But we were only hurt. Not crippled.
We don't seem to be dead, just yet,"; I said to the Leeran-Controllers.
The Leeran-Controllers gaped with their big green eyes.
But ... but the haru-chin spears are deadly!"; one of the Leerans said. He sounded like he was pouting.
ationah. Maybe around here they're deadly,"; Prince Jake said. But we're from a much tougher neighborhood."; Think it's true what they say about frogs?"; Marco asked. Think it's true that they taste like chicken?";
We launched toward the Leeran-Controllers.
Sharks are very fast in short bursts. Too fast for the shocked Yeerks inside the Leerans to react.
They tried to turn their water jets around. They were still trying when they were hit by four frustrated, scared, angry people in shark morph.
Andalites understand about tail fighting. But there is something very intimate and intimately violent about attacking with a mouth. You have to get very close.
You smell and feel and touch your enemy.
We hit, mouths open. We hit, and in a flash the four Leeran-Controllers were off their water jets and trying to swim away.
They kicked their big hind legs, but they were too slow. Using their psychic powers, they could feel our anger. It must have been terrible for them.
It must have been terrifying.
I didn't care.
But then ... I was rocked by a powerful psychic vision. A vision that cried out in despair and agony and desperate hope.
One of the Leerans had managed to squeeze out this plea for help. The Yeerk in his head was busy trying to stay alive, and the real Leeran had seized the moment to send this vision.
The picture that appeared in my head was grizzly and awful. But I knew it was real.
Prince Jake! Bite their heads! Bite off the large lobe at the back!"; What?"; Cassie cried. They're beaten already. I'm not going to kill them."; I lunged for the nearest Leeran-Controller.
The Yeerk in his head knew what I was doing, but when he tried to jerk aside I slapped him with my tail, stunning him.
I opened my mouth, then bit down hard on the lobe at the back of his head.
But what was most shocking to see was the Yeerk itself. It was ripped from the Leeran's head. The Yeerk writhed, helpless in the seawater.
The Yeerks are positioned in their rear brain lobes,"; I said. Bite them off!"; It will kill the Leerans!"; Cassie said.
.ationo,"; a strange voice said. ..It will free us!"; It was four of us against the three remaining Leerans. It was short but brutal work. Four doomed Yeerks writhed, fatally out of place in the Leeran water.
.Thank you!"; the Leerans said. It wasn't normal thought-speak. It was deeper than that. Images, ideas that appeared in our minds that we then translated into words.
ally need medical help,"; Cassie said.
Maybe I could demorph and--"; ..ationo, we will be fine. We can regenerate most body parts. It will take some time and we will be weak, but there are caves nearby where we can rest and be safe. Thank you! Thank you!"; I've experienced some strange events. But four bright yellow Leerans with half their heads removed actually thanking us was definitely one of the strangest.
We need to reach the nearest Leeran city,"; Prince Jake said. Which way is it?"; ..It will be very difficult. In the last months the Yeerks have captured many of us and forced us to be Controllers. There are many like us between here and the City of Worms. You are powerful, but if even one Leeran-Controller encounters you and then escapes, your secret will be discovered."; So how do we get there?"; Prince Jake wondered aloud.
Morph the Leerans,"; I said.
.all yes!"; the Leerans cried. ..all yes, morph us. Take our water jets. As long as you stay away from other Leerans, you will be safe from psychic probing."; Cassie said, We don't like to--"; .all yes,"; a Leeran responded, reading her thoughts. ..ally do not like to morph sentient creatures. You respect our freedom. But we offer you this freely. We have read what is in the mind of Aximili the Andalite. We know what he suspects, and we know that even among the Andalites there are traitors. So, friends, carry our DNA and help to free our people from the Yeerks."; We rose to the surface. I demorphed. The humans demorphed. We lay there treading water, rising and falling on the gentle Leeran swells. The Leeran sun was still low on the horizon, coming up on another day. It turned the water golden around us.
I reached and pressed my hand against a Leeran's slimy yellow flesh.
..Where sky meets sea, Andalite, human, and Leeran are joined as allies,"; my Leeran said. ..Each with our weaknesses.
Each with our strengths."; It moved me somehow, as ludicrous as it might have looked to an outsider. Humans and an Andalite wallowing clumsily beside big, yellow "psychic frogs," as Marco called them.
Three species on a world conquered by the Yeerks.
We probably would have seemed pathetic to any Yeerk who happened to see us.
A fellow Andalite told me we were weak because we are not united. We do not speak with one voice,"; I said. But this union does not feel weak."; Free people who get together to defend freedom are never weak."; It was Marco who said that. Maybe you can see why, despite all their strangeness, I like humans. And I was starting to like Leerans.
We let the Leerans go their own way to their underwater caves to recover from their injuries.
And we began what might be the most bizarre morph any of us has ever done. The physical part was strange, but no more disturbing than any number of Earth creatures I've morphed. The powerful webbed feet in back, the four sinuous tentacles, the neckless head were almost ordinary compared to the body of a fly or a cockroach.
It was the new sense that was stunning: the psychic sense. It wasn't that I could read every thought in the heads of Prince Jake and Cassie and Marco.
But I could feel enough of their secrets to be embarrassed for them. And, of course, for myself.
Because my own secrets, my vain little ideas, my pretensions were all open to them as well.
I could see so clearly that Marco was hoping for some news of his mother, Visser One. He wondered if she was here on Leera, if she had survived our last encounter.
I could see and feel Prince Jake's crushing weight of responsibility. The way he kept running things through in his mind, over and over again. Trying to figure out what had happened to Tobias and Rachel. Desperate to find a way to protect the rest of us.
And I could feel Cassie's mind as she cried for Rachel and Tobias. As she wondered whether we were doing the right thing. As she dealt with the aftereffects of the violence we'd just endured.
Well,"; Marco said, obviously uncomfortable. I would just like you all to know that whatever thoughts of mine you're reading are totally made up. They aren't real."; Same here,"; Prince Jake said quickly.
Absolutely."; Hey,"; Cassie said, ^the are just morphs to us, right? Lots of times we have trouble controlling the brain of the morph. But we usually handle it. So maybe--"; Maybe since these are just morphs to us, maybe we can turn off the psychic thing!"; Marco said, clutching at the idea.