And no wonder. The wall was lined with casket vaults. Empty now, but still redolent with the hideous odor of death.
I picked up my hooves, careful to make no sound as I made my way toward the source of the faint noises.
The smells of death receded and were replaced by the smell of decontaminant. I stopped outside a door. Yes, she was in there.
I slid the door open manually to minimize noise.
Estrid stood at a lab table, pouring the contents of one plex vial into another. She dropped the first vial into a steaming container of decontaminant and carefully began to place a cap on the second vial.
She saw me. Jerked in surprise. The vial slipped from her hand.
<NO!>
Her terror galvanized me. I dove forward, my back legs skidding on the floor. I fell heavily but reached out my hands and caught the vial.
Estrid groaned and her knees buckled. She sank down. Held a trembling hand out to me. <Give it to me.> Her voice shook. <Please. Carefully.>
<What is it, Estrid?>
Her expression hardened. <That is not your concern.>
I rolled to my feet, still holding the vial.
<Careful!> she cried, scrambling up herself.
I began to open the vial.
<NO!> She lurched forward.
I held it out of reach. <I have grown very tired of being lied to,> I said. <I want the truth.>
<Go ask Arbat.>
<I am asking you.>
<I cannot answer.>
<Ah, but you can,> I said. I held the vial gingerly and twisted open the cap.
<No! You idiot!>
<Question number one: You are not an aristh. Are you?>
Her eyes flickered. <No,> she said after a long pause.
<Yes and no,> she amended. <I was made an honorary aristh for this mission. But I have never attended the academy.>
I am ashamed to say that my first feeling was one of embarrassment. That a female, one that had never even attended the academy, had very nearly beaten me in one-on-one combat. <If you did not attend the academy, where did you learn your tail fighting?>
<I have a brother,> she explained.
My embarrassment was not alleviated. <I, too, had a brother with whom I tail fought. But it took years of academy training for him to achieve your level of skill.>
<My brother is Ajaht-Litsom-Esth,> she said.
Ajaht-Litsom-Esth! I could not help laughing. Ajaht-Litsom-Esth is the highest-scoring exhibition tail fighter on the Andalite planet.
<And are you also Arbat’s niece?>
<No. His student. At the University of Advanced Scientific Theory.>
I was astounded. <But you are …>
<Young. Yes. I am a prodigy. A genius. I do not mean to sound immodest, but it is true. It has not been easy,> she said softly. <At the university, they treated me as a joke when I arrived. A young female! So, of course, they forced me into sub-particle fusion.>
The eyes on her face flashed with anger. <I was so intellectually frustrated, I wanted to die. Then I met Arbat.>
Now her eyes shone. <He saw past my youth and my gender. He saw what I could do if I had the freedom and the tools. His influence changed everything. I received my own lab. Permission to follow my own area of interest.>
<Plintconarhythmic physics?>
She nodded.
<Theoretical or applied?>
<Applied.>
<Yes, of course.> Slowly. Carefully. I placed the vial on the counter. <What is it?> I asked, almost certain that I would rather not know.
<A prion virus, of sorts. I would explain, but you …>
<No. I would not understand,> I admitted.
<I discovered it. By accident, really. When I confided in Arbat, he sealed off my lab to the rest of the faculty and my research was classified as Apex Level Weapons Intelligences.>
<It is a weapon?>
She nodded. <Three benign particles. In combination, they form a quasi-virus. A programmable virus. Deadly to Yeerks.>
I shivered with revulsion. Germ warfare.
Her eye stalks drooped. <There is one problem,> she continued. <One of the components is subject to … to simplify, it has a volatility that could cause it to mutate in a Yeerk with a human host.>
<Meaning?>
<Meaning it could become deadly to humans also.>
Now it was all clear. Crystal clear.
Gonrod and Aloth were dupes. This mission was about Arbat and Estrid. Gonrod was an expendable pilot. Aloth? A thug.
The War Council sent them to Earth with the understanding that their mission was to assassinate Visser Three.
The reality was that Estrid and Arbat were here on a genocidal errand for which no one on the War Council was willing to take official responsibility. Not after the disaster on the Hork-Bajir planet.
In fact, the War Council might know nothing of this mission at all. Was Arbat a renegade?
No wonder Arbat had not wanted Visser Three assassinated. Had Aloth successfully killed him, Gonrod would have been forced to report “mission accomplished” over the secure communication channels.
Even if Arbat could have kept Gonrod from reporting back, the news of Visser Three’s death would have traveled swiftly enough.
A War Council that either needed to deny, or did not even know of a mission to Earth, would have found an announcement of success a bit of an embarrassment.
Then the deeper truth struck me. <It was about me. You needed me. Only I could give you the location of the Yeerk pool. It is too well shielded from your sensors. You needed me.>
Estrid met my gaze. If she was ashamed she hid it well.
<Your appearance at the newspaper was no accident. You needed to encounter me. And the attack on the Community Center? Necessary to show me that the only remaining alternative was the Yeerk pool — the best place to introduce the virus. You used me.>
<Visser Three murdered your brother. We knew you would have no alternative but to help us kill him.>
I wanted to deny it. Wanted her to deny it. An immoral, illegal, despicable mission, and I was a necessary part of it all. I was a pawn in a terrifying replay of the crimes on the Hork-Bajir world.
Alloran, the Andalite who later became the host body of Visser Three, had directed the use of biologicals to exterminate the Hork-Bajir.
Better dead than hosts and weapons of the Yeerks.
How many Hork-Bajir had died, no one knew. Enough survived to supply shock troops to the Yeerks.
It was a crime that seared the conscience of all Andalites. It was an evil so profound that we would never be free of its taint.
And now, again? Again?
<You cannot do this,> I told Estrid.
<Why not?> She lifted her chin. <I am working to eliminate the instability. But even if it does prove fatal to humans as well as Yeerks, our aims are achieved. The Yeerks will never be able to use this planet as a host colony. The humans will not die in vain. The Yeerk scourge will stop here. They will not succeed in enslaving one more race.>
<Your logic is indisputable. Yet, if the price of freedom is the loss of an entire sentient species, then perhaps the price is too high.>
<The universe is a vast place, Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthill. We cannot afford to be sentimental about one species. There is too much at stake.
<Aximili, if you only understood the elegance of the equations. If you could grasp the mathematical beauty…. We are on the verge of deploying a weapon that, once it is perfected, will make us invulnerable! We will have absolute power throughout the galaxy! We can destroy the Yeerks. But not only the Yeerks. We can stop all wars, all destruction, annihilate all enemies of decency and goodness before they can carry out their evil!>
<Estrid, if you are prepared to kill everyone, anyone that opposes you,> I asked her, <how are you different from the Yeerks?>
<We are Andalites!>
<Estrid, you cannot do this.>
<Yes, she can,> said a voice in the doorway. <And she will.>
&nbs
p; Arbat stood in the doorway, holding a shredder on us.
<I have relieved Gonrod of command,> Arbat answered. <He is confined to his quarters.>
I said, <Arbat, have you told Estrid that her name, her presence here on this ship, her very existence, has already been wiped from the data banks?>
That caught Arbat by surprise. <How —> But he caught himself quickly. <A security precaution.>
<No. Preparation for a suicide mission.> I turned my face to Estrid. <You may imagine that this terrible deed is approved of by the people. But it is not. The Andalite people would arrest you and charge you as a criminal. That is why the people will never be told. It is why only the dregs of the Andalite military — Aloth and Gonrod — could be used.>
<You have said enough, Aristh,> Arbat snarled.
<They needed you, Estrid. They needed a person of your genius to manage the “weapon.” But you, like Aloth and Gonrod, will never survive. Arbat cannot allow it. Only he can survive. The Apex Level Intelligence agent who passed himself off as a professor. Why? To find someone like you, Estrid.>
Estrid focused her main eyes on Arbat. <Is it true what Aximili says?> she asked.
Arbat glared at us both, but then his face softened when he looked at Estrid. <Yes. I am truly sorry. I have deceived you. If it is any comfort, it was to protect you.>
<Protect me? From what? You brought me here to die.>
<To protect you from history’s judgment,> he said, his voice thick with emotion. <The people must be led by the few who are willing to make the very hard choices. The people are happy in their ignorance. But we in the Apex Level cannot allow ourselves to be sentimental.>
He pressed a button. A control panel slid from the wall. Arbat quickly programmed it.
Bright green streaks shot from floor to ceiling, creating bars. A laser cage around the two of us.
Arbat took the vial from the counter. <I am sorry. You will die, Estrid. But not in vain.>
<Arbat! It is not too late. Do not do it,> I begged.
To my surprise his old, world-weary eyes shone with emotion. <This war must end, Aristh. It has caused too much suffering. Too much killing. Think of all the bright young scientists, artists, and thinkers conscripted year after year to feed this war. So many brilliant and creative minds turned from decent pursuits to the job of killing. Good Andalites all. Good Andalites forced to make hard, cruel decisions.>
I would have liked to tail-whip him. None of this was about the Yeerks, the humans, or even the Andalites. It was about what he saw as his duty. His right. The self-pity of the murderer.
<This is not the way to end it,> I told him.
He shook his head. <That is not for you to decide. The strong must decide. The weak can only obey.>
Arbat turned and galloped from the lab.
Estrid tried to follow.
ZZZZZZZ!
The green laser bars erupted in a shower of sparks when Estrid made contact. She was knocked to the floor.
I leaned down. <Estrid!>
<I am fine.>
I helped her to her feet.
<I am sorry, Aximili.>
<It is not your fault.>
<It is. I betrayed you. And your human friends. I have been a fool. A criminal fool. Arbat convinced me that humans were not worth the loss of more galactic life. Unwilling to carry their weight in the fight for freedom. Eager to give up.>
She took my hands. <I did not tell Arbat about your friends. But I did not have to. He was in the barn, too. In a bird morph.>
<Yes, I know,> I answered.
Her stalk eyes whipped around in amazement. <You knew?>
I nodded. <We all knew. Or at least, suspected.>
Marco walked calmly into view. “Hey, Ax-man. You’re looking slightly trapped.”
<Where are the others?>
Marco made a sweeping gesture encompassing the lab. “We’re here. The place is crawling with Animorphs. Literally.”
In various places human forms were growing up out of tiny points. Flea morph. Fly morph. Roach morph.
Cassie and Rachel and Prince Jake.
One morphing mass emerged as a bird rather than a human.
<The bird with the red tail,> Estrid said.
<Tobias. You met him. They all came aboard with me this afternoon. They have used my quarters to demorph and remorph as necessary.>
Tobias ruffled his wings. <Hey, Ax.>
“Go, Tobias, stay on him,” Prince Jake said. <Later, everyone. The Animorph Air Force has a mission.>
Tobias flew out of the room and caught the breeze of the drop shaft.
Estrid looked at me, half amazed, half angry. <It was all a deception. You misled us. You lied to your own people.>
I shook my head. <No. I have learned something, Estrid. These are my people. Anyone who believes in freedom, anyone who resists tyranny, anyone who pursues peace is “my people.” Andalite, Hork-Bajir, or human.>
“Yeah,” Marco said. “Besides, we humans make a mean cinnamon bun.”
I laughed. <That is definitely true.>
We flew to the Community Center. It would be Arbat’s most likely path into the Yeerk pool. But, unfortunately, it was only an educated guess. Tobias had been unable to follow him. Arbat, ever the intelligence professional, had morphed to human and entered a train station.
Whether he had emerged, or in what shape, we could not tell.
However we were soon certain of which way he had gone.
It was very late at night but the Yeerks still kept up a guard. We found the first human-Controller lying sprawled by the trash. Another slumped in the doorway. A third lay facedown in the hallway.
My human friends were in battle morph. Estrid and I had demorphed to Andalite. Tobias was somewhere outside, flying above, watching. No doubt berating himself unnecessarily for having lost Arbat.
<Tobias?> I called in private thought-speak.
<He is here.>
We walked softly through the dark and empty Community Center. Maybe Arbat had eliminated all Yeerk security. Maybe not.
<What are we looking for?> Jake asked me.
<This.> I stopped in front of a door with a sign that said ORIENTATION ROOM. NEW MEMBERS ONLY. <This is where the ship’s sensors showed a possible deep hole.>
I looked at the door. There was a lock. But it had been broken. <Arbat,> I said. <He may not be in Andalite form. He may well be human.>
Marco pushed the door open. A dark and seemingly endless staircase yawned before us. <Basement?>
Cassie said, <No. I can hear screams. I know that sound.>
Cassie’s wolf morph is possessed of incredibly acute hearing and sense of smell.
<Yeah. I was afraid of that,> Marco said. <You know, I keep saying I’m never, ever going back down there.>
<Say it again,> Rachel said. <Maybe it’ll make you feel better.>
<I am never, ever going down there again.>
<Ticktock, people,> Prince Jake said. <We want to get Arbat before he reaches the pool. Let’s move.>
We ran down the stairs. Level after level. Tiger pads and bear paws and Andalite hooves all rushing, tripping, rushing again.
As we descended, the sounds of the Yeerk pool — the screams, the cries, the rumble of equipment, became loud enough for Andalite senses to hear.
Estrid said, <Aximili, I am afraid.>
<So am I.>
Down. Faster and faster. Down.
Suddenly I slipped. Fell. Rolled down several steps.
The smell was awful. Part of the staircase was wet with slimy pool water. Gore. Chunks of flesh, piles of quivering entrails. Evidence of a recent Taxxon feeding frenzy.
I jumped up, wiped the gore from my flanks. I tried not to think of it. Tried to focus on what mattered. Arbat had to be stopped. No time to think of the filth, no time to imagine the horror …
Ahead the stairs emerged from the ground into the vast openness of the Yeerk pool complex. After this point we would be visible to anyon
e looking up from below.
<No Arbat,> Rachel said.
<He’s down there,> Prince Jake said. <No choice. We have to go after him. Demorph. It’s the only way. Ax and Estrid? I think a pair of Andalites might be a little conspicuous.>
I began to morph to human. Estrid did the same. The Yeerk pool complex would contain humans, Hork-Bajir, Gedds, and Taxxons. But only humans would be expected to come down this particular stairway at this time of night.
“What natural weapons do these humans’ bodies have?” Estrid asked.
“Unless you’ve eaten a lot of beans, none,” Marco said.
“Keep your heads down, don’t make eye contact,” Jake instructed. “We don’t want to be ID’d. Don’t move fast or seem to be looking around. Now, go!”
We walked down the stairs again. On only two legs.
We could see the pool now. Hork-Bajir and human guards stood watch as other Hork-Bajir and human-Controllers filed down the two steel piers that traversed the main part of the leaden pool. Each pier was lined with locking collars.
As guards supervised, the Controllers kneeled down and placed their necks in metal collars.
When the collars snapped into place, a small gray slug crawled out of the Controller’s ear and fell into the dank pool with a soft plop!
The hosts were then momentarily free. Free at least to control their own mouths and eyes. They could cry. They did. They could beg. They did that, too.
“This is obscene,” Estrid whispered fiercely.
“Pretend to be unconcerned,” I said.
“Spread out,” Prince Jake muttered as we merged with a group of human-Controllers.
Estrid and I stayed close, but drifted from the others. Human-Controllers everywhere. Some jocular as they hooked up with Yeerk friends. Most just businesslike. They were here to feed, not socialize.
Faces everywhere. Hundreds. Which was Arbat? Impossible to say. Impossible to guess where he would be in this …
No. Not impossible. He would pursue his mission as swiftly as possible. He would deliver the virus into the pool.
The pier. Of course.
But how to spot him? He would look human. Would be human. Just like all these human-Controllers.
No. Not like them. The Controllers all had access to human experience, human knowledge. A human morph is only instinct. Harder to control, harder to understand easily. As I knew from experience.