The Alien (10 page)

I hoped the word I couldn't hear was
okay
.

It took about ten Earth minutes to adjust the radio telescope. Ten minutes, and I had moved human science ahead by a century or so.

Ten minutes to completely violate Andalite law.

I was done. The system was ready.

I pressed the “enter” key.

The thousands of lines of computer language disappeared from the computer's screen.

The screen went blank.

I focused my mind as sharply as I could. I pictured the coherent signal. I pictured that beam going through my own head.

<
Andalite Home
,> I thought. <
Andalite Home
.>

The screen flickered.

A face appeared. It was a hard, suspicious face. But it was an Andalite face.

the Andalite demanded.

The Andalite stared at me. he wondered.

E
arth!>

For a moment my concentration wavered. I lost the signal. But then, I forced myself to focus. This was too important to let my emotions mess things up.

I asked.

He looked surprised that I would ask.

I said.

I could see that this was a surprise. Ithileran's eyes were downcast, and he lowered his stalk eyes as well in a gesture of grief.

I said.

aristh
Aximili.>

I tried to quickly organize my thoughts.

I took a deep breath, and tried to hold on to my concentration. How much should I tell Ithileran?

I said sharply. arisths
, like me. I fight alongside them.>

I said.

That got Ithileran's attention. That definitely got his attention.

It was time to tell him the full truth, or decide to lie.

I said.

Ithileran looked startled. His eyes darted to the side and then he abruptly disappeared from the screen. In his place stood another Andalite.

I was stunned. I instantly recognized the face.

He was very old, and yet his power seemed to vibrate through the screen, across all the light-years that separated Earth from home.

Lirem-Arrepoth-Terrouss.

Head of the Council. Veteran of more battles than I could count. His appearance on the screen would have made me lose concentration, but I was too awed to dare.

know
you, but I know who you are.>

He ignored my babbling.

Lirem stared at me with a gaze that was known to make great princes tremble.

also
break the law. You also transfer technology to the humans.>

I said. I surprised myself by practically yelling.

To my surprise, Lirem did not tell me to be silent. But his eyes grew darker, his expression more serious than ever. Then he said, <
Aristh
Aximili, once before an Andalite did what he thought was the right thing. He transferred technology to a weak, backward species. He did it because he thought they should be able to travel to the stars. Do you know the name of that Andalite?>

I said.

aristh
like you.> Lirem looked hard at me. Seerow's Kindness
?>

I said grimly. Seerow's Kindness
.>

For a moment no one spoke.

Then Lirem said, aristh
. So . . . I ask you to think again. Was it truly Elfangor who gave this technology to the humans?>

I couldn't believe what Lirem wanted me to say. He wanted me to lie. He wanted me to clear Elfangor.

I said, too shocked to argue.

Lirem continued. aristh
Aximili. Is this true?>

I whispered bitterly.

Lirem said.

I said blankly. Why had I done this? Why had I communicated with my home?

<
Aristh
Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, you have done a brave thing, taking on this guilt. I know the temptation to go beyond the law when helping a brave people fight the Yeerks. I was an advisor to the Hork-Bajir. They were our allies, but they were not Andalites. They were not our people.>

I knew I should shut up. But part of me was getting angry.

Lirem's eyes were cold. aristh
Aximili?>

From what seemed like far away, I heard a faint voice in my head.

But at that very moment, Lirem said,

A
x — you hear? — there's —>

my father said. It was his nickname for me.

I couldn't believe it was really him.

It came so quickly, the question I dreaded. I almost lost the contact. I desperately wanted to see my father's face and listen to his words. But at the same time, I did not want to tell him that his oldest son was gone.

And there was another thing I did not want to tell him.

my father said.

My father looked like someone had punched him. He rocked back.

I looked away. I had tried so hard not to think about Elfangor being gone. Somehow it wasn't real till this moment. Seeing my father's pain made me feel my own.

my father asked. The question is part of the ritual of death. It was the question he had to ask.

I said. This also was part of the ritual.

My father nodded.

This was the part I had feared.

My father looked up at me.

The ritual was complete. We had both said all the things we were supposed to say.

my father said.

I said.

The connection was broken. Instantly, totally. I was staring at a blank screen.

“Sorry, but you were breaking my heart,” a human voice sneered. “I
had
to cut you off.”

I spun around. A human! He was thirty feet away.

And he was holding a weapon, pointing it at me.

Only slowly did I realize that it was no human gun. The weapon in his hand was a Dracon beam. Standard Yeerk issue.

“You and I have a lot to talk about, Andalite. Quite a lot.”

I was frozen. I could not move. The Human-Controller was too far away for me to hit with my tail.

“Don't try it, Andalite,” he sneered. “I'll fry you before you can even twitch that tail of yours.”

But then . . .

“Tseeeeeeeeeerrr!”

Tobias dived from the top of the dome at full speed, wings swept back, talons raked forward. He aimed for the man's face.

The man threw up his arm. Talons raked the bare flesh of his forearm, leaving red slashes behind. But the man had held on to the Dracon beam. Tobias flew past. Shreds of the human's shirt hung from his talons.

I leaped forward. Too late!

“Freeze! I don't want to kill either of you, Andalites, but I will if I have to!” the man snapped. Tobias swooped away to perch on the huge telescope itself.

“I just want to talk,” the Human-Controller said.

I pointed out.

Then, he did something that amazed me. He knelt down and placed the Dracon beam on the floor. He kicked it aside. The weapon went skittering across the polished floor.

“Now I'm at your mercy, Andalite,” he said. “You can use that tail of yours. Or you can listen to what I have to say.”

With my stalk eyes I glanced up and saw Tobias.

Tobias said. your
party.>

I said to the Human-Controller.

“My name is Gary Kozlar,” he said.

I snapped, trying to sound strong and unafraid. human
name. That's the name of your host body. But I know what you really are.>