Oh, never mind, Cassie and Marco just took him down. Visser Three and two Hork-Bajir in the center of the meadow."

"Come on," Rachel said to me. "Let's go have a nice talk with Visser Three."

"He's my responsibility," I said to Rachel. "I have an obligation of honor."

"Uh-huh. He's all yours."

Tobias swooped past, skimming just above the grass, rocketing toward Visser Three.

"You told them, Tobias," I accused him.

"Yeah, I sure did. I got the idea from you. You're the one who said you had to obey your prince. Well, I guess Jake is my prince, too. He ordered me to tell him."

"How did you know where I was going?" I asked. "I never told you."

"Puh-leeze. That Controller, Eslin Whatever? He wrote it down, Ax-man. You forget: I have hawk's eyes. I can see a flea on a cat from a hundred feet away. You think I couldn't read that note?"

"You make me very angry, Tobias," I said.

"Yeah, and you get on my nerves, too, Ax. But we still have a fight on our hands. Let's go deal with Visser Three."

We raced toward the Visser and his guards. Rachel, a huge, rolling brown tidal wave, and me. Above us Tobias flew.

Just as we drew close, I saw Visser Three stagger.

The poison! The venom! It was working.

Visser Three buckled and fell to the ground.

The two Hork-Bajir quailed. They saw Rachel barreling through the tall grass. They saw Prince Jake, a striped demon coming from the other side. They saw Marco in gorilla morph and Cassie, an eager wolf, teeth bared.

Tobias had reached the Visser. He soared past him and up, up, up into the air, beating frantically.

Worst of all, they saw an Andalite. The enemy they feared most.

"Your Visser is finished," I called to them. "You can die with him, or you can run." 79 The Hork-Bajir Controllers made their decision quickly. Hork-Bajir can be very fast, once they decide to run.

The Visser was down. Alone. Helpless, as we came to a stop in a circle around him. He was as helpless as Elfangor had been at the end.

I looked up. Why was Tobias . . . ?

"No way!" Tobias cried.

He drew back his wings and dived at full speed. He plummeted toward the earth at racing speed, killing speed! His talons came forward. It looked as if he would hit the ground. Then .

. .

"NO! NO! NO!" Tobias cried. He swooped up and away, back up into the sky.

"Tobias, what is it?" I heard Prince Jake yell in thought-speak.

"He bailed! He bailed! The Yeerk bailed out! He got to the water. I can't see him. He got away!"

"What?" I cried. "What happened?"

"He's out! Visser Three! He's out. I saw him worming his way through the grass." It took several seconds for my brain to comprehend. I couldn't make sense of it. It was impossible to believe.

"He left his body?" I asked. "Visser Three left his host?"

"He crawled right out of the Andalite head and slithered into the water," Tobias confirmed.

"There's a fast current. I can't see beneath the surface of the water that well. I can't see him!" I looked down at the creature I thought of as Visser Three. But of course the real Visser was a gray slug, a Yeerk. This body was the body of an Andalite.

The Visser was gone. Escaped.

The Andalite was breathing, but seemed unable to move. He looked up at me with his main eyes.

I had faced Visser Three before. I had felt the evil force that flows from him. That evil was gone now. This was only an Andalite. The Yeerk was gone.

"Kill me," the Andalite managed to gasp. "Kill me before he takes me over again. Please.

Please kill me."

I felt my hearts stop. It was more than I could stand. After years of being controlled by Visser Three, the mind of the Andalite host was still alive. Still aware. "I may already have killed you, my friend," I said. "The snake . . ."

80 "No. You don't understand. Visser Three . . . he has backup forces ready. They'll be here in minutes. Half a dozen Bug fighters. They'll keep this body alive, your poison is too slow."

"I . . . but you're an Andalite. I can't kill you," I said desperately. "I can't. . ."

"He'll take me again," the Andalite said, begging. "The Yeerks will find him and bring me to him again. Please. I can't live that way . . . please. The things I've seen . . . you don't understand. It's horrible."

He tried to raise his own Andalite tail. He tried to bring the blade to his throat. But the venom had weakened him. His tail fell limp.

"I understand" he said at last, with sadness so deep it burned me to hear. "Listen ... my name is ... what is my name? It's been so long. And the poison . . . yes, that's it. My name is Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. I was once a war-prince. Someday . . . someday, if you survive ... I have a wife. I have two children . . . someday . . . tell them I still hope . . . tell them I still have love for them . . ."

"Yes, War-Prince Alloran. I will tell them. Do you have any other orders for me?" He reached up with one weakened hand. I took his hand in mine. "Fight them. They are stronger than you think. They have . . . they have infiltrated . . .they are on the home world . .

. fight. . ."

His fingers were limp. He fell silent, unconscious.

I set his hand down by his side. I knew that the next time I saw this face, it would once more be the face of my enemy. The Abomination. Visser Three.

"We should get out of here," Prince Jake said.

"Come on, Ax," Tobias said. "There will be another time." 81 Chapter Thirteen

"Give me liberty or give me death." A human named Patrick Henry said that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew before they came to conquer Earth that humans said things like that. I wonder if the Yeerks knew what they were getting into. - From the Earth Diary of Aximlli-Esgarrouth-

Isthill

"We call it the law of Seerow's Kindness," I said.

We were in the woods where I live. The woods of the planet called Earth.

Two days had passed since the terrible events in the meadow. I had thought a great deal in those two days. I had thought about everything. Then I had asked my human friends if they would join me.

"What's it mean?" Rachel asked.

She was standing with her arms crossed. I be lieve it was an expression of skepticism.

"It means that we are not allowed to transfer advanced technology to any other race," I explained. "It is a very important law. One of our most important laws."

"You don't want any competition," Marco said. "You Andalites want to be able to stay on top. I understand that. But humans are on your side. We're the ones being taken over."

"Marco," Prince Jake said. "Chill. Let Ax tell his own story."

"Seerow was a great Andalite. A warrior. A scientist. He ... he was in charge of the first Andalite expedition to the Yeerk home world."

I saw my human friends stiffen. Tobias flitted to a lower branch, drawing closer.

"Seerow felt sorry for the Yeerks. They were an intelligent species. They used a primitive species called Gedds as hosts. But the Gedds were nearly blind, clumsy, not very useful. The Yeerks had never even seen the stars. Let alone been able to leave their own planet. Seerow felt sorry for them. Seerow was a kind, decent Andalite . . ."

"Oh my God," Cassie whispered. "That's the big secret. That's the shame the Andalites are hiding."