time in his form. I can't live his life.

But using him, I can get close to his superior. I can use this morph to seize her instead!"; The doctor who was still standing spoke. He smiled. He looked encouraging and enthusiastic.

The Visser flicked his tail, hit the doctor with the flat of the blade, and knocked him across the room.

Don't tell me "It's all worked out for the best,""; Visser Three sneered. I still want this human repaired. That's the only reason I let you live. Three days from now this human will be well, or the two of you will be very, very ... very ... sick."; Then one stalk eye turned to stare directly at me. The second stalk eye followed. And I began to have a very bad feeling.

Visser Three moved away, out of sight.

Was he eyeballing us?"; Marco asked.

Then he answered his own question. He was eyeballing us."; Prince Jake,"; I said in thought-speak only my friends could hear. What should we do?"; What's happened?"; Prince Jake asked.

He eyeballed us, that's what happened,"; Marco said.

The Visser has moved out of our sight,"; I said.

Okay. Look, he may suspect you're not real seagulls,"; Prince Jake said. So don't behave suspiciously, or like you notice him. One of you fly off. The other one wait a few seconds, then fly off. Like normal–"; CRASH!

The glass window exploded outward as something came blasting out through it. Marco was knocked from the sill and went tumbling, out of control, toward the ground.

I was too shocked to react at first.

Then I saw what had come bursting through the window. A kafit bird! A six-winged kafit bird!

It had to be Visser Three in morph. But how?

Impossible!"; I cried in total shock.

The kafit bird only lives in one place in the universe: the Andalite home world.

The kafit shook off the glass shards and banked sharply back toward me. Its razor-sharp, killing beak was aimed at me like a missile.

I dropped from the sill, wings folded. The deadly beak missed me by a feather! I opened my wings, caught air, and flapped hard.

The kafit was on me! The six wings gave it terrific speed.

Ax, what is that thing?"; Cassie cried.

I didn't have time to answer. My human friends didn't understand. The kafit lives by spearing tree-living creatures. It is fast, accurate, and deadly to small creatures.

And at the moment, I was a small creature.

Everyone on that bird!"; Prince Jake roared. He can't take us all. Tobias!

Where are you?"; Too far away,"; Tobias said grimly.

I turned my head to look for the kafit.

Stupid! My head acted like a rudder and made me turn. Right into the path of the kafit!

I flapped wildly, crazily. Too slow!

The kafit's beak sliced through the underside of my wing.

Aaaahhh!"; I yelled.

I turned and flew in abject panic. I flapped my wings and skimmed twenty feet above the ground. I knew the kafit was faster. Was it more agile, too?

But part of my mind just kept asking, How, how, how?"; How had Visser Three acquired the DNA of a kafit bird? Had the Abomination actually set foot on Andalite grass?

I was flying over a major street now. What the humans call fast-food restaurants were below me. The Visser was inches behind me. He'd have me in three ... two .... I flared, killed my speed, twisted my tail and head to shoot me sideways, and the kafit bird blew past.

He was faster. I could out-turn him, but only when I had the benefit of surprise. How many more times could I trick him that way?

A nice maneuver, Andalite,"; the Visser said, his thought-speak suddenly in my head. Why not try it again?"; I was almost angry enough to answer. But of course Visser Three could not be sure I was an Andalite in morph. He was guessing. If I remained silent he might decide I was just an innocent seagull who happened to be on the sill.

I saw Prince Jake and the others racing to catch up.

Prince Jake! Do not help me. If you help me he'll know for sure that we are not just birds."; Stop being a hero,"; Prince Jake said.

Tobias!"; I'm doing the best I can. I got dead air here!"; Tobias yelled.

I caught a flash of the big red-tailed hawk laboring to get altitude for a killing dive. But he was no more than ten feet above me and too far off to the side to help.

I was on my own.

Fine. So much the better, I said to myself, trying to sound braver than I felt. I flapped madly toward a large golden sign in the shape of two conjoined arches. Let's see just how fast the kafit bird can turn."; I aimed straight for the hole in one arch, shot through it, and instantly turned. Visser Three rocketed past, outside the arch, and turned to come back toward me. But now I reversed and went back through the second arch. The kafit was after me, but now his greater speed was useless. And his broad wingspan made it tough to fit through the arches.

Visser Three circled at blazing speed, but I threaded my way again and again through the arches.

Good job, Ax-man!"; Tobias cried.

Hang in there. I have him in my sights!"; Humans were gathering beneath us, gaping up at the bizarre spectacle.

"Hey, that bird has too many wings!" one yelled.

"Must be a mutant bird. Go seagull, go!"

Whap! My wing tip caught the edge of an arch. I stuttered through the air. I missed my turn.

Aaaaahhhh!"; The razor-sharp beak cut an inch from my wing tip! I fell. I hit the black roof of the fast-food restaurant. I staggered and hopped into a narrow space between two large, loud cooling units.

I saw the Visser swoop by low overhead and I knew that he had landed on the roof, too.

I began to demorph as fast as I could. The roof was surrounded by a raised wall. The humans on the ground could not see us. And once I was Andalite again, the bird would pose no more threat.

From my talons, hooves began to grow. My tail feathers melted together and formed the beginnings of my tail blade. But as I grew, the space became tight. I was wedged in between the cooling units, with fans blasting me with greasy smells.

I forced my way out, half Andalite, half bird, staggering on misshapen legs. Out into the open center of the roof. And there I saw him. Like me, he was demorphing. Like me, he was part bird, part Andalite.

But this was no true Andalite.

Give yourself up, Andalite,"; the Visser sneered. And I may even let you live."; Let's see how good you are tail to tail,"; I said, once more trying to sound far more confident than I was.

His tail emerged. My tail emerged.

And we stood, seemingly two Andalites, preparing for a battle to the death.

I looked into the eyes of the Abomination. And there I saw evil.

And then I saw something that made my hearts leap. Because I also saw fear.

It had been a very long time since any Andalites fought tail to tail, except as part of military training or as a sport.

And this was no sport.

There, amid the blowing fans and the smell of grease and fried meat, Visser Three and I stood face-to-face.

Two seagulls fluttered down to land. Then two more. My stalk eye noted the predator's outline of a hawk on the wing overhead.

Let's demorph,"; Rachel said, directing her thought-speak to include me. I hoped she'd remember not to let Visser Three hear it. Humans sometimes forget that thought-speak can be targeted to everyone or just a list of people.

We can't demorph,"; Prince Jake said to me. We'd have to pass through our human forms first. We can't demorph unless we are absolutely sure Visser Three is not going to walk away from this."; If we demorph, he won't walk away,"; Rachel said grimly.

I kept my eyes trained on the Visser.

My tail was on a hair trigger. The slightest movement and I would strike.

I said, Prince Jake, we can't take the chance. If he ever learns you are humans, your lives will be worthless. I can avenge Elfangor alone."; This isn't the place,"; Cassie said reasonably. People down below saw a six-winged bird come up here. Someone is probably on their way."; I barely heard her. The Visser was edging sideways, looking for an opening. I arched my tail blade high, ready to block his attack.

Ax, can you back off without getting hurt?"; Prince Jake asked. Cassie's right. We don't want this fight here."; Part of me wanted to say, yes, yes, we can let the Visser escape. He was bigger than I. His tail would have a half-foot advantage in reach. He was taller, which made it easier for him to strike my eyes, my head.

But another part of me had seen that look of fear in the Visser's eyes. He'd realized he was in a trap. He'd realized he was facing a battle to the death where the odds were not all that favorable to him.

I wanted to see more of that fear from him. I wanted to see the terror as I pressed my tail blade against his throat and said, This is for my brother."; Sudden movement!

I struck! My tail blade missed its target, but slashed the Abomination across his shoulder.

In the confusion, I didn't understand at first.

Everything happened at once: his sudden movement, my strike, and then, the graceful flight as his leap took him over the wall.

He fell from sight. I ran to the edge and craned to look over.

A human girl below was crying, "I swear I saw a blue horse jump off the roof!"

"You're crazy. Where'd it land, then?" her friend said.

I could see where he'd landed. In a large square trash bin.

"In that Dumpster," the first girl said.

I glared down at the Visser. His left rear leg was broken from the fall. He was morphing to human as fast as he could. He looked up at me with eyes blazing hatred.

I wanted to say something. I wanted to shout some threat. Make some dire promise. But all I did was stare eye to eye with Visser Three.

And then, as his human mouth appeared, he sneered.

Come on, Ax,"; Prince Jake said.

We're done here.";

That night I ran across the far pastures of Cassie's ranch and tried to figure out my emotions.

It was a wet night. Rain was falling, although not hard by Earth standards. The grass was wet and moist. I could feel my hooves picking up the worms that come out of the ground when it's wet. There would be extra protein in my diet, which was the last thing I needed. Too much protein keeps me awake.

The clouds overhead hid the moon and the stars.

This made me sad. I like to find the home star at night. It has become a sort of unofficial ritual. Something I do for myself. To remind myself that there is a place for me in the galaxy. I may not be there, but the place does exist.

Or am I just fooling myself? Yes, I have a home planet. And a home on that planet. And a people like me. But will I ever fit in there again? Have I changed too much, been with humans too long?

I saw the lights of Cassie's home.

Once I had morphed into Prince Jake and gone there for dinner with Cassie's parents. I have Prince Jake's DNA from the time when he became infested by a Yeerk.

It's a treasured memory. Dinner with Cassie, I mean, not morphing Prince Jake. Sometimes when I'm alone in the woods and thinking about home, I find myself thinking about that evening instead.