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  of blue flame as long as my body. I could feel the heat from it, even though it seemed to be as far above my head as the ceiling of a cathedral. The rat, smarter than we were, decided to stop at the edge of the furnace. But there was no going back. We had to cross the furnace. We had to hope the Matcom Corporation was into energy conservation and didn't waste heat. We had

  to pray that no one had messed with the thermo stat. Because if the heat came on ... HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! less-than Gasffgreater-than The gas blew with hurricane force up through the tops of the spires. In seconds the gas would rise to the pilot light. In seconds the entire land scape would erupt in flame! I thought I'd been moving as fast as I could move. I was wrong. I had a whole extra speed. Ahead of me I saw Jake, Rachel, and Ax all reach safety. Only Cassie and I were still deadly inches away from safety. less-than RUN! RUN! RUNRUNRUNRUNFFGREATER-THAN HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Then . . . WHOOOOOOSH! Fuh-Wwwuuuummmp! The whole world seemed to explode around me. A wall of flame ... a hurricane of hot air. I was blown head over heels, somersaulting through air as hot as an oven. JL somersaulted backward, hit steel floor again, and screeched like a skidding car. I plowed straight into Jake, and a split second later, Cassie plowed straight into me. less-than Cassie! Cassie! Are you okay8greater-than Jake asked. less-than Yes, yes. I think so. Who can tell with this roach body8greater-than less-than l'm okay, tooeagreater-than I said. less-than You know, just in case anyone cares. greater-than less-than like guess they like to keep this building nice and warm, eh8greater-than Rachel said. less-than That was very close to being a disastereagreater-than Ax said. less-than We should thank the rat. If he had not chased us, we would have been crossing those gas jets several seconds later. greater-than That was not a nice picture to think of. We would have fried, sizzled, and popped open faster than we could even try to think about de-morphing. less-than That would have left a big wad of Marco mass floating in Z-spaceeagreater-than I muttered. I could joke about it, but I was quivering inside. The rest of the trip through the heating and air-conditioning system was calm. But that just gave me time to think about the close call. One second slower, and I'd have gone out as a roasted spider. less-than There are walls up hereeagreater-than Jake warned from the head of our little pack of singed bugs. less-than No, wait, not walls . Like a maze. Like Erek said. greater-than We traveled through a series of switchbacks, around a steel panel, then back around another. It was a light-blocking system. It would block out every last photon of light that might come through the vent. Then we came to the edge of a drop. Beyond it, I knew, was the High Security Room itself -- the location of the Pemalite crystal. We were six feet up. We had to drop, and then stay within two feet of the wall. Any movement farther toward the center of the huge room, and we would set off pressure sensors in the floor. By this time, we were used to falling. less-than Next I want to try jumping out of a plane. Without a parachuteeagreater-than I said as I stepped into the black void. It is an eerie experience falling in total dark ness. You have no idea where the floor is. It's

  al most like you're not falling at all. Until you hit the bottom, that is. less-than Stay close to the walleagreater-than Jake reminded everyone. less-than Hug the wall and demorph. greater-than I was relieved to be human again. But my human eyes were no better than spider eyes at pen etrating the darkness. It was darker than any night. Darker than hiding in a closet at midnight. This was the darkness of being buried alive. "There could be six Hork-Bajir standing three inches away, and we wouldn't know it," I said, in a whisper that seemed to be deadened by the darkness itself. "That's a nice thought," Rachel said dryly. less-than Even a single photon of light would set off the light sensorseagreater-than Ax said. less-than This is complete darkness. greater-than "And according to Erek, if we stepped two feet away from the wall, we'd run into a maze of ultrasensitive wires. Any contact and the alarm goes off. We have to travel forty feet without touching a wire. Without touching the floor or ceiling or walls," Jake reminded us. "Let's morph. We'll be able to see then," Cassie said. "Or maybe not see, exactly, but you know what I mean." What she meant was that we would be able to echolocate. Kinda like the dolphin morph. We would be able to make very fast, ultrahigh sounds that the human ear would not even hear. Those sounds would vibrate off any solid object and send back a sort of sound picture. At least, that's what we hoped. We had been planning to practice and find out if it was true. Instead, we were morphing without any knowledge of what we were getting into. "Someday we'll think all this is funny," I said. "You know, if we happen to live long enough." I focused my mind on the bat morph we had each acquired. They aren't as creepy as people think. Certainly not as creepy as morphing a spider. This particular bat was very small, just a few inches long. It looked like a mouse, with huge ears and the face of a Pekinese dog. If you forgot about the leathery wings, it was just another basic mammal. But this was one case where the weirdness wasn't something you saw. I couldn't see anything. Nothing. I couldn't see myself shrinking, the ground rushing up at me. I couldn't see the way my legs shrank to almost nothing and brown fur sprouted from my body. I couldn't see the way my fingers grew so long and a paper-thin leather web filled the spaces between them. I saw none of it. I didn't even know I was a bat, until my bat brain sent an order for me to open my mouth and chirp out a pulse of sound. I fired a string of superfast sound pulses. Like making a loud machine-gun sound, only a lot higher, and way, way faster. And then . . . less-than Whoa, hoffgreater-than I said. The entire black, pitch-black, invisible room, had just lit up. It wasn't like seeing, exactly. It was like . . . like feeling, almost. Except it was like you were feeling from a distance. I felt a vast room. I felt thousands of wires strung taut, up and down, left to right, at angles. And, at the center of the room, beyond the maze of wires, I felt a raised, flat surface, and a sort of pedestal. There were curling wires coming from the top of the pedestal. All that came in a flash. Then it was gone. The others each fired off their own echolocating blasts, but I couldn't feel their sounds as clearly. less-than 0kay, that is cooleagreater-than Rachel said. less-than That is way cool. greater-than less-than The wires seem awfully close togethereagreater-than Cassie worried. less-than like wish we'd had time to try out these wings. I guess all we can do is hope for the best. Trust the bat to do the flying. greater-than less-than Abandon yourself to the Force, Cassie Sky-walker caret I said. less-than Thanks, Darth. You first. greater-than less-than Me first? Oh. greater-than Suddenly, I didn't feel at all like laughing. I licked my lips with my little bat tongue. Assuming I had lips. I wasn't sure. I opened my wings. I spread them wide and thought, Well, this should be interesting. I tested the wings cautiously. They moved differently than bird wings. More like I was reaching out with each stroke to grab the air and push it behind me. less-than 0kay. Here goes. greater-than I fired an echolocating burst and took off. Fired again! There were tight strings all around me! Left! Left again! Down! No, up! Right, left, right, right, straight up! Again and again the high-pitched sound machine gun fired. Again and again I dodged, millimeters from a wire. It was insane! It was so fast my human brain was three steps behind. It was instantaneous. It was impossible! The speed, the agility, the instant translation of the echolocating blasts. And suddenly, I was through! I was through the wires. I landed on the table in the center of the room. It was all over in ten seconds of lunatic flight. less-than 0kay, now that is a roller-coaster ride! Yesffgreater-than I said, incredibly jazzed from having made it. less-than Yesffgreater-than The others came, one by one. I could watch them fly, seeing them in my echolocating flashes. Everyone made it. And we were feeling pretty good about it, too. It was a rush. less-than We did xffgreater-than I said. less-than These bats can flyffgreater-than Rachel added. less-than ls that the crystal8greater-than Cassie asked. Ax fired a burst and said, less-than That must be it. greater-than It was no bigger than a grape. It rested on a small pedestal. Wires -- not the sensor wires, but curling electrical-type wires, edged in all around it. But the crystal itself was not attached to anything. It just la
y there, where anyone could grab it. It made a low sort of humming noise. I know it makes no sense, but it was almost like that crystal was alive. less-than Um ... I have a stupid questioneagreater-than I said. less-than How do we grab this thing8greater-than For about ten seconds, no one said a word. less-than We don't have handseagreater-than Cassie said, pointing out the obvious. less-than We can grab it in our mouthseagreater-than Rachel said. less-than Right? Bats eat moths and stuff. They must have pretty strong jaws. Strong enough to get that crystal back to the air vent. greater-than less-than 0h, duh. Of courseeagreater-than Jake said, sounding relieved. less-than l'll do it. greater-than less-than like believe that may not workeagreater-than Ax said. less-than Jake8greater-than Cassie said. less-than Jake? If you have a crystal in your mouth, how do you fire the echolo-cating burst8greater-than At which point we were suddenly no longer fee I ing so good. less-than like believe our plan now has somewhat of a flaweagreater-than Ax said quietly. less-than See? We should never get cockyeagreater-than Cassie said. less-than lt's tempting the irony gods. greater-than less-than Irony gods8greater-than Ax asked. less-than Yeaheagreater-than Cassie said. less-than The bitter spirits who wait around till you get cocky, then hammer you. greater-than less-than These are real8greater-than less-than No, of course neagreater-than Cassie said impatiently. less-than How do we get out of here with that crystal8greater-than less-than We power our way oueagreater-than Rachel said. Ax said, less-than Erek's opinion was that there were many guards here in this building. greater-than less-than We didn't see any on our way through the shaftseagreater-than Jake remarked. less-than But Erek's been pretty accurate so far. I have a feeling if he says there are guards here, there are guards here.greater-than less-than No choiceeagreater-than Rachel said. less-than We morph whatever we have that's big, mean, and nasty, then slam our way out of this place. greater-than less-than Speaking of irony godseagreater-than I muttered. less-than What do you mean8greater-than Rachel asked. less-than like mean, we came here to get this Pemalite crystal so the Chee could be free to be violent. And now, despite all our clever planning, all our sneakiness and subtlety, we're stuck in the end going for total Schwarzenegger. greater-than less-than Rachel's righteagreater-than Jake said. He sighed. less-than We're looking at a fighting retreat. greater-than Cassie said, less-than like think there's a door over there. Try echolocating. You'll see a raised rectangular outline. I think it's a door. greater-than less-than Yepeagreater-than Jake agreed. less-than Morph out, keep that direction in mind. Remorph, and be ready to haul butt for that door. Head for any way out of this building. Don't stand and fight, just try to force your way past anyone who comes after us. greater-than It was times like this I was glad Jake was our so-called leader. We all knew what we had to do, but someone had to actually say it. And boy, was I glad it wasn't me. less-than like have such a bad f eeling about theagreater-than I muttered. Have you ever watched those old war movies where the Americans would be heading for some enemy beach? You know, they'd be in a little boat, riding through the surf, getting ready to jump out on a beach that was going to be chewed up by machine-gun bullets and mortars? That's what this felt like. Like we were pretty calm now, but in a few seconds it was going to be life and death. Things would happen very fast. And none of it was going to be good. I morphed back to human. Then I focused my mind on the morph I liked for fighting. It was still absolutely dark, so I didn't see my body grow big and hairy. But I could feel my shoulders bulk up beyond anything any bodybuilder ever even dreamed of. I could feel the strength. Strength like no human could ever possess. It was comforting to think that I was stronger than three, four, maybe five strong men. But not even the gorilla is invincible. less-than Everyone ready8greater-than Jake asked. There in the darkness, near enough to touch, but invisible, was enough power to shred a small army. Jake was in his tiger morph. Cassie had gone wolf. Rachel was one of the few animals mightier than my gorilla: She was a full-grown, massively powerful grizzly bear. And Ax ... well, Ax was Ax. And trust me, when you've seen an Andalite in battle, you know that tail is all he needs. less-than Ready? Why, I'm looking forward to xeagreater-than I said, trying to sound like I wasn't scared silly. less-than l'll go firsteagreater-than Rachel said. And before anyone had time to object . .

  . HHHRRRRRAAAAWWWWRRR! Rachel barreled past me, hitting me and practically spinning me around like a top. A microsecond later. . . ScreeEEEEET! ScreeEEEEET! ScreeEEEEET! The alarm was deafening. The others barreled after her. I hesitated for just a moment while I felt in the dark for the Pe- malite crystal. Aside from Ax, I was the only one with hands. Then I went after them. I plunged wildly into total darkness with a tiny crystal in my massive fist. Rachel tore a path through the alarm wires, and I could feel where she had gone. I slammed into Ax, then bounced into Jake, then sud denly

  - WHAM!

  - hit the wall. ScreeEEEEET! ScreeEEEET! ScreeEEEET! Ka-Rrrrunch! A loud, screeching, tearing noise. Sudden light! I could see. Man, it was a relief to be able to see some thing at least. Dim light came through the door. Or what was left of the door, after Rachel had given the door a thousand pounds or so of mad, ready-to-fight grizzly. The door was splinters. It was steel, and it was still splinters. I saw a flash of orange and black, moving fast but almost delicately -- Jake, in tiger morph. Cassie the wolf followed him. Right behind her was the one animal that wasn't from anywhere on Earth. There was a hallway outside. Jake said less-than Leftffgreater-than and we went left. Past doorways, past offices, past normal things like copiers and computers and fax machines and desks and cubicles, we ran. Rachel was in the lead, a huge, lumbering truck on four legs. Her roars mixed with the endless scream of the alarms. ScreeEEEEET! ScreeEEEEET! ScreeEEEEET! Suddenly, another door, a dead end. Rachel hit it with her shoulder, and the door was gone. There was a big room beyond. High ceilings, open space, a lobby sort of room. Windows! I could see faint stars through the tinted glass. Escape was just a hundred feet away. Freedom! Life! And all that stood in our way was twenty men: human-Controllers, armed with automatic rifles. And behind them, two dozen or more Hork-Bajir warriors. Rachel's bear had very poor vision, especially in this dim light. less-than Hork-Bajir8greater-than she asked. less-than Yepeagreater-than I said. less-than How many8greater-than less-than Too many. Way too many. greater-than

  DcreeEEEET! ScreeEEEEET! ScreeEEEET! The alarm was howling. And then, a far worse sound: Cha-Klick! The human-Controllers had cocked their rifles, chambering a round. If they fired, we'd be blown apart before we could twitch. A human-Controller stepped out in front. She was a nice-looking, middle-aged woman wearing normal street clothes. She had bleached blond hair. She could have been someone's grandmother. "S. The Andalite bandits," she said. Her face was twitching with tension, but she tried to sound calm. "You've done me a big favor. When I turn you over to Visser Three he'll promote me two grades. Maybe three!" less-than 0r he may decide to destroy you for letting us get this fareagreater-than Ax said coolly. "Surrender. You can't escape," the woman snapped. "I'd rather take you alive, but the Visser would still be happy to have your corpses." We stared at her. And we stared at the muzzles of the twenty automatic rifles that were leveled at us. I held up my hand. Between my thick, brute fingers I held the Pemalite crystal. The woman turned as pale as her hair. "Give me that." I shook my big gorilla head. "Lower those guns," the woman snapped. "What?" some guy behind her yelled. "We have them! We have them cold!" The woman's jaw twitched again, but she stayed in control. "What do you think a bullet would do to that crystal?" "But the odds that a bullet would hit the crystal ... It's not going to happen." The woman smiled grimly. "That crystal is worth more than the mother ship and everything in it," she said. Then she started yelling. "You want to shoot? Go ahead, fool! If you hit the crystal, you can explain it to Visser Three." She got a grip on herself while the guy who had spoken out decided he was not interested in explaining anything to Visser Three. "All human-Controllers, back. Weapons on safety," the woman snapped. The rifles faltered, then lowered toward the ground. But I knew
better than to breathe a sigh of relief. See, I knew what was coming next. The woman looked right at me and smiled. "Hork-Bajir, forward." The Andalite who'd given us our powers had told us that the Hork-Bajir had once been a gentle, decent race before they were all enslaved by the Yeerks. All Hork-Bajir were Controllers now. But it was hard to believe the Hork-Bajir had ever been the sweethearts of the galaxy. They were death on two legs: seven feet tall, eight, if you counted the forward-raked blades that protruded from the top of their snake-heads. They had blades at their elbows, blades at their wrists, blades at their knees. They had huge claw-feet like tyrannosaurs, and a short, thick tail that ended in cruel-looking spikes. They were walking razor blades. All sharp edges and lightning speed. I've fought Hork-Bajir before. And I can count. Two dozen Hork-Bajir was at least a dozen more than we had any hope of defeating. Then, behind the Hork-Bajir, beyond the retreating human-Controllers, outside the building, staring horror-stricken through the glass, I saw Erek. Erek, who could do nothing at all to help us. Who was helpless to do anything but witness our slaughter. I felt like throwing up. The fear was all over me. The fear was surging through me, washing over me, drowning me from inside and out. We were going to lose. We were going to die. And life, any kind of life almost, is so much better than being dead. "Attack," the woman said. Her voice was nearly a whisper. The Hork-Bajir leaped forward, a wall of slashing, whirling blades. Right in front of me! SEEEEWWW! A huge Hork-Bajir slashed and a bright red line cut across my black leather chest! I swung my fist and hit the Hork-Bajir hard enough to fold him in two. But another leaped over him and came at me. I blocked his arm, but he kicked at me with his clawed foot. I fell back. I looked down and saw a hole in my stomach. A hole! I could see the gorilla's insides! My insides. My insides! less-than Ahhhhhffgreater-than I screamed in thought-speak, as the gorilla bellowed in agony. The Hork-Bajir leaped on top of me. I swung again and knocked his legs out from under him. He toppled down, but landed beside me. My left hand went to his throat and I squeezed. I squeezed with all the strength I had. The Hork-Bajir slashed at me again and opened a gash in my hairy arm. But I kept my grip tight. I screamed as the Hork-Bajir twitched and scrabbled wildly and began to jerk uncontrollably. The battle raged all around me. Screams. Cries. Bellows of animal rage. The garbled roars of the Hork-Bajir. Even the guttural roar of the human-Controllers, who watched and cheered the Hork-Bajir on. I saw Jake leap through the air and close his jaws around a Hork-Bajir's face. I saw Rachel swing her paw and open up a Hork-Bajir like someone cleaning a fish. I saw Cassie dodging swiftly, biting, backing away, lunging to bite again, red foam flying from her muzzle. And Ax, striking again . . . again . . . again with the deadly speed and perfect accuracy of his Andalite tail. But we were losing. It would be over in a few seconds. We were losing. less-than 0h, Godffgreater-than someone screamed. Maybe it was me, I don't know. less-than Help! Help! Get him off meffgreater-than less-than Look ouffgreater-than less-than No! Noooooffgreater-than It was all one combined thought-speech scream. And still the alarm howled its screeEEEEET! I felt my grip weaken on the throat of the Hork-Bajir. But it didn't matter anymore. It was safe to let him go. My vision was red. Red and fading. I felt a sharp stab as another Hork-Bajir sunk a blade into my gorilla heart. None of it mattered, though. It was all coming to an end ... all coming to an end. . . . Through a red mist I saw a face on the other side of the glass. Erek. Somehow, in the battle, I had ended up not far from the wall of windows. Erek was just a few feet away. Just on the other side of the glass. I felt something hard in my palm. The crystal. I crawled. A vicious Hork-Bajir kick, and I went sprawling right against the glass. less-than 0h . . . noeagreater-than I said. I could see the damage the kick had done. I was dead. I could feel my brain shutting down. Human-Controllers were closing in around me, hammering me with the butts of their rifles. With my last ounce of strength, I rammed my fist through the glass. I felt strong fingers pry open my hand. I felt the fingers lift out the crystal. And then . . . later, much later, someone slapped my face. "Morph back, Marco. Morph back! Do it!"