Esplin sighed as he came upon the newly constructed ground-based Yeerk pool. His information-gathering efforts among the uninfested Hork-Bajir had been unarguably successful—apparently they did not understand the concept of a suspicious question—but so far he hadn't been able actually find Aldrea the Andalite. Or even her Hork-Bajir companion, Dak Hamee.

"There he is! There's Esplin!"

Esplin's head whirled around. A Hork-Bajir he knew as Alahar 7865 was yelling and gesturing toward him.

Then a second Hork-Bajir he didn't recognize ran up.

"Well there you are," said this newcomer. "I've been trying to find you for a while. They told me you were out searching for the rogue Andalite." He smiled. "It's good to see you again, my brother. Well, technically this is the first time I've actually seen you. But you know what I mean."

"By the Kandrona itself!" Esplin exclaimed. "You got your own host, brother! How did this come about?"

"Honestly?" Esplin the secondary grinned. "You know how you were always spending so much time at the computer, back when we were all still in the pool? Well, I started wondering if it held anything that would interest me."

"And?"

"Turns out it does. Turns out I really like exploring and manipulating the computer software itself." He leaned in conspiratorially. "Don't tell anyone, but I even figured out how to modify the records in our own databases."

Esplin looked at him sharply. "Like how?"

"Well … that's how I got this host," his twin said, grinning again. "And Hekliss and Tarak as well. I moved all of us up on the waiting list."

"I thought you all didn't want hosts!" Esplin exclaimed.

"It's boring in the pool without you," came the matter-of-fact reply. "Come on. Hekliss is here at the pool, although Tarak isn't—he's out on an infestation raid."


They found Hekliss over on the other side of the pool.

And she was not alone.

"Hekliss!" cried Esplin secondary, interrupting her conversation with Korliss 7764. "What in the name of the Kandrona are you doing talking to him?"

Korliss opened his mouth to say something, but Hekliss shot him a quelling look. "Korliss and I have to work together. We've both been assigned to work in the mines later this evening. So I have to try to be civil. That means don't start anything," she warned.

"Well, you're no fun," Esplin complained.

Hekliss narrowed her eyes. "Is that you, Esplin primary?" She turned to his twin. "You found him?"

"Of course it's me," Esplin said impatiently. "I have to say, Hekliss, if this Yeerk's intelligence is anywhere near the level of his friend Carger's … well, just take care to not get caught in a collapsing mineshaft or anything."

Korliss eyed him coldly. "Carger was no idiot, and neither am I."

"Carger is the reason we still have an Andalite on the loose," Esplin retorted. "I told him to wait to destroy the Andalites' scoop until all four of them were present. He didn't listen. He ended up chasing the Andalite into the blue mist and dying there all because he was an arrogant fool. You had better be smarter than he was—I don't need anyone's stupidity getting my sister killed."

"Esplin, it's mining, not deep space battle—" Hekliss began exasperatedly.

Korliss gave a frozen, uncertain smile. "If what I have heard is true, the only reason you didn't also go into the mists is because you were injured," he said. "You did not die with Carger due to pure chance only. Or due to your own ineptness in battle. Pick one."

"I'll show you who's inept in battle—"

"Stand down, brother," Esplin secondary said. "Don't waste your blades on this fool."

The primary twin lowered his arms. "You're right. It would be a waste of a host body. Not that Korliss isn't already a waste of a host body," he said, earning a laugh from his brother.

"Didn't I say not to start anything?" Hekliss snapped. "Both of you apparently have trouble listening." To Korliss, she said, "Ignore my brothers. They must have spent too much time in the high places of the valley—they are evidently oxygen-deprived."

"Whose side are you on?" Esplin primary demanded.

"Oh really?" Korliss said to Hekliss. "I believe this behavior is quite usual for them."

"Okay, you're right. It is. Now STOP." Hekliss glared at the twins. "It is important to me that our work at the mines go smoothly, without unnecessary tension. If you're not going to help me achieve that end, you can leave."

"Sorry, Hekliss," Esplin secondary apologized.

"Do not worry," Korliss said to Hekliss. "I shall ignore the fact that you share genetic material with these two clowns, as long as you are sufficiently productive tonight."

"Just because I'm defending you doesn't mean you can patronize me," Hekliss shot back. "You are not in charge of the mining operation. We are both mere laborers. Don't pretend otherwise."

Korliss glared at her and stalked off.

Hekliss rubbed her temples with her index fingers. "I'm serious, you two. I've only had this host for half a day and I'm still getting used to it. The last thing I need is Korliss causing me distress while I'm trying to work with unfamiliar machinery in a strange environment with this strange body."

"I still think I could have easily taken him in a fight," Esplin said. "He's never even been in combat. I would have made him eat his words."

"Because you fought the Andalite?" Esplin secondary wanted to know.

"Yes. Her and her Hork-Bajir friend. The one who paralyzed my previous host." Esplin sighed. "At least that experience taught me something useful: although Hork-Bajir have very hardy constitutions overall, their spines are weak points. Knowing that, I could have dispatched Korliss pretty quickly."

"I see. Did you learn any other effective techniques?"

"Well, by slashing at the air in front of them with your wrist blades, you can drive your enemy back into a compromised position—"

A sudden scream pierced the deepening twilight.

"Aaarrrgghh!"

Wide-eyed, both twins peered into the shadows.

"Aaahhh! Help! Help!"

Esplin primary gripped the shredder he was carrying as a horde of terrified Hork-Bajir- and Gedd-Controllers came tearing out of the shadows.

And behind them …

Impossible.

Monsters. Monsters his host knew by their verbal descriptions, from the stories that had been passed down through generations, though he had never actually laid eyes on them until now. A Jubba-Jubba, the creature that had been rumored to have killed Carger in the valley of the mists. A Lerdethak. A Galilash.

They approached, slowly but steadily, and in front of them, leading the advance, was Aldrea the Andalite.

Esplin's breath caught sharply.

She was responsible for this. The monsters, with intellect as limited as that of the Hork-Bajir, maybe even more so, would never have left their mist-laden home—but this cunning Andalite had apparently figured out how to bend them to her will, to assemble them as an army against Esplin's people.

So amazing.

So terrifying.

The motley crowd had stopped momentarily. For a moment the scene seemed to simply hang there, frozen in time.

"Are you ready?" asked a Hork-Bajir next to Aldrea, presumably Dak Hamee.

She gave him a silent affirmation.

"Kill," said Dak Hamee calmly.

And then everything dissolved into chaos.


Shredders fired!

Teeth and claws tore into Hork-Bajir and Gedd flesh!

Esplin whirled, aimed, fired, always trying to keep his distance from the monsters, because even all his blades would not save him if one of those freaks got close enough.

A blur of purple flashed past him.

Aldrea!

Esplin turned. Raced after her.

She was tearing toward the fighter parked past the end of the pool. No Controllers were guarding it, Esplin noticed—they'd run off to join the battle. Fools. But their foolishness served his purpose, for he did not want anyone interfering with his secret objective.

Aldrea had disappeared inside the fighter. Esplin reached the hatch a few short seconds afterward. There she was, evidently accessing the communications panel.

And in that instant she saw him—for with their ever-roaming stalk eyes, Andalites were nigh impossible to sneak up on. But Esplin was ready for her. He knocked aside her flying tail blade with his own wrist blade, then backhanded her face.

Aldrea collapsed.

"I don't think I can allow you to call for help, Aldrea, daughter of Seerow," he said with a smile, holding her body down with one talon. For he knew Andalite physiology. He knew just how much pressure to apply in order to render her immobile without injuring her, all the while staying well out of reach of her deadly tail. "Computer. Terminate communication."

‹Communication terminated.›

"You've caused a lot of trouble, Andalite," Esplin remarked. "Your friends are busily butchering my people out there."

‹Go ahead. You want to kill me. Go ahead!›

He smiled again. Such a wondrously brave creature—and very shortly now, she would be all his, to own, to use, to be. "Kill you? No, no, no. Not me. I don't want to kill you. I want to make you my host. I will be the first Andalite-Controller ever. I will have complete access to your every secret, to all the scientific and technical knowledge you possess," he boasted eagerly. "See, I've studied you Andalites. I admire you."

He very nearly turned back to the control panel right then, but a dangerous look in Aldrea's eyes gave him pause. So, just to be safe, he aimed a kick directly at her diaphragm.

She groaned in thought-speak.

"Terribly sorry, but I need you to stay put," Esplin told her smugly. "I'm going to power up this fighter and use its shredders to cut down your little army of DNA mistakes."

The fighter hummed to life. Esplin activated its thrusters, barely able to conceal his excitement. He had her! He was about to become the very first Andalite-Controller! And now he would single-handedly be responsible for ending the battle on the ground! Surely they would skip making him a sub-visser entirely and promote him directly to visser!

The fighter rose up above the tree line as he brought it around to the scene of the battle, taking aim—

A movement out of the corner of his eye.

Wrong!

All wrong for an Andalite!

"Aaahhh!" Esplin cried, leaping backward.

For what had been Aldrea was now a growing, shifting mass, the Andalite features melting into—

Into the features of a Jubba-Jubba!

‹I don't guess you Yeerks know about this bit of new technology yet.›

They had said a Jubba-Jubba had killed Carger.

They said it had lifted him up into the air …

… closed its mouth around his Hork-Bajir head …

… and torn the head clean off.

"What are you doing?" Esplin demanded, trying to stand his ground, trying to disguise the raw terror he felt in his bones.

The Jubba-Jubba strode toward him.

Its enormous clawed hand gripped his neck.

‹What am I doing? Destroying you, Yeerk. This is for my brother. For my mother. And for my father.

Nooooo! Esplin tried to scream, but the monster's strangling grasp cut the sound off at his throat. He looked pleadingly up into the Jubba-Jubba's merciless face, but saw no trace of Aldrea the Andalite, only the beast's cruel savagery.

And then the grayness closed in on his field of vision, and he saw no more.