The Alien Page 3
I sighed. This was really pretty pointless. I had never been a big believer in all the rituals. I mean, if you’re going to be a warrior, you have to do it. And any aristh who gets caught rushing through the ritual is verbally reprimanded.
But still, I was about half a quadrillion Earth miles from my home world. It was hard to see why I should still be acting like a good little warrior-cadet. I was all alone among aliens. Who cared if I performed the rituals?
I bowed low.
I hesitated. Tobias had landed in the tree above.
I straightened up again, then assumed the fighting stance.
With that, I drew my tail blade forward and pressed it against my own throat.
Then I relaxed my tail. This was the part of the ritual that called for contemplation. You were supposed to think about the parts of the ritual and ask yourself if you were living up to all of it.
The destruction of my enemies, my most solemn vow. That was the part that stayed in my thoughts.
I had not destroyed my enemy. My enemy was terrible and powerful. And if I tried to destroy him, I would be the one killed.
But that did not matter. What mattered was the enemy. The creature who had murdered my brother. Not in battle, but as he lay almost helpless.
It was the humans who’d told me the rest of Elfangor’s story. As the dome went crashing into Earth’s sea, my brother’s fighter was damaged by the Yeerks.
He landed in an abandoned construction site. There were five human youths passing by: Jake, Cassie, Marco, Rachel, and Tobias.
Elfangor was dying, and he knew that Earth was now defenseless. He told the five youths about the Yeerk threat. And then he did what he should not have done. He gave them a weapon to fight the Yeerks.
He gave them the Andalite power to morph.
Never in all of history has any non-Andalite been given the power to morph. It’s against our major law: the law of Seerow’s Kindness.
Only one other creature can morph: the Yeerk who invaded and took over an Andalite body. He is the only Andalite-Controller. There are hundreds of thousands of Hork-Bajir and Taxxons and humans enslaved that way, but only one Andalite.
Only one Yeerk has an Andalite body, and the power to morph.
The Abomination: Visser Three.
The humans told me of Elfangor’s last battle. How Visser Three had morphed into a huge, monstrous creature. How Elfangor had fought to the very end, lashing out helplessly. How Visser Three had opened his jaws and . . .
The humans don’t know it, but if Elfangor had lived, he would have been in huge trouble. He would have been demoted, at very least. He would no longer have been a prince. Elfangor as the great hero would have been finished.
I had faced Visser Three more than once. He was still living. I had no excuse, except that I was still just an aristh. If I were a full warrior, it would have been total dishonor for me.
Elfangor would have had the courage. If it had been me killed by Visser Three, Elfangor would have gone right after him.
But I guess I’m not Elfangor.
I said. Actually, I was not fine. Tobias being there reminded me that I had something planned for this morning, and I was nervous. Maybe that’s why the morning ritual had not left me feeling calm, like it was supposed to. I was planning to do something very frightening. I was planning to go to school.
I listened.
Luckily, the fangs hit my hoof! I whipped my tail forward and pressed the snake against the ground, holding it immobile. It squirmed and made the rattling sound with its tail.
But I had a different idea. I focused on the snake. I began to “acquire” it, absorbing the snake’s DNA into my system.
Tobias laughed. He laughed for quite a while.
We started moving through the woods. I ran at a good speed. I enjoyed leaping fallen logs and dodging through dense patches of thorny bushes. I was getting to know this forest well.
As I ran and leaped, Tobias flew overhead. At times he would rise through the canopy of trees and disappear from my sight. At other times he would flit from tree to tree, silent, swift.
We had reached a narrow spur of woods. Normally, I would not have dared go this far because it was surrounded on three sides by human habitations. But Tobias was overhead, keeping his incredibly keen eyes open fo
r any danger.
I don’t know why, but it made me feel better to think that Tobias would be in the sky above me all day.
Sometimes I think Tobias and I could be true shorm. A shorm is a deep friend, someone you never lie to, someone who knows all your secrets. The word shorm means “tail blade.” See, it’s supposed to mean a person you would trust so much they could put their tail blade right up against your throat and you wouldn’t even worry.
Sometimes I think Tobias and I could be like that. We are both cut off from our own people. We’re both alone.
But if we were friends, I would have no secrets from Tobias. And even though he was a hawk in form, he was still a human. And I am an Andalite. And no matter how much I sometimes wished for a real friend, there had to be a wall between my people and the humans. Between me and the humans.
Getting too close to any alien species is a mistake. We are taught that. We may protect them, defend them, care for them. But they can never be deep friends.
I have morphed some Andalite animals. And I have morphed many strange Earth animals. But the animal I morphed the most is the human animal. They are weak, slow, half-blind, and unstable, but no Andalite should laugh at them. Humans rule their planet. And as the human Rachel once said, Earth is a tough neighborhood.
— From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
I peered through the trees. I could see a wide, grassy field. On the far side of the field were several long, squat buildings. There were large yellow vehicles parked in front. Hundreds of young humans milled around outside the building.
Prince Jake and Cassie had drawn close.
“Hey, Ax,” Prince Jake said. “How’s it going?”
“Um, you’re not going to call me Prince Jake today, are you?”
“Well, better go ahead and morph,” Cassie suggested.
Tobias said. He flapped his wings and rose slowly into the sky.
I concentrated on my human morph and began to make the change.
I morphed as quickly as I could, while being careful not to fall over as my third and fourth legs disappeared. At last, I stood on just two legs. It’s both frightening and exciting. I mean, there you are, tottering back and forth with nothing to hold you up. Your feet can’t grip, and they are too short to be much help in balancing.
All you can do if you start to fall is stand on one leg while you throw the second leg out to catch yourself. It’s very unreliable. I don’t know why humans evolved this way. They are the only species on this planet to walk around on just two legs, without wings or a tail to hold them up.
“Hey, grab him,” Prince Jake yelled as I began to lean back.
“Got him,” Cassie said. She helped support me as I finished the morph.
Last of all the mouth appeared, a horizontal split in my face.
“Are you done?” Prince Jake asked me.
“Yes. I am fully human.” The sound delighted me. It’s an amazing talent, this ability to make complex sounds. “Human. Mun. Hyew-mun. Human. Huh-yew-mun.”
“Um, Ax? Don’t do that, okay?” Prince Jake said.
“What? What-tuh?”
“That. Where you play with every sound like it’s a new toy.”
“Yes, my prince. Not a toy. Toy! Toytoytoytoy . . . Sorry.”
“This should be interesting,” Cassie said, looking at Prince Jake.
Tobias came swooping low and rested on a tree branch.
“His only day of school,” Prince Jake said quickly. “This is just so he can learn how to be a more believable human. One time.”
Prince Jake held up a single finger, indicating the number one.
“Yes, that is one,” I agreed. “Now, let’s go to school. I am looking forward to it. To it. Tewit.”
“Remember, you’re my cousin Phillip, from out of state,” Jake said while handing me a bag filled with garments.
“Phillip,” I repeated confidently. “Phillip. Lip. Phill-up. Pah.”
I like the sound the letter “p” makes.
I got dressed and set off toward the squat building that was the schoolhouse.
“I will,” I called back over my shoulder.
Unfortunately, bending that way made me fall over. It takes practice to walk on just two legs.
A human has only two eyes. Both are on the front of the face. It is the same with most Earth species. These human eyes are very similar to our own main eyes. But humans seem fascinated by my stalk eyes. One of the humans, Marco, has said they “creep him out big time.” I believe this is a compliment.
— From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
Here it is,” Cassie said. “School. Or, as I like to think of it — purgatory.”
The school was very active. There were large numbers of humans racing about at high speed. Others moved very slowly and seemed sad or ill. Many carried books. Most made mouth-sounds.
As usual they were dressed in a shocking variety of clothing. Clothing is not a uniquely human idea, but of course Andalites do not indulge in it.
However, when I am in human morph I must wear clothing. All of my human friends, even Tobias, agree on this. They agree very strongly on this one point.
I saw Rachel and Marco approaching through the crowd of humans.
My other human friends tell me that Rachel is beautiful and Marco is cute. As an Andalite, I don’t observe either trait. However, when I am in human morph I begin to see that Rachel actually is very beautiful.
But I never see that Marco is cute.
At school, the Animorphs must pretend not to be very close. This is so any suspicious Human-Controllers will not begin to think of them as a “group.”
“Hi, Marco, Rachel,” Prince Jake said. “Meet my cousin . . . Phillip.”
“Yes. I am Prince Jake’s cousin, Phillip,” I said. “I am from out of state.”
Marco made a smile with his mouth. “You’re from way, way out of state.”
“Don’t call me ‘Prince,’” Prince Jake hissed.
“Nice to see you again, Phillip,” Rachel said and winked. Since she was really Jake’s cousin, she would have already met “Phillip.” “See you guys later. Good luck.”
“You’ll need it,” Marco added.
We went inside the school building. It seemed to be nothing but a very long corridor. It was filled with humans. Along each side of the corridor there were doors. Some of the doors were large. But there were hundreds of much smaller doors. I observed people opening the small doors, but no one ever went inside.
“Where do the small doors lead?” I asked.
“Nowhere. Those are lockers,” Cassie said. “Everyone has a locker. See? There’s my locker right there.”
We went to Cassie’s locker. It was decorated with a shiny pendant. The pendant had a wheel with n
umbers on it. Cassie spun the wheel back and forth.
“Is that a ritual?” I asked. “Chew-ull. Ritual.”
“No, that’s a lock. It keeps people out.”
“Why?”
“So they won’t steal my stuff.” She opened her locker and began putting things in and taking things out.
“What is that?” I asked. “Thuh-at. That.”
“It’s just a picture,” Cassie said. She quickly closed the door of her locker.
“It looked like a picture of Prin . . . of Jake,” I pointed out. “Why would you have a picture of him when he is right here and you can see him?”
Cassie shrugged and looked down at the ground. Humans have many facial expressions. I believe this one indicated either sickness or embarrassment.
“Come on, Ax,” Prince Jake said. He was smiling at Cassie, and she was continuing to look sick or embarrassed. “We’ll see you later, Cassie. Time for first —”
Just then, a terrible, mind-shattering sound!
BBBBBRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!
I spun around. I raised my human arms, ready to use them for defense. I wished I had my tail. It’s a terrible thing to be without a tail in a fight. But I was ready to do the best I could with my human body.
“Ax! I mean, Phillip. Relax.”
BBBBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!
“That noise!” I cried. “What kind of beast is it?”
“Ax, it’s just the bell for first period,” Jake said. “Take it easy. People are staring.”
“It’s not a threat?”
“No. It’s not a threat. It’s depressing, but not dangerous.”
I followed Prince Jake as he led the way down the hall. It was difficult to forget the horrible noise. When humans are threatened their bodies are flooded with a chemical that makes them hyperalert, fearful, and aggressive. The chemical is called adrenaline. My system was now flooded with adrenaline. It was very distracting.
We entered one of the large doors. Inside were approximately thirty humans arranged in small, confining seats. At the front of the room was a large table. An older human stood there.
“Everyone, get to your seats,” the older human said.