Apparently that was a mistake.
“Talk!” human-Controller Two shouted. “What are you doing here? Who are you? Why are you snooping?”
Crumph!
“I said stop it!” human-Controller One repeated angrily. “If you kill him, Visser Three will execute us for wasting a potential host body.”
There was a long pause before human-Controller Two spoke again. “Visser Three will execute us for incompetence if he finds out we couldn’t beat the truth out of a mere human. Let’s kill him and incinerate the body. Visser Three will never learn that we failed.”
“Visser Three will wonder why we did not simply infest him and learn the truth.”
“I tell you there is something wrong with this human. I tried to enter the ear canal, but it’s blocked in some way. You don’t believe me, you try it!”
<Ax? What happens if they hit the Chee with a Dracon beam? Can they fry him?> Prince Jake asked me in the thought-speak language we use while in morph.
<I am assuming that it would depend on the amount of power used. A low setting might only disturb the Chee’s holographically projected body. It would reveal the android beneath. But a full-power setting could very possibly destroy Mr. King entirely. Which would be worse from our own narrow perspective? It is an interesting question.>
<Thanks, Spock,> Marco said, using the human tone I’ve come to recognize as sarcasm. <Sure you’re not a Vulcan?>
<Vulcans are fictional creatures,> I replied. <And not a particularly convincing creation. Variations among real alien species tend to involve more than cosmetic variations in ear formation and eyebrow alignment. As I believe you may have noticed.>
Marco said, <Hey! Who just crawled over my back?>
<Sorry,> Cassie said. <Lousy visibility.>
The sound of a new blow came echoing through the pipe again. “Talk! Talk or we’ll kill you!”
We were inside the wall. To one side, the torture. On the other side? We would have to find out.
Prince Jake’s voice was sharp and urgent. <Follow me and get ready to morph.>
<Why doesn’t Mr. King just walk out of there and save us a whole lot of trouble?> Marco asked.
<What’s the problem, Marco, missing the Rugrats marathon?> That was Rachel. Rachel never found reason to resist action.
For my own part I sympathized with Marco. The Chee were frustrating. Very useful allies. But also liabilities. My human friends have a certain sentimental sympathy for the pacifism of the Chee. I do not.
<Rachel, have I mentioned that I consider you the most attractive cockroach around? Psychotic, yet with a certain cockroach style.>
Rachel laughed. <Anyway, there’s two of them and five of us. So don’t wet yourself.>
<We’re here,> Prince Jake announced.
<Any idea where “here” is?> Cassie inquired.
<Here’s where there’s an eighth of an inch crack,> Prince Jake explained. <That’s good enough for me.>
Prince Jake navigated a bend in the pipe and crossed to the wall itself. Above him was a tiny thread of light. I followed.
Prince Jake flattened his body. Disappeared between two boards.
I did the same.
We emerged into the light. I fought the instinct to panic and retreat back into the baseboard. I waved my antennae, checking for danger.
<All clear,> Prince Jake announced, although his roach senses were no better than mine. He had to be making an educated guess. <Demorph!>
<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.
About the Author
The Animorphs series, written by Katherine (K. A.) Applegate with her husband, Michael Grant, has sold millions of copies worldwide, and alerted the world to the presence of the Yeerks. Katherine and Michael are also the authors of the bestselling Remnants and Everworld series. On her own, Katherine is the author of Home of the Brave, Crenshaw, Wishtree, and the Newbery Medal–winning The One and Only Ivan. Michael is the author of the Gone and Front Lines series.
The invasion has begun.
Catch up on Newbery Medal–winner K. A. Applegate’s world-conquering series.
#1: The Invasion
#2: The Visitor
#3: The Encounter
#4: The Message
#5: The Predator
#6: The Capture
#7: The Stranger
#8: The Alien
#9: The Secret
#10: The Android
#11: The Forgotten
#12: The Reaction
#13: The Change
#14: The Unknown
#15: The Escape
#16: The Warning
#18: The Decision
#19: The Departure
#20: The Discovery
#21: The Threat
#22: The Solution
#23: The Pretender
#24: The Suspicion
#25: The Extreme
#26: The Attack
#27: The Exposed
#28: The Experiment
#29: The Sickness
#30: The Reunion
#31: The Conspiracy
#32: The Separation
#33: The Illusion
#34: The Prophecy
#35: The Proposal
#36: The Mutation
#37: The Weakness
#38: The Arrival
#39: The Hidden
#40: The Other
#41: The Familiar
#42: The Journey
#43: The Test
#44: The Unexpected
#45: The Revelation
#46: The Deception
#47: The Resistance
#48: The Return
#49: The Diversion
#50: The Ultimate
#51: The Absolute
#52: The Sacrifice
#53: The Answer
#54: The Beginning
Text copyright © 1999 by Katherine Applegate
Cover illustration by David B. Mattingly
Art Direction/Design by Karen Hudson
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All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
e-ISBN 978-1-338-21767-4
First edition, January 2000