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

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

«‹›236 »

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Fuschia tude posted:

Even Tobias could use some bird morphs for things like this. He could morph mid-air and probably no one on the ground would ever notice.

I'm sure Tobias has Opinions about geese.

# ? Aug 19, 2021 12:10

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 25, 2024 14:08

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

Even though its dumb and non tactical, part of the appeal/characterisation of certain characters is the morphs they use.

# ? Aug 19, 2021 20:11

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 17

quote:

Ax merged with the gulls screaming and wheeling overhead.

<Stay away from the front of the bucket brigade,> Tobias called down. <Chapman�s there, and so is Tom.>

�They must be expecting something to happen,� Cassie said.

�Well, they�re right,� I said.

�Look,� Cassie whispered, going still.

I came up behind her and followed her stricken gaze.

Felt my stomach drop.

The whale was a toppled skyscraper. A huge eighteen-wheeler, one of the big rigs. A string of railroad cars.

A gigantic, tragic, breathing, out-of-place mistake.

It didn�t belong on land. But it was here, and helpless. Slowly being crushed by its own mass.

�Oh, no,� I said softly as it feebly moved a flipper. All that immense power and it couldn�t save itself.

I clenched my hands into fists. Dug my nails into my palms.

�I am going to hurt whoever did this,� I whispered.

�I�ll help,� Cassie said.

I forced myself to look closely at the whale. Study it. Learn it. Its head was a huge, boxy rectangle that ran almost half of its total length. It had a blunt, squarish snout, a narrow, under-slung jaw dug into the wet sand, and small, dark, glistening eyes.

I elbowed my way into a group of bucket-bearers near the water and someone thrust a bucket into my hands.

I emptied it over the whale�s wrinkled side.

Another bucket, another pitifully small splash of water.

The whale�s tail was still in the ocean and every few minutes it thrashed weakly and kicked up sandy waves.

Some guy, a biologist who was some kind of whale expert, yelled, �Hold up!�

The bucket line stopped as the man stepped in to draw blood into a large syringe.

I glanced quickly at the people next to me. I saw Cassie further down the line. She nodded very slightly.

I pressed my hand against the wall of gray flesh. Wet. Warm. Gritty with sand that had been picked up in the water.

I felt the calm descend on the whale. I absorbed its DNA into me, feeling presumptuous and small and silly somehow.

Then the biologist was done and we went back to work. Bucket after bucket. Several dozen humans working hard to save one whale. Failing, but trying anyway.

Every now and then I�m actually proud of my species.

<Prince Jake and Marco must relocate. Some humans have stopped near our previous location,>

Ax said, his thought-speak voice startling me.

I glanced down the beach and spotted Jake and Marco, running and kicking at the surf. Playing the roles of carefree kids. They turned back toward the dunes.

What about Tobias? Had he acquired the whale yet? His was the biggest risk because he had to do it while in red-tailed hawk form. Hawks don�t exactly hang out on beaches.

I had no answers, so I followed Jake�s and Marco�s footprints into the hollow, where three identical seagulls were waiting for me.

<Have you seen Tobias?> Marco asked, cocking his head.

�No,� I said, concentrating hard on my own seagull morph.

<How about Cassie? Is she coming?> Jake asked.

�You know Cassie. You�ll have to tell her to stop working down there.�

Feathers sprouted. My nose dissolved and a beak began to push out. I was falling toward the sand, shrinking, as waist-high dune grass suddenly loomed tall above me. I spread my arms/wings to steady myself.

Hello!

An empty Lay�s Barbecue Chips bag I hadn�t noticed before. And at least two chips! All I had to do was hop on over and -

<Rachel. Deal,> Marco said.

Oh, yeah. This was not mealtime. Of course, to the seagull brain, it was always time for trash.

<Prince Jake, a situation has arisen,> Ax called down. <Tobias has been spotted and the Controllers are suspicious.>

<We�re on our way!> Jake said, taking off.

We followed him, cresting the dune.

Tobias was perched on the whale�s back.

Chapman stood below him, pointing and staring.

<Tobias! What are you doing?> I demanded.

<I�m stuck! My talon is caught on some kind of barnacle or something!>

<Diversion!> Jake snapped. <Now!>

<Make it look like we�re chasing the hawk away from our territory,> Cassie said. <Try slamming Tobias. It may knock him loose.>

<Oh, great,> Tobias grumped.

We flapped hard and took off, not worried about flying together. We were seagulls. We belonged. Besides, we weren�t the only gulls wheeling around the whale.

<Let�s wreak some havoc,> I said.

I gained altitude, thirty or forty feet, and swooped. I snatched a man�s pretzel right out of his mouth. We milled and screeched; we stole food and sideswiped people; and we used the seagull�s ultimate weapon: precision guided, cruise-missile poop.

<Chapman is mine,> Marco said. <Ready. Aim � hah!>

Sploot!

Chapman wasn�t looking up. A pity.

I broke away from the melee and aimed for Tobias. <Which talon?> I asked.

<Oh, man,> he groaned. <Left.>

I hit him, chest out, barely braking. I caught him where his left leg met his own chest.

Whumpf!

The talon tore free. Tobias flapped, skimming along the back of the whale.

Zing!

A rock shot past, expertly thrown. It missed Tobias by a feather. I saw Tom stoop to find a second stone in the wash of surf. I saw hatred on his face.

Honestly, I feel like this is probably not going to shape up as the greatest military triumph of the Yeerk Empire. I will say that, for once, Chapman's presence makes sense. Helping save a beached whale is a very Sharing public activity, and Chapman is an adult advisor of the Sharing, so....makes more sense than him showing up on a construction team to salvage a crashed Bug fighter, at least.

Chapter 18

quote:

<That�s just sad,> Tobias said. <Controllers reduced to throwing rocks. Hey, a couple of you need to chase me. You know, chase me away.>

We did.

Did Chapman and Tom buy the act? Probably not. They�d both seen a red-tailed hawk too many times before. They knew. But what could they do?

We followed the beach, out of sight of the whale�s various saviors, then turned and headed out to sea. Tobias gained altitude, flapping hard with nothing but dead air to lift him. When he had altitude enough, he began to morph to seagull himself. He did it in midair.

We skimmed the gray, choppy waves until we were sure we couldn�t be seen from the beach.

The light was fading. The sun was going down.

The ocean is always intimidating. But when the sun sets and darkness rolls across the waves, you just can�t help but be awed and abashed and a little frightened of it.

Millions and millions of cubic miles of water. Twenty miles deep in places. Stretching all around the planet, touching every continent, most nations. Home to tens of millions of species, everything from the submicroscopic to the immense.

You feel small beside a whale. Insignificant. Then you realize that a whale is insignificant in the ocean. And then you�re flying over the bare fringe of that ocean, flying over a mystery that puny Homo sapiens may never fully understand.

And you feel your own smallness, your own utter weakness, and it�s like a lead weight on your chest.

It�s not that the ocean is an enemy. It simply doesn�t care. It feeds you, it makes the oxygen you breathe, it gave birth to your species, and, if you get careless, it kills you. All without the slightest personal interest.

There�s nothing you can say to the ocean. No mercy to be begged. No deals to be made. If we were weak or careless or stupid, it would smother us, crush us, bury us forever in miles of black, black water.

<Rachel?>

<WHAT?> I yelped, shaken out of my dark imaginings.

 Tobias said. Then, after a moment of silence, he said, <Big, isn�t it?>

<Yeah. It�s large.>

Too big for all my bravado. And I was going down into its very heart. Like a lunatic, I�d cheated in order to face it first. Now I was dragging poor Tobias right along with me.

And I was supposed to like him.

After more than an hour of flying, Jake landed on the swelling, heaving surface of the sea. We�d followed the rough directions of the Chee.

I landed, too. Easy enough for the seagull brain, which had no particular concerns.

The ocean was frigid, the wet cold held at bay by my fluffed, oily feathers.

A dangerous place for a human. Worse for a hawk.

Tobias landed beside me, bobbing like a white-and-black cork on the swells.

<Okay, we�ll demorph and remorph one at a time,> Jake said. <Cassie first. Tobias last.>

Within minutes, Cassie had morphed from seagull to human, then on to sleek, playful dolphin.

This made me feel better. Having a helpful dolphin around is like having a couple dozen lifeguards on hand.

<Come on in, Jake,> she called, giddy from the dolphin brain. <The water�s fine!> She dived and shot up through the air, then twisted and nosed down for a no-splash dive.

One by one, we did the same. The passage through human morph was not fun. Seagulls ride the waves. Humans end up swallowing saltwater and imagining sharks rising up from the depths.

I don�t think Ax enjoyed it any more than we did. He can swim, but it�s an awkward thing to see.

Tobias landed on Cassie�s back, demorphed to hawk, then waited for me to catch up, riding Cassie�s back with his talons dug sharply into her rubbery gray flesh.

<Whale time,> Tobias said to me.

�Yeah,� I yelled, treading water and spitting brine. �Let�s do it.�

 Marco teased.

Okay, here goes nothing, I thought, as Cassie and Marco swam up alongside me and I summoned a mental picture of the whale.

Saltwater splashed my face. Again and again. I swallowed it. Gagged.

My bones stretched and grew heavy, my feathered arms flapped frantically until fingers sprouted and I could tread water.

I was tired. Eyes burning, I glanced over at Tobias.

His red-tailed hawk form was already shifting. He slipped from Cassie�s back into the water.

I closed my eyes and visualized the sperm whale.

And felt the changes begin.

So, I get that because of the rigged lot drawing back there, Rachel and Tobias were going to turn into sperm whales, but Cassie was right there next to Rachel, and it's not like she's going to get that sort of opportunity again, so why not acquire the sperm whale?

Also, just as a technical thing, I like the writing in this chapter, especially the meditation on the ocean, as well as the ironic understatement afterwards of the exchange between Rachel and Tobias, and also Rachel's self doubt, and the great line, after she realized that she got Tobias into this with her, "And I was supposed to like him." I just think this chapter is very well written, in both what it says and doesn't say.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Aug 20, 2021

# ? Aug 20, 2021 04:31

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

Agreed, "and I was supposed to like him" is a really good line.

# ? Aug 20, 2021 05:08

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

There's a lot of creepy stuff in this series but one of the only things that ever actually really spooked me as a kid was the ocean stuff in this one. The whole idea of the depths and the darkness later, but even now - gently caress floating around as a human in the open ocean and especially gently caress doing it at night-time.

Nice stroke of luck that the Chee happened to stow the Pemalite ship right off the coast of their hometown, though. Just turn left at the secret city of ancient Atlantis mutants

# ? Aug 20, 2021 05:11

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 19

quote:

Big. Bigger. Enormous.

I was expanding, stretching in every direction at once.

Huge!

Only I wasn�t a whale.

I�ve mentioned that morphs get weird? That things don�t happen in some nice, neat, gradual way?

Well, this morph was ridiculous.

I was growing, growing, growing! My skin had turned leathery graphite gray. There was a blowhole in the back of my neck. My head was monstrous and out of proportion.

But the rest of me was still Rachel. I had a head the size of Iowa. And about an acre of floating blond hair.

<Oh, man!> Marco groaned. <Oh, I didn�t need to see this! Rachel, you have pores as big as potholes!>

<This is definitely bizarre,> Cassie said. <And not in a good way.>

I glanced at Tobias. He seemed to be morphing normally. If any morph is ever normal. If a creature with feathers melting into flesh is normal.

<This is ridiculous,> Jake complained. 

<She�s sinking!> Ax said. <Her buoyancy has not adjusted. She has dense human tissues.>

 I said, vaguely offended. But he was right: I was sinking.

And if I didn�t finish morphing, I was going to drown. Probably sink to the bottom and float past the Pemalite ship. A big, drowned, female Gulliver.

That got me back on track.

My legs blended. My feet flattened.

My head bulged into a huge rectangle. My eyes slid apart � apart till they were in separate zip codes. My neck thickened and a triangular dorsal hump grew out of my back along my spine.

My skin shriveled.

My arms slithered back into my body. Flippers sprouted.

I bobbed to the surface. My blowhole inhaled. My lungs filled.

I felt the water ripple as the dolphins surged and danced.

I sensed their joy and felt a deep, thousand-generation-old kinship with my lithe, sleek brethren.

My instincts were sure. Calm. Confident.

I had no fear. No questions.

I asked for nothing. I explained nothing.

I drew a deep breath, expanding my lungs to their full capacity and dove, arching my dorsal hump and flipping my triangular fluke into the air.

The ocean was no longer a cold and hostile place.

It was home.

I knew its temperatures and depths, its floors and crevices.

I fired off a blast of pulsed clicks and received a �picture� of everything around me. Like a black-and-white sketch that traced across my mind and was erased like an Etch-A-Sketch.

I was echolocating. I had natural sonar.

I �saw� the dolphins and they �saw� me.

And then another large creature was moving toward me.

<Rachel, I sure hope that�s you,> Tobias called.

Oh. Right.

The whale brain wasn�t hard to control. The thing was, I hadn�t even tried.

I�d liked the calm confidence. The absence of fear.

<It�s definitely me,> I said, rolling and powering my gigantic, muscled body up, up, up toward dim light like a runaway train.

Another train rushed beside me. We raced to the barrier between sky and sea.

<Yah-HAH!> Tobias shouted as we exploded the barrier and erupted into the sky. Our massive heads surged into the crisp air, water shimmering down around us.

<Okay, that was cool,> Jake said.

 Marco whined.

 Jake said. <Ticktock. We need to stay on track here.>

<Just need to suck some air,> I said.

I exhaled, spouting spray and drawing in enough air to last to maximum dive capacity. Passages in my massive head filled with water and, all automatically, the waxy deposits of spermaceti cooled the water and sent me plunging.

Ten thousand feet. Maybe even twelve thousand feet. Into giant squid territory. I hoped.

Where the atmospheric pressure could squeeze every last molecule of air from a human body.

<Ready, Rachel?> Tobias asked.

<Ready,> I said, sighing and shivering deep in my soul. The whale might not be scared. I was.

Spermaceti is this waxy substance found in cavities of the sperm whale's head. One of the theories about it (the one that's mentioned here) is it aids in a sperm whale's buoyancy...that when the sperm whale gets water into its head cavities, that causes the spermaceti to harden and helps the whale dive, but then to surface, it can expel the water, heat the spermaceti, and that will help it surface. Another theory is that it doesn't actually have anything to do with buoyancy; that instead, the cavities help with echolocation.

What isn't debated, though, is that spermaceti was big business and it's why whalers so prized sperm whales. There's a lot of it in the whale, up to 500 gallons in a full grown one, and sperm oil, as it was called, could be used for heat and light.

And also, the confidence of the sperm whale is pretty well placed. However, they do have natural predators. Killer whales and false killer whales will attack them, and so, sometimes will sharks. Pilot whales have been known to attack sperm whales, but they're too small to do any actual damage.

Chapter 20

quote:

We arched our backs and sounded, slipping silently down into the living sea. We descended quickly, echolocating past shelves and hollows, our sonar drawing us sketchy, uncertain pictures.

Murky shadows and then, total darkness.

Total. Like being blind. Like having your eyes taped shut and being locked in an underground vault.

Lightless.

The whale�s senses quickened. The whale did not hear, but it did anticipate. We�d soon be entering the hunting grounds.

Where my prey sometimes fought me and won.

<Hey, Rachel, did you know that not only do sperm whales eat squid, but some people think squid eat sperm whales?> Tobias said helpfully.

<No one really knows what giant squid eat,> I said. <Except for the fact that they are cannibals.>

<Oh, good. Well, we both did our research.>

<Yeah. I feel so much better now.>

From my memory I called up the brief bit I�d read about squid. They had sharp, parrotlike beaks and eight arms covered with grasping, needle-toothed suckers. And two long, powerful tentacles that worked to grab prey at a distance and draw it toward the arms and mouth.

It occurred to me that I didn�t know how whales killed squid.

But I could more than imagine how squid killed whales.

Still, we powered down into the darkness. Falling, falling forever through darkness.

The whale did not fear what was going to happen.

It hunted to eat every day. Someone would win the battle, someone would lose. The whale had accepted this fact since birth.

I had not. Losing was not something I wanted to think about. This was not a situation where I could simply demorph if the whale was hurt.

To demorph was to die.

<So, Rachel, what�s new?> Tobias called, sounding, if possible, even jumpier than I felt. I blurted out the only new thing I could think of. <Well, a guy named T. T. asked me to go to the movies with him,>

WHAT? What made me say that?

If I could�ve kicked myself, I would have.

<T. T., huh? What does that stand for? Troubled Teen? Total Turmoil? Terrible Trauma?> Tobias said sarcastically.

<l don�t know and I don�t particularly care,> I shot back, irked by his attitude.

<Well, you should care if you�re going out with him,> Tobias said.

<Well, if I was, then I would,> I snapped.

<Oh.> Silence. <Why aren�t you going out with him?>

<Why do you want to know?> I countered. I could play that game, too.

 he said. <We can�t exactly turn on the TV and veg out.>

<Well, if you don�t want to know, then I�m not going to tell you,> I said, firing off a burst of pulsed clicks and studying the �picture� I got back.

<Rachel -> he began.

But I didn�t want to talk about T. T. anymore and I especially didn�t want to tell Tobias why I hadn�t accepted the date. This was so not the time.

<How are we supposed to catch this squid? If we even find one?> I said instead. 

<I�m not sure,> Tobias admitted. <The thing I read said maybe whales can use echolocation to stun prey. I think that�s what it said. Wasn�t it?>



<See? I don�t see anything. Oh, you mean on echolocation. Yeah. Like a school of fish.>

<Could be squid. Little ones, not giants. The whale brain wants them. Maybe they�re squid.>

<This is no way to hunt,> Tobias complained. <You need to see your prey. I mean, that�s basic.>

<For a hawk, anyway,> I said.

<For any sensible predator. This is nuts. Chasing an echolocation picture.>

<I�m going to see if it�s true. That we can stun them.>

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK.

I fired a round of clicks, maximum volume, directing the sound toward the sketchy tornado of squid. Suddenly a part of the swarm stopped moving.
<Cool.>

<It doesn�t last long,> Tobias commented.

I had noticed that, too. <And these squid are, what, maybe a foot long? We�re talking about something that can stretch out and grab both baskets on a basketball court. Let�s see how stunned the big boy is. If we ever find him.>

<Hey, Rachel,> Tobias said. <How long you figure we�ve been down?>

<Twenty minutes? Four hours? Who can tell?> I said gloomily. <I�m starting to feel the pressure. My whale�s brain is getting edgy.>

The whale part of me wanted to surface. The human part of me had wanted to do that for a longtime.

<Let�s split up,> I said. <Maybe spread out.>

<Or maybe surface and come back down again.>

 I said. <This gives me the major creeps.>

<You got that right. I�ll veer off. We need a big squid and a bigger spaceship.>

We searched, echolocating for what felt like forever. Back and forth and always, always down.

Once I picked up something that might have been a giant squid. But I lost him.

It was madness! We were blundering around blindly. The sun�s rays had never reached this depth. Never. If the water had been rock and dirt, it could not have been any darker.

We were buried alive!

Buried alive in water.

<Gotta surface,> Tobias said at last, his thought-speak voice faint, his tone shaken.

<Yeah,> I agreed.

We turned and headed up. And now the panic grew. You can walk through a graveyard at night and be afraid, but the terror doesn�t begin to get you till you start to run away. When you acknowledge fear, it grows. And although I tried to tell myself it wasn�t terror sending me to the surface, that it was
just a need for air, I knew better. We raced. We barreled madly toward the surface. It took forever. Up and up and up.

Air! Where was the air?

We�d been down too long. We�d never reach the sky again. We were going to die in darkness, to sink and sink back to the cold, lightless, lifeless ocean floor.

Buried alive in water.

It's a good description of just how claustrophobic the bottom of the ocean can feel. Also, Tobias and Rachel are discussing their relationship issues, in the most young teen way possible, by getting dramatic.

# ? Aug 21, 2021 03:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 21

quote:

I kicked hard, every muscle in my massive body straining, desperate now. Desperate!

Then �

FWOOOOOSH!

I exploded into the air, exploded out of the water, blew the stale air from my lungs, and crashed back into the sea.
Ka-WHUMP!

Tobias erupted a quarter mile away.

I sucked air. I exhaled and inhaled and sucked air like I was never going to breathe again.

The others in dolphin morph were nowhere around. I was actually surprised, though I shouldhave known better. You can�t travel miles down through water and come popping back up in a straight line.

Tobias wallowed in the waves beside me.

<We could morph to something with wings,> he suggested. <Find the others.>

<And tell them what?> I demanded, angry at myself now. <Tell them we gave up?>

<You want to go back down there?> he asked like I was crazy.

 I admitted.

<Oh, man. So we find the others, tell them we failed? Then what?>

I knew then what. So did Tobias. Jake would take us all back to the beach. This time he�d acquire and morph the whale, along with Cassie or Marco.

So one of them would be back here. With even less time. With even less chance of success.

<This is so not fun,> Tobias said.

<Yeah. I know. Sorry I got you into this.>

<Oh, shut up,> he said tolerantly. <Let�s go.>

Down again. Down and down and down. Into the water like ink.

Ten minutes down we split up again. <Don�t go too far,> Tobias called after me.

I probably should have listened to him.

I swam hard. I fired off round after round of pulsed clicks. Picture after picture came back to me. Revealing nothing big enough to be the ship or the squid.

And then, suddenly �

A flash of light! A shimmering, rippling light!

I almost laughed. Fish! Phosphorescent fish, their pale, chemical-reaction glow like a neon sign in the blackness.

The fish were moving away from me, but at an angle. Like they were moving away from something else. From something behind me, to my left and -

I fired clicks. The picture came back with startling clarity. The details were unmistakable.

Coming toward me through the water like a dark, deadly torpedo was a hungry, angry, sixty-foot giant squid.

So much for the question of whether squid are aggressive, I thought. Someday the six of us could write a serious update of zoology textbooks. If we lived that long.

<Tobias!> I shouted. I fired off a frenzy of machine-gunned clicks at the squid.

It staggered, stumbled in its charge.

<Tobias!> I yelled again, as the whale�s instincts took over. It wanted to kill the squid. It wanted to hunt. Where was Tobias?

Hunt, yes. Kill, no. We needed the squid alive. The whale didn�t care. This was core instinct.

This was hunger and the urge to hunt. I fought the whale�s brain. It had been so docile I�d almost not noticed it. But that was only because I�d done what the whale wanted me to do.

Now I could feel the power of that huge, intelligent brain as it fought to carry out the instructions encoded deep in its DNA.

And while I was doing that, the squid recovered and came at me with murder in its blood.

From far away, a faint voice. Tobias!

 Tobias called faintly.

<Great. I found the squid.>

60 feet is probably too long for a giant squid, but there are estimates that female giant squids can get up to 45 feet.

Chapter 22

quote:

A whip in the darkness. I never saw it corning. It slapped against me, gripping, hugging, holding.

Another!

The two almost thirty-foot-long tentacles, iron-strong arms, tightened around my head.

The squid used the tentacles to yank the rest of its body toward me. I felt the tug. I felt the water moving. I could picture the photograph I�d seen of a squid mouth, a bizarre hawk�s beak.

Then an arm, thicker, stronger than the tentacle. And another!

I thrashed wildly, tearing free one of the arms. The suckers ripped away chunks of my skin. I smelled my own blood in the water.

My tail! I couldn�t move it. And the squid was on me. ON me! Too close for echolocation to see anything. I was wrestling blind. And unlike the squid, I had no arms.

The squid was smaller, much lighter, basically weaker. But it had agility. And it had arms. I had a mouth.

Imagine a fight between a gymnast, small but with full use of arms and legs, and a three-hundred pound linebacker who can only use his mouth.

The squid was locking me up. And now I was sinking.

Down to where the atmospheric pressure would crush even me.

Down to where my burning lungs would force me to exhale.

Down to black death.

<NO!>

I lunged and rolled. The squid hung on. I hammered it with pulsed clicks. Again and again! But my own body mass was helping to shield it.

I echolocated again and again, but it was on me. Then, one burst of clicks caught a wall of denser water and bounced back. It drew me a fragmented, eerie picture.

The squid was huge! Its arrow-shaped head, long as a small school bus, was pressed close to my head. Its sharp, snapping beak was only inches from my left eye. Eight twenty-foot arms and two longer tentacles clutched and tore at me. Sharp-edged suckers the size of saucers Super Glued the creature to me.

I was weakening.

It couldn�t be!

No, I begged. No, it couldn�t happen!

But the squid�s grip tightened, tightened, relentless, like a python, imprisoning my tail, paralyzing me.

CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!

Whale clicks. But not from me!

<Tobias!>

<Hang on, Rachel, I�m here!> Tobias cried and fired again.

The squid convulsed. I felt its spasm of pain. Its arms fell away from me.

<Tobias � the fight � used too much air � I have to get to the surface!>

<Go,> he said tersely. <I�ll meet you there.>

I wanted to stay. I should have stayed.

If the squid killed Tobias �

No choice!

<Go!> Tobias yelled. He blasted the squid with another round of clicks, up close and personal.

I went. I had no choice. The whale�s brain was screaming.

I rose fast, but still it was forever and forever.

The whale was weakening. Faltering. Its senses were cloudy, unsure. Confused.

<Rachel? Tobias? Is that one of you coming up? We�ve been searching �>

Cassie�s voice. Close, so close.

<Me,> I said dully. <Whale�s had it. Too tired.>

<No! Make it swim! You�re only a few yards from the surface! Do it!> Cassie yelled.

Swim, I told myself, forcing my aching body to move. Swim!

This time I didn�t explode into the air. I rose, half-unconscious, too exhausted even to appreciate the air that was filling my lungs.

<Where�s Tobias?> Cassie asked, bobbing up beside me.

<The squid. Down fighting the squid,> I said exhaustedly. 
<No,> Cassie said. <No.>

Another dolphin shot up alongside me.

<Rachel?> Jake said.



<Thanks, but no help necessary,> Tobias said.

<Tobias!>

<Of course. Just me and my squid. Hah! Hawk or whale, there is no prey I can�t take down. Coming up. Look out above.>

<Everyone careful,> I yelled as the others arrived on the scene. <Don�t let it grab you!>

<Wow,> Marco said, as the squid�s scarlet mantle came into view. <Talk about a face only a mother could love!>

<It probably ate its mother,> I said grimly, moving in for the kill. <And now I�m gonna eat it.>

<Uh, I don�t think so, Rachel,> Tobias said. 

<I�ve got it,> I said, lunging.

Now, by the light of the stars and moon, I could see the squid�s huge, black eyes the size of hubcaps, the largest eyes on Earth, looking straight into mine.

It slapped me with a grasping whip tentacle.

I bit it off.

Thick, green blood gushed from the stump.

I clamped my powerful mouth down on several squid arms and held on. Tobias did the same.

Two against one. We had the squid outnumbered.

I mean, congrats to Tobias.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 04:34

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

Sphere is a good sci-fi book

# ? Aug 22, 2021 06:53

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

More evidence for the "Tobias owns" collection.

# ? Aug 22, 2021 15:52

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 23

quote:

I kept the now-helpless squid on the surface as Jake, Cassie, Marco, Ax, and finally Tobias acquired it. It wasn�t easy. It wasn�t exactly a party, as human and Andalite and hawk wallowed in the waves, pressing hands and talons against the rubbery creature.

Fortunately the squid responded normally to being acquired. It grew calm and peaceful.

<Your turn, Rachel,> Jake said.

I demorphed, shrinking from building size to human size. The demorph was a bit more normal than the morph. I shrank in proportion for most of it.

Then, at last, I was just a very out-of-place girl, up to my neck in cold saltwater stained with squid ink and blood. I treaded water to stay near the cephalopod�s big arrow head. I needed to touch the creature. I ended up swallowing about a gallon of inky seawater. I had to extend the acquiring phase to hold the squid still for Tobias.

Like I said. Not exactly a party.

When we were done I morphed back to whale to haul the squid away to a safe distance. Once released the poor squid took off, jetting down into the relative safety of the water beneath us.

�Well, this should be bleah� - Marco spit saltwater out of his mouth - �should be interesting.�

 Ax said. <So many arms.>

�Let�s just get it over with,� I said, having resumed my human form. �It�s a long, long way down. And we don�t have a lot of time.�

<Two of your hours and seven of your minutes> Ax said.

�Ax, they are everyone�s hours and everyone�s minutes,� Marco said. �My hours are your hours. This is Earth. A minute is a minute!�

<Now we have two of your hours and six of your minutes,> Ax said dryly.

�Tobias? Can you get us back to where you found the ship?� Jake asked.

Tobias was being held more or less up out of the water by Jake and Cassie. He was not a happy bird.

 he said.

�Okay. Everyone morph. Let�s get this done.�

I have experienced many unusual morphs. I have been more different animals than most people ever see. I thought I was ready for anything. But this was weird.

I focused my mind and felt the changes begin.

You don�t actually �feel� the things that happen during a morph. You sort of feel them from a distance. The way you might feel the dentist�s drill, even through the Novocain.

It�s not exactly pain. But not exactly normal, either.

I could hear a squishing sound coming from inside me, from my guts. And then I reached down and felt my stomach sinking inward.

My internal organs were slithering away to hang in Zero-space until I returned to claim them. I was being scooped out!

My arms and legs began to stretch. Out and out, farther and farther, absurdly, idiotically far. My arms formed the clubbed ends that marked them as tentacles. My legs were two of the eight normal arms.

Normal. Right.

Sploot! Sploot!

More arms were poking out of me, writhing out of my chest and back and sides, six new arms, like snakes crawling out through my flesh and growing as they emerged.

I had the horrific image of being an egg, hatching snakes. I was all writhing arms.

<Well, there�s a whole new nightmare,> I muttered.

And now, all down the bizarrely extended arms, hundreds of saucer-sized, needle-toothed bumps, popped up like sores.

Flimp!

My head imploded. Just suddenly sagged, as my skull melted away. My eyes spread wide and the top of my head started growing out and out, like some cartoon of an out-of-control zit. And my insides seemed to percolate up into that head area.

My skin turned brown. It hung from me like a sweatshirt ten sizes too big. It was like wearing a cape. A cape of powerful muscle.

My eyes became huge, circular pools of darkness. I had sunk down into the water, maybe fifty, eighty feet, not counting my arms, which extended farther still. But I could still see. The squid�s eyes were as good as an owl�s at seeing in low light. Maybe better.

Then, as I slowly tested my arms, as the hundreds of suction cups tensed and released, I felt the squid mind rise up beneath my own.

Other squid! All around me.

And I was hungry.

So hungry.

As Rachel pointed out earlier, giant squids are cannibalistic.

Chapter 24

quote:

Someone was turned away from me. Another giant squid, floating, arms extended like some vile flower. I saw the mantle.

My meat.

I drew in water and expelled it like a jet blowing exhaust.

I jetted forward! I drew my long arms up from the depths, coiling them and extending them toward my prey, moving them in what felt to the human part of me like slow motion.

The other squid was unaware!

Cassie? Was it Cassie?

Who cared? Cassie would feed my hunger just as well as -

She jerked at my touch. Her own arms whipped back toward me.

<Hey!> she protested.

<Oh � oh, sorry,> I said. The human me had regained the upper hand. 

 Cassie sniffed. 



<All right,> Jake said. <Tobias? Lead the way.>

Easy to say. Almost impossible to do. People think diving is like taking an elevator down. But we were talking about three miles of water. Three miles of currents and crosscurrents. In darkness so total that after the first mile or so even the squid�s specially adapted eye could see nothing. Not to mention the fact that there was nothing to see!

There were two clocks ticking in our heads: a little over two hours till the nuclear vault opened and a paralyzed Chee was discovered.

And just two hours till we were trapped in morph.

And one major complication: If we demorphed, we�d be crushed, our bodies squeezed flat till the bones would stick out of us like pins in a pin-cushion, our heads popped like overripe cantaloupes.

Which meant there was a third clock: the point of no return. The point beyond which we�d no longer have time to get back to the surface. Beyond that point we either found the Pemalite ship or �

But Tobias was not finding the ship. The ship was huge. Maybe three hundred feet long, according to the Chee. But imagine that you know where a three-hundred-foot-long building is. Then you leave the building and walk three miles through darkness.

Now imagine finding your way back. Blindfolded.

We reached the ocean floor and Tobias led us this way and that. Back and forth, skimming like mushy torpedoes across dead desert wastes, our jets kicking up clouds of sand and tiny rocks and the decayed remains of everything that had ever died in the three miles of water above us.

Now and then, a flash of phosphorescence. And then, darkness again.

 Tobias said. 

<We are now at the point of no return,> Ax reported. <We turn back � or hope to find the Pemalite ship.>

<We have to bail, Jake,> Tobias said, sounding defeated. <This isn�t working.>

<This mission has bombed from the start!> Marco said, exploding in the same frustration we all felt. <Getting jerked around by someone, we don�t even know who or what. It�s all a setup and I�m ->

<Wait!> Cassie said. 

<Just those glowing fish,> I said.

<No. No. Look!>

It was impossible to tell distance in the blank, black sea, but yes, there were lights! A string of them, descending in a downhill line.

<Seven � eight � I count eight,> Jake said.

<What are they?> I wondered.

Marco made a snorting sound in our heads. <Can�t you guess? Yeerks.>

Because their day isn't bad enough.

# ? Aug 23, 2021 04:25

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

I would've liked a look inside the squid mind. I don't know if it was widely known back when this series was written, but cephalopod nervous systems are weird; their tentacles more or less have their own minds...

# ? Aug 23, 2021 04:33

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

quote:

<Two of your hours and seven of your minutes> Ax said.

�Ax, they are everyone�s hours and everyone�s minutes,� Marco said. �My hours are your hours. This is Earth. A minute is a minute!�

<Now we have two of your hours and six of your minutes,> Ax said dryly.

Lol Ax owns

# ? Aug 23, 2021 06:53

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

It's cool when you aren't sure if Ax is being a superior and logical Andalite or a dumb teen annoying his friends.

# ? Aug 24, 2021 02:22

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

I stand by my opinion that Ax is funny as hell.

# ? Aug 24, 2021 03:09

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

Ax absolutely understands human humor and just pretends not too for fun. He's too consistently funny for it to be an accident.

# ? Aug 24, 2021 04:08

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Sadly, Ax's humor and undersea Animorph adventures will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry I can't post tonight.

# ? Aug 24, 2021 04:38

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Pwnstar posted:

More evidence for the "Tobias owns" collection.

There are no counterexamples :colbert:

freebooter posted:

Lol Ax owns

Yeah I remember this whole sequence. I kept expecting Marco to say that all series long. I remember this point of no return, too.

# ? Aug 24, 2021 09:42

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

Being a comedic genius and pretending you have absolutely no idea what human humour is is a power move.

# ? Aug 24, 2021 14:44

pile of brown: Dec 31, 2004

Epicurius posted:

Sadly, Ax's humor and undersea Animorph adventures will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry I can't post tonight.

In one of your nights

# ? Aug 25, 2021 00:21

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

pile of brown posted:

In one of your nights

They're everybody''s nights, pile of brown.

# ? Aug 25, 2021 02:02

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

Waiting for the reveal at the end of the books when it turns out Andalite time is the exact same as earth time and Ax has been loving with them since (one of your earth's) day one.

# ? Aug 25, 2021 02:14

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

Honestly Ax is either loving with them on an epic scale or just genuinely that oblivious and I don't know which would be better

# ? Aug 25, 2021 02:55

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 25

quote:

Ax said with cool understatement.

<This time you�re wrong, Ax-man,> Tobias said. <They�re going the same place we are. Following the signal from the ship.>

<Pointing the way!> Cassie said.

<Haul butt!> Jake said.

We hauled. Suck in water � blow it out � draw it in � blow it out �

We jetted along the ocean floor, heading for the place where the string of lights pointed. Were we closer? Were they? Impossible to say.

Then �

<Whoa!> I felt, rather than saw, the ground open beneath me, a vast deep canyon. And there, perched comfortably on a shelf just below the canyon lip, glowing faintly green, was what could only be a ship.

Not a human ship.

It was, as the Chee had said, about three hundred feet long. They had not told us what it looked like. But the faint green outline was strikingly clear: The Pemalite ship was shaped like a sort of clownish version of one of them. Like someone had done a cartoon of a Pemalite, exaggerating the vaguely canine head, making the slender hind legs stubby, the belly chubby.

<It looks like Snoopy!> Cassie said.

It did. Kind of. Like a huge, prone, faint green Snoopy.

<Not exactly the Blade ship, is it?> Jake said.

<The Pemalites didn�t build it to be a weapon,> Cassie said. <It�s a toy. They built it for fun.>

I looked up. The line of Yeerk ships was still above us. Maybe a mile. Maybe a hundred feet.

<Let�s get inside.>

We jetted over. The outer hull access panel was clearly, conveniently lit.

<Here�s the environmental adaptation panel Erek told us about,> Jake said, placing a row of suckers on top of the flat rectangle. <Let�s see what the Pemalite computer makes of this.>

A glowing yellow light flashed twice, to our eyes as blindingly bright as a flashbulb.

Jake drew back his long squid arm, and using just the tip, daintily punched the number six.

Immediately, the side of the ship slid open, exposing a decompression chamber big enough to accommodate six giant squid.

<Cool,> Marco said, following us inside. <It might as well just say, �Hello, giant squid. Party of six?�>

I glanced back as the decompression door began to close on a stew of giant tentacles and arms.

The lights outside were larger now. Closer.

The entire ship began to brighten, like a light-bulb on a dimmer switch.

It illuminated the rock shelf. It illuminated a pair of hideous fish. And it illuminated the closest of what looked very much like eight Bug fighters.

The outer door shut.

<We have company coming,> I said.

<Let�s get this done. We have to get in and turn off the signal,> Jake said.

An inner door began to open.

<Erek said we�d have an atmosphere designed to sustain our life-forms,> Jake said. <Hope they�re prepared for squid.>

<Yeah. Ready with batter and hot boiling oil. Calamari for ten thousand,> Marco said.

We were gently extruded through the door into the ship. The interior lights came up, slowly. And Erek was right. There was an environment waiting for us.

<Oh. My. God.> Cassie said.

We were still swimming. Still in water. Sort of.

We were each suspended above the floor in a personal, floating bubble of water. Like a water blimp.

I jetted. The bubble moved. I reached a hand through the water bubble into the air beyond. I felt dryness. The bubble did not collapse.

<Oh, man, if we could take this technology, we could open a water park that would totally rule the world of water parks,> Marco said.

<Yeah, that was my first thought, too,> I said. <Water park dominance.>

Beyond the bubble was a world of magic.

Lush green-and-purple grass carpeted the floor, forming patterns: swirls, checkerboards, Picasso-like abstracts and Van Gogh flowers. Trees and bushes in Crayola colors grew in thickets and hushed groves. A sparkling river meandered through the center of the ship, cascading down into a gentle waterfall and a rippling lake below.

Everywhere there were inexplicable, brightly colored, gaily lit machines that could only be toys of some sort. Beside us, wafting through the air, were things like long, feathered snakes. Projected on the arched ceiling, far overhead, were patterns of clouds and skies like nothing on Earth.

After all the thousands of years, it was all still working. Only the dead silence lay as a grim reminder of a species lost.

<Where is the bridge?> Ax demanded.

<Kind of like your Dome ship, Ax-man, only much cooler,> Tobias said.

<Yes, well, we had to make room for weapons,> Ax said disparagingly. <Which is why Andalites still exist and Pemalites do not.>

<Touchy, touchy,> Marco said.

<There must be a bridge,> Ax said. <Even these space-going children had to have a bridge.>

<That tree?> Cassie suggested 

We jetted, contained within our water balloons, and came to the tree. Sure enough, a series of fairly businesslike panels were fitted into the trunk.

<This is absurd,> Ax said. <The bridge is a tree trunk? We Andalites love trees, but this is ludicrous.>

<Turn off the signal, and let�s get out of here before the Yeerks get in,> Jake said.

On one panel a red light blinked. Below it was a button.

<I�m thinking push that button,> Marco offered.

Ax�s water bubble slowly pushed aside Marco�s, <Perhaps I had better take care of this,> Ax said.

A cheerful thought-speak voice sang out in our heads. <Greetings, friends. We are happy to have you aboard. However, we would not want you to access this panel. It is possible that you might accidentally do yourself harm. And that would be so sad.>

Ax punched in the number six.

<That is the correct code! Our concerns were misplaced.>

<Now that we�ve penetrated their crack security �> Marco said with a laugh.

<Many thanks, friend. You now have access to the control panel. Make your selection at your convenience. When you are finished, we hope you will join us in a game, a delightful meal, or simply relax and enjoy yourself.>

<This is weird,> I said. <You know, I heard Disney was building a cruise ship. Maybe this is it.>

Ax began communing with the control panel. It didn�t take long.

<All normal Chee functions are restored,> the Pemalite voice said. <Would you like something to eat?>

And then � <Chee destruct sequence has been activated. Are you sure this is what you want? All Chee within range will self-destruct in fifteen minutes.>

<WHAT?> Cassie yelped.

<What happened?> Tobias demanded.

 Ax admitted.

And then, quite suddenly, the black ocean was all around us.

<Ahhh! What the �>

<The hull has become transparent,> Ax said, the first to figure it out.

The parklike world was all still there. But the projected sky was gone, replaced by ink water.

The outer hull was now like glass. And through that glass I saw the line of Bug fighters. Eight. Lined up outside the decompression chamber.

We could see them.

They could see us.

Through transparent bulkheads, through the transparent hull, through the front viewport of the lead Bug fighter, I saw a hard, cold-eyed Andalite face.

An Andalite face. But the light of malice that shone through the two large eyes, through the twin stalk eyes, was not Andalite.

<Visser Three,> I whispered.

I feel like we haven't really seen Visser Three in a while . I know he was in the Extreme, but he didn't really do much in it.

Also, Ax is showing his Andalite condescension here. Is he right? Maybe. We know that the Howler weapons blew up a lot of Pemalite infrastructure, but what finally killed them was a biological attack.

Also, Disney's first cruise ship was the Disney Magic, which first sailed on July 30, 1998, about 6 months before this book went on sale. You can still sail on the Disney Magic. In fact, if you're a UK resident, it's leaving Southhampton for a 2 day "out to see cruise on Monday, so book your cruise now, I guess.

Chapter 26

quote:

<They don�t have the code,> Cassie said.

<The code is a single digit!> Marco said. <How long do you think �>

The Bug fighter turned, bringing a modified rear door into contact with the invisible outer hull. A Hork-Bajir bounded inside. A Taxxon slithered behind him. And then, moving almost daintily as he stepped from the Bug fighter down into the Pemalite ship, came Visser Three.

<We can�t even morph,> I yelled in frustration. <He can see us!>

The Yeerks broke the code. The outer door of the decompression chamber opened.

The fighters disgorged Hork-Bajir and Taxxons into the Pemalite ship. They formed up around Visser Three in the decompression chamber, some fanning out to take up flanking positions.

<They�ll cut us to ribbons!> Tobias said.

�Oh, dilemma! Oh, drama! Oh, the tension and excitement of it all!�

The voice was new. Not thought-speak. High, shrill, grating.

<Who the � what?> Jake said. <Where did that voice come from?>

�Right here, Jake. From me, Big Jake. Jake, the reluctant leader. Jake, the oh-so-tiresomely decent one. A sanctimonious killer: my least favorite kind.�

<The puppetmaster,> I said. <The guy behind all this.>

<Where are you?> Jake demanded. <Come out and show yourself.>

�Come out, come out wherever you are,� the voice sang mockingly. �Of course. I�ll even come out with my hands up.�

It appeared from behind a tree. It moved on two legs, body held forward and balanced by a stubby tail. It walked like a bird or a small dinosaur. It did hold its hands up. But they were weak, flimsy things, multiply jointed but obviously designed for very light work or very low gravity.

The head was surprising for that almost reptilian body: vaguely human in shape, with a narrow lower jaw and wide-set, intelligent, laughing eyes.

It was wrinkled, like your thumb after a long bath. Its flesh was dark, almost black. The eyes and mouth were rimmed in green.

<All right. What is that?> Tobias asked Ax.

<That is not a species I recognize.>

 Marco said.

�Oh, Marco the funny one!� the creature cried, slapping its limp hands together. �How�s Mommy, Marco? Is she alive or is she dead? Does she scream with the Yeerk in her head?�

Marco reached for the creature with two long tentacles. But neither touched the withered thing. They stopped and bent back.

�All here together?� the prune thing mocked. �Cassie, the hypocrite? �I don�t believe in violence ... except when I do.� Aximili, the pitiful, pale shadow of his dead brother? If only you�d insisted on going with Elfangor, maybe he�d have lived. Too bad. And Tobias, ah, yes, Tobias. The boy not really so trapped as a bird, eh, but too gutless to resume life as a human? And Rachel. My very favorite Animorph.�

The thing smiled a lipless smile. �Rachel, Rachel. Do you feel the adrenaline rush of murderous desire? Do you feel the urge to reach out and destroy me? Of course you do. You and I have that in common.�

<Who are you?> I snapped, trying to ignore the rage it had so clearly seen inside me. Trying to ignore the fear, as well. This thing knew us. All about us. Who we were, what we were. All it had to do was to tell the Yeerks. Then, even if we escaped, we were finished.

�Haven�t figured it out yet? Ooh, so slow. Allow me to introduce myself,� it said. �I am the Drode. It�s a word from my species. It means �wildcard.��

<Crayak,> Jake said. <You�re his creature.>

�Oh, very clever, Big Jake, Prince Jake. Have you killed your brother yet? No? Well, you will.�

<Crayak sent you,> Jake answered calmly. <Payback?>

The Drode grinned. Then the grin disappeared. �Payback,� it said. �You ruined his Howlers. Ruined his plan for the Iskoort. Crayak doesn�t like you, Big Jake. Any of you.� Then it looked straight at me. �Although you have potential.�

I let that go by. I didn�t want to think about what it meant. <This is all your setup,> I said. <Causing the Chee malfunction. Setting things up so we could escape from the mall unnoticed. Killing that sperm whale. And now, starting a self-destruct for the Chee.>

�Whale killing? Me?� the Drode said in mock horror. �No, no, no. That big lump on the beach falls just over the line into sentience. And I never kill a sentient creature. Your whale will survive.�

<The rules,> Ax said. <You still must live within the rules that govern the Ellimist and Crayak.>

�Yes, yes, oh yes,� the Drode sneered. �Mustn�t upset the balance. Not directly, anyway. But! Create problems? Yes. Create opportunities? Yes. Play the wild card? Of course. And now, no more time for chat. The Yeerks are here for you. Will they kill you outright? Or will they make you Controllers? I don�t care. Either way, my master will reward me.�

 Cassie said desperately. <That�s the rule, isn�t it? But you set the self-destruct for the Chee.>

The Drode laughed. �They�re machines, you silly girl. Androids.�

<You�re killing us,> Tobias said. <Putting us in an impossible situation. We can�t morph here in plain view of the Yeerks. You know that. You know we can�t fight back. That�s the same as killing us. Murder.>

�Nonsense,� the Drode said. �There�s always a way left for you. That�s also part of the rules. Now, if you don�t find it, well ��

The creature walked back behind a tree. A tree much too narrow to conceal it. And yet it disappeared.

I looked left. Hork-Bajir and Taxxons were filling the decompression chamber. Twenty, maybe more Hork-Bajir. Half a dozen Taxxons. And Visser Three: an army all by himself.

Trapped!

Demorph, and give up our greatest secret, a secret that protected our families as well as ourselves.

Or simply wait to die.

I don't know why, but whenever I read the Drode, I hear him with the voice of Paul Lynde. No idea why, because Paul Lynde was, to the best of my knowledge, not an evil lizardman, but, I still do. Also, keep in mind the "There's always a way left for you" thing. Crayak has to follow the same rules as the Ellimist. He can seduce, he can advise, he can warn, but he can't force them to do anything or physically harm them, and he has to at least give them a chance out of any traps he puts them in.

Also, the Drode knows them well enough to strike at their insecurities and fears.

# ? Aug 25, 2021 03:18

Terror Sweat: Mar 15, 2009

Man I love evil trickster figures

# ? Aug 25, 2021 04:12

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

Oh wow, yeah I don't think I've read this book before. What a perfectly delightful rear end in a top hat!

# ? Aug 25, 2021 05:10

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I don't remember the Drode being introduced in this book, and pacing-wise it feels really off - it would've made more sense to have him reveal himself to them near the start and lay out the stakes while they're hand-wringing over the near-impossible mission and while the weirdness of the unnoticed mall escape and whale washing up was still present. It feels bizarre to pause to do it just as the Yeerks arrive for the climax.

Anyway,

quote:

<Where is the bridge?> Ax demanded.

<Kind of like your Dome ship, Ax-man, only much cooler,> Tobias said.

<Yes, well, we had to make room for weapons,> Ax said disparagingly. <Which is why Andalites still exist and Pemalites do not.>

Lol Ax owns

(Also, re: "your" minutes - I think the non-joke answer is that it's a mark of Andalite arrogance, i.e. they are "your" minutes not "real" or "proper" minutes, in the same way that some Americans believe they don't have an accent.)

# ? Aug 25, 2021 09:53

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

Lol Ax owns

(Also, re: "your" minutes - I think the non-joke answer is that it's a mark of Andalite arrogance, i.e. they are "your" minutes not "real" or "proper" minutes, in the same way that some Americans believe they don't have an accent.)

I think it's probably a little bit of both. I think it's likely Andalites don't use minutes, but he knows humans do, so he's converting time to local measurements and referring to it as "7 of your minutes" vs "72 gleebles" or whatever Andalites use. So I think that's initially why he did it. Now he knows this annoys Marco. This is why he continues to do it.

# ? Aug 25, 2021 11:51

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 27

quote:

<It won�t take them long to get here. They�ll be here in a -> I started to say.

<Ink!> Cassie yelled. <Ink! That�s the way out. Shoot your ink. It�ll cloud these water bubbles. We�ll be out of sight and we can morph without the Yeerks seeing us in human phase!>

<Do it!> Jake yelled. <Ax!>

<Yes, Prince Jake, I know,> he said. Ax only had to demorph. He would have to buy us time.

<Me, too,> Tobias said.

Immediately, a dark, roiling cloud of ink billowed out of me like a dense wall of fog, creeping out farther and farther, blocking and isolating everything in its path.

I couldn�t see through it. But I didn�t know how long it would last.

I began to demorph. Speed was everything. Ax and Tobias would try to slow the advancing Yeerks. But they wouldn�t last more than a few seconds against that army.

I began to shrink, becoming small within the vast bubble. My tentacles rolled up, suckers disappeared, my beak mouth became teeth. Too slow! Soon I�d be a human, sucking on water.

No. Wait! Water. Yeah, it was water. Black water. Opaque water.

<Hey! Swim to the top of your bubbles. You can stick your head out to breathe without being seen!> I managed to yell just as my thought-speak cut out.

I was a creature half-cephalopod, half-human, a horror, a hideous slimy thing with blond hair and shriveling tentacles.

I swam straight up. Up through water as inky black as the water outside the ship. My head, my increasingly human head, poked out through the top. Around me was a gently rolling bubble of inkfilled water. I could see the ceiling above, and Tobias flapping hard for altitude. I could see the rounded, down-sloping edges of the flying bubble itself. But I could not see the Yeerks.

And if I couldn�t see them, they couldn�t see me.

I began to morph again.

Sharp, curved claws as long as paring knives sprouted from my fingertips. Thick, shaggy fur raced across my growing body. Gleaming fangs erupted where my human teeth had been.

I dove down, as any good grizzly could, down through the black bubble. I swam straight down.

Down till my huge, shaggy head erupted from the bottom of the bubble. The bottom of the bubble was about ten feet off the grassy floor.

Suddenly, I dropped.

WHAM!

I landed on my shoulder. I rolled and bounded up to my feet.

The others were dropping around me. A tiger slipped from the bubble nearest mine and landed with all the easy grace my bear lacked. A wolf. A gorilla.

The huge black bubbles continued to float over our heads like very low storm clouds. Ahead of us, a hundred feet away, no more, stood Ax.

Facing Ax, a small Yeerk army.

Lying on the ground were two Taxxons, huge, needle-legged centipedes. They�d been sliced open by an Andalite tail blade. The other Taxxons devoured them noisily, round red mouths descending to rip and tear their brothers.

Visser Three himself had a gash that had almost removed one of his stalk eyes.

Tobias�s handiwork.

But the lull was temporary. The Visser was getting ready to renew the attack.

 Marco said.

 I said.

<So,> Visser Three said. <We meet again. For the last time. You will never leave this ship alive. And this one �> He jerked his hand toward a Hork-Bajir. In the Hork-Bajir�s clawed hands, a hawk.

<This one dies first!>

I didn�t hesitate, I didn�t think. I dropped to all fours and charged. Sheer, massive aggression.

But then, a movement! A Taxxon motoring across my path!

I slammed into it like a tractor rolling over a snail.

�SKKKRREEEEE!� it shrieked. I flailed back in shock and pain. I sank my teeth into its head.

Its foul taste flooded my mouth. I whipped my head in fury, tearing the Taxxon in two.

I raked its still-squirming upper body with my claws, shoving it aside. But my charge had been ruined. My chance lost.

With a loud roar - animal, Hork-Bajir, and Taxxon - the battle erupted. We charged; they charged. We exploded into each other.

<Behind you, Rachel!> Ax yelled.

I caught a blurred movement.

Turned as the Hork-Bajir�s sharp, razor-bladed arm fell like an ax and buried itself in my hip.

Agony exploded in my brain, driving me into frenzy.

�RRROOOAAARRR!� I screamed, twisting away, staggering as the pain shot a thousand burning spikes through my body.

Cassie leaped and buried her teeth in the back of a Hork-Bajir�s neck.

I closed my jaws around the Hork-Bajir. I shook him until he flopped like a rag doll.

I tossed him away.

The battle raged, the lush, peaceful, Pemalite ship a nightmare scene of screams and roars, blood and rage.

�Guhroooar!� Marco, in gorilla morph, leaped down from an outcropping of rocks and tore into a Taxxon.

�SSSRRREEEE-wah!� It fell, writhing, squirming, its lobster-clawed hands clicking and snapping in its death throes.

A sleek, powerful tiger hurtled by, pouncing on a Hork-Bajir�s back and burying its fangs in his neck.

The Hork-Bajir staggered. Screamed. Collapsed.

Three huge, fearsome Hork-Bajir had converged on Ax and backed him to the edge of the small lake.

One darted forward, swiping at Ax with his bladed arm.

Lightning-quick, Ax�s wicked, scorpion tail flashed.

The severed arm flew and plopped into the lake.

The Hork-Bajir moaned and fell.

The other two advanced.

Growling, I thundered toward them.

Rose up on my back legs.

And stumbled, pitching sideways as my wounded leg gave out, sending me crashing into a Hork- Bajir and knocking him to the ground beneath me.
For one, brief moment our eyes met.

And suddenly, eerily, we were more than warriors on separate sides.

We were each other.

And for a frozen moment, the world went still. Then �

Slash!

His arm came up, wrist blade out. I jerked my head back and rolled into him. He slashed again and caught me in the side. I twisted and brought my right paw around. I didn�t have the leverage to slash. Instead, I did what a grizzly wouldn�t: I drew back my fist and punched him in the face.

I clambered up off his unconscious body.

The battle was everywhere. And we were losing. The grass was littered with fallen Taxxons and Hork-Bajir. The air was thick with dying screams and clogged with the hot, coppery stench of blood.

�Ghafrash!� A Hork-Bajir, charging Jake.

Jake slashing, roaring.

Cassie, hobbling, dragging a broken back leg, snarling and dodging a Taxxon�s claws.

Marco, bleeding, cheek laid open, his huge, powerful hands wrapped tightly around a Hork- Bajir�s neck. Squeezing.

Ax, whirling, slicing, the master of deadly perfection.

But we were losing. Because all alone, surrounded by his Hork-Bajir guard, Visser Three was morphing. Growing. Some hideous creation from some far-distant planet.

Huge! Deadly.

We couldn�t defeat all his Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. Let alone this monster.

�Ah-hah-hah! Wonderful! Lovely! Perfect!� the Drode cackled happily. �I love the smell of battle. Oh, J-a-a-ake? Are you dead yet?�

It had reappeared, stepping out from behind the same tree, seemingly oblivious to any danger.

<You. At least I�ll take you down,> I said.

The Drode grinned its green-rimmed grin. �You know, Crayak could use you, Rachel. Why stay with these weaklings? You�re already more like us than like them.�

<A job offer? How nice.>

�Yes, isn�t it? You can survive this debacle. Just do us one small favor: Kill your tiresome cousin. Crayak would like to see that. So would I. Kill Jake.�

I laughed. <Kill Jake? Nah. I think I�d rather kill you.>

I lunged for the Drode.

It dodged me easily.

My momentum carried me past it, straight into a pair of Hork-Bajir.

Slash!

My other rear leg buckled. Buckled like it was made out of rubber.

I rose halfway up on all fours, but I couldn�t reach the Hork-Bajir. They laughed, seeing I was done for. Laughed at me, at my helplessness.

Then � something new. Something steel and ivory, moving at a speed no human, no Hork-Bajir, no Andalite could match.

It raced for the tree. Visser Three slapped at it with one of his morphing claws, but the steel-and-ivory creature simply blocked the blow.

<Erek?> I blurted in disbelief, even as a Hork-Bajir leaned over to cut my throat open.

�No! Nooooo!� the Drode groaned in disbelief.

Erek reached the tree. He punched something into the control panel.

The Hork-Bajir was suddenly moving very � very � slowly� .

�Oh, this is not at all what I had in mind,� the Drode said.

I rolled aside and reached to gut it.

But my paw was likewise moving very � very � slowly.

The thought-speak voice of the ship spoke. <Chee self-destruct disabled. And we are very sorry to say that the hostility containment program has been activated. What a shame to spoil our lovely time with fighting. Once repairs have been made on all injured parties, we will have to ask you to leave the ship.>

�And you wonder why Crayak destroyed the Pemalites,� the Drode said, enraged. �What tedious creatures they were. Pacifist androids! What is the point of machines that cannot kill? They could have ruled the galaxy with their Chee as warriors!�

The battlefield was frozen. Only Erek and the Drode were able to move. Erek calmly lifted Tobias from the Hork-Bajir�s grasp.

The Drode came over to me. It took in the violent tableau: me and the two Hork-Bajir.

The Drode leaned close, close enough to whisper so that only I could hear. �Your friends are all relieved. Are you? Are you happy that peace has been restored? Or don�t you itch for the chance to press those deadly claws another six inches forward, to tear open that exposed throat?�

The Drode smiled. Cruel. Smirking.

�If you ever find yourself desperate, Rachel. At an end. In need. Remember this: Your cousin�s life is your passport to salvation in the arms of Crayak.�

Then it was gone.

So, that's ominous, isn't it? I also like how polite the Pemalite ship is. Also, I bet Erek is going to have to clean the ship up of all the mess.

But serious question. We saw in the last chapter that the Drode attacks you at your insecurities. He brings up Marco's mom, he brings up the idea that Tobias is afraid to be human, he brings up that Cassie, for all she says she's a pacifist, seems pretty ready to kill, he brings up Ax's guilt about his brother's death, etc, which is all stuff the Animorphs worry about. That being said, the Drode hasn't actually lied. So is he right in what he says to Rachel? Is she more naturally on team Crayak?

Chapter 28

quote:

The Pemalite ship carefully, politely, regretfully, packed the Yeerks, including a furiously enraged Visser Three, back into their modified Bug fighters.

<I�ll kill you all! I�ll take this ship apart, piece by piece! I�ll be back and nothing will stop me! You�ll die, all of you, Andalite and � and whoever runs this ship, I�ll kill you all!> Visser Three said. Repeatedly.

<We are so sorry you had a bad time,> the ship said. <Perhaps we can meet again someday and enjoy some pleasant activities together.>

Once the Yeerks were gone, we morphed and left the way we�d come in. The ship was polite to us, too. But it wanted us gone, just the same.

It had been only ten minutes from the time we turned off the interference with the Chee till the point when Erek arrived at the ship to interrupt the battle. Ten minutes to get from land to a spot three miles underwater. If it had taken fifteen �

The Drode was right about one thing: The Chee had powers that would have made the Pemalites masters of the galaxy.

All that power. And all the Pemalites had ever wanted was to play, to learn, to be happy.

Before we reached the surface of the ocean, the Pemalite ship had been moved. This time to a depth only an android could reach.

It was late when we got home. We were tired. Worn and brittle from a day harsh with fighting.

We each told our separate lies to our various parents, and were each grounded. I don�t think anyone minded.

I wondered if I should tell Jake about the Drode�s foul offer. But I decided against it. I knew I would never, ever give in. I knew myself. I did. I knew my limits. I knew.

But what the Drode and his evil master Crayak had seen inside of me was real. Jake knew it. He trusted me, but there might come a time when he would doubt � Jake had enough to worry about.

I went running down along the beach the next day. You couldn�t even see where the big sperm whale had lain, gasping for breath.

The news had said it was a freak shift in wind, bringing a small tidal surge that had lifted the whale free. Of course, I knew better.

I felt a small shadow pass over me, blocking the sun for just a moment. I didn�t even look up. I kept running. Maybe I could find a hidden spot somewhere up ahead and morph.

A few minutes later, �Hey! Rachel?�

I turned, surprised to find T. T. jogging after me.

�What?� I said, sighing as he caught up.

�Well, uh, I was just wondering,� he began.

�Wondering what?� I said, jamming my hands into my pockets.

�Well, uh, if maybe you might want to go to the movies with me, after all,� he said nervously, glancing at me.

My stomach twitched.

He really was cute. And so normal. So not Tobias.

He had almost certainly never eaten a mouse. On the other hand, he�d never morphed a sperm whale and gone to the bottom of the ocean while his brain was reeling with barely suppressed terror, just so he could look out for me.

I opened my mouth to say, �Sure.� Instead I said, �Hey, do you speak English? How many ways do I have to say �no�?�

He called me a name I�ve been called before. Then he took off. I was pretty sure he wouldn�t ask me out again.

<Hey, he was cute,> Tobias called down from the sky.

�Oh, shut up, you mouse-eating freak,� I said.

Tobias laughed. He knew better than to take me too seriously. 

�I know. I�m gonna go get some wings and come on up there. Keep an eye out for me.�

 he said.

And so Rachel swears off romantic movie dates to stay loyal to her hawk boyfriend.

So, what did people think about this book? I can understand people not liking it. There's pretty much no character agency in it....everything that happens is set up by the Drode so he can....I dunno, have a conversation with Rachel on the ship. And it ends with a literal deus ex machina....the ship stops the fighting and kicks them out. So plotwise, I can see people not liking it. But that being said, I kind of do. I think it has some really good writing. Plus, we meet the Drode, and he's fun in an evil sort of way. So what did you think?

Next book is an Ax book, book 28, The Experiment, ghostwritten by Amy Garvey, and it's a book to have a conversation about. But that's starting toorrow.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 03:51

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Epicurius posted:

So plotwise, I can see people not liking it. But that being said, I kind of do. I think it has some really good writing. Plus, we meet the Drode, and he's fun in an evil sort of way. So what did you think?

It isn't perfect overall, but it has some great moments, and the characterization works even if the agency isn't there. Plus, I have a certain amount of affection for it since it's, IMO, Rachel's last good/decent book.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 04:12

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

Chapter 27

quote:
descending to rip and tear

This author's a big Doom fan, huh?

quote:

So, what did people think about this book? I can understand people not liking it. There's pretty much no character agency in it....everything that happens is set up by the Drode so he can....I dunno, have a conversation with Rachel on the ship. And it ends with a literal deus ex machina....the ship stops the fighting and kicks them out.

I feel that same way about all the Ellimist (and Crayak, I guess, since they're pretty much the same) stuff. All-powerful beings that can arrange anything however they want and break the laws of physics whenever they feel like it just wreck stories. They trivialize everything that happens. And that whole "salvation in the arms of" line is too on-the-nose.

That said, the book was pretty well-written, regardless. I guess the bad ghostwritten books come later.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 05:15

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

Crayak and Ellimist setting up entire scenarios is fine with me, especially when you have Drodey rolling up just to snipe at them. It might be bullshit, but I'm OK with that.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 06:13

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.

I thought this one was pretty fun. Felt like a standard animorphs book.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 06:20

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I like it and think it's one of the better ghostwritten books. The stakes are really high and the horror of having to go into the dark ocean depths is really well done.

disaster pastor posted:

It isn't perfect overall, but it has some great moments, and the characterization works even if the agency isn't there. Plus, I have a certain amount of affection for it since it's, IMO, Rachel's last good/decent book.

I was about to say that surely she has one in the final arc, but I checked and she only gets one in that weird period where the arc has begun but they're still doing monster-of-the-week plots, and hers is the dreadful one where David comes back. Yep, this is her last good/decent book.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 06:34

Malpais Legate: Oct 1, 2014

I'd always kinda read the Drode as something feminine. Anyway, I remember reading this book and really liking it as a kid, mostly owing to the Drode being present just to jeer and be rude in the middle of this fight.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 07:19

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

Hooray, we're half way through the series (if you don't count the side books)!

# ? Aug 26, 2021 07:31

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

The Drode is a fun character, certainly moreso than Crayak, but despite my deep love for the Ellimist Chronicles the transfer of the very human-focused Yeerk conflict to this war between godlike beings is just less interesting. I think the books veer back to that for a while though.

I did think the terror in the sea elements were well done, but ultimately the whole thing ended silly.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 08:25

Bobulus: Jan 28, 2007

It's a little strange to have two Ellimist/Cryak books in a row. Both involving the Cree even. Narratively, if feels like these should be spaced out more.

I guess you could justify it as Cryak really taking the loss hard and immediately jumping to a revenge plot, throwing all long term planning to the wind. He didn't like the game, so time to smash the toys.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 13:35

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

My conclusion is that this book wound up with very little actually happening. The whale and squid are two hella specialized morphs that probably won't ever come up again, and the Pemalite ship has been removed from the equation.

It's filler. Decent, enjoyable enough filler.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 14:34

e X: Feb 23, 2013; cool but crude

Bobulus posted:

It's a little strange to have two Ellimist/Cryak books in a row. Both involving the Cree even. Narratively, if feels like these should be spaced out more.

Yeah, that's the way I feel about it. I am also not too keen on the whole Ellimist/Cryak subplot, but since it doesn't come up too often, I am fine with it. But too in a row are a little too much, since it does take away the focus from the invasion.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 14:41

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 25, 2024 14:08

gourdcaptain: Nov 16, 2012

The "how the heck do we get down there" whale and squid chain is pretty cool, the rest was a meh but alright.

That said, I think this is setting up for Megamorphs 3 with the Drode/more Crayak stuff and which is coming soon and I remember being incredibly wild and should hopefully be fun to see again.

# ? Aug 26, 2021 15:03

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

«‹›236 »