Everyone was there in Cassie's barn. Jake looked sleepy but interested. Cassie was using the time to check on some of the sick animals. Ax just stood to one side, waiting to see what Jake told him to do. Tobias perched on an over head beam, tired from having flown too much.
We were lit by a single small bulb that never even touched the shadows in the corners of the barn. We didn't want to take the chance that Cassie's parents might notice a light on and come to investigate.
"Yes," I answered Marco, "I'll tell you why you're here. I know where the Kandrona is. I know where it is."
That got his attention. But he was still skeptical. "What makes you think you know where the Kandrona is?"
"The Ellimist. He showed us. We all thought it was unfair when he appeared in the Yeerk pool and asked us to decide when we were about to be eaten, right?"
"I told you, Ellimists care nothing about fairness," Ax said.
"No. You're wrong, Ax. At least this time. The Ellimist appeared when we were about to be swallowed by the Taxxon. But then he showed us the dropshaft."
"We saw the dropshaft because it was there," Jake argued. "It wasn't about him showing it to us."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "He waited till we had walked out of the Yeerk lunchroom to appear. He waited till we were standing where we were sure to notice the dropshaft."
I saw Jake raise an eyebrow thoughtfully. He and Marco exchanged a look.
"What if we're wrong about the Ellimist being unfair? What if Cassie's instinct is right - that he is telling the truth? That he's trying to do what's right? He tells us that in the future we lose the fight. That the human race is enslaved. That he has a way to save a small number of us by taking us to a safe place. And it's all true."
"If he's telling us the truth, that we lose in the future, what's this all about?" Marco asked.
"We've seen that future. Nothing we do will matter."
I shook my head. "No. It will matter. If it didn't matter how we decided, why even bother to ask us what we wanted to do? See? It does matter what we do."
"Yes," Marco said. "But the answer is obvious. We can only change the future by agreeing to the Ellimist's plan to take us to a safe planet."
75 "Yes, that's one way. He offered us that. But when we finally accepted, he didn't act. He didn't take us instantly away. Why? Why, after we agreed, did he leave us here?"
"Because he wanted a different answer," Cassie said, nodding at me and giving me a wink.
"That's what's been eating at me."
"What different answer?" Marco asked.
"He's in a trap," Cassie said. "The Ellimist is trapped. He wants to save Earth. But he can't interfere directly. Supposedly all he's allowed to do is offer to save a small number of us. But he knows that won't save Earth. It will save a few humans, yes, but when he showed us visions of Earth, he wasn't talking just about humans. He said Earth was a work of art. He wants to find a way to save it."
"Without interfering directly," I agreed. "But what if we just happened to see another way?
What if the Ellimist showed us the future, trying to convince us to let him take us away, and we just happened to see a way out?"
"What way out?" Jake demanded.
"The Kandrona. He let us see where the Kandrona is," I said. "That Yeerk pool downtown, that's the key. Why build a Yeerk pool downtown? Why level so many buildings to make room for it? Why leave the EGS Tower still standing? And why is there a glass dome on the top floors of the EGS? Ax is the one who said it - the Yeerk pool is the center of their lives.
That Yeerk pool? I think it's a shrine. Almost a holy place to them. It's where they located the first Kandrona to be placed on planet Earth."
Jake snapped his fingers, "The EGS Tower!" "That's what's under that dome on the top floors. The Kandrona. That's what the Ellimist wanted us to see. Just the way he let us see the dropshaft we used to escape. He wasn't interfering ... technically. The choice is still ours."
Marco laughed out loud. "You mean maybe the Ellimist is bending his own rules? So he can say 'hey, I didn't interfere," but at the same time he's putting us where we can figure it out? I can't believe it! The Ellimist is a weasel! He found a loophole! I think I like that guy."
"But even if you're right about the Kandrona, Rachel," Jake argued, "what does it prove? If we destroy it, are we sure it will change the future?"
Cassie looked at me and smiled. "Maybe yes, maybe no," she said. "But things are connected in millions of ways. They say a single butterfly, beating its wings in China, can start a tornado in America."
"Yes." Tobias said, "but how does the butterfly know when to beat its wings?"
"It doesn't," I said. "I guess it beats its wings the best it can, and hopes it will all work out. It's a butterfly. It just does what butterflies do."
"And what do we do, Xena, Warrior Princess?" Marco asked mockingly, knowing the answer I would give.
"We kick Yeerk butt," I said with a grin.
76 77 CHAPTER 20
At five-ten in the morning, the EGS Tower's windows were almost all dark. From the deeply shadowed plaza in front of the building, we could see a sleepy, uniformed guard inside the lobby.
"There are dozens of businesses and law firms and stuff in this building," Jake warned. "Most of them are probably just normal people.
Fortunately, at this time of day, almost no one will be here. But the guard is probably just a normal guy."
"How do we deal with him without hurting him?" Cassie asked.
Suddenly Tobias swooped down out of a dark sky. "I can't see anything useful through the windows up there." he said. "Too bad that glass dome is still in the future. But I can tell you one thing. Something up there is giving off some heat. I'm getting a beautiful updraft from the building itself. "
"Let's do this, already," I grumbled. I started morphing into the bear.
"Okay, but take it easy on any innocent bystanders," Jake said. "Tobias? I know you're wearing out, but stay up and keep an eye out while we morph."
"No prob, Jake. " He flapped his wings and slowly gained altitude.
"These doors will be locked," Cassie pointed out.
"Not for long," I said.
Ax was already demorphing, coming out of his human body and resuming his Andalite shape.
Jake's eyes were glittering, his body was lengthening, and striped orange-and-black fur was spreading like a wave over his skin.
Cassie was already on all fours. Rough gray fur grew thickly around her shoulders. Her mouth bulged out further and further to form a wolf's muzzle.
"Hey! A guy's coming up behind you." Tobias called down. "I think he's drunk. He's carrying a bottle. If it were daytime, I could read the label. He's definitely staggering. "
"Keep morphing." Jake said quickly. "Cassie? See if you can get rid of him. " Cassie trotted off, already fully morphed. And a second later we heard, "Grrrrrr, grrrrrr, grrrOVVWWRR!" followed by "Whoa! No way!" and the sound of a crashing bottle and running feet.
Cassie returned just as we were finishing our morphs.
"He decided to go in a different direction." Cassie reported.
"Okay, so let's go in." I said. I was fully the grizzly now, and feeling invulnerable.