The Stranger Page 4

  - human, Hork-Bajir, Taxxon, and other species

  - disgorged the Yeerks from their heads. Hork-Bajir guards would watch carefully as each Controller knelt at the far end of the pier and held his head down close to the surface of the lake. The Yeerk slug would then slither out of the host's ear and drop with a flat splash into the lake. That's when you would discover whether the Controller was a "voluntary" host, or someone who had been taken against his will. See, the voluntary hosts

  - the ones who had chosen to turn themselves over to the Yeerks

  - would stand up and calmly walk away. The involuntary hosts would realize that they were temporarily free of the evil alien in their heads. That they once more had control over their own minds and bodies. Some would scream. Some would cry. Many would beg to be released. A few would try to escape. But the Hork-Bajir were there to grab them and haul them to cages. That's where they would await the moment when they would be taken to the second pier. The second pier was the place where Yeerks, now strong from their swim in the pool and full of the nutrition of Kandrona rays, would slither back inside their hosts. When I had nightmares about the Yeerk pool . . . and I had those nightmares a lot ... it would always be about that second pier. The voluntary hosts would kneel and receive the Yeerks back into their brains. The involuntaries would struggle. They would fight. Curse. Some would dare the Hork-Bajir to kill them. We were on a ramp again. No one had said anything for a while as we still raced lower and lower, deeper and deeper, closer and closer. That memory was in all of our minds. All ex cept Ax, who had not been there. less-than like wish I could see more clearlyeagreater-than Ax said. less-than like wish I could see all that is going on. greater-than less-than No. You don'teagreater-than I told him.

  We were at the end of the ramp. We reached the flat floor of the cavern. less-than 0kay, now what8greater-than Cassie wondered. less-than We've used up at least three-quarters of an hour. greater-than less-than Forty-one of your minuteseagreater-than Ax said. less-than 0kayeagreater-than Jake said. less-than You guys remember there were buildings all around the edge of the cavern, set back from the Yeerk pool? Most are probably storage. Some may be generators and air purifiers. But some may be offices, control rooms, or even hold the Kandrona itself. We need to check out some of those buildings. greater-than less-than Well, that's what bugs do besteagreater-than Marco joked. less-than like wish we could have found a bug morph with better eyeseagreater-than I said. less-than How are we going to even find these buildings? I can't see more than a couple of feet in front of me. greater-than less-than Don't need toeagreater-than Cassie said. less-than We can smell. They have humans down here. I don't know about Hork-Bajir and Taxxons, but if there are humans down here, they must eat somewhere. And I swear I smell french fries. greater-than She was right. I don't know if they were fries, but my roach brain definitely detected food. less-than Go for the friesffgreater-than Jake said with a laugh. We barreled away across the dusty ground. Just ahead, a wall loomed. It was easy enough to find a crack. A roach can slide through a crack

  no thicker than a quarter. We emerged into brilliant light and an assault of sounds and smells. less-than So. Where do you think we are8greater-than Marco asked. less-than This looks like linoleum under ueagreater-than I said. less-than Dirty linoleum. I feel a lot of vibrations

  - lots of feet, I'm guessing. And voices. Too many for me to make sense of them. greater-than less-than like smell humanseagreater-than Ax confirmed. less-than Humans don't smelleagreater-than I said, only half-joking. less-than 0h, humans smelleagreater-than Ax argued. less-than lt's not a bad smell. Sort of like an animal we have back on my planet called a flaar. greater-than less-than So we have french fries and humanseagreater-than Marco said. less-than Are you telling me we have reached the Yeerk pool McDonald's8greater-than less-than lf it's some kind of lunchroom or something, it would be a good place to listen in on conversa tions caret Cassie said. less-than Maybe we can get closer. Crawl up under a table. We should be able to

  - greater-than Suddenly a shadow fell over us. Something huge was overhead, blocking out the harsh fluo rescent light. less-than Now, that. . . that is not a human smelleagreater-than Ax said. less-than like smell it, tooeagreater-than I said. less-than lt's familiar. I don't like it. Something . . . I've smelled it before . ., it's ... I can't get my human memory and my roach senses together. It smells like . . . greater-than less-than Taxxonffgreater-than Cassie said suddenly. less-than Look. That tree-looking thing up there. I think it's a Taxxon legffgreater-than less-than 0h, gross. I hate those thingseagreater-than I said. less-than LOOK OUFFGREATER-THAN Hurtling down from the fluorescent sky at incredible speed came something like a bright red whip. I powered my six legs in instant response. It was too fast! The red whip slapped the ground all around me. It fell over me like an awful, wet quilt. Some thing like glue oozed around me, seeping under my shell, gumming up my legs. less-than Noooffgreater-than I screamed. less-than l'm trappedffgreater-than Marco cried. I was lifted up off the ground. My back was glued to the red whip, and I was hurtling through space. I caught a wild glimpse of the others, stuck to the red whip just like me. less-than What's happening8ffgreater-than Cassie cried. less-than lt's the Taxxoneagreater-than Ax said. less-than like think he's about to consume uffgreater-than We were stuck to the frog-like tongue of the Taxxon, as the evil creature slurped his tongue back down his throat. less-than like can't get looseffgreater-than Jake yelled. In an instant, without warning, death had come for us. I was glued down, helpless, as the Taxxon's red tongue sucked back into its mouth. And then . . . And then . . . everything, everywhere, stopped. The sticky red whip of the Taxxon's tongue stopped moving. But it was more than that. Nothing was vibrating against my antennae. There were no sounds. There were no smells, because the air itself had stopped moving. Then, without meaning to, I began to de- morph. less-than What's going on8greater-than I asked. less-than l'm demorphingeagreater-than Cassie said. less-than But it wasn't me doing it. greater-than less-than Are we dead? Is this some kind of hallucina- tion8greater-than I asked. less-than lf it is, I'm having it, tooeagreater-than Jake said. I swiftly grew larger and larger. My center pair of cockroach legs dwindled and disappeared. My lower legs swelled and grew skin. I fell from the Taxxon's tongue to the ground, too large and heavy to be stuck any longer. Toes appeared. Fingers appeared. My true human eyes opened. I looked around, dazed and disoriented. The others were all there. We were all human again, barefoot and dressed in our skin-tight morphing outfits, like we always were when we came out of a morph. Ax was back in his Andalite body, just adding to the general weirdness of the scene. We were inside a building. As we had guessed, it was a lunchroom. There was a kitchen to one side. There were a dozen long tables down the middle of the room. People sat at the tables, eating. Only . . . they weren't eating. They were holding forks. They were looking down at plates of food. They were getting ready to speak. They were holding mugs of coffee. But no one was moving. No one was breathing. The steam rising from the mugs of coffee was frozen and still as a photograph. "Okay. I'm ready to wake up now," Marco said. "This dream is getting weird." "Look," I said. "Hork-Bajir." Two Hork-Bajir were standing by the door. I had never seen one standing still before. Even frozen in place they were frightening

  - seven feet of knife-edged arms, legs, head, and tail. Salad Shooters on legs, as Marco said. Walking razor blades. And then there was the Taxxon. The one who had been about to eat us. It was a monstrously big centipede, as big around as a concrete sewer pipe. It had a round, red mouth at the very top of its worm body. The long, red whip of a tongue stuck out and hung in the air. "I have an idea," Marco said. "Even if this is a dream . . . let's get OUT of here!" "Definitely," I agreed. "MOVE!" Jake said loudly. We ran for the door of the lunchroom. Out into the vast, intimidating openness of the cav ern. Outside, the same freeze had occurred. The surface of the Yeerk pool was still. The humans and Hork-Bajir who were involuntary hosts were frozen in their cages, screaming and crying and shouting without a sound or
a mov ement. On the infestation pier, a woman was bent low over the water, held down by a Hork-Bajir. A Yeerk was halfway into her ear. She was crying. Her tears were motionless on her cheeks. Then I saw something moving. One single thing in all that eerie stillness. A boy. He was tall, a little gangly. He had hair that looked as if it had never been combed. "Oh ..." I whispered. "Oh . . . look! It's To bias!" The others all turned to see. Tobias shrugged his human shoulders. He held up his hands to stare at his own fingers. "It is me," he said, sounding like he doubted it. "My old body. Here." I ran to him. I don't really know why, I just did. I wanted to touch him. To know he was real. "Ah! Ah! Ah!" he yelled. He jumped back and suddenly threw his arms up and down. He was flapping, trying to get away. Trying to fly. I had scared him by rushing at him. "Sorry," he whispered, terribly embarrassed. "Sorry." I put my arms around him and hugged him tightly. "Tobias, what's going on?" I asked him. "I don't know," he said. "I was flying . . . then suddenly, I was here. Like this." less-than Time has stoppedeagreater-than Ax said. less-than For everyone but us. I can feel it. greater-than "Something is very, very wrong," Cassie said darkly. "Is this some trick of Visser Three's?" less-than This is not Yeerk technology, I can tell you teagreater-than Ax said. less-than This is far beyond them; Far be yond us Andalites, as well. greater-than WHAT? HUMILITY? FROM AN ANDALITE? "Yaaahhh!" Marco screamed. The voice came from everywhere at once. And from nowhere. It wasn't a voice, not really. It wasn't even thought-speak. It was like an idea that simply popped into your head. The words exploded like bursting balloons inside your own thoughts. I spun around, looking for the source, ready to fight if necessary. NO, RACHEL. THERE IS NO THREAT. "It knows your name!" Tobias hissed. I glanced at Ax. He had gone rigid. He wasn't frozen like all the world around us, he was afraid. He was shaking. AXIMILI.-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL HAS BEGUN TO GUESS WHAT I AM. less-than Ellimistffgreater-than Ax said. DO NOT BE AFRAID. I WILL APPEAR IN A PHYSICAL FORM YOU CAN UNDERSTAND. The air directly in front of me ... no, not in front, behind. Beside. Around. I can't explain it. The air just opened up. As if there were a door in nothingness. As if air were solid and ... it is just impossible to explain. The air opened. He appeared. He was humanoid. Two arms, two legs, a head where a human head would be. His skin was glowing blue, as if he were a lightbulb that had been painted over so that light still shone from him. He seemed like an old man, but with a force of energy that was definitely not frail. His hair was long and white. His ears were swept up into points. His eyes were black holes that seemed to be full of stars. "I am an Ellimist," he said, speaking with an actual voice, "as your Andalite friend guessed." Ax was shaking so badly he looked like he might fall down. "Be at peace, Andalite," the Ellimist said. "Look at your human friends. They do not fear me." less-than They don't know what you areeagreater-than Ax managed to say. The Ellimist smiled. "Neither do you. All you know are the fairy stories your people tell to chil dren." "Well, how about if someone tells us who and what you are?" I said. I was not in the best mood ever. It was extremely bizarre and unnerving to be surrounded by human-Controllers, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxons, in the very heart of the enemy's stronghold. They were all frozen, but that could change. To be honest, I was scared. And when I'm scared, I get mad. The Ellimist looked at me. "You cannot begin to understand what I am." less-than They are all-powerfuleagreater-than Ax said simply. less-than They can cross a million light-years in a single instant. They can make entire worlds disappear. They can stop time itself. greater-than "This one doesn't look all that powerful," Marcosd skeptically. less-than Don't be a fooleagreater-than Ax snapped. less-than That's not his body. He has no body. He is ... everywhere at once. Inside your head. Inside this planet. Inside the fabric of space and time. greater-than "So why are you here?" Jake asked the Ellim ist. "Why all of this? Why did you bring Tobias here?" "Obviously, you saw right through our morphs," Marco said. "You knew who we were. You even know our names. You brought us all here together. Why?" "Because you must decide," the Ellimist said. "Decide what?" I demanded. "The fate of your race," the Ellimist said. "The fate of the human race." That's all?" Marco asked. "Just the fate of the human race? Don't you have something more challenging for us?" But the Ellimist wasn't paying attention to Marco. "We do not interfere in the private affairs of other beings," he said. "But when they are in danger of becoming extinct, we step in to save a few members. We love life. All life, but especially sentient life forms, like Homo sapiens. Your species. This is a very beautiful planet. A price less work of art." "You've obviously never seen our school," Marco said, still giddily trying to joke. Suddenly, without warning, the Ellimist did it again. He opened space. We were no longer standing in the Yeerk pool. We were no longer underground at all. We were underwater. Deep underwater. But the water did not seem to touch my skin. And when I breathed, there was air. Still, I felt fear tingle the back of my neck. We stood

  - me, Cassie, Jake, Marco, Ax, and Tobias . . . Tobias, in his own human body

  -

  in the middle of an ocean. Suspended in the water, but dry. The Ellimist could no longer be seen. We were floating above a coral reef. And everything was moving again. All around us, fish swam by in swift-darting schools. Fish in every color and shape, reflecting the dappled sunlight from above. Sharks prowled. Stingrays seemed to fly. Squid pulsated. Crabs scuttled across fabulous extrusions of coral. Tuna as big as sheep drifted past. Swift, grinning dolphins raced by in pursuit of their next meal. LOVELY. The Ellimist's voice once more seemed to grow from deep within my own heart. LOVELY. And then, as quickly as we had been plunged into the ocean, we were drifting above the waving golden grass of the African savannah. A pride of lions lazed in the sun below us, looking sleepily content. Wildebeest and gazelles and impalas grazed, then broke into wild, springing, bouncing races that forced you to smile at the sheer energy of it all. There were hyenas, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, cheetahs, baboons, zebras. Hawks and eagles and buzzards wheeled overhead. LOOK AT X. Then, in an instant, deep jungle. A lithe jaguar prowled while monkeys chattered in the tree canopy above. Snakes as long as a person slithered across tree branches. The air reeked of the heavy perfume of a million flowers. We heard the sounds of frogs, insects, monkeys, and wild, screaming birds. IN ALL THE UNIVERSE, NO GREATER BEAUTY. IN A THOUSAND, THOUSAND WORLDS, NO GREATER ART THAN TH. Then the Ellimist showed us the human race. We flew, invisible, through the steel-and-glass canyons of New York City. We drifted above villages at the edges of jungle rivers. We watched a rock concert in Rio de Janeiro, and a political meeting in Seoul, and a soccer game in Durban, and an open-air market in the Philippines. HUMANS. CRUDE. PRIMITIVE. BUT CAPABLE OF UN DERSTANDING. Suddenly, all the movement stopped. We were staring at a picture. A painting. I'd seen the painting somewhere before. It was a wild swirl of color. A painting of pur ple flowers. Irises, I think, although I'm no big expert on flowers. The artist had seen the beauty of those flowers and captured some small bit of it on canvas. CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING. Then, without warning, we were back in the Yeerk pool. The images were all gone. We were in the land of despair once again. Surrounded by frozen images of horror. The Ellimist

  - or at least the body he had made for us to look at

  - reappeared. "That was a nice tour," I said. I was trying to sound tough. But I felt as if I had been turned inside out. As if my mind had exploded into a thousand sparkling pieces. I was overwhelmed. "But what's it all about?" "Humans are an endangered species. Soon you will disappear." I thought of a couple things to say. But I said nothing. No one said anything. "The Yeerk race is also sentient," the Ellimist said. "And they are technologically more advanced than you. They will continue to infest the human race. The Andalites will try to stop them, but they will fail. The Yeerks will win. And soon, the only humans left will be what you call human-Controllers." I had stopped breathing. The way he said

  it ... it was like you couldn't argue. Like you couldn't say anything. He spoke every word with utter and complete certainty. He wasn't guessing. He knew. He knew that we would lose.

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  JL had been terrified a few moments before, as the Taxxon prepared to swallow us. I had been afraid for my own life and the lives of my friends. Now, as the Yeerk pool hung suspended in time, I felt a deeper fear. My head was still swim ming from all the images the Ellimist had shown us. "Why come here just to tell us we're dead meat?" I managed to ask. "We have an offer for you," the Ellimist said. "You see, we can save a small sample of the human race. We have a planet where we would relocate you. You . . . some members of your family. A few others, chosen to get a good genetic sampling. As well as a few non-human Earth species that are of special interest to us." I was surprised to hear Cassie actually laugh. "He's some kind of environmentalist," she said. "That's what he is. We're the spotted owls. We're the rhinos. We're t he whales. We're the endan gered species, and he's the environmentalist trying to save us." "We have a planet set aside for you," the El limist said. "It will seem very much like Earth. You would be free to evolve naturally, as your species should." "This is insane," Marco said. "It's like Noah's ark. The Yeerk flood is coming. Load up the boat." "No," Tobias said, staring at the Ellimist. "It's a zoo. That's what he has for us

  - a zoo." The Ellimist said, "We do not impose our will on sentient species. The decision is yours. I have chosen you to decide, because only you, of all free humans, know what is happening. You must decide

  - to stay on Earth and fight a battle you are certain to lose. Or to leave this planet behind and form part of a new colony of humans." "How long do we have to decide?" Jake asked. "You must decide now," the Ellimist said. "What?" I yelled. "What? What are you up to? What do you mean, we have to decide now

  ." This was beyond insane. This was a dream. This couldn't even be real. I was imagining it all. "If you decide the answer is yes, you, and some of those you are close to, will be instantly taken to your new home. If the answer is no, I will return everything to the way it was when I in terrupted time." "You mean we're back in roach morph headed down that Taxxon's throat?" I asked. "Everything as it was," the Ellimist said. "Our purpose is not to interfere." I looked at Tobias. His face showed nothing. Maybe he had forgotten how to show emotion. "And our friend Tobias?" Cassie asked softly. his Everything as it was," the Ellimist repeated. "Oh, that's real fair," Marco said. "You ask us this just as we're about to be some Taxxon's lunch?" "This is ridiculous," Jake said angrily. "You can't just tell us we have to make a decision like this. We are not the ones who should be deciding this. I mean, maybe you're trying to do the right thing for us, but this is nuts." less-than Ellimists are not interested in what is faireagreater-than Ax said. less-than Ellimists give you a choice that is no choice at all. Then they can claim that they do not interfere. They will pretend it was a human decisions It was hard to argue with Ax's opinion. The Ellimist had totally rigged this decision. Realizing that made me want to resist. The Ellimist wanted us to say yes. He wanted us to abandon the fight against the Yeerks. And yet ... a place where we would have peace. A place where the fighting would be over. Where we could be normal kids. No more deci sions. No more battles. The Ellimist had said we would be with some of the people we were close to. Who? Who would be saved? "I vote no," Tobias said, with sharp, angry