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May 27, 2024 05:35
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Yeerks can communicate in the pool, and they also have good senses of smell. I assume they recognize their hosts through their odors.
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Sep 20, 2021 12:06
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- Crespolini
- Mar 9, 2014
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*raises hand*
So why isn't any opportunistic Yeerk going "hey there's this human in the pool, ill grab this one"
Because hosts are a restricted privilige, and the punishment for disobeying orders is kanondra starvation?
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Sep 20, 2021 12:46
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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I'm pretty sure yeerks can communicate in the pool somehow. Messages are passed back and forth, and they have access to data terminals and research materials as per previous novels IIRC
Yeah I'm gonna assume access to computer network in the pool = access to computer network outside the pool, and that's how they communicate between pool and non-pool, so there's some bored Yeerk admin assistant in his natural form under the pier trying to manage the rota for Yeerks going back into their hosts. He is wearing thick-framed glasses and a Dilbert-esque tie that curls up at the end. He is personally and politically against the taking of sentient hosts, but "it's a living."
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Sep 20, 2021 14:24
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- disaster pastor
- May 1, 2007
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*raises hand*
So why isn't any opportunistic Yeerk going "hey there's this human in the pool, ill grab this one"
If you're a Yeerk in the Yeerk pool, your assumption is going to be that any human who falls into the pool with you is a controller who tripped or got knocked in, perhaps during a fight, and thus there's no room for you in the brain and also that host might be dying, or a runaway would-be host who will get her proper Yeerk once she's recaptured. The Andalite bandits would be either Andalites or Earth animals, after all.
So even if they can tell for sure that there's suddenly a human in the pool, their thoughts are probably either, "man, Yezzix is really bad at preventing their host from constantly tripping over her own feet," or, "welp, it's 50/50 that the Andalite bandits knocked a controller into the pool or that Visser Three slit a host's throat for slightly obstructing his path to the Andalite bandits."
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Sep 20, 2021 21:35
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Man, Yezzix is so clumsy when it comes to hosts.
Anyway, I'm sorry to do this, but I'm going to have to miss today. I had some medical tests today and am exhausted. Sorry, but tomorrow, two chapters like normal.
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Sep 21, 2021 04:22
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Chapter 23
quote:I swam. I swam hard. Then …
<This creature has no Yeerk!> the Visser cried.
He wasn’t talking to me! He was talking to the girl whose body I’d used to attack him. Any second now he would figure it out. Any second now …
<A second traitor! Some Yeerk used this host to … No! The Andalites! They’re here!>
I took another long breath. Then pushed myself deeper into the pool. The Yeerks brushed against my arms, my legs, my face. The feel of their jellyfish-soft bodies repulsed me. I flicked them away. As fast as I did, new ones took their place.
Ignore them, I ordered myself. Now was not the time to get distracted. I needed to morph.
Morphing underwater without breathing was beyond risky. It was stupid. But I had to get out of the pool and I didn’t have any backup. I had to take the chance.
An owl. It would be strong enough to carry Aftran. And its eyes would allow it to maneuver in the dim cavern.
I concentrated on the owl DNA inside me. I felt the feathers begin to form. They clung to my human body, wet and heavy. I would never be able to lift myself into the air with these drenched feathers! Forget about me and Aftran.
My lungs burned. But I couldn’t risk another breath.
I ran through my other possible morphs. Which would give me the best chance to escape? Think, think, think! Shark. No. Dolphin. No. Squirrel. Maybe. No. My insect morphs were definitely out of the question.
I was starting to get dizzy. I was running out of time.
Wait. Got it! My osprey morph! Osprey hunted fish. That meant they had to be able to get wet and still fly!
I concentrated on the osprey DNA. I ignored the pressure building in my chest.
My legs grew thin. As thin as noodles. They swayed in the water for a moment before they began to shorten.
I felt my lips and nose melt together to form a beak. I choked as a mouthful of Yeerk pool sludge sloshed down my throat. The taste was bitter on my shrinking tongue.
Where were my wings? I needed wings!
My lungs throbbed. I couldn’t hold my breath -
A pulling sensation raced up and down my arms as they stretched into wings. Yes!
<Aftran, get between my talons. Now! Hurry!> I cried though I knew she couldn’t hear or answer.
I felt pinpricks cover my body as my feathers started to pop out. Aftran slid between my talons. I had her. At least I hoped it was her. We were out of there!
Red dots exploded in front of my eyes as I struggled to the surface. I pushed my beak through the surface and dragged in as much air as my lungs would hold.
<Okay, it’s time for takeoff,> I told Aftran.
I powered my wings through the sludge, pushing my body up out of the Yeerk pool. I knew they’d be waiting for me. There was no way to sneak out.
“Visser! A bird!”
<Shoot it, you imbecile! It must not fly!>
TSEEEWWW! A Dracon beam fired at me. Missed.
I gave another hard flap, skimming across the surface of the pool, talons dragging. Almost airborne. Almost!
Zap!
A long yellow tentacle snaked out of the sludge and snapped me on the wing. The spot it hit instantly turned numb. Off balance, I tilted.
Sploosh! Half my body slipped down into the pool again.
The Visser! He had morphed to … to something that could swim. Something strong and fast. <Going somewhere, my noble Andalite warrior?> Visser Three asked.
This time he was talking to me. Definitely.
And I was on my own. I didn’t have Marco, Jake, Tobias, Rachel, or Ax to distract the Visser.
His new morph was terrifying. It was like a floating eyeball with long, long tentacles for lashes. One of those tentacles shot out and snapped me on the wing again. Numb.
His tentacles were filled with poison. If I got hit too many more times I wouldn’t be able to move my wing at all. I’d sink straight to the bottom and the Visser - Zap!
I took another hit. The opposite wing. I had to get myself back out of the water. I slammed my wings through the sludge.
Zap!
My bad wing again. It was almost half numb now.
Think of Ax. Think of Jake. I thrust my wings down again and again.
Rachel. Tobias. Marco.
More red dots exploding. I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. I broke through the surface of the water.
Mom. Dad.
I pulled up, up, up. Muscles screaming in pain.
Yes! I was out of reach of the tentacles.
I wheeled around and flapped toward the staircase.
The humans in the cages cheered. The human-Controllers cursed and howled in fury. The Taxxons shrieked. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers bellowed.
I caught a glimpse of Mr. Tidwell. He pumped his fist in the air. To the others it probably looked like an angry gesture. But I knew it was triumph.
TSEEEWWWW! TSEEEWWWW! TSEEEWWWW!
I zigzagged as well as I could with my injured wings, Aftran still clutched in my talons.
Hork-Bajir-Controllers fired at me from the pier.
<Would it be asking too much for one of you to actually hit something?!!> I heard Visser Three roar.
I reached the stairs. Up, up, up I flew. Gulping for air. Lungs on fire.
The rock walls changed to dirt. The Dracon beams fired from the pier couldn’t reach me here.
<Almost out, Aftran!> I cried. I pumped harder. Couldn’t slow down. Not now!
TSEEEWWWW!
A sharp, acrid scent flooded me. The smell of my own feathers. The Dracon beam had singed them.
I made a sharp turn to the left. Now I saw what I had missed in my frenzy.
It floated through the air, heading for me. A seemingly weightless metallic ball.
A hunter robot.
So, the prediction that Visser-Three's shout was a false alarm last chapter was accurate. Also, just saying, Cassie better hope she got Aftran and not just some random Yeerk.
Chapter 24
quote:I knew the hunter robot only had one weak spot. Its visual aiming system.
I flapped hard, struggling to get some altitude. I moved into position above the hunter robot.
I only had one chance. I waited for it.
The big metal ball rotated until its camera lens was pointed up at me. In one second it would fire.
BLAT!
A gray-white blob fell.
My life, Aftran’s life, the life of all my friends, the future of the human race, hung on that falling blob.
It hit the lens.
The robot spun to the right. Then to the left. Then to the right again.
A bird-poop bull’s-eye.
I beat wings up to the metal door. There was no handle on my side. Only smooth, shiny metal. I scanned the wall around the door. There had to be some kind of trigger mechanism, didn’t there?
Maybe it’s only an entrance, I thought. Maybe it’s like the changing room at the Gap. People enter the Yeerk pool there. But they go out through the movie theater.
I swooped a little closer.
BrrrrEEEEET! BrrrrEEEEET!
Oh, no! The Gleet BioFilter.
I’d forgotten all about it. How could I have been so stupid?
“Unauthorized life-form detected,” a mechanical voice announced. BrrrrEEEEET!
BrrrrEEEEET! “Unauthorized life-form detected.”
In seconds I would be destroyed. The BioFilter eliminated all life-forms whose DNA had not been entered in the computer. Ospreys were definitely not on the Yeerks’ invite list.
Could I morph to Yeerk in time? Would my human morph be better?
I heard the sound of feet pounding up the stairs toward me. Really big feet. Hork-Bajir warriors.
“Shut your eyes tightly to protect against retinal damage from the Gleet BioFilter,” the mechanical voice instructed.
I was doomed.
Whoosh!
The metal door split down the middle. A woman started through. She spotted me.
“Andalite!” she cried. She swiped at me with her purse. I banked hard, ignoring the pain tearing through my damaged wing.
A purse wasn’t enough to stop me. Not nearly enough.
I flew into the cold air of the walk-in freezer. The outside door was swinging shut. Could I make it?
The room exploded in dazzling white light.
Clang! I bounced off one of the metal shelves.
Crash! Something that sounded like falling glass.
I didn’t stop. I flew straight ahead.
Made it! Thump! The freezer door shut behind me.
I lost a couple of tail feathers, but I kept flying.
“Dad, look, a bird!” I heard a little girl yell.
“What is that thing it’s carrying?” someone else cried.
A little of my vision was coming back. Enough that I could just make out the front door. Of course it was shut. You don’t realize how much you need your hands until you don’t have them.
But you know what’s cool? Humans. Nine out of ten humans are pretty decent creatures.
One of those nice humans, concerned for a bird obviously panicked by being trapped, opened the door,
I blew through.
I flew, flew, flew into free, wide-open skies.
<As Marco would say if he were here: That was interesting. Let’s never, ever do it again.>
I was relieved. But I didn’t have time to celebrate. I had to get home. Ax needed me.
I flew like mad for home. My body was trembling with exhaustion when I finally sailed in the hayloft window. I landed on a bale of hay and released Aftran.
<I’ll get you in some water in a minute,> I promised her.
My little bird heart was pounding like crazy. I wanted to fluff up my feathers and stick my head under my wing. Instead, I concentrated on my own DNA.
The feathers covering my body flattened until they were two-dimensional tattoos. My hollow bones grew and solidified. I heard a sloshing sound as my internal organs shifted and changed.
My bird eyes grew, and my vision became completely clear again. I watched the last few changes. Then I shoved myself up with a grunt. I scooped up Aftran and headed to Ax’s stall.
I couldn’t stop myself from gasping when I opened the door and stepped through the hologram.
Ax was lying on his side. He never does that. And I could hear him breathing in short, ragged pants.
“He’s in crisis,” Erek told me.
So, Aftran saved, now Cassie has to operate.
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Sep 22, 2021 03:32
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- OctaviusBeaver
- Apr 30, 2009
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Say what now?
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quote:<Would it be asking too much for one of you to actually hit something?!!> I heard Visser Three roar.
I think every Evil Overlord must ask this question at some point in their career.
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Sep 22, 2021 03:59
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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quote:The humans in the cages cheered.
This is a nice touch. At least the slaves get to know there's an Andalite guerilla group and there's some hope for their future. And occasionally actually see them in action.
I was thinking maybe Aftran could infest Cassie and do the surgery... but I don't think she's had any previous hosts with medical experience and it would be cheating a bit to suddenly retcon one now.
edit - actually I just remembered how they handle this, and it's smart.
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Sep 22, 2021 08:29
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Chapter 25
quote:I knelt next to Ax. “I’m back,” I told him. “I’m right here with you.” He didn’t answer.
“He’s unconscious,” Erek told me. “Has been for a little more than half an hour.”
“Poor baby.” I ran my fingers over his soft blue-and-tan fur. His sides heaved with every breath he took.
“I don’t think you have much time,” Erek said gently.
“You’re right.” I stood up and slid Aftran into the water trough.
“You’ll be safe there,” I told her. I knew she couldn’t understand me. I knew she had to be terrified. But I had to leave her.
I turned to Erek. “I’m worried about hurting him when we move him. Maybe we could -”
Erek bent down and scooped Ax up in his arms. I’d forgotten for a minute how amazingly strong the Chee are.
I leaned over the stall door and checked to make sure the barn was still empty. Then I opened the door and led the way to the operating room. I pointed to the metal table and Erek placed Ax on top.
“Can you do another hologram to make the room look empty?” I asked. “Just in case.”
“You got it,” Erek answered.
I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to perform brain surgery. On an alien.
I suddenly had this powerful urge to walk away. To go find a TV, plant myself in front of it with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, crank the volume, and forget everything.
“Probably nothing on, anyway,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Just take it one step at a time, I coached myself. But what should the first step be? I closed my eyes and tried to picture what my dad did before an operation and what I’d seen in the books I’d gotten from my mom. Got it. Step one: Get things clean. Duh.
Numbly I walked over to the sink and washed my hands with antibacterial soap. I dried them, then pulled on a pair of latex gloves.
I took a bottle of rubbing alcohol off the shelf and grabbed a jar of cotton balls. I soaked one of the balls.
“This will feel a little cold,” I told Ax before I started swabbing his head. I knew he couldn’t hear me. But it made me feel a little better to talk to him.
I tossed the used cotton ball in the garbage and carefully returned the alcohol and the rest of the cotton balls to their proper places. I was stalling. And that could be deadly to Ax. I didn’t know how much time he had left.
I jerked open the long drawer in the middle of my dad’s cabinet and pulled out a scalpel. I took it over to Ax. My heart was thudding so loud I could feel it all over my body. In my ears. Even in my fingertips.
I positioned the scalpel over Ax’s head. Then I froze. How could I just make a cut? Where was the Tria gland?!
Maybe I could feel it through Ax’s scalp. Maybe there would be swelling. Or a spot that felt hotter or colder.
I used my free hand to examine Ax’s head. I started with his forehead. Nothing. I moved up to the space between his eye stalks. Nothing. I checked the area around each of his ears. Nothing. I ran my fingers over every inch of the back of his skull, twice. Nothing.
Nothing.
“This is hopeless! It’s impossible!” I cried. “He’s going to die with me standing right next to him!”
“You’ve already done one hopeless, impossible thing tonight,” Erek reminded me.
Rescuing Aftran from Visser Three had felt pretty impossible. Pretty hopeless. Now Aftran was safe and sound -
Wait.
Wait.
My mind seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time.
Aftran!
“Be right back,” I told Erek. I dashed out of the operating room and over to Ax’s stall. I scooped Aftran out of the trough and raced back.
I skidded to a stop at the edge of the operating room table. I brought Aftran up to one of Ax’s ears. Her Yeerk instincts should tell her to go inside.
Yes! Aftran slithered across my palm and into the opening of Ax’s ear canal. I watched as her slick gray body disappeared inside.
“Maybe she’ll be able to tell us where the Tria gland is,” I told Erek. I gripped the metal table with both hands.
“You’re brilliant,” Erek said. “Unless …”
“Yeah. Let’s wait and see if it works first,” I answered.
I stared down at Ax. Waiting.
Aftran should be pushing herself into Ax’s brain right now, I thought. Once she’s in control, she’d be able to talk. Wouldn’t she?
This had to work. It had to. If it didn’t -
Don’t, I ordered myself. Aftran will come through.
But why wasn’t she saying anything? Why was this taking so long? Was she having trouble with the Andalite brain? Was Ax’s illness making it impossible for her to connect?
<Cassie?> Aftran said in Andalite thought-speak.
“I’m here. We got away from Visser Three. You’re inside my friend, Ax,” I explained, talking as fast as I could. “There’s a gland in his head that’s going to explode any second. If it does, he dies. I have to take it out, but I don’t know where it is. Can you feel it? Can you tell me where to cut?”
<The Tria gland. Yes, I have accessed his memories,> she answered. <It is … it is unusual to attempt this. I have few nerve endings … no way to feel what … wait!>
“What?” Erek demanded. “Wait what?”
<Got it! But, Cassie, it feels very warm.>
I grabbed a scalpel with trembling fingers. “Just tell me where to cut.”
So, this is a weird surgery. Also, for all of Cassie's attempts at sterility, she can wash her hands as much as she wants, and put as much alcohol on Ax's head as she wants, but unless the desk drawer with the scalpel that she opened and the scalpel she takes out have been sterilized, her gloves are no longer sterile. Just saying.
Chapter 26
quote:<The Tria gland is in the back of the head,> Aftran explained. <It’s even with the bottom of his ears. Dead center.>
I turned Ax’s head so I could easily reach that spot. “Okay, I’m going to make the first incision,”
I told her. “Stay out of the way.”
<The gland is about as big as a human thumb. Well, Karen’s thumb, at least.>
“Thanks.” I picked up the scalpel and positioned it to one side of the spot Aftran had described.
Then I made a straight cut about four inches long. I could feel the metal blade scraping the bone of Ax’s skull.
But that was good. That’s how deep I needed to go. I needed to peel back a flap of skin so I could work on the bone.
A line of blue-black blood appeared. My stomach did a flip-flop. I swallowed hard and made a cut that was perpendicular to the first, again about four inches long.
“Hemostat!” I snapped.
The instrument was in my hand a split second later.
“Another. Okay. Retractor. No, it’s that other thing!”
I pulled back a flap of skin.
“Tape,” I said.
“How much do you want?” Erek asked.
“Three inches.”
He passed the piece of cloth tape to me. I used it to hold the flap of skin away from the bone.
<His hearts are starting to beat faster. And the gland is still throbbing. It’s swelled a little, too,> Aftran announced.
“Can you control his heartbeats at all?” I asked. “Try to slow them down?”
<I’ll try,> she said.
“Gauze pads, Erek.” I held out my hand and Erek slapped them in my hand. I used them to mop up some of the blood oozing out of the incision.
“Now the hole saw. It’s in the sterilizer.”
“Here.”
<You need to hurry, Cassie,> Aftran said. <It doesn’t look good in here.>
Aftran sounded nervous. What would happen to her if Ax’s Tria gland burst while she was still inside his head?
“Okay, I’m going to need you to blot some of the blood away as I go,” I told Erek.
“You got it.”
Erek handed me the hole saw. I positioned the circle of saw teeth around where I hoped the Tria gland was. I turned the saw’s handle a few times.
I pulled the saw back, and the circle of bone came with it. Now I was looking at Ax’s brain.
Sweat popped out all over my forehead and started to run down my cheeks and nose. Erek dabbed it away with another gauze pad before it could start dripping onto Ax’s brain.
I didn’t have to ask Aftran for more help finding the Tria gland. It was easy to spot. Deep purple. Bulging.
“Retractor,” I told Erek. “Scalpel.”
My fingers shook when he handed them to me. The gland looked ready to blow. I was afraid if I touched it, it would start spewing.
“Hold this. My left eye! Sweat!”
He swabbed my eye with a cotton ball.
“Okay. Let’s do it,” I whispered.
I slid the scalpel blade beneath the gland with trembling care.
I cut.
The Tria gland was out. I tossed it into a metal pan.
“Okay.” I wrapped my arms around myself. My whole body was shaking.
Don’t lose it now, I thought.
As quickly as I could, I replaced the circle of bone. It would fuse back in place in time. I untaped the flap of skin and smoothed it down.
“Now we sew.”
<His heart rates are slowing down. His blood pressure is going down, too,> Aftran reported.
“That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” Erek said with a laugh. “And I’ve seen a lot.”
<Cassie, he’s coming to,> Aftran announced. <And he’s starting to scream!>
Cassie may not be a rocket scientist, but she is a brain surgeon. Also, in case you're curious, there is a kind of brain surgery where the patient is only given local anesthetic and not general (I don't think Cassie used any). I defer to people who know better than I do, but it's my understanding that the human brain, at least, doesn't feel pain, so you can get away with more surgery on someone's brain than another part of their body.
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Sep 23, 2021 03:51
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- Gwaihir
- Dec 8, 2009
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Hair Elf
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^^^ True, my dad had a deep brain simulator implanted to combat the effects of parkinson's, and while you're asleep initially, they bring you out of it because they need to confirm things like motor control for the best probe placement. Your head is actually full on bolted to a metal frame at this point, too, so that you don't shift around at all and they can place the wires correctly.
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Sep 23, 2021 14:03
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- e X
- Feb 23, 2013
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cool but crude
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“That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” Erek said with a laugh. “And I’ve seen a lot.”
Erek is right. I am not the biggest Cassie for, but this is easily one of the top 5 moments of all if Animorphs! I am a huge sucker for doing the impossible for your friends and really hits the spot.
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Sep 23, 2021 14:20
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- Ravenfood
- Nov 4, 2011
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I used to so procedural sedations for the placement of EVDs, which are essentially a drain drilled through the skull and placed relatively deeply into the brain to help monitor intracerebral pressures and allow for the draining of extra fluid around the brain if necessary. The amount of sedation it takes is incredibly low, to the point that I started struggling when I got asked to do sedations for other procedures like colonoscopies or trans esophageal ultrasounds. I'd massively underdose those other patients at first because I was used to the low doses needed for the EVDs.
It helped that high pressure in your brain causes drowsiness, but still. Most EVDs needed topical anesthetic like lidocaine and just a whiff of other drugs, but not always even that. And yeah, one you are through the skin you're basically fine as far as pain control goes.
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Sep 23, 2021 14:21
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- Bobulus
- Jan 28, 2007
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Now the question is, the next time Ax morphs and demorphs, does his cut-out gland regrow?
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Sep 23, 2021 14:29
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- Ravenfood
- Nov 4, 2011
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Now the question is, the next time Ax morphs and demorphs, does his cut-out gland regrow?
I feel like it should, yeah. His bone/skin will definitely be healed too.
I'm really excited to hear Ax's reaction to waking up with a Yeerk in his head.
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Sep 23, 2021 14:34
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- CidGregor
- Sep 27, 2009
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TG: if i were you i would just take that fucking devilbeast out behind the woodshed and blow its head off
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I feel like it should, yeah. His bone/skin will definitely be healed too.
I'm really excited to hear Ax's reaction to waking up with a Yeerk in his head.
I mean he's already screaming, so
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Sep 23, 2021 14:50
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- Ravenfood
- Nov 4, 2011
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I mean he's already screaming, so
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Sep 23, 2021 15:23
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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This part is so freakin cool. Despite Cassie’s frayed nerves, the Aftran thing is really smart, and demonstrates how Cassie is good in a crisis and not *just* the moral center of the group.
Yup. I really like the whole endgame through the Yeerk pool too, with Cassie body-swapping her way around through hosts and morphs.
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Sep 24, 2021 00:11
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- Epicurius
- Apr 10, 2010
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College Slice
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Chapter 27
quote:“What’s wrong?” I cried. “Am I hurting him?”
<No,> Aftran said, her voice suddenly flat. <He’s screaming because there’s a Yeerk in his head.>
“Ax, listen to me. The Yeerk is Aftran. She helped me save your life,” I cried.
<He’s totally freaking,> Aftran told me. <He’s saying you should have let him die. He would have killed himself with his own blade before he let a Yeerk infest him.>
“He doesn’t understand,” I answered.
<Yes, he does,> she insisted. <I’m coming out.>
A moment later, Aftran slithered out of Ax’s ear.
Ax bucked on the table. His eye stalks jerked back and forth. <Where is it?> he cried. <Don’t let it touch me!>
I grabbed his head between my hands. “Stop it!” I ordered angrily. “You have to stay still until I finish stitching your head!”
Ax obediently lay back on the table, but I could see tremors running through his body. My anger faded. Ax had been so sick. Then he’d come to and found a Yeerk in his head. One of the monsters who had killed his brother.
No wonder he went off. He probably thought he’d been captured and infested.
“You’re okay,” I told Ax soothingly. “You’re in my dad’s operating room. I put Aftran in your head. She looked inside you and told me where the Tria gland was. She helped me operate. I got it out. You’re past your crisis.”
I scooped up Aftran, filled the sink with water, and let her inside. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I promised her. Even though she was deaf again. Blind, mute. Helpless.
I turned back to Ax. He kept rubbing his ear. I knew he was feeling violated. Repulsed by what I had done to him.
“Visser Three was planning to interrogate Aftran tonight,” I said softly as I returned to stitching up Ax’s incision. “He discovered she was part of the peace movement.”
<Filthy Yeerk,> he spat.
I made the last stitch. “That filthy Yeerk helped save your life. And she very nearly gave her life for peace between human and Yeerk. And now, unless I can think of some way to save her, she will die a slow death of Kandrona starvation.”
Ax didn’t say anything. Maybe when he’d gotten some rest, he’d think it over.
“Erek, would you take Ax back to the stall?” I asked. “He’ll need at least a few days to recover. Is that too long for you to stay and keep the hologram up?”
Erek gently lifted Ax off the table. “You’re talking to a guy who helped build the pyramids. A few days is nothing.”
I smiled at him. “Thanks. I couldn’t have gotten through all this without you.”
“Yes, you could have. But you’re welcome,” he answered as he carried Ax out the door.
I sat down on the little stool my dad keeps by the table. I wrapped my arms around my knees. All the fear I’d been pushing away suddenly hit me. I felt like my body was deflating.
It’s just a delayed reaction, I told myself. You’re safe. Ax is safe. Aftran’s safe.
That wasn’t really true. Yeah, I got Aftran away from Visser Three. But in three days, she would be dead.
I pushed myself to my feet and leaned against the sink, staring down at her. She had done what few have the strength to do. She had questioned the beliefs she had been raised with. And ultimately, she had chosen to go against her society. To turn away from everything she had once believed, to become the enemy of those closest to her.
Aftran had sacrificed so much. She had experienced all the richness and wonder of our world. But when she decided she did not have the right to control another, she had been strong enough to give it up to save a little girl’s life.
She returned to the Yeerk pool. It must have felt like the worst kind of prison to her after being in Karen’s body. But she didn’t allow herself to wallow in despair. She chose to fight. She battled to free us all.
I reached into the water and slid Aftran into my hands. I pressed her against my ear. It was the only way I could talk to her, and I needed to thank her for all she’d done.
A moment later I felt her cold, slick body touch my skin. My ear canal tingled as she pushed her way through.
<I knew you would come for me, Cassie,> she said as soon as she had made her connections with my brain.
There was so much I wanted to say to her, I hardly knew where to start. <Thank you for helping me save Ax’s life,> I answered.
She laughed. <If you had told me when we first met that I would ever do anything to aid an Andalite …>
<Or become a Yeerk freedom fighter,> I added.
<That, too,> Aftran agreed. Her tone turned somber then. <Cassie, there’s something I have to ask you to do for me.>
<Anything,> I replied instantly.
<I need you to kill me,> she said simply.
<What?> I cried. <No!>
<We both know I will be dead in three days no matter what you do. You have witnessed Kandrona starvation. I ask you to spare me that,> Aftran answered. <End my life now. You can make it fast and painless.>
I felt a lump of unshed tears form in my throat. Were they mine? Or Aftran’s?
Maybe they were both of ours. Both of ours. That gave me an idea.
<You could stay in me!> I exclaimed.
<No. You would have to go into the Yeerk pool every three days. It’s too dangerous. If you were somehow found out, Visser Three would learn everything about your friends and the peace movement. All would be lost,> Aftran answered.
She must have felt the wave of despair and sorrow sweeping through me.
<It’s not so bad to die for what you believe in. There are much worse deaths,> she said gently. <Many worse deaths.>
Something very good about that last line there.
Chapter 28
quote:“My mom didn’t let me eat any solid food until today,” Rachel complained. “And it’s been four days since I got sick.”
All the way to the beach, Jake, Rachel, Marco, Tobias, and Ax had been trying to top each other with stories about who felt worse when they were sick.
<That’s the worst thing that happened to you while you were sick?> Tobias demanded as he soared overhead. <I’m not even sure Cassie’s dad is a real vet. He tried to stick a pill up ->
“Yeah, well, my dad brought me baby aspirin from the store. Baby aspirin!” Marco groused. “Like for a baby.”
“A Yeerk was in my head,” Ax said, still amazed. He was in human morph, naturally. “In my head. Head-duh.”
I mostly ignored my friends’ complaining contest. I was enjoying the warm sand sliding between my toes. And the salty smell and soft sounds of the ocean.
There’s nothing like a trip to the Yeerk pool to make you appreciate life and freedom.
“Is this where we’re supposed to meet Aftran?” Jake asked.
“Uh-huh. When I morphed to dolphin and visited her this morning, she said it’s time for her to move on. But she wanted to say good-bye,” I answered. “Just look out there.” I pointed out at the blue-green water.
“I don’t see anything,” Marco said.
<I do,> Tobias answered. <Turn a little to the left.>
We turned. I scanned the ocean and spotted a foamy spot. The water broke over a massive fin. Then a humpback whale leaped. All the way out of the water. Droplets of water flew off her in a sparking comet.
There should be a picture of that scene in the dictionary - under beauty. And joy.
“We made the right decision,” Jake said. “Better than the last time we used the blue box.”
“Would have been hard to do any worse,” Marco said. “Anyway. Visser Three will never find Aftran now.”
On Aftran’s second day out of the Yeerk pool, everyone in the group was well enough for a short meeting. We all agreed that we couldn’t let Aftran die. It was Jake who thought of the way to save her.
He suggested that we give her the power to morph, on the condition that she choose one morphand stay in it forever. It was just safer that way. For everyone. Like I said, the decision was unanimous.
Aftran took another sparking flight. I felt like my heart was leaping with her.
“Whoa! Good leap!” Marco exclaimed.
It felt good. We were all together again. Alive. Well. And Aftran was free. How amazing was that?
<Aftran’s moving out. Heading for the deep ocean,> Tobias announced.
“She must feel like she’s in paradise,” I said. “Can you imagine living in the ocean after the Yeerk pool? And in that body - fast, powerful, able to see, hear, feel, and communicate.”
“I bet she’ll miss the fight though,” Rachel added.
“She’s done her part,” Jake said.
I thought back to that moment when I had first allowed Aftran into my head. One decision, so many consequences.
I caught Jake watching me.
“What?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Just wondering what you were thinking.”
“Nothing very profound,” I said. “Just …”
“Just what?”
“Just that every now and then, we actually win one.”
He nodded. “Sometimes we do win,” he agreed. “This time? This time, Cassie, you won.”
My favorite thing in this paragraph is honestly Marco's sheer outrage over his dad giving him baby aspirin. But this is probably the best possible solution for Aftran. I mean, she's not going to have a lot of in depth conversations as a hunchback, but at least she's out of this all and safe.
So that's the book. I honestly think it's one of the best books we've read in quite a while, and this win was all Cassie, and really, it's probably the best portrayal of Cassie we've seen.
Next book is Megamorphs 3, Elfangor's Secret, and was written by Applegate herself.
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Sep 24, 2021 03:35
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- FlocksOfMice
- Feb 3, 2009
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Hot dang after a few shaky ones or whacky gimmick plots it was good to go back to like, a real hard, emotionally rough story like this. No action-comedy or space adventure for Galaxy Gandalf. This felt like a book out of the first 10.
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Sep 24, 2021 04:41
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- pile of brown
- Dec 31, 2004
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It is too bad they couldn't figure out a way to keep Aftran around. Having a Yeerk on the team would have been pretty cool and it would be fun to explore more of the benefits that could come up having a friend live inside your head...?
Yeah, kind of a bummer there weren't any Chee not already housing a Yeerk, or build them their own mini kandrona to hook up to a fish tank, or the freedom movement couldn't rustle up another voluntary host. I'm a little reminded of the Jacob/Selmak situation from SG-1, but the Tok'ra provide far more tangible benefits than Yeerks do as symbionts so it makes sense it would be easier to find them a host.
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Sep 24, 2021 05:53
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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This is a really, really good book and I think easily the best Cassie book.
It is too bad they couldn't figure out a way to keep Aftran around. Having a Yeerk on the team would have been pretty cool and it would be fun to explore more of the benefits that could come up having a friend live inside your head...?
I remembered how this ended and thought having her nothlit as a whale (it makes sense that she can't live in Cassie) was a convenient way for Applegate to sort of just maintain that Harry Potter esque continuation of a status quo. Which is fine, it's just that in-universe it would make more sense for her to nothlit into a bird of prey so she could join the team (and help the Yeerk peace movement!) as an auxiliary aerial unit like Tobias was before book 13. But this...
quote:He suggested that we give her the power to morph, on the condition that she choose one morph and stay in it forever. It was just safer that way. For everyone. Like I said, the decision was unanimous.
...suggests that might not have played out as well with the others, who trust her less than Cassie, and wanted her gone. Happy and safe, but still gone. So that works for me.
Having said that, another thing I found frustrating about the series story arc overall but which maybe I'll reconsider when we get to it again, is that this book is the answer to the fundamental problem which also gets heavily stressed in this book: Yeerks are blind to the world and can only experience it by enslaving others. The morphing power cuts that Gordian knot. They could free the Yeerks by letting them become nothlits. But I guess by the end of it the war has gone on too long and there's too much blood under the bridge and there's just no way the Andalites will countenance that, even though it's such a perfect solution to the original problem.
edit - and also I guess there's no way the militant Yeerks, who have been running the show from the start, would accept that either
freebooter fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Sep 24, 2021
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Sep 24, 2021 09:59
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- disaster pastor
- May 1, 2007
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Next book is Megamorphs 3, Elfangor's Secret
Oh, hell, yes.
Having said that, another thing I found frustrating about the series story arc overall but which maybe I'll reconsider when we get to it again, is that this book is the answer to the fundamental problem which also gets heavily stressed in this book: Yeerks are blind to the world and can only experience it by enslaving others. The morphing power cuts that Gordian knot. They could free the Yeerks by letting them become nothlits. But I guess by the end of it the war has gone on too long and there's too much blood under the bridge and there's just no way the Andalites will countenance that, even though it's such a perfect solution to the original problem.
edit - and also I guess there's no way the militant Yeerks, who have been running the show from the start, would accept that either
I've brought this up before, but I have a hard time seeing it as the perfect solution for the Yeerks when it means their extinction. Why would they take that solution unless it were literally a choice between being a nothlit and being exterminated outright?
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Sep 24, 2021 12:08
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- e X
- Feb 23, 2013
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cool but crude
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It is too bad they couldn't figure out a way to keep Aftran around. Having a Yeerk on the team would have been pretty cool and it would be fun to explore more of the benefits that could come up having a friend live inside your head...?
Yeah, that comes up a couple of times, where somebody voluntary becomes a Nolith to escape the constrains of their body. But it's always non sapient morphs, which becomes a little weird when you consider that it is totally possible to combine the DNA of different creatures of the same species to create a new genetic being, like Ax did with his human morph. I.e. Aftran could have taken DNA from the Animorphs and lived out the remainder of her days as a human, which to me at least would have been preferable to becoming an animals. Admittedly, for Aftran it actually makes a lot of sense and is handled well, so I can't complain too much, but it does come up again and they never really consider it an option. But the real reason probably is that they wanted to keep the status quo and don't add (another) permanent team member, so I am basically fine with it. This still is a childre'sn book series, and some simpler narrative conventions are perfectly fine, even when they raise questions for an adult.
And yes, this is a great Cassie book, probably her best.
e X fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Sep 24, 2021
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Sep 24, 2021 12:10
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- Gwaihir
- Dec 8, 2009
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Hair Elf
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Using the morphing cube to make their own home grown version of the Tok'ra would have been really cool and fun to explore, but I do get why it was just beyond the scope of the series as is. I think an arc of books with a yeerk freedom movement character(s) joining the team would have been 100x better than everything with David though.
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Sep 24, 2021 13:17
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- freebooter
- Jul 7, 2009
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Oh, hell, yes.
I've brought this up before, but I have a hard time seeing it as the perfect solution for the Yeerks when it means their extinction. Why would they take that solution unless it were literally a choice between being a nothlit and being exterminated outright?
Not really because any Yeerks who are happy just chilling in the pool (and we know they exist) can stay behind, the ones who've had hosts and are frustrated with their sluglike existence have the new option. And we also know there's a medium between the Not Interested ones and the fully militarised Visser-led authoritarian state ones, i.e. Illim and his comrades, and there's some wriggle room there too because Illim started out in one camp and was convinced into the other. And it would take less convincing once you've actually lost the war, like Vichy French troops or Indian troops who started out under the British in SE Asia but then fought for the Japanese. Like, OK, the boss has changed, we're doing this now, whatever... I can be a (whispers: discriminated against) human nothlit in some post-war Earth or I can go back to the pool? That's the deal? Well, it would've been nice to defeat the Andalites but I guess I'll just be a human like I was before but minus the screaming slave in my mind. Hey, what do you mean I can't get a decent job and people are screaming at me out the windows of cars...
So I think it's definitely the Andalites who would put their feet down about this being a solution, but also that that's probably a by -product of war and bad blood and a commentary rather than a plot hole. We'll see when we get there if it gets brought up. I know it's offered to (and taken up by) the Taxxons but I don't remember it being offered to the Yeerks.
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Sep 24, 2021 13:48
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- pile of brown
- Dec 31, 2004
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So I think it's definitely the Andalites who would put their feet down about this being a solution,
Hooves
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Sep 24, 2021 16:48
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May 27, 2024 05:35
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- WrightOfWay
- Jul 24, 2010
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Yeah, that comes up a couple of times, where somebody voluntary becomes a Nolith to escape the constrains of their body. But it's always non sapient morphs, which becomes a little weird when you consider that it is totally possible to combine the DNA of different creatures of the same species to create a new genetic being, like Ax did with his human morph. I.e. Aftran could have taken DNA from the Animorphs and lived out the remainder of her days as a human, which to me at least would have been preferable to becoming an animals. Admittedly, for Aftran it actually makes a lot of sense and is handled well, so I can't complain too much, but it does come up again and they never really consider it an option. But the real reason probably is that they wanted to keep the status quo and don't add (another) permanent team member, so I am basically fine with it. This still is a childre'sn book series, and some simpler narrative conventions are perfectly fine, even when they raise questions for an adult.
And yes, this is a great Cassie book, probably her best.
I think becoming a human has it's own set of problems in that you are an undocumented person with no family, friends or shelter in 1990's America. Definitely not insurmountable problems, but enough to influence your decision such that you might see becoming a whale as a better option.
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Sep 24, 2021 19:40
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Sep 20, 2021 11:07
