The Decision

  CHAPTER 4

  Visser Three moved away, out of sight. 8Was he eyeballing us?"; Marco asked. Then he answered his own question. 8He was eyeballing us."; 8Prince Jake,"; I said in thought-speak only my friends could hear. 8What should we do?"; 8What's happened?"; Prince Jake asked. 8He eyeballed us, that's what happened,"; Marco said. 8The Visser has moved out of our sight,"; I said. 8Okay. Look, he may suspect you're not real seagulls,"; Prince Jake said. 8So 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? 8Impossible!"; 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. 8Ax, 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. 8Everyone on that bird!"; Prince Jake roared. 8He can't take us all. Tobias! Where are you?"; 8Too 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. 8Aaaahhh!"; 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, 8How, 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? 8A nice maneuver, Andalite,"; the Visser said, his thought-speak suddenly in my head. 8Why 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. 8Prince Jake! Do not help me. If you help me he'll know for sure that we are not just birds."; 8Stop being a hero,"; Prince Jake said. 8Tobias!"; 8I'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. 8Let'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. 8Good job, Ax-man!"; Tobias cried. 8Hang 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. 8Aaaaahhhh!"; 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. 8Give yourself up, Andalite,"; the Visser sneered. 8And I may even let you live."; 8Let'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.

  CHAPTER 5

  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. 8Let'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. 8We can't demorph,"; Prince Jake said to me. 8We'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."; 8If 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, 8Prince Jake, we can't take the chance. If he ever learns you are humans, your lives will be worthless. I can avenge Elfangor alone."; 8This isn't the place,"; Cassie said reasonably. 8People 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. 8Ax, can you back off without getting hurt?"; Prince Jake asked. 8Cassie'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, 8This 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. 8Come
on, Ax,"; Prince Jake said. 8We're done here.";

  CHAPTER 6

  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. I ran faster now, no longer concerned with eating, but just wanting to feel the impact of raindrops on my face and my chest. If I could run fast enough, all the drops would hit my face and chest and none would fall down on my back. I saw a wooden rail fence. Almost too high to jump. But I ran straight at it, kicked, tucked my front legs, and sailed over. There was a "thump!" as one hoof nicked the top rail. I landed easily and realized I was panting. I slowed down and trotted back toward the woods. I could have beaten him, I told myself. I could have forced the fight. I could have struck again before he had a chance to get away. Another part of my mind answered, No, you would have lost. He's taller, bigger. He's more experienced. The Andalite body Visser Three controls used to belong to a great warrior. Visser Three has all of that warrior's skill and experience. You went tail to tail with Visser Three and let him get away. I went tail to tail with Visser Three and at least I didn't run away. You wanted to. You were frightened. I'd be a fool not to be frightened. But I didn't run. He did. I realized I'd come to rest, standing beneath a particularly tall pine tree just back from the edge of a meadow. Tobias's meadow. 8What's up, Ax-man?"; he called down from the darkness above. 8Are you awake?"; 8allyeah. I have this slight tendency to wake up when big, blue, scorpion-tailed alien centaurs go crashing around in the woods like a herd of ruptured elephants."; Tobias is sometimes harsh when awakened. It is a human characteristic that he has not lost. 8I apologize for waking you. How do elephants come to be ruptured?"; Tobias sighed. He floated down to a lower branch, then sailed over to a fallen log. 8ally're stewing, aren't you?"; 8What?"; 8Stewing. Going over things again and again in your head. Around and around in circles, asking yourself the same questions again and again, then starting it all over again."; 8How did you know?"; 8Look, Ax, the first time I saw Visser Three ... and you know when that was ... I cried, I was so scared."; 8He was an alien. He was unfamiliar to you."; 8Elfangor was an alien. He was unfamiliar. He didn't scare me. Visser Three did. Not because of what he looked like, but because I could feel something coming from him. Like a dark cloud. Like a smell, almost. This feeling, I don't know any other word for it. Like I was looking at something that needed to be destroyed. He was evil. I felt it. And I had this horrible understanding, this knowledge, that one way or the other, that evil was going to touch me and change me. So I just cried."; 8I have met Visser Three before,"; I said stonily. 8I should not have been afraid."; 8What could you have done?"; 8I could have forced the fight."; 8What if you'd lost?"; 8What if I'd won? It would have been a terrible blow against the Yeerks. I would have avenged Elfangor. I would have done a great service for my people."; 8Look, Ax, you went up against him. He backed down. Not you."; 8He was surrounded and outnumbered. He thought each of you was another Andalite warrior ready to demorph and attack. He retreated with honor."; 8Honor,"; Tobias said derisively. 8He's a cold-blooded killer. He's an invader in someone else's land. He's just another gangster. Murderers don't have honor."; 8I should let you go back to sleep."; 8Ooookay. You want to drop it, it's dropped."; He looked around, blinking, almost as blind as a human in the darkness. 8Hard to sleep when it's raining, anyway."; 8Tobias. The bird that Visser Three morphed? It was an Andalite bird. It's called a kafit bird. From my home planet."; 8ally're thinking, what? That Visser Three must have been on the Andalite home world in order to acquire it?"; 8allyes. I am worried that the Abomination has set foot on the Andalite home world."; I felt Tobias grow tense. Now he was beginning to understand. But he said, 8Sometimes people must take animals off the home world, right? I mean, just the way you can find an African lion in a zoo in America, Europe, wherever. Right? So, okay, someone totally innocent takes one of these birds off your planet. They get hijacked or whatever. And it ends up in Visser Three's hands."; I wanted to believe it was possible. So I said, 8allyes, that could be it."; But I didn't believe it. I believed that Visser Three had either been to my world. Or that some ally of his had been there. Either way it meant only one thing. The Yeerks had begun to reach into the one safe place in the galaxy: my home.

  CHAPTER 7

  We met at the barn where Cassie and her father care for sick or injured nonhuman animals. It is called the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. It is a large, dark building made of wood. Within it are numerous cages made of steel wire. And within the cages are the sick animals. Tobias was high in the rafters. From up there he can see out through a sort of window and can warn us if anyone is approaching. Everyone else was on the ground level. Cassie was working, pushing piles of dirty hay with a very large, three-pronged fork. Prince Jake would occasionally lift something out of her way. Marco and Rachel were just chilling. That's what humans call it. I believe it refers to the fact that when humans sit very still and do nothing, their body temperature drops. Thus, "chilling." Someday, when I am old, too old to be a warrior, I will write a book about humans and their strange habits and speech and technology. For example, did you know that humans invented books before computers? Because of this they believe computers to be superior, despite the very obvious fact that it takes one of their computers as much as thirty seconds to "load" a page, while a book page can be accessed with zero effective delay. One would almost dismiss humans as a quaint, unimportant, backward race. Except for two things. First, these are, after all, the creatures who have raised the art of taste to incredible levels. Humans may be technologically primitive, but they have created buttered popcorn, the Snickers bar, chili, and cigarette butts. (although humans themselves become very upset by the idea of eating cigarette butts.) And let us not forget: Humans, for all their faults, have created the cinnamon bun. Some day, after the war, there will be pilgrimages of Andalites streaming to Earth to morph into humans for a day and do nothing but eat cinnamon buns. Get the extra frosting. It's worth it. "Ax, are you paying attention?" Marco asked. I snapped out of my daydream. 8allyes, of course."; "Because, see, I've said the same thing to you twice now, and you just keep staring off into space like you're a million miles away." 8Please tell me a third time and I will pay attention."; "I said, by Visser Three morphing an Andalite bird, maybe he was sending a message. I mean, he still thinks we're all Andalites. He was pretty sure he was chasing an Andalite in morph, right? So he chooses to morph an Andalite bird? That's not a coincidence. That's a message." And that's the second reason not to dismiss humans as unimportant. They are unbelievably quick to adapt. Just a few months ago, Marco didn't believe there was life on other planets. Now he's accepted that fact, absorbed an entirely new world view, found himself in the middle of a war using morphing technology he doesn't understand, and even managed to have insights that I miss. 8allyes,"; I said slowly. 8allyes. But why? What message?"; Marco shrugged his shoulders. "He's rattling your cage. It's like, "Hey, pal, while you're stuck here on Earth I've been in and out of your house, hanging out with your budd
ies, and eating your mom's cookies."" 8My mother does not make cookies,"; I pointed out. 8The sense of taste is unknown among--"; "The Visser's yanking your chain," Rachel said. "Messing with your mind," Cassie agreed. 8Jerking you around,"; Tobias said. "Trying to baffle you with ... oh, never mind," Prince Jake said. "The point is, you have two questions: How did Visser Three acquire this bird? And why did he morph it to attack you?" "That's not the real question, though," Cassie said. "The real question is what are we going to do about this Hewlett Alders hot the Third?" Marco stuck up his hand. "Get him to change his name?" "You know, it's a pretty good plan Visser Three has," Prince Jake pointed out. "He acquires our man Hewlett Aldershot the Third, then he walks into work at the Secret Service offices, punches up anything he wants on the computer, sits in on secret conferences, and ends up knowing everything the Secret Service knows." 8What does the Secret Service know?"; I asked. "A lot," Marco said. 8Ah."; "It's not just what he can find out, it's who he can talk to and get access to," Rachel said. "He can find out if any information about Yeerk activities ever gets to--" "Whoa!" Marco shot straight up on his two wobbly legs. I can never get past thinking humans will topple over when they do that. "What whoa?" Prince Jake asked mildly. "Whoa, as in whoa, Rachel is right. H.a. Third can talk to anyone, right? He can talk to his boss, right? So, if he was to walk in and say, "Boss, guess what? Parasite slugs from outer space are invading Earth!" Well, okay, they'd throw him in the nuthouse. But if he was to walk in and say, "Parasite slugs from outer space are invading Earth, and guess what, I can turn into a rhinoceros," and then he actually did turn into a rhinoceros ... well. Suddenly, boom! The secret is out. The Yeerks are screwed." "Unless his boss is a Controller," Rachel said. "If she were a Controller, why would Visser Three be bothering with H.a. Third?" Cassie pointed out. But then she turned to Marco. "What exactly are you thinking? Are you talking about morphing Mr. Aldershot?" "Duh. Yeah." "We don't do that," Cassie said. "I thought we decided we don't do that. We don't morph humans." 8I morphed Prince Jake,"; I said. I was excited by Marco's idea. But there are times when my human friends are reluctant to do whatever it takes to hurt the Yeerks. Sometimes so am I. 8And Cassie morphed Rachel that time,"; Tobias said. "First of all, Ax, you're not a human, so maybe it's okay if you morph Jake. Besides, Jake would have given his permission if he hadn't been infested with a Yeerk. And Rachel did give me her permission," Cassie said. "Excuse me," Marco said with an edge of sarcasm in his voice. "Our man H.a. Third can't give permission. He's a vegetable. He's a carrot. He's a cabbage. He's a tomato." "I thought tomatoes were fruit," Rachel interrupted, trying to provoke Marco. "It's called a "persistent vegetative state," thanks so much for your sensitivity, Marco," Cassie said. "But we don't know if Mr. Aldershot is that bad off. He could just be in a coma. We don't have the right to go stealing his DNA." "The man is a brussels sprout," Marco said. "We'd never get in there, anyway," Prince Jake said. "Visser Three knows we know. We have to be in human form to "acquire" Aldershot's DNA. You think we could do that with Visser Three on guard? Not likely." Everyone looked downcast. Prince Jake was correct. But then Cassie said, "Oh, man." "What?" Marco demanded. Cassie sighed. "I'm totally against this. But ..." "But? But? But what?" Cassie turned to me. "Ax, is it possible to acquire DNA from blood alone?" 8allyes. It should be."; "Blood?" Rachel made a face. "We're gonna get this guy's blood? Not me, my friend. Hepatitis, HIV, uh-uh." 8Diseases cannot be transmitted during acquiring,"; I said quickly. 8The acquiring process absorbs only DNA, and that DNA is isolated, encapsulated within your own bloodstream in a super-low temperature--and thus very stable--naltron molecule sphere. You see--"; "I think my brain just fell asleep," Marco interrupted. "So, okay, the blood is safe for us. So, Cassie, how do we get it?" Cassie explained. All the other humans, even Tobias, said "gross." They said "gross" very loudly and repeatedly. I've learned something from my time with humans. When they say something is gross, they are almost always right.