When Eric opened his door, Jake didn't waste any time getting to the point. "Eric, we have to talk. There's a new alien around and we have no idea what her agenda is."

Eric nodded. "Come with me. This needs to be dealt with." He turned and went to the entrance of the dog colony concealed under their house. He and all the Animorphs packed into the lift and began the trip down.

When the doors opened, there was a moment of total shock. There she was. Astrana was playing with the multitude of dogs, running and laughing. When she saw the Animorphs, she came to a sudden halt. "What are they doing here?" she asked Eric suspiciously.

"Look, we're all on the same side here." Eric said. "This is just a matter of crossed communications."

"Crossed communications?!" Astrana exclaimed. "They locked m-"

Eric cut her off with a raised hand. For most, this would not have worked, but the Kinto'un had a great respect for the Pemalites, and this also transferred over to their creations the Chee. "They had to lock you up so they could be sure you were not under Yeerk control."

"Yeerks again! You all keep bringing them up but no one will tell me what they are!" Being kept out of the loop like this was infuriating for Astrana. For the Kinto'un, the whole purpose of life is to acquire knowledge, so not knowing about something made them irritable.

"You don't even know what a Yeerk is?" Jake asked, stunned. This news completely threw him, how could this alien not know about the Yeerk threat? Astrana merely growled softly in response to this.

Eric started to explain. "About three centuries ago, we lost communications with her species. Until now we had no idea what had happened, but Astrana here has filled us in on the details."

Feeling it was her job to tell the story of her race, Astrana took over. "The Kinto'un, my people ran into a serious problem. We had always been very attached to our planet and its ecosystem, so when we put ourselves apart from all other life on the planet, the fertility rate dropped to a mere ten percent in two generations."

"What did you do to fix it?" asked Cassie, always the conservationist.

"We pulled everyone back to the homeworld and returned to the trees. The situation has improved, but some of us are still born unable to breed." Astrana said sadly. "Like me. That is why I'm here. We love knowledge, so some of us are sent off-planet to gather reports on other sentient races."

"And that's why she doesn't know about the Yeerks. Her race has been busy at home long before they got loose." Eric informed them. He turned to Astrana, dropping his hologram as he did so. "This is a yeerk." He said projecting an image of one in front of her.

"'I don't see what's so dangerous about that." she said skeptically. "Why are you all so worried about these little things?"

Eric put his hologram back up and looked at her gravely. "They enter the brain through the ear canal and take complete control of the host. With the ability to access all memories, they can pass as the individual who is no more than a shell."

Astrana's eyes widened in shock. "That- that's horrible." She breathed. Then she straightened and said with determination. "I want to help you fight. No creature deserves that fate."

Eric shook his head. "That's not my decision as I can't fight. Jake's the leader."

She turned to him, dipped her head and lowered her tail to the ground in what seemed to the Animorphs to be some sort of bow. "I am yours to command if you want my help."

Jake hesitated for a second, then nodded. "We need all the help we can get."

"So what now?" she asked.

"Well," said Jake, rubbing his hands together, "we go get the morphing cube."

A/N: So, if you like it, send me a review. But if you don't like it, you too can send me a review. There's just so many choices!