(A/N) Qwerty, thanks for reviewing again. And what don't you understand?
Maybe I could explain. Tabatha, thanks for reviewing again. As for
cliffhangers. I guess it's just my style. Gotta keep you guys on you toes,
you know? Make sure you don't lose interest. I can't stand it when
something moves to slow. Qenies9, thanks for reviewing again. Earth
Guardian, thanks a lot for reviewing. I think I might use that suggestion
of yours. But not in the way that you might think. Simply Sara, thank you
much for reviewing again. And yes, I have read book #8 and I realize that
Ax is obligated to kill Visser Three. Stella knows this but she didn't
expect to actually kill Visser Three. She just wanted to prove to him that
she wasn't afraid to fight him. As for why Ax let her go off on her own to
carry out his duty is explained in a later chapter. Speaking of chapters,
here's this one.
Written in the Stars
Chapter 10: So Much More
When I opened my eyes again I saw Visser Three's tail blade only inches from my face.
"Wow, talk about cutting it close." I said as I backed away.
As I looked around I saw that everything was frozen in time. The Hork- Bajir stood with their dracon beams in hand, pointed at the spot where I had stood. Even the raindrops were frozen in place. Hanging in mid air like thousands of tiny crystals. Suddenly I saw the other Animorphs come running up to me. With them was a fifth boy that I didn't recognize. I also realized that the others were all back in human form.
"Darn right, Stella. A little too close for my taste. Why didn't you tell us about this little get together? You might have been killed before we got here." Jake said.
I rounded on Ax angrily.
"You told them!" I accused him.
{ Of course. I couldn't let you do this on your own. } he said as he stepped towards me and put his many-fingered hand on my face.
{ Besides, I am honor bound to destroy Visser Three. He murdered my brother. }
"You and your honor." I said with a laugh.
"So why didn't you tell us about this?" Jake asked me again.
"For the very reason that you're standing here now. I don't want you in my way. By the way, who's this kid?" I asked, turning to the short, blonde stranger.
"Oh that's right, you've never seen him in human form. Stella, meet Tobias." Rachel said.
I turned to face him again. So this was the boy behind the hawk. I stared open mouthed. This was definitely the work of the Ellimist.
"Has anybody bothered to question the sudden time freeze?" Marco broke in.
{ Ellimist! } Ax hissed.
EXACTLY.
"Come on out! Show yourself!" Jake shouted. He tried to sound like a leader but the fear in his voice was obvious.
Suddenly he appeared before us, once again in that decrepit, old man form of his. He was surrounded by a pale blue glow.
"What do you want with us this time?" Rachel asked.
"I want nothing."
"Uhuh, right. Well forgive me if I don't tremble in fear, Ellimist." I said in the most defiant voice I could muster. "It's me you want, isn't it?"
"I told you that there was still a choice for you to make."
"What do you mean?"
"I can give you back your life. I can take you back to before you found the morphing cube so that your family was never killed."
"You mean..........I have another chance?" I asked shakily.
"If you so choose, then yes."
For a moment I was so happy I could hardly think. But then the doubt began to creep into my mind.
"Why would you do that? I thought you didn't interfere."
"We do not interfere, but we fix what has been broken. As I said before, you were not meant to find that device. It is for someone else to find."
"Can you take me back far enough to save Claire?"
"No, that I cannot do."
"In that case my answer is no."
"Wait before you decide so hastily Stella."
"What about Ax and the other Animorphs?"
"You will never know that he existed. And he will not remember you."
I had asked about the Animorphs but he knew that I was referring to Ax and Ax alone.
"Ax." I whispered as I turned to face him.
{ You have the chance to escape from this war, from Visser Three. If you wish to go back, then do not let me stop you. }
This is what he said, but beneath that I could feel the pleading and hurt in his voice. He wanted me to be safe but he didn't want me to leave. I stepped towards him and put my arms around him. He, in turn, placed his own weak Andalite arms around me. I let my head rest on his chest.
"I can't leave you." I cried softly.
The other five stood watching this exchange, mystified.
"Stella there is so much more involved in all of this than you understand." The Ellimist said.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from Ax.
"Show me. Show me what you mean by "so much more". Then I will make my choice."
"Very well. I will show you."
With that, he pulled me up away from the frozen construction site. I left the others behind, frozen in time. The last thing I saw before the darkness overcame me was the anguished look on Ax's face.
* *
*
I was back, back in that strange, surreal world of the Ellimist. Where the lines of time interwove, broke, and re-spun themselves. All through the Ellimist. I could only imagine what sort of life this powerful creature had known.
"So what is it that I need to see before I can choose whether or not to let you fix my time line."
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS WAR BETWEEN THE YEERKS AND THE ANDALITES BEGAN. I'LL TAKE YOU BACK TO THE FINAL DAYS BEFORE THE YEERKS WERE UNLEASHED.
Suddenly I was standing on the surface of a strange planet. The sky was a sickening gray-green and daggers of lightening split it every five minutes. The planet itself seemed dead somehow. There was almost no plant life. What plant life there was, was brown and sickly. The soil was little more than dust. The thin air was so harsh that it burned my throat.
"Where am I?"
YOU ARE ON THE YEERK HOME WORLD. I HAVE TAKEN YOU BACK IN TIME.
"Why did you bring me here?"
SO YOU COULD SEE THE ESCAPE OF THE YEERKS.
Just then a large group of strange creatures appeared over the horizon. They loped along in a strange way. Almost as if their legs weren't the same length. I wondered what they were but the answer came to me almost immediately. Gedds. They looked completely harmless but a few of them carried what looked like dracon beams. But somehow I knew that they were not. They were Andalite shredders. As they came loping towards me I tried to find a place to hide but there was nowhere. I ducked down but they simply passed me by.
DON'T BE AFRAID STELLA. THEY CANNOT SEE YOU.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?"
When there was no answer, I decided that it would be best to follow the Gedds. The Ellimist had brought me here for a reason.
I ran after the strange aliens for some time. It wasn't hard to keep them in my sight. As we ran along I began to see some sort of landing strip. Six space ships came into my line of vision. Andalite fighters and transports. I don't know how I knew all of this but I was pretty sure it had something to do with the Ellimist.
As we drew closer I saw four Andalite warriors. Suddenly one of them noticed the advancing Gedds.
{ Hold fast. } he warned them. Yet the Gedds continued forward.
{ Hold fast, Yeerks. You are not allowed closer to the ships. }
They paid him no heed.
{ I said hold fast! }
{ Orders are to avoid incidents. } Another warrior said. { Don't you know these parasites are our brothers? } he sneered.
{ Orders or not, these filthy slugs are not touching my ship. }
I knew what was coming before it even happened. I tried to warn them but they couldn't hear me.
TSEEEEW!
TSEEEEW!
Two of the Andalites were incinerated. The other two drew their weapons but it was too late.
The Gedd controllers descended upon the encampment. I watched helplessly as they slaughtered the Andalites.
After the massacre was finished the Gedds mutilated the corpses horribly. Then they stole all six of the ships and took off.
I was afraid to go nearer but I felt that I had to. I dragged myself over; nearly sick at the carnage that surrounded me. I collapsed to the ground and vomited. It was so horrible.
Suddenly an Andalite warrior galloped up to the scene. He stood, staring aghast at the aftermath.
{ No.......my warriors. } Then he let out an anguished scream.
Just then he turned to face me.
{ You! What happened here? }
Wait a minute. What was going on? I thought he couldn't see me.
Then he stepped towards me and took my arm in his hand.
{ What are you? Answer me! Are you with the Yeerks or not? }
Suddenly I realized who I was looking at. He was much younger and the mask of evil and deception was gone from his face, but there was no mistaking him. This was Visser Three. I jerked my arm away from him easily. He stared back at me, shocked.
"What are you doing here?!" I asked furiously.
{ I think that you are not in a position to ask that question. Now who are you and what are you doing here?}
I was shocked. He didn't even know who I was. Then it hit me. I had gone back in time. Maybe this wasn't Visser Three at all. This could very well be his host body before he had infested it. This was just an ordinary Andalite. That must be why he could see me. The Ellimist had revealed me to him for some reason or another.
Suddenly the scene faded away. As I was being pulled away the last thing I saw was the Andalite's shocked face.
"So what's the deal Ellimist? Was that Visser Three?"
YES. THAT IS THE BEING THAT WILL ONE DAY BECOME VISSER THREE. HIS TRUE NAME IS ALLORAN.
"How come he could see me?"
THAT I CANNOT TELL YOU.
"Okay, fine. So what comes next?"
Just then the world came back into focus. I was now standing in a sort of office. The walls were mostly giant windows but it was still an enclosed space. An Andalite was pacing the room anxiously. Suddenly another Andalite burst into the room. A look of utter fury adorned his face. His rage practically radiated forth from his body. I realized that it was Alloran.
{ Yes, it's confirmed. Yes, Prince Seerow. It has happened. As I warned you it would. } he said bitterly.
{ But it can't be. They promised me. They gave me their word. They- } the first Andalite started to say.
{ I have visual logs. } Alloran snapped. With that he produced a small cylinder. A holographic recorder. { Play. } he said softly.
Then a three dimensional picture appeared before us. It was a recording of the battle that I had just witnessed. While the hologram played my attention turned was suddenly drawn to the door. I don't know how but I knew that there was a young Andalite girl standing behind it. A girl named Aldrea Iskillion Falan.
As the hologram flickered off the Andalite called Prince Seerow slumped forward in defeat as he realized the awful truth.
{ They gave you their word?! Their word? They're parasites! The Yeerks steal the bodies of other species! What did you expect of them? } Alloran practically shrieked.
{ They have no history of harming intelligent life-forms. The Gedds are barely conscious in their natural state. It's not as if they were stealing the bodies of truly sentient creatures. They and the Gedds are symbiotic. They have- } Prince Seerow tried to argue.
{ Listen to me, my prince. Approximately four hundred Gedds attacked our ground base last night. They overwhelmed the two dozen Andalite warriors on duty there. The two dozen Andalite warriors who had been specifically ordered not to fire on Gedds. }
{ They were never a threat before. The Yeerks, even the ones in Gedd hosts, are harmless. I didn't want our warriors to accidentally- }
{ These four hundred harmless Gedds- these Yeerks, I should say, because they were all certainly Yeerk-controlled- butchered my warriors. Butchered, Prince Seerow. Shall I show you the holos of the aftermath? These were the gentlest pictures. I have others. Would you like to see what they did to the bodies of my warriors? }
I almost wanted to sneer at Seerow right along with Alloran. How could anyone possibly think that the Yeerks were harmless? If only Seerow could see what the Yeerks would do in the future.
{ These four hundred Gedds overwhelmed my warriors. And then they seized the four attack fighters and two transports that were on the ground at the time. }
{ Couldn't they be intercepted in orbit? } Seerow asked him.
{ No, you see, there was no warning. My warriors were dead before they could call for help or give warning. }
{ Still, four fighters and a pair of slow transports. our forces should have no trouble catching them. }
{ Catch them? They've escaped into zero space. Four hundred Yeerk-infested Gedds with shredder-armed fighters. }
Suddenly two young warriors rushed into the room. One of them had a really bad slash scar down one of his flanks. It was obviously still fresh. It was he who spoke next.
{ Prince Seerow, remote orbital sensors show that the two transports did not immediately jump to zero space. They landed on the far side of the planet. }
{ Are they still on the ground? } Alloran asked the young warrior urgently.
{ No, sir. Sensors show they stayed on the ground for only an hour. Then they returned to orbit and jumped to Z-space. }
Then the other warrior spoke.
{ Prince Seerow, they landed beside major Yeerk pools. They apparently loaded a large number of Yeerks before escaping. }
{ A large number? Estimates? } Prince Seerow demanded.
{ The computer estimate is that with advance planning and careful coordination, they may have embarked as many as a quarter million Yeerks. }
{ A quarter million? But..... but the Yeerk leaders......... they have been my friends. They cannot know about this! The Council of Thirteen must not have known. This is some rebellion, some group of malcontents. }
{ Fool! } Alloran shouted.
As he said the words Seerow jerked his head back in shock.
{ You fool, you coddled them. You trained them. You showed them the universe. You showed them all of the things they could not have, living here on this planet of theirs. You even built them portable Kandronas and thus freed them. } Alloran said accusingly.
{ The Yeerks are intelligent, sentient creatures. They have a right to join other sentient races. They have a right- }
{ A quarter million highly intelligent, ruthless and determined parasites have just been loosed upon the galaxy. They have six Andalite ships. How long before they learn to build their own ships? How long before they become a plague? How long before they find some race more useful than the Gedds, some race that they can infest and transform into shock troops? There are thousands of inhabited planets in just this arm of the galaxy. }
Alloran turned all four of his eyes to Seerow.
{ Prince Seerow, you are relieved of duty. } he said harshly.
{ You can't relieve me! } Seerow cried.
{ When a commander becomes incapacitated due to injury or mental defect, his subordinates may relieve him. }
{ What mental defect? } Seerow demanded angrily.
{ Stupidity. The stupidity of kindness. Charity to potential enemies. You're a fool, Seerow. A soft, sentimental, well-meaning fool. And now my men are dead and the Yeerks are loose in the galaxy. How many will die before we can bring this contagion under control? How many will die for Seerow's Kindness? }
Seerow's Kindness. The law of Seerow's Kindness. Ax had explained it to me. All Andalites were forbidden to pass Andalite technology on to any other species. This was the reasoning behind it. This was the shame of the Andalite race. Seerow's Kindness. My sister had died because of Seerow's Kindness.
As the room faded away from my eyes I felt a great hatred stir within me. A hatred for all Andalites. They had destroyed my life! It was because of Seerow that I was all alone!
But no. I could not hate them. I could not hate my Aximili. It wasn't Seerow's fault that the Yeerks had turned on him. He had given them friendship and they had taken advantage of his softness. How could his own people condemn him for trying to promote peace? It wasn't his fault.
As my anger left me another scene appeared before my eyes. I was in the cabin of an Andalite transport ship. An Andalite girl stood in front of a window looking out at the planet that the ship was approaching. This was Aldrea. I assumed that many years had passed since the incident on the Yeerk home world for she was much older now than she had been when she was eavesdropping on Alloran and Seerow. Suddenly a new revelation came to me. Aldrea was the daughter of Seerow. She was a lonely girl, just like myself. Her friends called her Seerow's Unkindness. Just because she was different. Just because she wanted to fight back against the creatures that had ruined her father. She and her family had been exiled to this insignificant planet because of who her father was. Aldrea was alone, in the exact same way that I had been alone.
Almost immediately this scene faded away and I was standing on the surface of the planet that I had just been staring at from space. I saw Aldrea again. Alongside her stood Seerow. The years had not been kind to him. With them were an older female and a young male Andalite. Aldrea's mother and brother, Barafin. Across from the foursome stood two young Hork-Bajir. One was called Jagil Hullan. The other was called Dak Hamee. In a flash I saw Dak's life. He was different from other Hork-Bajir. He was what his people called a seer. He had a greater capacity to learn and to understand than the other Hork-Bajir. One day he would lead them down a new path.
I watched as the long months passed before me in what seemed like a few minutes. I saw Dak Hamee and Aldrea grow closer. I saw him learn about the universe beyond his planet. I saw the Yeerks invade. I watched as Aldrea's family was destroyed. As I watched her grieve I suddenly saw myself. A young girl who's entire family had been murdered by the Yeerks, her only comfort, an alien who understood nothing of her people but cared for her in a strange way.
I learned the story of Esplin 9466. He would one day be Visser Three. He was the Yeerk expert on Andalites. He was obsessed with the idea of making the first Andalite controller. When the Yeerks came to the Hork-Bajir world he was the first to receive a Hork-Bajir host. He was there when Aldrea's family was killed. He relished the power of morphing and lusted after Aldrea, hoping to have her as a host.
I learned of the Arn, the race that had created the Hork-Bajir.
I watched as Aldrea, Dak, and all of the free Hork-Bajir were driven into hiding. They struck at the Yeerks whenever they could, waiting for the day when Aldrea's people would come and help them. I was there when Alloran arrived with a small contingent of Andalite warriors. I saw the Andalites lose the Hork-Bajir war. I despaired right along with Aldrea when she learned of their betrayal. They had failed the Hork-Bajir so rather than let them fall to the Yeerks they killed them off with the deadly Q-one- eighteen virus. I saw Aldrea try to destroy the virus but in the end it was released. I watched as she and Dak were captured. Aldrea was in a Hork- Bajir morph at the time. Esplin 9466 almost made her his host but they escaped. In the end Aldrea was trapped in Hork-Bajir morph. The crippled Andalite fleet fled from the planet and left the Hork-Bajir to their fate.
I watched as Aldrea and Dak Hamee pledged their lives to one another.
When the Ellimist drew me back into that strange world of his I felt as if I knew Aldrea and Dak. I had seen their lives. I had seen their triumph, and their pain. I saw so much of Ax and myself in those two. Two young individuals from completely different cultures and species were brought together by tragedy. Against the odds they formed a bond. They fought against the Yeerks with all their might, striking from hidden positions. In the end it was them against both the Yeerks and the Andalites. The Animorphs and I were waiting for the Andalites to come and save Earth. We struck at the Yeerks from hidden positions. I felt a shiver run up my spine as I came to a chilling conclusion. Were the seeds of the same betrayal already planted in this dire equation? Would the Andalites come to Earth only to lose and destroy the humans as well? Would Ax and I share the fate of Aldrea Iskillion Falan and Dak Hamee?
DOES IT FRIGHTEN YOU STELLA?
"Yes." I answered truthfully. "Will the Andalites betray us as well?" I asked him.
I COULD NOT TELL YOU. IT IS NOT WITHIN MY POWER TO SEE THE FUTURE.
"All right then. Is that it? Is that what I needed to see?"
THAT IS SIMPLY THE BEGINNING. THE STORY GOES ON.
I had already seen enough anguish and defeat to last me a lifetime but if there was more then there was more.
I suddenly found myself standing on the bridge of an alien spacecraft. A few strange, gray aliens crouched at the console, cowering. For some reason I knew that they were called Skrit Na. Two Andalites stood at the entrance to the bridge. They were both staring at, to my great surprise, a human girl. She was what the Skrit Na were afraid of. She held in her hands, a Yeerk dracon beam. One of the Andalites stepped towards her and she raised the dracon beam.
"Freeze, horse-boy. One move and I pull the trigger. I don't know what this gun will do, but I'm willing to bet you won't like it," she warned him.
"Be careful, Andalite friend. They are savage, violent beings. Crazy! Wild! Oh yes! This female is a vicious beast! Better to kill her! Or even better, let us cage her again. Yes, yes, that would be best. As soon as you mistakenly fired on us, she sprang up and grabbed my weapon. Wild and dangerous! Oh yes!" the Na captain said. I don't how but I understood everything that he said.
{ Talk to her. } the other Andalite said. {Use you charm, Elfangor. }
Elfangor! Did he say Elfangor?!
{ Um.....whoever you are........whatever you are, don't fire that weapon. Put it down.}
"Yeah, right. Hey. Hey, wait a minute! I can hear you in my head, but your not really talking."
{ I am in charge here. Drop the weapon! }
"Uh-uh. Nope. I don't think so, horse boy. I'm tired of being kidnapped and dragged off by giant cockroaches and little green men from Mars." She answered hotly.
{ Excuse me, but we are here to rescue you. } the second Andalite said. Arbron. The name just appeared in my head out of nowhere.
{ Exactly. What these Skrit Na have done to you is wrong. That's why we captured this ship. } Elfangor put in.
{ What little green men? They aren't green. The Na are gray. } Arbron asked, puzzled by the girl's generalization of the aliens.
"I'd already captured this ship before you two came along. Me and the other guy. And we're both just kids, which shows you that these Martian jerks aren't all that tough. He's in the back, knocked out. The other guy, I mean. But I grabbed this gun away from Twinkie here."
{ Well, we don't mean you any harm. How about this idea? You can keep the dracon beam, just don't point it at anyone. } Elfangor said.
"It's called a dracon beam, huh? What's it do?"
{ It fires an energy beam which causes an exceedingly painful death. Which is why we would really prefer it if you didn't fire it. } Arbron said casually.
"Oh. A phaser. Like on that old Star Trek show. I can't believe they took that off the air. Now it's just on reruns."
{ If you come with us, we'll treat you well. And we will return you to your home planet. } Elfangor told the girl.
"Earth?"
{ Is that the name of the third planet in this system? }
"Yeah."
{ And are you an Earther? }
"Human. That's what we are: humans. Me and the other guy."
{ And we are Andalites. My name is Elfangor. This is Arbron. }
"You look like centaurs, only with scorpion tails. And the extra eyeballs up on top of your heads."
She hesitated for a moment but she finally handed the dracon beam over to Elfangor.
{ Thank you. }
"My name is Loren. This is all kind of amazing. Most humans don't even believe in aliens. But, well, here you are. Real and all. Unless I'm dreaming."
{ Do humans dream? }
"I do. Every night."
{ So do I. But I guess we have very different dreams. }
"Maybe. Maybe not." Loren said with a grin.
As the ship faded away I recounted what I had just heard. So that was Ax's great hero of a brother. The famous Elfangor. He didn't seem so different from Ax. This episode must have been from before Elfangor became famous.
When everything came back into focus I was the bridge of a different ship. The Jahar, according to my own mind's new found knowledge. I saw Arbron working at what I assumed was an Andalite computer. Loren and Elfangor were standing by one of the windows. I saw another Andalite piloting the ship. My mouth hung wide open when I realized that it was Alloran. He had been disgraced for his actions on the Hork-Bajir home world. He was a prince fallen from grace.
My attention was suddenly drawn to another human sitting on the floor of the spacecraft. The floor, strangely enough, was covered with grass. As I looked at the human boy my mind told me that this was a much younger, assistant principal Chapman. If seeing Alloran at the helm had shocked me, it was nothing compared to this.
Loren was explaining Earth to Elfangor.
"The brown and green parts are land. The blue is ocean. Water. See the bright white at the bottom? That's ice. It's called Antarctica. It's very cold."
{ What sort of ice? Frozen carbon dioxide? Methane? } Elfangor asked her.
"Water. Just frozen."
{ Ah. Of course. That would make sense. And where do you live? }
"Well, see that continent there? The one on the upper left part of the planet? See where the line between night and day is? Almost right on that line. My mom must be dying with worry. I've been gone for four days already." As she said this her lower lip began to tremble.
{ Yes, but soon you will be home. Then she won't worry anymore. Maybe she won't have to die. }
"That's just an expression Elfangor." She said with a laugh.
"Do you have a mother at home? Does she worry about you?" Loren suddenly asked him.
{ I guess she does. My father doesn't though. He was in the military, too, when he was young. Of course, we had peace then. I guess maybe they do worry I'll get hurt or whatever. } he replied. Somehow I could tell that he was holding back.
"We just had a war. That's.........that's what happened to my dad. He was in it. He didn't get killed or anything. But he kind of......... I don't know. After he came back I guess he couldn't cope with reality. So he left." As she said this she got this far away look in her eyes. Like she was remembering something.
Alloran swiveled his stalk eyes to look at Loren like he was interested in what she had to say.
{ You have wars? But you don't have space travel. Who do you fight? } Elfangor asked her.
"We fight each other." Chapman said, finally joining in the conversation. "So, Loren, Daddy went nutso, huh? Another whacked-out 'Nam vet. I guess some guys just can't take it." He said with a smirk.
Loren looked like she was ready to say something to Chapman, but Alloran beat her to it.
{ Have you ever been in a war, human? } he asked Chapman sharply.
"Me? No. Of course not. That war's over."
{ Then be quiet, fool. Those who have been to war understand. Those who have not have no opinion worth hearing. Even those who return from war may never really come home. } As Alloran said this he stared directly at Loren. She suddenly seemed intrigued by him. I was too, to be honest. From what I had seen of him, Alloran seemed like a hardened war machine. Maybe there was more to him than I had originally thought.
Suddenly the ship faded away again. When everything came back into focus again I was on a different planet. I stood in the center of what passed for a city or a spaceport or whatever. It was still under construction. It was filled with Taxxon and Hork-Bajir controllers. I was on the Taxxon home world.
Suddenly a Taxxon fell from one of the work trams overhead. It went, screaming, down to the orange dirt of the surface and it split open like a bag of warm goo. Instantly the other Taxxons rushed toward their fallen comrade. I wanted to run and hide. I wanted to be sick. I wanted to look away from this awful sight. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was rooted to the spot as the Taxxons devoured their helpless fellow.
Just then I saw one of the Taxxons pull away from the feeding frenzy and weakly crawl away. He might as well have been wearing a giant neon sign that said, "I AM AN ANDALITE." Somehow I knew that this was Elfangor. Suddenly a group of seven or eight Hork-Bajir appeared out of the crowd and surrounded him. At a signal from their leader they all leveled their dracon beams at him. The leader stepped forward and addressed Elfangor.
"Welcome to the Taxxon home world. I am Sub-Visser Seven. You interest me. Yes, indeed. I am very interested in any Taxxon who will not eat fresh meat."
Once again, I don't know how I knew, but I felt it deep in my guts. Sub- Visser Seven was Esplin 9466. Visser Three.
The Hork-Bajir marched Elfangor over to one of the train-like transports and quickly boarded, taking him prisoner. I followed them on to the train.
"So, Andalite, how long have you been in this morph?" the Sub-Visser asked him. I could almost feel Elfangor's shock as he asked the question.
"So. You want to resist me? Good. I need the entertainment. It's rather dull, being in charge of security for this sector. I suppose you're one of the rebels. One of those mountain Taxxons who refuse to join the empire. Well, we'll get to the truth quickly enough."
Rebel Taxxons? I thought all of the Taxxons agreed to be slaves of the Yeerks. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to Elfangor.
"Rebels are just fresh meat. But being a Taxxon, you understand. Any rebels we catch go to feed loyal Taxxons. It's sad, really. But I have no choice. It's one of the idiotic regulations I have to deal with. It's all part of our deal with the Taxxons: Any suspect Taxxon is turned over to loyal Taxxons for interrogation. Of course, Taxxons don't really interrogate. They don't have the patience for it. They ask one or two questions, then... well, then it's dinnertime. Of course, you could tell me why you're here, and what your mission really is........Andalite. You'll still be executed, of course. But I can make it painless. Much better than being eaten alive." The Sub-Visser sneered.
That was a good question. What was he doing here? No sooner had I asked the question than the answer popped into my head. Alloran, Arbron, and Elfangor had come to the Taxxon home world to recover the long lost Time Matrix. It had remained hidden on Earth for fifty thousand years but now the Skrit Na had dug it up. The Time Matrix. The tool of the Ellimists. If the Yeerks managed to get a hold of it the universe was doomed.
"There is one other possibility. This Hork-Bajir body I use is fine. But there are millions of Hork-Bajir controllers now. And what are my other choices? To go back to being a Gedd. Or to take a Taxxon body. No thanks. I won't live with that Taxxon hunger. There is one other possibility, Andalite. There has never been an Andalite-controller. None of us has ever succeeded in capturing an Andalite alive. Your warriors use that nasty Andalite tail blade on themselves rather than be taken alive. Such a waste. Really. See, I want to be the first to have an Andalite body. With that body, with the Andalite morphing power, I wouldn't remain a sub-visser for long. I could be a full Visser. Let me take that Andalite body. You'll live. It's the only way you'll live." As Sub-Visser Seven made his proposition to Elfangor I felt a wave of loathing sweep through my body. It sickened me to know that this beast would one day have what he desired.
{ My name is Elfangor, Yeerk. Remember the name. You'll be hearing it again. But you will never take me alive. } Elfangor said defiantly.
"A pity." The Yeerk sneered.
At that moment the scene faded away again. I had just witnessed history in the making once more. The long, private war between Elfangor and Visser Three had begun.
When everything came back into focus again I was back on the Jahar. Alloran and Elfangor stood at the weapons console. Loren and Chapman stood near the back of the room. As I glanced out of one of the windows I realized that we were hovering over the same Taxxon space port that I had just been in.
"Wait a minute, where's Arbron?" I asked aloud, though no one could hear me. But once again the answer came to me.
The three Andalites had been separated during the feeding frenzy. Arbron had been trapped in Taxxon morph. A nothlit. I could not even imagine the horror of being trapped as such a foul creature. Chapman had betrayed them and tried to sell Loren and the entire human race off to the Yeerks. Arbron had helped to start a rebellion amongst the mountain Taxxons. There had been a terrible battle at the spaceport. Somehow Alloran, Elfangor, Chapman, and Loren had managed to escape, with Sub-Visser Seven in tow. Alloran and Elfangor believed that he was now dead. But as I looked at Chapman and Loren a horrible truth struck me. They were both controllers. Somewhere during this little misadventure they had both been taken. Sub- Visser Seven himself was in Chapman's head. Alloran was now arguing with Elfangor. Alloran wanted to destroy a Taxxon freighter that carried ten thousand Yeerks in their natural state. Elfangor had argued that they were defenseless. For a moment I wanted to side with Alloran. A Yeerk was a Yeerk. Who cared how you killed it? But maybe there was another side to it. I mean, If they were completely defenseless............
{ You think you can fight a clean war, Elfangor? Is that what you think? Or are you one of those who are happy enough when someone like me does the dirt work for you? } Alloran asked him.
{ They are defenseless. } Elfangor tried to argue.
{They are the enemy. Hypocrites! You're all hypocrites! We lost the Hork- Bajir war because of weak, moralizing fools like you! Because of fools like you, I am disgraced and shunned and sent off on trivial errands with nothing but Arisths under my command. }
{ War-Prince Alloran, I honor you, but- }
{ What is the difference how you destroy the enemy?! What does it matter if you kill them with a tail blade or a shredder or a quantum virus?! } Alloran was raving now.
{ You..... you used a quantum virus? You used a quantum Virus on the Hork- Bajir world? } Elfangor asked him, shocked. The truth behind Alloran's disgrace had been hidden from the Andalite people. No one except for top officials in the Andalite military and government knew of the atrocities that Alloran had committed on the Hork-Bajir home world.
{ I cannot have a weak, cowardly fool like you messing up- } Alloran was cut off mid sentence by Chapman. He moved across the room and punched Alloran, hard. Elfangor used the distraction to whack Alloran with the flat side of his tail blade. Alloran slumped to the deck in a heap.
Elfangor backed away, sick at what he had done.
"Now what?" Chapman demanded.
{ Now what?! Now what? I just knocked out my own prince. } Elfangor shrieked.
But he finally regained his composure.
{ We have something to pick up. Then we are getting as far away from this evil place as this ship will go. }
He went to the console and piloted the ship back down to the planet and into the desert. We finally came upon a wrecked Skrit Na ship. Elfangor exited the ship and proceeded to unload the deadly Time Matrix from the Skrit Na raider. I wanted to run after him and scream, "They're controllers, you idiot! Can't you see it?" But he wouldn't have heard me.
As I watched in horror, Sub-Visser Seven crawled out of Chapman's ear. Chapman picked him up and transferred him over to Alloran's limp body. I watched the evil slug crawl into Alloran's brain, creating the first ever Andalite-controller. I wanted to scream. I wanted to act. I wanted to do something to prevent this terrible thing from happening. But there was nothing that I could do. I could only watch from behind my curtain of invisibility as the destroyer of so many lives regained consciousness in his new Andalite body. I watched him climb to his feet for the first time. I watched as he flexed his fingers and rotated his stalk eyes. It was still Alloran, but it was now, also, the face of my enemy. The evil of the Yeerk within had marked Alloran's face forever.
I saw the fire light up in his eyes. His wicked laughter filled every corner of my mind. He swung his tail around, slashing the blade through the air.
{ I have done it! I am the first Andalite-controller! I shall soon be a Visser! I have waited so long for this day. } he crowed.
It was revolting the way he bragged. I felt my hands ball into fists. I was shaking with rage. I wanted to hurt him.
"You.... you monster!!" I shrieked. My cries went unheard. But I launched myself at him anyway. I went flying right through him. Almost as if I was a ghost. He didn't even feel it.
As I lay there on the floor of the Jahar with his evil laughter in my head, everything faded away.
"No! Don't take me away yet. What happens to Loren and Chapman? What about Elfangor and the Time Matrix?"
ELFANGOR ESCAPED FROM THE PLANET WITH THE TIME MATRIX. HE CONVINCED THE YEERK TO COME OUT OF LOREN'S HEAD. THEY TRAVELED THROUGH ZERO SPACE ONLY TO ENTER A BATTLE THAT ELFANGOR'S OLD SHIP, THE STARSWORD, WAS ENGAGED IN WITH A SORT OF LIVING ASTEROID. BUT THE YEERKS HAD FOLLOWED ELFANGOR AND SUB- VISSER SEVEN, BY THIS TIME HE WAS VISSER THIRTY-TWO, ATTACKED THE JAHAR. IN THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE THE ASTEROID ATTACKED THE JAHAR. IN ORDER TO ESCAPE THE DYING SHIP, VISSER THIRTY-TWO, ELFANGOR, AND LOREN WERE FORCED TO WORK TOGETHER. THEY USED THE TIME MATRIX. MY TIME MATRIX IS ACTIVATED WITH A SIMPLE TOUCH. ALL THREE OF THEM TRIED TO DIRECT IT TO THEIR OWN HOME PLANET. THE TIME MATRIX BECAME CONFUSED AND IT CREATED AN ALTERNATE REALITY. A COMBINATION OF EARTH, THE ANDALITE HOME WORLD, AND THE YEERK HOME WORLD. THAT IS WHERE YOU WILL REJOIN THEM.
Then everything began to come back into focus. I was standing in a strange field. The grass was a very deep green, almost blue. The sky overhead was red. But as I looked onward I saw patches of blue sky and familiar green grass and trees. I also saw patches of gray-green sky over dried up dirt. The Yeerk home world. I also recognized the part on which I stood. I had seen it before, during my first encounter with the Ellimist. It was the Andalite home world. I finally understood what the Ellimist meant when he said alternate reality.
Suddenly I saw an Andalite gallop past me. I realized that it was Elfangor when I saw Loren astride his back. Now that was something to laugh at. But there was no time for laughter. I had to follow them. I don't know how I managed to keep up with Elfangor but I did.
Suddenly Elfangor stumbled.
"Elfangor! Elfangor! Something is happening! My fingernails! They're growing!" Loren cried out.
As I caught up to them I saw that her fingernails had indeed grown at least half an inch.
{ Your hair is growing, too. }
"My God. It's grown an inch. It's like it would grow in a few weeks!"
{ My hooves are growing, too. That's why I tripped. It's something I was afraid of. As we get closer to the center of this swirl universe, time is accelerating. We are going to age must faster than normal. }
"Then we'd better hurry!" Loren said urgently.
The three of us ran on for a long while. Until we finally reached the center of their alternate universe. It was a strange tornado that was made up of the very substances of their three worlds. A swirling vortex of terror.
{ The Time Matrix! It should be here! } Elfangor shouted over the roar of the vortex.
"In there? How can we go in there? It's impossible!"
{ It's the only way. The Time Matrix is either in there or......... or there's nothing beyond that swirl but emptiness and we'll be trapped inside that vortex forever. }
"Nice choice. And by the way, that was sarcasm, too."
{ Yes, I'm beginning to recognize it. We have to close our eyes. Block out everything you see, or think you see, and dive in. }
"Take my hand, Elfangor." Loren begged him.
And so, I followed them into the swirling tornado of raw space-time. With the exception of the dimension of the Ellimist, I had never seen anything weirder. At first, the power of the vortex seemed to be pushing us back. But as we got farther into it pulled us forward. The swirl was filled with distorted colors and images. Whole houses and trees blew by. Kind of like when the tornado in the Wizard of Oz picked up Dorothy's house.
We finally reached the center of the vortex. It couldn't have been more than a hundred feet across and it was completely featureless. Everything was blocked out by the swirl. All that was there was the simple, off-white sphere that was the Time Matrix.
"The eye of the hurricane." Loren whispered.
{ We did it! The Time Matrix! It is here! } Elfangor was exhilarated.
"Yeah. Now what do we do about it? Look at my hair. Look at my fingernails. The distortion is really strong here, close like this."
{ Yes. But we'll be fine once we contact the Matrix and get out of here. }
One had to hope that they would be all right. Loren's hair was piling on the floor and her finger and toenails extended for about a foot. To my shock I even saw Elfangor's hooves growing.
"It's him!" Loren suddenly cried out.
I followed her gaze down to the opposite end of the field, or whatever you wanted to call it. I saw an Andalite emerge from the vortex. Visser- whatever-the-hell-his-number-was. He was followed by four of the strangest animals I had ever seen. They had wheels for feet! Mortrons.
{ What? The Andalite child and his pet? Still alive? } he asked, shocked.
{ Yes, still alive. } Elfangor replied coolly.
{ I suppose we'll have to agree to work together again. }
{ The same thing would happen. Another compromised universe. No better than this one. Only this time we'd all be more careful to bring allies and weapons from our memory. }
{ At least then we'd have a fair fight. } the Yeerk visser shrugged.
"He doesn't want to fight you one on one." Loren realized.
{ No, he'd rather have a host of allies and weapons. }
"No, it's more than that. He's afraid to fight you one on one. I saw it in his face."
{ Afraid of what? This Andalite child? My Mortrons and I will annihilate him. } the visser laughed cruelly.
"Really? So why not do it? Why talk about working together?" Loren mocked him. "Alloran has seen you tail fight, Elfangor. That knowledge is the visser's now, right? That's why he's scared."
{ I'll be sure to kill you slowly, human. } Suddenly the visser turned to his four Mortrons. { Kill! }
With that they attacked. As I watched the battle unfold Loren managed to strangle the Mortrons that attacked her. When Elfangor was overwhelmed by the visser and the Mortrons Loren also dispatched the Mortrons that attacked Elfangor. Finally it boiled down to just Elfangor and the Yeerk visser.
{ It's just you and me now. Tail to tail. } Elfangor challenged him.
{ You think you've won, Andalite? You think you can kill me now? Guess again. You haven't thought it through. But then again, I have the advantage of adding Alloran's Andalite knowledge to my own. What do you think will happen to whoever is left behind in this universe once it is broken apart? What? Over your head, is it? A collapsed time line returns each of us to our own proper space-time location. } the visser sneered.
{ So you go back to the Jahar. Back to being sucked into a black hole. I can live with that, Yeerk. I don't care how you die. Here, from my tail. Or there, drawn helplessly into a black hole. So long as you die. You are an abomination. The first Andalite-controller. I just want you to be the last. } Elfangor said.
"I told you he was scared to fight you." Loren put in.
{ I guess you were right. } Elfangor replied.
{ The day will come, Elfangor, when I will destroy you. I will make it very personal. } The visser said calmly as he walked back into the vortex.
His vow unsettled me somewhat. That day would indeed come.
"That's the end of him." Loren said softly.
{ No. I don't think so. } Elfangor told her.
"So now what? We have to get out of here fast. My hair is still growing. My nails are out of control. I feel like I'm getting older. My.... well, I'm getting older, I'll leave it at that. But I swear I'm suddenly eighteen!"
{ Yes. Your face is changing. And I, too, feel myself changing. We must leave. But this time there can only be one person directing the Time Matrix. We have to go somewhere real. Somewhere that is a part of the true universe. }
"The Andalite world?"
{ No. What would I do if I went back to my own people? I mutinied against Alloran, my prince. I left Arbron behind to live as a Taxxon. And I know too many secrets. I know that my own people did use a Quantum virus in the Hork-Bajir war. What might they do if they suddenly had the Time Matrix? } Elfangor asked heavily.
"I guess sometimes even good people do bad things. I mean, that's what war is all about, isn't it?"
{ If we use the Time Matrix to win this war we will no longer be Andalites. Not what I think of as Andalites, anyway. We have to win this war by being ourselves. By living up to our own standards, not by becoming as brutal and ruthless as the Yeerks are. }
"You mean what's the point of winning, if by winning you lose what you fighting for."
{ Yes. That's exactly what I mean. I can't give my people the Time Matrix. And I cannot let the Yeerks have it, either. And it cannot be destroyed, only hidden. }
"You're going to hide it on Earth?" Loren asked him.
{ Earth. Yes. And this time no nosy, greedy Skrit Na will stumble across it. }
"What do you want me to do?"
{ Imagine your Earth, your home, as it is today. Picture every last detail. Your mother. Your friends. Your hollow human house. Picture the time just after the Skrit Na took you. An hour afterward. }
"That was like, what, a week ago? Did all this happen in just a week?"
{ Yes. Just a week. And we need to go back in time. Back before your mother would have noticed you missing. But not before the Skrit Na took you or we would undo this entire time line. }
"Maybe we should undo this time line. Save Arbron. Save Alloran." Loren suggested.
{ And the two of us never meet. }
"I wouldn't want that."
{ Me neither. But more importantly, we wouldn't know the exact effects of rewriting all that history. It may mean that the Skrit Na escaped clean with the Time Matrix and delivered it to the Yeerks. No. We have to keep our time line intact. And as long as the you you've been this last week doesn't encounter some second you, we'll be fine. }
"There's one problem. This me had aged. I'm older. I must be almost eighteen now, judging from the way I've grown. People would notice."
{ Yes. But imagine that they don't. Imagine that you are eighteen and that everyone who has ever known you expects you to be eighteen. }
"Is this really going to work?"
{ I don't know, Loren. Nothing else I've tried has worked so far. } Elfangor said hesitantly.
"Then I'll take care of driving the Time Matrix. Let's go!" she shouted enthusiastically as she placed her hand on the Time Matrix.
As the two of them placed their hands on the Matrix the surrounding vortex collapsed. For a long while I watched them drift through what I assumed was Z-space. I saw their arrival on Earth. I watched Elfangor live life as a human. When they were both old enough they married. They lived happily together........until one evening.
The Ellimist appeared to Elfangor. He explained to him what he and Loren had done when they meddled with the Time Matrix. He convinced Elfangor to let him repair the torn threads of his destiny. Then he pulled Elfangor up out of the three dimensional world. Just as he had done with me.
Elfangor saw Arbron, still alive on the Taxxon world. He saw his brother for the first time. He also learned from the Ellimist, the horrible truth of what he had left behind on Earth. He and Loren had a child. In that moment a new realization struck me. That child was Tobias! Elfangor was his father!
Just then, as Elfangor was returned to his true Andalite body, I knew that he could see me. I just knew it.
For a moment that seemed to last for an eternity, we just stared at each other. A question came into his eyes as I gazed back at him.
Suddenly I saw the time line that belonged to Ax reach from across the galaxy. I began to see my own time line swirling about me. Ax's time line became entwined with my own. They became one, still two different lines but joined at the same time. Our lines stretched off into the river of time and they joined with those of Tobias, Rachel, Jake, Cassie, and Marco. Elfangor did not understand what this meant exactly. But he did understand that I was the one who would be with his brother.
We spoke no words and yet we understood each other perfectly.
Suddenly he vanished, off to face his own future.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE JUST SEEN, STELLA?
"Yes." I whispered numbly. I wanted to just lie down and cry. Cry for all that I had seen. Cry for my family. Cry out my own sorrow. I had witnessed some of the most terrible things in this war and I was now the only living person who knew about them. Aside from Visser Three. He and I alone knew.
I HOPE SO. BECAUSE THERE IS STILL MORE TO SEE.
No! I was too tired and sick at heart to see anymore. I wanted nothing more than for this horrible slide show of despair and misery to end. Maybe there was hope for a few brief, shining moments. But in the end it would be stamped out by darkness and evil. What was the Ellimist trying to tell me? That our battle with the Yeerks was futile? Why?
"Why?! Why are you doing this to me?! I don't understand!!" I cried out in agony.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND STELLA. OTHERWISE THE EARTH IS DOOMED.
"What do you mean?!"
But he didn't answer. Reality, or what passed for reality in this tour, was coming back into focus.
I was standing in the construction site again. Only now their was a crashed Andalite fighter there and I could see a an Andalite lying on the ground at the end of the opened ramp. I saw a boy leaning over the Andalite. Suddenly I realized that the Andalite was Elfangor and the boy was Tobias! When I looked a second time I saw Rachel, Marco, Jake, and Cassie standing behind him. As I drew closer I saw Jake walk inside Elfangor's fighter. When he returned he held a blue box in his hands. The morphing cube.
For awhile they all stood there, hesitating. I knew that Elfangor was offering them the power to morph. Suddenly twin red lights appeared in the sky. Bug fighters. The five of them hesitated only a moment more. Then they all pressed their hands to the cube. After a few minutes they took their hands away. When I finally got close enough to hear what they were saying I heard Elfangor telling them to run. And run they did. All except for Tobias. At that moment my heart went out to him. At this moment he had no idea that it was his father he was talking to. What about Elfangor? Did he know that this was his son?
Finally Tobias left him and ran to hide with the other four. The bug fighters spotted Elfangor's ship and landed. Just after them came the blade ship. The blade ship of Visser Three. I could only imagine the terror that my friends were feeling now. But as I gazed upon the blade ship and Visser Three stepped out of it I felt no fear. I felt only hatred.
{ Well, well. What have we here? A meddling Andalite? Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Elfangor Sirinial Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you. You're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended? The very last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world. }
{ There will be others.}
{ Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest. And then I'll be Visser One. }
{ What do you want with these humans? You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why Earth? Why these people? }
{ Because there are so many, and they are so weak. Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us! We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost. I will promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor- when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream. }
This seemed to be more than Elfangor could take. He struck at Visser Three. He struck and scored a hit. His tail blade delved deeply into Visser Three's shoulder.
{ Aaaaaarrrrrgh!! } Visser Three cried out in pain.
At the same time the shredder in the tail of the Andalite fighter was activated. A beam of blue light lanced through the air and one of the bug fighters disintegrated.
{ Fire! Burn his ship! }
The blade ship and the remaining bug fighter fired and Elfangor's ship was destroyed.
{ Take the Andalite! Hold him for me. }
With that a swarm of Hork-Bajir fell upon Elfangor. Visser Three began to morph. The monster that he morphed was horrible beyond description. He stood on two giant legs and he had multiple tentacles. His head bloated beyond recognition. A mouth appeared, filled with teeth the length of a human arm. An Antarean Bogg. Visser Three wrapped one of his tentacles around Elfangor's neck and lifted him into the air. I desperately wanted to look away but I couldn't. I had to bear witness to this terrible act of murder. I watched as Elfangor fell into the visser's open mouth. I saw the Taxxons gather around him to catch the scraps that fell from his mouth.
At the very end he cried out. That cry of pain and despair will always be with me.
As Visser Three demorphed the Ellimist pulled me away. I saw other things but I was far too numb to pay attention.
I learned the true identity of Visser One. Marco's own mother. I was there on the Yeerk mother ship with them all when he found out the awful truth.
I watched as the Animorphs rescued Ax from the sunken Dome ship. I felt the pain in his hearts when he learned that his brother was dead.
I saw Ax's first real confrontation with Visser Three. How he attacked him while he was feeding in a secluded area of the forest. How Visser Three actually abandoned his host and escaped. The moment when Ax met Alloran, free, even if only for a minute, after all of those years.
Finally the Ellimist released me from these horrible visions.
I HAVE SHOWN YOU ALL THAT I CAN. HAVE YOU MADE YOUR DECISION, STELLA?
"I have." I whispered.
WELL.
"No. I will not go back." I answered quietly.
ARE YOU CERTAIN OF THAT?
"Yes. I can do more in this time line. I want nothing to change." I had decided and nothing could make me back down.
IF YOU ARE FIRM IN YOUR DECISION THEN THERE IS SOMETHING THAT YOU MUST DO.
"What?"
YOU MUST TAKE THE MORPHING CUBE BACK TO THE CONSTRUCTION SITE AND RE-HIDE IT. SOMEONE'S FATE IS STILL TIED TO IT.
"All right then. If I even live to do it, I will."
IN THAT CASE, THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WISHES TO SPEAK WITH YOU. TWO SOMEONES IN FACT.
"What do you mean by that?"
Once again, he didn't answer me. As a response, Ax appeared beside me. For a moment he was confused and bewildered. Then the realization hit him.
{ The Ellimist did this. } he said.
"Yes. He said there was someone who wanted to talk to me. I guess they wanted to speak to you too. I don't know."
{ Stella, what happened to you? You sound different. I don't how to explain it but you sound older. What has the Ellimist done to you? }
"I'm older, huh? I guess that makes sense. After what I've seen."
{ What do you mean? }
"I'll tell you later." I said, only half-paying attention. Most of my attention was now focused on the two figures that now stood opposite Ax and myself. Figures that I had seen before.
"Claire." I whispered breathlessly as she became clearer through the mists of time.
{ Elfangor. }Ax whispered, just as shocked as I was.
"But......you two can't be here. You're dead."
"What difference does that make? The Ellimist has brought us here." Claire told me.
{ But how? He cannot raise the dead. } Ax argued.
{ Maybe not, little brother. But there are other ways of allowing our spirits to speak with you. } Elfangor explained.
"So.......so what exactly is so important that you need to speak to us from beyond the grave?" I asked, trying to crack a joke as the tears spilled down my face.
"Don't cry, Stella." Claire tried to comfort me. She reached out her hand to place it on my face but it passed right through me. She seemed upset for a moment but she quickly regained her composure.
"After being dead for a year, don't we have the right to miss our siblings?" Claire said with a smile.
{ Claire is right. We wanted to say goodbye to the two of you properly. } Elfangor said.
{ It must be more than that. I hate to sound cynical but the Ellimist has to have a reason for letting you speak to us at all. }
"I guess you're right. We also came to give you a bit of a pep talk." Claire said.
{ What's a pep talk? } Ax asked her.
{ Oh Aximili, you still have much to learn about Earth. } Elfangor said through his silent laughter.
"We also came to tell you that if the two of you don't defeat Visser Three then both the Andalites and the humans will be slaves of the Yeerks."
"Well, isn't that a cheerful thought." I said, trying to hide my shock.
* * *
(A/N) Man, you think the chapter was long enough? Okay, before you kill me, I realize that Stella's time line was never in the scene with Elfangor and the Ellimist ( duh ) but what can I say. It's also more than likely that the Ellimist can't raise the dead. But once again, what can I say in my defense? I liked Earth Guardian's idea.
Written in the Stars
Chapter 10: So Much More
When I opened my eyes again I saw Visser Three's tail blade only inches from my face.
"Wow, talk about cutting it close." I said as I backed away.
As I looked around I saw that everything was frozen in time. The Hork- Bajir stood with their dracon beams in hand, pointed at the spot where I had stood. Even the raindrops were frozen in place. Hanging in mid air like thousands of tiny crystals. Suddenly I saw the other Animorphs come running up to me. With them was a fifth boy that I didn't recognize. I also realized that the others were all back in human form.
"Darn right, Stella. A little too close for my taste. Why didn't you tell us about this little get together? You might have been killed before we got here." Jake said.
I rounded on Ax angrily.
"You told them!" I accused him.
{ Of course. I couldn't let you do this on your own. } he said as he stepped towards me and put his many-fingered hand on my face.
{ Besides, I am honor bound to destroy Visser Three. He murdered my brother. }
"You and your honor." I said with a laugh.
"So why didn't you tell us about this?" Jake asked me again.
"For the very reason that you're standing here now. I don't want you in my way. By the way, who's this kid?" I asked, turning to the short, blonde stranger.
"Oh that's right, you've never seen him in human form. Stella, meet Tobias." Rachel said.
I turned to face him again. So this was the boy behind the hawk. I stared open mouthed. This was definitely the work of the Ellimist.
"Has anybody bothered to question the sudden time freeze?" Marco broke in.
{ Ellimist! } Ax hissed.
EXACTLY.
"Come on out! Show yourself!" Jake shouted. He tried to sound like a leader but the fear in his voice was obvious.
Suddenly he appeared before us, once again in that decrepit, old man form of his. He was surrounded by a pale blue glow.
"What do you want with us this time?" Rachel asked.
"I want nothing."
"Uhuh, right. Well forgive me if I don't tremble in fear, Ellimist." I said in the most defiant voice I could muster. "It's me you want, isn't it?"
"I told you that there was still a choice for you to make."
"What do you mean?"
"I can give you back your life. I can take you back to before you found the morphing cube so that your family was never killed."
"You mean..........I have another chance?" I asked shakily.
"If you so choose, then yes."
For a moment I was so happy I could hardly think. But then the doubt began to creep into my mind.
"Why would you do that? I thought you didn't interfere."
"We do not interfere, but we fix what has been broken. As I said before, you were not meant to find that device. It is for someone else to find."
"Can you take me back far enough to save Claire?"
"No, that I cannot do."
"In that case my answer is no."
"Wait before you decide so hastily Stella."
"What about Ax and the other Animorphs?"
"You will never know that he existed. And he will not remember you."
I had asked about the Animorphs but he knew that I was referring to Ax and Ax alone.
"Ax." I whispered as I turned to face him.
{ You have the chance to escape from this war, from Visser Three. If you wish to go back, then do not let me stop you. }
This is what he said, but beneath that I could feel the pleading and hurt in his voice. He wanted me to be safe but he didn't want me to leave. I stepped towards him and put my arms around him. He, in turn, placed his own weak Andalite arms around me. I let my head rest on his chest.
"I can't leave you." I cried softly.
The other five stood watching this exchange, mystified.
"Stella there is so much more involved in all of this than you understand." The Ellimist said.
Reluctantly, I pulled away from Ax.
"Show me. Show me what you mean by "so much more". Then I will make my choice."
"Very well. I will show you."
With that, he pulled me up away from the frozen construction site. I left the others behind, frozen in time. The last thing I saw before the darkness overcame me was the anguished look on Ax's face.
* *
*
I was back, back in that strange, surreal world of the Ellimist. Where the lines of time interwove, broke, and re-spun themselves. All through the Ellimist. I could only imagine what sort of life this powerful creature had known.
"So what is it that I need to see before I can choose whether or not to let you fix my time line."
YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS WAR BETWEEN THE YEERKS AND THE ANDALITES BEGAN. I'LL TAKE YOU BACK TO THE FINAL DAYS BEFORE THE YEERKS WERE UNLEASHED.
Suddenly I was standing on the surface of a strange planet. The sky was a sickening gray-green and daggers of lightening split it every five minutes. The planet itself seemed dead somehow. There was almost no plant life. What plant life there was, was brown and sickly. The soil was little more than dust. The thin air was so harsh that it burned my throat.
"Where am I?"
YOU ARE ON THE YEERK HOME WORLD. I HAVE TAKEN YOU BACK IN TIME.
"Why did you bring me here?"
SO YOU COULD SEE THE ESCAPE OF THE YEERKS.
Just then a large group of strange creatures appeared over the horizon. They loped along in a strange way. Almost as if their legs weren't the same length. I wondered what they were but the answer came to me almost immediately. Gedds. They looked completely harmless but a few of them carried what looked like dracon beams. But somehow I knew that they were not. They were Andalite shredders. As they came loping towards me I tried to find a place to hide but there was nowhere. I ducked down but they simply passed me by.
DON'T BE AFRAID STELLA. THEY CANNOT SEE YOU.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?"
When there was no answer, I decided that it would be best to follow the Gedds. The Ellimist had brought me here for a reason.
I ran after the strange aliens for some time. It wasn't hard to keep them in my sight. As we ran along I began to see some sort of landing strip. Six space ships came into my line of vision. Andalite fighters and transports. I don't know how I knew all of this but I was pretty sure it had something to do with the Ellimist.
As we drew closer I saw four Andalite warriors. Suddenly one of them noticed the advancing Gedds.
{ Hold fast. } he warned them. Yet the Gedds continued forward.
{ Hold fast, Yeerks. You are not allowed closer to the ships. }
They paid him no heed.
{ I said hold fast! }
{ Orders are to avoid incidents. } Another warrior said. { Don't you know these parasites are our brothers? } he sneered.
{ Orders or not, these filthy slugs are not touching my ship. }
I knew what was coming before it even happened. I tried to warn them but they couldn't hear me.
TSEEEEW!
TSEEEEW!
Two of the Andalites were incinerated. The other two drew their weapons but it was too late.
The Gedd controllers descended upon the encampment. I watched helplessly as they slaughtered the Andalites.
After the massacre was finished the Gedds mutilated the corpses horribly. Then they stole all six of the ships and took off.
I was afraid to go nearer but I felt that I had to. I dragged myself over; nearly sick at the carnage that surrounded me. I collapsed to the ground and vomited. It was so horrible.
Suddenly an Andalite warrior galloped up to the scene. He stood, staring aghast at the aftermath.
{ No.......my warriors. } Then he let out an anguished scream.
Just then he turned to face me.
{ You! What happened here? }
Wait a minute. What was going on? I thought he couldn't see me.
Then he stepped towards me and took my arm in his hand.
{ What are you? Answer me! Are you with the Yeerks or not? }
Suddenly I realized who I was looking at. He was much younger and the mask of evil and deception was gone from his face, but there was no mistaking him. This was Visser Three. I jerked my arm away from him easily. He stared back at me, shocked.
"What are you doing here?!" I asked furiously.
{ I think that you are not in a position to ask that question. Now who are you and what are you doing here?}
I was shocked. He didn't even know who I was. Then it hit me. I had gone back in time. Maybe this wasn't Visser Three at all. This could very well be his host body before he had infested it. This was just an ordinary Andalite. That must be why he could see me. The Ellimist had revealed me to him for some reason or another.
Suddenly the scene faded away. As I was being pulled away the last thing I saw was the Andalite's shocked face.
"So what's the deal Ellimist? Was that Visser Three?"
YES. THAT IS THE BEING THAT WILL ONE DAY BECOME VISSER THREE. HIS TRUE NAME IS ALLORAN.
"How come he could see me?"
THAT I CANNOT TELL YOU.
"Okay, fine. So what comes next?"
Just then the world came back into focus. I was now standing in a sort of office. The walls were mostly giant windows but it was still an enclosed space. An Andalite was pacing the room anxiously. Suddenly another Andalite burst into the room. A look of utter fury adorned his face. His rage practically radiated forth from his body. I realized that it was Alloran.
{ Yes, it's confirmed. Yes, Prince Seerow. It has happened. As I warned you it would. } he said bitterly.
{ But it can't be. They promised me. They gave me their word. They- } the first Andalite started to say.
{ I have visual logs. } Alloran snapped. With that he produced a small cylinder. A holographic recorder. { Play. } he said softly.
Then a three dimensional picture appeared before us. It was a recording of the battle that I had just witnessed. While the hologram played my attention turned was suddenly drawn to the door. I don't know how but I knew that there was a young Andalite girl standing behind it. A girl named Aldrea Iskillion Falan.
As the hologram flickered off the Andalite called Prince Seerow slumped forward in defeat as he realized the awful truth.
{ They gave you their word?! Their word? They're parasites! The Yeerks steal the bodies of other species! What did you expect of them? } Alloran practically shrieked.
{ They have no history of harming intelligent life-forms. The Gedds are barely conscious in their natural state. It's not as if they were stealing the bodies of truly sentient creatures. They and the Gedds are symbiotic. They have- } Prince Seerow tried to argue.
{ Listen to me, my prince. Approximately four hundred Gedds attacked our ground base last night. They overwhelmed the two dozen Andalite warriors on duty there. The two dozen Andalite warriors who had been specifically ordered not to fire on Gedds. }
{ They were never a threat before. The Yeerks, even the ones in Gedd hosts, are harmless. I didn't want our warriors to accidentally- }
{ These four hundred harmless Gedds- these Yeerks, I should say, because they were all certainly Yeerk-controlled- butchered my warriors. Butchered, Prince Seerow. Shall I show you the holos of the aftermath? These were the gentlest pictures. I have others. Would you like to see what they did to the bodies of my warriors? }
I almost wanted to sneer at Seerow right along with Alloran. How could anyone possibly think that the Yeerks were harmless? If only Seerow could see what the Yeerks would do in the future.
{ These four hundred Gedds overwhelmed my warriors. And then they seized the four attack fighters and two transports that were on the ground at the time. }
{ Couldn't they be intercepted in orbit? } Seerow asked him.
{ No, you see, there was no warning. My warriors were dead before they could call for help or give warning. }
{ Still, four fighters and a pair of slow transports. our forces should have no trouble catching them. }
{ Catch them? They've escaped into zero space. Four hundred Yeerk-infested Gedds with shredder-armed fighters. }
Suddenly two young warriors rushed into the room. One of them had a really bad slash scar down one of his flanks. It was obviously still fresh. It was he who spoke next.
{ Prince Seerow, remote orbital sensors show that the two transports did not immediately jump to zero space. They landed on the far side of the planet. }
{ Are they still on the ground? } Alloran asked the young warrior urgently.
{ No, sir. Sensors show they stayed on the ground for only an hour. Then they returned to orbit and jumped to Z-space. }
Then the other warrior spoke.
{ Prince Seerow, they landed beside major Yeerk pools. They apparently loaded a large number of Yeerks before escaping. }
{ A large number? Estimates? } Prince Seerow demanded.
{ The computer estimate is that with advance planning and careful coordination, they may have embarked as many as a quarter million Yeerks. }
{ A quarter million? But..... but the Yeerk leaders......... they have been my friends. They cannot know about this! The Council of Thirteen must not have known. This is some rebellion, some group of malcontents. }
{ Fool! } Alloran shouted.
As he said the words Seerow jerked his head back in shock.
{ You fool, you coddled them. You trained them. You showed them the universe. You showed them all of the things they could not have, living here on this planet of theirs. You even built them portable Kandronas and thus freed them. } Alloran said accusingly.
{ The Yeerks are intelligent, sentient creatures. They have a right to join other sentient races. They have a right- }
{ A quarter million highly intelligent, ruthless and determined parasites have just been loosed upon the galaxy. They have six Andalite ships. How long before they learn to build their own ships? How long before they become a plague? How long before they find some race more useful than the Gedds, some race that they can infest and transform into shock troops? There are thousands of inhabited planets in just this arm of the galaxy. }
Alloran turned all four of his eyes to Seerow.
{ Prince Seerow, you are relieved of duty. } he said harshly.
{ You can't relieve me! } Seerow cried.
{ When a commander becomes incapacitated due to injury or mental defect, his subordinates may relieve him. }
{ What mental defect? } Seerow demanded angrily.
{ Stupidity. The stupidity of kindness. Charity to potential enemies. You're a fool, Seerow. A soft, sentimental, well-meaning fool. And now my men are dead and the Yeerks are loose in the galaxy. How many will die before we can bring this contagion under control? How many will die for Seerow's Kindness? }
Seerow's Kindness. The law of Seerow's Kindness. Ax had explained it to me. All Andalites were forbidden to pass Andalite technology on to any other species. This was the reasoning behind it. This was the shame of the Andalite race. Seerow's Kindness. My sister had died because of Seerow's Kindness.
As the room faded away from my eyes I felt a great hatred stir within me. A hatred for all Andalites. They had destroyed my life! It was because of Seerow that I was all alone!
But no. I could not hate them. I could not hate my Aximili. It wasn't Seerow's fault that the Yeerks had turned on him. He had given them friendship and they had taken advantage of his softness. How could his own people condemn him for trying to promote peace? It wasn't his fault.
As my anger left me another scene appeared before my eyes. I was in the cabin of an Andalite transport ship. An Andalite girl stood in front of a window looking out at the planet that the ship was approaching. This was Aldrea. I assumed that many years had passed since the incident on the Yeerk home world for she was much older now than she had been when she was eavesdropping on Alloran and Seerow. Suddenly a new revelation came to me. Aldrea was the daughter of Seerow. She was a lonely girl, just like myself. Her friends called her Seerow's Unkindness. Just because she was different. Just because she wanted to fight back against the creatures that had ruined her father. She and her family had been exiled to this insignificant planet because of who her father was. Aldrea was alone, in the exact same way that I had been alone.
Almost immediately this scene faded away and I was standing on the surface of the planet that I had just been staring at from space. I saw Aldrea again. Alongside her stood Seerow. The years had not been kind to him. With them were an older female and a young male Andalite. Aldrea's mother and brother, Barafin. Across from the foursome stood two young Hork-Bajir. One was called Jagil Hullan. The other was called Dak Hamee. In a flash I saw Dak's life. He was different from other Hork-Bajir. He was what his people called a seer. He had a greater capacity to learn and to understand than the other Hork-Bajir. One day he would lead them down a new path.
I watched as the long months passed before me in what seemed like a few minutes. I saw Dak Hamee and Aldrea grow closer. I saw him learn about the universe beyond his planet. I saw the Yeerks invade. I watched as Aldrea's family was destroyed. As I watched her grieve I suddenly saw myself. A young girl who's entire family had been murdered by the Yeerks, her only comfort, an alien who understood nothing of her people but cared for her in a strange way.
I learned the story of Esplin 9466. He would one day be Visser Three. He was the Yeerk expert on Andalites. He was obsessed with the idea of making the first Andalite controller. When the Yeerks came to the Hork-Bajir world he was the first to receive a Hork-Bajir host. He was there when Aldrea's family was killed. He relished the power of morphing and lusted after Aldrea, hoping to have her as a host.
I learned of the Arn, the race that had created the Hork-Bajir.
I watched as Aldrea, Dak, and all of the free Hork-Bajir were driven into hiding. They struck at the Yeerks whenever they could, waiting for the day when Aldrea's people would come and help them. I was there when Alloran arrived with a small contingent of Andalite warriors. I saw the Andalites lose the Hork-Bajir war. I despaired right along with Aldrea when she learned of their betrayal. They had failed the Hork-Bajir so rather than let them fall to the Yeerks they killed them off with the deadly Q-one- eighteen virus. I saw Aldrea try to destroy the virus but in the end it was released. I watched as she and Dak were captured. Aldrea was in a Hork- Bajir morph at the time. Esplin 9466 almost made her his host but they escaped. In the end Aldrea was trapped in Hork-Bajir morph. The crippled Andalite fleet fled from the planet and left the Hork-Bajir to their fate.
I watched as Aldrea and Dak Hamee pledged their lives to one another.
When the Ellimist drew me back into that strange world of his I felt as if I knew Aldrea and Dak. I had seen their lives. I had seen their triumph, and their pain. I saw so much of Ax and myself in those two. Two young individuals from completely different cultures and species were brought together by tragedy. Against the odds they formed a bond. They fought against the Yeerks with all their might, striking from hidden positions. In the end it was them against both the Yeerks and the Andalites. The Animorphs and I were waiting for the Andalites to come and save Earth. We struck at the Yeerks from hidden positions. I felt a shiver run up my spine as I came to a chilling conclusion. Were the seeds of the same betrayal already planted in this dire equation? Would the Andalites come to Earth only to lose and destroy the humans as well? Would Ax and I share the fate of Aldrea Iskillion Falan and Dak Hamee?
DOES IT FRIGHTEN YOU STELLA?
"Yes." I answered truthfully. "Will the Andalites betray us as well?" I asked him.
I COULD NOT TELL YOU. IT IS NOT WITHIN MY POWER TO SEE THE FUTURE.
"All right then. Is that it? Is that what I needed to see?"
THAT IS SIMPLY THE BEGINNING. THE STORY GOES ON.
I had already seen enough anguish and defeat to last me a lifetime but if there was more then there was more.
I suddenly found myself standing on the bridge of an alien spacecraft. A few strange, gray aliens crouched at the console, cowering. For some reason I knew that they were called Skrit Na. Two Andalites stood at the entrance to the bridge. They were both staring at, to my great surprise, a human girl. She was what the Skrit Na were afraid of. She held in her hands, a Yeerk dracon beam. One of the Andalites stepped towards her and she raised the dracon beam.
"Freeze, horse-boy. One move and I pull the trigger. I don't know what this gun will do, but I'm willing to bet you won't like it," she warned him.
"Be careful, Andalite friend. They are savage, violent beings. Crazy! Wild! Oh yes! This female is a vicious beast! Better to kill her! Or even better, let us cage her again. Yes, yes, that would be best. As soon as you mistakenly fired on us, she sprang up and grabbed my weapon. Wild and dangerous! Oh yes!" the Na captain said. I don't how but I understood everything that he said.
{ Talk to her. } the other Andalite said. {Use you charm, Elfangor. }
Elfangor! Did he say Elfangor?!
{ Um.....whoever you are........whatever you are, don't fire that weapon. Put it down.}
"Yeah, right. Hey. Hey, wait a minute! I can hear you in my head, but your not really talking."
{ I am in charge here. Drop the weapon! }
"Uh-uh. Nope. I don't think so, horse boy. I'm tired of being kidnapped and dragged off by giant cockroaches and little green men from Mars." She answered hotly.
{ Excuse me, but we are here to rescue you. } the second Andalite said. Arbron. The name just appeared in my head out of nowhere.
{ Exactly. What these Skrit Na have done to you is wrong. That's why we captured this ship. } Elfangor put in.
{ What little green men? They aren't green. The Na are gray. } Arbron asked, puzzled by the girl's generalization of the aliens.
"I'd already captured this ship before you two came along. Me and the other guy. And we're both just kids, which shows you that these Martian jerks aren't all that tough. He's in the back, knocked out. The other guy, I mean. But I grabbed this gun away from Twinkie here."
{ Well, we don't mean you any harm. How about this idea? You can keep the dracon beam, just don't point it at anyone. } Elfangor said.
"It's called a dracon beam, huh? What's it do?"
{ It fires an energy beam which causes an exceedingly painful death. Which is why we would really prefer it if you didn't fire it. } Arbron said casually.
"Oh. A phaser. Like on that old Star Trek show. I can't believe they took that off the air. Now it's just on reruns."
{ If you come with us, we'll treat you well. And we will return you to your home planet. } Elfangor told the girl.
"Earth?"
{ Is that the name of the third planet in this system? }
"Yeah."
{ And are you an Earther? }
"Human. That's what we are: humans. Me and the other guy."
{ And we are Andalites. My name is Elfangor. This is Arbron. }
"You look like centaurs, only with scorpion tails. And the extra eyeballs up on top of your heads."
She hesitated for a moment but she finally handed the dracon beam over to Elfangor.
{ Thank you. }
"My name is Loren. This is all kind of amazing. Most humans don't even believe in aliens. But, well, here you are. Real and all. Unless I'm dreaming."
{ Do humans dream? }
"I do. Every night."
{ So do I. But I guess we have very different dreams. }
"Maybe. Maybe not." Loren said with a grin.
As the ship faded away I recounted what I had just heard. So that was Ax's great hero of a brother. The famous Elfangor. He didn't seem so different from Ax. This episode must have been from before Elfangor became famous.
When everything came back into focus I was the bridge of a different ship. The Jahar, according to my own mind's new found knowledge. I saw Arbron working at what I assumed was an Andalite computer. Loren and Elfangor were standing by one of the windows. I saw another Andalite piloting the ship. My mouth hung wide open when I realized that it was Alloran. He had been disgraced for his actions on the Hork-Bajir home world. He was a prince fallen from grace.
My attention was suddenly drawn to another human sitting on the floor of the spacecraft. The floor, strangely enough, was covered with grass. As I looked at the human boy my mind told me that this was a much younger, assistant principal Chapman. If seeing Alloran at the helm had shocked me, it was nothing compared to this.
Loren was explaining Earth to Elfangor.
"The brown and green parts are land. The blue is ocean. Water. See the bright white at the bottom? That's ice. It's called Antarctica. It's very cold."
{ What sort of ice? Frozen carbon dioxide? Methane? } Elfangor asked her.
"Water. Just frozen."
{ Ah. Of course. That would make sense. And where do you live? }
"Well, see that continent there? The one on the upper left part of the planet? See where the line between night and day is? Almost right on that line. My mom must be dying with worry. I've been gone for four days already." As she said this her lower lip began to tremble.
{ Yes, but soon you will be home. Then she won't worry anymore. Maybe she won't have to die. }
"That's just an expression Elfangor." She said with a laugh.
"Do you have a mother at home? Does she worry about you?" Loren suddenly asked him.
{ I guess she does. My father doesn't though. He was in the military, too, when he was young. Of course, we had peace then. I guess maybe they do worry I'll get hurt or whatever. } he replied. Somehow I could tell that he was holding back.
"We just had a war. That's.........that's what happened to my dad. He was in it. He didn't get killed or anything. But he kind of......... I don't know. After he came back I guess he couldn't cope with reality. So he left." As she said this she got this far away look in her eyes. Like she was remembering something.
Alloran swiveled his stalk eyes to look at Loren like he was interested in what she had to say.
{ You have wars? But you don't have space travel. Who do you fight? } Elfangor asked her.
"We fight each other." Chapman said, finally joining in the conversation. "So, Loren, Daddy went nutso, huh? Another whacked-out 'Nam vet. I guess some guys just can't take it." He said with a smirk.
Loren looked like she was ready to say something to Chapman, but Alloran beat her to it.
{ Have you ever been in a war, human? } he asked Chapman sharply.
"Me? No. Of course not. That war's over."
{ Then be quiet, fool. Those who have been to war understand. Those who have not have no opinion worth hearing. Even those who return from war may never really come home. } As Alloran said this he stared directly at Loren. She suddenly seemed intrigued by him. I was too, to be honest. From what I had seen of him, Alloran seemed like a hardened war machine. Maybe there was more to him than I had originally thought.
Suddenly the ship faded away again. When everything came back into focus again I was on a different planet. I stood in the center of what passed for a city or a spaceport or whatever. It was still under construction. It was filled with Taxxon and Hork-Bajir controllers. I was on the Taxxon home world.
Suddenly a Taxxon fell from one of the work trams overhead. It went, screaming, down to the orange dirt of the surface and it split open like a bag of warm goo. Instantly the other Taxxons rushed toward their fallen comrade. I wanted to run and hide. I wanted to be sick. I wanted to look away from this awful sight. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was rooted to the spot as the Taxxons devoured their helpless fellow.
Just then I saw one of the Taxxons pull away from the feeding frenzy and weakly crawl away. He might as well have been wearing a giant neon sign that said, "I AM AN ANDALITE." Somehow I knew that this was Elfangor. Suddenly a group of seven or eight Hork-Bajir appeared out of the crowd and surrounded him. At a signal from their leader they all leveled their dracon beams at him. The leader stepped forward and addressed Elfangor.
"Welcome to the Taxxon home world. I am Sub-Visser Seven. You interest me. Yes, indeed. I am very interested in any Taxxon who will not eat fresh meat."
Once again, I don't know how I knew, but I felt it deep in my guts. Sub- Visser Seven was Esplin 9466. Visser Three.
The Hork-Bajir marched Elfangor over to one of the train-like transports and quickly boarded, taking him prisoner. I followed them on to the train.
"So, Andalite, how long have you been in this morph?" the Sub-Visser asked him. I could almost feel Elfangor's shock as he asked the question.
"So. You want to resist me? Good. I need the entertainment. It's rather dull, being in charge of security for this sector. I suppose you're one of the rebels. One of those mountain Taxxons who refuse to join the empire. Well, we'll get to the truth quickly enough."
Rebel Taxxons? I thought all of the Taxxons agreed to be slaves of the Yeerks. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to Elfangor.
"Rebels are just fresh meat. But being a Taxxon, you understand. Any rebels we catch go to feed loyal Taxxons. It's sad, really. But I have no choice. It's one of the idiotic regulations I have to deal with. It's all part of our deal with the Taxxons: Any suspect Taxxon is turned over to loyal Taxxons for interrogation. Of course, Taxxons don't really interrogate. They don't have the patience for it. They ask one or two questions, then... well, then it's dinnertime. Of course, you could tell me why you're here, and what your mission really is........Andalite. You'll still be executed, of course. But I can make it painless. Much better than being eaten alive." The Sub-Visser sneered.
That was a good question. What was he doing here? No sooner had I asked the question than the answer popped into my head. Alloran, Arbron, and Elfangor had come to the Taxxon home world to recover the long lost Time Matrix. It had remained hidden on Earth for fifty thousand years but now the Skrit Na had dug it up. The Time Matrix. The tool of the Ellimists. If the Yeerks managed to get a hold of it the universe was doomed.
"There is one other possibility. This Hork-Bajir body I use is fine. But there are millions of Hork-Bajir controllers now. And what are my other choices? To go back to being a Gedd. Or to take a Taxxon body. No thanks. I won't live with that Taxxon hunger. There is one other possibility, Andalite. There has never been an Andalite-controller. None of us has ever succeeded in capturing an Andalite alive. Your warriors use that nasty Andalite tail blade on themselves rather than be taken alive. Such a waste. Really. See, I want to be the first to have an Andalite body. With that body, with the Andalite morphing power, I wouldn't remain a sub-visser for long. I could be a full Visser. Let me take that Andalite body. You'll live. It's the only way you'll live." As Sub-Visser Seven made his proposition to Elfangor I felt a wave of loathing sweep through my body. It sickened me to know that this beast would one day have what he desired.
{ My name is Elfangor, Yeerk. Remember the name. You'll be hearing it again. But you will never take me alive. } Elfangor said defiantly.
"A pity." The Yeerk sneered.
At that moment the scene faded away again. I had just witnessed history in the making once more. The long, private war between Elfangor and Visser Three had begun.
When everything came back into focus again I was back on the Jahar. Alloran and Elfangor stood at the weapons console. Loren and Chapman stood near the back of the room. As I glanced out of one of the windows I realized that we were hovering over the same Taxxon space port that I had just been in.
"Wait a minute, where's Arbron?" I asked aloud, though no one could hear me. But once again the answer came to me.
The three Andalites had been separated during the feeding frenzy. Arbron had been trapped in Taxxon morph. A nothlit. I could not even imagine the horror of being trapped as such a foul creature. Chapman had betrayed them and tried to sell Loren and the entire human race off to the Yeerks. Arbron had helped to start a rebellion amongst the mountain Taxxons. There had been a terrible battle at the spaceport. Somehow Alloran, Elfangor, Chapman, and Loren had managed to escape, with Sub-Visser Seven in tow. Alloran and Elfangor believed that he was now dead. But as I looked at Chapman and Loren a horrible truth struck me. They were both controllers. Somewhere during this little misadventure they had both been taken. Sub- Visser Seven himself was in Chapman's head. Alloran was now arguing with Elfangor. Alloran wanted to destroy a Taxxon freighter that carried ten thousand Yeerks in their natural state. Elfangor had argued that they were defenseless. For a moment I wanted to side with Alloran. A Yeerk was a Yeerk. Who cared how you killed it? But maybe there was another side to it. I mean, If they were completely defenseless............
{ You think you can fight a clean war, Elfangor? Is that what you think? Or are you one of those who are happy enough when someone like me does the dirt work for you? } Alloran asked him.
{ They are defenseless. } Elfangor tried to argue.
{They are the enemy. Hypocrites! You're all hypocrites! We lost the Hork- Bajir war because of weak, moralizing fools like you! Because of fools like you, I am disgraced and shunned and sent off on trivial errands with nothing but Arisths under my command. }
{ War-Prince Alloran, I honor you, but- }
{ What is the difference how you destroy the enemy?! What does it matter if you kill them with a tail blade or a shredder or a quantum virus?! } Alloran was raving now.
{ You..... you used a quantum virus? You used a quantum Virus on the Hork- Bajir world? } Elfangor asked him, shocked. The truth behind Alloran's disgrace had been hidden from the Andalite people. No one except for top officials in the Andalite military and government knew of the atrocities that Alloran had committed on the Hork-Bajir home world.
{ I cannot have a weak, cowardly fool like you messing up- } Alloran was cut off mid sentence by Chapman. He moved across the room and punched Alloran, hard. Elfangor used the distraction to whack Alloran with the flat side of his tail blade. Alloran slumped to the deck in a heap.
Elfangor backed away, sick at what he had done.
"Now what?" Chapman demanded.
{ Now what?! Now what? I just knocked out my own prince. } Elfangor shrieked.
But he finally regained his composure.
{ We have something to pick up. Then we are getting as far away from this evil place as this ship will go. }
He went to the console and piloted the ship back down to the planet and into the desert. We finally came upon a wrecked Skrit Na ship. Elfangor exited the ship and proceeded to unload the deadly Time Matrix from the Skrit Na raider. I wanted to run after him and scream, "They're controllers, you idiot! Can't you see it?" But he wouldn't have heard me.
As I watched in horror, Sub-Visser Seven crawled out of Chapman's ear. Chapman picked him up and transferred him over to Alloran's limp body. I watched the evil slug crawl into Alloran's brain, creating the first ever Andalite-controller. I wanted to scream. I wanted to act. I wanted to do something to prevent this terrible thing from happening. But there was nothing that I could do. I could only watch from behind my curtain of invisibility as the destroyer of so many lives regained consciousness in his new Andalite body. I watched him climb to his feet for the first time. I watched as he flexed his fingers and rotated his stalk eyes. It was still Alloran, but it was now, also, the face of my enemy. The evil of the Yeerk within had marked Alloran's face forever.
I saw the fire light up in his eyes. His wicked laughter filled every corner of my mind. He swung his tail around, slashing the blade through the air.
{ I have done it! I am the first Andalite-controller! I shall soon be a Visser! I have waited so long for this day. } he crowed.
It was revolting the way he bragged. I felt my hands ball into fists. I was shaking with rage. I wanted to hurt him.
"You.... you monster!!" I shrieked. My cries went unheard. But I launched myself at him anyway. I went flying right through him. Almost as if I was a ghost. He didn't even feel it.
As I lay there on the floor of the Jahar with his evil laughter in my head, everything faded away.
"No! Don't take me away yet. What happens to Loren and Chapman? What about Elfangor and the Time Matrix?"
ELFANGOR ESCAPED FROM THE PLANET WITH THE TIME MATRIX. HE CONVINCED THE YEERK TO COME OUT OF LOREN'S HEAD. THEY TRAVELED THROUGH ZERO SPACE ONLY TO ENTER A BATTLE THAT ELFANGOR'S OLD SHIP, THE STARSWORD, WAS ENGAGED IN WITH A SORT OF LIVING ASTEROID. BUT THE YEERKS HAD FOLLOWED ELFANGOR AND SUB- VISSER SEVEN, BY THIS TIME HE WAS VISSER THIRTY-TWO, ATTACKED THE JAHAR. IN THE HEAT OF THE BATTLE THE ASTEROID ATTACKED THE JAHAR. IN ORDER TO ESCAPE THE DYING SHIP, VISSER THIRTY-TWO, ELFANGOR, AND LOREN WERE FORCED TO WORK TOGETHER. THEY USED THE TIME MATRIX. MY TIME MATRIX IS ACTIVATED WITH A SIMPLE TOUCH. ALL THREE OF THEM TRIED TO DIRECT IT TO THEIR OWN HOME PLANET. THE TIME MATRIX BECAME CONFUSED AND IT CREATED AN ALTERNATE REALITY. A COMBINATION OF EARTH, THE ANDALITE HOME WORLD, AND THE YEERK HOME WORLD. THAT IS WHERE YOU WILL REJOIN THEM.
Then everything began to come back into focus. I was standing in a strange field. The grass was a very deep green, almost blue. The sky overhead was red. But as I looked onward I saw patches of blue sky and familiar green grass and trees. I also saw patches of gray-green sky over dried up dirt. The Yeerk home world. I also recognized the part on which I stood. I had seen it before, during my first encounter with the Ellimist. It was the Andalite home world. I finally understood what the Ellimist meant when he said alternate reality.
Suddenly I saw an Andalite gallop past me. I realized that it was Elfangor when I saw Loren astride his back. Now that was something to laugh at. But there was no time for laughter. I had to follow them. I don't know how I managed to keep up with Elfangor but I did.
Suddenly Elfangor stumbled.
"Elfangor! Elfangor! Something is happening! My fingernails! They're growing!" Loren cried out.
As I caught up to them I saw that her fingernails had indeed grown at least half an inch.
{ Your hair is growing, too. }
"My God. It's grown an inch. It's like it would grow in a few weeks!"
{ My hooves are growing, too. That's why I tripped. It's something I was afraid of. As we get closer to the center of this swirl universe, time is accelerating. We are going to age must faster than normal. }
"Then we'd better hurry!" Loren said urgently.
The three of us ran on for a long while. Until we finally reached the center of their alternate universe. It was a strange tornado that was made up of the very substances of their three worlds. A swirling vortex of terror.
{ The Time Matrix! It should be here! } Elfangor shouted over the roar of the vortex.
"In there? How can we go in there? It's impossible!"
{ It's the only way. The Time Matrix is either in there or......... or there's nothing beyond that swirl but emptiness and we'll be trapped inside that vortex forever. }
"Nice choice. And by the way, that was sarcasm, too."
{ Yes, I'm beginning to recognize it. We have to close our eyes. Block out everything you see, or think you see, and dive in. }
"Take my hand, Elfangor." Loren begged him.
And so, I followed them into the swirling tornado of raw space-time. With the exception of the dimension of the Ellimist, I had never seen anything weirder. At first, the power of the vortex seemed to be pushing us back. But as we got farther into it pulled us forward. The swirl was filled with distorted colors and images. Whole houses and trees blew by. Kind of like when the tornado in the Wizard of Oz picked up Dorothy's house.
We finally reached the center of the vortex. It couldn't have been more than a hundred feet across and it was completely featureless. Everything was blocked out by the swirl. All that was there was the simple, off-white sphere that was the Time Matrix.
"The eye of the hurricane." Loren whispered.
{ We did it! The Time Matrix! It is here! } Elfangor was exhilarated.
"Yeah. Now what do we do about it? Look at my hair. Look at my fingernails. The distortion is really strong here, close like this."
{ Yes. But we'll be fine once we contact the Matrix and get out of here. }
One had to hope that they would be all right. Loren's hair was piling on the floor and her finger and toenails extended for about a foot. To my shock I even saw Elfangor's hooves growing.
"It's him!" Loren suddenly cried out.
I followed her gaze down to the opposite end of the field, or whatever you wanted to call it. I saw an Andalite emerge from the vortex. Visser- whatever-the-hell-his-number-was. He was followed by four of the strangest animals I had ever seen. They had wheels for feet! Mortrons.
{ What? The Andalite child and his pet? Still alive? } he asked, shocked.
{ Yes, still alive. } Elfangor replied coolly.
{ I suppose we'll have to agree to work together again. }
{ The same thing would happen. Another compromised universe. No better than this one. Only this time we'd all be more careful to bring allies and weapons from our memory. }
{ At least then we'd have a fair fight. } the Yeerk visser shrugged.
"He doesn't want to fight you one on one." Loren realized.
{ No, he'd rather have a host of allies and weapons. }
"No, it's more than that. He's afraid to fight you one on one. I saw it in his face."
{ Afraid of what? This Andalite child? My Mortrons and I will annihilate him. } the visser laughed cruelly.
"Really? So why not do it? Why talk about working together?" Loren mocked him. "Alloran has seen you tail fight, Elfangor. That knowledge is the visser's now, right? That's why he's scared."
{ I'll be sure to kill you slowly, human. } Suddenly the visser turned to his four Mortrons. { Kill! }
With that they attacked. As I watched the battle unfold Loren managed to strangle the Mortrons that attacked her. When Elfangor was overwhelmed by the visser and the Mortrons Loren also dispatched the Mortrons that attacked Elfangor. Finally it boiled down to just Elfangor and the Yeerk visser.
{ It's just you and me now. Tail to tail. } Elfangor challenged him.
{ You think you've won, Andalite? You think you can kill me now? Guess again. You haven't thought it through. But then again, I have the advantage of adding Alloran's Andalite knowledge to my own. What do you think will happen to whoever is left behind in this universe once it is broken apart? What? Over your head, is it? A collapsed time line returns each of us to our own proper space-time location. } the visser sneered.
{ So you go back to the Jahar. Back to being sucked into a black hole. I can live with that, Yeerk. I don't care how you die. Here, from my tail. Or there, drawn helplessly into a black hole. So long as you die. You are an abomination. The first Andalite-controller. I just want you to be the last. } Elfangor said.
"I told you he was scared to fight you." Loren put in.
{ I guess you were right. } Elfangor replied.
{ The day will come, Elfangor, when I will destroy you. I will make it very personal. } The visser said calmly as he walked back into the vortex.
His vow unsettled me somewhat. That day would indeed come.
"That's the end of him." Loren said softly.
{ No. I don't think so. } Elfangor told her.
"So now what? We have to get out of here fast. My hair is still growing. My nails are out of control. I feel like I'm getting older. My.... well, I'm getting older, I'll leave it at that. But I swear I'm suddenly eighteen!"
{ Yes. Your face is changing. And I, too, feel myself changing. We must leave. But this time there can only be one person directing the Time Matrix. We have to go somewhere real. Somewhere that is a part of the true universe. }
"The Andalite world?"
{ No. What would I do if I went back to my own people? I mutinied against Alloran, my prince. I left Arbron behind to live as a Taxxon. And I know too many secrets. I know that my own people did use a Quantum virus in the Hork-Bajir war. What might they do if they suddenly had the Time Matrix? } Elfangor asked heavily.
"I guess sometimes even good people do bad things. I mean, that's what war is all about, isn't it?"
{ If we use the Time Matrix to win this war we will no longer be Andalites. Not what I think of as Andalites, anyway. We have to win this war by being ourselves. By living up to our own standards, not by becoming as brutal and ruthless as the Yeerks are. }
"You mean what's the point of winning, if by winning you lose what you fighting for."
{ Yes. That's exactly what I mean. I can't give my people the Time Matrix. And I cannot let the Yeerks have it, either. And it cannot be destroyed, only hidden. }
"You're going to hide it on Earth?" Loren asked him.
{ Earth. Yes. And this time no nosy, greedy Skrit Na will stumble across it. }
"What do you want me to do?"
{ Imagine your Earth, your home, as it is today. Picture every last detail. Your mother. Your friends. Your hollow human house. Picture the time just after the Skrit Na took you. An hour afterward. }
"That was like, what, a week ago? Did all this happen in just a week?"
{ Yes. Just a week. And we need to go back in time. Back before your mother would have noticed you missing. But not before the Skrit Na took you or we would undo this entire time line. }
"Maybe we should undo this time line. Save Arbron. Save Alloran." Loren suggested.
{ And the two of us never meet. }
"I wouldn't want that."
{ Me neither. But more importantly, we wouldn't know the exact effects of rewriting all that history. It may mean that the Skrit Na escaped clean with the Time Matrix and delivered it to the Yeerks. No. We have to keep our time line intact. And as long as the you you've been this last week doesn't encounter some second you, we'll be fine. }
"There's one problem. This me had aged. I'm older. I must be almost eighteen now, judging from the way I've grown. People would notice."
{ Yes. But imagine that they don't. Imagine that you are eighteen and that everyone who has ever known you expects you to be eighteen. }
"Is this really going to work?"
{ I don't know, Loren. Nothing else I've tried has worked so far. } Elfangor said hesitantly.
"Then I'll take care of driving the Time Matrix. Let's go!" she shouted enthusiastically as she placed her hand on the Time Matrix.
As the two of them placed their hands on the Matrix the surrounding vortex collapsed. For a long while I watched them drift through what I assumed was Z-space. I saw their arrival on Earth. I watched Elfangor live life as a human. When they were both old enough they married. They lived happily together........until one evening.
The Ellimist appeared to Elfangor. He explained to him what he and Loren had done when they meddled with the Time Matrix. He convinced Elfangor to let him repair the torn threads of his destiny. Then he pulled Elfangor up out of the three dimensional world. Just as he had done with me.
Elfangor saw Arbron, still alive on the Taxxon world. He saw his brother for the first time. He also learned from the Ellimist, the horrible truth of what he had left behind on Earth. He and Loren had a child. In that moment a new realization struck me. That child was Tobias! Elfangor was his father!
Just then, as Elfangor was returned to his true Andalite body, I knew that he could see me. I just knew it.
For a moment that seemed to last for an eternity, we just stared at each other. A question came into his eyes as I gazed back at him.
Suddenly I saw the time line that belonged to Ax reach from across the galaxy. I began to see my own time line swirling about me. Ax's time line became entwined with my own. They became one, still two different lines but joined at the same time. Our lines stretched off into the river of time and they joined with those of Tobias, Rachel, Jake, Cassie, and Marco. Elfangor did not understand what this meant exactly. But he did understand that I was the one who would be with his brother.
We spoke no words and yet we understood each other perfectly.
Suddenly he vanished, off to face his own future.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU HAVE JUST SEEN, STELLA?
"Yes." I whispered numbly. I wanted to just lie down and cry. Cry for all that I had seen. Cry for my family. Cry out my own sorrow. I had witnessed some of the most terrible things in this war and I was now the only living person who knew about them. Aside from Visser Three. He and I alone knew.
I HOPE SO. BECAUSE THERE IS STILL MORE TO SEE.
No! I was too tired and sick at heart to see anymore. I wanted nothing more than for this horrible slide show of despair and misery to end. Maybe there was hope for a few brief, shining moments. But in the end it would be stamped out by darkness and evil. What was the Ellimist trying to tell me? That our battle with the Yeerks was futile? Why?
"Why?! Why are you doing this to me?! I don't understand!!" I cried out in agony.
YOU MUST UNDERSTAND STELLA. OTHERWISE THE EARTH IS DOOMED.
"What do you mean?!"
But he didn't answer. Reality, or what passed for reality in this tour, was coming back into focus.
I was standing in the construction site again. Only now their was a crashed Andalite fighter there and I could see a an Andalite lying on the ground at the end of the opened ramp. I saw a boy leaning over the Andalite. Suddenly I realized that the Andalite was Elfangor and the boy was Tobias! When I looked a second time I saw Rachel, Marco, Jake, and Cassie standing behind him. As I drew closer I saw Jake walk inside Elfangor's fighter. When he returned he held a blue box in his hands. The morphing cube.
For awhile they all stood there, hesitating. I knew that Elfangor was offering them the power to morph. Suddenly twin red lights appeared in the sky. Bug fighters. The five of them hesitated only a moment more. Then they all pressed their hands to the cube. After a few minutes they took their hands away. When I finally got close enough to hear what they were saying I heard Elfangor telling them to run. And run they did. All except for Tobias. At that moment my heart went out to him. At this moment he had no idea that it was his father he was talking to. What about Elfangor? Did he know that this was his son?
Finally Tobias left him and ran to hide with the other four. The bug fighters spotted Elfangor's ship and landed. Just after them came the blade ship. The blade ship of Visser Three. I could only imagine the terror that my friends were feeling now. But as I gazed upon the blade ship and Visser Three stepped out of it I felt no fear. I felt only hatred.
{ Well, well. What have we here? A meddling Andalite? Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Elfangor Sirinial Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you. You're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended? The very last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world. }
{ There will be others.}
{ Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world will be mine. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest. And then I'll be Visser One. }
{ What do you want with these humans? You have your Taxxon allies. You have your Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why Earth? Why these people? }
{ Because there are so many, and they are so weak. Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the universe, unstoppable! Billions of us! We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought well and bravely. But you have lost. I will promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor- when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite home world. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream. }
This seemed to be more than Elfangor could take. He struck at Visser Three. He struck and scored a hit. His tail blade delved deeply into Visser Three's shoulder.
{ Aaaaaarrrrrgh!! } Visser Three cried out in pain.
At the same time the shredder in the tail of the Andalite fighter was activated. A beam of blue light lanced through the air and one of the bug fighters disintegrated.
{ Fire! Burn his ship! }
The blade ship and the remaining bug fighter fired and Elfangor's ship was destroyed.
{ Take the Andalite! Hold him for me. }
With that a swarm of Hork-Bajir fell upon Elfangor. Visser Three began to morph. The monster that he morphed was horrible beyond description. He stood on two giant legs and he had multiple tentacles. His head bloated beyond recognition. A mouth appeared, filled with teeth the length of a human arm. An Antarean Bogg. Visser Three wrapped one of his tentacles around Elfangor's neck and lifted him into the air. I desperately wanted to look away but I couldn't. I had to bear witness to this terrible act of murder. I watched as Elfangor fell into the visser's open mouth. I saw the Taxxons gather around him to catch the scraps that fell from his mouth.
At the very end he cried out. That cry of pain and despair will always be with me.
As Visser Three demorphed the Ellimist pulled me away. I saw other things but I was far too numb to pay attention.
I learned the true identity of Visser One. Marco's own mother. I was there on the Yeerk mother ship with them all when he found out the awful truth.
I watched as the Animorphs rescued Ax from the sunken Dome ship. I felt the pain in his hearts when he learned that his brother was dead.
I saw Ax's first real confrontation with Visser Three. How he attacked him while he was feeding in a secluded area of the forest. How Visser Three actually abandoned his host and escaped. The moment when Ax met Alloran, free, even if only for a minute, after all of those years.
Finally the Ellimist released me from these horrible visions.
I HAVE SHOWN YOU ALL THAT I CAN. HAVE YOU MADE YOUR DECISION, STELLA?
"I have." I whispered.
WELL.
"No. I will not go back." I answered quietly.
ARE YOU CERTAIN OF THAT?
"Yes. I can do more in this time line. I want nothing to change." I had decided and nothing could make me back down.
IF YOU ARE FIRM IN YOUR DECISION THEN THERE IS SOMETHING THAT YOU MUST DO.
"What?"
YOU MUST TAKE THE MORPHING CUBE BACK TO THE CONSTRUCTION SITE AND RE-HIDE IT. SOMEONE'S FATE IS STILL TIED TO IT.
"All right then. If I even live to do it, I will."
IN THAT CASE, THERE IS SOMEONE WHO WISHES TO SPEAK WITH YOU. TWO SOMEONES IN FACT.
"What do you mean by that?"
Once again, he didn't answer me. As a response, Ax appeared beside me. For a moment he was confused and bewildered. Then the realization hit him.
{ The Ellimist did this. } he said.
"Yes. He said there was someone who wanted to talk to me. I guess they wanted to speak to you too. I don't know."
{ Stella, what happened to you? You sound different. I don't how to explain it but you sound older. What has the Ellimist done to you? }
"I'm older, huh? I guess that makes sense. After what I've seen."
{ What do you mean? }
"I'll tell you later." I said, only half-paying attention. Most of my attention was now focused on the two figures that now stood opposite Ax and myself. Figures that I had seen before.
"Claire." I whispered breathlessly as she became clearer through the mists of time.
{ Elfangor. }Ax whispered, just as shocked as I was.
"But......you two can't be here. You're dead."
"What difference does that make? The Ellimist has brought us here." Claire told me.
{ But how? He cannot raise the dead. } Ax argued.
{ Maybe not, little brother. But there are other ways of allowing our spirits to speak with you. } Elfangor explained.
"So.......so what exactly is so important that you need to speak to us from beyond the grave?" I asked, trying to crack a joke as the tears spilled down my face.
"Don't cry, Stella." Claire tried to comfort me. She reached out her hand to place it on my face but it passed right through me. She seemed upset for a moment but she quickly regained her composure.
"After being dead for a year, don't we have the right to miss our siblings?" Claire said with a smile.
{ Claire is right. We wanted to say goodbye to the two of you properly. } Elfangor said.
{ It must be more than that. I hate to sound cynical but the Ellimist has to have a reason for letting you speak to us at all. }
"I guess you're right. We also came to give you a bit of a pep talk." Claire said.
{ What's a pep talk? } Ax asked her.
{ Oh Aximili, you still have much to learn about Earth. } Elfangor said through his silent laughter.
"We also came to tell you that if the two of you don't defeat Visser Three then both the Andalites and the humans will be slaves of the Yeerks."
"Well, isn't that a cheerful thought." I said, trying to hide my shock.
* * *
(A/N) Man, you think the chapter was long enough? Okay, before you kill me, I realize that Stella's time line was never in the scene with Elfangor and the Ellimist ( duh ) but what can I say. It's also more than likely that the Ellimist can't raise the dead. But once again, what can I say in my defense? I liked Earth Guardian's idea.