<Who are you?> I asked again. Trapped in the cage, I could do nothing else but stall for time.

"I am a sub-visser of the Yeerk Empire." The girl - no, the alien slug inside of her - replied.

<No. You're a weak, misguided human girl. And you are also insane.>

She hung her head. For a long time she said nothing. Looked at nothing.

Then, at last, she raised her face to me and smiled.

"Then join me in my madness, Andalite," she said and sent my body and mind reeling into hell.

The blue button glowed. I laughed crazily. Like being tickled, I couldn't stop.

And then:

<Ahhh!> Punched in the gut. The red circle screamed.

Blue. Giddy, laughing hysterically. Eating ice cream.

Red. Slapped in the face. Struck with a two-by-four. Surgery without anesthesia.

I flew up, flung myself at the glass. <Stop!> I cried. I wanted it to end. If she wouldn't stop, I would end it myself. By ending me.

I threw myself against the side of the cube. My beak cracked. Splinters of pain electrified my face.

The blue button lit up and I was laughing madly.

The red button roared and I was gripped with grief. My aunt's voice: I don't want him! He's nothing to me. Where does Loren get off dumping him here?

Again I shot toward the wall. "I've got you now!" Taylor cried.

<Stop!> I cried again, barely able to speak. I fell into a corner. The room was dimming quickly now. The light that had seemed so bright was just a dull glow. Disappearing.

Disappearing… Alone. I was alone!

Ax, Jake, Cassie, Marco. How could they do this to me?! Abandon me here! I hate everyone who isn't here. Who isn't going through this with me.

If only Rachel were here. Rachel…

No! She's dead. Dead or trapped. All of us. All the ones I love…

<Ahhhh!> A pain! Greater than anything!

What did this lunatic girl want from me? What did she want? She no longer cared what she got out of me. This was pain for its own sake. Hurt for no purpose but to hurt.

She would kill me. No, no, she wouldn't! She would keep me alive, alive in this inferno.

<l'll tell you,> I screamed. <Yes, I'll tell you! Ax… in the woods. Cassie. Jake. Marco. All just human kids. Anything… anything to make it end!>

Did she hear? Did she not hear my thought-speak cry?

She slammed her fist on the pain button.

<l'll tell you! No! I'll tell you!>

No sound coming from me. Or did she not hear? Or was I not making a sound? Was I even still alive?

Down, swirling down. The world…

Dimming… Death. Was this death?

And I was walking in the woods. A path lined with trees whose upper boughs met in cathedral arches. Near the school. After a play we'd put on. "Is your father here tonight?" the teacher had asked.

"Yeah. Where's your dad?" said a classmate.

I followed the trail through the woods. My heart so full. I stopped at a clearing. A point stuck up out of the dirt, gleamed in the moonlight, caught my eye. I dug in the surrounding earth, trying to free the object. Deeper and deeper.

A hard, scythe-shaped blade. I held it before me. Why did it seem so familiar? So much a part of me? I looked beyond it into the evening sky. And froze.

Two moons cast a warm yellow light over the woods. Over thick asparagus-spear trees.

What!

This wasn't Earth! This was…

The moonlight brightened to a strong and dazzling brilliance. It compelled my gaze. I couldn't look away. I didn't want to.

<Tobias,> he said.

I started, scared. The light faltered.

<Don't be afraid.>

A broad face came into focus. A familiar face. An Andalite.

I watched as a tail arced upward. Curved slowly over his back and moved toward me.

A shiver. As the cool flat of his blade pressed against my forehead. It was electric. Like nothing I've felt before or since.

A new surge of memories! But how? How can they be memories when I haven't lived them? They're new to me, though they seem like mine. No, these were not my own.

They were…

<Pull up! Pull up! War-Prince Elfangor!> An urgent transmission from the commander of the fighter squadron. On the view screen: a Des-badeen tanker in the distinctive figure eight design.

<Positive burn cut to zero. Still-speed compensators engaged.> The fighter's computer voice broadcast thought-speak data with admirable calm. <Large alien obstruction ahead. Two seconds to impact.>

Every particle of my body focused on the hole of the figure eight. Guide the ship through that opening. Clearing it was my only hope.

The computer voice: <Required clearance not found. Warning. Warning. Escape pod activated!>

I fumbled wildly for the clasps. The sides of the ship scraped and erupted into fire. Searing heat scorched my arms and flank.

Ka-choomp!

The ship ejected me into space. But I couldn't clear the Desbadeen craft! The gray wall of steel filled my vision!

<Ahhhh!>

I hit like a bullet.

Rods of fire in every bone. My body tossed from wall to wall as the pod hurtled uncontrollably through space. Stars streaked the blackness. The Dome ship. Too far… too far. I was alone.

Red colored the air. Screams and bellowing filled my head. The battle raged on the Taxxon home world.

"Sssseeeeeyaaa!"

A hundred Taxxon teeth bit down on my leg.

"Sssreeee!"

Another mouth sliced into my forearm.

I had to fight! Kill to survive!

Sshhhwing! I whipped my tail up from my rear and sliced clean through his belly.

"Skkkreeeee-eeeeeee!" A cry of horror I will never forget. My first kill. I looked at the second Taxxon. Into those gelatinous eyes. Those who say you can't read emotion in Taxxon eyes are fools. I saw terror there. A plea for life. My hearts pounded. Nausea.

"Ssssnnnnaaaaa!"

I cut a gaping hole in its side. It released my arm. Fell to the ground, shrieking in agony. I turned, and with a retching noise expelled the morning's grass.

So this was war.

I stood on the grass near the Dome ship's lake. Stared into the crystals that grew up from the water. A seductive, hypnotic green.

Loren. I longed to have her here next to me. To hear her say my name. To see our son.

I performed a ritual for his safety and health.

Five years since the Ellimist returned me to my proper time. Five years since I left my life on Earth to resume Andalite form and honor my duty.

And I thought of my future. Would I accomplish anything in this fight for freedom? Was the struggle, the pain, the loneliness endured in vain? Would I die before I defeated the enemy?

The icy tail blade against my forehead cooled my fevered mind. Kept me alive.

<You're not alone in your suffering. You may die, Tobias, but never alone. You are one in a legion of great warriors. Valiant Andalites who have died for freedom. Your lineage is courage and bravery. If you live, you carry our torch. A burden carried by many. A singular honor…>

The brightness began to fade.

A final, overwhelming surge of things lived by Elfangor. Warrior. Intellectual. Oh, how he had lived! Endured. Accomplished. A sense of purpose. Things I couldn't comprehend. Things I could. Things I might become.

Dimmer and dimmer. To a pinpoint of light. I felt my body shudder and I knew that I was dying. That pinpoint was life.

<l'll make the Andalite filth talk!> Visser Three's far-off, threatening voice struck my ear.

Hold to the pinpoint. Hold!

Just as the light was about to extinguish, I felt the torture device flicker, and stop. The pinprick of light began to grow. Until at last I no longer looked into darkness, but saw the cube around me. I was flattened against the floor. Defeated, but alive.

The last, fading strain of Elfangor's voice:

<Out of a respect for life, you have to endure.>