The Experiment

by K. A. Applegate

  «They're not humans anymore,» Marco raged. «They might as well be Controllers. No free will. Slaves!»

  «Now, you listen to me,» Cassie said. «No one, nothing can eliminate free will. Don't be ridiculous. Even with a Yeerk in your head, you have free will. Not the will to do, but the will to think, to believe, to hope or love or whatever.»

  132 «This is worse than Yeerks, Cassie,» Prince Jake argued. «This goes deeper. One hundred percent effectives

  «l do not wish to interrupt. This is a very interesting discussion,» I said. «However, one question does occur to me.»

  «What?» Rachel sighed.

  «lf these humans have no free will, why are they in cages? And, indeed, why are they being held in bio-stasis?»

  A sudden movement. At the far end of the room. A small, older human male wearing spotless white. And holding a Dracon beam.

  "D-d-don't move! I'll sh-sh-sh-sh-sh -"

  «Shoot,» Rachel supplied. «Don't move or you'll shoot.»

  The human nodded. "Get-get-get out of here! Go back out there. You aren't allowed in here!"

  «l don't think we can do that,» Prince Jake said calmly. Then, with a movement so swift and fluid that the human did not have time to blink, Prince Jake lunged and knocked the Dracon beam from the man's hand.

  The weapon skidded away beneath a cage.

  The human reacted strangely.

  He began to cry. He collapsed into the chair before the computer console, placed his face in the palms of his hands, and made sounds of crying.

  133 "He'll kill me! Of course, he was going to kill me, anyway. It was only a matter of time."

  «"He" being Visser Three, I assume?» I said.

  "Of course Visser Three," the man said bitterly. "Who else? This whole project is his idea."

  «But it worked. So why would he kill you?» Rachel asked.

  The man raised his head and rolled his eyes. "It didn't work. I faked the results. We all did. We had no choice! Visser Three kept demanding results, results, results! So we gave him results. Lies! Just a bunch of lies!"

  «0uch,» Marco said. «Swish! Three-pointer for Cassie.»

  «l so totally should have bet you guys some money,» Cassie said smugly.

  "I wanted to tell him. I wanted to say, Look, it can't be done. You don't understand! There's no such thing as a human being without a free will. It's . . . it's . . . idiotic! But he's no scientist, much less a philosopher. You can't separate a sentient creature from free will. They are free wilh Yeerk, Hork-Bajir, human, it doesn't matter. A sentient species has free will like an object has mass. You can't separate them! But Visser Three doesn't listen."

  «Yes, we've noticed that,» Marco said drily. «He's really not a very nice person.»

  134 «ls there another way out of here?» Prince Jake asked.

  "I can't help you. He'll kill me," the man pleaded.

  «You know, I'd probably feel sorry for you, except that guess what? You're scum! You locked these people up! These humans,» Cassie added. «We Andalites don't approve of that kind of behavior! They have families who must be tearing their -»

  "No, no families that we know of. These are all street people. I'm not a fool. I knew we'd have to dispose of them in the end."

  Cassie was at his throat before the human could draw his next breath. She knocked him down on his back, pressed her two front paws down on his shoulders, and bared her teeth, inches from his face.

  «We do not dispose of humans,» Cassie said. «We need a way out of here. Right now. Or we won't leave you to Visser Three. We'll unfreeze these humans and leave you to them.»

  "Just let me escape with you," the man pleaded. "I'd rather die of Kandrona starvation than face Visser Three."

  WHAM!

  WHAM!

  Someone was ramming a very large, very heavy object against the outer door.

  135 «They'll bring up some Dracon beams soon,» Marco warned. «No time!»

  «We are not leaving these people behind,» Cassie said.

  «No. We're not,» Prince Jake agreed. «Ax. Rachel. And me, at the door. Everyone else, bust these people loose.»

  WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

  The door rattled. Bent inward.

  Looking back with my stalk eyes, I saw the caged humans begin to stir. Cassie turned off the bio-stasis. The humans moved around in their cages.

  "Animals! That's a bear!" one man cried.

  "Yeah, well, what's that?" a woman said, pointing at me.

  WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

  «Everyone climb out of the cages. We're getting out of here,» Prince Jake ordered.

  "Says who?" a gnarled old man demanded.

  «Says no one,» Cassie said gently. «Your choice. Stay or go.»

  "Yeah? Well, this shelter is terrible. I'm going back to the Salvation Army," the man said.

  «Hmmm,» Cassie said. «l believe that was a human being exercising free will.»

  «You are going to gloat about this forever, aren't you?» Marco asked her.

  «Yes. I am.»

  136 «0kay, how do we get out of here?» Prince Jake asked the Controller scientist.

  "Follow me."

  We formed a bizarre parade. Cassie and me, with the scientist up front. A dozen shabby, confused, but free humans. And bringing up the rear, tensed and ready for the Yeerks to pour into the room, the rest of my friends.

  «l have a question,» I told the scientist. «A scientific inquiry.»

  "Andalites," he said without any particular anger. "At least your people genuinely appreciate science."

  «The chimpanzees. You said your formula was ineffective because sentience cannot be separated from free will. So I must ask: Did the formula work on the chimpanzees? Are they, in fact, sentient?»

  "The chimpanzees? The formula had no effect. But was it because their will remained unaffected? Or merely because there was no free will to affect? We do not know."

  «l know,» Cassie said.

  137

  "T

  .Ln the annals of stupid, screwed-up, pointless missions that was the stupidest, most pointless of them all," Marco said.

  It was the next day. We were at the mall. In the food court.

  A food court is a sort of temple of exquisite foods. I was there in human morph, naturally. Meaning that I had a mouth. Tobias was also human.

  And soon, very soon, as soon as Rachel came back from standing in the lines, I would have a delicious cinnamon bun.

  "I mean, all this trouble for what? For a Yeerk

  138 plot that was already a total failure. We could have stayed home."

  "We set some chimpanzees free," Cassie said. "And some humans, too, which, Marco, is even better."

  Marco laughed. "Oh come on, you know you're a hopeless tree-hugging animal nut. Come on. You're wearing Birkenstocks right now, aren't you? Confess."

  Rachel came back carrying a tray of foods. Including my delicious, incredible cinnamon bun. She handed various items to my friends.

  Then, at last... the bun!

  I began to eat it, taking care not to eat the paper plate as well, since I have learned that is considered improper.

  "Here's your burger, Marco," Rachel said.

  "Oh! I can't believe this. A burger?" Cassie said. "After Ax was nearly carved up? After being in that slaughterhouse?"

  Marco opened his mouth wide and took a very large bite. He chewed as we all watched. The burger appeared to be juicy, with a great deal of tasty grease.

  Rachel tapped her fingers on the table and stared at Marco with an indecipherable expression. Prince Jake also stared.

  "Be right back," Rachel said and stood up.

  139 "Get me one, too," Prince Jake said. "Extra pickles."

  "Mmmfff!" I said, unable to make proper mouth sounds because of the large wad of unchewed cinnamon bun.

  "I think that makes three," Prince Jake said.

  140

  Marco morphed and took to the air. The rest of us watched Ax sweat and tremble. />
  "The Yeerks have probably figured out how we got in last time," Rachel said. "We need a new way in if we don't want to get ambushed."

  "Maybe it would help if we go over everything we know about the Yeerk pool's security systems," I suggested. "We know there's the Gleet BioFilter, and-"

  «Hunter-killer robots,» Tobias added.

  "It was never exactly easy," Jake said. "But it's harder, now."

  "There has to be a way," Rachel said.

  We went over everything we knew and came up blank. And Ax still trembled.

  I checked my watch. Time was running out. My parents would be home soon. First thing my dad would do was come to the barn.

  141 «Here come Erek and Marco,» Tobias announced at last.

  I glanced out the barn door. Erek and Marco, walking side by side, fast. If you saw Erek you'd think he was just a normal kid. He looks kind of like Jake, actually, only a little shorter.

  But Erek's an android. Part of a race called the Chee. And what you see when you look at him, that's just a hologram. Under the hologram Erek looks a little like a robot dog walking on its hind legs.

  "This is a change," Erek said. "I'm usually the one giving you guys some bad news."

  "You want bad news?" Rachel said. "Ax is no better, and we can't figure out how to get into the Yeerk pool."

  "Do you know anything about Andalite physiology?" I asked Erek.

  He shrugged. Or at least caused his holographic self to shrug. "Nothing."

  "Are any of your people surgeons?" I asked.

  Erek shook his head. "The guy who plays my father? He was a doctor back in fifteenth-century France. He knows nothing useful, trust me."

  "Erek, does the Yeerk pool have toilets?" Marco demanded suddenly.

  "Marco, not the time," Jake muttered.

  142 "Marco," Rachel warned, "Be useful, or be shut up."

  "Come on. It's practically like a city down there," Marco continued. "They must have a place for the human hosts to take a leak or get a drink of water," he insisted.

  "Sinks, toilets. They've got the works, sure," Erek answered.

  The Chee are heavily programmed against violence. But that doesn't mean they don't hate the Yeerks. And they are the best spies you can imagine.

  "That means they have plumbing. Pipes. And that also means we have a way into the Yeerk pool," Marco announced. "We morph into something small, something that can swim. Climb in one of our toilets, have Erek give us a flush, swim a little, and come out in one of the Yeerk sinks or toilets."

  "Oh, yeah, that should work," Rachel said. "What are you, nuts?"

  «The water pressure would be pretty hard to swim against,» Tobias commented.

  Jake lifted his head. "Not if we started from the water tower. Then we'd go with the pressure all the way." He started to sound a little excited. His eyes glittered. "Erek, can you tap into the city water department computers? Combine it with . . ." Jake sighed and wiped his mouth.

  143 "Combine it, with, urn, with all you know about the Yeerk pool and . . . you know . . ."

  "And give you a map? Directions?" Erek nodded. "I can give you directions to any sink or toilet in the place." He pointed at the computer my father and I use to keep records on the animals. "Mind?"

  "There's no modem," I said.

  Erek smiled. "Not necessary. I can be a modem."

  Marco shot a triumphant glance at Rachel. "See? Still think my idea is nuts?" His face darkened. "Wait a minute. It is nuts. What's the matter with me? Am I insane?"

  «Do we have a morph that could work?» Tobias asked.

  "Maybe cockroach," I answered.

  Jake shook his head. "There's a lot of pipe between the water tower and the Yeerk pool. I know they don't need to breathe much, but they do need to breathe eventually."

  Tobias said, «l have an idea. Eels. They have them in tubs behind the bait shop. They're thin. And they're pretty fast, I think. Tasty.»

  When I made a face, he said, «Hey, you think it's easy catching a mouse every day?»

  "Eels? Do it," Jake ordered. A second later, Tobias was gone.

  "Come on, Erek. We'll show you Ax's stall

  144 where we want you to do the hologram," Marco said.

  Ax was asleep. He shuffled his feet in the hay as we crowded around the low stall door, but he didn't wake up. I did a quick temperature check on him.

  Ninety-five point seven. Not much of a drop. Good. He wasn't close to the crisis point yet.

  "I think the best thing is for me to stay in the stall with Ax," Erek said. "I can project a hologram around us both."

  He slipped into the stall and closed the door behind him. A moment later, it was like he and Ax had disappeared. The stall looked completely empty.

  I leaned my head over the stall door. The air shimmered around me, then Erek and Ax appeared.

  "Thanks for doing this, Erek," I said.

  "No prob," he answered.

  "Don't you want a book to read in there?" I asked. "It's going to be boring."

  "I have several thousand books stored in my brain. Sometimes I pass the time by seeing how many I can read and comprehend at the same time."

  "Ooookay. Forget I asked."

  I pulled my head out of the stall. I took a closer look at the hologram protecting Ax and

  145 Erek. No wrinkle or ripple or shadow to make my dad suspicious.

  Unless he tried to go inside.

  He won't, I told myself. He'd be too busy taking care of all the sick animals in cages to go poking around in an empty stall. I hoped.

  "I just had a thought," Marco said.

  "I'll buy you a card to commemorate the moment." Rachel, of course.

  Marco didn't bother with a comeback. "If Ax goes into delirious mode, he could go running into town with underpants on his head or something. Erek won't be able to stop him."

  He was right. The Chee aren't programmed for violence. Any kind of violence.

  I looked at Jake. When stuff like this comes up, we all pretty much look at Jake.

  Jake dropped his head back and closed his eyes for a long moment. Then he made his decision. "We've got to risk it. If something goes wrong at the Yeerk pool, it might take all of us to fight our way out."

  I heard the flap of wings. Something oily slithered down my shoulder, then plopped onto the barn floor.

  «Sorry,» Tobias apologized. «l dropped that thing eight times on the way back. Lost the other one completely.»

  "Hence slippery as an eel," Marco joked. "By

  146 the way, what with this being a crisis and all I'm not even going to mention the sheer, bizarre, utter stupidity of taking a long ride through the city water supply. . . . But, just for the record, this is insane!"

  He picked up the eel and held it for a moment, absorbing its DNA. Then he handed it to Rachel. When she was finished, she handed it to Jake. He held it briefly, focusing, then passed it to me.

  "Did you get it already?" I asked Tobias.

  «Yeah,» he said. «Eels. Why don't I just keep my mouth shut? Slimy little thing. Looks like a Yeerk.»

  I glanced around the group. "I feel like we're missing someone," I said.

  Then it hit me. Really hit me.

  Ax. We'd be doing this mission without Ax.

  147

  Ax

  Visser Four ran. But he was merely a human-Controller. So there was very little chance of him outrunning me. I was still in harrier morph. I swooped through the trees as he ran.

  Rising above the trees I could see the edge of a small village in the trees ahead. If Visser Four made it to the village it would be harder for me to stop him. There would be innocent humans about.

  But as a harrier I could do very little to stop him.

  Decision: Stay with the Visser and be helpless, or stop, demorph, and be able to attack?

  The village, a collection of primitive human dwellings with roofs apparently made of grass, was very close.

  148 First: Keep him from the village.
<
br />   I flapped my wings harder and easily caught up with the running, panting, frightened Yeerk. I turned in mid-air and plunged toward him, talons down and forward.

  He looked up. Dodged to the side. Not fast enough. I felt my left talon catch the side of his head.

  "Aaaahhh!" he cried.

  I swept past and turned to come back after him.

  "Andalite filth!" he screamed. Genuinely screamed. Pure, unfiltered hatred blazing in his blue human eyes.

  He hesitated. I came for him. He broke and ran. But now there were other humans surging around us. A column of men on horses was blundering through the woods seemingly heading around toward the rear of the English lines.

  But there were other humans, too. They were running from the battle. Running toward the village.

  I could not demorph in plain view. The Yeerk must have known this. Now he stopped and put an arrow into the simple bow he used.

  He drew the arrow back and let it fly. My harrier eyes were able to see that it was poorly aimed. It blew past and I did not even need to adjust my flight.

  149 He ran again, and I followed. Suddenly we emerged from the edge of the wood. There was an open space between the forest and the village. There appeared to be some sort of crop planted there. Villagers were calmly harvesting, going about their busy work as though nothing was happening.

  Possibly they were concerned that the battle or fugitives from it might trample the crop.

  These humans barely looked up from their work as soldiers, archers, and knights on horses went running past.

  Certainly they did not notice Visser Four. Or me.

  I swept up to Visser Four and raked his head again, laying the scalp open. He grabbed at me, but missed.

  "I'll kill you!" he raged.

  «Surrender now, we have you surrounded,» I bluffed. But a Yeerk does not rise to Visser rank by being a complete fool. He laughed at my silly threat.

  This was a pointless battle, I knew. In this morph I could injure him but not stop him. If I stopped to morph I could well lose him.

  There were two large structures in the village. One seemed to me to be essentially military. A fort of some sort. The other had a large main building with a tall tower at one end.

  150 It was into this building that Visser Four ran. Through a tall door.

  The door had been opened. He slammed it behind him. I flared my wings and pulled up, inches from smashing into the heavy-timbered door.