Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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HisMajestyBOB: Oct 21, 2010; College Slice

Bobulus posted:

I am extremely amused that Loren's first thought is that that the andalite will be offended to be ridden like a horse. Meanwhile, Elfangor has no analogue in his society to draw from, so it doesn't even occur to him that this could be a demeaning occurrence.

Edit: this isn't very relevant to the current situation in the books, but I'm wondering: we've had several points where human knowledge has been foreign to andalites or nonhuman controllers (but, of course, obvious to the viewer). Was there any point at which this was used for dramatic irony? In particular, I'm wondering if at any point in an Ax book, Visser 3 and Ax interact as humans, with one not realizing the other is an andalite because they make some obvious mistake that the audience recognizes but the characters don't?

I'm now picturing Visser Three walking through a mall in human morph, seeing Ax in human morph devour cinnabons and cigarette butts, and continuing on without suspicion.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 05:12

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# ? May 24, 2024 13:49

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

Humans are surprisingly good at throwing. It's something we take for granted, but humans can throw things better than any other animal on earth. We're good at focusing our vision, and our arms have a very wide range of motion.

I picked up the notion somewhere that this is because a primate's arm evolved to swing from branch to branch and it's the same sort of shoulder motion, but apparently not, since we throw better than other primates:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23061016

HisMajestyBOB posted:

I'm now picturing Visser Three walking through a mall in human morph, seeing Ax in human morph devour cinnabons and cigarette butts, and continuing on without suspicion.

This has probably come up before but I just remembered that in the TV series, when Visser Three is in human morph basically all the time for obvious production reasons, he's played by Arnold Vosloo aka Imhotep from The Mummy. Pretty good casting IMO, he does villains good.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 06:47

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

freebooter posted:

I picked up the notion somewhere that this is because a primate's arm evolved to swing from branch to branch and it's the same sort of shoulder motion, but apparently not, since we throw better than other primates:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23061016

This has probably come up before but I just remembered that in the TV series, when Visser Three is in human morph basically all the time for obvious production reasons, he's played by Arnold Vosloo aka Imhotep from The Mummy. Pretty good casting IMO, he does villains good.

Eugene Lipinski, actually :eng101:

Though he has some of that same energy in what little I've seen of him in the role. Arnold Vosloo played the big bad on a season of :twentyfour:

, so maybe that's what you're thinking of?

Visser Three's human morph is usually described as being tall, thin, older and with grey hair, which to me conjures an image of someone like Peter Capaldi of late.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 07:28

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

freebooter posted:

I picked up the notion somewhere that this is because a primate's arm evolved to swing from branch to branch and it's the same sort of shoulder motion, but apparently not, since we throw better than other primates:

I think it was Jake's narration that mentioned that in book 11.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 10:01

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

nine-gear crow posted:

Eugene Lipinski, actually Though he has some of that same energy in what little I've seen of him in the role. Arnold Vosloo played the big bad on a season of , so maybe that's what you're thinking of?

Visser Three's human morph is usually described as being tall, thin, older and with grey hair, which to me conjures an image of someone like Peter Capaldi of late.

I mean if anyone could portray Visser 3's level of sheer rage, Capaldi could.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 12:04

ninjahedgehog: Feb 17, 2011; It's time to kick the tires and light the fires, Big Bird.

I'm surprised at how much the whole Time Matrix sequence has stuck with me for the past twenty years, it's such a cool and interesting concept for a kid's book and Katherine is loving aces at vivid visuals. The thing I remember *most* from this book though is coming up in what I assume is the next chapter, with the poor, unfortunate memory of Loren's least favorite McDonald's employee. *shudder*

Tree Bucket posted:

3: "So. You propel rocks at me!" is now a contender for Best Animorphs line, tied with lobster-morphed Ax musing that "these pincers are most excellent"

I did forget how goddamn funny these books could be. "You'll be sorry you ever propelled a rock at me!"

# ? Dec 1, 2020 17:50

rollick: Mar 20, 2009

Was it ever established if Andalites have shoulders? If not, no wonder they'd be miserable at throwing.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 18:03

ninjahedgehog: Feb 17, 2011; It's time to kick the tires and light the fires, Big Bird.

rollick posted:

Was it ever established if Andalites have shoulders? If not, no wonder they'd be miserable at throwing.

This is actually a *huge* argument in the fandom that someone else can probably discuss in greater detail than me, but the short of it is there's nothing really in the text that describes them as having humanlike shoulders or even a torso at all, and not much in the way of explicitly describing them as centaur-like either. In fact, some characters describe them as resembling blue deer at a distance, which is a real stretch if they've got human-esque upper halves.

All of the official art does portray them as centaurs though, but that could have been just artists making assumptions and Applegate couldn't do anything to change it after the first official art came out.

Basically the short answer is :shrug:

# ? Dec 1, 2020 18:08

Remalle: Feb 12, 2020

The Tolkien fan authors at it again, with their very own version of "do balrogs have wings?"

# ? Dec 1, 2020 18:41

rollick: Mar 20, 2009

Andalites have t-rex arms, this is now canon.

# ? Dec 1, 2020 19:04

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

nine-gear crow posted:

Eugene Lipinski, actually Though he has some of that same energy in what little I've seen of him in the role. Arnold Vosloo played the big bad on a season of , so maybe that's what you're thinking of?

OK this is my personal Mandela effect, I would've happily bet my life it was Vosloo. I watched 24s4 as well, but that was like five years later, I couldn't have confused it with that...

Fuschia tude posted:

I think it was Jake's narration that mentioned that in book 11.

Well then tut tut, KA! (I was actually thinking maybe it was Kim Stanley Robinson, it's the kind of science trivia he litters his books with.)

# ? Dec 1, 2020 22:09

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

rollick posted:

Andalites have t-rex arms, this is now canon.

Nooooooo

# ? Dec 1, 2020 22:23

feetnotes: Jan 29, 2008

ninjahedgehog posted:

This is actually a *huge* argument in the fandom that someone else can probably discuss in greater detail than me, but the short of it is there's nothing really in the text that describes them as having humanlike shoulders or even a torso at all, and not much in the way of explicitly describing them as centaur-like either. In fact, some characters describe them as resembling blue deer at a distance, which is a real stretch if they've got human-esque upper halves.

All of the official art does portray them as centaurs though, but that could have been just artists making assumptions and Applegate couldn't do anything to change it after the first official art came out.

Basically the short answer is

Not to go all "sharks aren't smooth" on you, but I think we can pretty officially and conclusively put this to rest. There are one or two descriptions that are ambiguous enough to cause confusion, but the text pretty clearly backs up the official artwork in lots of places. I took a sampling of expository 'Andalite appearance descriptions' from a few of the earlier books:

Finding Ax in book #4: He stood on four delicate hooves, looking, at first glance, like a pale blue and tan deer or antelope. But he had a strong upper body, like a mythical centaur, with two small arms and many-fingered hands. His face was almost triangular, built around two huge, almond-shaped eyes. There was a small vertical slit where his nose should have been, and nothing where his mouth should have been.

From book #6: It's amazing how quickly we'd all gotten used to the fact that this guy from another planet was with us. I barely even thought about the fact that an Andalite was standing there, looking like a cross between a blue deer, a mouthless human, a goat with eyes on the ends of his horns, and a scorpion.

From book #7: He looks like some odd cross of a human, a deer, and a scorpion. But not really like any of those things. His upper body and head are more or less the human-looking parts. He has thin arms and many-fingered hands. His face is flat, with slits for a nose and two large almond eyes. He has no mouth at all, which is why thought-speak is the natural language of Andalites.

From book #8, when Ax is describing himself: I am told that I look like a cross between a deer, a scorpion, and a human. I've seen deer in the woods, and I don't agree. For one thing, they have mouths and I don't. And they have only two eyes, while I have four.

From book #9: Up close he looks like a cross between a deer or a horse, and a human and a scorpion. Sort of like a mythical centaur. His upper body is like a boy�s. He has weak-looking arms and a head with two movable stalks on top, kind of like antlers. Each stalk has an eye. The eyes are constantly looking left and right and back.

I got tired of looking after this

but I'm sure there are more. Alt-Andalite designs are fun though! But I think the text does pretty much back up the centaur comparison.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 01:11

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Andalite Chronicles-Chapter 39

quote:

We ran. Or I ran, and Loren rode lightly on my back. And we quickly outran the visser�s beasts. Those biological wheels were swift, but not as swift as an Andalite�s hooves.

As for the visser, he chose not to give chase. At least not just then. But I knew I had not seen the end of him.

We left the �Andalite� portion of this new universe and ran through an increasingly strange environment.

The sky overhead was blue, but darkening just a bit.

The woods gave way to a cluttered landscape filled up with manufactured things. The grass under my hooves became a hard, gray-black substance. White stripes lined the middle.

<What is this thing we are on?> I asked.

�It�s a street,� Loren said.

<What does it do?>

�Well, remember that Mustang you were driving around on the Taxxon world? Streets are what Mustangs travel on.�

As soon as she said it I could see how sensible it was. Of course. This way the human �cars� - which is how, Loran informed me, humans commonly refer to these machines - would not damage tasty grass.

On both sides of the street there were cars sitting. Beyond the cars, further back from the street were rectangular boxy structures. They were quite large and decorated with small squares and rectangles of transparent material. The tops were angled and covered in reddish-orange or dark gray
scales.

<Are these human creations?>

�Yep. These are houses. That�s what we live in.�

<You live in them? How?>

�Um, well � I mean, you go in through the front door. See? The tall rectangles on the front of each house? You go in through those.�

<Inside.>

�Yes, inside.�

<Ah! Wait! You mean these structures are hollow!>

�Of course they�re hollow. Pretty soon we�ll be to my house. Then I�ll show you. You�ll meet my mom. You can see my room.�

Andalites, as pointed out, don't have houses. Also note that Elfangor understands roads as a way you can drive cars without damaging the food supply...which I guess is true, but it's also an example of Andalite thinking.

quote:

I didn�t know what to say to that. My own home scoop had been empty. My mother and father had not been there. I doubted that Loren�s mother would be in her house. But I wasn�t sure.

<Don�t expect too much,> I warned.

�She�ll be there,� Loren said forcefully. �Next house. The one with the bushes out front.�

I had very little experience understanding the expression of human voices, but I sensed fear in Loren�s voice. Uncertainty.

I stopped before her house. There was a very attractive patch of grass in the front. Obviously, humans grow their own food in neatly cultivated squares in front of each house.

<You must have very hardy grasses to be able to feed whole families and still look so perfect and so green.>

�What?� Loren asked.

She frowned and I let the matter drop. I was sure now that she was worried. She slid from my back.

<I�ll wait while you go inside your hollow house,> I said.

�No. Come with me, Elfangor. Hold my hand.�

I held her hand and she walked up a series of four steps. I wondered about the steps. Were they a way to slow down any approaching enemy, so that no one could charge directly inside the hollow house? With her free hand Loren twisted a metallic ball. The door opened a little and Loren pushed it open all the way.

She was correct. The house was hollow inside. In fact, now I could see that the outer walls were no more than a few inches thick. But inside the hollowness were other walls, with other doors. It was like a maze!

Lights glowed from the flat covering above us. Other lights were hung on the walls. The floor was covered with a sort of very short, pale tan grass. I tried to taste some of it, but my hooves could not eat it.

�Mom?� Loren said in a loud, quavering voice.

�I�m in here, honey.�

I felt Loren�s hand jerk in surprise. Then she let go of my hand and ran along the strange inedible tan grass and turned out of sight through a rectangular opening.

I followed slowly, unsure of myself. I did not know any human rituals. I knew what I would have said when first meeting an Andalite friend�s parents, but I�d never met a human�s parents.

I heard Loren sob. �Mommy!�

I turned the corner and looked into another of the mazelike rooms. This room had metallic devices against one wall, all rectangular and white. Humans are very partial to rectangles. The floor was smooth here, and slippery for my hooves.

Loren was wrapped in the arms of another human. This new human was also female, as far as I could tell. She had hair the same color as Loren�s, but dark brown eyes. Perhaps that was a sign of age. Perhaps humans have blue eyes till a certain age. Or until they reproduce and have children.

I wanted to ask Loren if my guess was correct, but Loren�s mother was looking at me with her brown eyes.

�Loren, honey, shouldn�t you introduce your friend?�

Loren frowned. She looked at me, then back at her mother. �Mom, this is Elfangor. Don�t be afraid, okay? He�s my friend.�

The human woman smiled. �Now, why would I be afraid? I like meeting your friends. You know that.�

�But � Mom � Elfangor�s not exactly one of my school friends.�

�I like meeting your friends.�

Loren�s face was growing pale. She darted worried eyes at me and back to her mother. �Mom, can�t you tell that Elfangor is not a normal friend from school? Can�t you tell that he�s different?�

�Oh, honey.� The woman laughed. �He�s just an Andalite like any other.�

Loren jumped back like she�d been slapped. I swept the room with my stalk eyes, ready for trouble. I cocked my tail and waited, tense and confined in the narrow room with the slippery floor.

�What do you mean, he�s an Andalite? You don�t know about Andalites! You can�t know about Andalites.�

Loren�s mother made a face. �You know, just because I�m your mother doesn�t mean I�m an antique! I do keep up with things, Miss Modern. Your generation thinks it invented everything. You think you kids invented Andalites? We had Andalites when I was your age, too.�

I sort of want to make a "We have Andalites at home" joke, here, but...

quote:

�How do you know about Andalites?!� Loren yelled. There was water leaking from her eyes. �Oh, God, you�re not real! You�re not real!�

�Now, Loren, if you are going to treat me disrespectfully, I am going to send you to your room.�

�You�re not my mother! You�re not real!�

I placed a hand on Loren�s shoulder. By now I had learned that humans like to be touched when they are upset. <Loren, you�re right. She is not your mother. She�s something you made out of your own thoughts and memories of your mother. She knows about Andalites because you knew about
Andalites when you imagined her.>

But Loren did not want to be comforted. She threw off my hand. She turned to me with her face red, and water flowing from her blue eyes. And she screamed. �Get away from me! Get away from me! This is all your fault! Just leave me alone!�

She pushed past me and ran from the hollow house, sobbing loudly.

I was alone with the artificial mockery of a human woman. 

�Would you like some pop and cookies?� the human woman asked.

<No, thank you,> I said. I wondered what I should do. I didn�t know how to comfort a human girl who is trapped inside a nightmare. <Loren�s mother, can you show me where Loren�s room is?>

�Up the stairs, on the right. But leave the door open a crack. That�s the rule in our house when Loren has Andalites over to play.�

I mean, as funny as it sort of comes across, it is really pretty horrible. There's that big trope in horror where there the world seems normal, but then you start noticing slight differences, and you realize either something is wrong with you or with the world. And that's what we're seeing here, from Loren's perspective. It's especially horrific, because it's like we've talked about earlier, a question of identity. This is a thing that looks like her mom, acts like her mom, sounds like her mom, but it's not her mom....it's just her own reconstruction of her mom.

Chapter 40

quote:

I felt that Loren needed a little time alone. It was dangerous letting her walk around by herself. But I couldn�t force her to talk to me when she was angry and afraid.

I had to climb many stairs to reach Loren�s room. I still didn�t understand the point of stairs. I guess humans just love anything with straight edges and a rectangular shape. The stairs were definitely rectangular. And they allowed the humans to place a second level in their houses. This made the house a larger rectangle. And I suppose this is important in some way.

Inside Loren�s room was a long rectangle covered with artificial skin. I suspect she used it for sleeping. I had seen that when she slept, she lay flat and stretched out straight. There were two other flat rectangles, one mostly covered with bound papers. The bound papers were called books or magazines. Loren had explained them to me. A sort of extremely primitive computer file.

I opened one of them. There were words printed on the pages but the words stopped abruptly in the middle of the book. Of course. Loren had not finished the book. So she could not recreate it out of her memory.

There was a small picture of Loren with two other people. All were making human smiles. One was her mother. The other I believed was male. Perhaps her father.

I took this picture and held it in my hand. I looked around the room, trying to understand this alien girl. But alien things are hard to make sense of.

By the time I got out of the hollow house and back to the street, Loren was gone from sight. I worried about finding her. But after wandering the alien landscape for a while, I heard a far-off sound. A THWACK!

I ran at top speed to the sound and found Loren in a field of short grass and dirt. She stood with her back to a high wire cage. In her right hand she held a sort of long, shaped stick, wider at the far end. With her left she tossed a round white sphere up in the air. And then, quickly clasping the stick with both hands, she swung the stick till it struck the falling white sphere.

The result was fascinating. The sphere went flying through the air.

Loren watched the sphere until it fell to the grass, perhaps a hundred feet away. Then she reached down into a bucket by her feet, lifted out a second, identical sphere, and repeated the entire process.

<Loren!>

She ignored my approach.

Toss � swing � THWACK!

The sphere flew over the grass and landed at the edge of a narrow band of trees.

Toss � swing � THWACK!

<Loren?>

�See, this is softball,� she said, without looking at me. �See that high spot there? That�s the pitcher�s mound. The pitcher throws the ball across this plate. The batter swings and tries to knock the stitches off her.�

<Off the pitcher?>

Toss � swing � THWACK!

�That was my last ball. I�d better go retrieve them. Our coach goes ape if we lose equipment.�

She started off across the field, still carrying her shaped stick.

<You are upset,> I said.

�What was your first clue?�

<This all seems very bizarre to you. Me as well.>

�Bizarre? My neighborhood with no people in it? My mom sounding like a dimwit robot but knowing things she can�t possibly know? The sky in patches?�

<Is that humor?>

�It�s sarcasm,� she said. We reached one of the white balls. She picked it up and used the stick to knock it back toward the tall wire cage.

I held the small picture out for her to see. 

�That is not my house,� she said. But she took the picture and stared at it. Her face seemed to grow softer. Her mouth corners became more nearly level. Her forehead skin grew less wrinkled.

�Elfangor, what is happening here?�

<What you said earlier, more or less. I think that in order to direct the Time Matrix you need to form a mental image of where and when you want to go. We couldn�t do that because all three of us were fighting for control. We each - you, me, Visser Thirty-two had ideas of where to go. You wanted
your home. I wanted mine. I guess he wanted his. Nobody�s vision was complete. We were all freezing and suffocating for lack of air. The Time Matrix did the best it could.>

�I thought it was supposed to be a time machine.�

I sighed. <Some people believe that there is not just one universe, but many. Maybe, somehow, instead of traveling through the time and space of our own universe, we forced the Time Matrix to create a whole new universe. When the three of us wrestled for control, the Time Matrix could not make sense of what we were asking it to do. So it created this place.>

Loren resumed walking toward the far edge of the field. She stooped to pick up another ball and knocked it back in the direction we�d come from. �So my mom. My mother � she�s just made up out of my memories.�

<And even then, not all your memories. She is not complete. She is bits and pieces of your memories of her. I think the more complicated things, like sentient creatures, are probably the most likely to be incomplete.>

Loren made a snorting sound. �Great universe, isn�t it?�

<That was sarcasm, too?>

�Yeah. That was sarcasm, too.� We had reached the trees. Loren plunged in. �Look how complete all the trees are. Why are the grass and the trees and the air all like they should be?�

<Because a person � whether it�s an Andalite or a human, is a thousand times more complicated than a tree.>

I noticed that Loren was not looking at me. Instead she was staring alertly into the woods.

<Do you see something?>

�No. I � I have a feeling, is all. I have to go look.�

I followed her through the woods. We traveled no more than fifty feet when we reached what Loren had sensed.

The trees stopped abruptly. The sky above us stopped, too. The ground and the grass all stopped. Just stopped. And beyond it was blank whiteness.

The pure, blank, white of Zero-space. Nothingness.

I felt awed and frightened all at once. We were standing at the edge of our tiny universe. Loren reached toward the whiteness, stretching her hand out beyond the edge of soil and vegetation, air and sky.

Her arm reached that edge and curved back on itself. It simply bent in a perfect arc, so that her hand was reaching back toward her own face.

�Noooooooo!� she screamed. �No! No! No!�

<Loren, it�s only �> Only what? What could I say to comfort her when I felt my own mind spinning out of control?

She turned to me, eyes wide and reddish now. �I want to go home, Elfangor. I want to go home! This place is wrong. It�s wrong!�



�We have to get out of here. This place can�t exist. Feel it. It�s wrong!�

<We have to find the Time Matrix,> I said. <It�s the only way. But we don�t know where it is. And Visser Thirty-two will try to stop us.>

She was still holding the shaped stick. The softball stick. She looked at me with cold fury in her blue human eyes. And I saw something there that almost scared me.

She clutched the stick tightly. �Let him try and stop us. Let him try.�

She's ready to kill at this point.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 02:22

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

Hah. Lorien is Quenya for "dreamland," which I guess sums up the Time Matrix universe pretty well. Is this another Tolkien reference from the authors?

# ? Dec 2, 2020 02:57

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

<We each - you, me, Visser Thirty-two had ideas of where to go. You wanted your home. I wanted mine. I guess he wanted his. Nobody�s vision was complete. We were all freezing and suffocating for lack of air.>

This explains why the Visser would have conjured up the Yeerk homeworld even though he shouldn't sensibly want to go there since it's under Andalite occupation. (Though I think the actual answer is that KA just hadn't decided that yet.)

edit - also, unless I'm mistaken, I think this bizzaro world is as close as we ever come to an actual scene on the modern-day Andalite homeworld? The only other I can think of is the Ellimist going there in prehistoric times. I'm trying off the top of my head to think of how many planets we as readers get to visit and it's a pretty extensive list: Taxxon, Yeerk, Hork-Bajir, Leera, the weird-as-hell one where they have to fight the Howlers, Ellimist, the sentient ocean planet the Ellimist gets trapped on for a while...

freebooter fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Dec 2, 2020

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:10

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

This section of the book exemplifies something I love about Animorphs in general, the way it incorporates some really cool weird science fiction.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:11

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

This explains why the Visser would have conjured up the Yeerk homeworld even though he shouldn't sensibly want to go there since it's under Andalite occupation. (Though I think the actual answer is that KA just hadn't decided that yet.)

Blockade. Or at least it is in the main books.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:29

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; Ultra Carp

Honestly Loren's been holding up impressively well up to this point, and it makes sense that she'd start breaking down right when home seems so close, but is actually farther away then ever.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:32

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

Blockade. Or at least it is in the main books.

Yeah but same difference because he doesn't strike me as the type to want to sit out the rest of the war under siege

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:33

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Epicurius posted:

Blockade. Or at least it is in the main books.

Yeah, isn't it said somewhere or another that basically the only thing keeping the Yeerks from just storming into the Andalite core systems is the fact that the Andalites have a fleet in orbit around the Yeerk homeworld that's just sitting there and waiting for orders to glass it if things are pushed "too far"?

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:35

Piell: Sep 3, 2006; Grey Worm's Ken doll-like groin throbbed with the anticipatory pleasure that only a slightly warm and moist piece of lemoncake could offer; Young Orc

feetnotes posted:

Not to go all "sharks aren't smooth" on you, but I think we can pretty officially and conclusively put this to rest. There are one or two descriptions that are ambiguous enough to cause confusion, but the text pretty clearly backs up the official artwork in lots of places. I took a sampling of expository 'Andalite appearance descriptions' from a few of the earlier books:

Finding Ax in book #4: He stood on four delicate hooves, looking, at first glance, like a pale blue and tan deer or antelope. But he had a strong upper body, like a mythical centaur, with two small arms and many-fingered hands. His face was almost triangular, built around two huge, almond-shaped eyes. There was a small vertical slit where his nose should have been, and nothing where his mouth should have been.

From book #6: It's amazing how quickly we'd all gotten used to the fact that this guy from another planet was with us. I barely even thought about the fact that an Andalite was standing there, looking like a cross between a blue deer, a mouthless human, a goat with eyes on the ends of his horns, and a scorpion.

From book #7: He looks like some odd cross of a human, a deer, and a scorpion. But not really like any of those things. His upper body and head are more or less the human-looking parts. He has thin arms and many-fingered hands. His face is flat, with slits for a nose and two large almond eyes. He has no mouth at all, which is why thought-speak is the natural language of Andalites.

From book #8, when Ax is describing himself: I am told that I look like a cross between a deer, a scorpion, and a human. I've seen deer in the woods, and I don't agree. For one thing, they have mouths and I don't. And they have only two eyes, while I have four.

From book #9: Up close he looks like a cross between a deer or a horse, and a human and a scorpion. Sort of like a mythical centaur. His upper body is like a boy�s. He has weak-looking arms and a head with two movable stalks on top, kind of like antlers. Each stalk has an eye. The eyes are constantly looking left and right and back.

I got tired of looking after this but I'm sure there are more. Alt-Andalite designs are fun though! But I think the text does pretty much back up the centaur comparison.

Counterpoint: Book 5 says: "From a distance you'd think he was a small horse or a deer. He has four hooved feet that flash with amazing speed. His upper body looks like a horse's neck and head, except that when he gets close enough, you see that he has two smaller, human-sized arms sticking out."

The original Andalite sketch is sort of halfway between both.
https://twitter.com/MichaelGrantBks/status/1118990778095693824

They do sort of have little T-Rex arms, though!

# ? Dec 2, 2020 03:45

Turpitude II: Nov 10, 2014

freebooter posted:

Yeah but same difference because he doesn't strike me as the type to want to sit out the rest of the war under siege

considering he's using the time matrix, maybe he was envisioning the yeerk homeworld some time pre-blockade, with the intent to change things more favourably? he is with pets that he doesn't seem to have any time in the present.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 10:51

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Epicurius posted:

quote:
There were two other flat rectangles, one mostly covered with bound papers. The bound papers were called books or magazines. Loren had explained them to me. A sort of extremely primitive computer file.

Elfangor is introduced to books, sees that you can't use thought-speak to connect to them and that you have to manually search through them in their entirety to find what you're looking for, and recognizes them as less advanced. Ax (the previously lazier brother and worse student) is introduced to books, sees that you don't have to automatically get what you're looking for from them but instead can just page through them aimlessly, and immediately decides they're better.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 14:23

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

disaster pastor posted:

Elfangor is introduced to books, sees that you can't use thought-speak to connect to them and that you have to manually search through them in their entirety to find what you're looking for, and recognizes them as less advanced. Ax (the previously lazier brother and worse student) is introduced to books, sees that you don't have to automatically get what you're looking for from them but instead can just page through them aimlessly, and immediately decides they're better.

It does tell you a lot about their respective personalities.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 15:00

Cythereal: Nov 8, 2009; I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Ax also thinks books are superior to computers because books don't have loading times and can't crash out. :v:

# ? Dec 2, 2020 18:46

ninjahedgehog: Feb 17, 2011; It's time to kick the tires and light the fires, Big Bird.

freebooter posted:

This explains why the Visser would have conjured up the Yeerk homeworld even though he shouldn't sensibly want to go there since it's under Andalite occupation. (Though I think the actual answer is that KA just hadn't decided that yet.)

edit - also, unless I'm mistaken, I think this bizzaro world is as close as we ever come to an actual scene on the modern-day Andalite homeworld? The only other I can think of is the Ellimist going there in prehistoric times. I'm trying off the top of my head to think of how many planets we as readers get to visit and it's a pretty extensive list: Taxxon, Yeerk, Hork-Bajir, Leera, the weird-as-hell one where they have to fight the Howlers, Ellimist, the sentient ocean planet the Ellimist gets trapped on for a while...

I always thought it was interesting how Applegate barely gives any actual planet names, instead everything is the Andalite homeworld, the Hork-Bajir homeworld, the Taxxon homeworld, etc. Did she ever give a reason for that?

# ? Dec 2, 2020 19:59

Zasze: Apr 29, 2009

ninjahedgehog posted:

I always thought it was interesting how Applegate barely gives any actual planet names, instead everything is the Andalite homeworld, the Hork-Bajir homeworld, the Taxxon homeworld, etc. Did she ever give a reason for that?

These books are for younger readers and it is far more efficient context wise to catch the reader up with X's homeworld than "made up name" also this is the x home-world every time a planet is brought up.

# ? Dec 2, 2020 21:05

GodFish: Oct 10, 2012; We're your first, last, and only line of defense. We live in secret. We exist in shadow.

And we dress in black.

Everyone's name for their planet just translates to Earth :v:

# ? Dec 2, 2020 22:05

MrNemo: Aug 26, 2010; "I just love beeting off"

Having taken a break I've just caught up about 300 posts over the last couple of days and this series is dark. I enjoyed Jake's time misadventure, it was an interesting look into leadership in a wartime situation, especially in a more tactical than strategic role. You need someone people have trust can make relatively calm decisions quickly. It's also kind of horrible the effect it's having on him and interesting as well to see his behaviour chasing a bit in response to it rather than the more normal 'reset' is expect in 90s kid lit.

The Rachel book was actually kind of horrifying as well. Maybe it's reading it all as an adult but I didn't really see any of it as a comedy bit, the whole thing was near death and body horror all the way through. Also the Andalite chronicles rock, I'm glad to see that Visser 3 hasn't gotten worse since acquiring an Andalite host and has in fact always been a terrible super violation boss

# ? Dec 3, 2020 00:36

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

GodFish posted:

Everyone's name for their planet just translates to Earth

Reminds me of that line from Pratchett's series about the "nomes" stranded on earth. They ask their revived navigation AI what star their ancestors came from, and it replies "The Sun." Every species calls its star The Sun...

Also I seem to remember that there are heap of people-group names that translate as "the people" or "the strangers" depending on whose bits of language survived.

# ? Dec 3, 2020 00:46

Tree Bucket: Apr 1, 2016; R.I.P.idura leucophrys

MrNemo posted:

The Rachel book was actually kind of horrifying as well. Maybe it's reading it all as an adult but I didn't really see any of it as a comedy bit, the whole thing was near death and body horror all the way through.

(Oops, double post.)
Yeah, the whole series is full of stuff like that. Having a Yeerk in your brain, plundering your memories, watching your thoughts and steering your body's interactions with your unknowing loved ones- it would literally be the worst hell imaginable. But as a kid I kind left it at "oohh spooky"!

# ? Dec 3, 2020 00:52

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Andalite Chronicles-Chapter 41

quote:

We wandered around the edge of our new universe, keeping the blank whiteness on our right as we went.

We traveled along the outer rim of the Earth portion of the universe. But even there at the outer rim, this new universe was not consistent. As we walked we came across small areas, sometimes no more than twenty feet across, where we�d suddenly find Andalite life-forms or Yeerk life-forms. The Andalite patches were harder to notice since they were not so different from the Earthlike areas. But the patches of Yeerk environment were like open sores.

Some of this might be Elfangor's bias, obviously, but it seems pretty obvious the Yeerk homeworld is a lot more barren than either the Andalite or Human homeworlds.

quote:

We skirted around the Yeerk patches. Most of the Earth environment was made up of woods and grass fields. But here and there were human buildings as well. We saw the street where Loren lived.

And we saw her school - a squat, ugly box made of thousands of small reddish-brown rectangles called bricks.

�I can�t believe I brought the school building into this universe, but I forgot to bring a grocery store.�

<What is a grocery store?>

�A place to buy food.�

<Ah,> I had seen Loren eat aboard the Jahar, of course. She and the other human had eaten emergency rations of liquefied grass. The rations we give Andalites who are too sick or injured to stand up and eat normally.

I guess they tie them to their hooves?

quote:

We walked along a street that appeared in the middle of a field. The street merely began, ran for a few hundred feet, and ended. It made Loren anxious, I could tell. She explained that the street didn�t belong there.

But then we saw a building decorated with two yellow arcs.

�Can�t be!� Loren gasped. �No way! It�s Mickey D�s! I brought a McDonald�s here!�

She broke into a run and I followed her. We entered the hollow building. Inside there was a single human. But he was not like any human I had ever seen.

�Oh, God, what did I do?� Loren cried. She placed her hand over her mouth.

I had never seen this human gesture, but I knew she was horrified. You see, the human looked like any normal human. Except that his face was covered with red splotches and pustules. And he had no eyes. No eyes at all.

But he could speak.

�Welcome to McDonald�s. May I take your order?�

�Oh, no. No,� Loren wailed.

�Would you like fries with that? Or a hot apple pie?�

<Is this a human you know?> I asked.

�No. I mean, yes. He�s this guy who works at McDonald�s and he always waits on us when we go for burgers after a game. My friend Jennifer says he likes me. But all I ever notice is how bad his acne is. The poor guy. The poor guy.�

So this is obviously horrific, and I think its something people who had read the book before still remember, but I don't know if there's something more in this. Like, the real life version of this guy has been serving Loren and her friends consistently, but to her, he's just "acne guy". I think there's this tendency of not paying attention to service workers....the guy behind the counter at McDonalds, the cashier behind the register at the grocery store. Maybe it's just me who's wondering if that's some of what Applegate is showing here.

quote:

<The food he has may still be real,> I suggested. <It would help you to eat some human food.>

She seemed ready to run from the place. But in the end, hunger won out over horror. Loren steeled herself and walked back to the eyeless human.

�Welcome to McDonald�s. May I take your order?�

�Yes. I mean � yes. I�d like a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke.�

�That�ll be four dollars and nineteen cents.� Loren hesitated.

But then she reached into a flap of her artificial skin and pulled out some crumpled pieces of paper and some round metallic objects. She handed all this to the eyeless human.

Somehow the human managed to take the paper and metal. Although how he did it without eyes was a mystery. This universe we had created had strange rules.

The eyeless human placed several objects into a bag. They smelled strange and foul to me. But Loren looked in the bag and smiled.

�Well, I did one thing right when I created this universe. I put extra pickles on the Big Macs.

Come on. Let�s go back outside. I don�t want to eat with � with him.�

�Enjoy your meal, and come again!� the sad monstrosity said.

We went back outside and Loren found a place to sit on the grass and began to devour her food.

Watching creatures with mouths eat can be disturbing. Especially when you discover some of the things they eat. Between huge gulping, slobbering bites with her flashing white teeth and grinding jaws, Loren told me what a �Big Mac� was. I�d rather not have known.

It's possible she sang this song to him

quote:

But the human food revived Loren. She had her old energy back. And even her sense of humor.

�At least I didn�t try and recreate the cheerleading squad in this universe,� she said. �They rejected me, and I�d hate to think what kind of mess I�d have made of some of them.�

I didn�t understand what she was talking about, but I understood that she was feeling better. I gazed up at the weird, patchy sky, and around at the disjointed landscape. Then, suddenly, it hit me.

<It�s a multidimensional pattern!> I said.

�Huh?� Loren asked, attempting to form words, even though her mouth was filled with two-inchlong, pale yellow sticks called �french fries.�

<The sky, the way little bits of Andalite and Yeerk environments are mixed in with Earth environments. And probably the other way around, too. I didn�t see it at first, but there is a pattern. It just seems strange because it makes sense in higher dimensions, but not in three dimensions. But I am sure now. It�s a hyper spiral.>

Loren swallowed. �A what?�

<A spiral. But in extra dimensions. And if I�m right � yes! The Time Matrix will be at the center of the spiral!>

�Which is where?� Now Loren was sucking liquid into her mouth through a tube that inserted into a cylinder filled with brown water.

<I�m not sure. But I think I can find it. And if I can find it, so can that Yeerk!>

Loren jumped up. �That�s why he hasn�t tried to track us down. He�s after the Time Matrix! Let�s go. Let�s go!�

<You seem to have recovered.>

Loren pointed at the cylinder of liquid. �Sugar rush, Elfangor. Let�s go before it wears off.�

I'm kind of impressed Elfangor can identify a hyperspiral by sight.

Chapter 42

quote:

I led the way toward what I hoped was the center of this universe. The patches of sky grew more varied over our heads. And the patches of different environments grew more numerous. Soon we were walking through a place that was only half Earth, with the rest divided between gentle Andalite countryside and harsh Yeerk lands.

�I like your planet, from what I�ve seen of it,� Loren said. �It�s like Earth, only without the houses and buildings. But you must have cities and all somewhere. I mean, you build spaceships. You have incredible technology.�

<Long ago we had cities,> I explained. <But we were free-roaming herd animals to begin with. I mean, that�s how we evolved. Millions of years ago Andalites moved in vast herds, which would split off into smaller herds at different times of the year. Then, gradually, we got used to forming smaller herds. Families, really. Each family made its scoop, and we each held our own grazing lands. All this Andalite environment you see is part of my family�s grazing land.>

We came to a patch of Yeerkish territory and skirted around the blackened vegetation and sluggish pools. On the other side was a wide band of Andalite land which we walked through.

<Once we evolved to form families, we began to study science and nature. And again, over millions of years, we learned to build things. You know - weapons and vehicles that let us fly over the land. And communicators for extending the reach of thought-speak. Scoops became larger. Families joined with other families. Building grew. Soon we had thousands of Andalites all crammed together without enough grazing space. But we were learning space travel at the same time. Still, we weren�t happy. We knew something was wrong. We broke down our cities, divided the land, and went back to life in simple family scoops. We kept building spaceships, but we did it in little bits and pieces, here and there, spread out through the tens of thousands of scoops. My own family does some of that. We design heat transfer components for fighters. Another family builds the pieces from our designs.
Another family transports the pieces to the spaceport. I guess the three spaceports are about as close as we come to what you would call a city now.>

So there's a little bit of Andalite history and society there. It also, I think, explains the Andalite military structure, Each clan/family, it looks like, were originally autonomous, with their own grazing land. I could very easily see them forming warrior bands to protect their family against encroachments from neighboring clans, and while war between Andalites clearly isn't a thing anymore, it makes sense they'd use old terms and old patterns when building a national military.

quote:

�We�re very different, aren�t we?� Loren said. She sounded sad.

<Yes. In some ways. But not so very different in others.>

�When all this is done, you�ll go back to your planet. I�ll go back to mine. And you�ll erase all my memories of this.�

I was startled by the idea. <Loren, we no longer have the Jahar. Or any ship. I can�t erase your memories without that technology.>

�But if you could, you would?�

I hadn�t thought about it. But suddenly I realized the truth. It shocked me. <No. I wouldn�t.>

�Why not?�

<Because � because I don�t think after all that�s happened I could stand to be the only person alive who knew the truth. And I don�t think I could stand having you forget me, Loren.>

Loren nodded. She smiled. �I care about you, too, Elfangor. I care a lot.�

I was puzzled. Had I said I cared about her? No. Not in those words. And yet I did. I did care about this alien who no longer seemed so alien.

<We would be able to move faster if you climbed on my back as you did before,> I suggested.

�I guess we would.�

She climbed on my back and I set off at a run. I was confident now that I knew the pattern of this universe. And I was fairly sure that we would find the Time Matrix at the very center of the swirl. But would we find that Visser Thirty-two had solved the puzzle before us?

The different environments were broken into smaller and smaller patches, and now there was a roughly equal amount of each of the three planets. It became more and more difficult to go around the Yeerk areas.

We came to one Yeerk area that stretched directly across our path. I said.

I stepped gingerly into the Yeerk area. Instantly the air was warmer, almost stifling. Humidity shot up so that my fur clung to me.

I closed my hooves to the sparse Yeerk vegetation. I didn�t trust those dark red plants. A bright tongue shot up from the ground, as I had seen happen before. It licked the air, searching for us, but these creatures or plants - or whatever they were - were used to slower prey. I easily stepped out of
its range.

A pall settled over us as we crossed a landcape that seemed designed to be depressing. And then, at last, we reached good Andalite grass again. Grass and trees and the scoop of a friend I had known all my life.

�Is that your home?�

<No. It�s the scoop of a friend�s family.>

�Maybe your friend is around.�

<That�s what scares me. Your mother � that McDonald person � I don�t want to see my friend that way.>

Suddenly I stumbled. My right forehoof had caught on a rock.

�Elfangor! Elfangor! Something is happening!� Loren cried. �My fingernails! They�re growing!�

She held up her hands so that my back-turned stalk eyes could see them. The hard portion at the end of her human fingers had grown half an inch.

<Your hair is growing, too,> I said.

She felt it. �My God, it�s grown an inch. It�s like it would grow in a few weeks!�

<My hooves are growing, too. That�s why I tripped. It�s something I was afraid of. As we get closer to the center of this swirl universe, time is accelerating. We are going to age faster than normal.>

�Then we�d better hurry!�

I redoubled my speed, careful to lift my scruffy hooves well clear on each step.

The entire false universe was coming together now. There were no longer clearly different patches of Andalite, human, or Yeerk terrain. Trees and grass, scoop and house, and sludgy natural Yeerk pools all seemed to meld together.

It was like walking through a surreal nightmare. The sky itself seemed to swoop down, to gather and swirl in patterns of dark blue, light blue, and lightning-wracked green.

�Okay, now this is weird,� Loren said. But her voice, too, seemed to swirl into patterns that made it sound musical and strange.

I tripped and fell forward, throwing Loren free. My hooves had become totally unmanageable. I whipped my tail blade forward and quickly trimmed my hooves. It was a rough job, and as soon as I had cut away the excess, they began growing out again.

I looked at Loren and had to stop myself from crying out. Her fingernails were two inches long!

Her toenails were sticking through the fabric of her artificial hooves! And her golden hair was so long it reached to the ground.

She stumbled forward, pointing. �Look! Look!�

I had already seen what she was just noticing: the swirling tornado that was the very center of our universe. It was a vortex, a tornado made up of the very substance of our three worlds. Sky and soil and living things all swirled insanely around us.

�Look out!� Loren ducked her head as something that looked like a human house, twisted and stretched, whipped by us.

Wizard of Oz reference, maybe?

quote:

<The Time Matrix! It should be in there!> I cried.

�In there? How can we go in there? It�s impossible!�

<It�s the only way. The Time Matrix is either in there or � or there�s nothing beyond that swirl but emptiness and we�ll be trapped inside that vortex forever.>

�Nice choice,� Loren said. �And by the way, that was sarcasm, too.�

<Yes, I�m beginning to recognize it,> I said. <We have to close our eyes. Block out everything you see, or think you see, and dive in.>

�Take my hand, Elfangor.�

I did. And together we pushed forward into a vortex made up of the very substance of time and space. A swirl of raw space-time.

So, they made it into the vortex! Will the Visser be waiting for them? (I mean, you know he will, right?)

# ? Dec 3, 2020 02:08

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

This is probably the first space opera I experienced outside of Star Wars, and it is fantastic.

# ? Dec 3, 2020 02:25

SirSamVimes: Jul 21, 2008; ~* Challenge *~

I don't know why, but I love the exchange of "That was sarcasm, too." <Yes, I'm beginning to recognise it.>

# ? Dec 3, 2020 02:52

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

quote:
She and the other human had eaten emergency rations of liquefied grass. The rations we give Andalites who are too sick or injured to stand up and eat normally.

I guess they tie them to their hooves?

Yeah, I'm picturing a hoof soaking bag like for first aid, something like a Capri Sun with a ziploc top that you'd prop open and step into.

# ? Dec 3, 2020 10:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Andalite Chronicles-Chapter 43

quote:

Into the vortex.

I had no idea what I would find inside that awesome swirl. But then, I had long ago given up thinking I knew what would happen next. Everything had been a surprise since that day, not at all long ago, when Arbron and I were called to see the captain on the bridge of the StarSword.

Loren and I pushed forward. There was a feeling of resistance, as if a strong wind was holding us back. But at the same time, I felt that this resistance could be overcome.

The wind stopped and instead we were drawn forward. Drawn deep into the vortex. Everything swirled and swam around me. Vision was wild and distorted and filled with insane colors and bits and pieces of floating, oddly shaped matter.

Trees and buildings and creatures that seemed solid simply blew through us as if they were ghosts. Or as if we were ghosts.

And then we were through. In an instant, the swirling stopped. We were standing on a flat, featureless area no more than a hundred feet across. There was no vegetation. There was no detail.

The sky was blanked out by the swirl that raged above and around us.

�The eye of the hurricane,� Loren whispered.

I didn�t understand what she said, but I understood what we both felt. We had penetrated a storm that twisted time and space.

And there, standing alone and pristine, was the Time Matrix. A simple, off-white sphere that had the power to create this eerie universe from our own imperfect thoughts.

<We did it,> I marveled. <The Time Matrix! It is here!>

�Yeah. Now what do we do about it? Look at my hair. Look at my fingernails. The distortion is really strong here, close like this.�

<Yes. But we�ll be fine once we contact the Matrix and get out of here.>

From the swirl wall I saw a head emerge, pressing forward into the empty field.

An Andalite head.

�It�s him!�

The visser jerked in shock and amazement at seeing the two of us there. <What? The Andalite child and his pet? Still alive?>

<Yes, still alive,> I said.

The four Mortrons wheeled their way into the vortex and came panting beside the visser. The Yeerk looked around, as if searching for a weapon. He stared at the Time Matrix while keeping his stalk eyes on me.

�Elfangor,� I heard Loren moan.

I swept one stalk eye toward her and almost cried out. Her hair was now so long that it piled on the ground. And her toenails extended nearly a foot through the fabric of her artificial hooves. Her hands were like hideous claws.

That's pretty horrifying in itself, if you think about it.

quote:

<Stand perfectly still,> I said. <Hold out your hands and don�t move them.>

FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP!

With four quick tail swipes I cut most of the finger and toenail away. At the same time I kept my main eyes on the visser. He was watching me closely. Sizing me up.

 he said.

<The same thing would happen,> I said. <Another compromised universe. No better than this one. Only this time we�d all be more careful to bring allies and weapons from our memory.>

The Yeerk visser shrugged. <At least then we�d have a fair fight.>

�He doesn�t want to fight you one-on-one,� Loren said.

<No, he�d rather have a host of allies and weapons,> I agreed.

But Loren shook her head, which caused a ripple through the massive pile of her golden hair.

�No, it�s more than that. He�s afraid to fight you one-on-one. I saw it in his face.�

The idea seemed ludicrous. Loren liked me and assumed I was the better fighter. But that was no way to judge. Visser Thirty-two had the body and mind of Alloran. All of Alloran�s speed and experience.

�He is afraid, Elfangor,� Loren insisted.

<Afraid of what?> the visser laughed. <Of this Andalite child? My Mortrons and I will annihilate him!>

�Really? So why not do it? Why talk about working together?� Loren turned to me. �Alloran has seen you tail fight, Elfangor. That knowledge is the visser�s now, right? That�s why he�s scared.�

The Yeerk stared hatred at Loren. <I�ll be sure to kill you slowly, human.> He shot a glance at the four Mortrons. <Kill!> he yelled suddenly.

The Mortrons powered their wheels and came for us. The visser was right behind them.

It had come down to this. To a tail fight to the death between me and Visser Thirty-two. I tried to recall everything Old Sofor, my fighting trainer, had taught me. But I couldn�t remember a thing.

The Mortrons launched their bird portions. Leather wings spread wide and vicious mouths wider still. I had to take them out of the fight without cutting them. If I cut them in pieces they would simply regenerate.

SWOOP!

FWAPP! I struck! But at the last second I turned my blade aside and hit the Mortron with the flat side of the blade.

THWACK! The bird portion went flying. It fell to the ground and didn�t move. I had knocked it out.

Two bird portions went for Loren, jagged teeth glistening from their long mouths. She swung her softball bat but missed. The bat fell from her hands as a Mortron bird portion slapped her head with its wings.

One of the Mortrons was still after me, and as he swooped the visser attacked.

Mortron and Andalite tail struck at me.

<Aaarrrgghh!> The Mortron ripped a gash in the side of my head, barely missing my stalk eyes! My own blood spurted, and then the visser�s tail was �

Blocked! FWAPP! I knocked his blow aside.

FWAPP! He struck again!

I dodged beneath the blow and fired my own tail, but my aim was thrown off by the Mortron, who twisted back and came at me again.

�No! No! No, you don�t!� I heard Loren cry.

She was under attack from the other two Mortrons! I saw bright red human blood. But if I tried to help her, the visser would kill me before I could so much as twitch.

It was impossible!

FWAPP! The visser struck, and this time the blow hit home. I saw a line drawn through the skin of my chest. The line opened to become a gash.

FWAPP! He struck! I parried the blow, but barely. <Ah, not so fast after all, are you, Andalite?> the visser crowed.

In seconds the fight would be over. I knew it. I had lost. Loren was probably already done for. But then, through one twisted stalk eye, I saw Loren. To my astonishment she had her two strong human hands wrapped around the neck of one of the Mortron bird portions.

She was choking it! And the other Mortron was tangled in the wild mess of her hair.

<This fight isn�t over yet, Visser!> I said, and I struck!

FWAPP!

He blocked my blow. I struck again!

FWAPP! A hit!

<Aaaahhhh!> the visser moaned in pain.

But my own Mortron hit me without warning. A painful slice of my right rear haunch.

Then I saw a frightening thing. Loren�s strong human hands were choking the life from the Mortron bird portion. And her fingernails, growing so fast that I could actually see them grow, were growing into the Mortron.

FWAPP! The visser struck.

I parried and turned my parry into a thrust!

<Yes!> I exulted as my tail blade plunged deep into the visser�s left arm.

But the remaining Mortron was coming back around, aiming straight for my face this time. With a sneer, the visser struck.

Mortron teeth and the Yeerk�s stolen Andalite tail blade flew at me.

I could stop only one.

But whichever strike got through, bird or blade, would finish me.

I'll say again, this chapter is horrifying.

Chapter 44

quote:

The Mortron flew at me!

The visser�s blade split the air, aiming at my head!

Something moving! To my left, not fast by Andalite standards, but fast enough.

Loren spun the dead Mortron in her hand around and threw it with all her might. The Mortron slipped off the end of Loren�s claw fingernails. It flew through the air and hit the other Mortron head on.

She's propelling corpses at Mortrons.

quote:

�Softball!� Loren yelled.

The Mortron that had been attacking me was knocked down. I swept my tail blade right to left and knocked the visser�s blade away. It came within a hair of my face.

Loren calmly picked up her softball bat from the spot where it had fallen. And she annihilated the last Mortron, the one that had been tangled in her hair. I think it was that very moment when I decided I could definitely get to like humans. At first they seemed almost ridiculously weak, tottering around on their two legs, having to make sounds to communicate, lacking anything in the way of tail or other defenses.

But humans had some definite possibilities.

<Nice throw,> I said.

�It�s called a pitch,� Loren said. She smiled. �Thanks.�

<Your Mortrons are done for, Visser,> I said to him. <It�s just you and me now. Tail-to-tail.>

The Yeerk slug called Visser Thirty-two glared hatred at me through his stolen Andalite eyes.

<You think you�ve won, Andalite? You think you can kill me now? Guess again. You haven�t thought it through. But then again, I have the advantage of adding Alloran�s Andalite knowledge to my own.

What do you think will happen to whoever is left behind in this universe once it is broken apart?>

I had to struggle to think. An artificial universe � composed of the thoughts and memories of three different individuals �

<What? Over your head, is it? A collapsed time line returns us each to our own proper spacetime location.>

<So you go back to the Jahar. Back to being sucked into a black hole. I can live with that, Yeerk. I don�t care how you die. Here, from my tail. Or there, drawn helplessly into a black hole. So long as you die. You are an abomination. The first Andalite-Controller. I just want you to be the last.>

�I told you he was scared to fight you,� Loren said.



The visser hesitated. But I knew he would walk away. I could feel his resolve failing. But his malice, his evil remained as strong as ever.

<The day will come, Elfangor, when I will destroy you. I will make it personal. I will make it very personal.>

Then he turned and plunged back into the vortex wall.

�That�s the end of him.�

<No. I don�t think so,> I said.

I won�t say I had a vision. I don�t believe much in supernatural things. But I felt deep down that the visser and I would find our time lines entwined again someday.

�So now what? We have to get out of here fast. My hair is still growing. My nails are out of control. I feel like I�m getting older. My � well, I�m getting older, I�ll leave it at that. But I swear I�m suddenly eighteen!�

That's very precise!

quote:

<Yes. Your face is changing. And I, too, feel myself changing. We must leave. But this time there can only be one person directing the Time Matrix. We have to go somewhere real. Somewhere that is a part of the true universe.>

�The Andalite world?�

<No,> I said heavily. <What would I do if I went back to my own people? I mutinied against Alloran, my prince. I left Arbron behind to live as a Taxxon. And I know too many secrets. I know that my own people did use a Quantum virus in the Hork-Bajir war. What might they do if they suddenly had the Time Matrix?>

�I guess sometimes even good people do bad things. I mean, that�s what war is all about, isn�t it?�

<If we use the Time Matrix to win this war we will no longer be Andalites. Not what I think of as Andalites, anyway. We have to win this war by being ourselves. By living up to our own standards, not by becoming as brutal and ruthless as the Yeerks are.>

�You mean what�s the point of winning, if by winning you lose what you were fighting for.�

This is the debate we had earlier, and this is, I think, what the book is about, and maybe even what the series is about.

quote:

<Yes. That�s exactly what I mean. I can�t give my people the Time Matrix. And I can�t let the Yeerks have it, either. And it cannot be destroyed, only hidden.>

Loren looked strangely at me. �You�re going to hide it on Earth?�

<Earth. Yes. And this time no nosy, greedy Skrit Na will stumble across it.>

�What do you want me to do?�

<Imagine your Earth, your home, just as it is today. Picture every last detail. Your mother. Your friends. Your hollow human house. Picture the time just after the Skrit Na took you. An hour afterward.>

�That was like, what, a week ago? Did all this happen in just a week?�

<Yes. Just a week. And we need to go back in time. Back before your mother would have noticed you missing. But not before the Skrit Na took you or we would undo this entire time line.>

�Maybe we should erase this time line. Save Arbron. Save Alloran.�

<And the two of us never meet?>

�I wouldn�t want that.�

<Me neither. But more importantly, we wouldn�t know the exact effects of rewriting all that history. It may mean the Skrit Na escaped clean with the Time Matrix and delivered it to the Yeerks. No. We have to keep our time line intact. And as long as the you you�ve been this last week doesn�t encounter some second you, we�ll be fine.>

�There�s one more problem. This me has aged. I�m older. I must be almost eighteen now, judging from the way I�ve grown. People would notice.�

<Yes. But imagine that they don�t. Imagine that you are eighteen and that everyone who has ever known you expects you to be eighteen.>

�Is this really going to work?�

I like this line...it's just a completely realistic and yet hopeless admission.

quote:

She smiled with her human mouth. �Then I�ll take care of driving the Time Matrix. Let�s go.�

She placed her hands against the Time Matrix and closed her eyes.

The swirl tightened around us, and I saw images flash by. Images of a planet I had never visited, but already knew and cared for.

And then we were a million light-years, and one week, away.

So, they made it to Earth. Not much more of this book now.

# ? Dec 4, 2020 04:22

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

That's very precise!

Yeah but remember when you're a teenager, each lived year and each anticipated year lasts for about five years. I feel like my adult life, even the Plague Year, is just whipping by.

Also this scene with the baseball bat reminds me of a much darker baseball bat scene about ten books from now.

# ? Dec 4, 2020 08:45

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

That's pretty horrifying in itself, if you think about it.

Yup, that's the main thing I remembered from this book. And the ending.

# ? Dec 4, 2020 09:48

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# ? May 24, 2024 13:49

Comrade Blyatlov: Aug 4, 2007; should have picked four fingers

Epicurius posted:

The Andalite Chronicles-Chapter 43

This is the debate we had earlier, and this is, I think, what the book is about, and maybe even what the series is about.

This, I think, we can both agree on. I believe Ax says it outright later on.

# ? Dec 4, 2020 09:53

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > Let's Read Animorphs! The Whole Series! Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges

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