Chapter 5

I pulled up into Cassie's driveway for the second time in twelve hours. I should probably mention that this wasn't an unusual thing for us. I'd been on Cassie's property quite often in the last few years. She was Rachel's best friend, and my interest in dating Cassie didn't happen out of nowhere. I'd been hanging out with her for years.

So it was no surprise that her dad waved to me as Marco and I jogged up the path. But it still seemed so weird to me. For one, I had come here to check on a stranded Andalite warrior. I would've honestly been less paranoid right then if Cassie and I had been running a meth lab in the hay loft.

But that actually wasn't my first thought right then. The thing that really unsettled me was that my relationship with his daughter had changed last night. Yeah, maybe it was only a kiss, and I knew whatever we were doing was very new and maybe I was making it too much of a thing too soon. But it meant a lot to me. It was a subtle change, but it was also a profound change, and I hadn't really processed the fact that my dynamic with her dad was going to change dramatically as well. Cassie's dad is 6'6" and he's not really that big on his baby girl dating. Right now, making my way up to the barn, looking at the sign for the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, I was just a kid that went to school with his daughter and hung out in the barn to check out the cool animals. One he found out Cassie and I were an item, I'd just be another hormonal teenager trying to get in his daughter's pants. And I wasn't ready for that particular problem right then. But at any rate, I was reasonably sure Cassie hadn't told him about the kiss last night.

The second reason I was nervous was because of the Yeerks.

At first, it seemed easy enough to dismiss the idea that so many people could be infested. I mean, it's far-fetched to start with, and I had no real first-person experience with the idea outside of Elfangor's bizarre holographic show-and-tell. But the idea of it crept in slowly, and I couldn't stand the foul taste it put in my mouth. I found myself stealing glances at my dad at the kitchen table that morning, wondering, suspecting. It made me nauseous. Not only could my dad have been infested, not that that wouldn't have been bad enough, but worse still, if he had, the alien slug was going through all the motions with perfection. The talk with Marco about the Warriors, idly wondering if Zaza Pachulia's foot injury would make an impact in the NBA finals, telling us he had to clean the gutters… all of it was spot-on. And it tainted my entire perception.

And as I waived at Cassie's dad, I felt the black touch of doubt gnaw at my stomach, wondering if I was waving to a Yeerk as it made the mouth of its stolen human host curl into a genuine smile.

I hope I only imagined the shudder running through me.

"Hey, Doc," I said as casually as I could muster, "Is Cassie around?"

Doctor Walter Geroux was head of the veterinary program at the University of California Santa Cruz campus, and the WRC was technically funded through UCSC. My brother Tom had already been accepted there on a basketball scholarship, though he hadn't declared a major yet. Dr. Geroux, or Doc G, as his undergrads called him, was very well-respected in the area, both for his academic career at the college, and for his ongoing work with wildlife sanctuary programs. There was a framed award from the governor's office hanging on a wall in the WRC. And I really hoped that he wasn't a Controller. But the creepy black thoughts reminded me too clearly that there was absolutely no way to tell for sure.

"Yeah, she said you'd be coming by to give her a hand today. I want you to know I really appreciate you helping her with the generator last night."

I shrugged. "That wasn't a big deal. Did you see the meteor shower?"

He laughed. "I had a faculty meeting last night. I was asleep half an hour after I got home. I saw some footage of it on the news, though."

"We'd never seen one before."

"I think the astronomy program has an annual camp-out near the Lick Observatory every August to watch the Perseid meteor showers."

"Cool. Marco and I were thinking of going camping sometime this summer."

"You do that, kids. It's important for you kids to get out there, not be cooped up in your rooms playing video games all summer."

I was used to adults treating us as irresponsible. It didn't usually faze me. I mean last summer, I did play Xbox a lot, but I'd had a job since January and I was going to be working full-time over the summer. I found it a little annoying that, at sixteen, adults still seemed to think of us as shiftless, spoiled kids.

"Anyway, Cassie's in the barn. Don't get bit, and mind the rules."

We'd first come to the WRC in sixth-grade and we hadn't realized then that we weren't supposed to be in the barn. I mean in retrospect, it's an animal hospital, and it's kind of off-limits. But we didn't see it that way when we were twelve. We just went where Cassie went, and Cassie showed us how she did her chores. By the time either of her parents had found out, we'd been in there for over two hours and had actually done half of Cassie's chores for the day. In our twelve-year-old logic, we'd just wanted Cassie to be done so we could all go to the beach. So her parents set up ground rules, and we'd been allowed in the barn ever since. Cassie definitely appreciated the help off her chore load, and her parents thought it was part of their mission to foster our love of wildlife. Though I gotta be honest: after you muck out a stall a few times, the majesty of nature really starts to fade. And that's just the horses.

Marco and I finally stepped into the barn after what felt like an hour of small talk with Cassie's dad.

Cassie looked at us with barely restrained fear. "What took you guys?"

"Ran into your dad. Had to make small talk. So what happened?"

Cassie turned to Tobias.

"When I woke up, he was gone," he said.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Cassie asked.

"Cassie, I'm not sure we need to do anything," Marco said. "This is his war, and I think he knew he was putting us in danger last night. Leaving, keeping us out of it, I think that might be his way of saying thank you."

That had a ring of truth to it. And in some ways I was a little glad. Don't get me wrong, I had nothing against Elfangor. And a huge part of me was devastated that he was gone. But he wasn't a pet, he was a soldier. And everything Marco had said about shady government agents locking us up in endless interrogation was probably true. And even if it wasn't, even if the US government didn't have some agency to handle an alien invasion, there were the Yeerks. And if we got caught with an Andalite combatant in Cassie's barn… well, we'd seen what'd happened to his ship.

His ship…

"Tobias, did he take all those things from the ship with him?"

"I… I don't know. I didn't see them."

We spent a few minutes retracing our steps in the barn. There was some screeching from a red-tailed hawk in one of the cages and a red fox kept staring at me as we made a quick search of the barn, but nowhere did we see any Andalite canisters.

"He needed me and Tobias to carry all that stuff. Wouldn't he have needed to make more than one trip with it?"

"Jake, I have no clue. He morphed into the weirdest bird I've ever fucking seen. You don't think he couldn't turn into something with a little more cargo space?"

I tried not to laugh at that mental image. But Marco had a point. We knew shockingly little about him or his abilities, and as we checked all the nooks and crannies in the barn, I realized I had no idea the functions of any of the devices we were looking for. For all I knew, he had a stockpile of weapons and grenades and we'd given him some cover till the heat died down, and that was all he'd needed.

But that didn't seem right either.

I didn't know Elfangor well at all. But the things he'd said, the things he'd told us, none of it made sense if he just planned to leave. He brought us up to speed - well that's being too generous - but he at least told us about the Yeerk invasion. And I couldn't wrap my head around any scenario where the five of us knowing about it helped anyone. He had to have told us for a reason.

I sat down on a hay bale, and realized it had been the one I'd sat on last night when he'd played the hologram of the Yeerk home planet. He'd done something to the canister, and then we'd all seen the hologram.

I'd seen another hologram last night, though, hadn't I? I remembered the photo of his family on the console of his ship.

"Come on, let's go."

The three of them looked at me. "We're giving up?" Tobias asked.

"No," I said. "I think I know where he might be."

The four of us made our way down the footpath once more, and once again, this time under the midday sun, we crossed the Moore Creek Preserve.

"You really think he went back to his crash site?" Cassie asked.

"Honestly, I have no clue. But I have no better ideas."

It turns out that, sometimes, I have good instincts.

We were about a hundred feet from the spot where his ship had crashed when we heard his soundless voice again.

*I thought you might find me here.*

I looked through the vegetation. It's not really easy to determine the directionality of telepathy. But there, somewhat hidden behind a cluster of trees, was the unmistakable blue fur of an Andalite.

"Why did you come back here?" Tobias asked "You said there'd be nothing but a few atoms of your ship after the Dracon beam."

*That is precisely the reason I am here,* he said as he stepped into the clearing. The Preserve was remote, and while we did get some hikers out here every now and again, we were well of the trails, so we weren't that worried of being spotted.

"Okay," Marco said, "could you elaborate on that?"

*The items I salvaged emit a very faint energy signature. This could allow the Yeerks to track my location, or at the very least, the location of mission-critical technology and information.*

"And by burying it here, those trace atoms from your ship mask that signal?"

*Precisely. You are quite clever, Marco. You would have made an excellent cadet.*

That was weird. It was the first time Elfangor had called any of us by our given names. He'd called Cassie simply "the female" or referred to Marco only as "your friend" when I had spoken to him in the barn last night.

Marco had definitely noticed too. "You said my name."

*Yes. Tobias has told me much about all of you.*

"I told him our names, that we go to school together, and a few other details."

*I apologize if my absence caused you distress. I had much to do before dawn.*

"Wait, have you not slept yet?" Tobias asked.

Elfangor slouched visibly. His alien anatomy was kind of weird, but weirder still was how sometimes his gestures seemed very human. *Yes, and I am very tired. But I needed to graze, and I felt that assembling the communications array was paramount to my survival.*

"So you were out here all night building a communications array? How'd that go?" Marco asked.

"How do you eat without a mouth?" Cassie blurted.

All of us turned to look at her. Even Elfangor turned all four eyes to her. And the peal of telepathic laughter was electric. I'd already guessed that somehow this form of telepathy could carry his emotions as well as thoughts, but when he laughed, I could feel his joy. It felt like sunlight.

*There is much I could tell you about Andalite physiology had I the time. Life on my planet evolved differently than life on other planets. We absorb nutrients through our hooves.*

"So you eat through your feet?" I asked.

Cassie shrugged. "I know butterflies can taste with their feet. I guess it's not that weird."

"Moving on," Marco said with impatience, "any luck contacting other Andalites?"

*Yes and no. I made contact with my Dome Ship shortly before you arrived. It suffered superficial damage and was forced to make an oceanic landing, and the ship is otherwise intact, but without substantial repairs, raising the ship is impractical. My brother, at least, has survived.*

"Your brother was on the Dome Ship?" I asked. As if I knew what a Dome Ship was.

*Yes. He is only a cadet. I had ordered him to the Dome for his own safety… How foolish I was…*

"It's not your fault…" Cassie started, but Elfangor held up his hand. He closed his main eyes while his stalk eyes turned away from us.

*I appreciate that you wish to comfort me, Cassie. But I was in command. This situation is of my own making.*

I didn't know what to say to that. There was a lot I didn't know, and I think that had to change. "Elfangor, what exactly happened before we found you last night?"

*The Yeerks have been on your planet for years. Their operation here far exceeded what we had known about in our intelligence reports. This planet is far from our homeworld, and as the Yeerk Empire has moved into deeper space, it has spread our military forces thin. I was in command of the Dome Ship sent to your planet. But we were ambushed in orbit. A Yeerk Blade Ship had been hidden from our sensors in a crater of your moon. By the time we able to mobilize the fleet… My friends, my brave soldiers…*

I could feel his loss, his pain. It had been his responsibility, his duty. And he had failed. He was crushing under the weight of that failure.

"Cassie's right, Elfangor," I said. "It wasn't your fault. You were outgunned, caught off-guard. What could you have possibly done differently?"

The sense of regret didn't fade. I didn't expect it would. But I could feel his resolve growing. He turned his stalk eyes to me, and I couldn't make out their expression, but I held eye contact with him.

*Well said, Jake. I can indulge in self-pity later, but now, now I am on my own, and I have much more to do.*

"Okay," Tobias said, "what's the plan?"

*I have successfully made contact with my ship. It is still unknown if there may be other survivors, but I will leave that to Aximili for now. He is safe in the dome for now, and he has better communications capabilities there to deal with such concerns. I am on my own, deep in enemy territory.*

"You're not alone," I said. "What can we do to help?"

*I cannot ask…*

"Oh, just shut it," Marco snapped. "We're in this, okay? You're a blue furry alien, or have you forgotten? It's not like you're going to be able to get around town without us, is it?"

*You are not incorrect.*

"So what are the usual tactics for a Yeerk invasion?" I asked.

The Andalite shook his head. *Andalite tactics typically assume a position of military superiority. The Dome Ship would have been more than a match for the Yeerk Pool Ship. And without the orbital support of the Pool Ship, the Yeerk effort on your planet would have collapsed.*

"And now you're reduced to a ground campaign with no resources other than those canisters from your ship," Marco stated. It wasn't really a question. And Marco's tone was biting.

*Correct. And I am embarrassed to admit it, but I have little training with surface tactics.*

Marco rolled his eyes. "Well, that's just peachy."

But Tobias seemed less fazed. "Marco, we were kinda screwed either way. Elfangor, the Yeerks? They have to have bases, weaknesses. What can you tell us?"

*They have bases. And they do have a critical weakness. Yeerks can only survive outside of their pools for approximately three days. They are not capable of absorbing Kandrona while they're bonded to a host, so they must return to the pool regularly.*

"And where would we find a Yeerk pool?" Tobias asked.

*The location would be hidden, secured, and heavily guarded. But I believe if we found the pool, I could improvise an adequate explosive.*

Marco looked green. "It's bad enough we're hiding an alien. Now we're apparently helping an alien build an IED. This day is just getting better and better."

"Um, how do we find the Yeerk pool?" Cassie asked.

*I do not know. Yeerks employ different tactics on each planet they encounter. The Hork-Bajir conflict was much different than their invasion forces on Earth.*

"You said they've been on Earth for years?" Marco asked. "How long, exactly?"

*The first contact with your planet was roughly twenty years ago.*

"Holy shit."

*That was only first contact. Yeerks send scouting parties to various planets and then assimilate into the native cultures. They use that information to determine the viability of further conquest.*

"Viability?" Tobias asked.

*There are species in the galaxy that cannot be infested, others where native military forces make infestation too dangerous. The Yeerks have never before found a species like humans.*

"How do you mean?" Cassie asked.

*You are intelligent, you are dextrous, adaptable, you have limited technology, perhaps, compared to other species, but you are an industrial society. You have the ability to mine metals, to refine them. And you exist in tremendous numbers.*

There are seven and a half billion human beings on this planet. It is not possible to put a face to that. I know there are hundreds of languages, a multiplicity of languages, religions, and cultures. But there was a sickening realization just then that for all the grand achievements of the human race, the music, the art, the thousands of years of development from hunter-gatherers to the modern age, that the Yeerks saw the entirety of the human race as nothing more than a resource. That we were nothing more than apples on a tree, waiting to be cultivated, harvested, and inevitably cut up and made into pie.

Okay, that last part might be stretching the metaphor, but my point is that the Yeerks didn't see us for what we were; they saw only what they could make of us. And while apples are fine as they are, as far as the baker is concerned, they're only another ingredient in the pantry.

I can't put into words how that made me feel.

But then I heard something oddly familiar and all the same terrifying.

The sound of helicopters.

All of us turned to look at the clearing. I'll be honest, it's weird to have helicopters sneak up on you. They're not exactly quiet. But in my defense, you do hear helicopters every now and again, and I didn't recognize it as anything ominous until I realized I was hearing more than one.

There were three of them, but I couldn't tell you what kind they were. I'm not the kind of kid that knows about that stuff; the entirety of my knowledge of avionics comes solely from Black Ops and other games. All I could tell is that they were black, though they didn't appear to be military, and they were spread apart by a decent margin. I'd guess there was maybe a mile or more between them. One, the helicopter in the middle, was tracing almost perfectly the path of Elfangor's ship from the night before.

Just great.

"Elfangor?" Cassie said. She was worried. "I thought you said they weren't going to find you if you stayed here?"

*They won't. They are only tracing the ion trail of my ship. I believe they are not searching for me as much as they are confirming that there are no other ships in the area.*

"So you really are alone, huh?" Marco said.

Cassie punched him the shoulder.

Elfangor shook his head. *As you said, Marco, I am not alone.* Marco looked away, embarrassed.

"Between the blackout, the news coverage, and now aerial support, these Yeerks are deep in the infrastructure," Marco said. "Like League of Shadows deep."

"Is that a video game?" Cassie asked.

"No, it's a Batman Begins reference," Tobias said. "Evil ninja cult embedded at every level of Gotham City, from the utilities crews to the prison guards."

I wondered what Elfangor thought of that, a group of kids idly talking about fictional characters. I wondered how much of what we said made any sense to him. Did Andalites even have fictional characters?

But Marco was right. We only had Elfangor's guess that the Yeerks had been extending the blackout, and I couldn't ever know for sure if that cop had been a Controller. But the news article, the helicopters, it was becoming very clear that this alien conspiracy was connected.

The news article…

"If we could find someone we absolutely knew to be a Controller, could we follow them back to the Yeerk pool?" I asked.

*In theory, yes. It could potentially take three days before the Controller went to the Pool, and the individual would need to be under near-constant surveillance, but that may be our best opportunity.*

"Yeah, but how exactly are we going to find someone that's definitely for-sure a Controller?" Tobias asked.

"Oh, that should be easy," I said, aware I was smiling. "We're going to call the number they put in the news."