"Ants," I said. "We can morph to ants again."

Cassie was shocked. "You're saying that? You? I thought you hated those ant morphs as much as I did."

"I did. But it may work. We morph to ants. Maybe there's a crack here somewhere. We escape into the walls and the machines. We can hide, then morph into something more dangerous, attack, and then disappear again. Maybe even find a way to destroy the Kandrona."

"That's nuts," Rachel said. "I like it."

"At least we can hurt them a little before they catch up with us," Jake agreed cautiously.

"Except for Tobias."

"You have to do what's right for the group," Tobias said. "I'll have to take my chances. I'd feel better knowing you guys were still out there somewhere, making trouble for the Yeerks."

"It may work," Ax said. "The Yeerks are not very familiar with morphing, except for Visser Three. They may not expect an insect morph."

"AII right, then," Jake said. " let's - "

The door opened. It simply appeared silently in the wall.

75 Standing there were three Hork-Bajir. They were wearing gold uniforms.

Lying on the floor were four other Hork-Bajir. They were each uniformed in red. They were either dead or unconscious.

"Don't move," Jake snapped as he saw Rachel and me tensing up for a charge.

The lead Hork-Bajir, a huge creature maybe eight feet tall with head blades that were more than a foot long, eyed us.

He spoke. It was surprising, because he did not speak the usual strange mishmash of languages the Hork-Bajir used. This one sounded like he'd been educated at Harvard.

"This hallway goes on in that direction for a hundred feet." He pointed to his left. "Then comes a guard station, where there will be two Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon. From there, four hallways. Take the one furthest to your left. Follow it to a dropshaft. Take the dropshaft down fifteen decks. Directly ahead you will see escape pods."

He looked at Rachel. "You are too large in that morph to fit in the escape pod. You will need to demorph when you get there. The pod is programmed to return you to the planet in the same area where you were seized. The pod will then self-destruct. Do you understand?"

We all just stared.

"It's a trap," Tobias said.

"No. We're already trapped. They could kill us any time," I said.

"Marco's right," Jake said. "Why let us escape if they want to kill us?"

"This is one of Visser One's soldiers," Ax pointed out. "It would be very embarrassing for Visser Three if his prisoners should escape, no?"

"Politics," Cassie said, with a laugh. "It's about politics! Visser One is making Visser Three look bad. If we escape, it will be blamed on Visser Three."

"You will have to deal with any of Visser Three's troops you encounter between here and the escape pod," the gold-clad Hork-Bajir said. "Leave. Now."

"Ax?" Jake asked.

"Only fifteen percent of your morph time is left"

"That's about eighteen minutes. Let's do it!"

Visser One's troops turned and marched away.

"I'll go in front," Rachel said.

"Okay. And let's move," Jake said.

76 Rachel squeezed her massive tonnage into the hallway. "All right. Now let's see who wants to try and stop me!"

Whomp ! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!

Rachel made the steel floor vibrate with each massive step. Her leathery sides scraped the corridor walls so that I could only catch occasional glimpses past her.

The hallway was empty until we reached the guard station. Just as the Hork-Bajir had said.

Rachel didn't even slow down.

Whomp! Whomp! Whomp! Whomp!

I saw a flash of a Taxxon, foolishly running as if to cut her off. A few seconds later I had to jump over the crushed remnants of the big centipede.

"Look out! Hork-Bajir!" Cassie yelled.

He exploded out of a side corridor, a red- uniformed Hork-Bajir.

Swooosh!

A razor-bladed arm sliced the air inches in front of my face.

"More coming!" Tobias warned. "Both directions! All of them in red!"

"I can't turn around!" Rachel moaned. She was too big, too tight a fit in the corridors to turn and help, as half a dozen Hork-Bajir in Visser Three's livery came screaming onto the scene.

"I knew it couldn't be that easy," I said.

"Battle!" Ax said, sounding like he was announcing a party.

I felt the same way. I was ready. I was mad and tired of feeling helpless.

The closest Hork-Bajir swung at me again and sliced a six-inch long cut in the matted fur of my huge shoulders.

That was all it took. Like I said, gorillas are peaceful, almost gentle creatures.

But don't go making one angry. Especially not when a boy who wants very badly to hurt some Yeerks is sharing space in the gorilla's head.

"Hoohoo hoo hhawwwrr!" I cried and swung a fist the size of a cinderblock into the stomach of the Hork-Bajir. I gave it all I had. I put every ounce of the gorilla's muscle into the blow.

The Hork-Bajir was lifted clear up off the deck. His head slammed the ceiling. He was down and out of the game.

77 Out of the corner of my eye I saw another Hork-Bajir leap at Ax. The Andalite's tail flashed forward so fast you didn't even see it move. The Hork-Bajir staggered back, minus an arm.

"Good one, Ax!"

"You as well! Hah hah!"

I decided right then - I kind of liked Ax.

"Rachel!" Jake yelled. "Keep moving. Left tunnel. Look for a dropshaft, whatever that is.

The longer we stay here, the more of these guys are going to show up." Just then, right on cue, two more Hork-Bajir came up from behind us. "You guys move! I'll deal with them," Jake said.

The Hork-Bajir rushed us.

"RRRRRRROOOOOWWWRRR!"

Jake let loose with a roar that must have been heard from one end of the mother ship to the other. It even scared me. And it sure made the Hork-Bajir hesitate.

He was on them, while they were still thinking about what to do next.

Hork-Bajir are very fast. But so are tigers.

One Hork-Bajir was down, with Jake sinking fangs into his snakelike neck. The other Hork-Bajir looked around to make sure no one could see him, then decided he'd like to live. He kept his distance.

Jake backed away but kept his face turned to the Hork-Bajir behind us. We trotted as fast as we could down the hallway, now a scene of devastation.

It was like the ant tunnels. We could only try to escape. The longer we tried to fight, the more the odds would turn against us.

Suddenly . . .

"Ahhhhhhh!"

"Rachel!" I heard Tobias cry.

"It's okay. I found the dropshaft. I am ... dropping."

"What is it?" I asked.

"An elevator without a floor," Rachel answered.

Then I was there, at the edge of a long shaft that went down and down, maybe forever.

Rachel already looked small. Which was not easy for her to do.

78 "He said to stop after fifteen levels!" I reminded her.

"Yeah? And how do I do that?"

"Think the number! It hears speech and understands simple thought-speak commands," Ax instructed. Then added, "At least that's how it works on our ships ."

"I'm slowing down. Cool!"

"More Hork-Bajir back here! And some of those other ones. The little wrinkled ones!" Cassie yelled. "They're coming fast!"

"Here goes nothing," I said. I took a look down the dropshaft and jumped off into empty space.