We were all demorphing. Rachel's head rose up above the table edge, then David, Ax. One by one they assumed their own forms. One by one they registered horror on their faces.
We all stared. Stared at the monstrous flea. And at Cassie.
And then, slowly, slowly, the armor plate began to soften into flesh. Slowly the mouthparts retreated. The spiked helmet melted into hair.
Slowly, slowly, Marco emerged.
At last he was sitting, his own self again, on the edge of the table. He looked at Cassie with his own, human eyes, and he did something I didn't think Marco was capable of. He put his arms around Cassie's shoulders and cried.
"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you, Cassie. You saved my life."
The rest of us were left staring at Cassie with expressions you could only describe as awe.
Rachel moved close to me and whispered in my ear. "Well, that sent a few chills up my spine."
I nodded. "Oh, yeah."
75 "That was like some kind of miracle," David said.
Marco slid off the table and wiped away his tears with the heel of his hand. Ax sent me one of those hard-to-define Andalite smiles, something they do with their eyes alone. «l do not believe in miracles. I always said Cassie had a talent for morphing. And yet ... this is something I have not seen before.»
"Okay," Marco said, snapping us all out of our trance. "Anyone bothered to notice where we are?"
I shook myself back to reality. "Yeah. I noticed before when we flew past earlier. That's why I didn't come here. Until we had no other choice. Ax! Stay alert, keep your tail ready. Rachel? We may need some firepower."
"What the -what is all this stuff?" David wondered, looking around the room. "And look at this room! It's like, huge!"
«This, unless I am mistaken,» Ax said calmly, «is a small-scale, portable Yeerk pool.»
We were standing in one corner of the ballroom. It was three times the size of our school cafeteria. There were rows of long tables, covered in white tablecloths. Overhead were massive crystal chandeliers. A red carpet with a floral pattern was all around us. All around, except in a
76 circle where we were standing. At each corner of the room stood a massive, ornamental marble pillar, maybe ten feet in diameter.
And yet here, in one corner of the room, was a stainless steel tub about half as big as a backyard hot tub. Right where a pillar should have been.
"No way!" Rachel said, even as she began to morph into a grizzly bear. "Someone would have noticed, duh. There are security guys everywhere."
At that point her mouth became a muzzle.
"Rachel's right, there's no way to hide all this here," I agreed. "Unless ..."
Ax nodded. «Yes, Prince Jake. I believe we are standing inside a hologram.»
77 "T
.inside a hologram?" David echoed.
"See the pillars in each corner? There should be a pillar here, right where we're standing. There isn't. Instead there's this mini Yeerk pool. And . . . and that thing."
I pointed at a device that looked like a large, blunt-nosed Dracon beam. It was mounted on the small table where Marco and I had demorphed.
«lnteresting,» Ax commented. «lt's a holographic emitter. But it's only a relay. Not the basic emitter. Not what is causing this hologram we're in.»
I looked around, trying to make sense of it. We were apparently standing inside a massive
78 marble pillar roughly ten feet in diameter. Behind us there was a raised platform. Not quite a stage, just a platform, with the very familiar podium the President uses. You know - the one with the big, blue presidential seal on the front.
I glanced at Rachel. She was getting very large. Too large for the confined space. "Rachel? Sorry, I changed my mind. Demorph."
«Are you sure? There could still be a fight,» she said, sounding almost hopeful.
I looked up at the ceiling. Between the hanging chandeliers were stained-glass skylights. I could see daylight. I looked back up at the air-conditioning vent we'd come through. The pillar hugged the wall to within three feet on that side, and the air-conditioning duct actually bulged out so that the vent itself was just inches from the "column." The hologram must have been weaker up there, where it was less vital.
"What happens if someone happens to lean on this column or pillar or whatever it is?" David wondered. "They'd have to be using a force field, too, not just a hologram."
Ax nodded in agreement. «Yes. Here is what I believe is happening. The Yeerks precisely targeted a Dracon beam from a cloaked ship overhead. They burned down through the roof and through the column, precisely wiping it out. Then they aimed a holographic emitter of enormous
79 power down through the hole to replace the pillar they had vaporized. A hologram strengthened by a force field. The force field directs its force outward, of course. We can step out of this hologram at any time. But we would not be able to step back in.»
"So why doesn't the roof fall down?" Marco wondered.
"Maybe the pillars are just for decoration," David suggested. "They probably don't really support the roof. They're just here to look cool."
"So what's the point?" I mused aloud. "The force field is in place. How do the Controllers get in here?"
Ax pointed at a sort of arch made of nothing but thick wire. It formed an invisible door, if you can envision that. «My guess is that this arch blocks the force field. There must be some kind of control device in here. They would simply blank the force field whenever they needed to enter the column.»
Ax shuffled with difficulty through the press of bodies over to a small computer console on the Yeerk pool. He stared at it for a few moments, then pressed a button. Nothing changed.
I stepped out, right through what would have looked like solid marble from the outside. Then I turned and pressed my hand against blank, cold marble. I worked my way sideways to find the
80 arch. Suddenly my hand disappeared into solid marble.
"It's open," I said. I stepped back through to be sure. "Very weird. The force field may be off, but the hologram is still totally real. You'd swear you're walking through solid marble."
I stepped outside once more. Once again the mini Yeerk pool and all my friends disappeared behind me. I was standing beside a massive, pink marble column.
No one entering the room would suspect for a minute that there was anything different about this column.
"I'm telling you how I want it!" a voice said.
I dove. No questions asked. I dove beneath the nearest table and rolled out of sight. A white tablecloth hung all around me.
I saw three pairs of legs approaching. Two male, one female. I cursed myself bitterly for getting careless. Of course people would be coming and going in the ballroom.
It was weird. I felt alone and cut off. Yet I knew that most of my friends were standing just a few feet away. Inside what appeared to be a marble column.
"I want the main table further back, closer to the podium," one of the men was saying.
"But how do POTUS and the other HOS's get
81 from the table to the podium?" the woman asked.
I had heard the term "POTUS." It stood for President Of The United States. But what was a HOS? Head of State?
"The President and the other heads of state will rise from their seats and travel down along the table, past the photogs, and around the back of the pillar. Then up onto the podium."
"Tony, that doesn't make sense," the other man said.
Suddenly three chairs were yanked out all around me! Legs were coming at me! Two bare, female legs and four covered in gray, pinstriped suit pants.
The three of them were sitting down.
"Urgh!" I emitted a muffled sound as someone's shoe poked my side.
"Don't tell me what makes sense. I've spent weeks working this all out," the man named Tony said.
"If so, then why did you tell us something totally different this morning?" the woman asked.
"You must have misunderstood wha
t I said this morning," Tony said coolly.
"I don't see how."
"Look, Sheila, let me make this simple for you: I am the White House Chief of Protocol. This
82 is my show. Who sits where is my business. Your business is to make it happen."
Suddenly, I had a feeling I knew something about Tony the others didn't. I squirmed carefully around, avoiding the various poking feet. I needed to see the bottom of Tony's shoe.
"Tony, you don't have to get -" the other man started to say.
"Look, just do it," Tony said.
"Well, okay, but there will be no time to change your mind again before the banquet," Sheila said, sounding huffy. "You know the Secret Service detail insists on knowing all the specifics well in advance."
"I won't change my mind. POTUS and the others will approach the stage from behind that column. That's final."
They stood up. And at just that moment I saw what I'd known I would: a slash on the bottom of Tony's shoe.
I almost laughed. I waited till the coast was clear and crawled back to the column.
Inside, Ax said, «Prince Jake, I believe we may have a way out of here. The hologram and the force field seem to be weaker higher up the column.»
"That would make sense," I said. "They need it reinforced down low in the strong light, down where people might touch it. That's how I was
84 able to see through the illusion when I passed by in dragonfly morph."
«Yes. I think we could escape by going straight up. Straight through the roof.»
I looked up, out at the sky overhead, and saw a circle of blue that looked awfully inviting.
"Fine. Let's get out of here," I said.
But Ax hesitated. He turned his stalk eyes meaningfully toward the stainless steel tub. «The Yeerks are probably already in place. Do we ... do we leave them?»
I knew what he was suggesting. It would be easy to finish them off right there and then. But if we did, the Yeerks might simply be able to replace them. And they'd be warned that we knew their plan.
Besides, there was something wrong about killing defenseless slugs. I was pretty sure of that.
I shook my head. "Let's fly."
Some decisions are smart. Some are dumb. Some manage to be a little of both. This was one of those.
83
R
« Tobias! Are you able to hear us?» Ax called in thought-speak.
No answer. I wasn't surprised. Tobias was probably too far off to "hear." We were all going back to seagull morph. But if we flew straight up we would probably emerge from the middle of the roof. It would look as if we'd simply popped up out of the roof. The roof that was being watched by a dozen security guys - and probably the bald man.
We needed a distraction.
"The fire alarm," David said. "I did it once at my old school to get out of taking a test."
He pointed at the small red lever on a nearby wall.
85 "Okay," I said. "Good idea."
"I'll do it," David volunteered.
"Everyone start to morph to seagull. David? You have to throw it and come running straight back."
"Noduh."
"Okay. Ready? Go!"
We morphed. David ran. He reached the switch, yanked it down.
BRRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!
David came racing back.
Wham! His foot caught on a chair leg and he sprawled, hitting the ground.
A split second later, the door of the ballroom burst open. Four armed men came running in, guns drawn.
In a flash I realized my mistake. Yes, the fire alarm would distract the regular guards. But the Controllers would hear the alarm, too, and come rushing straight here - straight to their concealed Yeerk pool.
David rolled under a table, out of sight.
Instant decision time. "Everyone finish morph-ing and get out of here! Now! I'll get David."
"But-" Rachel said.
"Not now, Rachel," I said through gritted teeth. "Close the archway behind me. David and I will find another way out." I dropped to my knees and crawled out of the pillar. I was out of
86 sight of the advancing Controllers as I made my way under the table. But peering down the long line of chair legs, I saw David.
Only David wasn't David anymore.
Cassie had helped him to acquire a combat morph. He'd chosen a male lion. As I watched, I saw the bushy mane sprout from around his neck.
I mouthed the word "no" silently. We needed to escape, not fight. But David just grinned. He was still grinning as three-inch-long yellow canine teeth grew from his suddenly puffy upper lip.
"Bar the door!" one of the Controllers ordered. "Push a couple of tables up against it. I'll use the secure link to contact our people. We can't have any of the other security forces barging in here."
I saw feet moving. I heard a table being shoved across the carpet to block the main door.
"Okay, if we have Andalite penetration, they could be anything. Even flies. It's probably just a false alarm. Nothing to do with us. We'll know as soon as we check the pool. If it was Anda-lites. . . . Well, our friends in the pool will not be alive."
I breathed a small sigh of relief. We'd left the Yeerks in the pool alone. If I could keep David
87 from doing anything crazy, we'd get out of this okay. The Controllers just had to check the concealed Yeerk pool and see that their brothers were alive.
I began to crawl, with infinite caution, toward David. He was maybe thirty feet away, his face concealed by the gloom and the chair legs, and by the fact that his face was changing rapidly.
I kept shaking my head "no." I kept silently mouthing the word "no." I was trying to will him to understand me. But he kept morphing. A long, bushy-tipped tail now extended out from beneath the table.
Legs walked past, almost stepping on the tail.
"Turn off the hologram," the first voice ordered.
I looked back over my shoulder. The marble pillar was there. Then it was gone. Replaced by the stainless steel tank, the narrow table, and the strange-looking "emitter."
Two sets of legs went to the Yeerk pool. I heard a hinge being moved.
"They're okay!" a new voice yelled.
"Okay," the leader said, sighing in relief. "No way we have Andalite penetration then. They'd never leave our people alive. Clear the doors. I'll notify the others. Hologram on."
The pillar reappeared.
88 David was now a full-grown lion. He was twitching his tail. But it had twitched back out of sight.
I was no more than ten feet away from him. All he had to do was stay still. All he had to do. . .
Legs passed by. David turned his massive head. I saw his hindquarters bunch up, ready for the attack.
I crawled forward as fast as I could, and, in the split second before he would have leaped, I grabbed his mane with my right hand.
Now, let me pause to explain that just because I turn into animals all the time doesn't mean I've lost any respect for them. You see all these lions on TV, in movies, in commercials or whatever, and they're often tame and kind of sweet. Or you see them lying around with their paws in the air, sleeping in the shade on the savanna.
But you need to realize something. The reason lions have lots of time to sleep is that they are very, very effective killers. They don't need to expend a lot of energy, because as long as there is prey, they'll eat just fine.
I grabbed the lion's mane. About a millisecond later it occurred to me that this was David's first time in lion morph. And he might not have control of it.
89 Which meant I might not have an arm for much longer.
"David," I hissed in a voiceless whisper. "Don't. Do. Anything."
He stared at me with golden-brown eyes. And slowly, deliberately, he drew back his muzzle to reveal his teeth.
"Okay, let's go," the lead Controller said. "Nothing here."
The doors opened. I saw feet walking away.
I was still holding a handful of mane. My face was inches away from D
avid's mouth. And my mind went immediately to the fact that one of the ways a lion kills is by simply crushing the skull of its prey.
Crushing the skull with its jaws till it pops open like a dropped cantaloupe.
«Had you worried, huh?» David said.
"No. I knew you were cool."
«Just being prepared. You know, in case there was any trouble. I was surprised you didn't go into your tiger morph.»
"Yeah. Well, I didn't see the need."
«Hey. You ever wonder who'd win in a fight between a lion and a tiger?»
That took me by surprise. I hesitated.
«Lion. That's what I think. But it would probably never happen,» David said with a laugh.
90 «lt's just interesting to think about. I better de-morph.»
Once he was human again, I said, "I think the best way out of here now is the same way we came in." I crawled out from under the table and stood up. "Just one difference. We don't have time to waste having you leaping around in flea morph trying to land on me."
"So what are we going to do?"
"David, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but bite me."
"What?"
"Bite me on the back. We'll morph together. Hopefully when your flea mouthparts replace your human teeth, you'll remain latched on."
"Yeah, and hopefully I don't do like Marco and end up a two-foot-tall flea before I shrink," he said. "That might hurt you just a bit."
The idea worked. And we zoomed madly through the air-conditioning vents till we happened to spot sunlight. There was an outside vent, after all. It had just been well-camouflaged by stonework.
We zipped outside and Tobias snagged us out of midair. We flew home with me mulling the strangeness of David's question.
Who would win a fight between a lion and a tiger? And why did I suddenly care about the answer?
91 We now knew the Yeerks' plan. They would wait for the big banquet. The heads of state would walk up to the platform, one by one, to give speeches. One by one they would pass behind the holographic pillar.
There, out of sight of the audience, they would be hauled inside the pillar. They would be grabbed and held, their heads forced into the pool. A Yeerk slug would enter through their ears. Minutes later, they would be Controllers.