Applegate, K A - Animorphs 03 - The Encounter

by The Encounter (lit)

  « I...I know this sounds crazy. But I just keep seeing myself. Fried. With a wedge of lemon and some tartar sauce. »

  Chapter 22 J ake was next. He morphed and I flew him over the heads of two patrolling Park Rangers who did not even seem to notice me. Then came Marco. When I exited the cave with him I practically ran into a big Hork-Bajir. He didn't take any notice of me, either. Cassie's plan was working. Even with all the Controllers on maximum alert, it never occurred to them that their enemy might be a bird with a fish in its talons. Back in the cave, it was just Rachel. « So far so good,» I said. "Yeah. I guess so." « Are you nervous?» "I'd have to be crazy not to be nervous. Oh well. Here goes." She started to morph. I'd seen three others do it now, so it wasn't a surprise to me. But it was still horrifying to watch a friend, someone you cared about, twist and deform and mutate before your eyes. I don't think any of us will ever get used to morphing. Maybe the Andalites are used to it. I don't know. But I'll bet it creeps them out, too, when they have to change. I looked away as Rachel began to get strange and hideous. She was almost completely a fish when it happened. Crash! Crash! Someone was forcing their way through the bushes at the mouth of the cave. "Heffrach neeth there." A Hork-Bajir! "Yes, I see it," a human voice said grumpily. "You know, these human bodies aren't blind. Just because you're in a Hork-Bajir, don't get delusions. Use those blades of yours to hack some of these thorns out of the way." I heard a sound like fast machetes, slicing away the vines and thorns. "Better not find anything in here," the human-Controller said. "The Visser will do to you what was done to that poor fool yesterday who let the human escape." I looked at Rachel. It was too late for her

  to morph back. « What's going on?» she asked. « Yeerks! A human-Controller and a Hork- Bajir-Controller, right outside the cave. » "Go in fergutth vir puny body. Ha ha." "This was your sector to check. You didn't even notice this cave. Keep getting on my nerves and I'll tell him!

  "He gulferch you and eat your lulcath. Ha ha." Suddenly a human head appeared, followed by shoulders. He was wearing a Park Ranger's outfit. « We have to make a break for xff» I told Rachel. « Here they comeff» "Yeah, there's a cave in here, all right. There's some kind of a bird

  - his I grabbed Rachel, now fully in fish morph. But the human-Controller blocked the narrow en trance. Well, I thought. It worked with a helicopter. . . With a rush of wings I flew right at his face. "What the

  - was He fell back, beating at the air. I scraped past him. The Hork-Bajir slashed at the air with one of his wrist blades. He shaved an inch off my tail. But I was in the air now, and moving faster. Only it was hard with Rachel. The weight of a fish is more than a red-tail can carry easily. And I had already carried three. I was tired. Fortunately, I was also very scared. Fear can make you strong sometimes. Ssseeeewww! A Dracon beam sizzled the air above me! Unfortunately for the Hork-Bajir who had fired, the Dracon beam did not stop when it buzzed by me. No, the Dracon beam hit the un derside of the vast truck ship. A small, neat, round hole appeared in the bottom of the ship. It was too small to amount to anything. But suddenly the Hork-Bajir lost his interest in me. "Fool!" the human-Controller cried. "Visser Three will have your head for dinner!" While they were busy panicking, I dropped Rachel into the water with the others. « Good work, Tobias,» Jake said. « Be careful up there, my friend. » « You, too,» I said. « Good luck, you guys. » I could just barely see them, a small school of fish in the shallows. They swam off and disappeared into deeper water. As I've told you, there are limits to how far thought-speech can reach. We don't really know what those limits are. But I wanted to stay as close to them as I dared, in case they needed me. Not that there was much that I could do to help someone underwater. I didn't want to stay right over them. I figured that would look suspicious to anyone on shore. It was hard to figure out what to do. The monstrous bulk of the truck ship was overhead, leaving only a few feet open above the surface of the water. I decided I had to chance it. I flew under the ship, skimming the dappled water below and practically scraping the metal belly of the ship above me. It was a very difficult flight. I had to stay almost totally level. I couldn't rise or fall by more than a couple of feet. « You guys still okay?» « Tobias? I can't believe you can still thought-speak with that whole ship between u,» Rachel said. I guess I could have told her the truth. That I was within a few feet of them. But then Jake would have just gotten all mad and told me not to take stupid risks. I figured that between the time it had taken through the entire morphing process, and carrying them one at a time to the water, plus now the time spent swimming out to the big intake pipe, Cassie had been in morph for just over half an hour. Jake had ten minutes more, then Marco and Rachel. « What are you guys doing now?» I asked. « We're looking at the bottom of this intake pipe. There's tremendous suction,» Rachel re ported. « l'll go first and look around. See what's what,» Jake announced. « Here goes. Whoooaaaaa! Man! Whooooaaa! Yahff» « Jake! Jake, are you okay?» Cassie cried.

  «

  Oh , yeah! What a rush! They should have a waterslide like that at The Gardens. It's like being sucked up a straw by a giant. » « Cool,» Rachel said.

  « I'm next. » « No, let me look around first,» Jake said. « I seem to be in some kind of big tank. It's not very deep. At least not yet. It's filling up. With these lame fish eyes I can't see beyond the surface of the water very well. But I think up in the ceiling there's an opening. Like a grate or something. » « Up on the ceiling? How are we going to get up there?» Marco asked. « Well, I think if they fill this whole tank, we'll be near the top eventually. We should be able to morph to human, let ourselves out, then morph into something more dangerous than our human bodies. » « Excuse me,» Marco said. « But does anyone else ever stop to realize that some of the things we talk about doing are totally INSANE?» « What? Turning into fish, so we can be car- ried by a hawk and let ourselves be sucked up the pipe of an alien spaceship, so that we can then turn into tigers and gorillas and whatever, and overpower the creepy aliens?» Rachel said. « I s that what you mean by insane?» « That's it exactly. » « Yep,» Rachel said. « I t is insane. » « Well, okay,» Marco said. « As long as we all know we're nuts. Let's do xff»

  This ere was nothing to do but wait. Wait while the water level inside the ship rose and carried my friends toward the top of the chamber. Up

  to where the grate was. I could not maintain my level flight beneath the ship any longer. I said good-bye to my friends and zoomed out the far side. The open air was a blessing. I soared high on a nice thermal pattern created by the ship itself. I rose high up and over the top of the ship. The Park Rangers were all around on the ground. The helicopters and two of the Bug fighters were still parked on the ground in the little clearing. The Blade ship was there, too. Two other Bug fighters continued zipping around at treetop level. While I watched, they brought the Hork-Bajir who had carelessly fired off the Dracon beam. They dragged him before Visser Three. We'd gotten so we thought of Hork-Bajir as these totally fearless, deadly monsters. But this Hork-Bajir was not looking very brave. He col lapsed on the ground before Visser Three. I al most felt sorry for him. It was one of the terrible things about our bat tle against the Yeerks. See, our enemy was just the Yeerk slug that lived in the heads of Controllers. That Hork-Bajir may have been made a Controller totally against his will. He had lost his freedom to the Yeerk in his head. Now, he was about to lose his life, for something that he had no real control over. I couldn't hear what was happening down on the ground. But I could see. My hawk's eyes could see far too well. I turned away. I won't tell you what was hap pening to the Hork-Bajir. That memory will be my own private nightmare. But when next I looked, the Hork-Bajir was gone. And in his place was a sudden rush of other Hork-Bajir and Taxxons and humans, all surrounding Visser Three. The Visser looked an gry. He was pointing at the sky. Within a few seconds, the helicopters were lifting off. The two Bug fighters powered up and took off. I had a very bad feeling that I knew what had happened. The doomed Hork-Bajir had told Visser Three a
bout the bird he had fired at. And some other Controller had probably said, "Oh, yeah, I saw a bird acting suspiciously, too." And someone had no doubt said, "Hey, wasn't it a bird that distracted the Hork-Bajir yesterday and let that human get away?" Visser Three had put two and two together. An animal acting unlike an animal meant just one thing to him: Andalites in a morph. I guess I should have been flattered that Visser Three believed we Animorphs were true Andalite warriors. But it didn't make any differ ence whether he thought I was an Andalite or a human. He was sending his creatures into the sky. Looking for a bird that was no bird. Me. A Bug fighter skimmed over the trees. Its twin Dracon beams fired again and again in short, sharp spears of burning light. My heart was in my throat. They were killing every bird they saw! The hawk! This was her territory. But then, behind me, a helicopter! Thwak thwak thwak thwak! Ssshhhheewww! A Dracon beam. A near miss. I couldn't get away. Between the Bug fighters and the heli copters, they were too numerous, and too fast. But there was one place no one was going to risk firing a Dracon beam. Not after what Visser Three had just done to the careless Hork-Bajir. I let go of the air beneath my wings and dropped. Down, down, down. Toward the vast truck ship, spread below me like a steel meadow. In an instant they were all on me. But the angles were wrong. I was too close to the ship. They couldn't fire! i landed on top of the hovering ship. I planted my talons on the hard, cold metal surface. It stretched in every direction around me. The sur face curved down and away from me so that I couldn't even see the edges. It was as if I were standing all alone on a metal moon. Over my head hovered helicopters and Bug fighters. I could see human and Hork-Bajir and Taxxon eyes all focused on me. I knew the look in their eyes. The look of the predator. And me, their prey. .it was not looking good for me. If I tried to fly off that ship I would be Draconed ten different ways before I could get away. It was an eerie scene. I stood on the vast metal plain while over my head they hovered, a swarm of deadly predators. Then things got worse. A lot worse. It floated up into my vision like a dark moon

  - the Blade ship of Visser Three. It hovered just a few hundred feet up. I felt my last reserves of courage beginning to fail. Tobias, old buddy, I said to myself, you are not going to get out of this alive. But they just all hovered there. Slowly I began to realize the truth -- they didn't know what to do about me. They couldn't shoot me without hit ting the ship. « Andaliteff» The voice in my head made me reel. I almost took wing out of sheer fright. He had never spoken directly to me before. It was a voice of such absolute power. Such utter confidence. The mere silent sound of it in your head makes you want to obey. Makes you quiver and fear. It is the voice of dread. The voice of de struction. « Andalite. Fool. Do you think I don't know what you are? A true bird would fly away. » Say nothing! I ordered myself. Nothing! If I tried to reply, he might know me for a human. I would not tell him that. I would not give him any thing. I closed my mind. But I could not shut out that dark voice. « Give yourself up, Andalite. I will give you a quick and painless death. As soon as you tell me where the others are. » I had seen what Visser Three did to the Hork- Bajir who displeased him. The memory was fresh in my mind. « Have it your way, Andalite. I am patient. I can wait here for as long as it takes. And then you will die. Quickly by Dracon beam. Or, per- haps, if we can snare you, more slowly here in my Blade ship. Much more slowly. » Just then, I heard another voice in my head. A very different voice. It was faint. As if it were far away. « Tobias? Tobias, can you hear me?» Rachel! « Yes, I can hear yff» « Tobias! We're trapped! The tank is full, but the grate won't open. Cassie and Jake have al ready morphed back to human, but they can't get it open. We're trapped in hereff» « Rachel! I ... What can I do?» « We can't get out,» Rachel cried. « Listen to me, Tobias. We're trapped. There is no way out. This ship will take off soon. They'll find us when they get to the mother ship and unload the water. Tobias? We ... we don't want to be taken alive. » My blood ran cold. My head was whirling. « What are you talking about?» « Listen, Tobias, we can't be taken alive! Do you understand? If there's anything you can do ... anythingff» « Rachel! What can I do? I can't get you out of there!» « I know,» Rachel said. « We all know. But if there's some way to ... if the ship could be destroyed. We know it's probably not possible. I ... just if there was some way -- » « No! No!» « I have to morph to human. We'll tread water here. We have to be ready for when we get to the mother ship. Then we'll morph into other animals and go down fighting. » « This can't be happening,» I cried. « This can't be happening!» « I guess Marco was right all along,» Rachel said sadly. « I guess it always was insane to think we could fight the Yeerks. » « Rachel ... I never told you...» « You didn't have to, Tobias,» she said. « I knew. Good-bye. » She fell silent. In my mind I could picture her regaining her human shape. Treading water with the others, unable to escape. Expecting only the worst. Praying that I might find a way to make their end swift. As Visser Three had offered to make mine. We had lost. The Yeerks had won, finally. And when we were gone, the last hope of the human race would die. Above me the Blade ship waited like . . . like a hawk watching a rabbit. Ready to swoop down and finish me. Only I wasn't a rabbit. Visser Three was a predator? Well, so was

  I. And I no longer had anything to be afraid of. If my friends were to die in the mother ship, I would be lost and alone in a world where I belonged nowhere. I had nothing more to lose. Just then I saw something that should have terrified me. Across the metal plain of the ship they crawled and slithered toward me. All around me. A dozen of them. Giant worms. Centipedes with a hunger for living flesh. Taxxons. They had come from the inside of the ship on Visser Three's orders. If I stayed put, they would catch me. If I flew, the hovering Yeerk ships would fry me. The Taxxons closed the circle around me. « It looks as if you have run out of time,» Visser Three said in my head. He laughed. It was not a nice laugh. Ah, Visser Three, you ruthless predator, I thought. Very clever. You have me trapped. Trapped like a rabbit. But a trapped rabbit is one thing. And a trapped hawk, a hawk with the mind of a human being, is a whole different matter. The nearest Taxxon leveled a hand-held Dra con beam at me. He watched me with two of the circle of red globs they have for eyes. I pushed off with my feet. I beat the air with my wings. I flew straight for those red Jell- O eyes. He raised one of his feeble forearms to shield his eyes. The wrong move! I trimmed a shade right, raked my talons forward and struck like I was hitting a mouse in a field. My talons closed around the Dracon beam. The Taxxon's weak grip was no match for my speed. The Dracon beam tore loose from his grip. « Get him!» Visser Three cried. I could practically see the Blade ship rock from the force of his rage. But I did not take to the air. I flew fast but hugged the surface of the ship's metal curve. They could not hit me without hitting their pre cious ship. I knew just where I wanted to go. Wingtips actually hitting the ship on each downstroke, I raced toward the ship's bridge. Toward the tiny windows where I had seen the Taxxon crew. I could not save my friends, perhaps. But I could try to grant Rachel's last wish. I could try to bring this ship down. Even if it meant the end of my friends. « Take off! Move!» Visser Three commanded the crew of the truck ship. Almost immediately, the huge thing began to move forward. Very slowly at first. But as it moved, it created a headwind. The bridge was moving away from me. The ship was rising as it went. A hundred feet up now. Two hundred! « Ha! Not so easy, Andaliteff» Right then I had a powerful urge to shock the evil monster and say, « Guess what, creep? Not an Andalite at all. The name is Tobiasff» But I wasn't ready to start bragging. The truth was, it was looking bad. The ship was slowly picking up speed. I flapped harder, harder. I gained again. But it was painfully slow, I was wearing out. The Dracon beam weighed me down. The headwind was building. Ahead of me, just a few feet away, I saw the bulge of the bridge. I gained a foot. Another. Another. I landed and folded my wings. I couldn't fly any more. But I could still pull myself along with my talons, gripping the small edges and ridges that ran along the top of the ship's bridge. I was there! Below me, transparent plastic. I could
see the crew on the bridge. Taxxons stared wildly up at me. With one desperate lunge I propelled myself into the air. I had to fly full force to stay ahead of the onrushing windows of the bridge. Then, with one sharp talon, I pulled the trig ger on the Dracon beam. « Fry, you wormsff» There was no recoil. Not like a regular gun at all. But a beam of intense red light lanced from me to the bridge. It burned a hole through the window, sliced through a fat Taxxon, and began slicing up control panels and instruments like a hot knife going through butter. I squeezed that trigger for as long as I could. At last, exhausted, I could do no more. The Dracon beam slipped from my talon and plunged toward the earth below. But I had done it. It was an incredible and terrible thing to see. The ship, big as a skyscraper, vast beyond belief, shuddered as though it had hit a speed bump. Still it rose, sharply upward into the sky, as if it were a whale breaching. It aimed for space, its natural home. But it was clear that it was no longer under control. It rolled suddenly onto its side. BOOM! A ball of orange flame! The out-of-control ship had smashed recklessly into one of the helicopters. The chopper fell in ruins. The Bug fighters and the Blade ship scurried quickly out of the way. But too late. KA-RUNCH! BA-BOOM! One of the Bug fighters had slammed into the side of the ship. The Bug fighter was finished. The Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter withdrew quickly. And then I saw the hole. A tear a hundred feet long had been opened in the side of the truck ship. From the hole, the water of the lake gushed. It was a waterfall from the sky. Millions of gallons hemorrhaging out. « Oh , boy,» I whispered. We were maybe seven hundred feet up over the forest now, when I saw them. Cassie first. Then Rachel and Marco together. And Jake. They fell, fully human, from the torn side of the ship. They plummeted, helpless, doomed, to the uprushing ground! « Nooooff» I knew there was nothing I could do. I knew it