Chapter 3

"Hey, Ax," said Jordan. "I have a vague plan to share with the group, but first I have a question."

{What is your question, Jordan?}

"What happens to the Yeerk in Visser Three's head when he morphs?"

I paused to consider. {I assume it gets transferred into Zero-space with the rest of his Andalite body, similar to your morphing suits.}

"So let's say Visser Three morphs a human, is the Yeerk still in Zero-space?" Jordan asked.

{I would assume so,} I answered.

"So what happens if another Yeerk crawls into his head while he's in human morph?"

Everyone was sort of silent for a while after that question.

{I have no idea,} I answered honestly. {As you know, Visser Three is the only controller who can morph, so there is not really a case study on the topic.}

"What's your plan, Jordan?" Hannah asked eagerly.

"Well, I was thinking…" Jordan began. "Again, this is just the early outlines of a plan, but if the Yeerk in Visser Three's head goes into Zero-space when he morphs, and if another Yeerk, for example, one of us in Yeerk morph, could enter the head of his human morph, and if the Yeerk in his human morph could somehow overpower the Yeerk in Zero-space…we could potentially nothlit Visser Three in his human morph."

"Brilliant!" Rachel exclaimed. "We'd just have to make sure the person who morphs Yeerk does so after Visser Three morphs human, to give them enough time to crawl out and demorph after Visser Three's two hours are up."

I felt a little bit sick. An Andalite trapped in human morph? With a Yeerk also trapped in his mind and no way to get it out? A controller who would be guaranteed to be a slave forever, with no way to ever be free?

It seemed too cruel.

But it was also almost perfectly ruthless.

If it even worked.

Right at that moment, Prince Jake arrived in his peregrine falcon morph.

{Hey guys,} he said. Then he must have seen the look on my face, along with the faces of the other Animorphs. {Woah, what's going on? You guys look like you just watched Human Centipede.}

"Don't ever mention that movie around me again," Marco warned.

{What is a human centipede?} I asked.

{You don't want to know,} Tobias said darkly.

"Don't tell me! I haven't seen it, I don't want a spoiler," said Hannah.

"Anyway, to answer your question, Jake," said Cassie. "Jordan has suggested a plan that is very…dark."

"I'm not saying we have to do it," Jordan said defensively. "But I just wanted to bring up the option."

{There's no shame in considering all our options,} said Prince Jake as he began to demorph. {What is your plan, Jordan?}

By the time Prince Jake had demorphed, Jordan had explained her brief outline of a plan.

"Okay, that is dark," Prince Jake admitted. "But I do think that it would be quite a valuable move tactically."

"Denying Visser Three from being able to morph into his collection of colossal monsters would be a big win for us," said Rachel.

{Agreed,} said Tobias. {How many times have we been winning in a fight, before Visser Three shows up, morphs some monster, and wipes the floor with us?}

"If we could contain Visser Three for two hours, why not just kill him?" Hannah wondered.

"Knowledge," said Jordan. "Whoever is inside his mind would be able to know every plan the Yeerks have, every secret, every asset. It would be our greatest intelligence victory of all time."

{Quite suiting, considering the capture of Visser Three's host body was the greatest intelligence victory of the Yeerks,} I said.

"I still think it would be better to just kill him," said Rachel. "Maybe infest him first, to find out what he knows, but just kill him after that. How does leaving him alive, even as a nothlit, benefit us?"

"I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here," said Marco. "We don't even know if this plan will work."

"Well, we could find out for sure easily enough," Jordan said with an apologetic look at me.

I knew what she was suggesting before she even said it.

I had been made a controller before, but only for a very short time. The Yeerk Aftran had gone inside my head to locate an infected organ, before leaving. The entire infestation had lasted less than five minutes.

I had struggled to put the experience behind me. I knew without a doubt that Aftran had saved my life.

But still, there is something very wrong with coming to and realizing your arms and legs, your tail, your eyes, your voice, your very core essence, no longer belong to you.

I had had many nightmares about the experience.

{Are you suggesting two of us morph Yeerk and fight for control over Ax?} Tobias demanded.

"Well, yes," Jordan admitted. "But it would be for the sake of the mission. And only if Ax is okay with it."

"Ax, what do you think of this plan?" Prince Jake asked gently.

{A moment to consider, please,} I said.

"Of course," said Prince Jake.

I closed all four of my eyes.

My first response that popped into my head was simple: 'Absolutely not!'

But even despite my bias against the idea, there was a part of me that realized how important this plan could be.

Getting rid of the abomination.

The first and only Andalite controller.

How many lives would be saved by denying the Yeerks all the morphs in Visser Three's arsenal?

Even just denying the Yeerks the Andalite body, would be a massive victory for all people who fought the Yeerks.

Could I really let my personal bias get in the way of such a plan?

Could I really let a Yeerk into my head?

It means a great deal to every Andalite, to sacrifice something we hold dear in the name of freedom.

I knew that Jordan's plan, purely from a tactical perspective, was brilliant.

Perhaps one of the best plans we're ever had.

But still, there was a very small part of me, some tiny, but not totally irrelevant, voice deep in the furthest reaches of my mind, that was jealous.

Jealous that the human child, who had been aware of the existence of aliens for less than a week, had come up with such a plan.

Jealous that the plan was so good.

Jealous that I had not come up with the plan myself in over two years of fighting the Yeerks.

Jealous that the humans could morph better than me.

But still, overall I recognized the brilliance of the plan.

A Yeerk! In my head!

It was worth it.

I knew, deep down, I had to set aside my biases and do the right thing.

I also knew, whichever one of my human friends morphed Yeerk and infested me, would see the memory of this internal conversation.

This back and forth debate that deep down, I already knew the answer to.

{Welcome to the inside of my head,} I told the future of whichever of my human friends was to read this memory. {Don't be embarrassed, don't be ashamed. We will beat the Yeerks, no matter what we have to do.}

I opened my eyes.

{I'll do it.} I said.

"Okay," Prince Jake said. That was it. Just, 'okay'.

"Which ones of us would you feel comfortable going inside your head, Ax?" Cassie asked gently.

Again, I had to force down my unconscious bias. I wanted to say, 'Tobias, Prince Jake. Even Marco, as he had a respectable ability to think logically'

But logic had to prevail.

{Cassie should be the one to do it, as she has the most experience morphing a Yeerk.} I said.

"Well, I've only done it once," she admitted.

"That's once more than the rest of us," said Hannah.

"Remember, there have to be at least two of us in Yeerk morph to test this plan," Rachel reminded us.

"Ax, who else would you allow inside your head?" Prince Jake asked.

{Any of you,} I spread my hands around to include all 7 of my human friends. I didn't want anybody to think I don't trust them. But, whoever was inside my head would see this very memory.

"Okay, well at least one of us needs to acquire a Yeerk morph," Prince Jake said. "Any volunteers?"

"I think all of us should acquire a Yeerk morph," said Jordan. "It's better to have one and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

"Nuh-uh," said Rachel. "I'm not morphing a Yeerk. The thought of it just creeps me out."

"Jordan has a good point, though," said Marco. "Who knows when a Yeerk morph might be useful? I'd rather have it just in case, even if I never use it."

"When is a Yeerk morph ever going to be useful?" Rachel demanded.

"I don't know, maybe never," Marco responded. "But who knows? Just acquire the damn thing just in case. If you never use it, you never use it."

"Okay, let's stop arguing," said Prince Jake. "I'm not going to force anyone to acquire a Yeerk. Everyone who wants in is in, everyone who doesn't want in can sit this one out."

"I'm not going to sit anything out," Rachel said. I noticed she took a quick glance at Cassie as she said that. "I'll acquire the Yeerk. But I'm not going to infest anyone."

"I think it's fair that anyone who infests someone else also gets infested by that person," said Jordan. "For example, if Cassie infests Ax, Ax also infests Cassie."

{Yes, that seems fair,} I nodded.

"All right, decision time," said Prince Jake. "Acquire a Yeerk, yes or no?"

He pointed at each person in our group, one at a time.

{Yes,} I said.

"Yes, but I don't want to infest anyone," said Rachel.

"Yes," Marco.

"Yes," Jordan.

"Yes, but I also don't want to infest anyone," said Hannah.

Jake skipped Cassie as she already possessed a Yeerk morph.

{Yes, but again I don't want to infest anyone,} said Tobias.

"Okay, I say yes too," said Prince Jake. He clapped his hands and it was business once again. "Cassie, talk to Mr. Tidwell and Illum. Figure out a time when we can acquire Illum. When we go, Cassie will fly as overhead lookout, as she already has the morph. We'll communicate over the phone, the code name for this plan will be, 'catching fireflies'. We will meet at…," he paused to consider. "Marco's house, as he lives the closest to Mr. Tidwell. Any questions?"

Nobody had any.

"All right, sweet. See you guys later."