The Stranger (11 page)

I
was back in the underground Yeerk pool. Trapped. Stuck to the Taxxon's tongue. But not a cockroach. I was myself, in my human body, only tiny. Stuck. About to die.

Ax was talking.

I squirmed and tried to get away. I tried to change into something else. The bear. I wanted to become the bear. But I was stuck. All I could do was beat my helpless butterfly wings.

He showed us the dropshaft,
Cassie's voice murmured in the back of my head.

I swirled down dark corridors. I flew wildly on butterfly wings, always chasing a light that never drew closer and yet never disappeared.

The Kandrona,
I thought in my dream.
The light is the Kandrona.

“The center of their lives. Almost a religion.”

“
He
showed
us the dropshaft,
” Cassie said again, only now she was Ms. Paloma.

My eyes snapped open.

I sat up in my bed.

I was as awake as I'd ever been. I was electric!

“Hah HAH!” I yelled in the darkness of my room. “YES!”

Then I hesitated. Was I nuts? Was I just desperate? I ran through it all again.

“Got 'em!” I whispered. “Oh, man, we got 'em! Got the disgusting worms!”

I shucked off the T-shirt that I wear to bed, and quickly slipped into my morphing outfit.

I threw open the window. Then I paused. It would be Saturday morning in a few hours. No school. But if my mom found me gone, she might worry.

I quickly scribbled a note saying I had gone for an early-morning run. That I might go over to Cassie's afterward.

And then I glanced at the picture on my desk. The one of three-year-old me on the balance beam, being held up by my proud father.

I could
not
tell the others. We had already decided. We were going to say yes to the Ellimist. We would let him take us to a place where there would be no battles and no need to decide.

If I told my friends what I suspected …

I felt the weight come down on me again. The weight of uncertainty and guilt and fear.

I looked at the picture of my dad and smiled. “What would you think of me, Dad, if I walked away, when I still had a chance to win?”

And then I morphed. My arms shrank. My skin began to flow into patterns of soft feathers that could ride silently on the night breeze.

In a few more minutes, I was ready.

The moon was bright in the sky. Dawn was still hours away. A perfect night for an owl. But I paid no attention to the juicy prey below me as I flew at top speed toward the woods.

I yelled.

He opened his wings and flew alongside me, just a few feet away.

Tobias said grumpily.

I interrupted him.

what
is?>

O
kay, it's three forty-seven in the morning,” Marco said. “And I'm here, thanks to the fact that my dad is a sound sleeper who doesn't notice when I wake up screaming because an owl and a hawk have just flown through my window. So now maybe you can tell us all
why
we're here?”

Everyone was there in Cassie's barn. Jake looked sleepy but interested. Cassie was using the time to check on some of the sick animals. Ax just stood to one side, waiting to see what Jake told him to do. Tobias perched on an overhead beam, tired from having flown too much.

We were lit by a single small bulb that never even touched the shadows in the corners of the barn. We didn't want to take the chance that Cassie's parents might notice a light on and come to investigate.

“Yes,” I answered Marco, “I'll tell you why you're here. I know where the Kandrona is. I
know
where it is.”

That got his attention. But he was still skeptical. “What makes you think you know where the Kandrona is?”

“The Ellimist. He showed us. We all thought it was unfair when he appeared in the Yeerk pool and asked us to decide when we were about to be eaten, right?”

Ax said.

“No. You're wrong, Ax. At least this time. The Ellimist appeared when we were about to be swallowed by the Taxxon. But then he showed us the dropshaft.”

“We saw the dropshaft because it was there,” Jake argued. “It wasn't about him showing it to us.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. “He waited till we had walked out of the Yeerk lunchroom to appear. He waited till we were standing where we were sure to notice the dropshaft.”

I saw Jake raise an eyebrow thoughtfully. He and Marco exchanged a look.

“What if we're wrong about the Ellimist being unfair? What if Cassie's instinct is right — that he is telling the truth? That he's trying to do what's right? He tells us that in the future we lose the fight. That the human race is enslaved. That he has a way to save a small number of us by taking us to a safe place. And it's all true.”

“If he's telling us the truth, that we lose in the future, what's this all about?” Marco asked. “We've seen that future. Nothing we do will matter.”

I shook my head. “No. It will matter. If it didn't matter how we decided, why even bother to ask us what we wanted to do? See? It does matter what we do.”

“Yes,” Marco said. “But the answer is obvious. We can only change the future by agreeing to the Ellimist's plan to take us to a safe planet.”

“Yes, that's one way. He offered us that. But when we finally accepted, he didn't act. He didn't take us instantly away. Why? Why, after we agreed, did he leave us here?”

“Because he wanted a different answer,” Cassie said, nodding at me and giving me a wink. “That's what's been eating at me.”

“What different answer?” Marco asked.

“He's in a trap,” Cassie said. “The Ellimist is trapped. He
wants
to save Earth. But he can't interfere directly. Supposedly all he's allowed to do is offer to save a small number of us. But he knows that won't save Earth. It will save a few humans, yes, but when he showed us visions of Earth, he wasn't talking just about humans. He said Earth was a work of art. He wants to find a way to save it.”

“Without interfering directly,” I agreed. “But what if we just happened to see another way? What if the Ellimist showed us the future, trying to convince us to let him take us away, and we just
happened
to see a way out?”

“What way out?” Jake demanded.

“The Kandrona. He let us see where the Kandrona is,” I said. “That Yeerk pool downtown, that's the key. Why build a Yeerk pool downtown? Why level so many buildings to make room for it? Why leave the EGS Tower still standing? And why is there a glass dome on the top floors of the EGS? Ax is the one who said it — the Yeerk pool is the center of their lives. That Yeerk pool? I think it's a shrine. Almost a holy place to them. It's where they located the first Kandrona to be placed on planet Earth.”

Jake snapped his fingers. “The EGS Tower!”

“
That's
what's under that dome on the top floors. The Kandrona.
That's
what the Ellimist wanted us to see. Just the way he let us see the dropshaft we used to escape. He wasn't interfering … technically. The choice is still ours.”

Marco laughed out loud. “You mean maybe the Ellimist is bending his own rules? So he can say, ‘Hey, I didn't interfere,' but at the same time he's putting us where we can figure it out? I can't believe it! The Ellimist is a weasel! He found a loophole! I think I like that guy.”

“But even if you're right about the Kandrona, Rachel,” Jake argued, “what does it prove? If we destroy it, are we sure it will change the future?”

Cassie looked at me and smiled. “Maybe yes, maybe no,” she said. “But things are connected in millions of ways. They say a single butterfly, beating its wings in China, can start a tornado in America.”

Tobias said,

“It doesn't,” I said. “I guess it beats its wings the best it can, and hopes it will all work out. It's a butterfly. It just does what butterflies do.”

“And what do
we
do, Xena, Warrior Princess?” Marco asked mockingly, knowing the answer I would give.

“We kick Yeerk butt,” I said with a grin.

A
t 5:10 in the morning, the EGS Tower's windows were almost all dark. From the deeply shadowed plaza in front of the building, we could see a sleepy, uniformed guard inside the lobby.

“There are dozens of businesses and law firms and stuff in this building,” Jake warned. “Most of them are probably just normal people. Fortunately, at this time of day, almost no one will be here. But the guard is probably just a normal guy.”

“How do we deal with him without hurting him?” Cassie asked.

Suddenly Tobias swooped down out of a dark sky. he said.

“Let's do this, already,” I grumbled. I started morphing into the bear.

“Okay, but take it easy on any innocent bystanders,” Jake said. “Tobias? I know you're wearing out, but stay up and keep an eye out while we morph.”

He flapped his wings and slowly gained altitude.

“These doors will be locked,” Cassie pointed out.

“Not for long,” I said.

Ax was already demorphing, coming out of his human body and resuming his Andalite shape.

Jake's eyes were glittering, his body was lengthening, and striped orange and black fur was spreading like a wave over his skin.

Cassie was already on all fours. Rough gray fur grew thickly around her shoulders. Her mouth bulged out farther and farther to form a wolf's muzzle.

Tobias called down.

Jake said quickly.

Cassie trotted off, already fully morphed. And a second later we heard, “Grrrrrr, grrrrrr, grrrOWWWRR!” followed by “Whoa! No way!” and the sound of a crashing bottle and running feet.

Cassie returned just as we were finishing our morphs. Cassie reported.

I said. I was fully the grizzly now, and feeling invulnerable.

Jake suggested.

While the rest of us lurked in the shadows, Marco, now an extremely large, powerful gorilla, knuckle-walked to the glass door. He stood up on his hind legs and tapped with one massive finger on the glass.

The guard jerked in his seat. He stood up and moved cautiously closer. Then he drew his gun.

“Hey, get out of here,” the guard said.

Marco said in thought-speak.

The guard's eyes went wide. “Andalite!” he hissed.

are
a Controller. Good. That makes it so much simpler.>

With that, Marco punched straight through the thick glass of the door.

CRASH!

His gorilla fist connected squarely with the guard's chin. The guard crumpled, still holding his gun.

Jake yelled.

I barreled into the rest of the glass door. I was careful, but not too careful. I wasn't very worried about being hurt. Shattered glass flew everywhere.

Cassie, Ax, and Jake leaped over the glass shards. Jake raced for the elevator.

Jake said.

Marco said.

Jake said.

Cassie and Ax kept an eye on all activity on the ground floor while they waited for the elevator to come back down. Jake, Marco, and I had the most firepower — so we went in first.

We squeezed our combined bulk into the one freight elevator car — not an easy thing to do — but we managed it.

Jake said. He held up one of his huge paws to show me.

It wasn't easy. Bear paws aren't exactly subtle tools. But after carefully lining up my first claw, I hit the top button.

The doors closed and we rose swiftly upward.

There was a safety inspection certificate mounted on one wall. I leaned very close to make out the letters, and read it aloud.

The ride seemed to be taking forever. I watched the counter tick off the floors. Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three.

Jake asked.

I said.

I said.

Suddenly I realized there was music playing in the elevator. The usual stupid elevator music.

Jake said.

Marco announced in his best elevator operator's voice.

The elevator stopped. The door opened.

Just as three humans and two Hork-Bajir were racing toward the elevator.

“Rrrrrroooowwwwrrrr!” Jake roared in a voice that could crack concrete.

“Rrrrrooooowwwwrrr!” I echoed in my own muddier bear voice.

I charged like an enraged bull. I went straight for the nearest Hork-Bajir. That meant running
through
the closest human. I felt a slight thump as his body was knocked aside.

I slammed into the Hork-Bajir. The force of my charge just picked him up and carried him along till I hammered into the far wall.

It didn't kill him, but he wasn't going anywhere.

Jake took down the other Hork-Bajir with a lightning swipe of his claws. The remaining humans bolted.

Jake said.

Jake said.

Just then the elevator door opened and Ax and Cassie piled out.

I said.

Cassie said. She glanced at the two Hork-Bajir. know
they have more than those two up here guarding the Kandrona and … Jake! You're bleeding,> Cassie cried.

Jake said.

I took off at a loping run. The others were right behind me. My claws gouged the carpeted floor with every step. I couldn't see well, but I could smell the adrenaline of the frightened Human-Controllers. I knew where they had gone.

I could smell them. I could sense them. They had challenged me. And I was going to show them who was boss.

Cassie called.

I said, and plowed all my eight hundred pounds into a steel door that popped open like the lid of a jack-in-the-box.

Inside, eight Hork-Bajir warriors stood ready.

Eight walking razor blades.

Eight of them. Five of us. No way we could win. A sensible person would have seen the odds and run away. But I charged straight at them.

Later, everyone thought I was being brave. But you know what the truth was? The truth was, with my weak bear eyesight, all I could see was a blur. I thought they were humans.

I wasn't brave. I was just blind.