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

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

Acebuckeye13 posted:

always... in my head ... yerk ...

# ? Jan 22, 2021 07:27

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 10:27

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

Kill all Yeerks!

# ? Jan 22, 2021 07:52

rollick: Mar 20, 2009

I am gonna make it through this Yeerk if it kills me.

# ? Jan 22, 2021 13:16

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 16:The Warning-Chapter 7

quote:

I wasn�t lying when I�d told Tobias that flying as a fly is cool. I mean, in some ways it�s bad because you can�t see very well, so you don�t get to look around while you�re flying.

But nothing flies like a fly. Compared to a fly, any bird is a big, lumbering, clumsy whale. Flies can fly straight up. Straight down. They can turn in less than the blink of an eye. And I�m talking a full, one-hundred-eighty-degree turn in midair, no problem. They can fly on their sides and upside down. They can do loops and figure eights. They can fly figure eights inside a small juice glass.

And unlike birds, flies can land on anything. Anything. Horizontal, vertical, rough, smooth, wet, dry, still or moving, living or not.

They are very amazing insects. Very gross, very amazing insects.

<Okay, this is cool,> Tobias said. <Once you get past the fact that your own body makes you want to throw up.>

<Marco feels that way in his human body,> Rachel said gleefully.

We had located Cassie and Rachel in the air near the dirty diaper.

<Oooh. Don�t hurt me with the chakram of your wit, Xena,> Marco said.

<Huh?>

<Chakram,> Marco said, like any idiot should know the word. <It�s the metal Frisbee thing Xena throws. What, are you people cultural morons?>

Marco loves to tease Rachel by calling her Xena: Warrior Princess. Which isn�t a bad comparison, aside from the fact that Rachel doesn�t wear a leather skirt.

Marco and Rachel have a strange sort of relationship. I haven�t figured out whether they pretend they can�t stand each other but secretly like and admire each other, or if they really just can�t stand each other. I�m not good at understanding subtle human behavior. I kind of rely on Cassie for that.

Yea. Jake has the social awareness of a turnip.

quote:

<So what now?> Tobias asked.

<Now we get on the plane,> I said. <But look. Everyone be very careful. Use those fly instincts: Something moves toward you, get out of the way.>

 Cassie said. <No, wait, I think it may be the window. That�s the problem: The gate doesn�t have enough contrast between light and dark for us to see it clearly.>

<Get close to a person. Stay with that person till you�re in the walkway. We can figure it out from there.>

I saw a human head below me. Zoomed down toward it. No! I pulled back. The guy was bald. He�d probably have felt me land. There! A woman with big hair. Excellent. I landed on hairs like starched anchor cables. I could feel the breeze blowing past as we moved slowly forward.

The quality of the light changed and the sounds I heard seemed to echo. We were in the access tunnel. Then, a voice saying, �Hello, welcome aboard!�

I was aboard the jet. <Everyone here?> I asked. They were. I breathed a sigh of relief. Actually, that�s just an expression. I had no lungs.

I landed on the overhead. It was perforated plastic. Lots of holes in what looked like a circular pattern. I straddled one of the holes and looked down at the people getting into their seats.

<Ax, keep track of the time, okay?>

<Yes, Prince Jake.>

<You know I don�t want you to call me Prince Jake. I am not a prince.>

<Yes, Prince Jake, I know.>

<Good, as long as we�re clear on that.>

We waited. And we waited. And Ax counted off the minutes. Andalites have a natural ability to keep track of time. It had been fifteen minutes since we�d morphed in the men�s room.

Finally, I felt the deep, disturbing vibrations from the engines go higher and higher. I realized I was resting on the cover for a speaker when the flight attendant announced everyone should put on seat belts. The sound nearly blew me off my perch.

I zipped around aimlessly for a minute before coming to rest on the latch of an overhead luggage rack.

<How�s everyone doing?> I asked.

<Twenty minutes have elapsed,> Ax said.

<And how long is this flight, Marco?>

<An hour and thirty minutes. That leaves us fifteen minutes to get off the plane at the other end and demorph.>

<That�s a bit tight,> Rachel observed.

<Yeah.>

There wasn�t a lot to do as the plane rumbled down the runway and rose into the air. The flight was basically boring. Until they served the meal.

They're serving a meal on an hour and a half flight? In the 90s? I took a bunch of hour and a half long flights in the late 90s, and was lucky if I got a soda and some trail mix.

quote:

Oh, man, you have no idea how much my fly body wanted to go down and land on that Salisbury steak and splash around in the gravy. But that would have been suicidal.

<You know, airline food tastes much better this way,> Marco said.

<WHAT?>

<Relax, it�s a meal some guy already ate. I�m in the leftovers.>

<WHAT?>

�Excuse me, miss, but there seem to be a lot of flies on this plane.�

I heard the voice and it was like the announcement that calls you to the principal�s office. It scared me.

<Did everyone hear that?>

<Hear what?> Tobias asked. <Everyone�s talking. The whole plane is ->

<Someone just complained about the flies. About us.>

�I�ll see what I can do, sir,� a second voice answered.

<They�re going to see what they can do!>

�I�d appreciate that. See, I am on the board of directors of this airline, and I just saw a fly land in my Salisbury steak.�

<Marco!>

�Yes, sir! I�ll take care of it!�

<Ax! How much time till we land?>

<Ten Minutes.>

<Okay. Everyone toward the back of the plane! Get out of first class!>

We took off, six suddenly active flies. We zoomed toward the back. We zoomed crazily along the ceiling. We zoomed through the curtain that separates first class from the normal people. I figured we were safe. Then �

Disturbance!

I felt the air roil as a huge object came flying toward me.

I stopped, turned, and shot away to my right just as five fingers the size of redwoods swept past, raising a tornado in their wake.

I landed on the overhead and tried to calm my nerves.

<Man, that was close,> I muttered. <Everyone still okay? How much time do we have, Ax?>

I never heard his answer. I felt a hand coming toward me again. I sprang off the ceiling, buzzed my wings, dodged � and was hit by the second hand. The one that had been waiting for me.

<Aaaahhhh!> The hand caught me! I was pressed back against a wall of flesh. It was like being swept along by a broom. I buzzed my wings, but then I realized one wing was damaged. I couldn�t get away.I saw the wall coming toward me. It was a thousand tiny images of doom in my compound eyes.
And there was nothing I could do. It was one of those nightmares where you see something terrible about to happen, but you can�t move or even cry out.

WHAAAM!

It hit. I felt the massive hand press violently down on me.

I had been swatted.

Apparently, the people on this flight have read this thread.

Chapter 8

quote:

I was in the crack of the hand�s lifeline. And because of that tiny indentation, I had not died. But I was shattered.
My left wing was gone, ripped away. My right wing barely moved. I was blind in my right eye.

Four of my legs were broken. But by far the worst was that my body, my green-black body, had burst open.

But there was no pain. No pain. Just terror.

So, fun fact. They've fairly recently (after this book came out), discovered flies actually can feel pain. And moreover, they can feel chronic pain. Flies can actually feel neuropathy from things like a damaged leg that has since healed. Some scientists think that this discovery can be used to find ways to better treat chronic pain and neuropathy in humans in better ways than things like opiates, which are dangerous and carry the risk of addiction.

quote:

<Aaaahhh! Aaaahhh! Aaaahhh!>

<Jake! What happened?> Cassie cried.

<Jake, what�s the matter?>



<Are you okay?> Tobias asked.

<No. I�m busted up pretty bad. I can�t fly. I can�t move. I�m like, stuck. Stuck to the ceiling.>

<Oh, my God,> Cassie gasped.

<He�ll be okay if he demorphs,> Marco said.

<How is he going to demorph?> Tobias demanded. <He�s squished on the ceiling. He demorphs, it�ll be right in front of a whole planeload of people.>

�The captain has turned on the seat belt sign. We are beginning our descent.�

<Guys � I feel like maybe I�m getting weak,> I said. <Woozy. My guts are all over the place. I think I may be dying.>

<Demorph!> Cassie yelled.

<He can�t!> Marco said. <He�ll be seen. There are probably Controllers on this plane!>



My mind started wandering at that point. Like I couldn�t quite focus. I heard them arguing in my head. Voices � voices �

<Jake! Are you still with us?> someone demanded. I think maybe it was Tobias.

<Yeah. Uh-huh.>

<He is dying,> Cassie snapped. <Wait! I have an idea.>

Good old Cassie, I thought. Good old Cassie. She was so pretty. She didn�t think she was, but she was. Yeah. I remember back when I first met her � And Rachel was there. School? No, it was� it was �

Suddenly, monsters all around me. I saw them loom over me, hover in the air, then land. They had huge, bulging eyes that kind of sparkled from all the tiny facets. They had hideous faces with these long, vile tubes coming out, like tongues that could suck. Their wings were gossamer.

They grabbed me with their clawed feet.

<Oh, poor Jake,> a voice cried desperately.

<Do we � do we scoop up the guts or what?>

<Just hurry!>

<Jake! Hang in there, man. Hang in there, man. Don�t go away on us.>

<Jake, hold on. Hold on, we�ll save you.>

And then a horrible jolt.

<Ahhh! Oh, man. The leg I was holding just came off!>



<Don�t you let him go! Don�t let him go!>

I floated through the air. I was kind of serene now. Kind of peaceful. Although when I realized half my body was gone, I felt concern. But it was a faraway concern. Like I was worried about something I was watching on TV. Not something that was happening to me.

<Okay, okay. It�s the bathroom. Jake! Demorph!>

<Come on, Jake, back to human now.>

What were they all yelling about? Yelling and yelling and bugging me.

<Jake, this is Cassie. Listen to me. You have to demorph. You have to do it now.>

Cassie. Oh, yeah. Her. I liked her.

<Jake, do it! Do it now! Right now! Become human.>

Human?

Sure. Why not?

<There he goes!>

I began to change. And as I began to change, I became stronger. I felt life flow back into me. A human being began to form, dictated by the patterns of my DNA. Submicroscopic codes, making a human being the way words made a book.

The world swirled around me. Hazy images became clearer. I was in a tiny room. A very tiny room. An airplane bathroom.

I caught my reflection in the mirror as a shattered fly face melted and surged and warped to become a human face.

<Are you okay?> Rachel asked anxiously.

I worked my jaw. �Yeah,� I said. �I guess so.�

There were flies in the bathroom with me. And you know what�s weird? My first impulse was to swat them.

Jake has the worst luck morphing insects, The cockroach morph got him first stuck in a roach motel and then poisoned. The ant morph doesn't need to be mentioned. And now this.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 04:18

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

So, fun fact. They've fairly recently (after this book came out), discovered flies actually can feel pain. And moreover, they can feel chronic pain. Flies can actually feel neuropathy from things like a damaged leg that has since healed. Some scientists think that this discovery can be used to find ways to better treat chronic pain and neuropathy in humans in better ways than things like opiates, which are dangerous and carry the risk of addiction.

I've always thought the "insects don't feel pain" conventional wisdom is a cop-out from people who don't want to feel bad about snuffing them.

Though having said that, despite being the kind of guy who puts spiders in cups and then takes them outside, the two insects I will absolutely kill and feel happy about doing it are flies and mosquitoes. gently caress 'em.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 04:31

Soup du Jour: Sep 8, 2011; I always knew I'd die with a headache.

Jake is very much not okay, as the rest of this book and future books will show

# ? Jan 23, 2021 05:06

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

I've always thought the "insects don't feel pain" conventional wisdom is a cop-out from people who don't want to feel bad about snuffing them.

Though having said that, despite being the kind of guy who puts spiders in cups and then takes them outside, the two insects I will absolutely kill and feel happy about doing it are flies and mosquitoes. gently caress 'em.

I think a lot of it probably is, but the "can animals feel pain" debate has a really long history, both philosophically and, more recently, scientifically. In the renaissance, for instance, a bunch of people believed that animals didn't feel pain, or anything at all. Descartes, for instance, believed that animals didn't have consciousness...they were automatia....basically robots that acted like they were conscious but aren't really.

A lot of the debate now that we've figured out a model of how pain works in humans and the human nervous system is, what happens with animals who have a different kind of nervous system than we do. For instance, in mammals, there's a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex, which, among other things, registers physical pain (it also handles emotion, impulse control, etc). If you hook a person up to a brain scan, and they're in pain, that's the part of the brain that lights up. Now, fish, for instance, don't have an anterior cingulate cortex. So this raises the question, "Does a fish feel pain, and if so, how does it do it?", and it's a lot harder to hook a fish up to a brain scan. Then some people bring up opiod receptors, which are structures in the nervous system that binds to stuff like opiates and endorphins and blocks pain reception, and vertebrates have that but invertebrates don't. Is that because invertebrates don't need it or have they just never developed it, and if vertebrates all have it, does that mean they all feel pain and make brain chemicals to fight it, or does it serve other secondary functions? So, it's really a big debate.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 06:12

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.

Flies don't have lungs?

# ? Jan 23, 2021 08:50

Mazerunner: Apr 22, 2010; Good Hunter, what... what is this post?

GodFish posted:

Flies don't have lungs?

nope, little openings called spiracles

# ? Jan 23, 2021 09:13

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

Also you start getting into (on the philosophical side at least) arguments about functionality, form and phenomenology of pain i.e. if fish have some brain pattern that elicits the same kind of behaviour as pain does in humans, is that 'pain' as we understand it? We could potentially transfer a similar self preservation coding to future robots, would we then say that because we've got the behaviour from the relevent stimuli that those robots experience pain?

Which is probably closer to what Descartes believed, not that animals didn't feel anything when they got hurt but that they were essentially pure instinct with some underlying memory of stimuli. It was a view of animals that really only works when you have no knowledge of evolution and believe that consciousness is a non physical process added to the human body. Like a Yeerk (is this relevant to the thread again?)

# ? Jan 23, 2021 09:39

QuickbreathFinisher: Sep 28, 2008; by reading this post you have agreed to form a gay socialist micronation.
`

I love that this series answers the ancient philosophical debate of "can animals feel pain?" with a resounding "oh, you have no loving idea."

# ? Jan 23, 2021 10:47

Rochallor: Apr 23, 2010; ふっっっっっっっっっっっっｃｋ

Epicurius posted:

In the renaissance, for instance, a bunch of people believed that animals didn't feel pain, or anything at all. Descartes, for instance, believed that animals didn't have consciousness...they were automatia....basically robots that acted like they were conscious but aren't really.

Hell, until shockingly recently, doctors believed that babies don't feel pain.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 11:16

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Rochallor posted:

Hell, until shockingly recently, doctors believed that babies don't feel pain.

1985

# ? Jan 23, 2021 12:23

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

Fuschia tude posted:

1985

Looks like I was born just in time to avoid the "babies must be screaming for fun" era of medicine

# ? Jan 24, 2021 02:04

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 16:The Warning-Chapter 9

quote:

Fortunately, no one seemed to notice that I hadn�t been on the plane before I emerged from the bathroom. We were landing, so I guess the flight attendants were distracted.

Probably they noticed that I had no shoes and was dressed in a very odd fashion choice of bike pants and T-shirt. But, like I said, it was the end of the flight. They probably just wanted to land and go home.

We made it off the plane with about five minutes to spare. One shaken-up boy and five very impatient flies.

They morphed in the bathrooms. I sat on a black plastic chair and held my head in my hands and tried to stop my fingers from shaking.

After a while I noticed Cassie sitting down in the chair beside me. She didn�t say anything. She just put her arm around me and hugged me as well as she could while sitting.

I closed my eyes and let her hug me. And after a while I felt my hands shake a little less. My insides were still queasy, like I might need to throw up. But I stopped shaking.

�That was bad,� Cassie said.

�Oh, yeah. That was bad. But I�m okay. No big deal.�

Cassie nodded and let me go. �Yeah, right. Jake, it�s okay to be scared.�

�No, no, I�m fine,� I said. I stood up, but my knees almost gave way. I reached back for the armrest of the chair. And then I pushed myself up more slowly.

So open question here. Why do you think he's afraid he's admit to be scared to Cassie here? Is it an age and masculinity thing? A leadership thing? A boyfriend thing?

quote:

Rachel had gone to the Western Union office. We needed clothing and it turns out you can send money by wire and pick it up by supplying a code word. Rachel went to pick up the money and get us something approaching shoes at an airport shop. Now you know where our allowances go.

The others were just coming out of the men�s room. It had taken them longer, since Tobias and Ax both had an extra morph to do to get human.

�You okay, man?� Marco asked me.

I put on a sheepish grin. �Better than I was,� I said. �I like having my guts inside me, as opposed to having them smeared all over.�

�Yeah, guts should not see daylight,� Tobias agreed.

�Okay, that was exciting, but now we�re here,� I pointed out briskly. �We have a job to do. Let�s get on with it. Marco? What�s the plan?�

�We catch a bus from here to downtown. That�s where the WAA Building is. We bust in, enter the computers, get the information we want, get back here, and catch a plane home.�

�That�s supposed to be the safe, easy part, taking the plane,� Rachel said. �Let�s hope the WAA offices aren�t as dangerous as the stupid plane.�

�Hey, we�ll take a different airline home,� Marco said. �We�ll get one that likes and appreciates flies.�I tried to laugh, but I don�t know if it sounded right. I hadn�t thought yet about getting home.

I was sure of one thing, though. I didn�t want to go as a fly.

We took the bus downtown. We got out, asked directions from a nun who, oddly enough, knew which was the Web Access America office. It was a few blocks away.

We stopped on the way at a Taco Bell. It was cheap enough for us to afford. And it kind of lightened my mood a little when Ax went nuts and started sucking up packets of hot sauce.

The manager kicked us out.

�You kids stay out of here. Buy your crazy friend a bottle of Tabasco if he needs it!�

�What is Tabasco? Tuh-bah-sco. Sco. Is it tasty and full of flavor?� Ax wondered as he headed on down the sidewalk, carrying our bags of tacos and burritos.

�Yeah, you�d probably like it,� Rachel said.

When this is over, Ax needs to go into marketing. "Tabasco: Tasty and Full of Flavor" is a great slogan.

quote:

The WAA Building was one of those medium-sized buildings, maybe twenty floors high and not all that modern. We loitered around outside, trying to figure out what to do next. And that�s when a bus pulled up and a bunch of old people started climbing out.

Someone came out of the WAA Building with a big smile and shook the hand of the bus group�s leader.

�You folks are right on time. If you�re ready, we can begin the tour immediately.�

We all looked at each other. �They have tours?� Tobias said.

�Guess so. I guess we might as well tag along.�

We fell into step at the back of the group. None of the old people seemed to mind. Basically, I think kids are kind of invisible to old people unless they are their grandkids, or they�re being rude.

We were polite and quiet, and no one said a thing.

�As you may already know, Web Access America is the largest online service in America, with over nine million subscribers,� the guide said.

�Well, this was easy,� Marco whispered to me.

�We�re not anywhere yet,� I pointed out.

�Now we�ll start by showing you our �command center.� This is where we monitor the ebb and flow of traffic across our entire system.�

Marco grinned. �Like taking candy from a baby.�

We traveled up elevators, and down a hallway decorated with portraits of guys who I guess were the owners of WAA. I only recognized one. The guide stopped by the oversized oil painting in the gold frame.

�And this is our founder, Joe Bob Fenestre. Later we�ll show a short, entertaining film about the fascinating life of Mr. Fenestre.�

Marco raised his hands and made a bowing motion, like he was saying prayers to Joe Bob Fenestre. Rachel yanked his shirt.

�Hey, the idea is not to attract attention, genius.�

�I�m sorry,� Marco said. He pretended to wipe away a tear. �This is Joe Bob Fenestre. I love Joe Bob. I admire Joe Bob. I want to be Joe Bob.�

�I didn�t know you were all that interested in computers,� Cassie said. �I mean, I knew you liked playing around with them, but-�

Marco waved a hand dismissively. �It�s not about computers. Who cares about computers?�

�Well, isn�t that the big thing with Mr. Fenestre?�

Marco shook his head, like Cassie had said something insane, and walked away.

Cassie looked at me.

�Joe Bob Fenestre is the second wealthiest man in the world, Cassie,� I said. �I think that�s what Marco cares about more than computers. Hey, Marco?�

�What?�

�How much is Fenestre worth?�

�Mr. Fenestre is worth twenty-four point nine billion dollars. That�s billion. What a �b.� As in billion.�

�Is that a lot of dollars?� Ax asked.

�You could buy all the Tabasco sauce in the world with it, Ax. All the Tabasco in the entire world, and have enough left over to buy your own small country.�

We turned a corner, and there, through the glass, we saw the command center. It looked like ground control at NASA. Row after row of men and women sitting at computer consoles.

We dropped back from the tour group so we could talk privately.

�Okay, there it is,� I said. �Now how do we get in?�

So at least getting into the building was easy. Also, even though we know Bill Gates exists in this world, Joe Bob Finestre is kind of Bill Gatesish.

Chapter 10

quote:

�How do we get in?� Rachel asked. �It�s daytime. There are people around. This isn�t how we usually do things. It�s usually night.�

I glanced around. The tour group was moving off. Pretty soon someone would notice us hanging around. People were coming and going from the command center down below. But it was awfully hard to imagine what kind of animal morph we could use to sneak in there and work a computer keyboard without being noticed.

I was puzzled. And no one else seemed to have any brilliant suggestions, either. I looked at Marco. He shrugged. I looked at Rachel.

Rachel said, �We could create a distraction. Set the place on fire, then when everyone runs ��

�Rachel, these are nice, normal, innocent people, not Controllers, as far as we know,� I pointed out. �We can�t go around terrifying and endangering normal people.�

She nodded like she understood. I�m pretty sure she actually did.

Then it popped into my head. �That�s the morph: nice, normal people.�

�What?�

�We acquire DNA from some of the people who work here. We morph them and walk right in.�

As soon as the words were out of my mouth I thought, Wow, there�s something not really right about this.

Cassie looked pained. �Wow, there�s something not really right about that.�

�I think it�s brilliant,� Marco said. �Possibly immoral, but brilliant.�

�Humans are the animals that are native to this particular environment,� Ax pointed out.

�We like to think of ourselves as more than animals,� Rachel pointed out.

�Why?�

She shrugged. �I don�t know. We just do. Or at least as the best animals around.�

�The best?� Ax echoed. �How do you define best?�

�We alone of all the animals have the ability to create TV shows,� Marco said. �Why are we yapping about this? What�s the big deal? Ax�s human morph is made up of bits of DNA from all of us.

What�s the difference?�

�We consented,� Cassie said. �We gave permission.�

�Who cares, as long as it works?� Rachel said.

�How are we different from Yeerks, then?� This came from a surprise source: Marco. Was he arguing both sides, or had he changed his mind?

�We aren�t taking over their minds,� Rachel said. �We�d simply be using their DNA. No different from any other animal.�

Everyone looked at me. Like I was supposed to quickly decide a big moral issue in a hallway in two minutes. What was I supposed to do? We were in a war. What was the big deal about doing something that made us uncomfortable?

I shook my head. �The whole reason we�re fighting is to keep people free,� I said. �If we start violating that and using people�s DNA without permission, we may not be as bad as the Yeerks. But we�re heading down that same path. We have to find another way.�

Cassie looked at me like she was proud of me, which just made me want to blush.

So what does everybody think about this argument? Take DNA from unconsenting humans, or not?

quote:

�So how do we do what we came here to do, oh fearless leader?� Rachel asked.

�We go with a distraction. But we don�t start a fire or endanger anyone. We just give them something to look at that is so fascinating and weird and impossible to ignore that they won�t be watching what happens behind them. Ax and Marco are the computer brains. They go in. Ax as human, and Marco as himself.�

�So Marco won�t be human?� Rachel asked quickly, then laughed at her own joke.

�That was a good one,� Marco complimented her. �Fast, too.�

�Thank you.�

I took a deep breath. �Ax and Marco go inside. The rest of us put on a show that no one will be able to ignore, then we haul butt out of here.�

I'm sure that a bear, a tiger, a wolf, and a hawk are a good way to draw attention, yes.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 03:35

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

I think Jake is afraid to admit he's scared because he's holding it together - just. If he acknowledges that fear, he may not be in control anymore and may fail his friends, and that's his biggest fear of all.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 03:57

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; Ultra Carp

Epicurius posted:

So what does everybody think about this argument? Take DNA from unconsenting humans, or not?

Just one of the many ethical lines the Animorphs will cross further on down the line! :v:

e: also glad to see that Jake getting splattered is even more brutal than I remembered it being.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 04:03

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

It's a definite ethical question mark using sometimes DNA to turn into a physical copy of them but I kind of feel it's on the line of logging into someone else's Facebook or online bank. It's identity theft rather than enslavement and it feels weird how they keep equating the two.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 07:06

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

Epicurius posted:

So open question here. Why do you think he's afraid he's admit to be scared to Cassie here? Is it an age and masculinity thing? A leadership thing? A boyfriend thing?

Yes.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 09:53

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

So at least getting into the building was easy. Also, even though we know Bill Gates exists in this world, Joe Bob Finestre is kind of Bill Gatesish.

Also, "finestre" is (Old) French for "window".

# ? Jan 24, 2021 11:18

Gun Jam: Apr 11, 2015

MrNemo posted:

It's a definite ethical question mark using sometimes DNA to turn into a physical copy of them but I kind of feel it's on the line of logging into someone else's Facebook or online bank. It's identity theft rather than enslavement and it feels weird how they keep equating the two.

I would have said the same, 'till Rachel crapped out a whole-rear end crocodile outta nowhere. That raised a lot of questions.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 11:49

dungeon cousin: Nov 26, 2012; woop woop
loop loop

Glad I finally caught up!

It's so strange how I clearly remember small moments from this series and have no idea from which books they are from. When I saw the cover of this book I couldn't remember anything about Jake morphing a rhino so I was excited to be going through a book I hadn't read. Jake almost dying as a fly was something else I had no memory of. But then came the scene of Ax sucking down packets of sauce and getting the group kicked out which is something I remember clear as day!

I'm not sure how to feel about taking human DNA. As long as it doesn't hurt them it should be fine? How could you hurt someone by morphing into them? I guess you could damage someone and their reputation with the actions you take while morphed as them. I also do wonder what they're gonna do about clothes if they have to morph an adult. They might need specific clothes or work badges.

dungeon cousin fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jan 24, 2021

# ? Jan 24, 2021 12:54

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

MrNemo posted:

It's a definite ethical question mark using sometimes DNA to turn into a physical copy of them but I kind of feel it's on the line of logging into someone else's Facebook or online bank. It's identity theft rather than enslavement and it feels weird how they keep equating the two.

The other thing is that they're going to be on the hook for anything you get seen doing in their body. If they, say, just walked in as morphed workers and started smashing poo poo, that person would go to jail for it (or be turned into a Controller, depending).

# ? Jan 24, 2021 13:04

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Piell posted:

The other thing is that they're going to be on the hook for anything you get seen doing in their body. If they, say, just walked in as morphed workers and started smashing poo poo, that person would go to jail for it (or be turned into a Controller, depending).

Well, I think the idea is that they walk in as morphed workers so they don't have to start smashing....you know, they'd be there licitly.

# ? Jan 24, 2021 15:56

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 16:The Warning-Chapter 11

quote:

We ducked into a small janitor�s closet to prepare. Ax and Marco quickly headed down the stairs and around to the entrance to the command center.

<Everyone ready?> I asked.

<Yes. But I just want to say this is totally undignified,> Rachel complained.

<Do you have your mop?>

<Yes, I have my mop,> she sneered.

<Cassie? You ready?>

<Yes. But we can�t lose these shoes. We don�t have any more money.>

We had tied the laces of our shoes together, and now we looped them over our necks. All but Tobias, of course. I would grab his later.

<Everyone ready?> I asked. They were. <Okay, let�s go!>

<Just one slight problem, Jake,> Rachel pointed out. <Who�s going to open the door of this closet?>

We had morphed. Rachel was now a monstrously huge grizzly bear standing up on her hind legs.

She was between seven and eight feet tall, with claws like the teeth of an iron rake and shaggy, rough, brown fur.

I had gone into my tiger morph. We�d deliberately chosen big, frightening animals no one was likely to try and mess with. We wanted people to watch us, but not try and grab us.

Tobias had become himself once more. A red-tailed hawk.

And Cassie had become the most frightening animal of us all: a skunk.

But none of us had hands that could open the closet door.

<Rachel? Why don�t you just open it?>

<Cool.> She drew back her upper body, swayed back on her feet, and then thrust forward, slamming one side-of-beef-sized shoulder into the door.

CRRRUNCH-SLAM!

<There. Now it�s open.>

We trotted calmly out into the hall and crossed to the glass observation window that looked down on the command center. We looked down at the WAA employees at their computer consoles.

<No one�s watching us,> Tobias complained. He was sitting on Rachel�s head. <They haven�t noticed us.>

 I said.

A tiger�s roar can be heard for miles. Literally. Up close and personal, it is a sound you never want to hear unless there are some big, thick steel bars separating you from the tiger.

It is loud. And it�s loud in a way that punches every button in a human being�s instincts. I�ve seen that roar make brave men fall down. It turns their knees to Jell-O.

I sucked in a deep breath, and I cut loose.

RRRROOOOOAAAAARRRR!

<Now they�ve noticed us,> Tobias said.

Fifty or sixty sets of eyes had swiveled at once to stare up at us. And what they saw kept them watching. Rachel, huge, terrifying, powerful Rachel, was calmly mopping the floor, swinging the mop back and forth like a professional.
I was helping. I had the mop bucket in my teeth.

Tobias fluttered around us in a circle, shrieking madly.

TSEEEER! TSEEEER! TSEEEER!

Absolutely no one noticed when Marco and Ax entered the back of the command center and
calmly sat down at a computer console. No need even for a code word to get access. The machine had been left on by the person who�d been operating it. That person was staring up at us, eyes wide, mouth even wider.

With my acute tiger�s hearing I could hear through the glass.

�Is that a bear?�

�Yeah.�

�Is it mopping the floor?�

�Uh-huh.�

�Have we gone nuts?�

�I�m not nuts. It�s the bear who�s nuts. That�s carpeted up there.�

�Why does it have sneakers around its neck?�

I can see how this would be distracting.

quote:

A few people screamed. A few ran. Most just stared as we cavorted around, having a fine time.

<Marco winked,> Tobias reported. <They must be doing okay.>

<Two more minutes, then we get out of here before someone down there thinks to call in security,> I said.

<Too late,> Cassie reported. <Here they come! Two guys with handguns.>

<Oh, man. Okay. We�ll try and scare them off first.>

Two men in gray uniforms came racing around the corner into view. They had guns drawn. They didn�t even notice Cassie, they just stared in horror and confusion at the lunatic scene of a hawk, a bear, and a tiger, all seemingly involved in mopping a carpeted floor.

I set the bucket down.

RRRRROOOOOAAAAARRRR!

One of the men dropped his gun, turned around, and ran. �Ya-ah-ah-ah!�

The other one was shaking, but he held on.

�Y-y-you animals g-get out of here. You�re not a-a-a-authorized to be here!�

<You have to admire the guy,> Rachel said. <He must know that little popgun wouldn�t stop either of us for a minute.>

<Yeah, well, it would stop me,> Tobias said darkly. <I�m just a birdie.>

�D-d-don�t make me shoot!�

<Okay, Cassie,> I said. 

Cassie turned her back to the guard. She raised her black-and-white tail. She turned her cute little face to look back over her shoulder. Then she dropped the tip of her tail.

If you ever see a skunk go through that sequence, leave. Leave, go far away, don�t look back. The guard didn�t know that.

<Fire,> I told Cassie.

She fired.

The guard, who had stood up to a grizzly bear and a tiger, either of which could have turned him into raw hamburger, had had enough. No one, but no one, can be brave when he�s been hosed by a skunk.

�Aaaaarrrggghhh!� He dropped the gun and ran.

<Okay, now let�s bail!> I said.

<That was kind of fun,> Rachel said.

We ran, dragging our cheap tennis shoes along. We spotted an elevator. Tobias flew over and punched the button with his beak. People looked out of doorways at us. We roared and they went back inside.

The elevator door slid open. There was an executive and a bike messenger on it. They decided to get off when we crowded into the elevator.

Rachel jabbed a claw at the button for the lobby. And by the time we got there, the only people on the elevator were four kids wearing tight clothes and cheap shoes.

Heavily armed city cops dressed in SWAT team black were marching into the lobby carrying automatic weapons. Marco and Ax were already standing in a corner, acting like fascinated observers.

�Did you kids see a bear?� one cop asked.

�Yeah, right.� Rachel laughed. �A bear.�

We hooked up with Marco and Ax and went outside. I breathed a sigh of relief. �How�d it go?�

�We had no difficulties, Prince Jake,� Ax said.

�Yeah, no problem,� Marco said. But he looked concerned. Maybe a little sick.

�So, what�s the matter?�

He shrugged. �No biggie. Once we got into the system it was a breeze. We had plenty of time. So I figured why not check out one or two extra screen names.�

�Not exactly the reason we were there,� Tobias said.

�This girl whose screen name is PrtyGirl802. She like sends me these very flirty kind of E-mails and IM messages. You know. Like she likes me and all.�

�So you found out who she is?� Cassie asked. �That�s not very nice.�

�Yeah, no kidding it wasn�t nice. I found out my online girlfriend PrtyGirl802 is actually a seventy-three-year-old retired postal worker.�

That's all levels of awkward.

Chapter 12

quote:

We had to memorize the list of names we�d gotten. There was no way to carry them. For the most part the names meant nothing to us. They were just names. And I�ll only use the first names.

Except for the one name that really stuck out.

Joe Bob Fenestre. �Fitey777� was, in reality, the billionaire owner of Web Access America.

�No way,� Marco said. �That guy hangs out in chat rooms? If I were him, I�d spend my day rolling around in big stacks of hundred-dollar bills, paying Michael Jordan to come over and teach me how to improve my three-point shot -�

�You have no three-point shot, Marco,� I pointed out.

�- and having the female cast members of Baywatch apply suntan oil to my muscular body.�

�So you�d have bought some muscles, too, huh?� Rachel said. �Didn�t know you could do that.�

�When you count your money in billions you can buy anything,� Marco said. �Including happiness. Assuming that your idea of happiness involves a private jet, supermodels, and your own Papa John�s pizza restaurant down in the basement.�

�Be sure and leave your brain to science when you die, Marco,� Rachel said. �After all, they�re the ones with the microscopes it�d take to find it.�

I laughed. Marco cocked an eyebrow at me, like I�d betrayed him.

I shrugged. �Sorry, but that round goes to Rachel.�

We had taken the bus back to the airport. We were feeling pleased that we�d accomplished our mission. But I was worried about getting home. I did not want to go back aboard that plane in fly morph. But I didn�t know how else to do it.

I was scared. Just that simple: I was scared.

But I was also scared of letting the others know I was scared. Weird, huh? Scared and scared of people thinking you�re scared?

I was trembling by the time we got inside the airport. I don�t know if anyone noticed. I couldn�t see myself trembling, I could only feel it. It was like when you have a fever and you get chills that make your stomach muscles shake violently and make you want to curl up in a ball and pile covers five feet high all over your body.

The others kept chattering away. And I kept adding a word here or a smile there. You know, so no one would think anything was wrong. But I was sweating. I used my sleeve to wipe my forehead and the sleeve came away as wet as if I�d dipped it into a sink.

�You know, maybe we should try some other morph on the way home,� Cassie said nonchalantly.

Ah. So at least one person had noticed. Cassie. She was trying to give me a way out. Without embarrassing me.

�Why?� Ax asked.

�I don�t know,� Cassie said, with just a hint of tension in the way she kept her mouth tight. �It might be fun to do it a different way.�

�We already went over it before,� Rachel said reasonably. �We decided fly morph would work best, right? I mean, just because Jake had some trouble doesn�t mean the idea is bad.�

Deadlock. Cassie couldn�t say anything more without it being obvious that she was trying to protect me. And I couldn�t have that.

�Fly morph is fine,� I said as coolly as I could. �Still the best way to do this.�

I think Cassie was a little disgusted with me. �Hey, Jake,� she said, fake-bright, �come buy me a pretzel. I�m hungry. You guys go on ahead.�
Cassie grabbed my arm and hauled me aside. The others went on.

�That was subtle,� I said. �I don�t have any more money.�

Cassie looked at me and shook her head. �What is the matter with you? You don�t have to do this. You don�t have to prove how tough you are.�

�It�s not a problem, Cassie. Thanks, but let it go, okay?�

�Jake, you may have the others fooled, but not me. You�re scared. And you have good reason to be scared. So what�s the big deal?�

I tried to walk away. But that felt wrong. I turned back to face her. �The big deal is I�m supposedly the leader of this little army.�

�So? So you�re not supposed to be human?�

�That�s absolutely right. I�m not supposed to be human.�

She laughed uncertainly, like she wasn�t sure if I was joking or not. �No one expects you to be Superman, Jake. You think the others won�t respect you if you admit you�re terrified of something?�

�It�s not about respect. It�s not even about being scared. It�s about letting fear tell you what to do.�

�If it�s unreasonable fear you have to get past it,� Cassie said. �But there�s a reason for this fear. You were nearly killed.�

I shook my head. �No. You�re usually right, Cassie, but this time you�re wrong. See, if I give in to fear, then that gives everyone permission to give in to fear. And we all have good reasons to be afraid. Pretty soon we�d be totally paralyzed. We wouldn�t be able to do anything because one of us might have some good reason to be scared.�

�We don�t morph ants anymore because they scared all of us, but mostly Marco,� Cassie pointed out. �We don�t ever talk about morphing termites because of my problems with them. What�s the difference?�

�The difference is you all decided I was the leader,� I said. �That�s the difference. A leader may be just as weak or scared or doubtful as anyone else. But he isn�t allowed to show it. People say they want leaders to be just like them, but I don�t think so. People want leaders to act the way people wish they could act themselves. Marco and Rachel and Tobias and Ax don�t want me to give them permission to be scared. They want me to help them to be brave.�

Cassie looked at me a long time and I looked away, feeling uncomfortable.

�We didn�t do you any favor when we made you leader, did we?� Cassie asked.

I forced a grim smile. �There�s something else a leader doesn�t do,� I said. �Complain about being a leader.�

�We did pick the right person, though,� she said.

Once again I started to walk away, but Cassie grabbed my arm. �Look, maybe you�re right. But I�ll bet even great generals and presidents or whatever have friends they can be honest with. People who would never lose faith in them, no matter what.�

I had the strangest desire to burst out crying right then. I also had a desire to hug Cassie really hard. I didn�t do either.

�Come on,� I said. �The others are waiting.�

Christ, that poor kid. That poor, poor, little kid. I just just want to give him a hug and tell him it's going to be ok.

# ? Jan 25, 2021 04:05

QuickbreathFinisher: Sep 28, 2008; by reading this post you have agreed to form a gay socialist micronation.
`

Epicurius posted:

Animorphs-Book 16:The Warning-Chapter 11

Christ, that poor kid. That poor, poor, little kid. I just just want to give him a hug and tell him it's going to be ok.

Please don't lie to the Animorphs :smith:

But hey there's a fun scene with a skunk, a bear, a hawk, and a tiger sandwiched between a gruesome near death experience and a sad meditation on leadership, morality, and suppressing genuine emotions! :haw:

# ? Jan 25, 2021 07:04

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

It says something that the most unrealistic part of this book so far is that an image-conscious tech billionaire would willingly allow himself to be publicly known by the name "Joe Bob". If this book were written even like 10 years later he'd be "Joseph Robert Fenestre" or "JB Fenestre", or "JR Fenestre" or just "Joe Fenestre".

Also I guess Web Access America has a Yeerk problem the same way Twitter has a Nazi problem.

# ? Jan 25, 2021 07:21

wizzardstaff: Apr 6, 2018; Zorch! Splat! Pow!

Reading this book, I can�t get the �Bill who?� line from Antitrust out of my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7hhqX1PANU&t=36s

On the �ethics of morphing humans� question, I agree with whoever said before that it�s closer to identity theft than enslavement. But given the way an animal�s instincts and personality are felt so strongly in a new morph, I can�t blame the team for being reluctant to do it. Suppressing that personality might feel too close to mind control for comfort, even if you�re only suppressing a cloned mind and not a real person.

wizzardstaff fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jan 25, 2021

# ? Jan 25, 2021 08:42

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

nine-gear crow posted:

It says something that the most unrealistic part of this book so far is that an image-conscious tech billionaire would willingly allow himself to be publicly known by the name "Joe Bob". If this book were written even like 10 years later he'd be "Joseph Robert Fenestre" or "JB Fenestre", or "JR Fenestre" or just "Joe Fenestre".

Also I guess Web Access America has a Yeerk problem the same way Twitter has a Nazi problem.

That seems unfair to WAA, because all their Yeerks are in one place and you actually have to seek them out, unlike Twitter Nazis.

Something I find kind of interesting, about the difference between the 1990s internet and now is that, so with AOL, for instance, you could get onto the web, but the service also cultivated its own services for you....games, chatrooms, news, internal e-mail, etc. The companies that would become internet service providers....AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, all started like that in their pre-web days. You'd sign onto them, and then you'd be in their own private little corner, where you could only interact with other members and use the services they provided. Then, when the Web became a think, they'd put that on top of the services they already provided, and some of this cultivation lasted a lot lonnger than you'd think. AOL didn't entirely close their chatrooms until 2010, for instance.

-It's just an interesting look at the way people interacted with the internet.

# ? Jan 25, 2021 14:54

HisMajestyBOB: Oct 21, 2010; College Slice

I always found it odd that Ax is able to effortlessly hack into human computer systems. However, it does make sense after reading Andalite Chronicles, because apparently Windows is based on Andalite tech thanks to Elfangor.

# ? Jan 25, 2021 18:20

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Book 16:The Warning-Chapter 13

quote:

We made it back home okay. No one swatted me and I felt better for getting past the fear. At least that�s what I told myself. You never really get past the fear. Fear eats a little hole in you, like rust in the fender of a car. You fill the hole up with putty and sand it smooth and paint it over so no one else can see it. But it�s never really as good as new.

I was exhausted by the time I made it home. My brother was in the kitchen, talking on the phone while he smeared peanut butter on a graham cracker. When he heard me come in he changed his tone of voice.

In the old days I would have assumed he�d been talking to a girl. Now I assumed he�d been talking to some other Controller.

I unloaded a bunch of food from the refrigerator: leftover barbecued chicken and mashed potatoes. I plopped it all on a plate and stuck it in the microwave.

�I gotta go,� Tom said into the phone. He hung up.

�What�s up?� I asked him.

�Nada,� he said, and left the room.

I took my food up to my room. I started to boot up my computer, but hesitated. Instead I sat down and munched indifferently while staring at the blank screen.

So. What did it mean that Joe Bob Fenestre was the so-called �Fitey777�? Judging by the chat we�d eavesdropped on, Fitey777 was a legitimate Yeerk-fighter. Not like the YrkH8er person who�d been an obvious Controller.

But it wasn�t that simple. Joe Bob Fenestre had access to all WAA information. So he knew who all the other people in that chat room really were. He even knew who had established the Web page.

Fenestre had access to all kinds of information. He owned the biggest online service in the country. So maybe that�s how he�d discovered the existence of the Yeerk invasion.

Or maybe the point was that the Yeerks had seen how important Fenestre was and had made him a Controller. It would make sense.

Which left us no wiser than we had been going in. Was Fenestre a true enemy of the Yeerks? Or was he a Controller using the Web site as a lure to trap true enemies of the Yeerks?

We had to know. I should head over to Marco�s house and get him to pull up any articles he could find on Joe Bob Fenestre�s house. He didn�t live too far away. He flew his own private jet to his WAA offices every day.

I was really tired. I felt like I could have slept for a week. But weekends were our good time. School days were tougher. And tomorrow, Sunday, was the end of the weekend.

I went downstairs. My parents had both just come in. They were carrying department store handle bags. They�d been shopping.

�Hey, Jake,� my dad said.

�Honey, there are some more bags in the car,� my mom said.

I brought in the bags.

�I�m taking off,� I said.

My mom gave me a look. �Weren�t you out all day?�

I shrugged. �I guess so.�

�Would it kill you to have dinner with your family?�

�Is it dinner time?�

�It will be as soon as I make that salmon I picked up yesterday,� she said. �You loved it last time I made it. I mostly got it for you.�

Guilt. Great. I smiled. �Well, you didn�t tell me that�s what you were making. Marco can wait. I�m there.�

We try not to use the phone very much. Phone lines are too easy to tap. Plus I never know if Tom might be listening in. So I couldn�t call Marco or Rachel. I�d have to do the research myself. If we were going to bust into Joe Bob Fenestre�s massive home, we�d need some idea what we were dealing with.

I started on some homework while my mom cooked. Then my dad yelled up the stairs to say that Showtime was doing a rebroadcast of this fight that had been on pay-per-view. So I took my homework downstairs and worked on it with one eye on the TV.

Then we had dinner. The four of us. Like the old days.

My dad got off into some long, involved, really boring story about his work. And my mom asked me and Tom about school. Then my dad realized he�d forgotten some part of his boring story, so he had to tell that part over again. And my mom said she hoped we liked the clothes she�d bought at the
mall. And of course Tom and I joked about how she�d probably shopped at Formerly Cool Fashions �R� Us. It was an old joke we always used whenever my mom bought us clothing.

It was so normal. Tom and me. Our parents. My mom and dad squeezing each other�s hands like they were on their first date.

I sat there afterward, stuffed with fish and rice and snap peas, and still stuffing my face with something called tiramisu, which is an Italian dessert soaked in some kind of liqueur.

I wanted to believe it was all real. Because, you know, that was the whole point of fighting. The whole point of taking risks and fighting the Yeerks was to protect boring, average, no-big-deal times like this.

I flashed back on being smeared across the ceiling of the plane. And I flashed on the time we�d almost been able to save Tom, down in the hell of the Yeerk pool. It made me mad. Mostly what people want is to be left alone. They just want to sit down and have a nice dinner and tell boring
stories and tell jokes they�ve told a dozen times before.

But I guess there is always someone out there who thinks life, just plain old boring, sweet, everyday life, isn�t enough. And that�s when the killing starts. In this war it was the Yeerks. But there had been an awful lot of wars when it was just human against human.

What is the matter with people that they don�t know all that really counts is that people who love each other be able to be together, live in peace, learn, work, tell boring stories and dumb jokes? What do they think they�re going to get that is better than that?

�You�re awfully quiet, Jake,� my mother said. �Thinking deep thoughts?�

I smiled. �I was thinking this was cool. We should all have dinner together more often.� I looked at Tom. �It was nice. I hope nothing ever happens to us. I hope we�ll always be together.�

The Yeerk inside Tom�s head searched Tom�s memory. The Yeerk opened his memory and read it like a book. He played the strings of Tom�s brain like a violinist squeezing perfect notes out of a violin. The Yeerk found the answer that Tom would have made. It aimed Tom�s eyes and made Tom�s face smile sardonically. It opened Tom�s mouth and made Tom say the words Tom would have said, if he�d been able.

�Hey, Mom, no more tiramisu for Jake. The liqueur is making him mushy.�

I laughed the way I should. And I thought to myself, The day will come, Yeerk, when I will tear you out of his head and destroy you for what you�ve done to my family.

There's a lot to say about this chapter.....about Jake's thoughts on fear, about his quest for normality.....that people mostly want to be left alone to live their lives in peace. But I think Applegate says it all better than I would. What are your thoughts, though?

Chapter 14

quote:

While I spent the evening with my family, Marco had been busy. He�d used the hack-proof program Ax had written for him to go back to the chat room. He told us about it when we trudged out to the woods at the edge of Cassie�s farm. Tobias and Ax could both be themselves out there.

�Most of the same people were there,� Marco explained. �There were some new names, but GoVikes, YrkH8er, Chazz, CKDsweet, YeerKiller, Carlito, MegMom, and Gump8293 were all there. The Gump kid was still talking about his dad. I get the feeling maybe he�s getting ready to confront his
father.�

�We can�t let that happen,� Cassie said.

�Gump is a nine-year-old kid,� I reminded everyone. �He lives close enough. Meg, Chazz, and CKDsweet are all from out of town. Some of them way out of town. That leaves us with GoVikes-�

�-an idiot,� Rachel pointed out.

�-YrkH8er, Gump, Chazz and, of course, Fitey777,� I finished.

<YrkH8er is a Controller, right?> Tobias asked. 

Tobias was in a branch maybe ten feet over our heads. His talons sank deep into loose bark.

Cassie tilted her head back and forth like she wasn�t too sure. �YrkH8er is someone named Edward Cheltingham. What was he? Thirty years old? But you know what? I looked in the phone book this morning and there was no Edward Cheltingham. Only two �Cheltinghams� listed and they
were both female.�

�So? He has an unlisted phone number,� Rachel said.

�Maybe so. Or maybe Edward Cheltingham is as phony a name as YrkH8er,� Cassie said. �Isn�t it possible to get a fake ID and a credit card in some name and then open a WAA account?�

Obviously, that had not occurred to anyone except Cassie.

�Oh,� Rachel said. �Great. A new level of difficulty. So this guy could be anyone.�

�We have an address for him,� Cassie said. �We could check it out.� She looked at me. �We also have an address for Gump.�

�Gump isn�t the point,� Marco said. �Fenestre is the person at the middle of all this. He�s the main man. Figure out what�s happening with him, and you figure it all out.�

�Maybe,� Cassie conceded. �But he can wait. Gump may be in trouble right now.�

�Look, Cassie,� Marco said, �it�s Sunday. If we go after Fenestre, it�s probably going to take some time. Which means a weekend, which means today. We can check out Gump any day after school. Monday. Tuesday.�

�Unless Monday is too late. Unless later today that scared little kid talks to his dad and his dad is a Controller, and that�s it for Gump. Gump does a disappearing act. Or else ends up as the new home for some low-level Yeerk.�

The two of them looked to me. I was supposed to decide which was our top priority. Rescue a nine-year-old, or maybe bust open the whole thing with a raid on Fenestre�s mansion.

I looked down at the ground. �Marco, did you happen to do any research on Fenestre�s house?�

�No. I thought you were doing it.�

�I got kind of tied up. Big family thing.�

�It�s supposed to have massive security,� Marco said. �Lots of computer stuff. But it shouldn�t be any problem for us. I mean, security is designed to keep out humans, right? Not animals.�

I nodded. I hoped he was right. I felt a twinge of worry, but Marco was right: Fenestre was at the center. �Cassie, first thing after school tomorrow, we�ll check out Gump.�

She nodded. But she looked bitter. �I hope that�s soon enough.�

�Yep. Me, too. Okay.� I rubbed my hands together, shot Rachel a cocky wink, and put on my best �game face.� �Let�s do it, then. Let�s go see how the super rich live.�

I sensed I was making a mistake. But I didn�t know what it was. And a leader has to lead, not sit around consulting his horoscope or taking his own pulse.

So I made the decision.

He made the decision. I think in a lot of ways, this is the most painful book so far for me. It feels like Jake is trying to act like he feels like a leader should act instead of being a leader...and of course, the whole time, he's just psychologically a mess here.

# ? Jan 26, 2021 04:22

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

That seems unfair to WAA, because all their Yeerks are in one place and you actually have to seek them out, unlike Twitter Nazis.

Something I find kind of interesting, about the difference between the 1990s internet and now is that, so with AOL, for instance, you could get onto the web, but the service also cultivated its own services for you....games, chatrooms, news, internal e-mail, etc. The companies that would become internet service providers....AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, all started like that in their pre-web days. You'd sign onto them, and then you'd be in their own private little corner, where you could only interact with other members and use the services they provided. Then, when the Web became a think, they'd put that on top of the services they already provided, and some of this cultivation lasted a lot lonnger than you'd think. AOL didn't entirely close their chatrooms until 2010, for instance.

-It's just an interesting look at the way people interacted with the internet.

I was going to ask about this, actually, because I was confused exactly what WAA (or AOL) is supposed to be, exactly.

Re: ethics of morphing humans, I think it's a fair point of the difference between identity theft and enslavement, but I also think that bending the moral rules they've established for themselves - not just this, but any moral rules, like the Geneva conventions or whatever - is different given their situation as a deeply outnumbered guerilla warfare group fighting for the survival of the whole planet. Like, it would be one thing if the Andalite military acquired unwilling sapient beings; it's less bad if the Animorphs do it, imo.

# ? Jan 26, 2021 04:30

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

Jake, I think you need to relax. Why not try some nice video games to get your mind off things? Here's one I think you'll love:
https://youtu.be/kIoJnMT3yUI

# ? Jan 26, 2021 04:38

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

I was going to ask about this, actually, because I was confused exactly what WAA (or AOL) is supposed to be, exactly.

So, to give you some more info, America Online was an American company that provided online service (originally called Quantum-Link or PC-Link, but eventually changed to America Online, or AOL for short. It launched in the mid to late 80s, and they really marked it as "the internet for everyone" You just had to have a modem and account, and it was really heavily marked in the US. It was sort of most famous for two things, both later on. First, they gave out CDs with the software like candy....sign up for an account, get 500 minutes free, that sort of thing. The second thing was, when you got e-mail, it would play this really chipper sound clip that said "You've got mail!". AOL got so famous in the US that when they made a remake of the old movie "The Shop Around the Corner (about these two people who fall in love as penpals but hate each other in real life) with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, they updated the pen pals part to e-mail penpals on AOL and called it "You've Got Mail". See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znESQTt3L80.

It became a really big thing in the US and was a lot of people's introduction to online.

# ? Jan 26, 2021 04:48

Acebuckeye13: Nov 2, 2010; Ultra Carp

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Jake, I think you need to relax. Why not try some nice video games to get your mind off things? Here's one I think you'll love:
https://youtu.be/kIoJnMT3yUI

How'd you survive all this?
Who said I did?

# ? Jan 26, 2021 04:59

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Jake, I think you need to relax. Why not try some nice video games to get your mind off things? Here's one I think you'll love:
https://youtu.be/kIoJnMT3yUI

Or, one that would be period appropriate as well as thematically:
https://youtu.be/5tAkJOoA5r0

Epicurius posted:

Something I find kind of interesting, about the difference between the 1990s internet and now is that, so with AOL, for instance, you could get onto the web, but the service also cultivated its own services for you....games, chatrooms, news, internal e-mail, etc. The companies that would become internet service providers....AOL, Compuserve, Prodigy, all started like that in their pre-web days. You'd sign onto them, and then you'd be in their own private little corner, where you could only interact with other members and use the services they provided. Then, when the Web became a think, they'd put that on top of the services they already provided, and some of this cultivation lasted a lot lonnger than you'd think. AOL didn't entirely close their chatrooms until 2010, for instance.

Don't those online portals that are still around from that era, like Yahoo and MSN, still kinda do that on their frontpages?

# ? Jan 26, 2021 11:47

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Fuschia tude posted:

Or, one that would be period appropriate as well as thematically:
https://youtu.be/5tAkJOoA5r0

Don't those online portals that are still around from that era, like Yahoo and MSN, still kinda do that on their frontpages?

Even AOL sort of still does that, but in their case, its mostly news links.

https://www.aol.com

# ? Jan 26, 2021 14:49

Bobulus: Jan 28, 2007

I still have elderly relatives that use their aol email addresses as their primary email. And just the other day, I saw a link to a reuters news article that someone had read on aol.com

# ? Jan 26, 2021 16:01

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

Bobulus posted:

I still have elderly relatives that use their aol email addresses as their primary email. And just the other day, I saw a link to a reuters news article that someone had read on aol.com

My job means I see contact information for a wide variety of people, and there's a lot of people, mainly elderly, who still use aol addresses.

# ? Jan 26, 2021 16:21

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 27, 2024 10:27

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Cythereal posted:

My job means I see contact information for a wide variety of people, and there's a lot of people, mainly elderly, who still use aol addresses.

I still have an aol address. I mostly just use it for stuff I subscribe to, so spam goes there and not my google address, but I have it.

# ? Jan 26, 2021 19:02

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

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