Author's Note: When I first started working on this story, I had two options: follow the book, with the underwater Andalite dome, dolphins, telepathic whales, and Visser Three as a demonic anglerfish; or I could follow the TV show where Ax shows up on a different ship a few weeks after Elfangor, crashes in the woods, and is found hiding in an abandoned factory. I was tempted for option 2 just for the sake of doing something different than the books... but on the other hand, I love it when science-fiction gets extra crazy and ridiculous. So you get to see my version of the whales and dolphins. Buckle up, it's going to get weird...
If you are reading this, then you need to be warned before it's too late: Earth is being invaded by a terrible enemy, an alien threat from another planet. This war is being waged secretly. There is no front line where troops fight their way back and forth through fields and forests and cities. The Yeerks are not yet ready to risk a direct attack. If they did, they might win, but it would be very destructive, and in the process they would risk the very resource they came here to steal. That resource is you.
The Yeerks are parasites. In their natural state, they are unimposing little slugs, blind and deaf. But they have the ability to enter a person's head, wrap themselves around the brain, and take over. They seize control of all motor functions and reflexes, and probe the mind of the host to learn all that they know. They can impersonate their hosts so flawlessly that few would ever suspect that they were being controlled. They have enslaved many races - the Gedds, the Ssstram, Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, and now they have turned their attention to Earth.
My name is Toby Hamee, and I am the only free Hork-Bajir in the galaxy. I was born in captivity at a subterranean Yeerk base on Earth, bred only for my body to be used as a weapon. But I was freed when the facility was attacked. See, the Yeerks have enemies - the Andalites have spent thirty years fighting to contain the Yeerk threat, though it seems to be a fight that they are slowly losing. When they learned of the Yeerk foothold on Earth, they sent a ship commanded by one of their greatest warriors, Prince Elfangor. But they did not know the full extent of the Yeerk presence, and their ship was destroyed in orbit.
The Yeerks thought that all the Andalites had been killed. But nine days later, the Sulp Niar station was infiltrated and attacked. I was in no position to see how it started - the Yeerk that lived in my head had gone into the Pool to absorb Kandrona rays, as they must do every six days, and until then, I was put inside a cage alongside other Hork-Bajir and Humans whose yeerks were feeding. But at some point, a number of large animals appeared and began fighting the Yeerks. We knew they had to be Andalites who'd survived the battle, for only the Andalites have the technology to morph - to become any animal whose DNA they can acquire. They broke open my cage, and we tried to escape. But in the chaos of the battle, I was separated, alone with one Andalite who'd morphed a bird. We escaped together up one of the tunnels, and he led me to safety in the forest outside the city.
From there, I learned a shocking reality - the warriors who'd risked so much in attacking the Yeerk base were not Andalites, but Human children. Six of them had seen the dying Prince Elfangor land his damaged fighter in front of them. He had warned them about the Yeerks, and in an act of desperation, shared the secret Andalite morphing power with them. And they, in turn, outnumbered and desperate for allies, shared that same power with me.
There was another surprise, as well. My species are generally considered by other races to be unintelligent. Which is not exactly true - fully grown, we have an intellectual capacity more or less on par with a seven-year-old Human child, but it was sufficient for our native environment. And I was no different than any other Hork-Bajir. But in the days after my escape, I could feel my own consciousness expanding - my sense of awareness. There is a reason for it. Every few generations, a Hork-Bajir is born who is different from the others. Vastly more intelligent, even by Andalite or Human standards. These Hork-Bajir we call Seers. And it would appear that I am one of them. For reasons even I can't begin to imagine, my intellect was suppressed until after my escape. The Yeerks never had the faintest idea of what I really was.