My father spoke up, and all doubt that had previously been in my mind evaporated. "I suspect my host's son may have been in contact with the Andalite. We will have to make him one of us or kill him by the end of this day."


It couldn't be possible. My dad couldn't be a Controller.

The man who'd taught me how to ride a bike, and comforted me when I fell off and scraped my knee.

The man who bought me a shotgun for my birthday, and taken me out hunting right after.

How much of that had been a cold, calculating Yeerk planning to kill me or make me like him.

I tried thinking back. When had Dad joined the Sharing?

But it didn't matter all that much.

All I knew was that my father was a Controller and he wanted me dead.

I let the cat take over.

That was a mistake.

The cat saw the humans, and it thought they would be fun to chase.

I felt myself being lifted up. The human part of me recognized my father's face.

I panicked. I tried to escape his grip.

"It's all right, little human."

I had a plan. Even though I'm not exactly the religious type, I prayed that this would work.

It didn't.

[I am an Andalite warrior.]

"Aha! I would recognize that thought-speak voice anywhere! Do you really think my host wouldn't recognize his own son's voice?"

I had nothing to lose, so I did the first thing on my mind. I demorphed.

Eventually, my father—no, the Yeerk in my father's head—dropped me.

He pulled out what Elfangor's memories told me was a Yeerk Dracon beam.

He fired it at me, and everything went black.


When I woke up, I was in the Sharing building.

"Ah, good. You are awake." said the Yeerk in a twisted imitation of my father's voice. I mean, the sound was normal, but I'd never known my dad to have that much hatred in his voice. "It appears we have captured a morph-capable human. Now, tell me, how many of you are there?"

"Now why the hell would I ever tell you that."

My dad's Yeerk laughed humorlessly. "It might save you the trouble. Your assigned Yeerk, Jarlin 948 of the Culat Hesh pool does not take kindly to rebelious hosts. He will use any excuse possible to break you into submission. On the other hand, if you tell me what I need to know, Jarlin might not torture you to get it."

"I don't care about what you idiot Yeerks think."

"Well we are certainly smarter than you humans."

"Nope. Do you realize what we are capable of? Humans have fought other humans. We built weapons. We even landed on our own moon. You Yeerks may think yourselves the high and mighty Galactic Empire type villains, but the humans will fight back."

"Sure, David." Dad's Yeerk said. "Now come with me, and meet your new friend. Jarlin is getting quite lonely. He desperately wants a roommate, and you just happen to be not only his roommate, but also his house."

My dad signaled to a couple of big bladed things that my brain told me were Hork-Bajir. I'd have to thank Elfangor for his useful information when I got out of this.

I had a plan.

I concentrated on the Hork-Bajir holding my left arm, and I began to acquire his DNA. The Hork-Bajir went still for a minute, but he snapped out of it when, simultaneously, I finished acquiring him, and his partner jabbed him with one of his wrist blades, and said in a harsh, guttural voice, "Halah naa keep moving. Nerfshin fgil on no gafrash."

I suddenly began to morph Hork-Bajir. In our meeting, back before Nate quit, we had discovered that we could only morph skin-tight clothes. So we were to have designated morphing outfits that we would wear under our regular clothes. But when the blades came out, and poked holes in my shirt, I realized we might have to replace clothes.

Then I was a Hork-Bajir. I couldn't help but notice the Hork-Bajir's instincts. All it wanted to do was climb a tree and strip bark.

But my human mind took over. I slashed one Hork-Bajir's throat, and the other one's chest.

I looked at the Hork-Bajir I had acquired, and said sarcastically, [Thanks for letting me use your DNA.]

To the Yeerk in my father, I asked, [What's your name, Yeerk?]

"Why do you ask?"

[I'd like to know the name of the thing controlling my father.]

"I am Iniss 225 of the Sulp Niar pool."

I would remember that name. Someday, I would kill Iniss 225.

[And my mother?]

"Lanilin 731 of the hetch Glykron pool."

That was another name added to my Yeerk kill list, along with Iniss 225 and Esplin 9466.

I ran from the Yeerk pool.


I frantically knocked on Tracy's door.

Her dad had let me in the house when I had said I wanted to speak to Tracy. I had almost blurted out without thinking that the Yeerks were after me, and I needed to assemble the other Morphalites, as Nate had called us.

I kept myself from saying that.

Tracy opened the door.

I told her my problem.

We went into the woods where Elfangor had set up camp, and surprisingly, Nate was there, chatting cordially with our Andalite friend.

"Nate?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's me. I figured that Jack, my older brother, would have wanted me to stand up against the evil that is threatening our planet. so I figured I would come talk to Elfangor here about joining up. I want to get back on the team. I want to keep being a Morphalite."

"That's all good, but my parents are Controllers. Iniss 225 of the Sulp Niar pool. And Lanilin 731 of the Hetch Glykron pool. And they are looking for me."

[Lanilin 731?] Elfangor asked. [She was a Yeerk who captured me. She was in a human host who's name I believe was Isabel Parker. She was going to bring me to Visser Three, but she let me go, and when I asked, she said that not all Yeerks believed in the Empire's propaganda. Then she gave me a Bug fighter. I was able to safely return to our base, and after the routine Yeerk check I was determined safe and our mission was ruled a success.]

I guess that in all that Elfangor said, you heard my last name. The Yeerks know who I am, so I can confirm that my name is David Parker.


Apparently Elfangor had acquired a morph mix of a bunch of adult humans, since he was after all an adult Andalite.

Apparently, he had taken the name Alan Fangor. He had "necessarily borrowed" some money and had bought a house.

Elfangor taught me how to do a frolis maneuver to make a new human morph. I morphed a human that looked something like Elfangor's human morph. I was to be called Damien Fangor.

I was registered in the same school, and I now lived with Elfangor.

I had two goals. One was to meet up with Lanilin and my mother, who according to Elfangor, might actually help us. My other goal was to fight the Yeerks.


Author's Note: This is actually not the end of the first book. I'm still going to write about their meeting with Lanilin, David/Damien adjusting to his new life with an alien, their trip to the Gardens to acquire morphs, a battle with Visser Three, where Elfangor realizes the truth of what happened to Alloran, and I'm also going to have a little surprise. There is going to be a character from the books who plays a role in this other than David and Elfangor. Can anyone in the reviews guess who it is?

Until next time.