Rachel let out an exhausted sigh. “As much as I hate to admit it, Marco’s right. The fleet is not coming to the rescue. The Andalites aren’t here to help save Earth. They’re here so Arbat and the Andalite command can settle their score with the visser. This isn’t the Marines storming in to save us.”
“Exactly!” Cassie said. “It’s personal. It’s political. But there’s no strategic value to the mission. No real military advantage. So that just makes it murder.”
“Hey, Cassie, you know what?” Marco snapped. “Who cares? I mean, who cares about all your moralizing? Are you even paying attention? What do you think, that the six of us are going to win this war? By ourselves? Four kids, a bird, and an alien? Six kids who can turn into animals, big deal! We’ve hurt the Yeerks, we’ve frustrated them, we’ve slowed them down, but we’re pebbles in their shoes. This has always been about us being the resistance until the Andalites could do a D-Day and save our sorry butts.”
I had never heard Marco speak so harshly to Cassie. But more shocking still was that Jake did not step in to silence him.
I had been so distracted by Estrid, by seeing my own people again that I had overlooked how devastating this news would be to my friends. They had hoped for salvation. Instead they were presented with another complex problem, more dangers, more futility.
I scanned each of their faces with my stalk eyes. These were not the humans I had known for so long.
Prince Jake stood. “If the Andalites were serious about helping us, they’d have sent an invading force. And Cassie’s right, they trade Visser Three for some other visser, how does that help us? And Marco’s right, too. We’re tired. We’re so tired there are times I don’t think I can get up the energy to breathe. And now, instead of help, big-time help, we have what are obviously the dregs of the Andalite forces. Gonrod’s a fool. Aloth is just a foot soldier. Estrid’s a rookie. And Arbat’s a guy off on his own.”
“So what’s our plan?” Rachel demanded.
Prince Jake said nothing.
It was sad. That is what I realized. Very sad. We had turned to Prince Jake so many times and always he had been there with an answer, a plan, or at least a hope.
Marco slapped Rachel lightly on each cheek. “Wise up. Any plans we had — or have — are basically worth squat at this point. The war is over. Earth lost.”
The explosion was instantaneous.
Rachel lunged for Marco. “Don’t you EVER touch me again!” she screamed.
Marco fell to the ground and shielded his face with his arms. “Get off me. Get off me, you wacko!”
“Stop it! Stop it!” Cassie cried.
Tobias fluttered to the ground. Laughed bitterly.
Tobias flapped his wings and flew from the barn.
“All right, stop it, Rachel!” Prince Jake pulled her off Marco. Shook her hard.
Rachel reeled back and raked her hair from her eyes.
Marco stumbled to his feet. “Face facts,” he panted. “The Andalites don’t care. This isn’t about Earth. It’s about boosting Andalite morale by wasting the guy who made an Andalite a host.”
There was a long silence. Everyone looked at me. Staring as if they expected — hoped —that I would deny the truth of what Marco was saying.
“Ax?” Prince Jake prompted.
I shook my head. What was there to say?
Prince Jake frowned. “Then what do we want to do?”
“I know what I’m going to do.” Rachel angrily kicked a metal bucket. It clattered along the dirt floor of the barn.
Two injured geese sent up an alarmed gabble. A small brown rabbit who had been sitting beside a bale of hay dove into a stall and disappeared from sight.
Five or six grackles who had been pecking in the dirt squawked and flew up into the rafters.
“Rachel,” Cassie said quietly, putting her hand on Rachel’s arm. “Please. We need you.”
Rachel jerked her arm from Cassie’s grasp. “From now on I’m doing it my way. No more Geneva Convention warfare. If I’m going down, I’m taking out all the Yeerks I can before I go.”
She stalked toward the door.
“Rachel!” Prince Jake shouted.
Rachel whirled around. Her face red with anger. “I’m through taking orders from you,” she said through clenched teeth. “I’m through with Marco and his stupid jokes. I’m through with Cassie’s hypocrisy.”
Rachel lifted her fist and punched a lantern hanging from a hook. The glass splintered and it fell to the ground.
“I’m through with all of you,” she hissed. And stormed from the barn.
Cassie took a broom from the corner and began to sweep up the glass. “Count me out, too,” she said softly. “If this war is unwinnable, how do we justify killing Hork-Bajir? Basically, they’re prisoners of war. Innocent victims.”
“Cassie,” Prince Jake pleaded.
A tear rolled down her cheek. “I can’t do it anymore.” She dropped the broom and ran from the barn.
Marco thrust his hands into his pockets. “Guess I’m out, too. I’m going to enjoy what time I’ve got left. Acquire a surfer dude chick magnet. Hang out.”
“Marco,” Prince Jake whispered. “Please.”
Marco put his hand on Prince Jake’s shoulder. Let it slip off as he backed away. “Jake. Ax-man. Live long and prosper.”
Prince Jake and I were alone.
We looked at one another. I offered him my hand to shake as humans do.
Prince Jake gripped it. His eyes were sad. “I can’t hold you to your oath. The others are right. It’s over. Go on. Do what you have to do. And if you can, go home.”
Prince Jake squeezed my hand tightly, forgetting that Andalite hands are not as strong as human hands. I knew it was an expression of affection. I tried to return the pressure.
Prince Jake straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. “Good-bye,” he said. “And thank you. For everything.”
He walked slowly from the barn. His silhouette disappeared into the bright glare of the morning sun.
I stood alone.
Remembering.
It was peaceful for the first time in a long time. No arguments or debates. Quite pleasant, really.
I said finally.
Under the bottom slat of a stall gate, the small brown rabbit appeared. Estrid quickly demorphed and blinked with embarrassment at her mistake.
I said simply.
Her four eyes looked at me and shone.
The Andalite ship was cloaked in a large empty field outside the fence of a family entertainment center called The Gardens. I knew The Gardens well. Within it was a zoo where Prince Jake, the others, and I had acquired a number of useful morphs.
We flew there from the barn. Before we left, Estrid acquired an Earth bird morph. A crow. We flew, but far enough apart to allay suspicion.
As we descended, a square “hole” appeared in the sky. The upper hatch of the ship. We flew inside and it slid shut behind us.
Estrid explained.
We demorphed and she led me through the hallways and corridors that connected what seemed to be several wings. It was large for a warship. Small for a transport.
she explained.
She shrugged.
We stood in front of a drop shaft and waited f
or the doors to open.
Her four eyes looked curiously at my face.
The drop-shaft door opened and I stepped in beside her.
I was uneasy. My request had been a test. But I was not sure whether she had passed or failed.
I felt grateful for her willingness to protect my prince.
But what kind of an aristh would agree to withhold sensitive intelligence information from her superiors?
Had she been instructed to gain my trust in order to spy on me?
Or was she simply undertrained? Unsuited to the military because of her gender?
I resolved to keep my guard up and my eyes open. I watched her fingers dance across a control panel as she programmed in an access code for me.
Her hands were small. And graceful. When she was done, she turned her four eyes on me. My heart rates accelerated.
I had noticed her four eyes staring at me quite a bit.
That, too, was odd.
The first lesson every aristh learned at the academy was: “Two eyes out front. Two eyes scanning.” Always. A soldier never, ever, focused all his attention on the same spot.
The shaft dropped us two decks and held us there. We stepped out onto the command deck. Gonrod, Aloth, and Arbat were waiting.
Arbat stepped forward to greet me. His voice was welcoming.
I saluted and made the traditional Andalite bow.
Gonrod appeared mollified by the respect I showed him.
Arbat said.
Gonrod bristled.
Arbat said to Gonrod.
Arbat walked over to a workstation where Aloth calibrated a collection of handheld shredders.
I asked him.
Arbat took my arm. Guided me to the terraced perimeter of the deck where we could look out through the windows at the barren scrub grass outside. He thought-spoke to me privately.
I answered guardedly.
I shifted my weight uneasily. An Apex Level Intelligence Advisor is the highest rank in the intelligence division. An aristh the lowest rank in the regular military. On Earth I had followed, not led. Nor had I succeeded in killing Visser Three. Additionally, I had violated — by word and deed — more Andalite military codes than I could count.
So why was Arbat treating me with such elaborate respect? Respect that I had not earned by Andalite standards.
He wanted something from me.
But what?
Arbat broke off when he heard the heavy clop of Aloth’s hooves approach.
said Aloth.
Arbat beamed.
I saluted Arbat and quickly followed the assassin down the corridor.
Aloth said when the shaft doors closed behind us.
I was shocked. But I could not help chuckling.
Aloth snorted.
Like many soldiers, Aloth had little respect for anyone who was not a soldier.
I asked.
The UAST was full of brilliant thinkers. But they were notorious for their impracticality. Not known for their battlefield skills.
It seemed very strange that the War Council would send an aging professor of technological history to direct an assassination.
But then, the military had obviously undergone many changes since I left the home planet.
Aloth snorted again.
Aloth shrugged.
He shrugged.
Aloth’s lazy insolence was gone now. He seemed lost in troubled thought.
I ventured, prepared for him to snub me. He did not.
Instead, he resumed his lazy warrior’s swagger.
Aloth gave me a significant look and laughed cynically. I had the feeling I had just missed something. But if that were true about Estrid, it would explain many things.
Aloth added with a wry laugh.
he said with a chuckle.
This was the dynamic I understood. The good-natured snubbing a lowly aristh would expect from an experienced warrior.
Aloth shrugged.
Aloth laughed cynically. I did not see the humor.
Moments later Gonrod, Aloth, Arbat, and I met on the command deck. Estrid was not present.
Arbat seemed eager. Gonrod less so.
I answered.
Arbat said.
I asked.
I explained what The Sharing was, and how Visser Three was often present in human morph to address those who attended. I told them also about the location of the Yeerk pool.
present at the meeting?> Arbat asked.
Gonrod snapped.
Arbat said coldly.
Aloth said.
Arbat ignored Aloth. Or tried to.
Gonrod said.
Arbat snapped. It was the first time I had seem him lose what my human friends would call “his cool.”
He recovered quickly.
Gonrod’s permission was grudging. He peered nervously at the various surveillance screens. It was something he did every few seconds. He seemed extraordinarily ill at ease for a commander.
Arbat pressed.
Gonrod insisted shrilly.
Aloth suppressed a snicker.
Gonrod threw Aloth a belligerent look.
Arbat opened his hands, as if appealing to Gonrod’s reason.
Gonrod snapped.
I saw Estrid in the arched doorway that led to the exit corridor. she announced.
I drew in my breath. I had never heard an aristh “announce” his plans and desires to a superior officer. Typically, he waited for orders.