Applegate, K A - Animorphs 01 - The Invasion Read online

  CHAPTER 4

  «Yeerks!» The twin red lights slowed. They turned in a circle and came back toward us. «There is no more time. You must decide!» "We have to do this," Tobias said. "How else can we fight these Controllers?" "This is so insane!" Marco said. "Insane." "I'd like more time, but we don't have that choice," Rachel said. I'm for it." "What do you say, Jake?" Cassie asked me. It was odd. Like suddenly I was the one who had to decide for everyone? I looked up at the Yeerk ships. What had the Andalite called them? Bug fighters? They were circling closer, like dogs sniffing for a scent. I looked down at the Andalite and remembered the picture of his family. Would they even know what had happened to him? I looked at each of the people around me — my usually funny, occasionally annoying best friend, Marco; Rachel, my smart, pretty, confident cousin; and Cassie, who everyone knew liked animals more than she liked most people. Finally, I looked at Tobias. It was weird, the feeling I had at that moment, staring at him. A chill or something. "We have to," Tobias said to me. Slowly I nodded. "Yes. We have no choice." «Then each of you, press your hand against one of the sides of the square.» We did. Five hands, each pressed against one side. Then a sixth hand, different from ours, with too many fingers. «Do not be afraid,» the Andalite said. Something like a shock, only pleasurable, seemed to run through me. A tingle that almost made me laugh. «Go now,» the Andalite said. «Only remember this — never remain in animal form for more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatest danger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.» "Two hours," I repeated. Suddenly some new fear washed through the Andalite's mind. Linked as I was to him, I could feel it as a dread that crawled up my spine. He was staring up at the sky with his main eyes. Something else was up there with the Bug fighters. «Visser Three! He comes.» "What?" I was shaking with this new terror. "What's a Visser? Who's a Visser?" «Go now. Run! Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks he alone has the power to morph, The same power you now have. Run!» "No, we'll stay with you," Rachel said firmly. "Maybe we can help." Again it was as if the alien was smiling at us with his eyes. «No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here.» We all looked up, craning our necks. Sure enough, the two red lights were sinking toward us. And they had been joined by a third" ship, far larger, black as a shadow within a shadow. "But how are we supposed to fight these . . . these Controllers?" Rachel demanded. «You must find a way. Now run!» I jerked from the force of his command. "He's right. Run!" I yelled. We ran. All but Tobias, who knelt beside the Andalite and took his hand. The Andalite pressed his other hand against Tobias's head. Tobias rocked back, like he'd been shocked. Then he, too, was up and running, stumbling over the loose junk and potholes of the construction site. A beam of bright red light snapped on. It was a spotlight from one of the Bug fighters. The beam lit up the fallen Andalite and his ship. A spotlight from the second Bug fighter joined the first, and the Andalite shone brilliant as a star. I hit the dirt hard. I saw my leg lit up within the circle of that spotlight. I yanked it to me and crawled fast, scraping my elbows and knees over sharp stones. The five of us crouched behind a low, crumbled wall, afraid to move, afraid to look, but just as afraid to look away. Slowly the Bug fighters descended. It was easy to see where they'd gotten their nickname. They were slightly larger than the Andalite fighter and shaped like legless cockroaches. There were small windows like eyes on the forward-thrust head of the bug. And on either side of the head were two very long, very sharp, serrated spears. The Yeerk Bug fighters touched down, one on either side of the Andalite ship. "Okay, you can wake me up now," Marco said in a rattled whisper. "I've had enough of this dream." The larger ship began to descend. I don't know what it was about that ship, but as it got closer I started to feel like I couldn't breathe. I tried to suck in a deep lungful of air and couldn't. I tried to swallow and couldn't. I wanted to run, but my legs were jelly. I was shaking from a fear so deep it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was the same fear that the Andalite had shown when he'd realized Visser Three was coming. The ship settled toward the ground. It looked like it was going to land directly on a big rusted earthmover parked there. But as the Visser's ship descended, the earthmover just sizzled and disappeared. Visser Three's ship was built like some ancient weapon. It reminded me of one of those battle-axes the old-time knights used when they were hacking off the heads of their foes. There was a main part, like the handle of the ax, with a big, triangular point on the front. That part had to be the bridge. At the rear were two huge, scimitar wings. It was eight or ten times the size of the Bug fighters. The Blade ship landed. A door opened. Cassie started to scream. I clamped my hand over her mouth. They leaped from the ship, whirling and thrusting and slicing the air — creatures that looked like walking weapons. They stood on two bent-back legs and had two very long arms. On each arm there were curved horn-blades growing out of the wrist and elbow. There were other blades at their bent-back knees, and two more blades at the end of their tails. They had feet like a Tyrannosaurus rex. But it was the head that got your attention — a neck like a snake, a mouth that was almost a falcon's beak, and, from the forehead, three daggerlike horns raked forward. «Hork-Bajir-Controllers.» I jumped, hearing the Andalite's words in my mind again. They were fainter than before, strained, like someone yelling from far away. "Did you guys . . . ?" I asked. Rachel nodded. "Yeah." «The Hork-Bajir are a good people, despite their fearsome looks,» the Andalite said. «But they have been enslaved by the Yeerks. Each of them now carries a Yeerk in his head. They are to be pitied.» "Pity. Right," Rachel said grimly. "They're walking killing machines. Look at them!" But our attention was drawn away by a new form that crept and slithered and shimmied out of the Blade ship. «Taxxon-Controllers,» the Andalite said. I knew he was trying to tell us all he could, even to the end. Trying to prepare us for what we were up against, «The Taxxons are evil.» "Yeah," Marco muttered. "I think I would have guessed that." They were like massive centipedes, twice as long as a grown man. So big around that if you tried to hug one, your arms wouldn't make it even halfway. Not that anyone would ever want to. They had dozens of legs that supported the lower two thirds of their bodies. The top third was held upright, and there the rows of legs became smaller, with little lobster-claw hands. Around the top of their disgusting, tubular bodies were four eyes, each like a wiggling globule of red Jell-O. And at the very end, pointing straight up in the air, was a round mouth, ringed by hundreds of tiny teeth. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons poured from the Blade ship, spreading out around the area like well-trained Marines. They were holding small, pistol-sized things that were definitely weapons. They formed a ring around the Andalite and his ship. Suddenly, one of the Hork-Bajir came straight toward us. He took one big, bounding step and he was practically on top of us. I hugged the dirt like it was my last hope. I wished I could dig a hole. I saw a flash of Marco's face. His eyes were huge. His lips were drawn back in what could have been a grin, except that I knew it was an expression of pure terror.

  CHAPTER 5

  The Hork-Bajir pointed his gun, or whatever it was, around at the darkness. His snake head swerved left and right, trying to penetrate the gloom. «Silence!» the Andalite warned us. «Hork-Bajir do not see well in darkness, but their hearing is very good.» The Hork-Bajir moved closer still. He was six feet away now, with just the low wall between us. He had to have heard my heart pounding. Maybe he didn't know what the sound was. Maybe he didn't recognize the sounds of five terrified kids whose knees were quivering and teeth were chattering. Kids who were breathing in short, sudden gasps. I was sure I was going to die, right then. I could see in my mind the way those vicious wrist-and elbow-blades were going to slice my head from my body. If you've never been really afraid, let me tell you — it does things to you. It takes over your mind and your body. You want to scream. You want to run. You want to wet your pants. You want to throw yourself down on the ground and cry and beg p
lease, please, please, please don't kill me! And if you think you're brave, well, wait till you're cowering a few feet away from a monster who can turn you into coleslaw in about three seconds flat. But then the Andalite's voice was in my head again. «Courage, my friends.» And this . . . this warm . . . this . . . I don't have any words to explain it. It was just this warmth that spread all through me. It was like when you're a little kid and you've had a terrible nightmare and you've woken up screaming. You know how you used to feel better when your mom or dad would turn on the light and come in and sit beside you in bed? That's what it was like. I mean, I was still terrified. The Hork-Bajir was still there, so real and so deadly. I could hear him breathing, I could smell him. But at the same time, I could feel the panic coming under control. I could feel the strength flowing from the doomed Andalite. He was letting us borrow some of his courage, even though he must have been afraid himself. The Hork-Bajir moved away. Something new was coming from the Blade ship. Shaking and chattering, I rose high enough to look over the low wall. Every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon was turned toward the ship now. "They're all standing at attention," I whispered. "How can you tell?" Marco whispered back. "Who knows when a jelly-eyed centipede or a walking Salad Shooter from Hell is standing at attention?" Then he appeared. «Visser Three,» the Andalite said, Visser Three was an Andalite. Or at least he was an Andalite-Controller. "What the . . . " Rachel said. "Isn't that an Andalite?" «Only once has a Yeerk been able to take an Andalite body,» the Andalite said. «There is only one Andalite-Controller. That one is Visser Three,» Visser Three walked confidently toward the wounded Andalite. The Visser seemed so much like the Andalite it was hard to tell them apart at first. He had the same mouthless face; the same extra stalk-eyes that turned here and there, checking out everything in all directions; the same powerful yet sleek four-legged body; and the same wicked tail. But if the Visser looked like any normal Andalite, he felt different. It was like he was wearing a mask, only you just knew that under the fake sweetness of the mask there was something twisted and foul. «Well, well,» Visser Three said. I almost had a heart attack when I realized I was hearing the Visser's thoughts. "Can he hear our thoughts?" Cassie whispered. "If he can we're so dead I don't even want to think about it," Rachel told her. «He cannot hear your thoughts,» the Andalite said. «As long as you don't direct them to him. You hear his thoughts because he is broadcasting them for all to hear. This is a great victory for him, so he wants all to hear.» «What have we here? A meddling Andalite?» Visser Three looked more closely at the Andalite's ship. «Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you. You're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended?» The Andalite didn't answer. But I had the feeling maybe it had been more than eight. «The very last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world.» «There will be others,» the Andalite prince said . . . The Visser took a step closer to the Andalite. «Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire, Our greatest conquest. And then I'll be Visser One.» «What do you want with these Humans?» the Andalite asked. «You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?» «Because there are so many, and they are so weak,» Visser Three sneered. «Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us. We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost» Visser Three stepped right up to the Andalite. I could feel the Andalite's fear, but rather than cower, he fought the pain of his wound and climbed to his feet. He knew he was going to die. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the face. But Visser Three was not done taunting his foe. «I promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor — when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream.» The Andalite struck! His tail whipped up and over, so fast you couldn't really see it. The Visser twisted his head aside. The Andalite's tail blade missed the Visser's head by a bare half-inch. But it sliced into his shoulder. Blood — or something like blood — sprayed from the wound. "Yes!" I hissed. «Aaaaaarrrrrgh!» I could hear the Visser's howl of pain in my head. At the same time, a blinding beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite ship. It sliced into the nearest Bug fighter. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered. Even crouching behind the wall, I could feel a wave of blistering heat. The Bug fighter sizzled and disappeared. «Fire!» Visser Three yelled. «Burn his ship!» The night exploded in blinding light. Red beams lanced from the Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter. The Andalite ship glowed, and, with a strange slowness, disintegrated. Then, in the flash and glow of Dracon beams I saw . . . or thought I saw . . . humans. A small group of them, maybe three or four, back in the shadows behind the Visser. "There are people over there," I told Marco. "What? Are they prisoners?" «Take the Andalite,» Visser Three ordered his soldiers. «Hold him for me.» Three big Hork-Bajir grabbed the Andalite and held him down. Their wrist blades were at his throat, but they knew better than to kill him. That was to be Visser Three's personal privilege. Then we saw why a Yeerk as powerful as Visser Three would inhabit the only captured Andalite body. As we watched, Visser Three began to morph. His Andalite head grew large, larger. Much larger. The four horselike legs merged into two and then expanded, each leg becoming as big around as a redwood tree. The delicate Andalite arms sprouted and became tentacles. "This isn't real," Cassie whispered. "This isn't real." In the hideously bloated head, a mouth appeared. It was filled with teeth as long as your arm. The mouth grew wider and wider, becoming a monstrous, terrifying grin. There was nothing left of the Andalite body, A monster had taken its place. "R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g!" The roar of the beast Visser Three had become made the ground shake. I covered my ears with my hands. "R-r-r-r-r-r-a-a-a-a-g-g-g!" My teeth rattled from the sound. I heard someone whimpering. It was me. Visser Three had become a monster that made the Hork-Bajir and the Taxxons look like harmless toys. He reached out with one thick tentacle and grabbed the Andalite by the neck. "No, no, no," I heard Cassie whispering over and over again. "No, no, no, no." "Don't look," Rachel said to her. She put her arm around Cassie's shoulder and held her close. Then she reached for Tobias and took his hand. I guess you never really know someone till you see them scared. And even scared to death, with tears running down her face, Rachel had strength to spare. Visser Three lifted the Andalite straight up in the air, tearing him from the grasp of the Hork-Bajir. The Andalite prince struck again and again with his tail. But each strike was like a pinprick against such a creature. Visser Three held the Andalite high in the air. And then Visser Three opened his mouth wide.