"Ready?" Jake asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Marco said.
Jake pressed it with his hand.
The door slid open. I felt a wave of warm, incredibly fragrant air rush in.
57 I caught a glimpse of. . .
Then a brilliant flash of light. . .
And suddenly I was unconscious.
58 Chapter 18
I opened my eyes. I was staring straight up. I was on my back. Above me I could see the ocean all around. High overhead, fish swam by, sparkling. Higher still I could see the bright bar rier between sea and sky. But it was very far away.
I rolled my head to the side. Jake was beside me, still unconscious. There was blue grass under my head. I looked the other way.
"Yaaaahh!"
"Do not move. I stunned you to see what you are. But if you move, I will destroy you." He stood on four delicate hooves, looking, at first glance, like a pale blue and tan deer or antelope. But he had a strong upper body, like a mythical centaur, with two small arms and many-fingered hands. His face was almost triangular, built around two huge, almond-shaped eyes. There was a small vertical slit where his nose should have been, and nothing where his mouth should have been.
From atop his head rose twin horns. Only they were not horns. They each ended in an eye and turned this way and that, independent of his main eyes.
He seemed gentle, quizzical, almost delicate. Until you noticed the tail. The tail was like a scorpion's. It was thick, powerful, and ended in a wicked scythe blade that literally glittered along its razor-sharp edges.
I knew what he was. There is no mistaking an Andalite when you see one.
And there was no question about what he was holding in his hand, either. It looked a lot like a Yeerk Dracon beam.
He was pointing it at me.
The others were waking up all around me.
"What the ... Oh," Marco said. "Please tell me that's a real Andalite and not Visser Three."
Suddenly, without warning, the Andalite's tail arched forward. The blade stopped inches from Marco's face.
"Visser Three! Do not speak that name!" the Andalite thought-spoke.
"O -o-o-o-kay," Marco said slowly. "Whatever you want."
"We are friends," I said.
"l don't know you," the Andalite said. But he withdrew his tail and Marco started breathing again.
"You called me," I said. "We've come to help you."
"Called? You heard my call?" He fixed all four of his eyes on me. "What are you?" 59 "Human. A person of Earth."
"l have seen images of your kind. My call was to my cousins. How did you hear it?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "I heard it in my dreams. So did a friend of mine. We guessed it was an Andalite. We wanted to help."
"What do you know of Andalites? My people are not known to humans. You do not travel the stars. You know only your own planet. My elder cousins have taught me this."
"We knew one Andalite. We were with him when . . . when he was killed."
The Andalite narrowed his main eyes. "Who was this Andalite you say was killed?" I searched my memory for his name. He had told us, but it was a strange, long name. "I can't remember all of his name. But part of it was Prince Elfangor."
The Andalite jerked as if he'd been hit. His entire body seemed to quiver. His deadly tail arched high in the air.
"Prince Elfangor? No one could kill Elfangor. He is the greatest warrior ever. No one could kill him!"
"Someone did," Jake said. "We were there."
"Who? Who do you claim killed Elfangor?"
"The one whose name you don't want us to speak," I said softly.
The Andalite held his head high, but his tail sagged and dragged down to the grass. He lowered his weapon. "He was my brother. Did . . . did he die well? In battle?" Jake answered. "He died protecting us, and defying the Yeerks to the end. At the very last moment he struck with every weapon he had."
The Andalite closed his main eyes for a brief moment. "My brother was a great warrior. His cousins loved him. His enemies feared him. No more can be said of any Andalite warrior." I was surprised by what Jake said next. "I've lost a brother, too. He's one of them. A Controller."
The Andalite opened his eyes. "And you, human. Do you serve the Yeerks or fight them?"
"I fight them. We fight them."
"With what weapons? Do you have powerful weapons?"
"Only the weapon your brother gave us," I said. "The power to morph."
60 "Elfangor gave you that? It is never done!" He seemed disturbed. "The situation would have to be very bad for him to give you morphing capability"
"The situation is worse than you think," Marco said. "The Yeerks seem to know you're here.
Some piece of Andalite wreckage washed up on shore. They are up on the surface right now."
For the first time the Andalite seemed uncertain. "What is your plan?"
"To get you out of here and hide you," I said.
"You came only to rescue me? This is true?"
"Yes."
He smiled with his eyes, just as Prince Elfangor had done. "You will be tired after this last morph. You will need to rest."
"A little while, yes," I agreed.
"What is this?" Rachel asked. "This dome, I mean. It's like a park or something."
"This is the main part of an Andalite dome ship. It is where we live. The engines and the war bridge are in a long section that sticks out from the bottom, with this dome perched on top."
"Like a mushroom. Or an umbrella," I suggested.
The Andalite just looked blank.
"Never mind," I said.
"During the great battle in orbit over your planet, the dome was separated from the rest of the ship."
"Why?"
The Andalite dug at the grass with his fore- hoof. " I...I was too young for battle, by the laws of our people. Besides, the rest of the ship maneuvers better without the dome."
"You're a kid? I mean, like a young person?" Marco asked.
"Yes."
"Are you the only one left? The only Andalite here?"
"Yes. I am alone. When the Blade ship appeared unexpectedly, they caught us off guard. I saw the main section burn. Dracon beams damaged the orbital stabilization of this dome. It fell. It splashed into the ocean and sank to the bottom. I have been here for these many weeks, hoping that my cousins would come for me. Hoping that some survived. Finally I risked sending out a mirrorwave call. It works by . . ." He stopped, and looked embarrassed.
"l am not supposed to explain Andalite technology. My brother will ... He would have been angry with me."
61 "Just you survived," I said sadly.
"Just me," he said. "No prince. No warriors."
I felt a sinking in the pit of my stomach. I think the others felt the same way. I guess we'd all kind of been hoping this Andalite would be like the prince. A leader. Someone who could take over the battle. Someone who would know more than we did.
"We're young, too," I said. "Too young to fight, according to the laws of our people."
"But still you fight!"
"We feel like we don't have a choice. Look, we don't even know your name. This is Jake, Rachel, Marco. I'm Cassie. There's one more. His name is Tobias."