Marco grinned. "A lot more secure after I get done. See, I have the access codes for the system at my dad's work. So I can hack in through --""Excuse me, Prince Jake," Ax interupted, "but if you would like I can encode Marco's software in a way that will make it impossible for anyone to trace you. Why is it called software?"
I glanced at Marco. He's proud of his skills. But the truth is, Ax is about three centuries ahead of us in computers.
Marco threw up his hands. "Fine. Go for it."
"There is only so much I can do with this very primitive system," Ax said. "Two-dimensional screen, an actual keyboard instead of a decent psychic link, rigid codes . . . I'm not an archaeologist. I don't know much about ancient types of computers."
Just the same, he sat down and in three minutes had typed in a code that made Marco's system hack-proof.
"Okay. So. Do we chat about Yeerks?" Cassie asked.
"Yep. We chat about Yeerks."
Almost ten feet from his nose to his tail. Easily four hundred pounds.
If something deadly can ever be beautiful, it's a tiger.
<Bet I could kick your butt,> I said to Jake.
<Yeah, monkey boy? I don't think so.>
<Hey, I could stomp both of you,> Rachel said. She walked closer, swinging her trunk and flaring her ears out. A moving mountain.
<This is so mature,> Cassie said. <Arguing over who could beat who.>
<Hah. You're only saying that because we can all kick your butt, wolfie,> I pointed out.
<As if!> Cassie protested. <You'd have to catch me first. And I could still be running long after the three of you were worn out and fast asleep.>
<You have an amazing variety of animals on your planet,> Ax said. <Someday, when the Yeerks are defeated, Andalites will come here simply to try out the many animal forms. It would be like a vacation.>
<Joe Andalite, you've won the Superbowl! Now where are you going?> I said, mimicking the Disney World commercials. <I'm going to Earth to turn into a lobster!>
<I don't understand,> Ax said.
I started to explain, but just then a red lightbegan to flash on Ax's homemade distress beacon.
I heard a voice say, "Yeah, can you believe my luck?"The voice seemed strange and familiar at the same time. Like I had heard it before, but not quite this way.
Then I realized.
"I mean, I fall in a crocodile pit, my house falls down on me, and now this."
I raised up on tiptoes and looked over the man's shoulder. What I saw was me. Me.
Actually Cassie, morphed into me.
The man she was talking to was one of the show's producers.
"You're a very unlucky girl," the man said.
"That's what I keep telling people," Cassie said. "They keep saying how lucky I am to survive. I keep saying, like, not!"
He nodded. "You know, for a moment there I wondered about you . . . ," he said, letting the sentence trail off. Then he shrugged. "But the crocodile has been destroyed. And yet here you are."
I flattened myself back against the wall. If he turned and saw me he'd definitely flip. And what if he was a controller? I couldn't take that chance.
"Yeah, I'm glad it didn't get me," Cassie said. "I'm getting out of here. I have to find my dad."
"Maybe we'll get lucky this time and they won't pick up the trash today," Cassie said.
"Yeah, it'd be a shame to lose those jeans of yours," Rachel said. "If your legs shrink five inches those jeans would almost fit."
Rachel and Cassie are best friends. But they don't agree on the importance of clothes.
<Come on,> Tobias called down from above. <There are guys out there who might be dying. Let's just get it over with already!>
Floating over our heads was Tobias, a red-tailed hawk. A wet red-tailed hawk. We heard his thought-speak in our heads. We also knew why he was anxious. Tobias did not like the water. But he was trying to act all macho about it.
We waded in the water. Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and me. And Ax. Ax was in his disturbingly attractive human morph. As opposed to his disturbingly, disturbing true Andalite body. He had to return to his own form before he could go into another morph. He'd picked up his newest morph at The Gardens -- with Cassie's help, of course. Tobias had to morph straight from his hawk shape. Which, as you can guess, is not all that fun, since a hawk in the surf is pretty helpless.
I swam out a ways with the others.
Rachel shrugged. "All I'm going to say is you should think about seeing a counselor before your condition worsens." Rachel turned so Marco couldn't see her and gave me a wink."Very funny," Marco sneered. But he still looked a little worried.
We were in Rachel's room the next day, after school. Her room is so neat. Straight out of a magazine, you know? Like everything matches or goes together. She has this bulletin board where she puts little wise sayings on Post-it notes.
I drifted over to the bulletin board and read "'Don't think there are no crocodiles just because the water is calm.' --Malayan Proverb."
Just beside that was "'If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.' --Sun Tzu."
It made me a little sad. In the good old days, Rachel would have had a bunch of quotes about being a good person or whatever. It just showed how much our lives had changed.
In a very short time we had all grown accustomed to a world of fear and danger. We had arrived at Rachel's house separately. We had each checked to make sure we weren't being followed. We had planned the afternoon in advance to be sure that Rachel's mom and her two sisters would be out.
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