I stretched my wings. It was early for me. Or late, whichever way you looked at it. I splashed some water on my face and walked over to the minifridge I kept in my little cave, my roost.
          Now you're saying: "Hey, um, Anna, Lex, Stryke, or whatever you call yourself, you left out a very big thing. Like, why do you have wings? And why do you live in a cave?"
          Good question.
          I'm not a human. I'm a Shifter. I am half-human, half-Navarazzi. I can make myself look like a human, or I can make myself look like a Navarazzi. As a human, I have blond hair that I used to keep in a braid, but I cut it. Now I have a haircut that I saw on Navarazzi females. It's pretty short, about six inches, maybe five. But it's pretty short. And extremely shaggy. And I'm about, oh, five feet and three inches. Average height for my grade. I dress in solid colored T-shirts, black jeans, and some exhausted shoes. And I have a little crystal in the middle of my forehead, a little lower. I thought it was cool.
          But as a Navarazzi, I look very different. I have blackish purple, coarse hair that actually is longer than my hair is as a human. My skin is a kind of a dark, brownish shade. Like I got a very bad sunburn. I only have three fingers and a thumb. All of them are wickedly clawed. I have this thick tail that can move very fast. My knees are reversible. My feet are like these smaller versions of T-rex feet. They are basically the talons of a hawk. Only much bigger. I have this gigantic blade sticking out of my forehead, right above my jewel. At first, it looks like a horn, only once you get closer, you can tell it's much thinner and sharper. And my eyes can glow two diferent colors. Red and white. And they look like cat eyes. Only one has this scar over one. Even through the narrow pupil. And they can't be made to look like a humans'. And my mouth is very strange. I have these incredibly sharp teeth. And two of those teeth are fangs. And those fangs make this kind of liquid that makes my saliva venom. So if I bite something, and I'm making venom, whatever I bit can basically say good-bye to the world. It only takes about five minutes to work.
          But, anyway, I'm the only Shifter on Earth, as far as I know. And I help my friends fight the Yeerks. But right then, I was getting ready to go to my little lesson.
          I pulled out some ham and cheese sandwiches, three apples, and a bag of M&Ms. I dragged out my tote bag from under the table and packed it with these things. I yanked out a book, my scrapbook, and my journal from my little bookshelf. From the shelf I had made, I pulled down a T-shirt, a pair of beat-up shoes, and a wad of bills. I stuffed them in the bag, too. I unlocked the box I kept on the table and pulled out the switchblade knife and the stolen Dracon beam I kept inside. I stuck them in the bag and walked out of my roost.
          I paused at the sheer beauty of the sunrise. See, I'm nocturnal, so I never really get to see a sunrise, except when I'm posing as a human. But even then, I don't see a sunrise very much.
          I flapped a few times and lifted off. I knew exactly were to go.

          I enjoyed gliding in the daytime. I didn't really fly. I soared on updrafts and currents of wind. So it was hard work, flapping. But during the day, oh, the thermals are just beautiful. A hawk can ride a thermal maybe a mile or so. So can I. And let me tell you, at a mile up, you can see everything. But right then, I wasn't enjoying the scenery. I was looking for a certain steam. Then I spotted it.
          <-for the freedom that unites us...>
          I smiled. I knew that ritual like the back of my hand. Aximilli had been giving me lessons, sort of. He had been teaching me about Zero-Space and Skrit Na and Andalites and technology and all sorts of things. Although I still couldn't quite comprehend the absence of space. And I repaid him by telling him all I knew about Navarazzis and humans and by bringing food and books. I waited for him to finish the morning ritual. Then I spoke to him.
          Hi, Aximilli. Am I late?
          What do you mean, 'am I late'? He just finished the morning ritual! Anna yelled.
          There are two kinds of Tele-speech. Public and private. The Shifter's mind is the only one that can use public, although the other two minds can give them suggestions. And private is the kind that all three minds use to communicate between each other.
          See, being a Shifter involves more than just Shifting. There's this little hook buried in everything. In one body, there are three minds. Three personalities. The Shifter's human host, and the Shifter's Navarazzi host. And, lucky me, my hosts tend to get on each other's nerves pretty quickly.
          There's Anna. She's kind of a wimp, till you get to know her. Then you realize that she can be pretty brave sometimes. And she hates Yeerks like you can not believe. She's always trying to convince us to quit fighting because we could get killed. And she really doesn't like the fact she's stuck in a predator's body. She'd prefer to be a vegetarian.
          Then there's Lex, whose full name is Lex-Cossette-Keke-Blade-Huntress-Shifting experiment II. Fiercely loyal to the little war we're stuck in, loyal to anyone who's against Yeerks, and refuses to believe that the Andalites are not the saviors of the galaxy. Hates Yeerks and is waaay too brave. And the predator of our little group. The exact opposite of Anna.
          Anyway, Aximilli rolled his stalk eyes upward and said to me, <No. In fact, your timing is perfect.>
          Cool. I'll be down in a minute.
          I did a barrel roll in mid air, just to impress him. Then I landed. He smiled with his main eyes.

          See, like me, Aximilli isn't human. He's an Andalite. Imagine a centaur. Now add in a scorpian-like tail, stalk eyes, and no mouth. Now give them blue fur and larger eyes. That's a rough picture of an Andalite.
          I sort of like Aximilli. He's got this great personality, he's cute, even in human morph, he's got this beautiful and dangerous tail, and he's brave. But, as I said, I'm a Shifter, and he's an Andalite. Somehow, I think that, even if he liked me, the whole different species thing would get in the way.
          But I try not to think about that.
          "So, what are we covering today? I brought M&Ms."
          <I don't know. What do you want me to tell you about?>
          I shrugged.
          "How about, um, I don't know. You're the teacher. I'm the student. You make the lessons, I bring the M&Ms. I don't know. Tell me about whatever."
          <M&Ms? Wasn't that what Marco called the brightly colored pellets? The chocolate?>
          "Yeah, you wanna morph and have 'em now?"
          <If that's all right with you.>
          "Why in the heck in the world should I care?" I said with a laugh.
          <I'll take that as a no.>
          Aximilli paused and his body started to mutate and change. See, Andalites are the greatest spies in the galaxy. They developed morphing technology. They simply acquire an animal's DNA, and they can turn into that animal. Right now, Aximilli was turning into a human.
          Several humans, actually. See, like I said, the Yeerks are taking over Earth. And only five kids, an Andalite, and a Shifter stand in their way. Not good odds for the human race, really.
          But here's how our little group got started. Jake, Rachel, Marco, Cassie, and Tobias all walked through an abandoned construction site. Now, I'm sure none of them were actually planning to get involved in an interstellar war. But that's how it wound up. An Andalite prince, Elfangor, landed his damaged fighter right in front of them. And that's were he warned them, he warned them about the Yeerks. And that's where and when they got the power to morph. Since then, they've rescued Aximilli from the bottom of the ocean, met the Chee, an Ellimist, and countless other things. And in the process, Aximilli has managed to acquire our DNA.
          Somehow, he mixes it all together and produces one very odd looking human. He's got hair that looks like a cross between Marco and Jake, eyes that look exactly like Marco, and a face that looks surprisingly like Rachel. And he has skin like Cassie's. Basically, it's like someone decided to run the four of them through a blender. And I noticed he added a touch of me into his morph now, too.
          "Aximilli, since when is your morph's hair blonde? And were did you get the thin pupils?"
          "I added your DNA to it. Tewit. Addded. Ded. Dedededed."
          Andalites don't have mouths, so they like to play with sounds a lot. At least Aximilli does. And you don't even want him anywhere near a bag of M&Ms or apples or pie or anything else that has a flavor. Regardless of whether it's edible or not.
          "My mouth feels a little strange, though. What is it?"
          "Open it," I said. I gasped at the sight.
          "Aximilli, you have my fangs in there! I thought you said that you can control how the morph went!"
          "Evidentially not enough. Eeenough. Nuf. It is very pleasurable to make sounds with these fangs. Fangusuh."
          I rolled my eyes. "Just try to avoid my DNA as much as possible, okay? You look like a vampire!"
          "Vampire? Vamp-vamp-vamp-vampire? Piiiire. Pyriruh."
          "Never mind. I'll explain it later. Hah! I thought of something for you to tell me about! I've never seen Visser Three. So tell me about him."
          Aximilli paused. I guess the mere mentioning of V. Three made him mad. See, the Visser was the one who murdered Elfangor. And Aximilli had an obligation of honor to kill the Visser. And he had had an opportunity to destroy what the Andalites call the Abomination, but he didn't. He couldn't. And for some reason, I admired him for that.
          "The host body," he started, "witch is whom I believe you are talking about, is an Andalite, as you know."
          "I believe you said he was a prince-no, War-prince."
          "Correct. Ect-ta. Alloran-Semitur-Corrass. Would you like a physical description?" he asked a little curtly. But I could understand that.
          "Sure."
          "Very well." I saw his cheeks were turning red. He was losing control of his anger a little.  After all, he was probably welling up with anger and hatred for this guy every day of his life. I kept my face as calming as a Navarazzi can. But hey, when your head alone is enough to kill, it's hard to look comforting.
          "The host body, Alloran, is not very large. But he is an adult, larger and stronger than I. And he-" Aximilli paused, took a breath, and continued.
          "His body is very solid. His fur is a metallic blue, and he-"
          Aximilli's eyes were flashing. On his face, he wore a very human look of hatred and contempt. I put a hand on his shoulder to help calm him down. I had never seen such emotion out of him, usually he sort of hid it. He was breathing heavily and grinding his teeth.
          He looked at me and seemed to just then realize I was there. His neck turned red and he started to demorph. I guess he sort of realized how hard it is to hide emotion as a human. Once fully Andalite, he seemed in control.
          <I am sorry, I->
          "Nothing to be sorry about, Aximilli." My hand was still on his shoulder. I jerked it off quickly.
          <No, I lost control, I...>
          "Humans are a hard species to hide emotion. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I blow up at times. Jake does. Cassie the peacemaker does, too."
          <But you know how to hide it.>
          "Most of the time, Aximilli, holding it back is the last thing you should do."
          <Yes, but still, you humans hide it easily. You are depressed, yet you look healthy. That is something I just don't understand.> Aximilli said calmly, with a hint of anxiousness.
          "Aximilli, do you know what the humans' greatest fear is? Guess."
          <Death?>
          "I'll tell you. Humans are so complicated because their greatest fear is being understood. Being known."

          "So, enough with V. Three. Tell me about something else. Anything. First thing that pops into your head."
          <Sario Rip?>
          "Huh?"
          <You said the first thing that comes to mind.>
          I shook my head. Sometimes Aximilli can be pretty literal. I smiled.
          "Whatever. What's a Sario Rip?"
          <A Sario Rip is a hole in space-time. It pulls individuals into itself and causes them to reappear in a time in witch they do not belong. If they show up at a time were they exist, there is an unstable element introduced. There would be two individuals who are the same person, in two places, at the same time. At the occurrence of the Rip, the universe would annihilate both. At least, that's what I think. I'm not sure.>
          "Why not?" I asked, fascinated.
          <Well, the day they taught this lesson in school...I wasn't really paying attention. There was a game later that day...and there was an attractive female...>
          That's what I like about Aximilli. We have a close friendship. Not quite shorm, best friends, but we, or at least I am, comfortable with sharing our feelings with each other. I could tell him anything, absolutely anything, and I know he'd never tell. And I know he's not a Controller. It was comforting to know Aximilli wasn't too embarrassed to admit he was flirting with a girl instead of paying attention in school.
          It also made me a little jealous, but that's beside the point. Different species, after all.
          "You were flirting," I blurted out without thinking.
          <Well, no, not really, but...>
          "Never mind. What kind of game was it?"
          <Driftball. It's actually quite->
          Suddenly, I saw a bright flash of light. Like I was at a disco. Only that was impossible...
          There was a girl there, and another person, he looked familiar. They were both floating, gasping. I realized I was, too. It was cold. Very cold. I heard Anna's voice:
          Stryke...do something...please...please...
          I saw a blue blur, my vision was dim. It looked like it had seven limbs. It was spinning, twirling, it's useless-looking limbs tangling in themselves. I saw a smaller blur, shooting toward a wall...
          And the flash of light returned. I was back in my woods again. And I was scared. Terrified.
          That was not normal.
          That was seriously not normal.

          "Aximilli, what just ha-"
          I never got to finish my sentence, because right at that moment, Aximilli whipped his body around, knocking me over. I saw a flash of brown and red, moving swiftly through the bushes. I felt my Navarazzi instincts sound the alarm: Prey. Before I could think, I was up and running after that thing. My bag was still over my shoulder, making it hard to run on four legs. I saw glimpses of blue through the trees and bushes. Aximilli was running after this thing, too. But I was used to having to outrun prey. And I was specifically designed for this kind of hunting. Ground hunting was my specialty. In other words, I caught him.
          Yes, him. It was a man, wearing a plaid, brown and red shirt. I cornered him against my own roost. Pretty far from our starting point. I kept my claws at his throat, but even if he did move, my horn-blade was right at his forehead. He wouldn't get far. Aximilli was about two steps behind me.
          "Andalite!" the man screamed.
          "Well, at least that saves us the trouble of asking if he's a Controller," I said.
          <Yes, it does.>
          I stepped aside and let the man pass-about two inches closer to Aximilli's tail blade. He didn't like that. Not one bit. He curled his lip at me. I had to convince Lex that wasn't a challenge to our authority.
          "You Andalite filth. You won't keep me here three days."
          "Hey, Aximilli, I've noticed Yeerks will say, 'Andalite filth' and you guys will come back with 'Yeerk scum' and they'll say 'Andalite filth' all over again. Do you guys just not know how to diss, or have you used up all the good insults?" I asked jokingly.
          "Daspen," the man replied.
          "Ah HA! Originality! Wonderful! Yes! I have no clue what he said!" I said jokingly, again.
          Aximilli moved his tail blade to his throat a little closer. I guess 'daspen' is a bad word in Yeerk.
          <Don't,> Aximilli said. <Just don't.>
          "Well, he's right about one thing," I said as I Shifted to human form and put on my shoes, "we won't keep him here three days. So what are we doing?"
          "Dying," the man responded.
          He whipped out a Dracon beam and aimed it at me. He fired.

          By some dumb luck, I had my hand on my own personal Dracon gun. And, out of self-defense, I fired at him. And that's when it happened. Time broke.  I saw a bright flash of light where the two Dracon beams intersected. I saw a glimpse of Aximilli covering his eyes as he hit the man with the backside of his tail blade, knocking him down. I felt myself being pulled into the little vortex we had created. My eyes were filled with light. I could see through Aximilli's head. I could see his skeletal structure. I saw the host of the Controller had three fillings in his teeth.
          And suddenly, I was falling. I saw birds and squirrels and trees flying past me. I saw the sky getting brighter.
          And then I saw nothing. I was not there. I was not then.
          I was gone.

          I felt my head. I was on my back, and nothing looked the same. The claw marks on trees I used to outline my hunting territory were gone. There were trees missing, and trees that didn't belong there. The sky was a sunny blue. It looked like it was noon. The Controller was gone. I sat up and almost passed out.
          There was a trail that led to my cave. I had seen that trail before, but it was old and unused. Now it looked very much like someone had used it lots of times. And I saw footprints leading to my roost!
          Not good.
          I reached for my bag, and fortunately, it was still there. Still around my shoulder. I rummaged inside, looking for my switchblade. Then I realized. The Dracon beam! It was gone! I remembered seeing it being pulled into that weird flash of light, but I hadn't seen it anywhere. I looked back at the ground. There, about five feet from were I woke up, was the Dracon beam. I ran over and stuffed it in my bag. No way was I using that thing again.
          I approached my own roost, ready for the Controller to jump out and grab me. But it wasn't the Controller who walked out of my cave.
          A girl, maybe a year or two older than me, walked out. She was wearing clothes that looked like they could have been pulled right out of the seventies or the sixties. Her hair was long and golden, a lot like how my hair used to look, except it was down. She had a trusting face. She looked a lot like someone I had seen before.
          "Oh, wow, you scared me. Were'd you come from?"
          I wish I knew, really. But I couldn't really use that as an answer. So I lied.
          "From the trail back there. Who are you?" I asked a little suspiciously.
          "I'm Loren."

          Yeah her name is Loren, but what's she doing at our roost? And, while we are asking unanswerable questions, where is Aximilli? And the Controller? And the trees? And what are those trees doing there? And why is it suddenly noon? Lex asked in a wise-guy voice.
          I don't know. But I have to tell her my name.
          You mean MY name, Anna snapped, 'Anna' is MY name. YOU don't have a name. You just call yourself Stryke. 'Lex' is the NAVARAZZI's name. Unless you want to use our nickname again. But I doubt that'd work.
          I won't use 'Aye' again. And 'Anna' is my name, too. So is 'Lex'. You've called me by your name before. But I gotta give a naaaaame...?
          Just use mine, Stryke.
          Fine.
          "I'm Anna. What are you doing here?"
          "I'm camping. You?"
          "Just hiking. What the...?"
          The brilliant noonday sun suddenly got very dark. I heard a low hum. I looked up and saw a big disk, spinning madly above us. I recognized the type: Skrit Na raider. Aximilli had explained them to me. And that's how I knew.
          I knew how the Na operated. They would do one of two things too us. One: medical experiments. Two: take us for a ride and leave us. Or three: cage us and make us zoo animals. I had a feeling it would be three.
          "Loren, RUN!" I screamed.
          "What's going on?!"
          "I don't have a clue," I said honestly as we ran for our lives. I could have ran faster, but the territory that was mine was new and strange, "Just GET OUT OF HERE!"
          I turned back to see if the Na intended to catch us, or just scare us silly. And that's when the second bright flash of light occrred. It seemed to engulf me. And then I passed out, again.

          I woke up against a wall. I saw boxes and crates being knocked around. I heard moans. I felt my head again. I was bruised. Badly. But no long term damage. I stood up, and I saw another flash of light.
          I was walking through the woods, talking to Aximilli about how weird my week had been. I told him I was glad today was Sunday. End of the week. Hopefully my trip to the Twilight Zone was only one week long. I told him about how amazing time travel was-
          Another flash, and the vision ended. I was scared, but I had other things to worry about. Like the big Skrit about to whack a guy about three years older than me. He looked incredibly familiar. Like I had seen him before. Only that was impossible. Or was it?
          "Hey, Skrit!"
          Two of the Na looked over at me. I guess they were surprised I knew what they were. But Loren, holing an odd looking Dracon beam, stepped in front of them and blocked their view of me. I lunged at the Skrit. I was too late. One leg hit the guy on the head, knocking him out. Red human blood poured down his head. I knocked the Skrit to the far wall. It didn't seem to notice. It just went back to it's duties. Skrit are pretty dumb.
          "Loren, what is going on?" I asked when I got to her. She held the Dracon beam at the Na captain's head.
          "I don't know. I-"
          Suddenly, the whole ship rocked. Smoke exploded out of bulkheads and conduits. I was knocked to the ground, without my tail to balance me. I screamed.
          "That's it. It's official. I am TICKED!"
          "Me too," Loren said tersely.
          I heard a kind of scraping noise. A smaller rocking of the ship, then the gravity seemed to change a little. I felt a little heavier. I heard a louder scraping sound, then what sounded like hooves on metal. My face was still on ground level when I saw the hooves.
          Dark. Delicate. Cloven. I looked up a little farther and stood up immediately.
          "Freeze, horse-boy."
          Blue and tan fur. Seven fingers. A horse-like body, but a humanoid upper body. No mouth. Three nostrils. Stalk eyes. Green eyes that glimmered. Scorpion tail.
          Andalite.

          "One move and I pull the trigger. I don't know what this gun will do, but I'm willing to bet you won't like it," Loren continued.
          Um, guys? Anyone here have an explanation?
          For what?
          For what?! For why we're in a Skrit Na raider ship, facing an Andalite. And why we seemed to have traveled in time, duh! I screamed at Anna.
          Two Andalites. There's one behind him. Oh, man, this is not good.
          Sario Rip!
          What?
          Anna continued, Remember what Aximilli said? A hole in space-time. The Dracon beams must have blown a hole in space-time. We were pulled through!
          So now we need to know what year, day, and hour we're in, or we could be destroyed.
          Like I said, not good, Lex said again.
          The Skrit Na captain, or at least who I think was the captain, spoke to the two Andalites. I had no clue what they said. He winked at them. The Andalite ignored him. A few seconds later, he spoke.
          <Um...whoever you are...whatever you are, don't fire that weapon. Put it down.>
          I was shaking pretty badly. The second Andalite seemed to be amused with me. I knew how Andalites thought humans were shaky, so I guess I was proving how unstable we were.
          "Yeah, right. Hey. Hey, wait a minute! I can hear you in my head, but you're not really talking," Loren said.
          The first Andalite seemed to become annoyed. So did the second.
          <I am in charge here. Drop the weapon!>
          "I don't think that's too likely, do you, Anna?"
          I said nothing. I was too stunned to speak. I just stared at the first Andalite. He looked a lot like Aximilli, only his eyes were darker, his fur seemed a little denser, rougher, and he seemed taller, but only by about three inches. Finally, I said something.
          "Loren, just put down the gun. Please, Loren, just do it."
          "What? You want me to-"
          <Your friend is right. We are here to rescue you. We won't hurt you, and we will return you to your home planet.> the second Andalite said.
          "You look like centaurs, only with scorpion tails. And the extra eyeballs on top of your head..."
          Loren paused, then handed the Dracon beam to the first Andalite. Handle first. The second Andalite went over to the nearest Skrit Na panel and started pushing buttons. I think he was accessing their computer. I went back to were the other guy was knocked out.
          In a few minutes, the two Andalites and I carried him inside the Andalite fighter and left the ship.

          About two minutes later, the other human regained consciousness. It was pretty obvious he didn't like the two Andalites. He looked them over and then asked:
          "That tail is a weapon, isn't it? Is it poisonous or does it just cut?"
          <What is your name, human?> the first Andalite asked coldly. I guess Loren told them what they were.
          The human gave the Andalite a disgusted look. That look was familiar, somehow...like I had seen that kind of look before...
          "My name is Hendrick actually. But most people call me by my last name. In fact, I prefer it. Chapman."
          I knew he looked familiar! He's our vice-principal! Do you know what this means? He knew before! He made contact with Andalites before he was captured! Lex yelled.
          More importantly, he's our age now, a little more. That means we've gone back quite a few years in time. I said excitedly.
          The first Andalite spoke again. He had a strong, calming voice.
          <Very well. This is Abron,> he indicated the second Andalite, <I am Elfangor.>
          Earlier, I had felt like passing out. Now I did. I sat down very suddenly, and lost consciousness along the way.

          Elfangor-Sirinal-Shamtul. An Andalite prince. Dead since I had first heard of him. Killed by Visser Three. Brother of the guy I liked. The creator of the Animorphs. And I was talking to him. Spooky.
          I had gone back in time. I was talking to a person who had been dead for three years. I was in the seventies. I was walking inside an Andalite Dome ship. And I was probably altering history along the way. Typical day for me.
          <Okay, this part is a little tricky,> Elfangor said.
          I couldn't believe he was talking to me. I had asked him earlier what his title was. He had said Aristh. The same military title as Aximilli. Not even a warrior, let alone a Prince. Amazing.
          <You just walk naturally along the curving floor. I know it looks like you're walking off the edge of a cliff, but the artificial gravity will move with you.>
          Loren and Chapman tried it first. Both succeeded. I tried, and was so busy trying to show how good balance I had, forgot I had no tail as a human, and fell on my butt. I was on the edge of the gravity exchange, though, so I kinda just slid across the floor onto the other side.
          "Okay, forget I did that," I said in an embarrassed tone.
          Abron smiled with his main eyes and laughed. I smirked. Okay, it was funny. I could see the humor in it. But I really didn't want the greatest Andalite prince to remember me as the girl who fell on her first try to walk around a Dome ship. If he even did remember me, and not just forget one of his most unimportant missions. I got up and fell into step behind them.
          We came up out of the main shaft and Loren was amazed.
          "It's huge! It's like a whole park in here! Trees. Grass. Flowers. Wow."
          "Excuse me. I really need something to drink. Would it be all right if I drank out of the little stream over there?" I asked. I was incredibly thirsty.
          <Of course. Feel free.>
          "Thanks."
          I left them and walked over to the stream. I cupped my hands and drank eagerly. I tried to swallow the urge to lap the water up like a cat. And wile I drank, I went through my bag. I pulled out the ham sandwiches and ate one. I used my switchblade to cut up the apple into slices. I ate that, too, even though I can't eat too many plants.
          I guess I was just exhausted from what I had endured. Or maybe I was just relaxed from eating. Or maybe getting up early had taken a lot out of me. But I leaned back against the soft grass and fell asleep.

          <Would the human Anna please report to the center of the dome.>
          That was what I woke up to. The voice was annoyed and stern. It was thought-speak, I knew that. And I could tell I was in trouble. And I knew I was not making a good impression on the Andalite military, let alone Elfangor. Some warrior I am. I fall asleep when the most exciting thing in my life is happening. Nice job, Stryke.
          I got up, stretched, and yawned. I was tired still, and I really didn't want to see the look on anyone's face, human, Andalite, or any other species, when they found out I fell asleep. I ran over to the middle of the dome, were a large lake was. And standing there was a very angry looking Andalite. And I recognized him.
          He wasn't very large, considering. He was about, oh, maybe a head taller than Aximilli. And he was very solid looking. His fur was soft and grey, giving it a metal look. He had traces of burn scars on his upper body.And he was staring at me with a look of contempt. Like I was a speck of dung. And that made my blood boil. Not so much of what he was, as what he would become.
          But for some odd reason, I didn't really make that subtle mental connection. I just reacted. I took him by surprise.
          "YOU!"
          If he had been ready for an attack, he would have sliced me and diced me into little bite-sized Shifter pieces. But he wasn't ready for anything at all. He just expected me to walk up and apologize. And so did I. But that's not what I did. I tackled him.
          He went down hard and I was right on top of him. I punched him in the face about seven times before he could get out of the shock of me attacking him like he was some sort of enemy I recognized. Then he attacked me. He sliced my arm. He hit me on the head with the blunt side of his tail about twice. I don't think he wanted to hurt me, just stop me. Eventually, he reared up and threw me off him. I hit the ground and automatically started Shifting. My vision turned clear before I thought about anything. I knew my eyes were glowing a bright white. I was about to bare my teeth when Anna stopped me. I felt myself Shift back to human form. My eyes stopped glowing.
          Stryke, he's not a Controller yet! Stoppit! You'll blow your cover! Man, THIS is the person who Controls us?!
          I was under control again, mostly. The instinctive hatred I felt toward this person, this hatred I had adopted from the Animorphs, the hatred I had adopted from an Andalite, the hatred I had adopted from Aximilli hadn't gone away yet. And as long as that hatred burned, I spoke hatred.
          "You absolute filth. You Abomination! V. Three, you little...you...you..."
          I lost control then. I started crying. I collapsed and let a confused Andalite War-prince lead be to some docking bay at gunpoint.

          I was under control once we got to the docking bay. No one saw me attack Alloran. Alloran thought I had an awful dream, from what I told him. See, I wasn't about to tell him the real reason I attacked him. That would top off my stupidity factor. So I told him I had a terrifying dream about how an Andalite attacked me. Once I told Loren, she told me it was probably because I was scared and tired and suspicious from the last day. And Alloran took it pretty well, really. In fact, the first thing he said when we walked into the docking bay was:
          <Hello, Arisths. I found something you lost. Your human friend here fell asleep in the Dome. Now, if you are ready, shall we continue our mission?>
          <What is our mission, sir?> Abron asked with great respect.
          Alloran sighed, but he kept his voice firm, <We are to take these three aliens back to their planet, erase their recent memories, and return to the ship as soon as possible.>
          Loren and I were appalled. But I was a little more panicked.
          "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not erasing my memory. Nope. No way. Not happening. Not in this universe. If that means I'm not going back to Earth, fine. But there is no way you can erase my memory."
          <It is necessary,> Elfangor said, <your civilization->
          "I care about my civilization! That's why you're not erasing my memory! I need to-"
          <I'm sorry,> Abron said, <but that's what has to be done. If you humans knew, awful things could happen. We need to just let you grow and develop on your own.>
          Chapman snorted. Loren looked sick. I was trying to figure out how to keep my memories of Andalites and Yeerks and Skrit Na without blowing my cover entirely. I was concentrating very hard when we walked into our transport ship. I think they called it the Jahar. Elfangor and Abron seemed to be amazed at it's design. It was beautiful, but I had to think of more important things.
          I was unpacking my stuff, looking for my other ham sandwiches, when I overheard Abron asking if he could use the computers. I didn't really hear much more other than it would be a long, boring trip. And mostly, it was. Mostly, all i did was write in my journal, annoy Abron by looking over his shoulder when he was working, and be bored.

          I was lounging in the quarters Loren and I shared, when I heard thought-speak shouting. I think it was Abron. I ran into the room were they were.
          <-because, see, there's no way these sensor readings can be right. But now I think I've got it. I know what it is.> Abron turned to Elfangor. <Elfangor, I think this is real.>
          I walked over and leaned over Abron's shoulder. It was actually funny how used to I had gotten to being corresponding to aliens. I mean, I almost didn't even notice the species gap. Except when it came to my affection for Aximilli. Then, it played a major role.
          "What is it? Whoa!" Aximilli taught me how to read sensor readings.
          Whatever it was, this thing had power readings, intense ones, in three dimensions. But, and I wasn't sure, this thing had power readings emanating off into what I think was Zero space. Whatever that was.
          "Hey, guys, what is that?"
          <Be quiet, human. This does not involve you in the least.> Abron snapped. I narrowed my eyes.
          "Prince Alloran, I think you should see this," I said, just to diss Abron.
          <What is it?>
          Alloran moved one stalk eye over to the console. In about five seconds, he was staring at full intensity at the screen. He gave a command to the computer to look for any other files. And then it appeared on the screen.
          Round, oval, off white, kinda glowing, not too impressive. I would've just passed it by. But those power readings...
          "Hey what's the matter with you guys? You all look like you've seen a ghost," Loren asked.
          "Yeah, what is that thing? With those power readings-"
          I cut off my sentence. I wasn't supposed to know how to read Andalite technology. But everyone was too excited to notice my slip up.
          <The Time Matrix!>
          "Okay, so what's a Time Matrix?" Aximilli had never mentioned a Time Matrix.
          Alloran started barking out orders, apologized for not taking us back to our planet, and changed course. And I was still demanding what the heck that white thing was.

          I went to my quarters and wrote in my journal. I had basically given up on figuring out what was going on. Last I saw, the Andalites had a little council and were using closed thought-speak. So there was basically no way I'd figure out what was going on.
          Chapman barged into my quarters in an obviously bad mood. When I asked what was wrong, he snapped at me.
          "Shut up. I can see you are just all excited about these Andalites. Well, if you haven't noticed, they are dragging us off to another part of the galaxy. We can just about kiss Earth goodbye."
          "Oh? What part? If they told you, witch I doubt," I said mockingly.
          "Taxxon homeworld, as if I care. All I know is this: we are never going home again."
          Taxxon homeworld. Taxxons. Ugh. Disgusting creatures.
          Maybe I should explain what a Taxxon is first. Imagine a centipede. Now make it the size of a tree. Now give it a round mouth and bloody teeth. Give it red Jell-o eyes. Now give it a hunger that barley surpasses a Navarazzi's. And make it smell real bad. And now, if you can stomach it, make it a voluntary Controller. That's a Taxxon.
          Like I said, disgusting creatures. Although I can commune with them on the instinctive hunger thing. Navarazzis have strong instincts, too.
          But that's beside the point. The point was, we were going to their homeworld. Yeerk territory. Not good.
          Very not good.
          I pulled a T-shirt over my tank top I wore with my flightsuit and ran into the cabin. Elfangor and Abron were both at the computer. Alloran was, as usual, at the helm. And he was already giving out orders. I just watched.
          <-we don't want any unfortunate explosions.>
          Abron took some controls and started making some very careful adjustments. Everyone watched him.
          I had a pretty good idea of what he was doing. Andalites would be very suspicious walking around the Taxxon homeworld. They'd stand out just a little. Especially since Alloran was still free. So they would have to morph Taxxons. Or Hork-Bajir. Or maybe Gedds. But I doubted they'd use Gedd morphs.
          But I saw, way out in the distance, a Yeerk ship. Didn't recognize the type, though. They were probably going to shoot down the ship, jam their communications, and acquire Taxxon DNA. Then they'd fly down to the planet, get the Time Matrix, witch I still didn't know what it was, and fly back here.
          That's basically what happened. Abron shot at the ship, and it immediatly stopped movung. Elfangor jammed thier communications, and Alloran reminded all of us that Taxxons were Controllers.
          <Remember, don't kill them all, we will still need to acquire them.>
          "Good luck," Loren said.
          "You'll need it," I added.
          Hey, Stryke? Lex asked, If the Taxxons or the Hork-Bajir or what ever put up a fight, and the others look like they might need help, do we join in?
          Of course. I'll go get the Dracon beam.
          I ran into my quarters, pulled out my bag, grabbed the Dracon beam, and heard an ear-splintering explosion. Grabbing the bag, I ran back just in time to see a screen blow out. Sparks flew everywere. The air was hotter than California on a summer day at noon. Hotter than an oven. Dracon beams and shredder beams fired, or rather fried, the air. Alloran screamed.
          <Stop firing! We'll destroy the ship!>
          Elfangor was facing a Taxxon. The Taxxon raised its Dracon beam and Elfangor just left him without an arm. Abron slashed a Taxxon in the stomach, causeing Taxxon goo to spill out on the deck. Alloran removed his opponent's head.
          Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Taxxon, slithering into the Jahar. It headed toward the computer console. I saw it pressing buttons and accessing the files. I really didn't care what the heck it was doing, I just reacted.
          "Hey, Taxxon-Controller! Over here! Yeah, the kid holding the Dracon beam!"
          I ran over to were they were and delivered a strong flip-kick to their face. It whipped its foul worm body and threw me against the side of a bulkhead in the Yeerrk ship. It raised the upper half of its body and slammed down on me.
          The wind was knocked out of me. I gasped for air. And I chose the perfect time for a hallucination.
          I was in my new bedroom in the basement. I was reading A Wrinkle in Time. I was on my bed. My dog, Tippy, was a my feet. The radio was playing No Doubt. I was singing along as I read. And I was off key. Marco made a joke of how I could go on Broadway with that great singing voice-
          A flash of light, and I was back. And the Taxxon was rearing up again...
          I wouldn't survive another blow like the last one. I sucked in another breath of air. The Taxxon opened its jaws and stopped rearing.
          I wouldn't survive. Of that, I was sure.

          STRYKE! The Dracon beam! Use it! Before that worm kills us!
          Lex was shouting. Anna was whimpering. I was snapping out of my little trance. I didn't even bother checking the setting. I raised the Dracon beam just enough so that it touched the centipede's belly, and fired.
          Turns out the settings were at maximum. The Taxxon was slamming down on me as he disintegrated.
          It was a race. The Taxxon was as good as dead, but if it still had enough mass when he slammed against me, it would kill me. My only hope was that it would be dissolved enough when it hit.
          Just as he slammed against me, he disintegrated most of the way. Most of the way. It didn't kill me, but it did knock me out. I crumpled to the floor and was down and out of the game.

          I woke up feeling a little sting in my arm. I felt it, and realized I had been injected with something. I sat up, and wished I hadn't.
          Three stern Andalite faces, all staring at me. I realized I was underneath a control panel, almost out of sight. I looked over at where the hole in the ships was. Sealed. No sign of the Jahar, as far as I could see.
          <Just what do you think you're doing under there?> Abron snapped.
          "Ohh, man. What happened?"
          <We found you unconscious under there. Abron gave you a hypo to revive you. We have already left the Jahar. We were about to acquire the Taxxons when we found you.>
          Obviously, I knew what 'acquire' meant, but they didn't know that. So Alloran explained.
          <Andalites have developed the morphing technology. It enables us to pass undetected throughout the galaxy. We can change into any animal once we have made contact with it. We need to make contact with the Taxxons. You, however, have disrupted our plan. We can not enter the Yeerk territory with you.>
          <And we can't exactly go back to the Jahar and drop you off, or we'll be detected.> Abron added.
          "So now you can't exactly take me to the planet, and you can't take me back to the fighter. I can fight just as well as anyone, sorry to burst your bubble. If you must know, I'm in here because I was fighting one of your little Taxxon-infestees. So I'm sorry, okay? But I can fight well enough to take care of myself, thank you very much," I said a little sarcastically.
          <Shut up, alien, it's your fault we're in this mess. Because of you, we have to go ahead with the plan and take care of you at the same time.> Abron. I could tell he didn't really like me too much.
          "Excuse me? No one takes care of me. I take care of myself. Got it?"
          I stood up and stuck my face close to Abron's. I narrowed my eyes.
          <Hey, wait a minute.>
          "What?"
          <Your eyes. Alloran, Elfangor, look at them.>
          "You just now noticed? Man, he's thick."
          <No, I mean, I noticed the pupils were narrow before, but->
          <The scar! It looks like something a tail blade would leave!> Elfangor finished.
          Actually, it was true. My eyes were no longer Shiftable. They were Navarazzi cat eyes, only one had a scar over and through. And it was caused by an Andalite tail blade. Aximilli's. See, I had been infested once.
          I shook my head and jerked it away. "Hey, cut it out. A cougar mauled me, okay?"
          <Cougar?>
          "Earth animal. Very dangerous. Claws."
          Alloran looked skeptical, but concerned. But he had more to deal with than my little scar.
          <Enough with the alien's scar. We have work to do. Like acquiring Taxxons. Get the shredders ready.>
          We walked over to a door that was welded shut. Alloran, Elfangor, and Abron leveled their shredders. I did the same, with my Dracon gun. I set it at a low setting. Abron swiveled one stalk eye at me and sent me a closed thought-speak message.
          <How do you know how to set a Dracon beam? In fact, were did you get a Dracon beam?>
          "Xenobiology," I whispered. Abron's eyes went wide.
          He was about to say something, but the door opened then.

          "YAAAAAAIEEEE!"
          That was me screaming my lungs out. Inside, there was a kind of storage. But that's not what made me scream. Two Taxxons were slamming onto each other like the Taxxon was slamming on me. That's not what made me scream, either. On the floor of the deck, black, green, blue, and red liquid was spilled. Some of it was blood, some of it wasn't. Bones were scattered. Gore was everywhere. And, surprisingly, I didn't launch my lunch right then. In fact, the little Navarazzi part of my brain was thinking that was lunch.
          I disgust myself sometimes.
          <Stop it or I'll kill you both!> Abron screamed.
          But they weren't interested. They just were too caught up in their feeding frenzy. And if they didn't stop soon, I'd just join in, under the influence of Navarazzi instinct. My muscles were tensing and bunching. I was whimpering and whining like an animal, but no one noticed. Thankfully.
          <Their Yeerks have left them. This is how Taxxons behave when they are not Controllers. Their Yeerk parasites have left them to destroy each other.> Alloran noted.
          "They're doing a pretty good job," I noticed.
          <Were did the Yeerks go?> Elfangor asked.
          Alloran calmly fired his shredder and knocked the Taxxons unconscious. I relaxed. The others started to walk past the Taxxons, and I followed. Alloran commanded the lights on via computer. I wished he hadn't done that.
          One hundred feet back, all the way, were tanks. I the tanks, there was a sludgy liquid. I didn't even need to look, I knew what would be in that liquid. But I couldn't stop myself.
          Yeerks. In their natural state. Slugs. Swimming like squid.
          <Yeerks!>
          <There must be thousands! Tens of thousands!> Abron exclaimed.
          <I thought this might be the case. These are Yeerks being transported to the Taxxon world. They're here to get bodies. Hosts. Each of these will be given a Taxxon.>
          "And we do what about this?" I asked.
          <You do nothing. We seal the bridge and open the outer hatch.>
          "And that would do what?" I asked, angry and confused.
          Elfangor figured it out, though. He was waaay ahead of me.
          <Prince Alloran, we can't just kill them all.>
          He looked hard at Alloran. I still didn't get it.
          Guys? What would that do? Hellooo? Peoples?
          Stryke, that would cause all the little Yeerkies to fly out into space.
          Oh.
          I say we do it. Anna said.
          Anna, as much as I hate Yeerks...
          Alloran interrupted our little head-debate.
          <Aristh Elfangor, I give the orders. You obey the orders.>
          <But they're helpless.> Elfangor protested.
          <They are Yeerks. And this is war. Would you rather wait until they have Taxxon bodies?>
          The argument dragged on. I could see what Alloran meant, war was about killing. Destroying your enemies was a part of war, true. But they were defenseless. And there was no need to kill them now. Finally, Abron pointed out how close we were to the planet and ended the argument. But the air between Alloran and Elfangor seemed to crackle with tension.
          Wait until Alloran is infested, Anna. I said to myself.
          We all walked over to the Taxxons and the Andalites acquired them. Elfangor morphed first.
          Let me tell you, it was disgusting. His upper body melded in with his lower. His stalk eyes shriveled. His legs shrank and mutated. And that awful mouth appeared.
          Finally, he was fully Taxxon. I knew what was going on inside of his head. The Taxxon mind would emerge, hunger, instincts, and all, any minute now...
          Elfangor turned his worm body to face us. He used his red eyes to look at Alloran and Abron first, I think. Taxxon eyes don't focus very well. Then he looked at me.

          Elfangor-no, the Taxxon looked at me and charged! I guess, as a human, I looked weak and defenseless. And I looked like food. But he lost control and charged at me.
          "Yaaaa! Elfangor! Get a hold on those instincts! Help! Abron! Alloran! Heeeelp!"
          I ran to the side. The Taxxon hurtled after me. I grabbed a hold of some cord that was hanging from the ceiling and flipped over on it. I climbed up that cord and hung on for dear life. The cable was barley in there. Just something stuck on a blown-out ceiling. I was screaming in a very Navarazzi voice. Abron and Alloran were trying to get Elfangor under control. Elfangor was beginning to emerge from the Taxxon's control.
          But the Taxxon wasn't done yet. At the last second, it powered up at was about to bite my lower leg off. I screamed again and kicked him in the face. He fell over on top of Abron and I fell on top of Alloran. And that's what it took to get him under control
          <Oh, oh, oh. Anna, are you all right? Abron?>
          <I'm fine, now get off me, what do you weigh, two hundred pounds?>
          "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just. Don't. Eat. Me."
          <I'm sorry, I-the instincts, they are so strong-I lost myself-I'm sorry.>
          "'So'kay. Sorry about landing on top of you, Prince Alloran."
          <What? 'So'kay?' what does that mean?> Abron asked.
          "It's okay. Should I get out of harm's way while you guys morph?"
          <That would be a good idea, alien.> Alloran said coldly.
          "I do have a name, you know. And it's not 'alien'. It's Anna." I said with false respect.
          I climbed the cable back into the busted ceiling and watched the others morph. When they were done eying me hungrily, I climbed down. If they lost control, I'd be Taxxon chow.
          "Ready, guys? Now what?"
          <Now, we find out what to do with you.>

          It would be half a day before the Yeerks could be unloaded. Alloran, Abron, and Elfangor in Taxxon bodies, needed to look for the Matrix. I was finishing off my last apple as the repetitive debate droned on.
          <If you hadn't joined the fight, none of this would have happened. You don't even know how to use a Dracon beam!> Elfangor yelled at me.
          "Yes, I do," I said in defense. This argument had been going on for about ten minutes
now.
          <Yes, she does, Elfangor. I saw her set the thing like she was an old hand at this kind of thing. She definitely knows how to operate a Dracon beam. And she said she learned how to in->
          I interrupted Abron. I couldn't afford to interfere with anything at all. Absolutely nothing. I was beginning to to think like an Ellimist. But if Abron quoted my joke, they'd know. Xenobiology is an Andalite class, not a human's.
          "I saw you guys do it, okay? Geez, I learn one little thing and boom. I'm accused of messing up the whole mission."
          <When you Arisths have enough time, we are about to set down. If you will, figure out something to do with the alien.> Alloran ordered.
          "For the last time, I have a name, and it is not alien."
          <Do you think you can hide in here without being seen or heard?> Elfangor asked a little more calmly.
          "Of course. That's what I live for. But there is no way you are leaving me here."
          <We will be back to get you. Now see if you can climb up that cable again and hide in the ceiling.> Abron said simply.
          <And try to stay out of sight.> Elfangor added.
          "No duh," I said as I climbed up the stupid cord.
          I settled myself in between some hoses and wires when a thought occurred to me.
          "Hey, guys?"
          Elfangor, or at least I think it was Elfangor, they all looked about the same, turned to face me.
          <What?>
          "Could you be, you know, infested?"
          <Not very likely. There will probably be a lot of danger. Some battles, maybe. We are deep in enemy territory.>
          "Hey, waitaminute," I said as I started down the cable, "No way you guys are going into all this danger and leaving me behind. I can fight just as well as anyone. Better than most, even. I've got a Dracon beam. I can fight hand-to-hand if I have to. I know combat. I've been in my share of fights. At school, at home, people I don't know, at the Ye-"
          I was going to say 'Yeerk Pool', but that would have been an all-time dumb. Plus, Alloran was there. And my knowledge of Yeerks would have led to questions. And if Alloran knew that the 'Andalite Bandits' were human...
          <Get back up there.> Alloran snapped.
          <Anna, you can't morph at all. And if you did come, you'd just be a pain in the hindquarters. You'd be just a little obvious walking around among Taxxons and Hork-Bajir and Gedds. So stay here.> Abron said sarcastically.
          Honestly, Abron can be so much like Marco sometimes. Or Marco can be so much like Abron, since Marco hasn't been born yet. But either way, they both got on my nerves a lot.
          But they were right. I made a very low growl as I climbed up the cable again. But even as I did that, I was making a plan of how I'd get out and help them.

          About an hour later, I crawled out of my little roost. I slid easily down the rope and looked around. The last thing I needed was to have a Hork-Bajir-Controller find me. I dragged my bag out of a bunch of exploded wires. I put it around my shoulder, and slipped out of the ship.
          I stayed inside the shadows and just wandered around for a while. I was amazed. Ships, like Monorails, only faster, zoomed around above me. Hundreds of ships were docked above, and at the same level as, our Yeerk transport ship. Taxxons, Gedds, Hork-Bajir, and some other species I didn't recognize, were running around all over the place. It was busy. And it looked like it wasn't done yet.
          And the sky was about the same color as dust. Grey-brown and with clouds so high up you can barley see them. There was no vegetation, or at least none I could see, and the ground was dry and dusty. The whole place made you want to scream.
          I had no idea of where to go. I knew more than the average human, but I wasn't exactly an Andalite. I didn't know the purpose of the mono-trains, or the way around the port, or even where the others might be.
          I was lost, and ultimeately, helpless.

          About an hour later, I heard shouting. I didn't recognize a single word of it, but I think it was Galard, although I don't speak a word of it, I just have a general idea of how it sounds. I peeked out from behind a really bad smelling ship cradle. I think it was covered with sewage, although the stuff could have been Yeerk versions of stink bombs, who am I to know? All I did know was, it tasred real bad over there. Navarazzis smell with their tounges, so that's why I made a point of keeping my mouth shut.
          I looked in the general direction of where the Controllers were pointing, and almost fainted. The Jahar! The Jahar was landing! But that was impossible, unless...
          "Chapman!" I hissed. Literally.
          That total-
          Thank, you, Lex, I'm sure we don't need to use that kind of language.
          Well, he is. I mean, he did give us that detention for bringing that little Walkman to school. And we didn't even use it! Anna backed up.
          Anna, as I recall, you talked me into bringing it, AND using it during class.
          Well, it was Marco's inspiration, really. Remember? He told us about how he started singing along? I would have paid to see that.
          Yeah, well, we'll discuss that again later. Right now, we gotta figure out what the heck is going on.
          Bossy, bossy, bossy. Anna replied jokingly.
          I sighed. It's kind of hard to hold a conversation with yourself and not respond physically. Like, during class, I'll suddenly break out laughing because of a joke Lex just made. Or I'll make these facial expressions during dinner because Anna was arguing again. It's annoying, really.
          The Jahar settled down and at least half a dozen leveled their weapons. I saw one of the Monorail trains slam into two Gedds as it sped toward the Jahar. I got a really bad feeling from that train. Like I was looking at something I hated and feared...
          After about ten, twenty minutes, the door opened and out stepped Chapman. I decided right then, no matter how much he sacrificed himself for his daughter, I really did not like this guy.
          "Hey, hey. Relax. You can put down the weapons. I'm not here to fight, I'm here to trade."
          Realizing that the Yeerks had no clue as to what he was saying, Chapman made a gesture of giving something, then getting something in return.
          A really tough-looking Hork-Bajir walked up to Chapman and spoke in a language I didn't understand. Chapman smiled in understanding. It was like they were understanding what each other said. Witch they basically did.
          Chapman backed out into the ship again and brought back Loren, tied up. Her arms were bound in wire, and Chapman knocked her to the ground.
          "That's what I have to trade," the jerk said, "A whole planet full of...that."

          "You little..."
          But my words were drowned out in the screams of Loren, the murmur of Hork-Bajir, and the huffing of the Taxxons. Loren was twisting and struggling. Chapman was attempting communication with the Hork-Bajir. Anna and Lex were having one of their famous head-debates. I was debating with myself, considering using Tele-speech to talk to Loren.
          Loren jerked her head and looked behind her shoulders. I hadn't said anything and she reacted like she was listening to someone. Then I realized. Thought-speak! An Andalite was speaking directly to her! They didn't notice me, so they weren't talking to me.
          And when they DO notice me, I'll be in so much trouble I don't even want to THINK about it. I said to myself.
          I heard a small rustling behind me, on the other side of the support pole. I heard a grinding, squishing, that sounded a lot like Aximilli did when he morphed. So, hopefully, it was an Andalite. I walked around the pole, hoping to see an Andalite.
          Turns out what I saw wasn't an Andalite.

          "Taxxon," I seethed.
          The Taxxon paused, shuddered slightly, and then spoke to me.
          <Anna! I thought you said you'd be in the ship!>
          "Whew. So it was an Andalite morphing. What can I say? I'm a natural born fighter. Not so much natural born as a fighter, but-never mind, not important. But no one can keep me from a fight. That's why my nickname is Gabrielle," I said as I shrugged.
          <Do you realize how dangerous this is? Do you have any idea what Yeerks do?>
          "Yes, I do," I said quietly.
          <How? How would you, a primitive race, know about the Yeerks?>
          "My race ain't so primitive. And you don't want to know how I know what the Yeerks do."
          <How? I'd sure want to know.>
          I spun around and saw another Taxxon. I was just a little edgy by the simple fact that, if they felt like it, they could easily devour me.
          "Abron?"
          A silence, then, <Yes.>
          "Good. Where's-where's Prince Alloran?"
          <We don't know. We got separated. Abron? Do you know?>
          <No.>
          I paused. Was he captured? Was he-was he now the Abomination?
          "Anyone got a plan?"
          <Yes. First, we find out how you know about Xenobiology, the Yeerks, how to set a Dracon beam, and how the Yeerks infest. We never told you those things.>
          "Abron, I can't tell."
          <Anna, do you know what the Time Matrix is? Did you see Loren, handed over by your fellow human? If it helps you to know, in my eyes, you are no better than Chapman. Self-serving, selfish, and strange.> Elfangor said.
          Those words battered me. I wasn't like that at all! I was the exact opposite! I risked my life every day! I wasn' t selfish! I was trying to protect the time stream! I wasn't strange! I was from the future!
          "Elfangor, if it helps you to know, I was a Controller once! I fight the Yeerks! I've seen what they do! I've fought at the Yeerk Pool before! I've met an Ellimist! I've seen what those filthy worms do! My friends morph. One of them is a nothlit. I-"
          Abron was very tense, even for a Taxxon. I collapsed on the ground, out of the trash. I felt incredibly tired suddenly. Elfangor and Abron were staring at me. I started crying, after all that had happened, I lost all emotional control.

          Did you know, that, among all the thousands of species in the universe, humans are the only species that cry with tears? At least that's as far as I know. But Yeerks, Andalites, Navarazzis, even, can't have tears. Their eyes aren't equipped properly.
          And since I had Navarazzi eyes, I can no longer tear. I don't really know what it's like to cry, I was never the kind of person to cry. No matter how much it hurt, I just bottled up the tears. So I never really knew what it was like, to cry. I've only, with tears, cried what, about three times in my life.
          Abron and Elfangor just stared at me a few minutes, then got down to business. I guess they were planning on interrogating me later on. I wasn't really listening. I was years, billions of miles, and emotionally, away from home.
          I think that, if I could, I'd just crawl into my roost and lie down and sleep. And I was unbelievably terrified. I just wanted to run into Aximilli's feeding grounds and wait for him. Then I'd tell him about the whole trip and we'd have a big laugh.
          No such luck.
          <Okay, lead the way. But what about her?>
          "I can provide a distraction or something. I'm sure the Yeerks have never seen a Navarazzi, at least not for another twenty-something years," I said ruefully.
          <Okay. You provide a distraction, and then see if you can escape. We'll come back for you and->
          "That's what wings are for, Elfangor. I can fly up and meet you guys in midair. Without getting Draconed in the process, however..." I let the sentence hang.
          Elfangor looked at me like I was crazy. To him, I just looked like a strange human who claimed to be from the future. But he trusted me.
          Never trust me.

          I watched as two Taxxons who were not Taxxons walked past some Gedds. I paused until they were in the ship, removed my outer shirt, my shoes, stuffed them in the bag, then started to Shift.
          I almost always feel safer in my Navarazzi body. It's like about one and a half times the strength of a human, about as tall as Jake, and extremely deadly. No one wants to mess with me, generally. I especially like the fangs. They are really cool to run your tounge over.
          Just as I saw the door close, I stepped out of the shadows. The result was instant.
          The Gedds ran right after me and made these little 'rrring' sounds. I picked up one and spoke to him in Tele-speech.
          Do you really want to mess with me? I'm not in a good mood today.
          I threw the little guy into his buddies and knocked 'em all down. Gedds don't really put up a good fight. I started to walk away, but one grabbed my leg and made the little rrr sounds again.
          Look, I've got a plane to catch, ya mind, buddy?
          Gedd-Controllers, I guess, aren't too bright. He didn't let go. The ship started to rise, pretty quickly, in fact. About the same speed as me in a dive. But not fast enough to escape in time.
          Can you just not take a hint? I said, HANDS OFF!
          Still didn't let go. That annoyed me. Badly. I reversed my knee and brought him close to my face.
          You are getting on my nerves and that is a very dangerous thing to do.
          He preferred to hang on and annoy me. I couldn't waste time. I clawed my way out of a wave of Taxxons and sank my claws into a support pole. I climbed up, and flew off to catch up with the Skrit Na ship. With the little bugger still hanging on. Still making rrr sounds. Still annoying the heck out of me. Still slowing me down.
          Okay, this is Shifter Airlines requesting that you land. Immediately.
          I slammed my legs together and knocked him off. Right on top of a ship cradle. I flew a little faster after that.
          Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Bug fighter start chasing the Skrit Na ship. And I knew there was no way they'd get outta there in time.
          Hey, guys? I'm sure that ships like that can go a whole lot faster than that. So why aren't they going faster?
          For us to catch up, but you probably already figured that out, oh intellectual giant that you are. Lex commented.
          AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! HHHEEEEEEEELLLLLPPP!
          You probably can guess witch one of us was screaming her lungs out.
          Anna! I am TRYING to fly here! So quiet. It's hard to fly with someone screaming that loud!
          Aaaaaah! Yaaaaaa! Woooooooaaaaah!
          She didn't stop entirely, but she did quiet down, a little.
          I released my mind. It helps sometimes, if you just let your consciousness slip away. It makes you fly, fight, hunt, etc. better. And faster.
          This is so cooooooooool! I roared.
          It was cool. I was going about two hundred miles per hour. While dodging Dracon beams. While chasing a spaceship. While catching every updraft, thermal, and slipstream. While listening to my Navarazzi instincts and bellowing out this war cry-roar-howl-scream. It was absolutely, positively, the greatest thrill of my life.

          Two more Bugs. Less time, more speed. Adjust tragdectory. Angle wings. Increase angle of attack. Lift wings. position tail. Shift weight. Move arms back. Ship going faster. Another two Bugs.
          I was about two feet from the edge of the ship. The air around me was unbelievably hot. If I got any closer, I'd burn up. The ship slowed down, and the air temperature became tolerable. Barley.
          A small porthole opened in the side of the ship. Elfangor was in the doorway. He didn't even have to say a word. I flew in, singing my hair on the hull as I brushed against it.
          Unfortunately, I misjudged how fast I was going. I had to fly around the cabin for about twenty seconds before slamming against the wall.
          <Are you all right?> Abron asked dully.
          "Yeah, I'm-ow-fine. I think I have a black eye. Burned hair. Noting serious. Oooohh. You?"
          He didn't answer. He punched up the speed and we were blowing outta there!
          <Three thousand two hundred miles per hour. Three point three K. Three point four K. Hull temperature is...you don't even want to know. Three point five K.>
          "I wonder how long this thing is gonna hold up," I said nervously.
          I saw a line of fire blow across the planet as we passed. The friction would soon kill us.
          <Pull up!> Abron yelled.
          <Where did they come from?!> Elfangor screamed.
          See, mountains tend to slow down a spaceship, just a little. I felt the ship rock as we pulled away from the mountains that threatened our existence.
          <Are we going to clear?>
          "We'd better! I'd like to die in my own decade, thank you!"
          YAAAAAAAAAAA! I TOLD YOU THIS JOB WOULD KILL UUUUUUS!
          ANNNNNNA! SHUUUUUT UUUUP! Lex and I yelled in unison. I really hated when Anna screamed so loudly in my head. It was very painful.
          TSSSSEEEEWWWW!
          "Those Yeerks don't say die, do they? We're burning from friction, and yet, they still shoot at us. And they're gonna blow at any second."
          I looked back and saw one Bug Fighter explode. The friction had finally got it.
          "See? Speak of the devil."
          <Ya-ha! One Yeerk fried!>
          <Elfangor, we're next if we don't slow down.> Abron warned.
          "Yup. And if we slow down, they shoot us. And if we don't, we still die-"
          I was about to make a joke about if you do, and if you don't, but I decided to save it, because they were simply ignoring me. Entirely.
          <I can.>
          "Huh?"
          <With Taxxon eyes? With Taxxon reaction times? With Skrit Na targeting computers?>
          "Dubwa?"
          'Dubwa' is just my way of saying, 'huh?'. I think it's more fun to say.
          <I can make the shot, Elfangor.>
          <Look, Abron, I want to come out of this alive.>
          I thought of a little joke, but I decided to save it. After all, I could sense something here was very wrong. Elfangor had demorphed, Abron had not. Bad.
          Very bad.

          <And you think I don't care if I live or die, right? Maybe you're right. This hunger...Elfangor, you've felt it. You know. But I can still mke this shot.>
          "Nothlit," I said solemly.
          Abron turned to face me, and Elfangor's main eyes widened. I smirked kindly. I could understand what Abron was going through, a little. I felt a dire hunger every day of my life. Navarazzi hunger. A hunger for anything living. A frightening hunger, terrifying, even.
          <How do you know what a nothlit is?>
          "I told you. I'm not from this place, or time. I know things you don't. I understand things Loren and Chapman won't. And now I've messed up the whole course of time. So, since the whole thing's a mess, I'm trying to clean it up."
          <How do you know what a nothlit is?> Abron asked sharply.
          "Because my friend is one. And, in a way, I am one."
          <You can't begin to understand this.> he said bitterly.
          "Yes, I can."
          <How? How would you know about this hunger? How could you possibly understand to have your->
          "-mind screaming at you to eat anything living. To want to devour your own people. You don't want to, but the instinct is strong. So strong, it's almost overpowering. You can barley control it."
          <How would you know! How can you know about the hunger?! How would you know what I'm going through?!>
          "I feel it every day!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice echoing in the cabin, "I have those instincts, too! I can barley control it myself! You're stronger than me, Abron! Yo're so much stronger! I can barley deal! You can! I have to eat meat, or I die. I used to eat veggies all the time, but nooo, I have to be born a Shifter! Heck, I wasnt even born, I'm the result of two cells joining! I'm not even a species! I don't have parents other than the test tube I was kept in, I don't have a planet other than the the ship I was produced in, I am nothing but a few cells, growing and dying, all because someone could make me! So, you see, I think I have it a little worse off! You were at least born naturally! Me, heck no. I wasn't even born."
          Abron and Elfangor just stared. I could tell my little ramble had not helped the situation any.
          "Okay, I'm done now. Stress releved. Make the shot."

          Abron scuttled over to the weapons station and Elfangor kinda stared. I realised I handn't Shifted back yet. So I did. I was just about as emotinally dulled as anyone can get. Anna and Lex were silent. I was kinda mopy. I slupmed in the back of the ship, and watched.
          <Three...two...>
          Elfangor killed thrust and stopped the ship. We went from plus three thousand MPH to zero in about three seconds. And the shock was strong.
          Elfangor and I were jostled around like dolls. I slammed against the celing, he sprwaled on the floor. I landed on the floor on my head, giving you an idea of about how hard the impact was.
          "Ohhhh," I moaned. That hurt.
          Abron fired!
          TSSSEEEEEWWW!
          He fired again!
          TSSSEEEEEWWW!
          And again!
          TSSSEEEEEWWW!
          "Is it over?" I asked as I climbed to my feet.
          <Nice shooting! Seriously nice shooting!>
          "I'll take that as a yes."
          <Thanks. It turns out that Taxxon senses and reflexes are good at this kind of thing. Guess that's why the Yeerks use Taxxon-Controllers to fly their Bug fighters. It's nice to know that there's something useful about this disgusting body.>
          <We're going to find a way to get you out of that Taxxon morph.> Elfangor said kindly.
          I was worried. The whole course of time was messed up becase I interferred. If I wasn't here, Abron might not have been stuck in morph, the group might not have seperated, and the Time Matrix might not be in the hands of the Yeerks. Well, Abron and Elfangor's hands, technacly, but that's not the point. I had messed-up big time.

          "Abron, my friend, the nothlit, he escaped. You still can get out," I said, trying to give him hope.
          Elfangor left me the job of moral support as he navagaited the ship. I saw a line of daylight rush at us. I han't even noticed it was nighttime around us. Abron was not pleased.
          <What are you doing?>
          <I need a place to land and conceal the ship. I need daylight. And I need to be closer to the spaceport. We can't just leave the others behind.>
          <Others? You mean Alloran?>
          "Ah-hem. And the humans. Don't just overlook us."
          <Yes, they are our responsiblility.> Elfangor aggreed.
          <We are not going back to the spaceport. The Yeerks are back there. And Taxxons. They'll catch us. Do you know what they'll do if they catch me? They'll eat me alive, Elfangor.>
          "Hang on, Abron, get a grip," I said as I laid a hand on what I think was his shoulder, "Abron, it's terrifying, I know, but you need to hold on. You need to keep yourself together."
          <Hold on? Hold on? Are you insane, alein? If we go back there, they'll eat me! You say you've seen Yeerks at work, then you'd hasve to know what happenes to injured Taxxons! If you know so much, tell me! Tell me what happens!>
          "Abron, please, calm down."
          <Tell me! Tell me! If you know so much, tell me!>
          "Abron, tey are eaten. But you're not injured, and as far as they know, you're just another Taxxon-Controller, not important-that came out wrong, I swear!"
          I glanced over at Elfangor. He was steering our little tub as fast as he could toward daylight. Abron's Taxxon body was heaving and gasping. He was eying me like I eyed my prey. He looked at me with those dead, emotinaliss eyes. He rose his body up a little. I took off my hand and calmly returned his gaze. I wasn't about to show fear, that would signify weakness. And belive me, you don't want to show a preditor how scared you are. So I didn't show as much fear as I could. Anna, however...
          He'll eat us! He's gonna eat us! Ahhhhhhhh! No! Nooooo! Nononononono...
          If my mind had eyes, I'd be rolling them. Anna can really be a wimp sometimes.
          <Elfangor, turn this ship back. I'm going to use the Time Matrix. I'm going back in time. I'm going back to my life!>
          "Time travel isn't something to mess with, Abron. Take it from someone whoknows, you don't want to mess with time," I warned.
          Abron wasn't interested. He wasn't even listening. He was ignoring me completley. Probably because I couldn't steer a ship.
          <You can't light up that Time Matrix. The power signature will be visible to every ship in orbit, every satalite, every->
          <I don't care! I don't care if I die, just let this hunger stop. Stop it. Stop it. You fool, don't you know I could eat you right now?>

          I remembered overhearing a conversation between Chapman and Loren and Elfangor. Chapman had used the term, 'whacked-out', and I didn't think Elfangor understood. I backed away against the bulkhead.
          "This is whacked-out. He's lost control," I said under my breath.
          Inside that worm body, there was an Andalite. Just like there was a boy in Tobias's hawk body. But unlike Tobias, this nothlit couldn't accept his fate quite as gracefully.
          He looked at me. He looked at Elfangor. I reached for my Dracon beam. He screamed, then charged.
          He should have charged at me, really. I was the weakest looking. I was the closest. I was the one he knew couldn't fight back. I was the one he knew wouldn't be able to fight back until I was Shifted and probably dead. But he went for Elfangor instead.
          "Elfangor!"
          <Abron!>
          Elfangor dodged right. Abron hit the insturment panel and sparks exploded out of it. He pushed his body toward Elfangor, hoping to knock him into the wall. Elfangor dogded and sliced off four of Abron's legs, causing him to slump. I pulled out my T-shirt and flapped it against the bulkhead, trying to prevent fire. I aimed my Dracon beam, at minimum power, at Abron.
          <Just kill me!>
          "Nope. Not happening."
          <Elfangor, you know what happenes to wounded Taxxons! You know! Anna, you said you knew, too!>
          "First-hand," I said as I passed the Dracon beam to Elfangor, "but I ain't giving you up for dead yet, Abron, even if you are."
          <Fool! Nothing can stop them! Nothing can stop the hunger. I couldn't stop it. Alloran couldn't stop it. Don't you understand? I ate, Elfangor. I ate that wounded Taxxon. I couldn't help myself!>
          <Shut up!> Elfangor yelled, <Shut up!>
          Elfangor pointed the Dracon beam at Abron.
          <What are you doing?>
          <I need to land this ship, Abron. Keep quiet or I'll stun you.>
          <You fire that thing, you'll kill me.You have the settings backward. That's a Yeerk weapon. Setting one is the highest setting, not the lowest.>
          I knew he was lying, I knew how to set my own gun, thank you, but couldn't see the use of lying about it. Then I realized.

          Just as I thought, Abron scuttled forward, his intention clear. Elfangor spun the setting dail to ten. He aimed, and I bolted. Forward.
          "Elfangor, NO!"
          Evidentally, Elfangor had fallen for it. He didn't know alein technology as well as Abron. The Dracon beam was on maximium power. I was running straight for Elfangor. Abron was scuttling forward. I grabbed Elfangor's arm.It was like the world was in slo-mo. I was diving, Elfangor was dodging, and Abron was commiting suicide. It was a race of reflexes. If mine were faster, the Dracon beam would hit the inside of the ship, making a substantially large hole. If Elfangor's were faster, he'd fry Abron without meaning to. And Andalite reflexes are faster than human and Navarazzi combined.
          Either by some miricle my reflexes were faster, witch is very unlikely, or Elfangor figured it out. I'm still leaning toward the second one. But the Dracon beam did miss. And the ship did blow a hole in it's hull.
          And Elfangor did get thrown clear. And I did slam against the celing and be thrown into a pile of boxes.
          And we did crash.
          Boy, did we crash.

          I woke up with a feeling that I had been out for a vey long time. I tried to sit up, but knocked my head on something above me. I tried to move forward, but the same thing happened. I felt around me. I was in a large crate, and I couldn't get out.
          Panic. I kicked, jostled, and screamed. I heard my heart begining to race. I punched the walls of my cage. I was sweating. I listened to Navarazzi instinct and clawed wildly at the walls of the box, although I had no claws at the moment. I screamed again. I was gasping for air. It seemed like the whole world was tiny, and was slowly getting smaller...smaller...closing in on me, paralizing me...chocking me, smothering me...depriving me of air. I screamed again in the darkness that held me. I kept on screaming. And screaming and screaming and screaming.
          I'm claustraphobic, can you tell?
          <Abron!>
          The thought-speak voice cut through my growing panic. At least I stopped screaming.
          "How about Anna?!"
          <Where are you? Anna!>
          "I'm in one of the small boxes! I'm trapped! Help! Help me! Help me, please! Heeeeelp!
          <I can't hear you well. Where are you? Anna?>
          I'm in one of the small, tight boxes with very little air! And I'm trapped! Help! Help me, please! Ahhhhhh!
          I was probably scaring him half to death, I sounded like I was being killed. Plus, he heard my voice in his head, without the means of thought-speach. But I was too paniced to think about that. I was sweating, screaming, and scared.
          I heard a crashing around me, and then I felt like my little world was turned upside-down. I felt like I was slammed against the wall, and then toppled over.
          <I'm not seeing any small boxes with you in them! Where are you?>
          Elfangooorrr, help meeeeee. I'm stuck in a little box! And I'm claustraphobic!
          <What?>
          I'm afraid of tight spaces!
          My breathing was heavy, and the air left in the box was almost gone. Even more panic. More adrenaline. I felt my box being jostled again.
          There! The box you just moved! I'm in that one!
          I heard a kind of ripping sound, and the next thing I knew, Elfangor was staring at me with this amused look on his face.

          "What's. So. Funny?" demanded as I climbed shakily out of the box.
          <Look at the size of the box. It's not so small.>
          I turned around. The box was pretty large, about half the size of an Andalite.
          "Yeah, well, try getting stuck in it. And try being terrified of tight spaces while you're at it. Then tell me it's not so small."
          I was shaking. I was sweating. I was jazzed from all the adrenaline. I was also very tired and snappish, though I tried to stay calm.
          "Where's Abron?"
          <I couldn't find him anywhere. And the two Skrit cocoons and one active Skrit. They, too, are missing. I was afraid you were gone, too.>
          "Yeah, keep me in that box any longer, and I would have beaten myself to death in there. You don't mind if I look around, do you?"
          <Yes, but, don't humans sleep at this time of day? Or night?>
          "Humans, maybe, but not Shifters."
          <Shifters?>
          "Me. A Shifter. A human and a Navarazzi combined. A bit of both worlds, with no parents, no ancestors, no race. Capable of looking like a Navarazzi, or a human. Has three living, self-aware minds in the one body. Me, the Shifter, who has no name other than the one they give themself, the human host, Anna, and the Navarazzi host, Lex. Occasionally brushes against the minds and hears their thoughts, memories, and emotions. Not often, though. As the Shifter of the group, I control the motor skills, the voice, and just about everything else. Anna and Lex basically get their own ownership of the two bodies, and their own, individual names. I get squat."
          <But you said you name was Anna.>
          "Would you believe me if I told you I called myself Stryke?"
          <No.>
          "Bingo. I'm gonna look around."
          I pushed past Elfangor and wandered about the ship. Boxes were strewn about everywhere, things were broken. I opened a bottle of Dr. Pepper and drank it. An actual bottle. I guess that cans hadn't been invented yet, or something. I picked through some other boxes and rummaged through some crates. Mostly junk. Petrified animals, bundles of clothing, books and magazines, and, believe it or not, a mustang. Big and yellow. I sifted halfheartedly through all the stuff the Skrit Na had taken, hoping to find something useful.
          Then I saw it.

          Big and round, like a big egg. It was off-white, and glowing slightly. I felt the warmth it generated. I couldn't take my eyes off it.
          The Time Matrix.
          "Oh," I sighed. That's all I said.
          I walked over to it. I still didn't have a clue what it was, but it was awesome in a non-threatening way. I paused at about one foot from it. I was awe struck, yet I had no clue why. I had no clue what it was.
          I raised a trembling hand ad hesitated. Surely this was a great weapon, or a bomb of some sort. Otherwise the Andalites wouldn't take such measures to keep it from the Yeerks. So why was I about to