"You know what we could do, though?" Rachel began.

"Uh-oh, a suggestion from Rachel." Marco groaned.

"What we could do is steal this thing."

"Steal it and do what with it?" Tobias wondered.

I laughed. "We could always steal it and fly it to Washington and land it on the White House lawn. Let the Yeerks try and cover that up."

I meant it as a joke.

Really. A joke.

"Hey." Rachel said. "That could work."

"Ax? Can you fly that thing?" Tobias asked.

"I am an Andalite." Ax said. "That's just a Yeerk fighter, even if it is experimental. No second-rate Yeerk technology is too sophisticated for me."

"But. . . we'd have to do this like right now." Cassie pointed out.

"Yep." Rachel said. "Right now. Jake?"

"There can't be many people inside the Bug fighter." Ax pointed out.

"They usually only have a crew of two. At most there would be four or five technicians inside, Prince Jake."

"Yeah, well, four or five people versus five houseflies is not good odds for usr" I said. It was moments like this that I resented. Moments when I tended to make the decisions. And when I would carry the responsibility. "Still . . ."

"I hear the gears in Jake's little brain grinding away." Marco joked.

"Still." I said. "There may be a way."

"Okay, fellow flies, into the Bug fighter."

We zoomed crazily around the outside of the huge-seeming Bug fighter till we spotted a door. Inside we saw the blurry, strangely colored shapes of humans.

Actually, human- Controllers. We buzzed right on inside.

"I count five." Rachel said.

"Just what we expected." I said. I was trying to sound confident, to help everyone else stay calm. But I was tense. I was on edge. This was a spur-of-the-moment plan thought up by a guy who was having jungle hallucinations. It was a desperate, possibly stupid plan. I didn't know for sure. It could easily end with Tobias dead.

Maybe the rest of us as well.

But Tobias was thrilled to be playing a major role.

"Tobias? You ready?"

"Anytime you say, Jake."

"0nce around the room, that's." I warned him.

"You're the boss." Tobias said.

"0kay. Now!"

Outside, above the grocery store, Tobias had been gaining altitude. Which was extremely difficult in the cool night air.

Hawks are not night birds. But Tobias flapped his way up and up, always keeping sight of the bright hole in the grocery store roof.

"Here I come!" Tobias yelled.

He plunged at maximum speed, straight for the hole in the roof. "I'm inside!"

I could tell, because right away there was shouting. Yelling.

Orders being barked out.

Then . . .

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Gunfire! They were shooting at him!

"These guys couldn't hit... yikes! That was close!"

The plan called for Tobias to provide a distraction. The Yeerks knew we used bird morphs. And they would know that a hawk did not belong flying around inside a store. They would put two and two together. They would know Tobias was not a real hawk.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!

Someone was firing a machine gun. Even with my vague fly hearing I could hear the air shaking with the noise. Hundreds of rounds were being fired inside that store!

A human voice yelled something like, "Get out here and help!

It's an Andalite bandit in morph!"

That's what the Yeerks think we are: Andalites.

The technicians inside the Bug fighter went piling out the exit, glad of the chance to take shots at an Andalite "bandit."

"That's enough, Tobias! Bail out! Bail out of here!" I yelled.

"Ax! Morph! Everyone morph! Now! Now! Now!"

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM!

"Can't get out!" Tobias cried. "The guys on the roof are shooting down through the hole!"

Of course! Why hadn't I realized that? Of course they would block Tobias's escape.

I was still mostly fly, but morphing as fast as I could. I could feel myself getting bigger. I could see my fly wings shriveling away. Tobias couldn't escape. They'd get him.

Sooner or later, no matter how fast he flew, they'd get him.

An answer... an answer...

I needed an answer. I needed to - "Tobias! Tobias! This way." I yelled. "Inside the Bug fighter!"

"No, that will draw them after -- YAH! Whoa! That one clipped my tail feathers!"

"Come inside!" I yelled.

"Whatever you say" Tobias said.

My human eyes were just reemerging as Tobias blew in through the door of the Bug fighter. I looked left. A horrifying creature with a small scorpion tail and fly legs and a semi humanoid face with a gigantic proboscis was trying to work the controls of the ship with clumsy fly stick legs. It was Ax, halfway through morphing.

Suddenly, the door shut. Or in this case, the bulkhead simply dimpled and closed up again, eliminating the door.

"They're in the Bug fighter!" I heard Chapman howl in rage.

"They're in the Bug fighter! Get them!"

I was mostly human now, but still at that stage where I wouldn't have wanted to see myself in a mirror. The rest were coming out of morph, too. Cassie was fastest, as usual. She was already checking Tobias for wounds.

Ax was almost fully Andalite once more.

"Ax, get us outta here!" I said, as my human mouth returned.

"Yes, Prince Jake."

I didn't waste time telling him not to call me "Prince."

"These are unusual controls." Ax admitted.

BAPFFBAPFFBAPFFBAPFFBAP!

Bullets rattled against the Bug fighter's outer skin.

Then I heard the grinding sounds of the engine. Through the cockpit window, I saw the Controllers turning big earthmovers toward us.

"They're going to ram us!" Marco warned.

"Ax?" I asked tersely.

"I think I... I don't know. Prince Jake, I can try but it may not work."

"Just do it!" I yelled. There was a whirring noise. Lights came on all over the cockpit. A sound like a low siren.

"I found the "on" switch." Ax said.

"Great," Marco said. "Now find the get-us-the-heck-outta-here switch!"

I felt the ship lift up off the Safeway floor. It rose just a foot and sort of wallowed slightly, side to side. The heavy equipment was still coming for us.

Ax turned the fighter, pointing it toward the missing wall.

"Is that plastic sheeting very strong?" Ax asked.

"Let's find out," I said. Then . . . WHOOOOOOOSH!

It was like getting kicked in the chest. We all tumbled backward -- all but Ax, who has four legs. The acceleration was incredible. The Bug fighter rocketed forward. We blew through the plastic sheeting.

We blew across the parking lot.

We arched up toward the dark night sky.

"We did it!" Rachel yelled.

"Sorry about the acceleration caret Ax said. "I forget that humans fall over easily."

"Just get us out of here, Ax," Marco said.

"We're going to Washington, D.c., to meet the President."

It was crowded inside the Bug fighter. Especially because Ax takes up a lot of room.

But we huddled together and looked over Ax's shoulders as he worked the controls. And we looked past Ax, out through the transparent panels at the front of the Bug fighter.