The Invasion (9 page)

“Pity. Right,” Rachel said grimly. “They’re walking killing machines. Look at them!”

But our attention was drawn away by a new form that crept and slithered and shimmied out of the Blade ship.

Taxxon-Controllers,
the Andalite said. I knew he was trying to tell us all he could, even to the end. Trying to prepare us for what we were up against.

The Taxxons are evil.

“Yeah,” Marco muttered. “I think I would have guessed that.”

They were like massive centipedes, twice as long as a grown man. So big around that if you tried to hug one, your arms wouldn’t make it even halfway. Not that anyone would ever want to.

They had dozens of legs that supported the lower two thirds of their bodies. The top third was held upright, and there the rows of legs became smaller, with little lobster-claw hands.

Around the top of their disgusting, tubular bodies were four eyes, each like a wiggling globule of red Jell-O. And at the very end, pointing straight up in the air, was a round mouth, ringed by hundreds of tiny teeth.

Hork-Bajir and Taxxons poured from the Blade ship, spreading out around the area like well-trained marines. They were holding small pistol-sized things that were definitely weapons. They formed a ring around the Andalite and his ship.

Suddenly, one of the Hork-Bajir came straight toward us. He took one big, bounding step and he was practically on top of us.

I hugged the dirt like it was my last hope. I wished I could dig a hole. I saw a flash of Marco’s face. His eyes were huge. His lips were drawn back in what could have been a grin, except that I knew it was an expression of pure terror.

T
he Hork-Bajir pointed his gun, or whatever it was, around at the darkness. His snake head swerved left and right, trying to penetrate the gloom.

Silence!
the Andalite warned us.
Hork-Bajir do not see well in darkness, but their hearing is very good.

The Hork-Bajir moved closer still. He was six feet away now, with just the low wall between us. He had to have heard my heart pounding. Maybe he didn’t know what the sound was. Maybe he didn’t recognize the sounds of five terrified kids whose knees were quivering and teeth were
chattering. Kids who were breathing in short, sudden gasps.

I was sure I was going to die, right then. I could see in my mind the way those vicious wrist-and elbow-blades were going to slice my head from my body.

If you’ve never been really afraid, let me tell you — it does things to you. It takes over your mind and your body. You want to scream. You want to run. You want to wet your pants. You want to throw yourself down on the ground and cry and beg
please, please, please, please don’t kill me!

And if you think you’re brave, well, wait till you’re cowering a few feet away from a monster who can turn you into coleslaw in about three seconds flat.

But then the Andalite’s voice was in my head again.
Courage, my friends.

And this … this warm … this … I don’t have any words to explain it. It was just this warmth that spread all through me. It was like when you’re a little kid and you’ve had a terrible nightmare and you’ve woken up screaming. You know how you used to feel better when your mom or dad would turn on the light and come in and sit beside you in bed?

That’s what it was like.

I mean, I was still terrified. The Hork-Bajir was still there, so real and so deadly. I could hear him breathing. I could smell him. But at the same time, I could
feel the panic coming under control. I could feel the strength flowing from the doomed Andalite. He was letting us borrow some of his courage, even though he must have been afraid himself.

The Hork-Bajir moved away. Something new was coming from the Blade ship.

Shaking and chattering, I rose high enough to look over the low wall. Every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon was turned toward the ship now.

“They’re all standing at attention,” I whispered.

“How can you tell?” Marco whispered back. “Who knows when a jelly-eyed centipede or a walking SaladShooter from Hell is standing at attention?”

Then
he
appeared.

Visser Three,
the Andalite said.