The Stranger by K. A. Applegate

NO GREATER BEAUTY .
    IN A THOUSAND , THOUSAND WORLDS , NO GREATER ART THAN THIS .
    Then the Ellimist showed us the human race.
    We flew, invisible, through the steel-and-glass canyons of New York City.
    We drifted above villages at the edges of jungle rivers. We watched a rock concert in Rio de Janeiro, and a political meeting in Seoul, and a soccer game in Durban, and an open-air market in the Philippines.
    HUMANS . CRUDE . PRIMITIVE . BUT CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING . Suddenly all the movement stopped. We were staring at a picture. A painting. I’d seen the painting somewhere before.
    It was a wild swirl of color. A painting of purple flowers. Irises, I think, although I’m no big expert on flowers. The artist had seen the beauty of those flowers and captured some small bit of it on canvas.
    CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING .
    Then, without warning, we were back in the Yeerk pool.
    The images were all gone. We were in the land of despair once again. Surrounded by frozen images of horror.
    The Ellimist — or at least the body he had made for us to look at — reappeared.
    â€œThat was a nice tour,” I said. I was trying to sound tough. But I felt as if I had been turned inside out. As if my mind had exploded into a thousand sparkling pieces. I was overwhelmed. “But what’s it all about?”
    â€œHumans are an endangered species. Soon you will disappear.”
    I thought of a couple things to say. But I said nothing. No one said anything.
    â€œThe Yeerk race is also sentient,” the Ellimist said. “And they are technologically more advanced than you. They will continue to infest the human race. The Andalites will try to stop them, but they will fail. The Yeerks will win. And soon, the only humans left will be what you call Human-Controllers.”
    I had stopped breathing. The way he said it … it was like you couldn’t argue. Like you couldn’t say anything. He spoke every word with utter and complete certainty.
    He wasn’t guessing. He knew .
    He knew that we would lose.

I had been terrified a few moments before, as the Taxxon prepared to swallow us. I had been afraid for my own life and the lives of my friends.
    Now, as the Yeerk pool hung suspended in time, I felt a deeper fear. My head was still swimming from all the images the Ellimist had shown us.
    â€œWhy come here just to tell us we’re dead meat?” I managed to ask.
    â€œWe have an offer for you,” the Ellimist said. “You see, we can save a small sample of the human race. We have a planet where we would relocate you. You … some members of your family. A few others, chosen to get a good genetic sampling. As well as a few non-human Earth species that are of special interest to us.”
    I was surprised to hear Cassie actually laugh. “He’s some kind of environmentalist,” she said. “That’s what he is. We’re the spotted owls. We’re the rhinos. We’re the whales. We’re the endangered species, and he’s the environmentalist trying to save us.”
    â€œWe have a planet set aside for you,” the Ellimist said. “It will seem very much like Earth. You would be free to evolve naturally, as your species should.”
    â€œThis is insane,” Marco said. “It’s like Noah’s ark. The Yeerk flood is coming. Load up the boat.”
    â€œNo,” Tobias said, staring at the Ellimist. “It’s a zoo. That’s what he has for us — a zoo.”
    The Ellimist said, “We do not impose our will on sentient species. The decision is yours. I have chosen you to decide, because only you, of all free humans, know what is happening. You must decide — to stay on Earth and fight a battle you are certain to lose. Or to leave this planet behind and form part of a new colony of humans.”
    â€œHow long do we have to decide?” Jake asked.
    â€œYou must decide now,” the Ellimist said.
    â€œWhat?” I