Chapter 4
«Yeerks!» he shouted again as the lights slowed and turned back around, coming toward us. «There is no more time! You have to decide now!»
"We have to," Green said. "We don't have any other way to fight."
"Does anybody else realize how crazy this is?!" Silver demanded. "Because it is!"
"Time's up," Blue announced. "It's do or die, and I'd really rather not die. I'm in."
I sucked in air through my teeth and looked at my friends. Silver looked panicked. He was the most hung up on the insanity of the whole thing, but I knew if the rest of us decided to accept the power, he would too. Blue's face was dead set in the same confident expression she always had when approached with something important. She was ready for the power. Yellow's expression was similar, though more gentle, more fearful. But her resolution was just as rigid as Blue's. She was in.
Then I looked at Green, and I saw something I'd never seen in him before: purpose. It's weird how when looking at someone, you don't immediately register if they have a goal–something to live for, to fight for. But when that something changes–when someone with it loses it, or someone without it gains it–it suddenly appears clear as day just how much that purpose defines someone. At that moment, Green had clearer definition than he'd ever had before.
"We have to," he insisted, staring me dead in the eye.
"You're right," I agreed, nodding slowly. "It's the only option."
«Then each of you, put your hand on a side of the cube.»
The five of us placed a hand on one of the sides of the blue box, and the Andalite held it, palm up, on the sixth.
«Do not be afraid,» he said.
A tingle passed through my nervous system, starting in my hand and ending in my brain. It was like I'd brushed my hand against the wall socket, but it didn't hurt. In fact, it almost felt good.
«It is done,» the Andalite announced. Then, his thought-voice became deadly serious. «Remember this above all else: never remain in the form of a creature for over two of your hours. I have seen the consequences myself. No longer than two hours, or you will be trapped forever!»
"In another creature's body," I said slowly. "Two hours, and we're not human any more."
«Correct. Now you must go! They are here!» Then a shudder passed through his body and mind, and I knew he was truly afraid. His eyes, all four of them, fixed on the Bug fighters... or something in between them, it seemed. «He is here.» The alien's voice filled with hatred and dread. «Run! Run now! Visser Three is here!»
"Visser what?" Blue demanded. "What on Earth is a Visser?!"
"Not on Earth," Silver muttered.
Blue grit her teeth. "He is now!"
«Visser Three is the only Yeerk with an Andalite host body,» the Andalite explained, his thought-voice strained with urgency. «He and he alone has the same power as me–as you. Now run! Save your planet!»
"But how?" I demanded, my voice cracking under the stress of the tall order.
He smiled again with his eyes. «You will find a way. Now run!»
The rest of us didn't need any more encouragement. The urgency of his command and the rapidly approaching red lights of the Bug fighters were enough, but on top of that, there was another presence in the night sky–the one that the Andalite had seen–far more massive and radiating darkness darker than the black of the night sky. I didn't know what it was, but I knew it meant trouble. Four of us, including me, bolted.
But Green was different. He stayed knelt by the Andalite's side for a half of a second longer, as though transfixed. The alien put a hand to Green's forehead, and he jerked slightly, as though shocked. But half a second later, he was scrambling to his feet, as desperate to get away and hide as the rest of us, only a few steps behind.
Before we managed to get to cover, one of the Bug fighters switched on a red searchlight. I thought we were toast, but then I realized the light was just beyond where we were running, back where the Andalite lay beside his ship. They hadn't seen us, but if we stood still, it was only a matter of time. "Run!" I urged my friends. Yellow stumbled, and I grabbed her arm, pulling her back to her feet. We had seconds at best.
The five of us hurled ourselves over a wooden fence. On the other side, dirt had piled into a slope against it. We pressed ourselves against that dirt slope and prayed that the searchlights couldn't x-ray through the wooden scaffolding a few feet above us. We peered cautiously over that slope and stared as the second Bug fighter's searchlight joined the first's, illuminating the Andalite like a supernova.
The ships descended toward the ground, and as they got closer, I understood why they had their name. They looked like a Kakuna lying on its belly. They were bigger than the Andalite's fighter, but far less graceful. The windows, instead of looking like windows, resembled the compound eyes of a Butterfree, set into the front of the ship. Two spear-like protrusions pointed forward from the front, on each side of the eyes. I knew without a doubt they were weaponry.
They landed, surrounding the Andalite's ship, one on each side.
"This is unreal," Silver muttered. "This can't be real. This can't be real."
"Shut up!" Blue hissed. "What if they can hear us?!"
Finally, the more massive craft that I'd seen–or sensed, really–in the sky above began to descend. My first thought as I saw it was that it wouldn't be big enough to land. My second thought was desperate hope that it wouldn't. Something about it filled me with the same sort of dread that had filled the Andalite's thought-voice when he'd seen it. I knew, without a doubt, that the thing the Andalite so feared, the Visser thing, was in that ship.
It landed, burning an earthmover to ashes, and I almost lost all hope.
The ship looked like a battle-axe, like a weapon of war used for delivering the finishing blow to a defeated enemy. The front part was the handle, with a point at the front where the pilots must have sat. The twin blades were the wings, jutting outward. It was huge. Far bigger than the Bug fighters. It sat in the construction site like a portent of death, radiating darkness.
I thought it was bad just sitting there. Then, the door opened, and I knew we were dead.
Out from the ship leaped outlandish alien creatures, twisting and whirling and slicing the air like huge, deadly acrobats. Every part of them was a weapon. Their heels, their toes, their elbows, knees, heads, shoulders... every limb and joint was adorned with a sharp blade. They looked like a cross between man, dinosaur, and bird, with razor sharp talons and beaks, legs that seemed to bend the wrong way, and rippling muscles under their green skin.
«Hork-Bajir Controllers,» the Andalite explained, and I realized that he was still able to speak in our minds, even at this distance. «When not infested, they are naturally a peaceful people. But their kind–all that remains of their species–are Controllers. There are no free Hork-Bajir in the entire galaxy.»
"That's terrible," Yellow whispered, barely audible.
"Yeah, terrible," Blue muttered. "Those things are war machines!"
More aliens slithered out of the door to the ship, which I'd decided to call the Blade ship, for lack of an official name. These were different than the Hork-Bajir. They were like snakes, except instead of a normal head, they had a round hole, rimmed with razor-sharp teeth, through which a long tongue lolled, and multiple gelatinous-looking eyes. Needle-like legs protruded from the long, green, swollen body, but closer towards the head, those legs had claws like a Krabby's. They were twice the size of a human. They could've swallowed us whole.
«Taxxon-Controllers,» the Andalite identified the new arrivals. He was trying to explain as much as possible before he died, to give us the best chance possible. «Taxxons, even in their right minds, are evil.»
"Yeah, that's pretty obvious," Silver muttered.
More Taxxons and Hork-Bajir spilled out of the Blade ship, forming a perimeter around the dying Andalite and then quickly and efficiently searching the immediate area for potential witnesses or threats. A Hork-Bajir holding a device around the size of a handgun bounded towards us, and my heart stopped. I barely had time to whisper, "Get down!" and duck out of view before it was nearly on top of us.