Early the next morning, with the sun barely over the horizon, Tobias and I flew out to the gas station to meet up with the other Animorphs. There were a few cedar trees behind the main building that offered concealment while I morphed to Human again. Rachel was waiting with a spare change of clothes for me.

"The others are inside," she said, "Picking up a few things for the trip."

They emerged a few minutes later, laden with a shrink-wrapped case of transparent plastic bottles, two plastic bags, and a gasoline can. Rachel and I walked over to join them, and Marco led the way over to the marina. On the other side of a metal gate (which he unlocked with a brass key), a short path led down to the water's edge. Not that I could see much of the water - there were so many boats tied up along the piers that it was hard to see anything else.

Suddenly, Marco stopped.

"Seriously, I must have gone completely crazy to think this was a good plan. But it's kind of late to try something else. And I didn't even remember anything about the boat being here until yesterday after school. Anyway, this is it: the Madra."

The boat was about fifteen feet long, with a single tall mast, and a large fabric covering that concealed most of the deck, which Jake and Marco carefully pulled back and rolled up. The forward half of the boat had a fixed roof, while the rear half was completely exposed.

"Madre?" Rachel inquired, "Your mom named it 'Mother'?"

"No, not 'Madre'. Mah-drah. Two 'A's. She never told anyone what it was supposed to mean. Wait on the dock for a bit, I just need to check a few things."

With the cover out of the way, Marco climbed into the boat and began to examine it. I don't know what he was looking for, but eventually he seemed to be satisfied.

"Hm. Looks like it's in good shape. Especially for having been just sitting here for two years. All right, come on in. Jake, hand me that gas can."

As the rest of us climbed in and took our seats, and Tobias landed on the cabin roof, Marco used the gas can to fill the boat's fuel tank.

"All right, I can definitely sail us out to that island we stopped at last time, and from there we just keep heading northwest for a while. Cassie? Toby? You guys were the ones who had some kind of intuition about which way to go, so eventually I'm going to need one of you to get in the water and morph dolphin to make sure we're still on the right track. For now, everybody put on a lifejacket."

He opened up a storage compartment and removed several bulky, orange objects. I watched the others put theirs on first before trying to figure out mine. It was quite simple - an oversized collar that went around the back of the neck, two large pads that covered the torso, and a long string that went around my back to hold everything in place.

"This is not comfortable," I complained, "And it does not look like a jacket. What is the purpose of this?"

"It floats," Cassie said, "If you fall out of the boat, it'll keep your head above the water."

"It might save your life," Marco added, "But let's hope we don't need to find out for sure."

The water was smooth and still as Marco piloted us away from the dock. But it didn't last long. The marina was surrounded by a long, thin pile of rocks with a narrow gap to allow boats to move out into the open sea. As we passed through the gap, the water suddenly became rough, and the boat began bouncing up and down. Within a few minutes, I was beginning to feel seasick. I lay down on the floor, hoping that would alleviate my discomfort. It did not.

"Is there anyone nearby who can see into this boat?" I asked.

(There's another small boat about 600 yards behind us,) Tobias answered, (And another five within a mile of us. I don't think any of them are paying attention to us right now. Why?)

"Because I am beginning to feel unwell, and I think I should demorph now before I lose my ability to keep track of time."

(I guess now is as good a time as any, then. I don't see anyone looking this way with binoculars or anything.)

Unfortunately, demorphing did not help. If anything, the seasickness became worse - and on top of that, there was less space I could occupy. After a few uncomfortable minutes, I decided to morph again. The seasickness abated somewhat, only to be replaced with a sense of disappointment. Ever since I had gained this power, it seemed that I had been spending less and less time in my own body. I was glad that I could morph - it was the most effective tool I had to use against the Yeerks, after all. Attempting to rescue this stranded Andalite wouldn't even be possible without it. But between the long hours I spent in hawk morph on a daily basis to spy on the Yeerks, and the fact that I had frequently needed to morph Human simply to be able to interact with my fellow Animorphs, I had been in one morph or another for most of the time I'd been awake over the past week.

The first hour of the trip was uneventful. Marco shut off the engine and raised the sail. Cassie and Rachel sang along with the radio. Jake, Lee, and Tobias got into an argument about whether babbelonfive or dee-ess-nine was the better TV show. Eventually, they agreed that the aliens from both shows were mostly disappointing and unimaginative compared to the real aliens they had encountered. Something about this gave Rachel an idea.

"Hey, Toby," she suggested, "Maybe someday you could be on one of those shows. I bet the studios would love to have an actual alien for a sci-fi series. You know, after the war."

"After? You have actually spent time contemplating this?"

"Yeah," Marco said, "If we win, and everyone finds out what we've done, we would be the absolute biggest celebrities ever.

"And, you know, we're kids," Cassie said, "It's normal to spend time thinking about what life will be like when we're adults. Like, I want to be a veterinarian like my parents."

"My dream is to work for Microsoft and help develop the next operating system," Lee said. "I guess you've never thought about life after the war, then?"

"I never dared to hope that the Yeerks would be defeated within my lifetime," I answered. "I was bred to be a living weapon for the Yeerks. And the war has already gone on longer than any of us have been alive."

"How long, exactly?" Jake asked.

"My peoples' homeworld was the first to be conquered by the Yeerks, and that was approximately thirty Earth years ago."

(Thirty years?) Tobias exclaimed, (That long? This has been going on since our parents were little kids? Since before my grandfather went to fight in Vietnam? Cripes...)

"Yes. Earth is still a very new battlefront - the first Yeerk scouts only arrived six years ago."

Nobody spoke for the next half-hour. I didn't completely understand their facial expressions, but clearly my revelation about the war had disturbed them.

Eventually, the silence was broken as we saw a shape appear on the horizon.

"There's another ship out there," Marco said, "Big one. I'll try and steer clear of it."

Tobias turned his head to look.

(I can just make out the name on that one. 'Dapsen Venture'.)

I sat upright, forgetting my seasickness for a moment.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

(Toby, you've got the same hawk morph as me. You know how good these eyes are. If I say that ship is called the Dapsen Venture, then it's called the Dapsen Venture.)

"That is the ship operated by the Esplin Foundation," I said.

"How are you so sure?" Cassie asked.

"Because 'Dapsen' is a Yeerk word."

I explained what the word meant.

"Oh, EWW!" Marco exclaimed.

"So... uh, I guess the Yeerks have their own swear words, then?" Rachel asked.

I nodded my head.

"Guess I shouldn't be too surprised about that. I think I could have done without the translation, though."

"This is not good," Jake said, "We're already out into the area we searched the other day. If they're searching out this way now, we probably don't have much time before they find the Andalite."

"They're heading south, though," Marco said, "That's the wrong direction."

"Yeah, but who's to say they won't turn around later?" Jake said, "We're not sure exactly how far out that Andalite is, or what kind of equipment the Yeerks have on that ship."

"I guess so..." Marco agreed.

We sailed on until the Yeerk ship was such a faint blur on the horizon that even Tobias had trouble seeing it.

"All right, time to have somebody check our course. Cassie? Toby? I need one of you to morph dolphin and see if you're still getting that weird psychic radar pointing the way forward."

Cassie promptly volunteered, and after removing her life jacket and outer clothing, jumped into the water. Soon, a Dolphin leapt out of the water in front of the boat.

(It's this way,) she said, (Just follow me!)

Periodically leaping out of the water, she guided Marco for almost an hour before stopping.

(It's close,) she said, (I think we can get the rest of the way with our dolphin morphs.)

(Are you sure?) Marco asked, (I want to get this boat as close as possible to where we're going.)

(The 'weird psychic radar' says yes. Maybe we're not right on top of it, but we're close enough.)

Marco tied down the sail, then crawled up to the front of the ship, grabbed a large metal object attached to a chain, and threw it into the water.

"You know, it's a funny thing," he said, "Two days ago, I didn't have any memory about us still having the boat. I haven't thought about where it is for almost two years. But right when we needed a way to get out here, I just somehow knew it would be right there. Let's just hope it's still where I parked it after we find that Andalite."

(I hope so, too,) Tobias said, (I'd rather not try to fly back home from all the way out here. Hey, Toby? Don't forget to ask that Andalite about Elfangor's son.)

While I demorphed, the others removed their lifejackets and outer clothing, then jumped into the water. I stood up, looked into the dark, gray water, felt my hearts stop beating... This entire scenario was completely insane. Here I was, the only free Hork-Bajir, a creature who belonged among the trees, about to jump off of a boat into the middle of the ocean, far out of sight of land, with the intention of going to the bottom - and potentially staying down there for an extended period of time. I could feel a cold spike of panic clawing at my brain.

(Come on in, Toby. We'll hold you up while you morph.)

I am a Seer, I reminded myself. I was stronger than the panic. Stronger than my fears. I needed to be. If I let myself be defeated by something as passive as water, then there was no hope of ever defeating the Yeerks. Steeling my nerves, I jumped into the water.