Chapter One

Malia

Become his 'body guard,' like that overgrown crapsha worm needed one. He probably just wanted to keep me close, keep me away from the other Vissers. See, by keeping me nearby, he had an advantage over the others. Malianith, like Leerans, are slightly telepathic. The difference is that we can build a kind of mental wall that blocks thoughts. We don't read minds if we don't want to.

That's how it took less than six months for Visser Five to become Visser Three. Using me, he rooted out the ones above him. He had plans for me to meet Visser One, some day, so that he could get rid of her. But, again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

When Visser Three was assigned to Earth, I went with him. When we first arrived, I just stared out of the window that's in my tank. This was the planet that my 'mother' had come from. Of course, the sample was from a few centuries before, so there was no way I could find her. Just the same, as I watched the planet spin slowly on its axis, I imagined finding her and living a normal life. Then I cried. I cried for all of the people that would be captured by the Yeerks.

For two years, the Visser gave me an hour a day that I could spend as I wished on the planet. The rest of the time, he kept me where he could see me. Even when I visited Ba'giroth, he was in the room with me. Ba'giroth didn't speak to me when I visited him. Can't say I blame him. I was betraying everything he had taught me, just to keep him alive.

I cried myself to sleep every night, alone in my tank. There were other Malianith on the ship, each one fitted with special control collars. The Nagi traitors had helped create them. I'm not sure how they work, but they send great pain, pain beyond imagining, through the mind of the disobediant.

Most Haniro died from them in the first two weeks. Of those still remaining, some bided their time and planned escapes. Others just gave in to the Yeerks, void of all hope. I admire the first group and pity the second, but I also identify with them better.

I made that cursed deal with the Visser to save the only piece of my life that I had left. I had lost my own hope, but I still believed that Ba'giroth had some.

Many Malianith's hope rekindled when the Andalite ships emerged from Z-space and headed towards the small blue and green planet. Not mine. I was on the Blade Ship with Visser Three. I watched as the fleet was annihilated. Then, when Visser Three went down after the Andalite prince, I watched.

Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul has seriously injured when we found him in the abandoned construction sight. I admired him, as did many Haniro. He was an ideal warrior, someone to be respected. He looked right at me and tried to speak to me. In my shame, put up my wall and turned away. I couldn't watch as the Visser's morph swallowed him and the greedy Taxxon's gobbled up the pieces that fell. I just wanted to throw up at that moment. No matter how strong my wall was, I could still hear Elfangor's screams.

After that, I thought it was over for the humans. Then something amazing happened.

I was at the Yeerk Pool with Visser Three a few days later when animals appeared out of nowhere and attacked! I almost couldn't believe it. Andalites had survived! I kept my mind closed from them. They were hope for my second home, and I wasn't going to take that from Earth. I stood back as the Visser went after them. He wasn't in any danger, so I didn't feel the need to help him.

Granted, I got a pretty sound yelling at, later. He never struck me, though. I'm too valuable to him. Over the next couple of months, the bandits did even more damage to the Yeerks. I stopped crying myself to sleep. For the first time in nearly two and a half years, I had hope.

That brings us up to speed. Where this really starts is in my martial arts training. Yes, I get trained in human fighting techniques. It's actually been helpful. The Haniro teach centering the mind, but their ways aren't as effective with me. As a half-human, I get all of the emotions that go with it. Sure the Malianith have feelings, but they are nothing compared to human emotions. The things that I learned growing up were better suited for the more tame ways of the Malianith. What Epslin two five one four taught me was like enlightenment.

So how do I learn them with a tail that's six feet long? I don't. The Malianith are strange, to say the least, in the fact that they have the ability to alter themselves within their genetic code. So say that a guy has gray eyes, but has the genes for purple eyes. If he wants to, he can turns his eyes purple and vice versa. Because I have human DNA, I can make myself look human. I can go from a short Malianith to a short human form. I stand roughly five feet tall with a body that's somewhere between stocky and slim. My hair is bright, bright red and very unruly. I love it. I have green eyes and light skin that is lightly freckled. A lot of the guys tell me I'm good looking, but why should I believe them?

Anyway, one four was in the body of a Chinese martial arts master. I felt sorry for the human, but grateful for the knowledge that I gained. We were going over weapon styles. Fans, to be exact. So now you're probably thinking, 'Fans? What's she going to do, blow 'em away?'

First of all, these are not ordinary fans. These suckers have metal blades in the folds. Ancient Chinese women would sometimes use them for protection, sometimes for assassination. I made sure to do research on them before I started.

Now, I'm not bragging or anything, but I am hot stuff with the fans. One four has said that when he watches me with them, his host body calms down and actually compliments the Yeerk on his training. Some of the voluntary human-Controllers have told me that it's like watching a dance, a beautiful, deadly dance.

So, he was showing me some more moves with the fans and I was just eating it up. We were into the much more complex combos, now, and it took all of my concentration to master them.

"Wonderful! She learns so quickly!" one four commented.

"Thank you, sir," I answered as I continued.

"Thank you for what?"

The confused tone of his voice forced me to look up. He looked rather perplexed. I stopped my practice and held the fans down at my side.

"Didn't you say something about me learning quickly?" Now I was confused. I know that I heard him say it, so why was he acting like he hadn't?

"I didn't say that," he answered. "My host was commenting on it, though. He is very impressed with you and always remains calm when we work together. But how could you know what he said?"

How could I know? My wall was up, at least I thought it was. It almost never slipped when I was practicing. "I must have let my telepathy slip, a bit. I am sorry for intruding on the conversation between you and your host."

Then I put my full focus on my mental wall. I hated listening to Yeerks talk to their hosts. It usually involved screaming and begging. But even with all of my concentration on blocking out thoughts, I could hear the host and one four discussing which moves to teach next.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.