The Forgotten Read online

  - a long, retractable, hollow tube. Flies eat with the proboscis. They spit saliva all over the food, wait till it gets mushy, then suck it up. It isn't pretty. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was the eyes. I still had semi human vision when I saw Cassie, lying in the dirt beside me, suddenly grow fly eyes. They popped out of her human eyes. Popped out, huge and devoid of soul. Big, black balloons that sort of inflated out of her own eye sockets. That's a sight that will make you heave up your lunch. My own vision went dark then. I was blind for a couple of seconds, then yow! The fly eyes turned on, and the whole world was different. How can I explain what it's like to look through compound eyes? It's like you're watching a thousand tiny TV sets all at once. A thousand tiny TV sets, all clustered together. And each set has really weird color. Like someone twisted all the color knobs. Yellow is purple, green is red, blue is black. It's insane. Like some disturbed kid got loose with a Crayola box and colored in everything with different colors. But what's awful is the way the eyes look in all directions at once. I could see the tube, that was now my mouth, sticking out in front of me. I could see my own twig legs. I could see the stiff hairs poking out of my armored body. Still, there is one good thing about being a fly -- if you can get past the screaming horror of it. Part of what I could see was the pair of gossamer wings that sprouted from what should have been my back. Flies can fly. Man, can they fly. less-than Everyone okay8greater-than I asked. less-than Aside from the fact I make myself sick? Yeseagreater-than Marco said. Then . . . PAH-LOOOSH! An explosion on the ground ahead of me. The dirt just seemed to blow up. Like a mortar explosion. less-than What the . . disgreater-than Rachel yelped. PAH-LOOOSH! less-than lt's starting to rain, guyseagreater-than Tobias informed us calmly. The explosions of mortar shells were just big, fat raindrops hitting the dirt. less-than Jeez! I thought someone was trying to kill ueagreater-than Cassie said. less-than Let's get on with theagreater-than I said. I fired the springs in my legs and turned on my wings. I was airborne instantly. It's not like being a bird. A bird has to really work at flying. For a fly, it's automatic. Instantaneous. You think let's fly and a split second later you're zooming crazily through the air. Across the weird mass of tiny TV sets I could see the others rise up from the ground. They flew like pigs. Like big fat balls with these tiny little wings that looked like they couldn't lift a speck of dust. But, like I said before, flies can fly. I zoomed wildly upward. Like a wallowing rocket! less-than Hah-Hah! Oh, manffgreater-than Rachel exulted. less-than l'd forgotten how great this wasffgreater-than less-than Disgusting, but oh yeah, these things can hauleagreater-than Marco agreed. less-than Tobias, you only think you can fly. You haven't flown till you've flown Maggot Airways. greater-than less-than Maybe seagreater-than Tobias said calmly. less-than And, not to burst your balloon, but you guys are all heading the wrong way. greater-than less-than We are8greater-than less-than Yes. You're heading toward a Dumpstereagreater-than Tobias said with a laugh. less-than Turn left. Turn left and get some altitude. Then you should be able to see the car lights on the road. greater-than I would have smiled if I'd had a mouth. The fly brain had been easy to control because we'd already done this morph before. But the fly's in- stincts still had some input. See, the fly smelled rotting food in the Dumpster and it knew right where it wanted to go. We followed Tobias's directions. I rocketed higher, and then . . . less-than Whoa! Whoa! What is that? Are those cars8greater-than Cassie demanded. less-than These eyes are seeing ultraviolet lighteagreater-than Ax commented. less-than They're seeing something, that's for sureeagreater-than I agreed. The cars racing past were not cars so much as they were glowing, red-and-purple meteors. The road was a blur of movement, all of it strange and disturbing to the fly brain. less-than Stay above the carseagreater-than Tobias warned. less-than Why8greater-than Ax asked. less-than A little something we call windshieldseagreater-than To bias said dryly. less-than A windshield moving sixty miles an hour is death to bugs. greater-than less-than Good pointeagreater-than I agreed. less-than Going higher. greater-than I powered my wings and bobbed and weaved and rolled higher and higher. But the fly inside my head didn't like it. He lived close to the ground. The ground was where you found food. And food was all the fly brain cared about. less-than lt's starting to rain hardereagreater-than Tobias said. I began to notice more drops. They were sparkling meteorites, each three times my own size. They plummeted around me. But in my fly scale of things they were fairly far apart. Then . . . more rain. Closer together. Falling thick and fast all around me. WHAM! less-than Ahhhhffgreater-than I was slammed. I tumbled through the air, covered in something like heavy glue. Water! Just water, but sticky as glue to my fly body. My wings shook off the water and I found myself flying upside down. I spun around and ad vanced again. less-than 0h, maneagreater-than I complained. less-than This is a whole new reason not to like rainffgreater-than less-than l'm going aheadeagreater-than Tobias said tensely. less-than Raining too hard. I gotta land. greater-than WHAM! A glancing blow from a raindrop the size of a truck. It spun me around in the air. less-than Ahhhhhhh! Manffgreater-than less-than Jake! Are you okay8ffgreater-than Cassie cried. Once again, those amazing fly wings turned me around and kept me in the air. But suddenly I realized I was in a sea of brilliant lights. Purple! Red! Green! Green? Motion! Every hair on my nasty fly body felt it. Every screen in my fly eyes sensed it. Something moving. Fast! Big! A monstrous wall came at me with impossible speed! It was a mountain! Huge. Tall. Sloped. A mountain moving sixty miles an hour right at me, glowing in a rainbow of eerie colors! A windshield! less-than Uh-oheagreater-than I said. less-than TAAAAAHHHHFFGREATER-THAN I screamed in thought- speak as the deadly windshield blew toward me. FLASH! The jungle! Sudden movement in the deep bush. A cocked arm.

  A human arm belonging to a kid! A spear flew! I saw it coming for me. Saw the bamboo point, blackened with deadly poison. One scratch and I was dead. I . FLASH! Spear! No, windshield

  . My wings beat the air at hundreds of strokes per second. I was fast, but not fast enough. A downdraft! A vicious wind that sucked me toward the windshield. I fought it, then ... in a split second, the wind became a magic carpet. The power of my wings, the slipstream of wind ... I missed the top of the windshield by a millimete r! I could actually see color-distorted human faces inside the car. I saw their glowing eyes as I flew past and over and seriously hauled my little fly butt up and up and up. less-than Jake? You still with us, Jake8greater-than Rachel asked. less-than 0h, yeaheagreater-than I said. less-than Barely. But I'm here. You know, they really need to lower the speed limit. Cars shouldn't go more than maybe ten miles per hour. greater-than We passed the road and left the eerie stream of fast lights behind us. We all got slammed by more raindrops, but personally, I was past caring about that. Then, even through the cleansing rain, I be gan to smell the grocery store. The fly sensed food. We didn't need Tobias to guide us the rest of the way. Our fly bodies were eager to head for the smell of rotting garbage. I was still reeling from the twin sensations of being attacked by a windshield and a spear. The jungle visions were so real. They were so ab solutely real. I mean, I felt every single thing while I was in them. I felt heat and humidity on my skin, I felt bugs buzzing my face, I felt . . . But I didn't have time for that now. The Safeway was beyond our ability to see. I mean, it was just so big it had no meaning to our fly eyes. What had meaning to the fly was that there was food up ahead. We zipped in under the plastic sheeting that covered the damaged wall. Once inside the store, everything was very bright. I saw brilliant lights that seemed to be spewing a whole rainbow of unusual colors. There were people walking around below us. There was machinery moving. And there was a mound, a mountain of food all shoveled into one corner. The Controllers had simply used earthmovers to shove all the shelves, the freezers, the refrigerators, the loose cans, the glass meat display' case, the donuts and cupcakes from the bakery area, the flowers, the cooked chicken and beans . . . everything that had been in the store, all into one corner. less-than You knoweagreater-than Marco said, less-tha
n if you threw in some dog poop, this would be fly heaven. greater-than less-than We are not aloneeagreater-than Ax pointed out. less-than There seem to be many others of this species here.greater-than He was right. We had chosen the right morph. There had to be ten thousand flies in that store. I could hear them and smell them and even see them as they flew past. less-than Well, no one is going to notice us, that's for sureeagreater-than Cassie said. less-than We could dive right in. greater-than less-than Excuse me? Hello? We're not here to eat garbage and make maggotseagreater-than I said. less-than We are in and out, so let's pay attention. What's going on here8greater-than less-than Well . . . there's that big thing in the middle of the roomeagreater-than Cassie said. less-than That's what all the Controllers are clustered around. greater-than less-than Let's get closereagreater-than I suggested. We zipped in our crazy fly way toward the middle of the store. There was a huge object there. As big as a small house, I would have guessed. But it's hard to tell how big something is when you're less than a quarter-inch long. less-than Wait ... I think I hear Chapman's voiceeagreater-than Cassie said. less-than like don't know how you can make sense out of all this noiseeagreater-than Rachel grumbled. less-than l've done the fly morph more than you heagreater-than Cassie said. less-than Remember, I was in fly morph when I spied on Chapman at the mall. There he is! I'm going closer. greater-than I couldn't see where Cassie was going or where she landed. One fly looks pretty much like the next. And the store was like a fly airport. Flies were zipping all around. less-than Cassie? Where are y8greater-than less-than l'm close to Chapmaneagreater-than she said. less-than 0n his head, actually. On the bald spot. greater-than less-than Get off of there! He could swat yffgreater-than less-than Wait... I'm listening . . disgreater-than I buzzed around aimlessly, afraid for Cassie, and trying to figure out what on Earth the big ... thing. . . was. less-than Whoaffgreater-than Cassie said. less-than Whoa! Whoaffgreater-than less-than What? What? What8greater-than I asked. less-than Whoaffgreater-than less-than What whoa8ffgreater-than I practically yelled in frustration. less-than What's going on8ffgreater-than less-than lt's a Bug fightereagreater-than Cassie said. less-than lt's something new. An experimental Bug fighter. Faster, more weapons ... a new, prototype Bug fighter. greater-than Bug fighters are the small, basic Yeerk spacecraft. They look like a streamlined cockroach with two long, serrated spears pointing forward. Those are the Dracon beams. less-than What's it doing here? In a Safeway8greater-than Marco asked. less-than lt crashed. Duheagreater-than Rachel said. less-than like don't knoweagreater-than Cassie said. less-than Chapman isn't talking about how it got here. He's just telling this other Controller it has to be out of here in three hours or Visser Three is going to be madder than he already is. The guy says it's almost ready to go, he just needs to run some tests. Three hours will be no problem. Chapman says, "Good, because if it's three hours and one minute, I'll personally feed you to Visser Three for a snack."greater-than less-than Three hours8greater-than Tobias said. I was surprised to hear his thought-speak voice. less-than Tobias! I thought you went for cover. greater-than less-than The rain stoppedeagreater-than he said. less-than And I can see down into the store. They've knocked a hole in the roof so the security guys up on the roof can get down into the store quickly. There's a ladder. I'm flying over. greater-than less-than What do you see up there8greater-than less-than A bunch of nervous human-Controllers with machine guns. greater-than less-than What should we d8greater-than Rachel wondered. less-than ln three hours they could fly this thing out of here.greater-than less-than lf only we could get some TV newspeople hereeagreater-than Cassie mused. less-than lf people could see this thing, and have proof. . disgreater-than less-than The Yeerks have too many people at the lo cal TV stations and newspaperseagreater-than I pointed out. less-than You know what we could do, though8greater-than Rachel began. less-than Uh-oh, a suggestion from Racheleagreater-than Marco groaned. less-than What we could do is steal this thing. greater-than less-than Steal it and do what with x8greater-than Tobias wondered. I laughed. less-than We could always steal it and fly it to Washington and land it on the White House lawn. Let the Yeerks try and cover that up. greater-than I meant it as a joke. Really. A joke. less-than Heyeagreater-than Rachel said. less-than That could work. greater-than less-than Ax? Can you fly that thing8greater-than Tobias asked. less-than like am an Andaliteeagreater-than Ax said. less-than That's just a Yeerk fighter, even if it is experimental. No second-rate Yeerk technology is too sophisticated for me. greater-than less-than But. . . we'd have to do this like right noweagreater-than Cassie pointed out. less-than Yepeagreater-than Rachel said. less-than Right now. Jake8greater-than less-than There can't be many people inside the Bug fightereagreater-than Ax pointed out. less-than They usually only have a crew of two. At most there would be four or five technicians inside, Prince Jake. greater-than less-than Yeah, well, four or five people versus five houseflies is not good odds for usr greater-than I said. It was moments like this that I resented. Moments when I tended to make the decisions. And when I would carry the responsibility. less-than Still . . disgreater-than less-than like hear the gears in Jake's little brain grinding awayeagreater-than Marco joked. less-than Stilleagreater-than I said. less-than There may be a way. greater-than less-than O kay, fellow flies, into the Bug fighter. greater-than We zoomed crazily around the outside of the huge-seeming Bug fighter till we spotted a door. Inside we saw the blurry, strangely colored shapes of humans. Actually, human-Controllers. We buzzed right on inside. less-than like count five peagreater-than Rachel said. less-than Just what we expectedeagreater-than I said. I was trying to sound confident, to help everyone else stay calm. But I was tense. I was on edge. This was a spur-of-the-moment plan thought up by a guy who was having jungle hallucinations. It was a desperate, possibly stupid plan. I didn't know for sure. It could easily end with Tobias dead. Maybe the rest of us as well. But Tobias was thrilled to be playing a major role. less-than Tobias? You ready8greater-than less-than Anytime you say, Jake. greater-than less-than 0nce around the room, that's xeagreater-than I warned him. less-than You're the bosseagreater-than Tobias said. less-than 0kay. Nowffgreater-than Outside, above the grocery store, Tobias had been gaining altitude. Which was extremely difficult in the cool night air. Hawks are not night birds. But Tobias flapped his way up and up, always keeping sight of the bright hole in the grocery store roof. less-than Here I comeffgreater-than Tobias yelled. He plunged at maximum speed, straight for the hole in the roof. less-than l'm insideffgreater-than I could tell, because right away there was shouting. Yelling. Orders being barked out. Then . . . BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Gunfire! They were shooting at him! less-than These guys couldn't hit... yikes! That was closeffgreater-than The plan called for Tobias to provide a distraction. The Yeerks knew we used bird morphs. And they would know that a hawk did n ot belong flying around inside a store. They would put two and two together. They would know Tobias was not a real hawk. BLAM! BLAM! B LA MB LA MB LA MB LAM! Someone was firing a machine gun. Even with my vague fly hearing I could hear the air shaking with the noise. Hundreds of rounds were being fired inside that store! A human voice yelled something like, "Get out here and help! It's an Andalite bandit in morph!" That's what the Yeerks think we are: An- dalites. The technicians inside the Bug fighter went piling out the exit, glad of the chance to take shots at an Andalite "bandit." less-than That's enough, Tobias! Bail out! Bail out of hereffgreater-than I yelled. less-than Ax! Morph! Everyone morph! Now! Now! Nowffgreater-than BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM! less-than Can't get ouffgreater-than Tobias cried. less-than The guys on the roof are shooting down through the holeffgreater-than Of course! Why hadn't I realized that? Of course they would block Tobias's escape. I was still mostly fly, but morph ing as fast as I could. I could feel myself getting bigger. I could see my fly wings shriveling away. Tobias couldn't escape. They'd get him. Sooner or later, no matter how fast he flew,

  they'd get him. An answer... an answer... I needed an answer. I needed to - less-than Tobias! Tobias! This wayeagreater-than I yelled
. less-than lnside the Bugfighterffgreater-than less-than No, that will draw them after -- YAH! Whoa! That one clipped my tail feathersffgreater-than less-than Come insideffgreater-than I yelled. less-than Whatever you saygggreater-than Tobias said. My human eyes were just reemerging as Tobias blew in through the door of the Bug fighter. I looked left. A horrifying creature with a small scorpion tail and fly legs and a semi humanoid face with a gigantic proboscis was trying to work the controls of the ship with clumsy fly stick legs. It was Ax, halfway through morphing. Suddenly, the door shut. Or in this case, the bulkhead simply dimpled and closed up again, eliminating the door. "They're in the Bug fighter!" I heard Chapman howl in rage. "They're in the Bug fighter! Get them!" I was mostly human now, but still at that stage where I wouldn't have wanted to see myself in a mirror. The rest were coming out of morph, too. Cassie was fastest, as usual. She was already checking Tobias for wounds. Ax was almost fully Andalite once more. "Ax, get us outta here!" I said, as my human mouth returned. less-than Yes, Prince Jake. greater-than I didn't waste time telling him not to call me "Prince." less-than These are unusual controlseagreater-than Ax admitted. BAPFFBAPFFBAPFFBAPFFBAP! Bullets rattled against the Bug fighter's outer skin. Then I heard the grinding sounds of the engine. Through the cockpit window, I saw the Con trollers turning big earthmovers toward us. "They're going to ram us!" Marco warned. "Ax?" I asked tersely. less-than like think I ... I don't know. Prince Jake, I can try but it may not work. greater-than "Just do it!" I yelled. There was a whirring noise. Lights came on all over the cockpit. A sound like a low siren. less-than like found the "on" switcheagreater-than Ax said. "Great," Marco said. "Now find the get-us- the-heck-outta-here switch!" I felt the ship lift up off the Safeway floor. It rose just a foot and sort of wallowed slightly, side to side. The heavy equipment was still coming for us. Ax turned the fighter, pointing it toward the missing wall. less-than ls that plastic sheeting very strong8greater-than Ax asked. "Let's find out," I said. Then . . . WHOOOOOOOSH! It was like getting kicked in the chest. We all tumbled backward -- all but Ax, who has four legs. The acceleration was incredible. The Bug fighter rocketed forward. We blew through the plastic sheeting. We blew across the parking lot. We arched up toward the dark night sky. "We did it!" Rachel yelled. less-than Sorry about the acceleration caret Ax said. less-than like forget that humans fall over easily. greater-than "Just get us out of here, Ax," Marco said. "We're going to Washington, D.c., to meet the President." It was crowded inside the Bug fighter. Especially because Ax takes up a lot of room. But we huddled together and looked over Ax's shoulders as he worked the controls. And we looked past Ax, out through the transparent panels at the front of the Bug fighter. less-than This ship is very difficult to handleeagreater-than Ax said. less-than The design is strange. Some controls are psychotronic. But others require physical handling. Unfortunately, those controls are designed for Taxxons. They have more hands than like. greater-than "Can we do anything to help?" I asked. less-than Someone should take weapons stationeagreater-than Ax said. "Cool," Marco said. He leaped forward, but I was closer. I slipped into the area beside Ax. Ax's pilot "seat" wasn't a seat at all, of course. Taxxons are like huge centipedes, so they can't really sit. Which was good, because Ax doesn't sit, either. But the weapons station was built for Hork-Bajir. Hork-Bajir are seven feet tall and have thick, spiky tails, but they do sit. "No way you should handle the weapons," Marco said, leaning over my shoulder. "I kick your butt in video games." "Yeah, right," I said. "In some alternate uni verse, maybe." "Grab the joystick," Marco suggested. As strange as it seems, there actually was a joystick. It was for much bigger hands than mine, and the two buttons on it were clumsy to reach. But it was a joystick. "Maybe I should test the weapons," I said to Ax. less-than Yeseagreater-than he said tersely, distracted. We were rising up through the atmosphere. We were above the clouds already. I could see brief flashes of the lights of the city down below, but mostly it was clouds and more clouds. But we weren't rising as fast as I would have expected. Ax was definitely working to control the ship. I looked ahead, saw nothing in the way, and pressed one of the buttons on the joystick. Nothing. Ax glanced over. less-than That was the safety. The Dracon beam should be armed now. See the screen before you? The red circle is how you aim. Use a combination of moving the joystick, but also use your mind. greater-than Marco put his hand on my shoulder. "Phasers on full power!" he said in a Captain Picard English accent. "Arm photon torpedoes! If the Borg want a fight, we'll give them one! Make it so!" I moved the joystick and watched the target circle track across the screen. It still showed nothing but starry sky. That should be safe enough. I squeezed the second button. TSEWWWW! TSEWWWW! Twin red beams of light fired forward, converging too far away for me to see. "Yes! Most splendid!" Marco yelled. "Okay, that was cool," I admitted, trying not to cackle like an idiot with his first video game. "Boys with their toys," Cassie teased gently. less-than Prince Jake8greater-than Ax said. less-than like must apologizes "Why?" less-than like did not at first realize: This Bug fighter's cloaking field is not working. greater-than It took a few seconds for me to track on that. "You mean . . . people can see us?" less-than The clouds will hide us from people on the groundeagreater-than Ax said. less-than But human radar will observe us. In fact, they have already observed us. greater-than "Uh-oh. Maybe we better get higher," I suggested. less-than Yes. But we are rising slowly. I don't know why. And there are two objects approaching us. greater-than "Probably just airliners," Rachel said. less-than The objects are moving at one and a half times the speed of soundeagreater-than Ax said. "Okay, that's not a passenger plane," Marco said. I groaned. "Military jets. Oh, man, it's the Air Force after us. They're "good guys." They're on our side. We can't shoot them down." Suddenly . . . SWOOOOOSH! SWOOOOOSH! Two pale gray jets blew past us. The backwash rattled the Bug fighter. less-than like can access their radio signalseagreater-than Ax said. And a second later we heard the voice of one of the pilots. "Urn . . . Base Control, I ... urn ... Bogie is of an unknown type. Say again, unknown type." "Definitely unknown," the other pilot said. "Way unknown." "We're coming around for another pass." I looked at Ax. "We really don't want to get shot down by a couple of F-sixteens." less-than No, Prince Jake. That would be embarrassing. I believe I now know how to increase comgreater-than FAH-WHOOOOOOOM! Suddenly, we were outta there. Out of the clouds. Out of the atmosphere. "Yes! This thing can move!" Marco exulted. "We need to buy this game." We heard a fainter, crackling voice over the radio. "Did you see that? Did you see that thing move, Colonel? Did you see that? What the -" Then we were out of range, still zooming straight up into black space. Below us I could see the curvature of the earth. It looked just like one of those pictures the shuttle astronauts take from up in orbit. "That's so beautiful," Cassie said. "Look at that! You can see daylight coming up over the Red Sea." less-than Excuse meeagreater-than Tobias said, less-than but I don't think the Red Sea is exactly on the way to Washington, DC. greater-than "Yeah, I guess not," I said. Although it was such a wonderful sight that I almost didn't want to worry about where we were going. "Ax, maybe we'd better slow down, get some idea of where Washington is and