CHAPTER 1

	“I have seen many strange things on Earth.  I have seen humans, that walk on
only two legs without a tail to help them balance, and have never seen one
lose their balance because of it.  Truthfully, I’m not certain which is
stranger - the fact that they walk that way, or how well they do.”
-From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill

	I was looking through my diary only a little while ago, when I came upon that
entry.  It made me think how foolish I had been, then.  Humans walk so well on
two legs because that was how they evolved.  Of course humans would know how
to walk on two legs, same as I know how to use my four.
	I also laughed, because that was not the strangest thing I have known on
Earth.  In fact, the strangest I only recently learned of.  That strangest
thing is our new ally, “Udrak” Sarah.
	But I am getting ahead of myself, especially if you do not know of what has
happened to me in the past few months.  It would be even more confusing for
you if you do not know why I walk on four legs.
	I walk on four legs because I have them.  I have two arms as well, and four
eyes.  I do because I am an Andalite.  As Sarah had never seen a true Andalite
- which is true for most humans - we are about as tall as a full-grown human,
with a similar upper body.  However, where humans have a waist and their two
legs, Andalites have a lower body that faintly resembles a blue horse or deer.
Rather than a long tail of hair or a short, furred one, we have a long,
powerfully muscled tail that ends in a scythe-like blade; it is similar in
structure to the tail of a scorpion.  Andalites have more fingers than humans,
and where humans tend to be various shades of brown, Andalites are mostly
covered in thin blue fur, although that varies in shades as well.
Our main eyes are in the same place as human’s two eyes, but somewhat larger,
and we have two more eyes on stalks at the top of our heads.  The last
difference is that Andalites have no mouths - we communicate through thought-
speak and eat by soaking up nutrients through our hooves; also, rather than a
human-like nose, we have three slitted nostrils.
	Obviously, I am not like anything native to Earth, in spite of the vast
diversity of creatures found here.  Which is why it is fortunate that I have
the morphing technology that my people invented.  With it, I can acquire the
DNA of any creature I touch, and become that creature for two Earth hours.
Thanks to the help of my human friends, who allowed me to acquire them, I have
been able to sample human culture and have come to a very good understanding
of it.  Well, perhaps not understanding, but I have fooled many humans into
thinking I am one of them.
	I admit that I do not have many human friends.  There is my prince, whose
name is Jake; he has dark hair and dark eyes and pale skin.  There is his
cousin, Rachel, who has yellow hair (humans tend to call this color hair
“blond”) and blue eyes and skin of a similar shade.  She is a very good
warrior, unafraid of battle, as I have found myself to be sometimes.  Cassie,
who has some form of non-family relationship with Jake (something about “more
than like, as in, like”; sometimes, humans confuse me very much), has darker
hair than Jake and Rachel, as well as darker eyes and skin color.  She is the
darkest of my human friends.  Of them all, she has the most natural talent for
morphing.  Then there is Marco, Prince Jake’s friend, who is lighter
than Cassie but darker than Jake and Rachel, with dark hair and eyes.  He is
very funny.  At least, that is what I am told.  Sometimes he is, but many
times he is not.  He is very good at maintaining security - that is, at being
able to see where traps may be and at finding places for us to hide.
	When in morph, I have seen that my friend Tobias has hair of a browner blond
than Rachel and a skin tone like hers and Prince Jake’s, but normally he has
feathers, not hair.  You see, Tobias became trapped in the morph of a red-tail
hawk soon after gaining the morphing technology from my older brother, Prince
Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.  Elfangor broke our people’s law by giving these
five humans the power to morph; unlike my people, who found such a thing
unforgivable, I have seen that Elfangor did know what he was doing when he did
it.  My friends are a powerful force, one that I am proud to fight along side
of.  Of course, my people would have
a hard time accepting this; rather than to risk disgracing Elfangor if his
choice proves disasterous, it will be me who will be blamed for the Animorphs’
actions should they become... hostile.  You see, I have taken the blame for
what Elfangor did.  The homeworld, if the Council has told them of the
Animorphs, believes a scared little aristh named Aximili was frightened and
alone and in desperation gave the morphing power to five humans that happened
to discover him because he was careless as well as scared.
	If that should happen, it would be embarrassing to see Elfangor as a hero and
myself as an idiot, but I am certain it will not come to that.  I trust my
friends.
	Still, the homeworld doesn’t know about our new ally.  I still don’t know
exactly what to think about her.  On one hand, she has sworn to protect us.
On the other, she is... well, she is what we fight.  If they did, I would most
definately be in trouble.
	Perhaps I should explain.

	I live in a large, wooded area that borders on the edge of Cassie’s home.  Of
my human friends, only Cassie has a home that is truly worthy of Andalite
standards.  She has many acres of open, grassy land, perfect for grazing, and
there is a place where a river runs by it, perfect for drinking.  However, it
would be very foolish for me to live there; for one thing, if I am discovered,
I cannot let the Yeerks know that she knows of my existance.  I have no doubt
that I would be no match for whatever they would do to me, but if I am far
from Cassie, then she would have time to run before I betrayed her.  At least,
that is our hope.  My hope.  Another is that I cannot allow
normal humans to possibly see me, for they might tell a Controller, and I
would be captured.
	The Yeerks are the enemy we fight.  In their natural state, they are anything
but terrifying - simple, slimy gray slugs, a few inches long; if you were to
step on one, all you might notice was the mess on your artificial hoof - that
is, your shoe.  All you would probably say would be, “Eww, gross!”
	But the Yeerks are parasites; they are able to enter the ear canal of
sentient races, flatten themselves into the crevices of their hosts brains,
and control all bodily functions - that is why any host of a Yeerk is called a
Controller.  The host becomes a slave - complete and absolute.  Once, a great
Andalites prince named Seerow saw only the helpless slugs, and gave them the
power to leave their ugly planet; ever since that mistake, the Andalites have
been fighting to contain the Yeerks once more.  There is no visible end to
this war.  Billions have died.
	But still, we fight.  There is no choice.
	I live several miles from Cassie’s farm, close to the field where Tobias has
his territory.  I don’t tend to go there in the early morning and evening,
when Tobias’ hunting is best; otherwise I might frighten away his prey, which
would be very inconsiderate of me.  That was why I was many miles away one
early morning, just after dawn, exploring the woods as I do sometimes when I
have nothing better to do.  In fact, I was in a small clearing, no more than a
hundred feet in every direction, with grass I found to be even sweeter than
that I had in my area.  I ran, enjoying the taste of it, planning to come
there every once in a while, whenever the opportunity came.  The grass really
was wonderful there; I think it was because the clearing had once been a lake,
but had dried out.  Fortunately, it had not rained for quite some time; in
areas like that, worms are often close to the surface and I sometimes eat
them.  I do not digest worms very well; they upset my stomach.  But that
morning I only ate one worm, so I was happy.  I was in a very good mood when I
heard the footsteps.
	I stopped running, turning my head to listen.  My hearts pounded; my hearing
is about equivalent to a human’s; I wished Tobias, with his superior hawk
senses, was with me.  Whatever it was, it was running on two legs; a human.
They were running, directly toward me.
	There was no time to hide.  No where to go.  I set my legs for the best
balance, raising my tail to readiness.  A blow to the side of the head with
the flat of my tail blade would knock them unconcious with more than enough
time for me to get away.  They would think I was a dream they had when they
lost unconciousness, not some- thing real that they saw before it happened.  I
turned a little to my right; I had to meet them head-on, to get to them as
quickly as I could.  I shifted a little back to my left.
	Then I saw her.
	She was not much older than my friends, or perhaps their age; she looked
older, but I doubted it.  Her light brown hair was short but very thick, with
waves that almost made it look alive.  That is, it looked that way except for
where it had been partially burned off on the right side of her head.  There,
her scalp shown red, and the hair around it was pasted with blood.  She was
running toward me for all she was worth, with her arms ahead of her to protect
her face as she ran.  Her face was pointed downward, so she couldn’t see me.
Her clothing was shredded in many places, and and she was bleeding from minor
wounds as well as more serious ones; along with the head wound, she had
another burn on her left shoulder, one that cut straight through her jacket
and shirt into the soft skin and muscle underneath.  She was darker than
Prince Jake and Rachel but noticably lighter than Marco in color.  I could not
see her eyes because they were focused on her feet.
	I raised my tail higher, forgetting my plan entirely.  I knew those types of
burns.  I knew what had caused the wounds on her head and shoulder.
	Dracon beams.
	The Yeerks were after her.


CHAPTER 2

	<Here!> I shouted at the human girl.  <Come quickly, to the clearing ahead of
you!>
	Her head jerked up at the sound of my thought-speech-
	-just in time to slam, forehead first, into a low-hanging branch.  She
uttered a small cry as she slipped on a patch of leaves, landing hard on the
ground.  She  moaned, just laying there.  “Help us!” she cried weakly.
“Andalite, help us, please!”
	I jerked in surprise, freezing; Andalite?  She knew what I was?
	Only one thing came to mind - she had to be a former Controller, one
who had somehow escaped.
	<Why us?> I wondered to myself, hurrying forward, toward the girl.  Did she
have a companion?  She didn’t, as far as I could see.  I used my stalk eyes to
scan around as I approached carefully, trying not to slip on the leaves as
well, but I saw no one and heard nothing nearby.  There were shouts in the
distance, but they were so far back I could not understand what was being
said.  She had her eyes tightly shut; no doubt, the blow to the head had hurt
greatly.  <What is wrong?> I asked her.   <Have you escaped the Yeerks?>
	Her eyes flew open; I saw fear in her eyes.  “It’s too young to be the
Visser!” she hissed, as if to herself.  “We’re safe!  No, I’m safe - you’re
not.”
	I took a step back, confused.  <What?>
	She turned her unfocused eyes in my direction.  She closed her eyes, pressing
her palm to her new injury, and winced.  “Help us, please,” she said.  “You
have to help us.  They know about us - please, they can’t take us back.
They’ll kill her.  I’m more worried about you - you only have two days.
You’re more important.  Shut up!”  I narrowed my eyes, too confused to do much
else; it was as if she was talking to herself, as if she were two people.  Her
tone changed with each sentence, alternately frightened and urgent.  Then a
smile slowly grew on her face - no, not a smile, but a grimace - and I saw
that one of her teeth was chipped, perhaps from hitting the branch.  “Help
us,” she said again, removing her hand from her head.
	<What are you?> I demanded.
	“What do you think, Andalite child?” she retorted.  She held her right hand
upward.  “We’re desperate.  And we need your help.  You have to hide us.  Hide
her.  Shut up!  Please, whoever you are, can I have a hand?”  I held my hand
out, unsure why she wanted it and half afraid of what she would do with it.
However, all she did was grasp it tightly and use it to help her stand on her
two human feet.  “Thank you,” she said.  “Now, we need to hide.  You need to
hide - they won’t find me.  No you don’t - you’re staying in there.  I’m not
letting you go that easy - you got us out of there.  You saved me again.
That’s beside the point.”
	<Excuse me,> I interrupted.  She looked at me blankly; her eyes were a mix of
pale brown and green.  It was a nice color, but the blankness in them, as if
she was looking straight through me to the woods behind me, was chilling.
<What are you talking about?>
	“About?”  She laughed.  “Dear Andalite, I am not talking about anything.
It’s an old feud with old friends - you’ll get used to it for a while, even
though it- it won’t last long.  Shut-” She pressed her hands to her ears and
counted out loud to three.  Needless to say, I was very confused.  There are
many human things that confuse me, but this human was especially strange.  “We
need to hide,” she said again.  “We’ll tell you everything we know, just hide
us.  She’s human, they won’t send the Taxxons after her; they think she’ll
turn up eventually, and that no one would believe her if they are too late to
retrieve me - of course, the plan is for it to be too late, but for them never
to find her.  The only problem is our nature - they’re afraid of him.”  I
thought she meant Visser Three; I was wrong.  “If he decides to slither out of
her head in front of non-Controllers and expose everything, the others will be
in big trouble.  That’s what they’re afraid of.  That’s why they’ll be doing
everything short of obvious aliens to get us back within the next twenty-four
hours.  That’s  why we have to hide until then - after that, she can tell you
everything.  No!  We’re getting you back before then.”  She shook her head.
“Listen, I understand you’re confused, and you have no reason to trust us,
Andalite,  but if we prove dangerous, go ahead and kill us; it’s better than
what would happen if we’re caught.”  She regarded me
solumnly out of her two nice-colored human eyes.  The blankness had faded to a
slightly unfocused look in her eyes; most of it was replaced with a pleading,
desperate look.  “All we ask is that you help us to hide now.  Hide us, or
kill us - please, you have to.  The others will catch up soon.  There are too
many to take on with just the thr- two of us.  Two of us, I won’t be much use,
I’m afraid.  Be quiet.  So all you have to do is hide us, somewhere.  Or kill
us, right here, right now.  Just so long as they don’t take us back. Please!”
	“This way!  The trail lead here!”
	Her head jerked around; she swayed on her feet, but remained upright.  She
grabbed my hand.  “Hurry!” she cried, fear in her voice.  “They’re coming for
us!”  Suddenly, her desperate look changed to a cold glare; the color of her
eyes wasn’t as nice when she was glaring.  “We have to get out of here,
Andalite,” she said.  She reached into her left pocket, cringing as she did
so, and pulled out a hand-held Dracon beam.  It was different from any Yeerk
weapon I had ever seen; the power setting switch went up and down as well as
forward and back, and it was smaller than the normal one; it actually fit her
hand.  Her glare was gone; the desperation had returned.  “Man, I really hope
this thing still works.  No - bring up the bandwidth.  That button there.  You
don’t have to tell me - I know, I know, all right?  You don’t need our mouth
to tell me that.  Widest bandwidth, got it.”  She pushed the power
setting button downward and forward.  “Hope this works again,” she said.  With
that, she pointed it back the way she had come.  “Sorry, deer and such,” she
said.  She pulled the trigger.
	The weapon did not simply shoot forward in the normal, circular laser beam;
instead, it shot forward and to the sides, angling off forty-five degrees in
either direction, in a beam no wider than an inch.  Rather than a single,
straight beam, it encompassed a one-hundred and forty degree area.  I jumped
back, startled.  I heard the sound of several things falling as she swept it
from ground level to about eight feet off the ground before it made an odd,
whining sound, and sputtered, then died.  She hissed a human curse.  “That’ll
get rid of the other humans, but I think I might have missed a Hork-Bajir, or
maybe both.  We just bought you a couple minutes, Andalite - the least you can
do is give us a place to hide.  In any case, we both have to get out of here -
us and you.”
	<What is that?>
	“This?”  She held up the odd Dracon beam.  “Oh, a prototype we stole on the
way out.  Figured we’d add insult to injury - high treason’s about as high as
you can get, so why not add petty theft to the charge?  This is the design for
the Dracon beams for humans, so they don’t have to keep using the ones
designed for Hork-Bajir.  Problem’s the stupid charge - only had an eighth
battery in it.  And that’s gone.  So we can’t pull our stunt again.  We need
your help, now that we’ve given you ours.”
	<Help?> I echoed.  I took another step away, out of range of her human arms
and legs.  Humans are able to fight with their arms and legs, but not much
else.  Also, I didn’t know if the Dracon beam was truly drained.  <Help a
Controller?>  I laughed, and hoped I sounded much more brave and certain than
I was feeling.  <You can’t be serious.>
	“Oh, we are very serious, Andalite,” she snapped.  “Because we are not a
Controller.  Udrak is too much of a softy to make us a Controller.  Be quiet,
Sarah.”  Her voice changed as she said that; the first two sentences were
angry.  The third was a tone Marco often uses, to make a joke.  The last was
not harsh, but firm, like a prince talking to a warrior.
	<Oh, really?  Then what are you?>
	I will never forget what she said.  Never.  Something with no answer.
	“We are one,” she replied.


CHAPTER 3

	“We are one.”
	There was nothing I could think of to say to that.  That is, except to echo
blankly, <One?>
	“We are Udrak Casey Eight-Eight-Eight Sarah of the Rel Driack pool.  Is that
specific enough for you?”  The tone was explainatory at first, but the second
part was definately sarcastic.  I have become very good at  recognizing
sarcasm.  “There is no seperation anymore.  He’s been in my head for almost
seven years now.  He has always been kind to me, because he doesn’t have the
heart to break me.  He’s really kind of sweet if you like sarcasm.”  Then the
tone of her voice turned less like that of a girl and more of someone who is
very much afraid.  “She’s all that matters, Andalite.  Seerow only mistake was
trusting in the wrong people.  It wasn’t his fault, really - he meant well.
We just wanted what he showed us, not to be told and not have.  What cruelty,
to know and yet not have....  Please - save her.  If not for me,
wouldn’t you save her?”  Again, the tone changed, to angry.  “Shut up, Udrak!
And stay in there!  You are not bailing out, you hear me?  We’re sticking
together, just as we always have!  Just shut up.  We’ll get out of this.”  It
was disturbing to listen to it - I could see now that, somehow, the Yeerk did
not have complete control of its host.  It almost seemed... coopertive.  But
why?  She looked at me again, eyes focusing - at least, as much as they did;
she still had a somewhat... distracted... look to her
expression - and smiled sadly.  “Confused, friend?”  She chuckled.  “You don’t
know the half of it.  We’d be glad to explain, only she’s hurt and bleeding,
he’s planning on bailing because he wants you to help me even if it means
getting captured himself and she simply won’t let me.  So are you going to
help, or stand there, or what?”
	<Ax-man?  Oh, man, what’s going on?  Who’s that?>
	Tobias!  He must have caught himself breakfast and came looking for me.  I
looked upward with three eyes, trying to spot him.  I kept one of my stalk
eyes on the girl to make sure she didn’t try to attack me.  <Tobias, there is
a problem.>
	<You gotta move, man.  There’s a bunch of humans heading your way.  They’re
drunk, or something -  either stumbling or dazed, but they look like they’re
recovering.  What happened?  Oh, geez - there’s animals all over the place!
They’re all just laying there on the ground.  This isn’t good.>
	“Is one of your allies here?” she asked me.  I focused on her with my main
eyes, but continued to scan the skies for Tobias with my stalk eyes.  There he
was - a small-looking brown blur in the skies.  “Tell them.  Ask them what to
do, aristh.  You can’t be old enough to be a warrior yet.  Ask the warrior
what to do about us.  But hurry! - there isn’t time.  Tell them that here are
a bunch of Controllers out there, heading this way.”
	<Those are Controllers, Tobias,> I answered him.  <This girl seems to be one
too, except - it is difficult to explain.  The Yeerk does not have complete
control; perhaps it is dying, I don’t know.  But both are speaking at once.
Are there any Hork-Bajir?>
	<None I see.  Wait!  Yes, two.  I didn’t see one because they’re facedown in
a ditch.  The other’s in a tree - I think it’s listening for something.>
	I noted that she had been truthful in saying there were two Hork-Bajir.
<This stranger keeps asking me to hide her.  I don’t know what to do.  She
acts very strangely.  She talks to herself a lot.  She says she’ll tell us all
she knows if I hide her - or to kill her so that they do not take her alive.>
Not knowing what else to say, I finished by repeating,
	<What do we lose if we hide her?>  I was surprised by how quickly he
answered.  <So long as we keep her away from our territories, I mean.  Take
her deeper into the woods, Ax.  I’m here to guide you.  The humans look worn
out - all you have to worry about is the Hork-Bajir, I think.  You should be
able to get away.>
	<She can’t run faster than a Hork-Bajir,> I said.  The human-Controller - or
what- ever she was - looked at me oddly; I had said that so she could hear.
<She is injured.>
	“You’re not, are you?” she demanded.
	<You cannot run as fast as I can,> I pointed out.
	The side of her mouth quirked up.  “Maybe not,” she admitted.  “Do you trust
me?”
	I simply stared.
	“Didn’t think so,” she said.  “Still, at least the warrior has some sense.”
With that, she came closer; I refused to move.  She put her right hand on my
shoulder, the left on my rump.  “Put the tail down, please,” she told me in a
patient, slightly condescending voice.
	<Why should I?> I demanded.  <What are you doing?>
	“Isn’t it obvious?  I’m breaking your back, and I don’t want to lose any more
hair doing it.  My head’s killing me enough as it is, so stop shouting, okay?
Now lower it, just a little, would you?   Please?”
	Breaking my back?  How could she do that?  Humans have very strong arms, but
not that strong.  Muscles straining with readiness in case she should try any-
thing, stalk eyes equally straining to  catch the slightest movement she made,
I lowered my tail slightly.
	It was then I remembered that Cassie was able to mount the backs of her
horses by placing one hand on their shoulder, the other on their rump, and, by
stepping into a stirrup, boosting herself up.  My back wasn’t nearly as high
as a horse’s, and didn’t require a stirrup.  The girl pushed, placing her
weight on her arms, and swallowed a cry at the pain she had to feel in her
injured shoulder.  Awkwardly, she swung her left leg over the other side,
scooted farther up, and wrapped her arms around my chest, grasping her wrists
with the opposite hands.  “Now we can,” she said.  “Sorry if this bothers you,
but now you face getting captured as well.  So run.”
	I didn’t know what to do; she was rather heavy, and put a lot of weight to my
forward legs.  It didn’t really hurt, but it did make me awkward.  Still, I
didn’t have much of a choice.  Even if I reared up, human arms are very strong
- I doubted she would fall off with her arms locked together by her strong
human hands.  So I took a couple steps to get the feel of balancing with her
weight on my back, and ran.
	<Ax?  Whose idea was that?>
	<Hers.  I did not know what she wanted until it was too late.  I do not think
I can throw her off.  Her arms are wrapped around me.>
	  I remembered that from when she had been running toward me.  <She’ll fall
off if you stand on your hind legs then.>
	It was very strange, running with the human on my back.  Not really all that
uncomfortable, just.... strange.  She hugged me tightly, with her both her
arms and her legs; her arms were still wrapped around my body at chest-level,
whilet her legs squeezed my lower mid-section to keep her from slipping.  My
back slopes a lot, so I don’t blame her for hanging on tightly, but her
closeness made me uncomfortable.  I ran, farther into the woods, hoping to
find someplace to put her.  <Go get the others, Tobias,> I told him.  <We need
to figure out what to do with her once she is safe.  I will guard her.>
	<Right, Ax.  Be back as soon as I can.>
	As I ran, I hoped “soon” would be very, very soon.
to be continued....