The Invasion Read Free Page A

on drugs.
    “I don’t care if he
thinks
he’s going to die, we have to try and help him,” Rachel said. “We can get him to a hospital. Or maybe Cassie’s parents …”
    There is no time. No time,the Andalite said. Then his eyes brightened.Perhaps …
    “What?”
    Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.
    We all looked at each other. Who was going to be the one to go inside the ship? Somehow we all seemed to agree it would be me. Actually,
I
didn’t agree, but everyone else did.
    “Go ahead,” Tobias said. “I want to stay with him.” He knelt beside the Andalite and placed a comforting hand on the alien’s narrow shoulder.
    I looked at the doorway into the spacecraft. I glanced at Cassie.
    “Go ahead,” she said, sending me a smile. “You’re not scared.”
    She was wrong; I was plenty scared. But the way she smiled at me, I wasn’t about to weasel out.
    I walked over to the door of the ship and looked inside. It was surprisingly simple. It looked cozy, almost. Everything was a creamy color with rounded edges and shapes that tended to be oval. That was one of the things that helped me to spot the box so easily. It was sky blue and square, maybe four inches on each side. It seemed kind of heavy for being so small.
    I stepped up into the ship. There was no chair, just a sort of open space where I guess the Andalite stood on his four hooves while he worked the few controls. There weren’t a lot of buttons or anything. I wondered if the Andalite controlled the ship with his thoughts.
    I quickly reached for the box and started to head back outside. But then something caught my eye. It was a small, three-dimensional picture—four Andalites, standing all together, looking like a strange gathering of deer with solemn faces. Two of them looked very small — kids. I realized that this was a picture of the Andalite’s family.
    It filled me with sadness to think that here he was, dying, a million miles from his family. Dying because he had tried to protect the people of Earth. I felt a small flame of anger against the Yeerks, or Controllers, or whatever they were, for causing this.
    I went back to the circle of my friends.
    “Here’s the box,” I told the Andalite.
    Thank you.
    “I, um … was that your family? That picture?”
    Yes.
    “I’m real sorry,” I said. What else
could
I say?
    There is something I may be able to do to help you fight the Yeerks.
    “What?” Rachel asked.
    I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.
    We all looked at each other. All except Tobias, who never took his gaze off the alien.
    If you wish, I can give you powers that no other human being has ever had.
    “Powers?” What was
that
supposed to mean?
    It is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have,> the Andalite explained.A technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the universe—the power to
morph.
We have never shared this power. But your need is great.
    “Morph? Morph how?” Rachel asked, her eyes narrowed.
    To change your bodies,the Andalite said.To become any other species. Any animal.
    Marco laughed derisively. “Become animals?” Marco isn’t the most accepting person in the world.
    You will only need to touch a creature, to acquire its DNA pattern, and you will be able to
become
that creature. It requires concentration and determination, but, if you are strong, you can do it. There are … limitations. Problems. Dangers, even. But there is no time to explain it all … no time. You will have to learn for yourselves. But first, do you wish to receive this power?
    “He’s kidding, right?” Marco asked me.
    “No,” Tobias said softly. “He’s not kidding.”
    “This is nuts,” Marco said. “This whole thing is nuts. Yeerks and spaceships and slugs taking