The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

«Out onto the bhdge!» Aldrea cried. «We'll throw the canister into the Deep. It should burn up safely that way.»

  We turned to head out onto the bridge. But the Andalites had reacted quickly to the sound of the explosion. Andalite warriors were pouring from their quarters.

  I saw Alloran appear on the far side of the valley. He was unmistakable, even from a thousand feet away. And even from that distance he realized what was happening.

  «Stop them!» he cried in a thought-speak roar.

  Andalites rushed onto the bridge from the far side. Andalites were coming up behind us on the walkway.

  Trapped!

  And then . . .

  TSEEEEW! TSEEEEW!

  184 Down the length of the valley, three Bug fighters swooped, firing their Dracon beams. The sonic boom of their passing shook the stone beneath my feet.

  TSEEEEW! TSEEEEW!

  Dracon beams ripped open the stone walls like an arm blade going through rain-soaked Stoola bark.

  Andalite defenses, shredder cannon mounted above walkways, fired back. The valley erupted in blistering light and explosions. Everywhere shredders and Dracon beams fired. Everywhere the stones cracked and shattered and exploded into pebbles.

  TSEEEEW! TSEEEEW!

  Three more Bug fighters were coming in, fast as the first flight, firing just as madly. Groggy Arn were dying by the hundreds. Furious Andalites were being hit by flying rock and by direct Dracon beam fire.

  Kah-BOOOOOM! Shredder cannon hit a Bug fighter! It blew open on one side, careened wildly, then slammed into a wall.

  "Yaahhhh!" I cheered. Madness! I was cheering the Andalites who would destroy us.

  We began to run out onto the bridge. We still had to destroy the canister. But a Dracon beam

  185 slashed across my path, stopping me in my tracks. I was half-blinded by the flash.

  We had been temporarily forgotten by the An-dalites who rushed to their weapons. Forgotten by all but one Andalite.

  When I could see again, Alloran was halfway across the bridge, coming toward us, oblivious to the danger.

  He was a brave Andalite, racing across that narrow span miles above the red-hot core of the planet, with Yeerk Bug fighters zooming literally feet above his head. He was brave, yes. That I had to acknowledge. But I would see him dead before I would let him use his virus against my people.

  «lt's over, Alloran,» Aldrea cried. «You are not going to destroy the Hork-Bajir!»

  «l'm trying to save this planet, you fool!» Alloran said.

  «Will you save it by destroying it?»

  «Give me that canister,» Alloran warned.

  He was almost across. Other Andalites were responding again to his orders by blocking us from behind. We could no longer hope to get far enough out on the bridge to drop the canister into the Deep.

  We were trapped, and now, down the length of the valley, came a ship whose very appearance struck fear in me. Andalite shredder cannon fired,

  186 but the Blade ship's shields turned the attacks into harmless light shows.

  On it came, much slower than the Bug fighters, huge and invulnerable. Its very slowness was insolent, a slap in the face of the Andalites who could not harm it.

  The Blade ship fired.

  TSEEEEEW! TSEEEEW!

  The bridge exploded before me, opening up a gap a hundred feet across. Alloran on one side. Me and Aldrea on the other.

  «Kill them!» Alloran ordered his warriors. «Kill that Hork-Bajir, and kill that treasonous spawn of See row's, too!»

  The Blade ship approached, firing and flying low.

  The Andalite warriors leveled their shredders at Aldrea and me. They looked confused, doubtful. Would they obey their battle-maddened prince?

  Aldrea turned her face to me. She took my free hand in hers. «We tried,» she said simply.

  But I was not ready to die. Not just yet. The Blade ship came on, flying low. I tightened my grip on Aldrea's hand. "Jump!"

  «What?»

  "Trust me. Jump!"

  187

  ALDREA

  We jumped into shadow.

  We fell.

  THUMP! Bump!

  «Owww!»

  We landed on the Blade ship as it passed beneath the shattered bridge. I tried to stand. But my right front leg was broken. The pain waited a few moments before hitting with such severity that I almost fainted.

  Dak was lying beside me, unconscious on the black metal-composite skin of the ship.

  The Blade ship rose up from the valley, up past the wall cities of the Arn, all crumbled and in flames now. Up we rose through the blue mist.

  «Dak! Dak! Wake up! This thing is going to accelerate in a few seconds!»

  He opened his eyes. "Are we above the Deep? Can I throw this canister?"

  188 «l can't be surer» I said. «You may end up dropping it into the trees!»

  He jumped to his feet. We were above the mist, over the sloping valley floor. The crowns of trees were marching past on our right and our left. The ship would accelerate any moment, going from this crawling pace to many times the speed of sound to gain altitude before a second pass down the valley.

  "One more jump," Dak said. He ran over, staggering on the moving, uneven surface of the ship. He handed me the canister. "Hold this tight!" Then he scooped me up, lifting me beneath my belly.

  Dak jumped, slinging my weight along with him. He reached out a hand in the darkness and grabbed the crown of a tree. We swung, swung, swung, with the treetop bending way over, tossing us around like a spring.

  "Can you morph the chadoo?" Dak asked, grunting from the effort of holding me.

  «Yes. But what about the canister? I'll drop it. The chadoo's arms aren't strong enough. Wait. I have a different idea.»

  I began to morph. I began to morph the one creature that could swing in the trees and still hold the deadly canister safely.

  "What are you doing?" Dak cried as my body changed in his arms.

  189 «Morphing. Just hold on, it will only take a few minutes.»

  I felt my tail shorten and thicken. It lost its suppleness and strength and became a sort of dead third leg.

  I felt my front legs wither and shrink away, as my hind legs strengthened and grew large, clawed feet. I felt incredible new strength in my arms. They thickened, piling muscle on muscle.

  My stalk eyes went dark and then hardened to form the big, forward-raked horns.

  And then, on my arms, on my legs, the blades began to emerge.

  "You're morphing a Hork-Bajir!"

  "Yes," I said, using the Hork-Bajir mouth. "I acquired Delf."

  I clutched the canister tightly. I reached for the treetop and gripped it with my Hork-Bajir claw.

  "We're in this together, Dak. If the Quantum virus is released, now I will die, too."

  "I don't want that!"

  "I do, Dak. I'll live or die with you."

  Then Dak pressed his forehead horns to mine, and I felt the tingle of a sensation I had not guessed Hork-Bajir could feel. It was a Hork-Bajir kiss, I suppose. What we Andalites do when we stroke another's face with our palms.

  190 We hung there from the crown of a thousand-foot-tall tree and for a moment, at least, forgot about the battle raging, and the war lost, and the canister that contained so much destruction.

  At last, we swung down the tree, down to the ground.

  And there, surrounding us on all sides, stood a small army of Hork-Bajir. All were armed with Dracon beam weapons. All those weapons were pointed at us.

  One Hork-Bajir stepped forward.

  "Dak Hamee, Hork-Bajir seer, and no less than Aldrea, the daughter of Seerow," he said. "I do love this new Andalite morphing technology. It was fascinating to watch. It will be even more fascinating to use, once I have made you my host."

  191

  Did I gloat a little? Oh, yes. Oh, yes indeed.

  "Allow me to introduce myself," I said. "My name is Esplin-Nine-Four-Double-Six. My rank is Sub-Visser Twelve, although with this t
riumph I think my rank is very, very likely to be elevated. Ah, yes, this will be a great success."

  "Enjoy it while you can, Yeerk. You won't live long enough to see another promotion."

  I smiled down at the transformed Andalite girl. "We met before, of course. That was the first time I saw your morphing ability at work. This time I was able to watch from one of the many sensors we've strung through the trees. Very impressive. It will make owning an Andalite host all that more desirable. Take them!"

  My warriors leaped forward and grabbed the two rebels. We shackled their hands behind them and dragged them to my fighter parked a few hundred yards away.

  192 "Careful with them," I scolded one of my warriors after he kicked Dak Hamee. "Those are our bodies. We don't want them damaged."

  I glanced over at the canister they carried. It was sealed. It looked dangerous. I considered opening it to look inside. But some sense of caution warned me to leave it alone. I handed it to one of my warriors to carry.

  The fighter was too small to fit all my guards, so I kept two. They stood with Dracon beams leveled at the captives as we took off. I was going to rendezvous with the Blade ship after having shot up the Andalite's refuge.

  But the Blade ship was not back in orbit yet. They were having too much fun frying the Andalites in the Deep, I suppose.

  So we waited. No matter how much glory anyone else had from the battle with the Andalites, I had fulfilled my promise to capture or kill the An-dalite girl and the Hork-Bajir leader.

  Best of all, I had the first and only captive Andalite.

  "Why not morph back to your own form?" I said to her. "There is no point in trying to deceive me."

  "I know what you want," Aldrea said. "I'm not going to give it to you."

  "You can't possibly stay in that form forever," I said.

  193 "Yes, I can," Aldreasaid. "In fact, in an hour and a half, I'll have no choice. I'll be Hork-Bajir permanently."

  There was no doubting the truth of what she said. She said it too triumphantly for it to be a lie.

  "There's a time limit?" I demanded.

  "Yes," she said with a sneer. "There is."

  "What is in the canister?" I asked.

  "Open it and see," Dak Hamee said.

  "Oh, aren't we just the defiant young heroes?" I mocked them. "Very brave."

  I walked over to Dak Hamee. I smiled at Aldrea. And I kicked Dak as hard as I could. Then I kicked him again. He groaned and fell over, facedown on the deck.

  "Demorph, Andalite," I said.

  "NO!" the fool Hork-Bajir yelled. "Don't let him?"

  I kicked him again.

  "Demorph, Andalite. I don't want to bruise my foot hurting your friend. Just demorph. It doesn't matter. You will both become host bodies, like it or not. So why endure the pain?"

  Then it occurred to me. The realization blossomed in my head like the loveliest flower. Of course! Of course*.

  "Grab her. Hold her down!" I cried, ecstatic at the idea in my head. "I don't need her to demorph.

  194 I can infest her now and then force her to demorph! Hah-hah-hah!"

  My warriors rushed forward. They grabbed her head. They twisted her ear around.

  "NO!"

  Dak Hamee bellowed and struggled, but the shackles held him tight.

  I began to release my hold on the Hork-Bajir brain of my host body. I slithered out, pressing myself down to move quickly out of the Hork-Bajir ear. For a horrible long moment I was blind, connected to neither host.

  But then I sensed the new Hork-Bajir ear, the one that was only a morph of the Andalite inside. I squeezed through. I reached desperately with my palps, reaching for contact.

  I was still hanging half out of the Andalite's ear when I touched her brain and felt her mind. It was a shock. There it was, a Hork-Bajir brain physically, but within it was not the idiot Hork-Bajir mind, but the lightning-fast Andalite intelligence.

  I saw inside the mind, the memories of Aldrea, the Andalite. I saw it all in a flash! All that she had been, all that she had done to thwart us. I saw the secret of the canister.

  But most of all, I saw her running, tail high, four eyes open, seeing in all directions at once. Running free across the grass of the Andalite home.

  195 «Hello, Andalite!» I cried, sensing that she was aware of me in her mind. «You are mine! My host! My slave!»

  I could not wait to get completely wrapped around her brain. I had to see inside her memories, all of them. And I opened my own mind and memories, too, letting her see all that I was, all that I had been. I wanted her to fear me, to understand how hopeless her life was now.

  «Yes, look into my mind, Andalite. Do you see who I am? Do you see that I am your master? Do you realize now how we will crush you, crush you all?»

  I touched the area that controlled sight. I opened one Hork-Bajir eye. I saw Dak Hamee, shouting, struggling. I saw my two guards watching, fascinated. In a moment I would demorph and make the first ever Andalite-Controller! Then they would gape! Then the entire Yeerk race would . . .

  A movement! Another Hork-Bajir. But who . . . my own host body!

  Time seemed to stand frozen, as I realized the depths of my mistake. My former host body was no longer under control.

  Noooooooo! I cried silently. Noooooooo!

  My host body, free now, drew back one arm and brought it down on the neck of one of my guards. My warrior dropped like a stone. The other warrior

  196 spun around, but too slow, too clumsy. My former host dispatched him, too.

  And then, as I struggled helplessly to finish taking control of the Andalite and get safely inside her head, I felt a hand close around my lower body.

  I was being pulled out! Noooo! Noooo!

  My palps lost contact with the eyes. My palps lost contact with the Andalite mind.

  I was blind again! Helpless. I felt an impact as I hit the deck.

  I knew my life would end.

  And yet in my powerless rage, there was a part of me that still could think of nothing but that sweet memory. Of the overwhelming beauty of an Andalite running free.

  197

  DAK HAMTC

  The Yeerk slug lay helpless on the deck. Two Hork-Bajir-Controllers lay there, too.

  "Who are you?" I asked the Hork-Bajir who had been Esplin's host.

  "I am Gah Fillat," he said. "You are Dak Hamee. You are different."

  I smiled. "Not so different. Can you help me remove these shackles?"

  Gah looked concerned. He looked confused. He was, after all, one of my people. He had never known the word "shackle." He'd had no reason to know it.

  "I can do it," Aldrea said. She crawled to one of the unconscious Hork-Bajir-Controllers. She pulled his Dracon beam from his hand and used it to burn away the shackles.

  "Are you all right?" I asked her.

  She nodded. "I am now."

  But there was something wrong with her. I

  198 could tell. Something had changed. She noticed me staring.

  "The Yeerk. Esplin-Nine-Four-Double-Six. I saw inside his memories," she said. "I guess ... I guess nothing is ever as simple as it seems."

  I looked down at the squirming, writhing slug. So harmless now. So helpless.

  I hated him. Hated him and all his race for what they had done to my people. But I did not want to kill him. I was just tired. Too tired to draw breath.

  "What shall we do?" Aldrea asked me.

  "With him?" I nodded at the Yeerk. "I don't know."

  "Not just with him," Aldrea said. "With everything. With us. We could use this Bug fighter. We could fly far away. Find some uninhabited planet. Leave this place forever."

  "Is that what you want to do?" I asked her.

  "I am Hork-Bajir now. We could be ... we could be us."

  I reached for her and took her hand. "Maybe there ?"

  BOOOOM!

  The ship was spinning out of control. There were flames. I was thrown against the deck, the ceiling, the walls. Everything spun madly
.

  Through the window I caught glimpses of a ship

  199 firing at us again. Not a Yeerk ship. An Andalite fighter.

  It had spotted us. We were a Bug fighter. It was attacking. And it had already crippled the fighter. The air was almost gone. My lungs were sucking on nothing.

  Aldrea fought her way to the controls. Gasping, crying, she struggled with the Yeerk control panel, slammed by the flying bodies of the unconscious Hork-Bajir-Controllers. She was having trouble using thick Hork-Bajir fingers instead of her own Andalite hands.

  Down we went. The spinning slowed, but down we went.

  "We're going to crash!" Aldrea screamed.

  WHAM! BUMP!

  The side of the ship tore off. I saw flashes of trees! We hit again and again.

  Then, suddenly, we stopped moving.

  I raised my head, then lost consciousness.

  When I woke again, I saw Aldrea bleeding.

  Again, I lost consciousness.

  It was daylight when I next opened my eyes. I looked up into Aldrea's face. Only it was Delf's face, of course.

  "You are Hork-Bajir now," I said stupidly, my mind groggy and confused.

  200 "Forever," she said. "The time limit has passed. I am Hork-Bajir."

  My head began to clear. Memories returned. "The others?"

  "The two Hork-Bajir-Controllers are gone," she said. "Our friend Gah Fillat is hunting for bark."

  "And the Yeerk? Esplin-Nine-Four-Double-Six?"

  She shrugged. "I looked. I didn't find him. There's a stream just over there. Maybe ..."

  I stood up. My head felt like it had been pum-meled by a Jubba-Jubba. But I was alive. And Al-drea was alive. And . . .

  "The canister!" I cried.

  Aldrea's eyes opened wide. "I forgot about it!"

  We both ran to the wreckage of the Bug fighter. It was strewn across several hundred feet. Sheet composite and even an entire engine hung in the branches above us.

  We searched for half an hour. Then a voice called out, "Dak Hamee, I am here!"

  It was Gah. He was in the tree above us, in the high branches. He was swinging down to meet us. He was carrying the canister. He had retrieved it from the branches above. He had known that it was important. He was bringing it to us.

  "No," Aldrea whispered. "No, no, no!"

  The canister top was open.

  201 "Run, Dak! We have to run! The wind is blowing it from us, but we have to run!"