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had one.
David slammed against the barrier. It was adull thump.~««M!»-
Suddenly, there was light everywhere. A flashlight shone right on my
face. I blinked like a miner coming up after a day digging coal.
I grumped.
In the light of two wavering flashlights, everything could be seen. The
way the ground
above the pipe had been dug up, baring the pipe. The way the pipe
had been cut. And the steel box that had been affixed to the pipe end.
Not to mention the sliding door that turned the box into a cage. A trap.
The top of the box hinged up. But there was a strong wire grid to keep
David inside.
There he was, a rat. He blinked up at the faces around him: Jake,
Cassie, Marco, Ax. And my face as I quickly demorphed.
he demanded.
That's when Tobias swooped down from the dark sky and landed atop the
cage.
Tobias supplied.
minding his own business. I broke the Pepsi bottle. The bottle we
deliberately left where you could be inspired to use it.>
"See, David," Marco said, "we knew you were in the barn, listening to
our every word. How did we know? Tobias. So we played out that whole
pathetic scene for you about how disgraced Rachel was. We knew you'd get
so much sick pleasure out of forcing her to obey you."
"That piece of the blue box we retrieved? A Lego," I said.
anticipated,> Ax said.
were able to manipulate you.>
David said with a laugh.
cool. I can accept that. Fine, I'll go my own way now.>
No one said anything.
I looked at Jake. He looked like he hated being alive. I turned my gaze
to Marco. He was carefully staring into empty space.
Cassie was crying.
David hadn't asked who the mastermind of the plan was. Who it was who
had so accurately appraised his emotions, his need to build his ego, the
fact that he would choose me to be his "companion." Cassie, of course.
Cassie had worked it out, step by step, after Jake and I failed to come
up with anything.
For Cassie, it was an improvement over the alternatives. See, no one was
going to have to die.
But David's life would end, just the same. And so would "Saddler's."
Eventually, they would find the real Saddler's body, and then they would
know, that at least for them, there was no such thing as a miracle.
David whispered as the truth began to dawn on him.
None of us had a watch, of course, since we'd morphed. But Ax was
very accurate about keeping track of time.
Jake looked at Ax. Ax showed no visible emotion. But I knew Ax well
enough to know that he was not exactly enjoying any part of this.
"You tried to kill us," Jake said. "You threatened to turn us over to
Visser Three. Not to mention what you've done to Saddler's family."
"David, we have fought the Yeerks for a long time now. It seems like
forever," Jake said wearily. "We are not going to let you beat us. We
are going to save the human race if we can. There are larger issues . .
. more important . . ."
Jake looked at Cassie helplessly. He shrugged and made a face like he
couldn't stand hearing himself talk.
"We're doing to you what you were trying to do to us," I said. "Law of
the jungle: eat or be eaten."
I looked at the others. "No need for all of us to hang around here. It
looks too obvious. It's bad security. I can handle this."
Ax said.
I nodded.
"You don't have to do this, Rachel," Jake said. "Everyone is in on this.
We all made this choice."
"Yeah, but it won't bother me. It will bother you guys."
Of course Jake didn't believe me. Neither did Cassie or Tobias. Maybe
Marco did. I don't know.
No one made a move to leave.
"Look, get out of here!" I roared. "Get out of here! You're just drawing
attention. What if someone comes by? Get out of here!"
Jake nodded. "Yeah," was all he said.
Jake's a good leader. He knows when to use us. He knows when to protect
us. He knew he had to protect as many of his people as he could from
what was going to happen.
He took Cassie's arm and called to Tobias and Marco.
Ax said.
I closed my eyes and wished I could cover my ears to keep out the
sounds. But it was thought-speak I was hearing. And you can't block that
out.
It took two hours for David to become a nothlit. A person trapped in
morph.
Two hours. But that two hours of horror will last forever in my mind. If
I live a hundred years, I will still hear his cries, his threats, his
pleading, each night before sleep takes me. And beyond sleep, in my
dreams.
Once we were sure he was trapped, Ax and I morphed. I morphed into bald
eagle, Ax into harrier. We took turns carrying the helpless rat out
across the beach, across the breaking surf, out to the tiny, desolate
rock a mile or more from shore.
There were other rats there. Guess there had
to be a food supply. But the rocks and the waves kept humans away
from the place.
We left him there. And we flew away.
Ax said.
I didn't answer. I was still listening to the thought-speak cries that
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