we made them killers?" I rounded on her, angry. "What I don't want a thousand years from now is for people to be saying, Too bad about the humans. They ended up as dead as the Pemalites."" "Ax?" Jake asked. "You haven't said much." Ax was in human morph, of course, since we were in the barn. "As you know, we Andalites are not supposed to interfere in the lives of other species. I am already breaking that law with you. And I am proud to be breaking that law in this case. But the Chee . . . Chee! It makes a funny sound, doesn't it? Chee." He smiled with his human mouth, then grew serious again. "The Chee are a different species. Older than Andalites. I feel . . . badly . . . helping another species to become violent." Rachel said, "Look, no one likes violence. All right? But we didn't ask for this war with the Yeerks. When the bad guys come after you, when they start the violence, they leave you no choice: fight or die." "Fight or die," I agreed. "And you want proof? Look at the Pemalites. They didn't fight, they died. All gone. No more. Scratch a whole species. Now their 'essence," whatever that means, is stuck inside dogs, and their robots feed them extra kibble. Yippee. That worked out real well for them. And even that's better off than we'll be if we lose to the Yeerks." "Law of the jungle," Rachel said. "You eat or you get eaten." less-than Maybe seagreater-than Tobias said, speaking up for the first time. less-than But still, wouldn't it be nice if that wasn't the law8greater-than "How can you take that attitude?" I demanded. "You're a predator. You know how it is." less-than Yes. I know exactly how it is. That doesn't mean I like it. Look, the Pemalites were wiped out, maybe because they didn't fight. Maybe they'd have lost even if they had fought. We'll never know. But the Chee have lived for thousands of years. I know they're androids, but they're a species, too. They've survived without killing. Doesn't something about that make you jealous? Don't you wish we could say the same? Don't you wish Homo sapiens could face the universe and honestly say, "We do not kill? We don't enslave. We don't make war"8greater-than "I don't make the rules," I said. "I didn't start this war. Humans didn't start this war. Look, I don't want to make this personal, but I know the name Matcom. My dad is involved in some work with them. And the other day Tom ..." I shot a glance at Jake. "His brother was on me to come to The Sharing and bring my father. The Sharing is targeting my dad, and now we know why. So for me, it's simple: If we take this Pemalite crystal, maybe my dad isn't involved with Matcom any more. And maybe the Yeerks find someone else to infest." No one had an answer to that. I knew they wouldn't. Cassie walked down to the far end of the barn and came back carrying a small cage. "Total darkness, can't touch walls, floor, or ceiling, and you have to travel through a room strung with sensitive wires you can't even see." She held up the cage. "Meet the animal that can do all that." It was no larger than a small rat with its leathery wings folded back. "Cool," I said. "First I'm Spiderman, now
I get to be Batman." I thought for once we'd get a chance to practice with the bat morph. We were planning to go after the Pemalite crystal the next weekend. Plenty of time to plan and prepare. Yeah, right. "Marco?" My dad yelled up the stairs to my room, where I was desperately trying to figure out some math homework. "Yeah?" "Phone." ""X" equals point oh-three-nine," I reminded myself so I wouldn't lose my place. I went out into the hall to grab the upstairs phone. "Point oh-three-nine. Yeah, who is it?" "Hi, Marco. It's me, Erek." "Oh, hi, Erek, what's up?" I hoped he would remember our phones could be bugged. "Not much," he said, sounding very convincingly human. "I was just thinking, though, you know that thing we were going to do next weekend? Why don't we just do it tonight instead?" I knew what the "thing" was. And I knew Erek wasn't calling on a whim. Something had gone wrong. I swallowed my heart, which had jumped up into my throat. "Okay. Maybe I'll call Jake and see if he wants to do it, too." "That'd be excellent," Erek said. "Later, man." I hung up the phone and thought seriously about pretending I hadn't gotten the call. I mean, I wanted to do this. It was important, life and death. But it was like something out of Mis sion: Impossible. And without planning or practice, it was beyond impossible. Plus, I had homework to do. I picked up the phone and called Jake. Four hours later, with all of our parents asleep in their beds, we met at Cassie's barn. All of us, including Ax. Erek arrived last. He didn't waste time with small talk. "There's a problem. The Yeerks are putting in a brand new security system on top of the existing systems. I don't think it's active yet, but I can't find out what it is." less-than Fine. We can wait a few weeks till you can get the detailseagreater-than Tobias said. "The crystal is already so well protected that any new system may put it beyond our grasp for good," Erek said. "And don't forget -- the Yeerks are racing to use this crystal to create a computer system so powerful it can take over every computer on Earth. They're not there yet. But the longer we wait. . ." "Oh, man, this sucks," I said. "No planning? No preparation? Just go in and hope for the best?" "I'll tell you everything I know," Erek said. "Listen carefully. It's not too complicated." For a few seconds we sort of teetered on the edge. We weren't sure what to do. Erek wanted us to go in, obviously. But he had his own interests, which might not be the same as ours. It was the worst possible situation. Any one of our parents could wake up and discover we were not at home. That would mean frantic phone calls back and forth from our folks to our friends' parents, calls to the cops, probably search teams out beating the woods. "Go or don't go?" Jake asked. "Go," Rachel said, but with less enthusiasm than usual. A lot less. "Go," I said. "But personally, I can't blame anyone who wants to sit this one out." Cassie gave me a dirty look. I guess she took it personally. "I say go," she said. "I don't sit anything out, Marco." less-than l'm not in theagreater-than Tobias said. less-than l'm useless on this mission, so I don't vote. greater-than less-than like go where Prince Jake goeseagreater-than Ax said. "Don't call me "prince,"" Jake said wearily for the thousandth time. "Okay, we go." Erek immediately began telling us all he knew about Matcom and the security for the Pemalite crystal. After about two minutes I was ready to change my vote. But by then it was too late. We'd made our decision, and it was as if we were being swept toward a waterfall
- like a bunch of canoeists who'd lost their last paddle. We'd survive ...
or not ... but one thing was sure. We were definitely going over the edge.
"Q rek was not going with us. But he would be waiting outside Matcom when we came out. Assuming we came out. We flew from Cassie's barn to the Matcom building. It was one of those boring-looking, three-story glass and cement buildings you see in industrial parks everywhere. Just a bunch of blue glass rectangles with a big parking lot in back. In fact, it looked so much like every other bor ing square building in the industrial park, we had trouble finding it. We flew around, a lost gang of owls, for a good fifteen minutes before Rachel spotted the Matcom sign. We landed on the roof of the building. Erek had assured us there were no cameras or guards up there. "Let's find that pipe," Jake whispered as soon as we were all human again. Or, in Ax's case, An- dalite. "Erek said southwest corner, right?" I said. "Astost8st8west," Cassie said. She sounded sure, so I decided to agree. "Yeah, that was it. Which way is northwest?" Ax laughed in thought-speak, till he realized I was serious. less-than You can't find directions8greater-than He sounded shocked. Like he'd just discovered we had hidden tail blades. less-than lt's that corner over there. greater-than The pipe was about three inches in diameter. "I hope this works," I said. "I don't even know if my Spiderman can make silk." "Spiderwoman," Cassie said. "Your spider morph is female. Wolf spiders don't make webs, but they do make silk. It should work." "Easy for you say. I don't even know how to turn on the silk thing." But Ax was already morphing into the wolf spider, so I hurried to catch up. By the time Ax and I were in spider morph, the others had all be come cockroaches. less-than Man, you two are ugly at this scaleeagreater-than Rachel said. less-than Jeez, I don't ever need to see another spi der my own size again. greater-than less-than We're ugly? You want to know what you look like right now? You look like dinnereagreater-than I said, laughing evilly. less-than Juicy cockroach. This spider morph is hungr
y, and you look tasty. greater-than less-than Marco, get a gripeagreater-than Jake said patiently. less-than lancet's do this. greater-than less-than l'll demorph and step on your ugly butteagreater-than Rachel growled. From where I was standing in the gravel of the rooftop, the pipe looked like a round skyscraper. It extended above the roof by about a foot, which is quite a distance when you're half an inch high. I scampered around the pipe. One side had been splashed with tar. It would be easy to grip. I raced easily up the pipe to stand precariously on the lip. I could feel a breeze blowing up from the blackness beneath me. It was like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. The pipe went down through all three stories and an extra underground story. Four floors. Bad enough when you're human size. A million miles when you're a spider. Ax came crawling up to teeter alongside me. less-than 0ooookayeagreater-than I said. less-than Now comes the fun part. greater-than I tried to search the spider brain, looking for the subtle, secret signals that would start me spinning silk. Fortunately, the spider wasn't exactly Albert Einstein. It only knew how to do about four things, one of which was spin silk. The spider body sort of... well ... pushed out a strand of gooey white filament. It stuck to the edge of the pipe. Ax did the same. less-than Well, this is certainly disgustingeagreater-than I said. less-than Ready, Ax8greater-than less-than Yes. greater-than less-than Then . . . Yeeeeee-Haaaaahhhffgreater-than I sprang from the lip of the pipe into the darkness. It was so totally Spiderman. I fell slowly down, down, down, twisting and turning my way down the pipe. Behind me a long white string grew. It braked my fall, so that I was dropping in slow motion. The spider eyes were not bad at seeing in the relative dark. A bit of moonlight followed us down part of the way as we dropped. And then it started being fun. I kicked away from the side of the pipe and cartwheeled through the air. My web looped around Ax's, and soon we were weaving a weird silk rope. It was cool in a way . . . till I felt a certain emptiness. less-than Ax! I'm running out of web. greater-than less-than Yes, me, too. greater-than less-than How far do you think we've dropped8greater-than less-than like don't know. greater-than less-than You know which way is northwest but you don't know how far we've dropped? We could still have two stories to geagreater-than I said. less-than like think our plan has a minor flaweagreater-than Ax said with his usual understatement. less-than But we are very light, small creatures. We should survive a fall. So should the others in cockroach morph. greater-than less-than Maybe. See, the problem is, there's only one way to find out if we'll survive. By dropping. greater-than Ax didn't say anything. less-than 0h, maneagreater-than I groaned. I cut the strand of web. And I fell. Down through the darkness, toward a landing I could only hope wouldn't kill me. It was a long drop. less-than Aaaaahhhhhhhffgreater-than less-than Aaaaahhhhhhhffgreater-than WHAP! WHAP! We hit something hard. We bounced. We hit again. WHAP! WHAP! less-than You okay8greater-than Jake called down. less-than 0h, yeah, I'm greateagreater-than I said. less-than like fell about a billion feet and landed on a steel trampoline. Couldn't be better. greater-than less-than Sarcasmeagreater-than Rachel commented coolly. less-than He must be okay. greater-than less-than Laugh now, Rachel. We'll see how much you laugh when it's your turn. greater-than The plan was for Ax and me to create a silk cable the others in cockroach morph would be able to climb down. That way, they wouldn't all have to go spider. Not that it would have helped, anyway. less-than We're coming downeagreater-than Jake said. less-than When we reach the end of the silk we'll jump. If you two survived, we will. Nothing kills a cockroach. greater-than less-than Why don't you stand right beneath me, Marco8greater-than Rachel suggested. less-than You can break my Ax and I scurried out of the way. A few seconds later, after they had clambered down to the end of our silk . . . WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! Three cockroaches landed nearby. less-than Where are we8greater-than Jake asked. less-than lt's pretty dark. Who knows8greater-than I answered. less-than lt's a heatingstair-conditioning vent, I guess. Erek said it would be part of the furnace system. Supposedly we go west a hundred feet or so, then drop down, then go across the furnace, then down again, then right. Then we're at the edge of the High Security Room, where the real trouble starts. greater-than less-than Excuse me? Did someone say furnace8greater-than Cassie asked. less-than Yeah. I said furnace. greater-than less-than Does it occur to any of you that the furnace might actually come on8greater-than Cassie said. less-than Not till right this minuteeagreater-than I said. less-than lt's not very cold oueagreater-than Rachel pointed out. less-than 0kay, I've seriously changed my mindeagreater-than I said. less-than Let's go home. greater-than Of course, no one listened to me. We scrabbled along the steel floor, two spiders and three cockroaches. Our rough claws seemed to make a horrible din on the metal, scuffing and scratching. But it probably wouldn't have sounded like anything to a human. As we ran, there was more and more dust on the floor of the vent. It was weird, like walking through dried leaves. My eight legs kicked through it, and it swirled behind me as I passed. Eventually the dust became as thick as a carpet, although in reality it was probably no more than a few millimeters thick. Every ten feet or so there would be a grilled opening. Through the massive upright bars I could see offices. The light in the offices was very dim, just the glow of computer screen savers and red or green function lights. But it helped us to find our way through the darkness of the vent. Then . . . less-than What's t8greater-than Rachel yelled. She was the farthest back. less-than Uh-oh. Something coming! I feel the vibrations! Something bigffgreater-than She took off. I took off. We all took off. Now I could feel the vibrations, too. Quick, confused-sounding footsteps. And a dragging sound, like something was being hauled. I ran. To my left, another spider. Ax. Ahead of me, two roaches, almost as big as I was. Rachel was just back to my right. I couldn't exactly turn and glance over my shoulder. I had no shoulder. And I had no actual head to turn. So I paused, spun around, and in the dim light from a vent, I saw it. Huge. Twenty times my size! A vast, horrible menace. less-than Aratffgreater-than I yelled. less-than lt's a RATFFGREATER-THAN The thing I'd heard dragging was its naked tail and furred abdomen. It was hungry, and it was after us. And, unfortunately, it was faster than me. less-than Go! Go! Go! lt's gainingffgreater-than I yelled. We blew at top spider and cockroach speed. Which seems really fast when you're an inch long, but isn't really that many miles per hour. A rat can do maybe five or six miles per hour. A spider is lucky to break one mph. less-than We'll have to morph backffgreater-than Jake said. less-than Not in hereffgreater-than Cassie cried. less-than Not enough room. greater-than less-than Next venteagreater-than Jake said. less-than We go out through the next vent. greater-than The next vent was about ten feet away. I couldn't turn around to look at the rat, but every hair on my spider body told me it was just inches behind me. Yet there was something else making my hair tingle, too. Something about the breeze . . . less-than YAAHHHFFGREATER-THAN I heard Jake yell. A split second later, my spider legs were clawing air. It was like a Roadrunner cartoon. I zoomed out into space, seemed to hang there with my little feet motoring away, and then I fell. less-than 0h, yeseagreater-than Ax said calmly. less-than Erek mentioned we had to go down again. greater-than WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! We hit steel again, and each impact sent dust clouds swirling. less-than Keep runningffgreater-than Cassie cried, and fortunately, for once, I didn't argue. Buh-Booooom! The rat dropped behind us! It was still after us! Fortunately, it was a little stunned by the impact, whereas we were outta there! Suddenly, ahead of us, the steel floor opened up again. But instead of a drop into darkness, there was a weird, vast plain of jagged spires. Each of the spires was steel, three times as tall as my little spider body. Each metal spire opened at the top. There were hundreds of them, all arranged in perfect rows. A foul smell, something my spider mind knew nothing about, came from this field of spires. A weird, flickering glow lit the landscape. In the eerie light, it looked like some awful graveyard, with the spires like industrial-strength gravestones or something. I mean, it was creepy. less-than What is th8greater-than I asked. less-than Let's just get going, all rig
ht8greater-than Rachel suggested. less-than We can sightsee some other time. greater-than I would never have walked into that "field" if the rat hadn't been just two feet back and gaining again. I didn't need spider senses to know there was danger here. It screamed danger. I stuck out one spider leg and touched the top of the nearest spire. Then another and another. I walked from spire to spire, carefully, cautiously. The cockroaches crawled and squirmed through the valleys between spires. Unable to stand normally, they had to drag themselves inch by inch. less-than What is th8greater-than I asked again. less-than You don't want to knoweagreater-than Jake said grimly. less-than lancet's just get out of here, okay8greater-than Right then it hit me. From the tone of Jake's thought-speak voice. less-than 0h, man. This is the furnace, isn't it? These spires . . . the holes in the tops of them . . . it's where the gas comes ouffgreater-than less-than Not if no one turns on the heateagreater-than Rachel said grimly. Over my head now, I saw the source of the eerie glow. It was the pilot light. It was a jet