"The smell ... it will go away," the Visser said.
"Visser, my human host has a memory of -" one of the human-Controllers began to say.
The Visser's tail blade snapped through the air. It pressed against the human-Controller's throat. A twitch would send the Controller's head flying.
"Do not interrupt me," the Visser said calmly. "You were saying?" he asked Ax.
"The smell would go away in about seven Earth days ... if you were in the open air," Ax said calmly. "In a spacecraft? Airtight, closed up, cramped? You'll never lose the smell. Ever.
However. . . thanks to Andalite chemical technology there is a way to remove the stench. Let the human Farrand go free. He's unconscious and hasn't seen what you are. Let him go, we'll give you the secret of neutralizing the stench, and we all walk away."
"I'll dispose of you myself!" the Visser shrieked. "Andalite filth!" 82 "Visser, we both know how impossible it is to remove a smell once it gets into a spacecraft.
You would need a full refitting at a major space dock. Your Blade ship would be intolerable.
"
Visser Three just stood there. Just stood there and stared. His stalk eyes drooped a little. "Get the human," he muttered to his Hork-Bajir.
"Visser..." one Hork-Bajir moaned, clearly reluctant to go back where the smell was even stronger.
"This has not been a good day for me," Visser Three said. "Would you really like to feel as bad as I do?"
The two Hork-Bajir went back inside and very quickly reappeared, dragging Farrand. They dropped him in the dirt.
"Have one of your men drive him to the nearest human hospital. When he is safe, we will tell you the secret. And no tricks. We'll be watching caret Ax rolled his stalk eyes skyward.
Visser Three followed the direction of his gaze, and saw, high in the sky, a bird of prey with a rust-red tail.
"You do realize that one day I will have you all," Visser Three said. "With all your clever tricks, I will still find you."
"No, I do not think so," Ax said. "We are sure to smell you coming. " 83 Chapter twentyone
The Yeerks drove Farrand to the hospital. Once we knew he was safe, Ax told Visser Three how a certain kind of juice would help get rid of the skunk smell.
The Visser was still screaming when we disappeared into the woods.
The next day, Jake, Marco, Rachel, Ax, and I were able to bring the skunk mother back to her den. She waddled inside, and a few minutes later, waddled back out followed by Joey, Johnnie, Marky, and C.j.
They ignored the four humans and the Andalite completely. After all, mother skunk was back with her kits. And mother skunk wasn't afraid of anything.
"They grow up so fast," Rachel said, as they shuffled and snuffled and waddled past us in single file.
"I guess the real mother skunk will give them different names," Marco said. He was joking. I think.
"Well, anyway, the forest is safe for baby skunks now," Jake said.
Jake had morphed a housefly to spy on Farrand in the hospital. The commissioner was fine.
The first thing he did when he regained full consciousness was make a phone call to say that he was voting against logging in the forest.
In fact, according to Jake, Farrand swore he'd never, ever even listen to another word from Dapsen Lumber. And there was a good chance he'd press charges.
It also seemed, according to Farrand, that even the animals of the forest had risen up against the loggers. He claimed that he himself had been visited by the spirit of a giant skunk with the eyes of a human girl.
"Have a good life, little skunks," Marco said to the skunk family. Tiny, furry little masters of the forest.
Everyone was smiling and looking pretty pleased with themselves. But I was still confused.
As we walked toward home back through the forest, Jake hung back with me, letting the others move ahead.
"You don't seem all that happy," Jake said. "You miss being a skunk mommy?"
I smiled. "No. I mean, yes, a little. But that's not it."
"So? So what's bothering you?"
I shrugged. "Nothing makes sense to me. Tobias eats one of the skunk kits, then he helps save the rest. I kill the termite queen to save myself and my friends, then I feel bad about it.
But when it came down to it again, I went after Visser Three without hesitation. One minute I was a rat being chased by guys with sticks, the next minute I'm bringing dead mice to Tobias, 84 who's guarding skunks he would normally have tried to eat. Somehow it's part of the same big system. How does it all make sense?"
Jake looked like he was sorry he started the conversation. "Urn ... boy, Cassie, I don't know."
"Okay, just tell me this. Am I a part of nature, so I should just live by the laws of nature, kill to eat, kill or be killed? Or am I something different because I'm a human?"
We walked in silence while Jake thought it over. I felt sorry for him. I know he'd rather have been discussing Spiderman versus Batman with Marco.
"Well, I guess you're both," Jake said at last. "I mean, you are the person who got rid of the termite queen. You're also the person who went out of her way to save a bunch of skunks.
Just like Tobias ate a skunk kit one day, then saved them the next."
"That's not much help," I said. "That just means humans are kind of in-between - still partly wild animals, doing whatever it takes to survive, and partly . . . partly I don't know what.
Maybe something more than the other animals."
"Well, I know one thing. All the animals take care of themselves. But only one animal has the intelligence and the power to help save all the other species."
I nodded. "You're pretty smart sometimes, Jake," I said.
"Just sometimes?"
"You're right. Only one animal can help to save all the other animals. Only humans can do that. Of course, we have to save ourselves first." I sighed. "It's still too complicated." I saw a shadow flash overhead. I looked up and saw Tobias. He dropped down into the trees and reappeared on a branch just up the trail.
"Hi, Tobias," I called up to him.
"Hi, Cassie. Hello everyone. Hello, hello, hello." He was definitely feeling pretty smug about something.
"What's up, Bird-boy?" Marco asked him.
"I've just been checking on our friends at the logging camp. They now have two entire truck-loads of juice. They've made trip after trip for juice. They dug out a big pit in the ground and made a kind of swimming pool filled with the stuff. Visser Three's been in it most of the night and all this morning. Judging by the way everyone is staying back, I'm guessing he still stinks."
"Plus," Tobias added with a slightly evil laugh, "the Visser is now a very lovely, attractive shade of purple."
"Gee, that's too bad," Rachel said. "I feel so sorry for him."
"Soon he may begin to suspect the truth," Ax said.
85 "Think maybe we should have told him the truth? That it's tomato juice, not grape juice that washes away skunk smell?" I asked.
We all looked at each other, and broke up laughing at the same moment.
"Nah, I didn't think so," I said.
86