He'd had a creeping feeling of wrongness about this whole thing, ever since the first Hork-Bajir had come out of the Yeerk ship. All of the other times that he'd seen Hork-Bajir coming out of the smallest Yeerk ships – ships that were called Bug fighters, seemingly because of the way they looked – there had been more than one of them. The single Taxxon hadn't been anything unexpected, but finding himself and the rest of his fellow Animorphs imprisoned in a cage made up of Dracon beams…
(Well, well,) the voice of Visser Three himself, echoing through all of their minds, drew Tommy's attention immediately. (I have you at last, my brave Andalite bandits. Fools. Did you think we never change our frequencies?)
(Yeerk!)
(A little one?) Visser Three asked, though it seemed more like he was mocking them than trying to find anything out. (Are the Andalites now reduced to using their children to fight?) Visser Three paused for a moment, looking out over all of the gathered Animorphs. (What a colorful assortment of morphs,) Visser Three continued; Tommy had the distinct feeling he was gloating. (Earth has such wonderful animals, don't you agree?) All of the Animorphs had determined that the less they gave Visser Three or any of the Yeerks to work with, the less chance there was of any of them finding out that Ax was the only actual Andalite in their group. (When we have enslaved the human race, and made this planet over in our image, we will have to keep some of these forms alive.)
As Visser Three continued talking, seeming to lavish particular attention on both him and Jake, Tommy turned over the seeming animosity that Visser Three held for Visser One in his mind. As the seven of them were all herded up into Visser Three's Blade ship by the small army of Hork-Bajir that had come to ambush them, Tommy found himself wondering if his parents would even notice that he was gone. Neither of them seemed to take much notice of anything he did.
It was one of the things that had made him all the more sympathetic to what Tobias was going through: the way that neither of them seemed to quite have a family worth talking about.
The fact that they'd been allowed to stay in their animal forms, even if it was just because Visser Three wanted to show them off to Visser One, still meant that they wouldn't end up putting the rest of their families in danger of being taken by the Yeerks. Even if his almost-namesake – Jake's older brother – might have been in danger, somehow, if they were discovered.
(This is not looking good,) Marco said, bringing Tommy's attention back from where it had wandered.
(Maybe not, but we're not beaten yet,) he said, knowing that it was best if he at least tried to keep all of their spirits up.
He was the oldest, after all.
(Why doesn't that make me happy,) Marco grumbled, shuffling over to the side of the featureless, windowless cell they'd all been imprisoned in together. (We look like some kind of circus,) he continued, shaking his head as he looked around at all seven of them. (An elephant, a tiger, a lion, a gorilla, a wolf, and a freak of nature.)
Joining in with the half-hearted laugh, knowing that it would at least help the rest of his friends to feel better, Tommy sighed.
(Maybe we should just demorph,) Cassie said, though she sounded as though even she didn't believe it. (Maybe, if they realize we're not Andalites, they'll let us go.)
(No, they wouldn't,) he said, turning so he could take in the rest of his fellow Animorphs with a glance. (If they find out how many of us are human, we all know what they'd do.)
