"They don't care what this guy sees when he gets here," Rachel said. "They don't care about convincing him. This poor man already has a Yeerk slug with his name on it."
"You wouldn't believe how fast those machines can rip through trees!" Tobias said, obviously shaken up. "They're cutting trees like a farmer cuts wheat. "
"And we have one of your hours to help this commissioner," Ax said. Then, he focused his two stalk eyes on the skunk burrow. "The small ones are right in the path of the loggers, if Tobias is correct."
I expected Marco to make some snide remark about how no one cared about the skunks at a time like this. But to my amazement he said, "Hey, no one messes with the skunks. Those skunks are under official Animorph protection." He winked at me and gave me a mocking clenched fist salute. "Save the skunks, Earth Sister!"
Marco is such a pain in the butt. But then, just when you think he's going to drive you crazy, he'll come through big time for you.
"Yeah, these are our skunks," Rachel said. "No one messes with our skunks."
"Excuse me? Hello?" Jake interrupted. "A plan? A plan, please?"
"Well ..." I began.
"What?" Jake asked me.
I shrugged. "If Farrand is the key, we need to grab the key. Right? Chances are they'll have to turn the force field off in order to get him into the camp. That's when we get him away from the Yeerks. No matter what it takes."
"Grab Farrand," Marco said. "Simple. Elegant. And yet, given the Yeerk power in that compound of theirs, completely suicidal. I'm surprised at you, Cassie. Usually Rachel's the one to come up with a totally suicidal plan."
"You have a better idea?" Jake asked Marco.
"We could go home and watch TV."
70 "I'll take that as a no." Jake rubbed his hands together. "Okay, then. We snatch this Farrand guy as soon as he shows up. In the meantime, we have to slow down those tree-cutting machines."
Rachel grinned. "Cool."
I felt sick.
71 Chapter Eighteen
There was only one way for a person to reach the Yeerk logging camp by car. They had to drive down the long, dirt road that the Yeerks had cut through the forest.
Jake wanted me to go with Tobias and see if we could spot Farrand coming in.
Jake made some quick decisions. He, Marco, Rachel, and Ax took off, leaving me with Tobias.
I looked up ruefully at Tobias. "You and me, I guess."
"I'm always glad to have you along," Tobias said.
I began to morph into an osprey. It was my bird of prey morph, and the only thing I had that could keep up with Tobias in the air. "Look, Tobias? This has been bothering me. And since .
. . you know ... I want to get this off my chest. I'm sorry I got mad at you over the skunk kit.
You were just doing what you had to do," I said.
I could feel my bones thinning and hollowing out. Gray feathers began to paint their patterns on my arms.
"I could live off food you guys brought me," Tobias said. "I don't have to hunt. "
"Okay, then why do you?" I asked, just before my mouth mutated into a beak.
"Because I'm not just a human. I'm also a hawk. Hawks hunt live prey. Would it be better if I let you do my killing for me? Is it more moral if I eat a frozen mouse you get from some supplier?"
"Look, Tobias, I know all about how nature works. I know about predators and prey. It's just.
. . it's just confusing. I mean, where does right and wrong come into it?" Snowy-white feathers were growing all down my front, replacing the fabric of my morphing suit. My feet were becoming pale gray talons.
"I don't know. I guess if I were running around killing animals I didn't intend to eat, that would be wrong. But hawks have a right to live, just as much as a mouse or a skunk." My human eyes were giving way to the incredibly amazing hawk vision. There was some color distortion because these eyes were adapted for seeing through water. The osprey eats fish. Nature designed them to see fish, even below the shimmering surface of a lake or river.
"Ready to fly?" Tobias asked.
I flapped my wings a couple of times.
"Let's g," I said, trying to sound like Rachel.
Tobias flapped his wings, caught a headwind, and suddenly shot almost straight up. I opened my wings and contracted the tireless flying muscles. Flap, flap, flap, and I also caught the breeze. I flapped to get above the trees, then a stronger breeze came up and I soared high.
72 It's like stepping on a very fast escalator. Zoom! I flapped hard, wanting the sensation of speed.
Tobias was ahead of me, and as I flew, I watched him. I watched the incredibly subtle movements of his wings. He almost seemed to be able to move individual feathers. For him, the wind was not invisible. It was a road, as clear as if it was blacktop.
As I followed him, I sensed the osprey brain beneath my own, adjusting and reacting to the wind. My eyes saw every small detail. They marked each animal, each hole where an animal might be hiding. I saw a bright stream, and saw the shadows of fish flitting through the rocks.
My osprey had been designed by nature for this-, flying high and finding prey. Just like Tobias. We flew up and up. The tops of trees were like some bumpy lawn beneath us. I could see all of the Yeerk logging camp. And I could see the massive yellow machines that were slicing through the trees like hot knives through butter. Already there was an ugly scar of stumps. A scar that spread like some terrible disease, eating the forest away.
Tobias veered right, toward the long, winding road through the trees. I banked my wings and went after him.
The stream joined a small river, rushing and bubbling alongside the road. Through the water, through the foam and bubbles, I saw the schools of fish darting. And I could feel the osprey's brain considering the situation. Measuring the distances. Calculating the angles. Planning the way it would skim low over the surface of the water, then lower its ripping talons at just the perfect moment to strike. To snatch a fish right out of the water.
I knew that Tobias was making the same calculations as he flew over mice and rats and rabbits . . . and skunks.
Tobias and I were two superb, beautiful killers, riding the wind, while our prey cowered beneath us.
But he was right. We had as much of a right to live as any of our prey. And we had been designed by millions of years of evolution to be predators.
"There," Tobias said. "A Jeep. "
I looked and saw the vehicle coming down the road. Then, with my amazingly acute hawk vision, I saw right through the windows, as though the glass were the surface of a stream.
"Three guys. One driving, and one beside him. There's one guy in the backseat, and he looks older. "
"Yep. And on the side of the Jeep it says Dapsen Lumber. My guess is the driver and the other guy are Controllers. The guy in the backseat is looking all around like he's very interested in what's going on. "
"They'll reach the camp in a few minutes. As soon as we see how this Farrand guy reacts, we'll know if he's already been made into a Controller," I said.
"How's that?"
73 "The Yeerks have gone ahead with logging," I explained. "If Farrand is still a true human, he'll be massively upset. If he's calm, he's already one of them. "
"Good point," Tobias said.