"Yall hellem. Fimul chall killim fullat!"

(And there goes one of the other horses,) Marco said, inwardly rolling his eyes. (We have officially wandered into a Mister Ed rerun. We have now entered… The Nick at Night Zone.) Marco started humming the theme from The Twilight Zone.

(That is Galard,) Aximili pointed out. (The Horse-Controllers are speaking Galard.)

(Two questions,) Jake said, his thought-speak voice betraying the fact that he was tense. (One: what is Galard? And, two: can those Horse-Controllers hear us thought-speaking? And, please answer the second question first, Ax.)

(Unless we were to thought-speak directly to the Horse-Controllers, they will not be able to overhear our conversations, Prince Jake,) Aximili explained. (As for your first question, Galard is sort of a universal language, spoken by other species in the galaxy when neither of them shares a common language. These Horse-Controllers must have been fitted with speech synthesizers.)

(If these are Yeerks, wouldn't they be speaking the Yeerk language or something like that?) Cassie asked, confused.

(I am not sure,) Aximili said. (But the standard speech synthesizers do use Galard as a default setting. It is possible that the Yeerks are in possession of an older model of the device. It is sometimes easier to acquire outdated, less cutting-edge technology.)

(So… you're telling us that the Yeerks bought speech synthesizers on sale?) Rachel asked, disbelieving.

(Probably at the Wal-Mart on Pluto,) Marco cracked. (I swear, those morons wouldn't know innovation if it bit them on their oversized butts.)

(Ax, can you understand what those Controllers are saying?) Jake asked. (Can you translate for us?)

(Yes, Prince Jake,) Aximili confirmed. (The Horse-Controllers were talking about following their plan. They said 'If we do this right, we'll soon be off this mindless assignment, out of these worthless bodies, and back on our ship where we belong.' That is what the leader just said.)

(We have a problem,) Tobias said, as he saw the group of Horse-Controllers beginning to divide. (I think they're about to split up.)

(All right,) Jake said, snapping into command-mode. (Cassie, Tobias, Slade and I will go with one group. And Marco, Ax and Rachel will go with the other. Ax? If these Horse-Controllers keep talking, let us know, all right?)

(Yes, Prince Jake, I will do that.)

(I have told you not to call me Prince, haven't I Ax?) Jake asked.

(Yes, Prince Jake, you have. Many times,) Ax said.

Cassie, Slade and the others in Jake's group fell into step with him, but carefully so as not to attract the attention of the Horse-Controllers. The second group, Ax's group, ambled their way over to the other group of Yeerk infested horses.

(This is really weird,) Cassie said, just as the two groups of horses started to move apart. (All of these Horse-Controllers are obviously on some kind of mission. I'm almost surprised that none of the soldiers have noticed the way these horses are acting, what with the way they seem so fanatical about security.)

(Well, in their defense, who in their right mind would ever think that a horse would be a security risk?) Tobias asked thoughtfully.

(I guess you'd be right about that,) Cassie conceded. (By the way Tobias, I was wondering how you liked this horse morph.)

(Compared to my usual body?) Tobias considered for a moment. (It's outright boring. Compared to when I couldn't morph at all?) Tobias chuckled. (I really enjoy it.)

(How are you enjoying this new morph, Slade?) Cassie asked.

(It's okay, I guess,) Slade said uncertainly. (I just wish it could see better. And that it wasn't so big and obvious. I feel like I'm waving around a sign that says 'Please Capture Me'.)

Cassie chuckled. (I guess it would feel that way to someone who wasn't used to morphing. But people here just don't think of horses as a security risk. Now, if we were dealing with Controllers, it would be a different story. But, I'm pretty sure that these people are all normal humans.)

(Why? How would the situation be different if we were dealing with Controllers? They're all just humans, right?) Slade asked.

(No, Slade. Not all Controllers are human,) Cassie explained, as their group of horses walked the side of a road that was bordered on both sides by a neat row of simple, whitewashed clapboard buildings, each with its own number stenciled in black on the front. (The Yeerks have taken and infested three species that we know of, before they started moving on to Earth. The Hork-Bajir were the first type of Controller that we saw, back when all of this started. They look sort of like giant lizards, but they walk upright. The Hork-Bajir are the second most dangerous type of Controller.)

(Second most? What would be the most dangerous type? And why are these… Hork-Bajir so dangerous?) Slade asked, while his mind struggled to shrug off the feeling that a big, bipedal lizard was somehow familiar to him. As if… as if he had seen something like it before.

(Visser Three, the Andalite-Controller,) Cassie said grimly. (He's the most dangerous type. There's only one of him, which is good for us, but he can morph just like we can, and that's not so good. And since he's been all over the galaxy and back, he has the kind of morphs that don't exist anywhere on Earth. Very nasty morphs. As for your other question, Hork-Bajir are dangerous because they have blades on the back of all of their major joints. Taxxons are the second type of Controller, and are basically just giant centipedes. They're not very strong, but they'll eat anything, alive or not. Gedds are the last species of Controller that we know about, but we haven't encountered any of them up close yet.)

(Wow. These Yeerks seem to be really well prepared for this,) Slade said thoughtfully. (Why don't they just attack? It seems like it would save them a lot of trouble.)

Cassie was taken aback for a second by what Slade had just said. (The Yeerks don't want just our planet, Slade,) Cassie tried to explain. (What the Yeerks are after is our physical bodies. I think they would consider that starting a war would be counterproductive, since a lot of humans would get killed.)

(Oh, I guess I hadn't thought of it that way,) Slade said, falling silent after he'd finished that statement.

(Where are we?) Rachel asked, looking around at the various soldiers pushing carts and carrying bags of groceries.

(This is the Base Exchange,) Jake explained. (It's kind of like a shopping center for the soldiers who've been stationed here.)

(Must be a pretty boring place,) Rachel said, from her position with the other group of Horse-Controllers. (Not much to do out her but stand guard and keep secrets.)

The Animorphs and the Horse-Controllers both stepped backwards as a pair of camouflage-painted Humvees came rumbling down the road. No one seemed to notice or care that none of them were exactly acting like normal horses, but Slade couldn't help the feelings of nervousness he was still having. This aspect of the mission really set him on edge.

The sweltering heat of the afternoon sun was making the Animorphs' horse minds eager to look for a shady spot to rest in. The Animorphs ignored that desire, keeping pace with the Horse-Controllers as they continued to walk.

Cassie was marveling at the sheer strangeness of their currant situation: here they were, seven Animorphs in various horse morphs, following a group of Yeerk infested horses, and they were all of them trying to find out what if anything was being kept at Area 51. Cassie wondered if the rumors about the place could be true. Could the government have recovered a crashed spacecraft from out in the desert somewhere? And, could they have somehow taken it back to this base to study it?

Was that what these Yeerks were here for? Were they trying to find out if it was real or not? Why? So that they could steal or destroy it before the people at the base found out its secrets, and possibly found out about the Yeerk invasion? Cassie wondered what the Air Force people might have recovered. A Bug fighter? An Andalite ship? Some spacecraft belonging to a race that the Animorphs had never heard of?

Cassie sniffed the air, something seemed… off. (Jake, Slade, Tobias, do any of you guys smell something weird?) she asked.

(I can smell those french fries over at the Base Exchange,) Jake said slyly.

(Not the food Jake,) Cassie laughed, then quickly became serious again. (Smell the Horse-Controllers.)

(Do I really have to?) Jake complained, not really meaning it. But he and the others sniffed the air, picking up the pheromones that the Horse-Controllers were giving off. (Oh, you mean that smell.)

(What is that smell?) Slade asked.

(It's fear,) Tobias said. (Nervousness. Great, if they're scared about something, then it's a sure bet that we should be scared of it, too. Whatever it turns out to be.)

(I think I have that part covered,) Cassie said wryly.