The Alien (5 page)

“I will,” I called back over my shoulder.

Unfortunately, bending that way made me fall over. It takes practice to walk on just two legs.

A human has only two eyes. Both are on the front of the face. It is the same with most Earth species. These human eyes are very similar to our own main eyes. But humans seem fascinated by my stalk eyes. One of the humans, Marco, has said they “creep him out big time.” I believe this is a compliment.

— From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

H
ere it is,” Cassie said. “School. Or, as I like to think of it — purgatory.”

The school was very active. There were large numbers of humans racing about at high speed. Others moved very slowly and seemed sad or ill. Many carried books. Most made mouth-sounds.

As usual they were dressed in a shocking variety of clothing. Clothing is not a uniquely human idea, but of course Andalites do not indulge in it.

However, when I am in human morph I must wear clothing. All of my human friends, even Tobias, agree on this. They agree very strongly on this one point.

I saw Rachel and Marco approaching through the crowd of humans.

My other human friends tell me that Rachel is beautiful and Marco is cute. As an Andalite, I don't observe either trait. However, when I am in human morph I begin to see that Rachel actually is very beautiful.

But I never see that Marco is cute.

At school, the Animorphs must pretend not to be very close. This is so any suspicious Human-Controllers will not begin to think of them as a “group.”

“Hi, Marco, Rachel,” Prince Jake said. “Meet my cousin . . . Phillip.”

“Yes. I am Prince Jake's cousin, Phillip,” I said. “I am from out of state.”

Marco made a smile with his mouth. “You're from way, way out of state.”

“Don't call me ‘Prince,'” Prince Jake hissed.

“Nice to see you again, Phillip,” Rachel said and winked. Since she was
really
Jake's cousin, she would have already met “Phillip.” “See you guys later. Good luck.”

“You'll need it,” Marco added.

We went inside the school building. It seemed to be nothing but a very long corridor. It was filled with humans. Along each side of the corridor there were doors. Some of the doors were large. But there were hundreds of much smaller doors. I observed people opening the small doors, but no one ever went inside.

“Where do the small doors lead?” I asked.

“Nowhere. Those are lockers,” Cassie said. “Everyone has a locker. See? There's my locker right there.”

We went to Cassie's locker. It was decorated with a shiny pendant. The pendant had a wheel with numbers on it. Cassie spun the wheel back and forth.

“Is that a ritual?” I asked. “Chew-ull. Ritual.”

“No, that's a lock. It keeps people out.”

“Why?”

“So they won't steal my stuff.” She opened her locker and began putting things in and taking things out.

“What is that?” I asked. “Thuh-at. That.”

“It's just a picture,” Cassie said. She quickly closed the door of her locker.

“It looked like a picture of Prin . . . of Jake,” I pointed out. “Why would you have a picture of him when he is right here and you can see him?”

Cassie shrugged and looked down at the ground. Humans have many facial expressions. I believe this one indicated either sickness or embarrassment.

“Come on, Ax,” Prince Jake said. He was smiling at Cassie, and she was continuing to look sick or embarrassed. “We'll see you later, Cassie. Time for first —”

Just then, a terrible, mind-shattering sound!

BBBBBRRRRRRRIIIIINNNNNGGGG!

I spun around. I raised my human arms, ready to use them for defense. I wished I had my tail. It's a terrible thing to be without a tail in a fight. But I was ready to do the best I could with my human body.

“Ax! I mean, Phillip. Relax.”

BBBBBBBRRRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!

“That noise!” I cried. “What kind of beast is it?”

“Ax, it's just the bell for first period,” Jake said. “Take it easy. People are staring.”

“It's not a threat?”

“No. It's not a threat. It's depressing, but not dangerous.”

I followed Prince Jake as he led the way down the hall. It was difficult to forget the horrible noise. When humans are threatened their bodies are flooded with a chemical that makes them hyperalert, fearful, and aggressive. The chemical is called adrenaline. My system was now flooded with adrenaline. It was very distracting.

We entered one of the large doors. Inside were approximately thirty humans arranged in small, confining seats. At the front of the room was a large table. An older human stood there.

“Everyone, get to your seats,” the older human said.

Prince Jake said, “Mr. Pardue? This is my cousin from out of town. His name's Phillip. He's just hanging with me today, okay?”

“Just sit. Sit. Be quiet and sit.”

I could tell from Prince Jake's facial expression that he was troubled. He took my arm and led me to the back of the room.

“Take that desk,” Prince Jake said.

“Take it where? Wheh-err? Where?”

“I mean sit in it.”

I understood sitting. I was getting pretty good at passing for human.

Once, for two days I had to morph Prince Jake and pretend to be him. I was successful in fooling his parents and brother. Although I later learned that his parents believed “he” had become mentally ill. When the real Prince Jake returned, they took him to see a doctor.

“Sitting in this desk is unpleasant,” I said.

“You got that right, dude,” a human I didn't know said.

“What is going on back there? Quiet down,” the teacher demanded loudly. “What is . . . what . . . wha . . .” Suddenly he clutched at his head with both hands. “Everyone be quiet! Quiet!”

Now Prince Jake looked very troubled. “Mr. Pardue, are you okay?”

All the other humans stared at the teacher, too. Everyone was very quiet.

“Okay?” Mr. Pardue demanded in a loud, angry voice. “Am I okay? Am I — aaaaahhhhh!”

Without warning, Mr. Pardue pitched forward. He fell on the floor. He clawed at his head with his hands.

And he cried. “Yeerk! Get out of me!”

He clawed at his head till blood began to flow.

A
aaaaarrrggghhh!” the teacher cried as he clawed at his head.

One of the humans began screaming. “What's happening?! What's happening?!”

Someone else ran from the room into the hallway and began to shout, “Help! Help! Help!”

Prince Jake and I sat very still, side by side in the back of the room.

“Stop damaging our body!” Mr. Pardue cried. Then, as if he were answering himself, he said in a slurred voice, “Get out my head! Get out of my head! You're finished!”

Prince Jake's gaze met my own. We both knew what was happening.

“That makes two,” Prince Jake whispered.

“Two that we've seen. Something is going wrong for . . . for them.”

Mr. Pardue began crying. He began cursing. All the while he writhed on the floor, and the other humans stood around horrified, helpless.

“Did you know this teacher was a Controller?” I asked Prince Jake, making my voice very quiet.

“No. He always seemed like a nice guy. I can't just sit here and watch this!”

“Get OUT OF ME!” Mr. Pardue screamed suddenly.

The Yeerk in the teacher's head was weakening. It was starving from lack of Kandrona rays. The human host, the real Mr. Pardue, was fighting for control.

Suddenly Prince Jake stood up and rushed to the teacher's side. I was right behind him. I tried to grab his arm to stop him, but he was too quick.

“Prince Jake!” I snapped, but he ignored me.

Prince Jake knelt by the teacher's bleeding head. “I know what this is,” he whispered. “I know what this is, Mr. Pardue. Ride it out. The Yeerk will die. You'll be free.”

Others were coming closer. Close enough to overhear. “Stay back,” I said to them. “There may be danger.”

I didn't know what else to say. It seemed to work. The others stayed back.

Mr. Pardue rolled his eyes up to focus blearily on Prince Jake's face.

Prince Jake grabbed the teacher's shoulder in a tight grip. “I've been there,” he whispered. “I've done it, Mr. Pardue. I was a Controller for a while. I survived. Just hang on.”

I searched the faces of the other humans, trying to see if they had overheard. Jake was my prince, but this was dangerous, foolish behavior.

Suddenly the door of the room opened. I recognized the human who rushed into the room.

Chapman.

He is the assistant principal for the school. He is also a high-ranking Controller.

“All right, kids, everyone out,” Chapman snapped. “Everyone out to the quad. Out of the building. Mr. Pardue is just sick.”

“You!” Mr. Pardue cried. “No! Chapman is . . . he's . . .”

“I said OUT!” Chapman roared.

The humans fled the room, anxious to be away from the scene of madness.

But Prince Jake did not move. He stayed by the human called Pardue. I saw his fists clenching. There was a dangerous light in his eyes.

Chapman looked at me. Then back at Prince Jake. “Jake, you and your friend get out.”

For a frozen moment of time, no one moved. I held my breath. Would Prince Jake start a fight? If so, I would have to join him. But this was a foolish fight. Prince Jake could not afford to reveal himself.

I grabbed Prince Jake's arm and yanked him up to his feet. He glared furiously at me.

“We have to go,” I said.

Slowly he nodded. “Yeah. Hope he gets better.” He looked at Chapman. “He will get better, won't he, Mr. Chapman?”

“Who can say?” the Controller answered coldly.

I drew Prince Jake away. He stopped at the door, and we looked back to see Chapman draw a short steel cylinder from his pocket. He pressed it against the neck of the weeping teacher.

“No!” Mr. Pardue cried. “No!”

Then, very quickly, Mr. Pardue fell silent.

Prince Jake turned away and ran. He pushed his way through the others, who were still clustered just outside the classroom. He ran clear outside. He gasped at the air, as if he did not have sufficient oxygen.

I caught up to him, but it was difficult. He has more practice running on two legs.

“Prince . . . I mean, Jake. Are you sick?”

He shook his head. “Pardue was a Controller. The Yeerk was starving. And why? Because we destroyed the Kandrona. Me and you and the others. We did this!”

“It was necessary,” I said. “We struck a powerful blow against the Yeerks by destroying the Kandrona.”

“Chapman killed him, didn't he?” Prince Jake said. “The little steel cylinder. Did you see that? Not just the Yeerk, but the real Pardue. He killed them both.”

There was no point in lying anymore. Prince Jake had seen the truth. And the idea of lying now, here, made me feel unwell inside.

“If the Yeerk inside the teacher had died, the teacher would have survived and been free,” I said. “He would have told other humans what happened. He would have warned them. The Yeerks can't allow witnesses.”

“They're going to kill every host whose Yeerk dies, aren't they?” Prince Jake asked bitterly. “Every Human-Controller whose Yeerk dies is going to be eliminated. That's true, isn't it?”

“Yes.”

Prince Jake's face showed an expression. I believed it was an expression of sickness.

“We did this,” Prince Jake said.

“It's war,” I said.

“My brother,” Prince Jake said. “Tom. He's a Controller. What about him?”

I had no answer. The Yeerks would save as many as they could. But if their emergency system was breaking down, they would do what had to be done. They would eliminate any evidence.

Prince Jake was staring at me. “You
knew
they would do this?”