>>114890944Directly quoting:
"Permission to fire Dracon cannon?"
<No, no, cancel wide dispersion,> the visser
ordered. <I want to see them burn, one by one.
Move us in. Use narrow beam. Forget the human
soldiers, they're irrelevant. Rid me of these Animorphs,
one by one. Close-up! Maximum magnification.
Let me see them die!>
I couldn't be patient any longer. <Ax? Marco?
What is keeping you?> I cried.
<Had a fight,> Marco answered. I could hear
the pain in his thought-speak voice.
At that same moment a new report reached
the bridge. "Visser! Casualties in engineering!" a
Hork-Bajir voice said.
<Well, find out what's happened down there
then,> Visser One said, sounding petulant rather
than concerned. <Now target the morphs. Begin
firing.>
"Firing," the neutral voice reported.
The shot caught the hindquarters of the rhinoceros.
For a horrifying moment the front legs
kept running. The creature — a girl named Tri-
cia — toppled forward, dug its horn into the dirt,
rolled over, and was dead.
<Hah hah! Good shot! They burn well, these
Animorphs!>
I felt sick inside. I should do something. I
should stop this. That was the auxiliary Animorphs
down there on the ground dying. Burning.
<No, no, you have to lead them a bit. Look!
You can get two at ... good shot!>
<Marco,> I pleaded. <Marco, they're killing
James's people.>
<Erek's doing his best, so is Ax,> Marco answered.
<How long?>
<Three minutes,> he said at last.
It was a death sentence. Three minutes. More
than enough time for the sharpshooters on the
bridge. Too much time.
They fired.
If I demorphed here I'd be seen. Nowhere to
hide. I'd be shot. Killed. Accomplish nothing.
Couldn't die. I was in charge. It was my plan.
No time for gestures. Win, that was all I had to
do: Win.
Visser One said, <Look, it's trying to repair itself
by demorphing. Get it now! No, fool! There.
Yes!>
