. Obviously, my friends were still fighting. They must be winning, or the Visser would not turn on the force field. They had seized control of some of the machines and turned them against this building. As soon as the force field went up, the heavy equipment would be useless. And time was on the side of the Yeerks. Visser Three would have called in more help. The Bug fighters full of fresh Hork-Bajir could be landing any minute. When that happened, all would be lost. We were done for. No! Think, Cassie! This was the game of predator and prey. This was war. What was the Yeerks" weakness? What did they need that I could take away? Farrand moaned again. Of course! I took a deep breath. I began to morph quickly out of the pain-wracked osprey body, back to my own human form. Morphing works on DNA, and DNA is not affected by injuries. My reconstructed human body would be normal. It was cramped in the box, with two humans in there. I was hunched over Farrand when his eyes fluttered open. I was already beginning my next morph. What the man saw was the face of a girl. But a face that was sprouting luxuriant black-and-white fur. His eyes closed again. He would think it was all a dream. Hopefully. "Hah!" I heard Visser Three crow. "The force field has stopped them!" "Visser! The first Bug fighters will land here in fifteen minutes." less-than Got themffgreater-than Visser Three said. less-than This time, I've got themffgreater-than He was using thought-speak. The Visser had demorphed. I focused all my thoughts. I knew what I had to do. But it was dangerous. I had to communicate with the Visser in thought-speak. And I had to do it without giving him any hint that I was a human. No long conversation. Monotone voice. As few words as possible. No images of any kind. less-than Vissereagreater-than I said. less-than l'll kill the human. greater-than That was Visser Three's weakness -- he needed Farrand alive. That was the pressure point. By threatening to kill Farrand, I threatened the Visser's plan. See, you can't make a Controller out of a corpse. The Visser instantly understood. less-than Everyone in this room! Weapons on the box! Be prepared on my command to shoot the An-dalite without hitting the human! It may be in any sort of wild, deadly animal morph! Do not let it escape. greater-than I got into position. The human me was scared. But the skunk me was perfectly calm. The skunk knew it had the ultimate weapon. Suddenly, the door of the box flew open. Visser Three stood there in his Andalite body, with his deadly Andalite tail cocked and ready to strike. Beside him, on either side, stood half a dozen armed human-Controllers. And in between the humans, towering above them, five huge Hork-Bajir warriors. The human-Controllers leveled their weapons. The Hork-Bajir had weapons, too, but they didn't need them. Hork-Bajir are weapons, seven feet of ankle blades, knee blades, elbow blades, forehead spikes, and armored tail -- like Stegosaurus meets Klingon. All this awesome deadly destructive power stared down at me. Visser Three aimed his Andalite stalk eyes at me. His main eyes were already staring in amusement. less-than This is the best you could do, Andalite scum8greater-than He laughed. less-than Such a terrifying beast you've morphedffgreater-than He laughed again. He laughed at the chubby, cat-sized black- and-white animal in the box. Laughed at the way I stood with my back to him, tail raised, looking over my shoulder. A skunk can fire its scent with amazing accuracy up to about fourteen feet. The Visser was only six feet away. less-than Kill xeagreater-than Visser Three ordered coldly. But I fired first. A skunk can fire its scent in five to seven shots. I fired once and hit the Visser in the face. I fired again and hit the nearest Hork-Bajir on the left. Again and hit two human-Controllers. Again and again, all within about three seconds. less-than Aaaarggghhffgreater-than "Oheaguheaguheaohhhhh.ohhhh!" "Heruntgahal! Stink! Arrrr!" The Visser staggered back, blinded and reeling from the mighty stench. The human-Controllers covered their mouths with their hands. Some even dropped their weapons. The Hork-Bajir I was worried about. I didn't know if Hork-Bajir even had a sense of smell. Turns out they do. Turns out they have an excellent sense of smell. Too bad. The Hork-Bajir were the first to panic. One fired his Dracon beam wildly. less-than Don't shoot, you foolsffgreater-than Visser Three screamed. less-than You'll hit the human! Or meffgreater-than Actually, what they had hit was the floor. A big, smoldering hole appeared in the wood. "Reeking fernallgahall" one Hork-Bajir kept bellowing in the odd mix of English and their own tongue. Then the Hork-Bajir lost it completely. They turned and ran for the door. Personally, I didn't see what they were so excited about. It didn't smell bad to me. hey ran. The human-Controllers, the Hork-Bajir, and Visser Three. They ran from the horror of my skunk smell. I waddled as far as the doorway. I saw an amazing scene. The force field was still on. Three massive tree-cutters, diesel engines roaring and billowing smoke, were straining against the force field like mad dogs on a leash. Inside the force field, the totally demoralized Yeerk forces. Outside the force field, a bizarre zoo -- a tiger, a grizzly bear, a gorilla. And something no human zoo had ever held -- an Andalite. Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Ax. Around the clearing, a handful of human- Controllers and Hork-Bajir warriors sat nursing wounds. Some were just lying in the dirt. It was a weird and tense scene. If the force field came down, the tractors and tree-cutters would hit the building within seconds. On the other hand, even though they were reeking of skunk smell, and staggering and half-blind, the forces inside the field were stronger than Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Ax. Of course, if the tree-cutters h it the building, they would probably kill Farrand. The Yeerks didn't want that. Neither did we, but Visser Three didn't know that. less-than What happened8greater-than Jake asked me in a private thought-speak whisper. less-than like sprayed themeagreater-than I said. less-than They didn't like it. greater-than I'm pretty sure tigers can't normally smile. But I could have sworn Jake did. Jake must have privately told Ax what happened. Ax was the only one we could trust to speak to Visser Three. He was the only true An-dalite. less-than Vissereagreater-than Ax said. less-than lt seems to me that we have a standoff. greater-than less-than Don't try to bargain with me, fooleagreater-than Visser Three sneered. less-than like have forces on the way. greater-than Ax nodded. less-than like wonder how your Blade ship will smell after you spread your newly acquired stench through x8greater-than less-than The smell ... it will go awayeagreater-than the Visser said. "Visser, my human host has a memory of -" one of the human-Controllers began to say. The Visser's tail blade snapped through the air. It pressed against the human-Controller's throat. A twitch would send the Controller's head flying. less-than Do not interrupt meeagreater-than the Visser said calmly. less-than You were saying8greater-than he asked Ax. less-than The smell would go away in about seven Earth days ... if you were in the open aireagreater-than Ax said calmly. less-than ln a spacecraft? Airtight, closed up, cramped? You'll never lose the smell. Ever. However. . . thanks to Andalite chemical technology there is a way to remove the stench. Let the human Farrand go free. He's unconscious and hasn't seen what you are. Let him go, we'll give you the secret of neutralizing the stench, and we all walkaway. greater-than less-than l'll dispose of you myfffgreater-than the Visser shrieked. less-than Andalitefilthffgreater-than less-than Visser, we both know how impossible it is to remove a smell once it gets into a spacecraft. You would need a full refitting at a major space dock. Your Blade ship would be intolerable. greater-than Visser Three just stood there. Just stood there and stared. His stalk eyes drooped a little. less-than Get the humaneagreater-than he muttered to his Hork-Bajir. "Visser..." one Hork-Bajir moaned, clearly reluctant to go back where the smell was even stronger. less-than This has not been a good day for meeagreater-than Visser Three said. less-than Would you really like to feel as bad as I d8greater-than The two Hork-Bajir went back inside and very quickly reappeared, dragging Farrand. They dropped him in the dirt. less-than Have one of your men drive him to the nearest human hospital. When he is safe, we will tell you the secret. And no tricks. We'll be watching caret Ax rolled his stalk eyes skyward. Visser Three followed the direction of his gaze, and saw, high in the sky, a bird of prey with a rust-red tail. less-than You do realize that one day I will have you alleagreater-than Visser Three said. less-than With all your clever tricks, I wil
l still find you. greater-than less-than No, I do not think seagreater-than Ax said. less-than We are sure to smell you coming. greater-than
T, he Yeerks drove Farrand to the hospital. Once we knew he was safe, Ax told Visser Three how a certain kind of juice would help get rid of the skunk smell. The Visser was still screaming when we disappeared into the woods. The next day, Jake, Marco, Rachel, Ax, and I were able to bring the skunk mother back to her den. She waddled inside, and a few minutes later, waddled back out followed by Joey, Johnnie, Marky, and C.j. They ignored the four humans and the An-dalite completely. After all, mother skunk was back with her kits. And mother skunk wasn't afraid of anything. "They grow up so fast," Rachel said, as they shuffled and snuffled and waddled past us in single file. "I guess the real mother skunk will give them different names," Marco said. He was joking. I think. "Well, anyway, the forest is safe for baby skunks now," Jake said. Jake had morphed a housefly to spy on Far-rand in the hospital. The commissioner was fine. The first thing he did when he regained full consciousness was make a phone call to say that he was voting against logging in the forest. In fact, according to Jake, Farrand swore he'd never, ever even listen to another word from Dapsen Lumber. And there was a good chance he'd press charges. It also seemed, according to Farrand, that even the animals of the forest had risen up against the loggers. He claimed that he himself had been visited by the spirit of a giant skunk with the eyes of a human girl. "Have a good life, little skunks," Marco said to the skunk family. Tiny, furry little masters of the forest. Everyone was smiling and looking pretty pleased with themselves. But I was still confused. As we walked toward home back through the forest, Jake hung back with me, letting the others move ahead. "You don't seem all that happy," Jake said. "You miss being a skunk mommy?" I smiled. "No. I mean, yes, a little. But that's not it." "So? So what's bothering you?" I shrugged. "Nothing makes sense to me. Tobias eats one of the skunk kits, then he helps save the rest. I kill the termite queen to save myself and my friends, then I feel bad about it. But when it came down to it again, I went after Visser Three without hesitation. One minute I was a rat being chased by guys with sticks, the next minute I'm bringing dead mice to Tobias, who's guarding skunks he would normally have tried to eat. Somehow it's part of the same big system. How does it all make sense?" Jake looked like he was sorry he started the conversation. "Urn ... boy, Cassie, I don't know." "Okay, just tell me this. Am I a part of nature, so I should just live by the laws of nature, kill to eat, kill or be killed? Or am I something different because I'm a human?" We walked in silence while Jake thought it over. I felt sorry for him. I know he'd rather have been discussing Spiderman versus Batman with Marco. "Well, I guess you're both," Jake said at last. "I mean, you are the person who got rid of the termite queen. You're also the person who went out of her way to save a bunch of skunks. Just like Tobias ate a skunk kit one day, then saved them the next." "That's not much help," I said. "That just means humans are kind of in-between