The Visitor (7 page)

I
followed Chapman as he headed down the hallway. Either he didn't notice me, or else he didn't care.

He opened a door that let loose a flood of smells. Dampness. Mildew. Bugs.

I jerked in surprise. A very un-catlike movement. It was Tobias. He had to be fairly close for me to be able to hear his thought-speech. He must be on the roof or perched on a nearby tree branch. I strained my sensitive cat hearing. The birds under the eaves were silent. They were afraid of the big hawk.

I said.

I said. Somehow, Tobias's human words were annoying me. He wanted me to pay attention to him and it was hard to do. The cat didn't care about his words. The cat just wanted to go down and look around the basement. Fortunately, that's what I wanted to do, too.

I trotted down the rough wooden stairs after Chapman. Very weird, by the way. Going downstairs as a cat gave me a feeling of vertigo. I mean, I was going down headfirst. It's strange.

I waited. He said nothing. I called. But there was no answer. We're still learning about thought-speech. We know there are limits on how far it can be “heard.” But we aren't sure what the limits are.

The basement had paneling all around. The ceiling was bare wood and full of spiders and other interesting things. No mice, though. Nothing that could be considered actual prey. But many things that might be fun to chase.

Chapman is the prey,
I reminded myself.
We are hunting Chapman
.

There was a sort of TV room with a pool table and some old chairs and a couch. But it was obvious that no one had used them for a long time. There were no human scents on them. There was dust everywhere and I could hear that there were spiders inside the TV set.

The only part of the basement that appeared to have been used was a path right across the floor. I smelled the scents that Chapman had tracked there with his shoes.

He walked in a straight line across the basement to a door. It was a simple white-painted door. Chapman pulled a set of keys out of his pocket. He unlocked the white door.

He opened it and stepped through. Five feet beyond the white door was a second door. This one was made of gleaming steel. It looked like the door to a bank vault.

Beside the steel door, there was a small, square,
white panel of light. Chapman pressed his hand against it.

The steel door opened. It slid into the wall like the doors in
Star Trek
.

I knew I had to go after him. But my human mind was afraid. And my cat mind didn't see any reason why I should walk into that dark place. To both of us, it felt like a trap. Like a place we couldn't get out of.

But I
had
to. I had to go in there. That was the whole point of this spying trip.

And Chapman was my prey.

At the last second, just as the door swooshed shut, I bounded into the room.

It was dark at first, not that it bothered me. Then Chapman turned on a low light. It was strange, because I could actually see better in the dark than I could with the low light.

There was a sort of desk set into the wall. It was gray steel and very unusual-looking. There were more little light panels in various cheerful colors. And there was something that looked like a small but complicated spotlight hanging down from the ceiling. In front of the desk was a chair. A totally normal officetype chair. Chapman sat in it.

He ran his hands over a blue panel. Then he looked at his watch. He sat patiently, waiting.

For about a minute, nothing happened. I tried to look nonchalant, like I had just happened to wander in. But at the same time I was careful to stay behind Chapman so he wouldn't see me.

I remembered Jake's warning. About how anyone else would just assume I was a plain old cat. But Chapman knew about morphing. The Yeerks knew about the Andalite morphing technology. So if Chapman or any Controller ever saw an animal acting the wrong way, they could suspect the truth.

Suddenly a brilliant light snapped on.

My cat eyes adjusted instantly, but even so, the light was painfully bright. It came from the little spotlight thing. Chapman turned around in his chair to face the light.

The light began to change. It took shape. It turned different colors.

The four hooves appeared. The bluish fur. The many-fingered hands. The flat, intelligent face with no mouth and only slits for a nose. The penetrating, almond-shaped main eyes.

Then the strange extra eyes, mounted on stalks that turned this way and that, looking around the room. Last came the tail, the wicked, curved, scorpionlike tail.

An Andalite. Just like the Andalite prince who had given us our powers.

But I knew this was no true Andalite. Dread washed over me. Dread too strong for even my cat brain to ignore.

This was no true Andalite. This was the only Andalite body ever seized and taken over by the Yeerks. The only Andalite-Controller in all the galaxy.

This was Visser Three. Leader of the Yeerk invasion force. The evil creature who could morph into monsters acquired from all over the universe.

This was Visser Three, the creature who had murdered the Andalite prince while we cowered in terror.

This was Visser Three, who had nearly killed us all in the hell of the Yeerk pool.

“Welcome, Visser,” Chapman said in a very humble voice. “Iniss Two-Two-Six of the Sulp Niaar pool submits to you. May the Kandrona shine and strengthen you.”

“And you, Iniss Two-Two-Six,” Visser Three said.

I was shocked to hear the Visser's voice. In his Andalite body he had no mouth. Andalites communicate telepathically, just the way I do when I'm in a morph.

The second shock came from what they had said to each other. “Iniss Two-Two-Six.” That had to be the name of the Yeerk slug who controlled Chapman.

The cat part of my brain was busy with a different question. Was this apparition real? No. There was
no scent. No scent at all. Only light and shadows.

It was a hologram, I knew. But it was a very convincing hologram. Visser Three seemed almost solid. He looked around as though he could see from his holographic eyes.

I prayed he wouldn't look at me.

“Report, Iniss.”

“Yes, Visser.”

Part of me just wanted to run. Even a hologram of Visser Three makes your skin crawl. But now that he had figured out it wasn't real, the cat part of me was just bored.

I realized why I could hear Visser Three—the hologram projector must not be able to transmit thought-speech. It translated it into regular speech.

“Is there progress on locating the Andalite bandits?”

“No, Visser. Nothing yet.”

I knew who he meant by “Andalite bandits.” That was us, the Animorphs.

“I want them found. I want them found NOW!”

Chapman jumped back in surprise at the Visser's command. I could smell fear on him.

In a calmer tone, Visser Three continued. “This cannot go on, Iniss Two-Two-Six, it cannot go on. The Council of Thirteen will hear of it. They will wonder why I reported to them that all Andalite ships near
this planet had been destroyed and all the Andalites killed. They will be suspicious. They will be angry. And when the Council of Thirteen is angry with me, I am angry with you.”

Chapman was literally quivering. I smelled human sweat. And I smelled something else. Something not totally human. It was very faint … was that the Yeerk itself I was smelling? Was I smelling the Yeerk slug in Chapman's head?

It seemed impossible. But there was some strange smell. Something … something … I concentrated all my cat mind on analyzing the smell.

“What is
that?”

Chapman swiveled in his chair.

I looked up and froze. Chapman was staring right at me. And worse, much worse, Visser Three's stalk eyes were focused on me, too.

“It's called a cat,” Chapman said nervously. “An Earth species used as a pet. The humans keep them close and find comfort in them.”

“Why is it in here?”

“It belongs to the girl. My … the host's daughter.”

“I see,” Visser Three said. “Well, kill it. Kill it immediately.”

K
ill it. Kill it immediately.

I wanted to run. I wanted to panic.

But some strange combination of the cat's cunning and my own intelligence came together and saved me.

I didn't so much as flick a whisker. If I had, I would have been dead. I knew that for a fact. If I'd reacted like I'd understood, they would have known for sure that I was no normal cat.

Visser Three's hologram watched me closely. All four of his Andalite eyes were focused on me now. And behind that gentle Andalite expression, I could feel the razor-sharp focus of the powerful, evil Yeerk.

Chapman, too, was staring at me. He had the same look in his eyes that he had when he caught someone trying to skip out of school.

I was terrified. Or at least the Rachel part of me was terrified. Fluffer couldn't have cared less. He sensed my concern, but he had none of his own. There were no birds of prey here. There were no dogs. There were no smells of dominant cats. There was only a sort of three-dimensional picture that had no scent. And Chapman. Chapman might be prey, or he might not, but he was certainly no threat.

“It could be an Andalite,” Visser Three said. “Destroy it.”

In response I said, “Meow.”

Visser Three glared at me. “What is that?”

“It's … it's … the s-s-sound a cat makes, Visser. I b-b-believe it wishes to eat.”

SAWWWAPP!

Suddenly, without warning, Visser Three whipped his tail at me. A dangerous, foot-long, scythe-shaped blade arced toward me at a speed no human could hope to evade.

But I wasn't just a human.

In a tenth of the time it took to blink, I had seen the sudden motion and I was crouched down, ears back, teeth bared. My paw, claws outstretched, swiped at the tail blade.

My paw went straight through the hologram. And the blade, nothing but a projection, swept through me.

“Ha, ha, ha.”

It took me a second to make sense of the sound. It was Visser Three laughing.

Chapman seemed amazed, too. Like he had never heard the Visser laugh. Like it wasn't even possible to imagine the Visser laughing.

“What a ferocious little beast,” Visser Three said approvingly. “See how he did not back away or run? I am many times his size and yet he struck at me. A pity that the species is too small to serve as a host.”

“Yes, a pity,” Chapman said warily.

“Kill it,” Visser Three said. “What better form for an Andalite to use? Better kill it, just to be safe.”

“Yes, Visser,” Chapman said. “O-o-only …”

“Only what?” the Visser snapped.

“It belongs to the girl. If I kill the animal, she will be angry. She may draw attention. Killing a cat is seen as a bad deed. It would violate my cover.”

Visser Three did not look happy to be disobeyed. But he was not a creature who made impetuous decisions. He considered for a moment while my future just hung there, balancing between life and death.

“Do not violate your cover or draw attention,” the Visser said at last.

I figured it was time for me to do something in my own defense. I walked over and rubbed my flank against Chapman's leg.

“What is it doing?” Visser Three demanded.

“It is signaling that it wishes to be fed.”

“Interesting. Claws and teeth and ferocity mixed with the subtlety to manipulate creatures larger than itself. A worthy creature. Yes, let it live, for now. Let it live until we have resolved the matter of the girl.”

Chapman's face actually seemed to twitch. It was the only emotion he had shown, other than fear. “The girl? But … Visser … the agreement with the human Chapman …”

Visser Three sneered. “Agreements. Don't be a fool. We make agreements to gain voluntary hosts. Agreements are a tool. Just as you are my tool. If you had brought me the Andalite bandits, I would not have to concern myself with a cat or a girl.”

Chapman bowed his head. “I will bring them to you.”

“Do that,” Visser Three said coldly. And then the solid-seeming image began to change. The gentle Andalite body melted away and in its place grew a monster like nothing ever seen on Earth.

Where the Andalite head had been, there was now a long, thick tube. There was an opening like some horrible mouth at the end of the tube. The
thing was purple, but translucent. You could almost see through it, although I wasn't sure if that was because it was a hologram, or if the animal itself was that way.

The hologram Visser lowered the tube-mouth toward Chapman's head. The mouth opened, revealing hundreds, maybe thousands, of tiny suckers, each dripping slime.

It seemed as if the tube-mouth closed over Chapman's head.

Chapman shook and quivered in terror.

Visser Three's artificial voice said, “Don't forget, Iniss Two-Two-Six, I gave you this Chapman body. I placed you in his head because I trusted you. I fed you his brain and made you my lieutenant. But I can suck you back out again if you fail me. Would you like to see what happened to the last fool who failed me?”

Suddenly an image appeared in the air, like a little movie. It was a second hologram. It showed a human woman, pain-wracked, screaming, with the purple creature sucking on her head.

The real Chapman began to moan. “Oh, oh, no, Visser. I beg you.”

In the little movie the translucent purple thing suddenly went into a spasm. From the woman's ear there came the slug. It was sucked, dripping, gray, slimy, right out of her head.

The purple creature swallowed the Yeerk slug. Then the little movie ended. “Not a very pretty picture, is it, Iniss Two-Two-Six?” Chapman just shook his head. His eyes were still staring at the empty air where the image had appeared.

Visser Three began to resume the Andalite form.

“Don't fail me,” Visser Three said.