Anything I might say about this chapter will spoil it. Suffice to say, I will attempt to get the final chapter up as soon as possible. And I hope you're enjoying the ride.

Chapter Eight

In the absence of an immediate better option, I put my lessons in human battle strategy to its most pertinent use. I stalled.

(You do not need to do any of this, Estrid.) I pleaded, searching the room for another solution. (There is another way. Trust me. Trust my friends. Trust Prince Jake. We will find another way to save him.)

(My brother.) Estrid shot back fiercely. (He's my brother. So no, I am not going to waste time or effort on his rescue by putting it in the hands of humans.)

Before I could answer that, both of us noticed the Andalite form in the back of the room slowly changing. Fixing one stalk eye that way, Estrid raised a shredder she had liberated. (Stop morphing!)

Half Human and half Andalite, Taylor had enough of a mouth to smile slightly. Her voice remained thought-speak. (Demorphing, actually. It's what Mr. Real Andalite there said to do, wasn't it?) She tilted her head, her tone curious. (Don't tell me you think a human form is more dangerous than Andalite.)

There was something wrong about what Taylor had just said, something important that the statement overlooked. Before I could focus on what it could be, Estrid retorted with the arrogance that I was beginning to recognize was inherent in my race. (Of course not. Continue your demorph, and do not take the Andalite form again. The human body presents no particular threat or advantage whatsoever.)

Marco raised a gorilla hand. (Standing right here, dude.)

(I know precisely where you are standing.) Estrid's confusion was clearly warring with her frustration. (And what is a dude?)

It was Rachel who spoke, the human girl still leaning on Melissa. I didn't blame her. Standing on two feet sans tail was a risky proposition at the best of times. After being smacked aside by Mertil's tail, I was surprised she was able to see straight. "What he means is, we're here so we can hear you insulting us. Which isn't a really good idea when you're gonna need our help."

(I do not need your help.) Estrid sounded even more frustrated and desperate. She was clearly teetering on the edge from worry about her brother. It was something I understood. While I had been stuck on board the crashed dome ship back on Earth, trapped beneath the ocean, I had worried for a long time about what might have happened, or have been happening, to Elfangor.

Then I learned the truth, that he had been killed likely even before the Dome Ship had hit the water.

Prince Jake was beginning to stir, making odd and not entirely coherent noises as he did so. I fixed a stalk eye in his direction before focusing on the other Andalite. (Estrid,) I started. (As I told you before, I trust my... friends. I believe that they will find a solution to this problem, and will discover a way to save your brother.)

Her primary eyes blazed as she made ready to argue with me, but I held up a hand to forestall her. (But, your brother's life, and the safety of all Andalites and the rest of the galaxy, should not hinge solely upon my trust. To that end-) I focused upon the control computer. (Maintain forward momentum at current speed, lock onto disabled Andalite research vessel and continue on that course until I provide the password. Once the password is given, immediately halt all forward momentum.)

"Ax!" Rachel looked furious. "What the hell?!"

I could see the calculation in Marco's gorilla eyes. (If we come up with the solution he thinks we can, then the ship gets stopped. If we can't...)

"If we can't, then he's sided with the Andalites." Prince Jake said from the floor. He was watching me with an appraising, slightly cold look that I didn't like.

(It is the best that I can do, Prince Jake.) I said solemnly. (I did not choose against humans. I simply did not choose against my own people either. I believe a better solution exists. Yet if we fail to find one, is it not better that this solution be employed? It will cripple the Yeerk fleet outside of this solar system.)

(And doom Earth.) Tobias observed from his perch. I couldn't tell what my nephew thought of my action, but his words made me wince inwardly.

(Earth would still have a fighting chance.) I tried, rather lamely, to point out. This was met with doubtful looks.

Before I could attempt to continue, Melissa interjected, "She's gone!" Her hand was raised, pointing to the corner where Taylor had been. She was right, the other human had seemingly vanished.

Oh. That was why Taylor's defense, that being in her human form would be less dangerous, had struck me as wrong. She was capable of morphing from that form. If we had forced her to remain in her stolen Andalite body, it would have been much easier to contain her.

Oops.

Prince Jake had picked himself up by that point. His voice was terse. "Find her. Look for bugs, anything small enough that she could avoid notice. Don't let any insects out of this room." He was clearly putting action to his own words, setting himself in front of the exit and scanning warily.

Marco raised his gorilla hand. (Am I the only one that thought you sounded an awful lot like Visser Three just now?)

I could see Prince Jake roll his eyes even as Melissa put both of her hands up in the air. "Just do it, Marco."

"Are we sure she hasn't escaped already?" Rachel questioned. She was searching one of the corner areas near the communication controls while periodically glaring at me rather intently. Her anger wasn't entirely misplaced, of course, though I inwardly questioned what she would have done in the same case.

My friends expected me to side with them, their people, over my own. I trusted them, I believed in them, but I could not wholly sacrifice my own people as well as the safety of every other species that might be saved by the crippling of the Yeerk Fleet, just because I had human friends.

Given a proper choice, and a chance, I would not allow Earth to be overrun. But we needed to have that better option before dismissing the one that was not perfect. No, I would not willingly choose to abandon the Earth to the Yeerks. But neither would I choose to abandon every other planet of the universe in favor of the Earth.

The Yeerks would be stopped, must be stopped, regardless of what that cost me in blood, trust, or friendship.

Although all four of my eyes were scanning the room through three separate fields of view, it was Tobias, with his incredible hawk vision, who spotted our quarry. (Fly!) He had trained his eyes on a spec near Prince Jake. (She's a fly, heading over your left shoulder, Jake.)

Prince Jake made a grab for the spec, but it evaded his grasp and flew on. This prompted a rush into the corridor beyond as we all sought to prevent her from escaping. All of us save for Estrid, who remained behind.

(Got her!) Marco's own cry was triumphant as he brought two hairy gorilla hands together in a cupped motion before squinting at them. (Nope, don't got her.)

(Melissa, on your right, down low!) Tobias called instructions as he flapped hard to find a new perch near the ceiling on an exposed hatch frame. (Lower, there! No, your left hand, she just went through your—Jake, coming up on your right! Marco if you move two steps left, wave your left hand really fast! Ax-Man, slap your tail as far as you can to the right... now! Rachel, she's coming your way now if you turn just a little left and reach straight ahead on my... wait for... grab now!)

As we finally stopped, the humans bending over and panting, Rachel held her two hands cupped tightly together over the imprisoned fly. "She's definitely in there." She spoke with an edge of pride. "I guess she's not so smart after all."

The answer came in the sound of a forcefield humming into place. We all whirled to find the shield preventing reentry into the bridge. And beyond that shield was Taylor.

"Oh, I dunno." The tall blonde human shrugged with an air I recognized as dismissive. "I think keeping a random bug zipped into the pouch of my morphing clothes and then releasing it as a decoy so that you idiots could chase it around while I rolled under a console and waited for you to leave me alone in here was pretty smart, myself."

A growl of anger escaped Rachel, as she stomped her way to the shield and raised her fist to strike it. Quickly, I blocked her wrist with the length of my tail. (No. The forcefield will harm you if you attack it.)

"Take it down, Ax." Prince Jake ordered, his eyes glaring through the shield at the smug Taylor.

(I cannot.) I admitted weakly. (She has raised the emergency bridge shield, only to be used when the ship has been compromised. It prevents all attempts to access the bridge until those inside lower it.) After a moment, I added, (But she is not the only one inside.)

Everyone's attention turned toward Estrid, who was still standing back by the console.

If anything, Taylor seemed even more confident. "Yeah, but you see, she's not going to lower the shield either. Are you, Princess?) She glanced back toward my fellow Andalite and smiled again. (Because you see, I'm doing exactly what she wants. I'm going to make sure that zero space explosion happens, and then she and I are going to rescue her brother.)

"Why?" Rachel demanded. "Why would you risk yourself to help her?"

Taylor simply gave that enigmatic smile that I was not yet versed enough in human expressions to read. "Simple. Because opposing you does not by default make me the villain. I want to stop the Yeerks as much as any of you. I just... have my own way of doing it."

"By trapping their entire fleet on Earth's doorstep?" Prince Jake stood next to Rachel, his own glare matching hers.

"Oh Jake." Taylor looked amused now, shaking her head. "You think too small. Too immediate. Cause and effect, cause and effect. But if you alter the cause, you alter the effect. You affect the effect. That's A affect and E effect, respectively, for the public school kids in the crowd."

"Get to the point." Rachel growled. "What do you mean, change the cause to change the effect?"

"What you were afraid of is this ship using its current momentum-" Taylor raised a hand as though to demonstrate what she was saying. "-to plow into the Andalite research vessel, creating a huge zero space explosion that would prevent all other ships from coming into or leaving our space for years."

(Yes.) I confirmed. (That is why you must turn this vessel away from this course.)

Behind the forcefield, Taylor's eyes looked amused, the way that Marco did when he felt that the joke he had just told was particularly humorous. "Oh but Mr. Andalite, that's two of three solutions. Either we let this ship drift at its current speed into the other wreck, or we change course... or..."

The others looked at me, and I felt confused for a moment before inclining my head. (Alter the speed, not the course?)

"Ding ding." Taylor's smile widened, and I could see rows of white teeth that, by human standards, were perfect. "Close enough anyway. See, right before this ship hits that one, we power up the zero space drive of this vessel. Tell them what that will do, Axxy."

It took me a moment, running the calculations in my head. (You would enhance the potential damage, through zero space, which would result in not merely throwing ships that were using the zero space in the area out of it, but in their destruction.)

(No!) Estrid stepped forward finally. (I cannot let you do that. My brother-)

"-will be absolutely fine." Taylor reassured her, reaching out a hand to rest against Estrid's side. "See, that information we have about the Yeerk Fleet? It's escorting Visser One's capital ship. She's paying a visit to Earth right now, while most of the fleet jumps around and plays defense to make sure the Andalites don't come nearby."

Marco muttered privately, (As if they'd start now.)

Estrid was watching the human girl, eyes narrowed. (So what you believe is that the resulting explosion will not catch the Visser's ship because she has stopped at Earth, while the majority of the ships will be caught and subsequently destroyed.)

"Precisely." Taylor nodded. "And there's no way that your brother isn't being held on Visser One's capital ship. If nothing else, she needs the political power that presenting an Andalite body to the Council of Thirteen."

"These guys," Her head nodded toward us. "They want to let that fleet go, based on the promise that they, a few humans and a single Andalite cadet, can somehow then get you to that fleet, extract your brother, and escape. And all this before they reach the Yeerk homeworld."

"I, on the other hand, well I'm telling you how we can destroy most of the fleet in a single stroke, and trap the ship that has your brother on it so that we can save him at our leisure." With that much said, Taylor stepped away from the forcefield as though to let Estrid take it down if she wished. "Your choice."

(Estrid.) I implored the other Andalite. (We will find a way to save him. I promise. You cannot let her words-)

She interrupted. (You said that there would be another way. You were right. This is the better way. I'm sorry, Aximili.) Her hand waved at the hatch, and the metal door started to close down over top of the forcefield to cut away even our view of them.

"You'll be trapped here!" Rachel's voice sounded desperate even to me. "You don't have a way off this ship!"

Taylor spoke one last time, winking at us just before the metal doors shut fully. "Don't I?"

(Ax.) Prince Jake's eyes were on me, his hands clenched. (Tell me there is another way onto that bridge.)

My head shook. (No, Prince Jake. There is no other way onto the bridge. It was made that way deliberately. It would not be much of an emergency defense if there was a way around it.)

(What about Mertil?) Tobias questioned. (Could he wake up in time to stop this?)

It was Marco who answered. (Why would he? Even if he woke up, he'd agree with the plan because it hurts the Yeerks.)

"What do we do?" Melissa asked. The smaller human female was shifting from one foot to the other, something I had come to associate with nervousness. I could not blame her.

It was impossible to keep the frustration out of my voice. (I have no idea. The only way to stop this vessel would be with another—oh. Prince Jake, the vessel that Estrid and the others arrived on. If we could board that vessel and detach from this ship, we should be able to employ its weaponry to destroy this vessel before the collision.)

"Good enough." Prince Jake nodded. "Let's go. We should probably run."

(We've still got hours, dude.) Marco replied. (Why do we need sprint there.)

"It's not so much about running to a place," Jake's reply was terse as he raised a hand to point down another corridor, where a two different young Veleek swarms were approaching. "It's about running away from them."

We ran.

Reaching the docking hatch proved to be much more difficult than I had initially anticipated. Any attempt to morph brought the Veleek swarms even faster than they normally found us, and they appeared to be everywhere. If we weren't running away from one swarm or another, we were detouring around uninhabitable sections of the ship.

And as though that wasn't enough, the ship itself was failing faster.

"Oh come on!" Marco had resumed his human shape, and was now staring at a hatch with a red light above it. "This corridor can't be closed, we just came through it."

(I believe that Taylor and Estrid are shunting power toward the engines to prepare for the z-space jump.) I amended. (Or the beginning of the jump, in any case. This is accelerating the destabilization of the rest of the ship.)

"How much time do we have left?" Prince Jake asked, looking toward the only hatch that was still open, which led in the opposite direction from where we wanted to be.

(Approximately fifteen of your Earth Minutes.) I answered promptly.

"Fine, no time to waste." Prince Jake started for the open hatch. "Every second counts people, let's run."

Reaching down to help Melissa up from where she had sprawled once we had stopped for a few moments, Marco looked to me. "You think we can make it?"

I paused before answering. (It is theoretically possible.)

Raising his hand, Marco fashioned a fist with the thumb of the hand raised. "Keep up that overwhelming optimism, Ax-man. That's why we named you morale officer."

"Well that and because Rachel hit me back when I suggested she take it."

In response, Rachel punched Marco in the shoulder. "Because I know what you were thinking when you said it."

I believe the look that Marco gave to Rachel then was supposed to imply innocence. It did not seem effective. "That you're bright and cheerful and your sunny disposition always livens up a stormy day? Wait, yeah, now I see why you didn't fall for that one. Good thing the cutest girl-"

He trailed off, his expression seeming to indicate that he shouldn't have said as much as he did.

This time, Rachel's eyes narrowed rather dangerously. "I'm sorry, what was that you were saying? The cutest girl hmm?"

"Uhhh, umm, guys?" Melissa bounced from one foot from the other, if anything even more anxious than she had been just outside the bridge. "We should probably go, huh?"

"PEOPLE!" Prince Jake yelled back from halfway down the corridor. "Priorities!"

Looking relieved, Marco started to run again. "Yeah, Rachel, priorities, gah."

Everyone ran once more, and I tried to lead the others through the ship as best as I could. There were still more dead ends, and we had to do so much backtracking that by the time we finally reached the proper hatch, the time was down to four minutes.

"Everyone aboard!" Prince Jake stood aside and waved his hand frantically. "Get on the ship get on the ship get on the ship! Ax, start the engines and get us out there!"

The Skrit Na saucer wasn't that large, though its cargo bay was massive compared to most Andalite ships of equivalent size. Luckily the cargo bay was empty, so it was easy to rush through straight to the bridge. It took a minute for the engines to warm up once I sent the command, and then I began the undocking sequence and pulled the ship away.

"How long until the weapons are ready?" Prince Jake asked with a hand against my side as I stood in front of the controls. I had to bend slightly uncomfortably over the Na seat, because there wasn't time to remove it.

(I do not know.) I answered, tapping away as quickly as I could. (This is not Andalite technology. But soon, I believe.)

"Better be." Marco stood near the front display screen. "Because I'm pretty sure that little spec there is the ship we were just on, and that other spec there is the research vessel. Maybe two minutes left. Power up those lasers, dude, we won't get another shot at this."

(The weapons are... ready.) I announced as the weapons console indicated that it was powered up. However, the indication lights immediately darkened just after that. (What?)

"Ax?" Jake's hand on my side had tightened. "That doesn't sound good."

(There was power.) I insisted. (But the weapon controls have been shut down and locked out. It's as if-)

"Yeah, sorry about that." In the corner of the main screen, a view of Taylor appeared. She did not appear to be on the bridge any longer, but I could not tell where she actually was. She was moving, clearly holding the communication device in front of her as she jogged. "When we left the ship, I got to thinking that if anything went wrong, I wouldn't want someone to use those weapons against me. So I disabled them." She smiled brightly and waved. "Bye then!"

The image winked out, and Prince Jake spun to punch the nearest wall so hard I could see blood spring to his knuckles. "Ax! Get the weapons back up!"

(With time, I could.) I answered carefully. (But not this little time.)

Prince Jake took a breath and let it out. (Fine... then ram the blade ship.)

We all blinked at him at that, confused. Marco spoke up. "Uh, blade ship, dude?"

A look of confusion crossed over the frustration and anger on Prince Jake's face. "Uh, I mean... sorry, I don't know why I said that. I mean, ram the Andalite ship."

I shook my head once more. (I am very sorry, Prince Jake. Skrit Na vessels are quite fast inside atmosphere, and well armed, but they are rather pathetically slow in space compared to Andalite, or even Yeerk ships. We will never catch up.)

"Well then what can we do?!" Prince Jake snapped sharply. "Stop telling me what we can't do, and tell me how we can stop this!"

(We cannot.) I answered my prince, ashamed of my answer.

"We have to!" Prince Jake shoved me aside. "Cassie gave us a job, and we're going to do it." His hand smacked at the controls. "Fire. Fire. Turn on the lasers. Fire! Shoot!" He was hitting the controls harder, smacking every button in his desperation. "God damn it, fire you piece of shit!"

As Prince Jake started to punch the controls, Marco and Rachel each quickly grabbed an arm and pulled him away from it.

Together, we stood on the bridge of the Skrit Na vessel, watching as the two dots drew closer to one another. Rachel kept both arms around Jake, holding him tightly while Tobias landed on her shoulder. To the side, I saw Melissa and Marco both turn away from the view screen.

But the rest of us watched, helpless, throughout the approach. The specks on the view screen continued to get closer and closer, almost merging into one slightly larger dot.

There was violet flash of light at the site of the impact, followed by a blue wave that shot outward in every direction. Alarms began to sound throughout the ship as the energy wave passed over and through us.

We had failed. Z-Space was damaged. The Andalite Fleet would not be coming for many years.

Earth was trapped.