I was there! Below me, transparent plastic. I could see the crew on the bridge. Taxxons stared wildly up at me.
With one desperate lunge I propelled myself into the air. I had to fly full force to stay ahead of the onrushing windows of the bridge.
Then, with one sharp talon, I pulled the trigger on the Dracon beam.
"Fry, you worms!"
There was no recoil. Not like a regular gun at all.
But a beam of intense red light lanced from me to the bridge. It burned a hole through the window, sliced through a fat Taxxon, and began slicing up control panels and instruments like a hot knife going through butter. I squeezed that trigger for as long as I could.
At last, exhausted, I could do no more.
The Dracon beam slipped from my talon and plunged toward the earth below.
But I had done it.
It was an incredible and terrible thing to see. The ship, big as a skyscraper, vast beyond belief, shuddered as though it had hit a speed bump.
80 Still it rose, sharply upward into the sky, as if it were a whale breaching. It aimed for space, its natural home. But it was clear that it was no longer under control. It rolled suddenly onto its side.
BOOM! A ball of orange flame!
The out-of-control ship had smashed recklessly into one of the helicopters. The chopper fell in ruins.
The Bug fighters and the Blade ship scurried quickly out of the way. But too late.
KA-RUNCH! BA-BOOM!
One of the Bug fighters had slammed into the side of the ship. The Bug fighter was finished.
The Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter withdrew quickly.
And then I saw the hole.
A tear a hundred feet long had been opened in the side of the truck ship. From the hole, the water of the lake gushed. It was a waterfall from the sky. Millions of gallons hemorrhaging out.
"Oh, boy," I whispered.
We were maybe seven hundred feet up over the forest now, when I saw them.
Cassie first. Then Rachel and Marco together. And Jake. They fell, fully human, from the torn side of the ship.
They plummeted, helpless, doomed, to the uprushing ground!
"Noooo!"
I knew there was nothing I could do. I knew it. But still I hurtled after them. Hurtled with all my speed to them as they fell, arms flailing, mouths open in screams of terror.
81 CHAPTER 26
They fell.
But as they fell, they began to change.
Cassie was the first. Feathers sprouted from her skin. One of her morphs was an osprey. A distant cousin of the red-tails.
She fell, and as she fell, she became less and less of a human.
Marco and Rachel had both previously morphed bald eagles. Bald eagles are huge birds, much bigger than red-tailed hawks.
As I watched, long wings replaced their flailing arms.
Jake had morphed a peregrine falcon. Peregrines are so fast they make red-tails look like they are standing still.
As I watched, a peregrine's beak grew from Jake's mouth.
Not enough time. Not enough time! They would hit the ground before - Shwoooop!
Cassie opened her wings and skimmed above the treetops. Marco barely made it. He fell down into the forest, out of sight. I was sure he had been too late.
But then, up from the trees floated a bird with a six-foot wingspread and a proud white head.
"YES!" I cried.
In the sky overhead, the huge truck ship stopped climbing. It rolled again, onto its back this time, and plunged back to Earth.
"Man, that was WAY too close!" I heard Marco yell. "That does it. I have had it with this Animorphs stuff!"
"You're not safe yet!" I told him. "Look!"
With the truck ship out of the way and falling to Earth, the Blade ship and the Bug fighters came after us.
"Quick! Into the trees! Out of sight!" I yelled.
Like a well-trained fighter squadron, we swooped down into the forest. Down below the tops of the trees, where the Yeerks could no longer see us.
BOOOOOM!
An explosion like a bomb going off. The truck ship had hit the ground.
82 The concussion rolled us over like a tidal wave of air.
I rocketed into a tree, but was able to avoid being hurt. "Everyone okay?" I yelled.
One by one they said yes.
But the explosion had disturbed every animal in the forest. The birds had all either hidden or flown away during the earlier fighting. Those few birds still left now took wing, startled.
I saw her take off. The hawk. She was scared and wanted to run to the sky.
But the sky was not a sanctuary for her.
I don't know which ship fired the Dracon beam. Whether it was one of the Bug fighters, or the Blade ship.
You see, they'd had a good long look at me. And she looked just like me.
The Dracon beam sizzled. It burned off a wing.
And she fell to Earth, never to fly again.
83 CHAPTER 27
The Yeerk truck ship burned. What was left was eliminated by the Yeerks. No evidence was left behind. No proof that we could show to the world.
But we had destroyed it. And a Bug fighter as well. And we had gotten out alive.
Most of us.
It was a day later when I went to see Rachel again. It was like she was expecting me.
"Hi, Tobias," she said. "Come in. It's safe."
I hopped through the window and fluttered over to the dresser.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm okay," I said.
She looked unsure of what to say next. "Look, um, Tobias . . . maybe this seems crazy. But Cassie and I were thinking, you know, that maybe we'd go back up to the lake. Try and find .
. . her body. The hawk. You know, and at least bury her."
"No, that doesn't sound crazy, Rachel," I said softly. "Not crazy at all. Just human." She looked keenly at me. "Well, we are human. All of us."
"Yes. I knew I was human when I realized how . . . how sad I was that she was killed. See, a hawk wouldn't care. If she had been my mate, I would have missed her, been disturbed. But sadness? That's a human emotion. I know it seems strange, but I guess only a human would really care that a bird had died."
"If you helped us look, maybe we could still find her body."
"No. Her body will be eaten. By a raccoon, or a wolf, or another bird. Maybe even another hawk. That's the way it is."
"That's the way it is for wild animals, Tobias. Not humans."
"Yeah. I know. That's how I know that you are wrong, Rachel, at least partly. I am a human, yes. But I am also a hawk. I'm a predator who kills for food. And I'm also a human being who . . . who grieves, over death."
She looked terribly sad. She's very human, my friend Rachel.
I went to the window. It was a beautiful day outside. The sun was bright. The cumulus clouds advertised the thermals that would carry me effortlessly to the sky.
I flew.
I am Tobias. A boy. A hawk. Some strange mix of the two.
84 You know now why I can't tell you my last name. Or where I live. But someday you may look up in the sky and see the silhouette of a large bird of prey. Some large bird with a rending beak and sharp, tearing talons. Some bird with vast wings outstretched to ride the thermals.
Be happy for me, and for all who fly free.
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