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The Yeerks can’t allow witnesses.”
    â€œThey’re going to kill every host whose Yeerk dies, aren’t they?” Prince Jake asked bitterly. “Every Human-Controller whose Yeerk dies is going to be eliminated. That’s true, isn’t it?”
    â€œYes.”
    Prince Jake’s face showed an expression. I believed it was an expression of sickness.
    â€œWe did this,” Prince Jake said.
    â€œIt’s war,” I said.
    â€œMy brother,” Prince Jake said. “Tom. He’s a Controller. What about him?”
    I had no answer. The Yeerks would save as many as they could. But if their emergency system was breaking down, they would do what had to be done. They would eliminate any evidence.
    Prince Jake was staring at me. “You
knew
they would do this?”
    I glared back at him. Maybe it was the human adrenaline in my system, but I was becoming angry now. Angry at the accusing look in Prince Jake’s eyes. “Yes, I knew.”
    â€œHow did you know?”
    I hesitated. Prince Jake did not like my hesitation. He suddenly wheeled around and pushed me against the wall.
    â€œHow did you know the Yeerks would do this?”
    â€œBecause it’s happened before. You think this is the first planet the Yeerks have infiltrated? Do you think Earth is the only place where we Andalites have fought them? They don’t leave witnesses.”
    Prince Jake let me go. But he looked at me with unmistakable suspicion. “I don’t like you keeping secrets from me, Ax. I’m your friend. We’re your friends. We should know whatever you know. You didn’t tell me about this.”
    â€œTerrible things happen in war,” I said. “You did what you had to do. Destroying the Kandrona was part of that war.”
    â€œYou can say it’s a war,” Prince Jake said. “But I hate it.”
    â€œLove the warrior. Hate the war. War-ruh.”
    â€œWhat is that, an old Andalite saying?” Prince Jake asked sarcastically.
    â€œYes. My brother used to say it.”
    Prince Jake looked at me for a very long time. It made me uncomfortable. “You know something, Ax? Sometimes I get the feeling we humans are just pawns in this big game between you Andalites and the Yeerks. We’re just ammunition in this war, aren’t we? Too dumb to know what’s going on. Too primitive to be real warriors.”
    â€œThat is not the way it is,” I said. My own anger was diminishing. Prince Jake’s suspicion was not.
    â€œYou fight alongside us, Ax. As far as I’m concerned, you’re one of us. But then I find out you’re keeping secrets. Rachel and Marco keep asking me: What do we know about Ax? What has he ever told us about his own planet, while we show him everything? I told them we could trust you. Now I wonder. I
really
wonder. There’s no trust when you keep secrets. You should have told me this is what the Yeerks would do. You know I have a brother who . . . you know about Tom. I had a right to know what could happen.”
    â€œMaybe you would not have destroyed the Kandrona if you had known it could endanger Tom,” I pointed out.
    Prince Jake stuck his face very close to mine. “That’s what you think? You know what, Ax? You’re right to try and learn more about humans. Because you don’t know a thing about us. Not a thing.”

An Andalite may think that humans are simple, open, trusting creatures. But they are more subtle than they seem to be at first. Possibly this is because of their spoken language, where no word ever means just one thing.
    â€” From the Earth Diary of Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill
    M y day at the human school ended with the removal of the teacher who had been a Controller. Prince Jake went home. I went back to the woods and gratefully resumed my true shape.
    But I spent a very bad afternoon and night. I realized that Prince Jake and the humans could never be my true
shorms
.