Applegate, K A - Animorphs 18 - The Decision

by The Decision (lit)

  CHAPTER 19

  We stood, in our own bodies, amid the filthy, reeking waste the Taxxons had left behind. We hadn't found Tobias. Rachel was alternately crying and raging. Marco was sitting, silent. Cassie kept holding on to Prince Jake. And Prince Jake kept pulling away to pace, to mutter to himself, to wonder half-aloud what he should have done. What he could have done. I stood off by myself. I couldn't help feeling that I was to blame. I was humiliated. I felt sick. I had turned away from my friends and trusted my own people instead. One of my own people had betrayed us. And the rest of my people ... well, they had probably fought well and bravely. But they had lost. Just like the Hork-Bajir war. We had lost again, and condemned another race to slavery under the Yeerks. And what a race! The Leerans were amphibians. They could travel in water or on land, although they built their cities underwater. But the terrifying thing was that the Leerans possessed limited but very real psychic powers. Leeran-Controllers would be able to see past morphs and into the mind inside. It would be impossible to fool them for long. And if Leeran-Controllers were ever brought to Earth, their powers would soon reveal the truth of the Animorphs. Not that the Animorphs would ever likely be able to return to Earth. It was Cassie who shook me out of my dark thoughts. In a whisper she said, "Ax. I don't think Jake wants to have to ask you again, but what do you think we should do?" 8I don't know. We've lost. We're on a strange planet that will soon be under Yeerk domination. We've failed the Leerans, as we failed the Hork-Bajir. As we are failing the humans."; Past Cassie's head I saw distant red flares from Yeerk ships dropping from orbit to land more and more troops on the continent. Soon the continent would be an impregnable garrison of Yeerk forces. "Tell me more about the Leerans," Cassie said. I shrugged. 8I don't really know any more than you know. They are amphibians. They live primarily in the oceans. Originally I suppose they came on land to lay their eggs. Now I suppose their technology allows them to do all that in their underwater cities."; "So why do they even care about what happens on the land?" 8They wouldn't care. Except that the Yeerks can use the continent as a base for attacks against the underwater cities. Other than that, I don't suppose the Leerans would even ... care ... what ..."; I stopped breathing. Yes! Of course! Of course that would be Galuit's plan. "What? What is it?" Cassie demanded sharply. 8Prince Jake!"; I cried. "Yeah?" 8We must reach the ocean. If I am right, some Andalites will be in the Leeran cities. In any case, we must get to the sea as quickly as possible!"; "Why?" I hesitated. 8Prince Jake ... Jake ... you must trust me. We cannot stay on land. We have to reach the water."; Prince Jake looked at me for a long time. "Okay, " he said at last. "I trust you." 8One more thing,"; I said. 8If at any time it seems the Yeerks may catch us, if it seems they might take me alive, you must not let them. You must destroy me yourself rather than let them take me. Promise me."; "What? Why?" 8Because I think I know what is going to happen. And if I am right, this defeat will become the greatest victory in Andalite history. And that information cannot fall into the hands of the Yeerks. No matter the price. No matter what.";

  CHAPTER 20

  The continent was small by continent standards, but it still took the rest of the night to reach the shore. We morphed birds and flew. We stopped when we were near the two-hour limit and rested. And all the while I wondered if there was enough time left. We flew above scenes of recent carnage. Burned-out ground skimmers, crumpled Andalite fighters and Yeerk Bug fighters. As the sun rose on Leera, I looked down and saw a still-smoldering Andalite ground attack ship crumpled into a Yeerk ship. They had hit so hard that you couldn't tell where one left off and the other began. And then, finally, there was the sea. It stretched forever, brilliant blue, far more vivid and bright than the oceans of Earth, which are usually gray. I tried to look around and spot some landmark. Some outline of coastline that would seem familiar from my faint memory of the holographic maps. But it was just endless miles of muddy shallows, overgrown with rushes and reeds and strange yellow trees that swirled horizontally. 8Big ocean,"; Rachel said. 8How do we--"; 8How do we what?"; Prince Jake asked. It took several seconds for us to notice, to realize. Rachel was gone! 8Rachel!"; Cassie cried. 8Rachel!"; We searched the sky. Nothing. Not even our powerful raptor eyes could see anything. No clue. No sign. Nothing. 8What's happening?"; Marco demanded, angry because he was afraid. 8She was just here! She was talking!"; 8Ax, what is this?"; Prince Jake asked. 8First Tobias, now Rachel!"; 8I don't know. I don't know."; 8Maybe someone on the ground shot her,"; Cassie moaned. 8Oh, God, Rachel! Rachel!"; 8There was no Dracon flash,"; I said. 8ationothing. One second she was there. The next second she was gone."; 8Maybe it was someone or something on the ground,"; Prince Jake said. 8We have to get out of here. Into the water!"; We dove from the sky. I knew no one had fired at us, but I dove as fast as the humans. Whatever was making my friends disappear, it scared me. Whatever it was, I didn't want to be in its sights. Down we dove, wings back. Splash! I went under, plowing into the warm water. I instantly began to demorph. I bobbed to the surface, already more Andalite than harrier. The water saturated my feathers, but the feathers were disappearing. I sucked air in through a nasty hole that was part beak and part Andalite nose. I dove under again, and finished demorphing. I surfaced and found Prince Jake, Cassie, and Marco all treading water, finishing their own demorphing. "Dolphin morph!" Prince Jake said. "Ax, you'll have to morph your tiger shark." "Wait, no!" Cassie said. "We don't know what's in this ocean, but the Yeerks thought hammerhead sharks would be the baddest things around, right? That's why they wanted to create shark-Controllers to fight in this ocean. We should all go shark." "Yeah. Good point," Jake agreed. "Okay, then. Let's go shark. And everyone watch everyone else. We've had two people disappear. We're not going to have a third!" Shark, I thought, and began to perform the morph. I should explain the Earth creatures called sharks. They are fish. They breathe by extracting oxygen from the water itself, using thin membranes called gills. But there are many fish in Earth's oceans. Only a few are called sharks. Some sharks are pleasant, peaceful eaters of plankton. Others are small and prey only on smaller fish. But there are some sharks that humans call "man-eaters." These sharks are swimming killing machines. If it is possible to imagine a Yeerk having its own natural body, a body perfectly adapted for the Yeerk's ruthlessness and destructiveness, the shark would be that body. It has massively powerful jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth. It has skin that is literally covered in millions of very tiny teeth. Skin that can rip human flesh. And it has an array of senses each attuned to one thing: finding prey. Finding and killing. Excellent eyesight. Excellent sense of smell that can detect a handful of blood molecules diluted in a billion gallons of salt water. An electrical field sensor that feels the energy of other living creatures. If some scientist had sat down to design the ultimate seagoing predator, the ultimate seagoing biological weapon, and had come up with the hammerhead shark, he'd be very proud of his work. I felt myself morphing the shark. Felt the scythelike dorsal fins grow from my spine. Felt my tail blade split to become the swept-back, skin-slicing tail. Felt my stalk eyes move out to the sides to become the ugly hammer's head. Felt the new senses come alive in my brain. Felt the teeth--the rows of serrated, triangular, flesh-ripping, bone-crunching teeth. And I felt the shark's cold, clear, brutally focused mind join my own. I kicked my tail and moved through the water. Jake, Cassie, and Marco swam beside me. I suppose, like me, they felt powerful at that moment. And would have felt more powerful still, except for one terrible reality: There should have been six of us. And now only four sharks swam out into the Leeran ocean.

  CHAPTER 21

  8I wish Rachel and Tobias were seeing this,"; Cassie said. Her thought-speak voice was a mix of wonder and bitterness. 8This is nothing like Earth's oceans."; It was true. The continent might have been a dull, uninteresting place, but the ocean was amazing. Earth's seas contain many fascinating and wonderful creatures, but most of what you see as you swim there is murky water and a sandy bottom. In this ocean the water was as clear as air. Clearer, in fa
ct, than Leeran air, which is so heavy with humidity it sometimes seems like you're breathing clouds. The water was perfectly, utterly clear. We were swimming in water that was forty feet deep, and we could see every detail on the ocean floor. And what detail! Huge, billowing creatures like white and yellow sails, triangular with biological propellers at each corner. Brilliant, electric-blue worms or snakes, each seventy feet long, swimming in wild schools. A bizarre creature that rose and fell through the water by blowing air into a bladder so thin it was almost transparent. A wonderful sort of fish in the shape of a screw that rotated its way through the water. And these creatures weren't scattered here and there, but everywhere. The Leeran ocean was a madhouse of life-forms. Spread around across the ocean were bubbling chimneys of rock and soil, encrusted with squirming, writhing creatures, small and less small. My shark senses could feel the electrical discharge from these chimneys, and the intense warmth. As I watched, a massive school of the brilliant blue worms came swirling around one of the chimneys. It swirled and my shark senses could feel the energy flow from the chimney into the worms. 8Look at that!"; Cassie cried, excitement overcoming her sadness. 8A thousand marine biologists could stay happy for a hundred years just studying this one small area. The animals. The plants. The ... the whatevers! I wish I knew more. I know this friend of my mom's who studies the ecology of coral reefs. She would cut off her arm to spend an hour here!"; 8The creatures are feeding off the geothermal energy and electrical charge from these chimneys,"; I said. 8This may be an environment without predators."; 8It has predators,"; Marco said darkly. 8The Yeerks are here. And we're here. For now. Until suddenly we go "poof!" like Rachel and Tobias."; That brought us all back to reality. Still, even afraid, even sad, even desperate, we could not ignore the wild, incredible scene all around us. We glided, dark and deadly, through a peaceful sea. The Yeerks had been clever to consider using sharks to control this ocean. Wherever I looked I saw no razor teeth, no crushing jaws. Marco was right: There were predators here. But they were us. And then ... 8Hey, aren't those Leerans?"; Prince Jake said. 8Down and to the left."; I looked. Yes, they looked like the one Leeran we had seen on Earth in the company of Visser One. They were mostly yellow. They had skin that was slimy, as if covered with ooze, yet rough in texture, like gravel. They had large, webbed back legs. For arms they had four tentacles arrayed around their plump, barrel-shaped bodies. The head was quite large, with a bulge at the back. It sat right on the shoulders. There was no neck. The face bulged outward and seemed to have just two features. A huge, wide, almost ridiculous mouth. And big, bulging eyes of a green that seemed almost to be lit from inside. There were four Leerans. They were riding on water jets. The water jets were long, narrow tubes, flared in front to make a sort of wing, flared again in back to give extra maneuverability. Arrayed along the back wing were clusters of very narrow tubes pointed forward. They had obviously spotted us and were coming toward us. 8Probably wondering what we are,"; Cassie said cautiously. 8They've never seen sharks."; 8These are the good guys, right?"; Marco said. 8I mean, these are the guys everyone's trying to save from the Yeerks."; 8allyes. Maybe we should contact them. They could lead us to the nearest Leeran city."; 8Do it,"; Prince Jake said. 8Leerans!"; I yelled. 8Leerans! I am an Andalite in morph."; Chuh-wooomp! The spear flew through the water only slightly slower than a human bullet. I jerked left. Too late! The spear pierced my tail and kept on flying. 8Hey!"; Marco yelled. 8I'm an Andalite! Andalite!"; I cried. 8allyr friend! Your ally!"; 8Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill and three humans from planet Earth. Not our allies,"; a cold, thought-speak voice said. He laughed. 8ally have no secrets from these psychic Leeran minds."; And suddenly the water boiled with the firing of a dozen spears. Chuh-woomp! Chuh-wooomp! This time we were more prepared. Still, we were not fast enough. A spear hit me in the side and stuck. Prince Jake avoided being hit, but Cassie was speared through and through. Marco was hit twice. Shark blood billowed. The Leeran-Controllers laughed. 8Die, Andalite! Die, humans! We'll carry your bodies to Visser Four!"; 8Hey, great war! You can't tell who's on what side,"; Marco yelled. 8What is this, Vietnam?"; Three of us had been hit. But none of us was dead. The spears were fast, but very thin. No doubt they were deadly to Leerans or to other creatures of this gentle ocean. But we were only hurt. Not crippled. 8We don't seem to be dead, just yet,"; I said to the Leeran-Controllers. The Leeran-Controllers gaped with their big green eyes. 8But ... but the haru-chin spears are deadly!"; one of the Leerans said. He sounded like he was pouting. 8ationah. Maybe around here they're deadly,"; Prince Jake said. 8But we're from a much tougher neighborhood."; 8Think it's true what they say about frogs?"; Marco asked. 8Think it's true that they taste like chicken?";

  CHAPTER 22

  We launched toward the Leeran-Controllers. Sharks are very fast in short bursts. Too fast for the shocked Yeerks inside the Leerans to react. They tried to turn their water jets around. They were still trying when they were hit by four frustrated, scared, angry people in shark morph. Andalites understand about tail fighting. But there is something very intimate and intimately violent about attacking with a mouth. You have to get very close. You smell and feel and touch your enemy. We hit, mouths open. We hit, and in a flash the four Leeran-Controllers were off their water jets and trying to swim away. They kicked their big hind legs, but they were too slow. Using their psychic powers, they could feel our anger. It must have been terrible for them. It must have been terrifying. I didn't care. But then ... I was rocked by a powerful psychic vision. A vision that cried out in despair and agony and desperate hope. One of the Leerans had managed to squeeze out this plea for help. The Yeerk in his head was busy trying to stay alive, and the real Leeran had seized the moment to send this vision. The picture that appeared in my head was grizzly and awful. But I knew it was real. 8Prince Jake! Bite their heads! Bite off the large lobe at the back!"; 8What?"; Cassie cried. 8They're beaten already. I'm not going to kill them."; I lunged for the nearest Leeran-Controller. The Yeerk in his head knew what I was doing, but when he tried to jerk aside I slapped him with my tail, stunning him. I opened my mouth, then bit down hard on the lobe at the back of his head. But what was most shocking to see was the Yeerk itself. It was ripped from the Leeran's head. The Yeerk writhed, helpless in the seawater. 8The Yeerks are positioned in their rear brain lobes,"; I said. 8Bite them off!"; 8It will kill the Leerans!"; Cassie said. 8.ationo,"; a strange voice said. 8..It will free us!"; It was four of us against the three remaining Leerans. It was short but brutal work. Four doomed Yeerks writhed, fatally out of place in the Leeran water. 8.Thank you!"; the Leerans said. It wasn't normal thought-speak. It was deeper than that. Images, ideas that appeared in our minds that we then translated into words. 8ally need medical help,"; Cassie said. 8Maybe I could demorph and--"; 8..ationo, we will be fine. We can regenerate most body parts. It will take some time and we will be weak, but there are caves nearby where we can rest and be safe. Thank you! Thank you!"; I've experienced some strange events. But four bright yellow Leerans with half their heads removed actually thanking us was definitely one of the strangest. 8We need to reach the nearest Leeran city,"; Prince Jake said. 8Which way is it?"; 8..It will be very difficult. In the last months the Yeerks have captured many of us and forced us to be Controllers. There are many like us between here and the City of Worms. You are powerful, but if even one Leeran-Controller encounters you and then escapes, your secret will be discovered."; 8So how do we get there?"; Prince Jake wondered aloud. 8Morph the Leerans,"; I said. 8.allyes!"; the Leerans cried. 8..allyes, morph us. Take our water jets. As long as you stay away from other Leerans, you will be safe from psychic probing."; Cassie said, 8We don't like to--"; 8.allyes,"; a Leeran responded, reading her thoughts. 8..ally do not like to morph sentient creatures. You respect our freedom. But we offer you this freely. We have read what is in the mind of Aximili the Andalite. We know what he suspects, and we know that even among the Andalites there are traitors. So, friends, carry our DNA and help to free our people from the Yeerks."; We rose t
o the surface. I demorphed. The humans demorphed. We lay there treading water, rising and falling on the gentle Leeran swells. The Leeran sun was still low on the horizon, coming up on another day. It turned the water golden around us. I reached and pressed my hand against a Leeran's slimy yellow flesh. 8..Where sky meets sea, Andalite, human, and Leeran are joined as allies,"; my Leeran said. 8..Each with our weaknesses. Each with our strengths."; It moved me somehow, as ludicrous as it might have looked to an outsider. Humans and an Andalite wallowing clumsily beside big, yellow "psychic frogs," as Marco called them. Three species on a world conquered by the Yeerks. We probably would have seemed pathetic to any Yeerk who happened to see us. 8A fellow Andalite told me we were weak because we are not united. We do not speak with one voice,"; I said. 8But this union does not feel weak."; 8Free people who get together to defend freedom are never weak."; It was Marco who said that. Maybe you can see why, despite all their strangeness, I like humans. And I was starting to like Leerans. We let the Leerans go their own way to their underwater caves to recover from their injuries. And we began what might be the most bizarre morph any of us has ever done. The physical part was strange, but no more disturbing than any number of Earth creatures I've morphed. The powerful webbed feet in back, the four sinuous tentacles, the neckless head were almost ordinary compared to the body of a fly or a cockroach. It was the new sense that was stunning: the psychic sense. It wasn't that I could read every thought in the heads of Prince Jake and Cassie and Marco. But I could feel enough of their secrets to be embarrassed for them. And, of course, for myself. Because my own secrets, my vain little ideas, my pretensions were all open to them as well. I could see so clearly that Marco was hoping for some news of his mother, Visser One. He wondered if she was here on Leera, if she had survived our last encounter. I could see and feel Prince Jake's crushing weight of responsibility. The way he kept running things through in his mind, over and over again. Trying to figure out what had happened to Tobias and Rachel. Desperate to find a way to protect the rest of us. And I could feel Cassie's mind as she cried for Rachel and Tobias. As she wondered whether we were doing the right thing. As she dealt with the aftereffects of the violence we'd just endured. 8Well,"; Marco said, obviously uncomfortable. 8I would just like you all to know that whatever thoughts of mine you're reading are totally made up. They aren't real."; 8Same here,"; Prince Jake said quickly. 8Absolutely."; 8Hey,"; Cassie said, 8^the are just morphs to us, right? Lots of times we have trouble controlling the brain of the morph. But we usually handle it. So maybe--"; 8Maybe since these are just morphs to us, maybe we can turn off the psychic thing!"; Marco said, clutching at the idea. Then, one by one, I felt their minds close to me. And I closed my own. It seemed suddenly very lonely as we grabbed the water jets and rode away through the brilliantly alive sea. Suddenly very lonely. But I guess each species feels most comfortable when they are just themselves. And for humans and Andalites, secrets and lies and the loneliness of privacy are natural.