The Answer (Animorphs #53) by K. A. Applegate

Author:K. A. Applegate [Applegate, K. A.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Human once more, I addressed the Taxxon multitude.

“My name is Jake. I am the leader of the Animorphs. As Arbron told you, we have killed many Taxxons using the morphing power. But we are not the enemies of the Taxxons. We are the enemies of the Yeerks. And we have killed many Yeerks.”

They liked that okay.

“The Andalites are our friends.”

<Yeah, right,> Rachel said in private thought-speak.

“The Andalites are coming, and there may be a great battle. The Andalites may win. The Yeerks may win. If we and the Andalites win, you will be given the choice — to remain as you are, or to change, to find a new form, and live in peace and contentment here, in a special place. A homeland for the Taxxons … for Taxxons who are no longer haunted by the desperate hunger, no longer prey to the Yeerks.”

I was lying. At least in part. Arbron was an Andalite, or had been: He had to know that the Andalites would resist ever turning the morphing power over to the hated Taxxons.

I cringed a little as I spoke, waiting for him to interrupt, to call me a liar. But he let me go on. And I painted the picture for the Taxxons: life without hunger, a life of safety and security, where they would live in peace among themselves, no more cannibalism.

And Arbron let me go on speaking.

“The question is: Can we and our Andalite friends defeat the Yeerks and bring on this new day?”

They waited for the answer. I gave it to them, feeling weirdly like a presidential candidate delivering a stump speech.

“We can defeat the Yeerks … if you join us. Animorph, Andalite, and Taxxon together, we can win.”

The Taxxons didn’t cheer, exactly, but they did send up a creepy whistling sound that reverberated around the chamber.

Arbron slithered up beside me and, to my surprise, dismissed them, told them all to get back to their work. Hundreds of Taxxons obediently turned away and began filing out of side tunnels like a football stadium crowd after the game.

I probably looked puzzled as I turned to Arbron. “Well?”

<Well, they have agreed. For now. They will follow my direction. For now.>

“Okay, then I guess we should get down to specifics,” I said. “You know the Pool ship is here on Earth, on the surface. It’s there to feed the Yeerks until they can finish —”

<Why don’t you ask your friends to demorph? I’m sure they would be more comfortable.>

That stopped me. But there was no point in trying to lie. “Yeah, I guess they would.”

Fleas leaped away from me, unseen by either of us, and moments later my friends began to appear, growing out of swollen, vile, armor-plated flea bodies.

<And now, my friend,> Arbron said.

I heard footsteps and peered into the darkness of an access tunnel.

“Well, good evening, everyone. It’s an awfully pretty night to spend it all in a filthy Taxxon tunnel.”

I knew the voice. I’d heard it every day of my life. My brother. Tom.

My brother, the human-Controller, head of Yeerk security.

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