You wrench your ferret brain under control. Keeping to the wall, you get close to the group. The elevator dings, and the first group crowds on. You slink closer.
Do you dare risk boarding the elevator? The lights on the elevator are bright, and you’ll probably be noticed. Normally, humans would scream if they saw a furry creature in a small space with them. But you have a feeling Controllers wouldn’t care.
And besides, you have no choice.
You slink in between the legs of the Controllers and head for the corner. The doors close.
“We have company,” one of the Controllers says. They all look down.
“It’s not a cat,” someone says.
“It’s not a dog,” someone else observes.
The Controller who seems to be in charge turns and gives you a dismissive glance. “Catch it. I’ll throw it down the shaft.”
Busted! You can’t react, or they’ll suspect something.
“Wait,” Tom says. “I’ve seen that animal. It’s a ferret. Belongs to Humphries. Maybe we shouldn’t touch it. Chapman said to take no chances.”
“All right.” The other Controller turns back, already bored with the conversation.
You’re safe — for now.
The elevator indicator lights up the sublevel floor. It’s as far down as the parking garage goes. But the Controller hits a series of buttons, and the elevator doesn’t stop. It keeps going down!
The door opens onto a room that seems carved out of dirt and rock. Sheetrock is nailed up against the walls. You slink out of the elevator and follow the group into a concealed door that leads to an iron staircase.
You go down, down, down. Your eyes adjust to the light, and your nose picks up the smell of dampness. You hear something, a comforting sound that reassures you for a moment. Like waves against a shore.
But then you hear the screams. Human cries of anguish. Suffering. And you pick up a horrifyingly familiar smell. Taxxons.
You don’t want to see what’s ahead. You don’t want to move. Dread fills you. It’s so much more enormous than being afraid of a test, or the dentist.
You’ve only hesitated a moment, but the Controllers have disappeared around a turn. You dart forward.
The first thing you get hit with is how huge the space is. It’s maybe three times the size of the mall. And it’s all completely open, and carved out of rock and earth. There are still enormous pieces of earthmoving equipment down there, as though the space is constantly being expanded. You notice other staircases winding up and disappearing. There must be secret entrances all over town! The Yeerks are much more numerous than any of you imagined.
Then you notice the cages. They are filled with humans and Hork-Bajir. Women, children, men. Some of them are screaming. Some of them just sit numbly. Taxxons and Hork-Bajir patrol outside the cages. Occasionally, one of the Hork-Bajir lashes out with a tail blade and rattles the cage. The humans shrink back, and the Yeerk-controlled Hork-Bajir let out these huffing sounds that must be laughter.
As you watch, one of the Hork-Bajir opens a cage and leads out a woman. She struggles, and the Hork-Bajir casually holds a bladed wrist to her throat. You have no doubt he would slash her in a second. The Hork-Bajir leads her onto a pier. It goes out over a pool that looks as though it’s filled with moving sludge. He forces her head under the surface. When he jerks her head back up, you see a gray, slimy thing finish slithering inside her ear. The woman doesn’t struggle anymore.
And then you see Tom again. His head is bent over the pool. The same slimy thing slides out of his ear.
Immediately, he begins to scream. You can’t hear the words, but you can imagine. The Hork-Bajir puts a blade to his throat. It takes three of them to get him to a cage and throw him inside.
You feel sick. Sick to your bones. You can’t fight this. You should turn around and go back up while you can. Wait to fight another day.
Because it’s hopeless. You didn’t think it was possible. But you want to give up.
Then you see Cassie. She’s being held with the other humans. Waiting for a Yeerk slime to invade her brain. Guarding her are two Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon.
It’s still hopeless. But rage fills you and sends your blood pounding, and you’re ready to fight.
You scamper down the steps. No one notices you as you dart across the floor. You look like a mole, or another creature of the underground. A breeze tickles your fur and whiskers.
A breeze? Down here?
You look up. A hawk has just flown over your head. It circles the air above Cassie.
<Tobias? Is that you?>
<Who is it?>
<It’s me! I’m a ferret again!>
<Cool,> Tobias answers. <We need all the help we can get. The others are about twenty feet behind you. We have to save Cassie!>
<Keep an eye on her. I’ll be back.>
You scurry across the floor toward the others.
<Hey, it’s me!> you call in thought-speak.
<Look down.>
Marco almost jumps to the ceiling. “Why did you have to pick a rat?” he whispers.
<I’m not a rat, I’m a ferret. I’m closer to a cat or dog than a rodent. I like humans. I don’t bite.>
“Great,” Marco mutters. “A rodent who pretends to be a dog. Just what we need.”
<You know, I can always make an exception with the biting thing,> you add.
Jake bends down to speak to you. “If I were you, I’d morph back to human. You might need a better morph than ferret. This place is crawling with Taxxons and Hork-Bajir.”
<All right,> you say. <But Jake, I saw Tom! He’s here! In a cage!>
“I saw him,” Jake
