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Chapter One

In a large, darkly lit chamber . . .

"Any news from Three?" The Emperor looked around at each of his followers. One by one, the other ten Councilmembers shook their heads. "And any news from Nine?" Again, the Councilmembers shook their heads.

Seven looked towards the Emperor. "May I speculate, for just a moment?"

"What is your speculation, Seven?"

Seven said hesitantly, "As you know, Nine didn't earn the position Nine of Thirteen by being generous. Nine earned the position because Nine is completely ruthless. And Nine didn't even bother to alert us to Nine's plan of arresting Sytsirk, so . . ."

"I understand what you are saying," the Emperor interrupted his follower. "You are implying that perhaps Nine is using its council position as a way to overthrow us."

Seven nodded.

"That is a very likely speculation," the Emperor implied. "We must hope that it is not true."

"What about Three, my liege?" asked Twelve.

The Emperor was silent.

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Tobias awoke, once again finding himself unable to move any movable part of his body. He was still in the same glass or plastic tube, surrounded by the same yellow gel. He was relieved that he could still breathe, but he was also afraid.

Unlike last time, he was alone in the room. There was no shadow off to the side, signaling the presence of his kidnapper.

By now, Tobias was fairly certain that he was not in the hands of the Yeerks. A Yeerk would've infested him by now, instead of turning him into the world's largest JELL-O mold. Truthfully, however, he kind of wished he was with the Yeerks -- at least then he'd know his enemy. Right now, he was in the hands of an unknown foe.

"Help!" he shouted. Or tried to at least -- he couldn't move his lips at all. It ended up sounding like "Hehhh!"

Lovely, Tobias, he thought sarcastically. Good thing Rachel didn't hear you.

He was about to try shouting again when suddenly, the front of the tube slid away. The gel didn't move, but Tobias did -- face first onto the floor.

"Shit," he cursed as he felt his nose, hoping to God that it wasn't broken. The last thing he needed was a broken nose. After making sure that all his bones were in one piece, he rolled over onto his back. "Where am I?"

<Truth be told, I think the correct question would be, 'What are you?'>

Tobias tilted his head back -- and found himself staring up at an Andalite.

"Oh my lord."

Chapter Two

<Breeyar, behind you!>

<Coming up on your left, Jake!>

<RACHEL, DUCK!>

Rachel barely had time to roll out of the way as two Hork-Bajir decided to take a shot at her at the same time. Jake sprinted over to her and managed to take out one of the Hork-Bajir with his paw. While he was sparring with the other one, he shouted, <Rachel, morph! Now!>

Rachel nodded and dove behind a large piece of something or other. It looked like it had been part of a boat at one time. A long time ago.

Come on, come on -- morph, dammit! She almost screamed in frustration when she realized how tired she was. It had only been about ten minutes since she'd changed back from elephant to human, and that was because her time limit had been running short.

Unfortunately, ten minutes had not been enough time for her to regain her strength. She was having an extremely hard time concentrating.

A hand grabbed her shoulder. "Get back with the others," Sytsirk said, kneeling beside her. "I'll cover you." He held up his Dracon beam for emphasis.

Rachel looked at him for a few seconds.

"Go!" he ordered.

No time to argue, she realized. "Thanks," she whispered, then took off for where Shane, Geoff and Coalmeer were hiding.

She almost did a double-take when she saw Coalmeer. "What are you doing here?"

<As a scientist, I have no offensive morphs,> Coalmeer replied. <What are you doing here?>

"Resting," she managed to gasp out. "I can't believe I just tried morphing when I was that tired. For crying out loud, I'm not Cassie! What was I thinking?"

Geoff shrugged. "You were thinking about helping your friends," he said. "Natural."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "I have to get back out there," she said.

Shane grabbed her arm. "Don't," he said. "You'll only be putting yourself and everyone else in danger. The others can handle it until you're not so tired."

She looked at him. He was right, she knew, but it didn't make her feel very happy. They were her friends. She had to help them. Or die trying, at the very least.

She stood up.

<Rachel, get out of here!>

Marco's voice startled her, and she almost shouted in surprise. She turned to look at the large silverback gorilla casually throwing a Hork-Bajir four feet in the air. Damn that psychic power of his, she thought, knowing that it was the only way he had been able to see her.

<Rachel, get Coalmeer, Shane, and Geoff out of here,> Marco snapped. <We try to leave, they follow -- we'll just be putting the four of you in danger. You'll find shelter here.>

At that precise moment, a picture appeared in her head, a picture of a map. It was faint, and she could barely grasp it, but she got the general idea.

<We'll be there as soon as we can,> Marco promised. <Now GET OUT OF HERE!>

Knowing, finally, that she couldn't help, Rachel grabbed Shane and Geoff, motioned to Coalmeer, and ran.

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<Quest, how far until contact?> Shamia asked.

<Yeerk forces?> demanded Imoteo

"Swell," Taylor muttered. "Ratio?"

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Taylor snapped.

Shamia turned her stalk eyes towards him. <Can't you just shut up?>

Taylor narrowed his eyes.

<HEY!> Imoteo shouted. <Will you two get off it for awhile? We've got a problem!>

<What problem?>

Imoteo pointed at the view screen. <THAT PROBLEM!>

Littering the bottom of the harbor were mines. Hundreds and hundreds of mines.

Including one that was straight ahead of them.

Chapter Three

<Full thrust left!> Shamia shouted as loudly as she dared. <Taylor, find something to hang on to. Imoteo, put weapons on full alert! This is going to be rough!>

The Quest dodged a hard left, barely skimming the edge of the mine by an inch. Relief washed over Shamia, for she knew the tremor sensors were perched on the top of the mine -- typical Yeerk device. An Andalite mine would be half the size and much more sensitive, she thought. Thank the Ellimist this isn't an Andalite mine.

<Shamia!>

Imoteo's cry startled her out of her thoughts and immediately drew her attention to the screen ahead. <Full thrust right!> she commanded the ship, adjusting the lights and desperately trying not to ram into either one of the two mines they would be passing through.

Directly in front of her was a big problem. Four mines in a square shape, a small hole in between. Dodging three of the mines would be no problem, but the fourth -- there wasn't enough room to go under it, and in order to avoid the other three she would have to go over it. That would mean triggering the explosion device.

"Shamia," Taylor growled, staggering to his feet, "you had better be able to get us out of this, or rest assured Galuit will have your head!"

<Relax, Chief,> Shamia said, recalling an old physics lesson back in first stage, <I've got it all figured out.>

"Oh, good."

<Quest, full speed ahead.>

"WHAT?!"

<Upward tilt.>

<Hang on.>

<What are you going to do, Shamia?> Imoteo asked. If he was nervous or doubtful of his co-pilot's maneuvering tactics, he didn't dare show it. Taylor, however, was silently cursing out the Andalite pilot.

Shamia gave a grim smile. <I'm going to take her right out of the water, and hope to the Ellimist that we'll have enough thrust to make it to land before that mine goes off.>

"We're doomed." Taylor, of course.

Chapter Four

Tobias sat up and rubbed the back of his head gingerly, never taking his eyes off the Andalite standing in front of him. Likewise, the Andalite -- who seemed to be no older than Ax -- stood his ground, never taking his gaze off of Tobias.

"I'm hoping you're not a Controller," Tobias said finally, breaking the silence.

<From the hope in your voice, I'm figuring you're not one yourself,> the Andalite replied, his arms folded across his chest.

"You got that right," Tobias confirmed. "Who are you?"

<Who are you?>

"You kidnapped me, you should know," responded Tobias in a sarcastic tone of voice -- something he had picked up from Marco.

One stalk eye moved forward and peered skeptically at him. <I didn't kidnap you, I rescued you. Had it not been for me, you would've been overtaken by those Controllers. Your sudden morph as you lost consciousness most likely healed your wounds.>

"So you were the one who killed those guys," Tobias realized, snapping his fingers.

<I thought perhaps you were another Andalite,> the Andalite replied. <But you've been in that form for too long -- either you are a nothlit, or you're just not one of my kind.>

"Yes and yes," Tobias replied, further confusing the Andalite. "Now, once again, who are you?"

<Who are you?>

Tobias almost smacked himself in the forehead. He could obviously see he was getting absolutely nowhere. This is like talking to Ax when he starts explaining Z-Space, he thought. "Okay, all right, you win." He stood up. "My name is Tobias O'Conner, son of Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul."

As expected, this threw the arrogant Andalite off a little. For a moment, as he stared, Tobias compared himself to a cell under a microscope -- very unsettling.

Well, if being stared at was very unsettling, then the Andalite's next words were completely freakish.

<Pleasure to meet you, I suppose,> the Andalite said. <My name is T'auk-Emanel-Cooraf.>

Tobias looked at the Andalite. Obviously, he thought the name would mean something. Mentally he shrugged. "Well, okay, then. Now, one more thing: Where the hell are we?"

Chapter Five

"Sir, we've lost contact with The Quest," Thomas said, spinning around in his chair.

Galuit looked up. <What did you say?>

"The Quest," Thomas repeated. "There's no frequency anymore."

The captain turned to Kishi immediately. <Kishi, what's the status on The Quest's flight plan?>

"Negative, sir," Kishi confirmed. "There is no trajectory. She's disappeared."

His eyes narrowed. <Impossible.>

"Possible or not, it's the truth," Kishi said. "There is no sign of The Quest. Or, for that matter, the transport the platoon was using. It's completely gone."

Galuit was about to move to the screen himself to check it out when Garcia came up behind him and whispered something in his ear. Nodding, Galuit turned to Tom, who was standing off to one side. <Watch over things until I get back,> he said.

Tom was startled. "Me, sir?"

<Just until I get back. And believe me, I wouldn't be asking you if it weren't for the fast that 1) you are Jake McCain's older brother and 2) you apparently have nothing else to do.>

Ignoring the barb that he was Jake's brother, Tom nodded. "Yes, sir."

<Good.> He turned and followed Garcia to his chambers.

"They demand to know what's going on with Tobias," Garcia said as they entered the room.

Ax and Cassie were standing in the center, looking not-very-pleased. <I demand to know the status of my nephew's disappearance.>

Galuit took a deep breath. <Very well.> He looked at Cassie. <Family only.>

<She stays,> Ax said in a tone that Cassie had heard Elfangor use on Arbron in Elysia, and Jake used with Marco when Marco was going overboard with the sarcasm and complaining. She'd never heard Ax use it, though. Galuit didn't argue.

<The current status is MIA -- Missing In Action,> Galuit said. <We have quite a few problems at this moment, more pressing than Tobias' situation, so chances are we won't be able to begin searching for him until things calm down a little.>

<By then it may be too late.>

<I can't spare the manpower.>

Cassie put her hands on her hips. "What if Ax and I went searching on our own?"

<I'd have to forbid it,> Galuit said. <Civilians are not aloud out of the base without supervision.>

"I'll supervise him," Cassie said. "I'm not a civilian anymore, remember?" She pointed at her name plate for emphasis."

<You're only a cadet.>

"But I'm not," Garcia interrupted. "How about I agree to go with them, for a period of time? If we don't find Tobias in that amount of time, we'll return to base."

Galuit considered this, then sighed. <Very well,> he said. <You have two hours.>

<Thank you, captain,> Ax said.

Galuit shook his head. <You're just like your brother, Aximili -- never taking no for an answer.>

Ax smiled. <I've been told that many times.>

With Garcia leading the way, the three of them left.

Galuit stared after them, even after the door was closed. <Good luck,> he whispered.

Chapter Six

It was pathetic, really, the way it had needed to lie and manipulate just to get where it was today. Had it been a stronger Yeerk, there would have been no need for such drastic measures.

True, it hadn't really wanted to destroy Three. But two key factors had been playing at the moment: One, the fear of its plan being discovered. And Two . . . it was just plain hungry.

It's not easy living in this body, it sighed. But at least I don't need to worry about the never-ending hunger those filthy Taxxon-Controllers go through. First thing when the Emperor is overthrown: destroy all Taxxon bodies.

So as not to forget this little detail -- after all, there were much more pressing things to think about -- it pulled up a file and, beneath No. 163: Find way to make Ongachic host taste better, entered No. 164: Destroy all Taxxon host bodies. After all, it wasn't as if it could actually eat them.

A few more meals like that, Nine thought, and I'll be ready for the cocoon in no time.

Chapter Seven

Honestly, why do I even bother? Cat thought as she moved silently along the slab-covered street. She’d been patrolling this section of the city ever since she came to Old New York, but it wasn’t as if anything ever actually happened. For some reason, Yeerks and humans alike never liked the area. Cat hadn’t been born, of course, when it had flourished, but her parents had often talked about Central Park, back when it was alive, and she could remember her father . . . she stopped that train of thought almost as soon as it started.

I don’t live in the past, and I don’t wait for tomorrow. I’m here for the present, and that’s all. The words that defined her entire life echoed silently in her head. She clenched the crossbow in her hand, and placed the other on the bolts tied to her waistband.

That was how she liked it.

Suddenly she stopped. Her head cocked, she strained to hear the other sound mixed in with the blasts of beams.

The sound of a wild animal taking pain.

Oh, I don’t believe this! How many times am I going to have to save that guy’s ass? Hoisting the crossbow into a shooting position, she took off for the direction of the blasts.

Knowing her way around the city was an advantage, the harbor had just come into view when something made the entire battle stop.

A low rumbling filled the air, and all eyes turned towards the dark red water.

Chapter Eight

Jake’s muscles tensed as a dark shape grew beneath the water. The tiger, while usually calm and collected, was suddenly afraid. It didn’t know what this was – it didn’t want to know. Oh, man, Jake thought to himself, if the tiger’s afraid, then this better be a good time for me to high-tail it outta here!

Then he noticed the Yeerks were slowly backing away, too. Hmm.

A Bug Scout floating overhead trained its weapons on the growing mass. It prepared to shoot.

The shock wave from the exploding mine was enough to send everybody flying off their feet. The backwash from the laser shots and exploding Bug Scout caused everybody who had gone down to stay down. Water showered over the entire harbor as the tower of water created by the explosion died down.

Animorphs, AAA, and Yeerks alike turned and stared at the ship that had just outmaneuvered an underwater mine and taken out a Class A Bug Scout while still underwater.

The Yeerks raised their weapons.

A voice shouted out over a loudspeaker.

"This is Chief Justin Taylor of the Andalite-Animorph Alliance. Stand down and no weapons will be fired. Surrender and no Yeerks will be destroyed."

Jake thought this was a little too kind.

The lead Yeerk, a Hork-Bajir, spoke in a guttural voice, "We are Yeerks. We do not stand down. We do not surrender. That metal joke will not shield you!"

The Yeerks began firing. Smoke from the lasers clouded Jake – and Marco, Breeyar, Aci, Sytsirk, any one else within the area – from seeing what was happening. There was no reply from the ship.

Then . . .

The Yeerks didn’t even have time to scream. The shot was point-blank and on target.

<Jake?> Marco whispered shakily. <How do we know if that’s really Taylor?>

I made a flash decision. <Demorph,> I ordered.

The ship landed softly in front of the melted mess of Yeerks and host bodies. A door opened in one side, and sure enough, Chief Taylor stepped out. "Well, looks like you’ve all been through hell these past through days."

Jake grinned wearily. "Hell and back, actually. You don’t know how glad we are to see you."

"Oh, yes, we do. See, we’ve got a slight crisis of our own back at base – we could really use your help." Taylor motioned inside the ship. "Come on."

"Wait!" Marco cried. "Where’s Rachel, Geoff, and Coalmeer?"

Breeyar immediately snapped to attention. <Taylor, can the sensors on that ship – amazing ship, by the way – track down the others?>

Taylor didn’t look certain.

<YES!> Shamia shouted from inside the ship. <In fact, Quest is already on it.>

"Is it just me, or is it really cold?" Aci wondered, glancing up.

Jake frowned and looked at his watch. "It’s only five o’ clock," he muttered.

"Thirty-hour day," Marco reminded him. "The sun’s getting ready to go down." Addressing the group, he said, "and I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like this place after dark."

"Amen," Sytsirk said, cleaning off one of his blades. "Hope you don’t mind, but I think I’ll tag along for awhile. Let’s find the rest of your friends and get out of here."

Taylor glanced inside the ship and nodded as Shamia spoke to him privately. "If half of us go on the ground and the other half go on the ship, we’ll cover twice as much area."

Breeyar glanced over at Jake, who nodded. <Let’s split up, then.>

It was decided that Marco, Sytsirk, and Breeyar would stay on the ground, and Jake and Aci would join Shamia, Imoteo, and Taylor in the Quest. As the two groups split up, Breeyar looked over at Marco.

<Is something troubling you?> he asked. <Are you cold?>

Marco shook his head. Actually, he was quite warm. The jumpsuit had its own internal heating system, almost. What kind of material is this thing made of?, he wondered briefly.

No, the cold wasn’t what was bothering him.

It was, in fact, the moon.

The full moon, just beginning to replace the sun for the night.

Things weren’t over yet.

Cat made sure to follow closely behind the land group. She had seen the amazing ship that had defeated the Controllers causing the problems at the moment, and had known she’d never be able to even think of keeping up with it. Not from the ground.

She wasn’t going to consider the other option.

So, instead, she followed in the shadows, and hoped Marco wouldn’t detect her through their powers. He was already proving to be a far greater psychic than she had anticipated.

Night had fallen, and the moon had risen.

Marco was glancing around, almost as if something was frightening him, and that he knew what it was, but that he couldn’t understand why it was so. Of course, he wasn’t afraid. He was just picking up her emotions. Good thing he didn’t know that.

Cat clutched the pendent that hung from her neck tightly. The last thing she needed was losing it.

Literally and mentally.

The man sat in his secluded spot, watching the figures move away. He could see them far after they had disappeared from a regular viewpoint. And he could see what they could not – the young girl, the child, shadowing them.

Soon, child, he thought. You won’t be able to resist much longer. You have so much potential – and it will be mine.

The girl shuddered, stopped, and then continued.

The man grinned and watched her leave.

Chapter Nine

Aci looked out one of the side windows, down at the ruined city. "This is an amazing ship," she murmured. "It must best every Yeerk vessel ever built."

<And every Andalite, rest assured,> Shamia laughed, her eyes twinkling. <But please, don't ever let the Electorate know that I said that.>

Jake was sitting on the floor of the ship towards the back, leaning against the wall. Chief Taylor noticed this and sat down beside him. "Is something the matter?"

He shook his head, then shrugged. "Well, maybe. I can't help getting the feeling that I've been missing out on something while I was here."

Taylor raised an eyebrow, then cleared his throat. "Well, actually -- you have. We managed to rescue Ax and the others from the tunnel, although Ax had given most of his reserve oxygen to a young boy in a wheelchair (we still haven't figured out what he was doing in there). It took forever to revive him. We beat back the Yeerk forces easily -- your brother doing quite well, I might add -- but in an attempt to allow the rescue team some more time, Cassie and Tobias were attacked."

Jake looked up in alarm. Cassie, attacked? Wait -- what was she doing there in the first place? He was about to ask that same question when Taylor began talking again.

"Cassie's fine, but Tobias has been missing ever since. Last I heard, all search efforts have been halted until we removed you from New York and returned to base safely." Taylor took a deep breath. "We managed to get through to the YPM base, and they've stopped their evacuation -- they should be safe from Nine, at least for awhile." Taylor really didn't care much for the Yeerk Peace Movement -- he only added this little piece of information for Acissej's sake. Jake noticed Aci relaxing greatly at the news.

Imoteo looked up from the navigation. <Sham?>

Shamia looked over. <Yes, Im?>

<I'm picking up some unusual readings here -- about three miles south. Something's happening. Think we should check it out?>

Shamia wasn't entirely sure. It was her duty to check out any suspicious and probable Yeerk activity, but then again -- she had promised Jake that she would help look for his friends. <Quest, can you identify the reading?>

<Well?>

Everybody froze. "Oh, shit," Jake whispered as he suddenly remembered something.

In all the excitement, everyone -- even HQ -- had forgotten the reason the platoon was in New York in the first place.

To stop the installation of a maximum-high Kandrona.

Taylor gritted his teeth. "Imoteo, call in a report to base. Shamia, how fast can we get to that site?"

<Depends on what we run into,> replied Shamia. <Hang on!>

Chapter Ten

"Everybody, freeze," Rachel whispered as she, Shane, Geoff, and Coalmeer pressed themselves against the side of the building as much as possible. "We can't let them see us."

In front of them, several hundred Controllers were milling around. The Statue of Liberty -- or what was left of it -- could be seen in the middle of the harbor. A large transport ship of some sort had attached itself to the torch. On the edge of the harbor, cages were being set up. Large vats of some strange liquid were being loaded into Bug Scouts, and other ships were dredging things out of the water.

"What is going on here?" Shane wondered, peering over Rachel's shoulder.

"I don't have a clue," Rachel replied. She glanced at Geoff and Coalmeer. "How about you two?"

Geoff shook his head, but Coalmeer looked grim. <Those containers contain the Pool Solution XVSimplatt5,> he replied.

Rachel frowned. "What are they going to do with all that solution?"

<No doubt they're building a Yeerk Pool somewhere,> Coalmeer replied. <And, if my suspicions are correct, I would say the pool itself is the harbor. From the way they're dredging, it looks as though they're removing obstacles from under the water.>

"What kind of obstacles?" Geoff asked.

Shane rolled his eyes. "This used to be a busy harbor," he said. "There were hundreds of ships. The Yeerks destroyed everything. There have got to be tons of wrecks under there." Under his breath, he muttered, "Not to mention everything from the massacre."

Rachel didn't want to think about what "everything" could include. "Come on," she said. "I think we better go back the way we came."

Something cold pressed against the back of her neck. "Hello, Rachel," a familiar voice whispered.

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"How much further do you think they could've gotten?" Marco asked as he avoided yet another pothole.

Sytsirk frowned. "Considering the time that's passed, and the amount of Controllers in this area -- we should have run into them now."

<Should have,> Breeyar agreed, <but we haven't. Speaking of which, what Controllers? I haven't seen any since the fight.>

"The construction site for the new Pool is about half a mile from here," Sytsirk replied. "They're most likely all there. But some are on patrol."

Marco stopped. "Like them?"

A group of five nasty-looking Hork-Bajir were progressing steadily towards them. Marco frowned -- something wasn't right with this whole situation. What could it possibly be?

Sytsirk froze. "What in the . . . what are they doing here?"

<I don't think it matters,> Breeyar replied. <We're still going to end up fighting for our lives!>

Marco looked at Sytsirk. "What's up with these? They're a lot stronger-looking than the ones I've seen in the past."

"They were genetically engineered," Sytsirk replied, backing up slightly. "No Yeerk can control them -- but they only know one thing, and that's the kill anything that doesn’t have a Yeerk in its head." He clenched his fist to stop it from shaking. "But they aren't supposed to be on guard duty. There should be at least on Regulation Controller with them."

Each of the Horks pulled a large weapon out from behind their backs.

"And they're not supposed to carry Prototype-X weaponry!" Sytsirk shouted. "Get down!"

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Rachel slowly turned around to look at her captor in the face. It was a woman, somewhere in her late thirties or early forties. She had dark hair, pulled in a ponytail to keep it out of her eyes, and blue eyes that once must have sparkled brightly, but now only held cold hatred. A Dracon beam was in her hand.

"What's the matter?" the Controller taunted. "Don't recognize your own sister?"

A gasp escaped Rachel's mouth. "Sara . . . ?!"

Sara smirked. "Got it in one. If it weren't for this host's memory, plus the fact that you're still a child, I never would've recognized you. But, of course, I have -- and Nine will reward me greatly for this. I've been dying for a new host -- perhaps a Hork-Bajir. They may be dumb, but they are so much stronger than a puny human."

Rachel could now see that they were surrounded. There was a ring of various aliens all around them. Hork-Bajir, human, Taxxon, Gedd, and others that she couldn't hope to identify.

Then Sara smiled, a humorless gesture. "I may have orders to keep you alive, of course -- but I have no obligation to do so with your friends here." She moved the Dracon beam towards Geoff and the others. "So I wouldn't try morphing if I were you."

Rachel wanted desperately to attack, but she knew from experience that you couldn't drag innocents into a fight that they couldn't defend themselves in. With a sinking heart, Rachel realized that her luck had run out.

It was over, and she had lost.

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"There it is," Aci said, pointing at the looming structure in front of The Quest.

Jake's eyes widened. "It's the Statue of Liberty," he whispered.

Imoteo glanced at the screen in front of him. <The Kandrona is located inside the torch. It's not turned on yet -- they won't do that until the Pool is complete. But it's installed.>

"There must be some way to get at it," Taylor muttered. "There must be!"

<Yes, but how? Even if we could get at the Kandrona, we'd still have to destroy it. Quest doesn’t have enough power,> Shamia said.

An idea began forming in Jake's mind. "But maybe something else does," he said. "Aci -- do you still have the container that Coalmeer gave you? The one with the you-know-what in it?"

Aci smiled, catching onto his logic. "You bet I do," she said, sliding the case strap off her shoulder.

<What is it?> Shamia asked.

Jake opened the case. "If we get this inside the torch -- think it'll do the trick?"

Imoteo looked inside. <I'd say so.>

"Well, then -- let's get moving."

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Cat could see the conflict in front of her. Oh, man, she thought. Time to bring out the heavy artillery. She pulled back her cloak and removed the boomerang that hung there. Bolts won't affect them with those metal chest plates, but there's nothing to stop me from slicing their throats.

She unfolded the blades and pulled herself up into a throwing position. "Come on, move," she muttered. She needed Marco and the others out of the way to get a clean shot.

Perfect. She raised the blade . . .

WHAT ARE YOU DOING, CATALUNA?

The voice caught her off guard, and she almost dropped the blade. "What the . . . no," she whispered. "Not you. Please. Not you. Not now."

WE NEED TO TALK.

Chapter Eleven

"Any hint on how to stop these creeps?" Marco demanded.

Sytsirk nodded. "There's a spot on their chests. That's why they wear the chest plates. If you hit that spot, their whole chest collapses. It's one thing we never managed to fix in the genes."

<How powerful are those chest plates?>

"That's the bad part," Sytsirk admitted. "If you were to hit it with your fist, your entire arm would shatter."

Ouch, Marco thought. "Okay, so we don't do that. How about if I morph? Would a gorilla be able to take them down?"

"They adjust themselves to their opponent. If you morph, then they just become stronger in equivalent to you. They're about three times as strong as you now -- they'll be three times stronger than a gorilla if you morph."

<How have Yeerks managed to do this?> Breeyar snapped.

"It was Nine's idea," Sytsirk explained. "Nine comes up with crazy ideas which somehow work. Leaving it very unpleasant for the other side."

Marco flinched as another shot whizzed over his head. The three of them were crouched behind large slabs of concrete, and not having a very good time. There has to be some way out of this. They can't be invincible. He glanced around the side of his slab. They appear to be using those weapons easily -- but Sytsirk said they don't usually carry weapons. Which gives me an idea . . .

"I'll be right back," he said to the other two.

<Huh?>

"Where are you going?"

Marco closed his eyes and tuned out everything around him. Concentrate. Concentrate. He felt himself become very light, almost weightless. It was a strange feeling. When he opened his eyes, he found himself staring down at the battle scene. It had worked! Somehow, with his natural power Marco had managed to astrally project himself.

Now, where's that Hork? He focused on the group below. Got him. Not trying to think about what would happen if somehow his power gave out, he dove down to the front most Hork-Bajir. Just like flying. Man, Tobias would love this.

Then, suddenly, he was . . . somewhere else.

"Whoa," he said, than realized he had spoken out loud. "So this is what the inside of a Hork-Bajir's head looks like. Pretty . . . dark."

Who are you?

"I suppose you must be the owner of this form."

Uh, maybe.

"You do realize you're trying to kill me and my friends."

It's my programming. I must engage combat with non-Yeerk essentials.

"All right, but do 'engage combat' and 'shoot till dead' mean the same thing?"

Weapons are forbidden.

"Then why the fuck are you using them?"

WHO ARE YOU?

"Huh? Who's there?"

GET OUT!

The force of the voice was so powerful that Marco felt himself getting shoved out of the Hork-Bajir's head. He tumbled head over heels, somehow managing to reroute himself and reenter his body. "Ow," he moaned as he was once again able to feel on a mortal basis.

<What happened?> Breeyar asked.

"Something's controlling the minds of these things," Marco said. "Something that doesn’t seem to like us very much."

"So how does that help us?" Sytsirk asked.

"I think I slowed it down a little when I startled it. Whoever it is didn't expect me to be a psychic. Maybe if I play a little mind game, they'll slow enough for you to get out."

<What about you?>

"Oh, I'll be right behind you. Count on it."

<Then what are you waiting for? Do it!>

"Right."

Marco glanced around the slab one more time to place where each of the five were. Here goes nothing. He focused his mind on the rusted metal post that had once been a street lamp. Lift. Lift. Lift -- come on, you damn thing, lift!

The post shook, and slowly began coming out of the ground. The sound alone stopped the Hork-Bajir. Slowly, they began turning towards the post.

"Move now," Marco growled.

As he mentally threw the post -- and all the junk it had uprooted -- at the Hork-Bajir, the three of them ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

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Rachel looked venomously at the foul creature that had taken over her sister's body. Sara didn't flinch. She just stood there and smirked. The Rachel's relief, the Yeerks hadn't killed the others -- instead, they were being saved for a couple of high-ranking Yeerks. Rachel doubted that these Yeerks would be part of the Yeerk Peace Movement like Sytsirk and Aci had.

"I'm surprised, really," Sara said after a few moments of silence. "You didn't put up much of a fight. Not exactly the Rachel Lansing I remember."

"Yeah, well, I've grown up a bit," Rachel said sarcastically.

Sara's eyes narrowed. "I'd watch that poisonous little tongue of yours if I were you. When Nine gets done with you . . ."

"I'm so scared."

"You should be. Nine is far less forgiving than Visser Three ever was." Sara ran her hand through her dark hair and adjusted her grip on the Dracon beam. "Once this new Kandrona is installed, nothing will stop us from finally conquering the planet. And you and your friends will help greatly in the location of the AAA base."

"You know, me and my friends have a saying that we kind of adopted from the Hork-Bajir." Rachel smirked. "Free or dead. You can probably catch the meaning of those words."

"We could arrange the latter."

"So, where is this Kandrona?" Even though she already knew, she wanted to keep Sara talking as much as possible.

"Not that it matters to you, but . . . over there." She gestured at the torch of the Statue of Liberty. Rachel looked.

And stared as the entire torch exploded in a shower of dust, dirt, concrete, and flame. A loud KA-BOOM! shook the ground as the statue seemed to literally collapse on itself and into the harbor.

"What in the . . . the Kandrona!" Sara forgot all about Rachel and raced after the others Controllers. The prisoners were forgotten as they rushed to the various Bug Scouts and such.

So only they noticed The Quest emerging from the cloud of dust that had mounted from the explosion as she flew towards them.

When Jake managed to slip unnoticed into the now abandoned work site, Rachel looked up at him and said, "What took you so long?"

Chapter Twelve

Marco was leaning against the side of a building. "I think we lost them," he said, panting hard. "What do you think?"

Breeyar was stretching his tail. <I think we ran in the complete opposite direction than before and now we're even more lost, that's what I think.> He shook his head. <Don't ever tell anyone I said that.>

Sytsirk grinned. "Don't worry. I doubt anyone would believe me, anyway."

"Now all we need to do is find out where we are," Marco muttered. "Great. And I'm physically and mentally exhausted -- my power won't get us out of this mess."

<Perhaps you'd like a ride?>

"A ride would be . . . huh?" Marco looked up. "Hey, look! We're saved!"

Sytsirk and Breeyar both turned to see The Quest slowly drifting to the ground. Shamia was extra careful, due to the major debris littering the streets and sidewalks. Jake appeared at the open door. "Come on, you guys -- Shamia and Imoteo can't keep her hovering forever!"

Breeyar immediately made a dash for the ship. Sytsirk followed hesitantly a moment later. "Marco, come on!"

"I'm comin', I'm comin'," he complained, moving slowly towards the ship. "I'm also tired."

As the doors closed, Breeyar turned to Taylor. <Where to now?>

Taylor took his cap off and wiped the hair out of his eyes. "Home, sir. Home."

Breeyar nodded. <Shamia. Set course for AAA base Buffalo.>

<Yes, sir.>

Marco noticed Shane sitting off to the side. "He's coming with us?"

Jake nodded. "We tried looking for his aunt -- couldn't find her."

"I'm not surprised. In this place, you're lucky if you can find anything." Jake nodded again and walked over to talk to Breeyar. Marco stood by one of the observation windows and looked down at the remains of the Big Apple as they lifted off and began to fly away.

Maybe I'll come back someday, he thought. Maybe. It'd be nice, once all this is over, to see . . . he stopped the thought and shook his head. "Forget her," he muttered. He had more important things on his mind. Like finding his dad.

Still, if he came back . . . maybe . . .

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As the ship flew off, a lone figure stood on a desolate rooftop. Her eyes were fixated on the face in the window, clearly outlined in the darkness of the night.

Her eyes flashed red, and a feline growl resonated from within her throat. A another figure came up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

SOON, MY LOVE.

SOON.