We were cruising through a series of tables piled with sweaters at Express. Rachel was looking for a particular shade of green that probably didn't exist.
"What do you think we're going to do?" I asked her.
She looked up from fondling a sweater. "What? Oh. I guess we'll probably go in. If we can find a way."
"That's what I was wondering. What way? How do we get inside that place? I mean, I know we're thinking insect morph. But if anyone is planning on doing ants again, I'll tell you right now, I'm not doing it."
Rachel gave a little shudder. "I'm sure no one wants to do ants again."
We'd had some really bad experiences morphing. But morphing ants was the worst. We ended up being the wrong species and tribe of ants in the middle of enemy ant territory.
You would not believe the nightmares that came out of that one. The tunnels pressing in all around, and then hundreds of vicious ant soldiers exploded all around us, attacking, attacking ...
32 "No ants," I said. I looked at Rachel, trying to catch her eye. "Right?"
Rachel shrugged. Then she glanced at her watch. "It's time. Ax is coming with them, so let's not keep them waiting."
"Ax? Uh-oh."
Jake, Marco, and a strikingly handsome boy were all sitting in the food court. They seemed to be arguing loudly about who had won some video game in the arcade.
"Hey! Rachel!" Marco called out as we passed by. "What are you guys doing here?"
I really didn't like this kind of acting. It seemed silly to me. But it had to look like an accident that we all ended up together in the same place at the same time.
"We're shopping," I muttered. "You know how I love shopping."
"Why don't you guys hang out with us. Have some of our nachos," Jake said, smiling brightly.
I looked at the paper plate of nachos. They were completely gone. There was nothing left but a paper plate with a slight orange stain from the cheese. There was a matching orange stain on the chin of the very handsome boy between Marco and Jake.
Jake saw what I was looking at and rolled his eyes. "At least he didn't eat the plate this time."
"Hello," Ax said to me. "I am Jake's cousin, Phillip. Jake's cousin. Scousin.
Scuzzin. I am from out of town."
I couldn't help but laugh. Ax had long ago created a human morph out of DNA he'd acquired from the four of us. He was a weird blending of each of us. He was male, but sort of pretty in a weird way.
He looked like a human. He basically was a human. But he still had a lot of problems adjusting to the human morph. For one thing, since Andalites have no mouth, he found his human mouth utterly fascinating. He couldn't help but play with the sounds of words.
And the boy was dangerous around food.
"Were the nachos good?" I asked him.
"They tasted of grease and salt. Plus, there was another flavor that reminds me of some delicious engine oil I tried once. Oil. Oil-luh."
"Engine oil?" Jake asked. "Ax ... I mean, Phillip . . . You know how I mentioned you can't eat cigarette butts or dryer lint? Add engine oil to the list."
Ax nodded. "Yes. There are many rules for eating."
33 Marco pushed out a chair for me to sit in. "Okay, if we're done with the little side trip into the bizarre-o zone, let's deal with business."
"Tobias came by this morning," Jake said, keeping his voice low. "He watched the place from high up. He thinks the Controllers at the site have little transponders on their belts that let them pass through the force field."
"So we just have to grab a transponder," Rachel said.
"No," Ax said. "The transponder would be keyed to the biochemical signature of the wearer.
The Yeerks are not as -"
"Don't say that word," Jake hissed.
I saw Marco's eyes dart quickly, looking to see if anyone was close enough to have overheard.
"Sorry. Ree. Saw-ree," Ax said. "Rachel's plan would not work."
Jake sighed. "Tobias also saw something else. Inside the force field. There are tiny holes in the wood foundation of the building. He thinks it's termites at work."
"Termites?" I asked.
Jake nodded. "Yep."
I swallowed. "Jake, termites are awfully close to being ants."
"They aren't as vicious," Jake said. "I looked up some information on the Internet. Besides, if we make sure we morph a termite from that very colony, we'd fit right in."
I was having trouble breathing. I noticed Marco's face turning gray. Even Ax looked grim.
"You're not serious, right?" I asked Jake. "I mean, termites? Termites?"
I probably sounded slightly hysterical. I know I felt slightly hysterical.
"I don't know how else to do it," Jake said. He was looking down at the table and biting his lip. "Cassie, you were right when you said the real question is how these guys got permission to start logging. That's their weakness. We have to know how they pulled this off. To know that we have to get inside that building."
"Through termite tunnels?" Marco asked. "Look, how do we even get a termite to acquire?
They're all inside that force field, right?"
I wanted that to be the truth. But when I looked at Jake, he just shook his head a little.
34 "Tobias says they were working on the building a little today. Putting in extra Dracon beams.
They had to cut away some of the logs."
Jake reached into the pocket of his jacket. He pulled out a small, glass vial. The top had tiny holes in it to let air through.
Inside the vial was a tiny, tan-and-white bug. It was about the size of an ant. It had an enlarged brown head.
"Same colony," Jake said. "From the same building."
I stared at the termite. It tried to climb up the side of the glass, but it slipped back down.
It was helpless. It was trapped in what must have seemed like a huge glass cell held by a creature so gigantic that the termite could never even begin to imagine it.
Jake took the top off the vial.
"We don't do this unless everyone agrees," he said. "But we can't let the ... them . . . start tearing through the forest."
Rachel held out her hand. Jake tapped the vial till the insect landed in her palm.
I saw it crawl across Rachel's lifeline. And I saw it become still, as Rachel acquired the termite DNA.
I imagined being that termite. Crawling across the gigantic hand. Thinking every crease in Rachel's palm was as deep as a ditch.
When Rachel was done, I held out my own hand. It was shaking. It was shaking and I couldn't stop it from shaking.
The brightly lit mall food court suddenly seemed dark.
Lord, that tiny insect scared me.
Deep down inside, it truly scared me.
35 Chapter Nine
We decided would go that night. That very night.
We were supposed to use the afternoon to deal with chores and family stuff and homework.
Try it sometime. Try doing homework when you think you may be going to your doom in a few hours. Try concentrating on math when you're thinking you have to turn into a termite and sneak into a heavily defended building.
Good luck.
I went out to the barn. My dad was out there, making his rounds. He didn't need my help, but he didn't say no, either.
"Did you finish your homework?"