Prologue
My name is Jake, and I'm kind of the leader of the team. The Animorphs and I have been through a lot together, and even though the fate of the world is at stake, I realize that reading over fifty books to understand this one can be a daunting task. Everything that has happened has impacted me personally, and it's hard for even me to keep straight. The events in this book take place between Animorphs #48 and #49, and after all the other books in the Megamorphs series, and all of the Chronicles books except for the Ellimist Chronicles. Hopefully, this short summary will bring you up to speed.
It all started one night, when my friends (Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias) and I were walking home from the mall. We took a shortcut through a construction site, and an alien ship fell from the sky. Inside was Elfangor, an Andalite. The Andalites are a race from the stars who were in a war, trying to protect our planet from another alien race, the Yeerks. More on them in a minute.
Elfangor's fleet had been defeated in a surprise attack just outside of our atmosphere. He told us that he was the last survivor, but he wouldn't last long. In his dying moments, he gave us a piece of Andalite technology: a glowing blue cube that can bestow the power to morph into other species once their DNA has been acquired by touching them.
Another ship flew down to finish Elfangor off, and we had to run and hide. Out of the ship stepped Visser Three (who would later be promoted to Visser One), the leader of the Yeerk invasion of Earth. The Yeerks are a parasitic species that squeeze through your ear and mold themselves onto the surface of your brain. From there, they can read your thoughts and control you absolutely. You can't move, speak, or even breathe unless the Yeerk decides to let you. People under the control of Yeerks are called Controllers, and they can be really hard to spot. Since they know everything about you, they can act like you and they know what you know. Anyone around you could be a Controller and you'd never have any idea.
We escaped from the Visser, acquired a variety of animal DNA, and waged guerrilla (and in Marco's case, gorilla) warfare against the Yeerks. We rescued Elfangor's brother, Aximili (Ax for short), from where his ship had crashed deep in the ocean. We also joined forces with the Chee, a group of super-advanced, but nonviolent androids. Our team scored some small victories, but against such overwhelming odds, we were only slowing them down while we hoped that the Andalites would come and save us.
We soon found out that we were being watched by two powerful beings, engaged in a hands-off contest for the lives of everyone in the galaxy. These were Crayak, a giant burning eye bent on extinguishing all life in the galaxy, and The Ellimist, who was trying to help that same life thrive. Neither can interfere with us directly due to their agreement with the other, but the Ellimist has given us some hints before.
Now I think you know enough for us to tell you the story of how one rogue Yeerk managed to become powerful enough to threaten even those two god-like beings, and our fight to stop him.
Chapter 1 - Ax
My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and I am an Andalite. My human friends call me Ax, apparently because the mouth-sounds required to speak my name are too complicated, so shortening it works for them. These same friends call themselves the Animorphs, because they can morph into animals after absorbing their DNA; they cannot morph vegetables or other inanimate objects, though, as that would be extraordinarily ridiculous. Amazingly, this group may have learned to use the morphing power even better than Andalites themselves, but I do not dare let them know this opinion.
I have been an alien on the planet Earth for a few years now since my ship crashed, and have become very good at passing as a human in my own human morph. I can even walk on two legs without falling over! I was currently in human morph with Marco, another fellow Animorph, walking through the mall. Recently, Marco lost his home due to his cover being blown in the war against the Yeerks, so he has been residing in my scoop in the woods when he is not staying in the free Hork-Bajir valley.
"Ax-man, two o'clock," Marco whispered to me. "Look!"
"Marco, our focus right now is not about discussing your Earth time, we are on our way to Radio Shack," I said. Then I added, "Shack. Sh. Ack. Ack."
"No, man, there was a hot chick that walked right by us, and she was giving you the eye!" Marco explained, seeming frustrated for some unknown reason.
"Two o'clock is a way to secretly describe direction," he went on to explain.
"Time and direction are measured in the same units? I still have much to learn about humans," I responded.
Marco sighed. "Whatever, but I'll meet you at Radio Shack later," he said. "I'm going to check this girl out, see if she wants to grab a bite at the food court. I need some normalcy in my life, man. I'll meet up with you later. The store is just ahead."
Marco peeled off, in pursuit of this "hot chick", while I continued on my way. Our plan, which was mostly Marco's plan, was to purchase a few pieces of hardware from Radio Shack in order to enhance my homemade satellite so that it could also obtain something called HBO. Marco refused to tell me why this HBO was so important, but we did not have any current missions, so I was available for this errand. I had become familiar with Radio Shack, as we have used items at the store for many missions over the course of the war.
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the Yeerk war. Yeerks are a parasite, much like snails or slugs on Earth, but with a terrible difference: they can enslave other sentient creatures by crawling inside their head, wrapping around the brain, and completely controlling them. We Andalites wish they had remained on their home planet, but due to some unfortunate past circumstances, they escaped with the technology to travel the universe, taking over entire species as they went. They have made Controllers of all the Hork-Bajir, Gedds, and Taxxons, while also gaining a few other hosts here and there, including the Andalite body of my mortal enemy: Visser One, formerly Visser Three. See, he—
"Um, excuse me, sir?" a man behind the counter asked. "I asked if you needed help, and you've been staring off into space for a good minute or two."
I was startled. I was so focused on internally summarizing the Yeerk war to this point, I did not hear the man asking me for help. His nametag said he was called Gustav. Luckily, my experience watching human television provided me insight on how to respond.
"Wasssuuup!" I yelled, causing Gustav to jolt in surprise. "I am looking for radio parts!"
"Sir, this is Radio Shack," Gustav replied, looking strangely wary. "Most of what we sell can be used in radios."
"Great!" I continued, and raised up my hand. "High five!"
Gustav stared at me and then shambled away, not giving me a second glance. I lowered my hand, shrugged, and began looking through the nearest set of shelves. Shrugging consists of moving the shoulders up and then down, quickly, as a sign of being unsure.
I observed Gustav as another customer walked up to him. She had red hair and was wearing a black and white business suit.
"Excuse me," said the woman. "Do you carry cell phones?"
"Yes, we do," Gustav answered, smiling. "Allow me to show you."
They walked over to a shelf full of cell phones. Gustav continued, "They're top of the line, and fully guaranteed. Do you care to try one?"
She smiled and began to put a phone up to her ear, no doubt checking its audio quality even though the phone was definitively powered down. As if she could hear my thoughts (which humans cannot, I assure you, unless I purposely thought-speak to them), she put the phone back down and looked at the earpiece instead.
"Is this an insect?" she suddenly demanded. "Is there some kind of slug in this phone?"
Sure enough, she pulled the cover off the phone, and what looked like a shell-less snail was curled up inside. At this point I had wandered close enough to recognize immediately what was inside the phone: a Yeerk.
Gustav, whom I now knew was a Controller, apologized profusely with fake sincerity as the clearly disgusted woman stormed out of the store. He hustled past me with the phone and Yeerk in his hands, muttering to himself. I made myself busy, looking at a bundle of primitive computer wiring. The Yeerks were up to a new scheme, even if it was a foolish one: planting Yeerks in cell phones to enter unknowing customers' ears! I had to tell the others!
