speech and understands simple thought-speak commands,> Axinstructed. Then added,
ships.>
Cassie yelled.
I said. I took a look down the dropshaft and jumped off into empty space.
You know, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was just a few minutes from being trapped forever in a morph, and if there weren’t a dozen or so walking SaladShooters after me, it would have been fun.
I fell, but not too fast.
I thought as floors zipped past me.
Twelve levels down, I plummeted past a Human-Controller who was getting ready to step into the dropshaft. He had a very human look of total amazement on his face. Possibly because while standing there, he’d seen a flying elephant, followed by a gorilla, a wolf, an Andalite, and a tiger.
Tobias warned.
I looked up the shaft. A big Hork-Bajir warrior was gaining on us. But there was nothing I could do until he reached us.
Tobias said. He flared his wings, flapped hard, and was shooting back up the dropshaft toward the falling Hork-Bajir.
“Tseeeeer!”
Tobias’s talons came forward, outstretched, and slashed the alien’s eyes.
“Ghaahharrr!”
The Hork-Bajir clutched at his face. I guess he was too distracted to think about what floor he was heading to. He shot past us as we slowed to step onto the fifteenth level.
Hard floor under my feet again! A very good feeling.
I reminded her.
she said.
She was shrinking even as she lumbered along.
Ax cried.
They were only a dozen feet from us. A few seconds more and we would make it.
Rachel stumbled. She was half-human, half-elephant. A nightmare of pink and gray, with huge ears and human hair and fat arms and legs that had no feet.
I reached down and swept her up with my powerful arms. She was still large, maybe three hundred pounds. But not too much for me to carry.
We reached the door of the escape pod.
It closed behind us as we wedged our oversized bodies inside. Jake yelled.
There was a surge as the escape pod ejected from the underside of the Yeerk ship.
My dense black fur was already starting to disappear by the time the pod rotated. I could see Earth below.
Earth.
And as the tiny ship turned, I could see the Yeerk mother ship.
It was kind of a joke now, I thought. The Yeerk mother ship. My mother on the Yeerk mother ship. Hah hah.
Before I became fully human again, before I lost the ability to thought-speak and had to return to words spoken out loud, I said,
he said.
Someday, somehow, in some way that I could not foresee, we would win thisbattle. Humans and Andalites together would defeat the Yeerks. And we would free all of their slaves.
All of them.
I whispered again.
Jake said.
CHAPTER 24
I guess there’s no such thing as a nice graveyard. But the place where my mom is remembered is as nice as it can be.
The grass is green. There’s a tree nearby. It’s always very quiet. You can smell flowers.
I hate going there.
My dad stood for a long time, looking down at the white marble headstone. It has my mom’s name. The day she was born, the day she died. And a message that says, “No wife, no mother, was ever more loved. Or more deeply missed.”
My dad and I stood a few feet apart. We didn’t say anything. We both just kind of cried.
You probably wouldn’t think I was the kind of guy who would cry. Mostly I don’t. Mostly I make jokes about things. It’s better
ships.>
You know, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was just a few minutes from being trapped forever in a morph, and if there weren’t a dozen or so walking SaladShooters after me, it would have been fun.
I fell, but not too fast.
Twelve levels down, I plummeted past a Human-Controller who was getting ready to step into the dropshaft. He had a very human look of total amazement on his face. Possibly because while standing there, he’d seen a flying elephant, followed by a gorilla, a wolf, an Andalite, and a tiger.
I looked up the shaft. A big Hork-Bajir warrior was gaining on us. But there was nothing I could do until he reached us.
“Tseeeeer!”
Tobias’s talons came forward, outstretched, and slashed the alien’s eyes.
“Ghaahharrr!”
The Hork-Bajir clutched at his face. I guess he was too distracted to think about what floor he was heading to. He shot past us as we slowed to step onto the fifteenth level.
Hard floor under my feet again! A very good feeling.
She was shrinking even as she lumbered along.
They were only a dozen feet from us. A few seconds more and we would make it.
Rachel stumbled. She was half-human, half-elephant. A nightmare of pink and gray, with huge ears and human hair and fat arms and legs that had no feet.
I reached down and swept her up with my powerful arms. She was still large, maybe three hundred pounds. But not too much for me to carry.
We reached the door of the escape pod.
It closed behind us as we wedged our oversized bodies inside.
There was a surge as the escape pod ejected from the underside of the Yeerk ship.
My dense black fur was already starting to disappear by the time the pod rotated. I could see Earth below.
Earth.
And as the tiny ship turned, I could see the Yeerk mother ship.
It was kind of a joke now, I thought. The Yeerk mother ship. My mother on the Yeerk mother ship. Hah hah.
Before I became fully human again, before I lost the ability to thought-speak and had to return to words spoken out loud, I said,
All of them.
CHAPTER 24
I guess there’s no such thing as a nice graveyard. But the place where my mom is remembered is as nice as it can be.
The grass is green. There’s a tree nearby. It’s always very quiet. You can smell flowers.
I hate going there.
My dad stood for a long time, looking down at the white marble headstone. It has my mom’s name. The day she was born, the day she died. And a message that says, “No wife, no mother, was ever more loved. Or more deeply missed.”
My dad and I stood a few feet apart. We didn’t say anything. We both just kind of cried.
You probably wouldn’t think I was the kind of guy who would cry. Mostly I don’t. Mostly I make jokes about things. It’s better
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