| #51: The Absolute |
Detailed Plot: Marco and Tobias are checking out a train that's delivering some tanks. They want to find out if this has anything to do with the invasion. They're flying after it, and Marco begins to wonder why there are no guards. Then they spot a group of birds flying toward them--birds that would normally not be flying together. Yep, these are morphed Yeerks. Ever since Tom got away with the morphing cube, the Animorphs have had to accept that Yeerks might be using morphing against them. As Tobias and Marco are investigating the train, Marco is spotted, and he has to undertake a risky move to dodge an attack by an enemy red-tailed hawk. He's successful, though, because he depends on the Yeerks not having as much experience with flying as they do. Despite that, some golden-eagle-Controllers come after them and force Marco to try a risky move hiding under the train, but then peregrine-falcon-Controllers come after him and he gets captured by a golden eagle. Tobias has to rescue him. He no sooner escapes from the eagle than a falcon attacks him and he falls onto the train. Marco morphs to avoid being injured by the still-attacking birds, ending up in gorilla form, which he then uses to climb into the tank the train is hauling and free it from it restraints. He and Tobias get inside the tank and get it off the train, preventing it from becoming a Yeerk weapon--and using it to house their escape. Marco plows it into Chapman's house before abandoning it, but not before driving the wrong way on the highway and almost getting hit by an eighteen-wheeler. Marco explains their hijinks to the Animorphs (with Toby and Marco's mom present as well). Jake is not impressed, and Rachel is mad that they damaged Melissa Chapman's house since they used to be friends. Marco's concerned that Jake doesn't reprimand him, kid him, or make any comments really. He's "on autopilot," and has been since his family got captured. Marco reflects on feeling guilty because his family is safe and his mom was recovered, and he still has trouble keeping down his happiness . . . while Jake's lost everything. He's also still acting distant from Cassie and Marco doesn't know why, but obviously something's gone down between them since the last battle. (He doesn't know it's Cassie's fault the Yeerks got the morphing cube.) Jake comes up with a plan to have a group led by Rachel and Toby to liberate The Sharing's Hork-Bajir guards, and that will be the "loud" group which will attract Visser One's attention. Then another group containing Marco, Tobias, and Ax will go to convince the governor of what is happening so they can start to get the uninfested military on their side before the National Guard gets taken over by the enemy. Marco, Ax, and Tobias go to The Gardens to get duck morphs--most suited for distance flying. Catching a duck is harder than they thought, and it takes long enough that a group of kids on a field trip happens to see them in the pond after the park opens. Unfortunately one of the teachers is a Controller and recognizes Ax as an Andalite, and she attempts to shoot him with a tranquilizer gun she grabbed from a zoo guard. They have to run--Marco's still carrying a duck--and suddenly human-Controllers start firing at them or morphing to attack them. Marco becomes a gorilla and fights back. Tobias ends up fighting an eagle-Controller and Marco spots him flopping around on a roller coaster track, seeming to be badly injured. Marco can't save him in time, but it turns out Tobias is just faking, which worked in getting the eagle to attack him and get plowed down by the roller coaster car. Ax has his own fight with a morphed cougar, but morphs to duck fast enough to lose it and it falls into the tiger pen. The others morph to duck as well and go on their way. On the way they fear some seagulls might be Controllers, but they turn out not to be and for the first time they understand how edgy Visser One must be about suspecting every animal as possibly being an Animorph. They fly over to the capitol but figure Saturday means the governor would be at home, so they ask for directions on where the governor lives and a guy who did a drywall job there once explains how to get there. Then they realize they don't even know the governor's name or appearance. Ax is appalled that they don't know their local leader's name, but they have to figure out what to do and how to get in contact. They realize a limo is waiting outside to take the governor somewhere, so they decide to stow away in the limo. They morph roaches and end up dangling from a wire underneath the limo, trying to hang on until the limo gets to its destination. They hitch a ride on the shoes and pants of a couple getting out of the limo, and then they end up hiding out while the couple engages in dinner and dancing. Hanging onto their feet when they scurry away to a conference room, they overhear some discussion beginning about campaign contributions and figure the governor must be in the room. Marco decides to take a risk and goes under the table to demorph, using thought-speak to warn the people in the room that they are about to see something scary. Once demorphed, Marco discovers that the governor is the woman in the room, and that the man she was dancing with was her husband (though he had been thinking the man was the governor). Obviously a roach turning into a boy was a bit of a shock, but he begs not to be shot and tells the governor he is an Animorph. Because of the reaction of one of the guards he worries that one or more of them are Controllers. Marco figures out which one is a Yeerk and points out that this one is not going to follow the governor's orders, so the governor asks the other guard to guard the guard. Despite that, when Ax and Tobias begin to demorph, the Controller guard isn't able to contain his rage at the sight of an Andalite and begins firing. The other guard is able to stop him from getting his shot in, and Marco says they've got a story to tell the governor. She sends her husband out to tell everyone she's not feeling well so they won't wonder about her disappearance, but Marco notices that the governor's husband isn't shocked enough at the sight of an Andalite and believes he's a Controller too. He sends Tobias after him and he begins to morph to Hork-Bajir, but the husband is already back with Controller waiters who have Dracon beams. A firefight breaks out. The Animorphs try to protect the governor and she realizes quickly that something is wrong with her husband's loyalty. The guard that's loyal to the governor also defends the group and gets injured. They manage to get the governor to her limo, mainly with Ax's help, though she helps in defending herself pretty well for an unarmed woman making use of what's around her. Once they get there, Tobias tries to do the driving (though he's still a Hork-Bajir) and Marco and Ax guard the governor. Ax has deep respect for her and assures her that he'll guard her with his life, and she seems to be taking it well for someone who's just been kidnapped by aliens. Marco can tell from the way she reacts to the situation that she's very good at being a leader, and he sees the signs that she is competent even in this weird situation. As they careen toward safety, they're pursued by cops, only some of whom are Controllers. The governor suggests getting out of the limo because they're too easy a target. Marco as a gorilla and Tobias as a Hork-Bajir run with Ax who's carrying the governor on his back, and Controllers pursue. They have to jump off a bridge onto a passing yacht to escape the danger. The governor trusts Marco and hangs onto him as they fall. Marco makes it onto the yacht, but Tobias demorphs and catches himself in the air, and Ax falls into the water and doesn't come up immediately. Since they didn't see him the governor is concerned that he hurt himself, and asks if he can swim. They're all relieved when they find out he just morphed into a shark. But then the people partying on the yacht start to notice their new "guests" and they flip out. This signals the Controllers in the pursuing helicopter, and when they start firing all the yacht partiers abandon ship, which leaves the governor to run up to steer the ship because she says it will capsize if she doesn't. Marco is surprised at how she knows exactly what she's doing. But then they have to deal with the hostile Controllers and they end up shooting the bow of the ship. Marco worries that the governor was injured. After Tobias manages to take out the helicopter, Marco goes in and finds that the governor was hurt but is conscious, so he morphs a dolphin and swims her away as the boat sinks. They go back to the governor's mansion and barricade the door, picking up the loyal guard Collins as well (because he'd gone back to the house to treat his wound). They explain everything to her and she understands that parasitic aliens are invading, and she's glad it's something they can fight. Unfortunately, fighting is what comes next, since once she's made a bunch of calls to various military presences the Yeerks start converging on her mansion. One of the people she'd called was Major MacDonald, for personal security, and he manages to beat the Yeerks to her house. She lets him in and introduces him to Ax, which freaks him out, but his presence helps make it clear she's not a lunatic when she starts talking about extraterrestrials. He begins to swallow the situation. The Animorphs ask if he and the bodyguard can keep her safe until they contact her again, and then when they're bidding her goodbye Marco acquires her DNA while shaking her hand, then takes the dress that she left in the bathroom and sneaks out with it. Marco morphs the governor as a distraction, making a cover for the real governor to get away, and he comes out on the porch to greet the Controllers who are all over her front yard. She speaks to them as if she is just confused about their presence, explaining she didn't order or allow a National Guard exercise on her lawn, and then Visser One in a human morph Marco hadn't seen comes up and sneers at him, thinking he's the governor and that this is just a bit too easy. He feigns confusion and irritation as they kidnap him, protesting just like he thinks the governor would. He gets bound and gagged and put into the back of an ammo truck with some guards. Once the bait is taken, Marco lets them get a ways down the road and then Tobias and Ax attack while in Hork-Bajir morph, slicing their way into the truck. They disable the kidnappers and disable various weapons, then free Marco. They guard their prisoners as the truck they're in keeps going. When the truck goes through a tunnel, they escape through a hole in the canvas, flying in their duck morphs. Back at the base, they watch news footage of the other Animorphs' mission, and the military folks that the governor called ended up stepping in to help fight the visser. Then the news program cuts to the governor, who talks about the Yeerk invasion on a public broadcast and announces that they are at war. The Animorphs are a bit shell-shocked at the idea that finally this is all out in the open and they're officially no longer fighting a covert war. . . . Narrator: Marco New known controllers:
New morphs acquired:
Cassie: None Marco: Duck (mallard), human (the governor) Rachel: None Ax: Duck (mallard) Tobias: Duck (mallard) Notable: This book is ghostwritten by Lisa Harkrader. It's been noted before, but up to this point it's still unclear as to how Yeerks could morph into a bird if the bird's skull is not large enough to house their bodies. Unless the Yeerk was changing with the animal, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the continuity, which suggests that if something larger than a certain size is in a creature's head, morphing to something with a head smaller than the object is not possible. In the scene with bystanders catching the Animorphs in the duck pen, a female teacher Controller knocks an armed guard to the ground so she can grab his tranquilizer gun. It's a bit odd that a teacher could successfully attack a guard--even if she had the element of surprise. Unless a guard is very incompetent, he shouldn't be able to be attacked and disarmed by a random teacher who presumably has no training, even if she's determined. A shot is fired in a conference room right near a ballroom, and this brings no security and no attention until bigger hell starts breaking loose. Gunshots are loud. Seems odd that no one noticed it. Best lines: Marco: The food court at the mall. Not your typical Andalite hangouts. Well, except maybe the food court. After this war is over, I fully expect Ax, our resident Andalite, to spend the rest of his life in human morph at Cinnabon.
Marco: "Nobody got hurt. Nobody was home. Not even Fluffer McNutter or whatever that stupid cat's name is."
Tobias: "The quack's not the big problem. What I'd really like to know is, who thought up this leg/tail arrangement? Look at my butt."
Major MacDonald: "Extraterrestrial? Aliens? You've gotta be joking!"
Marco: "Uh-ur-ulph."
Marco: "It's what we've wanted from the beginning. Why am I not ecstatic?"
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