I shook myself free of Loren, appalled and ashamed by my behavior. What was the matter with me? I was behaving like a child, not an aristh.

Then I saw Arbron.

He had been cut. He was bleeding from a deep gash in his left arm. His main eyes were wide with what might almost have been panic.

Alloran was busy tying up the injured Hork-Bajir. The injured Taxxons were shoved into a small storeroom. Alloran sealed them in by welding the door with his shredder.

“Are you okay?” Loren asked me.

<Yes. Of course. I’m fine,> I said harshly. But my insides were churning. Some awful feeling was eating into my thoughts. I felt stunned. I felt like I wasn’t even me. It was like I was some totally different person, standing off to one side, just watching myself.

Loren left me alone and went to Arbron. She tore the sleeve off her shirt and wrapped it around Arbron’s bleeding arm.

Alloran came over and glanced at Arbron’s arm. <You’ll be okay, aristh,> he said. <Go back to the weapons station. We’ve just started here. We have to fly this Yeerk crate down to the planet. Aristh Elfangor, you take the helm. The controls are more primitive than our own ships, but —>

Neither Arbron nor I had moved. Alloran glared at me, furious that I was ignoring his order. But then I saw his expression soften.

<It’s your first time. You fought well. Both of you. It’s always hard the first time. And it never gets easy. But I need you both. Now.>

I nodded. <Yes, Prince Alloran. I’ll take the helm.>

<You. Alien,> he said to Loren. <Get back into the Jahar. We’ll be away for a while. Don’t touch anything.>

Loren turned her head to look back over her shoulder. Humans have to do that in order to see behind them. She was obviously hesitating. She bit her lower lip with her short white teeth.

<What is it?> I asked.

Still she hesitated. Then, “Look, tell me the truth. Swear by whatever it is that is really important to you. Swear that you’re going to take Chapman and me back to Earth.”

<Of course we are. As soon as we can,> I said.

She sighed, a sound that involved blowing air out of her mouth. “Look, it’s Chapman. I’m sure he’s a nice guy and all, really …”

<You don’t trust him.>

“If you leave the two of us here on the Jahar, he’ll try something. I know he will. And I know you think we’re too primitive to be able to fly your ship or whatever, but don’t count on it. Chapman doesn’t like you.”

<Yes. I got that impression,> I said. <But we can tell the ship’s computer not to allow him to do anything. He won’t be able to fly the ship or use communications. It will be all right.> With my stalk eyes I saw that Prince Alloran was busy with Arbron. <Here. Take this. Hide it under your clothing. Use it if Chapman makes trouble for you. It is set to level two. Just point it and squeeze the trigger.>

Loren took the shredder from me and slipped it under her shirt. “Listen … good luck down on the planet. Whatever you’re doing down there.”

Then she put her face close to mine and pressed her lips against the side of my face. It was a very odd thing to do. Not something any Andalite would ever do. And yet I did not mind it.

<Aristh Elfangor? Whenever you have the time to join us … ,> Alloran said acidly.

<Ready, sir! Preparing to sever the connection with the Jahar.>

The hatch closed, shutting Loren the human off from sight.

She would be all right, I told myself. The Jahar was well-shielded. With the engines off it would be almost impossible for the Yeerks to detect. And she had the shredder in case the other human tried to start trouble.

I focused on understanding the ship’s controls. They were designed for Taxxon hands. But the basics were still the basics. I calculated a simple approach to the Taxxon world’s main spaceport. I fired the engines and then, as we moved away, gathering speed, I looked back and saw the Jahar.

<These humans are a pain in the hindquarters,> Arbron said. <As if we don’t have enough trouble? We have to watch over a pair of primitive aliens?>

<She’s a million light-years from her home, Arbron. Confronting species she never knew existed. Suddenly thrust into the middle of an intergalactic war. I think she is very brave.>

Arbron busied himself with learning the computer station of the strange ship. But then, in a carefully offhand way, he said, <By the way, thanks. You saved my life back there. I guess you absorbed more from old Sofor than you thought, huh?>

<I guess so,> I said.

<You were something, Elfangor. You scared me. Hey, I think you even scared Alloran. You really —>

<Okay, shut up, all right?>

<I was just saying you were great back there. Faster-than-light tail action. When you cut that one big Hork-Bajir’s head? That was amazing.>

I wanted Arbron to shut up. I didn’t want to think about what had happened. I didn’t want to remember it.

And yet this other part of me was hanging on every word. This other part of me was replaying the fight in my head, seeing myself as Elfangor, the great hero.

<Course laid in?> Alloran asked me.

<Yes, Prince. We should be arriving in thirty minutes.>

<Good. Then it’s time. We need to acquire the Taxxons.>

To acquire is to absorb the DNA of a species. It is the first step in morphing that creature.

We were going to become Taxxons.