The good news was that Tobias, Jake, Cassie, Ax, and Loren had all made it back to Elysia safe and sound.

The bad news was that we lost Arbron, Mat, Strike, and Tycoola.

The horrible news was that the Neutro-Virus was on its way to Elysia, and nobody was prepared to deal with it.

Elfangor didn't even wait to see if the evacuees had all made it into the city boundaries. <Srangi, as soon as the last person is in the city, I want you to power up the perimeter force fields. Devone, you and Laura better try to figure out how to stop this thing. Marco, you and Cha-Nab go try to open a communication link with Mi Ung on the fifth ring. I'll send Loren as soon as she gets here. Meanwhile, I'm putting this community under a Class A1 Level Emergency Evacuation. Alo, if any other communities question that, tell them to get out of the way -- preferably to the next ring.>

Jake and Cassie came running up to Tobias and me a second later. "What's Elfangor yelling about?" Jake asked.

"He's going into Class A1 Level Emergency Evacuation, whatever the heck that is," Tobias said. "He's assigning people all sorts of tasks."

Jake waved Ax over to us. "Where's Marco?"

"He went with Cha-Nab to try and contact someone on the fifth ring," I replied. "Why?"

"Have they left yet?" Jake asked.

Ax looked around. <No,> he said. <I see him now.>

"Ax, go get him. Then meet us in the house." The four of us managed to slip away unnoticed inside the house Tobias and Ax were staying at with Elfangor and Loren. Fortunately, no one was actually in the house.

"I'm here, Fearless Leader," Marco said five minutes later. "Loren took over for me, so what's up?"

Jake motioned all of us over to the kitchen island in the kitchen. "I don't think anything these guys throw at the virus is going to stop it," he said. "This thing is moving fast, and it's huge. It's bigger than anything we've faced before."

<That's not good,> Ax said.

"You're right," Jake agreed, "it's not. But we didn't get dragged in here just so we could be killed. I don't think anything that Yeerk told your mother is going to do any good now. Which means we need to take matters into our own hands."

Marco groaned. "We're going to jump into a suicide mission, aren't we?" he demanded. "Aren't we?"

Tobias smiled uncertainly. "I understand what you're saying, Jake -- but there's no way Elfangor is going to let us do this."

"Then we don't tell Elfangor." This, surprisingly, came from Cassie. Usually she's all for not breaking the rules and stuff. "Look, those force fields they've got up -- they're not going to hold. And chances are whatever the Yeerk knew needs Yeerk technology anyway. We're Elysia's only chance."

"Why doesn't that make me feel good?" Marco snapped.

"Tobias, Marco, Ax -- you two know the most about computers here. Tobias says this thing is a large computer virus. What can stop a computer virus?" Jake asked.

"Any decent virus monitor," Marco said. "But somehow I doubt we'll find one big enough."

Jake nodded. "Where would the best place be to wipe out the virus?"

<If we were to emanate a charge powerful enough to destroy it?> Ax said. <Probably the heart of the program.>

"If I remember correctly from that big chart in the meeting room," I said, "that's where the Ellimist lives."

Tobias rolled his eyes. "I figure that guy owes us one or two favors," he said. "But we'd need a big enough virus program."

"How does an android get through life without a virus?" Marco asked.

"Huh?"

"Erek," Marco snapped. "You have to figure, he's lived as long as he has: he had to have had a virus or two. Obviously he'd have to have a virus program. Something strong enough so that the virus doesn't come back."

We stared at each other. "Marco, you're a genius!" I cried. "Erek. We need Erek. Which means we need to swipe that small cube from the meeting hall in order to get home."

<No,> Ax said. <We cannot leave -- we don't know what time we'd be going or coming back to. Remember, time is different between the two realms.>

"So how do we bring Erek here?" Cassie asked.

<We merely ask the Escafil Device to transport him,> Ax said simply. <See, the call emits through a Z-Space tube, where time is slowly than light, and light is faster than the rotation of the proximity to Earth and its sun -->

"Ax?" Jake asked.

<Yes, Prince Jake?>

"SHUT UP!" we all shouted.

Ax stopped.

"Okay," Jake said, "I figure two people going after the box is enough. No use in calling attention to ourselves. Ax, you know how to work the thing, so you're in. Marco, I want you in with him. You know your way around the meeting hall."

"Hey!" I protested. "What about me? I know my way around, too!"

Jake looked at me. "We need you out here, Rachel," he said. "We need to destroy that force field so that Erek can get in."

Destroy? Destroy a force field? "Okay," I agreed. "When do we start?"

"Jake made this sound like the easy part," Marco muttered behind me. "Yeah, right."

<We must be quiet, Marco,> I reminded him.

"I'm trying to be quiet," Marco snapped. "Besides, it doesn't matter if we're quiet or not. Everyone else is screaming at the top of their lungs. It's not like they can actually hear us or anything."

I've learned to ignore Marco when he gets like this. Usually, he'll complain and whine about several other things that have absolutely nothing to do with the task at hand, then end up doing exactly what he was complaining about.

We slipped past a group of scientists and found ourselves in a room containing several weapons.

"Gee, they're not afraid of anyone stealing this stuff, are they?" Marco commented.

The Escafil Device was right in the middle of the room, on a small pedestal. There was no alarm, or case over it. Obviously, Marco was correct -- no one in Elysia was afraid that these objects were going to disappear.

Suddenly I noticed something. <Marco,> I said, <the Escafil Device is right in the doorway. If you go to take it, people will see you.>

"Right," Marco agreed. "Rachel and I know that. See, I have faith. Or, rather, I have Rachel. Any minute now, we're going to be able to grab that thing and run."

<How?>

HREEEEHUUHHH!

TSSERRRR!

RAUGHHROARRR!

ARROOOWWW!

Everyone in the adjacent rooms stopped screaming. They all turned slowly to the Council Circle directly outside the meeting room.

My brother was the first to speak. <What in all the bloody tails of Cranger are those kids doing?> He had figured out that the group weren't true animals.

"Sir, there's an elephant, a hawk, a wolf, and a tiger trying to break down the force fields!" some human cried in shock and amazement.

"Uh, sir! The elephant, hawk, wolf, and tiger have broken through the force fields! They've destroyed the main power cells!"

"NOW!" Marco hissed, darting forward and snatching the Escafil Device right out from under their noses. Just as quickly, he darted back to where I was waiting. "I hope you know how to work this."

<Arbron explained quite nicely earlier,> I said. <Hmm. If I take his instructions and reverse the effects, I should be able to draw Erek to us, rather than draw us to Erek.>

"Just do it!"

I pressed my hand against the cube and focused my mind. I could feel the power flowing from the box and around us. Then the power flowed away from us and an area in front of us began to glow. It began to take shape . . .

Chapter Three -- Erek

I hung up the phone and turned to my "father", Chee-Marl. "There's still no answer at Marco's house. And I've left several messages on all of the phone lines.

Marl looked at me. "I'm sure nothing's wrong, Neja."

Chee-Neja is the name my creators gave me. Erek King is my human name for this lifetime. That's the name I most often go by.

He's probably right, I told myself as I walked upstairs to my room.

I sat on my bed and gazed out my window. It was already getting dark. Marco and Jake had been supposed to meet me at the mall earlier that week, but they'd never shown. When I called both their houses, their parents had said they were over helping Cassie, but Cassie's parents hadn't seen them for hours.

That had been on Saturday.

Today was Wednesday.

Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, Tobias, and Ax had been missing for five days, and no one had a clue where they were.

I remembered something a Controller had said at a Sharing meeting two days ago. How he and a Hork-Bajir had chased down a full-grown Andalite, only to be chased off by an Andalite child.

My friend Chee-Tala, or Jenny, and I knew right away that the child had to have been Ax. Who the other Andalite was, that we didn't know.

The police had been searching for Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco since Sunday. We Chee had been searching for all four of them, plus Tobias and Ax, since Saturday.

Someone knocked on my door. "Come in," I said.

Jenny walked in. "Are you okay, Erek?" she asked.

I nodded. "Just worried, I guess," I replied. "It's almost been a week. The Yeerks are almost finished testing the Neutro-Virus. If they use in on Earth, they'll have this place conquered in no time."

"Did you have any luck finding out where they're testing the virus?" Jenny asked.

I shook my head. "I don't even know exactly what it is, or what it can do. All I know is that it's dangerous."

Jenny nodded and sat down next to me. "We'll find them," she said confidentially. "I know we will."

"I hope so," I whispered.

"Erek."

"What?"

"Erek!" She sounded like she was shouting, but I could barely hear her. I looked up and noticed suddenly that my vision was fading. My room was a becoming very faint, while another room was becoming sharper in my vision. I could hear other noises, noises that hadn't been there a second before.

I stood up just as my room disappeared completely. I was standing in a large room, and outside I could hear people yelling in hundreds of different languages.

"Where am I?" I whispered.

"Hey, Erek. Long time no see."

I turned my head. "Marco?"

Erek looked at Ax and me. "Marco?"

I grinned. "The one and only."

"You're not dead?"

Ax and I looked at each other. <You explain, Marco,> Ax said generously.

"Gee, thanks," I muttered. Then I looked at Erek. "Nope, I'm not dead. It's just that we've got a slight problem, and we kind of need your help with it."

"Where are we?" Erek demanded.

"This would be Elysia," I answered. "One of the many communities of the dead. And Elysia is being destroyed by a Yeerk device called the Neutro-Virus. We also think that maybe Crayak is helping things a little."

Erek looked dismayed -- or, rather, his hologram looked dismayed. "The Neutro-Virus?"

"Yeah, you've heard of it?"

He nodded. "It's the talk of the Sharing this past week. This was the thing I wanted to talk to you about last Saturday. You never showed."

Saturday? Oh, yeah, now that he mentioned it, I did remember Jake and me agreeing to meet Erek then. "So we're a day late," I said, shrugging. "Sorry."

Erek shook his head. "Marco, you and the others have been missing for almost five days. It was Wednesday when I Ieft."

Five days? I looked at Ax. <Arbron told us there was a time difference,> he said.

"Arbron?" Erek echoed. "Who's Arbron? And why are people screaming out --"

A tiger burst into the room. <Marco, Ax -- hey Erek. Elfangor's throwing a fit out here. He's already begun evacuation, and according to Srangi, the virus is a day away. Does Erek know what we need him for?>

"I was just getting to that," I said crossly. I quickly outlined the plan we had come up with. "We figure the Ellimist owes us a favor or two."

"How do you expect to talk to him?" Erek asked.

That stopped us. "Uh . . ."

<When we're evacuated,> Ax said, <we'll be crossing the barriers. If we can somehow contact other rings, the seven of us can continue to the Ellimist's realm. Then we can request entrance.>

"I'll start contacting people," I said. "I'm the only one who can do it."

Jake nodded his big head. <All right. I'll tell Rachel to stop stomping what's left the force field and I'll fill them in. Should we tell Elfangor about this or not?>

Ax shook his head. <Definitely not. I know my brother -- he will never allow us to do something like this, even if it would save the community.>

<Okay, then we have to do this in secret,> Jake said. <Erek, can you begin downloading your anti-virus programs?>

Erek nodded. "I'll start right now."

I was already beginning to contact Mi Ung, the fifth ring psychic. <We've got less than a day to pull this off, guys,> Jake said. <You all know what to do. Ax, bring the box and come with me. Marco, Erek -- as soon as you're done, head for the evacuation bay. Don't bother looking for us. If you get separated, just keep going. Either way, Erek must get through, and at least one of us should, too. The Ellimist doesn't owe the Chee any favors.>

"Just get out of here," I snapped. Suddenly I made connection with Mi Ung.

<Has anyone seen my brother, or my son?> I asked a group of people by the evacuation bay. The entire bay was seething with people. There were people from at least five different communities, and more were coming.

It was the fourth group I had asked. The other groups had all denied seeing Ax and Tobias. "I think I saw Tobias and that girlfriend of his cross the portal a few minutes ago," someone from Maldova said.

<Thanks,> I said.

Loren had already head over to the fifth ring, so I hoped she would find him over there. But Ax was still unaccounted for. <Ax?> I called as I searched the crowd. There were several Andalites, but not one of them was my little brother. <Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthil!> Wherever he was, he wasn't answering my call.

Suddenly Srangi hurried over. "Elfangor, the Escafil Device is gone."

I turned all four of my eyes towards him. <Excuse me?> I asked calmly. <I'm not sure I heard you very clearly. I thought you said the Escafil Device was gone.>

Srangi gulped. "I, uh, did, sir."

I narrowed my eyes at him. <Then find it! And while you're at it, see if you can track down my brother. He doesn't seem to be answering.>

"He's not here, sir," Srangi said tentatively. "I saw him head over to the fifth ring about an hour ago."

I breathed a sigh of relief. <What about the other Animorphs?>

"All present and accounted for. They all crossed over to the other ring. Though we still don't have a clue why they were destroying the force field. But, sir? About the Escafil Device?"

I frowned. <Just -->

A loud roar began filling up the air. My stalk eyes reflexively turned to look behind me. Just off in the distance, I could see a band of white beginning to form across the sky. And then, every few minutes, the tip of a large tentacle. < -- forget about it!> I finished. <Srangi, I want you to get over to the fifth ring now! The Neutro-Virus is almost here. I'll handle things here.>

"Loren is going to kill you if you don't come with me," Srangi snapped.

I looked at him. <I'm already dead,> I replied. <Besides, she doesn't listen to me, so why should I listen to her? Besides, Laura and Devone still haven't figured out what to do about this thing.>

"Do you want me to sound Massive Evacuation?"

<Do it,> I said. <I'll stay here to make sure everyone gets over. Tell my wife I'll be there when I can.>

Srangi took off.

I stood there silently, watching the tips of the tentacles whip up and around and tear down the world.

Jake had us all split up into groups. He went off with Cassie and Ax. Rachel came with me. I don't think she really wanted to let me out of her sight. Not yet, anyway.

"So we have to find Mi Ung," Rachel said after we'd been walking aimlessly for about fifteen minutes. "Where do we find her?"

"She's psychic," I said. "Maybe she'll find us."

"Maybe," Rachel said skeptically. "But that seems like such a long shot. We should probably try looking for her ourselves."

I looked at her. Then I gestured to the crowd around us. "Rachel, there has to be hundreds of people here. And we don't even know if Mi Ung is human or not. Remember, not everyone is. We know that best of all."

"Especially you," she said playfully. "After all, look at your family tree."

I rolled my eyes. "Can we leave my genealogy out of this conversation, please?"

She just smiled. I love it when she smiles. Her whole face lights up. She looks more like a goddess than a normal girl. Then again, she's not exactly normal. Someone as beautiful as her can't be considered . . . um, well, never mind. I digress.

"Oh, no!" Rachel hissed.

"What?"

"There's your mom," she said, pointing, "and I think she's looking for you! I think she's looked at you."

Mom started walking towards me.

"Quick," I said, "we need to move."

Rachel looked at me incredulously. "Yeah, right. We're packed in here tighter than sardines."

"Then it's diversion time," I said.

"Watching those Saturday morning super hero cartoons with Ax, again, Tobias?" Rachel teased. "This isn't a cartoon! You can't just whip up a diversion!"

"Watch me." I started to morph rapidly. No one noticed. <As soon as you can, get out of here. But first, give me a boost.> She picked me up and heaved me into the air. What to do, what to do? I thought. I needed a target. I needed a good target. I spotted something. Bingo.

There was a variety store near the evacuation bay. I guess even dead people need amusement once in awhile. And right in plain sight was a can of that silly string. You know, the stuff you spray and it gets all over everything and you can never get it off?

I dove down and grabbed a can. That's when I realized I had a whole new reason to love my talons. They were excellent for spraying this out of cans.

<Rachel, cover your head!> I called out in private thought-speak. Then I pressed down on the spray can. Pink foam came spurting out of the nozzle. <Yes! Bird-boy shoots, he scores!> I crowed as I caught several people on the head. They all stopped and started yelling and complaining. With my superior vision, I spotted Rachel with a piece of paper over her head, making her way calmly through the crowd. My mom was very confused.

Once it was empty, I dropped the can and swooped down to meet up with Rachel. She was talking to two people. I misjudged the distance, and landing in the wall. <Ow,> I complained as I hobbled towards Rachel and began to demorph. "Oh, hi Marco. Hi Erek."

Marco was looking like he didn't want to be there. Erek was very calmly picking pieces of silly string off of both of them. "Nice, Tobias," Marco started complaining. "You warn Rachel, but you don't warn us."

"I didn’t see you," I protested.

"It doesn't matter," Erek said. "Come on. Marco found Mi Ung."

"What is all that yelling about?" Jake demanded. We were on the other side of the evacuation bay, and people had started yelling and running. A few ran by us, and I noticed little flecks of pink foam in their air.

"Someone's playing a practical joke, that's all," I sighed.

<There you three are!>

<Elfangor!> Ax cried.

"Elfangor!" Jake and I echoed.

Elfangor walked purposefully over to us. <I've been looking all over for you. Elysia's been completely evacuated, but I'm having a hard time finding people. The virus is almost on top of the community. I don't think it'll break through here, though, thank goodness, so we might have time. Where's Tobias?>

"Haven't a clue," Jake lied.

"No idea," I answered.

<I haven't seen him,> Ax bluffed.

Elfangor didn’t look entirely convinced. He focused his eyes -- all four of them -- on us. Then he shrugged. <Loren will probably find him, then. Now. Would you mind telling me why Elysia's force field was attacked by a bunch of "wild" animals? I have the strangest feeling that somehow, the three of you were behind that.>

"Us?" Jake, Ax, and I all said at the same time. "Why would you think a thing like that?" I said innocently. He didn't buy it. He just folded his arms across his chest and glared. And trust me, Andalites can glare. They can glare really good.

I looked at Jake. He looked back at me helplessly. Ax was shifting his weight from hoof to hoof. Then suddenly, he turned all four eyes to the sky. <Hey, Elfangor, look! There's Tobias!>

Elfangor looked.

Ax grabbed Jake and me and started to run in the opposite direction. <Aximili!> Elfangor shouted when he saw us running. But the crowd had begun to close in again, and he couldn't follow us fast enough.

We ran around the side of this one building and slowed to a jog. "Thanks, Ax," Jake said breathlessly. "I didn’t know you had that in you."

Ax looked ashamed, yet slightly proud. <I'm Elfangor's little brother, Prince Jake. I know how to get away from him when I want to.>

Jake and I looked at each other and laughed.

Suddenly I stumbled forward. Jake caught my arm and managed to keep me from falling. "What happened?"

"I must have tripped over loose ground or something," I said.

<No, Cassie, you didn't. The ground moved. I felt it,> Ax said shakily. <I'm starting to get the feeling that my brother was wrong.>

I was about to ask Wrong about what? when I saw something digging its way through the ground. It looked like a worm. Then it got bigger and bigger, until it was about a foot out of the ground. It curled back, plunged into the ground about five inches away, and broke the ground away from the rest of the street. Right in the middle of the street, a circle five inches in diameter had just opened up.

"The virus!" Jake yelped.

<Prince Jake, may I suggest running back to my brother?>

"Whatever you say, Ax!" Jake shouted, grabbing my hand and running. The three of us ran back the way we came, with the virus eating through concrete behind us.

It was up to Tobias, Rachel, Marco, and Erek now.

The three of us ran back into the crowd. Unfortunately, the same crowd that allowed us to escape my brother was now making it impossible to find him. "We need to get through," Prince Jake gasped.

<Allow me,> I said. Changing to open thought-speak, I shouted, <Hey, everyone, listen up! The three of us need to get to my brother, Prince Elfangor, and unless you all want to be crushed to the size of Cheetos, I'd suggest getting out of the way. We've got a virus!>

That got the crowd moving, and fortunately moving in the right direction. The three of us were swept up in it as people started running.

"This is a side of you I've never seen before, Ax," Prince Jake said as the crowd started pushing us.

A hand reached out and grabbed me by the shoulder. Prince Jake and Cassie were pulled over a second later. <Indeed it isn't,> Elfangor snapped. <What has gotten into you? Panicking everyone like that? This isn't a joking matter!>

"It's no joke," Cassie said quickly. "The virus really has crossed over, and it's already beginning to destroy this community. We saw it."

"Cassie almost fell into it," Prince Jake added.

Elfangor looked at me. <This is true?> he demanded.

I nodded.

Loren suddenly came pushing through the crowd. "I just had a long chat with Mi Ung. Apparently, Tobias, Marco, Rachel, and some boy I've never heard of named Erek have already gone on to the sixth ring. Something's going on here."

<You better believe it,> Elfangor said. <The virus has already made it to this ring. We're going to have to start another evacuation.>

"This one will take even longer!" Loren protested. "We'll never get everyone through."

<Elfangor, Loren,> I said.

"What?"

<What?>

<There is a reason the others went ahead. We have figured out a plan to stop the virus, and it involves going to the Ellimist for help. Tobias is the only one of us who has even started to begin understanding this thing. It's a computer virus,> I replied. <Therefore, the others are going to download an anti-virus program into the computer virus itself, and to do that, they need to go to the center of the afterworld.>

"What makes you think the Ellimist is going to help?" Loren asked.

"He's interfered with our lives so much," Prince Jake said, "that he owes us a few favors."

"Yeah," Cassie agreed.

<It is up to Tobias, Marco, Rachel, and Erek to stop the virus. But we must try to contain it. We need Marco's mother,> I said. <The information she has might help us do just that.>

"Laura and Devone are at the second evacuation bay," Loren said. "I'll go get them."

Elfangor shook his head. <Just Laura. Tell Devone to get out of here. This isn't his fight.>

Suddenly a loud crack filled the air. The virus had started to demolish one of the buildings only about fifteen feet from us. "Let's take this to another location," Prince Jake said hurriedly.

<I'll second -- oh, no.>

<What?> I turned to look at my brother. <Oh, no. Prince Jake? I believe we may be trapped.>

The virus was not only ripping through the earth behind us, it was no in front of us, and beginning to push through entirely from the other ring. "This way!" Loren shouted from the evacuation bays, where she was standing with Laura. "We have to outrun it."

Jake and Cassie were already hurriedly morphing to horses. <Let's run!> Elfangor shouted.

With a virus on either side of us, we began to run.

"Will you hurry up?" Marco complained. "Come on, come on! We don't have much time."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm moving as fast as I can. How many more of these portals do we have to go through before we make it to the Ellimist?"

"You expect me to know that?" Marco asked. "I thought you knew!"

"Me? How would I know? I've never even heard of this place before."

"Be quiet, both of you," Tobias snapped irritably. "I know where we're going."

"Oh," Marco and I said at the same time.

We were on the sixth ring, and hurrying towards the next portal, where we would meet Calliope, a psychic Mi Ung had referred us to. I was seeing a lot of unusual things in this world, the most unusual being the fact that so many species were working together and not fighting.

"How many portals do we have to go through, anyway?" I asked.

Tobias shrugged. "That I don't know."

Marco and I groaned. "Great."

"Hey, it's not like I've done this before!"

Rachel growled. "Will all three of you keep it down? We're going to --"

That was when the entire world changed. "Whoa," Marco said, his voice echoing in the silence. We were standing in complete blackness. "Okay, what's going on?"

really, marco, i would've thought you'd guess by now.

"Ellimist," we all said at the same time.

"You've known we were trying to find you all this time, haven't you?" Tobias asked.

yes.

"Then why have you waited until now to show yourself to us?" Rachel snapped.

patience is a great virtue, rachel. anyway, i'm not allowed to interfere with the lives of --

"Oh, cut the crap, Ellimist," Marco sneered. "The 'I'm not allowed to interfere with the affairs of other species' deal is a bunch of BS and you know it."

"Great, Marco, make him mad," I muttered.

ahem. as i was saying, i'm not allowed to interfere with the lives of the dead. they're lives are mostly in crayak's hands. i merely keep an eye on the good points.

Marco looked like he was about to complain again, so I reached over and clamped my hand over his mouth. "Ellimist, we don't really care about that. Just tell us what you want."

thank you, erek. i've been following your plan, and i must say, it's a good one. but there is now a slight flaw. crayak has found out your plan, and has multiplied the virus. there is one in the after-realm. and there is one in the true-realm.

"Are you saying living people are now in danger?" Rachel asked.

yes. this has been crayak's plan all along. you're plan has merely caused him to speed things up. therefore, in order for your anti-virus program to work, you must place yourself in both the after-realm and the true-realm. you must enter a place now being, living or dead, has been in before.

"What exactly is this place?" Tobias demanded.

it is the place beyond reality. a place of memories and dreams. in order for the program to succeed, you must journey to this place. it will be dangerous. it will be painful. but it is nessessary to succeed.

"Then I guess we don't have any choice," Tobias said. He looked at the rest of us. "I'm going."

"I need to go, too," I reminded them.

"I'm not letting you do this without me, Tobias," Rachel said quickly.

Marco rolled his eyes and sighed. "What, like I'm going to let Xena get the better of me again?"

"She always gets the better of you, Marco," Tobias muttered. I smiled.

Marco gave Tobias the evil eye, then sighed. "Okay, Ellimist. Tell us what we need to know."

in this world, things are as you make them, not as they appear to be. you will see things that people create, you will see memories of tragedy, and memories of happiness. it is a living dream, essentially. as you travel through to the core of this world, you must rely on your heart and soul, not on your mind.

"Oh, yeah, that tells us a lot," Marco sighed. "Well, can we tell Jake where we're going first? He's going to be --"

Suddenly the blackness disappeared.

<Get down!> Elfangor shouted, running over and shoving me to the ground just before I got smacked in the head with a tentacle. We hit the ground hard.

We'd been dodging the virus for almost half an hour, moving deeper and deeper through the territory. The virus never seemed to tire. Unfortunately, we did.

"What exactly is this plan of yours?" I demanded when we all ducked behind a large outcropping of rock.

Jake peered over the rocks, then ducked back down. Another tentacle snaked over our heads and smacked the wall in front of us. A large crack appeared where the tentacle hit. "It's kind of complicated. Actually, Marco and Tobias figured out most of it."

<Basically, we're trying to download an anti-viral program into this thing, like a computer, so that it'll destroy itself.> Ax had his stalk eyes trained over the rocks, but he kept bringing them back around so he could look at all of us. It was a strange sight. I've never liked Andalites much -- I used to think they were all like Visser Three's host, whom I've been shoved into a cage with when we're on the mother ship more than once (Alloran's kind of crazy) -- but Ax and Elfangor weren't bad.

Another tentacle hit the wall. "It doesn't seem to be penetrating our little rock wall," I said.

Cassie looked worriedly up at the wall in front of us. It was part of a large cliff. "This one is holding up, but another couple of hits to the large one and it's going to come tumbling down on top of us."

<Great,> Ax muttered. <Buried alive.>

Elfangor glanced at his brother. <I've never heard you sound so cynical before, little brother.>

Ax ducked as another tentacle shot over his head. <Yeah, well, I've learned a few things. One is to never be optimistic.>

"He's been listening to Marco and Tobias too much," Jake muttered.

I looked at Jake. "What's that mean?"

"Never mind."

Suddenly Loren looked over the side of rock wall. "Hey, you guys? I think it's gone."

One by one we peered over the side. <Where'd it go?> Ax whispered.

Elfangor stood up. <It left,> he said. <It must have.>

Ax reached up and grabbed his brother's shoulder, pulling him down. <what did I just say about optimism? Even if it did leave, it'll be back. And we can't head back to the community. We don't know how weak that ground is.>

<So what are you saying?> Elfangor demanded. <We just sit here and wait?>

"This thing is Yeerk origin, with a little help from Crayak," I said. "It's smart. But I've never known it to retreat from something."

"So we wait," Loren sighed.

Jake reached out and grasped Cassie's hand. "Yeah. We wait and hope to God that Marco and the others make it. Otherwise . . ."

<We're toast,> Ax finished.

<Toast?> Elfangor repeated.

Loren laughed. "Elfangor, you've got a lot to learn."

I glanced up at the sky, hoping for some sign. Be careful, Marco.

"Well, can we just tell Jake where we're going first? He's going to be --"

Suddenly everything around us changed. I cut myself off and stared. So did Erek, Tobias, and Rachel.

We were in the strangest place in the entire known universe.

There were clocks all over the place. In the sky there was masses of lines, all connecting and twisting and tying together. Then there were boxes containing little pictures on them -- hundreds of pictures that you practically need a microscope to be able to see. Some boxes were big, others were really tiny. And somewhere in all this mess was a large, glowing, pulsing white light that we couldn't see the source of.

"What is this place?" Rachel whispered. Her voice echoed a little.

it is the abyss.

"And once again that explains a lot," I muttered sarcastically. "The Abyss. What is an abyss, anyway?"

"An abyss is any immeasurably profound depth or void, an unfathomable chasm or a yawning gulf. Sometimes known as primeval chaos, commonly described as a bottomless pit or hell," Erek answered immediately, without even thinking about it. We stared at him.

"Thank you, Webster," I said. "Do you memorize the dictionary or something?"

Erek shrugged. "I had to do something during the Great Depression."

Sometimes we forget that Erek is a million-year-old android who's witnessed every mass destruction event in Earth's history aside from the death of dinosaurs (but he does know about it, because we've been able to describe it to him -- and that's a story I really don't want to go into right now). Other times, he gives us so much information that we just want to strangle him -- only we don't because none of us are strong enough to strangle an android, and even if we could, it wouldn't be fair since Erek can't defend himself.

Besides which, Erek is just a very handy person to have around most times, and he's saved our lives. It's very hard to think about killing the person who has saved your life.

"Hell," Tobias muttered under his breath. "Now I'm really looking forward to this."

"We need to find the core," Rachel said, reminding the three of us that we all had a task to do. "If you three are done chatting, let's get to it."

So we started to walk.

A few minutes later, we were still walking.

And after half an hour, just for a change of pace, we walked some more. I was getting bored, and when I get bored, I start to complain.

"We are never going to find it," I whined. "We're going to be stuck going around in circles for the rest of our lives, while a big old computer virus the size of King Kong tears apart our universe."

I spun around. "Who said that?"

"Stop it!"

This is getting really annoying.

My eyes widened and I was about ready to start shouting when Rachel grabbed my arm. "You're saying that, Marco. That's your voice. But it's coming from . . . over there." She was pointing at a cluster of boxes near by. Some of the boxes were blank. Others were flashing rapidly. And still others, more than any thing else, were frozen in place. One box pulsated every time I spoke.

"How can a box talk?"

The box glowed. "How can a box talk?"

Cautiously, I approached the glowing box. I reached down and tried to touch it, but there was some sort of invisible wrapping around. Instead, I knelt down. Tobias, Rachel, and Erek crowded around me. "What is it?" Rachel whispered.

The box was spinning slowly. There were hundreds of little pictures. I reached out and tapped one. Suddenly, an image filled the entire side, like a little movie. I stared as I recognized the movie.

It was the day I first met Jake. There I was, sitting in the middle of the living with my mom, wearing a diaper and a shirt. I must have been about one and a half. I was playing with a pile of blocks when the door bell rang. I noticed that there were lots of unopened boxes, and there was barely any furniture.

My mom, much younger than, got up and answered the door. Another woman walked in carrying some sort of food. I -- baby me, not me now -- glanced up, then went back to building a tower out of blocks.

A minute later, little Jake came wandering over. He was wearing a little pair of overalls and walking unsteadily on his feet. I remembered that I could only crawl then. Jake sat down a little ways from me and watched me build a bigger tower.

Suddenly my tower wobbled and fell. I started to whimper, getting ready to work myself up to a good cry, when Jake reached out and handed me a block that had fallen near him. I looked at it, took it, and placed it on the floor. Jake put another one on top of it. Jake's been my best friend ever since.

"Wow," Tobias breathed. "This is your life."

I nodded, too surprised to say anything. "It's all my memories. The time I met Jake. My first day of school. Being born, even though I can't really recall that. All stored here."

"Look at this one," Erek said. It was one of the frozen boxes. I tapped a picture.

"Hey, it's my great-grandmother!" I exclaimed. "My mother's grandmother. She died when my mom was still pregnant with me. I never knew, but I saw pictures. Her memories must have stopped when she died."

Tobias stood up and looked around. "I bet if we looked, we could find the memories of every single one of us, even you , Erek. And I bet we could find Jake's, and Cassie's, and Ax's, and my mom and my dad's, too."

"The boxes seemed to be in a pattern," Erek commented. "In groups."

He was right. It seemed like the huge pile were standing by was my family. As the boxes became more spread out, so did my family line. My mother's box was touching one corner of mine, and my father's was touching the other. Then they branched out, and so on and so on. "Cool. This place doesn't look so intimidating now that we can actually make some sense out of it."

Rachel was looking at something over my shoulder. "Uh, Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"Run."

"Huh?"

She pointed behind my shoulder. "Run!"

I spun around and found myself staring at the biggest bear I have ever seen. It was three times as big as Rachel's grizzly bear morph.

We ran.

Normally, I wouldn't run from a bear. I mean, I've been a bear. I can become a grizzly. But this thing was too big, even for me. It was about the size of an elephant!

"Is it my imagination, or is it getting bigger?" Erek demanded, glancing over his shoulder.

Tobias, who isn't in very good shape, was breathing heavily. He shook his head. "No, it's not getting bigger. Just faster."

"Too fast," Marco muttered. "We need to pick up the pace a little!"

I looked back over my shoulder and saw the bear racing towards us like an overgrown freight train. Then I looked in the direction I was running. "Those box piles," I shouted. "If we can reach them, they might slow him down a little. Somehow I doubt he can run through them. There are just too many."

Marco and Tobias were behind Erek and me by a couple feet, and they were losing ground fast. Marco kept looking over his shoulder. "This is like a nightmare come true for me!" he shouted as the bear tried to bite his head off. Fortunately, Marco's so small, he can dodge things easily. He's extremely agile.

"What are you talking about?"

"One of my nightmare's is that Rachel figures out some way to do both the bear and the elephant at the same time," Marco explained in a halting voice. "We've got a bear the size of an elephant here. This isn't . . . hey." He stopped running. "It's stopped."

Tobias, Erek, and I slowed to a stop and turned around. Sure enough, the bear was pacing back and forth in a line about eight feet from Marco. Every once in awhile, it stopped and pawed at the air in front of it. But it didn't come closer. "It's like some kind of force field or something," Erek muttered.

Tobias laughed. "That's it! This bear is from Marco's nightmare. That area we just ran through -- it's tied directly to Marco. The bear can't go beyond it. We must have crossed over into someone else's life."

"Okay," Marco said. "That made zero sense, but since Bird-boy's the only one who even has a slightest clue, let's just go with what he said."

"So who's life are we in now?" I wondered.

"Who cares?" Marco snapped. "Let's just get out of here and find that center."

"Marco, shut up," I growled. "Right now, that bear is blocking our way to the center. We're heading back the way we came from. We need to figure out some way to get past the bear."

"Who cares about the bear?" Marco exploded. "That virus could be tearing through . . ." Suddenly Marco's eyes glazed over. He closed them briefly, than opened them. ". . . the fifth ring by now. Jake and the others might not even be alive."

"What happened?" Erek asked.

"What do you mean, what happened?"

"You blanked out," I answered. "You stopped speaking, then a minute later you picked up exactly where you left off. Are you going to try and tell us you don't know what we're talking about?"

"Actually, yeah," Marco argued. "I didn’t blank out. I think I would . . ." He closed his eyes again. ". . . know."

"You did it again," Tobias muttered.

"No, I didn't!" Marco protested.

"Yes, you did," I snapped. "You blanked out. Is it some kind of psychic side effect or something?" I almost laughed. I still didn't really believe that Marco was psychic. It just didn't seem possible that his brain worked at a higher level than the rest of ours did. Not Marco.

"I'm telling you, I didn't . . . " For the third time, Marco's eyes glazed over. He closed his eyes. I looked at Tobias, waiting patiently for him to snap out of it so that he could continue his sentence, when suddenly Marco's tan skin turned about three shades whiter than white. Without warning, his legs collapsed out from under him, and he hit the ground.

Erek dashed forward and knelt by him. He grabbed Marco's wrist. "He's in shock."

"He's in shock?" I repeated.

Erek nodded. "I've got a pulse, but it's faint. And his breathing is shallow. Something's wrong."

"Anybody here know what to do when a psychic goes into shock?" Rachel wondered.

Erek looked at us skeptically. "A psychic?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Turns out Marco's bran is a lot bigger than we give him credit for. He's psychic."

"I used to know a Pemalite who believed she had the power of the Third Eye," Erek murmured. "Nothing like this ever happened to her, though."

Rachel knelt down next to Marco, who's eyes were closed and skin was very pale. Sweat gleamed on his skin. "He doesn't look very good," she whispered. "What do we do?"

Erek shook his head ruefully. "Believe me, Rachel -- if I knew, I'd tell you. But I'm a computer. A very old, very smart computer, but still nevertheless a computer. I don't deal with psychics and stuff."

Rachel looked frustrated. "Tobias, your mother is psychic -- do you know anything?"

I rolled my eyes. "Uh, Rachel, how would I? I just met my mother, like, two days ago. We haven't exactly had a chance to chat. Anyway, I'm going to emphasize that it's my mother who's psychic, not me."

Rachel gave me a wounded look. I don't usually snap at her. "Sorry," she muttered. "I was just trying to help."

Immediately I was ashamed. "I'm the one who should be sorry," I said quickly. "I didn't mean to snap at you. No, I don't know anything helpful. Maybe if we looked around for a minute, we could find something useful."

"There's probably a hint near Marco's memory box," Erek said.

"Big bear," Rachel and I said at the same time.

"Right," Erek said, quickly discarding that idea. Nervously, I glanced back at the bear. He had decided to lie down and take a nap until we returned to that area. He looked like he had all the time in the world.

"What I wouldn't give for an Ellimist to answer some questions right now," I muttered under my breath.

yes?

"Whoa -- oa -- oa!" I shouted, almost jumping several feet into the air. "Do you enjoy doing that, or is it written in the Ellimist's Guide to Several Ticking People Off?"

Rachel and Erek looked at me. "What?" I defended myself. "Marco's unconscious right now -- somebody's got to fill in." They shrugged.

ha ha ha. extremely hilarious, tobias. i sense that the three of you are worried about marco.

"Don't say you're psychic, too," I pleaded. "There's just one too many people around here that are."

no, i'm not psychic. just all-powerful, and all-knowing, too.

"You forgot All-Modest," Rachel interrupted.

do you want my help or not?

We quickly fell silent.

marco is experiencing psycations -- psychic hallusinatons. it's a side effect and affects powerful psychics who unknowingly tap into too much power before they are ready. in order for them to come out of the psycation, another psychic needs to enter their subconsciousness and free them from their own thoughts.

"What?"

"Excuse me?"

"And I thought Ax was hard to understand."

in other words, you need another psychic in order for marco to wake up.

"That we don't have," Rachel snapped. "Can you actually be helpful for once, please? Answer a question. Will Marco die?"

no. right now, he's in hibernation. he will not die, unless someone kills him.

"Okay. So he should be safe until we get that virus killer program into the system," Rachel said. "Now, one last question. How do we get that virus killer program into the system."

things are not always what they seem. remember that, and you shall be free to move about wherever you please in the abyss.

"Didn't he say that before?" I wondered. No answer. "Hey, Ellimist, you still there?" No answer. "Great."

"Things are not always what they seem. What does that mean?" Erek asked.

"Hell if I know," Rachel snapped. "I'm not the all-powerful, all-knowing, cryptic-talking blue guy who keeps interfering but claims not to."

I was staring at the bear. And suddenly, I had an idea.

"Hey, guys, listen up," I said.

I woke up suddenly.

"Huh?" I murmured, wiping the sleep out of my eyes. It was dark out -- night must have fallen, and we were all asleep. Elfangor was resting peacefully beside me. Cassie and Jake were curled up next to each other, holding hands. Ax was sleeping, but also shifting his position uncomfortably every few minutes.

"Good morning -- or evening, or however you want to say it," Laura said. I guess we weren't all asleep, after all.

I yawned. "How long was I out for?"

"About five hours," she replied. "I've been keeping watch -- there's no way I can get any sleep."

"Too worried?" I asked.

"I guess," she said, running a hand through her long black hair. "I mean, it's not everyday you find out your only son has been fighting the same interstellar war that you have, only on the other side. Kind of like the Civil War. Brother against brother, father against son, that sort of deal."

I nodded. "I know what you mean. At least Marco talked to you when he saw you. Tobias just basically stared at the table. Then he yelled at me. Then we got sucked into a Bug fighter."

Laura frowned. "I heard a bit about that, but I wasn't sure if I was hearing things correctly. Who was in charge of that Bug fighter?"

"I'm not sure . . . it's hard to remember, and besides, they all died . . . I think they called him Visser Six?"

Laura turned pale. "Visser Six? Oh. Oh, no. Not good. That is not good. We're in even more trouble than I thought."

"Why?"

"Visser Six headed up the whole Neutro-Virus project. It was his idea to begin with. And it was his idea to test it on the afterworld, instead of the trueworld, like some hot-headed Vissers wanted," Laura said. She was talking very quickly. "However -- and this part was top secret, I only know it thanks to a YPM spy -- in the effect of Visser Six's death, someone else would be given the project. Vissers Four and Five can't, since they openly disliked the idea. So it would go to the next Visser."

"Three," I said.

She nodded. "Visser Three, according to Mifky 234 (another spy), wanted the virus to be tested in the after world, he expressed this vocally. Very vocally, in fact. But what the Council doesn't know, and Mifky only barely managed to pass on to Nemu and me, is that Visser Three also wants the test it on the true world. And with the help of Crayak, he can."

"So what you're saying is --"

"What I'm saying is that the reason the virus fell back is because Visser Three has drawn much of it into the true world. As we speak, it is tearing up not only these communities, but our universe as well."

"Why would the Yeerks want to destroy something they want to take over?" I asked, confused.

"The virus' programming can be changed. That's probably why it's been so silent. It'll be back -- and this time, there'll be no stopping it. There's no way the information Nemu gave me could even contain it, even if we have the correct materials." Laura was shaking visibly. "Oh, this isn't good. This is not good."

Elfangor was starting to stir, probably awakened thanks to Laura's talking. I started to reach over to tap him on the shoulder when a tremor went through my body. I pulled away from him, spun around and looked over the wall at the pock-marked land.

A crack of lightning shot down from somewhere, and where it hit, a figure appeared.

"I didn't blank out!" He sounded like he was finishing at sentence. "Huh? Hey, what happened?"

<Who . . .?> Elfangor was just now waking up, and sounding very groggy.

"It's Marco," I gasped. He heard me and looked over.

"Hey, everyone. What the hell happened here?"

"Okay. Now I'm really confused." I was sitting between Jake and my mom behind a small rock wall, where apparently Mom, Loren, Jake, Cassie, Ax, and Elfangor had been hiding for the past six or seven hours.

"You're confused?" Jake laughed. "Try considering how we feel. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard of. Marco's in some sort of strange dimension that no one's ever heard of, when he collapses and suddenly shows up here? Meanwhile, he's still there?"

"It's called psycations," Loren said patiently.

"Anyway, what do you mean, this is the craziest thing you've ever heard of?" I demanded. "What about the time when the Ellimist offered us a chance to go live on another planet?"

"Or the time we were all shrunk down so much that a flea looked like a horse?" Cassie asked.

<Or the time when we followed Horse-Controllers into Zone 91, only to find out that it was housing an Andalite waste disposal system?> Ax added.

Jake thought for a minute. "Then there was the time when we morphed squid, got into the Pemalite ship using the code '6', and the ship kept being super-friendly. You're right. I have heard of crazier things. But this is going right on that list."

Mom, Loren, and Elfangor were looking at us like we were nuts. <Well,> Elfangor said uncertainly, <you've certainly had some strange moments, haven't you?>

I laughed. "Elfangor, our entire lives have been strange moments from the second you showed up and said, 'Hey kids, wanna turn into animals?'"

<That's not exactly what I said,> Elfangor muttered.

"Are we just slightly off the subject here?" Mom asked. "We need to figure out a way to stop the virus."

Suddenly I remembered the others. "Already on that, Mom. As we speak, Erek, Tobias, and Rachel are trying to get to the center of that dimension to download a program that will hopefully destroy the virus in both worlds."

"Trying?" Loren repeated. "You mean they haven't done it yet?"

"Nope. Last I knew, we were being chased by a big grizzly bear."

"Why should that worry you guys?" Cassie asked. "Rachel's got a grizzly morph."

"A grizzly bear the size of an elephant," I added.

"Oh."

Suddenly Loren looked straight at me. "Marco?" she asked. "Did you feel something?"

<Here we go again,> Elfangor muttered.

I started to answer no, when a chill swept through my entire body, followed by a wave of heat. "Yes," I replied, but no sooner had I done that then . . .

FLASH!

FLASH!

I opened my eyes. Loren was coming out of a trance. "What is it?" Jake asked.

"They're coming," I said shakily. "Visser Three and Crayak."

"They're going to take over the Ellimists' Realm," Loren finished.

"You have got to be kidding," Jake said flatly.

I wanted to agree with him. One thing I've learned, though -- you never joke about Visser Three and Crayak.

Rachel, Tobias, and Erek were trapped between dimensions. If the Realm was destroyed, then they would have no chance of returning. Only the Ellimist could do that.

Why couldn't this stupid psycation end?!