The next few days came and went fast. Dad rotated shifts with Marco,
Tobias, Cassie and Rachel. When they saw that no Yeerk had crawled out
of my skull I was released.
Foolish humans,> Visser One laughed.
Visser One put his plan into effect that day. He would go back to Kansas
and steal the ship and free the Iguadon prisoners. He would then return
to the Yeerk homeworld and gather his forces to enslave Earth. He morphed
and flew until he reached his destination. He demorphed and proceeded to
the front gates where two guards stood watch. They placed their hands on
their guns, preparing to draw them if I posed any threat. I stopped walking
and stood still, holding my hands out beside me as one of them approached.
"This is a restricted area. No unauthorized persons allowed," he said.
"State your name and your business here."
"Stacey Berenson. I'd like to talk to your superior about the alien
craft that is being held here."
He went inside the guard shack and picked up a phone while the other
guard watched me. "I know you from somewhere," said the other guard. "You're
one of those Animorphs."
"Correct," Visser One acknowledged.
"You look kinda like Jake. Are you related?"
"He's my father."
"I still remember the war. I was a Controller when I was your age.
But thanks to your dad and his friends I got my freedom back."
The visser had begun togrow intolerant. Just make conversation,>
I told him. Unless you want to go ahead and blow your cover this early?>
"Can I have your autograph for my son. He's got a big crush on you.
He has a collection of newspaper clippings with your picture." I signed
my name on a dollar bill and handed it to him. "Thanks. The world needs
more people like you in it. We need to be united more than anything today."
"And united we shall be. For this is only the beginning of a brand
new era," Visser One said with a smile.
A couple of minutes later the first guard came out and led me to his
commanding officer's office. A man, probably in his mid-thirties, sat behind
a desk going through piles of paperwork. He motioned for me to have a seat
and dismissed the guard.
"Miss Berenson, I am Admiral Johnson, what brings you here?"
"I believe the spacecraft in your custody is part of a future Yeerk
conspiracy."
"I thought they surrendered," the admiral stated.
"They did, but a few managed to evade capture."
"So you think they have come to invade the planet again?"
"It's a possibility. However, I won't be sure until I have a closer
look at the ship," I said.
He escorted me to a hangar. The soldiers on patrol opened the doors
and let us pass. The ship sat idly in the gigantic room. I could see a
few more details than before. The weapons were concealed in the nose above
the mouth. It was a metallic green with the wings colored gold. The claws
on the feet that were the landing gear were jet black. And the teeth in
its mouth were polished ivory. It was the perfect fighting machine for
what Visser One needed to do.
"I'd like to take a look around," Visser One said.
He called for one of the soldiers and together we I made our way on
board. Visser One was contemplating as to how he could get the ship without
ending his charade as me. Then he discovered that I had acquired the Iguadon
who had taken me prisoner. He told the soldier to continue searching the
bridge while he went and checked the hallway. He waited a minute before
he let loose a shrill scream that would make the man come see what had
happened to me. By then I was already morphed. The soldier drew his weapon
and prepared to fire. Visser One whipped his thick muscular tail around,
knocking the gun from his hand.
"Where's the girl?" he demanded.
"She's already been dealt with, as you soon will be."
He lunged for me in an effort to apprehend the monster. Visser One
effortlessly threw him to the side and pressed the button to start the
engines. He yelled into his walkie-talkie that one of the aliens had evaded
capture, killed the girl and was attempting to steal the ship. He was ordered
to get the hell out of there. He ran as the ship began to rise and leapt
out of the hatch. Visser One closed the mouth and activated the accelerator.
The ship stood up on its hind legs and tore the roof off with its front
claws, then spread its wings and took flight. The Iguadons that were caught
had been taken to a prison that was specially designed for aliens to be
incarcerated. A laser beam shot out of the nose and cut the roof off of
the building. A tractor beam was aimed into the cell and they were brought
aboard then Visser One set the coordinates for the Yeerk homeworld. The
blackness of space turned white as we were launched into an interstellar
warp. The ship was surprisingly fast, faster than any other ship I have
been on. One hour later the Yeerk planet came into sight. It was a desolate
planet with no trees, plants, or animals except for some lopsided monkeys
the visser called Gedds. Visser One went before what he called the Council
of Thirteen.
"As you can see, I have acquired a new host that is not only capable
of morphing, but the child of Jake the terrorist. I have come before you
to seek your approval for gathering another army to take to Earth and end
the resistance forever!"
One of the council members with a Gedd host spoke next. "You have failed
many times to end the resistance before. What makes you think you can do
so now?"
"I know who they are and how to find them. I can use this host to lay
my trap. Plus I have come up with a formula that can enable a Yeerk to
survive without the Kandrona. Those that go with me will receive it."
All of the members of the council were shocked at the news. They adjourned
to reach an agreement. Ten minutes later they returned with their decision.
"We've decided to grant your recourse. Shipment tanks are being loaded
onto your ship as we speak. However, if you should fail again you will
be executed. Very. Slowly."
"Understood," Visser One bowed and headed back to the ship.
Fifty or more large tanks full of Yeerks sat in the cargo hold. There
had to have been thousands in each tank. Once loading was complete we went
back to Earth. Visser One hid the ship within the mountains outside the
city and ordered his troops to remain there until he said the time was
right. He took a small canister and after injecting the Yeerks with the
supplement placed them inside and tightened the lid. I held it in my talons
as he flew back to my house. My window was open so he could get in undetected.
He demorphed and hid the canister in the back of my desk drawer where no
one would find it easily. It was almost time for me to go to school. He
changed my clothes and went downstairs for breakfast. Before he left he
got an Altoids tin box and put about six Yeerks inside and placed the box
in my coat pocket. In school he saw Ms. Chapman, the principal. Her father
was the principal when my dad was in school and she was friends with my
Aunt Rachel.
"Hi Ms. Chapman, how's your dad?" He asked her.
"Not good I'm afraid, he's in the hospital from a massive heart attack,"
she said. "The doctor said he has a good chance of recovering though."
"That's nice. Maybe I'll go by and see him later."
"I bet he'd like that."
Not as much as I will,> the visser laughed.
I was sitting in anatomy class dissecting a frog (I hated that part
of class). Visser One told the teacher I was going to be sick at my stomach.
She told me to get my stuff and go see the nurse. I snatched up my bag
and left. He didn't go see the nurse though, after putting my bag in my
locker he went to the girl's bathroom and climbed out the window. He morphed
to eagle, flew to the hospital and demorphed in an alley.
"I'm looking for a patient named Chapman."
"Room three-fifteen," the nurse said.
He made his way down the hall until he came to the room. He went in
and locked the door behind him. Chapman was asleep. Machines beeped as
they monitored his heart rate and breathing. He was about sixty to seventy
years old. Too old to worry with. Visser One eased over to the end of the
bed then slapped Chapman's foot hard, causing the heart monitor's line
to jump as he was startled awake. He looked around to see who had done
it and saw me.
"Stacey? You nearly scared me half to death," he said.
Visser One flounced to his side, a malicious grin on his face. "Iniss
Two-Two-Six, if I recall correctly. You abandoned your people in their
time of need, betrayed me as well."
"What are you talking-?" then he realized. "No. NO!"
"That's right Chapman. I'm back."
"I won't let you take me again."
"I don't want you! You're nothing but a shriveled up geriatric, I have
no need for you. But your daughter on the other hand is a lot younger.
I let her go the last time, I won't be as benign this time."
"You stay away from her! Or I'll-"
Visser One leaned over and glared into his eyes. "Or you'll what? Gum
me to death?"
Visser One laughed then pulled out a syringe filled with bleach and
ammonia and injected the contents into Chapman's bloodstream. Ammonia and
bleach combined creates a very toxic gas that is extremely fatal if inhaled,
I couldn't and didn't want to imagine what it was doing to his insides.
Chapman's body began convulsing violently from muscle spasms as his breath
became erratically sporadic. Visser One ran out into the hall and got one
of the doctors making rounds. He rushed in to check his vitals as Visser
One locked the door and approached him from behind. He picked up the telephone
and hit the doctor on the side of the head. He fell to the floor dazed
as Visser One took a Yeerk from the tin and placed it near the ear canal.
I watched as it squished its body through the opening, heading for the
brain. A moment later he stood up and rubbed his ear.
"Welcome brother," Visser One said.
"Thank you visser."
He was ordered to call Melissa Chapman and say she needed to be here
soon, that her father was having "complications". Half an hour later she
bolted into the waiting room. I sat there with false tears rolling down
my cheeks.
"What happened?" she asked, ignoring the fact that I wasn't in school.
"I don't know... I... I was talking to him... and then he... started
having problems... breathing," I sobbed fakely.
The doctor came in to deliver the bad news. Ms. Chapman sat down and
prepared for the worst as he closed the shades on the windows.
"Ms. Chapman, I'm afraid your father had another attack. It was much
worse than the first. There was nothing we could do to save him."
Ms. Chapman held her face in her hands and cried, her father was dead.
But when she looked up again she found the two of us standing before her
with a dangerous look in our eyes.
"Grab her," the visser ordered.
The doctor held her face-down on the floor as another Yeerk was prepared
for infestation. She tried to fight free as she felt the slug inch towards
her ear. Then she lay still as it gained control of her mind and body.
She stood and saluted me. Visser One laughed. He would carry out the rest
of his plan next. Ms. Chapman's Yeerk drove me to her house where she gave
me a pistol, then we went my Uncle Tom's house. He had been a Controller
before and Visser One knew he would not cooperate. So he was made one at
gun point. After we found an old building we took a large van and went
to retrieve our next victims.