Animorphs - The Decision Part 11

Or ... or whatever humans have that would be the equivalent of tails."; "Shoulders," Ca.s.sie said.

"As long as there's no pressure,"

Prince Jake said.

8That would be human humor?"; Galuit asked.

"Plus a little human fear," Prince Jake said. But then he laughed.

Five minutes later, we were in the river, swimming against the current, our dorsal fins slicing upward into the air.

8This should be interesting,"; Prince Jake said darkly.

8I smell Leerans,"; I said. 8Up ahead. I recognize the smell from before."; 8allyep,"; Ca.s.sie agreed. 8Good Leerans or bad? That's the question."; We powered ahead. Through the slightly murky river water we saw them: two pebbly, yellow, tentacled amphibians.

Psychic amphibians.

As soon as we were within range of them, the Leerans knew what we were. They turned and swam away as if their lives depended on it.

8After them!"; Prince Jake cried.

They were heading for the banks of the river. Trying to get up, out of the water, beyond our reach. They didn't have water jets, just their natural Leeran bodies.

We were faster, but the bank was close, closer!

The water grew shallow. No more than seven feet. Five feet! The Leerans were kicking up mud, but my shark senses could feel the electrical field of the Leerans now.

Blind, sc.r.a.ping my belly in mud, I lunged.

My teeth bit down. I clamped and held on and struggled to pull the creature back out into the water.

But then, up through the ripply surface I saw a huge, looming Hork-Bajir. Two, no, four of them! They came stomping out into the water.

I pulled back. I tried to turn as the Leeran kept fighting me.

Then I heard the Leeran's psychic cry to the Hork-Bajir. 8..Explosives! The whole continent is rigged to explode. There's a central switch. Bright hole! It's in a--"; I bit down harder. The pain stopped the Leeran from saying more. A Hork-Bajir blade slashed down into the water. It sliced me, but not deep.

I let go of the Leeran, jerked my head right, bit down with all my might on the nearest Hork-Bajir's leg. I heard a howl of pain come burbling down through the water.

The Leeran was scrambling away. Still half-blind, I lunged.

The Hork-Bajir had backed off. And now I dragged the Leeran-Controller back out into deeper water.

8ationo!"; the Yeerk in his head cried.

8Oh, yes,"; I said. I swept behind him and bit off the lobe at the back of his head. Out came the Yeerk.

8Are you okay, brother Leeran?"; I asked.

8..I am now. Thank you, my Andalite friend! Hurry. Hurry! The Yeerks know your mission now! Hurry!"; I turned back upstream. Ca.s.sie and Jake fell in beside me. They had each had their own battles in the murky, shallow water.

8How long will it take the Yeerks to find this "bright hole"?"; Prince Jake asked.

8Using the sensors aboard their orbiting ships, they will have a map of every subsurface cavern on the continent within five minutes. How long to find the right "bright hole"? I don't know.

We must hurry. The fate of this planet depends on us.";

CHAPTER 26.

8There! Is that the underwater cave entrance?"; Ca.s.sie cried.

8I think so. It's in the right area. But there could be dozens of caves."; 8ationo time to worry about it,"; Prince Jake said.

We plunged into the mouth of the cave. The floor rose steadily and we swam on grimly, blind, scared, and in a desperate hurry.

Suddenly I felt my snout break the surface. Air!

8I think we're there,"; Prince Jake said. 8Demorph! Ca.s.sie, what do you think?

Bat morphs?"; There was no answer.

8Ca.s.sie! Ca.s.sie!"; Prince Jake cried.

8The rubber band effect. She's gone. Back to Earth. Or ..."; 8It's happening faster,"; Prince Jake said. 8Less time between people disappearing. Just two of us now. We could both be snapped back before we reach this switch."; He sounded like I felt. Like he couldn't breathe. Like he couldn't stop his heart from pounding.

It was too much!

8Demorph. Nothing to do now but hurry and try to get this job done!"; Prince Jake said.

8allyes, Prince Jake,"; I said.

8ally know, Ax, there's just the two of us now.

We could probably drop the whole "prince"

thing."; He paused, then added, 8ally could just call me "The Jake formerly known as Prince.""; 8Is that a bit of humor?"; 8allyeah. A joke. Not much of one, but Marco isn't here, so I figure ..."; At that point he made the transition to mostly human and lost his thought-speak ability. I emerged as Andalite, standing in a cold, absolutely black cave, with water still sloshing over my hooves.

"Bat," Prince Jake said. His mouth-sounds echoed slightly.

I focused on the bat. I felt myself shrinking, although there was nothing to see for comparison.

But I could almost feel an upward breeze as I dropped from my own height down to the stumpy, few inches of the bat.

8Just you and me now, Ax."; 8allyes."; 8If one of us is stopped, for any reason, the other one has to keep going. Clear?"; We fired echolocation bursts and saw the sketchy portrait of a cave that stretched on and on, far past our faintest ultrasonic echoes.

We took to wing. We flapped up on leather wings and raced at full, tearing speed.

8We have to remember the snakes,"; I said.

8Ugh. Ughughugh,"; Prince Jake said with a sort of shudder.

8allyes,"; I agreed.

We flapped as if our lives depended on it. Through jutting rocks and stalact.i.tes, around sudden turns, up sudden chimneys, and down sudden wells. All of it reduced to colorless lines in our mind's eye. A sketch drawn with blasts of sound.

Around one hairpin turn and suddenly ...

A blast of sounds! A cacophony of echolocating squeaks and trills.

8The snakes!"; I cried.

Our own echolocation showed them as writhing lines that hung from the low ceiling and reached out from the walls. There were thousands! Millions! All firing their own echolocations, yammering and confusing the echoes of our own blasts.

Suddenly, in all the ultrasonic noise, the pictures in my head became distorted. Wild, swerving, swooping lines. Writhing borders of objects that no longer seemed solid.

8What do we do?"; Prince Jake asked.

8As Rachel would say if she were here: We go for it!"; It was a nightmare! Deadly snakes filled the air. Lost, confused, we powered on, flapping wings that became more and more shredded as more and more snakes found their target.

I was losing maneuverability. Losing speed.

I had lost sight of Prince Jake altogether. I could no longer tell up from down. I was spinning, flapping madly, afraid and confused. Lost!

Lost in a squirming madhouse of darkness.

And then, swoosh! I blew free of the snakes. The cave walls backed off. The ceiling was gone. And light! Blessed light was glowing all around me.

I was in the "bright hole."

I soared upward on tattered, shredded wings.

Up into the stale air. Everywhere flowers and plants in absurd colors exploded from the walls of the hole.

8Prince Jake! Jake!"; I called.

But there was no answer.

Quite suddenly, I was all alone.

CHAPTER 27.

I landed on a clump of screamingly orange mold or lichens or ... something. And began to demorph.

Within minutes I was standing alone, an Andalite in a bizarre underworld universe cut off from the world outside.

The "bright hole" was perhaps five hundred feet at its longest, half that wide. The roof was no more than a hundred feet over my head. It was very large for a hole in the ground. But it felt very small.

No rain had ever fallen here. No sun had ever shone here. The only light was from the greenish glow of the walls. A light that never grew brighter, never grew dim.

It was alive, but dead-feeling. A wonder of nature, but a creeping, spirit-crushing place.

In the center of the place was the only artificial object: a vertical cylinder, five feet tall, a foot in diameter. On the side was a control pad, showing glowing blue numbers. Right where Galuit had said it would be.

Just as Andalite intelligence agents had placed it.

I looked cautiously around. But I saw no Hork-Bajir, no Taxxons, no Gedds.

Just unnatural plants in an unnatural place.

I exhaled, trying to shed my tension. 8Whoever decided to hide this thing here sure picked a good hiding place,"; I said.

I began to trot toward the cylinder. But the ground was rough, rising, falling, overrun with mosses and molds and clumps of hideous flowers. There were no paths.

I ended up having to step carefully, only able to hurry when I was sure of a place to leap.

Ba-Whoooom!

An explosion rocked the room. The concussion, trapped in that hole, knocked me off my feet and left me temporarily deaf.

Brilliant light!

Falling rock and debris.

A hole had been blown into the top of the "bright hole." Leeran sunlight streamed down in a blinding shaft.

And down, down through the shaft of light, the Hork-Bajir dropped.

Their fall was slowed by small rockets on their feet and tails. The rockets burned red.

Two, four, a dozen Hork-Bajir warriors falling in slow motion, unlimbering their Dracon beams. I could see them peering about as they fell, searching for the cylinder. And for me.

I ran. I didn't care if I broke a leg. I ran, I leaped, I fell and lurched back up.