Encyclopedia of Concepts and Imagery in Andalite Thought-Speech
Entry: Coming of age
«Pressed flowers»
«I can defend myself against the predators now»
JanathAPP - Instant Message
DemonBarberFltStrt
Hello. I heard this is who I should contact if I want to find the place in the pool where the light shines the brightest.
JanathAPP
Are you masking your IP address?
DemonBarberFltStrt
Yeah, and I made this IM account with a burner email.
JanathAPP
Then greetings, friend. What brings you to the Aftran Plisam Pool?
DemonBarberFltStrt
I'm part of a group that calls itself the Campsite Rule. It's a thing from human camping grounds: if you make camp in the woods, when you leave, make sure it's nicer than when you found it.
JanathAPP
I think I might have heard of you. Were you the ones who spread around advice on how to make hosts "work better"?
DemonBarberFltStrt
That's us! We put a lot of research into that. And we're still figuring out new ideas.
JanathAPP
Have you heard? We received word that your dossiers are being distributed in the Empire under the imprimatur of the Visserarchy. They're calling it "Guidelines for Peak Host Efficiency." Certainly a way to put an old idea in a new host.
DemonBarberFltStrt
What? The Empire is using our work? Oh no! Ugh, they steal *everything.*
JanathAPP
What? No, this is an excellent development. It's radical ideology disguised as Empire propaganda, which will allow it to reach a broader audience.
JanathAPP
These "guidelines" are almost certainly being spread about by one of us. I had no idea the Peace Movement had anyone high up enough in the Visserarchy to authorize something like this. I'm impressed.
DemonBarberFltStrt
Huh. I guess I didn't think of it that way.
JanathAPP
Tell me. What is your Pool life like? Pool culture is the cause we're taking up over here at the AP Pool.
DemonBarberFltStrt
We have a Pool in a suitcase brought 'round every three days.
JanathAPP
Why, that's an amazing opportunity! You're out from all the scrutiny at the Grash Akdap Pool. You could do all kinds of things in there. Have you heard of the javeshed host-honoring dances?
DemonBarberFltStrt
No, but I looooooove choreography. Tell me all about it.
Aftran Plisam Pool
Fighting Every Rane – Direct Message
Fighting Every Rane
The Chee told me you're actually here. At the Pool. So we don't have to go through all the security protocols.
Loren
Yeah, I'm on a laptop by the Pool, wired into the intranet. I'm trying to learn how to look at it without wanting to throw up.
Fighting Every Rane
Thanks.
Loren
I'm not going to apologize. I was enslaved by a Yeerk once. I hurt someone I loved while it was controlling me. I don't hate you because you're slugs. I hate you because I know what you're capable of.
Fighting Every Rane
There are children in this Pool who have never infested anyone. I'm an adult who's never infested anyone.
Fighting Every Rane
Well, okay. I did have five minutes with a Gedd during basic training. I do regret that. I hate that they put Gedds through that. Hundreds of young Yeerks put in their heads, five minutes at a time, rane in, rane out.
Loren
Did you think that Gedd was a person? When you were in its head?
Fighting Every Rane
Honestly? No. I'd spent so much time being told how great it was to have a host body, I just thought of the Gedd the way the Andalites do about their spaceships. Like a marvelous device we'd engineered for our benefit. I wanted that power more than anything. The mobility. The vision! The world became so bright and clear! The shadows! The highlights!
Loren
That's what made a host body so great for you, huh? The vision?
Fighting Every Rane
Yes. I wanted to be like the Andalites, who could see everywhere at once. For those five minutes, the world seemed to unfold all around me in a way it never had as a blind slug in a pool. I treasured that memory. I still do, even though I know what I did to that Gedd was unnecessary and cruel.
Loren
You're a fool. You don't understand anything.
Fighting Every Rane
Who are you to pass judgment on me? You don't know what it's like to be blind and helpless and trapped in a pool. You have the whole seascape of the world laid out before you.
Loren
I WAS BLIND FOR TWELVE YEARS!
Loren
I only just got my sight back a year ago because of the Andalite morphing technology. And my world was just as grand, just as complex, just as sacred to me when I was blind as it is to me now. If you think you need a host because you need vision to make the world beautiful to you, then I can tell you now, your world will never be beautiful. Because that means you have closed off your spirit so much that you can only find that beauty in one small way.
Fighting Every Rane
I'm sorry. I didn't realize.
Loren
You're not sorry. You haven't changed your mind.
Loren
I promised my son I would speak to the Yeerks in your pool, but I never want to speak to you again.
Ax
I couldn't fly to the harbor islands. Any Gold Bands watching the sky would know I was in morph, and could follow my flight path to the Andalite ship. Instead, we rode as flies with Chee-pulim, who rented a motorized boat under a hologram of a group of seven humans, which would match our hrala signature.
Prince Jake had prudently chosen to split our forces, as we had pressing concerns back in the valley as well. He and Rachel would stay in Kref Magh to train our prospective morphers and lay traps and ambushes for the Gold Bands in the national forest. The rest of us went to the ship with Pulim. To our collective surprise, Toby insisted on joining us. "I know Jake can lead my people," she explained, a level of trust that surprised me even more. "And I don't trust Andalites. If they're on Earth, I want to know what they're planning." I privately thought this was perhaps excessively paranoid of her, but I said nothing.
On the boat ride, the Animorphs instructed me on how to behave with the Andalite warriors. "You're a piss-poor actor," Marco said, "but you're our only hope."
«I am not a piss-poor actor,» I said defensively. «I have pretended to be human many times.»
Diamanta curved out from his shoulder to look at me from a different angle, in a strange echo of stalk eyes. Marco said, "We need to find out what their deal is, so even if they're giant assholes – let's be real, when they're giant assholes – you can't just throw a hissy fit and leave. You gotta keep stringing them along until you find out what's up, so I hope your bullshit tolerance is feeling high today."
"Don't tell them where Kref Magh is," Toby said.
«Of course not,» I said, offended that Toby would even entertain the thought.
"Flatter them," Cassie said. "We don't believe in Andalites as the perfect galactic heroes, but you have to act like you still do. Thank them for showing up to save us."
"Don't tell them Jake is your prince. They won't believe it anyway," Marco said. "Ooh! Tell them you're the prince. They'll eat that shit right up! Mr. Boss Andalite saving the primitive humans from themselves. It's very Pocahontas."
«Me? Prince?» I said, alarmed.
"You won't actually have to boss anyone around," Marco said. "Just tell them you ordered us to go look after the free Hork-Bajir. That adds an extra side dish of saving the primitive Hork-Bajir, they'll like that."
I felt the fur along my spine rise. «Most of my people have no desire to boss members of other species.»
"Is that so?" Toby said snidely.
«I have known my people all my life!» I snapped. «All of you have only met a small segment of what my society has to offer. I will ask that you refrain from giving me any more of your "advice" on how to speak to my fellow Andalite.»
"We're getting close to the island," Pulim said. "Anyone who's gonna morph might want to start morphing."
"Good luck, Prince Ax!" Marco said, and started his morph.
Tobias said to me privately, «I get that this is a big deal for you, Ax. For what it's worth, I hope they're not giant assholes.»
«Marco is right,» I admitted to him privately. «It is most likely that they are. But I will still hope otherwise.»
I morphed to harrier so I could fly a circuit of the island and spot the ship in the foliage. Out here, in the harbor islands, there would not be any Gold Bands nearby to notice me. The other Animorphs latched onto my feathers as fleas. Chee-pulim did a pass by the island. She said, "I'll go back now. Send a messenger to the Kings' house if you need someone to pick you up."
«Thank you,» I said. «I have no doubt that our survival into this stage of the war would have been impossible without your help.» I took off from the boat and flew to the island.
I found the ship hidden in thick brush. It was not a new model. If this had been an advance force of the Andalite fleet, it would have been the best ship available. I flew to the ship and demorphed.
By the time I was myself again, all four Andalite warriors had emerged. I took a good look at them for the first time. The female was small and physically powerful. One was older than the others, though hardly dull in the hoof, and had a keen intensity to his main eyes – it was Arbat, who had killed Alloran, who Visser Five had known by name. One had shaved patterns along his flanks that marked a Wurilit, a tribe of Andalites that live a largely traditional lifestyle in the Untamed Wilds – an unusual sight in the military. The last was impassive, pure military professionalism. I raised my tail to the proper military bearing and waited for the commander to address me.
To my surprise, the Wurilit spoke, with all the brashness of a military leader. «I am Commander Gonrod-Isfall-Sonilli. We are a Unit O sabotage and assassination team, assigned to kill the Abomination.»
«I knew they weren't here to bring the Andalite fleet,» Tobias said grimly.
He introduced Alloran's killer as Arbat-Elivat-Estoni, an Apex Level Intelligence officer – a very lofty rank. Too high for such a small team. The professional was Aloth-Attamil-Gahar, the team's assassin, and the female as Aristh Estrid-Corill-Darrath. When I expressed surprise at her rank, Gonrod shot her a contemptuous look with a stalk eye and said, «There is a new pilot program to integrate females into the military. We have been burdened with one of their experiments.»
Estrid raised her tail and shot back, «I have more than earned my place on this mission.» She was embarrassing herself and revealing a lack of military discipline, playing into Gonrod's hands if he wished to humiliate her.
But instead of firmly rebuking her, he shamefully lost his temper. «Be silent, aristh!» he roared. «I am commander of this mission!» Estrid looked away from him and said nothing. To me, he said, «Report, Aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.»
«I count one asshole already in this bunch,» Marco said. «Anyone wanna bet if we'll get to four? My money's on yes.»
«Marco, none of us have any money,» Tobias said. «We live in the woods.»
«First of all, I would like to thank you for your timely rescue yesterday. I have been cut off from the fleet a long time,» I said, ignoring my friends. «There is much I might report. But I believe the most important is that Visser Five has another Andalite host, captured only twenty Earth days ago. His name is Gafinilan-Estrif-Valad. I expect Visser Five will simply shift to infesting him, now that you have finally ended Alloran-Semitur-Corass's torment.»
Arbat's eyes burned like green stars. «What happened to Alloran? I am his brother, and I saw his Guide Tree, Henga Sholeth, wither and dry to a husk as if taken by a blight. No Andalite has ever seen such a thing happen to a Guide Tree. Do you know what might have caused it?»
«Don't tell him about the severance chamber,» Tobias urged me. «Talk about the galan maheet.»
I hesitated a moment. I was reluctant to discuss my hrala affliction in front of my friends, even though Tobias had already revealed my secret to everyone, even the Yeerks of the rogue Pool. «I have been suffering the effects of exceeding the galan maheet, after so long on Earth. Alloran had been far from Henga Sholeth for many times longer than that. There is nothing known about what such an extended separation from one's Garibah might do to a person. Perhaps that is what happens.»
«Perhaps,» Arbat allowed. «Where are your pet humans? Andalite intelligence has learned of the Yeerk discovery of the Earth guerillas' identities. Six humans and you, Aximili, who gave them that power.»
My nostrils flared at the lie, as if it lingered in the air like a bad smell, which made Aloth sneer at me. «I have sent them to lead missions with the free Hork-Bajir, as you saw on the training grounds where you rescued us. The Yeerks are training new shock troops called Gold Bands. The free Hork-Bajir are useful troops, but they must be directed by more capable commanders.» I added privately to Toby, «I am sorry. I do not truly mean it.»
«I know,» Toby said.
«So you are a prince,» Arbat said. «And so young. Impressive. Welcome aboard the Ralek River, prince-aristh.»
«He's really laying it on thick, isn't he?» Marco said.
Gonrod glowered at Arbat. «I am the pilot and commander. I am the one to allow newcomers aboard!»
Arbat lowered his main eyes, a little mockingly, I felt. «Of course, Commander.»
«You are welcome aboard, Aristh Aximili,» Gonrod said stiffly, pivoting toward the Ralek River.
«Boy, are these guys a bunch of screw-ups,» Marco said. «I've never seen any military types outside the movies, but Captain Tom Hanks would not approve.» As usual, I did not entirely understand what Marco was talking about, but I basically agreed.
On the command deck, Gonrod said, «Our mission is a simple one: to assassinate Visser Five. Since our first attempt failed, you will join us on our mission and rid the galaxy of the Abomination. Am I understood?»
«These guys need to get a clue,» Cassie said. «You're doing really important work in the resistance, and they expect you to just drop it all and join them on their revenge quest? They have no respect!»
«I am only an aristh,» I said privately. «They assume that my operations must not be as important as theirs.» Publicly, I said, «Yes, Commander Gonrod.»
«I will take you on a tour of the ship,» Estrid declared. I braced myself for Gonrod to explode at her again, but he only stared balefully. Perturbed, I followed her.
«The command deck, the bridge, and the med bay are on the first tier, here,» Estrid said. She took me to the drop shaft, and I floated up behind her. «The second tier is an old mobile lab, now sealed off to save power.»
«This is my stop,» Toby announced. «An old sealed-off lab my scaly ass. I don't trust Andalites as far as I can spit, which in this morph is less than a millimeter.»
«A girl after my own suspicious heart,» Marco said. «I'm going with you.»
Which left me with Loren, Tobias, and Cassie. Estrid said, «This is the third tier. Engine room, storage, feeding area, quarters. Are you hungry, Aximili?»
They would have real Andalite grass here, not the endless meager Earth grass I had to eat all day to feel satisfied. «Yes,» I said, hoping my desperation did not show.
«Then I will show you your quarters, and then to our feeding ground. It tastes mostly like chemical fertilizer, but what can you do? Military rations.» Estrid strode breezily through the corridor and waved open a door. «Look! It's big enough to turn around in!»
It was better than my quarters had been on the GalaxyTree. «Thank you.»
Estrid shifted shyly on her hooves. «Would you come with me to my quarters? I have something to show you.»
«Oooh,» Cassie said. «Looks like someone might have a crush.»
That alarmed me. «I am not prepared to pursue a relationship at this time.»
«Then find a neutral ground,» Loren suggested. «Ask her to join you in the feeding area.»
«I am really very hungry,» I said. «I hope I do not impose by asking you to bring there what you wish to show me.»
Estrid averted all her eyes. «Very well.»
She showed me to the feeding area, a lush plot of tall, high-nutrient fixgrass with a reflecting pool in the center. I ate my fill, in a way I hadn't in years, while Estrid retrieved whatever it was. She found me by the reflecting pool, drinking deep. When I saw what she was holding, I nearly fell into the water.
«Arbat approached your parents privately before our mission. It is a secret mission, and he should not have done it, but he is Apex Level Intelligence and has some discretion in these matters, and… perhaps he decided it was the right thing to do. They said it happened very soon after you called them from Earth.»
The flowers were beautifully pressed, no detail of petal or pistil lost. They were in clusters of small florets, each the size of my fingertip. They were all in the palest shades of orange, pink, and yellow. All together, across the canopy, they would look like dawn light falling on snow. The frame was carefully crafted of bark. I took it from Estrid and touched my fingers to the clear plasteel protecting the pressed flowers. They were so beautiful. I wondered what they smelled like.
«What happened?» Loren said. «What is she talking about?»
This was one of the most important moments in an Andalite's life, and my only family on Earth did not even know what it was. I tried not to resent that, and failed. Still, Loren and Tobias would not learn unless I told them.
I debated with myself for a moment, then decided to include Cassie in my private thought-speech. «When an Andalite comes into adulthood, their Guide Tree blooms for the first time in their lifetime. I suppose it is something like when your dæmons settle.» Even I said it, I realized I should have known a long time ago that Firi Dria had flowered. The Hork-Bajir all told me I had the hrala of an adult. Of course those things were connected. Why hadn't I seen it? I went on, «It is a celebrated event in a young Andalite's life. It is a tradition for an Andalite coming of age to gather the first blooms of the Guide Tree, and dry and press them as a keepsake. Pressing flowers is an ancient and honored art among my people.»
Estrid said, «They told Arbat they did the proxy rituals for you in your absence.»
«You weren't there to see it,» Tobias said.
«I am not the first to miss my Garibah's first flowering. There are proxy rituals – adaptations for my family to perform in my stead. They made an impressive effort pressing the flowers – and these would have been fallen ones, not fresh from the branch. I am very grateful.» To Estrid, I said, «Has your Guide Tree flowered yet?»
«Yes,» she said. «My mothers and brother held a great moon-watching party for me.»
As my parents would have done for me, if I were not stranded here on Earth. As Loren would not, could not, do for me, as a human living at the margins of her world.
«What do they look like?» Loren said, hushed and reverent. «I can't see.»
«White tinted with warm colors. The last shades of dawn before full morning.» My parents' hands had touched these flowers. They had made the paper backing, had carefully arranged the petals before weighing them down flat. They had gathered bark from their own Guide Trees to make the frame. I held the display to my chest. «Thank you, Estrid. Truly.»
«I will leave you to contemplation. Unless you would like the company?»
I had too much company already. I was mortified that Cassie had been here for this moment of great personal significance. If Estrid indeed had a "crush" on me, it was ill-timed. «I must decline. I require time alone. I will go to my quarters and await instruction.»
«You'll probably be called soon. I think Arbat wants your input on the big assassination plan.»
«I will help however I can.» I retreated to the quarters Estrid had shown me.
When the door had closed, Cassie observed, «Estrid said your Guide Tree flowered right after you called home. That's when you decided to trust us and tell us about Andalites.»
«Yes,» I said, rattled that Cassie had seen in me what I had not known about myself. Was there any part of my settling that was untouched by Earth, that could remain a pure connection to my heritage and my home?
Loren, Tobias, and Cassie took the opportunity to reset their morph clocks, one at a time so as not to excessively crowd me, which I appreciated. When Cassie was back in fly morph, she said, «I'm going to go check in with Marco and Toby. I'll be back,» and slipped out under the door. When Tobias and Loren were in their own bodies, they each took a moment to look at the pressed flowers.
Back in morph, Loren told me, «I want to see Firi Dria someday.»
Tobias said tentatively, «I think I'd like that too.»
It was an acknowledgment. It was not enough. I wanted them to offer me some grand gesture, even though the war made it impossible: a flowering-gift, a concert, a party in the human style, at least, as all the other Animorphs had had when they settled.
Except for Tobias. He almost certainly did not receive even a quiet acknowledgment on the day Elhariel settled. I lowered my tail in acknowledgment of that.
«I have thought about it,» I said at last. Many times. When I'd seen Tobias anointing himself with flowers and had imagined Firi Dria's petals, hazy in my imagination since I did not yet know what they would look like, falling and catching in his flyaway hair. One time I saw Elhariel perched in a tree and wondered what she would look like among Firi Dria's branches. Loren and Jaxom could sit in her shade on a sunny day and be at peace. «Firi Dria is in a grove, connected to many other Garibah by a root network. Flowering vines connect their branches, one to another. I think you would like it there.
«It was very kind of Arbat to acquire this for me. Perhaps we have been too quick to judge.»
Cassie
«Are you guys in there?» I said to the sealed door of the mobile lab.
In answer, the doors slid open. To the fly's senses, the lab reeked of dead bodies. I tried not to freeze up in disgust and fear. Through fragmented fly vision, I saw that Marco and Toby were joined by a Chee, bare chrome, no hologram. «Is that Lourdes? What are you doing here?»
Marco said, "Well, when an automated security system tries to blast you into shreds when you try to squeeze into a lab as a fly, you start to wonder whether the lab might be hiding something. And when you need something hacked, you get a Chee."
I started to demorph. Toby sneered, "Shut down mobile lab. Sealed off. Andalites keep living down to my expectations."
When my human eyes came back, I could see what Toby meant. There was nothing shut down about this lab. I stood behind Lourdes. "What are they doing here?" I couldn't really smell death in the air anymore with my weak human nose, but the memory lingered.
"Bioengineering," Lourdes said vaguely. "Don't distract me."
"Bioengineering," Toby repeated, lashing her tail. She could probably still smell it.
"Which leads us to a really important question," Marco said, as Diamanta slithered around the lab, flicking her tongue at incomprehensible equipment. "Once we figure out whatever shady shit is going on in this lab – what do we do about the Andalites?"
I stared at Marco, my mind racing to keep up. Quincy flew off my shoulder and landed on Diamanta, talking quietly and urgently. They bared their fangs at each other. My mouth moved before my brain could settle on anything. "Well, we can't just march down there and ask them what's going on."
Toby snorted.
"Yeah, don't think they're gonna give us a big Scooby Doo villain speech about how they would have gotten away with it if it weren't for us meddling kids," Marco said.
Diamanta reared her head up, sending Quincy scrambling backward on feet and wings. "Hey Lourdes. Can you get your claws into the environmental controls on this ship?"
"Got 'em," Lourdes said, then: "Oh. Fuck."
"Have we ever heard a Chee curse before?" Marco said. "'Cause I swear I haven't."
Toby loomed over Lourdes. "What is it?"
Lourdes looked up at her. Chrome parts shifted in her canine face, like a bicycle changing gears. Maybe for a Chee it was a frown, a bitten lip, a sigh. "It's another quantum virus. Like the one that decimated your people. But this one is engineered to target Yeerks."
"What," I said.
"The Hork-Bajir must have told you," Lourdes said. "The Andalites targeted them with a programmable virus. It has to be engineered for the target species – it alters the target on a genetic level – it turns the body against itself. A biological weapon. This one is engineered for Yeerks. Its structure is unstable, however, according to the research notes. It could potentially modify itself to other targets."
My mind raced again. Somewhere, distantly, Toby was growling something dark and ugly. I couldn't blame her. We were in a place of death; ugly thoughts were sprouting everywhere. Draped over Diamanta like a gargoyle, Quincy said, "Why does that sound familiar?"
I pushed the words through my numb mouth. "Lourdes. I need to ask Bachu a question."
"I'm ready to pass it on."
"The gene therapy treatment the Circle of Friends made to alter the Yoort," I said. "How did that work, exactly? Did Aftran ever tell her?"
Tick, tick, tick, went the moving parts inside Lourdes's face. "Do you want me to contextualize that question for her."
I licked my dry lips. "No."
Lourdes nodded. She said, slowly, "You guessed right. It was a quantum virus programmed to modify the Yoort."
"It was delivered by injection," I said. "Am I remembering that right?"
"Yes."
I looked at the screen in front of Lourdes. It showed a viral structure, a protein coat shaped like an antibody, branching and complex. "This one, though. It's a weapon. It can spread on its own."
"Holy shit," Diamanta hissed to Quincy. "Are you really – "
"Which of the Andalites on this ship made this?" I pushed on, relentless.
"The security authorizations," Lourdes said, "are for Estrid-Corrill-Darrath."
I found my back against a wall, somehow, and slid down it. I pulled my knees in toward my chest. "We need her."
"Dia," Quincy said. "You get it, right?"
Dia's tongue flickered in and out. She nodded.
Somewhere far above me, Toby spoke. I couldn't look at her, though, only at the virus, its sinister branches. "I heard this story. Tobias told me. The gene therapy that made the Yoort unable to control people, unless they were allowed to. If they could program a virus to do that to the Yoort…"
"An apparent Andalite scientific prodigy can do it for the Yeerks," Lourdes concluded.
Marco walked up to Lourdes and looked right into her beetle-black mechanical eyes. I'd been avoiding meeting his eyes, but I looked at him now. "Your creators were killed by a biological weapon." Lourdes tilted her head, waiting. Marco raised an eyebrow. "You gonna tell on us to the other Chee? Throw a big old pacifist tantrum about this?" He leaned forward, so close his breath fogged the chrome on her chin. "Because this nasty idea of Cassie's can win this war. Like, actually. We've had a lot of stupid ideas we thought might do it, but this one – this can actually work."
Lourdes didn't react to Marco in any way. It reminded me of when the Chee had been frozen by the malfunction in the Pemalite ship. She just said, "They're going to find out sooner or later. But not on my account."
Marco folded his arms across his chest. "Why not?"
"I'm not like Naxes or Alem or Bachu or any of the other Chee you've met." Lourdes gestured to her body. "The Pemalites made us this way. They made us look like a cute metal versions of them. They made us pacifists. They made us to be companion androids. But they also made us sentient, which means I don't have to like it. Those fawning lapdogs miss the people who made them to be the perfect friendly servants. Miss them so much they're helping you to protect the dogs that bear their imprint. You know why I'm helping you?"
Marco blinked. "At this point, I have no goddamn clue."
"Because the only way a strict pacifist android can get off this boring backwater nothing of a planet without being detected and stripped for parts," Lourdes said, "is if there isn't a war on. I help you end this war, you get me a ship and safe passage at the end. Deal?" She stretched out her hand. Marco stared at it.
She went on, "Maybe I should point out that once the rest of the Chee find out about this plan, they're never going to work with you again. From that second on, I'm the only Chee you've got."
Marco looked over his shoulder at Dia, who looked back with her slitted yellow eyes. Her tail flicked, but she didn't move away from Quincy. Marco looked back at Lourdes and shook her hand. "Deal."
"So," Dia said. "How much oxygen do you have to pump out of this ship to make the Andalites pass out?"
"What?" Toby said.
"Only way to stop a morpher," Marco said. "Knock 'em out so they can't morph. Learned that one from Taylor. That Controller is a Grade-A psycho."
"Who are these Andalites anyway?" Toby demanded. "I don't believe what they told Ax in their introduction."
Lourdes pulled up profiles on the ship's crew. We read them over her shoulder. "They're all listed as missing in action," Marco said. "This is a suicide mission. To deliver that virus into the Yeerk Pool, probably."
"The Andalites don't want any evidence for their next war crime," Toby said.
"Aloth is a black market organ dealer," I said, disgusted.
"Gonrod is… a coward under fire?" Marco said. "Ooh, I like him."
"He's dangerous," Toby insisted. "For all we know, all four of these Andalites are mass murderers! This Estrid is certainly one in the making, if she hasn't killed off a species or two already."
The breath rushed out of my body, and I suddenly felt the weight of every night of sleep I'd missed, every time I'd morphed one too many times and pushed myself beyond all endurance. "I told you. We need her. And probably Gonrod, too, if he's the pilot of this ship. We need this lab."
A heavy silence fell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dia curl a coil around Quincy. Lourdes broke the quiet. "Erek King passed on the information about Andalite oxygen needs. He and Ax worked that out when they were preparing for his brain surgery. I'm ready to execute. You will have to warn the Animorphs on the third tier of the ship, though. Unless you want them to pass out too."
Toby, Marco, and I all exchanged looks.
Marco put a finger on his nose. "Dibs on not telling Ax."