Applegate, K A - Animorphs 18 - The Decision Read online

  THE DECISION

  CHAPTER 1

  My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth- Isthill. I don't know if my fellow Andalites will ever recognize that name. I guess some of the story I'm about to tell will appear in the scientific journals. I mean, the accident that occurred to me has certainly rewritten the science of Zero-space mass extrusion during morphing. But I doubt that my real name will be used. I doubt that the whole truth will be told. And I guess that's a good thing. You see, there are traitors among us. Yes, traitors among our fellow Andalites. Andalites working for the Yeerks. I am the only living Andalite witness to the Ascalin incident. Only I--and my human friends, Prince Jake, Cassie, Tobias, Rachel, and Marco--know what truly happened aboard that ship on war-torn planet Leera. And even though I know what happened, I will never know why it happened. I know it seems impossible even to conceive of Andalites as traitors. I know the very idea makes any decent Andalite sick inside. But I am telling the truth. The Ascalin incident happened. We were betrayed by one of our own. My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth- Isthill, brother of Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul. And I swear by his memory that everything I say here is true. I am the only Andalite presently located on planet Earth. Don't bother looking Earth up on any of the databases. You won't find much information. The truth is, we lost a Dome ship in orbit above this planet. The Yeerks destroyed it. We lost my brother, Prince Elfangor, in that battle, too. But before he died, Elfangor broke our law and gave the secret Andalite morphing power to five human youths. The Yeerks are after this planet now. They are invading Earth in their usual style. The Yeerk parasite slugs have an easy time entering human heads, wrapping themselves around human brains. Enslaving humans as they did the Hork-Bajir and the Gedds. As they hope someday to do to us. I live among these humans now. With the group of young humans who were given the morphing power by Elfangor. They call themselves Animorphs. They resist the Yeerk invasion of Earth. All alone, as far as we know. I live with humans. I respect them. But my hearts are still Andalite. No matter what anyone ever says about me and about what happened on Leera, I am true to my own people. And yet there are times when I wonder: Who are my own people? My race, my species? My family? My friends? My allies? My human friends insist on reducing my name to "Ax." You see, humans communicate by making mouth-sounds. (most Andalites understand the concept of a "mouth," I believe.) And although my full name is easily pronounced in Andalite thought-speak, it is somewhat long and complex for primitive human mouth-sounds. I am alone on this planet. The only one of my species. The only Andalite among all the humans. So I have used the morphing technology to create a human morph. And sometimes, for two hours at a time, I become human and pass among humans as one of them. I am very good at passing for human, if I say so myself. I have learned the customs and habits perfectly so that I seem entirely normal. That's how I am able to pass even in the most human of places. For example, the mall. Which is a place full of shops, most of which sell artificial skin and artificial hooves. Technically known as "clothing" and "shoes." The mall also houses the most wonderful eating places. You see, in addition to making sounds with their mouths, humans use them to eat. They place foods into the mouth opening and grind the foods with teeth while adding saliva. This involves a sense called "taste." Taste is very, very powerful. Oh, yes. I was wearing artificial skin and artificial hooves like a human. I approached the counter of my very favorite eating place. "Hello," I said, making mouth-sounds with my human mouth. "I will work for money. Muh-nee. Mnee." I should explain: Money is a sort of abstract human concept. You give amounts of money to various people in society and they in turn give you useful items. "Do you want to order something?" the human said to me. "I require money so that I may exchange it for the delicious cinnamon buns," I explained. The human blinked his eyes. "So ... you do want to order, or you don't?" Obviously this was a less-intelligent human. "I wish to perform labor, lay-ber, lay-burrr, and to have you give me money. Then I wish to use that money to acquire delicious cinnamon buns. Bun-zuh." "I'll get the manager." "Bun-zuh," I said. I find the z sound especially enjoyable. It tickles the mouthparts. Many sounds are amusing. The manager came and I explained my request to her. "Well, I can't give you a job," she said. "I think you're under age. But I guess if you're hungry I could have you clear some of those tables and give you some food." This was acceptable to me. "Poor kid," she said to the other human as I turned away. "A little off in the head, maybe. But a good-looking boy." I soon discovered what she meant by clearing tables. In this part of the mall there are many tables, surrounded by eating places. The tables were littered with delicious things! On the first table I found thin, crisp, salty-greasy triangles covered with a bright yellow secretion. I ate them and they were very good. On the next table were liquids. I drank them. One was hot, one was cold. Along with the liquids was a square of crumpled paper. Smeared inside the paper was a reddish, semiliquid product. I licked it. It was fine, but not wonderful. Then at last, I saw what I wanted. Two large, steaming hot, glistening cinnamon buns. Two humans were sitting very near the cinnamon buns. They were going to eat my buns! I raced over as quickly as my wobbly human legs could go. "I am clearing these tables!" I cried. The humans looked at me. "We haven't even eaten yet." "Good," I said, relieved. I grabbed the two cinnamon buns and carried them away. "Hey! Hey, stop!" I began to shove the first bun into my mouth. Oh, the joy! Oh, how can I even explain to an Andalite who has never possessed the sense of taste? The sensation! It was a pleasure beyond any pleasure imaginable. The warmth, the dripping, sweet goo of the cinnamon bun! "What are you doing?" the manager cried as she came running over. "I amm glearing khe khables," I said. It is very difficult to speak while eating. Just one of the many design flaws in humans. "I am terribly sorry," the manager said to the humans who were trying to take my cinnamon buns. "I'll get you two fresh buns. And you," she said, pointing one of her powerful-yet- stubby human fingers at me, "come with me." She pulled me away, causing me to drop a small portion of the bun from my mouth. She took me into the eating place and made me sit on a chair. This involves bending the two legs and resting the weight of the body on a raised platform by pressing the fatty pads at the top of the legs against the platform. It's hard to visualize unless you've seen it. "Okay, now look, son, if you're that desperate for food, there's a tray of buns here that are just a bit stale. You can help yourself. You poor kid." She indicated a square array of cinnamon buns. Perhaps a dozen in all! "For me?" I asked in a voice choked with emotion. "Sure, son. Go ahead and have one." Let me make one final point here: human mouth-sound language is very fuzzy at times. "Have one," she'd said. One mouthful? One bun? One tray? It was certainly not my fault if there was any confusion.

  CHAPTER 2

  "So there I am," Marco said. "Cruising through the food court, minding my own business, thinking, Hey, why not snag a taco? when I notice the paramedics and this crowd all gathered around the Cinnabon." Marco is one of my human friends. He is shorter than some humans of his age. He has dark hair and dark eyes and likes to make jokes. Jokes are humor. Humor is more common among humans than among Andalites. I think they have to resort to humor. It helps them deal with the embarrassment of being so wobbly on their two ridiculous legs. "And I swear, it was like this sudden, psychic feeling. I knew, I mean, I knew somehow the Ax-man was involved. So I go over and ask someone in the crowd what's happening. And she says--" "She?" Rachel interrupted. "Let me guess. Some good-looking girl who normally would never even talk to you? But you figured since there's a medical emergency that would be a good time to hit on her?" "Exactly," Marco said. Rachel is a female. She has gold hair and blue eyes. She is tall for her age. "Anyway, she tells me, "Some kid went crazy an
d ate an entire pan of cinnamon buns." Now, who, I ask you all, who do we know who would eat an entire pan of cinnamon buns?" Marco, Rachel, and the others--Prince Jake, Cassie, and Tobias--all looked at me and stretched their mouths horizontally to make grins. All except Tobias, who is a nothlit: a person trapped in morph. He is a hawk and has no lips. I felt I had to say something. 8I was not aware of the precise specifications for human stomachs,"; I explained. 8It seems there is some sort of limit on the quantity that may be consumed. Passing that limit caused an unpleasant sensation in the stomach area. It also caused me to become dizzy."; "The sugar rush of all time," Cassie said. Cassie is no taller than Marco. She has dark hair and eyes. Cassie is very interested in animals. By "animals," humans mean all animals aside from themselves. I was out of my human morph and back in my own body. We were in the forest that begins at the edge of Cassie's farm. This is where I live. Tobias and me both. He eats mice, mostly in the morning. I leave the forest at night and go running across the fields, absorbing grass through my hooves, the way any sensible creature should. We were waiting there in the woods for the arrival of a strange ally: Erek, the Chee. The Chee are a race of androids. They were created by a now-dead race called Pemalites. The Chee and the last remaining Pemalites came to Earth thousands of years ago. They were escaping the devastation of their home world. The Pemalites did not survive. Their principled, non-violent, but shockingly powerful androids did. Prince Jake looked at his watch. Humans are always lost in time. They are constantly certain that "x" is later or earlier than they thought. I have never known a human to say, "Oh, look, it's exactly what time I thought it was." Prince Jake said, "I was about to mention that Erek was late, but I guess it's still earlier than I thought it was." You see what I mean. 8He's coming now,"; Tobias said. 8He can move very quietly when he wants to. But I can see him from up here."; Hawks have excellent hearing and really extraordinary powers of sight. But still, they can only look in one direction at a time, just like humans. Erek approached--exactly on time, of course. He appears to be a normal human boy. But of course that is merely a very advanced holographic illusion. Beneath the hologram is an android of gray and white metals, somewhat resembling an Earth dog walking on two legs. The Chee are incapable of violence. A prohibition against violence is written into their programming. Yet with our help, Erek was once able to disable that programming. He saved our lives in a terrible battle. But he chose then to surrender the power to do violence. However, even though they cannot do battle, the Chee have managed to infiltrate the Yeerk organization on Earth. And from time to time Erek brings us useful information. "Hi everyone," Erek said. "Hey, Erek," Marco said. "What's up?" Erek shrugged, exactly like any other young human of his apparent age. "Not much. Just something strange. Something that doesn't make sense. At least not as far as we can see." Prince Jake nodded. He looked up at Tobias. "Are we clear?" Tobias dropped from the branch he was on, flapped his wings, and soared above the treetops out of sight. "Sorry," Prince Jake said to Erek. "I want to be sure we're safe." Erek made an amused grin. "Do you think I came alone? Three of my people are spread out around us, keeping watch. Tobias will never spot them, not even with his eyes." "Oh? Want to put some money on that?" Prince Jake asked. Tobias flew back and landed on the same branch. He began to calmly preen his feathers. 8All clear."; "You didn't see anything at all?" Prince Jake asked, sounding disappointed. 8Well, I saw two Chee projecting tree holograms, and another one trying to pass himself off as a rock, but nothing to worry about."; The humans and Erek all laughed. 8I know these woods,"; Tobias said smugly. 8ally think you can just park some big old holographic willow tree where it doesn't belong and I won't notice? Puh-leeze."; Erek did a sort of bow toward Tobias. "Remind me never to underestimate you, brother hawk." Then, suddenly serious, he told us what he'd come to say. "The second-ranking guy in the Secret Service, a man named Hewlett Aldershot the Third, is in a hospital in a coma. He was hit by a car while walking across the street. We don't know why he's here in this area. But we do know this: No one even knows he's in the hospital." "His family doesn't know?" Cassie said. "No. No one. Not his family, not his boss, Jane Carnegie. No one. The hospital is heavily infiltrated by Yeerks. Half the staff are human-Controllers. His name isn't even in the hospital computers. And, oh, by the way, the car that hit him? A minivan belonging to none other than our friend Chapman." Prince Jake nodded. He is the leader of the Animorphs. I consider him to be my prince. As an aristh, I require someone to be my prince. "Well, well," Prince Jake said. "I guess we'd better check it out."

  CHAPTER 3

  8I have a question,"; Marco said. 8If you already have a Hewlett Aldershot and a Hewlett Aldershot, Jr., what kind of parent is going to go and inflict that name on a third kid? He must have gotten beat up after school every single day of his life."; It was the next day. Marco, Rachel, and I were on the ledge of a third-story window. We were in seagull morph. According to my human friends, seagulls are like pigeons. They can go anywhere without looking suspicious. I am sure they are right. Although I have no idea what a pigeon is. Nor can I imagine what a "suspicious" bird might be. 8I'm just saying for all we know, Chapman just ran this guy down because he couldn't stand that name."; Rachel sighed. 8Why does Jake make me go on missions with you, Marco?"; 8What, I shouldn't talk? I shouldn't make conversation? We've been hanging around on this stupid ledge for an hour and a half. Me, you, and Ax."; 8Just an hour and a half?"; Rachel said. 8Funny, it seems so much longer. The time when you're talking just drags on and on and on, Marco. On and on and on and--"; 8Very funny."; 8Actually, it has only been one of your hours and eighteen minutes,"; I said helpfully. 8One of our hours,"; Marco said. 8ally know, they really are your hours now, too. This is Earth. You're stuck here. Go ahead and set your watch to local time."; Marco was bored. We all were. But Marco gets snappish when he's bored. We were on the sill outside the private hospital room of Hewlett Aldershot the Third. This was our second shift on the windowsill. We'd done a shift earlier in the morning, waiting for close to the two-hour limit. Then Prince Jake and Cassie had taken a turn, then it was back to us. 8This is so totally not what I want to be doing on a beautiful Saturday with major sales on at Express and Old Navy,"; Rachel complained. 8It's my turn to go fly around. Be right back."; She flapped away, leaving me and Marco. We fluttered our wings a little and jerked our heads and marched back and forth on the stone sill. We were trying to act like seagulls. That's why Rachel had to fly off. It was the right thing for a seagull to do. 8Is there something unusual about the name Hewlett Alder--look!"; I said, interrupting myself. 8A new human is entering the room. And I believe he is familiar."; 8Rachel!"; Marco yelled in thought-speak. 8Go find Jake and Cassie and Tobias. We have company!"; 8Who?"; 8Visser Three in his human morph,"; I said. 8The Abomination!"; Seagulls have eyes on the sides of their heads. So I turned one eye to stare in through the window. Yes, it was him. Visser Three, leader of the invasion of Earth. Visser Three is, of course, the only Yeerk ever to successfully seize and infest an Andalite body. When he took that body, he also got the Andalite morphing power that went with it. So only Visser Three, among all the Yeerks in the universe, has the power to morph. I felt the slow rage I always feel on seeing the foul creature, my brother's murderer. Once I came close to avenging my brother. Once I almost destroyed Visser Three. But in the end, I failed, and he still lives. The next time there will be no mistakes. 8Whoa. Visser Three, and in human morph,"; Marco said nervously. 8Definitely something major going on."; Two human doctors came into the room. They spoke to the Visser. They spoke respectfully. Fearfully. Shaking. I could not hear them through the glass, but clearly they knew who and what Visser Three was. Visser Three began to demorph. To return to Andalite form. From the human head, the twin stalk eyes appeared. From the human chest, the front two legs began to grow. From the base of the human spine, the long, swift, dangerous Andalite tail began to extend. To my left, a swift flash of brown and tan with a hint of red. Tobias, swooping past. I kept my other eye focused through the glass. The
blue and tan fur rippled across the formerly human skin. Visser Three was on four legs now, tail cocked and ready. 8He is very sure he's safe in this place,"; I said. 8Otherwise he would never demorph like this."; 8The doctors aren't too happy, though,"; Marco observed. The doctors were shaking. Obviously, something was wrong. Then in a flash, Visser Three pressed his tail blade against one doctor's throat. One twitch would send the doctor's head rolling across the floor. Now that he was back in his Andalite body, we could hear Visser Three's unguarded thought-speak. 8I gave orders that this human be cured!"; he raged. 8There is no point placing one of our people in his head if he's unable to move."; The doctor said something. Something very respectful, very careful. 8I don't care about his brain stem, I want him repaired! Do you have any idea how useful this human would be to us? He is the number two man in the organization that guards their president. He would have access to half the secrets on this planet. That's why I arranged for him to be injured and brought here."; Prince Jake and Cassie flew by, both in seagull morph. 8What's up?"; Prince Jake asked. 8Visser Three, Prince Jake."; 8Don't call me "prince." Yeah, I hear his thought-speak. I meant, what do you see?"; 8The Visser is busy terrorizing a pair of human-Controller doctors,"; I said. Just then, Visser Three withdrew his tail blade. The doctor collapsed and fell to his knees on the floor. His fellow doctor looked at him with pity, but made no move to help him. 8ally leave me with no choice: If I can't use this creature as a host, I'll have to acquire him and morph him. I can't spend all my time in his form. I can't live his life. But using him, I can get close to his superior. I can use this morph to seize her instead!"; The doctor who was still standing spoke. He smiled. He looked encouraging and enthusiastic. The Visser flicked his tail, hit the doctor with the flat of the blade, and knocked him across the room. 8Don't tell me "It's all worked out for the best,""; Visser Three sneered. 8I still want this human repaired. That's the only reason I let you live. Three days from now this human will be well, or the two of you will be very, very ... very ... sick."; Then one stalk eye turned to stare directly at me. The second stalk eye followed. And I began to have a very bad feeling.