Worst thing possible.
We thought about it for a while, trying to decide what to do. Finally we came up with,
1. Let the Yeerks have their Hork-Bajir.
2. Destroy both the machine and the eggs.
3. Take the eggs to the free Hork-Bajir.
4. Hatch all the Hork-Bajir and take them to the free Hork-Bajir.
We had decided to do number 4, when I heard something coming, through the woods.
"Hide!"
We raced to the other side of the Machine. All the others started morphing, except Ax. I watched them, wonderingly. Each morph was different. I realized they were morphing battle morphs. Jake was a tiger, Cassie a wolf, Marco a gorilla, Rachel a grizzly bear, and Ax was himself. Tobias was a hawk. Tobias flew up and looked at the people coming.
About thirty yards away from where the hologram starts. Four Hork-Bajir, twenty human controllers. All armed with Dracon Beams. Jackie, why haven't you morphed?
I looked around. A bear, a tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, an Andalite, a hawk. What morphs did I have?
Hurry up! They're coming! Tobias said urgently.
I had dog, cat, hamster, owl, parakeet, fly. I chose quickly.
My fingers quickly shrunk into claws. My knees reversed direction. I grew long, black fur.
I felt kind of embarrassed morphing in front of the Animorphs. Especially when they were bears and tigers and I was a…
A dog?! That's all you have?! Jake almost yelled in thought-speech.
But then the Hork-Bajir came crashing into the hologram. Which means that they saw us.
"Andalite! Andalite! Snarf glauresh eggs! Kill!" One of them yelled. Immediately the other Animorphs started attacking. Ax's tail flashed, Jake bit and scratched, Rachel roared, Marco punched.
I whimpered.
Then I saw a man raising a gun, aiming at Marco.
I lunged! I grabbed the gun. I dropped it, then snarled at the man, leaped and bit. I grabbed the gun in my mouth again, raced up the platform, and demorphed. Hidden from the other controllers, I took the Dracon gun, and fired.
TZZZAPPP!
One Hork-Bajir down, just before it cut off Cassie's paw.
TZZZAPPP!
Another Hork-Bajir down!
I quickly took care of the Hork-Bajir. Then, I aimed at the Human controllers. Don't worry, I was a good shot.
TZZZAPPP!
One Dracon Beam Weapon sizzled into nothingness, while being held by a human controller. The human controller stared at his hand, as if he couldn't believe his gun was gone. He wasn't hurt, but he ran away anyway. Fast.
The other controllers ran away too. I ran down the stairs.
"Are you all alright?"
Jackie, behind you!
I whirled.
TZZZAPPP!
I woke up. Everyone was rushing over to me. I must have only been unconscious for a second or two. The Dracon Beam had just knocked me out. I was relieved. Then I glanced at my right arm.
It was gone. My arm was totally gone!
I didn't scream or cry. I just froze.
Morph! Cassie yelled. Morph and when you demorph, it'll be fine!
I concentrated. And morphed the owl.
I demorphed, almost exhausted.
I looked at my hand. It was still there.
I didn't cry. Or laugh. I just stood there.
Then I said, "Are you guys alright?"
They looked at me. And I swear, I swear, that the tiger grinned.
I don't exactly know how thought-speak works, but I guess I was close enough to hear what Jake said privately to Cassie.
That is one courageous kid.
They demorphed.
I noticed the Machine had been damaged during the fight. The control panel had a hole in it from a Dracon Beam.
And then I had another idea.
"Cassie, I need to know if you have…" I whispered the animal's name into her ear.
She looked startled, then she smiled.
"Yeah. I know what you're getting at. Everyone, follow me to the Gardens."
Cassie grew wings, then shrunk.
I started morphing the owl. It was really dark, and the owl's eyes were great.
We all flew to the Gardens, which the others told me was a zoo where Cassie's mom worked.
It's not a zoo! It's a wildlife park.
Meaning a place where animal freaks keep animals locked up but they don't want to call it a zoo. Marco quipped.
The argument went on all the way there. This group was really cool.
We landed in the habitat that I had said to Cassie, then demorphed quickly. I was exhausted from all the morphing, but didn't want to admit it, especially after morphing a dog for battle. Talk about embarrassing. We acquired the animal, then morphed it and flew out. We flew back to the machine. I demorphed. I grabbed a box, threw it open, and grabbed the four eggs.
You have good ideas, Jacqueline. I don't think even Cassie could have thought this up. Marco joked as I loaded eggs into his beak. I mean, even she wouldn't have thought of pelicans.
I loaded each of the Animorphs up with eggs, and sent them to the Hork-Bajir Valley. Then I opened another box. I morphed the pelican once again, grabbed the eggs in my beak, which had more than enough room, and flew off, following the others.
We managed to transport eighty eggs before more controllers showed up. We destroyed the rest, with Cassie begging us not to. We couldn't leave them to the Yeerks, after all. Plus, we had the four eggs I had taken earlier, one of which was about ready to hatch.
About two o'clock in the morning, we landed safely in my room. After demorphing, we congratulated each other, and talked about how much the eggs would help, even if they wouldn't hatch for a long time. Everyone but Jake and Marco left.
"Jackie, good job tonight. This was your first really big mission, and your first battle. Your quick thinking and great shooting helped us a lot."
I smiled. Then I froze.
"Someone's coming. Quickly! Hide! Get in my closet and morph!"
I jumped into bed, and pulled up the covers. Jake and Marco hustled into my closet, just as the door opened.
I closed my eyes.
"She's sound asleep." Someone whispered.
I heard the sound like a jar being opened. Suddenly, someone grabbed my hands and feet.
I remembered what had happened a few nights ago, in room 161. The controllers! They were going to take me!
I started to scream, but a hand was put over my mouth. Then I felt it. A yeerk entering my ear! The pain! Then…
TZZZAPPP!
I felt nothing.
We thought about it for a while, trying to decide what to do. Finally we came up with,
1. Let the Yeerks have their Hork-Bajir.
2. Destroy both the machine and the eggs.
3. Take the eggs to the free Hork-Bajir.
4. Hatch all the Hork-Bajir and take them to the free Hork-Bajir.
We had decided to do number 4, when I heard something coming, through the woods.
"Hide!"
We raced to the other side of the Machine. All the others started morphing, except Ax. I watched them, wonderingly. Each morph was different. I realized they were morphing battle morphs. Jake was a tiger, Cassie a wolf, Marco a gorilla, Rachel a grizzly bear, and Ax was himself. Tobias was a hawk. Tobias flew up and looked at the people coming.
About thirty yards away from where the hologram starts. Four Hork-Bajir, twenty human controllers. All armed with Dracon Beams. Jackie, why haven't you morphed?
I looked around. A bear, a tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, an Andalite, a hawk. What morphs did I have?
Hurry up! They're coming! Tobias said urgently.
I had dog, cat, hamster, owl, parakeet, fly. I chose quickly.
My fingers quickly shrunk into claws. My knees reversed direction. I grew long, black fur.
I felt kind of embarrassed morphing in front of the Animorphs. Especially when they were bears and tigers and I was a…
A dog?! That's all you have?! Jake almost yelled in thought-speech.
But then the Hork-Bajir came crashing into the hologram. Which means that they saw us.
"Andalite! Andalite! Snarf glauresh eggs! Kill!" One of them yelled. Immediately the other Animorphs started attacking. Ax's tail flashed, Jake bit and scratched, Rachel roared, Marco punched.
I whimpered.
Then I saw a man raising a gun, aiming at Marco.
I lunged! I grabbed the gun. I dropped it, then snarled at the man, leaped and bit. I grabbed the gun in my mouth again, raced up the platform, and demorphed. Hidden from the other controllers, I took the Dracon gun, and fired.
TZZZAPPP!
One Hork-Bajir down, just before it cut off Cassie's paw.
TZZZAPPP!
Another Hork-Bajir down!
I quickly took care of the Hork-Bajir. Then, I aimed at the Human controllers. Don't worry, I was a good shot.
TZZZAPPP!
One Dracon Beam Weapon sizzled into nothingness, while being held by a human controller. The human controller stared at his hand, as if he couldn't believe his gun was gone. He wasn't hurt, but he ran away anyway. Fast.
The other controllers ran away too. I ran down the stairs.
"Are you all alright?"
Jackie, behind you!
I whirled.
TZZZAPPP!
I woke up. Everyone was rushing over to me. I must have only been unconscious for a second or two. The Dracon Beam had just knocked me out. I was relieved. Then I glanced at my right arm.
It was gone. My arm was totally gone!
I didn't scream or cry. I just froze.
Morph! Cassie yelled. Morph and when you demorph, it'll be fine!
I concentrated. And morphed the owl.
I demorphed, almost exhausted.
I looked at my hand. It was still there.
I didn't cry. Or laugh. I just stood there.
Then I said, "Are you guys alright?"
They looked at me. And I swear, I swear, that the tiger grinned.
I don't exactly know how thought-speak works, but I guess I was close enough to hear what Jake said privately to Cassie.
That is one courageous kid.
They demorphed.
I noticed the Machine had been damaged during the fight. The control panel had a hole in it from a Dracon Beam.
And then I had another idea.
"Cassie, I need to know if you have…" I whispered the animal's name into her ear.
She looked startled, then she smiled.
"Yeah. I know what you're getting at. Everyone, follow me to the Gardens."
Cassie grew wings, then shrunk.
I started morphing the owl. It was really dark, and the owl's eyes were great.
We all flew to the Gardens, which the others told me was a zoo where Cassie's mom worked.
It's not a zoo! It's a wildlife park.
Meaning a place where animal freaks keep animals locked up but they don't want to call it a zoo. Marco quipped.
The argument went on all the way there. This group was really cool.
We landed in the habitat that I had said to Cassie, then demorphed quickly. I was exhausted from all the morphing, but didn't want to admit it, especially after morphing a dog for battle. Talk about embarrassing. We acquired the animal, then morphed it and flew out. We flew back to the machine. I demorphed. I grabbed a box, threw it open, and grabbed the four eggs.
You have good ideas, Jacqueline. I don't think even Cassie could have thought this up. Marco joked as I loaded eggs into his beak. I mean, even she wouldn't have thought of pelicans.
I loaded each of the Animorphs up with eggs, and sent them to the Hork-Bajir Valley. Then I opened another box. I morphed the pelican once again, grabbed the eggs in my beak, which had more than enough room, and flew off, following the others.
We managed to transport eighty eggs before more controllers showed up. We destroyed the rest, with Cassie begging us not to. We couldn't leave them to the Yeerks, after all. Plus, we had the four eggs I had taken earlier, one of which was about ready to hatch.
About two o'clock in the morning, we landed safely in my room. After demorphing, we congratulated each other, and talked about how much the eggs would help, even if they wouldn't hatch for a long time. Everyone but Jake and Marco left.
"Jackie, good job tonight. This was your first really big mission, and your first battle. Your quick thinking and great shooting helped us a lot."
I smiled. Then I froze.
"Someone's coming. Quickly! Hide! Get in my closet and morph!"
I jumped into bed, and pulled up the covers. Jake and Marco hustled into my closet, just as the door opened.
I closed my eyes.
"She's sound asleep." Someone whispered.
I heard the sound like a jar being opened. Suddenly, someone grabbed my hands and feet.
I remembered what had happened a few nights ago, in room 161. The controllers! They were going to take me!
I started to scream, but a hand was put over my mouth. Then I felt it. A yeerk entering my ear! The pain! Then…
TZZZAPPP!
I felt nothing.