The Alien Read Online Free Page A

sirens.
    â€œHah!” Marco said. “I’m sure some of the cops are Controllers, but they can’t all be. Jake’s right. The truth will get out! This is going to work! The truth is going to come out!”
    â€œThe replacement Kandrona is supposed to be here soon,” Rachel pointed out. “We should have seen a lot more of this. The Yeerks must have found a way to keep this from happening till now.”
    Rachel is a true warrior. She does not under-estimate her enemies. She was not ready to start talking about victory.
    But the others were all very happy. They believed that many Yeerks would die, and the hosts would be free to tell the world the truth.
    They believed they had won the war.
    It made me sad for them. Because I knew the truth. I knew how the Yeerks operated.
    I almost told Prince Jake right then. He has a special reason to be hopeful. His brother, Tom, is a Controller. There is nothing Prince Jake would want as much as his brother’s freedom.
    But I knew this screaming Controller with the dying Yeerk in his head was just an oversight. Something had gone wrong with the Yeerks’ secret efforts, but I knew that there would be no witnesses.
    I knew what would happen to this poor, shouting human.
    Jake was my prince now, my leader. But if I told him . . . it would lead to questions. And I could not answer questions. Not without revealing the terrible truth behind the law of
Seerow’s Kindness
.
    Humans rushed from the ambulance and the police cars. Most, as Marco had said, were probably true, normal humans. They grabbed the screaming man, who was still pulling the Yeerk from his ear.
    â€œOh, Lord! What is that? He’s pulling his brains out!” one policeman cried in horror.
    â€œThe Yeerks! They’re here!” the human screamed. “Die! Die! Get out of me and die! Freedom!”
    The police surrounded the man and hustled him to the ambulance. It was hard to see, unless you were expecting it: the moment when one of the policemen drew a small, steel cylinder from his pocket and pressed it against the back of the man’s neck.
    â€œI can’t believe it!” Cassie exulted. “Maybe it’s really going to happen. Maybe people will realize the truth!”
    â€œThey have a real, live Yeerk now,” Prince Jake said. “They can’t cover this up forever.”
    Again I thought of telling them the truth. That the human was already gone. That the Yeerk slug would crumble into dust. That no evidence would be left behind.
    But even though these humans were my friends, even though we fought side by side, there were secrets I could not tell them.
    I could not tell them how a race of parasitic slugs had come to be a danger to the entire galaxy.
    I could not tell them why we Andalites had to fight the Yeerks. Why we had no choice but to fight them. Why we hated them so deeply.
    We have secrets, we Andalites. And the greatest secret of all is our own guilt.
    â€œThis is great,” Prince Jake said, smiling.
    â€œYes,” I said. “Great.”

A s the sun rose above the horizon the next morning, I stood by the small stream where I drink each day. Rough grasses, mixed with fallen leaves and pine needles, ran right down to the water. The sun was just barely visible through a gap in the forest trees.
     I said, and dipped my right forehoof into the water. It was the beginning of the morning ritual.
     I said, and moved back to crush a small tuft of grass beneath the same hoof.
     I spread my arms wide.
     I looked with all four of my eyes at the rising sun.
    I sighed. This was really pretty pointless. I had never been a big believer in all the rituals. I mean, if you’re going to be a warrior, you have to do it. And any
aristh
who gets caught rushing through the ritual is verbally reprimanded.
    But still, I was