Chapter 6

"What do you mean?" asked Ferdie.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" asked Sam, staring at him. "This ship is riddled with Controllers! How can I make that any more clear?"

"Wait, wait," I said. "Hold back. You're saying this ship is controlled by the Yeerks? I thought it was a military ship?"

"Yes, well, it's obviously been taken over by the Yeerks."

"How did you find this out?" I asked. The four of us were still sitting in our little space between the lifeboats, gorging down our sandwiches.

"Whilst you and Ferdie were getting food, me and Maggie snuck inside as well and came across one of the officers talking on the radio."

"We didn't get the whole thing, but it was pretty obvious what we were dealing with," said Maggie.

"We only heard a few words - we couldn't get too close, so it was difficult to make everything out - even in hare morph. But three words were clear enough," said Sam. "Visser, Andalite and Artefact. Tell me that's just code for the Royal Navy."

I put down my sandwich and stared at Sam, unsure what to say. Ferdie narrowed his eyes.

"So what did you do?" he asked. "Did you get to hear anything else?"

"A bit," replied Sam. "We stayed put for a while, waiting for the coast to clear. But then, it seemed like every time we heard two officers talking, it was so obvious they were Controllers! Every other word just fitted into the whole Yeerk-taking-over-the-world thing. And Philip, I'll bet that 'classified mission' you told us about at the port has something to do with Andalite technology."

"Two thousand miles out to sea, somewhere in the Atlantic ocean," I pondered. "The itinerary said this ship would be spending some time out there."

"That sounds a bit dodgy for a military ship," said Maggie. "Don't they just go where there's a war?"

"Well not really. From what I hear, military ships tend to hang about in the middle of nowhere all the time," I said.

"We should have guessed something like this would be the case when we learnt that the director of the port was a Controller. He's probably got Yeerks taking over ships every day!" said Sam.

"The military would certainly be one of the top organisations on their list to control. Think of the power they'd command. They'd be no hope for our country then," Maggie muttered dryly.

"No doubt the captain's a Controller too. Wonder if they infested him recently for the sake of the mission, or if he's always been a Controller?" Ferdie said, throwing his crusts overboard.

"Who knows?" I replied. "But we should probably assume this whole ship is set up for the Yeerks. I expect it will have it's own in built Yeerk pool, that Eramas told us about."

"Nothing like a little dip in the Jacuzzi on board…" said Ferdie, grinning sarcastically.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Maggie. "We can't stay here now - if one of the crew sees us, we'll be recognised and caught, Visser Five will be landing on deck before we can even think about morphing!"

"No doubt about that," said Sam. "We get off, right now, and go the rest as sharks. Everyone ok with that?"

Maggie nodded, eager to get off the ship. But I was less convinced. This was a nifty little chance we had going for ourselves here. No way was I going to let it go. I took a deep breath, and said,

"Guys, we can't just leave them to it!"

"Philip, what are you talking about?" Maggie said.

"This about what an opportunity this is! We are right in the heart of a top secret Yeerk operation - they know nothing of our presence - and we're just going to walk away? We could gather some info - it would be really very useful once we find Jake and the others!"

"Philip, this isn't a mission we're on here. I'm not putting everyone's lives in danger to play James Bond. We get in the sea, we swim. End of story," Sam. Of course.

"Sam, how many times will we get a chance like this again?" I insisted. "This could be the only chance we get to find out exactly how far the invasion has gone, we could get all sorts of inside details we'll never know otherwise! Look. I'm not saying we try to blow up the ship or anything - we could just find out a bit more, find out exactly what we're up against. We've not exactly had much experience so far, have we? A run in with a couple of choppers and a few guys with guns? That's probably just scratching the surface of the whole Yeerk operation. We could find out right now exactly what we were up against!"

I took a breather, trying to catch Sam's eye, who was glaring at me.

"Philip, I have already told you what we're doing, we-"

"Hang about, Sam," Ferdie interrupted. Sam narrowed her eyes at him. "You've just made up your mind - what about everyone else?"

"Ferdie - are you actually going along with him! Do you want to get everyone caught?"

"I think you're over exaggerating a bit here!" I retorted. "If we do this carefully, there's no saying we'll get caught! Have you forgotten we have the power to morph?"

"Have you forgotten we're on the run from one of the most high ranking Yeerks on Earth, onboard a ship that he probably controls, and would shoot us the second he saw us? We are getting off this ship right now, that's the end of the matter!"

"Maybe we should have a vote," muttered Maggie, who'd at last spoken up.

"What?" said Sam.

"I think Philip might have a point. We shouldn't let a chance like this go just because you tell us too."

"But - I'm the leader here!" shrieked Sam.

"So maybe being the leader you should listen to everyone else's opinions!" I said. "I think we should vote."

"Fine. Whatever," snorted Sam. "Anyone in favour of getting off this Yeerk infested hell-hole, and doing what we set out to do, raise your hands."

She stuck her hand up in the air like a teacher's pet in class. She sniffed.

"Ok! And anyone up for Philip's crazy, suicidal, kamikaze, throw-ourselves-at-Visser-Five's-feet, put your hand up now."

I put my chin in the air and raised my hand. As did Maggie. Ferdie followed suite, although you could see in his eyes he was sorry not to agree with the wishes of his crush.

"Well, I think that settles it," murmured Maggie. "Three against one. Mission it is."

"You better know what you're doing, Second Lieutenant Lawless," said Ferdie, slapping me on the shoulder.