(Wait, look!) Cassie cut in suddenly.
Something was swooping in low and fast over the dry scrubland. Something that looked like a headless, legless cockroach holding a pair of spears out in front of its main body.
(That's a Bug fighter,) Marco said. (What's one of those things doing way out here? As if I couldn't guess,) he added, before any of the others could make a comment.
Cassie was scared, but what she found strange was the fact that the Horse-Controllers were more terrified of the Bug fighter than they had been, even when they were risking messy death just to have a look inside the main hangar at Area 51. But somehow, I don't think it's the Bug fighter they're so scared of. If I were going to bet, I'd put my money on who's in that Bug fighter rather than the Bug fighter itself.
Judging by the amount of fear pheromones Cassie could smell, she had a fairly good idea of just who was on board that Bug fighter. The small Yeerk ship circled once, and managed a very smooth landing behind a pile of tumbled rocks.
(I can't believe that the radar back at the base isn't picking that thing up,) Tobias said. (It's at least the size of an RV, and I really don't know how they could manage to miss something that huge.)
(Radar? Is that the human system that bounces radio beams off of objects to determine their distance?) Aximili asked. (I do not mean to offend, but any Andalite child could build a radar-cloak from the pieces of his toys,) Ax said, more than a little primly.
(Ax, somehow you're beginning to grind my nerves,) Rachel said, just now starting to become annoyed. (And that's supposed to be Marco's job.)
The Animorphs followed the group of Horse-Controllers around to the back of the rocks, where the Bug fighter was already waiting for them. The exit hatch was still closed, and remained that way until all of the Horse-Controllers were assembled in an orderly double-row in front of it. Once they were all assembled, and the Animorphs had gotten themselves in a good position to watch the proceedings, the exit hatch of the Bug fighter slowly opened.
First to step out onto the long scrub grass was a Hork-Bajir warrior armed with a standard-issue Dracon beam. Looking around for any possible threats, and apparently finding none, the Hork-Bajir signaled to the second passenger of the Bug fighter. As he came out, Cassie nodded to herself, I knew it would be him.
Slade stood rigid. This was it, this was his enemy. Slade knew this fact beyond any doubt. The question is, what do I do about it? Slade wondered. This horse body he was currently in was basically helpless; no claws, no fangs, pathetic eyesight, and nothing in the way of armored skin or a powerful tail. From his vantagepoint, Slade could see both the similarities and the differences between his horse morph and this new creature, whoever or whatever he was.
For one, the fur seemed to be blue. That was odd to Slade's sensibilities, but it was really the most insignificant of the changes. The more drastic difference was the fact that from where the neck would be on a horse, there sprouted a semi-human body, but that was only from shoulders to waist, the head of this creature was most definitely not human. He couldn't pick out much detail with his utterly wretched horse eyes, but Slade thought he could make out a pair of horns on top of the creature's head.
But the thing that Slade paid the most attention to – the one thing that mutely warned him that as long as he was in this pitiful horse morph, there was nothing he could do but stand back and watch – was the creature's tail. The tail was held erect, which was strange in and of itself; but more than that there was also a long, sharp blade at the end of the tail. There wasn't enough light to reflect off the edges, or maybe his horse eyes were just to weak to make them out, but Slade was sure that if he could see the edges clearly, they would glitter.
(Visser Three,) Slade heard Cassie say, her voice grim and unsurprised.
(Yeah,) Jake said, from somewhere to Slade's left, matching Cassie's tone. (Suddenly this whole thing just got even more serious.)
Visser Three, huh? So that's who this guy is. Look's pretty impressive, Slade thought to himself.
