Part 9 (1/2)

It has ma.s.sively powerful jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth. It has skin that is literally covered in millions of very tiny teeth. Skin that can rip human flesh. And it has an array of senses each attuned to one thing: finding prey. Finding and killing.

Excellent eyesight. Excellent sense of smell that can detect a handful of blood molecules diluted in a billion gallons of salt water. An electrical field sensor that feels the energy of other living creatures.

If some scientist had sat down to design the ultimate seagoing predator, the ultimate seagoing biological weapon, and had come up with the hammerhead shark, he'd be very proud of his work.

I felt myself morphing the shark. Felt the scythelike dorsal fins grow from my spine.

Felt my tail blade split to become the swept-back, skin-slicing tail. Felt my stalk eyes move out to the sides to become the ugly hammer's head. Felt the new senses come alive in my brain. Felt the teeth--the rows of serrated, triangular, flesh-ripping, bone-crunching teeth.

And I felt the shark's cold, clear, brutally focused mind join my own.

I kicked my tail and moved through the water.

Jake, Ca.s.sie, and Marco swam beside me. I suppose, like me, they felt powerful at that moment. And would have felt more powerful still, except for one terrible reality: There should have been six of us.

And now only four sharks swam out into the Leeran ocean.

CHAPTER 21.

8I wish Rachel and Tobias were seeing this,”; Ca.s.sie said. Her thought-speak voice was a mix of wonder and bitterness. 8This is nothing like Earth's oceans.”; It was true. The continent might have been a dull, uninteresting place, but the ocean was amazing. Earth's seas contain many fascinating and wonderful creatures, but most of what you see as you swim there is murky water and a sandy bottom.

In this ocean the water was as clear as air.

Clearer, in fact, than Leeran air, which is so heavy with humidity it sometimes seems like you're breathing clouds.

The water was perfectly, utterly clear. We were swimming in water that was forty feet deep, and we could see every detail on the ocean floor.

And what detail! Huge, billowing creatures like white and yellow sails, triangular with biological propellers at each corner. Brilliant, electric-blue worms or snakes, each seventy feet long, swimming in wild schools. A bizarre creature that rose and fell through the water by blowing air into a bladder so thin it was almost transparent.

A wonderful sort of fish in the shape of a screw that rotated its way through the water.

And these creatures weren't scattered here and there, but everywhere. The Leeran ocean was a madhouse of life-forms.

Spread around across the ocean were bubbling chimneys of rock and soil, encrusted with squirming, writhing creatures, small and less small. My shark senses could feel the electrical discharge from these chimneys, and the intense warmth.

As I watched, a ma.s.sive school of the brilliant blue worms came swirling around one of the chimneys. It swirled and my shark senses could feel the energy flow from the chimney into the worms.

8Look at that!”; Ca.s.sie cried, excitement overcoming her sadness. 8A thousand marine biologists could stay happy for a hundred years just studying this one small area. The animals. The plants. The ... the whatevers!

I wish I knew more. I know this friend of my mom's who studies the ecology of coral reefs. She would cut off her arm to spend an hour here!”; 8The creatures are feeding off the geothermal energy and electrical charge from these chimneys,”; I said. 8This may be an environment without predators.”; 8It has predators,”; Marco said darkly.

8The Yeerks are here. And we're here. For now. Until suddenly we go ”poof!” like Rachel and Tobias.”; That brought us all back to reality. Still, even afraid, even sad, even desperate, we could not ignore the wild, incredible scene all around us.

We glided, dark and deadly, through a peaceful sea. The Yeerks had been clever to consider using sharks to control this ocean. Wherever I looked I saw no razor teeth, no crus.h.i.+ng jaws.

Marco was right: There were predators here. But they were us.

And then ...

8Hey, aren't those Leerans?”; Prince Jake said. 8Down and to the left.”; I looked. Yes, they looked like the one Leeran we had seen on Earth in the company of Visser One.

They were mostly yellow. They had skin that was slimy, as if covered with ooze, yet rough in texture, like gravel. They had large, webbed back legs. For arms they had four tentacles arrayed around their plump, barrel-shaped bodies.

The head was quite large, with a bulge at the back.

It sat right on the shoulders. There was no neck.

The face bulged outward and seemed to have just two features. A huge, wide, almost ridiculous mouth. And big, bulging eyes of a green that seemed almost to be lit from inside.

There were four Leerans. They were riding on water jets. The water jets were long, narrow tubes, flared in front to make a sort of wing, flared again in back to give extra maneuverability. Arrayed along the back wing were cl.u.s.ters of very narrow tubes pointed forward.

They had obviously spotted us and were coming toward us.

8Probably wondering what we are,”; Ca.s.sie said cautiously. 8They've never seen sharks.”; 8These are the good guys, right?”; Marco said.

8I mean, these are the guys everyone's trying to save from the Yeerks.”; 8allyes. Maybe we should contact them. They could lead us to the nearest Leeran city.”; 8Do it,”; Prince Jake said.

8Leerans!”; I yelled. 8Leerans! I am an Andalite in morph.”; Chuh-wooomp!

The spear flew through the water only slightly slower than a human bullet. I jerked left.

Too late! The spear pierced my tail and kept on flying.

8Hey!”; Marco yelled.

8I'm an Andalite! Andalite!”; I cried. 8allyr friend! Your ally!”; 8Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill and three humans from planet Earth. Not our allies,”; a cold, thought-speak voice said. He laughed.

8ally have no secrets from these psychic Leeran minds.”; And suddenly the water boiled with the firing of a dozen spears.

Chuh-woomp! Chuh-wooomp!

This time we were more prepared. Still, we were not fast enough. A spear hit me in the side and stuck.

Prince Jake avoided being hit, but Ca.s.sie was speared through and through. Marco was. .h.i.t twice.

Shark blood billowed.

The Leeran-Controllers laughed. 8Die, Andalite! Die, humans! We'll carry your bodies to Visser Four!”; 8Hey, great war! You can't tell who's on what side,”; Marco yelled. 8What is this, Vietnam?”; Three of us had been hit. But none of us was dead. The spears were fast, but very thin. No doubt they were deadly to Leerans or to other creatures of this gentle ocean.

But we were only hurt. Not crippled.

8We don't seem to be dead, just yet,”; I said to the Leeran-Controllers.

The Leeran-Controllers gaped with their big green eyes.