«
H ork-Bajirff» The first time I'd seen them was at the con struction site. I was still fully human then. It was while Visser Three was taunting the fallen An- dalite. The five of us had been cowering behind a low wall. A Hork-Bajir had been within a few feet of us. The Andalite told us they had once been a good people, the Hork-Bajir. That despite their fearsome appearance, they were a gentle race. But the Hork-Bajir were all Controllers now. They all carried the Yeerk slug in their brains. And they were no longer gentle. I made a sharp turn back. I had to warn the others. I passed over a group of the Park Rangers, and swooped low enough to read one man's watch. My friends had been in morph for more than an hour. Great. Low on time, and the Hork-Bajir are here. I soon spotted the wolf pack, still trotting along resolutely, never tiring. Pausing only for Jake to pee. I dived toward them. Just over their heads I pulled up suddenly. "Yowl! Yip! Rrawr!" They yelped and scampered around. Jake bared his fangs at me. I came to rest on a decayed to og. Instantly, as if on command, the others started fanning out around me, encircling me. The five of them were acting like a wolf pack sur rounding prey. In their own way they kind of re minded me of Hork-Bajir. « Hey, it's just me, relax,» I said. No answer. Jake snarled a brief command at one of the others. Wait a minute. Five? Five wolves? Jake, who wasn't really Jake, leaped at me. Whoa! Wolves don't usually hurt humans, but they will definitely eat a bird when they're hungry enough. And one thing you don't ever want to see is a hungry wolf, yellowed fangs bared, gold-brown eyes glaring, fur bristling, coming at you. I flapped my wings hard. The big male wolf went shooting past. Barely. But the rest were all around me! I flapped again and got airborne, but just a few inches. I was skimming wildly over the pine- needle carpet, flapping for all I was worth, with five determined wolves hot on my tail. SWOOOOM! I caught the tiniest headwind, but it was all I needed. I was up! Up and out of there, while the wolves yowled and snapped their powerful jaws in frustration below rne. Ten minutes later I found a second wolf pack. This time I counted. Four-wolves. Still, I was cautious. « ls that you guys?» « Who else would it be?» Marco asked. « Don't ask,» I said. « Look, we have trouble. » I flapped down to a low branch and rested my wings. I was still a little shaken up from my close call with the wrong wolves. « There's a lake just a little way ahead. It's crawling with Park Rangers who aren't really Park Rangers. » « Yeah, I thought I smelled water. And hu mans,» Cassie said. « How do you know they aren't real Park Rangers?» Jake asked. « Because real Park Rangers don't carry ma chine guns,» I said. « Plus, they don't hang around with Hork-Bajir. » « Hork-Bajir?» Cassie asked shakily. « You're sure?» « O h yeah,» I said. « It's kind of hard to con fuse them with anything else. The Park Rangers are clearing out the area around the lake. They hustled some campers out of there real fast. At gunpoint. » « Hork-Bajir,» Marco said with distaste. « I re ally don't like those guys. » Rachel asked, « This lake, it's in the same direction your big invisible ship was moving?» « It's in a perfectly straight line,» I said. « Whatever that ship was, I'd bet anything it was heading for that lake. » « And judging by the way you say these Park- Ranger Controllers and Hork-Bajir are acting, it's on its way ag,» Marco said thoughtfully. « l'll tell you one thing,» I said. « These guys all looked like they'd done this many times be fore. You know what I mean? Like this was a real common routine. They had it down. » « We don't have a lot of time left in morph,» Jake said. « But it would be a shame to miss the chance to find out what this is all about. » « I say go for it,» Rachel said. « You always say go for it,» Marco muttered. « If just once you would say, "Hey, let's not do this," it would make me so happy. » « You have about forty minutes left,» I told them. « The lake is about five minutes away. » « Okay . Let's go. But in and out fast,» Jake warned. « Just enough to see what's going on. » They took off, with Jake in the lead. « Remember, just act like wolves. » « Yeah, so if anyone sees the Three Little Pigs, don't forget to huff and puff,» Marco said. I went airborne again, but this time I stayed close by. « Park Rangers just ahead,» I said. « Yeah, I can definitely smell them now,» Rachel replied. « And hear them, too. » « Okay , look, wolves would try to steer clear of humans,» Cassie advised. « So a little slinking would be perfectly normal. » They moved in a cautious circle around the phony Park Rangers. But I could see that the Rangers had spotted them. They tensed up, then relaxed when they saw it was just a wolf pack minding its own business. I decided to get some altitude. Unfortunately, since there were no convenient thermals, I had to flap my way up. I was a few thousand yards high, able to see my friends and the lake, when I felt its presence again. I looked up. The invisible wave. The slight ripple in the fabric of the sky. It was there. It was moving slowly overhead. Even more slowly than before. And then, as I watched, it was invisible no more.
Chapter 9 « Do on't act suspicious or freak,» I called down to the others. « But look up. » « Oh my God,» Rachel gasped. « It's . . . it's hugeff» Cassie cried. It was huge. But the word huge doesn't really begin to describe it. Have you ever seen a picture of an oil tanker? Or maybe an aircraft carrier? That's what I mean by huge. Compared to this thing, the biggest jumbo jet ever built was a toy. It was shaped like a manta ray. There was a bulging, fat portion in the middle, with swooped, curvy wings, one either side. On top of the wings were huge scoops, like air intakes on a fighter jet, but much bigger. Yo u coul d suck a fleet of buses in through those scoops. The only windows were in a small bulge at the top. The bridge, I realized. Focusing on it, i could see the shadowy shapes of Taxxons inside. But mostly that ship was just big. Really big. As in, it blocked out the sun, it was so big. Suddenly, out from behind the ship, a pair of Bug fighters zipped into view. We had seen them before. They are small, for spaceships. You couldn't park one in your garage, but you could land it on your front lawn. They look like metal cockroaches with two serrated spearlike protru sions pointed forward on either side. « I have Bug fighters up here,» I called down to the others. « A pair. » « Who cares about Bug fighters?» Marco asked. « They're nothing compared to that . . . that whaleff» « The Bug fighters are circling the lake. I guess they're looking around for troubles « Try not to look like trouble,» Jake advised dryly. I did my best to look like a normal, harmless hawk. Doing normal hawk things. But the main ship was unbelievably intimidating. I mean, nothing that big should be floating in the air. Suddenly one of the Bug fighters went shoot- ing right past me, low and slow. I could see in the window. Inside was the usual crew: one Hork- Bajir and one Taxxon. The Taxxons are the second most common type of Controller. Imagine a very big centipede. Now imagine it even bigger, twice as long as a man. So big around, you couldn't get your arms around it if you wanted to give it a hug. Not that you'd ever want to give it a hug. Taxxons are gross, disgusting creatures. Unlike the Hork-Bajir, who were enslaved against their will, Taxxons chose to turn their minds over to the Yeerk parasites. They are allies of the Yeerks. I don't know why, and I probably don't want to. The Bug fighter shot past, not interested in me. The huge main ship sank slowly down toward the surface of the lake. « Are you guys seeing this? It looks like it's going to land on the lake. » « Are we seeing it? No. We've totally missed the fact that a spaceship the size of Delaware is hovering in midair. » Marco, of course. « It's incredible,» Rachel said. « I ncredible. » « You know, I hate to be a pessimist,» Marco said, « but when I look at that thing I get a bad feeling about our chances. Four hounds and a bird versus a ship the size of I dahoff» « A minute ago it was just the size of Dela ware ,» Cassie pointed out mildly. « What's it doing here? That's what I want to know,» Jake said. They had reached the shore of the lake and were prowling along, looking like wolves should look. But they were also glancing regularly up at the massive ship. I worried a little that some Controller, human or Hork-Bajir, would notice that they were paying a little too much attention. « You guys? Watch how you act. The Yeerks will be looking for any animals that act strangely,» I said. « They're on the lookout for Andalites who can morph.
» « He's right,» Marco agreed. « Jake? Start peeing on things again. » « Very funny,» Jake said. Then something began to happen. « Hey. Lookff» From the belly of the ship, a pipe began to lower into the water. Then a second pipe, and a third. « They're like straws,» Cassie said. « They're drinking backslash » I could hear the sucking sound. Thousands, maybe millions of gallons of water being sucked up into the ship. « That's why it's so big,» Marco said. He laughed. « Well , well, well. What do you know? We have just discovered that the Yeerks have a great big weakness. » « A weakness?» Rachel demanded. « You can look at that ship and talk about weakness?» But I understood what Marco meant. « I t means they need something,» I said. « Exactly,» Marco said. « Those big scoops on the sides? I think those are for air. That's why they fly so far through the atmosphere when they come down. They're scooping up oxygen. And now they are sucking up water. » « It's a truckff» Cassie cried. « That whole huge ship is really just a truckff» « Yeah,» I said. « lt carries air and water up to the Yeerk mother ship in orbit. I guess they need Earth to supply them. » « So. It's not like Star Trek, where they can just make their own air and water,» Marco mused. « As long as they are up there in orbit, the Yeerks need the planet to supply them with air and wa ter. Well, well. I think that's the first hopeful sign yet. » « We're running low on time,» Cassie reminded everyone. « Time to get out of here.» « Okay , but everyone be cool about it» Jake advised. « We act like we're just sauntering off to go kill a moose -- or whatever it is wolves saunter off to do. » They drifted back from the shore of the lake. I stayed behind. I no longer have a time limit to worry about. The Yeerk ship was creating a warm updraft, so I spread my wings wide and rode it up. The two Bug fighters were still circling low and slow. On the shore all around the lake, the bogus Park Rangers and the few Hork-Bajir kept up their pa trols. Then I saw her. I know to human eyes, every hawk looks pretty much alike. But I knew right away it was her -- the hawk I had freed from the car dealer. She, too, was riding the thermal, a thousand yards higher than me. Without even really think ing about it, I adjusted the angle of my wings and soared up toward her. She saw me, I was sure of that. Hawks don't miss much of what goes on around them. She knew I was coming toward her, and she waited. It wasn't like we were friends. Hawks don't know what "friend" means. And she certainly did not feel any gratitude toward me for saving her from captivity. Hawks don't have that sort of emotion, either. In fact, in her mind there may have been no connection between me and her freedom. Still, I soared up to her. I don't know why. I really don't. All we shared was the same outer body. We both had wings. We both had talons. We both had feathers. Suddenly I was afraid. I was afraid of her. And it was insane, because there I was, floating above an alien spaceship so big it could have been turned into a mall. But it was the hawk that frightened me. Or maybe not the hawk herself. Maybe it was the feeling I had, rising up to meet her in the sky. The feeling of recognition. The feeling of go ing home. The feeling that i belonged with her. It hit me in a wave of disgust and horror. No. NO! I was Tobias. A human. A human being, not a bird! I banked sharply away from her. I was human. I was a boy named Tobias. A boy with blond hair that was always a mess. A boy with human friends. Human interests. But part of me kept saying, "It's a lie. It's a lie. You are the hawk. The hawk is you. And To bias is dead." I plummeted toward the ground. I folded my wings back and welcomed the sheer speed. Faster! Faster! Then, with eyes that Tobias never had, I saw the wolf pack below. And I saw the danger before them.
Chapter 10 M y four friends stood stock still. They were staring with deadly focus at five other wolves. The two packs had run into each other. Be tween them lay a dead rabbit. It was the other pack's kill. My friends had stumbled into them. Now the two alpha males were locked in a deadly dominance battle. One of those alpha males was Jake. The other was an actual wolf. Jake had human intelligence on his side. But if it came to a fight, the other wolf had more experience. He hadn't gotten to be the head wolf in his pack by losing fights. I would have laughed if I could. It was ridiculous! But at least it took my mind off the female hawk. Off the feeling that drew me to her, that called out to me, even while Yeerk ships zipped in a deadly dance through the air. Then it hit me with a shock: The time! They'd been low on time when they'd left the shore and started back. How much time had elapsed? I swooped down low. « What are you guys do- ing?» I demanded. « Shut up, Tobias,» Jake snapped tersely. « We're in a situation here.» « Yeah, I can see that. Back away from them. » « I can't. If I back off, I lose. » « Lose what his » I yelled. « You're not a wolf. He's a wolf. Let him be boss wolf. You guys are way low on timeff» « It's not that simple,» Cassie said. « lf Jake looks weak, the other alpha may attack. We screwed up. We're in their territory. And they think we're trying to steal their kill. » Suddenly the other big male snarled and took a step forward. Instantly Jake bared his teeth still further and stood his ground. The dead rabbit lay between them, only a few feet from the vicious teeth on either side. « This fight's over the rabbit, right?» I said. No answer. Everyone was so tense they were quivering. At any second this would explode into all-out gang warfare of the wolf variety. I knew what i should do. But it went against every instinct in the hawk's brain. And Tobias the human wasn't exactly thrilled, either. I flapped up to gain a little height. I would need the speed. Then I locked my eyes on that rabbit and prayed that I was as fast as to thought I was.
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Oh , maaaaaanff» Down I shot. My talons came forward. "Tseeeeer!" I screamed. Zoom! A wolf on each side. A dead rabbit. Thwack! My talons hit the dead animal and snatched at the fur. I flapped once, twice. The rabbit came off
ground. The big wolf lunged. I could feel his teeth rake my tail. I flapped for all I was worth, scooting along the ground, half-carrying, half-dragging the dead rabbit, with the wolf racing just inches behind me. « Tobiasff» Rachel cried. « Get out of hereff» I yelled. « I have to drop this thing. It's too heavyff» Fortunately, when he isn't being an idiot wolf, Jake is quick and decisive. « Let's go while we cff» I dropped the rabbit just as the wolf caught up to me. SNAP! Jaws that could kill a moose scissored the air a tenth of an inch from me. I'm telling you, he was close enough for me to count his molars. I felt the tiniest bit of a breeze. It was enough. I opened my wings and let the breeze lift me up and away. « Oh , that was really not fun,» I said. « Are you okay?» « I think I lost some tail feathers,» I said. Tail feathers grow back. I caught up with the others. They were mov ing as fast as wolves can move. Time was running short. I didn't know exactly how much time. It was one of the continuing problems of morphing. Even if you could wear a watch, you wouldn't want to. A wolf or a hawk with a watch looks slightly suspicious. « I'll see if I can get a time reading,» I said. I was tired. Very tired, after the long flight here and not one but two close calls involving wolves. The hawk in me just wanted to find a nice branch with a view of an open field and take a rest. But I knew I couldn't. I gained a little altitude, not too much. Just enough to spot one of the Park Service trucks. The Controllers were off somewhere, but there was a clock in the dashboard. I stared at the number in disbelief. It had to be wrong! It had to be! I wasn't tired anymore. At top speed, I raced back to my friends. I felt sick. I felt like my heart was going to burst. They had missed the deadline! It was too late. Too late, and they would all be trapped. Like me. Forever. « MORPHFF» I screamed as I closed on them. Thought-speak is like regular speech. It gets harder to hear the farther away you are. « Morph back! Nowff» Maybe the clock in the truck was off. Maybe five minutes one way or the other wouldn't matter. There! I saw them. Four wolves moving relent lessly toward the distant city. « Morph! Nowff» I screamed as I shot like a bullet over their heads. « How much time do we have8ff» Marco de manded. « None. » That got them going. I landed, exhausted, on a branch. Cassie was the first to begin the change. Her fur grew short. Her snout flattened into a nose. Long, human legs swelled and burst from the thin dog legs. Her tail sucked back in and disappeared. She was already mor
e than half human by the time the first changes began to appear on the others. « Come on, hurry,» I urged them. « What time is it» Jake demanded. « You have about two minutes,» I said. It was a lie. According to the clock, they were already seven minutes too late. Too late. And yet Cassie was continuing to emerge from her wolf body. Skin was replacing fur. Her leotard covered her legs. But the others were not so lucky. « Ahhhhff» I heard Rachel cry in my mind. Her morph was going all wrong. Her human hands appeared at the end of her wolf legs. But nothing else seemed to be changing. I looked, horrified, at Marco. His normal head emerged with startling suddenness from his wolf body. But the rest of him had not changed. He looked down at himself and cried out in terror. "Helowl. Yipmeahhh!" It was an awful sound, half human, half wolf. This was worse than I had feared. I figured they could be trapped as wolves, like I had been trapped as a hawk. But they were emerging as half-human freaks of nature. They were living nightmares. Cassie ran from one to the next. "Come on, Jake, concentrate! Focus! Rachel, bear down, girl. Picture yourself human. See yourself like you're looking in the mirror. Fight the fear, Marco!" I saw Marco roil his human eyes up and stare at me. His gaze locked on me. It was like he hated me. Or feared me. Both, maybe. I didn't move. If Marco needed me to concen trate, that was fine. But it sent a shiver of disgust through me. I suddenly saw myself as they all must see me: as something frightening. A freak. An accident. A sickening, pitiable creature. Slowly, slowly, Marco began to emerge. Slowly, slowly, the human body appeared. Rachel, too, and Jake. They were winning their battle. "That's it, Jake," Cassie urged. She held his hand tight between both of hers. "Come back to me, Jake. Come all the way back." I watched Rachel. She still had a small, shrinking tail. Her mouth still protruded. Her blond hair was still more like gray fur. But she was going to make it. The clock must have been fast. A matter of five minutes one way or the other had determined their fates. I was glad they had made it. They were all hu man again. "We did it," Jake gasped weakly. He lay on his back on the pine needles. "We made it." "That was close," Rachel said. "That was way too close. It was so hard. It was like trying to climb up out of a pool of molasses." "I'm human again," Marco muttered. "Hu man! Toes. Hands. Arms and shoulders." He checked himself all over. "Ha ha! That was closer Cassie exulted. She gave Jake a hug. Then I guess she felt self-conscious, because she ran over and hugged Rachel and Marco. They were all laughing, all giggling with relief. "We're okay, "Jake sighed. I was happy for them. Really I was. But sud denly I didn't want to be there. Suddenly I desperately didn't want to be there. I felt an awful, gaping black hole open up all around me. I was sick. Sick with the feeling of being trapped. Trapped. Forever! I looked at my talons. They would never be feet again. I looked at my wing. It would never be an arm. It would never again end in a hand. I would never touch. I would never touch anything . . . anyone . . . again.
Applegate, K A - Animorphs 03 - The Encounter Page 3