Chapter 5
I held my breath, hoping beyond hope that the Hork-Bajir wouldn't look over the fence. I wondered in horror whether it could sense heat, like thermal-vision. If it could, we were as good as dead. I could hear its ragged breathing as it stood just on the other side of the fence, looking around. I waited one second. Two. I looked around at my friends. They were all as petrified as I was.
«Do not make a noise!» the Andalite warned us in our heads. «Hork-Bajir cannot see well, but they have very good hearing!»
Upon hearing the advice, I clamped my jaw shut even tighter. Fear must have been radiating off my very skin. It pumped through my body with the force of a waterfall, coursing through my limbs and turning each of them stiff with terror.
You don't understand true fear until you're a second away from death. You think you're frightened when you see a guy in a costume jump out from behind a bush and shout at you. You think you're frightened when your parents catch you staying up late at night to play video games. You think you're frightened when you haven't studied for a test and realize you don't know the answer to any of the questions. That's nothing. True fear is knowing you're two feet away from the thing that can and will end your life, if you give it the chance, and all you can do is sit there and hope it won't.
The Hork-Bajir looked around, attempting to penetrate the darkness of the night with its weak eyes. Its breath rattled in its throat. It swung the handgun thing left and right like it was hoping it would strike some target to attack. My lungs began to burn from holding my breath for so long.
Then the Andalite spoke. «Courage, my friends.» And at that moment, it was like a warmth passed through my entire body. I don't know how to explain it. It felt like I'd just drunk a steaming mug of liquid reassurance. I suddenly wasn't as afraid as I was before. Sure, the Hork-Bajir was still standing two feet away. I was still plenty cautious not to draw its attention. But what had been panic was now replaced by reasonable caution. It suddenly became easier to hold my breath.
Finally, after what felt like a year, the Hork-Bajir withdrew, not because it was satisfied with its search, but because something far more important was going on. Something new was coming out of the Blade ship.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I raised my eyes over the fence. I was greeted with a surprising, and somehow disturbing, image. Every alien, every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon, had turned towards the Blade ship's door. It felt like I was witnessing something almost religious, but without a doubt, evil. I was watching a Satanist congregation, and I was about to see Beelzebub himself.
"They're like soldiers," I murmured ever so softly once I became aware my friends were also looking. "They're standing at attention."
"How do you know?" Silver muttered. "How can you tell if a Wurmple on steroids or a walking lawnmower is standing at attention?"
And that was when he appeared, radiating death on four hooves.
«Visser Three,» the Andalite said coldly.
Visser Three was also an Andalite. Or, I suppose, an Andalite-Controller.
"That's an Andalite!" Blue hissed. "That's one of his people!"
«Only one Yeerk has ever taken an Andalite host body,» the Andalite explained. «Visser Three is the only Andalite-Controller in existence.»
Visser Three strutted calmly out of his ship and swaggered over to the dying Andalite. He had an air of utter confidence about him. I'd seen that demeanor before. It was the manner of someone who knew they had absolutely and completely won. He radiated that confidence, but it mingled with something else. It was as though there was an aura of evil about him, the same that I'd felt coming from the Blade ship when he'd been on it. In person, it was even more powerful. I now understood why the Hork-Bajir and Taxxons seemed to be almost cowering in his presence.
«Ha ha ha,» Visser Three chuckled in our minds.
"Oh God," Yellow gulped, eyes as wide as if she was seeing death itself. "If we can hear his thoughts, can he hear ours?"
"No way," Blue muttered. "If he could do that... we'd already be dead."
«You can hear Visser Three's thoughts because he is using wide-range thought-speak,» the Andalite spoke up, as though he'd predicted our fears. I suppose he'd had experience doing this sort of explanation with other species of aliens over the years. «He wants all to hear him in his triumph. I am speaking in private thought-speak right now. He cannot hear me. Creatures with vocal capabilities, like yourselves, except when they are morphs, cannot use thought-speak. He cannot hear you think.»
«If it isn't a fallen Andalite warrior,» Visser Three said, his very thoughts laughing in triumph. «And not just any Andalite warrior, if I'm not mistaken. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, isn't it? I am honored to meet you.» His 'voice' was tainted with sarcasm. «You're a legend among us Yeerks! What do my soldiers call you? Beast Elfangor? For good reason, it seems. You destroyed more Bug fighters than I could count in the battle. Impressive.»
Elfangor didn't respond. To accept such a sarcastic compliment in defeat would be shameful.
«Well, it was of no matter in the end. Your army is destroyed. Your Dome ship is gone, incinerated in the atmosphere. You are the last Andalite in this sector of space. Tragic indeed.»
«More will come after me,» Elfangor said.
The Visser laughed, stepping closer. «Oh yes, I don't doubt it. But that will be a long time from now. When they get here, they will be too late. This world will be my conquest. The Council will make me Visser One.»
«Why do you want these humans?» Elfangor asked. «Why them, of all species? What can they offer that Hork-Bajir and Taxxons cannot?»
«Because they are many, and they are weak,» the Visser sneered, narrowing his main eyes. «They are too foolish to understand they are being invaded, despite their massive population. Billions of hosts, ripe for the taking! We will have an unstoppable force, a body for every Yeerk. The galaxy will be ours. You must face facts, Beast Elfangor. You have fought, but you have lost.»
The Visser got within a few feet of the dying Andalite, who, despite his pain and fear, rose to his hooves, glaring at his adversary. I understood why. He didn't want to die lying down, in a position of disgrace. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the eye.
Visser Three paid no mind to the Andalite's bravery, though, continuing to taunt him. «One thing I guarantee, Prince Elfangor. Once we have taken this planet, once every Yeerk has a host from this world of plentiful bodies, we will take the Andalite home world. I will make absolutely certain that your family is captured, and that I personally hold them down as my most faithful lieutenants infest them. I hope they scream.»
That was the tipping point for Elfangor. With blinding speed, so quick that I could barely comprehend, he whipped his tail forward, and the blade bit deep into the Visser's shoulder. It wasn't the kill move he'd aimed for. His wound and fatigue had caused him to miss the Yeerk's neck. Still, it was a deep blow. Visser Three stumbled back, raising a seven-fingered Andalite hand to the cut, which was spewing decidedly not-red blood. I could hear the Visser bellow in my head, the sound furious and pained.
At that exact same moment, coordinated by Elfangor's thoughts, I guessed, the Andalite fighter's 'tail' glowed blue with energy, and a bolt of energy laced from its tip to the nearest Bug fighter, slicing into it and causing it to erupt in a fiery explosion. Even from where I was, I could feel the heat, like opening an oven at high temperatures.
«Destroy his ship!» Visser Three roared.
The Hork-Bajir armed with the handgun things, Dracon beams, as Elfangor had called them, fired, all at once, at the Andalite's ship. Red energy bolts arced through the air, slamming into the side of the craft. With a slowness I didn't expect, the laser fire lethargically disintegrated the ship. Just as the Andalite had said, all that would be left left was a few random atoms, if that.
But that didn't hold my attention for long, because with the construction site eliminated by the continuous laser fire, I spotted... or I thought I spotted, at least... humans. There were only a few of them, but they were standing near the Visser, distinctly on his side of the miniature conflict.
"Look, there are people," I whispered to Silver.
"Huh? Are they prisoners or something?"
«Seize the Andalite,» the Visser ordered. «Hold him in place for me.»
Hork-Bajir surged forward and grabbed hold of the Andalite, holding down his limbs, including the deadly tail. They made sure not to let their blades touch him, though, for fear of taking away the Visser's kill. Elfangor was trapped in a mess of blades. One wrong move, and he'd be dead.
Though the alternative might not be much better...
As we watched, horrified, Visser Three began to morph. His stolen Andalite body shifted and melded, creaking and groaning as his bones and organs rearranged and grew. It was a scene straight out of a horror movie, just with less blood. He grew and grew. His legs joined together, forming large stumps as big around as a Wailmer. Tentacles shot from the sides of the pulsing ball of flesh his body had become, lashing the air with a murderous fervor.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Yellow whispered, repeating the phrase over and over in a shaking voice. Tears were forming in the corner of her eyes.
"This can't be real," Silver breathed. "This is impossible!"
Then the Visser's mouth split open, ripping through the hideous lump of flesh that I realized was its head. Teeth like lances shot out of ever part of those monstrous gums, rimming the orifice with more weaponry than forty Hork-Bajir.
Nothing remained of the Andalite body. The monster had replaced it.
The beast let loose with a thundering roar that shook the very ground, causing several Hork-Bajir to stumble backward. That noise must have woken up half the neighborhood. It was a nightmare on legs. I willed myself to wake up, to realize this was all a bad dream. I didn't. I couldn't. It was real.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God..." Yellow was still whimpering. She hadn't stopped. I didn't think she could.
A tentacle whipped forward and grabbed Elfangor around the neck, lifting him out of the cluster of Hork-Bajir. The Andalite snapped his tail forward over and over, trying to sever the monstrous appendage, but it was no use. The creature was too massive, too tough.
I watched, horrified, as the Visser lifted him higher and higher into the air, until he held him, struggling and helpless, right over the enormous mouth.