- greater-than less-than They play soccer? They play soccer during gym? Man, we never get to play soccer. greater-than less-than Now he's heading home. I'm going to let you take over because I am hungry. And I am also bored with looking at the top of his head. greater-than less-than Did he do anything weird or different8greater-than less-than He scored a goal in soccer. Does that count8greater-than less-than Hey. Look. greater-than I had noticed three guys closing in behind Erek. Something in the way they moved caught my attention. From high up, it looked almost as if they were hunting Erek. less-than Hmmm. That's not goodeagreater-than Tobias said. We both spilled air from our wings and dived, wanting a closer look. I could see the face of one of the guys behind Erek. It was an expression I had seen before: the idiot, giggling sneer of a bully. Suddenly, the guys raced forward. Erek spotted them and started to run. It was a street on the edge of a development. There was a lot of traffic to Erek's left and a stone wall to his right. The stone wall ended about fifty yards away, where it opened for the entrance to the subdivision. less-than lf this guy is a Controller, these punks are making a serious mistakeeagreater-than I said. less-than They may get him today, but they might regret it later. greater-than less-than Maybe I'll just give that one jerk a little talon haircuteagreater-than Tobias said. Tobias hates bullies. Back when he was human, he was the kid most likely to be pounded on. Jake met Tobias when Tobias's head was just about to be flushed in the toilet. Naturally, Jake helped him. less-than Tobias, I don't think comgreater-than I started to say, but it was too late. Tobias was in a stoop and aiming for the biggest guy's head. It all happened in a flash. Erek ran. He tripped. He sprawled forward, out into the street. He slammed into the broad side of a passing bus. WHAM! I could hear the impact from up in the air. And then . . . And then ... for just a second, Erek wasn't there anymore. Something else was where he had been. Something that seemed to be made of patches of steel and milk-white plastic. Then, in the next split second, Erek was back. A normal boy, lying winded on the sidewalk. The bullies ran off. The bus driver never even noticed and drove on. Tobias opened his wings and nearly stopped in midair. less-than Did you see t8greater-than Tobias asked. less-than Yeah. I sure did. greater-than less-than What was t8greater-than less-than like don't knoweagreater-than I said. less-than But 1 know what it wasn't. It wasn't human. greater-than less-than We need to talk to Axeagreater-than I said to Tobias. less-than Definitely. That was not human. That was seriously not human. greater-than less-than So you did see it, right? I'm not crazy8greater-than less-than Yes, you're crazy. But I did see xeagreater-than Tobias said. less-than Very weird. greater-than Below us, Erek climbed up off the sidewalk, dusted himself off like nothing had happened, and resumed walking toward home. less-than Hang a righteagreater-than Tobias said. less-than We'll get some good updrafts off the road. Whatever your friend Erek is, I don't think he's from around here.greater-than We flew hard and fast toward home. Tobias split off to round up Ax. I demorphed and headed home to check in with my dad and let him know I still existed. Then I called Jake. I got Tom instead. "Hey, Tom. Is Jake around there?" "I don't know. JAKE!" he yelled. "He said he's coming." "Cool." "Haven't seen you around here much," Tom said. "Keeping busy?" I felt a little chill. It's weird, talking to Controllers when you know that's what they are. It was Tom's voice, and it acted like Tom, but it wasn't Tom. Tom was cowering helplessly in a corner of his own mind. I was talking to a Yeerk. "Yeah, I guess so," I said. "Uh-huh. We're going up to the lake, do some waterskiing." "You and Jake?" "Yeah, right. No, me and The Sharing. You know Jake's too much of a social misfit to join," Tom said with a totally human, big-brother laugh of derision. "It's just that we have too many girls going and not enough guys." A lie, of course. A lie that was supposed to entice me. Why was Tom suddenly trying to get me interested in The Sharing again? He quickly gave me the answer. "S. I heard your dad was back at work. That's cool." "Yeah, I guess so," I said. My father had gone through a bad time after my mom "died." Now he was back at work. He's an engineer, but he's heavily involved in computers, too. He had been working with the new observatory on ways to design software that would aim the telescopes bet ter. He was also working on some projects he couldn't even talk about. Projects I figured must involve the military. "You could bring your dad," Tom said as ca sually as he could. "I mean, not like anyone wants their fathers along, usually, right? But I mean, maybe he's ready to get back out there in the world and all. The Sharing is a good place to make business connections, you know?" "Yeah, I'll ask him," I said. "Do that, okay? Your dad could probably use some down time to relax, take it easy, meet some people." S. They were after my father now. I felt something burning inside me, like I'd taken a gulp of lava. I wanted to reach right through the phone and take a baseball bat to the evil creature in Tom's head. "Here's Jake," Tom said. There was a scuffling sound as he handed the phone off. Then Jake's voice. "Hey, Marco. What's up?" I went off. "What's up?! What's up? Those scumbags are after my father, that's what's up! How do you live with that? How do you look at that piece of crap every day? He's all like, "Bring your dad to The Sharing, do a father-son bonding thing, and oh, by the way, would you mind if we stuck a
-
?" "Shut up," Jake hissed. I shut up. But my hand was squeezing the receiver so hard I could have snapped it. Jake let me calm down for a minute. He made "uh-huh" noises in the phone, like he was listening to me talking. He made a couple of laughing sounds. I guess Tom wasn't far away from the phone. I knew Jake was right. We don't talk secrets over the phone. There's no way of knowing who might be listening in. "Okay, I'm cool," I said. I wasn't cool, but I was under control again. "That sounds good to me," Jake said, still pretending to have a conversation. "We have to get together," I said. "It's a nice day out." That was the signal that we should meet in the woods. "Okay. Later," Jake said casually. He hung up. I took a couple of deep breaths. Then I took a couple more. The Yeerks had taken my mother. They weren't getting my father. Before that happened I'd tell him everything. Before I'd let that happen I'd take Tom down, no matter what Jake said. I'd take Tom, I'd take Chapman, I'd take every Controller I knew of before I'd let them have my father. I had power. Deadly animals lived inside me. Their DNA swam with my own. I could feel the rage flowing through me, the blind, violent rage that became little films in my head -- little head-movies of revenge and destruction. I pictured the things I would do to Tom ... to Chapman . . . someday even to Visser Three. I would do terrible things to them. Terrible, violent things. It was a sick feeling. It was sick, and I knew it, and yet I ran those images over and over in my head. Rage is addictive, you know. I guess it's sorta like a drug. Anger and hatred get you high. They get you high, but like any addiction, they hollow you out and tear you down and eat you alive. I guess I knew all that. But all I could think of was that they were not getting my father. So I ran the scenes of violence over and over in my head. I rode that rush of fury till at last it burned itself out and left me feeling empty and beaten.
-L hooked up with Jake and the two of us rode our bikes to Cassie's farm. He didn't say anything about my conversation with Tom. Jake knew how I felt. We've all felt it before. From Cassie's farm we walked across t he fields to the edge of the forest. There's a place we meet there, deep enough in the trees that no one is likely to see us. Rachel and Cassie were already there. Cassie was on her knees in the pine needles, looking into a burrow hole. I have no idea what was in there, but she seemed fascinated. Rachel was sitting on a fallen log. "Tobias is off finding Ax," Rachel said as we approached. "I think there are three of them," Cassie said. I guess she was talking about whatever was in that burrow. "So? What's the big panic?" Rachel asked. Before Jake or I could answer, I heard something crashing through the brush. He leaped into view, sailing over the log Rachel was sitting on. Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill. "Hey, Ax," I said. "Very dramatic entrance." Of course, any appearance by Ax was going to be dramatic. Ax is an Andalite. The only Andalite to survive when their Dome ship was destroyed by the Yeerks in high orbit. He's an
alien. You know how on Star Trek the aliens are always just humans with a little nose putty and some bad outfits? But they basically look human and act human and speak English? Well, Ax isn't like that. You take one look at Ax and you know he isn't from around here. Picture a sort of big, blue-and-tan deer. Only instead of a deer neck and head, you have a semi-human chest with two weak arms, topped by a head that is definitely unusual. Ax has no mouth and four eyes. Two of his eyes are in the usual location, but his other two eyes are mounted on stalks on top of his head. The stalk eyes can aim totally independently. Ax can look right at you with his two main eyes, and still be looking be- hind him with one stalk and off to the right with his other stalk. It's kind of unsettling, till you get used to it. But not nearly as unsettling as his tail. The tail makes you think scorpion. It curves up and over, so that the razor-sharp blade-tip is usually poised somewhere above his sloping shoulders. That tail is fast and dangerous. Very fast, very dangerous. Basically, Ax could slice-and-dice a human into bite-sized chunks in about two seconds. Fortunately, Ax is on our side. less-than Hello, Prince Jake. Hello Marco, Rachel. Cassie? Did you lose something8greater-than Cassie stood up. Then, as an afterthought, she brushed off her knees. "Baby opossums," she said, by way of explanation. "Too big for the pouch, not ready to leave the den." "Don't tell Tobias," I said. "He'll eat "em." less-than like already know about themeagreater-than Tobias said. I looked up in surprise. He was in the tree above me. I hadn't heard him arrive. Cassie shrugged. "Tobias is a hawk. He has a right to be a hawk." Then she looked up at Tobias and smiled. "Of course, they are awfully cute." less-than 0h, maneagreater-than Tobias groaned. less-than 0kay, okay, this litter is off-limits. Happy now8greater-than "You're a sweetheart, Tobias," Cassie said. less-than We should move while we talkeagreater-than Tobias suggested. less-than There are some kids playing soldier just about three hundred yards west. Let's stay well out of range. greater-than We all started walking east, and Tobias went up again to scout ahead for any danger. "Okay, Marco," Jake said after a few minutes. "This is your party. What's up?" I told them all what Tobias and I had seen. Tobias came back and added some details. Then I looked to Ax. "So, Ax, you're the official alien. What does this sound like to you?" Ax turned his head toward me, making eye contact with his main eyes. less-than Marco? Something has happened to your hair. I believe it has become shorter. Are you suffering from some sort of illness8greater-than "That does it!" I yelled, as the others all broke up giggling. "It'll grow out, all right? It'll grow out. Besides, it's easier to take care of. Man! I make one little change!" less-than Have I said something wrong8greater-than Ax wondered. "No," Jake assured him. "Not at all. Marco is just a little sensitive. Go ahead, Ax. What do you think about this Erek person?" less-than like do not know. It ... it doesn't sound like any species I know of. greater-than "What? Dude, you're the expert on aliens," I pointed out. less-than Marco, even we Andalites don't know every species in the galaxy. greater-than I swear he sounded embarrassed. Although since he was using thought-speak, maybe "sounded" isn't the right word. "You don't recognize the description?" Jake asked. less-than No. greater-than "The way you guys describe it, it sounds more like a robot or something," Rachel ventured. "But how does it pass for human?" less-than 0h, that is technologically possibleeagreater-than Ax said, relieved to be able to add something to our speculation. less-than lt's probably a holographic projection. Like your primitive TV, only three- dimensional caret "Primitive TV? Hey, we have cable at my house," I said. Ax didn't think it was funny, but Cassie smiled. Tobias swooped low over our heads and came to rest on a branch. less-than So when Erek gets hit by the bus, he drops the hologram for just a split second. greater-than less-than The power supply may have been inter rupted or overloadedeagreater-than Ax suggested. less-than But that's the interesting question: What power supply? It would take a great deal of power to maintain such a hologram, hour after hour, day after day. greater-than "Hey, maybe Erek is nuclear-powered," I said. Ax laughed. Then I guess he realized I wasn't joking. less-than like don't think nuclear power is likelyeagreater-than he said, still sort of giggling like I was the primitive moron of the universe. less-than like think it would take something much more advanced. greater-than "Is there any way to see through this holo gram?" Cassie asked. "We could hit him with something as big as a bus," Rachel suggested. "Now, there's a classic Rachel suggestion," I said with a laugh. I was feeling better, hanging with my friends. "Marco found out The Sharing is having a lit tle waterskiing thing up at the lake," Jake said. He bit his lip and added, "Tom told him. Erek
is in The Sharing. He'll probably be there, too. Per fect chance for us to get a good look at him. That's the 'where." Now we just need the "how."" Ax thought for a moment as we ambled through the woods. less-than The hologram is meant
to trick humans. It would be tuned for human sight. Hawk eyes are better than human, but still see similar wavelengths of light. Maybe a totally dif ferent sort of vision would be able to penetrate the hologram. greater-than My heart sank. I knew what was coming next. Some gross morph. "Unusual vision is our specialty," Rachel said with a careless laugh. She slapped me on the back like life was just one big adventure. Sometimes Rachel really grinds my nerves. "No bugs, okay?" I said. "All I'm saying is, no more insect morphs. Is that too much to ask?" J. guess it was too much to ask, as I found out a couple days later. "What do you mean, we're going to draw straws?" I asked suspiciously. "To see who morphs our new morph," Rachel said. "Ax is in, regardless. We need his expertise in aliens. One of us has to go in with him." "What's the morph?" I asked suspiciously. "Spider," Cassie said. We were at Cassie's barn. It was Saturday morning. On Friday I'd found out I'd gotten a B on my English paper. How cool is that? I'd stayed up watching TV with my dad and been late for this meeting. This was the kind of insanity they cooked up when I wasn't there. "Excuse me? I must have something wrong with my ears." I tapped the side of my head with my palm. "Because, see, I thought I heard you say the word "spider." And I remember saying "no insects."" Cassie held her hand out to me. And in that hand was a spider. "It's not an insect. Arachnids have eight legs and two body segments. Insects have six legs and three segments." I swear, I took a look at that spider and almost passed out. "Since I knew we were doing this today, I decided to do some reading. This is a wolf spider. It has pretty good eyesight. In fact, it has eight eyes." Cassie said this like having eight eyes was a good thing. Like eight eyes was something everyone should want. "Go away, Cassie. Go away. Go away, go away, I am
going to morph a spider! You can morph a spider. I don't like spiders." Jake gave me a look. "Marco, Cassie always gets stuck doing the new morphs. Besides, this is more your mission than anyone else's." "What? Why?" I demanded angrily. "Why is this my mission more than yours or Rachel's?" Jake shrugged. "Erek is your friend." "My friend? When did I ever say he was my friend? He's not my friend. I barely know the guy!" "Marco, you're such a wuss," Rachel said. "Hey, you want to be a spider?" Rachel shuddered slightly. "Sure." She was lying. I just knew it. "If I draw the short straw, I'd love to go spider." Then she grinned. She couldn't keep a straight face. "Look, you don't have to do this," Jake said. "It's just that we're going to be infiltrating a meeting of The Sharing. The Yeerks are totally on alert for animal morphs. We have to fit into the environment of the lake. Whatever morphs we use have to belong there. We can't be showing up there as lions and tigers and bears." "Oh, my," Cassie interjected. "We need good vision, but not standard mammal-type eyes. And we can't all go in the same way. I want two people to hang back as a rescue squad in case we get into a mess. Ax has to go because we need him to see if he can figure out what Erek is. Ax is going in as a spider, and we need someone to go with him." "Has anyone told Ax about this?" "He was here earlier. While you were sleeping in late. He said he thought a spider's body was much more sens ible than a human's body," Cassie said. "His exact words were, "Ah, good. With eight legs it won't fall over like a human."" "Be glad we waited for you at all," Rachel growled. "Just draw a straw." Jake had f
ive pieces of hay in his fist. There was no way to tell which was the shortest one. "Hah. I know how to beat this," I said. "It's mathematical. If I choose first, my odds are just one in five. The next person to choose has odds of one in four, then one in three, and so on. So the safest thing to do is choose first." I took a deep breath, reached out, and yanked up a straw. I took another deep breath and looked at the very short straw. "Really, it made perfect sense mathematically," I said. I felt like crying. Rachel rolled her eyes. "You know, if you're going to be a big baby, I'll do it." I should have just said "okay." That's what I should have said. What I did say to Rachel was, "Don't condescend to me, oh mighty Xena. Just because I'm not a reckless idiot doesn't mean I'm a wuss. I've never chickened out on a morph yet. And if Ax is in, so am I. You can hang around and be the backup, Rachel. I'm going where the action is." To which Rachel replied with a very calm, "Okay." See, this is why guys and girls should not be in combat together. Because it's much harder for a guy to be a coward when some girl is watching. Especially when she's all gung ho. If it had just been Jake and Tobias, I'd have been weeping and groveling on the ground. Cassie held out the spider. "It's not bad," she said. "I morphed the spider yesterday, just to see what it was like. Charlotte's Web was one of my favorite books." "It would be," I muttered. Well, that was the clincher. Rachel was ready to go, and Cassie had already done it. I reached out a finger to touch the spider. It was shaking. My finger, not the spider. I touched the spider's back. It tried to get away but Cassie closed her hand around the spider and the tip of my finger. The spider became very still as I acquired it. Thanks to the Andalite technology that had transformed me, the spider DNA entered my system. Maybe the Yeerks were right. Maybe the An-dalites were just the big meddlers of the universe. I know one thing: At that moment, as I touched the spider's bristly body, I really wished the Andalites had found someone else to give this power to.