Chapter 1
My name is Tobias.
I live in a territory, with a hundred miles of meadow this way, two hundred that, and a patch of national forest that backs up to the mountains. Terriotries of five Andalites, one wolf pack, and other countless animals. But no red-tail hawks.
Besides me.
I was up on a favorite perch of mine, a sturdy branch within a dying elm tree. It was a little past sunrise, and I needed breakfast. A sweet, plump mouse in the meadow, just poking out of its hole, was about to chew on a seed.
Good enough.
I opened my wings,and fell on a current that allowed me to glide over. The mouse caught sight, and tried to run.
Too slow.
I raked my talons forward, and another breakfast is earned.
After I ate, I flew over the forest . scanning for an old friend and four new ones. We had just found out the Ellimist sent four Andalites from the battle to Earth to help us.
Leave it to him to pull that one.
I found them. They almost looked like a herd of blue deer. Until you get closer and see the centaur body. And that tail. And the face. It looks normal, except for the fact there's no mouth, and the flexible stalk eyes on the top of the head. I landed in a nearby branch. There was Ax, Rae, Jekkal, Tashe, and Casten. Jekkal has the talent for morphing, just like Cassie.
Hey, Ax-man. How are the others?
They are getting along nicely. Had breakfast?
Yep. See you later.
I flew off into the meadow. I was hoping to catch Cassie on the way to the barn. Her dad runs the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Takes care of the forest animals. Most would make a nice meal, But I don't eat her patients.
Her mom also works at the Gardens, which is a zoo/amusment park, so she gets to visit inside there too. I guess that's why she likes animals so much. Be hard for her not to.
Normally she wouldn't be out here. But the teachers were grading report cards, so the kids get a day off.
Hi Cassie. You busy today? I thought we could-
"Tobias, bring the others out. Jake's calling a meeting. Says it's something big."
I gulped. Jake had been too worked to exaggerate.
Something big meant something big.
And that meant something bad.
Chapter 2
"Tom's been making calls about some disease that Hork-Bajir and Taxxons have been getting. "
That would be Jake. The unofficial leader of the Animorphs. Jake looks solid, the kind of boy I'd trust anyday. But this war's changed him. Frazzled him. Too many life-and-death decisions.
"As well as some humans. Even Visser Three is making AIDS look like a cold. They've been trying to keep the Yeerk pool sanitary to stop the spread on Earth. But I doubt it's been working. A few cases are cropping up. "
In other words,a Yeerk hanta virus. I summed.
"Exactly."
"So what's the problem? Shouldn't that wipe out the Yeerks?" responded Marco.
What is a hanta virus?
"Jekkal, it means a deadly virus outbreak. With no cure. "
Ah.
"Anyway, the problem is any controller could be a carrier. If one of us gets infected, we're liable to end up with the whole group dead or near dead."
"Yikes."
BIG yikes. he left out anyone who gets near a controller as a carrier, too. Are there any warning signs? I asked.
"From what I understood, the human version isn't deadly so far, but it shows no signs for a few days after contact, then pustules show up all over your body. Along with a serious flu."
"Ouch."
"It hasn't become an epidemic yet here, but it could."
No medicines? Treatments? Vaccines?
"Doesn't look like it."
How does it spread?
Is it airborne?
What are the Visser's symptoms?The questions fired away like raindrops.
"I don't know. But try not to end up infecte-"
"Jake, your hand." cried Cassie. I looked down on it. I noticed a red, round bump the size of a quarter. Bloodred.
"You idiot! are you trying to get us sick too?" yelled Marco , pulling his shirt over his head.
"No!" He cried in sheer disbelief.
A few minutes after, Cassie told her parents and they sent him over to the hospital, after calling his parents. He ended up quarintined and in the same wing with the other cases. We all went our seperate directions after the meeting, but I wondered if it would be enough to stop it.
Before it's too late.
Chapter 3
That next day we had to check on how Jake was doing. I just relaxed on a nearby tree, peering into the room every so often. Luckily, Jake's room was on the second story. His case was turning worse. The pustules were beginning to sprout all over him, except the face. He was hooked up to every machine you could think of, with vital signs and whatever else they wanted to watch. He basically slept the whole time, and I couldn't blame him. Not that much was happening, except there were doctors every hour or so, checking on him. There were also seagulls flying onto the windowsill.
My friends.
Can I just say 'yuck'? joked Marco.
The've started looking for a cure and quarintine the victims. Five new cases were reported this morning. Cassie announced.
They closed schools, too?
How'd you know?
Think for once, Marco.I snapped back. A new seagull came over, panic stricken.
Cassie! You need to get back! yelled Tashe.
Why?
Aximili is having callouses and puffed eyes. We think it could be the virus.
Impossible! There's no way!Unless....
Oh my... We all flew off. How could this have happened? First Jake, now Ax. Who next?
Cassie headed back to the barn to get supplies. The rest of us headed over to where the Andalites normally are. Only to find terror.
Ax was on his side, with sores covering his hooves completely. his eyes were crudded, bleeding a greenish-yellow liquid. His stalk eyes had gone limp, and went from the eyes being walnut-sized, to tennis-ball-sized. Help me. I am blind. I cannot walk. I need assistance.
Why didn't you guys help him?blared Rachel,How could you leave him like this?
As I said, we thought it was the virus. We had nothing to protect us for treatment. But I saw that the barn contained medical supplies. It was locked, and I thought Cassie might know how to unlock it.
Caasie showed up with the supplies, and handed out gloves and surgery masks.
Everyone was human or in human morph while Cassie nursed wounds in order to get a closer look at Ax. Or at least tried to.
Something is wrong. I cannot seem to morph.stated Rae. A faint ring of the green crud showed up around his eyes. Same story with Casten.
"You caught it too?" moaned Cassie.
I know what the virus is!
Tashe, we all know.
No, Tobias, I mean I know what the virus is, how it acts, and how to cure it.
Chapter 4
You KNOW?
Yes. It is an Andalite disease called The Esscate Virus. It is inherited through the blood stream until an allergy is accquired. Then it transmits airborne and through phisical contact. Every victim reacts differently to the virus, from highly fatal to tolerent. In most cases, it nullifies morphing.
What about a cure?
The tolerent cases are Andalites with antibodies in the blood stream. It is very difficult to make artificial vaccinations, so only high-ranking soldiers receive them without immediate need. But tolerent Andalites are rare. explained Tashe. I would have mentioned it before, but it seemed unlikely that other species would get infected. Chances are Visser Three infected the Yeerk forces.
"Great. We've all had some contact with the virus already, so none of us can morph. I mean look, I'm showing signs!" Marco whined, lifting up a small part of his bike shorts to show a pustule.
It does not last long airborne, just a few feet from the host. Raeolin and Casten must have had it transmitted overnight from Aximili, and you humans were in close proximity at the meeting. Jekkal and I have been fortunate not catching the virus.
"I suppose that means I'll be bringing Tobias his mice. Not like he'll be able to catch them with that virus." moaned Cassie.
Actually, I've been doing quite fine. I'm still every bit of a hawk that I am. I responded, almost insulted at the thought.
That's it! Tobias's hawk body has the antibodies for a serum! Jekkal announced, However, I will need better medical supplies than Cassie has in order to make it.
"You'll have to do it alone if you need them that badly,"Rachel spoke, "If we try to go with you and end up getting nullified morphing then, well..."
Agreed. There is too much risk involved for you humans. Tobias, Jekkal, and I will go to find the supplies and make a serum.
We flew over, Jekkal and Tashe carring supplies, and found the Disease Testing Center, not much more than three miles away from the city. It was one of those old colonial towns renovated into a research lab. It even had those old fashioned stocks.
Some of those scientists are probably controllers, no doubt, to find a cure for the virus. I stated.
True. Jekkal, I know you've been trained as a doctor, so enter, find the supplies to make a serum, and bring it back. We will deal with the situation from there.
She demorphed and entered through a back window, in Andalite form. If this is a Yeerk facility, I want to be able to quickly morph and escape.
Good luck, Jekkal. I watched through the window of the building to check on her. I was too far away to hear, but I could see everything. She had found the right lab, and she was about to get the I.V. cords when I noticed two doctors about to come in.
Jekkal! Morph!
Then I noticed the Hork-Bajir.
Chapter 5
Hork-Bajir? Now? I got a good view of what the virus had done. The blades had been dulled to stumps. The skin was no longer reptilian, but a bright yellow. It seemed too gaudy in the dusk and moonlit sky. They no longer held more of a threat than the doctors. Although they still were stronger.
The door opened. I couldn't hear the conversation although I caught a glimpse of a needle, and of the dracon beams. Her tail was of no use in the cramped quarters. She kept the thought speak away. I flew around towards the front of the building, where I caught a glimpse of them pulling her out of the building and of him.
Visser Three. His case was different than Ax's. Bare patches of skin covered the body. One of the main eyes had a patch over it.
I could guess why.
Well, well,well, Jekkal. How you've been a thorn in my side. No matter. It's obvious you haven't been infected, which I find quite impossible. You must have found a serum. as he taunted, his good main eye was staring in sheer amusement. Not that you saw it often.
No. she moaned, turning her face away.
Very well, then. Call your fellow bandits. Tell them I will have it in one earth hour or you are infested. he motioned his tail blade over to her face and whipped it around so she stared at him again.Then he pulled it away and knocked her unconscious with the next blow. Her semi-limp body was placed into the stocks, her head and hands where they were supposed to be, her tail placed in the handhole of the one behind it. Her knees gave way so the body could fit inside. You two. If she tries to morph,.... He let it waver.
I flew out into the night air. Not very good, considering the fact there are absolutely no thermals and I can't see very well in the dark. But I had to. I needed Tashe's advice on the situation. I saw a hispanic-looking teenage girl seeming very confused.
Tashe! She quickly demorphed.
Tobias. I heard what he said.
Any ideas?
No. I am looking for some thing we might be able to pass of as a serum so they will-
It's not gonna work. Jekkal has a slug with her name on it. They might infest her anyway.
Then what do you suggest?
This is too far for an enterance to the Yeerk pool. So the slug would have to be already somewhere on this site.
What are you suggesting? he said with extra cause.
The unthinkable. The most disgusting thing I can think of and will probably hate myself in the morning for. I said grimly.
What?
Morph that Yeerk.
Chapter 6
Tobias, The situation is not that bad. Tashe pleaded.
It is. They want the serum or her. We don't have a serum. They might do it anyway. I'd say it is that bad. I retorted. We were looking around the buildings to where we might find the Yeerk.
First time for everything, I suppose. Also first time we couldn't find one. Then I saw the sluggish figure. Is that it? I asked.
Yes. They do sometimes transport Yeerks in those boxes when they cannot unload into a Yeerk pool. But how are you going to get away with it? This building is probably guarded.
Outside, maybe. But I don't see anyone inside. I landed inside that room, right next to the clear box. Inside was the filthy slug. I opened the lid with my beak and stuck a foot in there. I grabbed it as tighly as I could and acquired it. Then I pushed it towards the window sill and unloaded the Yeerk out into the cool night air. From there I moved it back to where it was, crawled inside, let the box shut on me, and morphed.
The first change was my skin. It went from brown and beige feathers to a sickly grey-green slime. My bones dissolved, and I slipped into the bottom of the box. My eyes stopped working. I was blind. Every other sense in my body was alive and tingling with information, But I couldn't see at all. Tashe, How much time?
Fifteen minutes until infestation.
Okay, I want you to be in merlin morph, flying, until I need you.
Yes, Tobias.
I waited patiently for the period to pass for two reasons. One, being a Yeerk was disgusting enough, so I wasn't anxious to infest, and two, my Yeerk brain wasn't interested in the area around me. I mean, it said stuff, like there's a corner, but there was nothing that interested me.
Tobias, the Visser is heading into the room.
That woke me wide alert. I noticed vibration in my little utopia and a despairing voice.
No.No. NO! Let me go!
There a slurping sound as gravity forced me out of my box and into two soft hands. I noticed as they pushed me into a new source. Curved, soft, warm.
No. the voice cried for one last time. I pushed myself into that ear, emitting a chemical on instinct to numb the pain. I touched the brain, and I had a tail. I went further, I had two arms. Deeper, I could see again.
I took no point in scanning the memory. I wasn't going to try and jump into this. Go ahead, Yeerk. I can't stop you. snapped Jekkal.You have me now.
Jekkal, relax. It's me, Tobias. I had to morph the slug to make sure they didn't find out. Tell me, is there any way to make a serum in the next hour? she seemed silent for a few seconds, repulsed at what I had become.
Yes. It wouldn't take longer than maybe ten, twenty minutes at the least. she responded. I would have talked longer, but they were about to release the stocks that held my new body.
Chapter 7
The stocks were released on my upper body, but the one for the tail remained still. I jumped to my hooves again, unable to move far.
Seklin one-five-two, Do you have sufficent control of this host?
Yes, Visser.
Could you tell me of its mission?
Yes. It was to create the serum for the Esscate Virus which has infested some of the bandits. They have already found antibodies.
Is your host trained enough to create it?
Yes, Visser. I walked back to the lab where Jekkal had been earlier, and picked up the small vial of hawk blood. My hawk blood. She told me of various elements and compounds that would make the serum useable for all stages and variments. The result was a small flask of the yellowish serum, not much bigger than a mouse, but enough to be recreated easily. It took about ten minutes. This flask will cure the entire forces in one week.
Tobias!Tashe cried, What are you doing?!
Listen to me. I'll go outside and show the flask to the visser where you can see it. Swoop down, pick it up, and let them chase you. We'll try to escape, and no one'll be the wiser.
Very well then, Seklin. Give me the serum and we will have it tested. boomed the Visser.
I stepped out gingerly, holding the flask my my right hand , allowing it to glisten in in the lamppost's light. I wanted Tashe to see the flask easily. After all, it was dark, and those aren't the best times for merlins. This serum should duplicate itself over an hour, given suffic- I was interuppted by a streak of gray swopping down.
Andalite! He has the flask!
A strange band of disesed Hork-Bajir, human and Andalite chased after the merlin with no sense of stealth at all. That would at least keep the merlin mind afraid and flying. I tried to turn away from the band.
Where are you going?
Where you won't find me, Yeerk!I shouted in blazing hatred.
Forget the bird! After them! the visser screameded, I thought you had control!
There is a Yeerk in control. But not a true one.I sneered.
I found my way into a clearing near a swamp area. my hooves flashed in the mud, leaving the visser, who was the only one fast enough to follow me, on my heels, following the trail I blazed.
Andalite filth! I'll starve you in that body and infest her, even if I'm that Yeerk!
He probably would do that. If he caught up with us. He was stronger, faster and with it getting into thicker and thicker mud, he would catch up with us.
I ran for all I was worth. I wasn't going to let it end like this.
I was never going to let it end like this.
Chapter 8
I was still ahead of the visser by about two lengths. My stalk eyes swiveled around to keep an eye on him and surrounding woods, in case there were any other controllers trying to help. I only had about a half hour left before the limit. I didn't want to go through that scene again. I moaned at the sight up ahead.
A river. A raging , about level 4 river that had weathered away ten feet of solid rock. I knew I couldn't jump across it. So I did the next best thing.
I grabbed a pice of sturdy vine. Are you insane?! Jekkal screamed, You're going to kill us both!
Safer than the alternative. I reasoned. I had to. If we were dead at the end of this, At least I wanted it on good terms.
Go for it. I grabbed the vine tensly as the cliffside came closer. Thirty feet, twenty-five feet, Twenty feet, fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet, two... close enough.
I jumped. My hands clinged to the vine, then let go. Although with my Andalite body, it would have broken from the strain, anyway.
I landed in the foaming surf of the river, as rocks, violent current and trees did their damage. The body was swept in the fury of it all. The visser ran along side the path of the river, watching us flounder in the rapids. Until he couldn't watch any longer.
The river headed out into the ocean, where the cliffside became too high and the trees became too dense, even for his tail.
But it was too late. Jekkal said it had been one hour and fifty minutes. I had waited for fifteen before that.
Five minutes too late.
I was stuck as the filthi-
Tobias! MORPH OUT!
It's five minutes after the -
No! Five before! Morph out!
I cupped Jekkal's hands and slithered out of her. I remained there until I could see with my own eyes again. What do you mean, 'five before'?
You were right. They infested ten minutes before the set time. Therefore, you had five minutes left.
I was freaked. I was scared, disgusted, relieved, tired, hyper-active, and felt like I just ate a mouse whole. Bones and all.
I went down to the shore until Jekkal had changed into a seagull. Tashe was already one.
I flew down into the night, trying not to hit a tree as I landed for sleep.
I definitely wish I hadn't woken up in the morning.
"You. Did. WHAT?"
Chapter 9
"Rachel, I might understand. Marco, I might understand. Cassie, well, Cassie would be punishing herself. Ax and the others, I'm not sure. But you? You're the absolute last person I would expect to-"
Jake, will you listen for once! It was a few days after we got the serum. Jekkal made more of it. We used it on ourselves, then sent the remaining doses, with instructions, to the hospital so Jake could get better. I on the other hand, ended up ratted out to explain how we got the virus and why it took too long. I had been cooped up in a cage out in the woods, feeding on mice, until they could settle what to do with me. Now everyone (almost) was healed, healthy, and looking not too happy at me or what I'd done.
I wasn't too glad with myself either. "Fine. Explain."
Jekkal was supposed to find the supplies and get out. But she got caught. We only had an hour to figure out what to do, since we didn't have a serum to trade for her. I decided to morph the Yeerk to make sure they wouldn't find out. Turns out the Visser cheated us. I was able to make the serum, then set it up so that Tashe would grab it. As they were chasing him, I peeled off the group, having the Visser follow me until I got to a river that I jumped into. It led me to the ocean, where I demorphed. Barely before the two hour limit. I summed.
"In other words," sneered Marco," You morphed the enemy, infested your own teammate, and almost got yourself trapped. Again. On the other hand, however, you kept the Yeerks from finding out who we are, and you got us the serum."
That's one way of putting it. I moaned.
Marco is right. He kept the knoweledge of the Animorphs a secret. That should be maintained at all costs. stated Ax, backing me up.Although even I am repulsed at this method, it was necessary.
"I agree. But he could have just gotten her out and saved the trouble."
No. She was locked up with guards all around her. The two of us? It would have been suicidal.
With all due respect, When I was... infested, Tobias did not pry my thoughts, or use me with an iron fist. He merely kept my anger under control, allowing it to seem as if I really was on their side. True, I was infested, and also true Tobias was that Yeerk, but he did not use his power the wrong way. spoke Jekkal. I was surprized at what she said. In the beginning, she thought I was a new enemy. One she had to fight from within.
"Okay. I'll pardon Tobias. But he better not try that morph again." Jake said, giving me a hard cold stare.
I won't. Trust me.
That was one promise I meant to keep. Later, after the trial broke up, Jekkal stepped near me.
Tobias. You didn't see too far into my memory, did you?
No. I didn't even look.
Good.
Epilogue
Almost everyone was cured, but Casten's case proved fatal. We had him buried under an oak sapling. I was almost surprised at how calm they seemed, doing this. I guess they're used to that sort of thing, but it still kept them in a funk for a couple of days.
Even with the serum, a lot of Hork-bajir and Taxxons died from it. We must have cut down the Yeerk forces by at least a third. Fortunately, none of the humans died.
I was kinda surprised by what I'd done. Maybe I was turning into something I didn't want. Maybe I was ashamed of it. But one thing's for sure.
This war will never be the same.