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<Books 52-54>
- “A lawyer seems to be an odd type of human. Intelligent but in a way that is not terribly useful. At least to my Andalite sensibilities. All they seem to use their intellect for is argument. Not philosophical contemplation or artistic pursuit.” ~ Ax, Book #52 pg. 33
- “You don’t knowingly take innocent life. Not if you’re a decent person. Not if you’re not a murderer. The goal is irrelevant.” ~ Cassie, Book #52 pg. 53
- “Marco’s mother was host to the former Visser One. It must have been horrible. But the former Visser One was one Yeerk. The current Visser One is one Yeerk.”
<He is the Yeerks’ leader on this planet,> I replied.
“It still doesn’t mean he represents each and every Yeerk,” Cassie insisted. “Humans have had some pretty evil leaders, too. Thousands, sometimes millions of people have followed those leaders, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. Sometimes because they were just too afraid to say no. What if some other species decided to wipe out the human race based on the existence of a few powerful people? What if that species decided all humans were cruel, based on the actions of a handful of sociopaths?”
[Page 68]
- “I don’t hate anybody. It’s strange, but right now, I don’t even hate the Yeerks. It’s like, they’re trying to survive. And we’re trying to survive. I’m not really sure why it has to be an either-or thing.” ~ Tobias, Book #52 pg. 76
- “What would Elfangor do?” ~ Ax, Book #52 pg. 78
- “It is the willingness to take orders from your superiors and then to obey them that keeps an army from becoming a mob.” ~ Ax, Book #52 pg. 109
- “So, who’s going to key the detonator?”
“Coin toss,” Cassie said quickly.
<What?>
“It’s the way we make most major decisions,“ Marco said dryly. “First, you choose heads or tails. Then you toss a coin. Whatever side is faceup when the coin lands is winner.”
The procedure was simple enough. But I could not help but think if this was the methodology by which humans made most of their major decisions.... Well, it explained much.
[Page 135]
- “The saddest thing is that this is our greatest victory. And I’ve never felt more depressed in my entire life.” ~ Marco, Book #52 pg. 149
- “Rachel is the original Nike girl: Just do it. Just do it, and if that doesn’t work do it harder and meaner.” ~ Jake, Book #53 pg. 16
- I said, “Cassie, you guessed that letting Tom take the morphing cube might weaken rather than strengthen the Yeerks. You guessed that Ax was...” I stifled the most bitter that came to mind. “...conflicted. I’ll back your guess any day of the week.”
“I think he means he’s sorry he doubted you and treated you like crap,” Rachel said archly.
“Yeah. That’s exactly what I mean. Come on, Cassie, show me where to go next.”
[Page 70]
- I took her in my arms. The anaconda’s habitat was probably not the most romantic place on Earth, but it felt safe. “You know I love you.”
“I love you, too, Jake,” she said, and put her head on my shoulder.
“I guess if we win, if we survive, maybe we should, you know, get married and all. I mean, eventually. I know we’re young, but man, we’ve been through enough that it should count for a few extra years, shouldn’t it?”
I don’t know what I expected her answer to be, but I didn’t expect her to start crying. And not tears of joy, either.
“I would like that...eventually,” she said.
“But. But what?”
She sighed. “But, Jake, what are you going to be? What are you going to do?”
“Guess I thought I’d go to college,” I said.
“And study what, Jake? Me, I’ll go to college, I’ll become a doctor. I’ll never forget what’s happened, I’ll never even try, but I’ll be able to slip back into a normal life. But you, Jake?”
I shrugged and released her and stood away a bit. “I’m not Rachel, you know. I didn’t fall in love with the fight. I don’t need it like she does. I do it, I try and do it well, but it’s just a job, a duty.” I tried to make a joke out of it. “I mean, what do you think? The Pentagon is going to call me and make me Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? I’m not even old enough to enlist as a private.”
She didn’t laugh. She just looked at me.
“Look, Cassie, when this is over I’ll be done with it forever. I’ll go back to school, get an education, go to basketball games, get a driver’s license, go to college, figure out what it is I really want to do. And be with you. You and me.”
She forced a smile. “A year after it ends, if it ends, if we win, a year afterward if you want to be with me, we’ll talk about that again, okay?”
“I have to wait a year? Kind of harsh, isn’t it?”
“Hey, if we get married, Marco isn’t going to live with us, is he?” Cassie said, trying her best to jolly us both out of our dark moods.
It didn’t work.
[Page 75]
- “The fact that you know you’ll be dragged in the gutter doesn’t mean you don’t try like hell to stay out of it. You don’t get a lot of straight-up good or evil choices. You get shades of gray.” ~ Jake, Book #53 pg. 97
- I wanted so much to live. I wanted so much to stay and not to leave. In a moment no answer would matter to me, but just the same, I wanted to know what I guess any dying person wants to know.
“Answer this, Ellimist: Did I...did I make a difference? My life, and my...my death...was I worth it? Did my life really matter?”
“Yes,” he said. “You were brave. You were strong. You were good. You mattered.”
“Yeah. Okay, then. Okay, then.”
[Page 24]
- “We still need you. You’re not done yet, Jake.” ~ Cassie, Book #54 pg. 28
- “It gives you a different perspective,” I said. “I mean, I’ve often wondered if allowing someone to morph to dolphin or falcon or whatever might not be a good way to let them put the little stuff in perspective.”
“Morph therapy? I think I feel another best-selling book coming on. Oh, man, Oprah would eat that up. And you know the Andalites are saying now they may make morphing technology more widely available on Earth.”
I frowned. “Really? Why?”
“They want a Krispy Kreme franchise back on the home world. You have a fair number of Andalites who possess a human morph now, all back home after their tour on Earth. Still looking for a donut.”
The idea was so absurd I had to laugh. “We’re going to trade donuts for morphing technology?”
Marco and I sat there in silent enjoyment for a moment, sipping our Oranginas.
[Page 76]
- “Well, if it isn’t Lobster Boy.”
<Hey, Jake. Remember this morph?>
“Uh-huh. Some reason why you’re morphing to lobster?”
<Ummmm...I dropped my keys down in the pool? I was going to go get them?>
“Well, then it’s a good thing you have the ability to turn into a lobster, because otherwise, what would you do? I mean, normal people, they drop their keys in the pool, they’re just totally helpless. Those keys stay down there. Forever.”
I stopped the morph before I lost my eyes and began to reverse it. As soon as I had a mouth I said, “You seem perky, today. You want something to drink?”
“What are you going to do, morph a cow and squeeze me out a glass of two percent?”
[Page 130]
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All pictures and books copyrighted by Scholastic, Inc. Books by K.A. Applegate, and pictures by David B. Mattingly.