but—“
Ax said suddenly.
“You can read this stuff?”
He stared intently.
“Visser One? That would be like Visser Three’s boss?”
“Great,” I said. “Forty-seven. Not all like our friend Visser Three, I hope.”
Ax was back at work getting the transponder out of the faxlike machine. he answered.
body, I believe. Ah. Here, I have it.>
He held up a tiny, shiny disk. No bigger than a pea.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Jake said. “Put that thing near the crack. We won’t have to carry it as far. Everyone, morph back. Let’s bail.”
It was the moment I dreaded. I didn’t want to return to that ant body. It made me want to cry, just thinking of it. But there was no other way. If we tried to sneak out of the basement by going up through the house, we might be caught.
“Boy, I don’t want to do this,” I muttered. But at the same time, I focused on that ant shape. And as I watched, my friends began to change.
Once we had shrunk back to ant size, the transponder seemed enormous. It was far bigger than we were. Standing beside it, feeling it with my legs and antennae, it felt about as big as a two-car garage.
Cassie pointed out.
It seemed impossible, but Cassie, Rachel, and Ax managed to lift that monstrous load off the ground.
I mean, it was like seeing three people walking down the street carrying a city bus. That’s how big it was. But it’s true what they say about ants. For their size, they are some strong little bugs.
When we reached the vertical wall, the three of them had to push it ahead and roll it up the wall, like some gigantic steel donut.
We reached the crack. They shoved the transponder in. Jake and I were in the lead.
It took all five of us to drag that thing over the crags of the concrete canyon. But we made it through and back to the dirt tunnel. The transponder was so big it blocked the tunnel. It was like a spitwad in a straw. But with Ax, Rachel, and Cassie behind pushing, and Jake and I clearing boulders—grains of sand—out of the way, we made progress.
It happened suddenly.
There was no warning.
One second the tunnel ahead of me was empty. The next second it was full.
Full of a charging, racing army of ants.
Enemies,
my ant brain said. Now the killing would begin.
CHAPTER 14
T hey’re behind us!> It was Rachel, yelling.
Cassie screamed.
The speed of the attack was incredible. The force of the attack was impossible to explain. There were hundreds of them. Ahead. Behind. Flooding up from side tunnels. Bursting from the walls.
There were three of them on me. They were pulling me, trying to force me down so they could tear me apart.
Tear me apart!
A fourth scampered over my head, brushing my antennae. He locked his mandibles on my narrow waist. He was trying to bite me in half.
There was no defense. We could not win. We would all be dead in a few seconds.
They were machines. Absolutely without fear. Unstoppable.
I yelled,
One of my legs came loose, torn away. Ripped out by the roots.
I could feel my waist being sawed through by grinding sharp mandibles.
A searing liquid was fired at me. Poison. They were stinging me. Stinging me again and again, and ripping me apart.
Human. I wanted to be human again. Please, just let me
“You can read this stuff?”
“Visser One? That would be like Visser Three’s boss?”
“Great,” I said. “Forty-seven. Not all like our friend Visser Three, I hope.”
Ax was back at work getting the transponder out of the faxlike machine.
body, I believe. Ah. Here, I have it.>
He held up a tiny, shiny disk. No bigger than a pea.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Jake said. “Put that thing near the crack. We won’t have to carry it as far. Everyone, morph back. Let’s bail.”
It was the moment I dreaded. I didn’t want to return to that ant body. It made me want to cry, just thinking of it. But there was no other way. If we tried to sneak out of the basement by going up through the house, we might be caught.
“Boy, I don’t want to do this,” I muttered. But at the same time, I focused on that ant shape. And as I watched, my friends began to change.
Once we had shrunk back to ant size, the transponder seemed enormous. It was far bigger than we were. Standing beside it, feeling it with my legs and antennae, it felt about as big as a two-car garage.
It seemed impossible, but Cassie, Rachel, and Ax managed to lift that monstrous load off the ground.
I mean, it was like seeing three people walking down the street carrying a city bus. That’s how big it was. But it’s true what they say about ants. For their size, they are some strong little bugs.
When we reached the vertical wall, the three of them had to push it ahead and roll it up the wall, like some gigantic steel donut.
We reached the crack. They shoved the transponder in. Jake and I were in the lead.
It took all five of us to drag that thing over the crags of the concrete canyon. But we made it through and back to the dirt tunnel. The transponder was so big it blocked the tunnel. It was like a spitwad in a straw. But with Ax, Rachel, and Cassie behind pushing, and Jake and I clearing boulders—grains of sand—out of the way, we made progress.
It happened suddenly.
There was no warning.
One second the tunnel ahead of me was empty. The next second it was full.
Full of a charging, racing army of ants.
Enemies,
my ant brain said. Now the killing would begin.
CHAPTER 14
T hey’re behind us!> It was Rachel, yelling.
The speed of the attack was incredible. The force of the attack was impossible to explain. There were hundreds of them. Ahead. Behind. Flooding up from side tunnels. Bursting from the walls.
There were three of them on me. They were pulling me, trying to force me down so they could tear me apart.
Tear me apart!
A fourth scampered over my head, brushing my antennae. He locked his mandibles on my narrow waist. He was trying to bite me in half.
There was no defense. We could not win. We would all be dead in a few seconds.
They were machines. Absolutely without fear. Unstoppable.
One of my legs came loose, torn away. Ripped out by the roots.
I could feel my waist being sawed through by grinding sharp mandibles.
A searing liquid was fired at me. Poison. They were stinging me. Stinging me again and again, and ripping me apart.
Human. I wanted to be human again. Please, just let me
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