Tobias swooped from the lampshade and landed on the carpet. Blades began to erupt from his feathers.
I concentrated. Focused on the gorilla.
Too late!
The door burst open. Wing Tip barreled through, followed by four waiters wielding Dracon beams.
"Hork-Bajir!"
Wing Tip pointed at Tobias, now almost fully morphed. One of the Controllers leveled his Dracon at Tobias's leathery gut. Tobias dove.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
The conference table sizzled in two. Both halves dropped to the floor.
"Oh!" The governor stared at the smoldering wood. Then at her husband. "Frank! What are you -?"
A Controller grabbed her.
Tobias vaulted over the pieces of the table.
WHACK!
Struck the Controller with his wrist blade.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The Controller screamed. Dropped the governor. Stared at his fingerless hand.
The other Controllers charged. Tobias sliced. Ax's tail lashed out.
FWAP! FWAP!
I was fully morphed, fully gorilla now. I stormed through flying bullets, blades, and Dracon beams.
Collins had crawled to the governor and was shielding her with his body. He held his pistol with both hands, aiming first at a Controller, then at Tobias, then at Ax, not sure what or who to shoot.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Dracon fire seared Collins's shoulder. Blasted a hole in the wall behind him.
<Go!> I told him. <NOW! There's nothing you can do here. Governor! Time to bail!>
I wrapped one gorilla arm around her.
Wing Tip reached for her. "Honey! Take my hand. I'll save you."
The governor grabbed a chair and swung it over her head. I thought she was aiming at me. I ducked.
CRASH!
Wing Tip crumpled to the floor.
"Save me, huh?" she said with a frown.
I leaped over Wing Tip's motionless body. <Let's go, let's go!> I yelled at Ax and Tobias. "Collins!" the governor cried.
I turned. Collins lay on the carpet, stunned, his shoulder a lump of charred meat.
I grabbed him in my free arm and leaped through the smoke and chaos. Charged through the door. Into the ballroom. Ax and Tobias bounded after me.
"AAAAAAAA!"
"Omigod!"
Women screamed. Men screamed. Chairs, dishes, serving trays crashed to the floor as the welldressed crowd scrambled for the doors.
A waiter charged forward. Leveled a Dracon at the governor.
"No!" Collins.
He aimed his pistol.
BLAM!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The waiter fell, blood gushing from his thigh.
Collins collapsed against me. I rolled him under a table. Pulled the heavy tablecloth down to hide him.
<Stay here till the smoke clears,> I said. <Don't even try to be a hero.>
"There! Get them!"
Wing Tip's voice! I whirled. Controllers burst from the conference room.
"Don't let them take the governor," yelled Wing Tip. "Kill her if you have to."
The governor stared at him. "What is he saying?"
<Don't worry,> I said. <We'll get you out.>
Wing Tip and his buddies charged from behind. More Controllers streamed through the ballroom doors and beat their way through the fleeing crowd.
<Service entrance!> Tobias directed.
He bolted toward a tangle of waiters pushing through a small door at the front of the ballroom. I knuckle-walked after him. Knocked over a huge coffee pot. Hurdled a dessert cart. Ax followed.
Across the dance floor. Around the orchestra pit.
A Controller leaped from behind a bass drum.
I grabbed a tuba. Shoved it over his head.
Tobias reached the door, shoved the waiters aside and crashed through. I followed. Down a short hallway. Into the kitchen.
A state trooper and a guy in a chauffeur's uniform were sitting at a small table, munching party food and playing poker with the chef.
Tobias vaulted over them.
"Wha -?" The trooper half rose from his chair. Fumbled with the holster of his pistol.
I barreled past, the governor tucked under my arm.
"Governor!" The chauffeur scrambled to his feet. "Where are you going, ma'am?"
"I'm not sure," she called back.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
Dracon fire blasted through the kitchen.
Fwap. Fwap-fwap.
I heard Ax behind me, his hooves clicking on the tile floor, his tail striking again and again. We kept going. Around waiters, busboys, cooks. The pastry chef pulled a Dracon beam from his jacket and leveled it at the governor. She flattened him with a cutting board.
We slammed through one set of doors. Then another. Finally, outside. Around a Dumpster. Across the loading dock.
<Limo!> Tobias bounded toward the long black car parked by the dock, the same limo that had brought us here. <Doors unlocked. Keys inside! Oh come on. This is way too easy.>
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
The concrete exploded beneath my feet.
I swung over the side of the dock. Ripped open the back door of the limo. Dumped the governor inside.
<Sorry. I have better manners when Yeerks aren't shooting at me.> I jumped in after her. <Keep your head down.>
Tobias squeezed into the driver's seat. Banged his wrist blade into the tinted window that divided-the front seat from the back. The glass shattered.
<Ooops.>
He folded his knees under the steering wheel, his arms around it. His neck was twisted over, the side of his leathery Hork-Bajir face crushed against the top of the limo.
<Not comfy,> he said.
But also not a problem for a guy with blades growing from his skull.
Thump. Scuuuuurrrrr-UUUUNNNCH.
He tore through the top of the limo like he was opening a tin can. <Sun roof.> He poked his head through the hole, cranked the key, and the limo revved to life.
<Ax!> I yelled. <Let's go!>
Ax downed two Controllers, clattered across the loading zone, and leaped into the backseat of the limo. I yanked the door shut.
<GO! GO! GO!>
Tobias floored it. We screeched across the parking lot and into the street. We had now added yet another kidnapping to our crimes.
We squealed across four lanes of traffic. Thundered up over the curb on the other side. Dropped back down onto the pavement. Side-swiped a delivery truck. In. Out. Around. Weaving through cars, trucks, SUVs. All I could see of Tobias were his shoulders and elbows. His head jutted up through the hole in the roof.
I bounced along on the rear seat. Watched out the back and side windows, my gorilla skull thump-thump-thumping against the ceiling of the limo. The governor sat in the seat opposite, trying not to slide back and forth as the limo careened first left, then right. Her fingers dug into the leather armrest on the door beside her.
Ax struggled to gain a foothold on the floor in between the banks of seats. He gazed at the governor. His Andalite eyes radiated warmth and ... joy.
Yes, joy. We were doing ninety in heavy traffic with clumsy Hork-Bajir hands at the wheel, and Ax looked like he'd just found the secret to inner peace.
<Madam Governor,> He bowed low. Stretched his front leg out in front of him. His head nearly touched the floor. <I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and I am honored to be in the presence of a great leader.>
"A great leader?" The governor thumped against the side of the limo as Tobias screeched sideways into a bank parking lot. "Me?"
Ax nodded. <I only regret that our meeting was not under less difficult circumstances.>
Difficult. Yeah. Okay. Tobias plowed around the bank. Through the drive-up lane. Over a curb. For three full seconds, the limo was airborne -
WOOOOMPH!
- before slamming down onto a side street. Tobias screeched sideways and kept going.
"Aaaahhhlllp!" The governor swallowed a scream. She managed to wrench her right hand free from the armrest and hold it out to Ax. He shook it, then bowed low again. <I will guard your life with my own.>
"Very reassuring," she said.
The limo hurdled a median strip.
The governor gripped the armrest. "I mean that sincerely, Aximili."
<As do I, Governor.>
<And Jake thought you were the one with charm, Marco,> Tobias said dryly.
<Just keep your eyes on the road,> I said. <And I don't ever want to hear another word of criticism about my driving.>
The limo skidded around a corner. Leveled a row of newspaper vending machines.
A police siren! Red and blue lights flashed behind us.
<Trouble,> I said.
<You think?> Tobias.
I turned. More sirens. More flashing red and blue lights ahead. Three, maybe four cars. Tobias jerked the wheel. We slid sideways into a pickup. Tobias gunned the engine, and we shot down an alley, the pickup's bumper trailing from ours.
The limo thundered through potholes. Around Dumpsters. Shot across the next side street and into the alley in the next block.
<Oh, man!>
The brakes squealed. I plunged forward, then slammed back against the seat. Ax crashed into my lap.
"Ooomph."
<Hey, watch the tail!>
The limo had stopped nose to nose with a trash truck. The governor was sprawled on the floor. She struggled to pull herself back onto the seat.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
Dracon fire shattered the window next to where the she'd been sitting. Incinerated the headrest that had been behind her.
<Stay down, Governor! On the floor!>
She nodded. Stared up at the smoldering headrest. "No arguments here."
She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her skirt and her arms around them, and hunkered down between the seats. Her face had lost all color, but her eyes were still bright. Steady.
Tobias threw the limo in reverse and started to back up.
A police car turned into the alley behind us.
BAM! BAM!
Gunfire!
Ax and I hit the deck again and crouched beside the governor.
Tobias threw the limo in drive. We lurched forward. Squeezed past the trash truck. The right wheels thumped over the bottom two steps of a concrete stairway leading up to a loading dock.
SsscccuuurrrRRREEEEEEEEE.
We scraped against the trash truck on one side, the loading dock on the other. And spit through into the alley beyond. A police car screamed into the narrow opening ahead.
Came barreling toward us!
Tobias gunned the engine. Sideswiped the police car and shot out into the street!
Cranked the wheel. Dodged oncoming traffic. Sped the wrong way down the one-way street, warehouses towering above us on one side, the riverbank dropping away from us on the other, chased by an army of sirens and flashing lights. City police, county deputies, state troopers. Some of them were Controllers. Some probably weren't. But it didn't matter. As far as the non- Controllers were concerned, lunatic monsters had kidnapped their governor. They were as determined as the Controllers to stop us.
THWOK! THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!
I looked up. A helicopter thundered overhead. I could see it through the sun roof. The real sun roof, not Tobias's emergency hatch. The pilot pitched the helicopter forward in a steep dive. Sunlight glinted off something in the passenger door.
A Dracon beam.
The governor saw it, too.
"Time to ditch the limo," she said. "We're too big. Too easy to spot. We'll have a better chance on foot."
Good thinking. Behind those alert gray eyes lurked the brain of a combat general.
<I know the perfect place,> said Tobias. <Get ready to bail.>
An intersection loomed ahead. A main thoroughfare crossed our one-way street and led to a bridge.
Tobias floored it and quickly turned the wheel. The limo skidded around the corner and hurtled onto the bridge. He slammed on the brakes and the limo screeched sideways. Plowed into a concrete pillar and lurched to a stop, blocking traffic from both directions.
Cars honked. Skidded. Slammed into each other.
Tobias dove from the driver's door. I threw the governor over Ax's back, flung the back door open, and we ran out into the chaos.
This book owns.
<Let's go, let's go!>
Tobias bounded up over the hood of a sports car. I followed. Leaping from hood to roof to trunk. From car to truck to minivan. Over a jack-knifed eighteen-wheeler.
Ax stayed on the ground and galloped between the vehicles. The governor hugged his shoulders and squeezed her knees into his sides to keep from falling off.
Police cars skidded onto the bridge behind us. Cops streamed from the cars and barricaded themselves behind the limo, weapons drawn.
<Stay low!> I shouted.
I leaped from the top of an SUV to the back of a jeep.
The jeep's driver climbed from the front. Stared at his crumpled bumper. Cursed, kicked his tire, and started punching numbers on his cell phone.
I vaulted over him.
He stared at me. "Oh my ... oh my ... AAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He tossed the phone to the road and sprinted toward the other end of the bridge.
BAM! BAM!
Bullets whizzed past. Bounced off steel and concrete.
Drivers screamed and dove under their cars.
I dropped and hugged the ground. Tobias crouched beside me. Ax skidded behind a UPS truck, the governor still on his back.
A man's voice boomed out over bridge. "Hold your fire. HOLD. YOUR. FIRE. They've got the governor. And innocent motorists are trapped on that bridge."
Thank God. The guy with the bullhorn was a legitimate, uninfested cop. With a brain.
BAM! BAM BAM!
But the Controllers obviously weren't taking orders from the sane guy.
I walked between cars. Tobias followed and Ax, still carrying the governor, galloped behind.
"They're getting away!"
"After them!"
Cops swarmed over the limo. Raced across the bridge behind us.
<Go go go!> I yelled. <We can make it. We're closer to the other end of the bridge than the cops are to us!>
THWOK! THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!
The helicopter was back. It hovered over the bridge, just above the tall suspension cables.
More sirens! Flashing lights. Not from behind this time, but from in front. Police cars screamed onto the other end of the bridge. Cops leaped from the patrol cars.
We dove for the pavement again. Crouched low between a Frito delivery truck and a TV repair van.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
The delivery truck exploded. Fritos rained down on us as we rolled under the van.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
A concrete pillar in front of the van shattered into dust.
SSSCCCUUUURRRRENNNNCH.
The steel beam it had been holding swayed. The suspension cable whipped through the air.
" AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The remaining motorists fled from their cars and ran screaming toward both ends of the bridge.
I inched out from under the van. Raised my head. Cops in front. Cops behind. Chopper overhead. And below us, the river. A few barges in the distance. Some fishing boats. And a sailboat. Did I say sailboat? Make that a yacht, slowly cruising toward us.
<You scared of heights, Governor?> I said.
"As opposed to what? Bullets? Laser beams that vaporize solid concrete? A bridge that might collapse under me at any moment?" She shook her head. Took a deep breath. "Let's do it."
"Let's do it?" A vision flashed into my head, the governor when she was a kid. She looked like ... Rachel?
I shook the image from my mind. <You heard the governor. Let's do it.>
I pulled her from under the van and climbed onto the bridge rail.
The yacht skimmed through the water. I could hear music and laughter. Could see people crowded on the deck. A party.
The boat neared the bridge. Close. Closer.
NOW!
I wrapped one massive gorilla arm tight around the governor and leaped into space.
We dropped. Straight down.
The governor held on tight. She dug her fingers into my fur and didn't even scream. Not even a whimper.
I liked this lady.
Down, down we fell. The yacht loomed larger and larger, I kept a tight grip on the governor with one arm. When we were close enough, I reached out with the other and grabbed the yacht's mast in my gorilla fist and hung on.
The mast bowed, groaned, and bent almost double. The sail beat against me. My feet brushed the bow of the boat, then bounded into the air again as the mast sprang back and we swung over the cabin.
I spun around. Gripped the bottom of the mast with my fingerlike toes and held tight.
The yacht slid under the bridge. The music and laughter continued. Party guests danced.
Munched crackers. Refilled their drinks. They didn't even notice the gorilla hanging from the sail, clutching their governor in one arm like a rag doll.
Didn't even notice the Hork-Bajir drop over the edge of the bridge above them. A strange, shrinking Hork-Bajir, sprouting feathers. Tobias. His blades shriveled. His serpent neck receded into his bird body. Just before he hit the water, his arms melted into wings. He flapped hard and just skimmed over the surface of the river.
Ax dropped from the bridge behind him, his Andalite body sharply outlined against the setting sun. He kicked. Flailed.
Kuh-SPLAT!
Belly-flopped into the river and sank.
I waited. Saw nothing. No stalk eyes peaking above the surface. No tail blade slicing through the water. <Ax? Ax!>
The governor scanned the river. "Can Aximili swim?"
<Yeah.>
We watched. Searched the waves. Still no Ax.
"We have to do something," the governor said. "The impact could have broken his legs. Or his ribs. Maybe knocked him unconscious!"
<There!> Tobias tipped his wing.
A dorsal fin broke the surface of the water and skimmed alongside the yacht.
My heart started beating again.
<Hey, Ax-man. Glad you could make it. He's fine,> I told the governor. I motioned toward the fin. <He morphed a shark.>
"Morphed ... a shark." The governor nodded. "That's good. I think."
The yacht had cleared the bridge and was sailing in open water.
I slid down the mast, vaulted over the cabin and onto the top deck.
"Wha -?" The yacht's captain backed up. Stared at us.
I leaped over the rail and onto the hors d'oeuvres table. Left a giant gorilla footprint in a bowl of bean dip. And landed in the middle of the party.
" AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The party guests screamed and scrambled to safety. A woman backed up against the railing and toppled, head over heels, into the river.
"I can't swim! Somebody help. I can't swim!"
Tobias swooped over the yacht, plucked a life jacket from the deck and tossed it out to her. She grabbed hold.
A dorsal fin broke the surface of the water behind her as Ax nudged the woman to shore.
All while cops raced from the bridge and along the banks.
"There!" A Controller motioned to the helicopter. "On the boat!"
The helicopter dove after us.
THWOK! THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!
The downdraft from the rotors whipped the water into waves. The yacht pitched and rolled. The party-goers screamed even louder. Grabbed onto the railings and deck chairs to keep from being tossed overboard.
The helicopter hovered now. A Controller leaned from the passenger door, weapon in hand.
<Get down!> I screamed. <Everybody!>
I dropped to the deck. Rolled the governor under a table.
Tobias circled above. Zeroed in on the Controller's outstretched arm and dove. The Controller spotted him. Beat him away with the Dracon beam. Then took quick aim.
TSEEEEEWWW-ka-BLOOOOOOSH!
"OH MY GOD! WHAT WAS THAT?"
"ARE THEY CRAZY?"
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP US! PLEASE!"
TSEEEEEWWW-ka-BLOOOOOOSH!
Another shot! The water boiled. The yacht reeled.
The party-goers shrieked and scrambled to the back of the boat. Pushed each other aside and clambered over the railing and leaped into the water. Even the yacht's captain abandoned ship. He dove from the top deck into the river.
It was madness.
Police cars sped along the riverbanks, guns and Dracons blazing.
Party-goers bobbed in the water, a sea of arms and legs, life jackets and fancy clothes, splashing and struggling toward shore.
The captainless yacht spun wildly, forced downstream by the current.
The governor crawled from under the wet bar.
<No!> I said. <Stay down.>
"Somebody has to pilot this boat. We'll capsize. Or run aground. We're too close to shore."
<Oh. Okay.>
The governor climbed up onto the second deck and grabbed the wheel. The boat stopped spinning. The bow straightened and turned. We headed toward open river.
The helicopter banked and circled for another shot.
On deck I grabbed pitchers and margarita glasses and hurled them at the helicopter. Specifically, at the Controller with the Dracon. Hey, you use what weapons you have.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
A deck chair disintegrated.
I flung a bottle. It clanked off the glass bubble in front of the pilot. The chopper dipped and rocked.
Then it straightened and pitched forward in a steep dive.
THWOK! THWOK! THWOK!
The helicopter hovered now only a few feet above my head. The noise was deafening. The downdraft churned the water and whipped chairs and life preservers around the deck. I held tight to the railing to steady myself as the boat pitched and rocked.
The Controller leaned from the helicopter and steadied his Dracon against the hull.
Tobias! I saw him flap to gain altitude. Turn. Dive!
Too late!
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
Ka-BOOM!
The bow of the yacht exploded.
Yeah, this book is essentially just a high budget movie chase scene and it is amazing for that.
Chunks of fiberglass pelted my hide. Smoke burned my nose and lungs.
I coughed. Brushed debris from my face.
<Governor?>
No answer. The yacht tipped. The bow glugged then slipped beneath the waves. The stern shot from the water into the air.
I wedged my feet against the wet bar to keep from sliding toward the bow. Pulled my face level with the top deck. The wheel was already submerged, a gaping hole blown into the deck beneath it. Water lapped at the shattered wood and poured into the cabin below.
<Governor!>
<Marco! Watch out!>
I turned. Tobias hurtled toward the helicopter. The Controller leaned from the door, Dracon beam leveled at the sinking boat. At me.
Tobias zeroed in. Raked his talons forward.
Nailed him!
The Dracon plummeted toward the river.
Tobias dove. Nabbed the Dracon beam in midair and lobbed it to me.
I gripped it in one gorilla hand. Raised my arm. Aimed. The pilot saw me and his face twisted in terror. The helicopter whipped up and around.
And jetted away.
I waited until he was down river, away from the yacht. Then I held my arm steady and squeezed the trigger.
TSSSSEEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!
Ka-BOOOOOOM!
The helicopter burst into flames. Thick black smoke rolled over the river.
I hurled the Dracon beam into the water.
<Gotta bail, Marco.> Tobias swooped overhead. <Let's go, let's go!>
<You go,> I shouted. <You and Ax. I have to find the governor!>
I climbed over the wet bar. Ripped the cabin door open and crawled inside. Waded into the murky water that filled the cabin.
The governor had fallen through from the deck above. She was slumped facedown across a table, submerged to her waist. Her gray dress floated around her. Her wet gray curls lay plastered against her skull. I turned her over. Blood streamed from a gash on her forehead.
<Governor.> I felt for a pulse. <Can you hear me?>
Her eyelids flickered. She nodded weakly. "I'll be okay."
I pulled her from the water, hoisted her onto my back, and climbed from the submerged cabin.
The yacht listed sharply now, the stern standing nearly straight in the air. The wreck of the helicopter burned downriver. Black, choking smoke engulfed us.
<Marco!> Ax circled the sinking yacht. <We are seriously running out of time.>
<They're bringing in speedboats,> said Tobias. <I can see them on the highway. Let's go!>
I lay the governor over the wet bar. She gripped the rail behind her and struggled to sit up.
I was already demorphing. Gorilla hands shrank to human hands. Gorilla fur melted into human skin.
The boat groaned. Water crept over my ankles. My knees.
My jaw pushed back and my nose pushed forward. Arms shrank. Legs grew. I stood upright. I was human.
But I wasn't finished.
"Governor." My face shot out into a bottlenose. "How do you feel about marine mammals?"
The governor stared at the fin growing from my back. "Well, I wouldn't marry one." She managed a weak smile.
My head and neck melted into one streamlined unit. Legs fused into a tail. Arms shrank to flippers. Two hundred extra teeth erupted from my jaws.
The water edged over the cabin door and lapped at the wet bar. The governor climbed onto the back rail.
Tobias swooped overhead. <Ticktock, Marco. Ticktock.>
My skin thickened and faded to a light bluish gray. Finally, I flopped into the water. I was a dolphin.
I floated above the sinking yacht. The governor straddled my back and held tight to my dorsal fin. Together we slid through the water, through the smoke and confusion of the helicopter blast.
And the yacht sank into the river.
The governor stared at me. "Parasitic aliens are invading Earth." She kept her voice even. "And my husband is controlled by one."
I nodded. "Yeah. Basically, that's the story."
"Thank God." She sank back into her leather chair and ran her hand through her damp gray curls.
"I was beginning to think something much, much worse was happening. Aliens we can fight."
She refilled her coffee mug from the pot on her desk. We were in her office on the top floor of the governor's mansion. We'd bolted the door and shoved a heavy bookcase in front of it. Ax stood guard, tail poised. Tobias was perched on a windowsill, watching the back of the mansion.
Posted at the other window, watching the front, was Collins.
Yes, Collins.
We'd found him in the bathroom off the governor's office. He was crouched in the tub waiting for the governor to return, his charred shoulder wrapped in the shower curtain. Ax and I helped him out into the office, and the governor cleaned and bandaged the wound as best she could.
Now she sat at her desk, slugging down cup after cup of coffee. She'd changed into sweats and a snazzy pair of Nikes. Her gray fund-raising dress lay in a soggy mound on the bathroom floor, and she'd lost her high heels somewhere between the limo and the yacht. She paged through her day planner and scribbled names and phone numbers on a pad.
I sat across from her, studying a roster of National Guard officers. I slid it across the desk.
"Call every officer on this list," I said. "Some of them will be Controllers. Some won't. But if you can get enough non-Controllers to listen to you, Visser One's operation will collapse."
<For now, anyway,> said Tobias.
The governor nodded, picked up the phone, and punched in the number of the first name on the roster. General Sherman, the commander of the Army National Guard.
"I want all units to stand down," she told him. "Take no action whatsoever. None. Yes, that's a direct order. From your commander in chief, that's who."
She slammed the phone down.
<He resisted orders from his commander?> Ax glanced at me. <He must be a Controller.>
"Maybe. Maybe not," said the governor. "He's a cantankerous old coot who can't stand taking orders from a woman. He doesn't need an alien wrapped around his brain to make him hard to get along with. Okay, who's next?" She ran her finger down the roster. "The commander of the Air National Guard."
She punched in the number and gave the air commander the same orders she'd given General Sherman. Then she phoned the next officer, and the next, making her way down the roster.
I paced from window to window to bathroom to desk. Even fixed myself a cup of coffee, heavy on the sugar and nondairy creamer.
"Ugh."
It tasted like motor oil. Creamy, sweet motor oil. I shuddered and set the cup on the windowsill.
The governor hung up the phone. Ran her finger down the list to the next officer. And froze.
"Lieutenant Colonel Larsen." She stared at the name. "His battalion just rolled back into town this morning. They've been on a military exercise in the desert." A slow smile spread over her face.
"For the past two weeks."
"Two weeks?" I blinked. "That means-"
<It means we've got an entire battalion of certified Yeerk-free soldiers,> said Tobias.
The governor nodded. "Roughly six hundred troops."
"This is ... this is great." I pushed the phone toward her. "Call him. Tell him to keep his troops together. Have them bunker down someplace where the Yeerks can't get to them."
"I think I know just the place."
She took the phone from me and punched in a number.
"Colonel Larsen?" she said. "This is the governor. And I've got a little emergency."
The call took about a minute and a half. The governor told the lieutenant colonel what she needed, and the lieutenant colonel's voice boomed back through the receiver. "Yes, Ma'am."
She hung up. "We're converting the grounds of the governor's mansion into temporary headquarters. Colonel Larsen's battalion can set up camp on the lawn." She shook her head. "My gardener's going to have a stroke."
The governor ran her finger down the list and punched in the next number. She called every officer on the roster, then pushed the phone aside. "Well. I guess that's it. We've done everything we can do."
"Not quite," I said. "You're a target now. You need some personal security. Bodyguards."
"I've got Collins," said the governor.
"That's good, and no offense, Collins." I shot him an apologetic smile. "But -"
"But one security guard with a bad shoulder isn't gonna do it," he said. "I'll do everything I can, Governor. You know that. But you need more people."
I nodded. Looked at the governor. "Can you think of anybody else? Somebody you can count on? Somebody who can keep you safe? Is there anyone that you know for sure has been far away, maybe even out of the country, for more than three days?"
The governor frowned. Rifled through her day planner. "Yes!" She tapped her finger on a page.
"Major MacDonald. Deputy director of the state police. He just got back from a week-long Interpol conference in Paris, and I think he took a couple of other officers with him."
She picked up the phone, punched a number, and told MacDonald what she needed.
"He's on his way," she said as she hung up. "He lives on this side of town, so it shouldn't take long."
"I hope not," said Collins.
He pushed the heavy drapes aside so we could see.
"We got company, Governor."
Yes, we certainly did.
A column of Humvees and military trucks were rolling up the highway.
The governor nodded, picked up the phone, and punched in the number of the first name on the roster. General Sherman, the commander of the Army National Guard.
The governor stared at me. "Parasitic aliens are invading Earth." She kept her voice even. "And my husband is controlled by one."
I nodded. "Yeah. Basically, that's the story."
"Thank God." She sank back into her leather chair and ran her hand through her damp gray curls.
"I was beginning to think something much, much worse was happening. Aliens we can fight."
The lead Humvee was about a mile away. The line of military vehicles behind it stretched over the next hill.
"Any chance that's Colonel Larsen's battalion?" I said.
The governor shook her head. "He hasn't had time to muster his troops. They won't be here for hours." She peered through the window. "Besides, this unit's too small. I count six Humvees and eight trucks. Maybe a couple more at the back that we can't see. It's not big enough for a battalion." She frowned. "But I didn't order any other units to report here."
Ax watched the convoy. <If those troops are not following the governor's orders, they must be following someone else's.> He turned his stalk eyes toward me.
"Yeah," I said. "Visser One. Governor, we have to get you out of here. Fast. We'll go out the back. Use the river again."
<Don't think so.>
Tobias motioned his head toward the back window. Police boats patroled the river beneath the mansion.
"Great." I stared at the boats. Then at the convoy. "There's gotta be a way out."
A siren wailed. I turned. A police car screamed down the highway from the opposite direction, lights flashing.
"Geez, Governor." Collins's voice edged toward panic. "They're coming at us from all sides."
"No." I watched the police car speed toward us. "Not this one. The Yeerks wouldn't send one car by itself."
The governor nodded. "MacDonald. It has to be MacDonald."
<Let's hope he gets here before the Humvees do,> said Tobias.
The convoy rolled down the highway, half a mile from the mansion. The police car hurtled toward it, a streak of red and blue.
The governor picked up the phone. Made one more call. This time to the guardhouse.
"Open the gate," she said. "A state police car will be approaching in a matter of seconds. Let it through. Don't stop it. I repeat. Do not stop it. I've given the police officer clearance."
The turnoff to the the governor's mansion lay in a dip between two hills. A Humvee topped the hill on the convoy side. The police car flew over the hill opposite. It streaked over the last stretch of highway and squealed into the turnoff, spraying dust and gravel over the Humvee. Then the car shot through the open gate, barreled up the drive, and skidded to a stop at the front entrance to the mansion. The doors banged open. Three officers leaped out.
"That's him. The tall one." The governor pointed. "MacDonald."
The officers bolted inside. Seconds later, footsteps thundered down the hall. We shoved the bookcase aside and unlocked the door. Mac-Donald burst into the office, followed by the other two police officers. I bolted the door behind them.
"Ma'am." MacDonald nodded at the governor. His gaze swept over the other occupants of the room. Me, your average good-looking kid. Collins, one shoulder inexpertly bandaged. The hawk on the windowsill. MacDonald frowned and shook his head.
And Ax.
"Ahhh!"
MacDonald reached for his pistol.
"No!" The governor grabbed his arm. "This is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. He's an Andalite. A friend."
Ax stepped forward and bowed his head. Kept his stalk eyes on MacDonald's pistol and his tail blade poised.
MacDonald narrowed his eyes. Studied Ax. His hand hovered near his holster.
"I'll explain everything when we have more time," the governor said. "Right now you need to know that those troops -" She pointed out the window. The convoy was winding its way up through the canopy of trees lining the drive. "Those troops have been taken over by enemy forces. Extraterrestrial enemy forces. We must do everything we can to stop them."
"Extraterrestrial?" MacDonald gaped at her. "Aliens? You've gotta be joking!"
<She is not joking,> Ax said, slightly offended. <My presence should prove that.>
MacDonald considered this. Rubbed a hand over his face. "Aliens. Okay. So what do we do?"
"The governor is our main concern right now," I said. "If we can get the Controllers, the aliens, out of here, can you keep her safe until Colonel Larsen's battalion arrives?"
"Yeah," MacDonald said. "Not a problem."
"Good." I turned to the governor. "I can't tell you where we're staying. You won't be able to contact us, but we'll contact you. Soon."
"How?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. But we'll find a way. We always do."
<We haven't thought through this superhero business very well.> Tobias flapped down from the windowsill.
MacDonald stared at him. "That bird did not talk," he muttered. "That bird did not talk."
Ax took the governor's hand and bowed low. <It has been an honor,> he said.
"For me, too," she replied.
I shook her hand next and held it for maybe a second too long.
The governor's head bobbed. Her chin dropped to her chest. She almost seemed to doze off while leaning against her desk. I released her hand, and she blinked herself awake.
"Oh!" She rubbed the circles under her eyes. "Guess the coffee's not working."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "It's been a long day. Okay, I need to make a quick pit stop before we leave."
I darted into the bathroom and gathered what I needed. Then I strolled back into the office, my arms folded tightly across my chest.
Armstrong unbolted the office door. "All clear," he said.
Ax, Tobias, and I stepped into the hall. Nobody seemed to notice the soggy gray lump tucked under my shirt.
I lay on my stomach. I could see the floor, the toes of a Controller's boots, and a stack of ammunition crates in the corner.
RRRRRRRrrrrrrmmmmmm.
The truck roared to life. Shuddered as the driver shifted gears.
RRRRRRRrrrrrrmmmmmm.
The driver gave it gas. We lurched forward, stalled out, then lurched again.
BAM!
An ammo box banged to the floor.
"Ooooooph."
Somebody heavy landed on my back. The driver floored it, ground the gears, and we thundered down the drive. The truck bed rattled. The canvas sides whipped in the wind. My face thumped against the cold metal floor.
"Are these ropes and handcuffs really necessary?" I said.
I rolled to my side and swung my bound ankles around in front of me. My feet were purple and numb from lack of blood flow.
"I'm not stupid," I said. "I won't try to escape."
I rocked, trying to get into a sitting position. Fell on my face and tried again.
"I'm perfectly aware that a middle-aged, out-of-shape woman is no match for three well-trained - aah!"
I sat up.
And came face-to-face with the barrel of a rifle. The corporal and his two buddies surrounded me, M-16s aimed at my head.
"Oh, honestly," I said. "Aren't you boys going a bit overboard? As I said, I'm not in a position to - ulllmph."
The corporal stuffed the corner of a filthy duffle bag into my mouth.
"Shut up already," he said.
"Huuulph." I choked on loose threads, bits of grit, and something foul and sticky clinging to the fabric. An old Coke spill.
I glared at my captors. They could've been clones. Same haircut. Same wardrobe, camouflage fatigues and combat boots. Same sneer pasted across their faces. The only difference was the little collar pins that showed their rank. Like Visser One's gold eagles, except these were dull black stripes. The corporal had two stripes. One of his buddies had one stripe. And the other didn't have any.
Stripeless jabbed the barrel of his M-16 in my face. "What are you looking at?"
"Ur-uuhl." I shrugged and shook my head.
We rumbled down the drive. Sunlight filtered through the trees and flickered against the canvas roof.
<They took the bait.> Tobias's thought-speak sounded strong. He was nearby. <They're all headed down the drive. Every last truck and Humvee.>
I glanced up. A jagged shadow loomed above the canvas.
Rrrrrrrrrriiiiiiip.
The roof split open.
Thummmp.
And a Hork-Bajir dropped into the back of the truck.
"Hey!" The corporal swung his rifle around. The Hork-Bajir - Tobias - lifted his knee blade.
" AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
The corporal's M-16 clattered to the bed of the truck. One Stripe dove for it.
A second Hork-Bajir - Ax - dropped through the canvas.
And pinned One Stripe's hands to the floor with his tyrannosaur feet. Ax doubled his leathery fist.
WHAP!
One Stripe was out cold.
The corporal had dropped to his knees. Now he whirled. Lunged toward the fallen rifle. Tobias seized him in one clawed hand and jerked him into a stranglehold. Blood poured from the corporal's arm.
Stripeless had been slowly inching away from the fight. Now he jammed the muzzle of his rifle into my skull. "Let him go," he told Tobias, "or the governor here gets it."
Ax and Tobias froze.
The truck jolted as the driver shifted to a lower gear. We were approaching the end of the drive.
"Are you deaf?" Stripeless screamed. "I said, LET HIM GO!"
The truck shuddered to a crawl.
I looked at Tobias. Caught his gaze and held it. Shook my head. Slowly, slightly, so Stripeless wouldn't see.
Tobias nodded. Tightened his death grip on the corporal.
Tou think I'm kidding? I'm not!" Stripeless jabbed my head for emphasis. "You either let him-"
The truck lurched.
"AAH!"
Stripeless tumbled backward, slammed into an ammo box, and slumped to the bed of the truck, unconscious.
<They could all use a little nap,> said Tobias. <They're a little cranky.>
He doubled his fist.
WHAP!
The corporal dropped to the floor.
Ax and Tobias rolled the Controllers together in a heap. Then they gathered the M-16s and began hacking the barrels off with their wrist blades.
I thumped my feet on the floor. "Uh-ur-ulph."
Tobias turned. <Did you say something, Marco?>
"Uh-ur-ulph. UH. UR. ULPH!"
Ax looked at me. Tilted his head. <I believe Marco is trying to tell us that while he is extremely happy to see us, he enjoys being trussed up, and could we please not remove the filthy satchel from his mouth, as he finds it quite tasty.>
Oh, good. Ax picks now to finally get human sarcasm.
<Yeah.> Tobias nodded. <That's what I thought he said.>
I banged my feet again. "Uh-uhl-ur-ULUPH!"
<Okay, okay. Don't get your skirt in a wad.> Tobias pulled the duffle bag from my mouth.
"Uuuuh." I wiggled my jaw. My mouth felt like sandpaper. "Thank you. Now, can you do something about the handcuffs?"
Tobias turned me around.
WHACK.
One wrist fell free.
WHACK.
Then the other. The handcuffs clanked to the floor.
I untied my feet and helped Ax and Tobias bind the Controllers together with the rope.
I stood back. Pushed a wiry gray curl from my face and straightened my dress.
We demorphed, then remorphed. Wings. Tobias and I guarded the prisoners. Ax perched on an ammo box and played lookout.
<We are approaching a tunnel,> he said.
<Perfect.> I hopped up beside him. <Get ready.>
The back of the truck grew dark. Three mallards flew through the hole in the canvas and flapped toward home.
"Hey, look, Cassie!" I said. "You're a TV star."
I pointed at the TV screen, where a wolf was leaping into a crowd of National Guard troops. The wolf growled, bared its teeth, and sank them into a burly soldier's butt.
We were back home, in Ax's scoop in the Hork-Bajir valley. We were crowded around Ax's TV, watching news footage of last night's battle.
Jake and the others - Group One - had discovered the main Yeerk headquarters for troop infestation. When the Animorphs showed up, Controllers were herding hundreds of National Guard soldiers at gunpoint toward a temporary Yeerk pool.
Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and James's group, along with a few of Toby's finest fighters, attacked. The battle quickly became bloody and desperate, and Group One realized they were losing. Badly. But they knew they couldn't give up. They couldn't bail and let hundreds of soldiers become infested
with Yeerks.
Sometime after midnight, another National Guard unit made an appearance. The colonel in charge ordered the Yeerk commander to free the uninfested troops and surrender. When the Yeerk commander didn't, the colonel and his unit attacked. Again the battle was bloody and desperate, but the colonel had seen battle before, and he knew how to win. He hadn't stopped Visser One last night. But he had definitely slowed him down.
Ax flipped from a local channel to CNN.
"Hey, go back," said Jake. "I want to see that."
Ax clicked back to the local channel. A blond reporter was interviewing a grim-looking military officer on the steps outside the governor's mansion.
"That's him." Jake pointed at the screen. "The guy who kicked butt last night."
Ax turned up the volume. The interview was almost over.
" ... thank you for that detailed account, Colonel Larsen."
"Colonel Larsen? That's the governor's guy," I said. "The one who just got back from two weeks in the desert."
The reporter turned to the camera.
"That was Lieutenant Colonel Jacob P. Larsen, the newly appointed head of our state National Guard, giving us a chilling account of last night's violent clashes within National Guard ranks. Back to you, Dave."
The camera switched to the news anchor. He flashed a TV-news-guy smile.
"Thank you, Patricia. In a related story, the governor got a bit of a scare yesterday afternoon. During a fundraiser at the Ambassador Hotel, she was kidnapped by three suspects who, witnesses say, were wearing Halloween costumes. News Channel Five brings you exclusive footage of this bizarre incident."
Dave's image was replaced by that of a limousine screeching from a parking lot, a leathery serpent head poking through the limo's roof. Then the camera switched to a scene of the governor galloping along a bridge on the back of a furry, blue, four-legged creature. A gorilla and another creature - the one with the serpent head - leaped over stalled cars and wrecked delivery trucks while police officers gave chase.
The newscast ended with footage of a helicopter explosion and a slow-mo shot of a yacht sinking into the river.
"So." Jake looked at me. "You kept it all pretty quiet, huh?"
"Hey, we were showing a little finesse there," I said.
<Yeah,> said Tobias.
"Hey, guys, quiet," said Cassie. "I want to hear this."
She leaned forward and turned up the volume. An announcer's voice blared from the TV. "We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you late-breaking news from the capitol."
The picture went fuzzy for a second, then focused on Patricia, the blond reporter, talking to a plump gray-haired woman.
<It is our governor,> said Ax.
Rachel stared at the TV. "She's a woman."
"Well, yeah, she's a woman, Rachel." I glanced at Tobias. You didn't know that?"
Rachel was too impressed with the governor to be annoyed with me. "This is so cool. The highest elected official in our state is a woman." She peered at the screen.
The camera zoomed in on the governor. Her hair was a mess, her face pale. She was wearing the same sweats she'd had on yesterday, only now they were a lot more rumpled.
But when she looked into the camera, her steady gray eyes were still bright. Still focused.
Patricia pushed a microphone into her face, and the governor began to speak.
"I won't beat around the bush," she said. "I have declared a state of emergency. I repeat: a state of emergency. This is not martial law. Our police, and even our National Guard forces, cannot be trusted." She glanced at the reporter. "The news media cannot be trusted. You may not even be able to trust your friends or your own family."
She explained about Yeerks. About how, like an invisible disease, they have been infesting and slowly taking over the population.
"I know this sounds fantastic," she said. "Like something out of Hollywood. But by now you've seen the news footage. You know what I'm telling you is true. Our state, our nation, our entire world is under attack. But we are already fighting back. I have requested help from Washington, and the president has agreed to send U.S. troops."
"U.S. troops," I said. "It's what we've wanted from the beginning. Why am I not ecstatic?"
<How can you get ecstatic about all-out global war?> Tobias said.
The governor shuffled her notes. Looked into the camera again. "This is not the time for panic," she said. "It is the time for each of us to reach into our souls and pull out the courage we may not even know we possess. Our enemy is strong. But we are stronger, because we are fighting for our lives and
our freedom. For our very existence."
"Thank you, Governor." The camera switched to Patricia.
Ax clicked off the TV. We sat in silence, staring at the blank screen.
On the one hand, I didn't see this plan coming and it looks like it'll at least be successful in drawing the Yeerks away from the governor.
On the other hand, it sure would have been handy to have the morphing cube available so the governor could morph out.
"Our police, and even our National Guard forces, cannot be trusted.” She glanced at the reporter. “The news media cannot be trusted. You may not even be able to trust your friends or your own family.”
Reads a whole lot differently in 2022. What a presidential address!
"
"Are these tripod books related to HG Wells' martian tripods? Sure hope so
Only trust your spunky teen resistance fighters
Andalites will never help you
