It was only then that he noticed that this newcomer was an almost perfect duplicate of his previous host. There were differences, of course. The small patch of fur – or hair as the Navari had called it – was a light brown instead of black, and the eyes were also brown, as opposed to the bright red of both his current and former hosts.

Slowly, grinning, the bipedal alien held up its hands to show that it did not possess a weapon. Chuckling, Sub-Visser Seven stepped forward. This reminded him of old times, since this same scene had been played out almost a full day earlier. There were slight differences, but those did not matter overmuch to the Sub-Visser.

***

Raising his hands, Hedrick Chapman took his first steps out onto the alien planet. The older Andalite – Alloran – had said that the Yeerks didn't make deals, well he'd just see about that. Alloran and his little buddy Elfangor had really gotten on Chapman's nerves with their Andalite stuffiness. The third guy, Arbron, had seemed like the quiet type.

Someone Chapman could tolerate, if not like. Loren, the girl that had been dragged along with him on this stupid little trip by the Skrit Na, was a pain in the ass. Chapman hadn't been the least bit surprised that she had developed some idiotic little crush on the Andalite, and it was painfully obvious that she was trying to hide it.

The entire thing made Chapman sick to his stomach. She could have at least stayed within her own species. But that was in the past, and Chapman's strictest policy was to focus only on the future. This was the future.

Holding up his hands in that universal gesture of surrender, Chapman moved toward what seemed to be the leader of these creatures. His red eyes stared right into Chapman's brown ones. He was tall, probably seven feet, not including the three blades on top of his head.

This alien had blades on all of his major joints, in fact. His wrists, ankles, knees, elbows and shoulders were adorned with pale yellowish green blades, as well as his long strong-looking tail. All in all, he definitely looked like someone Chapman wanted on his side.

"Hey, whoa, ease off the weapons. I'm not here to start a fight, I'm here to trade."

The lead whatever-he-was didn't seem to understand a single word that Chapman had said, and yet the two of them understood one another perfectly. He decided to clarify, pantomiming handing something to these guys and receiving something else in return.

***

Sub-Visser Seven addressed the strange-but-familiar bipedal alien. He had guessed what those gestures had meant before any of his underlings. You didn't rise to the rank of Sub-Visser without some intelligence, after all.

"This creature wants to trade," he chuckled. "What do you have to trade with us, alien?"

There was the grin again, the grin that somehow said nothing and spoke volumes both at once. The strange biped disappeared back into the Andalite ship for a few moments, when he was again visible there was another of his species in front of him.

It could have been another male, but somehow the Sub-Visser doubted that. Whatever its gender, it was clearly a prisoner of the first. Its arms and legs had been securely bound with wire, and it stumbled as the first roughly shoved it forward.

Grinning like a feral beast, the first alien shoved the second to the ground.

"That's what I have to trade," he said, pointing to the prone one with his foot. "A whole planet full of that."

Even without understanding the strange creature's words, his intentions were perfectly clear. His grin almost matching that of the alien, Sub-Visser Seven pulled the prone alien to its feet. The other alien struggled of course, but without the full use of its limbs it didn't have a chance.

***

Elfangor watched in horror as Loren was taken by the Yeerks. He wondered with bitterness where Alloran and Arbron were; Alloran was still a War-Prince, despite being disgraced by his actions on the Hork-Bajir world.

He should be here; he should be handling this. Elfangor thought, his bitterness on the edge of turning into despair. Elfangor knew that he had to do something, but he was at a loss when he tried to figure out what. The fate of his entire species, not to mention that of Loren's, might very well rest on whatever plan his troubled mind could come up with.

But he couldn't think of anything, he could only watch helplessly as Loren was dragged away by Sub-Visser Seven's underlings. He could not change his nearly overwhelming desire to come racing to her rescue, but he knew that would not do anything besides getting him either captured or killed.

Elfangor knew that the Time Matrix should have been his first priority, but he could not just leave Loren to the Yeerks without giving her some kind of reassurance.

Loren! It's Elfangor, he saw her head whip around, trying to pinpoint the source of his voice. No, don't! Don't resist them; tell them whatever they want to know. Just don't tell them about the Time Matrix.

I don't think Chapman will, Elfangor thought privately. The human had a few too many things in common with the Skrit Na for Elfangor's taste, but at least that would make his actions somewhat easy to predict. Elfangor hoped that he would be able to rescue Loren, Arbron and the Time Matrix, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do anything in his current morph.