Human morph again. The third time in as many days. It had happened more frequently than I would have preferred. Not that I hated this morph - just the fact that it was necessary. I had spent my whole life waiting to be free, to have control over my own body, to go where I pleased and do what I wished. But now that I was free, the only viable way to interact with the world around me was to discard my own body and borrow another's likeness. And yet... being this close to the water's edge, I actually preferred to be in morph. It was a buffer, a psychological trick I could use to convince myself that it wasn't my body walking across the beach.

Only Jake, Marco, Lee, and Tobias had come along with us. Rachel and Cassie had other obligations to attend to - the mundane demands of their everyday lives. Besides, five of us were sufficient to search for additional Andalite debris. Especially with Tobias's superior eyesight. As we walked across the sand, Marco tried to discern why we had been able to hear the Andalite's message.

"No. I don't know why I heard it before you did," I said, answering the third iteration of the same question.

"Do you think it could be a geographic effect?" Lee suggested, "You and Tobias pretty much live in Cassie's back yard, and you're the three who had the dream."

"But what about Cassie's farm would turn it into a receiving dish for psychic phone calls?" Marco said, "I have a different idea: I think it might be related to morphing. See, if you're an Andalite and you need to make a distress call, who are you going to be trying to reach?"

"Another Andalite, obviously," I said.

"Exactly! Only Andalites are supposed to be able to morph, so why not send a message that only someone who's morph-capable can hear? None of us are Andalites, but consider this: Tobias is permanently in morph. Cassie is the best at morphing, and she likes animals a lot more than people, so it's like she's halfway into morph to begin with. And you..." he pointed at me. "You're a Seer, right? The once-in-a-century super genius. Maybe your brain is wired the right way to pick those messages up. And you were in morph when that last message came through." That was as good of an explanation as I was likely to get, short of meeting the Andalite who'd been calling to us.

The Andalite. Somewhere out there, under the waves. Up to this point, I had avoided looking directly at the water. But I hadn't come here just to let it haunt my peripheral vision. I had to confront it, to put my fear aside. Slowly, I turned to face the ocean. Out ahead of me was the single largest and unbroken expanse of water on this world - one third of Earth's entire surface. Fortunately, I was not quite aware of that particular detail at the time.

I took a single, cautious step into the surf. The water surged forward for a moment, then rolled back, never rising higher than my ankles. Two more steps. Far enough out for the diminishing wavetops to brush up against my shins. I could feel the sand beneath my feet shift, give way, and in a moment my toes were buried. But a slight effort was all that was required to pull loose. As my heart raced, I forced myself to take another step forward-

(Heads-up. We've got Yeerk-sign,) Tobias said.

"Yeerk-sign?" I inquired.

"He's read 'Dune' too many times," Lee groaned.

(Five Controllers, about 50 yards away and getting closer.)

"You sure they're Controllers?" Jake asked.

(Well, I heard them talking about Visser Three and Kandrona rays, so yes.)

I could see them now, walking around the edge of a sand dune.

"Let's bail," Marco said, as he prepared to run.

I grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Wait. If you run, you'll just attract their attention."

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Marco complained as he tried to pull loose.

"Stay calm," I instructed, " Keep walking north for one minute, then slowly make your way off the beach. I will deal with the Controllers."

Maybe I did not know how to convincingly behave like a normal Human, but I did know how to behave like someone controlled by a Yeerk.

Swiftly and calmly, I marched up to the Yeerk search party. "Gilspar 343 reporting in," I said, "My team has searched the entire northern end of this beach, and have found no additional debris from the Dome Ship."

"Excellent work," the leader of the search party said, "If you do find anything, please just dispose of it quietly and don't report it. Visser Three is in a bad enough mood as it is."

"Is he?"

The Controller grimaced.

"He threw one of his own men out an airlock less than two hours ago for breaking his concentration."

Less than two hours... that was the timeframe for when the Andalite's second message had incapacitated me. And the Visser's host body was an Andalite, wasn't it?

"I will keep that in mind," I said.

"Good. And while you're out there, keep an eye out for any animals behaving oddly. Those Andalite bandits could be spying on us as we speak."

"If my team sees anything out of the ordinary, we'll report it immediately," I said, then turned around and began walking back over to where Jake, Lee, and Marco were doing their best to look like a squad of Controllers investigating the sand dunes.

(They're going away now,) Tobias said, (But we should probably leave now in case they come back.)

Author's Note: I always figured the real reason Tobias was able to hear Ax's distress call was not because of being trapped in morph, but because his father was an Andalite (and not only that, but it's an immediate relative who's making the call). Toby Hamee is a descendant of Aldrea, so logically they should also be able to hear that distress call (for that matter, so should Jara Hamee).