Powerful enough, I thought. I don't want to meet the guy who can kick the Ellimist's butt.
"This new force, this individual, began to make his presence known in our galaxy. And he had different ideas from ours. He sees a universe of conflict, pain, and terror. He craves fear. Not his own, of course, but the fear of others. He is a strange perfectionist, in a way."
The Ellimist had grown thoughtful. Perplexed, almost. Hard to picture when you were looking at Beth's bangs and the zit on her chin, but I knew who he was and what he was, and I guess I've had to get past judging anyone by looks. In a world where anyone could be a Controller, you begin to realize just how irrelevant looks are.
15 "He wants a galaxy cleansed of creation. His goal, I soon realized, is to destroy life. His method is to use one species against another, strong destroying weak, and then strong in turn being destroyed by the stronger still. He believes that there should be only one species. A single sentient race, which would be subjugated by him."
"What is this guy, a Nazi?" Cassie said.
Beth's curls shook as the Ellimist nodded. "In the moral sense, yes. But he has different visions of what constitutes total power. He wants to be able to control the strands of space-time itself. Not merely to see them and understand them, but to hold them in his fist and dictate the very laws of physics and nature, to recreate the galaxy in his own image, and someday to spread his power throughout all galaxies and destroy the one power greater than himself."
"Great," Marco said grimly. "Can we go back to The Lion King now?"
"He is called Crayak," the Ellimist said. And then he looked right at me, and I knew before he spoke the words. "You have seen him. And he has seen you."
The eye. The armless half-creature, half-machine.
One by one my friends looked at me, challenging, questioning, neutral, skeptical, compassionate.
16 "When the Yeerk died in your brain, you peered across the line between life and death; you broke the dimensional hold that blinds humans to things beyond themselves," the Ellimist said. "And in that moment, Crayak saw you. He saw that I had made myself known to you. That I had touched you. And he knew that you must, therefore, play some part in my plans."
Crayak. The nightmare presence had a name. Crayak. The bloodred eye that watched me in my dreams.
"Soon," it had said. "Soon."
I felt a chill crawl through my body. Fear. The Ellimist said Crayak enjoyed fear. Did he feel mine now?
"A hundred million years ago, we fought, Crayak and I," the Ellimist said.
And suddenly the auditorium was gone. We stood in black, empty space, and the Ellimist was no longer a little girl but a brilliant light.
17
Stars, stars everywhere! Bright white points that burned with a steady light, and closer, so much closer, huge, sky-filling cauldrons of blazing hot gases.
His voice was in our heads now, reverberating through our bodies, huge and sad.
«l wanted to stop him, to stop his destruction. He wanted to eliminate me.»
As I stood on nothing, floating on nothing, stars began to dim and die. It was like watching a charcoal fire go from blaze to hot coals to crumbling, gray dust.
«The result was something neither of us could tolerate. The battle we fought destroyed a
18 tenth of the galaxy, millions of suns, millions of planets, a dozen sentient races.»
Before our eyes - or was it straight through our brains? - ran images, flashes of creatures in amazing shapes, in sizes and colors that made me want to laugh in sheer wonder. I saw monstrous mammals and tiny insects, species that lived in the sea and others that floated on air.
And one by one, they went as dark as their suns.
«A dozen sentient species, and more who would have achieved sentience, all destroyed, destroyed for nothing! But Crayak was damaged as well. The fabric of space-time, the software, as you humans would say, the software that runs the galaxy was damaged, twisted by the sudden explosion of our power.»
Once again I floated in that eerie n-dimensional space, the space beyond space where inside and outside were meaningless terms, where I saw the back as easily as the front, the heart of things as easily as the surface, the core of planets as easily as the crust.
I saw what seemed like threads, threads that could curl back inside themselves, disappear and reappear, twist and ravel and braid in insane complication.
«AII Crayak's knowledge of space-time was now shattered. The few threads he had gathered
19 to him were yanked from his grasp. Millions of years of effort wasted. We fell back, back from our test of wills, our war.»
I was in normal space again. With guts and cores and threads all back where they should be, twisted up and hidden beneath the surface of things.
«We knew then, Crayak and I, that we could never make war again. Not open war, at least. The conflict would have to be carried on by different means. No longer a savage battle. Now it must be a chess game. There would be rules. Limits.»
Floating across our field of vision, like distorted TV pictures, were flickering images of our own interactions with the Ellimist. The times he had played a role, though never a controlling one. When he had shown us that we could escape Earth and live on a sort of game preserve for endangered humans. And when he had used Tobias to help some Hork-Bajir escape to found a free colony.
And when he had twisted time to return Elfangor from his happy life, hiding as a human, to a world of struggle, pain, and ultimately death as an Andalite warrior.
Elfangor, who was Tobias's true father, and the one who had given us our powers.
Each time, we saw the Ellimist limiting his involvement,
20 refusing to do a billionth of what he could do.
«Earth is part of our game, Crayak's and mine. He would have the Yeerks absorb humans and later be absorbed by some still more vicious species. But Earth is not the reason I have come to you now.»
The show was over. We were back in the auditorium, not that we'd ever really left, I suppose. And the Ellimist was a girl with braces again.
"For millions of years we have played our game," the Ellimist said. "And we have lived within the rules, more or less. But now war threatens again. There is an impasse. A species I will not let Crayak take. A species he will not let me save. This species occupies a unique location in space-time. It is a turning point, and if Crayak can annihilate them, his power will grow, his goal become much closer, his forces become more deadly than ever."
"Including the Yeerks?" I asked.
"Yes, including the Yeerks, who will benefit from changes I cannot explain to humans - or even to mighty Andalites," he added with a gentle, steel smile for Ax.
«So what happens? Irresistible force and immovable object?» Tobias asked. «Who gives? You or him?»
21 The Ellimist said, "I will finish the story. And you will decide."
"Us?" Cassie blurted.
"Crayak and I have reached an agreement on a way to decide the issue. To decide the fate of the Iskoort race. If Crayak wins, they will be attacked, subjugated, and annihilated by another species."
«What species?» Ax asked.
"The Howlers," the Ellimist said. "You have heard of them before."
I nodded slowly. Yeah, we'd heard of the Howlers.
"Crayak and I have agreed to decide the issue by a contest of champions. His against mine. He has named the Howlers themselves, a group of seven. I am to pit my seven champions against his."
"What is this, a football game?" Cassie demanded.
"No, that would be eleven guys on the field, not seven," Marco said.
"Seven Howlers against my seven," the Ellimist said. "The winners - the survivors - will determine the outcome."
"And this has what to do with us?" Rachel asked belligerently.
"Oh, come on, Rachel," Marco said. "One . . ."
22 he pointed at me. "Two ..." he pointed at Rachel. "Three, four, five, six," he pointed at Ax, Cassie, Tobias, and himself.
"That's six," Cassie said. "He needs seven. We're just six. That's not what he means. Is it?"
The Ellimist said nothing.
Cassie said a word I've never heard her use before. Then, "You want us, us to be your champions? To save these Iskrats?"
"Iskoort," the Ellimist corrected gently.
"I'm either honored or ticked off, I don't know which," Marco said hotly. Then, "Oh, wait, I do know which, and it's not 'honored.'"
"This must be your choice," the Ellimist said. "Yours alone."
He disappeared. Ax disappeared. Tobias disappeared. The four of us who remained were all back in our seats.
And time started up again, with dancers landing after the longest leaps of their careers.
23
We sat through the rest of The Lion King. Seemed kind of dull after the special effects show the Ellimist had put on for us.
As soon as it was over, we were out the door. There was supposed to be a final partial period, but half the school was blowing that off, so we did, too.
We met at Cassie's barn, also known as the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. It was a slow week at the clinic, I guess. Many cages were empty, which is rare. It made the place seem kind of forlorn.
Tobias was there waiting for us. So was Ax, in his weirdly attractive human morph. He
24 demorphed back to his own self. It didn't take any time at all for the conversation to start.
"This is nuts!" Marco said as soon as Tobias assured us that no one was lurking within earshot. "The most powerful creature in the galaxy, a guy who could make Earth disappear by just thinking about it, needs us to fight his battles for him?"
"Like we don't have enough to deal with?" Rachel agreed.
«The only possible reason for doing this is if it helps us in some way,» Ax said. «Enlightened self-interest.»
«l think we have that,» Tobias said. «The Ellimist has helped us before.»
Rachel shot him a dark, angry look. "He's tricked us before, too. Told us one thing and done another. We know nothing about him. We don't know if the Ellimist is one guy, or more than one. Half the time he says 'we,' then he says 'I.' So why is he the Ellimist? He jerks us around whenever it suits him, and he tells us squat."
I knew what she was talking about. Tobias had thought the Ellimist would return him to normal. Instead he merely gave Tobias back his morphing powers.
But that had not been a lie or a trick. Not really. He'd promised to give Tobias what he
25 wanted. He had. It was Rachel who couldn't accept that Tobias had chosen, and still chose, to remain a hawk.
"Why does 'Howlers' sound so familiar?" Cassie wondered. "I know I've heard it before."
"It was the Howlers who destroyed the Pemalites, creators of the Chee," I said. "That's who we'd be going up against. Seven of them against seven of us."
"Seven? I count six," Marco pointed out.
"I think I know who our seventh would be," I said.
Marco rolled his eyes. "Erek?"
"Payback," I explained. "Who else would care as much about hurting the Howlers?"
Marco barked out a laugh. "He can't fight! He's an android programmed never to hurt anyone. He'd be dead weight. And why are we talking about this like it's time to choose up teams?"
«We hurt this Crayak, we hurt the Yeerks,» Tobias said. «The Ellimist loses, we lose.»
"Wait a minute, Tobias," Rachel said. "You know I don't run from a fight -"
'To a fight, maybe," Marco interjected.
"- but are we supposed to believe we're the Ellimist's only choice here? There's no one else in the entire galaxy who can go pound on these Howlers? Why us?"
26 «Yes,» Ax agreed. «Why us? Why not seven battle-trained Andalite warriors?»
This, of course, turned Marco around. "Excuse me? Like Andalites are badder than we are? What are we, wimps? Me in gorilla morph, you as you, let's go. We'll see who kicks whose butt."
"Yeah, that would be the sensible thing to do. You two fight," Cassie said dryly.
"Okay then," Marco said with a leer, "forget me and Ax. You and Rachel, both wearing bikinis."
Rachel calmly stuck out her arm and grabbed a handful of Marco's hair. "What was that you said? I must not have heard correctly."
"I refuse to answer on the grounds that you may tend to snatch me bald."
Rachel let him go.
«I'm starting to see Rachel's point,» Tobias said. «Why would the Ellimist ask for help from this clown college?»
"Could we win?" Cassie asked.
That stopped everyone.
She stepped into the center of the group. "Could we win? Could we save an entire sentient species? And maybe help ourselves, too? Maybe weaken the Yeerks in some way only the Ellimist understands? Seems to me that's the question. I mean, you know, I'm not Rachel. I hate fighting.
27 But the Ellimist put an entire race on the scale. An entire race. Maybe millions, maybe billions. And we're even asking ourselves if we should? How do you not at least try?"
"Iskoort?" Marco jeered. "Now it's our job to save Iskoort? What the . . . what is an Iskoort?" He looked at Ax, hands apart, questioning.
Ax shook his head. It's a habit he's picked up from us. Of course, he does it while holding his stalk eyes still, so it's a bit different.
«l have never heard of the lskoort.»
Normally, on big issues like this I don't push my opinions out there. I'm supposedly the leader, but to me there are times when the best thing a leader can do is let others work things out for themselves. But I had to say something.
"I think ... I think there may be something else going on here, with the Ellimist choosing us."
Everyone stared at me. Marco narrowed his eyes. "The Ellimist said something about you seeing this Crayak."
"I saw him. When the Yeerk died in my head, I saw him. And he saw me. And since then . . . since then I've had dreams."
Dead silence.
I wished I'd kept my mouth shut. "Look, I ... you know, dreams are weird. Like who knows if they're ever real? But these feel real. And in the
28 dreams I see him. Crayak." I shook my head. "I know this sounds crazy."
"Uh, Jake?" Marco said. "We've been over the line into crazy since Elfangor said, 'Hey, kids, wanna turn into animals?'"
I smiled. That was not exactly what Elfangor had said. "I just feel like these dreams aren't totally just dreams. I see him. And he sees me. And he says the same thing each time."
"What?" Cassie put a soft hand on my arm. "What does he say?"
"'Soon.' He just says 'soon.'"
29
?Ooookay," Marco said. "I felt that chill go up my spine."
"So what does all this tell us?" Rachel demanded. "This Crayak already doesn't like us, so we go and fight his handpicked team? Maybe win? Then he loves us? I don't think so."
«Side bets,» Tobias said.
I nodded. No one else got it.
«The Ellimist and Crayak have their main event: Do the Iskoort live or die? But maybe there's some action on the side. Us. Maybe that's why he chose us. Maybe there's another level.»
"What other level?" Rachel demanded, frustrated.
30 «l don't know,» Tobias admitted. «But here's the thing: It's down to Crayak versus Ellimist. Crayak already has it in for Jake, at the very least. Not to mention he backs the Yeerks. Not to mention we know the Howlers are just as bad. The Ellimist wouldn't pick us if he didn't think we had a chance.»
Cassie was nodding. She was for it. That made two.
I looked to Ax. He made the strange, mouth-less Andalite smile. «lf we can hurt the Yeerks . . .»
That made three. I looked at Rachel.
"Oh, come on, you have to ask? No Crayak space monster is gonna beat up on my cousin," she said, flashing her Cover Girl smile.
Down to Marco. He looked doubtful. I've learned to trust Marco's doubts.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"First of all, I'm in," Marco said. "But
I just want to point out one thing: The Ellimist didn't force us, he asked us. Our choice. And maybe he's right that we can do this. But part of the reason we're saying yes is that this Crayak thing has been taking pokes at Jake. And Crayak plays the same long, patient games the Ellimist does."
"So what are you saying?" Cassie asked.
"I'm saying maybe Crayak wants us there.
31 Maybe he wants us to say yes. And you know what? That's not because he thinks we'll win."
"Let's vote," Rachel said. "Go."
"Go," Cassie agreed.
It was six out of six for going.
"Unanimous," Marco said.
I shook my head. "No. We're going to be seven. It's not unanimous till Erek votes."
"Go," a new voice said.
He appeared, standing in the middle of us. A normal-looking boy. Or that's what you'd think. The "boy" was a holographic projection. Inside the illusion was an android. An android who'd helped build the pyramids, who had taken on a hundred different human forms, letting each one seem to age, letting each one seem to die, then reappearing as some new holographic projection.
"You know what this is all about?" I asked Erek. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized I had gotten used to the weirdness of people simply appearing out of nowhere. When the Ellimist was involved, things like that were normal.
"I know what it's about," Erek said with a nod.
His face was rigid, lips pressed tight together. It was impossible - I knew it was impossible - but still, I felt suppressed rage coming from the android. Barely contained violence.
"The Ellimist has brought me up to date,"
32 Erek confirmed. "If you'll have me, I'll go. I want to go. I ... I have to go."
"You can't fight," Rachel said bluntly. "No offense, but I'd rather go get Jara Hamee or one of the other free Hork-Bajir. Or like Ax said, an Andalite warrior. We need firepower."
"Yes, but that won't be enough." Erek shook his head. "You won't defeat the Howlers in one-on-one combat. They are too deadly. You'll need more than your morphs. You'll have to outthink them. And I know them. I know the Howlers."
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