"This is the main part of an Andalite dome ship. It is where we live. The engines and the war bridge are in a long section that sticks out from the bottom, with this dome perched on top."

"Like a mushroom. Or an umbrella," I suggested.

The Andalite just looked blank.

"Never mind," I said.

"During the great battle in orbit over your planet, the dome was separated from the rest of the ship."

"Why?"

The Andalite dug at the grass with his fore- hoof. " I...I was too young for battle, by the laws of our people. Besides, the rest of the ship maneuvers better without the dome."

"You're a kid? I mean, like a young person?" Marco asked.

"Yes."

"Are you the only one left? The only Andalite here?"

"Yes. I am alone. When the Blade ship appeared unexpectedly, they caught us off guard. I saw the main section burn. Dracon beams damaged the orbital stabilization of this dome. It fell. It splashed into the ocean and sank to the bottom. I have been here for these many weeks, hoping that my cousins would come for me. Hoping that some survived. Finally I risked sending out a mirrorwave call. It works by . . ." He stopped, and looked embarrassed.

"l am not supposed to explain Andalite technology. My brother will ... He would have been angry with me."

61 "Just you survived," I said sadly.

"Just me," he said. "No prince. No warriors."

I felt a sinking in the pit of my stomach. I think the others felt the same way. I guess we'd all kind of been hoping this Andalite would be like the prince. A leader. Someone who could take over the battle. Someone who would know more than we did.

"We're young, too," I said. "Too young to fight, according to the laws of our people."

"But still you fight!"

"We feel like we don't have a choice. Look, we don't even know your name. This is Jake, Rachel, Marco. I'm Cassie. There's one more. His name is Tobias."

"l am Aximili-Esgarrouth-lsthil."

We all just kind of stared.

"Ax," Marco said. "Pleased to meet you."

"Who is your prince?"

One by one we looked at Jake.

"Oh, give me a break," Jake said. "I am not anyone's prince."

But the Andalite had stepped forward. He bowed his head and lowered his tail. "I will fight for you, Prince Jake, until I can return to my cousins."

62 CHAPTE R 19 "This is a derrishoul tree," Ax said. He pointed to one of the asparagus-like spears that grew straight and tall. He was showing us around while we recuperated from the morphing.

"And that we call enos ermarf."

"What?" I didn't see what he was pointing at.

"That. The way the lake curves forward into the grass, framed by derrishoul trees."

"You have a word for something like that?" I asked.

"There are names for all the many ways the water and sky and field interact," he explained.

"And for the way the suns and the moons hang in the sky of our planet, and cast their lights in one way or another on the different aspects of the world." Rachel caught my eye and silently mouthed the words, "He's cute." Then she winked.

I wasn't sure I agreed. Andalites are halfway between looking cute and looking scary. You can get past the weird stalk eyes and the fact that they don't have mouths (at least not that you can see), but that scorpion-like tail is far from cute. It reminded me of the sharks.

"You all live here?" Marco wondered. "I mean, just out in the open? Out on the grass?"

"Where else would we live? Here we have space to run. There must always be space to run."

"This is like actually being on another planet," Jake marveled. "This is all like part of the Andalite world."

"Yes. We take our home with us into space. It angers the Yeerks," he added grimly.

"Why do they care what you take into space?" Marco asked.

"lt is a part of everything they hate and would destroy if they could. The Yeerks would take our world and make it as barren as their own. As they will to your planet unless they are stopped."

I grabbed Ax's arm. "What . . . what are you saying? What do you mean about making the planet barren?"

He turned his big eyes on me. "The usual Yeerk pattern. Once a planet is under their control, they alter it to suit their own desires. They will leave enough plant and animal species to keep the host bodies fed - humans in the case of Earth - and the rest they eliminate." He said it like it was obvious. Like it was just something I should know.

He started to move on, but I held his arm tightly. "Wait, wait. I don't think I understand you.

What do you mean, they eliminate species?"

63 "They eliminate them. They will make Earth as much like the Yeerk home world as possible.

They will destroy most of the plants and all of the animal species except those they eat." I let go of his arm. I rocked back and grabbed at the air for balance. I felt like I'd been hit by a car. "No," I whispered. "That can't be. You're just saying that because you don't like Yeerks."

The others were staring. No one was moving.

Ax looked around at us. His eyes narrowed. "Don't you know? Don't you know whom you're fighting?"

"We know they take over people's minds," Rachel said weakly.

"Yes. And that is one of their great crimes. But the Yeerks are more than that. Yeerks are killers of worlds. Murderers of all life. Hated and feared throughout the galaxy. They are a plague that spreads from world to world, leaving nothing but desolation and slavery and misery in their wake."

I felt cold. Small and weak and cold and afraid. I looked around, but even the inviting, lush Andalite landscape did nothing to warm me. Up in the "sky" and all around us, I felt the im mense pressure of the ocean, waiting to rush in.

"There are only three races left in all the known galaxy that still fight the Yeerks," Ax said proudly. "And only the Andalites can stop them."

"How long until your people return to Earth?" I asked.

He hesitated. "One of your years. Maybe two."

"Two years!" Jake looked stricken. I went to his side and slipped my arm through his. "Five kids against an enemy that has destroyed half the galaxy? Five of us?"

Ax gave that smile, the one he did with his eyes. "Six, my Prince," he said.

"Six. Well then," Marco said with grim sarcasm, "with six it shouldn't be any problem."

"How did these Yeerks get this far?" Rachel demanded. "How did this happen? If you Andalites are so tough, why didn't you stop them a long time ago? How did a bunch of slugs who live in dirty ponds manage to become so powerful?"

Ax looked at her. "l am forbidden to tell certain things." Rachel's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You're telling us all of planet Earth may be scheduled for destruction and we are the only thing standing in the way, and you are going to keep secrets? I don't think so."

The Andalite looked angry, but no angrier than Rachel.

"Look, um, I feel ready to morph again," I said, interrupting the tension. Rachel was angry because she was afraid. What Ax had told us had shaken her. It had shaken all of us. I guess 64 we felt enough pressure already. We didn't really need to think that every living thing on the planet was depending on us.

It was kind of a lot to handle.