(Whatever else, we have to find out more,) Jake said decisively. (Its time to get out of the water and take a closer look at whats going on in this place.)
The eight of them swiftly demorphed from their large shark forms, after making certain that there was no one there to see them doing so.
"Looks like its still empty," Marco whispered, not wanting to take the chance of his voice carrying; not in this, of all places.
"Yeah," Jake concurred, keeping his own voice low for the same reasons. "We should still be careful, though. Wed be better off morphing here, in the water. It wont bother the birds, much, and I dont think the flies will have much of a problem, if were quick."
Marco wasnt bothered by the morphing part, hed done this particular morph several times already, and if anyone could say they had a handle on it, he could. No, it wasnt anything about the coming morph that was getting to him, there was something else
As she shed the last of her shark body, not quite knowing how to feel about the fact that she was destroying something that might have been able to become sapient, Shara took a couple deep breaths. She knew from her talks with Cassie that the shark DNA inside her wouldnt be affected by anything that was done to its body while she had morphed. Likewise, her own body was protected from injuries while she was in a morph.
It was something she appreciated, all the more so because she didnt truly trust her Radam-derived powers.
When the others, the ones who had been chosen to morph flies, began to moan and then scream in pain, Shara hurried the last of her morph along, and then looked out over the other Animorphs; there might not have been anything she could do directly for the others, but she would at least make the effort to help where she could.
(Everyone, stop morphing! Stop right now!) Marco shouted, and Shara wondered if hed worked out what was happening to the others.
He probably had; he was smart and intuitive, just like people shed known before.
(What is happening?) Ax demanded. (I am experiencing a terrible pain.)
(Im not surprised,) Marco said grimly. (We all need to demorph; they put something in us.)
(What are you talking about?) she asked, not liking the implications of what Marco was saying.
(I mean, when the Yeerks drilled into us, they left something inside,) Marco said tightly. (When we started shrinking to fly size, that thing whatever it was was too big. Our fly bodies were smaller than the things inside our heads; wed have ended up killing ourselves!)
(What did they look like?) Tobias asked, echoing Sharas own concern before she could state it.
The others had already started demorphing, and Marco quickly surfaced to pick up his end of the conversation. "I couldnt really tell. I just saw Rachels head being all twisted out of shape; bulging, from trying to shrink with that thing inside it," Marco finished tersely.
"Some kind of control device," Jake said, clearly angry, and just as clearly not with anyone else in the group. "I should have realized that! Thats why we all got drilled when none of the other sharks did! None of us had those control devices in our heads. The Yeerks must be using them to control the sharks remotely, up until all of the treatments are finished."
(Thats what caused that surge of pleasure,) she said, recalling it all the more clearly for what it had been proceeded by. (They have to be using that to keep the sharks happy; helping them to forget the pain of the mutations. Its probably tied to those sirens in the water.)
(Thats just what I was about to say,) Tobias said.
"So what do we do about this?" Marco asked, before anyone could say anything else.
"We get these things out of our heads!" Rachel hissed. "Even if we have to stomp every Yeerk in this facility!"
"Wonderful," Marco sneered. "The subtle approach."
"Rachel might have a point," Jake pointed out. "Whatever else, we cannot have Yeerk control devices in our heads. Were already underwater, with implants in our brains, and psychic Leeran aliens running around. This isnt the best situation weve been faced with."
"There may be more than a few hundred Controllers here," Marco pointed out, as Shara herself began to demorph in the absence of anything that needed her having wings. "We cant just get crazy and get away with it."
"No, we cant," Jake agreed. "But we will need a distraction. Two teams: one to get to the controls of this place, see if they can find a self-destruct switch for these implants or something. The other will, like Marco says, get crazy, and hopefully keep the Yeerks from finding out what team one is up to. Ax, Marco, Shara and Tobias will be in the first group. Which leaves Rachel, Cassie, Slade, and me to handle the distraction."
"At least we get to do something now," Rachel grumbled, but their was a smile on her face while she did so.
"All right," Marco said nodding, as Jake and the rest of team two started going into their battle morphs. "Well, I think someone here might notice a pair of wolves running around, not to mention a leopard," he gave her a sidelong look and they both chuckled. "Well need to go airborne for this. Tobias demorphed fine, and Shara here managed just fine with her own bird morph. Besides, most people tend not to look up when theyre inside."
"Most people tend not to look up when theyre outside, either," Shara said, smiling slightly.
As he started morphing into his good old, reliable Osprey, Marco couldnt help but feel a shiver of apprehension. All of the morphing in the world wouldnt help erase the fact that his mother Visser One, but still his mother when it really came down to it was here inside this facility with them. He didnt think that any of the people here would be able to recognize her, Shara least of all, but none of them were here to take chances.
He knew that she would recognize him; at least, if she were allowed a clear look at his face. That was why he wasnt going to let her get one. To say nothing of the security risks that would pose to them all, he wasnt sure he would be able to deal with that.
Flapping his way up and out of the water, the Osprey in his head with him not particularly happy with him for putting it in the drink the way he had, he landed with the others up in the maze of steel beams that made up the ceiling, and with it the roof of the base. The roof itself was curved, most likely to carry the massive load of water-pressure that was generated by their being this far down.
From their position up near the top of the ceiling, the four Animorphs could look out over the Yeerks underwater facility, and have a nearly-unobstructed view of its layout. There turned out to be three dock slips, identical to the one that they had all arrived in. The farthest one held the transparent submarine, with only a pair of Taxxon maintenance workers aboard. The buildings fronting the docks were low, squat, windowless affairs, and behind them were the temporary buildings that were used for schools when their classrooms were being renovated.
(Thats a mistake: none of those buildings have any windows; none of the people in those buildings have any way of seeing whats going on in the other areas,) Ax said, his laser-sharp eyes focused on the rows of buildings. (The only windows look out into the water.)
(None of the people here are expecting any enemies here,) Shara pointed out. (No one was supposed to make it past those sharks that were guarding the place.)
(Yeah,) Marco said, giving Shara a sidelong look. (Not everyone has you on their side.)
(Whatever is happening, its happening inside those buildings,) Tobias said. (So, which one do we go for? The left or the right?)
(The one on the right,) Marco said, almost instantly.
(Whys that?) Shara asked, turning to look at him.
(Because Jake will attack the other one,) Marco said firmly, not wanting to tell the real reason for his eagerness: that the building on the left fronted the grand office that he was sure belonged to his mo- Visser One.
(Fair enough,) she said. (How do we get inside, then?)
(With incredible timing, thats how,) he said, watching as a fat Taxxon came shimmying and writhing out through the front door. (Next Taxxon that comes out, we go in.)