C less-than You out? A threat8greater-than Visser Three laughed. He reached out with one hand to push lightly on Chapman's chest. Chapman fell back, sprawled out on the dirt. His head was just inches from the door of my cage. Tears were streaming down the side of his face. "If you harm my daughter I will fight you. I will fight you forever. Ask your Yeerk if he believes me. He knows me better than anyone. Ask Iniss two two six if I will fight for my daughter." Chapman closed his eyes. The tears stopped. Then his eyes opened again. He picked himself up quickly from the ground and stood before Visser Three. The Yeerk slug was in charge again. He was once again a Controller. Before he stood, I saw something that fright ened me all over again. It was Chapman's watch. The time was now nine twenty-eight. I had about seventeen minutes before I hit the two-hour limit! less-than The host will attempt to disrupt y8greater-than "Yes, Visser. And the woman as well. She is not as strong as this one, but she was able to gain control of one hand. Perhaps she has deeper strengths than we knew." He hesitated before going on. I could still smell the fear on him. "I am of more use with a passive, voluntary host. But I am your tool, Visser. I will do as you com mand." less-than Yes, you will certainly do as I commandeagreater-than Visser Three said. less-than But you have brought me the Andalite bandit. greater-than He nodded down at me. less-than And this will occupy my time for a little while. Leave the girl, for now. Now get out. You tempt my patience. greater-than Chapman didn't need a second invitation. He jumped in the car and tore out of there. Melissa was safe. As safe as she would ever be with Chapman as her father. That was some thing. Not much, but something. less-than Move oueagreater-than Visser Three yelled. I saw the Hork-Bajir respond instantly to his command. The nearest one snatched me up and suddenly we were moving fast toward the Blade ship. In seconds it would all be over. I would be aboard the Visser's ship. I would leave Earth. The only thing in my future was pain. Maybe I would die before I betrayed my friends. A depressing kind of thing to hope for. less-than So. What's happening now8greater-than "Mrrraaaoww!" I jumped and spun around inside my cage. less-than Jake? Is that y8greater-than less-than Who else would it be? You know anyone else who would be a talking flea riding on your back8greater-than less-than Jake, you were supposed to get away and be safeffgreater-than less-than Yeah, right. Like I was going to abandon you. Listen, I could hear Visser Three's thought-speech, but I don't know where we are. greater-than less-than We are about ten feet away from being loaded into Visser Three's Blade ship. And I have about fifteen minutes left before I'm trapped in this morph. greater-than less-than Fifteen minutes? Great, if you have fifteen, I have ten. I had to morph earlier than you, re members less-than Jake, get out of here! You can't be trapped as a fleaffgreater-than The door of the Blade ship slid open silently. I could see dark red light inside. I could see a handful of Taxxons that seemed to be standing over control panels of some sort. Hork-Bajir stood at attention. less-than I'm not getting out of hereeagreater-than Jake said. less-than None of us are. greater-than less-than None of ... You mean the rest are fleas, too8greater-than less-than No, but they should be around somewhere. Tobias was supposed to follow us and lead the others to wherever we ended up. greater-than less-than They can't do anything. greater-than less-than 0h, really? Well, I bet they'll try. greater-than Just at that moment I heard a strange sound. My cat brain didn't recognize it. But the human me did. It was an engine. A big engine. Like a big truck. Or maybe a tractor. Or - An earthmover. The Hork-Bajir carrying me saw it, too. He ran into the Blade ship and tossed me down. Then he ran back to the Visser, who waited in the doorway. less-than like think they've started one of the earth-movers caret I told Jake. less-than Then I guess it's time for me to get into this fighteagreater-than Jake said. less-than I'm going to try a quick double- morph. Hope it works. Here goes nothing. Yeeee-haaahffgreater-than All at once, through the open door of the Blade ship, I spotted the earthmover. It lum bered at a painfully slow speed. But it lumbered right toward the Blade ship. less-than Get us into the airffgreater-than Visser Three shouted. The nearest Taxxon said something in their slithery snake-speech. It sounded like "Sssree shway snerp snerrrrup ssreet." less-than Two minutes to liftoff? Too longffgreater-than Visser Three said. His tail whipped forward. I saw a huge gash open in the flesh of the Taxxon. Greenish- yellow goo poured out. The other Taxxons all looked kind of excited. They were waving their little upper arms and snapping their little claws. less-than You and you. greater-than Visser Three pointed at two of the Taxxons. less-than Get us off the ground! The rest of you may feed on this fool. greater-than The wounded Taxxon emitted a wailing, slith ery scream. Three other Taxxons rushed at him. Their circular mouths fastened onto their fellow Taxxon's writhing flesh and began chewing and tearing at him. The sound of the diesel engine grew louder. Visser Three was rapping out orders. Hork-Bajir ran through the door and back outside. Then I saw something happening in the dark corner of the cabin, over past the horrific Taxxon feeding frenzy. Something was growing. A human being was growing out of nothing. less-than Jakeffgreater-than less-than Can't talk. Don't distract me. greater-than Visser Three was in a rage. You could feel the waves of his anger radiating around the small space. less-than Destroy that machineffgreater-than he ordered. Outside, two Hork-Bajir took aim at the five tons of slow-moving steel. Jake was still cowering in the corner, but he had begun to change once again. In the darkness my cat eyes could see the beginning of a pattern of stripes. Black and orange. The stripes of a tiger. It was time for me to do my part. I concentrated. I felt the change begin. The cage grew small around me. Rumble rumble rumble. The earthmover closed in. The near-dead Taxxon screamed as his fellow Taxxons ate him alive. Suddenly I saw a brilliant red light. There was a sizzling sound. I saw the earthmover disinte grate. My heart was in my throat. Marco! Cassie! Had they gotten away? I had to concentrate. I had to ignore the Taxxon's screams. I had to stop wondering whether Cassie and Marco had been on that earthmover when it was hit. I had to control my morph. Not too far, Rachel. Not too much. I could not become h uman. Not totally human. I looked down at my paw. Short stubby fingers had appeared. I stuck my stubby half-human fin gers through the bars of the cage and found the lock. One of the feeding Taxxons looked away from his meal just long enough. "Yeerss srenn ssseere!" It waved its creepy front legs in my di rection. Visser Three snapped around and glared at me with ferocious hatred. I opened the door of my cage. "Rrrrraaawwwrrr!" Jake leaped through the air, his huge claws outstretched. I flew out of the cage, a clumsy mass of fur and skin, a creature that was half-cat and half-human. Jake hit Visser Three in the side. less-than This time, you're mine, you jerkffgreater-than Visser Three fell over, tangled up in tiger. His deadly tail flashed but missed. Jake ripped the Visser's flesh with claws infinitely bigger than mine. less-than Aaaaarrrgghhhffgreater-than It was a great pleasure hearing Visser Three scream that way. But I had other things to worry about. I couldn't move in my half-morph. I concen trated on regaining my cat form. I had only min utes left before the two hours would be up. Jake rolled off Visser Three just as a handful of Hork-Bajir rushed to the Visser's defense. less-than Runffgreater-than Jake yelled. less-than Runffgreater-than I agreed. We ran. I was back fully in Flutter's shape. I could do thirty miles an hour, as fast as the fastest human being could run. Unfortunately, Hork-Bajir are faster. Jake was faster still, for short distances. Fast enough to outrun the Hork-Bajir that were after us. But he wasn't going to leave me behind. Jake turned and came for the closest Hork- Bajir. I saw him flying over my head, a huge beast, orange-and-black striped. The Hork-Bajir went down hard. less-than Get outta here, Rachel! You're too small to fight these guys. greater-than But there was still another Hork-Bajir on my tail. Faster than me. Too fast! I dodged left. The Hork-Bajir shot past me. I turned back sharply, my little pads scrabbling in the dirt. The Hork-Bajir grabbed for me but missed. Something else was moving. Something big. The ground was rumbling. . . . A second earthmover was grinding forward on its tank treads. Marco and Cassie had started an other earthmover! I raced towa
rd the nearest half-finished build ing. I had to get away. And I had to morph back. Time was up. In minutes I would be trapped! I saw a dark hole. I flew toward it in a single leap. The hole led under a wall. Then it opened into a shallow basement. There was a concrete floor about two feet over my head. I was safe! Safe, and with room enough to morph back to human shape. I tried to concentrate. Out beyond my little concrete shelter I heard growls and alien cries. I heard the rumble of the earthmover. I thought I heard the sizzle of Dracon beams. Human, I told myself. Return to human. Only minutes left! Then I felt a shattering noise. Then another. Another. It was like some giant was stomping around. The giant steps stopped. I was frozen, unable to even think, let alone morph. Crash! All around me pillars of rock-hard, scaled flesh, each as big around as a tree trunk, ripped into the concrete. Grrrunch! The concrete was lifted off me. Torn away, like it was paper. I was exposed. Trapped. And standing over me, with the shattered concrete floor in its mighty hand, was a beast that seemed to be made of living rock. less-than You won't get away so easilyeagreater-than Visser Three said.
C I t was all over. I knew I was done for. Nothing in the world could stop the beast Visser Three had morphed into. He was twenty feet tall. As tall as a telephone pole. He stood on three massive legs, each as big around as a redwood tree. He had a tiny head, not much bigger than a human head. He would have looked funny, except that there was nothing funny about what he was doing. With two long, mighty arms he was casually tearing up the concrete. He slammed his fingers into the cement. He ripped it up in slabs and tossed them over his shoulder. One of the slabs hit a Hork-Bajir and crushed him. I don't think Visser Three even noticed or cared. I ran. Crash! One of the Visser's huge hands slammed down in front of me. I scampered back and turned. Crash! Another hand like living rock slammed in front of me. Even the cat in me knew- it was hopeless. Visser Three glared down at me with tiny bright eyes in that weirdly small head. He reached for me with both hands, cupped together, forming a wall around me. C-R-R-R-U-ation-C-H! Visser Three hesitated. B-0-O-O-O-M! I bolted. I leaped to the top of a wall. Six feet straight up, and trust me, as scared as I was, I could have jumped even higher. Out of the corner of my eye I saw what had happened. The earthmover had ground forward and slammed into one of the Bug fighters. The Bug fighter had exploded. less-than AAAAARRRRGGGHHHFFGREATER-THAN Visser Three roared in fury. I did not envy the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons who had let that earthmover get through. I ran along the top of the wall. It was cin derblock, full of holes and only a few inches wide. It was a much tougher challenge than the balance beam in gymnastics. But I was running as fast as a very scared kitty can run. less-than l'll kill you ALL! FOOLSFFGREATER-THAN Visser Three screamed. I hoped he would just forget about me. But then I heard the thunder of his walk. In two steps he had caught up to me. His huge hand swept toward me. It was ten feet to the ground, and the ground was covered with rusted, twisted metal. I had no choice. I leaped. The sharp metal was rushing up at me. Visser Three's hand was sweeping toward me. Something sharp bit into my back. The ground was no longer rushing up at me. Instead, I was zooming through the air. less-than Jeez, Rachel. Next time you want to morph into a kitty, pick one who doesn't eat so muchffgreater-than Tobias! less-than like can get you as far as the trees, that's xeagreater-than Tobias said. less-than like have to morph backeagreater-than I said. less-than My time is upffgreater-than We flew toward the trees. Tobias strained to keep us in the air. I knew he was at his limit of endurance. less-than Drop me, nowffgreater-than We were in the trees. Tobias dropped me. I fell through the air. But my tail pivoted and kept my balance perfect. A tree branch! Slam! My claws dug into the bark. I was already morphing back as I dropped to the ground and landed on soft pine needles. Through the trees I could see the huge beast that was Visser Three rampaging in a fury. The few Hork-Bajir that were left were tossed around like toys. Taxxons were crushed under his feet. less-than like think he's mad we got awayeagreater-than Tobias said. "Jake? The others?" I demanded. "Did they make it?" less-than They're fine. Jake had to morph back into human shape before going into the tiger morph, so he didn't have a problem with the time. Marco got his feathers a little singed, but he's okay. Cassie, too. greater-than I collapsed on the ground. I had escaped. I had survived. I knew I should have been glad. But all I felt was tired. M elissa was at our next gymnastics class. She was still alive. Still free. I acted nonchalant as I changed into my leo tard and stretched out. But I did watch when she opened her locker and pulled out the envelope. She opened it and read the words I had put there. "Melissa, your father loves you more than you will ever know. And more than he can ever show you. Signed, someone who knows." I'd printed it out on my word processor, of course, so she wouldn't recognize my handwriting. Maybe it was just my imagination, but she seemed more into the practice that day. After my mom picked me up and drove me home, I hooked up with the others. We hadn't gotten together for a couple of days, since the battle at the construction site. I guess I felt like I had some things to think about. "How is Melissa?" Cassie asked. I shrugged. "I left her a note." I told them what it had said. "I know it's bad for security, Jake. And Marco, I know it was sentimental. But I don't care. Chapman gave up everything to save his daughter from being made into a host. I had to do something." Jake nodded. "It's okay. Maybe it will help." Cassie smiled at me, telling me she was proud of what I'd done. Marco rolled his eyes, but he didn't say anything. "Well, we destroyed a Yeerk Bug fighter. We made Visser Three nervous. And
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