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Where's Tobias?"; Rachel cried.
Tobias!"; I cried. He ... he
disappeared!";
What do you mean, he disappeared?";
Prince Jake demanded.
I saw him. I was watching him. And he just
disappeared.";
Now, twenty feet up, I could see more of the
battlefield. The line of Hork-Bajir was
already far ahead of us. Taxxons writhed across the
dark landscape below.
If there were Andalites anywhere nearby, they had
been destroyed. In my mind I
pictured the tactical display aboard the
Ascalin. I could see where we were and where the
forces had been arrayed.
We've lost,"; I whispered, not sure if
anyone even heard me. We've lost.";
As if to confirm my grim realization, I saw
the engine flares of a dozen or more distant
Andalite ships rising from the surface of planet
Leera. Rising, and running for their lives.
We stood, in our own bodies, amid the
filthy, reeking waste the Taxxons had left
behind. We hadn't found Tobias.
Rachel was alternately crying and raging.
Marco was sitting, silent. Cassie kept
holding on to Prince Jake. And Prince
Jake kept pulling away to pace, to mutter
to himself, to wonder half-aloud what he should have
done. What he could have done.
I stood off by myself. I couldn't help feeling
that I was to blame. I was humiliated. I felt
sick. I had turned away from my friends and
trusted my own people instead. One of my own people had
betrayed us. And the rest of my people ... well, they
had probably fought well and bravely. But they
had lost.
Just like the Hork-Bajir war. We had lost
again, and condemned another race to slavery under the
Yeerks.
And what a race! The Leerans were
amphibians. They could travel in water or on
land, although they built their cities underwater. But
the terrifying thing was that the Leerans possessed
limited but very real psychic powers.
Leeran-Controllers would be able to see past
morphs and into the mind inside. It would be
impossible to fool them for long. And if
Leeran-Controllers were ever brought to Earth, their
powers would soon reveal the truth of the
Animorphs.
Not that the Animorphs would ever likely be able
to return to Earth.
It was Cassie who shook me out of my dark
thoughts. In a whisper she said, "Ax. I don't
think Jake wants to have to ask you again, but what do
you think we should do?"
I don't know. We've lost. We're on
a strange planet that will soon be under
Yeerk domination. We've failed the Leerans,
as we failed the Hork-Bajir. As we are
failing the humans.";
Past Cassie's head I saw distant red
flares from Yeerk ships dropping from orbit to land
more and more troops on the continent. Soon the continent
would be an impregnable garrison of Yeerk
forces.
"Tell me more about the Leerans," Cassie
said.
I shrugged. I don't really know any more
than you know. They are amphibians. They live
primarily in the oceans. Originally I
suppose they came on land to lay their eggs. Now
I suppose their technology allows them to do
all that in their underwater cities.";
"So why do they even care about what happens on
the land?"
They wouldn't care. Except that the Yeerks
can use the continent as a base for attacks against the
underwater cities. Other than that, I don't
suppose the Leerans would even ... care ...
what ..."; I stopped breathing. Yes! Of
course! Of course that would be Galuit's plan.
"What? What is it?" Cassie demanded
sharply.
Prince Jake!"; I cried.
"Yeah?"
We must reach the ocean. If I am right,
some Andalites will be in the Leeran cities. In
any case, we must get to the sea as quickly as
possible!";
"Why?"
I hesitated. Prince Jake ...
Jake ... you must trust me. We cannot stay on
land. We have to reach the water.";
Prince Jake looked at me for a long time.
"Okay," he said at last. "I trust you."
One more thing,"; I said. If at any time
it seems the Yeerks may catch us, if it
seems they might take me alive, you must not
let them. You must destroy me yourself rather than let
them take me. Promise me.";
"What? Why?"
Because I think I know what is going
to happen. And if I am right, this defeat will
become the greatest victory in Andalite
history. And that information cannot fall into the hands of the
Yeerks. No matter the price. No matter
what.";
The continent was small by continent standards, but it still
took the rest of the night to reach the shore. We
morphed birds and flew. We stopped when we were
near the two-hour limit and rested. And all the
while I wondered if there was enough time left.
We flew above scenes of recent carnage.
Burned-out ground skimmers, crumpled Andalite
fighters and Yeerk Bug fighters.
As the sun rose on Leera, I looked down
and saw a still-smoldering Andalite ground attack
ship crumpled into a Yeerk ship. They had hit
so hard that you couldn't tell where one left off and the
other began. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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