human shape. Treading water with the others, unable to escape. Expecting only the worst. Praying that I might find a way to make their end swift. As Visser Three had offered to make mine.
We had lost. The Yeerks had won, finally. And when we were gone, the last hope of the human race would die.
Above me the Blade ship waited like … like a hawk watching a rabbit. Ready to swoop down and finish me.
Only I wasn’t a rabbit.
Visser Three was a predator? Well, so was I.
And I no longer had anything to be afraid of. If my friends were to die in the mother ship, I would be lost and alone in a world where I belonged nowhere.
I had nothing more to lose.
Just then I saw something that should have terrified me. Across the metal plain of the ship they crawled and slithered toward me. All around me. A dozen of them. Giant worms. Centipedes with a hunger for living flesh.
Taxxons.
They had come from the inside of the ship on Visser Three’s orders.
If I stayed put, they would catch me. If I flew, the hovering Yeerk ships would fry me.
The Taxxons closed the circle around me.
Visser Three said in my head. He laughed. It was not a nice laugh.
Ah, Visser Three, you ruthless predator
, I thought.
Very clever. You have me trapped. Trapped like a rabbit.
But a trapped rabbit is one thing. And a trapped hawk, a hawk with the mind of a human being, is a whole different matter.
The nearest Taxxon leveled a handheld Dracon beam at me. He watched me with two of the circle of red globs they have for eyes.
I pushed off with my feet. I beat the air with my wings.
I flew straight for those red Jell-O eyes.
He raised one of his feeble forearms to shield his eyes. The wrong move! I trimmed a shade right, raked my talons forward, and struck like I was hitting a mouse in a field.
My talons closed around the Dracon beam. The Taxxon’s weak grip was no match for my speed. The Dracon beam tore loose from his grip.
Visser Three cried. I could practically see the Blade ship rock from the force of his rage.
But I did not take to the air. I flew fast but hugged the surface of the ship’s metal curve. They could not hit me without hitting their precious ship.
I knew just where I wanted to go. Wingtips actually hitting the ship on each downstroke, I raced toward the ship’s bridge. Toward the tiny windows where I had seen the Taxxon crew.
I could not save my friends, perhaps. But I could try to grant Rachel’s last wish. I could try to bring this ship down.
Even if it meant the end of my friends.
CHAPTER 25
T ake off! Move!< Visser Three commanded the crew of the truck ship.
Almost immediately, the huge thing began to move forward. Very slowly at first. But as it moved, it created a headwind. The bridge was moving away from me. The ship was rising as it went. A hundred feet up now. Two hundred!
Right then I had a powerful urge to shock the evil monster and say,
But I wasn’t ready to start bragging. The truthwas, it was looking bad. The ship was slowly picking up speed.
I flapped harder, harder. I gained again. But it was painfully slow. I was wearing out. The Dracon beam weighed me down. The headwind was building.
Ahead of me, just a few feet away, I saw the bulge of the bridge.
I gained a foot. Another. Another.
I landed and folded my wings. I couldn’t fly anymore. But I could still pull myself along with my talons, gripping the small edges and ridges that ran along the top of the ship’s bridge.
I was there! Below me, transparent plastic. I could see the crew on the bridge. Taxxons stared wildly up at me.
With one desperate lunge I propelled myself into the air. I had to fly full force to stay ahead of the onrushing windows of the bridge.
Then, with one sharp talon, I pulled the trigger on the Dracon beam.
There was no recoil. Not like a regular
We had lost. The Yeerks had won, finally. And when we were gone, the last hope of the human race would die.
Above me the Blade ship waited like … like a hawk watching a rabbit. Ready to swoop down and finish me.
Only I wasn’t a rabbit.
Visser Three was a predator? Well, so was I.
And I no longer had anything to be afraid of. If my friends were to die in the mother ship, I would be lost and alone in a world where I belonged nowhere.
I had nothing more to lose.
Just then I saw something that should have terrified me. Across the metal plain of the ship they crawled and slithered toward me. All around me. A dozen of them. Giant worms. Centipedes with a hunger for living flesh.
Taxxons.
They had come from the inside of the ship on Visser Three’s orders.
If I stayed put, they would catch me. If I flew, the hovering Yeerk ships would fry me.
The Taxxons closed the circle around me.
Ah, Visser Three, you ruthless predator
, I thought.
Very clever. You have me trapped. Trapped like a rabbit.
But a trapped rabbit is one thing. And a trapped hawk, a hawk with the mind of a human being, is a whole different matter.
The nearest Taxxon leveled a handheld Dracon beam at me. He watched me with two of the circle of red globs they have for eyes.
I pushed off with my feet. I beat the air with my wings.
I flew straight for those red Jell-O eyes.
He raised one of his feeble forearms to shield his eyes. The wrong move! I trimmed a shade right, raked my talons forward, and struck like I was hitting a mouse in a field.
My talons closed around the Dracon beam. The Taxxon’s weak grip was no match for my speed. The Dracon beam tore loose from his grip.
But I did not take to the air. I flew fast but hugged the surface of the ship’s metal curve. They could not hit me without hitting their precious ship.
I knew just where I wanted to go. Wingtips actually hitting the ship on each downstroke, I raced toward the ship’s bridge. Toward the tiny windows where I had seen the Taxxon crew.
I could not save my friends, perhaps. But I could try to grant Rachel’s last wish. I could try to bring this ship down.
Even if it meant the end of my friends.
CHAPTER 25
T ake off! Move!< Visser Three commanded the crew of the truck ship.
Almost immediately, the huge thing began to move forward. Very slowly at first. But as it moved, it created a headwind. The bridge was moving away from me. The ship was rising as it went. A hundred feet up now. Two hundred!
Right then I had a powerful urge to shock the evil monster and say,
But I wasn’t ready to start bragging. The truthwas, it was looking bad. The ship was slowly picking up speed.
I flapped harder, harder. I gained again. But it was painfully slow. I was wearing out. The Dracon beam weighed me down. The headwind was building.
Ahead of me, just a few feet away, I saw the bulge of the bridge.
I gained a foot. Another. Another.
I landed and folded my wings. I couldn’t fly anymore. But I could still pull myself along with my talons, gripping the small edges and ridges that ran along the top of the ship’s bridge.
I was there! Below me, transparent plastic. I could see the crew on the bridge. Taxxons stared wildly up at me.
With one desperate lunge I propelled myself into the air. I had to fly full force to stay ahead of the onrushing windows of the bridge.
Then, with one sharp talon, I pulled the trigger on the Dracon beam.
There was no recoil. Not like a regular
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