The Sickness Read online

  The Hork-Bajir-Controllers at the edge of the pier signaled me forward.

  It was my turn.

  I could feel my knees shaking as I knelt down at the edge of the pier. I took a deep breath and lowered my head into the sludge.

  The first thing I did was release Illim. Then I slithered over to Mr. Tidwell’s ear canal, breaking my connections to his brain. I scrunched my body down as I wiggled my way through the tiny tunnel.

  Then I was free. Out in the Yeerk pool.

  I was blind, almost deaf, and mute. But here’s the strange part. I didn’t care. I was with my brothers and sisters, soaking in the Kandrona rays my body craved. If I’d had a mouth, I would have let out a long ahhh of satisfaction. I was home.

  I was home?

  I gave myself a mental slap on both cheeks. I’d let my Yeerk instincts take over for a minute. This was definitely not home.

  And I had a mission to complete. I had to find Aftran. Fast.

  I used my sonar to check out the area around me. There were Yeerks everywhere. Above me. Below me. On all four sides.

  I reminded myself that to them I was just another Yeerk. Nothing for them to take notice of. I was completely safe.

  A Hork-Bajir head was thrust into the water. I rode the wave it created deeper into the pool. I did another sonar sweep. Yeerks, Yeerks, and more Yeerks.

  A wavelet took me in a half turn. My sonar detected the two steel piers. Under the farthest one there was a chain with a box on the end. The box was just about the size to hold a Yeerk.

  Aftran. She was in there. I knew it.

  But how was I going to get over to her? I had no legs to kick with. No arms to paddle with.

  I wiggled my body as hard as I could and moved about a quarter of an inch. Aftran was only about six feet away. But at this rate it would take me all night to get to her.

  And I definitely didn’t have all night.

  Use the Yeerk, I told myself. It knows how to swim. I loosened my control over the Yeerk instincts.

  Scrunch-thrust. Scrunch-thrust. Scrunch-thrust.

  I contracted my body, then shot it out. I was swimming!

  Well, sort of. I wasn’t exactly ready for the Olympic team, but I was moving faster than I had been.

  Scrunch-thrust. Scrunch-thrust. Scrunch-thrust.

  I finally made it over to the cage. I studied it with my sonar. It was a box, metal I figured, with very small holes all over it. The holes were way too small for even a Yeerk to squeeze through.

  But the latch looked pretty basic. It wouldn’t be too hard to open. If I had hands.

  I could demorph to my own body. But I was right under the pier. Two Hork-Bajir stood on the edge. And more walked back and forth, escorting the hosts. There was a pretty good chance one of them would notice me.

  PA-loosh!

  A host head was thrust into the water. My sonar picked up the wild movement as the host — an older man this time — tried to twist away from the Yeerk scrunch-thrusting toward his ear.

  The Yeerk shoved its way inside the host, and moments later the man stopped struggling and calmly raised his head.

  The hosts getting reinfested upped my chances of getting caught. A Yeerk could slither into its host, see me in my human morph, lift up its head, and report me.

  I couldn’t risk morphing so close to the pier. I had to find another way to get Aftran out.

  PA-loosh.

  Another host head was shoved into the pool. A girl. My sonar picked up her long hair flowing through the water. It was hard to tell, but I didn’t think she was that much older than I was.

 

  That voice. It was the voice of evil. It ripped through me, sending spikes of terror though my small, soft body.

  Visser Three! He was back!

  And I hadn’t even found a way to open Aftran’s cage!

  Visser Three commanded.

  Aftran’s cage immediately began to move through the pool. Someone was pulling the chain up. Pulling Aftran away from me.

  And I had no hands to stop it.

  But I had to do something. Now!

  Visser Three said, sounding jovial.

  No time to plan. No time to do anything but move.

  Scrunch-thrust. Scrunch-thrust. Scrunch-thrust.

  I powered over to the girl whose head was in the water. A Yeerk was just about to enter her ear. I shoved it out of the way and slithered in myself.

  I gave a squirt of painkiller and wriggled through the ear canal. I spread myself out over the brain. The microvolts of electricity set my body tingling. And I was connected.

  I frantically opened the girl’s memories. She was a member of The Sharing.

  This girl — she was a voluntary host. A collaborator.

  I couldn’t let her get anything from me. No thoughts. No emotions. Nothing even the tiniest bit Cassie.

  I felt hands on my shoulders, helping me out of the water. I stumbled to my feet.

  Any second the girl was going to realize I wasn’t her usual Yeerk. But she wouldn’t be able to do anything to betray me. Not now. I had control of the body.

  But as soon as I left her, she would be able to tell Visser Three everything she learned while I was in her head.

  I had to act! Now! Before I let it slip that the Visser’s “Andalite bandits” were mostly human. Before I betrayed Illim and Tidwell. Or the Chee.

  I turned around and locked my eyes on Visser Three. In his Andalite morph. He stood halfway down the pier, facing away from me. A crowd of human- and Hork-Bajir-Controllers, and Taxxons gathered in front of him, eager to watch the torture.

  The Visser unlatched Aftran’s cage. Pulled her out. He held her up, digging his fingers into her defenseless flesh.

  Visser Three told Aftran, blasting his thought-speak loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Wham! Wham! Wham!

  My feet slammed against the metal pier as I launched myself at him. The only thing my host girl was going to get from me was commands like

  I rammed into Visser Three as hard as I could.

  He spun toward me, tail blade raised. But he was too shocked and amazed to react.

  I snatched at Aftran.

  The Visser closed his fist. But Andalite hands are weak.

  I bit his wrist.

  Aftran dropped. I snatched her out of midair and ran. Ran with nowhere to run.

  I did the only thing I could do. I dove back into the Yeerk pool.

  Visser Three roared.

  PA-loosh. PA-loosh.

  I took a quick glance over my shoulder. Taxxons. Two of them. You wouldn’t think creatures that look like twelve-foot-long, four-foot-wide centipedes could swim. But they can.

  And they were coming after me.

  Aftran slipped out of my fingers. I hoped she knew to stay close to me.

  TSEEEWWWW! TSEEEWWWW! TSEEEWWWW!

  Spears of light streaked through the water. Great. Someone was shooting Dracon beams at me from the pier.

  I propelled myself deeper into the water. The beams might still be able to reach me down here, but the shooter wouldn’t be able to see me to aim.

  TSEEEEEEW!

  I saw a dozen Yeerks twist and burn.

  The Visser was killing his own people to get at me.

  I felt a claw pinch my ankle. A Taxxon, out of nowhere! It had me with one of its lobster hands.

  Time to bail.

  I pulled myself away from the girl’s brain, squirmed through her ear canal, then slid into the pool.

  With my sonar I watched the girl being dragged to the surface. It wouldn’t take
them long to figure out that the Yeerk who had been controlling her was no longer in her body.

  I didn’t doubt Visser Three would find a way to search the pool for me and Aftran.

  I needed to get out of here. Now. Something with wings. I wanted wings in the worst kind of way.

  But before I could morph to bird, I had to demorph into my human body. In the Yeerk pool.

  I dove deep. Down below most of the other Yeerks. And I began to become human again.

  My Yeerk body flattened out. Stretching, stretching, stretching. It formed a head. Arms. Legs. But all flat. I was like a giant paper doll.

  I felt my bones regrow, pushing against my flat body. Making it three-dimensional again. My skin changed in texture, and I could no longer breathe through it.

  Eyes, nose, lips pushed out of my paper-doll face.

  A pounding started up in my chest as my heart re-formed. My veins and arteries expanded, and blood began to rush through them. My stomach and intestines plumped up inside me. My lungs inflated. And started to burn.

  I needed air. Badly.

  I paddled up to the top of the pool. I tilted my head back and allowed only my nose to break through the surface.

  I pulled breath after breath into my aching lungs.

  Then I heard the words that turned my body to stone.

  Visser Three ordered.

  I swam. I swam hard. Then …

  the Visser cried.

  He wasn’t talking to me! He was talking to the girl whose body I’d used to attack him.

  Any second now he would figure it out. Any second now …

 

  I took another long breath. Then pushed myself deeper into the pool. The Yeerks brushed against my arms, my legs, my face. The feel of their jellyfish-soft bodies repulsed me. I flicked them away. As fast as I did, new ones took their place.

  Ignore them, I ordered myself. Now was not the time to get distracted. I needed to morph.

  Morphing underwater without breathing was beyond risky. It was stupid. But I had to get out of the pool and I didn’t have any backup. I had to take the chance.

  An owl. It would be strong enough to carry Aftran. And its eyes would allow it to maneuver in the dim cavern.

  I concentrated on the owl DNA inside me. I felt the feathers begin to form. They clung to my human body, wet and heavy. I would never be able to lift myself into the air with these drenched feathers! Forget about me and Aftran.

  My lungs burned. But I couldn’t risk another breath.

  I ran through my other possible morphs. Which would give me the best chance to escape? Think, think, think! Shark. No. Dolphin. No. Squirrel. Maybe. No. My insect morphs were definitely out of the question.

  I was starting to get dizzy. I was running out of time.

  Wait. Got it! My osprey morph! Osprey hunted fish. That meant they had to be able to get wet and still fly!

  I concentrated on the osprey DNA. I ignored the pressure building in my chest.

  My legs grew thin. As thin as noodles. They swayed in the water for a moment before they began to shorten.

  I felt my lips and nose melt together to form a beak. I choked as a mouthful of Yeerk pool sludge sloshed down my throat. The taste was bitter on my shrinking tongue.

  Where were my wings? I needed wings!

  My lungs throbbed. I couldn’t hold my breath —

  A pulling sensation raced up and down my arms as they stretched into wings. Yes!

  I cried though I knew she couldn’t hear or answer.

  I felt pinpricks cover my body as my feathers started to pop out. Aftran slid between my talons. I had her. At least I hoped it was her. We were out of there!

  Red dots exploded in front of my eyes as I struggled to the surface. I pushed my beak through the surface and dragged in as much air as my lungs would hold.

  I told Aftran.

  I powered my wings through the sludge, pushing my body up out of the Yeerk pool. I knew they’d be waiting for me. There was no way to sneak out.

  “Visser! A bird!”

 

  TSEEEWWW! A Dracon beam fired at me. Missed.

  I gave another hard flap, skimming across the surface of the pool, talons dragging. Almost airborne. Almost!

  Zap!

  A long yellow tentacle snaked out of the sludge and snapped me on the wing. The spot it hit instantly turned numb. Off balance, I tilted.

  Sploosh! Half my body slipped down into the pool again.

  The Visser! He had morphed to … to something that could swim. Something strong and fast.

  Visser Three asked.

  This time he was talking to me. Definitely.

  And I was on my own. I didn’t have Marco, Jake, Tobias, Rachel, or Ax to distract the Visser.

  His new morph was terrifying. It was like a floating eyeball with long, long tentacles for lashes. One of those tentacles shot out and snapped me on the wing again. Numb.

  His tentacles were filled with poison. If I got hit too many more times I wouldn’t be able to move my wing at all. I’d sink straight to the bottom and the Visser —

  Zap!

  I took another hit. The opposite wing.

  I had to get myself back out of the water.

  I slammed my wings through the sludge.

  Zap!

  My bad wing again. It was almost half numb now.

  Think of Ax. Think of Jake. I thrust my wings down again and again.

  Rachel. Tobias. Marco.

  More red dots exploding. I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. I broke through the surface of the water.

  Mom. Dad.

  I pulled up, up, up. Muscles screaming in pain.

  Yes! I was out of reach of the tentacles.

  I wheeled around and flapped toward the staircase.

  The humans in the cages cheered. The human-Controllers cursed and howled in fury. The Taxxons shrieked. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers bellowed.

  I caught a glimpse of Mr. Tidwell. He pumped his fist in the air. To the others it probably looked like an angry gesture. But I knew it was triumph.

  TSEEEWWWW! TSEEEWWWW! TSEEEWWWW!

  I zigzagged as well as I could with my injured wings, Aftran still clutched in my talons.

  Hork-Bajir-Controllers fired at me from the pier.

  I heard Visser Three roar.

  I reached the stairs. Up, up, up I flew. Gulping for air. Lungs on fire.

  The rock walls changed to dirt. The Dracon beams fired from the pier couldn’t reach me here.

  I cried. I pumped harder. Couldn’t slow down. Not now!

  TSEEEWWWW!

  A sharp, acrid scent flooded me. The smell of my own feathers. The Dracon beam had singed them.

  I made a sharp turn to the left. Now I saw what I had missed in my frenzy.

  It floated through the air, heading for me. A seemingly weightless metallic ball.

  A hunter robot.

  I knew the hunter robot only had one weak spot. Its visual aiming system.

  I flapped hard, struggling to get some altitude. I moved into position above the hunter robot.

  I only had one chance. I waited for it.

  The big metal ball rotated until its camera lens was pointed up at me. In one second it would fire.

  BLAT!

  A gray-white blob fell.

  My life, Aftran’s life, the life of all my friends, the future of the human race, hung on that falling blob.

  It hit the lens.

  The robot spun to the right. Then to the left. Then to the right again.

&n
bsp; A bird-poop bull’s-eye.

  I beat wings up to the metal door. There was no handle on my side. Only smooth, shiny metal.

  I scanned the wall around the door. There had to be some kind of trigger mechanism, didn’t there?

  Maybe it’s only an entrance, I thought. Maybe it’s like the changing room at the Gap. People enter the Yeerk pool there. But they go out through the movie theater.

  I swooped a little closer.

  BrrrrEEEEET! BrrrrEEEEET!

  Oh, no! The Gleet BioFilter.

  I’d forgotten all about it. How could I have been so stupid?

  “Unauthorized life-form detected,” a mechanical voice announced. BrrrrEEEEET! BrrrrEEEEET! “Unauthorized life-form detected.”

  In seconds I would be destroyed. The BioFilter eliminated all life-forms whose DNA had not been entered in the computer. Ospreys were definitely not on the Yeerks’ invite list.

  Could I morph to Yeerk in time? Would my human morph be better?

  I heard the sound of feet pounding up the stairs toward me. Really big feet. Hork-Bajir warriors.

  “Shut your eyes tightly to protect against retinal damage from the Gleet BioFilter,” the mechanical voice instructed.

  I was doomed.

  Whoosh!

  The metal door split down the middle. A woman started through. She spotted me.

  “Andalite!” she cried. She swiped at me with her purse. I banked hard, ignoring the pain tearing through my damaged wing.

  A purse wasn’t enough to stop me. Not nearly enough.

  I flew into the cold air of the walk-in freezer. The outside door was swinging shut. Could I make it?

  The room exploded in dazzling white light.

  Clang! I bounced off one of the metal shelves.

  Crash! Something that sounded like falling glass.

  I didn’t stop. I flew straight ahead.

  Made it! Thump! The freezer door shut behind me.

  I lost a couple of tail feathers, but I kept flying.

  “Dad, look, a bird!” I heard a little girl yell.

  “What is that thing it’s carrying?” someone else cried.

  A little of my vision was coming back. Enough that I could just make out the front door.