Chapter 18

--I mean it,-- said Sam. --If I don't make it, you get yourselves out. Go shark - get in the ocean. Get way from here. We can't warn the other morphers if we're all dead.--

--Sam - you can't!-- cried Ferdie. --We'll find a way - don't you worry, I'll- --

But Ferdie was cut off by a new event. The Controllers - including Visser Five - all seemed to be looking up into the sky for some reason. I followed their line of sight, scanning the sky for whatever they were looking at. Maggie saw it first.

--What is it?-- she asked, assuming I'd seen it too.

--What's what? I don't see anything. What's everyone looking at?--

--Must be important to direct everyone's attention away from Visser Five,-- commented Ferdie.

Finally, I saw what they were looking at. A bright light in the air, a mile or so to the east. It looked like some kind of helicopter or small aeroplane, flying out to sea from the coast of Wales, but even to my weaker ox eyes, I could see it was like no helicopter or plane that humans had ever built. For a start, it moved far too quickly. I could see the outline of the craft appearing within seconds on spotting it. As it came nearer, it descended through the sky.

--I think it's intending to land on the ship,-- said Ferdie. --Wonder who it is?--

--God, I hope it's not Visser Three!-- cried Maggie.

--Well Visser Three has an Andalite body,-- said Sam nervously from across the deck, --so I'll guess we'll find out in a second.--

The craft lowered towards us, and set down on the ship. I strained my neck out of my hidey-hole, partly to take in more of this strange sight, partly to see how the Controllers were taking this interruption.

--The Visser doesn't look too happy,-- Sam commented. --He's either really confused, really scared, or really P-O'ed that someone is stealing his show.--

It was dark, yet as the craft came closer and prepared to land, I found I could still see it very clearly. It was almost as if it was creating a light source of it's own - a kind of wicked looking yellowy-orange glow. It was a small craft, no bigger than a bus. A dull grey in colour - nothing like the Visser's chrome reflective chopper. It was roundish at the front, becoming sharper towards the rear, and possessing a number of odd looking, spidery legs. Six of them, with multiple joints, which extended towards the ground as the craft came in to land. There were what looked like Dracon beams affixed to the side, top, and underneath. A stubby pair of wings protruded from it's side. The whole thing resembled some kind of giant fighting insect.

--Weird looking thing,-- said Ferdie. --Keep out if the way, it might carry malaria.--

--Shut up, Ferdie,-- I muttered. Then, to myself as much as the rest of us:

--Someone's getting out!--

The Visser, by this time, was looking more worried that annoyed. No doubt he knew what was inside that craft, and he didn't like the thought of it.

--I don't think it will be Visser Three - Visser Five wouldn't be scared of him, would he? Not if he's invited him to view the artefact?-- asked Maggie.

--Or us,-- Ferdie mused.

--Who knows what Visser Three is like?-- said Sam. --Anyway, I think it's a human getting out, not an Andalite body.--

With her leopard eyes, and proximity to the craft, Sam had seen what I was still straining to see. But eventually, I had no doubt that the doors, or airlocks or whatever it was this craft uses, was starting to open. Two figures jumped from the craft - humans. They stood to one side like bodyguards, rifles slung across their chests casually, as though they didn't really need them, and Dracon beams at the hip. They saluted and allowed a third human to disembark. A woman emerged. Tall, around thirty years old, attractive in a business-like sense, and dressed in a tight black one-piece cat suit. She wore heavy black military boots, and a bandoleer holding a Dracon beam and other pieces of strange looking equipment. She ran her gloved hand through her masculine short blonde hair and strode gracefully over to Visser Five. She moved with the same cocky but elegant walk of a high-flying business woman. She could not have looked more confident nor assertive if she were wearing a designer power suit and striding down the Houses of Parliament.

--That's what Visser Five was scared of?-- sniffed Maggie. --She looks like a cross between a James Bond villain and an extra for some dodgy late night Channel Five programme!--

With my sharp ox hearing, I could make out a murmur of conversation from some of the watching Controllers. One medium ranking Controller turned to his partner. I couldn't see him clearly, but his words were clear.

"The Assassin," he whispered.

His partner seemed to agree. "I didn't know she really existed," he said. "I thought she was a legend. But she's the Assassin, alright. There's no mistaking that."