When Cassie had asked just how the Yeerks had managed to gain permission to log in a national forest, Tommy realized that he hadn't really been thinking about what it meant that the forest Cassie lived so close to – and that Tobias and Ax lived in – was, in fact, a national forest. That meant that not just anyone could go and cut trees there.
It meant that the Yeerks had needed permission for it, and that meant that they would need to find out who gave them that permission.
When he'd returned home, back to the Yeerks who were playing the roles of his foster parents – though not very well, it had to be said – Tommy briefly wondered what the "something small" Cassie had been talking about would end up being. The obvious answer was some kind of insect morph, but that still left the question of what kind open. The one thing they could all agree on, however, was that they weren't going to be using ants again.
One time being an ant, being attacked by ants, was more than enough for anyone; all of them agreed on that.
(Tommy,) Tobias called down to him, on one of the few Saturdays when he was free of any other, pressing engagements. (You're clear, but there are some people out on the street who might see you if you get too close. Drift left, there's an alley where we can meet up.)
Tommy wondered, even as he drifted left into the alley Tobias had pointed out to him, what the other Animorphs had decided. He thought they might have managed to find some way into the Yeerks' logging compound, since he didn't think Tobias would have been willing to meet up with him as opposed to just catching him up on the situation the way he usually did.
(All right, you're good. Hold out your hands,) Tobias said, and the next thing Tommy knew a small, glass vial had been dropped into his cupped palms. (Jake was the one who had the idea; there were apparently termites in the base of the building, and since the Yeerks were putting in more Dracon beams, they cut away some of the logs.)
Tommy was sure he'd said something in response to that, but most of his attention had been wrenched away by the sight of the tiny, skittering insect trying to climb the walls of the vial. It looked entirely too much like an ant for his peace of mind. Even as he opened the top of the vial, pouring the termite out onto his right palm, Tommy noticed that his hands were shaking. Even as the termite went still, its DNA being absorbed by the Andalite technology through some means or another, Tommy couldn't quite manage to stop his hands from shaking.
He could only hope that being a termite wouldn't be as bad as being an ant.