Traitor is...Councilor Elloraen.”
(You LIE!!) I screamed in thought-speak. My narrow tail blade was not as well-suited for the kill as the scythe-like tails of male Andalites; being a female, my blade was more scapel-like. Scalpels are made to cut flesh, however.
My tail blade quivered dangerously close to his throat; any closer and I would have killed him. I now believe the only reason I didn’t kill him then and there is because, deep down, I knew he was right.
(Why would a proud member of the Andalite race stoop to terrorism? Why would a councilor seek to destroy the children of fellow councilors? Why....?) My screams of anger melted into sobs of despair.
The yeerk scum actually tried to comfort me. Then he said, “Ask the human. He knows.”
I glanced over at Tom, who had just left his morph. He looked me directly in the main eyes, then looked away.
“I had heard...rumors. I didn’t want to say anything, you know? I mean, you probably wouldn’t have believed me, and you would probably have killed me if I hinted an Andalite might be less than noble.”
(I would never hurt you, old friend)
“Even if I were infested by a yeerk?”
It was a question all the fighters were asked and none could ever answer: Would you destroy a loved one who was possessed by the enemy? I remembered the story of Tom’s uncle, the man he had been named for. (Don’t ask unless you really want to know.) I always said that. Honestly, I didn’t really want to know -- And I really didn’t want to find out.
I turned to the councilor. (Tell me what you know.)
“There is...a...terrorism...Group? Is the word group?”
(Speak your own language. We have translators. Stop wasting our time.) I snapped.
Half of me wanted the information. The other half was scared to death of it.
He began to tell the story as he knew it. Roughly translated, he said: “There is a group of separatists on the Andalite world. They do not believe any one party will win the war; rather, all involved will be destroyed. They have agreed to turn over the human world in return for the safety and freedom of the Andalite race. An attack on the offspring of both Andalite and human councillors would cause irreparable rifts, each species blaming the other. Without the Andalites helping, the humans will fall -- or so they believe.”
“And you know this how, exactly?” Tom asked.
“Would a Yeerk betray his own people?”
(You tell us.) I retorted.
He did.