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

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

I have to imagine another part of it is Visser Three going "You have failed me for the last time." Especially when the failure in question was his.

Guy's got one hell of an ego, and I imagine he doesn't take setbacks gracefully. Or just scapegoats some minion to avoid blame from higher up.

# ? Jul 26, 2021 00:22

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# ? May 28, 2024 07:38

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 27

quote:

It took two more days for us to get home. We hid out on trains and trucks. We flew. We enjoyed the warmth.

Once, as we floated high on a wonderful warm thermal, we talked about the Venber. There were still two who might be alive, wandering the frozen Arctic. They might even know that the creatures they�d chased were human. A loose end. But the Venber wouldn�t be heading south to civilization any time soon.

<Next time you hear a story about an Abominable Snowman, maybe there�ll be some truth to it,> Tobias pointed out.

Don�t know why we cared. The Venber had tried to kill us. Only they hadn�t tried to do anything. They were helpless tools of the Yeerks. Victims of a long-ago tragedy brought back to life, only to write a new chapter of cruelty.

We made it home and relieved the Chee who�d taken our places. I don�t know if they were glad to be done playing their parts or not. Who can tell what an android thinks?

I put the whole thing behind me. You have to do that. You can�t be in a war and think about all the stuff that happens. You can�t keep all the fear and all the pain right there in the front part of your brain, you know? You go nuts like that.

But some things are hard to get past. Sometimes it�s the little things.

�Marco? Are you still alive?� my dad yelled up the stairs.

�Yeah, Dad,� I answered.

�You�ve been in there for an hour! Are you ever coming out?�

�Well, sure, eventually,� I said.

�Could you at least turn on the fan? The whole house is turning into a sauna.�

�Sorry,� I said. �I forgot.�

That was a lie. I hadn�t forgotten. I wanted the whole house to feel like a sauna. And I was considering staying in the shower forever.

Heat. Man, heat is a very, very nice thing. For humans, anyway.

�Marco!� My dad, yelling again, this time from somewhere closer by.

�What?� I yelled back through the steam.

�Your room is a total pigsty!�

When I�d gotten home, I�d been horrified to see someone had cleaned my room. I mean, cleaned it. There was not a chip bag to be found! So much for Erek playing the role of me. Hah!

�I suppose I shouldn�t have expected this sudden neat stage to last,� my dad muttered outside the bathroom door.

�Yeah, well,� I said, reluctantly turning off the faucet.

�I appreciate what you did to the basement and garage, though. I�ve never seen them look so good.�

�Oh, sure,� I replied. �Say, did Marian happen to call in the last couple of days?�

�In the last couple of days?� Dad repeated. �No. I would have told you if she had.�

�Oh,� I said. �Oh, well.�

�Hey, you want to go out and catch something to eat?�

I stuck my wet head out of the door. �Like what?�

�I was thinking ice cream.�

�Ice cream.�

�Yeah. Ice cream.�

�Excuse me.� I closed the door, stepped back in the shower, and turned on the water. Hot. Very, very hot.

So that's our first ghostwritten book done. What did you think? Could you tell it wasn't Applegate? Did you like it? Personally, I thought it was intense...both the severe physical conditions, and what happened with the Venber. I think there was a definite sense of sadness to the book, of all thinks. But at least we got Derek, who was cool.

Next book is a Jake book...."The Attack".

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Jul 26, 2021

# ? Jul 26, 2021 03:57

Edna Mode: Sep 24, 2005; Bullshit, that's last year's Fall collection!

I remember the Attack being one of my favorites when I was growing up. Excited to revisit it!

# ? Jul 26, 2021 04:37

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

[b]Chapter 27

So that's our first ghostwritten book done. What did you think? Could you tell it wasn't Applegate? Did you like it? Personally, I thought it was intense...both the severe physical conditions, and what happened with the Venber. I think there was a definite sense of sadness to the book, of all thinks. But at least we got Derek, who was cool.

Next book is a Jake book...."The Attack".

Yeah, I ended this still not sure if I'd read it. That's the first time I couldn't remember anything that happened, from beginning to end.

I didn't think it was bad as a ghostwritten book. Marco hardly seemed Flanderized to me.

This upcoming book is also the last non-ghostwritten book (with a single exception) until the very end of the series. And it's one that I absolutely remember reading.

# ? Jul 26, 2021 07:05

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I like this book a lot but 26 absolutely rocks. That, 27 and 29 are real high points of the series.

Epicurius posted:

It took two more days for us to get home. We hid out on trains and trucks. We flew. We enjoyed the warmth.

I remember this bit and always really liked it. Like, after everything they've been through for more than a year now, they just get to have this little roadtrip, camping out in freight boxcars, not having to worry about the Yeerks, not having to worry about anything except getting home. Just chilling.

# ? Jul 26, 2021 08:33

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Yeah, as the start of the ghostwritten books, this one's pretty near the top. Everyone's largely in character (yeah, Marco's a little overwritten, but not so much that it stands out when reading this at age 11 or whatever), solid plot, important stakes. It's good.

# ? Jul 26, 2021 14:13

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

Yeah, if you hadn't mentioned it beforehand, I doubt I would have been able to tell that this is the first ghostwritten book. Though there are telltale signs, such as the lack of thermals or that the Animorphs actually successfully finished the mission they set out to do. Then again, they just randomly jumped into the bladeship with zero idea where to go or what to do, so that is pretty on brand.

Also, is this the first time they use the Chee as decoys for longer missions? Because I vaguely remember that becoming a recurring thing.

e X fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Jul 26, 2021

# ? Jul 26, 2021 14:22

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

I apologize. We're going to have to start the new book tomorrow.

# ? Jul 27, 2021 05:27

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

e X posted:

Also, is this the first time they use the Chee as decoys for longer missions? Because I vaguely remember that becoming a recurring thing.

It definitely is and does. There's a great joke later where Marco is telling Erek how he wants his decoy Chee to finish his maths assignment and ask out a girl that he's been too nervous to, or something, and Erek is like "he'll be sure to do that while also holding down his fulltime job as a restaurant manager"

# ? Jul 27, 2021 06:34

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Animorphs: Book 26-The Attack

This book was written by Applegate herself!

Prologue

quote:

The dream came again. As real as it always was.

The Yeerk was in my head once more. He was starved of Kandrona rays, weakening, failing. I was watching him die.

The Yeerk cried in pain again and again. And the memory visions came floating up as clear as if they had all just happened.

They were visions of the Yeerk�s life. And the lingering memories he had stolen from his hosts.

One of those hosts had been my own brother, Tom.

I felt each of those minds in my own as the Yeerk gave up his life. I was the caretaker of those memories of despair.

At the end, the Yeerk was no longer in pain. He was beyond pain.

I opened my eyes and looked at Cassie. It happened so naturally. I opened my eyes by my own will for the first time since I�d been infested.

And then, for the first time in more than an hour, the Yeerk spoke. <So. You win � human.>

The Yeerk shuddered. I could feel it as a physical spasm. My vision changed. And I felt something impossible to describe. I felt as if I were seeing through things. Into things. Like I could see the front and back and top and bottom and inside of everything all at once.

It was as if I had slipped out of the normal world. Out of the real universe. I was in a different reality. I was peeking through a tear in a movie screen. On the surface, the three-dimensional movie - my world - played. Beyond it � something my mind could not comprehend.

In my dream, my dream of memory, I felt the terror grow. I knew what was coming next. I writhed in my sleep, twisting my sheets around me. Wake up! Wake up!

But I could not wake up. I never could, not till the dream was complete.

And so I saw it again.

A creature. Or a machine. Some combination of both. It had no arms. It sat still, as if it were bolted down, on a throne that was miles high. It could not move, and yet the power that flowed from it was like a hurricane of energy.

Its head was a single eye. The eye turned slowly � left � right �

I trembled. I prayed it would not look my way.

And then it saw me.

The eye, the bloodred eye, looked straight at me.

Through me.

It saw me.

It SAW me!

No! NO! I cried in silent terror. I tried to look away, but my eyelids were transparent, my head would not twist far enough to avoid its gaze.

It spoke the single word it spoke only in my dreams.

And now, at last, I could awaken, shaking in a sweat-soaked bed.

Why? Why would this dream not go away? I�d had other nightmares, other awful memories of fear and violence that needed to be exorcized in my dreams. But they had each faded. While this dream came again and again.

I got up and staggered into the bathroom. I snapped on the glaring fluorescent light. Then I stepped to the sink and looked at my face, my head.

Yes, the Yeerk had died there, in that head, my head. It had been right then as the Yeerk disengaged and began to crawl out of me, right then as death closed its jaws around the Yeerk, that the eye had found me.

It had seen me.

And I had seen it. Then, and again in my nightmares. Again and again. And each time it spoke that single, voiceless word.

�Soon.�

If you go back to Book 6, Chapter 24, those are the events of that chapter. Also, have I mentioned Applegate is a LOTR fan?

Chapter 1

quote:

My name is Jake.

Who am I? Sometimes I wonder.

I�m a kid, a middle-school kid, a kid with classes to attend and homework to do and friends to hang with and parents. I am just an average kid, at least on the surface. Normal. Boring, even. I�m not especially good at school. I do okay. I�m no great athlete. I�m not some kind of genius.

Just a kid. If you saw me at the mall you wouldn�t think there was anything remarkable about me. But there is.

Swimming around in my blood is the DNA of dozens of animals. Birds, insects, mammals. The DNA floats there, encapsulated, waiting for my own mind to call it up.

And when I do - when I ask the DNA to go to work - it does, in the most amazing and impossible way. It transforms me. It changes me into the animal. Into the bird or insect.

I shrink or grow. I lose or gain strength. My limbs, my organs, my face, my eyes, all change. I become that creature.

My own mind continues to function. I am still me, but the animal mind is in there with me, too. And it functions, too.

So, anyway, about now you�re thinking, Oh, he�s psychotic. He�s delusional. He should be in a rubber room with an IV dripping tranquilizers.

I�m not crazy. It�s real. It happens. Not just to me, but to my friends: Marco, my main man; Rachel, my cousin, the war goddess; Cassie, the girl I care about more than I do myself; Tobias, the friend I couldn�t save from his own bizarre fate; and Ax, an Andalite, an alien.

It�s the Andalites who invented the morphing technology. Only they have it. Only they can take an otherwise normal creature and give him the power to become any creature.

Yeah, now I�m talking about aliens. Crazy and crazier, right?

But that part�s true, too. Earth is being invaded. Not openly, not with Dracon beams blazing and quantum explosives going off. That would be counterproductive. That�s how humans might do it: fast and hard and obvious.

But the Yeerks aren�t like us. They don�t want our land or our resources. They don�t want our pitiful, backward technology.

They want us. Us. Or at least our bodies.

They want our legs and hands. They want our ears and mouths. They want our eyes.

In their natural state, Yeerks are slugs who live in a liquid pool and absorb Kandrona rays for food. But evolution played an interesting trick with the Yeerks. Slowly, over the course of millennia, they grew to be a parasite species.

They found the Gedds, another species on the Yeerk home world. And over time they learned to penetrate into the very brain of the Gedds.

Gross? Weird? There�s a species of wasp that lays its eggs in the living body of a caterpillar. When the wasps are born, they feed on the caterpillar. They eat the living caterpillar alive from the inside.

That�s on good old Earth. So what�s weird?

Anyway, the Yeerks expanded. From Gedds to Hork-Bajir to Taxxons to � us.

Now they are here. And now they are taking over human hosts, entering their brains, controlling them, rendering them utterly helpless.

I know. I was a Controller. I�d still be a Controller, except that my friends saved me and starved the Yeerk to death.

Not the first Yeerk death on my hands. Not the last.

We fight this war almost alone, me and my friends. We�ve learned of a race of androids called the Chee who help us from time to time. We�ve learned that not all Yeerks agree with the policy of expansion throughout the universe. And we know that off in space, outnumbered, outgunned, are the Andalites, fighting to push back the Yeerk tide.

But most days and nights, we are alone. Even with other people all around us, we are alone.

Assembly. Not a pep rally, not a drug lecture, not a ceremony honoring anyone. This was different, and actually, fairly cool.

The Lion King, the stage show, was in town. Some of the performers were there on the stage of our little auditorium to give a minishow.

A lot of kids had groaned when it was announced. You know: It was a lot of �be quiet, sit still� time. Not to mention the fact that it seemed a little �young� for us.

Me, I like quiet and still. Didn�t used to. But now I guess any time I get to sit quietly, no running, no morphing, no terror, no screams, no horrible decisions and horrible aftermath � I can handle sitting still and listening to music and watching big giraffes gallop around onstage.

I was about fifteen rows back. Marco was in the row ahead of me to the left. I could see the side of his head, and he knew it, so he was amusing himself by twitching ears in time to the music.

I didn�t want to smile, but it was just so idiotic it was funny. Marco, naturally, was hoping I�d snort or giggle so he could turn around and shush me, full of righteous indignation.

Cassie and Rachel were four rows behind me and to the right. I was pretty sure Cassie was asleep. Cassie lives an amazing life: school, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic where she works helping injured animals, and of course, being one of us, which is a full-time job.

Rachel had a kind of dreamy look on her face. You�d have thought she was enjoying the show.

Only I noticed the guy sitting next to her was trying to hold her hand. And that dreamy look was Rachel wondering which of the guy�s fingers she should break.

I looked back at the show. It was a pretty good show. I heard a stifled yelp of pain coming from four rows back and to the right.

That familiar �Circle of Life� song started up and Disney animals were cavorting and singing and the music was swelling and Marco�s ears were going nuts and a wounded male voice was saying, �Jeez, you almost broke my finger!� and then it all stopped.

All of it.

Every sound. Silence.

The music. Silence.

The actors in their incredible costumes. Frozen.

The auditorium full of kids. Dead still.

The only things moving were Marco�s ears.

The only sound was Rachel saying, �Almost? Reach back over here again and I�ll -�

Frozen. Still. Motionless. Everything and everyone.

Except the four of us.

Sometimes, when you're at a performance, time stretches out and you feel like it's stopped. I'm sure that's all this is. Also, the Lion King musical came out in 1997. Also, the wasps that lay their eggs inside a caterpillar are real. Jake's not just making it up. The most famous type of wasps that do this are the ichneumon wasps, For my mind, though, the freakier wasps are Glyptapanteles wasps, which also lay their eggs inside a caterpillar. The larvae of this type of wasp feed on the caterpillar, but don't actually kill it. Instead when they're ready, they burst out, but one or two stay inside and crawl into its brain, mind controlling the caterpillar. It stands guard over the cocoons of the wasps, actually attacking anything that comes close (including anything that might feed on the now helpless larvae. Once they mature, the caterpillar dies of exhaustion and starvation.

The icheneumon wasp was one of the things that made Darwin question creationism. There's a famous quote attributed to him that goes "�I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of caterpillars.�"

No wonder this series points out that Earth is one of the most dangerous worlds that different aliens come across.

eta: Sorry about the formatting problem originally. Fixed.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Jul 28, 2021

# ? Jul 28, 2021 03:44

HisMajestyBOB: Oct 21, 2010; College Slice

Ooh, my last book! And it's definitely a good one!

As for book #25, I don't think it was very good. It's not terrible, just mediocre, and I can see why I didn't remember that I had read it. There's a lot of chapters that can basically be summed up as "we're cold and lost" and the Venbar, which are the one of the big unique things in the book, kind of fade away. The Animorphs defeat them more by accident than anything clever.

# ? Jul 28, 2021 04:19

HIJK: Nov 25, 2012; in the room where you sleep

26 is great, very excited for this!

# ? Jul 28, 2021 06:03

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

I think KA Applegate (and hopefully the other writers) are getting better at plowing through that initial "here's what Animorphs is" narration and getting into the meat of things sooner. In earlier books it feels like you'd be two or three chapters in before you got into the meat of the plot, and that's a lot when the books are like 100 pages long.

# ? Jul 28, 2021 07:47

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

not all Yeerks

# ? Jul 28, 2021 10:22

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

Hell yeah, this book. One of my all-time faves as a kid

# ? Jul 28, 2021 15:15

Malpais Legate: Oct 1, 2014

Oh poo poo is this the introduction to Crayak? I don't think I ever read it so I kinda had the most context for him from Elfangor's Secret and The Ellimist Chronicles.

# ? Jul 28, 2021 22:28

TheGreatEvilKing: Mar 28, 2016

As soon as we got the EYE intro I remembered this book.

# ? Jul 29, 2021 03:51

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 2

quote:

Slowly, cautiously, I stood up.

I looked at Rachel. �Wake Cassie up,� I whispered.

Rachel stood up and shoved Cassie�s shoulder.

�I�m awake, I�m awake,� Cassie said, eyes snapping open. She yawned, then stopped in mid-yawn and forgot to close her mouth.

�Well, this is unusual,� Marco said. �Did someone hit the �pause� button?�

I was looking at the eerie spectacle of the stage players, frozen, some in mid-leap, just hanging in the air, when a blur of feathers simply appeared.

The red-tailed hawk flared its wings, yelled <Aaah!>, banked hard right, saw me, saw all of us, and landed at the edge of the stage.

<Is he here yet?> Tobias demanded, wrapping talons around the lip of the stage.

I shook my head, confused. Who? Was who here yet?

One of the �animals� onstage moved. Only it was not a Disney animal. It had the body of a blue deer, the upper torso of a boy, a mouthless face topped by two extra eyes on moveable stalks, and a tail that could snap and leave you counting in base five.

Ax froze. Then he darted forward, moving away from the fake animals. Stalk eyes swiveling, tail arched, ready to strike.

�It�s okay, Ax,� I said. �I think.�

<The Ellimist,> Tobias said.

Marco nodded. �I don�t know anyone else who can just stop time whenever he wants. Unless it�s that new math teacher.�

�So where is he?� Rachel demanded.

�Wherever he wants to be,� Marco muttered darkly.

We had encountered the creature - or creatures, who could tell? - called �the Ellimist� several times. He (she, it, they) was to humans and Andalites and Yeerks what humans were to ants.

I felt like an ant right about then. Small and powerless, with a couple hundred kids frozen around me. It was like they�d been videotape one minute, a still photograph the next. It felt wrong to look at them. Like I was some kind of peeping Tom.

I met Cassie�s gaze. Her dark eyes were cautious, but not scared. The Ellimist had never hurt us.

He�d helped us, always while pretending to do nothing. Or at least by living within his own incomprehensible set of rules.

One of the kids stood up. I jumped about two feet in the air.

It was this girl named Beth. No one else moved. Just Beth. She smiled at me, at us, and I knew right away.

�Yes, it is I,� Beth said.

�The Ellimist?� Cassie asked.

Beth nodded.

�Where�s the big voice and the quick-change bodies and all?� Rachel demanded.

�I have chosen this form for a reason,� the Ellimist said in the girl�s voice. �I come today on a humble mission. I wanted a humble form. One that would not evoke feelings of dread or awe or reverence from you.�

He spread Beth�s hands wide, palms up. He moved away, and I saw that the real Beth was still frozen in her seat. The Ellimist had not taken her body, just her image.

After all, he wasn�t a Yeerk.

The Ellimist calmly walked through several rows of chairs and the bodies in them. Simply passed through them like they were air. He stood in the space between the front row and the stage.

Down by Tobias. Ax came up behind him, moving with the unnatural, liquid grace Andalites have when they are preparing to fight.

Andalites don�t like the Ellimist. He�s a figure from the scary stories they tell around campfires - or wherever.

I gave Ax a little look, just a �take it easy� look. He relaxed about three hairs.

�Okay, so you�re just a regular girl,� Rachel said sarcastically. �No big show, aside from the fact that you froze time and all.�

�This is as humble as I know how to be,� the Ellimist said. �I come to-� he hesitated, �I come to tell you a story, and to see how you will choose to react.�

�Oh, good, a story,� Marco said. �Is it a musical, too? Will there be any hakuna matata involved?�

You have to understand: It�s not that we weren�t scared. We were scared. But we�d been scared by people who wanted to kill us. This was just �creeped out� scared. We ate �creeped out� for breakfast now.

Beth�s face smiled. She had braces.

�I will tell you a story. You will tell me the ending.�

Honestly, I know the Ellimist is on the side of good and all, but he's also extremely annoying. Also, Jake is at the point where he can distinguish "fear of an omnipotent being" from "fear of being murdered". This was not my experience at 14.

Chapter 3

quote:

The Ellimist looked down at the girl�s hands. �Once we had hands. Not much different from these.� He smiled. �But that was a long time ago. Almost a billion of your years.

�We evolved as all living things do, some faster, some slower. We were among the first sentient species, but we evolved slowly. Still, given enough time, even slow change can become profound.

Back when all Earth could boast were a few simple single-celled animals, we were beginning to watch the night sky and understand the movements of our own planet. We learned and we grew powerful. By the time worms first crawled in the mud of Earth, we were traveling in faster-than-light ships. And when the first dinosaurs walked we � we had become much as I am today.�

�You�d become a girl with braces?� Marco said.

The Ellimist looked surprised. He showed the braces in a grin.

�The Andalites could do with some of the human sense of humor,� the Ellimist said.

Ax scuffed a front hoof against the stage floor, a gesture of annoyance.

�And if the Yeerks had any sense of humor at all they wouldn�t be the scourge they are,� the Ellimist added.

Marco looked more abashed than proud. The smart remark had just popped out of him. I don�t think he�d consciously planned to poke fun at a being who could not only annihilate Marco, but all memory of him, his family, and his ancestors, going back through a thousand generations.

The Ellimist continued. �We watched the rise of other species throughout the galaxy. Helped at times, when we could. We wanted companions. We wanted to learn. We imagined a galaxy filled with millions of sentient species, each with its own science and art, its own beauty.

�But it wasn�t to be that simple. Approximately a hundred million Earth years ago, we became aware of a new force in the galaxy. Not a species, an individual. He was a fugitive from another galaxy, chased out of that galaxy by a power even greater than he. Greater than me.�

�I thought you were all-powerful,� Rachel said.

The Ellimist smiled. �No. I seem so only from your limited perspective.�

I looked around the room. Time was stopped. Leaping dancers hung in midair. The dust particles in the air were standing still. A kid named Joey had been sneaking a Ho-Ho. Someone must have made him laugh because his mouth was open, smiling, and a piece of Ho-Ho was dangling off his lower lip. Dangling and never falling.

Powerful enough, I thought. I don�t want to meet the guy who can kick the Ellimist�s butt.

�This new force, this individual, began to make his presence known in our galaxy. And he had different ideas from ours. He sees a universe of conflict, pain, and terror. He craves fear. Not his own, of course, but the fear of others. He is a strange perfectionist, in a way.�

The Ellimist had grown thoughtful. Perplexed, almost. Hard to picture when you were looking at Beth�s bangs and the zit on her chin, but I knew who he was and what he was, and I guess I�ve had to get past judging anyone by looks. In a world where anyone could be a Controller, you begin to realize just how irrelevant looks are.

�He wants a galaxy cleansed of creation. His goal, I soon realized, is to destroy life. His method is to use one species against another, strong destroying weak, and then strong in turn being destroyed by the stronger still. He believes that there should be only one species. A single sentient race, which would be subjugated by him.�

�What is this guy, a Nazi?� Cassie said.

Beth�s curls shook as the Ellimist nodded. �In the moral sense, yes. But he has different visions of what constitutes total power. He wants to be able to control the strands of space-time itself. Not merely to see them and understand them, but to hold them in his fist and dictate the very laws of physics and nature, to recreate the galaxy in his own image, and someday to spread his power throughout all galaxies and destroy the one power greater than himself.�

�Great,� Marco said grimly. �Can we go back to The Lion King now?�

�He is called Crayak,� the Ellimist said. And then he looked right at me, and I knew before he spoke the words. �You have seen him. And he has seen you.�

The eye. The armless half-creature, half-machine.

One by one my friends looked at me, challenging, questioning, neutral, skeptical, compassionate.

�When the Yeerk died in your brain, you peered across the line between life and death; you broke the dimensional hold that blinds humans to things beyond themselves,� the Ellimist said. �And in that moment, Crayak saw you. He saw that I had made myself known to you. That I had touched you. And he knew that you must, therefore, play some part in my plans.�

Crayak. The nightmare presence had a name. Crayak. The bloodred eye that watched me in my dreams.

�Soon,� it had said. �Soon.�

I felt a chill crawl through my body. Fear. The Ellimist said Crayak enjoyed fear. Did he feel mine now?

�A hundred million years ago, we fought, Crayak and I,� the Ellimist said.

And suddenly the auditorium was gone. We stood in black, empty space, and the Ellimist was no longer a little girl but a brilliant light.

So, the mechanical eye has a name now....Crayak. And he's interested in Jake.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:16 on Jul 29, 2021

# ? Jul 29, 2021 03:57

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

I'd also be worried about the notion that there's a Bigger Fish still out there.

# ? Jul 29, 2021 13:55

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 4

quote:

Stars, stars everywhere! Bright white points that burned with a steady light, and closer, so much closer, huge, sky-filling cauldrons of blazing hot gases.

His voice was in our heads now, reverberating through our bodies, huge and sad.



As I stood on nothing, floating on nothing, stars began to dim and die. It was like watching a charcoal fire go from blaze to hot coals to crumbling, gray dust.

<The result was something neither of us could tolerate. The battle we fought destroyed a tenth of the galaxy, millions of suns, millions of planets, a dozen sentient races.>

Before our eyes - or was it straight through our brains? - ran images, flashes of creatures in amazing shapes, in sizes and colors that made me want to laugh in sheer wonder. I saw monstrous mammals and tiny insects, species that lived in the sea and others that floated on air.

And one by one, they went as dark as their suns.

<A dozen sentient species, and more who would have achieved sentience, all destroyed, destroyed for nothing! But Crayak was damaged as well. The fabric of space-time, the software, as you humans would say, the software that runs the galaxy was damaged, twisted by the sudden explosion of our power.>

Once again I floated in that eerie n-dimensional space, the space beyond space where inside and outside were meaningless terms, where I saw the back as easily as the front, the heart of things as easily as the surface, the core of planets as easily as the crust. I saw what seemed like threads, threads that could curl back inside themselves, disappear and reappear, twist and ravel and braid in insane complication.

<All Crayak�s knowledge of space-time was now shattered. The few threads he had gathered to him were yanked from his grasp. Millions of years of effort wasted. We fell back, back from our test of wills, our war.>

I was in normal space again. With guts and cores and threads all back where they should be, twisted up and hidden beneath the surface of things.

<We knew then, Crayak and I, that we could never make war again. Not open war, at least. The conflict would have to be carried on by different means. No longer a savage battle. Now it must be a chess game. There would be rules. Limits.>

Floating across our field of vision, like distorted TV pictures, were flickering images of our own interactions with the Ellimist. The times he had played a role, though never a controlling one.

When he had shown us that we could escape Earth and live on a sort of game preserve for endangered humans. And when he had used Tobias to help some Hork-Bajir escape to found a free colony.

And when he had twisted time to return Elfangor from his happy life, hiding as a human, to a world of struggle, pain, and ultimately death as an Andalite warrior.

Elfangor, who was Tobias�s true father, and the one who had given us our powers.

Each time, we saw the Ellimist limiting his involvement, refusing to do a billionth of what he could do.

<Earth is part of our game, Crayak�s and mine. He would have the Yeerks absorb humans and later be absorbed by some still more vicious species. But Earth is not the reason I have come to you now.>

The show was over. We were back in the auditorium, not that we�d ever really left, I suppose. And the Ellimist was a girl with braces again.

�For millions of years we have played our game,� the Ellimist said. �And we have lived within the rules, more or less. But now war threatens again. There is an impasse. A species I will not let Crayak take. A species he will not let me save. This species occupies a unique location in spacetime. It is a turning point, and if Crayak can annihilate them, his power will grow, his goal become much closer, his forces become more deadly than ever.�

�Including the Yeerks?� I asked.

�Yes, including the Yeerks, who will benefit from changes I cannot explain to humans - or even to mighty Andalites,� he added with a gentle, steel smile for Ax.

<So what happens? Irresistible force and immovable object?> Tobias asked. <Who gives? You or him?>

The Ellimist said, �I will finish the story. And you will decide.�

�Us?� Cassie blurted.

�Crayak and I have reached an agreement on a way to decide the issue. To decide the fate of the Iskoort race. If Crayak wins, they will be attacked, subjugated, and annihilated by another species.�

<What species?> Ax asked.

�The Howlers,� the Ellimist said. �You have heard of them before.�

I nodded slowly. Yeah, we�d heard of the Howlers.

�Crayak and I have agreed to decide the issue by a contest of champions. His against mine. He has named the Howlers themselves, a group of seven. I am to pit my seven champions against his.�

�What is this, a football game?� Cassie demanded.

�No, that would be eleven guys on the field, not seven,� Marco said.

�Seven Howlers against my seven,� the Ellimist said. �The winners - the survivors - will determine the outcome.�

�And this has what to do with us?� Rachel asked belligerently.

�Oh, come on, Rachel,� Marco said. �One �� he pointed at me. �Two �� he pointed at Rachel.

�Three, four, five, six,� he pointed at Ax, Cassie, Tobias, and himself.

�That�s six,� Cassie said. �He needs seven. We�re just six. That�s not what he means. Is it?�

The Ellimist said nothing.

Cassie said a word I�ve never heard her use before. Then, �You want us, us to be your champions? To save these Iskrats?�

�Iskoort,� the Ellimist corrected gently.

�I�m either honored or ticked off, I don�t know which,� Marco said hotly. Then, �Oh, wait, I do know which, and it�s not �honored.��

�This must be your choice,� the Ellimist said. �Yours alone.�

He disappeared. Ax disappeared. Tobias disappeared. The four of us who remained were all back in our seats.

And time started up again, with dancers landing after the longest leaps of their careers.

Do you think the Ellimist would be a good three card monte dealer? I mean, they always give you a choice too.

Chapter 5

quote:

We sat through the rest of The Lion King. Seemed kind of dull after the special effects show the Ellimist had put on for us.

As soon as it was over, we were out the door. There was supposed to be a final partial period, but half the school was blowing that off, so we did, too.

We met at Cassie�s barn, also known as the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. It was a slow week at the clinic, I guess. Many cages were empty, which is rare. It made the place seem kind of forlorn.

Tobias was there waiting for us. So was Ax, in his weirdly attractive human morph. He demorphed back to his own self. It didn�t take any time at all for the conversation to start.

�This is nuts!� Marco said as soon as Tobias assured us that no one was lurking within earshot.

�The most powerful creature in the galaxy, a guy who could make Earth disappear by just thinking about it, needs us to fight his battles for him?�

�Like we don�t have enough to deal with?� Rachel agreed.

<The only possible reason for doing this is if it helps us in some way,> Ax said. <Enlightened self-interest.>

 Tobias said. <The Ellimist has helped us before.>

Rachel shot him a dark, angry look. �He�s tricked us before, too. Told us one thing and done another. We know nothing about him. We don�t know if the Ellimist is one guy, or more than one. Half the time he says �we,� then he says �I.� So why is he the Ellimist? He jerks us around whenever it suits him, and he tells us squat.�

I knew what she was talking about. Tobias had thought the Ellimist would return him to normal. Instead he merely gave Tobias back his morphing powers.

But that had not been a lie or a trick. Not really. He�d promised to give Tobias what he wanted.

He had. It was Rachel who couldn�t accept that Tobias had chosen, and still chose, to remain a hawk.

�Why does �Howlers� sound so familiar?� Cassie wondered. �I know I�ve heard it before.�

�It was the Howlers who destroyed the Pemalites, creators of the Chee,� I said. �That�s who we�d be going up against. Seven of them against seven of us.�

�Seven? I count six,� Marco pointed out.

�I think I know who our seventh would be,� I said.

Marco rolled his eyes. �Erek?�

�Payback,� I explained. �Who else would care as much about hurting the Howlers?�

Marco barked out a laugh. �He can�t fight! He�s an android programmed never to hurt anyone. He�d be dead weight. And why are we talking about this like it�s time to choose up teams?�

<We hurt this Crayak, we hurt the Yeerks,> Tobias said. <The Ellimist loses, we lose.>

�Wait a minute, Tobias,� Rachel said. �You know I don�t run from a fight -�

�To a fight, maybe,� Marco interjected.

�- but are we supposed to believe we�re the Ellimist�s only choice here? There�s no one else in the entire galaxy who can go pound on these Howlers? Why us?�

<Yes,> Ax agreed. <Why us? Why not seven battle-trained Andalite warriors?>

This, of course, turned Marco around. �Excuse me? Like Andalites are badder than we are? What are we, wimps? Me in gorilla morph, you as you, let�s go. We�ll see who kicks whose butt.�

�Yeah, that would be the sensible thing to do. You two fight,� Cassie said dryly.

�Okay then,� Marco said with a leer, �forget me and Ax. You and Rachel, both wearing bikinis.�

Rachel calmly stuck out her arm and grabbed a handful of Marco�s hair. �What was that you said? I must not have heard correctly.�

�I refuse to answer on the grounds that you may tend to snatch me bald.�

Rachel let him go.

<I�m starting to see Rachel�s point,> Tobias said. <Why would the Ellimist ask for help from this clown college?>

�Could we win?� Cassie asked.

That stopped everyone.

She stepped into the center of the group. �Could we win? Could we save an entire sentient species? And maybe help ourselves, too? Maybe weaken the Yeerks in some way only the Ellimist understands? Seems to me that�s the question. I mean, you know, I�m not Rachel. I hate fighting. But the Ellimist put an entire race on the scale. An entire race. Maybe millions, maybe billions. And we�re even asking ourselves if we should? How do you not at least try?�

�Iskoort?� Marco jeered. �Now it�s our job to save Iskoort? What the � what is an Iskoort?�

He looked at Ax, hands apart, questioning.

Ax shook his head. It�s a habit he�s picked up from us. Of course, he does it while holding his stalk eyes still, so it�s a bit different.



Normally, on big issues like this I don�t push my opinions out there. I�m supposedly the leader, but to me there are times when the best thing a leader can do is let others work things out for themselves. But I had to say something.

�I think � I think there may be something else going on here, with the Ellimist choosing us.� Everyone stared at me. Marco narrowed his eyes. �The Ellimist said something about you seeing this Crayak.�

�I saw him. When the Yeerk died in my head, I saw him. And he saw me. And since then � since then I�ve had dreams.�

Dead silence.

I wished I�d kept my mouth shut. �Look, I � you know, dreams are weird. Like who knows if they�re ever real? But these feel real. And in the dreams I see him. Crayak.� I shook my head. �I know this sounds crazy.�

�Uh, Jake?� Marco said. �We�ve been over the line into crazy since Elfangor said, �Hey, kids, wanna turn into animals?��

I smiled. That was not exactly what Elfangor had said. �I just feel like these dreams aren�t totally just dreams. I see him. And he sees me. And he says the same thing each time.�

�What?� Cassie put a soft hand on my arm. �What does he say?�

��Soon.� He just says �soon.��

So,. what's everyone thinking?

# ? Jul 30, 2021 04:35

Bobulus: Jan 28, 2007

The immediate thought is either that the humans have some tactic that hardened Andalite warriors would never consider, or he's pulling the information play again: other groups could win, but only the humans would benefit from what they experience.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 05:32

Ravenfood: Nov 4, 2011

Epicurius posted:

So,. what's everyone thinking?

That their 7th will somehow be Visser 3 even if Erek makes way way more sense.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 05:44

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

And when he had twisted time to return Elfangor from his happy life, hiding as a human, to a world of struggle, pain, and ultimately death as an Andalite warrior.

Elfangor, who was Tobias�s true father, and the one who had given us our powers.

Isn't this is the first time the Animorphs know that? No one seems to react. Tobias just found out in 23, and he didn't tell them then, right?

# ? Jul 30, 2021 05:52

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Fuschia tude posted:

Isn't this is the first time the Animorphs know that? No one seems to react. Tobias just found out in 23, and he didn't tell them then, right?

He didn't tell them in the book. He might have told them sometime between books, though.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 06:16

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

He didn't tell them in the book. He might have told them sometime between books, though.

It seems like a weird thing to elide. I guess this gets back to how quickly these books were written.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 06:24

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

That's a good point. It's surprising there aren't more glaring continuity errors, really.

Fuschia tude posted:

It seems like a weird thing to elide. I guess this gets back to how quickly these books were written.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 06:32

pile of brown: Dec 31, 2004

That line from Marco about watching Rachel and Cassie fight in bikinis was little off brand for him, he's always talking about girls and flirting but seeing him "leer" while talking about Cassie felt weird.

I know I've read this one but I don't remember anything other than always picturing the Howlers as those creepy shrieking cyborg kids from a scifi movie at around that time.

Obviously they're gonna do it or there's no plot for the book and they don't have any leverage over the Ellimist to force him to reveal whether or not the game and it's terms are going to help them or not. I wonder what makes them decide to go.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 07:18

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

Ravenfood posted:

That their 7th will somehow be Visser 3 even if Erek makes way way more sense.

This would be pretty amazing

# ? Jul 30, 2021 07:45

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

Bobulus posted:

or he's pulling the information play again: other groups could win, but only the humans would benefit from what they experience.

My money's on that the humans are going to pass on information or help the Iskoort in a way that Andalites wouldn't think of. If I had to guess, I'd say that seven Andalite warriors would see a war. They'd be warriors, and act like warriors. The Animorphs are not. They're sneaky, they're idealistic, they know intimately how little they know. I'm guessing that that's going to be what matters more, not any question of raw power or battle experience.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 13:15

Ravenfood: Nov 4, 2011

Cythereal posted:

My money's on that the humans are going to pass on information or help the Iskoort in a way that Andalites wouldn't think of. If I had to guess, I'd say that seven Andalite warriors would see a war. They'd be warriors, and act like warriors. The Animorphs are not. They're sneaky, they're idealistic, they know intimately how little they know. I'm guessing that that's going to be what matters more, not any question of raw power or battle experience.

Yeah I think it will be something like this. I actually don't think the Andalites would beat the Howlers directly, and I don't think the Animorphs can either.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 13:55

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

pile of brown posted:

That line from Marco about watching Rachel and Cassie fight in bikinis was little off brand for him, he's always talking about girls and flirting but seeing him "leer" while talking about Cassie felt weird.

I agree, doesn't sound like Marco. It sounds ripped off of Friends if anything, they must have used that joke 50 times about Monica and Rachel. Could explain it by saying Marco watched that and repeated the joke to sound cool without really getting that it's creepy.

We know he watches Friends because he named the skunks after them.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 16:11

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

OctaviusBeaver posted:

I agree, doesn't sound like Marco. It sounds ripped off of Friends if anything, they must have used that joke 50 times about Monica and Rachel. Could explain it by saying Marco watched that and repeated the joke to sound cool without really getting that it's creepy.

We know he watches Friends because he named the skunks after them.

quote:

Typically, it was Marco who decided, after his first shift guarding the skunks, that the kits needed names.

�Joey, Johnny, Marky, and C.J.,� he announced, like it was obvious. �The Ramones. The godfathers of punk rock. They would be honored. The one with the white stripe that kind of goes really wide? That�s Joey. Now, Johnny ��

????????????

# ? Jul 30, 2021 17:05

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

Welp, I completely misremembered that one then

# ? Jul 30, 2021 17:15

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The dolphins that they acquired from The Gardens in The Message (where they discover Ax and Jesus whale shows up) were named after the characters from Friends.

# ? Jul 30, 2021 18:07

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 6

quote:

�Ooookay,� Marco said. �I felt that chill go up my spine.�

�So what does all this tell us?� Rachel demanded. �This Crayak already doesn�t like us, so we go and fight his handpicked team? Maybe win? Then he loves us? I don�t think so.�

<Side bets,> Tobias said.

I nodded. No one else got it.

<The Ellimist and Crayak have their main event: Do the Iskoort live or die? But maybe there�s some action on the side. Us. Maybe that�s why he chose us. Maybe there�s another level.>

�What other level?� Rachel demanded, frustrated.

 Tobias admitted. <But here�s the thing: It�s down to Crayak versus Ellimist. Crayak already has it in for Jake, at the very least. Not to mention he backs the Yeerks. Not to mention we know the Howlers are just as bad. The Ellimist wouldn�t pick us if he didn�t think we had a
chance.>

Cassie was nodding. She was for it. That made two.

I looked to Ax. He made the strange, mouthless Andalite smile. <If we can hurt the Yeerks �>

That made three. I looked at Rachel.

�Oh, come on, you have to ask? No Crayak space monster is gonna beat up on my cousin,� she said, flashing her Cover Girl smile.

Down to Marco. He looked doubtful. I�ve learned to trust Marco�s doubts.

�What is it?� I asked him.

�First of all, I�m in,� Marco said. �But I just want to point out one thing: The Ellimist didn�t force us, he asked us. Our choice. And maybe he�s right that we can do this. But part of the reason we�re saying yes is that this Crayak thing has been taking pokes at Jake. And Crayak plays the same long, patient games the Ellimist does.�

�So what are you saying?� Cassie asked.

�I�m saying maybe Crayak wants us there. Maybe he wants us to say yes. And you know what? That�s not because he thinks we�ll win.�

�Let�s vote,� Rachel said. �Go.�

�Go,� Cassie agreed.

It was six out of six for going.

�Unanimous,� Marco said.

I shook my head. �No. We�re going to be seven. It�s not unanimous till Erek votes.�

�Go,� a new voice said.

He appeared, standing in the middle of us. A normal-looking boy. Or that�s what you�d think. The �boy� was a holographic projection. Inside the illusion was an android. An android who�d helped build the pyramids, who had taken on a hundred different human forms, letting each one seem to age, letting each one seem to die, then reappearing as some new holographic projection.

�You know what this is all about?� I asked Erek. Somewhere in the back of my mind I realized I had gotten used to the weirdness of people simply appearing out of nowhere. When the Ellimist was involved, things like that were normal.

�I know what it�s about,� Erek said with a nod.

His face was rigid, lips pressed tight together. It was impossible - I knew it was impossible - but still, I felt suppressed rage coming from the android. Barely contained violence.

�The Ellimist has brought me up to date,� Erek confirmed. �If you�ll have me, I�ll go. I want to go. I � I have to go.�

�You can�t fight,� Rachel said bluntly. �No offense, but I�d rather go get Jara Hamee or one of the other free Hork-Bajir. Or like Ax said, an Andalite warrior. We need firepower.�

�Yes, but that won�t be enough.� Erek shook his head. �You won�t defeat the Howlers in one-on-one combat. They are too deadly. You�ll need more than your morphs. You�ll have to outthink them. And I know them. I know the Howlers.�

The argument hit home with Rachel. �Fair enough.�

HAVE YOU CHOSEN? a huge voice asked.

I sighed. �Yeah, but can you give us a few days to -�

<Strangers! Strangers! Sell me your memories, strangers! Sell them to me, I beg of you.>

I was staring into a face not even a mother could love.

�Howler?� I asked shakily.

NO, ISKOORT, the Ellimist said. YOUR FAMILIES WILL NOT KNOW YOU HAVE GONE. BUT IF YOU DIE �

He let that hang. He didn�t have to explain further.

�When does this fight start?� I cried, recoiling from the Iskoort face thrusting toward me.

IT HAS BEGUN.

The Ellimist and Creyak don't fool aroumd, do they? There's no "I need some time to find a friend to catsit." or anything. And even though Erek is programmed not to do violence, his stake in this is, in a lot of ways the biggest of them all.

Chapter 7

quote:

�Who invented this place, Dr. Seuss?� Marco demanded.

We were miles in the air. Miles from the ground, which we could see just over the edge of the platform. The platform with no railing, no warning. The platform that just stopped suddenly. Below us was a twisting, leaning, propped-up-on-gigantic-support-beams structure of other platforms. Floors, I guess, all stuck here and there, sticking far out and not so far.

Above us was more of the same, till you�d swear the monstrous construction would reach the moon, assuming the Iskoort had a moon.

All of this was built of brilliantly colored blocks or bricks or segments.

Imagine that someone starts with all the Legos in the world. Add in all the Duplos and cheap bargain Duplos and let some humongous kid assemble them all into a tower a hundred miles tall.

Assume that no sensible adult ever becomes involved, except to come along occasionally and wedge in what looks like crutches the size of skyscrapers.

The floors could have been five feet apart, five hundred feet apart, or five miles apart. It was like no one figured it out till they built it.

I jumped back from the edge, feeling my stomach lurch and my heart stop. I had to push the Iskoort away to get safe, but I wasn�t worried about politeness. I was trying not to take a fall that would last a couple of hours.

�Back up!� I yelled.

But now a whole gaggle of Iskoort were rushing us, honking with the diaphragm in their bellies and yammering in thought-speak, pushing us, shoving us by sheer mad exuberance toward the edge.

�Rachel!� Cassie cried.

I spun left just in time to see Rachel wind-milling, her heels back over the edge of the platform.

�No!� I yelled as she lost the fight and toppled backward.

I caught a blur of movement. When the blur stopped it was Erek, his hand holding Rachel by the arm as if she weighed no more than a candy bar.

Erek pulled her back up onto the platform.

�Did I mention I�ve always wanted you along on this mission, Erek?� Rachel said shakily. �Get back, you stupid jerks!�

This was directed at the press of a dozen Iskoort, all yammering incessantly.



<Come visit my execution parlor!>

<Give me your clothing and I will give you credit!>

<Here! Eat this larva! Let it gestate and we�ll split the proceeds between your heirs!>

<You stink horribly! I will cleanse you!>

And to Ax: <Become my partner and we will sell your fur as a gachak poison!>

�What is this, Planet of the Salesmen?� Marco demanded. �Back off! All of you, back off!�

�Man, I thought there were a lot of salespeople at Nordstrom�s, but this is nuts. I�ll take care of this. I know how to get rid of pushy salespeople.� Rachel stepped out front, hands on her hips. �We�re just here to use the bathroom. Can you tell me where the ladies� room is?�

The Iskoort stared, goggle-eyed. Several of them wandered away. The others continued staring at us, waiting to see if we�d loosen up and do some business.

I looked at Cassie and we both sighed at the same time.

�Now what?� she wondered. �What do we do? Stand around till someone tries to kill us?�

I looked around, trying to get a grip on this bizarre place. There was no making sense of the structure itself. Our floor was a roomy one. At least a hundred feet separated our floor from the floor above. Back from the edge the small buildings began. They looked like clusters of igloos: blue and
gold and white and green and red. Some were jumbled into piles several layers tall. Others were freestanding.

The Iskoort themselves came and went, in and out of the colored igloos, up and down the twisted, arched stairways connecting floors. They all looked busy. All in a hurry.

They were not the most frightening-looking race we�d ever encountered, but they were definitely not even slightly human.

They had heads like vultures, thrust forward on long necks. The necks protruded from shoulders that were a sort of oval platform, flat across. From the shoulders dropped two arms, one on each side, each arm jointed three times, ending in a hand made up of one very long, tentacle-like finger, and two smaller, hooked, sharp-clawed fingers.

They walked in a way that made it seem they were crawling on their knees. Backward. Not that they went backward. They went forward. They had two thick legs, maybe two and a half feet long.

Then came what looked like knees, followed by calves that extended forward, lying flat against the ground. Those ended in feet, each with a single long prehensile toe and two smaller claws jutting from the sides of thick pads.

Their midsection was bare of clothing and looked weirdly like an accordion - an accordion made of veined, pink flesh. It moved, wheezing out a sort of running commentary on their thoughtspeak.

It was the sound of a whine. A grating, annoying whine that rose or fell, depending, evidently, on how excited or mad or agitated they were.

�The Nanny,� Cassie observed. �The what?�

�That sound. It sounds like Fran Drescher, the woman who plays the lead in The Nanny. No offense to her.�

 Tobias pointed out.

Iskoort faces were, like I said, not attractive. They were roughly triangular with the point toward the top, which left no room for a pair of eyes to fit. So their eyes, pink as a rabbit�s, were stuck on short stalks. They had mouths, but didn�t use them to communicate. They pretty much stayed shut, opening only every few minutes to suck in air and reveal a fat, blue tongue and tiny, blue-tinged teeth.

Rachel said, �You know how you meet some people and right away, before they even say anything, before you have any idea what they�re like, you don�t like them? I mean, on sight you can�t stand them? And it�s not that they�re ugly or anything, it�s just something about them that sets you off?�

�No,� Cassie said. �At least, I didn�t know. Now I do.�

A new assault team of Iskoort was quick-crawling toward us, heads thrust forward, eyes goggling.

<Forgive us, strangers!> the leader of this crowd said. <We did not expect off-worlders today. Welcome to the City of Beauty! Do you require a guide? Do you wish to sell your memories, or perhaps any unnecessary body parts?>

His diaphragm whined as he thought-spoke, a low, grating sound that rose and fell like a bagpipe blown by a man with too little wind.

I sighed. I was on the verge of suggesting that Rachel morph to grizzly bear and get rid of them,

but Cassie said, �You know, if they�re serious about a guide ��

�Yeah, you�re right,� I said, but I wasn�t enthusiastic. �Um, well, we could use a guide. You know, to show us around. Show us where to stay.�

<And what will you pay?> the Iskoort demanded, to the sound of eager whining.

�Well � we don�t exactly have any money,� I said.



He pointed one of his wormy tentacle fingers at Rachel. Or, more precisely, at her hair.

So, that's the Iskoort. Charming people, huh? You know, even with that description, I don't think I could draw an Iskoort. Fortuntely, there are people at Deviant Art more clever than I am. Here's an Iskoort, courtesy of Deviantartist Monster-Man-08.

# ? Jul 31, 2021 07:03

HIJK: Nov 25, 2012; in the room where you sleep

This is great science fiction. I love this book so much, I think this might be my favorite Animorph book.

# ? Jul 31, 2021 07:11

Pwnstar: Dec 9, 2007; Who wants some waffles?

I know its not accurate to the description but I always imagine the Iskoort as the worm guys from Men in Black, they have a similar vibe to me.

# ? Jul 31, 2021 09:21

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 8

quote:

The negotiation was not pretty.

The Iskoort wanted to shave Rachel�s head. She explained very calmly that she would remove his head and use it for a soccer ball before that ever happened.

In the end, Rachel lost six inches of blond hair. What was left came to just below her ears.

�You know, it looks good,� Cassie said.

�This from the girl who buys all her clothes from L.L. Bean,� Rachel grumbled.

But the truth was, it did look good. Possibly because Erek did the cutting. �I used to cut Catherine the Great�s hair,� he explained, sounding apologetic, like it was embarrassing to admit that he�d been alive since Moses was wandering around in the desert.

In exchange, we got Guide. That was his name: Guide. His full name was Guide, Grub of Skinseller, brother of Memory Wholesaler.

He was a young Iskoort. Which did not make him any less annoying. The first thing he did was try to improve the deal by getting Ax to let him have the last foot and a half of his tail.

Ax said no.

Marco said, �You know what? You jerk us around, Guide, and Ax will give you the last foot and a half of his tail.�

Guide understood the threat. He became easier to deal with after that. He only asked for memories, clothing, hair, and various body parts every hour or so, rather than constantly.

�One question, right up front: Have you seen any other off-world strangers?� I asked him.

<Off-worlders? Of course! The City of Beauty is temporary home to many, many off-worlders.>

�Probably drawn here by the charm of the residents,� Cassie said dryly.

It made me smile. I thought Cassie could like anyone. Evidently, even she had limits.

<We�re looking for members of a species called Howlers,> Tobias said.

Guide�s chest whined in a lower key. His mouth gaped open. <This species is not known to me.>

I nodded and looked down at the bright red floor under my feet. �Don�t lie to us, Guide. Have you ever met an Andalite before?�

Guide shot a nervous glance at Ax. <No.>

�Well, Andalites have the power to mind-meld with people. They can look right inside their thoughts and know if they�re lying, and if you are lying, they make your head explode.�

No one cracked a smile. Although Marco had to struggle.

<Now Ax is a Vulcan?> Tobias asked me in private thought-speak.

Guide�s whine rose and fell. It probably meant something, but I didn�t know what. Then, <Howlers? Did you say Howlers? There may be one or two Howlers around.>

�Try seven,� I said. �Where are they? And do you know why they�re here?�

<They come to trade, like all who visit our world. They trade memories for boda salts. Howler memories are very valuable.>

�What�s this memory stuff?� Cassie asked. �You guys keep talking about buying memories. What�s that all about?�

Guide looked surprised. I think. <You have never seen a memory show? Then that must be our first stop! It is the greatest of entertainment!>

�Obviously, you don�t get the Super Bowl here,� Marco said.

�We always suspected the Howlers might have collective memory,� Erek said. He surprised me. He�d been so quiet I�d practically forgotten he was with us. �The Howlers may pass memory along, generation to generation.�

<Yes, yes,> Guide agreed. <This is why they command such a price. Their memories are long and very clear.>

I was feeling frustrated. We weren�t getting anywhere. We�d just dropped in on this planet and so far we knew nothing. The Howlers could be watching us, ready to attack at any moment.

�Guide, have you seen these Howler memories?� Cassie asked him.

He laughed. <No. Not me. I am a Trader, a probationary member of the Guild of Traders. I am not interested in violence and killing and slaughter. No, it is the members of the Criminal Guild and the Warmaker Guild who buy Howler memories.>

I was getting that nervous, jumpy feeling I get when I feel like I�m being delayed from doing something vital. I felt we were wasting our time talking to the Iskoort.

�We aren�t here to write a paper on the Iskoort,� I said, more rudely than I�d intended. �We�re here to take down the seven Howlers so we can go home.�

Cassie looked a little hurt. But in a very calm voice she said, �It just seemed to me that if we have to have a battle, we�d be better off if we knew where we were and what was going on.�

She was right, of course. But the edginess I felt wouldn�t let me admit it. �We need a place. A base of operations. We can�t just stand out here in the open.�

<Then come, follow me!> Guide said. 

He started off, moving in his weird backward crawling way, whining from his chest the whole way. We went down a set of steps, something the Iskoort did literally backward, but with surprising agility and speed.

We came out on a new level, mostly dark blue, and utterly different from the previous level. Here we saw none of the igloos, only a vast field of small cylinders, maybe two feet tall.

<Energy storage,> Guide explained, and led us down another stairway, this one much longer. We stuck rigidly to the center of the stairs - from the top it was perhaps a half-mile drop to the mustard colored floor below. Only Tobias was comfortable, flying around and beneath the stairway.

I suppose Erek felt safe enough, too. It was hard to imagine the android ever missing a step. This level, this mustard-yellow level, was teeming with Iskoort, moving slowly along narrow avenues between open-front buildings.

It was easy to recognize what this level was. �It�s the mall,� Rachel said. �A bazaar.�

<Yes, this is the level seventy-eight marketplace,> Guide confirmed. <We must move quickly here.>�

What? No shopping?� Rachel, of course.

We reached the floor and were instantly surrounded by jabbering, poking, pushing, whining Iskoort, all desperate to buy whatever we had and sell us whatever we didn�t.

�I see what you mean by moving quickly, Guide,� I said.

<What? No, no, not for these honest Traders. But this market is a favorite gathering place for members of the Warmaker Guild.>

I had about three seconds to think what? before something slammed me violently to the floor.

So, I get the impression that the Iskoort are pretty hypercapitalist, and anything is for sale in this city. Also, they've never invented OSHA.

Chapter 9

quote:

I was down, flat on my back, a weight on my chest. A bony head, stubby horns protruding from the top, was just above mine.

�Howlers!� I yelled.

I twisted and tried to roll away. But the bony-headed creature wouldn�t let me go. He slammed his head down at me. I jerked my head to the side, hard. The blunt horns struck the floor.

I did something I haven�t had to do much, despite being in more battles than I can remember: I drew back my fist and punched.

I caught the Howler in his gaping mouth. He jerked back. I drew my legs up, thighs against my chest, and I kicked.

Thump!

I caught the Howler flat in his chest diaphragm. He fell back, flailing but unbalanced. I was up in a flash. My friends were all under attack. No one had had time to morph. Tobias was ripping at the short stalk eyes of a Howler. I saw Ax snap his tail and remove an arm that had been around Cassie�s throat. Rachel kicked another in a place that humans don�t like to have kicked. One of the Howlers was flailing away at Erek, head-butting him and having no effect as Erek stood there calmly.

Rachel was halfway into her grizzly bear morph and already growling with a voice that was still mostly her own.

Something was not right. Not right at all. We weren�t even morphed and we were beating these guys. And Erek was way too calm. Then it occurred to me. I had kicked my guy in his diaphragm. His whining, Iskoort diaphragm.

�Erek! Are these Howlers?�

�No. Of course not,� he said calmly.

Our assailants backed up. There were five of them. One looked bleakly at the stub of his arm.

The others gaped at us and whined through their chests.

They were Iskoort. Not like Guide, at least not exactly. The bodies were mostly the same, but the heads and hands were different. Their heads were wider at the top, with the two little nubs of horn. Their hands were less delicate, the claws larger than the tentacle. Their legs were flexed, not as flat, allowing them to move faster, in leaps, not crawls.

<These are Iskoort of the Warmaker Guild,> Guide said, like he was introducing a bunch of guys from a different school. <This is why we must hurry. They don�t like off-worlders.>

<They�re going to like us a lot less if they try that again!> Rachel said.

�Let�s get out of here,� I said. �Rachel? Stay in morph. Ax, you stay ready, too. That should be enough to handle these guys.�

We were attacked twice more by two different gangs of Warmaker Iskoort before we could reach the next stairway. They were easy enough to deal with, but I still managed to get bruised up. And by the time we were safely out of the marketplace, Rachel said what we were all starting to feel.

�Just tell me this: Why, exactly, does the Ellimist want to save these guys? I�m starting to think maybe Crayak is on the right track.�

We headed down the stairway, finally starting to laugh at the bizarre experience with the Warmaker Iskoort. Feeling relaxed and a little cocky after so easily beating the local tough guys.

The stairway we were on was wider, though still without rails, but we were getting used to that. It was wider to make room for two-way traffic, and several Iskoort, many like Guide, but others subtly different, passed us by.

The next level was maybe two hundred feet down. Guide was out front. I was laughing at some joke Marco made.

�Howler!� Erek yelled.

�Yeah, right,� Marco said. But he looked. And I looked.

�Erek,� I said as calmly as I could, �are you joking?�

His projected face was white. I wondered how much of projecting an emotion was automatic with him after so long as a human.

�I am not joking, Jake,� he said. �That is a Howler.�

So after a fake Howler sighting, we're about to get a real one.

# ? Aug 1, 2021 05:12

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I like that Tobias is the first one to twig that they're dealing with the Ellimist, because he's had the most dealings with him, and that we get a little aside about how Rachel is still sore about Tobias not getting to be human again even though Tobias isn't. These books can be so focused on the narrator's personal deal sometimes that it's nice when the other character's deals rear their head. (And Jake's Deal is that he's the leader, but it's also neat that his relevance to this book is that he was a Controller and thus saw Crayak, which could have happened to any of them.)

Also KA is usually really good at names but Crayak sucks. Sounds too much like Crayola.

Epicurius posted:

Ax shook his head. It�s a habit he�s picked up from us.

Fun fact: this is definitely a trait he's picked up from humans, because it's common to most human cultures and develops from infants turning their head away from the nipple when they don't want to breastfeed. I assume nodding your head for yes is also near-universal simply because it's the opposite of that.

Pwnstar posted:

I know its not accurate to the description but I always imagine the Iskoort as the worm guys from Men in Black, they have a similar vibe to me.

As a kid I saw the word "accordion" and inevitably simply imagined them as the accordion character from an Australian kids' TV show that was on at the time:

# ? Aug 1, 2021 09:24

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# ? May 28, 2024 07:38

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Also I'll spoiler tag it for those who don't want to see it (though I think we're about to see the scene it depicts) but this book has probably the craziest inside cover of the entire series:

# ? Aug 1, 2021 09:27

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