The Hork-Bajir Chronicles

by K. A. Applegate

  I

  h r o n i

  The Yeerks are coming. . .

  will you be next? Flip the pages and find out.

  i Also by K.A. Applegate:

  The Animorphs series

  «MEGAMORPHS»

  The Andalite Chronicles

  ii h r !J n 1 c 'J

  K.A. Applegate

  SCHOLASTIC INC./New York

  iii Copyright © 1998 by Katherine Applegate.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.

  SCHOLASTIC and ANIMORPHS and associated logos are trademarks

  and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 555 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Applegate, K.A.

  The Hork-Bajir Chronicles / K.A. Applegate

  p. cm.

  Summary: Aldrea, a young member of the outpost the Andalite race has placed on the planet of the Hork-Bajir, must help her native friend Dak when the ruthless, parasitic Yeerks try to enslave his people.

  ISBN 0-439-04291-7

  [1. Science fiction.] I. Title. PZ7.A6483HO 1998

  [Fie] ?dc2198-7324

  CIP AC

  12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 28 9/9 0 12 3/0

  Printed in the U.S.A. First Scholastic printing, November 1998

  iv For Michael and Jake

  v

  vi ?£T13

  r o n i

  vii

  viii

  My name is Tobias.

  I was restless. Don't ask me why, I just was. So I flew.

  There were no Animorph missions planned. The others didn't need me right then. So even though the sun was going down, I flew.

  I flew toward the mountains. Toward the secret, hidden valley the Ellimist had showed me.

  Even now I had trouble finding it. Even though I knew exactly where it was. Even though, as a red-tailed hawk, I had vision far better than any human.

  The Ellimist had concealed the valley from human eyes. How? Who knows? The Ellimist could hide all of planet Earth if he wanted to.

  r But knowing where the valley was, I could find it with some effort. I found the narrow gap between two ridges. I was not fooled by the way my eyes kept sliding away from the gap, as if some negative magnetism was at work.

  I flew as the sun dropped and the air cooled and

  IX

  ix the lift beneath my broad wings failed. I had to flap harder to stay aloft. Stupid, really. Now I'd have to spend the night here in the valley.

  Then, below me, I saw a sight that made me glad to be there. A strange creature like nothing Earth has ever given birth to. It was four feet tall. There were razor-sharp blades at its ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows. There were two long, forward-raked horns coming from its head. It had a tail that ended in Stegosaurus spikes.

  A young Hork-Bajir.

  A young, free Hork-Bajir.

  It was swinging, leaping through the trees like a monkey or a squirrel. Running through the tree branches, but happy-running, not scared-running.

  I'd played a small part in the Ellimist's plan to create a free colony of Hork-Bajir. Not that the Ellimist interferes in the lives of other species.

  So he claims.

  Right.

  In any case, the other Animorphs and I had played a role in helping two escaping Hork-Bajir find their way here. Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. Like all Hork-Bajir, they had been infested by Yeerks. They'd been slaves of the Yeerks.

  Somehow they had escaped. Don't ask me how. Ask the guy who doesn't interfere in the lives of other species.

  x They'd had a baby. That was him ... or her. . . cavorting beneath me. I still was not very good at telling the difference.

  Hork-Bajir don't live as long as humans. So they grow up faster, too.

  I increased my speed and outraced the Hork-Bajir child. I found the nest of caves, six or eight, all close together, where we'd figured the Hork-Bajir would live.

  But to my surprise I could now see that the caves were unused. The adults were in the trees. But not just Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. There were a dozen or more Hork-Bajir there now. All free. Many starting to raise families.

  I realized then that I had not accidentally headed toward the hidden Hork-Bajir valley. It had been deliberate, even if it was subconscious. I'd been feeling kind of down. But now, seeing this fragile community of free Hork-Bajir. . . well, how can you see freedom replace slavery and not feel good?

  These Hork-Bajir had been the unwilling shock troops of the Yeerk Empire. Now they were raising families, carefully stripping the bark from the trees, building a fire near the cave entrances.

  I swooped down, down through the branches of a huge elm tree. Jara Hamee was in the high branches.

  «Hi, Jara,» I said.

  XI

  xi He waved. He smiled. Or what passes for a Hork-Bajir smile. Actually, it's an expression that would make you want to run, screaming "Mommy! Mommy!" if you didn't know what it was.

  The workday was about done for the Hork-Bajir. They invited me to the fireside as the night rolled over the valley and the stars appeared.

  Like any wild bird, I'm a bit leery of fire. But I found a comfortable perch on a fallen log. Near enough to enjoy the light. Far enough not to feel too much heat.

  I was welcomed like more than a friend. The Hork-Bajir think I liberated them.

  Hork-Bajir are simple creatures. Not exactly the geniuses of the galaxy, I suppose. Talking to Jara Hamee can be like talking to a four-year-old. But they are decent, sweet creatures. Almost timid, despite their nightmarish appearance.

  "Eat bark? Good bark," Jara Hamee said, offering me a slab.

  «No, thank you,» I said. «l don't want to keep you all awake if you're ready to sleep.»

  "Sleep?" Ket Halpak said. "No sleep. Tell story."

  Now, I hated to even think what a Hork-Bajir story might be like. Let's face it, sweet or not, Hork-Bajir are not big talkers.

  «What stories do you tell?» I asked, cringing a little at the possibilities. I felt like I was asking Great-

  XII

  xii grandma to tell me about her youth, you know? Like the result wasn't exactly going to be Party of Five.

  "Story of Father Deep. Story of Mother Sky," Ket Halpak suggested.

  "Story of Jubba-Jubba," another Hork-Bajir said.

  But Jara Hamee looked shrewdly at me. Well, once again, what passed for shrewd.

  "Story of Yeerks and Andalites," he said. "Story of war."

  That perked up my interest.

  The others all nodded.

  "My father-father was a seer," Jara Hamee said. "Different. Not like other Hork-Bajir. Not like Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. Like . . . like Tobias. Seeing far. Knowing much. Father-father learn story of An-dalite. Learn story of Yeerk. Give story to Jara Hamee father. Jara Hamee father give story to Jara Hamee."

  «l'd like to hear the story of the Hork-Bajir war with the Yeerks,» I said.

  I don't know what I expected. I guess I figured Jara would say something like, "Yeerks come. Bad. Fighting. Yeerks win. We lose."

  But that wasn't it at all. Jara Hamee closed his eyes and began rocking back and forth. A weird gargoyle, bright orange and deep shadow in the firelight.

  XIII

  xiii He rocked for several minutes, while everyone waited patiently.

  And then he started to tell his tale. It
was in the rough, stilted, limited speech of the Hork-Bajir. A mix of English and Hork-Bajir and languages I could only guess at. It was hard to follow at first. But I swear after a few minutes the words grabbed hold of my brain somehow. I could not only hear the guttural words, I could hear the original words as spoken by Jara Hamee's father-father. And the others who played a part in the story.

  An Andalite female named Aldrea.

  A Yeerk named Esplin.

  The Hork-Bajir seer, Dak Hamee.

  Maybe it was the firelight, or the way Jara rocked back and forth as if he were in a trance. But I soon forgot where I was. I was far away.

  Far, far away.

  I settled onto my branch, fluffed my feathers against the cold, and listened.

  1

  Andalite date: year 8561.Z

  Yeerk date: Generation 685, mid-cycle

  Hork-Bajir date: early-warm

  Earth date: 1966

  ALDREA

  My name is Aldrea-lskillion-Falan. I am an Andalite. A female.

  That was all there was to say about me back then. But later I became much more. My name became a cruel joke among my people. And later still, a curse.

  But when this story began, I was just a young female. Just Aldrea. Not yet the Aldrea.

  I understood very little back then, listening with my mind to the thought-speak shouts and curses around me. I only knew that something terrible had happened.

  I knew that the young, powerfully built Andalite

  2 warrior who had burst in upon the prince was angry. More than angry. Furious.

  His name was Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. He would play a role in my life and the life of the galaxy. But back then, all I knew was that he was enraged.

  «Yes, it's confirmed. Yes, Prince Seerow, it has happened. As I warned you it would.»

  The Andalite warrior was pacing back and forth, whipping his tail impatiently. He was angry. He was bitter.

  «But it can't be,» the other Andalite said softly. «They promised me. They gave me their word. They . . .»

  «l have visual logs,» Alloran snapped. He opened his hand and revealed a small cylinder. A holographic recorder. He gave the instruction. «Play.»

  Before our eyes a three-dimensional picture appeared. It was dark. The focus was imperfect. But we could see Gedds loping in their awkward way. The Gedds carried weapons. Knives. Clubs. Primitive weapons. But one of the Gedds carried something more dangerous: an Andalite shredder.

  In the distance, beyond the Gedds, were four Andalite warriors. They were joking, relaxing a bit,

  3 killing time. Soldiers doing dull, uninteresting duty and making the best of it.

  One Andalite spotted the advancing Gedds.

  «Hold fast,» he called.

  The Gedds kept moving. The Gedd with the shredder held it concealed behind his back.

  «Hold fast, Yeerks. You are not allowed closer to the ships.»

  I peered into the flickering hologram. Yes, I could see a parked Andalite fighter. The other ships and warriors were not visible.

  «l said, hold fast!» the Andalite warrior said.

  «Orders are to avoid incidents,» another Andalite said. «Don't you know these parasites are our brothers?» This was said with a sneer.

  The Gedds moved closer.

  «Orders or not, these filthy slugs are not touching my ship.»

  And then, as if in slow motion, I saw the Gedd pull the shredder from behind his back.

  TSEEEEW!

  TSEEEEW!

  Even in hologram, the light was blinding. Two Andalite warriors were incinerated.

  The two remaining warriors drew their weapons and arched their tails, but it was too late. A wave of Gedds descended on them, weapons raised.

  4 The hologram flickered off.

  Prince Seerow slumped, his upper body leaning forward, his four legs appearing weak, as he absorbed the awful truth.

  Prince Seerow, whose name was to become a curse word and a joke.

  He was my father.

  «They gave you their word?!» Alloran practically shrieked. «Their word? They're parasites. The Yeerks steal the bodies of other species. What did you expect of them?»

  «They have no history of harming intelligent life-forms. The Gedds are barely conscious in their natural state,» Prince Seerow argued. «lt's not as if they were stealing the bodies of truly sentient creatures. They and the Gedds are symbiotic. They have ?»

  Alloran stepped closer to my father. «Listen to me, my prince.» The word "prince" was said with a sneer. Approximately four hundred Gedds attacked our ground base last night. They overwhelmed the two dozen Andalite warriors on duty there. The two dozen Andalite warriors who had been specifically ordered not to fire on Gedds.»

  «They were never a threat before,» Prince Seerow said. «The Yeerks, even the ones in Gedd hosts, are harmless. I didn't want our warriors to accidentally ?»

  5 «These four hundred harmless Gedds ? these Yeerks, I should say, because they were all certainly Yeerk-controlled ? butchered my warriors,» Allo-ran said.

  My father turned away. He directed his main eyes and his stalk eyes away, unwilling to look Allo-ran in the face.

  «Butchered, Prince Seerow,» Alloran said. «Shall I show you the holos of the aftermath? These were the gentlest pictures. I have others. Would you like to see what they did to the bodies of my warriors?»

  Now it was something other than anger in Allo-ran's tone. I could feel the pain in his hearts. And the guilt. The guilt of having survived, while his friends died.

  I don't know how I understood him so well. I was very, very young. So young that neither of the adults paid any attention to my eavesdropping. I was very young then, but I had an active imagination. Maybe that was how I could so clearly imagine the awful scene of Alloran stepping over the bodies. . . .

  I shuddered. It must have been terrible. And I shuddered for another reason, too: I knew, young though I was, that my father would be blamed.

  «These four hundred Gedds overwhelmed my warriors,» Alloran said, building back to anger again. «And then they seized the four attack fight-

  6 ers and two transports that were on the ground at the time.»

  «Couldn't they be intercepted in orbit?» my father asked.

  «No. You see, there was no warning. My warriors were dead before they could call for help or give warning.»

  «Still, four fighters and a pair of slow transports . . . our forces should have no trouble catching them.»

  «Catch them? They've escaped into Zero-space,» Alloran said. «Four hundred Yeerk-infested Gedds with shredder-armed fighters.»

  Two young warriors came rushing in. We were inside one of the shelters we were forced to use on this planet. There were large windows, certainly, but still, it was an enclosed space, and like any Andalite I found it disturbing.

  One of the young warriors had a terrible slash scar down one flank. It had been treated, but you could see the wound was still fresh.

  «Prince Seerow,» the wounded warrior said. «Remote orbital sensors show that the two transport ships did not immediately jump to Zero-space. They landed on the far side of the planet»

  Alloran practically leaped at the young warrior. «Are they still on the ground?»

  7 «Nor sir. Sensors show they stayed on the ground for only an hour. Then they returned to orbit and jumped to Z-space.»

  «Prince Seerowr» the other young warrior said, «they landed beside major Yeerk pools. They apparently loaded a large number of Yeerks before escaping^

  «A large number? Estimates?» my father demanded bleakly.

  «The computer estimate is that with advance planning and careful coordination, they may have embarked as many as a quarter million Yeerks.»

  «A quarter million?» My father gasped. «But. . . but the Yeerk leaders. . . . They have been my friends. They cannot know about this! The Council of Thirteen must not have known. This is some rebellion, some group of malcontents.»

  «Fool,»
Alloran said.

  My father's head jerked as if Alloran had tail-whipped him. It was impossible! A lowly warrior calling a prince "fool"!

  «You fool,» Alloran said again. «You coddled them. You trained them. You showed them the universe. You showed them all the things they could not have, living here on this planet of theirs. You even built them portable Kandronas and thus freed them.»

  «The Yeerks are intelligent, sentient creatures.

  ???*» ??

  8 They have a right to join other sentient races. They have a right ?»

  «A quarter million highly intelligent, ruthless, and determined parasites have just been loosed upon the galaxy,» Alloran said flatly. «They have six Andalite ships. How long before they learn to build their own ships? How long before they become a plague? How long till they find some race more useful than the Gedds, some race they can infest and transform into shock troops? There are thousands of inhabited planets in just this arm of the galaxy.»

  Alloran turned all four of his eyes on my father. «Prince Seerow, you are relieved of duty»

  «You can't relieve me!» my father cried.

  «When a commander has become incapacitated due to injury or mental defect, his subordinates may relieve him,» Alloran quoted from the regulations.

  «What mental defect?» my father demanded.

  «Stupidity,» Alloran said harshly. «The stupidity of kindness. Charity to potential enemies. You're a fool, Seerow. A soft, sentimental, well-meaning fool. And now my men are dead and the Yeerks are loose in the galaxy. How many will die before we can bring this contagion under control? How many will die for Seerow's kindness?»

  Seerow's Kindness.

  Even then, all those years ago, I knew. My father's epitaph had just been written.

  9 I could not watch anymore. I ran outside, unnoticed by the adults. I ran outside into the Yeerk twilight. The wild green and yellow-streaked sky was turning dark.

  The harsh air rasped in my throat. Soon the nightly rain, the acid rain, would fall and I would have to retreat back into the shelter.

  We would be leaving this planet soon. I knew that. I could see the remaining warriors setting up a defense perimeter around our small compound.

  The Andalite-Yeerk Peace and Cooperation Center. That's what it was called. And now it was beginning to bristle with shredder cannon.