The Encounter (Animorphs)
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| The Encounter | |
 Tobias morphing into a red-tailed hawk. |
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| Author | K. A. Applegate |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | David B. Mattingly |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Animorphs #3 |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Scholastic |
| Publication date | August 1, 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
| Pages | 176 |
| ISBN | 0-590-62979-4 |
| Preceded by | The Visitor |
| Followed by | The Message |
The Encounter is the third book in the Animorphs series, written by K. A. Applegate. It is narrated by Tobias.
[edit] Synopsis
Tobias and Rachel liberate a caged red-tailed hawk from a car dealership where it is being used in advertisements. Later that evening, Tobias is flying over the city when he sees a "shimmering" in the air, and suspects it to be a Yeerk ship using optical camouflage.
Tobias tells the others about it, and they morph wolves to head up into the mountains (where the ship was headed) and check it out. They arrive at a lake where the ship is uncloaking itself, revealing itself to be a massive logistics ship that sucks up water and air for the Yeerk mothership in orbit. Tobias also sees the hawk he and Rachel freed, and has an urge to go be with her.
Returning from the mountains, the Animorphs are almost trapped in wolf morph, which reminds Tobias of what happened to him. However, Tobias looks at the clock and wonders why the Animorphs can demorph from wolf when it is ten minutes after the limit. Later that night he discusses with Rachel his suspicion that he is losing his humanity.
The Animorphs plan to morph to fish and get themselves sucked up by the ship, so they can disable it from the inside. Tobias heads up to the mountains to check the lake out again, but his hawk instincts overpower him on the way and he kills a rat. Greatly disturbed, he flies to Rachel's gymnastics exhibition at the mall and tries to commit suicide. He flies around the mall in a panicked state until Marco smashes open a skylight with a baseball for him to escape.
Tobias regresses into his hawk instincts for several days, living in the woods and hunting rodents. His human side only re-emerges when he saves an old man escaping from Hork-Bajir, and he returns to Rachel. They discuss what happened, and Tobias decides he needs to keep fighting the Yeerks to remain human.
The Animorphs hide in a cave and morph fish, and Tobias carries them to the lake where the logistics ship is, to avoid notice by the Yeerks who have locked down the area. The others are successfully sucked up by the ship, only to discover that the water tank is sealed off inside, and they are trapped. Meanwhile, Tobias is spotted by a Hork-Bajir Controller, who remembered him for saving the old man, and is attacked by the Bug Fighters and helicopters of the Yeerks.
He lands on the logistics ship, the one place he can be sure the Yeerks won't risk firing at. A Taxxon emerges out onto the deck to kill him, but Tobias kills it and takes its Dracon beam. He fires the beam at the ship's bridge, destroying it and freeing his friends in the process. (They had thoughtspoken this request to him, assuming they would die as well, and Rachel hinted at her love for him.) They manage to escape, but Tobias again sees the red-tailed hawk he freed - this time as she is killed by the Yeerks.
Tobias again discusses what happened with Rachel, and is happy with his newfound balance between being a hawk, and a human.
[edit] Morphs
| Morpher | Morphs acquired | Morphs used |
|---|---|---|
| Jake | Wolf (male), Trout | Wolf (male), Trout, Peregrine Falcon |
| Rachel | Wolf (female), Trout | Wolf (female), Trout, Bald Eagle |
| Tobias | Cannot acquire new DNA | Cannot morph |
| Cassie | Wolf (female), Trout | Wolf (female), Trout, Osprey |
| Marco | Wolf (female), Trout | Wolf (female), Trout, Osprey |
| Visser Three | Unknown | Unknown |
[edit] Trivia
- The cover model for this book is blond, but dyed his hair brown prior to posing for the cover. Because the model was under contract and had to be used, Applegate changed Tobias' hair color to "dirty blond". A few covers in the series would feature a model with very blond hair.
- This is the first book to feature a cover morph that does not actually occur in the book.
- This is the first book to feature a cover morph that was not acquired in the book. Tobias acquired, and became trapped in his red-tailed hawk morph in the first book, The Invasion.
- Katherine Applegate spent time at the University of Minnesota Raptor Center studying the birds in order to write this book.
- The front cover quote is, "Now you see them. Now you don't...".
- The inside front cover quote is, "It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Tobias....".
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