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

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Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

We know Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak were born in captivity, and given that the Hork Bajir seem pretty short lived compared to humans, I get the feeling almost all Hork Bajir were.

# ? Feb 4, 2022 17:08

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# ? May 24, 2024 22:24

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

It's really fun to consider the contrast to them when the books started and it was slightly traumatic teen adventure and now, when they've been at this for like, either 3 entire weeks or probably several years,and are all very worn down, no longer think like children despite still at their core being children, it's been a slow and subtle thing and in a less monthly serialized thing with less ghost-authors and filler episodes we probably could have seen it track better and more clearly, but you can really see the differences between early Marco and now Marco, early Jake and now Jake.

I wanted to be an Animorph when I was a kid but dang if they aren't basically ruined as people.

# ? Feb 4, 2022 18:46

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

Have we got up to the "we were children no more" quote yet?

# ? Feb 4, 2022 20:18

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Have we got up to the "we were children no more" quote yet?

Not yet.

# ? Feb 4, 2022 20:31

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Have we got up to the "we were children no more" quote yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlZSxjOTmpI

# ? Feb 4, 2022 22:15

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

FlocksOfMice posted:

It's really fun to consider the contrast to them when the books started and it was slightly traumatic teen adventure and now, when they've been at this for like, either 3 entire weeks or probably several years,and are all very worn down, no longer think like children despite still at their core being children, it's been a slow and subtle thing and in a less monthly serialized thing with less ghost-authors and filler episodes we probably could have seen it track better and more clearly, but you can really see the differences between early Marco and now Marco, early Jake and now Jake.

I wanted to be an Animorph when I was a kid but dang if they aren't basically ruined as people.

I kinda think the extra monster-of-the-week stuff, or padding or whatever, makes this work better. It happens so gradually I wouldn't actually be able to put my finger on the point where it feels like they've crossed some defining line. There are multiple points, sure - like trapping David or Ax ultimately siding with the Animorphs on Leera or leading Marco's mum into a trap - but those are all part of a slow and ongoing (ah-ha) transformation.

Compare it to KA's later series Everworld, which always felt a bit truncated to me. Or the later seasons of Lost when they had to cram too much plot into too few episodes. Sometimes it's good to have room for a story to stretch its legs.

# ? Feb 5, 2022 00:54

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 30

quote:

I lay there with my host unconscious. I could not see with her eyes or hear with her ears. I lay there, alone with only my own memory now.

The �bandits� had presumably withdrawn. They had presumably turned off the hologram that concealed us. Soon someone would discover me. I could only hope it would not be a Taxxon. A axxon�s loyalty and self-restraint were very doubtful when there was fresh meat to be had without a struggle.

I lay, helpless, waiting for the swelling in Eva�s brain to go down, for function to return. Waited, and remembered the story I had not told the Council.

I had lied to them. Of course, I had lied.

Essam and I knew the Kandrona was running down. Starvation lay ahead. Essam said he would die rather than contact the Empire.

Not me. I wasn�t ready to die. I loved life as a human. Loved my life as Allison Kim, as Hildy�s wife, as a mother.

I had gone over. I was as much human as Yeerk. But how to survive? And much more important, how to rule? Because as much as I enjoyed my life on Earth, I still burned with ambition to be a visser, to command and control the only Class-Five species we knew.

I simply wanted to shape the invasion of Earth to allow me to maintain control over the tactics and the strategy. We could enslave the people of Earth gradually. They would never need to know that we were there among them. Until we were them, and they us, and all under my power.

I could do it all, if only I could present the Empire with a fait accompli, an accomplished fact.

So I began to work at a feverish pace. We moved to a more typical American community, a midsized city on one of the oceans. There I used my superior computer skills to steal millions of dollars from bank accounts. I formed fake companies and raised millions more from the sale of stock.

And, once I had the seed money, several hundred million, I began to create The Sharing.

It would cater to one of the most fundamental human weaknesses: the need to belong. The fear of loneliness. The hunger to be special. The craving for an exaggerated importance.

I would make a haven for the weak, the inadequate, the fearful. I would wrap it up in all the bright packaging that humans love so much.

The Sharing would never be about weak people being led to submit to a stronger will, no, no, it would be about family, virtue, righteousness, brotherhood and sisterhood. I would offer people an identity. A place to go. I would give them a new vision of themselves as part of something larger, erasing their individuality.

I needed only one thing before I could go to the Empire, call the Council of Thirteen, and present them with my accomplished fact: I needed one human, just one, to submit voluntarily.

If I could show them one human who had surrendered his or her will and freedom, without threat of violence, I could convince the Empire to follow my path. The way of infiltration.

The first meeting of The Sharing took place on a Saturday. Thirty-five people attended.

I had done a tremendous job in a very short time. I had studied human history, supplementing what Allison Kim already knew. I studied every cult, every movement, every great, mesmerizing leader that had ever held sway over humans.

And by the time those thirty-five humans came into the rented hall, I had adorned the walls with symbols and flags and icons. All the visual nonsense that moves the susceptible human mind.

They filed in, some in small groups, but most alone. They were stirred by the inspirational music. Flattered by the attention paid them by attendants I�d hired from a temp agency. Impressed by the expensively produced booklets we handed out. Awed by the pictures and symbols that draped the walls.

I spoke to them from the stage. Not as Allison Kim, of course, because all my links to Allison Kim would have to be concealed before my fellow Yeerks arrived.

I had carefully picked a human host for just this one purpose. His name was Lawrence Alter. A real estate salesman. I changed his name to Lore David Altman. Three name combinations were popular then.

He was a charismatic man with a loud, deep voice and an abundance of hair. Just the sort of face that humans respond to, though his brain was a wasteland compared to Allison�s.

Allison Kim had been left handcuffed to a radiator in a hotel room, awaiting my return.

Later, after it was over, I found I couldn�t recall exactly what I�d said to this first meeting of The Sharing, not the specific words. A lot of high-flown rhetoric touching on the themes humans love to hear: that they are special, superior, a chosen few. That their failures in life are all someone else�s fault. That mystical, unseen forces and secret knowledge will give them power.

The next Saturday there were more than twice the number of humans. And already I had begun to explain that there was an �Outer� Sharing, and an �Inner� one. The humans in the �Outer� Sharing were wiser, better, more moral, superior to the average human, but not as superior as those lucky few who had entered the �Inner� sharing.

Of course at that point there was no �Inner� Sharing. Just seventy or eighty humans sitting in plush chairs and being fed an endless diet of words that had no clear meaning.

The Inner-Sharing, that was the test of true greatness. And all a human had to do to enter was to surrender their will.

This was what Essam, who had infested only Lowenstein and Hildy, would not credit: that humans would surrender their freedom in exchange for empty words. But I had infested the lost soldier, and the even more lost Jenny Lines. I had tasted human defeat and superstition and weakness.

I knew.

And that's how the Sharing was founded.

Chapter 31

quote:

It was so easy. Disturbingly easy. I had been in a human host for a long time, gone from the negligible Jenny Lines to the formidable Allison Kim. I had come to have some sympathy for humans, even as I plotted their destruction as a race.

I had, or felt I had, human children of my own.

And so, a part of me, a small part of me was like Essam and did not want to believe that humans could be this easily fooled. Part of me, a small part, was disappointed that I was right.

The first was named Rich Huntley. He almost begged me to let him join the Inner-Sharing.

�Why?� I asked him. �Why do you want to join?�

�Because I really believe in all the things you�re saying.�

�You can believe without being in the Inner-Sharing,� I said. �Why is it so important to you?�

It took a while, but in the end he told the truth. �Because I want to be a part of something. Something big and important.�

Part of something. Anything, so long as he could be a part, and not be himself alone.

�If you join the Inner-Sharing it will mean losing all your individual will,� I said.

He shrugged.

�It will mean that you will never again be free of The Sharing.�

�I don�t want to be free of it! I love The Sharing. I love you, Brother Lore!�

�You will be apart, different.�

�Yeah! That�s what I want!�

He was so willing, so eager, I suspected some sort of clever trap. It couldn�t be this easy.

Humans could not surrender their own individuality for nothing but a promise that they would be �special.� It was insane!

One, final test.

Essam had left his host, agreeing to help me with this experiment. Poor Essam, he thought he would win the bet.

I raised Essam from a small jar half-filled with water. I held him in my hand. I knew how we looked to humans. Slugs. Worms. Leeches. The reference points were never flattering.

The human, Rich Huntley, recoiled. The sight of Essam in his natural state sickened his human sensibilities.

�Rich,� I said, �this is a Yeerk. To become a member of the Inner-Sharing, you must allow me to put him in your ear. He will enter your brain. He will take over your life.�

He was nervous, afraid. �But then I�m in, right? Then I�m in the Inner-Sharing, right?�

�Right.�

�Does it � does it hurt?�

�No.�

�Okay. Okay, then. Yeah. Let�s do it. Let�s do it.�

We did it. Essam found himself looking out through Huntley�s eyes at me.

�You win, Sub-Visser,� he said.

I was generous in victory. �We win, Essam. All Yeerks win.�

�And humans lose.�

�The first law of evolution, Essam: survival of the most fit. And it�s not as if we intend to eat them,� I joked. �We�re not predators. We are parasites. They�ll live. They�ll be fed and be cared for.�

�They�ll be slaves.�

�Look around that mind while you�re in there, Essam. What else was this human good for?�

Essam left the host and we disposed of the human.

We recorded the entire thing. Proof to the Empire that I had not only located a true Class-Five species, but that we could begin harvesting human hosts right away, without the loss of so much as a single Hork-Bajir.

I contacted the Empire.

Essam knew I had contacted the Empire. And he agreed. That was not the point where Essam and I parted ways. I misled the Council on that. I couldn�t tell him that I had every intention at first of keeping the children.

The rupture between Essam and me came weeks later, when it became increasingly clear to me that I no longer had any use for Allison Kim. I needed to spend all my time now as Lore David Altman, spiritual guide of The Sharing.

�What will you do with Allison?� Essam asked.

�What do you mean, what will I do? We will have to kill her and destroy the body. And while we�re at it, we�ll need to erase Hildy Gervais, as well. Hildy is tied to Allison and it will be better if it seems that both have simply moved away.�

�You would kill the mother and father of these children?�

�Essam, we have no choice. Our new hosts will simply adopt the orphaned children. They�re young. The children will be fine!�

�Yes. As you say, Sub-Visser.�

�Soon there will be no �sub,�� I said happily. �I will be Visser. And a visser in the single digits, Essam. What can they deny me, now? I could be Visser Six. Or three. I could even be Visser One, Essam. Won�t that be wonderful? Visser One!�

I was too caught up in my own visions of power to spot the warning signs.

The rest of what I�d told the Council was true. Or mostly true: Essam had overpowered me, starved me till I left Allison Kim. He�d left me with access to Lore David Altman.

I did go in search of Essam. But not to kill him.

He had my children. I wanted them back.

I still wanted them back.

�Visser One! Visser One!�

�Mmmm?�

�Wake up. You have been given a stimulant that will bring you back to full alertness.� A human-Controller leaned over me. I was on my back, on a table, in what might have been a hospital room.

But I knew it was just a part of the pool facility.

<Is she awake?> Visser Three demanded.

�Yes, Visser. I have repaired the most recent injuries. She seems to have been slashed by a large animal, probably a member of the cat family, and by -�

<Get her to the trial chamber. Now.>

Visser Three�s large Andalite eyes hovered above me. The rage was a banked fire, for now. The fear was fresh and bright.

<The Council demands our presence, Visser One,> he said dully.

I rose, groggy, woozy from blood loss, from injuries old and new, from the aftereffects of unconsciousness.

We walked toward the chamber. The guards walked with us. As before. But with one difference.

It was clear now that we were both being watched.

So, I had asked before but I ask again.....how would this had been different if Essam had been the one to infest Jenny?

# ? Feb 5, 2022 03:57

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

So, I had asked before but I ask again.....how would this had been different if Essam had been the one to infest Jenny?

I don't really know him well enough to say. I don't think we get enough of him in these flashback glimpses. Actually, do yeerks even have genders?

# ? Feb 5, 2022 10:10

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

That's actually a really good minor twist, that her appraisal of weak hosts which seemed like a weakness at first was ultimately a strength.

I also remember thinking as a kid that the dude who comes in there desperately looking for meaning is one of the saddest moments in the series. Just some poor lost soul who potentially dooms the human race and gets murdered on top of that.

quote:

We recorded the entire thing. Proof to the Empire that I had not only located a true Class-Five species, but that we could begin harvesting human hosts right away, without the loss of so much as a single Hork-Bajir.

Their hands, however...

# ? Feb 5, 2022 13:30

CidGregor: Sep 27, 2009; TG: if i were you i would just take that fucking devilbeast out behind the woodshed and blow its head off

Fuschia tude posted:

Actually, do yeerks even have genders?

I was wondering exactly this myself. It seems like we always refer to V1 as female just because of being in marco's mom and V3 as male because of Alloran and so on for simplicity's sake, but I legit don't remember if Yeerk genders are addressed as a thing. Part of me actually wants to say "no." If their reproduction process involves three Yeerks, it's kind of a lot harder to conceptualize a species having three genders instead of one/genderless, and it's far easier to extrapolate that they just kind of assume the gendered pronouns of their hosts for convenience.

CidGregor fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Feb 5, 2022

# ? Feb 5, 2022 16:51

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

They dying when you reproduce thing is weird too. If they don't have a parenting instinct, how do you convince them to do that? Is it when they reach the end of their natural lifespan anyway? It must be a hell of a strong instinct. I can't imagine Visser 3 or 1 doing that.

# ? Feb 5, 2022 18:13

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

As far as I know, Yeerks are genderless, Esplin does refer to being "born from the decaying bodies of my tripartite parents, along with several hundred brothers and sisters, aboard ship.", but I don't know to what extent that's saying something about Yeerks, and to what extent it's Applegate, in the late 1990s, having trouble writing nongendered language for Yeerk voices. Visser One is called "she" throughout the book, but of the six hosts Visser One has throughout the book, 3 are women, 2 are men, and 1 is the Hork-Bajir at the beginning whose gender or sex isn't identified, and the original choice of Jenny over Lowenstein wasn't because Jenny was female and Lowenstein was male, but because Visser One identified her as younger and healthier.

# ? Feb 5, 2022 18:27

Remalle: Feb 12, 2020

CidGregor posted:

I was wondering exactly this myself. It seems like we always refer to V1 as female just because of being in marco's mom and V3 as male because of Alloran and so on for simplicity's sake, but I legit don't remember if Yeerk genders are addressed as a thing. Part of me actually wants to say "no." If their reproduction process involves three Yeerks, it's kind of a lot harder to conceptualize a species having three genders instead of one/genderless, and it's far easier to extrapolate that they just kind of assume the gendered pronouns of their hosts for convenience.

Yeah, who could even imagine a world without a gender binary

# ? Feb 5, 2022 18:34

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

I assume that Yeerks, much like the Stargate version of Yeerks just kinda vibe with being a boy or a girl after a while in a few different hosts.

# ? Feb 5, 2022 19:20

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

OctaviusBeaver posted:

They dying when you reproduce thing is weird too. If they don't have a parenting instinct, how do you convince them to do that? Is it when they reach the end of their natural lifespan anyway? It must be a hell of a strong instinct. I can't imagine Visser 3 or 1 doing that.

I assume it�s a death drive type of thing when a Yeerk is nearing the end of its natural lifespan.

# ? Feb 5, 2022 20:26

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Pwnstar posted:

I assume that Yeerks, much like the Stargate version of Yeerks just kinda vibe with being a boy or a girl after a while in a few different hosts.

Yeah, Yeerks appear to acquire a gender over time based on host history and even then it seems quite fluid. I'm betting if the book was written today, Edriss would probably either be liberally flipping pronouns on a per-host basis, or sticking to a non-gendered means of referring to her/themself as much as possible.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 02:59

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

nine-gear crow posted:

Yeah, Yeerks appear to acquire a gender over time based on host history and even then it seems quite fluid. I'm betting if the book was written today, Edriss would probably either be liberally flipping pronouns on a per-host basis, or sticking to a non-gendered means of referring to her/themself as much as possible.

Edriss strongly identifies with being a mother and with living as Allison Kim so I'd think there's a strong argument they would identify as female... ish.

I'd have to imagine that living with the same host for a long period of time without new ones would also have a... solidifying effect on a yeerk's sense of self. So Edriss in Eva, and likewise V3 has been with Alloran for decades now. He'd probably deny any sort of identifying in the manner of a lowly host, buuuut

# ? Feb 6, 2022 03:37

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 32

quote:

I sat. Visser Three stood. The Hork-Bajir guard had been doubled. Outside the chamber the Hork-Bajir were multiplying, rushing to obey Garoff�s direct orders. Orders that might result in Visser Three�s arrest. But would more likely result in his immediate execution.

After all, a morph-capable warrior is very, very hard to hold on to.

I should have been pleased to see him brought low. But I was not. I, too, was now sure to be condemned. And I would not have the advantage of a quick, painless death.

<You�re a thief, a slave mistress, a murderer many times over,> Eva said. <How is it that I can feel even the slightest pity for you?>

The Council appeared in the hologram. I searched those hooded faces for some clue. Were they drawn slightly apart, those corrupt, powerful old Yeerks? Was there a tension there? Or was I merely desperate?

Garoff spoke, his voice grave. �There are a few questions left to be cleared up, Visser One. How did the children escape? How did Essam die, and how did his host, Hildy, survive?�

�You � you want me to continue my story?�

�Don�t make the mistake of believing you are still on trial, Visser One. The trial is over. We have already decided on a verdict.� He looked deliberately at Visser Three and added, �Two verdicts.�

Strange. Much as we hated each other, Visser Three and I were in the same boat, as the human expression goes. A boat that was heading for the rocks of a lee shore.



<It wasn�t all a setup, human. I miss it.>

�Tell us, in succinct fashion, what happened after Essam left with your progeny.�

�Yes, Council member.�

I tried to turn my memory back to the hectic days, days of such soaring hope mingled with such bitter loss. But I kept seeing a billowing white sail above me; feeling salt spray on my face, stinging my eyes; my hand on the tiller, the pressure of it against my palm; the sense that the boat itself was alive, endowed with life by the need of sky and sea to create some sort of union.

Eva�s husband, my second husband, so to speak, was there, lying back, feet propped, a drink in one hand, a book he wasn�t reading in the other hand. And Marco, of course, climbing dangerously in the rigging, playing superhero.

I had shielded myself from the boy and his father. I had learned by then not to let human emotions affect me. I was an actor, playing a part to perfection. I used Eva�s mind, her instincts, to be a good wife and a good mother, even as I plotted and waited and plotted some more.

I never let Eva see my children. Never let her know. I watched them through other hosts, but not through her eyes. She hated me so for what I was doing to her family, her son. Somehow I never could stand the possibility of her knowing that I, too, had children.

We all do what we have to do in life. Human or Yeerk. Morality is an illusion, a shield for the weak. It is all about the hunger for power. I knew that. Believed that.

And yet, I could not let my host see that I was a mother, too. I could stand her hatred. I could not stand the insinuating pity, the appeals to a shared love.

�We�re waiting,� Garoff said testily.

�Yes. Yes,� I said. �Hildy. Essam. It was � it � � I shook my head and received a jolt of pain from my twisted bones.

�I went after them,� I said. �I chased them. It was not easy. Essam was no fool. Allison was surely no fool. And Hildy had lived an interesting life. He knew the places a human could hide. Nevertheless, I found them.

�The twins were sick. Both with high fevers. Allison and Essam took them to a doctor. The doctor admitted them to a hospital, and their names popped up in a computer search.

�I was there very quickly. Three days had passed. I knew Essam would be starving. I hoped to use the presence of the Kandrona to torture him. Starvation is so much more painful when salvation is near.�

<You were going to save him.>

<No. No, human, I was not. He had abandoned me. Spurned me. After all we �>

<Jealousy?>

<Jealousy? Don�t be idiotic. Not jealousy, rage, rage! How could they? Essam? Allison? He had a duty to me. And she, hadn�t I treated her kindly? And yet, she tricked me, used me, and then turned on me!>

<My God, do you hear yourself? You use and enslave and kill without mercy and you expect loyalty?>

�Visser One, if you are having some sort of difficulty in focusing � �

�No, Council Member Garoff. I�m fine.� I drew a deep breath and steeled myself, hoping at best to get through the end of the proceeding with some dignity.

I found Essam starving. Hildy, never the most emotional stable of humans, was cracking under the strain of experiencing Essam�s pain. I am told it�s very difficult for a host to endure the death of a Yeerk.

I approached Essam, took him by surprise in a stairwell of the hospital. He attacked me. But I was armed.

�Go ahead, kill me! I�m already dead!� he cried.

�Why are the twins here?�

�What? Do you actually pretend to care?� he mocked. �They have a virus, a resistant strain of some sort. If I had the ship, if I had access to the ship�s computer, I could synthesize an antiviral. I could � I � �

He staggered. He�d lost control of his host for a moment. He was weakening swiftly.

�You betrayed me and you betrayed your race,� I said.

�Your race is sick! Sick and twisted and evil!� It was Hildy talking, on his own, uncontrolled.

�We are parasite, Mr. Gervais,� I said. �You�re a predator. Go ask a cow or a pig what they think of humans. We do what we are born to do.�

�I�m dying.� Essam again. �Dying. Don�t � don�t hurt the kids. You can�t � �

He collapsed suddenly, utterly. It was as if every tendon in his body had been cut at the same moment. He lay there, breathing but little else. I reached down and turned his head. Left ear. Right ear.

Essam was trying to emerge from the right ear. He was halfway out, escaping the host in the moment of death, as instinct tells us to do.

I grabbed him and pulled him the rest of the way. But he was still more attached than I�d thought. I suppose death had already reached part of his body. I held half a Yeerk in my hand. He moved very little, then he stopped moving altogether.

I put him into my pocket. A strange moment. A moment I�ll never forget. So small, we Yeerks, compared with the host bodies we take. So small I could stick my friend in my pocket.

I was alone on Earth. The only Yeerk. It would take weeks for anyone else to arrive. Maybe months.

I was more lonely than ever.

Hildy woke, slowly. But he was not the same human. Bits of Essam still stuck to his brain. Dead nerve endings were tied into his. Some of his neurons fired through dead Yeerk tissue.

He tried to attack me. Pushed me out of the stairwell, into a corridor. He tried to choke me with his bare hands. Allison saw us fighting. Nurses and interns and security guards were running to intervene.

They pulled Hildy off me. They dragged him away, raving about aliens. They held him for psychiatric observation.

As soon as I could get free, I went after Allison. She was gone. The twins were still there.

Allison had no choice but to leave them, of course. She was afraid I�d kill her, or infest her again. I knew she would come back for the children. I relied on it. She was very clever. She came back disguised as a doctor. A wig, colored contact lenses, so on. But I knew her too well.

I killed her.

<My God. How could you do it? How could you do such an evil thing?>

<No choice. If she lived, she�d have come after me. She was respected, believable. She was dangerous. She knew I was Lore David Altman. She knew how to find me.>

Garoff nodded. �You eliminated this troublesome host.�

�Yes.�

�And the human Hildy? Obviously you did not kill him.�

�The humans diagnosed him as mad. He could rave all he liked, it wouldn�t matter. No one would ever believe him.�

�And the children?� Garoff asked.

�I left them where they were. In the hospital. In time the were judged to be abandoned and put up for adoption. That is where human pair-bonded couples take over care of another human couple�s progeny.�

�And then?�

I took a deep breath. It was all at an end, now. �I waited for the first ships to arrive and I built The Sharing. Once the first Yeerks arrived I began to work feverishly to acquire willing hosts. Once we had enough willing hosts we would have the forces necessary to begin taking involuntary hosts as well.

�A few, then a dozen, then a hundred. We built our financial base and began the secret construction of this very facility: the first great Yeerk pool on planet Earth.

�Finally, when I judged the time was right, I eliminated Lore David Altman. Humans will tear down a living leader but revere a dead one. I left behind sufficient writings � vague nostrums, platitudes, absurdities, prophecies, the sorts of transparent nonsense that humans pore over so endlessly.

�The time was right for me to change hosts. I found this body. I took it. And I continued running The Sharing from behind the scenes, building facilities, creating false fronts, infiltrating, swelling our numbers, all with never a Dracon beam fired.�

I smiled, amused by my own persistent pride. I had done great things.

<You�re a murderer, Yeerk. That soldier, Jenny, Lowenstein, Allison, Lore �>

<And you would have had your day, human, when the time came that I tired of you.>

�Is that everything, Visser One?� Garoff asked.

Everything, I thought. Everything but the years of missing Essam, missing Allison. Regrets. Rage. The thrill of seeing my power grow as my plan came to fruition. The impotent despair of watching my children from afar. Half Yeerk, half almost human.

I had taken this final host because, at least unconsciously, I wanted to know the life I could never really know. The love of a spouse, an equal. The love of a child.

But none of it had ever really touched me. I�d had my fling with humanity. I was Yeerk once more. I was Visser One.

�It�s enough,� I said.

�Then the Council will make known its judgments.�

So Visser One's story of how she came to earth and what she did there is done, and now we just wait for the verdict. What do you think of it?

Chapter 33

quote:

We were kept waiting a while, Visser Three and I. A long while, despite Garoff�s earlier claim that judgment had already been rendered.

We did not speak.

I sat there, broken in body, friendless, defeated, with no company but the voice of my host. She was sickened by her own temporary compromise with me.

 she said. <Even if it did lead to open war, I shouldn�t have helped you. You filthy, evil thing. I thought I�d found something decent inside you. I thought you were a mother, too.>



<At least now you�ll die and I�ll be free.>

I laughed. <You�ll die too, human. What freedom is there in death?>

<I�ll be free of you.>

The wait stretched on. On and on. I was fed. Visser Three was allowed to feed. There were Dracon beams trained on us every second of the time.

At last the hologram glowed again. The scene had changed. It took me a moment to notice it, but it had changed: One of the Taxxons was gone, and one of the Hork-Bajir as well. The Council of Thirteen was, as far as I could see, the Council of Eleven. Visser Three�s stalk eyes swiveled to see my reaction. I nodded slightly. Yes, there had been quite a debate among the Council members.

But Garoff was still there.

�Vissers One and Three, you have jointly or individually committed a dozen death penalty offenses. Visser Three, you lied to and manipulated this Council. Visser One, you clearly committed numerous death penalty offenses during a period early in your invasion of Earth. You are both condemned to death by Kandrona starvation.�

I felt nothing. It was what I had known must happen. Death. The most terrible death we know.

�Both sentences suspended.�

Neither of us moved. The words meant nothing. What? Sentences suspended? What did that mean? The tiniest flicker of hope �

�Visser Three, you have failed to make progress with Earth. Your sentence is suspended for now because we simply have no one ready to take over operations there. Earth is vital. If you want the suspension to become permanent, give us Earth!� Garoff clenched his Hork-Bajir fist. �We need hosts. We need them badly. The Andalites are building up their forces.�

Visser Three was suddenly bursting with energy. <Yes, Council Members, yes! I will give you Earth. I will begin the annihilation of their cities as soon ->

�No, Visser, you will not. The Andalites have at long last become fully aware of the situation on Earth. They are assembling a massive fleet in orbit around their home world. It will be ready to launch within months. Target: Uncertain.�

<Not Earth?>

�Earth. Or, the Anati world. It will depend on which they decide is more important. But, as you know, Visser Three, the Andalites are slow to commit. A sudden, violent war on Earth would be sure to draw them in. Do you have the forces to fight a full Andalite fleet containing thirty of their Dome ships, Visser Three?�

Visser Three chose not to respond rather than admit that half that many Dome ships could wipe his forces out within minutes of emerging from Z-space.

�No, I didn�t think so,� Garoff said dryly. �Visser One, we wish the Andalites to attack us in the Anati system. But not immediately. The planet in question is ringed by numerous moons and large asteroids that will allow us to place Dracon cannon. Cannon are easier to come by than ships.�

�I � I don�t understand,� I said. �Do you � are you ordering me � �

�You are too valuable to dispose of just yet. You remain the most successful military officer in the Empire, despite your illegal and troubling methods. You are ordered to proceed immediately to the Anati system and take over the subjugation of her sentient race or races, and prepare to resist an Andalite attack. Succeed, and you will live. Fail, and -�

Eva�s attack was sudden, wild, and unexpected.

�NO!� She cried with her own mouth. �NOOOO! Kill her! Kill her! You have to -�

I clamped down on the speech centers and stifled her words.

<No! No! No! No!>

�What�s the matter, human? Sick of my company? Ah hah hah hah! A new planet! A chance to redeem everything!�

Garoff shot me a distasteful look. A look a human might reserve for someone who had belched loudly in a restaurant.

� � as I was saying, fail us, Visser One, and the sentence of death will be carried out. That is the decision of the Council.�

The hologram was gone.

<No! Let me go. Kill me, but get out of my head!>

I closed my eyes, held them shut, then opened them again on a whole new world. A whole new world of hope!

A new planet! A new race! No more troubling humans. And this time, this time, I would do it right.

The children? Visser Three had made Darwin a host. Darwin, my son, was lost to me. But what about Madra? Was she still free? Could I �

No. I couldn�t. Someday, not yet.

But someday she would know me. I would tell her all about me, all about who I was, how she had come to exist. And she would love me, as a daughter loves a mother.

And if not, then I could always infest Madra, place some well-trained Yeerk in her head. Then she would love me. She�d have no choice.

Yes, it was all going to work out fine. It was a great, big, lovely galaxy full of opportunity.

�Well, Visser Three, nice try,� I said jovially. �I thought you had me there, for a while. I thought at long last you had me.�

<Oh, but I did, Visser One. It was the Andalite bandits who saved you. If they hadn�t attacked �> He smiled an Andalite smile. <One more reason to exterminate them.>

�Yes. Well, about those Andalite bandits, since we�re past all this unpleasantness between us, I guess I could tell you � �

<What could you tell me?>

�Oh, nothing. Nothing at all, Visser. Not a thing.�

So we leave Visser One now, spared and dreaming of success and reuniting with her daughter, who will love her one way or another, and we leave the new Council of Eleven, who need to find two new members, because jury duty isn't always easy, especially when the jury is made up of creatures covered with blades and cannibals. Tomorrow, we go back to our protagonists in the....unusual book, "The Mutation". ghostwritten by someone new....Erica Babone.

So, Visser is sort of a favorite of mine, and from what I could tell from some of the comments, I'm not the only one. What did you think of it? What did you like and what did you dislike? This is the closest thing to the Yeerk Chronicles we get, so do you feel like you understand them any better? What's everyone's thoughts?

# ? Feb 6, 2022 03:53

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

The stinger is why I find Visser One so frightening. The book spends all this time building up sympathy for her, showing how she 'turned human' and all, and then at the end she knowingly and willingly turns away from it. She is an absolute monster.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 05:15

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I think it's definitely one of the best books in the series. Re-reading it as an adult, you can see KA eliding over a few points I would have found interesting, like how she infested Eva specifically or how she worked with the next Yeerks to arrive when she technically still would have been a sub visser and fugitive. But on the whole she does a really good job of writing the backstory when she would've had to reverse engineer it after probably writing the early books without giving any of that much thought.

I also think the trial frame story works great, especially when it involves the Animorphs and thus gives it a closer link to the main series, and the way it slowly pulls Visser Three into trouble as well.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 05:59

effervescible: Jun 29, 2012; i will eat your soul

I absolutely love how the book builds up the empathy and then we're hit with the double whammy of what Visser One did at the end of her initial time on Earth and what she still wants to do in her future. God drat, she's so much more evil than the most bloodthirsty warmonger ever could be.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 06:19

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

I really really love V1 saying she picked Marco's mom because she did want to feel motherhood again and it just didn't work, and she's just, ultimately is a genuine bad person who is manipulative abd sociopathic but without being really a cartoon like, say, V3. Definitely one of the better ones in the series I think yes.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 06:53

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

This book really does put the shotgun to the notion of Visser One being the "better choice" in the tug of war between her and Visser Three for command of the Yeerk military. For a series that's often pragmatic about accepting the lesser evil, this is probably one of the few times it pumps the brakes, looks you right in the face and goes "There is no 'lesser evil', there's just evil." Both prongs of the fork are uniquely awful with no redeeming qualities and the fact that both of them walk away from this book mostly scot-free because we're still in the Status Quo Zone for the series is utterly gut wrenching.

E: Also, what's this do to everyone's Visser Two theories that the Council is like "Yeah, Esplin, we're just gonna let you, uh... keep Earth for now, because we literally have no one qualified to replace you with. Same with you, Edriss. You get to keep being Visser One, same reason."

nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 07:21 on Feb 6, 2022

# ? Feb 6, 2022 07:19

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

The Ellimist choosing to leave Alloran in Visser Three's grasp is pretty telling. That leads directly to him leading the invasion of Earth, because if Visser One had been left in charge, it would have been over before it began.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 07:46

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

nine-gear crow posted:

E: Also, what's this do to everyone's Visser Two theories that the Council is like "Yeah, Esplin, we're just gonna let you, uh... keep Earth for now, because we literally have no one qualified to replace you with. Same with you, Edriss. You get to keep being Visser One, same reason."

I think this meant more that they don't have any high-ranking Yeerks who are familiar with Earth, having lived and worked there for years. (Though you'd think there must be at least a few lower vissers and sub-vissers on Earth given that it's increasingly important.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but have we never learned precisely why Visser One handed Earth's reigns over to Visser Three (or was ordered to do so) in the first place?

# ? Feb 6, 2022 08:27

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

Based on the hatred between them, I'd say Visser Three made a power play. Visser One was forced out, leading to her loving him over in book 5.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 08:40

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

FlocksOfMice posted:

I really really love V1 saying she picked Marco's mom because she did want to feel motherhood again and it just didn't work, and she's just, ultimately is a genuine bad person who is manipulative abd sociopathic but without being really a cartoon like, say, V3. Definitely one of the better ones in the series I think yes.

There is something so chilling about Visser One genuinely feeling love for her children and not giving a poo poo if it's a subordinate of hers in their head ordered to love her back. She has become human in so many ways but hasn't learned anything.

nine-gear crow posted:

E: Also, what's this do to everyone's Visser Two theories that the Council is like "Yeah, Esplin, we're just gonna let you, uh... keep Earth for now, because we literally have no one qualified to replace you with. Same with you, Edriss. You get to keep being Visser One, same reason."

Visser Two is clearly just some failson pretending to manage the commissary on the Blade Ship. "We'd love to get rid of him, but his dad used to be on the Council of Thirteen. Which according to our biology, means that he used to be on the Council of Thirteen."

# ? Feb 6, 2022 10:50

Skellybones: May 31, 2011; Fun Shoe

V2 is at best going to be angrily posting on a blog about how her daughter and the yeerk assigned to infest have both estranged themselves from her.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 12:09

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

Someone upthread mentioned that Yeerk society had very Screwtape-and-Wormwood vibes. This idea of a massively destructive love of Inner and Outer groups feels very Lewis too.

Rochallor posted:

There is something so chilling about Visser One genuinely feeling love for her children and not giving a poo poo if it's a subordinate of hers in their head ordered to love her back. She has become human in so many ways but hasn't learned anything.

Ugh. Yeah. Like Eva, we readers are thrilled to discover something relatable in V1; but... nope... monster.
She's another Saruman, I guess; seeing everything and understanding nothing.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 13:20

effervescible: Jun 29, 2012; i will eat your soul

Rochallor posted:

There is something so chilling about Visser One genuinely feeling love for her children and not giving a poo poo if it's a subordinate of hers in their head ordered to love her back. She has become human in so many ways but hasn't learned anything.

Absolutely this. I'm not being flippant when I say a lot of the subjects of discussion in the rejected parents thread would love to have the option of parasite-enforced affection from their children.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 17:02

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

Epicurius posted:

Tomorrow, we go back to our protagonists in the....unusual book, "The Mutation". ghostwritten by someone new....Erica Babone.

So, Visser is sort of a favorite of mine, and from what I could tell from some of the comments, I'm not the only one.

I have never read these two back to back, and going from this book to that one is going to be some tremendous whiplash.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 18:06

Capfalcon: Apr 6, 2012; No Boots on the Ground,
Puny Mortals!

Visser One turning out to be truly monstrous is the only ending we could have here, but agreed that it still feels brutal. Eva's betrayed reaction is a real gut punch.

I wonder what the two "splitter" members of the Council were saying that required summary execution.

Skellybones posted:

V2 is at best going to be angrily posting on a blog about how her daughter and the yeerk assigned to infest have both estranged themselves from her.

A Yeerk and host bonding over what a jackass their supervisors in the invasion and their mundane human workplace is an amazing sitcom premise.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 19:21

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

Visser One is very familiar to me and reminds me of some relatives of mine. She's a good villain because she's so banal at her base but then has these delusions of grandeur that she could actually fulfill.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 19:23

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

HIJK posted:

Visser One is very familiar to me and reminds me of some relatives of mine. She's a good villain because she's so banal at her base but then has these delusions of grandeur that she could actually fulfill.

That's a great point. V3 is your terrible retail boss given super powers; V1 is your terrible aunt given an army.

# ? Feb 6, 2022 22:10

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

I forgot how chilling the ending to this book was even remembering how most of it went. visser one� bad

# ? Feb 7, 2022 03:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The Mutation

Ghostwritten by Erica Babone.

Erica Babone is better known under her married name of Erica Ferencik, She's a comic and novelist, who's written four books, most recently Girl in Ice, and has written for Salon, the Boston Globe, and NPR. Her book "The River at Night", about four friends stuck in the Maine wilderness, has been optioned for a movie, and has signed on Eli Roth as director and Kevin Williamson as screenwriter.

Chapter 1

quote:

A phone call at three A.M. is rarely a good thing.

When you�re an Animorph, the chance of good news ever - day or night - is zero.

�Jake?�

Cassie�s voice sounded shaky. Frightened.

�What�s up?� I said, my own voice casual. At the same time praying that no one else in my house had picked up the phone. �Those math problems giving you a hard time?�

Cassie forced a laugh. �No. Just can�t sleep again. You know, same old thing.�

�Try counting sheep. I bet before you get to thirty you�ll be asleep.�

�Good idea. Thanks, Jake. See you.�

Cassie hung up the phone.

I had a half hour to get from the subdivision where I live with my family to the farm Cassie shares with her parents.

Who knew when I�d be back. Forget about getting any more sleep.

I stripped off my pajamas in the dark.

Opened my window wide.

Gave one last glance over my shoulder at the closed door of my bedroom. No lights on in the hallway. Good.

Then I looked out at the star-studded night and concentrated on the image of a bird.

Peregrine falcon.

I began to shrink. From a normal human kid, maybe a bit larger than average, to a one-foot-high human kid.

I heard my internal organs changing. A squirmy sound, like a rumbling stomach, a sound you feel more than hear.

It�s a big change going from human to bird. Nothing ends up where it starts out. You go from a system designed to eat a bit of this and a bit of that, all well-chewed, to a system designed to swallow whole mice and poop out the bones and fur.

My own bones, my big, solid human bones shrank and hollowed out. Finger bones relatively longer, leg bones shorter, breast bone huge.

My skin tightened over the new skeleton. Flesh melted, ran together, like hot wax. I had wings instead of arms. Skinny legs and dangerous talons.

Gray-and-white feather patterns etched themselves onto my still semisoft skin, then raised into three dimensions.

Fleshy human nose and mouth blurred, ran together, then extended out to become a hard beak. My eyes became smaller in absolute terms, but much larger in relative terms.

I was ready.

I hopped onto my desk. From there, onto the windowsill. And then I flew.

My name is Jake.

We�re not supposed to like it, this power we have. We being me, my best bud Marco, my cousin Rachel, Cassie and Tobias and Ax.
We�re not supposed to like it, but mostly I do. This power to morph. To touch an animal and by doing so acquire its DNA. To become that animal at will. In the wrong hands this incredible power can be seriously abused. In our own fumbling, uncertain human hands this power is both a privilege and a curse.

We learned the truth about morphing the hard way, back in the beginning. Back when the five of us - Ax hadn�t joined the team yet - witnessed an Andalite spaceship land in an abandoned construction site. And a dying alien emerge. A pale blue deerlike creature with the torso of a muscular man. Two huge almond-shaped eyes in his face. Two more eyes on stalks that grew out of the top of his head and swiveled to look behind, right and left.

No mouth. But what a tail! Long and strong. With a sharp, curved blade on the end. Deadly. Lightning fast.

A warrior prince named Elfangor.

With the last of his strength Elfangor told us of the galaxywide invasion of a parasitic species called Yeerks. Gray slugs that insinuate themselves into the brains of sentient creatures. That crawl through the ear canal and wrap themselves in and around the brain. Spread and seep into every crevice. Read and laugh at every painful memory and embarrassing desire you�ve ever had. Like striking out in your first Little League game. Like wanting so badly for the prettiest girl in class to smile at you.

You are the slave of this thing. The real you rages then eventually cowers somewhere in the back of your skull. Watching as the Yeerk uses you, controls you, turns you into yet another instrument of Yeerk domination.

The Yeerks are everywhere.

Your parents. Your lab partner. The lead singer in your favorite band. Your regular garbage man. Any of these people might have a Yeerk in their head. Might be what we call a human- Controller.

My brother Tom is one. His bedroom is two doors down from mine. Marco�s mother is a Controller. We don�t know where she is.
Our vice principal, Chapman, is one. How many more? We don�t know. More. Always more.

We are not winning this war. We�re delaying the final defeat. No more than that. Maybe not as much as that.

For some reason I�m the leader of this little band of warriors. I�m still not sure how it happened but I�ve stopped fighting the fact.

Sometimes I�m secretly proud when Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, the Andalite cadet who joined us not long after we encountered his older brother Elfangor, calls me �Prince� Jake. Mostly embarrassed, but there are times when it feels okay.

I�m proud when we�re winning. When we�re �kicking Yeerk butt� as Rachel would say. I�m also proud when we don�t win but have done the best we could. Acted with courage and honor.

Most of the time I�m also terrified.

Like when I heard Cassie�s trembling voice on the other end of the line.

I flew to the barn that houses the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center Cassie�s dad operates.

I landed out back and when I was sure it was safe, began to demorph.

Voices. From inside the barn. Low and worried.

Cassie � and Hork-Bajir.

So this is the standard first chapter explaining the metaplot, which everybody should know by now.

Chapter 2

quote:

�This is a terrible thing he has done.� Toby Hamee�s voice was grave.

I didn�t answer. I didn�t understand, yet.

Cassie knelt by the side of a Hork-Bajir. He could no longer speak. He could barely breathe. He was laid out on the stainless steel table Cassie�s dad uses to perform operations.

He was seven feet tall. Too tall to fit easily on the table. His legs hung off. His bladed arms hung off.

He was clearly Hork-Bajir. Just as clearly he was something else, as well.

The barn is a dark place even in the daytime. But now it was gloom inside of gloom. There were rows and shelves of caged, sick, convalescing animals. Mostly quiet. The occasional mutter or growl or chirp.

�Cassie?�

She turned to look up at me. Her eyes were dull with agony.

�He can�t get enough air,� she said. �His pulse is weak.�

�Make fish! He try to make fish-people!� Jara Hamee cried.

I turned to Toby. A seer of her people. More intelligent and articulate than her fellow Hork- Bajir, including her father, Jara.

�Who?�

�Visser Three,� Toby said. �Who else?�

�What happened?�

�This is Hahn Tunad. He was not a free Hork-Bajir. Not one of our colony. Now Hahn is free of the Yeerks but he is dying for it.� Toby paused before going on. �Hahn and forty-nine other Hork-Bajir were the subjects of an experiment. I have come to understand from Hahn that the visser is obsessed with rediscovering the Pemalite ship. He is very angry that his last attempt was foiled by the being called the Drode. And by the so-called Andalite bandits.�

�Okay,� I said, watching Cassie wipe a cool cloth over Hahn�s bladed forehead. �Go on.�

�The visser attempted to produce an amphibious creature. To aid in this deep-sea mission. He failed. When he realized the fifty test subjects were useless to him, he ordered their Yeerks to abandon the now-useless host bodies. They were to be fed to the Taxxons. We found Hahn � the others were already dead.� Toby nodded toward her distraught father. �They were friends. Long ago.�

I tried to slow my racing heart. To breathe deeply. To keep from vomiting. I knelt by Cassie.

She pointed to Hahn�s left shoulder. Just below the blade was - a gill. I�d already seen it. I�d seen the webs between the Hork-Bajir talons and fingers, too.

�Jake, the visser just grafted these gills onto the body,� Cassie whispered. �It�s as if he and his medical team had no idea of Hork-Bajir physiology. It�s all wrong. Totally botched!�

�Feet! Feet!� Jara, more agitated than I�d ever seen him, pointed to Hahn�s feet.

�Jake, he can�t breathe. I don�t know what they did inside, to his lungs ��

I grabbed the oxygen mask from the ground where Cassie had dropped it in defeat. Yanked the oxygen tank closer to the makeshift bed of hay bales.

�Jake! You can�t � it�s too late!�

Pushing past Cassie I held the mask to Hahn�s mouth. Opened the valve on the tank.

�Jake, you�re not doing him any good. He�s in pain. No one can help him.�

She gently pulled the mask away.

From behind me I was dimly aware of Toby�s voice.

�Hahn was able to tell us of a powerful new seagoing vessel the visser has built specifically for the purpose of locating the Pemalite ship. It is known as the Sea Blade.�

A horrible gurgling rose from Hahn�s throat. �Cassie! Something�s caught in his throat!�

�A valve of some sort,� she said. �It�s malfunctioning. I tried to open it. Tried to keep it from closing further. I couldn�t.�

Jara stepped forward and gracefully took one of Hahn�s hands. �Hahn not die!� he pleaded. �Hahn come with Toby and Jara and be free!�

�No, Father. It is time for Hahn to go Beyond. Our friends, Tobias and the others, will help us destroy the evil that is Visser Three. Help us avenge Hahn�s death.�

With a terrible sob, Jara knelt and gently laid his bladed head on Hahn�s body.

And then there was one less sound in the barn. One less creature breathing.

I moved away. Jara needed privacy. I turned to look up at the window in the rafters. Tobias�s favorite passage into and out of the barn.

The sky was beginning to lighten. Dawn was approaching.

A new day. A day Hahn and the other mutated Hork-Bajir would never see.

�Jake?�

I looked back to Cassie. Opened my arms. She came to me and we held each other.

We held each other until Toby and Jara had wrapped Hahn�s body in blankets and taken him into the sunrise.

"Ok, Visser Three. Remember, the Council has sentenced you to death unless you do a good job....no unnecessary risks. Your goal is to step up control of Earth and humans, but do it secretly. Do you understand?"

"Great. Don't worry. The war isn't lost yet. We can still pull this off. You just have to redouble your efforts and not give into distraction. Remember, the only goal is to secretly take control of humanity. Nothing flashy. No big wastes of money like the death laser or the anti-morphing beam. Just infiltration.
<Yes, Yes, I said I understood!>
"Ok, good. So what's the plan. What are we doing next?"

"Ok......"

# ? Feb 7, 2022 04:00

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Epicurius posted:

"Ok, Visser Three. Remember, the Council has sentenced you to death unless you do a good job....no unnecessary risks. Your goal is to step up control of Earth and humans, but do it secretly. Do you understand?"

"Great. Don't worry. The war isn't lost yet. We can still pull this off. You just have to redouble your efforts and not give into distraction. Remember, the only goal is to secretly take control of humanity. Nothing flashy. No big wastes of money like the death laser or the anti-morphing beam. Just infiltration.
<Yes, Yes, I said I understood!>
"Ok, good. So what's the plan. What are we doing next?"

"Ok......"

"Yeah, hi, Edriss, it's Garoff. How's the Anati planet treating you? Yes, I was kind of an rear end in a top hat at the trial, I know. ...So anyway, I might have made a fucky wucky. How soon can you Z-Space to Earth?"

# ? Feb 7, 2022 05:36

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Lol this book is easily the most balls-to-the-wall insane stupid plot in the entire series (yes, more than the dinosaurs or George Washington) and I love it for that

# ? Feb 7, 2022 08:06

Andrew_1985: Sep 18, 2007; Hay hay hay!

Wow that Visser book was good. But god, what a monster that slug is. Felt sorry for her host who escaped and came back for the kids.

So does Marco�s mum get fixed up or do they like replace her damaged limb with a robot arm like the crazy torturer from Tobias� book?

# ? Feb 7, 2022 10:10

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# ? May 24, 2024 22:24

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

It's probably just glossed over because it isn't important but it is pretty funny to me that the Yeerks have money.

# ? Feb 8, 2022 02:31

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

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