Animorphs - The Entire Series

Epicurius

Dec 16, 2021 08:11

Capfalcon posted:

I know we're basically dealing with the heirs/founders of the Yeerks who were big enough jerks/had enough balls to mug some Andalites for their tech and high-tail it out of there. Makes me wonder what the Andalite plan was before that happened.

The Andalite plan for the Yeerks? I don't think they had any, really. You can see the moments just before the rebellion in the Hork-Bajir book. Seerow's the only one who has any enthusiasm for the Yeerks. All the other Andalites on the Yeerk homeworld have a combination of boredom and disgust regarding the Yeerks. So I think the Andalite plan was "Humor Seerow and try to forget the fact that we ever had anything to do with these hideous slug things."

Capfalcon

Dec 16, 2021 08:28

Epicurius posted:

The Andalite plan for the Yeerks? I don't think they had any, really. You can see the moments just before the rebellion in the Hork-Bajir book. Seerow's the only one who has any enthusiasm for the Yeerks. All the other Andalites on the Yeerk homeworld have a combination of boredom and disgust regarding the Yeerks. So I think the Andalite plan was "Humor Seerow and try to forget the fact that we ever had anything to do with these hideous slug things."

Sure, the warriors wish they were doing something actually interesting instead of being assigned to this weirdo, but I don't know that the brass signs off on sending materials to build a Andalite-Yeerk Peace and Cooperation Center just to humor a prince. He had to be sent there for some reason. I suppose it might have been an exploration mission that got out of hand but... Seerow had a plan to uplift them, at least. I wonder if the Andalites had done it before, and this is the first time it backfired in a big way.

Epicurius

Dec 16, 2021 20:27

The following two chapters are presented without comment.

Chapter 25

quote:

TSEEEEW!

Dracon fire.

Keeeew!

And a snap. The cable, vaporized, just below Marco's hand!

The cube. Free! The floor rushing up ...

KABLAMMMMM!

The cube smashed the floor in a thunder crack.

"Ghalaaaa!"

<Yeeaaaaaahhhh!>

Screams of confusion. Pain.

Shards of glass shot out from the impact like shrapnel. Drawing blood indiscriminately.

Wumph.

The dead weight of a Hork-Bajir arm collapsed onto me and held me down, my back to the floor.

I looked up through a hole, a cylinder burned clean through his upper arm by Dracon fire!

Marco dangled from the red-hot wire. Flesh and hair began to sizzle.

<Hraaaaahh!> Thought-speak and gorilla fused in one wrenching bellow. A primal scream. He couldn't take it! He dropped. Onto a bed of gouging glass that cut and snapped under his weight.

Another roar.

Pain wracked my body. As though the impact had fractured every bone. But I was conscious.

Morph! Focus! The snarls and snorts of battle throbbed in my ears as violence raged around me. I felt the changes begin.

Suddenly the Hork-Bajir body was lifted and thrown aside. I was startled, vulnerable. I stopped the morph, twin Andalite arms budding from my chest.

Blond hair glittered. Spotlights. An iron-strong hand closed over my seven small fingers.

Crushing them!

The sub-visser!

She yanked me across the piercing glass. Began to drag me across the floor. But then let me drop and ran back toward the destroyed cube like she'd forgotten something.

<Help!> My voice issued as a dry hiss. Jake and Ax, two-on-five with Hork-Bajir, couldn't hear my cry. The sub-visser picked through glassy rubble and found what she was looking for: the miniature copy of the control panel. With the larger control under one arm and the smaller one in her hand, she headed for me again.

<Help!> I called again, desperate. But I was too weak! Cassie couldn't hear me. I watched as she leaped off the table onto Hork-Bajir shoulders, knocking him down.

Only Marco saw me. He moved to run, but collapsed to the ground in a spasm of pain.

I tried to force the morph. Faster! Where was the tail! The blade!

I couldn't keep my focus. I flapped pathetically with my half-wing, half-arms. Beat at the air and scratched across the floor with exhausted legs. But I couldn't get away.

<Ahhhh!>

I felt the red circle cut into my back. Cripple me. Then stop. She was striking at me again with the torture device. But why now?

Again she clutched my delicate Andalite fingers. Out through the door she dragged me. Onto a sort of balcony. Maybe forty feet long, but very narrow. Not more than four feet wide. Projected out off the rock face. Running into a small tunnel at the far end. An observation deck? In an underground network of narrow tunnels? A putrid, earthy odor filled my lungs. A stench I ...

"Ahhh!" A loud, shrill yell as she exerted herself to swing me up over the railing. Up in an arc I sailed, her fingers still gripping my own.

Bam! I slammed against the outside wall of the balcony.

<Uhhh!> Pain rattled my bones for the hundredth time. I looked down.

The Yeerk pool.

That vast cavern the size of three Astrodomes. A Yeerk complex underground. Beneath the foundations of half our city. Storage and control center buildings. Docked spacecraft. Diverse alien species moving rapidly about their business, united in a common goal: the conquest of humanity. And there, at the center, was the pool itself. Sludgy, leaden liquid teaming and churning with Yeerk slugs. In their natural state. Vulnerable there, and there only.

"I don't know what you are!" the sub-visser yelled to make herself heard over the shrieks of protestation from the involuntary controllers caged at the Yeerk pool's edge, and the less horrific acoustic wash of the dome. "I don't know what power you possess, that you can morph beyond the two-hour limit." An inhuman hatred coated her words. "But I know that I don't care. You will die! Die! Die!"

She tightened her grip until the bones in my fingers cracked audibly. And then, she released her hold

Chapter 26

quote:

"Die! Die!" she shrieked.

But I clung to her.

With weak, shaking, half-formed Andalite fingers, I held on. Dangled from the end of Taylor's artificial arm. Some hundred meters from the nearest platform below.

"Let go!" she screeched, struggling to shake off my fingers. "Let go, you filthy grass eater!"

Still holding the smaller control device in her other hand, she moved to pry off my hold. The device slipped out of her hand.

I looked down and saw the control device replica still falling. Falling.

Cooonk!

It hit a metal storage building and ricocheted off the wall of the lower landing.

I didn't hear it splash. But I watched as it landed in the Yeerk pool.

"No!" she screamed. With one violent wave she shook me from her hand.

<Ahhh!> I clutched wildly at the stone face of the balcony wall. Amazingly my talon caught on something. About three feet down. And with weak, broken fingers I grasped a rough, small protrusion.

My heart hammered.

"You little ..." She strained to reach me. To knock me off and send me careening to the cavern floor. I was just beyond her grab. It was a matter of seconds now. That's how much longer I could hold on. My fingers were slipping. I was heavy. I was running on nothing but adrenaline and that would give out in ...

"Rrrrrooowwrrr!"

An enraged roar. A roar I recognized.

Taylor started to turn, but too late.

Two brown claws closed over her shoulders, pulled back before she could scream. I heard a thud and I knew she'd gone down hard.

A grizzly bear claw reached over the balcony, gripped my back, lifted me up. Taylor lay incredulous on the floor. I focused on finishing the morph to Andalite.

Rachel's mass filled the balcony. She began to growl. Deep, continuous.

She picked the sub-visser up off the floor. Taylor struggled, but without result. Rachel's grip was unwavering, strong. She bellowed an animal cry of retaliation.

For a split second, time froze. And I saw Rachel and Taylor face-to-face. One strong. Her morph a crazy manifestation of an inner strength and bravery. One weak. This girl for whom appearance had been everything, honor nothing. This poor girl whose weakness had made her easy prey for the Yeerks. And I felt pity. Pity for my torturer.

Rachel's claws closed on Taylor's neck. Crushing her esophagus. She was turning blue, suffocating.

"Help!" she rasped pitifully. "Someone help me!"

<Rachel! No. Rachel, don't do it!>

<She dies, Tobias. For what she did to you, she dies.> She moved as if to slam Taylor against the wall.

<No!> I yelled. <Rachel. No.>

Rachel turned to look at me. Hesitated. Then dropped Taylor like a crumpled candy wrapper. The sub-visser fell to the floor and scrambled for the door.

<You know she should die, Tobias,> Rachel said.

<She will,> I said. <This is the Yeerk who lost a prisoner. Leave her to Visser Three.>

<What she did to you ...>

<Rachel. Be Rachel, not her.>

disaster pastor

Dec 16, 2021 20:50

Epicurius posted:

quote:
<She dies, Tobias. For what she did to you, she dies.> She moved as if to slam Taylor against the wall.

<No!> I yelled. <Rachel. No.>

Rachel turned to look at me. Hesitated. Then dropped Taylor like a crumpled candy wrapper. The sub-visser fell to the floor and scrambled for the door.

<You know she should die, Tobias,> Rachel said.

<She will,> I said. <This is the Yeerk who lost a prisoner. Leave her to Visser Three.>

<What she did to you ...>

<Rachel. Be Rachel, not her.>

One of my favorite moments in the series.

freebooter

Dec 17, 2021 01:57

Good moment, though I feel like Rachel's being a bit cavalier (and they're often a bit cavalier) with the human host who is essentially a hostage, since she doesn't know Taylor's voluntary.

Strategic Tea

Dec 17, 2021 02:06

Even if she's voluntary there's a line between 'yes please give me cutting edge medical care and show me a galaxy I never knew existed' and 'yes, sign me up to the space KGB post haste'. It isn't like she can back out now.

Fuschia tude

Dec 17, 2021 03:00

Not to mention in Visser Three Ltd., getting intentionally spared by the Andalite bandits is a guaranteed death sentence, anyway.

mind the walrus

Dec 17, 2021 07:17

Fuschia tude posted:

Not to mention in Visser Three Ltd., getting intentionally spared by the Andalite bandits is a guaranteed death sentence, anyway.

That's a really chilling point. Tobias says as much "she's dead anyway" knowing full well she's getting thrown into the Taxxon pit at best. From a certain angle it's actually the more ethical/humane thing to do to kill the Yeerk and Taylor quickly, but Tobias is specifically requesting Rachel doesn't so that they feel better about their choices.

The moral calculus of this series is like trying to find the end point of a Klein bottle.

effervescible

Dec 17, 2021 09:19

Throughout this thread I kept starting books thinking I had never read this one and then remembering stuff as it came up. This is definitely one of the first (possibly the first) where I'm still sure I never even flipped through it and just. Holy shit god damn. This book.

Bobulus

Dec 17, 2021 14:44

This book was so visceral. Tobias broke so many feathers, cartilage and bone over the course of the torture and escape that right before he morphed he was probably a slightly-twitching pile of lumps. Thank goodness for morphing fixing physical scars.

~~Now about those mental scars...~~

Epicurius

Dec 17, 2021 22:14

Chapter 27

quote:

It was a windy day. Sunny. We were all there, all but Rachel who'd had something to do with her dad.

We were all in human form. Even Ax and me. I sat on the sand at the beach. The breeze whippingmy hair. The waves racing up the shore.

Ax was sitting next to me, unpacking a kite he had made out of scrap wood strips and paper bags. Untangling the string. Preparing for a test flight. A human hobby he said he found unaccountably peaceful.

Cassie was down nearer the water, scanning for any injured life.

Jake and Marco were playing catch, forcing levity. Jake rocketed a flawless spiral through the air.

"Ax?" I said.

"Yes, Tobias?"

"I had a lot of hallucinations back there. A lot of crazy visions." I tried to keep my tone casual. I paused. "But there was this one. It was just so real. I mean, as real as if I had lived it. It was Elfangor."

Ax looked up from his work. He stopped fussing with the string.

"A series of memories so intense. I was drowning in pain, Ax. I really thought I was dying ... and then, all at once, I felt the icy cool steel of a tail blade against my forehead and I ..."

Ax made a sort of gasping sound and dropped his spool of string. His eyes were wide with a startling intensity.

"A blade? Against your forehead ..." He trailed off, his voice quaking with surprise.

"Ax. What?"

He was clearly disturbed. Like I had just shaken his reality. The wind began to drag his kite across the sand. He didn't care. Just sat there, absorbed in his thoughts. I ran after the thing and brought it back to him.

He shook off whatever it was and regained his customary composure.

"No," he said, more to himself than to me. "It's all nonsense, of course. We are a rational people..."

"What is it, Ax-man?"

He started hesitantly. "A legend. A spiritual rite, really. Utzum. Certain medicine men believed they could pass memories through DNA. Legend says these memory messages are triggered by imminent death. A surge of strength during the last moments to ease their passage. Ancient superstition."

"Yeah. You're probably right. Just a hallucination," I said.

A flash of gold. Way down the beach. A tall, graceful form pushing over the dunes to meet us.

Rachel!

I jumped up. Ax was back to work on his kite, muttering something about thick, clumsy human fingers. The others all now engaged in a game of Frisbee that seemed to involve a lot of splashing.

I started to run toward Rachel. She saw me and smiled. I slowed as I neared her, breathing hard.

And suddenly I had my arms around her. I buried my face in her hair. She held me tightly.

"Bad," she said.

"Yeah," I whispered. "Real bad. I came close to, you know. Awfully close. I was so ... I mean, I didn't ..." I took a couple of shaky breaths. "I lost myself. Didn't know who I was. Not sure I do now."

"Tobias," she said quietly, "I know who you are."

A long, long time while neither of us spoke. Neither of us moved.

Then, she said, "Hey, it's nice and warm. But there are some killer thermals."

I smiled. "Let's fly."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Right after I do this."

She kissed me.

"Okay, now let's fly," she said and laughed her wild, wicked, self-mocking Rachel laugh.

And in a short time we were coasting on a thermal, high over the beach. Over the distant hills.

Over the city. Over everything.

The memory of the mission was far behind. The close call with death forgotten. For a while.

Who am I? What am I? A bird. A boy. Something not quite human. Something more than human. The person Rachel loves.

I discovered something amid the pain and terror and confusion. I discovered that the answer to what I am, to who I am, isn't something to be answered in a single word or a single moment.

It could take a lifetime to figure out who I am.

For now, I'm willing to hang in there, floating on a thermal. Biding my time.

So we end the book with metaphysics, a kiss and thermals.

So I don't know if this book touched you the way it did me. A lot of the books deal with serious or heartrending topics, but this one, for me, seemed really bad, because torture is certainly a problem in the real world, unlike alien invasion. Torturers don't use high tech stuff like Taylor's magic pain button. They don't need to, but the damage torture does, both physical and mental, is still real.

Therefore, what I'd like to do is to link to The Center for Victims of Torture, Minnesota based organization that provides help to victims of torture and anti-torture research and advocacy. It has an 84% rating on Charity Navigator, so if you end up donating, money will go to a good cause. Obviously this isn't sponsored by Something Awful or anything like that. You won't get a gang tag if you donate or anything like that, just the satisfaction of knowing you've helped some people.

I'll also say it's obviously been a tough couple of years for people. Covid has disrupted everybody's life, and beyond the fear and suffering the disease itself caused, it ruined businesses, put people out of work, and left a lot of people in a precarious situation, so, I'll say, don't feel any pressure to donate, and if you, don't donate more than you can afford. I just think these people do good work, and wanted to bring them to your attention.

This has been a pretty heavy book, and Christmas is coming for those who celebrate it, so lets do this. We'll wait until Monday to start the new book, which is book 34, The Prophecy, ghostwritten by Melinda Metz, who also wrote Book 29 (the Yeerk Peace Movement/Cassie realizes she IS a brain surgeon after all book)

Fuschia tude

Dec 18, 2021 02:07

I can't be sure, but I think I could have really used this book back then.

Epicurius posted:

So I don't know if this book touched you the way it did me. A lot of the books deal with serious or heartrending topics, but this one, for me, seemed really bad, because torture is certainly a problem in the real world, unlike alien invasion.

I don't know about that. Science fiction is pretty much always metaphorical. People project their hopes and fears into these speculative scenarios; spaceships and lasers really aren't the point, even in "hard" sci fi. Lots of people around the world have been, and are, worrying about invasion and colonization. The idea that any given person you run into on the street might want you dead through no fault of your own, might be your enemy, and you have no way of knowing just by looking at them, is a reality for many people around the world today. These are an abstracted threat, yes, but I think a very relatable one.

HisMajestyBOB

Dec 18, 2021 21:02

That last chapter :3:

This is one of the strongest books in the series.

HIJK

Dec 19, 2021 01:38

I remember this book being a turning point for Tobias. It's a tough read but a good one.

I'm still a little annoyed at Rachel not being sensitive to the time Tobias had spent in human morph at the beginning of the book though I understand why it was necessary for setting up Tobias's inner turmoil.

freebooter

Dec 19, 2021 05:34

Good, solid book, but I definitely get why I didn't really connect with it as a kid. I'm all for putting adult themes into kids' books, but... well, I mean, I've obviously never been tortured, or held prisoner, but as an adult I think I understand pain and powerlessness as broad concepts better than I ever could have as a kid. (Though I also had a relatively privileged upbringing, so obviously there are lots of kids out there for whom this would have struck a chord - this is just my personal take.)

I'm also glad that they seem to have dropped (at least I can't remember when I last saw it) Ax playing around with mouth sounds every sentence when he's in human morph. It's run its course and is no longer amusing for a character whom we're meant to take seriously.

mind the walrus

Dec 19, 2021 08:30

freebooter posted:

I'm also glad that they seem to have dropped (at least I can't remember when I last saw it) Ax playing around with mouth sounds every sentence when he's in human morph. It's run its course and is no longer amusing for a character whom we're meant to take seriously.

Not only that but Ax's whole "mouth sounds" bit has some very troubling subtext.

We know Applegate and her husband were big Star Trek fans. It's well-known how important Spock and Data were to the first two series as Neurodiverse-coded characters, specifically autistic characters. Ax is definitely coded with some autistic tropes when he's in human form, and the most prominent is definitely his mouth sounds. It's a form of echolalia:

(the image is obviously about literal children; by the time you reach adulthood it tends to be more of a private self-soothe for anxiety and not a lack of cognition/understanding)

We'll probably never know if they stopped because they realized the "bit" wasn't endearing, figured Ax would have grown out of it by now, found the bit tonally inconsistent with the plots at this point in the story, or if they got pushback and realized they were making a bad choice, or some combination of all of the above... but whatever way yeah I'm fucking happy to have that gone.

OctaviusBeaver

Dec 19, 2021 09:22

Do you think Visser 3 went absolutely insane for cinnamon buns the first time he morphed human?

WrightOfWay

Dec 19, 2021 17:19

OctaviusBeaver posted:

Do you think Visser 3 went absolutely insane for cinnamon buns the first time he morphed human?

He has been a Hork-Bajir before so eating was nothing new to him, even if it might have been for Alloran. Also Visser 3 is probably incapable of feeling pleasure without hurting someone.

Tree Bucket

Dec 19, 2021 18:31

WrightOfWay posted:

He has been a Hork-Bajir before so eating was nothing new to him, even if it might have been for Alloran. Also Visser 3 is probably incapable of feeling pleasure without hurting someone.

Visser 3 resents his herbivore body.
Things'd get pretty grim if Andalites were carnivorous.

(V3 at the wheel of a combine harvester, yelling FOOLS as various small rodents scurry out of the path of the header blades)

Epicurius

Dec 20, 2021 20:56

Ok, I hope everyone had a good weekend. We're back and it's time for

Animorphs Book 34-The Prophecy
Chapter 1

quote:

My name is Cassie. Just Cassie. At least that's all I'm going to tell you. It's not because I think I'm so special I only need one name. I know I'm not Jewel or Brandy or Beck.

I'm actually pretty ordinary. If you saw me walking down one of the halls at your school, you probably wouldn't give me a second look. Unless it was one of the days when I had a little bird poop on my jeans from working with my dad in his Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. If it was a bird-poop day, you might give me a second "oh-gross" look.

But I really am your basic, average girl. A first and last name plus middle initial kind of girl.

Except for the fact that I spend most of my time trying to stop the Yeerk invasion of Earth.

That's why I can only tell you my first name. If the Yeerks knew my last name, I'd be dead. No, worse than dead.

Let me give you the Cliffs Notes version.

Fact: Yeerks are alien parasites that have the appearance of small gray slugs. They enter their hosts through the ear canal, then spread their soft bodies into the crevices of their hosts' brains.

Fact: The Yeerks have already enslaved many species, including the Hork-Bajir, the Gedds, and the Taxxons, although the Taxxons submitted willingly. Now the Yeerks have targeted the entire human race for use as hosts.

Fact: You already know someone who is controlled by a Yeerk. You just don't know you know someone who is controlled by a Yeerk. Yeerks can access their hosts' memories and make them act exactly the way they always have. A human host, called a Controller, cannot move a single muscle unless the Yeerk in his or her head gives the order.

Fact: The Animorphs may be your only hope of escaping becoming a human-Controller yourself. The Animorphs are me and four of my friends - Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Tobias. A great Andalite prince named Elfangor gave us the power to morph into animals. He knew he was about to die, and he didn't want to leave Earth completely defenseless against the Yeerks. Later we were joined in our fight by Elfangor's younger brother, Ax. Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.

Usually the six of us work as a team, but tonight I had a secret mission, and I didn't want too many people around. I asked Rachel if she'd be my backup, and of course she agreed.

You should see Rachel. She's like Stone Cold Steve Austin crossed with Miss Teen USA. Unlike me, Rachel is someone who could pull off the whole I'm-so-special-I-only-need-one-name deal even if she didn't have to keep her identity a secret.

"So are we going in or what?" Rachel asked me.

I stared up at the old Victorian house. A single light burned in one window. A loose shutter kept swinging back and forth on its hinges. The screeching sound made the hair at the back of my neck prickle.

"We're going in," I answered, ignoring the prickling sensation.

"This plan of yours is ... what's the word I'm looking for?" Rachel asked. "Oh, yeah. Insane. As in Looney Toeowww -"

Rachel's words turned into a high meow. Her vocal cords had started to change first.

"We have to do this," I told her as her nose narrowed and sprouted fur. "It's life and death."

I watched Rachel for a few more moments. She was going to use her cat morph to go into the house. I was going to use my rat morph. I figured it couldn't hurt to give her a little head start. That way she'd be in total control of her cat brain before I became all small and delicious.

When a fluffy black-and-white tail sprang out of Rachel's rear, I decided I'd waited long enough. I focused on the rat DNA inside me, and instantly felt my hands begin to wither.

Morphing is easier for me than anyone else in the group. Maybe it's because I spend so much time around animals. I don't know.

But even for me, morphing isn't a smooth transformation. It's not like my body shrinks first, then grows hair, then shoots out whiskers and a tail.

No, morphing is a lot less logical than that. Grosser, too. Like right now I had little tiny hands, and I could feel coarse hair popping out on my back. But otherwise, I still looked like me.

Then my ears rolled up to the top of my head, and my eyeballs contracted until they were the size

of BBs. I felt a sloshing, twisting sensation as my internal organs began to shift and shrink. My nose and mouth stretched, merged, then reformed. My teeth sharpened. A wave of dizziness engulfed me as I fell toward the ground, my body shrinking to the size of a ... of a rat. My hairless, ropey tail appeared and I was done.

<Dog door by the porch, but the dog pee smells in the yard are stale,> Rachel announced in thought-speak.

My little rat heart was racing. My little rat brain was ordering me to run, run, run away from the cat. I clamped down on my new instincts. It's easier when you've already morphed a particular animal before, as I had done with the rat. The first time can be tough, though.

<After you,> I answered.

Rachel took off across the lawn, her body low to the ground. I scurried behind her. The grass brushed up against my belly and tickled my nose.

Without a sound, Rachel slipped through the dog door. <You could have held it open for me,> I complained. I gave the door a head butt. It opened wide enough for me to scramble through.

<There was only one light on,> I reminded Rachel. <Upstairs. Left. Let's try there first.>

We beat feet to the staircase. It would take me forever to haul myself up all those stairs. I decided to take the rat ramp instead. I dug my claws into the wood and climbed the side of the banister. Then I ran straight up.

Of course, Rachel still got to the top before me. I half-climbed, half-fell off the banister and followed her down the hall to the lighted room. I hoped we hadn't gotten here too late.

I took a quick peek inside. Yes! My math teacher was sitting at a desk grading papers. At least I knew this was the right place.

I ducked back. <We have to wait until ->

EEEEEEE!

<She saw us!> Rachel cried. <Get out! Now!>

<That wasn't her,> I shot back. <Teakettle. She'll be coming out. Hide!>

I pressed myself tight against the wall. I squeezed my eyes shut tight so she wouldn't see them glistening in the shadows.

I felt the floor begin to vibrate. Did she see me? Did she see me?

No. Her big feet walked right on by.

<Now's our chance,> Rachel said. <Let's do it!> She darted into the room and leaped up onto the desk. <What am I looking for exactly?>

<A doodle. It's, um, of a ... a heart,> I stammered. I tried to climb up the desk leg. But it was metal. My claws couldn't get a grip.

<Think I see it,> Rachel answered. <If the heart has "Cassie Loves Jake" printed in the middle with a really dorky cupid drawn next to it.>

<That's it. I accidentally turned it in with my test. Just get it. And don't say anything,> I warned Rachel.

<Nothing?>

<Nothing! Not. One. Word.>

Rachel laughed and leaped down off the desk with the sheet of paper in her teeth. <Okay, you're my best friend. So not one word. Especially not "Awww, isn't that sweet?" And definitely not "Cassie is in lo-ove, Cassie is in lo-ove." And no way I'd ever say ->

So we start with the standard summary of the series, and once again, the kids who have agreed to not use morphing for personal reasons are using morphing for personal reasons.

Chapter 2

quote:

The cool night air fluttered my owl feathers as I flapped toward home. I tightened my right talon around the doodle. There was no way I was going to lose it again.

I still couldn't believe I'd turned it in to a teacher. Was love turning my brain to mush, or what? I wondered if Jake ever did stupid stuff because he was daydreaming about me.

We never talked about things like that. We'd never even used the "L" word to each other. That's what Rachel calls it. The "L" word.

But even though he'd never said it out loud, I knew that Jake loved me. And I knew Jake knew I loved him, even though I'd never said it out loud, either.

That was totally clear when we kissed. Yes, even though we don't walk around groping each other like some couples, we have kissed a few times. Usually right after we've managed to survive something horrible. It's usually an "l-can't-believe-we're-alive!" kiss.

Not that I'm complaining. Well, not exactly. I have to admit it would be nice to kiss Jake after a movie instead of after a battle or some other near-death experience.

I dropped one wing and made a sharp turn. The back of our barn came into sight.

Hork-Bajir!

The distinctive nightmare shape moved through the shadows that were bright as day to me. Just one. One was enough.

Shouldn't be here! Couldn't be here! The Yeerks, they had to know everything!

No!

The image of my parents being ripped to bits by the Hork-Bajir's blades blasted into my brain. Images of other Yeerks rounding up my friends. Doors kicked in, Dracon beams firing, flashing blades. Rachel. Jake.

No! NO!

Couldn't worry about them. Not now. Focus! Had to stop this one Hork-Bajir. Just this one. Then ...

Land on the other side of the barn, demorph, then morph to wolf, attack, attack!

No time. It would take too long. Too late! The Hork-Bajir could ... what was a lone Hork-Bajir doing here? One by himself? Irrelevant!
Focus!

What would Rachel do? Attack right now. She wouldn't wait to morph. She'd swoop down and rake the Hork-Bajir with her talons.

Attack now.

I focused on the Hork-Bajir and flew straight for it. I'd aim for the eyes. While it was staggering around blind, I'd morph from owl to human to wolf. Or polar bear. Then I'd go for the throat. I could almost taste the flesh already.

Closer. Closer. I stretched out my talons, preparing to strike. A noiseless night-stalker designed by nature for much smaller prey.

I flew between the light above the shed and the Hork-Bajir. The Hork-Bajir spun, alerted by my shadow. He would slice me in half!

Then, in the light, at the last possible moment ...

<Aaaahhh!>

I jerked my talons back and spun my body hard to the left. I crash-landed in the dirt a few feet away from the Hork-Bajir. I wasn't hurt but I was definitely shaking.

I lay there on my side in the dirt, a wing crumpled beneath me.
<Hi, Jara Hamee,> I said. <Lovely night for a walk.>

This Hork-Bajir wasn't a Controller, wasn't a creature of the Yeerks. It was Jara Hamee, one of the tiny group of free Hork-Bajir. I'd almost blinded him. The thought made me nauseous.

But my entire universe was being put back in place in my mind now. No attack on my parents. The Yeerks did not know about us. No violent assault to seize Jake and Rachel, Ax and Tobias and Marco.

None of that was happening. And eventually my heart would stop hammering like it was trying to get out of my rib cage.

I concentrated on my own DNA and demorphed as fast as I could. <What are you doing here, Jara? It's too dangerous for you to be away from your valley.>

The colony of free Hork-Bajir live in a hidden valley created for them by a being called the Ellimist. Even if you know exactly where it is, it's hard to find. Your eyes just seem to slide away from it. Your mind just seems to want to forget it. It's the only place that the Hork-Bajir are at all safe from the Yeerks. Or from humans for that matter. Most humans who saw a Hork-Bajir would shoot first, ask questions later. It's not hard to understand why. The Hork-Bajir look as if they were designed to kill. But they are among the gentlest creatures I've ever encountered.

They're even vegetarians. The razor-sharp blades on their ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows are for stripping bark off trees. That's what they eat. Bark.

"Need help," Jara answered. "Toby say, 'Father, get human friends. Bring.'"

I emerged into fully human form. "Why? What happened? What's wrong?" I demanded. Amazing how now my human heart was still beating way too fast from the adrenaline rush of sheer terror.

Jara rocked back and forth on his big T. Rex feet. "Alien come valley."

"The Yeerks? They found you?!" I cried. "Did they attack you? What's the situation?"

Talking to Jara Hamee was sort of like talking to a four-year-old. Which was fine usually. But not now. Every second wasted could be putting the free Hork-Bajir in danger.

"Not Yeerks," Jara explained. "Arn. From the old world. Arn ... make ... Hork-Bajir."

If you don't remember the Arm from the Hork-Bajir Chronicles, they were the original inhabitants of the Hork-Bajir homeworld....three foot tall pterodactyl aliens who were master geneticists, who, after an asteroid devastated their homeworld, created the giant trees to help stabilize the planet and the Hork-Bajir to take care of the trees. They also helped the Andalites create the biological weapon that would wipe out the Hork-Bajir.

Capfalcon

Dec 20, 2021 21:24

Side note: Cassie is, once again, ice cold in her plan to murder that supposed Hork-Bajir controller.

Epicurius

Dec 20, 2021 21:50

Capfalcon posted:

Side note: Cassie is, once again, ice cold in her plan to murder that supposed Hork-Bajir controller.

Cassie is no doubt willing to kill to protect herself and the people she cares about.

Epicurius

Dec 21, 2021 21:30

Chapter 3

quote:

<An Arn, on Earth? Here? Why? That's the question. What's he up to?> Rachel wondered.

<He had to come. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace isn't coming out on DVD there for, like, two years. He buys up a bunch of copies here, takes 'em home, makes a fortune.>

<Good grief, Marco, you live science fiction, why do you want to watch science fiction?>

<Don't be dissing TPM,> Marco said. <Cool is cool.>

The whole group was in bird-of-prey morph. It was the fastest way to get to the Hork-Bajir valley. The night had passed. The sun had come up on a new day. A beautiful, cool Saturday morning.

The deep green forest foothills below us, the towering cumulus above. It was almost hot in the direct sunlight, cooler under the shadow of the Mount Everest-sized clouds.

<If he's hoping to pick up some new slaves in the colony, he can forget it,> Rachel continued. <The Hork-Bajir are never going to be Am slaves again. We'll see to that.>

Rachel wasn't being totally accurate. The Hork-Bajir were never slaves on their home planet.

Not exactly. It's not like the Am made the Hork-Bajir wait on them hand and foot.

What we knew of all this came from Tobias, who'd heard the story from Jara Hamee. There was a terrible cataclysm on the planet we call the Hork-Bajir home world, but in those days the planet was populated only by the Am. It shattered the planet's crust and stripped away much of the atmosphere. The Am who survived needed trees to provide oxygen. Lots of exceedingly large trees.

They didn't feel like taking care of the trees themselves. Solution? They used genetic engineering to design creatures of low intelligence who ate tree bark: the Hork-Bajir.

An elegantly simple solution for the Am who were masters of genetic manipulation.

The Hork-Bajir just lived their lives, utterly unaware that the Arn even existed deep down in the impossibly steep valleys. They took care of the trees they depended on for food. They did what came naturally. Did what the Arn designed them to do.

Then came the Yeerks.

The Yeerks didn't see tree maintenance workers when they saw the Hork-Bajir. They saw an army. They made the Hork-Bajir their hosts. They took the peaceful creatures away from their home planet and began using them as killing machines, shock troops of the Yeerk Empire.

There's a longer story there, but that's the short version.

<Rachel, you know, there are some nice thermals today, we have a sweet little tailwind,> Tobias said. <You don't have to exhaust yourself with all that flapping.>

Tobias is the expert. Tobias is, or was, trapped in red-tailed hawk morph. He regained his ability to morph, but he's chosen to consider hawk as his true body.

Long story there, too.

I stretched open my wings and caught one of those thermals. The warm air lifted up my osprey body.

A couple of thermals later I spotted about twenty Hork-Bajir clustered together in the center of the valley. Adults and kids. Seeing the kids was especially cool. They were the first Hork-Bajir in generations to be born into freedom.

We circled down from the clouds and landed, one by one. All of us demorphed, except Tobias. Toby Hamee moved away from the group to greet us. Toby is the daughter of Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak. She's what the Hork-Bajir call "different." She's what the Am call a freak of nature. She is a seer. A Hork-Bajir whose intelligence matches that of the Arn themselves.

"Thank you for coming. We felt the need of your advice."

"No problemo," Marco said. "It was either this or wash my dad's car."

"The Am landed last evening in a small Yeerk ship. We nearly killed him, thinking he was a Controller. He has some sort of plan in mind. We told him to wait so we could bring you to advise us."

"We're flattered," Jake said, "but you don't need us."

"I do need you," Toby said. "I especially need you," she added, looking at Ax. "If I understand his goal, we could use an Andalite's opinion."

"Let's see what he's got to say," Jake said.

We followed Toby over to the Hork-Bajir. They moved closer together to make room for us in the circle.

The Arn stood in the center. The first thing I noticed about him was his eyes. They glittered like diamonds lit from within. Their intensity dazzled me.

I blinked a few times, and began to take in more details of the Arn's appearance. He had four legs, two elongated arms, and a pair of short wings. He was about half as tall as Ax and his skin was a vibrant emerald-green.

I stared at the Arn. We'd gotten almost used to seeing alien races: Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, Andalites, Howlers. Almost. There was still something unsettling about seeing something, someone who was so definitely not from around here.

And even by the standards of aliens, the Arn was bizarre. He stood, surrounded by seven-foot tall nightmares, watched by a deceptively peaceful-looking Andalite, a hawk, and a gaggle of badly dressed kids.

And he was still the strangest being there. And all the more strange to me because I could see, or felt I could see, a deep, unreachable sadness behind those glittering, unhuman eyes.

"These are humans," the Arn said, nodding. "Yes. I spent a day waiting in orbit, learning your languages. You have many interesting languages but your biology is not at all remarkable, I'm afraid. Two arms, two legs, a most unstable platform. And entirely lacking in physical innovation: simple bilateral symmetry for the most part."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too," Rachel said. "What are you up to, what do you want?"

"I am Arn."

<We know about the Arn,> Tobias said. <We know your species.>

If the glittery-eyed creature was shocked at being addressed by a bird he didn't show it.

"I am Quafijinivon," he said. "The species you claim to know is no more. And I am the last of the Arn.

So The Phantom Menace reference dates this book, and sure enough, it came out in September, 1999, while Phantom Menace came out in May, 1999. Also, while it's sad that Quafijinivon is the last Arn, it's not necessarily surprising. If you remember the Hork-Bajir Chonicles, they altered themselves so they'd die if they were infested, so the Yeerks used them as slaves and target practice. While one Arn is still left, I'm putting the Arn on our genocide list.

Chapter 4

quote:

I have come to give the Hork-Bajir a chance for freedom and rebirth. And revenge against the Yeerks. I have a plan that will require your assistance."

"Who's going to give them a shot at revenge against you, Arn?" Rachel muttered.

"Ten bucks says whatever he has in mind ends up with us screaming and running," Marco said.

Quafijinivon's small red mouth pursed disapprovingly. "I have very little time, humans. No time at all for pleasantries. I will live for only four hundred and twelve more days, give or take a few hours, that is a biological fact."

<There are forces other than biology,> Ax said. He gave his deadly tail just the slightest little twitch.

"Yes, well, an Andalite. Charming, as always." He made a grimace that might have been a smile. "Recently I intercepted a Yeerk transmission and learned to my amazement that a free Hork-Bajir colony existed on Earth. I risked everything to steal a Yeerk ship, and have traveled a great distance to find -"

"Do the Yeerks know the location of the colony?" Jake interrupted.

"No," Quafijinivon answered. "I found it myself. We Arn long ago developed technology to track our -"

"What exactly is this plan of yours?" Rachel demanded.

The Arn shot her a quelling look, clearly displeased to have been interrupted a second time. "My plan is to collect samples of the DNA of the free Hork-Bajir. With their permission," he added quickly. "I would then use the DNA to create a new colony on my home planet."

<To do what? Fight the Yeerks for you?> Tobias asked. He edged back and forth on the log he was using as a perch. <ls that what you meant when you said the Hork-Bajir would get revenge?>

I could practically feel the disapproval coming off him. Tobias is probably closer to the Hork- Bajir than any of the rest of us. Toby Hamee is named after him. Toby for Tobias.

"To fight the Yeerks, yes," Quafijinivon replied. "But not for me. To regain their planet. To regain what the Yeerks took from them."

And from you, I thought. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out people's motives. But I wasn't sure what the Arn's deal was yet. Was he trying to help the Hork-Bajir? Or was he just trying somehow to help himself?

Jake shook his head. "Even if the Hork-Bajir agreed, how would some small colony win a war against the Yeerks? No ships. No orbital weapons platforms. Not even handheld Dracon beams."

"Yeah, the Yeerks have these cute little things called weapons," Marco added.

"So would the Hork-Bajir," Quafijinivon answered. "Before they lost their lives to the Yeerks, Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan and Dak Hamee stole an entire transport ship filled with handheld Dracon beams, as well as a good supply of very sophisticated explosives."

I saw Jake and Marco exchange a look.

Marco shrugged. "No question that opening a new front against the Yeerks would be helpful. A guerilla war on the Hork-Bajir home world would pull Yeerk resources away from Earth, away from the Andalites."

"This isn't our fight," I pointed out. I nodded toward Jara Hamee and Toby. "I think we're just here to advise."

Jake winced, realizing he'd been playing boss.

"I will do whatever I can to continue the work of Aldrea and Dak Hamee," Toby said guardedly.

"A DNA sample is little enough to ask."

Aldrea and Dak were Toby's great-grandparents. They were heroes to the Hork-Bajir because they had led the battle against the Yeerks. And lost their lives in the fight.

"I give, too," Jara answered.

The other Hork-Bajir all chimed in. All agreeing to allow Quafijinivon to harvest their DNA, despite the fact that none of them besides Toby had any idea what DNA was.

Quafijinivon lowered his head. "I thank you," he told them. "But that is only the beginning. There is one more thing I must ask before I can move forward with my plan."

"Uh-oh," Marco said in a loud stage whisper. "Here it comes."

The Am turned his weird eyes toward me and the other Animorphs. "Aldrea and Dak Hamee hid the weapons. I have been unable to recover them. We Arn are perhaps unequaled in our biological science. But we have no great technological skill."

<So what do you propose?> Ax asked. <Do you plan to create new Hork-Bajir and send them out to search for the weapons?>

"No. That would be self-defeating. I have something rather more ... unusual in mind."

<Unusual is our middle name,> Tobias said dryly.

"I have in my possession the Ixcila of Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan."

<Seerow's daughter?> Ax exclaimed.

"Ixcila?" Jake repeated.

"Her stored persona," Quafijinivon explained impatiently. "Her brain wave patterns. Her memories. Her personality. Her essence."

His voice had started to sound quavery, and for the first time I realized that he was old and weak. It's impossible to tell the age of an alien till you know what to look for.

"The Atafalxical must be performed. It is the only way to unlock the Ixcila. But the Ceremony of Rebirth will not succeed unless there is a strong receptacle mind available, a mind as strong as Aldrea's own."

Receptacle mind. The phrase repeated itself in my head until it became nothing more than a jumble of sounds. An echo that felt important but whose meaning I could not grasp. I felt that something-crawling-up-your-neck sensation that warns of disaster approaching. The tornado is coming, Auntie Em.

"If all goes well, the Ixcila will move into the receptacle mind, and we will be able to communicate with Aldrea," Quafijinivon continued. "She will be able to lead us to the weapons."

"And what happens to the receptacle?" Jake asked.

"Oh, it will be undamaged, if that is what concerns you," Quafijinivon answered. "The receptacle mind simply shares space with the Ixcila until the Ixcila is returned to storage."

The Arn pulled in a wheezing breath. "Only one in four Ceremonies are actually completed. The appropriate receptacle mind is essential. Aldrea's Ixcila will be attracted to someone most like she was. Someone strong, fierce, independent. Presumably female. Hork-Bajir or Andalite, most likely, but I suppose she might gravitate toward a human. If such a human female existed."

"Oh, I think I know where one could be found," Marco said.

So, the Animorphs clearly don't trust the Arn, which is probably smart. That being said, this is a tremendous opportunity, both for the Animorphs and the Hork-Bajir.

Capfalcon

Dec 21, 2021 21:57

First thought was that the Animorphs were more than a little caviler showing themselves to this Arn, followed swiftly by the realization that, if this Arn knows where the free colony is, he's never leaving there alive unless they allow it.

Second, I suppose that Ritual of Rebirth is probably an Arn thing, not an Andalite thing due to Ax only reacting to the name of the memories, not the ritual itself. Given how things generally went with the Arn, I wouldn't be surprised if this brain scan was not really done with her approval.

Comrade Blyatlov

Dec 21, 2021 22:12

A+ trolling, Marco.

Capfalcon

Dec 22, 2021 09:57

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

A+ trolling, Marco.

It would be a pretty good joke to have the plot happen to someone who isn't the narrator for once, and Cassie just watches her friend become someone else for a while.

It definitely isn't happening, but it would get a good laugh out of me.

Epicurius

Dec 22, 2021 19:53

Chapter 5

quote:

"And the next words out of Rachel's mouth will be ..."

"I'll do it," Rachel said, giving Marco a self-mocking look.

"Bingo," Marco said.

"I don't consider myself worthy of the honor," Toby said, "but I, too, will volunteer."

I kept quiet. The description fit Rachel and Toby. Not me.

We debated. We argued. Rachel for. Tobias for. Ax and Marco against. Jake listening, weighing, considering whether to once more put us all in harm's way. Me? I just felt unsettled.

I knew how the debate would end. It was a chance to hurt the Yeerks. It was a chance to help the free Hork-Bajir. A no-brainer, morally or strategically.

Except for the fact that, as Marco pointed out, it was insane. We very seldom ended up refusing to do what was insane.

Quafijinivon asked if there was some more confined space nearby. The Hork-Bajir led us to a cave.

I shivered. I told myself it was because the cave was cold.

 Ax said. He turned all four of his eyes toward the Arn. <You claim that the receptacle will share space with the Ixcila of Aldrea until it is time for it to be returned to storage.>

"That is correct," Quafijinivon answered. His eyes were as bright as stars in the darkness.

<What if Aldrea does not wish to leave the receptacle after she helps us find the weapons?> Ax asked. <ls there some way to force her to do so?>

There was a long moment of silence. The kind of silence that feels as if it sucks half the oxygen out of the air.

"Aldrea must choose to release her hold on the receptacle," Quafijinivon said, not exactly answering the question Ax had asked.

Ax rolled one eye stalk toward Rachel and one toward Toby. We'd all agreed that Aldrea would be drawn to one of them ... if the so-called Ceremony worked at all.

Rachel, because of her Rachelness. Toby, because she was Aldrea's great-granddaughter and a Hork-Bajir seer.

<And if she doesn't chose to release her hold?> Ax prodded.

"We could probably sell the story rights to Lifetime for big bucks," Marco commented. "This is so television for women. Two strong, independent girls. One body."

Toby turned to Ax. "You only ask this because you don't trust Aldrea. As an Andalite you mistrust anyone who would choose to permanently become Hork-Bajir," she accused.

Toby's gifts didn't just make her more articulate than the other Hork-Bajir. They made her more insightful. More capable of drawing conclusions.

I wondered if she was right about Ax. The thought of an Andalite choosing to become Hork- Bajir had to be repellent to Ax. Almost sacrilegious. Andalites are not known for their humility.

But I understood Aldrea's choice. More than that, I admired it. I admired her. Aldrea discovered that her own fellow Andalites had created a virus targeted to kill the Hork-Bajir. It was a coldblooded, military-minded decision. The Andalites knew they would lose the Hork-Bajir planet. They knew that if the Hork-Bajir survived in large numbers they would be used as weapons for the Yeerks.

And that with such troops the Yeerks would have a much-strengthened chance of conquering other planets throughout the galaxies.

The leader of the desperate Andalite forces on the planet made the call. Later it was disavowed by the Andalite people. Too late to stop what happened. Sometimes, in war, even the "good guys" do awful things.

Once Aldrea learned of the virus, she was forced to choose between her own people and Dak Hamee, the Hork-Bajir seer she had come to love. She chose Dak. She stayed in Hork-Bajir morph until the change became permanent. Aldrea and Dak vowed to fight both the Yeerks and the Andalites.

They died keeping this vow.

Ax shifted his weight from one hoof to the other. he finally said.

"I did not mean to sound suspicious of my Andalite friend," Toby said with no sincerity whatsoever.

<The Hork-Bajir have reason to be ... hesitant ... about trusting the Andalites,> Ax allowed.

Toby bowed her head graciously. Then she said, "I, too, want an answer, Arn."

Quafijinivon sighed. "If Aldrea does not choose to release her hold, there is no way to force her to do so," he confessed.

"I see. I trust my great-grandmother," Toby said firmly. "If she chooses me for this honor I will trust my freedom to her."

"Okay. Rachel? It's your call," Jake told her.

He clearly felt obligated to ask the question even though anyone who knows Rachel also knew what her answer would be.

"I still say let's do it," she said.

No surprise there. Rachel wouldn't have been Rachel if she'd said anything else.

Quafijinivon nodded. He reached into a small metallic pouch hanging from a cord around his neck and pulled out a small vial. The liquid inside glowed green.

"Isn't that what nuclear waste looks like?" Marco asked in a loud whisper.

"We gather to conduct the Atafalxical," Quafijinivon began. "The Ceremony of Rebirth is an occasion for both solemnity and joy, for grieving and celebration."

"Not to mention a severe case of the willies," Marco said under his breath.

If he was close enough I would have elbowed him. Not that it would have shut him up. Solemnity just isn't part of Marco's repertoire.

Quafijinivon continued with the ceremony as if he hadn't heard Marco. He pulled the stopper out of the vial and a wisp of vapor escaped. A moment later the inside of my nose started to burn, although I couldn't smell anything except the odor of damp cave.

"We call on Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan," Quafijinivon said. He reached into the pouch again. I squinted, trying to see what he'd removed. It looked like a small piece of metal.

It must have been some kind of catalyst, because the instant he dropped it into the vial, the liquid turned from green to a fluorescent scarlet. Its light washed over those closest to it.

Rachel's fair skin appeared to have been drenched in blood. Toby's green flesh had darkened until it was almost black.

Quafijinivon added another piece of metal to the vial. "We call on Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan," he repeated.

"Paging Stephen King," Marco said quietly. "R.L Stine calling Stephen King with a message from Anne Rice."

The liquid in the vial thickened. It began to contract and expand. In and out. In and out.

My heart began to beat to the same rhythm. I could feel it in my chest and in the base of my throat. I could feel it in my ears and in my fingertips.

"We call on Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan. We call on Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan."

Quafijinivon repeated the words again and again, stamping his feet as he cried them out. "We call on Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan." His voice grew louder. His feet stamped so hard they sent a vibration through the rock floor of the cave.

The liquid in the vial contracted and expanded faster. In and out. In and out. In and out.

My heartbeat matched the new rhythm.

"We. Call. On. Aldrea. Iskillion. Falan," Quafijinivon wailed.

"If I see one single zombie I am -"

The cave floor jerked under my feet. I stumbled forward and landed on my knees in front of the Arn.

"The receptacle has been chosen!" Quafijinivon shouted.

He reached out and put his hand on my head. "Will you accept the Ixcila of Aldrea-Iskillion- Falan?"

What? What? She chose me?

That couldn't be right.

"Will you accept the Ixcila?" Quafijinivon repeated, his voice echoing in the cave.

"No!" Jake snapped.

But there was only one answer I could give.

"Yes."

R.L. Stine was, of course, the writer of Goosebumps, which was the more popular Scholastic series. Also, "Sometimes, in war, even the "good guys" do awful things." is a good thing to remember.

Chapter 6

quote:

I braced myself for ... for what, I didn't know.

I once had a Yeerk in my head. I know the sensation of another being invading me. I know the violation of having my most private memories exposed. I know the horror of losing control over my own arms and legs and mouth. But I felt none of these things now.

"She chose Cassie?" I heard Rachel mumble. "I feel so ten minutes ago."

"May I speak to my great-grandmother now?" Toby asked eagerly. Her voice was filled with awe. She revealed none of Rachel's bemused resentment.

I swallowed, then swallowed again. My throat felt as dry and scratchy as sandpaper. "I'm sorry, Toby. I don't think the Ceremony was-"
I began. Then I realized something was different.

Have you ever been taking a test and totally blanked? You read a question. You know you know the answer. You know you memorized it when you were studying. But you can't get to it. It's like there's a wall in your brain separating you from the information. That's how I felt now. And the wall was enormous. High and long and solid.

I was pretty sure Aldrea was on the other side of the wall. But nothing was getting through. I wasn't picking up even a fragment of a thought or a hint of an emotion. The only thing I knew was that something, some force, some bundle of sensations, some object or person was sitting inside my mind. It was as if she was behind me, or beside me, but turning my head I couldn't see her. There but
not visible. There nevertheless.

"Cassie, are you okay? What happened?" Jake asked calmly. Too calmly.

"Did the Ixcila take root?" Quafijinivon asked, his voice breaking. It was the first real emotion the Arn had shown. He wanted this to work. Needed it to work.

"Shhh," I said. "Please, just shhh, all of you."

I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn't want any outside stimulus right now.

"Aldrea?" I called aloud, softly, tentatively, feeling like an idiot talking to the dripping, dank cave walls.

No answer.

Aldrea! I repeated, this time silently, hoping she could hear my directed thought. If you're there, please try to say something to me.

No answer.

<Well, this is odd,> Tobias said. <Like a séance. All we need is a Ouija board.>

She had to be totally disoriented. I wondered if she'd been able to experience anything while she was in storage. Did she have any idea she had been taken to a planet in a different galaxy? Had she been aware that the Ceremony was taking place? Did she realize she wasn't in the vial now?

Did she know she was dead?

"Aldrea, if you can hear me, I want you to know that you're safe," I said.

"Safe as a dead person can be," Marco said.

<Who's safer than a dead person?> Tobias asked rhetorically.

"Aldrea, you're sharing my brain and body. My name is Cassie. I'm a human girl. I live on planet Earth. An Arn just performed the Atafal -"

<Arn?!>

Red dots exploded in front of my eyes. The question in my head was so loud and forceful it made me dizzy.

There was definitely a hole in the wall now. I could feel Aldrea's emotions coming through.

Anger was the strongest.

<Where ... what has ... what have you done to me, Arn?> she demanded. <What have you done?>

Her voice was a noise like a chainsaw in my brain. "Ah! Ah! Ah! Aldrea, stop! Please, stop! You're hurting me!" I yelled.

Jake grabbed me around the shoulders and held me up. My knees had given way.

I felt a welling up of pain from Aldrea, an echo, and knew that my silent scream had hurt her back.

I pulled in a shaky breath.

"Did you guys hear that? Did she speak through my mouth?" I asked, confused.

"No, we just heard you," Rachel said. "At least, I guess it was you."

Bringing up the Arn was definitely not the way to win Aldrea's trust. I needed another way to reach her. Something that would get through her anger.

"Aldrea, don't say anything for a moment. Just listen. Let me explain," I said softly. When I felt her acceptance, I rushed on. You were brought to this planet because there is a colony of free Hork-Bajir here. Your grandson, Jara Hamee, is part of the colony. So is your great-granddaughter, Toby Hamee."

I paused to receive Aldrea's reaction. I felt a swirl of too many emotions to take in. I caught traces of curiosity and disbelief, of hope, and fear, and panic. "Toby Hamee is in the cave with us," I continued. "Can you see her? You should be able to see through my eyes."

<All I see is blackness,> she answered.

I glanced around the cave. I wanted something basic to look at. I focused on Rachel's red shirt.

"Maybe you just aren't used to the way my brain gets information from my eyes," I told Aldrea.

"Right now, I'm looking at something red."

I felt her concentrating. Then I felt the relief of recognition.

<Red!> Aldrea exclaimed.

I turned toward Toby. <Now I am looking at - is that her? Is that my great-granddaughter?> she interrupted.

"Yes," I answered.

I felt a strange desire to go and press my forehead against Toby's. It took me a moment to realize the desire was Aldrea's.

If Aldrea wanted to touch Toby, why shouldn't she? I started to take a step forward, but a group of rapid-fire questions from Aldrea stopped me.



Her panic grew so intense that I felt sweat break out on my forehead.

"I think maybe it's time to call the Exorcist," Marco said. Not a joke, really. He was worried.

Everyone was worried.

"Do you remember an old Arn storing your Ixcila?" I asked.

<Yes,> she replied. 

I knew the moment the knowledge hit her. Really hit her. My heart started to pound, and I felt like my nerve endings were getting jolts of electricity.

<But that is what has happened, isn't it? A successful transplant.> Aldrea continued. <This can only mean that ->

I hesitated. But she had to know the truth. "Yes, Aldrea, you are dead."

Cassie, if you remember, was infested by Afran in book 19.

Epicurius

Dec 23, 2021 21:25

Chapter 7-Aldrea

quote:

My name is Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan.

And I have been told that I am dead.

Impossible.

Ridiculous.

The thought patterns the Arn had stored would only allow for a crude reproduction of me. A jumble of facts and sensations. Nothing more. There was no possibility that the thoughts and emotions I was experiencing now could be coming out of electrical impulses and chemicals collected years ago. I must have been knocked unconscious in a battle. A hallucination. A ploy the Yeerks were using
to break me. They must be hoping that I -

But what about the body? What about the hands with too few fingers to be Andalite, the arms too weak and frail to be Hork-Bajir?

I didn't want to believe I was dead. But I could not deny the fact that I was in a body that was not my own. A small, weak, defenseless body covered in furless brown skin.

"Aldrea?" the creature called Cassie said. "Are you all right?"

I realized that I wasn't just hearing her words. I was feeling bits of emotion, too. Empathy and concern and sadness. A little fear, too. Fear for herself.

<ls Dak alive?> I asked, speaking in what felt like my own native tongue of thought-speak. I had to know. Unless ... no, either way I had to know. The emotions from Cassie gave me my answer before her words.

"No, Aldrea. He died a long time ago. A long way from here. I'm sorry," she answered.

<Where is his Ixcila?> I demanded. I knew he had one, too. It could be put into another body the way mine had. Dak and I could still be together.

"I don't know," she answered.

Cassie turned her gaze toward the Am. It took me a moment to realize that she wasn't communicating with him in the way we had been communicating. It took me a few moments more to comprehend how her brain received input from her ears and how I could use her brain to translate the data into words I could understand.

"The Yeerks did extensive blasting to create level places for training grounds. My lab was heavily damaged. The Ixcila of Dak Hamee was destroyed," the Arn explained.

Was it true? If so, then Dak was truly dead. Dead like my parents. Like my brother, Barafin.

<Then let me die, Arn,> I said. <Let me die, too.>

Had I had the chance to say good-bye to Dak? Had we fought side by side until the end? I would never know. My Ixcila had been collected before my death, so the memories of my last moments with Dak did not exist.

I felt a wave of sadness from Cassie. I shoved it away. I had no use for her emotions. She was nothing to me.

There was one final question I had to ask, although I was terrified to hear the answer. <My son. What happened to the son I named after my father, Seerow?>

I waited for Cassie to repeat my question.

It was the young Hork-Bajir who answered. "They took him, Great-grandmother. Seerow became a Controller. He was brought to Earth as part of their army, here. He died in captivity."

There was not a worse fate I could have imagined for my child. The Yeerks had made his life a living death. And I had not been there to protect him.

"But Seerow's son, Jara Hamee, my father, escaped with the help of the humans here," Toby continued. "And I, your great-granddaughter, was born in freedom."

I studied her through my new eyes. There was something about her. Something familiar. The words were too well organized, the speech flowed too smoothly, the ideas ... Through my despair I felt a tiny bubble of something that could have been joy.

<Ask her if she's different,> I told Cassie.

A smile spread across Toby's face when she heard the question.

"Yes, Great-grandmother, I am different," she answered. "I am different as Dak Hamee was different."

A seer. A seer born in freedom.

"We have brought you back from death because we need your help," Toby said.

<Tell her that there is nothing she could ask of me that I would not give,> I said to Cassie.

My rebirth had brought me a pain that felt almost unbearable. My Dak gone. My Seerow gone. But it had brought me a gift as well. The chance to know my great-granddaughter.

I wouldn't give that up for anything. Perhaps I would even see Toby's child one day.

So that last line doesn't seem very promising for Cassie's independence. But I do feel for Aldrea, whatever she is now. How must that feel?

Chapter 8

quote:

The Arn quickly outlined his plan for Aldrea. I could feel her mistrust and anger growing as he spoke.

"Can you help us?" the Arn asked. "Do you remember where the weapons are hidden?"

<No. I know nothing of any weapons. It must have occurred ... if it did occur, after,> Aldrea said.

I repeated her message.

The Arn nodded his head sadly. "And yet, it was the mind that found the hiding place. Found once, it could find again. Could Aldrea find them?"

<Could I find weapons I hid? Yes, most likely,> Aldrea said.
"Then the two of us - no, I suppose that should be the three of us, counting the receptacle- will leave tomorrow," Quafijinivon replied. "While the new Hork-Bajir are being grown in my laboratory, you will have time to retrieve the weapons."

"If Cassie goes, we go," Jake said.

"But she is just a vessel," Quafijinivon said with a sort of greasy smile. "Why would you humans need to come?"

<Because you think she's nothing but a vessel, that's why,> Tobias said.

"I hadn't thought to bring -" Quafijinivon began.

<Tell him to be silent,> Aldrea ordered. <This discussion is pointless. I could no doubt find these weapons, but I will not help the Arn >

<Wait, wait. You're going too fast,> I told her. I found I could communicate mind to mind with her now. As easy as any internal dialogue.

<Then let me use your speech centers. I will speak to them directly.>

A perfectly logical request. I had no real reason for refusing, did I? <If you can access my speech centers, I guess go ahead.>

Almost immediately I felt a tickling sensation in my throat. My tongue gave a twitch and I let out something that sounded way too much like a pig grunting.

"Cassie, you okay?" Rachel asked.

I couldn't answer her. Aldrea had my teeth locked together. I held up both hands and nodded, trying to show everyone that I was okay. My hands were still mine, at least.

"Thh - Thh -"

I could feel little specks of spit flicking down onto my chin. I expected to get at least a "say it, don't spray it" out of Marco, but he stayed quiet.

"Thh. Ihh. This. This. This is Althrea. Drr. Drr. Aldrea. Cass-ie is al-low-ing me to u-se h-er voice," Aldrea explained.

She reminded me of a little kid sounding out words in a book that was too hard for her. She also reminded me of a Yeerk. She was using my mouth! Speaking with my voice!

"I sa-id I wou-ld do an-y-thing to he-l-p my great-gr-and-dau-gh-ter and the Ho-r-k-Ba-ji-r," she continued. "But I wi-ll not do this."

"What do you mean?" the Arn demanded. "You must! You are refusing the chance to give the Hork-Bajirs' planet back to them?" His voice was quivering. I wasn't sure if it was because he was furious or simply exhausted.

Aldrea laughed. It was a harsh, ugly sound that hurt my throat. "No, Arn. I am refu-sing the chance to give you your planet back. That is what you are tru-ly asking. You care no-thing for the Hork-Bajir. Your kind never did."

Her words were coming much more smoothly now. Aldrea was getting comfortable with operating my mouth. I wasn't getting comfortable with letting her. I felt like the world's largest ventriloquist's dummy.

"Ridiculous," the Arn protested. "I am old. Soon I will be dead."

"You're asking me to help you use the Hork-Bajir again. Every time one of your new Hork-Bajir kills a Yeerk he will also be killing one of his own kind." Aldrea asked, "You brought me back to help Hork-Bajir kill Hork-Bajir?"

"What you say is true, Great-grandmother," Toby said. "But there is no other way. Few of our people survived the Andalite virus. Only those who had already been taken off-world by the Yeerks, and those few with natural immunity like you and my great-grandfather. We could grow again, take back our world. But not until we weaken the Yeerks."

Toby stepped up in front of me and leaned down so she could look into my eyes. No. Into Aldrea's eyes, because I might just as well not have been there. "Let me accompany you to our planet. We can start again, continue the work you and Dak Hamee began," Toby pleaded.

I felt another stab of grief from Aldrea when Toby said Dak's name. Then I felt her push that grief aside.

"You are a seer, Toby, but you are also young. You don't know what this Arn, this Andalite, and even, I suspect, these humans, intend. Even well armed, do you think the few Hork-Bajir that this creature, this Arn, this manipulator, this liar from a race of liars, this coward from a race of cowards ... " She stabbed my finger toward the Arn. I felt my face twist into an expression of fury.

She regained control over her emotions, but now adrenaline was flooding my system. She had triggered the classic human physiological response to stress. And with that hormone rush my own fear and anger grew.

"Hork-Bajir kill Hork-Bajir and who will profit?" Aldrea demanded.

"All the enemies of the Yeerks will profit," Jake said. Toby nodded and said, "True, Greatgrandmother, it would be a sideshow. It would only be a distraction for the Yeerks. Many Hork-Bajir would die. And yet we must fight."

Aldrea spread my hands wide. "Why?"

"Because we must be a free people, Great-grandmother. So far our freedom here, in this valley, on this planet, has been bought and paid for by these humans, our friends. But freedom can't be given. It must be taken and held and defended. Our freedom has to be our own creation."

I felt again some measure of Aldrea's sadness. Every word from Toby's mouth reminded her of Dak.

"Brave talk, Toby. You may reconsider when you see the bodies piled high. Your greatgrandfather did."

No one said anything. The decision was Aldrea's. Had to be hers. "We go. But I warn you, Arn: You will not betray the Hork-Bajir and live. Now, let us go home."

<She calls it home,> Ax muttered.

Aldrea jerked my head toward him. <The Andalite,> she said silently to me. <What is an Andalite doing here?>

<He's a friend,> I said.

<My people were friends to the Hork-Bajir, toor> she said. Then she looked directly at Ax and, out loud, using my voice, said, "This human, Cassie, tells me you are a friend, Andalite. I warned her about Andalite friends."

<Did you warn her about Andalite nothlits, daughters of Seerow, who pretend to be Hork-Bajir?> Ax shot back.



<No. The Hork-Bajir are like Jara and Ket and the rest. You could perhaps consider yourself the equivalent of a Hork-Bajir seer, but your intelligence is not the result of a genetic fluctuation. I do not know you, Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan, but I know of you. You are highly intelligent, emotionally self-controlled, capable of lying and manipulation for your own ends. You are also fundamentally peaceful, moral, courageous, and capable of self-sacrifice. You are, in short, an Andalite. Not a Hork-Bajir.>

"You could have been describing a human," Rachel said brightly. "Now, add in 'arrogant' and 'humorless,' and then you have an Andalite."

To my surprise Aldrea laughed out loud. My laugh. "Obviously you humans have spent some time with Andalites."

Ax didn't join in the sense of eased tension. He kept his large main eyes focused on me. On her.

<I want to be sure, daughter of Prince Seerow, that you realize you have only one function to perform. As soon as you show us the location of the weapons your Ixcila will be returned to storage. You are dead, Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan. When you have performed this one duty, this illusion of life will be ended and Cassie will be Cassie alone.>

The wall between me and Aldrea went back up. It felt even stronger than before. I had no idea what her true reaction to Ax's question was.

"I understand why the Ceremony of Rebirth was performed," she replied neutrally. "I understand that the Arn brought me here only to use me for this one purpose. I will do what I must."

Not the answer I wanted to hear. I said.

<Of course.>

A better answer. And if she'd given it without hesitation, it would have been better still.

Absolutely no tension in this room at all.

I think Ax's feelings towards Aldrea are pretty complicated. The fact that she voluntarily became a Hork-Bajir nothlit, I think he sees as a betrayal and that she can't be trusted. On top of that, he likes Cassie and wants her to be safe, and he knows that if Aldrea doesn't want to leave, he can't make her, and he's feeling helpless and insecure that he has to depend on her to let Cassie go. On top of that, she's Seerow's daughter, and he was raised with the idea that this whole war was Seerow's fault, and I think there's that residual mistrust there.

Also, Rachel's right....humans and Andalites aren't all that different in a lot of ways.

freebooter

Dec 23, 2021 23:33

Good on Ax for laying out the ground rules this early, but maybe not the smartest thing to actually do, since it raises the awkward potential response of "or what?"

Epicurius

Dec 24, 2021 21:39

Chapter 9

quote:

Okay, we're supposed to brief you, so here goes: One of Cassie's best fighting morphs is a wolf," Rachel told Aldrea as we headed home through the sun-dappled woods.

The others had morphed and flown off ahead. At least they had been seen to fly off, and at least one no doubt did. There were plans to be made. We'd be away for a while. The Chee had to be contacted.

But if I knew Jake he'd left at least one or two others behind to watch us secretly. Jake was no happier with Aldrea's careful reply than I was.

This leisurely walk through the woods was a test. If Aldrea did anything troubling, Rachel was on hand, and probably Tobias and Ax, as well. I didn't spot either of them. But I'd have bet anything they were close by.

Jake had suggested that Aldrea learn how to control my morphs. On the Hork-Bajir world, she'd be in charge. In a fight we needed quick responses. She needed to know which weapon to use. And we needed to see how she handled it.

"The wolf has good speed," Rachel chattered on. "Great ripping abilities with the teeth. Terrific endurance. They can run all night. Now if you'd chosen me, Aldrea, you'd have gotten some serious firepower. My African elephant morph. It's, like, fourteen thousand pounds. Not to mention my grizzly bear."I felt a tickle of admiration mixed with amusement from Aldrea. A little of that wall between us had come back down, but what I saw and felt was only what Aldrea allowed me to see and feel.

I have to admit it's not as if I was pouring out my deepest, darkest secrets to her. I was controlling my body, my mouth, and my eyes again. But I was carefully not searching the trees and bushes for signs of Tobias or Ax, lest she figure out what I was up to.

"So, not that it bothers me, but why didn't you choose me, by the way?" Rachel burst out. "I mean, come on! There I was, all ready to go."

"Not that it bothers you," I said.

Of course not. I'm just saying ...

<Why should I have chosen her?> Aldrea asked.

"She wants to know why she should have chosen you," I reported. "Should I explain to her that you are the mighty, the powerful, the ultimate Yeerk-killer, Xena: Warrior Princess, whereas I am merely an ambivalent, animal-loving, tree-hugging wuss?"

"You forget to mention that I clearly have a superior sense of style," Rachel added.

"Actually, I'm curious about why you chose me, too, Aldrea," I said, speaking out loud for Rachel's benefit. "We all thought you'd go for Rachel or Toby."

 Aldrea finally admitted. 

Maybe it was because she'd been able to feel my admiration for what she had done by becoming Hork-Bajir.

No, that didn't make sense. I wasn't the only one who believed her decision to defy her own people to fight the Yeerks was heroic.

I relayed her answer to Rachel. I could have shared control of my mouth, perhaps, but it would have caused problems, confusion. I didn't want to give her any more than she needed. But neither did I want to make her hostile by treating her with suspicion. I don't think Miss Manners covers this particular social situation, I thought.

<Aldrea, perhaps we could both access my speech centers. If we are each careful, we may avoid problems.>

"Yes," she said.

"Yes what?" Rachel asked,

"I-she-jamrff-coo har dabdiligg ..." Two minds, one mouth.

Rachel gave us a fish eye. "Uh-huh. And meanwhile, back at the psych ward ... "

<Go ahead, Aldrea,> I said.

"I thought I'd been given a ridiculous receptacle at first," Aldrea admitted, speaking to Rachel almost as if I weren't there to hear. "I didn't know how I would be able to fight in this soft little body. No blades of any kind. It doesn't even have hidden poison sacs!"

"Yeah, but she has an enema bag she uses on raccoons," Rachel joked.

"But now that I know it has morphing abilities, I'm sure it will work well enough," Aldrea continued.

It. I guess "it" is the right word to use when you're talking about a body. "It" stepped in to reach the speech centers.

"So, are you ready to try this?" I asked. "I'm concentrating on my wolf DNA right now. Can you sense it?"

<Yes,> Aldrea answered.

"To start to morph all you need to do is -" I said.

<You're forgetting that I was born an Andalite,> Aldrea answered. <We invented the morphing technology.>

Her superior tone reminded me of Ax. Every once in a while he makes it clear how primitive our human technology still is.

I could have asked her how many times she'd morphed. How many animals. I could have pointed out that my friends and I were probably the galactic morphing champions. But I didn't feel right. I felt... I don't know. Aldrea was a hero right out of history. And I was the girl with the raccoon enema bag.

"Well, go ahead, then," I mumbled.

I felt the tip of my nose turn wet and cold. But only for an instant. My fingernails grew thicker and longer. But a second later they returned to their usual shape.

"You're fighting me, Cassie," Aldrea said.

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't know," I answered. "Go ahead."

I felt Aldrea begin to concentrate on the wolf DNA. I started to take a deep breath, then I realized that right now she should be controlling the breathing. The changes began again. The bones in my legs cracked as the joints reversed direction. The skin on my arms itched as coarse hair popped through it. Morphing has always been creepy. This time it was terrifying. Each sensation felt
magnified by a hundred. I wanted to scream as I felt my intestines shift and my ribs contract.

I ordered myself to get a grip. I decided to pretend I was watching a movie. I even tried to imagine I could feel the nubby material of the theater seat behind my back and the sticky floor under my feet.

When my lips began to stretch away from my face, I tried to think of it as a cool special effect in the Aldrea: Alien Werewolf movie. It helped a little. Very little.

I fell forward on my hands. No, my paws. They were paws now. A moment later, the transformation was complete.

Aldrea took off running through the forest. I could feel her exhilaration. She felt powerful and free.

I felt as if I was locked in a speeding car with no brakes and no steering wheel. I tried to hold on to the image of the movie theater I'd created, but I couldn't. Not with Aldrea racing straight toward a huge pine tree! If we hit that tree at this speed there wouldn't just be a splash of fake movie blood.

There would be an explosion of very real pain.

<Aldrea, look out!> I shouted.

She swerved, missing the tree by inches.

<What were you doing? You almost bashed my - our - head in,> I cried.

<What are you talking about?> Aldrea shot back. <This morph has excellent reflexes.>

She was right. I'd probably come that close to trees dozens of times when I was in wolf morph. Aldrea was obviously having no problems controlling the body. I just had to trust her. Except she wasn't from Earth. What if a situation came up that she couldn't recognize? Would I be able to take over the body quickly enough to deal?

I decided to try a little experiment. Without saying anything to Aldrea, I tried to wag my - our - wolf tail.

It didn't move.

I tried again, concentrating all my energy on the muscles in the tail. The tail gave a twitch. It wasn't exactly a full-out wag. But at least it moved.

<What are you doing, Cassie?> Aldrea asked. She slowed from a run to a trot, and I got a little puff of annoyance from her.

I hesitated. I didn't want to admit I'd been trying to see what kind of control I had.

Rachel loped up beside us in her own wolf morph. I couldn't help thinking that if Rachel had been in my situation she would have gotten a lot more than a pathetic little twitch out of the tail.

Rachel would not have been intimidated by Aldrea. She'd have laid down the law: Do what I tell you, or else.

Or else what, though? That was the question, wasn't it. Or else ... what?

I wondered again why Aldrea hadn't chosen Rachel as her receptacle. But maybe the answer was all too clear: Maybe I'd been chosen because she sensed that I was the weakest.

Had she felt that I would be the easiest to control? Had Aldrea, even in her inchoate Ixcila form, marked me as an easy victim?

Well, had she? Just a thought, that Cassie combines Aldrea's arrogance to Ax's sometime arrogance, but there's a difference, and maybe it's just that Ax knows the Animorphs whole Adrea doesn't. Ax, at his worst, is absentmindedly patronizing, in a "Well, we could use repulsor technology, but wait, you haven't developed that yet, have you?" Aldrea is openly contemptuous.

Chapter 10

quote:

Okay, there's that girl, Holly Perry, you know, she transferred from Polk?" Marco said from his seat on one of the big bales of hay in my barn. "I want my Chee to ask her out for me. I tried a couple of times, but this thing happened with my voice."

"He started clucking like the chicken he is," Rachel commented.

"Holly Perry. No problem," Erek the Chee told Marco. "It's not like we have anything else to do but work on your love life. Yeah, the Chee who plays you will also hold down his regular full-time job as a restaurant manager, but hey, your love life comes first."

Marco nodded. "Good. As long as we have our priorities clear."

Aldrea was completely lost. It was comforting to feel her confusion. <The Chee are androids,> I explained. <They can throw holograms around themselves to change their appearances. While we're gone, Erek's going to get a few of them to take our places at home and school. Passing as us>

"If we're not back before the date, my Chee should just go out with her and make sure she really has fun," Marco continued.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" Rachel asked. "Won't Holly be disappointed when she goes out with the real you?"

I felt impatience from Aldrea. The emotional wall between us was becoming more of a sieve.

Her thoughts were still beyond my reach, but I could "feel" her now as a person more inside me than out.

<It's their way of blowing off steam. You know, of dealing with the anxiety of leaving for a mission,> I explained to her.

Her impatience didn't lessen. <You are all still such children,> she muttered.

<Actually, we're not much younger than you and Dak Hamee were when you fought the Yeerks.>

I got the strong feeling that she didn't appreciate the comparison.

"Any other instructions?" Erek asked.

"Ask whoever is me not to be so nice to my sisters this time," Rachel answered. "They get to expecting it."

Erek smiled. "Jake? Cassie? Anything?"

Jake shook his head. I could tell that in his thoughts at least, he'd already left Earth far behind.

"Maybe I shouldn't ask this," I said slowly. "Maybe it's bad luck or something. But if we ... if we don't come back, would ..." I couldn't finish the sentence. A terrible grief welled up beneath my own less intense worry.

It took me a moment to realize that most of it was coming from Aldrea. My thoughts had made her think of her own parents and her little brother. All lost to her forever.

"We could stay with your families," Erek said. "If you really wish."

"No," I said quickly. "Forget it. No. I ... I don't think I want anyone being me permanently."

Erek nodded. "No. I've lived a long, long time. Seen a lot of death. I've never seen the point in denying death. People die. People grieve. It's better than playing games with it." He turned to go.

"Oh, Erek, one more thing," Marco called after him. "I kind of need a makeup paper on some great figure from American history. It's kind of due day after tomorrow."

"How about Franklin Roosevelt? I was the White House butler during his administration. I was the one who came up with the phrase 'New Deal.' Of course, it was during a poker game."

I like that while Jake worries about his family if he doesn't come back, Marco's priority for the Chee is to organize his love life. Regarding Erek being the White House butler for FDR, that means he was this guy:

Alonzo Fields, who was chief butler for Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower. He actually wrote a memoir about his time as chief butler, called "My 21 Years in the White House", and died in 1994 at the age of 94.

Epicurius

Dec 25, 2021 20:51

It's Yeerkmas, so I'm taking the day off! Take care, and the next two chapters are coming tomorrow.

Edna Mode

Dec 25, 2021 21:08

Did any of the books take place during Christmas? No one shot Christmas specials where we find out Santa is a Chee or something? What a missed opportunity.

QuickbreathFinisher

Dec 26, 2021 06:27

Edna Mode posted:

Did any of the books take place during Christmas? No one shot Christmas specials where we find out Santa is a Chee or something? What a missed opportunity.

Well, Jake and possibly Rachel are Jewish, so they could had a pretty memorable Hanukkah special.

freebooter

Dec 26, 2021 18:52

quote:

I could have pointed out that my friends and I were probably the galactic morphing champions.

Come to think of it, they probably are. Visser Three (or Alloran, really) is probably the only person who has more morphs and has morphed more often.

Capfalcon

Dec 26, 2021 19:47

freebooter posted:

Come to think of it, they probably are. Visser Three (or Alloran, really) is probably the only person who has more morphs and has morphed more often.

It's interesting that we never see Visser Three morph something and lose control of the morph. Might chalk it up to actually being a (comically evil) adult and practice morphs before using them in combat situations.

GodFish

Dec 26, 2021 19:59

I was going to make a joke about V.Three always losing control and attacking everyone which is what he wanted already but it's probably because he's controlling Alloran's mind which is the morphing mind, a step removed from actually morphing your own mind.

freebooter

Dec 26, 2021 20:25

I remember how they say that the only Andalites who really use the morphing power are their intelligence agents, which as a kid I figured just meant the same sort of cockroach/fly infiltration thing the Animorphs do, but it just occurred to me that the Andalite CIA equivalent probably doesn't have the same qualms they do about morphing sentient species and would absolutely just be acquiring and infiltrating other intelligent spacegoing races.

Epicurius

Dec 26, 2021 20:29

Chapter 11

quote:

For the second time in less than one full day, we were flying to the Hork-Bajir valley.

No one was talking. Marco and Rachel weren't bothering with their usual exchange of insults. Aldrea wasn't even communicating with me in our private shared-mind communication. Jake wasn't saying much to me, either. He couldn't talk to me, even to reassure me, without talking to Aldrea, too. I knew he was aware of potential problems there.

I felt relieved when I spotted Quafijinivon, Toby, and the other Hork-Bajir already gathered around the small Yeerk spacecraft. It was larger than a Bug fighter, but still fairly small. Instead of the cockroach-shell shape with the twin serrated Dracon cannon, it was closer to the oval shape theAndalites use, with an engine pod on either side. But the Dracon cannon were slung underneath rather than mimicking a raised tail.

I wanted to get on that ship as quickly as possible. The only way to complete this mission was to begin it. The only way to return to Earth was to leave it. The only way to regain the sole use of my body was to allow Aldrea to use it now.

I was ready. I had to be ready. That choice was made for me when Aldrea chose her receptacle.

I tucked my wings close to my body and let myself drop to the ground. I demorphed quickly.

"Anyone who doesn't have a Hork-Bajir morph, get one now," Jake instructed before the feathers had all disappeared from his face.

I stepped up to Jara Hamee and reached toward him. "May I?" I asked.

"Jara help," he answered.

I pressed my hands against his leathery chest. Aldrea fought to resist a renewed wave of grief. I couldn't figure out why for a minute, then I realized that touching Jara must remind her of how it felt to touch Dak Hamee.

It was all new to her. A loss that had occurred before I was born had happened to Aldrea just hours before. I couldn't stop thinking of it all as a story. Dak Hamee was history to me. To Aldrea he was a living, breathing person.

I acquired Jara's DNA as quickly as possible and slid my hands away. <You still really miss him, don't you?> I asked Aldrea.

<He died yesterday. And I was not with him. I did not hold his hand and tell him I loved him. Maybe in reality, but not in my memory, which is all the truth I have.>

<I'm sorry.> The words felt totally lame. But I didn't know what else to say. Aldrea said nothing more.

"It is time," Quafijinivon announced.

He took a step toward the ship, leading the way, then stopped and turned back to the expectant Hork-Bajir.

"Friend Hork-Bajir: I am deeply grateful for the gift of your DNA. I will do everything in my power to aid the new colony in banishing the Yeerks from your home planet. Believe me, or do not, but I tell you that I, the last of the Arn, will atone for the sins of my people."

Of course the Hork-Bajir didn't grasp half of this little speech. But they caught the tone.

Jara Hamee slapped his hand against his chest. "Free or dead!" he exclaimed.

"Free or dead!" Ket Halpak echoed. She slapped her hand against her own chest.

The other Hork-Bajir joined in the cry.

"Free or dead!"

Thump!

"Free or dead!"

Thump!

My eyes began to sting. I didn't know if it was my emotions or Aldrea's that caused the tears to form. In that moment our feelings were almost identical.

"Okay, let's go," Jake said.

Aldrea and I took one last look at the Hork-Bajir. We thumped our hand against our chest. "Free or dead!" we shouted.

"We" is the only way I can describe the experience. I'm really not sure if it was my voice or hers that uttered the Hork-Bajir battle cry. For that moment, the wall between us was down.

But as we made our way to the ship's door, I felt Aldrea pull away from me. I pulled away a little, too.

We were still almost strangers to each other. We both needed a little privacy. I stepped into the ship, Marco right behind me.

"Hey, all right. A hot tub," he exclaimed. All you ladies are invited to join me." I followed his gaze to the small, drained Yeerk pool that dominated the only "room."

"It's empty," Quafijinivon reassured us. "I'll take the helm. We will translate to Zero-space as soon as we clear the atmosphere. I must prepare for the trip to the Arn planet."

"The Hork-Bajir planet," Rachel muttered, with a significant look at me.

Quafijinivon didn't appear to hear her. He squatted uncomfortably, leaning back against a captain's chair designed for Hork-Bajir. The space beside him was without any chair, appropriate for a Taxxon.

Ax went to look over the controls. <This is a newer-generation Yeerk ship,> Ax commented.

Then, his thought-speak tone elaborately casual, he said, <They've made some small innovations since they acquired the original Andalite technology from ... well, we all know who gave the Yeerks the capacity for Z-space travel.>

"My father," Aldrea answered defiantly. "My father, Prince Seerow. Without my father, the Yeerks would never have had the opportunity to spread their evil," she continued. "Without my father, we would not all be risking our lives on this mission. That is the point the Andalite wishes to make."

<Aldrea, stop,> I begged. <No one blames you.>

She ignored me.

"All this is true," Aldrea insisted. "It is also true that my father did what he believed was right. He believed he was helping a worthy race to advance."

<They advanced across the Hork-Bajir and now the humans.>

Aldrea whipped her - our - head toward him. "What he did is not so different from giving these humans the power to morph. And who did that, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill? I know they could not have developed the technology on their own."

<You cannot compare your father to my brother,> Ax began to protest.

"Oh, but I can!" Aldrea cried triumphantly. "If your brother gave the humans the power to morph, that means he gave an inferior species technology they were incapable of developing themselves. That is all my father did."

"Wait a minute, are you comparing humans to Yeerks?" Rachel demanded. "Is that what I'm hearing?"

"Well, we're off to a good start," Marco said with a laugh. "We haven't even gotten to the first rest stop and already the kids are fighting in the backseat."

<You know, Ald -> Tobias began to say.

"Okay. Discussion over," Jake said. Tobias fell silent in mid-word. I could feel Aldrea's incredulity at being silenced by what she saw as an alien youth.

"We have to be a team here," Jake said in a voice so quiet it forced everyone to lean forward to listen. "We have to be able to count on each other. We're going deep into enemy territory. The Hork-Bajir planet is Yeerk-held. Ringed by Yeerk defenses. And we're relying on two people we don't know: Quafijinivon and Aldrea."

He shot me/Aldrea a hard look. "We'll be advised by Quafijinivon and Aldrea. And we'll always listen to Toby. But this is an Animorph mission."

"Meaning that you are in charge?" Aldrea demanded, almost laughing.

"That's exactly what I mean," Jake said.

I felt Aldrea's emotional reaction. A mix of resentment, condescension, and worry.

<Jake has led us through more missions, more battles than you and Dak ever fought,> I said, annoyed at her attitude.

Using my - our - mouth, Aldrea said, "I will follow Jake as though he were my prince."

Did she mean it? I couldn't tell.

I had the feeling Ax was about to say something snide. Jake raised his hand, cutting Ax off. "Thank you, Aldrea. It's an honor to have you on the team."

The moment passed. I saw Rachel smirking at me. No, at Aldrea.

<You care for this Jake person,> Aldrea said to me.

<Yeah. I do.>

<Like Dak and me.>

<Yeah. I guess so.> It was a disturbing comparison. Neither Dak nor Aldrea had survived their war.



<I'll open the observation panels,> Ax said. A moment later a ring of metal slid back, revealing windows in all directions.

My eyes went straight to the blue-and-white ball that was Earth. It was so far away already.

The ship picked up speed. It hurtled through space faster and faster.

Flash!

Earth disappeared.

<Translation into Zero-space,> Ax told us. <We should emerge somewhere in the galaxy of the Hork-Bajir planet. Depending on the current configuration of Zero-space.>

I looked around at our motley group. Four humans, a red-tailed hawk, an Andalite, a Hork-Bajir, an Arn with his back to us, and, invisible but still there, the hybrid thing called Aldrea.

I must have looked worried.

Marco caught my eye and laughed his sardonic laugh. "So. Yahtzee anyone?"

Pretty sure "the galaxy of the Hork-Bajir planet" is a typo there, or else this war is a lot bigger than I though. Also, Ax really hates Aldrea, doesn't he?

Chapter 12-Aldrea

quote:

I rolled over and realized that Dak was gone. I opened my eyes.

He was standing with his back to me. He was gazing out across the valley below. I stood up, started toward him, hesitated, then bent down to pick up the weapon I'd had within reach for every second of the last two years. I came up behind him, stepped around his curled-up tail, and put my arm around his waist.

We were at the edge of the small platform built seven hundred feet up in a crook of a Stoola tree's branches. We were at the far end of the valley, all the way down where it narrowed so much that the branches of trees across the valley reached and touched the branches from this side.

The Yeerks had searched the area thoroughly, hunting for surviving Hork-Bajir. The searching had been done by Hork-Bajir-Controllers. And yet we had escaped detection. Dak had taken the platform apart, buried it in the ground, then, when the search had passed, we defiantly rebuilt our little home.

"I love you, Dak."

He squeezed my arm against his chest. "Seerow is sleeping well now," he said.

"Yes. For the last few days, since the ships stopped arriving with all that noise."

A huge buildup had begun. The Yeerk forces, the forces we had fought, would be doubled.

"I fear for him, Aldrea."

I couldn't answer. My throat was choked. We had long since realized that we would not survive. We had accepted that. As well as anyone can accept the death of a loved one, or their own death.

But I could not accept it for Seerow, my son. Our son. Could not. And yet I could see no way out. I looked to the little cradle of twigs where he lay.

"What will become of you, my sweet little one?"

He sat up. Too young to speak, and yet he spoke. Not as a Hork-Bajir, but with fluency and ease.

"The Yeerks will take me, Mother."

"No."

"You will not save me, Mother."

"I ... I couldn't."

"Where is Father?"

"What? He ..." I reached, and Dak was no longer there. "He was just ... what is happening?"

"Nightmare," the small, brown creature said. She had taken my son's place. "You're having a nightmare."

"Seerow!" I screamed.

The young Andalite sneered at me. <Did you imagine it was real, Aldrea-Iskillion-Falan? Did you think it could last?>

"Seerow! Dak! Come to me, come to me, let me ... where are you?"

<Wake up! Wake up! Aldrea, wake up!>

"Seerow!"

I woke. Cassie, the human, had run to plunge our face into cold water.

I looked around, through her eyes. The lights had been darkened for sleep. The Andalite stood at rest, with a single stalk eye open, watching. Jake, the leader of the humans, had awakened.

"It's okay, Jake," Cassie said. "She just had a nightmare."

Seerow. Dead after a life as a Yeerk host. Dak. Dead, I knew not how. All of them, all our brave soldiers, all gone.

A nightmare. A dream of death from a person already dead.

Dreams and nightmares are used a lot in this series, or at least focused on a lot.

Epicurius

Dec 26, 2021 20:36

freebooter posted:

I remember how they say that the only Andalites who really use the morphing power are their intelligence agents, which as a kid I figured just meant the same sort of cockroach/fly infiltration thing the Animorphs do, but it just occurred to me that the Andalite CIA equivalent probably doesn't have the same qualms they do about morphing sentient species and would absolutely just be acquiring and infiltrating other intelligent spacegoing races.

Andalites don't come across as a very subtle species to me, so I wonder to what extent they use that sort of intelligence outside of scouting/commando operations? I think we are told that most Andalite soldiers only know one or two morphs, and don't really use them outside of training.

mind the walrus

Dec 26, 2021 23:15

Sounds like one of those questions that gets the broad brushes of:

* Andalites aren't as "together" as we first see them. They're actually pretty shit at what they do when you get down to it. Unlike humans. Wonderful omnifaceted humans.

* Earth's biodiversity be fucking cray cray compared to everything else in space so it never occurred to anyone to do shit like that.

Applegate was cribbing heavily from the TNG playbook-- in a good way mind you, but yeah.