I get that it's for plot reasons but it's very funny that they get "Hollywood" more commonly than "Ellay," "New York" and "DeeCee" on whatever transmission they're tuned into.
they must literally be listening to Access Hollywood or something because I have trouble thinking of a program other than celebrity gossip stuff that would say Hollywood more frequently than they said LA. did access Hollywood exist in 1999?
I get that it's for plot reasons but it's very funny that they get "Hollywood" more commonly than "Ellay," "New York" and "DeeCee" on whatever transmission they're tuned into.
they must literally be listening to Access Hollywood or something because I have trouble thinking of a program other than celebrity gossip stuff that would say Hollywood more frequently than they said LA. did access Hollywood exist in 1999?
It did; looks like it launched in 1996. I think of that and Entertainment Tonight as the quintessential 90s entertainment news shows.
But this is, of course, 1991
Chapter 14
quote:
We stood, awkward, in the middle of a large, open room adorned with objects made of chrome, glass, and stretched, denuded animal pelts bleached white. On the walls were framed woven fibers covered with colors applied for the purpose of visual pleasure.
My host's name was Jenny-Lynne Cadwalader. Everyone called her Jenny Lines. She was twenty-three years of age. I did a quick search of her memories and found little of interest there.
Her reaction to the infestation was to whine and complain. She did not scream or rage. She did not threaten. She merely subsided into a corner and occasionally remarked that I was a "total jerk."
Jenny had no occupation, a concept that shocked my Yeerk sensibilities. She considered herself an actress - one of the humans who pretend to be people they are not in dishonest TV or movie representations. But though she called herself an actress, she had never acted.
From early on in my possession of the host I became aware of the fact that there was really only one thing that interested her. She was very deeply interested in a particular mood-altering chemical.
As I wrapped myself around her brain and sank deep around her corpus callosum - the bridge between her brain halves - Jenny demanded to know whether I would supply her needs for this drug. I ignored her, of course. There is very little point in engaging in internal conversation with a host. One might as well be talking to one's self, except in rare cases. And in the case of Jenny Lines I
might have had more enjoyable conversations with a ship's computer.
"This host is quite ignorant, I believe," I remarked to Essam once the police were gone.
<Hey! Who are you calling ignorant?>
"Yes, my host agrees that she is quite ignorant," Essam said. "However, my host finds her desirable."
"Desirable? How so?"
"She is considered physically attractive. It is a subjective evaluation based on visual memory and tied to the human's procreative instincts."
I considered. Searching the memory I discovered the location of a device that allows a human to view his physical self in reflection. A mirror behind a shelf that held numerous small glass containers designed to hold liquids.
I walked to the mirror. I looked at the physical body. It did not excite any particular sense of aesthetic pleasure in me. And yet Jenny Lines was confident that she was attractive.
<I'm hotter than half these so-called actresses. I mean, have you really looked at Sarah Jessica Parker?>
"Physical attraction. Yes, that explains a large percentage of this host's memories," I said.
"Your host has a physical addiction to a particular chemical compound," Essam said. "Mine does not. He is concerned for her."
"Concerned? Why?"
Essam shrugged large, hairy shoulders. "It is an emotion, not susceptible to logical explanation."
"Ah."
"This is my first human," Essam said cautiously. "But they appear, based on the memories I have accessed, to be widely differentiated. Male and female, young and old, wide differences in intelligence, wide differences in experience, in occupation. For example, my host's memory catalogs hundreds of possible human occupations: producer, director, actor, assistant director, gaffer, best boy, pool boy, driver, wardrobe assistant, caterer, studio head, banker, car detailer, therapist, East Coast money guy ... many, many occupations."
"My own host's memories are deficient in information," I confessed. "There are memories of youth spent in a place known as Cow Town or Podunk or Arkansas, with the three terms roughly synonymous, and yet also referencing multiple fictional locations. I sense a fundamental lack of organization here in this brain."
I was disappointed. My second human host and again I had chosen poorly. I wondered if anything could be accomplished with this uneducated, uninformed creature. I needed a guide to humans. This female was a guide to nothing. Except ... except when I looked past the cataloged memories of events and interactions, the pointless conversations and drug usage and dull activities, and looked into more obscured memories.
There, deep in this shallow mind, in memories that were confused and disorganized and often deprived of obvious meaning, I found something vital.
"They have many weaknesses," I told Essam.
"Yes, he agreed. This host is aware of many human weaknesses and exploits them for his own purposes. 'People wanna laugh,' for example. They want to escape from the reality of their lives and imagine themselves in unlikely situations. They are 'suckers' for a lot of teeth and long legs. My host has become very successful among humans by creating entertainments devised to cause laughter among humans."
I heard Essam's words, but I paid him little attention. I was excited by my own discoveries.
Rooting through the memories of this abject failure of a human I began to see the glimmer of a plan to take Earth.
"I don't think that making humans laugh is our true path to the conquest of Earth," I said. "There are other needs. They are afraid, these humans. They are lonely. They are weak. So weak! This host is not much more intelligent than a Hork-Bajir!"
Essam shook the large head of his host body, already beginning to adopt human characteristics, as a good Yeerk should do when in a host. "I see things besides weakness, here," he said. "This human has suffered what the humans consider to be the most horrific torture and deprivation in their history. An experience in his youth that even a Taxxon would find cruel."
He tried out his host body's walk as he spoke. Step, step. Then he added a swinging arm motion.
"He is not from this country, originally," Essam said. "Nevertheless, he has risen to a position of power and influence among humans. I believe he has weaknesses, but is not weak, Sub-Visser."
I laughed with Jenny's mouth. "No, Essam, you are wrong. They are not a strong species with a few weaknesses. They are weak, with but a few strengths. Let me tell you, Essam: We will not have to conquer humans. They will conquer themselves. They will come to us willingly and make themselves our slaves."
I laughed again, savoring the whimpering, nitwit cries of my host's addled mind. Jenny Lines was a revelation. She had showed me the truth and the way.
End of Stored Memory Transfer
Protocol Download 7123450.989.
So they've taken as hosts a coke addict and a holocaust survivor, but I'm sure you got the references. Children's book, everybody!
Chapter 15
quote:
"An underestimation of the humans, would you not agree, Visser One?" Garoff asked. "These many years later, Earth is still not ours."
I was still lost in the haze of happy memory. Still back in those early, heady moments when I saw a future so bright it almost blinded me.
"No, it is not ours," I admitted in a whisper. Then I snapped myself out of my trance. "Earth is not ours because of the incompetence and treason of Visser Three. I left Earth in a position to be taken!"
<You left Earth before the Andalites landed a force of trained guerillas and saboteurs armed with morphing technology!> Visser Three cried.
There it was. Was it time to reveal what I knew of the so-called Andalite bandits? Would it ever be time?
<Go ahead, tell him> Eva jeered inside my head. <Let Visser Three take all the glory for wiping out the "Andalite bandits.">
<Soon I will make you suffer for this, Eva.>
If Earth was mine again, I would make short work of the so-called Andalites. But if I was to lose this trial, if I was to be exiled or executed and Visser Three left to control Earth ... well, if that was to be the case, I'd rather die far from the nearest Kandrona than give Visser Three the information he needed to secure Earth.
"It would seem that Essam was more correct than you in his assessment of humans," Garoff prodded. "While many humans have come willingly to us, many more do not. And we see reports of large numbers of host problems with humans. We have reports of Yeerks driven to lose control under the constant internal pressure of a resistant human host."
I bristled at his criticism. "At that early point we did not understand humans. I had encountered only two humans through infestation: a defeated soldier, and a weakling in thrall to a chemical."
<Nonsense,> Visser Three jumped in. <You had, by your own admission, realized that humans are widely differentiated as a species. You had every reason to suspect that humans could be resistant to your notion of conquest by infiltration. You deliberately overlooked that fact. You chose to underestimate the humans. You chose to ignore the more obvious fact that humans can be bludgeoned and cowed into submission, and those who resist can simply be exterminated.>
"Had I infested the Lowenstein host I would have seen sooner what I soon saw anyway," I said, holding my temper with difficulty. "But I was still more right than wrong. Humans are riddled with exploitable weaknesses. Humans, at least some humans, will believe anything: They will surrender their free will to addictive chemical compounds, to strong-willed leaders, to their own greed for power... . It was from this insight that I realized the concept of The Sharing. How many thousands of humans have in fact come to us voluntarily? Submitted to us for empty promises of happiness or wealth or status?"
<How many thousands?> Visser Three mocked. <Not enough! You set the policy of conquest by infiltration. The time has come for all-out attack. A war of conquest. Destroy their military power, seize their leaders, herd them into the vast pools we will build, infest them in their hundreds of thousands, in their millions, in their billions!>
So that was it. That was Visser Three's goal: all-out war. No! I couldn't allow that! It would result in the deaths of millions, which was irrelevant to me, but it also might result in the deaths of two. Two humans I would not allow to be killed!
I stood up and shook my mangled fist at Visser Three. "This fool would strip away the secrecy that has allowed us to make progress on Earth. We cannot hope to win an easy victory over a population of billions!"
<There! There is her treason, clearly stated! She would have us hide and creep and crawl forever, when we should be attacking! She is inventing excuses to delay our takeover, stalling for time till the Andalites, her masters, can come to the rescue of Earth!>
"I gave us Earth! I found it! There would have been no Earth but for me! I created The Sharing and drew tens of thousands of human hosts into our reach. All without ever alarming the human authorities. I found the way, the path, to eventually seizing five billion hosts, all with a mere handful of Yeerks! I handed all this to Visser Three, and what has he done with it? That, Council members, that is the question we -"
I saw Visser Three's tail whip around. I ducked, cried out in rage, slipped to the floor, stifling the screams of agony as some of my imperfectly healed bones were rebroken.
But it was not me he was attacking.
Two of the Hork-Bajir guards had suddenly gone mad! One yanked open the door to the room.
The other drew his Dracon weapon and fired at me.
Tseeeeeeew!
The shot missed only because I had jerked away from Visser Three.
The remaining Hork-Bajir were staring blankly like statues.
"Get them, you fools!" I screamed.
Then, through the door, a flash of orange and black. Big, bigger than a human, and so fast! The tiger landed, barely touched the floor with its soft pads and leaped straight for Visser Three. It flew! And it let loose a roar that reached past me, past my control of my human host, down deep into the human subconscious with a jolt of sheer terror.
"HRRROOOOAAAARRRR!"
A second roar, rougher, more of a hoarse cough joined the first and a bear so huge it dwarfed the Hork-Bajir barreled awkwardly, almost unwillingly, into the room.
"What is happening?" Garoff demanded from his position of safety many light-years distant.
<The Andalite bandits!> Visser Three cried.
Instantly I realized: an opportunity! The so-called Andalite bandits had attacked! How better to show Visser Three's impotence, his weakness!
It would destroy Visser Three's shredded credibility. And I would be the victor!
If I lived.
So, looking at the first part of the chapter first, the Jenny Lines and Lowenstein dilemma is laid out, because it's still something the Yeerks don't know for sure, which is, are humans a mentally weak species with strengths, or are humans a mentally strong species with weaknesses? Visser One and Visser Three, beyond their personality differences, which lead them towards different answers in regards to the human question, have fundamentally different philosophies, which we've talked about before, but which is laid out here. Visser One figures that humans are mentally vulnerable, and can be seduced into being implanted by Yeerks. This is the philosophy behind The Sharing. You find the weak and vulnerable and you start a process that will convince them to accept Yeerks. Visser Three's attitude is that this won't fundamentally work, or at least not on anything near the time scale they have. The only people you're going to get who voluntarily accept Yeerks are flawed and damaged people. However, Yeerks have the technological advantage....use it. Declare war, capture humans, implant Yeerks. Humans are going to be killed, sure, but there are enough humans, that the Yeerks can afford to waste millions or even a billion if that means they get the rest.
As for the invasion by the Andalite bandits, it's kind of weird that the one in the Hork-Bajir morph tries to shoot Visser One instead of the more obvious and more directly oppositional Visser Three, huh?
I cant believe I didn't realise that Jenny Lines was not a play on Jenny-Lynn. Well, it is, but I completely missed the implication.
Quick question to mull over for the rest of the book. How do you think things would have been different if Edriss had taken over Lowenstein and Essam had taken over Jenny?
It's been noted before, but the "tragedy" for the Yeerks is that they have completely workable plans that they give to the completely wrong leaders, presumably because of the political turf wars raging in the backrooms of the Empire. Visser One got called away to do something other than lead the infiltration of Earth, and Visser Three was charged with defending it from the Andalite counter attack, which he did handily. Presumably, he's now left in charge, because a good tactical commander should be able to execute the infiltration mission. Only he's chafing at the restrictions and is taking his anger out on subordinates, which only causes further delays as people are more focused on covering their ass than making meaningful progress on the invasion.
Meanwhile, Visser One is put in charge of the Leeran invasion. She's focused on getting the perfect weapon in the form of the brain-chipped shark, and (this is admittedly speculation) she even figures out how to turn an Andalite captain against his people. All great preparation. But, she's too patient. Visser Three would probably have ordered every single Taxxon to March to the Sea and then keep marching until they're knocking on the Leeran capital. The patience and caution of properly preparing a full invasion of the sea cities means she walks right into the Andalite trap.
quote:
So that was it. That was Visser Three's goal: all-out war. No! I couldn't allow that! It would result in the deaths of millions, which was irrelevant to me, but it also might result in the deaths of two. Two humans I would not allow to be killed!
I'd be curious to know who first-time readers would speculate these two humans might be.
Visser Three is right in that infiltration is probably a decades long project before they infest a critical mass of humans, even if Visser One were in charge and the Animorphs didn't exist. Time that they don't have when the Andalites know about Earth. But I don't think total war would be all that successful either. The Yeerks have an insurmountable technological advantage and the element of surprise of suddenly being attacked by an alien species, but at some point nukes will probably start flying and who knows how many humans will actually survive. I don't see a way that the Yeerks can successfully take the majority of humans at this point, short of decisively defeating the Andalites, which they don't seem capable of doing.
The endgame there is that they need to keep the invasion off the Andalite radar as much as possible. If the Andalites realise Earth is the Holy Grail to the Yeerks, you can scratch one blue jewel.
You have to wonder what Visser Two is doing, if Earth and Leera are (or were) the critical battles of the war's current phase.
I also wonder precisely where the Council are. I assume it's not all in the same place, but we know enough by now that there isn't some shadowy secret headquarters, they don't have access to their homeworld, and the Taxxon and Hork Bajir homeworlds must be the hub of the Empire. Even Earth is basically within their "borders" ever since the Andalites lost the Dome Ship that showed up, plus they're using it for stuff unrelated to the infiltration of Earth itself, like the hammerhead shark project or the Venber experimentations up in the Arctic.
But I don't think total war would be all that successful either. The Yeerks have an insurmountable technological advantage and the element of surprise of suddenly being attacked by an alien species, but at some point nukes will probably start flying and who knows how many humans will actually survive. I don't see a way that the Yeerks can successfully take the majority of humans at this point, short of decisively defeating the Andalites, which they don't seem capable of doing.
The Yeerks also historically don't understand that humans often keep fighting past the point where victory is realistic. Time and again, we've seen Yeerks give up rather than fight a losing battle. It's a cultural understanding that they, with few exceptions, don't waste energy on long shots out of either hope or spite. Visser Three almost certainly believes that once he displays that "insurmountable technological advantage," Earth would have no choice but to surrender. But it's far more likely that there'd be, like you said, resistance and riots and nukes. Hell, (
spoilers for the final two books)
once the Visser gets the war he wants, look at what the Animorphs do to their own hometown in order to try to take out the Yeerk pool. There'd be stuff like that happening worldwide.
Chapter 16
quote:
The grizzly bear reared up and slammed two Hork-Bajir against a wall. Slammed them so hard that the wind was knocked out of them and blood trickled from their mouths.
The two bandits in Hork-Bajir morph were slashing viciously, left, right.
I scrambled, half-crawling across the floor, looking for a Dracon weapon. Visser Three whipped his Andalite tail and swiped off the right arm of one of the false Hork-Bajir.
Four of them: two Hork-Bajir, the tiger, the bear.
Four.
No, that was wrong. There were at least six, not four. Where were the other two? Most of all, in virtually every record we had of the bandits, one of them had usually appeared as an Andalite.
There were all sorts of theories to explain this: This one Andalite did not possess the morphing power, or else the Andalites felt they needed to keep one of their people in true form as a way to "show the flag."
I knew, or at least guessed the truth: The always-visible Andalite was a deception to keep us from realizing that at least some of the six were humans.
Where was the Andalite as Andalite?
Where were the other two?
No time for speculation. I needed a weapon. Had to show I was in the fight. Had to demonstrate my eagerness to kill. Any hesitation would condemn me in the eyes of the Council.
I reached a fallen Hork-Bajir and yanked the unfired Dracon beam from his stiffening fingers, aimed at the tiger, and fired. Missed! My twisted bones had betrayed me.
The Council of Thirteen were shouting, avid spectators at a battle to the death.
"Behind you!"
"Strike! Strike!"
I braced for the tiger to turn on me. But he seemed unaware that I had fired. He was, instead, preparing to attack Visser Three.
I prepared to fire again. It would be perfect! I would save the fool's life for him. The bear was cough-roaring and now dropped to all fours. It hesitated, blinked, looked around as if lost.
And then, to my amazement, the tiger whipped around, lightning quick, and slashed bloody tracks across the face of the bear.
Visser Three's tail whipped.
Fwapp!
Thud! The tiger's head, severed, fell to the floor.
<No! No!> Eva screamed.
Two Hork-Bajir targeted the confused, hesitant bear and fired.
Tseeeeew! Tseeeeew!
The bear sizzled, atoms burning, burst into flame for a brief, gratifying moment, bellowed a terrified roar, and disintegrated.
I saw it all now in a moment of sickening realization.
Fake! All of it false.
I had underestimated Visser Three. I could see through the falseness, now. But the fascinated Council members who had watched the bloody battle from safety knew nothing of Earth or Earth animals.
One of the "enemy" Hork-Bajir raced at Visser Three. The Visser calmly sidestepped, dropped his tail blade, and the Hork-Bajir fell hard, unable to walk further on only one leg.
The Hork-Bajir looked up stupidly at Visser Three, confused, alarmed, eyes pleading in horror at the realization that he had been betrayed.
The Visser killed him.
I almost laughed. Idiot! I wanted to yell. Did you really think Visser Three could afford to let you live?
The remaining Hork-Bajir "traitor" saw what had happened, turned to run, and was caught halfway through the door.
What could I do? Try and tell the Council that these were not the Andalite bandits? Try and tell them that Visser Three had merely had a starved tiger and bear thrust into the room? A real tiger, a real bear, and neither in any way an Andalite bandit in morph?
How would I prove that, any more than I could prove that the supposed Hork-Bajir "morphs" were simply Hork-Bajir-Controllers ordered by Visser Three to fake an attack?
I met Visser-Three's gaze. I nodded grimly. Yes, Visser, I thought, this game goes to you.
Right. This whole thing was obviously staged, but there's no way she can prove it and if she just says it, the Council will think it's a desperate accusation.
Chapter 17
quote:
It was devastating. My charge that Visser Three was incompetent rested on his inability to cope with the bandits.
I'd lost that, now. Now Visser Three could claim a bright future for Earth. With the resistance gone, he could do as he pleased. The Council would be drawn to the easy answer.
Gedd attendants were already dragging he corpses from the room and mopping up the blood.
I had one hope now. Only one: the real bandits. If they were to attack now the Council would realize that Visser Three had staged a charade.
It was almost a pity that I wasn't a traitor. If I were I'd have been able to call upon them for help. As it was, I knew the location of one of the guerillas. But there was no opportunity for me to reach the boy Marco. And less than no chance that he would do anything to help me.
By the most terrible coincidence, he had become an enemy. He'd been present at the destruction of the shark project. And he'd been there on a mountaintop where Visser Three and I fought to destroy a colony of free Hork-Bajir and each other.
<You underestimated my son,> my host said proudly.
<I'll kill him yet, human.>
<No,> my host said. <I believe your killing days are over.>
I could make no answer. Garoff was speaking.
"Congratulations, Visser Three. It would seem you have gone a long way toward eliminating the bandit threat there on Earth.
<It was my hope that they would attack,> Visser Three said with insincere modesty. <I deliberately planted the seeds of this moment, knowing they'd be unable to resist such a prime target. I am pleased you were able to witness the elimination of the only resistance on Earth.>
"Yes, yes," Garoff said. "And the timing was, of course, fortunate."
Visser Three said nothing in response.
I felt a surge of renewed hope. Garoff, at least, was not blind. He didn't trust this coincidence. Good. Good. If only I could reach Marco and entice him to launch an attack. Should the real bandits show up, Visser Three's charade - and life - would be over.
"Let us return to the matter before us," Garoff said. "Visser One, you will continue your presentation. I understand that we have a gap between Memory Transfer Protocols?"
"Yes, I -"
<A most suspicious gap,> Visser Three interrupted. <More than a year during which the defendant made no memory dumps, and never once contacted the Yeerk High Command. Fourteen Earth months during which she contacted the Andalites and hatched her conspiracy!>
"Do you have any evidence of this, Visser Three?" Garoff asked calmly.
<Yes. I have the testimony of someone who was close to Visser One during that critical time.>
"A witness? Who?"
<Essam-Two-Nine-Three.>
I tried not to show any reaction. "Surely the Visser knows that Essam is dead."
Visser Three looked away from the hologram. He smiled the unsettling Andalite smile that is done with eyes alone. <No, Visser One. Essam-Two-Nine-Three is not dead. At least not entirely. Guards! Bring in the witness.>
The door opened. In walked a human male. He was in his middle years. His dark hair was long and matted. His full steel-gray beard was greasy and stringy. His eyes had a wild look. His clothing announced him as a street person.
None of which meant a thing to the Council members. They had no experience of humans. They did not understand that this sort of human could be found in the alleyway of any large city, drinking alcohol and ranting wildly about imagined conspiracies.
I sneered dismissively. "Visser Three is perhaps jesting. This is what the humans call a 'street crazy.' A wild man, a lunatic, an alcohol addict. If this is Essam, let Essam withdraw from the host body and show himself."
<No, you are correct, of course, Visser One. The Yeerk Essam is dead. I was having a little joke. But a part of him lives on. Yes, this human is quite mad. But the question is this: Why is he insane? From where came his madness?>
Garoff hesitated, sensing a trick. "I hope you are not wasting the time of the Council, Visser Three. Proceed. But be warned."
The madman stared hard at Visser Three, rocked back on his heels, stared again, peering as if Visser Three were far off or concealed in a fog. Then the human looked pleadingly at me.
"It's an Andalite. You see him, don't you?"
I refused to answer.
"You all see him, don't you?" Then he took notice of the Hork-Bajir guards standing impassively against the back of the room. The wounded guards had been replaced by fresh troops.
"Hork-Bajir!" the human said. He pointed here, there, his eyes wide and now brimming with tears. "Real! They're real. They are. See? See?"
<Human, what is your name?> Visser Three demanded.
"Look! They're real, all real. Lady, look!"
<I asked your name. Answer me and I will give you a fresh bottle.>
The man licked his lips. His eyes darted from me to Visser Three, to the holograms of the Council, to the Hork-Bajir guards.
"A bottle. Okay. Okay. My friends call me Spacey. Folks all do."
<Good. Spacey. Now I'm going to ask you some questions, Spacey. You will answer me. If you answer all my questions I will give you a bottle. If you attempt to lie I will kill you. Is that clear?>
Spacey nodded, more confused than afraid. His eyes kept drifting over to me, silently begging me to see what he saw, to acknowledge the presence of what he considered aliens.
<Does the name Essam mean anything to you?>
"Yes. Essam-Two-Nine-Three of the Sulp Niar pool."
Several of the Council members muttered. My brain was running at hyper speed. What was going on? What was Visser Three's game? Who was this filthy human?
<And who ... what was Essam Two-Nine-Three?>
Spacey looked doubtful. No doubt waiting for the laughter and derision he'd heard often in his years of madness. "He's a Yeerk. They come from ... well you all know where they come from."
<And is it true that Essam made you his host? That he took control of your brain?>
Spacey nodded. "In my ear, into my brain. Couldn't do anything on my own. Nothing. Not move my hands, not look where I wanted to look."
<Nevertheless, you and Essam became ... what is the word? You became friends?>
He nodded. "Much as a human can be with a Yeerk. We talked. Me and him. We were together for a long while."
I felt a strange trickle of fear. But no ... no ...
<And while you were his host did you know another Yeerk who had the name of Edriss-Five- Six-Two and the rank of Sub-Visser Four-hundred-nine?>
Spacey's face was split by a smile that revealed a row of broken and rotting teeth. "You mean Allison. Allison Kim."
My heart stopped beating. The blood froze in my human veins. Suddenly I saw through the matted hair, the filthy beard, the lunatic eyes. I saw through the years.
"Oh yes, I remember her," the human said. "See, she was Essam's wife. He was in love with her."
Visser lowered his thought-speak voice to an insinuating whisper. <And she, this Allison Kim, this Edriss-Five-Six-Two, this Sub-Visser Four-hundred-nine, she was in love with him as well?>
"Yes, yes, Essam was sure of that. Mostly, anyway. See, if he hadn't been sure he'd never have gone ahead with it."
<With what?>
"The babies. Their kids. See, they had kids. Twins. A little girl and a little boy."
So, a startling revelation. Beyond, that, though, let me point out, first, that Garoff, at least, comes across as a very clever Yeerk. Also, remember, children's book where the villain bribes a homeless man with booze.
quote:
The Council of Thirteen were shouting, avid spectators at a battle to the death.
"Behind you!"
"Strike! Strike!"
I'm really curious what kind of ping these guys are getting transmitting through Z-Space. Are these useful encouragments, or are they still going "To the left!" five minutes after the battle is over?
It's just clever enough from Visser Three to only put in a four or so "Bandits" so he can claim that later attacks will be from the remnants. Anyone on Earth would have to be suicidal to gainsay the presumably newly promoted Visser One.
But man, when it comes to that Hork Bajiir Controler, talk about a chump.
"Ok, you pretend to be an Andalite bandit, then I pretend to kill you, and you get a cushy promotion away from the frontlines where you remember to never speak the secret that could unmake my entire life and career."
"Got it. ...What if you decide to just kill me?"
"Me? Visser Three? Known extremely stable and benevolent boss? Perish the thought!"
True, but the thing is, you're that Hork-Bajir controller and you say no to Visser Three, well.....better to take the false hope, I guess?
Visser Three talking to a guy named "Spacey" lands a LOT differently in 2022 than it did in the 90s, wow
Visser Three talking to a guy named "Spacey" lands a LOT differently in 2022 than it did in the 90s, wow
can you elaborate, I have no idea what you're getting at. Pretty sure he's "Spacey" because he goes on about aliens
can you elaborate, I have no idea what you're getting at. Pretty sure he's "Spacey" because he goes on about aliens
It also invokes the image of famous actor Kevin Spacey, who was very popular in the 90s when Animorphs was in its prime, and is now known largely as being a prolific sex offender
It also invokes the image of famous actor Kevin Spacey, who was very popular in the 90s when Animorphs was in its prime, and is now known largely as being a prolific sex offender
I... guess? also pretty sure this guy is the producer holocaust survivor from earlier... although he was hanging out with a lady half his age probably so,
Watching the Simpsons lands a lot differently after the OJ trial than it did before, wow
BIG yikes!
Watching the Simpsons lands a lot differently after the OJ trial than it did before, wow BIG yikes!
Yeah, OJ did ruin a lot of shit by murdering two people, didn't he?
I... guess? also pretty sure this guy is the producer holocaust survivor from earlier... although he was hanging out with a lady half his age probably so,
I think this is a different man, though I don't remember for sure.
I think this is a different man, though I don't remember for sure.
Yeah, this is definitely a later host than than the producer guy, given the names he's throwing about at the end of the chapter. Essam went full symbiote with this dude, dove too deep, got too chatty, then just let him go one way or another, and Visser Three found him, to basically everyone's dismay.
Visser Three [...] to basically everyone's dismay
Heck of a series summary there.
I have to say, this is one fuck of a one-two punch he's just hit her with.
Controlling a famous producer would be the perfect excuse to get access to Earth leader Kevin Spacey and infest him.
Controlling a famous producer would be the perfect excuse to get access to Earth leader Kevin Spacey and infest him.
That explains how he got away with it for so long
Chapter 18
quote:
Silence.
Dead silence.
I had to deny it. Claim that it was all a lie. Claim that Visser Three had merely given this creature a script filled with fabrications.
But was there proof? That was the question. Was there proof? The penalty for lying to the Council was horrifying.
Was Visser Three bluffing? Did he have more?
"Is this true?" Garoff asked quietly.
Eva, my host, erupted violently, horrified by this news. <You created human children to be enslaved by Yeerks? If there's a hell you'll be there soon!>
I kept my face as blank as I could manage under the assault of my host's emotions. Not to mention my own.
"Yes, Council Member Garoff. It is true that I took a human female named Allison Kim as a host. Essam took a host named Hildy Gervais."
<You'll die, Edriss. I'll watch you die and laugh and thank God for the pain!>
"That's my name," Spacey said. "Hildy Gervais."
"And did you really cause your host bodies to reproduce?" Garoff demanded incredulously.
"Yes."
Garoff's face was hidden by the Council member's hood. But I could read the stiffening of his limbs as evidence of his reaction. The entire Council seemed to draw back.
<What we always missed was the motive,> Visser Three hissed. <It never made sense that the great Visser One, the Yeerk who had shown us Earth, who had taken us to the first Class-Five species ever discovered, would betray her own people and become a tool of the Andalites.>
"Never!" I cried. "I never was anything but an enemy to the Andalite race!"
<The truth will not set you free, Yeerk. They will never believe you. Never!>
<Shut up! Shut up!>
"You will need to explain this," Garoff said.
"I will be happy to explain." I tried to project confidence. But I was shattered. I was now close enough to Visser Three's torture chamber to be able to hear my own screams. And all the while, Eva taunted and laughed, shaking my concentration.
How to explain? How to explain that for more than a year I set aside my loyalty to my own people? How to explain that yes, for a year, I was a traitor?
"I will resume my story," I said shakily.
<This ought to be good.>
"Essam and I had made hosts of Lowenstein and Jenny Lines. They were useful. Useful for learning more about the humans. Lowenstein was a television producer. He created entertainments. Jenny Lines had been a casual acquaintance. Now that both were hosts, we naturally kept them close in contact. Jenny Lines showed me the lower elements of human society. The drug dealers, the petty criminals, the weak and feckless creatures like herself. But I tired of that. What I needed was to understand humans. To be able to assess their weaknesses on a larger scale. I needed to know for certain: Were humans Class Five or Class Four? Could we take them?"
All that sounded sensible. Logical. Reasonable.
I tried to calm my hammering human heart. Tried not to focus on the fact that Visser Three had caught me entirely by surprise.
And what else might he know? How many other witnesses might he call against me?
Only one way out, now. Marco. My host body's son. Marco, the gentle, sweet child who had obviously become something more. But I would never be allowed to communicate with him. No chance. No chance at all, unless, somehow, they were to attack on their own.
<Sad, isn't it? You need my son to save you.>
I didn't have the energy to shut her up. To argue. To threaten. I was scared. I was cornered. I was one wrong word away from a long, slow, agonizing death.
But I wasn't dead, yet. Not yet. I smiled at Visser Three. No reason. Just to make him wonder.
And then, I let my memory swim back to that long-ago past.
"I happened to encounter Allison Kim at a studio party. She was the technical advisor on a television series Lowenstein produced. A series involving, appropriately enough, a human future that involved Earth being invaded by aliens.
"Allison Kim was different than Jenny Lines. She was not a drug addict. She was not stupid. She was a scientist. Oh, I know, the idea of human science is almost laughable, but she had the disciplined habits of mind, and the imagination to ... " I hesitated. Reformulated what I was about to say. "She was more similar to the human Lowenstein than to Jenny Lines or the hapless soldier."
"I took her in the swimming pool. It was a perfect opportunity. Jenny Lines was physically strong when under my control. But she was under the influence of a number of chemicals and -"
Garoff interrupted. "You continued your human host's use of addictive chemicals?"
"Of course. It made her the perfect host in many ways. No annoying petty resistance. At one time I considered that addicts would make a perfect starting point for our invasion: They are inherently weak and susceptible. Easily taken. Unfortunately, they were also humans devoid of accomplishment or influence. They could not give us access to the levers of power."
"Continue," Garoff said.
"The water environment of the swimming pool was perfect. In this particular part of Earth, swimming pools are very common, and they are a central feature of outdoor parties."
I closed my eyes, savoring the moment. Remembering a time when I was not an accused prisoner.
Allison Kim happened to be in the swimming pool, along with one or two other humans. But Allison was in the deep end. The other two were sitting on the shallow steps.
I dived into the pool. I had made my decision almost impetuously. I didn't know if I'd have such an opportunity later. Strike now, I told myself.
It was night. Stars peeking through above, the lights of Los Angeles a glittering carpet down below us. The pool was lit, but water distorts human vision. Things that are solid appear to wiggle and squirm.
I dived in, surfaced just behind Allison Kim. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down under the water.
Anyone who'd seen us, and there were dozens and dozens of humans around the pool, would have thought I was engaging in a game of some sort.
Allison thought so. Then she realized I wasn't letting her surface. I punched her hard in the stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs. I punched her in the side of the head, stunning her. I held her head close and kicked my way down to the bottom of the pool. She struggled, but Jenny Lines was younger and stronger and an expert swimmer.
I pressed our ears together and reached out to her. It was Lowenstein's pool, so we had long since dispensed with the chlorine that would have burned my slime coat.
I reached to her across a gap of sun-warmed water. Entered her ear. Pushed with expert ease down through her ear canal. Around the bones and through the membranes till I touched her mind.
All I needed was contact with her motor functions. I found them quickly enough. Tapped into her arm and leg controls. Froze her, paralyzed her.
Then, I began to disengage from Jenny Lines. I withdrew from that empty brain, keeping just one control contact till the very end. Stretched now between the two humans, half-touching Allison, half-touching Jenny, I gave a last instruction to Jenny Lines.
I made Jenny breathe.
Then I broke contact forever. Allison Kim, the new me, waited till it was too late, then made a show of hauling Jenny Lines to the surface.
I performed the primitive human methodology for resuscitating a person who has attempted to breathe water. It failed as, of course, it must.
Essam's got a new host! Also, Essam is in trouble in court.
Chapter 19
quote:
I was thrilled with the new host. What a revelation! Living in Jenny's mind had been like living in a shipboard pool with none of the detail, the sensory appeal of a true Yeerk pool.
Allison fought me. What a glorious fight she made of it! I used to toy with her, withdraw some small bit of my control, just to see how long it would take her to find the weakness and attempt to exploit it.
Once I surrendered control of a single eye. Just my left eye, nothing more. Allison discovered that she could change the direction of that one eye. And here was her genius: She hid this ability, realized within a millisecond that to use it would be to betray it to me.
She waited. Waited. She knew she could do only one thing with that eye: Close it and eliminate my ability to perceive depth. She waited a week, till I was driving a car on a busy road, going at a high speed. I was driving behind a truck with defective brake lights.
Then, at the perfect moment, she closed her eye. Suddenly I could no longer be sure of the interval between me and the truck that was braking in front of me. I didn't know if it was stopping or maintaining speed.
I missed a fatal collision by milliseconds. She had been trying to kill herself, and me. Better dead than a Controller.
I was caught by surprise. I had not known that humans would do that. Die rather than accept defeat. Oh, I knew they said they'd do it, but not that they would actually mean it.
It was a depressing insight. Victory always involves a certain amount of bluff. The weaker party must realize that he is weaker and be prepared to submit. A species that will not submit is useless. There was no profit in simply killing humans. We needed them alive. We are not predators, after all.
Fortunately, few humans are Allison Kim.
<You see that she does not even attempt to conceal her sympathies!> Visser Three's hated voice interrupted my memories. <She admires this human host.>
"Yes," I admitted, shaken back to the present. The present, in all its hopelessness. "You see, Visser Three, I intended to take humans and make them our slaves. It was a large objective. It was worth spending time to understand, to assess. I did not doubt that we could slaughter humans; the question was, could we make them ours?"
<Humans possess simple projectile weapons armed with explosives, ranging from chemical ordnance to fusion weapons,> Visser Three lectured pedantically. <They do not have energy beam weapons, Quantum viruses, sensor shield technology, Zero-space travel ... their fastest craft fly at speeds measured in multiples of the speed of sound. Their so-called spacecraft are devoid of weapons.>
"There are more than five billion of them, Visser," I shot back. "And you may deride their projectile weapons, but a nine-millimeter bullet will kill a Hork-Bajir host body quite effectively. And Taxxons or Gedds? A Taxxon can be killed with a can opener!"
<You see her fear! You see her cowardice!> Visser Three crowed.
"I intended to win, Visser, not to make brave noises and loud speeches. When I began the mission to Earth we might, with luck, have been able to assemble and land a force of fifty thousand Hork-Bajir and twenty thousand Taxxons on Earth. Five billion humans, each firing a single bullet, could have missed nearly a hundred percent of the time and still wiped us out!"
<We can terrify them into surrender!> Visser Three cried.
"Ignorant fool! Humans have fought thousands of wars. Thousands! We as a race have fought a mere handful. They run straight into the bullets, Visser Three, again and again. Did you know that? They attack against insane odds. They defend what can't be defended. Outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded, hopeless, they will still fight, fight, fight till they are each and every one dead. Something you might know if you stopped posturing long enough to learn something!"
I forced a derisive laugh. "It's ironic, Visser Three, that you, you of all Yeerks, you who rose to prominence by studying the Andalites when no one else would, have turned so stupid when it comes to dealing with humans."
Visser Three blinked his large Andalite eyes. He knew I'd made a point at his expense. He had no answer. I pressed home my point.
"You see, Visser, a human forced to fight can be brave to the point of madness. But they have weaknesses, too. Enough weaknesses. Enough that they can still be ours, if we are patient."
I felt Garoff's eyes on me. Watching. Considering. Him and the rest of the Council.
Was Garoff himself the Emperor? Was he the only judge that mattered here? Or was he just a mouthpiece for the real power?
"Let us grant that humans are complex," Garoff said. "That is not the issue at hand. The issue at hand is your decision to live as a human, and to fail to contact us for two years."
"They are the same matter, Garoff," I said. "It was easy enough to see the way to control a weakling like Jenny Lines. I needed to know how to defeat a strong human. Allison Kim was strong."
<She had human children! By her own admission!>
"I needed to understand my prey, and family is central to their world view."
<A lie,> Visser Three said bitterly. <I request a live memory dump. Visser One is obviously not worthy of trust. It is clear that she has concealed evidence. I will enter her memory and root out the truth!>
I wanted to scream. My hand clutched at a nonexistent Dracon weapon. It was the ultimate violation. It would make me no better than ... than ...
<Me?> my host mocked. <Yes, you'd feel what it's like to have someone else controlling your memory, prying into your secrets. You'd see what it's like to have a filthy Yeerk in your ->
<Idiot! Don't you realize that Visser Three would find out the truth about your son?>
That silenced her. But she was not my real problem.
Garoff nodded, floating in his gravity-neutral zone. "Visser One would have to agree to a live memory interface."
"To this treasonous incompetent buffoon rooting through my mind? Never! Council members, I -"
Garoff raised a hand, silencing me. "In exchange for agreeing, we, the Council, would offer you immunity for all secondary crimes. We only want the truth of the major charge, Edriss, the charge that you have delayed the invasion of Earth by incompetence or for reasons of sympathy with the host population. We have no interest in minor rule breaking. And the interface would be strictly confined to the time in question."
"You suggest I trust him?" I pointed at Visser Three.
"No, I do not. I will conduct the memory probe," Garoff said. "If you agree, Visser One."
There it was. I was trapped. If I refused, I was guilty. But a live memory interface? It would mean I could hide nothing. Nothing at all of that year. Garoff would be in my head.
Death now. Or death later.
No choice.
Technicians inserted probes through my host's skull. I felt the slight electricity as they found my stretched, membrane-thin body wrapped around Eva's brain.
I felt a single mind, a single consciousness touching mine. Garoff.
He did not roughly seize control. He insinuated himself. His voice alone, at first. He asked polite questions. But we both knew the power was all his.
"Tell me," he said.
"Yes," I answered.
<Hey, what is that sound?> Eva laughed. <Oh, I know. It's the jaws of a trap snapping shut.>
It is a trap, because, as was pointed out Garoff is clever...very clever. Also, the conversation gets again into humans willing to sacrifice themselves for hopeless causes, a trait that makes them unusual.
It's a pretty good point she makes, about humans having fought thousands upon thousands of wars. We are good at killing and dying.
I do think that Visser Three isn't making the best case for shock and awe here. If someone vaporized every major government building and communication satalite from space, it would be pretty hard to organize.
I do think that Visser Three isn't making the best case for shock and awe here. If someone vaporized every major government building and communication satalite from space, it would be pretty hard to organize.
can't help but feel like V1 landing in the midst of desert storm is somewhat relevant
Looking forward to the finale where every human on earth fires a single bullet in a random direction and they destroy the Yeerks purely by accident.
Sorry about this, but the continuation of this trial has to be put off for another day, because we're trying to keep one of the Taxxon Council Members from eating itself.
"Elhas, Elhas, it's just a scratch. Come on, eat this Gedd instead! Can somebody hold him?!"
Sure hope that one wasn't the Emperor, or then they'll have to vote on the new one and that's a whole thing.
Side note, I do like that Eva's still got enough spunk to basically shitpost through a trial that has a very real chance of ending up with her dead.
She knows her best shot is to drive Visser Three into a rage. Even if that means he kills her in a fury, that's still a win condition compared to dying of slow torture.
Sorry about this, but the continuation of this trial has to be put off for another day, because we're trying to keep one of the Taxxon Council Members from eating itself.
"Elhas, Elhas, it's just a scratch. Come on, eat this Gedd instead! Can somebody hold him?!"
Hologram blinks off. Hologram blinks on. This trial is now being overseen by the Council of Twelve. Continue, Visser One...
I think their experience with the Hork Bajir is a big influence. They tried the shock and awe approach against a much weaker species than humans and lost almost all of them. They could nuke earth from orbit but probably couldn't win a ground war where you have to grab people one by one and stick their head in a pool.
Yeah.... and humans being what we are, you'd get a lot of suicide bombs, people fighting to the death, and generally wasting good hosts. I'm not saying it's impossible, just that it wouldn't be easy
Sure hope that one wasn't the Emperor, or then they'll have to vote on the new one and that's a whole thing.
I choose to believe the Council has voting procedures similar to the Republic of Venice