Human weapons operate on a principle of

  exploding gases that drive a solid metal

  pellet along a tube. The tube acts to spin the bullet, thus improving accuracy. It's no Yeerk Dracon beam, or Andalite Shredder,

  but it does a very good job of blowing large, messy holes in you.

  I needed to get small. Small enough to get away!

  I began to morph the mosquito.

  We're in!"; I heard Prince Jake

  say. Ax, are you okay? We think we hear

  gunshots, but our hearing in these morphs is fuzzy.";

  ally are correct: You are hearing

  gunfire,"; I said tersely.

  Are you okay?"; Tobias asked.

  ation really. But I hope to be soon."; If I live that long, I added silently.

  I was shrinking rapidly, and now there were sirens wailing at a distance, coming closer.

  "Police!" I heard a human voice cry from above. "We can't get arrested."

  "If we let the Andalite escape we'll get worse than arrested! Keep shooting!"

  "I can't see what I'm shooting at. The bushes. And it's all in shadow."

  I was shrinking faster. Leaves that had seemed quite small now were as big as my face. Branches that were twisted and tiny were growing larger, larger. They no longer trapped me. I could have walked out of the bush, except for the fact that my legs were dwindling even faster than the rest of me.

  Someday Andalite scientists will find a way to make the morphing technology totally

  predictable and logical. But for now it is often erratic, weird, and totally illogical.

  Especially when morphing bizarre Earth

  animals.

  My hind legs had finished shrinking when they were still as big as an Earth cat's legs. Then they began to reverse and grow again. My hind legs thinned, becoming mere sticks, but their length became ridiculous. Longer than the rest of me

  all together!

  My front legs became somewhat shorter

  stick legs and a third pair grew from my arms. I was no longer on all fours. I was on

  all sixes. I was standing on insect legs, yet most of my body was still Andalite. A very small Andalite, but far too large to move around on insect legs.

  My stalk eyes crawled forward across my

  head, down to a point just above my main eyes. They began to extrude. They grew like some horrible fast-sprouting tree. A long, bare stick that then sprouted new branches: short, stunted, twisted branches. Bulging round pods popped from my head at the base of these hairy sticks--these antennae--and began to move them around.

  My main eyes were still functioning, but from the antennae I received a whole onslaught of new sensory input. Temperature! Wind

  direction! Sound waves from the rustling leaves, from the muddy, far-off voices, and sharp, disturbing sounds from the explosions of gunpowder and the impact thud of massive bullets all around me.

  I was no longer worried much about the bullets. I was too small to hit except by the most

  amazingly unlucky shot. I was less than an inch long and getting smaller.

  The dirt looked like a field strewn with boulders. The trunks of the bushes sprouting up from the ground were thicker and taller than any tree on Earth or my planet.

  My nostril slits closed and began to twist and push outward. Two stubby, hairy palps

  appeared, and these immediately began feeding an entirely new set of data to my brain.

  Smell! But not smell as an Andalite or

  human knows it. This was specific, targeted, directed smell. It wasn't smell that waits passively for whatever comes along. The palps were searching the molecules of the breeze, sampling, looking ...

  Hungry.

  Gossamer wings rose from the melting flesh on my back. My body pinched into three distinct segments: a tiny head, a muscular thorax, and a swollen, vast abdomen. Overlapping armored plates clanked down the bottom of my

  abdomen.

  And yet, through all this, a tiny,

  shrunken version of my Andalite main eyes

  continued to function.

  I wish they hadn't. I wish I'd never had to see what happened next.

  From my chin, from the place where a human would have had a mouth, it grew. A spear! A needle!

  Impossibly long. On the end were tiny,

  serrated teeth, almost like the teeth of a saw. Inside the spear it was hollow. It was a straw. A tube for sucking blood.

  A retractable sheath grew along with the spear. A sheath that would help keep the needle sharp. Blood.

  That was my goal. That was my hunger.

  Blood!

  I fired my gossamer wings and rose,

  unsteady and wild, upward, upward, to where my palps had located the scent they sought: the sweet scent of exhaled animal breath. The guidepost that pointed the way to food.

  That's when my eyes stopped working. I was blind for a few seconds as the morph completed. I shrank some more, and suddenly from my forehead popped two bulging compound eyes.

  Through them I saw a vision of reality shattered into thousands of tiny pictures. Thousands of tiny pictures, each different from the next, each a fragment of distorted light and eerie colors and nightmarish swirls of energy.

  I never lost control of the morph. I mean, I never forgot who I was, or what I was,

  as sometimes happens in a morph you're doing for the first time.

  So it wasn't that I lost my mind. It was simply that the hunger of the mosquito was so great, so powerful, so totally clear and forceful, that I felt myself going along with it. Accepting it. I was flying, and knowing who I was, and yet as the mosquito's instincts cried, "Blood!

  Blood!" I answered, "Yes! Yes!" Mosquitoes do not fly with the speed and acrobatic genius of a fly. Or with the precision and power of a bird. They fly wildly, blown by chance breezes. The legs dangle long and drag at the air. The wings are underpowered. But the mosquito gets where it's going.

  It seems a harmless insect when you

  see it. But I have done some research.

  Mosquitoes transmit bacteria, viruses,

  and parasites. They carry the diseases

  encephalitis, yellow fever, and malaria.

  Malaria alone kills two million

  humans each year. Mosquitoes are the greatest mass murderers on planet Earth.

  Ax! Ax! Talk to me,"; Prince

  Jake called, and I realized suddenly that he'd been yelling for some time.

  I am fine,"; I said. I have morphed to mosquito.";

  Good,"; he said. Look, I know what

  you're feeling right now. Don't fight it. The hunger stops once you bite.";

  Follow the smell,"; Cassie said.

  That's carbon dioxide your palps are

  smelling. It comes off animals, including

  humans. Go for it.";

  I rose, hungry, to the open window. But there I was confused. There were many warm, carbon dioxide-emitting creatures.

  The one I was looking for was lying down. Lying still. I focused on the mosquito senses. I struggled to put together the sound waves from my antennae, the smell of carbon dioxide from my palps, and the shattered, lurid view through my compound eyes.

  Huge, huge, vast beyond imagining, stretched my target. Hundreds of times my length,

  millions of times my weight, Hewlett

  Aldershot the Third lay prone, oozing

  attractive aromas.

  I fluttered on gossamer wings and landed. I was on a rough, uneven surface. There were bumps and ridges of warm, pink flesh. Here and there, like lone trees scattered on a dry plain, hairs rose like curved spears from the flesh.

  The flesh was alive. It moved slightly,

  causing me to rise and fall. The human was breathing. But more fascinating than the slow rise and fall of breath, was the Thump! Thump! Thump!

  of a drumbeat beneath my feet.

  A pulse. The beating pulse of blood rushing through arteries and veins.

  And then ...

  POP!

  There was a distinct popping sound and suddenly, instantly, I was no longer a mosquito tapping into a human's vein.

  I was in space. White, empty

  Zero-space!

  Whaa ...? What? Z-space?"; I

  cried. Maybe not the most brilliant comment. But I was confused.

  I kicked my legs instinctively. My

  Andalite legs. I was back in my own body.

  But there was nothing to kick against.

  I felt no sensation of movement, no air was rushing over me. Already the lack of oxygen was beginning to cloud my brain. My eyes were going blind. My limbs were numb.

  Zero-space! It was impossible. And yet here I was.

  I looked around frantically. I turned my stalk eyes in every direction. I saw my own body, inside and out. An n-dimensional

  jigsaw puzzle, twisted so that I could see inside my own body.

  And there, to one side of me, were four human bodies spread out in the same way--weird

  cross sections. I saw Prince Jake's

  face, but also his beating heart and the muscle tissues of his legs and the inside of his brain. The same with the others.

  They were all writhing in agony.

  And there was one bird, very still.

  Prince Jake! Tobias!"; I cried.

  But of course they couldn't answer. There was no air to carry their mouth-sounds. There was nothing, not even the few stray atoms and molecules that float free in regular space. There were no stars or planets. Nothing exists in

  Zero-space.

  I happened to catch sight of a silvery,

  graceful creation, perhaps half a mile away. A ship! As with the bodies, I saw the inside and outside of the ship all in one picture. I could see distorted individuals inside, going about their duties.

  But even mind-numb and gaping at a confused nightmare vision, I knew what sort of

  creatures they were.

  Andalites. It was an Andalite ship!

  Its Zero-space engines burned

  brightly, but it was not moving away.

  It hit me in a flash. I knew what had

  happened. As any Andalite knows, when you morph something much smaller than your own body, the excess mass is extruded into Zero-space.

  It hangs there, a wad of randomly arranged matter.

  Or at least that was the theory. There was nothing random here. Because we were outside of normal three-dimensional space, I could see the

  insides of everything and everyone. But the bodies were still definitely human and Andalite bodies. They were not just random globs.

  Once, some time ago, I explained to my

  human friends about excess mass being pushed into Zero-space. They asked whether some ship traveling through Zero-space might not hit these matter bubbles.

  I'd laughed. After all, the odds were ... Well, obviously it now seemed the odds were pretty good. The Andalite ship had come too close and had pulled us into its magnetic

  field. It was now dragging us in its wake as it blasted through Z-space.

  Aboard the Andalite ship!"; I cried with all the power I could still muster. Andalite ship!

  Andalite ship! We're trapped in your wake and dying. Help! Andalite ship, help!";

  The energy it took to cry out sapped my

  remaining strength. There was no air. I could literally see my own lungs collapsing inside me. I could see my hearts frantically beating, trying to keep me alive.

  But now the hearts were slowing ... slowing. Andalite ship! Help! Help!"; I

  cried. Help ...";

  I can't describe the pain of seeing my own fellow Andalites so close. The first Andalites I'd seen in so, so long.

  But of course they couldn't see me. Inside the ship they preserved normal three-dimensional space. The Andalites in the ship saw only

  bulkheads and decks about them.

  And then I literally saw, as though I were standing outside myself, the last beats of my heart. I saw the blood flow in my brain slow and stop. I knew I was going to die. I was going to die within sight of my own people.

  Die ...

  My consciousness went dark.

  And then suddenly, I wasn't dead. I

  wasn't spread out in multiple dimensions. I was in one piece, alive, and lying on my side on a shaped table that adjusted gently to hold my tail and legs comfortably.

  What?"; I said, for no particular reason. I don't think what is the question,"; an Andalite voice said. I think why and how and especially who are the questions.";

  I turned my stalk eyes and there, standing beside me, were three Andalite warriors.

  I am Aristh Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill,"; I said. Prince Elfangor's little brother?"; one of the Andalites blurted.

  all yes. I am Elfangor's brother."; I sighed a little at that. I know it's

  ridiculous, but as much as I loved and admired Elfangor, it did get annoying always being called "Elfangor's little brother." They were three Andalite warriors. You could tell they were warriors by the way they carried themselves. By the way they managed to look totally straight and stiff, and yet had just a little bit of a casual slouch in their hind legs.

  That, plus the fact that each had a

  military-issue Shredder weapon and extra power cells slung on a bandolier.

  I am Samilin-Corrath-Gahar,

  captain of this ship,"; the oldest of them said. My tactical officer

  Hareli-Frodlin-Sirinial, and our ship's

  physician, Doctor

  Coaldwin-Ashul-Tahaylik. Now what in

  yaolin are you doing drifting around in

  Zero-space with five aliens?";

  Did you save them? Are they safe? The

  aliens, I mean?";

  Doctor Coaldwin answered. all yes, they

  are quite well. But what unusual physiology!

  Four of them are clearly bipedal but lack any sort of tail. They walk on two legs and

  manage to do so without having a tail for balance. Quite fascinating. The remaining alien is

  evidently designed for flight and--"; all yes, thank you, Doctor,"; Captain Samilin interrupted. The question for the

  aristh is what was he doing in Zero-space in the company of these ... these fascinating aliens."; I climbed to my feet. I felt shaky, but

  I couldn't just lie there. Captain, I was in morph. In a very small morph. Then I heard a popping sound and suddenly I was in

  Z-space.";

  What? You are the extruded mass from a

  low-mass morph? It's impossible!"; the doctor cried, his eyes bright with excitement. I mean, it's not impossible, perhaps, but it's never happened. This will annihilate every existing theory of morph mass displacement. This will be a scientific breakthrough of--";

  all yes, no doubt,"; the captain interrupted again, sounding more testy. But as fascinating as it is scientifically, I have a bigger question. We know how you came to be floating in Zero-space, Aristh Aximili, but how did these aliens

  arrive here, since only Andalites possess the morphing power?";

  It was a direct question from a superior officer. A very superior officer. A ship's captain

  is lord and master of his ship. An aristh is basically something a ship's captain might scrape off his hoof.

  Even though the captain's tone was very

  accusatory, I had this sudden urge to start laughing. It was sheer relief. First, because my friends were well. But also because I was back among Andalites.

  They looked like me. They spoke like me. They moved like me. I wanted to laugh and to be sad. Answer the captain's question!"; the tactical officer roared, speaking up for the first time. As the number two officer, tactical officers are the ship disciplinarians.

  Sorry, sir,"; I said. It's just that I haven't seen a fellow Andalite in a very long time. And I thought I might never ... that I might be stuck on Earth for the rest of my life.";

  The T.o.'s fierce expression softened. But not much.

  The captain nodded and said, Just give me your report, Aristh."; But he said it nicely. all yes, Captain. I have been marooned on Earth for approximately point seven standard Andalite years. I believe I am the only

  survivor following a battle between the

  Dome ship where I served and a Yeerk Pool

  ship. The Pool ship was assisted by a concealed Blade ship belonging to Visser Three."; The T.o. made a sneering, disgusted sound. The Dome was separated prior to battle and

  ... I was in the dome. It wasn't by choice. I was ordered to the dome."; I felt foolish defending my actions. But I didn't want it to look like I was some kind of coward. Anyway, the dome fell from orbit and crashed in one of Earth's oceans. I was down there underwater for several Earth weeks, until the humans came to rescue me."

  The same humans who are now in sick

  bay?"; the doctor asked.

  all yes.";

  They used some human diving craft?"; the T.o. asked.

  ationo. They morphed into aquatic animals and rescued me.";

  The captain showed no expression except a wary tightening around his main eyes. They morphed. And where exactly did they acquire the ability to morph?";

  This was going to be hard. Some time ago I had managed to make contact with the Andalite command. They had basically told me to take the blame for giving humans morphing ability. They didn't want to blacken Elfangor's reputation as a hero. Giving away morphing technology is a major crime.

  What should I say? Should I lie to the

  captain? It seemed impossible. But I had

  orders from much higher sources.

  I did, sir. I gave them morphing

  capability.";

  The captain just looked at me. I see.

  You are not a good liar, Aristh Aximili."; My hearts skipped a few beats.

  Sir?";

  The T.o. sighed. ally young fool, if you gave the morphing power to the humans, how did they manage to already be in morph the first time you saw them? Obviously, they were already capable of morphing by the time they discovered you.";

  What could I say? I hadn't exactly had

  time to prepare a good story. I was supposed to be a mosquito a few billion miles away.

  Now I looked like a liar and an idiot.

  I said nothing, just tried to stand at