I crept toward the meadow’s edge, always keeping within the shadow of the trees. I saw nothing unusual. No Bug fighters. No Hork-Bajir. No Visser Three.
Just the wildlife of Earth: two deer grazing. Squirrels racing up and down the trunks of trees. A skunk waddling boldly past.
It would be an hour before the time the Yeerk Eslin had given me. I had an hour to plan and prepare, now that I saw the ground we were on.
I looked at the meadow. A stream, perhaps three feet across, cut the meadow in half. The grass grew tall by the stream bed.
I tried to guess where the Visser would run. Would he go to the left or the right? I would only get one chance, so I had to guess right.
I imagined where I would go, if it were me. Visser Three was in an Andalite body. Maybe he would move like an Andalite.
I stepped out into the blazing sunlight and walked to a place I thought would do. It was beside the small stream. A place where the grass was a bit shorter, and where it would be easy for Visser Three to step into the stream.
Then, I saw them: the hoofprints. Andalite hoofprints.
Visser Three. Yes, he had been there, perhaps a few days earlier. Eslin was right. This was the place.
I had to wait, concealed. Ready to attack at the right time. I could never hide in my Andalite body. But there were other options.
The rattlesnake. That would be the morph to use. What better way to strike suddenly than with the body of a snake?
I focused my mind on the snake. I concentrated on the change. I felt it begin almost immediately.
It was unlike any morph I had done before. Usually my legs would become some other type of leg. My arms would become some other type of arm, even if they were only fins.
But this time there were no arms, no legs. Nothing of my own body would find an echo in this new shape, except for my eyes and tail.
My legs simply melted away. Withered. Disappeared. I fell to the ground, a legless stump.
My arms shriveled and evaporated.
I heard the sounds of grinding inside my body, as all my bones melted together into my spine.
I was shrinking, but since I was already lying on the grass, it didn’t seem as extreme as it sometimes did. The stalks of grass grew higher around my head, and the purple flowers grew larger, but there wasn’t the usual feeling of falling as I shrank.
What I did feel was a terrible sense of utter weakness. I had no arms! I had no legs!
But my tail . . . ah, that I kept, although in a very different form. The blade of my tail suddenly broke up into a sort of chain. There were dozens of raspy blisters, all connected. The rattler’s tail.
My fur disappeared very swiftly, and over my bare skin scales grew. Like tiny, interlocked armor-plates that formed a pattern in brown and black and tan.
I grew a mouth. A huge mouth for the size of my body. I was a tube, and the open end was my mouth. It was a shocking body. A bizarre body. Stranger even than morphing an ant or a fish. I was a creature with no separate parts.
My Andalite stalk eyes went dark. A large, amazingly long, fast-moving forked tongue grew in my mouth. But it wasn’t like a human tongue. This tongue’s sense of taste was beyond anything a human tongue could ever achieve. This tongue tasted the very air.
And then, I felt the feature I had waited for. Huge, long, curved fangs. Fangs that were each a tiny, hollow needle. Above them venom glands grew and filled with toxin.
I felt the snake’s mind emerge beneath my own awareness.
It was not a hot, driven mind like in some animals. It did not overwhelm me with fear and hunger. It was a slow, calm, deliberate mind. The mind of a predator. A hunter. A calm, deliberate killer.
And the senses!
The lidless eyes saw strange colors, but they gave me a good range of vision.
The tongue, which shot out from a slit on the bottom of my mouth, taste-smelled the air. It brought me an incredible array of sensations: the scent of grass and earth, the scent of insects, and the scent of living, warm-blooded creatures.
Just below and behind my snake nostrils were two pits that sensed heat, especially the levels of heat put off by prey.
Yes, this was a good morph to use. The Visser would not expect me. The Visser’s Andalite body was fast, but it was not faster than the snake. I knew that from my own experience.
I began to move, slithering through the grass. I moved with sinuous grace, easily, silently. I followed my tongue. It shot out and back, again and again, sensing, smelling, tasting.
I felt the rattler’s mind with my own. It was unafraid. It had no honor. It had no friends to worry about, no family to disappoint, no laws to break. It felt no loneliness. The snake had always been alone.
I settled into the grass and waited, patient, motionless, counting off the minutes in my head.
And then I felt the vibration of the earth beneath me. The vibration that was the sound of a Bug fighter landing. Then another. Just two. Not far away.
It was time.
The Yeerks were coming. Visser Three was coming.
And as I drowned my fear in the calm lake of the snake’s predator brain, I prepared to kill.
And to die.
I smelled him long before I saw him. I smelled Andalite flesh. The Yeerk that was the real Visser Three — the Yeerk inside the Andalite body — I could not smell.
<Spread out,> Visser Three ordered. His thought-speech was loud, open, to reach his soldiers. <You! Watch the tree line. You two to the far side of the meadow. Shoot anything that moves.>
His voice was in my head. I felt churning in a stomach I no longer really had. I tried to squash my own fear beneath the snake’s calm, but it rose suddenly.
I went over the plan: strike, escape, demorph, go back for the kill.
I would have to demorph before the Visser’s guards could come to his side. And I would have to hope that the snake venom would slow him down.
Then . . . galloping!
Four sharp hooves beating across the meadow. My tongue flicked and smelled him on the wind.
Yes. He was coming closer.
Yes, he would come to the stream.
A shadow. He was there! Overhead. He blotted out the sun.
My snake tongue smell-tasted him. My lidless, always-open eyes saw his belly overhead like a curved roof. I felt his warmth.
He stuck one hoof into the cool water to drink. No time to think. He could move at any moment.
T-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S!
A sound! What was it?
Me! It was coming from me! My tail!
A rattlesnake’s tail! It had sounded its grim warning without conscious thought.
I saw the Visser’s head lowered. I saw his two main eyes focus. I could read the dawning fear in his eyes.
SSSSSS-ZAAPP!
I struck! My coiled muscles fired all at once. My head rocketed through the air. My mouth opened wide. My fangs came down.
STRIKE!
Fangs sank deep into Andalite flesh. I could feel the venom pumping! I could feel the toxin shooting into Visser Three’s leg.
He jerked.
I released.
He tried to back away. He was very fast. But I was so much faster.
STRIKE!
Pump the venom into him. Poison the monster. Poison the Abomination. Poison Elfangor’s murderer.
I drew back. I could taste my own venom dripping from my fangs.
His tail swept over his head, lancing down at me.
But I was already gone. The blade sliced deep into the ground. I felt the wind of it as I slithered swiftly away.
<DEMORPH!> I ordered myself.
Still the Visser had not called his guards. He would be wondering. He wouldn’t know how dangerous the snake was.
He wouldn’t realize at first that it was not a true snake. Then slowly he would begin to suspect.
I was racing at breakneck speed through the grass. Behind me my rope body twisted and coiled and released and slithered. But my head stayed level and straight, flying at ground level through the grass.
I was twenty yards away when my snake body grew slow and sluggish from the changes. Tiny legs appeared, just stubs at first. Tiny stalk eyes grew from the broad top of my diamond-shaped head.
<There is a snake!> Visser Three roared. <Find it! Kill it!>
I struggled on, heading for the edge of the forest.
Then . . . body warmth! A warm-blooded animal. Just ahead of me.
My tongue flicked and smelled an aroma I knew. Hork-Bajir!
Hork-Bajir, the shock troops of the Yeerk empire. A peaceful, decent race that happened, as Marco often said, to be built like lawn mowers. Bladed arms. Bladed legs. Tearing, clawed feet. A slow but deadly tail. They were all Controllers. All slaves of the Yeerks in their heads.
I could move no farther. I was no longer a snake. Not yet an Andalite. And the Hork-Bajir was just a few feet away.
Too close!
<So,> I thought, <this is how it all ends.>
My Andalite stalk eyes had emerged. I was rising slowly from the grass on my spindly Andalite legs. My tail was forming again.
I saw the Hork-Bajir. And I saw that he saw me.
There was nothing I could do. Nothing I could do but die.
The Hork-Bajir swung his bladed right arm like a scythe. It would hit me in the neck.
WHUMPH! The Hork-Bajir staggered. His blade arm sliced the air above me.
“HhhhhuuuurrrrrOOOOWWWWRRR!” A roar! But not the roar of a Hork-Bajir.
The Hork-Bajir went flying! Seven feet of deadly, dangerous Hork-Bajir warrior just cartwheeled through the air.
And where he had been now stood Rachel.
Of course, not the human Rachel with long blond hair and cool blue eyes. This was another Rachel. Rachel in the morph of a grizzly bear.
The bear was on its hind legs, standing even taller than the Hork-Bajir had stood. With claws that almost rivaled the Hork-Bajir’s blades. And muscles powerful enough to simply throw a Hork-Bajir ten feet.
“HHHHuurrhhoooorrwww!” the bear growled wildly. <Oh, man, I love doing that!>
<Rachel?> I asked wonderingly.
<No,> she said, in that human tone that means sarcasm. <It’s Smokey the Bear. Finish morphing, you Andalite idiot. Then let’s go kick some Yeerk butt.>
I was almost fully Andalite again. I swept the meadow quickly with my stalk eyes. Visser Three was in the middle of the field. Two Hork-Bajir were rushing to his side, bounding through the grass.
Across the meadow at the far end, a third Hork-Bajir looked around wildly, with his Dracon beam at the ready. He looked in every direction but up.
From the tree above him something that seemed almost liquid, something orange and black, dropped, claws outstretched.
Prince Jake!
And in the sky overhead, a hawk wheeled in low circles above the field.
<Two Hork-Bajir guarding the Bug fighters,> Tobias announced. <One Hork-Bajir in the — Oh, never mind, Cassie and Marco just took him down. Visser Three and two Hork-Bajir in the center of the meadow.>
<Come on,> Rachel said to me. <Let’s go have a nice talk with Visser Three.>
<He’s my responsibility,> I said to Rachel. <I have an obligation of honor.>
<Uh-huh. He’s all yours.>
Tobias swooped past, skimming just above the grass, rocketing toward Visser Three.
<You told them, Tobias,> I accused him.
<Yeah, I sure did. I got the idea from you. You’re the one who said you had to obey your prince. Well, I guess Jake is my prince, too. He ordered me to tell him.>
<How did you know where I was going?> I asked. <I never told you.>
<Puh-leeze. That Controller, Eslin Whatever? He wrote it down, Ax-man. You forget: I have hawk’s eyes. I can see a flea on a cat from a hundred feet away. You think I couldn’t read that note?>
<You make me very angry, Tobias,> I said.
<Yeah, and you get on my nerves, too, Ax. But we still have a fight on our hands. Let’s go deal with Visser Three.>
We raced toward the Visser and his guards. Rachel, a huge, rolling brown tidal wave, and me. Above us Tobias flew.
Just as we drew close, I saw Visser Three stagger.
The toxin! The venom! It was working.
Visser Three buckled and fell to the ground.
The two Hork-Bajir quailed. They saw Rachel barreling through the tall grass. They saw Prince Jake, a striped demon coming from the other side. They saw Marco in gorilla morph and Cassie, an eager wolf, teeth bared.
Tobias had reached the Visser. He soared past him and up, up, up into the air, beating frantically.
Worst of all, they saw an Andalite. The enemy they feared most.
<Your Visser is finished,> I called to them. <You can die with him, or you can run.>
The Hork-Bajir-Controllers made their decision quickly. Hork-Bajir can be very fast, once they decide to run.
I looked up. Why was Tobias . . . ?
<No way!> Tobias cried.
He drew back his wings and dived at full speed. He plummeted toward the earth at racing speed, killing speed! His talons came forward. It looked as if he would hit the ground. Then . . .
<NO! NO! NO!> Tobias cried. He swooped up and away, back up into the sky.
<Tobias, what is it?> I heard Prince Jake yell in thought-speak.
<He bailed! He bailed! The Yeerk bailed out! He got to the water. I can’t see him. He got away!>
<What?> I cried. <What happened?>
<He’s out! Visser Three! He’s out. I saw him worming his way through the grass.>
It took several seconds for my brain to comprehend. I couldn’t make sense of it. It was impossible to believe.
<He left his body?> I asked. <Visser Three left his host?>
<He crawled right out of the Andalite head and slithered into the water,> Tobias confirmed. <There’s a fast current. I can’t see beneath the surface of the water that well. I can’t see him!>
I looked down at the creature I thought of as Visser Three. But of course the real Visser was a gray slug, a Yeerk. This body was the body of an Andalite.
The Visser was gone. Escaped.
The Andalite was breathing, but seemed unable to move. He looked up at me with his main eyes.
I had faced Visser Three before. I had felt the evil force that flows from him. That evil was gone now. This was only an Andalite. The Yeerk was gone.
<Kill me,> the Andalite managed to gasp. <Kill me before he takes me over again. Please. Please kill me.>
I felt my hearts stop. It was more than I could stand. After years of being controlled by Visser Three, the mind of the Andalite host was still alive. Still aware. <I may already have killed you, my friend,> I said. <The snake . . .>
<No. You don’t understand. Visser Three . . . he has backup forces ready. They’ll be here in minutes. Half a dozen Bug fighters. They’ll keep this body alive; your poison is too slow.>
<I . . . but you’re an Andalite. I can’t kill you,> I said desperately. <I can’t. . . .>
<He’ll take me again,> the Andalite said, begging. <The Yeerks will find him and bring me to him again. Please. I can’t live that way . . . please. The things I’ve seen . . . you don’t understand. It’s horrible.>
He tried to raise his own Andalite tail. He tried to bring the blade to his throat. But the venom had weakened him
. His tail fell limp.
<I understand,> he said at last, with sadness so deep it burned me to hear. <Listen . . . my name is . . . what is my name? It’s been so long. And the venom . . . yes, that’s it. My name is Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. I was once a war-prince. Someday . . . someday, if you survive . . . I have a wife. I have two children . . . someday . . . tell them I still hope . . . tell them I still have love for them. . . .>
<Yes, War-Prince Alloran. I will tell them. Do you have any other orders for me?>
He reached up with one weakened hand. I took his hand in mine. <Fight them. They are stronger than you think. They have . . . they have infiltrated . . . they are on the home world . . . fight . . .>
His fingers were limp. He fell silent, unconscious.
I set his hand down by his side. I knew that the next time I saw this face, it would once more be the face of my enemy. The Abomination. Visser Three.
<We should get out of here,> Prince Jake said.
<Come on, Ax,> Tobias said. <There will be another time.>
“Give me liberty or give me death.” A human named Patrick Henry said that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew before they came to conquer Earth that humans said things like that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew what they were getting into.
— From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
We call it the law of Seerow’s Kindness,> I said. We were in the woods where I live. The woods of the planet called Earth.
Two days had passed since the terrible events in the meadow. I had thought a great deal in those two days. I had thought about everything. Then I had asked my human friends if they would join me.
“What’s it mean?” Rachel asked.
She was standing with her arms crossed. I believe it was an expression of skepticism.
<It means that we are not allowed to transfer advanced technology to any other race,> I explained. <It is a very important law. One of our most important laws.>
“You don’t want any competition,” Marco said. “You Andalites want to be able to stay on top. I understand that. But humans are on your side. We’re the ones being taken over.”