Emboldened by that admission, Ax decided a calculated risk was called for. It made him feel flooded by human adrenalin, which was always disconcerting, but his need to know the extent of the danger he was in was greater than a primitive system's chemicals. Perhaps, too, the news that Prince Jake and the others were out of reach was making him somewhat reckless.

"I am not human, either," he said, with more boldness than he felt. "I lied about my name before. I am Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Ist. Isth-ill. It is not so easy to say with human mouthparts." He took a breath, because his human body seemed to demand it, before revealing the most potentially dangerous fact, as if the name were not enough to make it clear. "I am an Andalite."

He watched Brainiac 5 carefully for a reaction to this. Outright violence would be impossible here, Ax judged, but this did not help him feel less uneasy about it all.