"By the way, thanks, Ax," I said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Marco added. "I was Spam back there. That tail blade of yours is something."
"I should have spotted the nets up in the treetops," Ax berated himself.
"I had detected the force field and I suspected there were Dracon beams in the upper windows. But the nets were so primitive I overlooked them. "
Ax, like all Andalites, has no spoken speech. Probably because they have no mouths.
Thought-speak is his natural language.
Up close he looks like a cross between a deer or a horse, and a human and a scorpion. Sort of like a mythical centaur. His upper body is like a boy's. He has weak-looking arms and a head with two movable stalks on top, kind of like antlers. Each stalk has an eye. The eyes are constantly looking left and right and back.
Andalites are very hard to sneak up on.
His body is covered in blue and tan fur, very short on his humanoid torso, a bit longer on his deerlike body. His four hooves are sharp and black.
But it's the tail that grabs your attention. It's long enough that he can whip it up over his head and hit someone standing in front of him. It ends in a curved blade.
"None of us saw the nets," Jake pointed out. "They must have been well-concealed."
"The point is, they were waiting for us," Marco said. "This is definitely a Yeerk operation. I don't think they really want to go into the lumberjack business, which means this whole thing is about getting us."
"Agreed," Rachel said tersely. "They think we're Andalites. They know we've been hurting them all around this area. They've decided we must be hiding in these woods."
"They're almost right," Jake pointed out. "Ax and Tobias both do live in the forest. And we do use the forest."
"You know, we're not the only thing going on here," I said.
25 They all looked puzzled.
I took a deep breath. "I mean, you know, this forest is important even if Tobias and Ax weren't here. It makes me sick to think of people chopping down all these trees."
"Oh, puh-leeze, not the Earth-Mother thing, okay?" Marco said. "I almost got myself fried by a Dracon beam. That wasn't to save Bambi, all right?"
"Look, Marco, we are not the only animals around. We, of all people, ought to understand that."
"Cassie, who cares? We're fighting to save the world from the Yeerks. Who cares about some ecology, tree-hugging, recycle-your-cans stuff?"
"I do," I said.
"Well, that's you," Marco said. "Personally, what I care about is the fact that a bunch of Yeerks have that, that fortress back there, and they're going to use it to tear up these woods looking for us."
I started to say something back, when Jake held up his hand. "It seems to me it doesn't matter whether we have slightly different ideas about why we care. I mean, either way, we want to stop this from going on. Right?"
He looked at Marco, then at me. I was annoyed with Jake right then. I mean, I understand that he has to consider everyone's ideas equally. But still, it was like he was agreeing with Marco that it didn't matter if the forest was wiped out, as long as we survived.
I turned to Rachel for support, but she found something to look at down on the ground. Oh, great,I thought. Even Rachel thinks I'm wrong.
"The important thing is we have to stop them," Tobias said.
"And how exactly do we do that?" Marco asked. "That place is the Fortress of Doom."
"Knock it down? Blow it up?" Rachel mused.
"Grab some of that heavy equipment they have and run it into the place?" Marco suggested.
"We don't have the benefit of surprise. They know we're coming. They know sooner or later we're gonna go after them."
"The heavy equipment would be useless," Ax said. "That building is surrounded by a force field. The equipment would not penetrate it. Neither would we. We would be stopped by the force field and then cut to pieces by the Dracon beams. "
Rachel's lips pressed into a thin line. "So we just give up? That's the plan? We let them go chopping through the woods till they find you, Ax, or Tobias?"
Ax didn't have an answer.
26 "You know, I wouldn't want to sound like some stupid ecology nut or anything," I said sarcastically. "But the question is: How did the Yeerks ever get permission to start logging in a national forest?"
"Why is that helpful?" Marco asked, even more sarcastically.
"Because sometimes, Marco, there are more subtle ways of doing things. The Yeerks don't control the entire government. Not yet, anyway. So they had to get legal permission. If they didn't have permission they'd have cops and federal agents and TV newspeople all over them.
They don't want that."
Marco looked like he had some smart reply to make. Then he said, "Oh."
Jake cocked an eyebrow at his best friend. "See, Marco, this is why Cassie is a nicer person than you. She could have said, "They don't want that, duh.""
Marco grinned, despite himself.
Jake winked at me, and I forgave him for acting like Marco was right before. "What do you think we should do?"
I shrugged. I hate having to think of things that might end up getting people hurt or killed. "I guess ... I mean, okay, urn ... Okay, look, the Yeerks must have gotten to someone. They must have one of their Controllers in some kind of high position. We need to find out who."
"And how do we do that?" Tobias asked.
"I guess ..." I looked at Jake for help. I knew the answer. I just didn't want to say it. See, when we make plans, we tend to end up in terrible danger later on.
"We have to get inside that building," Jake said for me.
I nodded. The least I could do was agree.
Rachel shook her head. "I don't know any animal big enough to force a way inside that place.
"
"Not big," I said. "Small. Very small."
27 Chapter Seven
Where have you been?" my dad asked me when I finally got back home later that evening.
He was in the kitchen, searching the refrigerator.
It kind of took me by surprise. My parents don't usually ask me a lot of questions. Mostly they trust me. And it used to be they could trust me. I don't think I'd lied to my parents before becoming an Animorph. Now it's like I'm lying all the time. It's a rotten feeling.
"Oh . . . um, I was just out walking," I said. "Why? Did you need me for something?"
"Oh, yes," my dad said. He was sounding way too solemn, so I knew he wasn't actually serious. That's the way he is. I guess he has a dry sense of humor. That's what Jake says, anyway. He thinks my dad is the funniest man on the planet.
"What is it?"
"Just got a call from the highway patrol. They said this . . . this certain animal ... is out by the side of the highway, where it cuts through the forest. They say this certain animal seems to have a bad burn."
I didn't like the way he kept saying "certain animal."
"We have to drive out and get it," my dad said. Then he grinned. "Actually, I'll drive. You have to get it."
I groaned. There was only one animal in all the world my dad was afraid of. He handled foxes and wolves and even bears. But he would not handle this "certain animal."
"Are you telling me it's a skunk?" I asked.