"Applegate, Katherine A - Animorphs - 01 - The Invasion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Applegate Katherine A)And this . . . this warm . . . this . . . I don't have any words to explain it. It was just this warmth that spread all through me. It was like when you're a little kid and you've had a terrible nightmare and you've woken up screaming. You know how you used to feel better when your mom or dad would turn on the light and come in and sit beside you in bed?
That's what it was like. I mean, I was still terrified. The Hork-Bajir was still there, so real and so deadly. I could hear him breathing, I could smell him. But at the same time, I could feel the panic coming under control. I could feel the strength flowing from the doomed Andalite. He was letting us borrow some of his courage, even though he must have been afraid himself. The Hork-Bajir moved away. Something new was coming from the Blade ship. Shaking and chattering, I rose high enough to look over the low wall. Every Hork-Bajir and every Taxxon was turned toward the ship now. "They're all standing at attention," I whispered. "How can you tell?" Marco whispered back. "Who knows when a jelly-eyed centipede or a walking Salad Shooter from Hell is standing at attention?" Then he appeared. Visser Three was an Andalite. Or at least he was an Andalite-Controller. "What the . . . " Rachel said. "Isn't that an Andalite?" Visser Three walked confidently toward the wounded Andalite. The Visser seemed so much like the Andalite it was hard to tell them apart at first. He had the same mouthless face; the same extra stalk-eyes that turned here and there, checking out everything in all directions; the same powerful yet sleek four-legged body; and the same wicked tail. But if the Visser looked like any normal Andalite, he felt different. It was like he was wearing a mask, only you just knew that under the fake sweetness of the mask there was something twisted and foul. I almost had a heart attack when I realized I was hearing the Visser's thoughts. "Can he hear our thoughts?" Cassie whispered. "If he can we're so dead I don't even want to think about it," Rachel told her. The Andalite didn't answer. But I had the feeling maybe it had been more than eight. The Visser took a step closer to the Andalite. Visser Three stepped right up to the Andalite. I could feel the Andalite's fear, but rather than cower, he fought the pain of his wound and climbed to his feet. He knew he was going to die. He wanted to die on his feet, looking his enemy in the face. But Visser Three was not done taunting his foe. The Andalite struck! His tail whipped up and over, so fast you couldn't really see it. The Visser twisted his head aside. The Andalite's tail blade missed the Visser's head by a bare half-inch. But it sliced into his shoulder. Blood Ч or something like blood Ч sprayed from the wound. "Yes!" I hissed. At the same time, a blinding beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite ship. It sliced into the nearest Bug fighter. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered. Even crouching behind the wall, I could feel a wave of blistering heat. The Bug fighter sizzled and disappeared. The night exploded in blinding light. Red beams lanced from the Blade ship and the remaining Bug fighter. The Andalite ship glowed, and, with a strange slowness, disintegrated. Then, in the flash and glow of Dracon beams I saw . . . or thought I saw . . . humans. A small group of them, maybe three or four, back in the shadows behind the Visser. "There are people over there," I told Marco. "What? Are they prisoners?" Three big Hork-Bajir grabbed the Andalite and held him down. Their wrist blades were at his throat, but they knew better than to kill him. That was to be Visser Three's personal privilege. Then we saw why a Yeerk as powerful as Visser Three would inhabit the only captured Andalite body. As we watched, Visser Three began to morph. His Andalite head grew large, larger. Much larger. The four horselike legs merged into two and then expanded, each leg becoming as big around as a redwood tree. The delicate Andalite arms sprouted and became tentacles. "This isn't real," Cassie whispered. "This isn't real." In the hideously bloated head, a mouth appeared. It was filled with teeth as long as your arm. The mouth grew wider and wider, becoming a monstrous, terrifying grin. There was nothing left of the Andalite body, A monster had taken its place. "R-r-r-r-a-a-a-w-w-w-w-g-g-g!" The roar of the beast Visser Three had become made the ground shake. I covered my ears with my hands. |
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