But it is a very dangerous thing, advancing toward a lot of angry, very dangerous, very heavily armed, very nervous warriors.
The automated defensive grid will fire at anything in the air that comes too close,"; I warned. Anything. If it is more than a few feet above the ground the sensors will pick it up, target it, and fire."; "This ground is too rough to walk over," Cassie said thoughtfully. "And it's getting dark. We could try smaller birds. The seagull morphs again. No, wait! Bats! Not as fast, but very agile. And with echolocation we can fly close to the ground even in the dark."
"To the bat morph, Robin!" Marco said, with cheerfulness that seemed totally out of place.
"We morph, then we fly, hugging the ground the whole way," Jake said. "Once behind Andalite lines we try and figure out a way to reach this Prince Galuit." He looked at me. "And whatever happens, we stay out of this battle till we reach Galuit. Understood?"
all yes, Prince Jake."; Prince Jake looked at me with an unsmiling mouth. Then he said, "Don't call me prince," and formed a small smile with his mouth parts.
all yes, Prince Jake,"; I said.
I had been in bat morph before, and after doing mosquito and fly morphs it seems almost normal. It has fur, for one thing. And I find fur very comforting, even when it is dark brown and very different from my own blue.
But bats are almost cripples on the ground.
Bat legs are stunted and clumsy, and their front legs--or arms, whatever--are encumbered by leathery wings. Being unable to run is disturbing for any Andalite.
I focused on the bat, this strange creature from a strange planet so far away. I shrank, down and down as if I were falling. As if I might fall into one of the thousands of bubbles in the volcanic rock beneath me.
My front legs withered and left me almost facedown on the rock. My tail blade crinkled, like a burning leaf. The crinkling, withering worked its way up my tail.
I couldn't help but picture the tactical officer in those horrible moments after the captain had struck and cut away his tail. I hadn't liked T.o. Harelin. He seemed to me like too many older officers: full of prejudices and arrogance. But he had been a true Andalite.
He had died a hero.
Now my hind legs began to shrink, staying perfectly symmetrical till they were quite small. Then, at the last moment, tiny claws replaced the hooves.
My arms moved back, rotating a few degrees around my body. My fingers elongated relative to the rest of the arm, which was shrinking. Skin began to grow in loose, gray-then-black folds. It hung down from my arms as if I were wearing very loose human clothing.
Clothing is pliable fabric designed to cover the human body. Sometimes as protection against the cold. But mostly, as I understand it, because humans believe much of their body to be unacceptable. They are right, of course, but they cover all the wrong parts: There is nothing uglier than a human nose.
The loose-hanging skin tightened and became wings. My ears grew larger. And of course, like almost all Earth creatures, I acquired a mouth.
I could see quite well. Not as well as a bird of prey, but almost as well as a human. But sight is not the special power of bats. The special power bats have is the ability to fire a series of ultrasonic sounds that bounce off solid objects and send back a sonic picture to the bats.
The Leeran sun was dropping fast. The bat eyes were already straining to see. But I had a perfectly clear picture of the rocks around me.
Okay, let's go find this Andalite honcho,"; Marco said.
I flapped my wings and flew. Once more in the company of my human friends.
I felt strangely at home. As though, despite Prince Jake's anger and Marco's sneering and Rachel's outright suspicion, I belonged with them.
For some reason at that moment, even with the images of death aboard the Ascalin fresh in my mind, I saw myself far away, in a very different body, eating delicious cinnamon buns with a mouth.
I wanted to be back there. I wanted to be back on Earth.
Captain Samilin had sold out to the Yeerks.
Was I selling out to the humans?
I flapped my leathery wings and fired my echolocation bursts and flew just inches above the rocks. The bat's echolocation sense created a sort of picture, like a sketchy line drawing, with edges all sharp and clear and surfaces just sort of scribbled in.
I dived between rocks, and rose just millimeters before hitting obstructions. I turned left, right, left in sudden, acrobatic jerks.
This is insane!"; Marco yelled.
Insane can mean several things when used by Marco. It can mean "stupid" or it can mean "fun." I think in this case it meant fun. Because as insane as it was, it was exhilarating.
allyee-hah!"; Rachel yelled, then laughed her feral, dangerous laugh.
Soon it was a sort of precarious game: How close could I fly to the jagged rock edges without ripping a wing or crushing my fragile bat bones in an impact?
And it took my mind off darker, muddier thoughts.
Then the exquisitely sensitive bat ears, the ears that could hear the echoes of hypersonic echolocation heard something new. A hum. A vast, pulsating hum that grew and grew as we flew on.
Prince Jake, I believe we are hearing the Andalite sensors,"; I said.
Oh, that's what that is?"; Cassie remarked. Almost like music."; We flew on, low, occasionally scraping on jutting rocks. Then-- Whoa! Pull up! Pull up!"; Cassie cried. She was in the lead.
I shot upward.
TSEEEWWWW!
The blast of the Dracon beams and Shredders was deafening. The flashes were blinding to the bat's eyes. Hork-Bajir, twenty at least, were piling up against a group of three Andalites and two Leerans. The fighting was intense. It would be over in a few minutes.
It would be a slaughter. But Prince Jake had ordered us to stay out of it. And I would not abandon him and my human friends again.
And yet, a phalanx of Taxxons was moving in to finish off the wounded Andalites who had already fallen.
To my surprise, it was Cassie who said, Jake, we should do something."; Didn't I say we had to stay out of the battles?"; Prince Jake demanded.
all yeah, that's what you said,"; Tobias answered. So what are we really going to do?"; Prince Jake hesitated. Then he said, Okay, let's rescue them. Land, demorph, remorph, fast, fast, fast!"; But before we could land, the entire rock bowl where the Andalites and Leerans stood exploded.
Ka-Booom!
The shock wave sent me spinning through the air.
I landed on my back, half-unconscious, deafened, blood in my eyes. And overhead the Yeerk ground attack fighter swept by to the hoarse cheering of the Hork-Bajir.
A huge, clawed foot landed inches from me.
Hork-Bajir ran over me, stampeding in a forward rush, ignoring the tiny, winged creature that was me. They fired their Dracon beams steadily, yelling with triumph in their voices.
I heard no answering Andalite Shredders.
The Yeerk forces were advancing. The Andalite line was broken.
Prince Jake!"; I called.
Tobias!"; Get in the air!"; Prince Jake yelled back to all of us. Everyone who can fly, up!
Get up!"; Could I fly? Yes! I rose from the ground just as the first wave of Taxxons came rushing forward.
Taxxons are huge, long worms. Like Earth centipedes, only much larger. Taxxons live in a state of eternal hunger. Desperate hunger. They will eat anything--dead or alive.