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

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Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

As you'll see throughout this, they're never called a romantic couple in the book, just "friends", so you wouldn't necessarily see it unless you looked for it. As far as YA books with gay characters in 2000 (when this book came out), they did exist. There weren't many of them, but they were there.

For those people interested, Christine Jenkins (who was a grad student at the University of Illinois) made a website, which can still be on the wayback machine here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20150217004640/http://people.lis.illinois.edu/~cajenkin/yabib.html

where she tries to list all young adult fiction with explicit LGBT characters from 1969-2009.

# ? Apr 8, 2022 14:06

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# ? May 25, 2024 04:04

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Fuschia tude posted:

The word itself was still taboo, a schoolyard insult.

Can't speak for kids today but it was definitely still an insult (and there were definitely no openly gay kids at my school) up to when I graduated in 2005, in a medium-sized Australian city.

# ? Apr 8, 2022 14:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 17

quote:

�Let�s do it. Let�s rescue Mertil and kick some Yeerk butt.�

Big guess who said that.

We all demorphed and Jake introduced us to Gafinilan. He explained Tobias and strongly suggested to Gafinilan - with a swift glance at all of us - that we join forces to recover Mertil.

<There is no need for you to further involve yourselves in this situation,> Gafinilan replied, almost harshly. <Mertil is my responsibility.>

I shook my head. I wasn�t totally buying Gafinilan�s story, not without proof, but I knew that his going in alone was ridiculous. And potentially dangerous for us. My vote? Don�t let this guy out of our sight. �What are you going to do all by yourself?� I said. �Against Visser Three and masses of Hork-Bajir shock troops?�

�No offense, Gafinilan,� Jake added. �But you�re in no shape to act alone. The odds are against you even without your being sick.�

�Besides,� Cassie said gently, �you and Mertil are here on Earth because you were fighting to protect us. The human race. Consider it a favor if we help you rescue Mertil. Good karmic payback.�

Tobias remained silent. Not unusual. He�s unpredictably moody lately. But I was sure he was with the program.

Ax, too, declined to help convince Gafinilan to accept our assistance. I was pretty sure he was not with the program.

<But �> Gafinilan hesitated. 

Rachel rolled her eyes.

�No disrespect, Gafinilan,� Jake said, �but we�re going with you. Actually, you�re going with us. So now, you play by our rules or you sit this one out.�

If Gafinilan was stunned or offended by Jake�s speech, he didn�t show it. Exhaustion, depression - whatever it was - made him accept the situation with little or no resistance.

<Mertil is moved throughout the day and night,> he said after a moment. <As far as I can tell, he is never in the same place for more than an hour, and has never been in the same place twice.>

�Why not just keep him in the Yeerk pool complex?� Rachel asked. �Plenty of empty cages, torture equipment, stuff like that.�

 Gafinilan answered. 

�So, Mertil�s in some sort of transport vehicle,� Cassie said. �A truck, a horse trailer, something. How do we find it? Aerial surveillance ��

Ax interrupted, <We cannot risk our lives for a vecol.>

�Okay, Ax-man,� I said, my voice a little less than steady. �I�ve been cutting you slack on this handicapped thing because you�re part of the team. But when you talk like that, like this guy is some sort of dirty, worthless thing, I have to say you�re just not one of us.�

 Ax stated.

Rachel snorted. �You�re so full of it, Marco. I seem to recall your calling that Hewlett Aldershot guy who was in a coma a vegetable. No, wait, a carrot, to be exact.�

�Not the same thing,� I shot back. �That was black comedy. Gallows humor. Not an open or implied insult.�

�Actions do speak louder than words,� Cassie said quietly.

�Thank you. I might not always say the right thing, but most times I do the right thing. Or try to, at least. My intentions,� I added, smirking, �are good.�

<This is not about Marco,> Tobias said. <This is about Mertil. Mertil is Gafinilan�s shorm, Ax. Can�t you understand �>

�Whether Ax understands or not,� Jake interrupted, �we�re doing this. Is that understood? Good. Gafinilan, you�ve been in contact with Mertil?�

During our verbal skirmish, Gafinilan had remained silent. Maybe he was tired of having to defend his position.

<Mertil and I have been the closest of friends since our childhood,> he said finally. <Unless we are on different planets, we can hear each other�s thought-speak. Not perfectly. Often exact words are not clear. But the sound of Mertil�s voice is always with me. It helps me to know he is alive.>

�So, what?� Rachel said. �Bird morphs, cover every inch of the town until we get close enough to Mertil for Gafinilan to hear specifics? Hope Mertil has been able, at least, to get a glimpse out a window or something.�

You know, as obnoxious as Marco can be, his intentions are good. Also, Jake is very much acting the Prince here. He doesn't usually pull rank on Ax...it makes him uncomfortable, but he does it here.

Chapter 18

quote:

I understand ruthless.

I understand, maybe more than any of the others, what it means to be unsentimental. Cold, even. To see the end in the beginning and the beginning in the end.

I�m not denying that Jake, for example, doesn�t make his share of tough decisions. That almost every day he isn�t forced to choose between two seemingly impossible, equally degrading choices.

That he doesn�t feel the agony of those crisis moments. That too often he looks about fifty. All I�m saying is that I understand, immediately and on some instinctual level, the state of ruthlessness you have to reach - almost, to live in - to be able to make those impossible choices. To see the right way to the right end.

To accept being perceived as cruel and heartless.

To live with the fact that people are afraid of getting too close to someone like me, like maybe it�ll rub off, my ability to do what needs to be done. In spite of my incredible sense of humor, I am not always fun to be around. And there are a lot of reasons why. What would you be like if you had to decide whether to save what was left of your mother�s life? Or let Visser One, the Yeerk, live? Calculated risk. I still don�t know the results of that particularly agonizing decision, but I�d been able to do it. Been able to make the decision.

So, on some level, I knew what Gafinilan was all about. How he�d made the impossible decision to do whatever it took to save his friend�s life. Even if that meant sacrificing his own. Even if that meant handing over another Andalite, one of his own people, to the Yeerks.

It was a pretty ruthless thing to do. And I was pretty sure he would do it again if he had to.

I respected him for that.

<Jake.> I spoke privately. <You�d better be aware we are in serious doo-doo if this guy decides to trade loyalties �>

<Marco. We�re doing this.>

<Fine. I�m here. But let�s be clear. What Gafinilan was saying is that he was ready to betray us. What�s changed? Okay, he can�t fulfill his part of the bargain with the visser. Can�t deliver an adult Andalite. But maybe he can cut a new deal, if things start going bad. Hand over the human �Andalite bandits� in exchange for Mertil.>

<He said he�d work with us, not against us,> Jake said, tiredly.

<You believe that. I�ll believe the opposite. That way we have all bases covered.>

<Fine. Let�s get this over with.>

Gafinilan was in an owl morph he�d picked up a while back. I was an owl. Cassie was osprey. Jake, peregrine falcon. Rachel, bald eagle and Ax northern harrier. Tobias, of course, was himself.

For the past half hour we�d been flying north of town in a widespread group. Hoping to find a trace of Mertil. So far, radio silence.

<Mertil says he is in some sort of graveyard.> Gafinilan�s thought-speak was sudden and excited.

<Impossible.> Rachel. <There are no graveyards out this way. That I know of, anyway.>

<Warehouses, yes �>

<He said that when his Hork-Bajir guards opened the door of his current prison, he was able to glimpse several large, boxlike, rectangular vehicles, somewhat similar to the one in which he is being held. They are made of metal, but rusted. Mertil assumes they have been abandoned.>

<Got it,> I said. <The old train yard. About a mile out from here.>

The old train yard and final station stop had not been in operation since, like, my grandmother was a kid. Now, it was only a vast arena of sharp edges from which to get lockjaw. A place where teenagers hung and had wild parties and did things they could get arrested for.

We reached the acre or so of dilapidated metal train parts. And saw nothing you wouldn�t expect to see in such a place. Even with my superior owl vision, I could make out no suspicious footprints in the dirt or tufts of blue fur stuck to jagged pieces of boxcar.

And the place was quiet. Too quiet.

I circled lower, hoping for some shred of evidence that Mertil was being held on this site.

Again, nothing. Hundreds of empty boxcars, each sixty feet long. The occasional caboose or flatcar. Some cattle cars lying on their sides. A locomotive or two.

<Nothing,> I said disgustedly. <Rust, rats, and empty cars.>

<Gafinilan, do you still hear Mertil?> Jake asked. <Are you sure he�s here?>

<Yes, yes. He is close.>

<Okay then, people. We�re going to have to land, morph some firepower, get our hands dirty.>

<Is it me,> I asked generally, <or does Jake sound like a deranged camp director when he talks like that?>

<It�s you.> Cassie. The girlfriend. Figured. Just then -

<About three o�clock everyone!> I called.

The door to one of the abused boxcars was sliding open. And the boxcar was disgorging about a dozen Hork-Bajir. Another car! And another dozen Hork-Bajir. Oh, yeah. There was definitely something there.

Is it suspicious you have a platoon of Hork Bajir just hanging out in a box car, even if they do need to guard a prisoner?

# ? Apr 9, 2022 05:31

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 19

quote:

Night was falling fast. Maybe the mass of clustered, hulking railroad cars added to the sense of gloom that seemed to be descending over the old yard and station.

The place had the eerie feel of all abandoned scenes of once-frenzied human activity. In a sense, Mertil was right when he called it a graveyard. No more hustling conductors and scurrying maintenance men. No more excited passengers and no more fretful family members, waiting for those
passengers to disembark.

Now it really was the end of the line. Thick with shadows thrown by a few dim and distant roadway lights. And within those murky shadows, huge, shuffling Hork-Bajir.

We landed on the far east of the yard, atop a right-side-up passenger car. From there, we could watch the Yeerk shock troops undetected. Watch as they streamed through the mazelike paths between rusted-out corpses and gathered in a small clearing almost exactly at the yard�s center.

Watch as they loosely surrounded a fifteen foot U-Haul truck, the self-rental kind.

<I�m thinking Mertil�s probably in that U-Haul. And that they�re gonna be moving him pretty soon,> I said.

<Yes.> Gafinilan paused. <Mertil believes this to be true. He has overheard some of his captors discussing the next destination. But he has no details.>

<Tobias?> Jake said. <Stay up top. We�re going to need you to guide us toward that clearing once we�re on the ground. Everybody else? Battle morphs. I�m thinking we�re going to have to bust Mertil out the hard way.>

<What about Gafinilan?> Ax asked stiffly.

<With all due respect, you are not well �>



<Great,> Jake said. <But if you feel you can�t hold out, lay low. I don�t want to have to rescue two Andalites tonight. Ax? Keep close to Gafinilan in case he needs help.> Jake paused. <Or in case he decides to switch sides.>

Gafinilan didn�t respond to Jake�s statement. Either he really was a good soldier, acknowledging Jake as his prince. Or he was even more calculating than I�d assumed.

We glided off the roof of the car and demorphed. Then I went gorilla, with cinder-block fists. Jake to tiger, with deadly claws and teeth. Cassie to wolf, lithe and tireless. Rachel used her elephant morph, perfect for bulldozing and busting through pesky walls of metal. Ax and Gafinilan stayed Andalite.
Suddenly �

<You must go.> It was a thought-speak voice I didn�t recognize. Soft and sad. A broken voice.

The voice of someone after the boredom and shame of capture sets in.

Mertil.

Truth is, sure, leaving would have been no problem. I�m not stupid enough to get all excited about wading into bloody battle, four kids, a bird, two aliens - one mortally ill and possibly traitorous - against a good hundred Hork-Bajir soldiers.

I glanced at Gafinilan. He was holding tightly to the rusted axle of a caboose. Breathing shallowly.

<Gafinilan?> I said. <Tell Mertil we�ll see him in a few.>

<Tobias,> Jake said. <We�re ready. Which way to the clearing?>

Way up in the dark sky, Tobias, our own perfect wilderness guide, said, <There�s a red caboose dead ahead. Circle it to the left. If I say it�s clear, continue on past the next car.>

We lumbered and stalked and trotted forward. Through the maze of looming abandoned hulks.

Tobias guided us until we were within a few dozen yards of the clearing. And, by the light of a smallish bonfire the Hork-Bajir had just built, we could see all too clearly just how outnumbered we were.

<Gee, Jake, have the odds ever been this bad?> I asked brightly.

<Sure,> Jake answered. <But this time we�ve got the element of surprise.>

�Andalite!�

<Oh, crap.>

Not even Tobias is perfect. Up on top of a railway car stood a Hork-Bajir. Pointing a bladed arm down at us.

<He must have scrambled up the other side!> Tobias called. <It�s too dark!>

Sirens. Frenzied commands. The ominous sound of Hork-Bajir blades against metal.

So much for the element of surprise.

Yep. This doesn't prove to be an easy fight.

Chapter 20

quote:

��Aaahhh!�

The Hork-Bajir hurled himself from the top of the car.

<Rachel! It�s your soulmate!>

One lone Hork-Bajir, tearing at the seven of us, blades flashing.

WHUMPF!

He hit the ground when Gafinilan smacked him with the side of his enormous tail blade.

<He is unconscious,> the Andalite said. 

<Duh.>

<Everyone!> Jake. <We�re not going to stand here and wait for the rest of them to show up. Stick to the shadows. We move forward and surround the clearing.>

<Too late, man,> Tobias reported. <They�re sending out a unit of Hork-Bajir. They�ll be on you in a minute!>

<Okay, new plan. Wait until they�re close,> Jake snapped. <Then we take them down.>

<What about the next batch, after them?> Cassie cried.

<Take them down, too. We�ve got to keep pushing closer to the clearing.>

<And Mertil,> Gafinilan said quietly.

<Look out!>

Out of the gloom, ten Hork-Bajir, charging ahead. Too late to hide.

One came right at me. I ducked and slammed both fists into its belly.

WWHUMP!

He fell down.

�Rrroooooooaaar!�

Jake! With outstanding speed and agility he leaped forward. The force of the seven-hundred pound Siberian tiger slammed two more Yeerk warriors onto the ground.

FWAAP! FWAAP!

Ax. Fighting alongside Gafinilan, he was even more amazing than usual.

A wolf�s howl!

<Cassie, you okay?>

<Yeah.> Trotting away from a fallen Hork-Bajir. <He nicked me but I got him.>

�Tseeeer!�

Yes! Tobias. A howling Hork-Bajir clutched the red mess that had once been his eyes.

Rachel. Wrapping her trunk around a Hork-Bajir and �

THUWUUUMP!

Tossing him somewhere into the gloom. This was too easy. Something �

More! Another five, ten warriors descending on us.

<Spread out!> Jake ordered. <Make them think we�ve got them surrounded.>

<Now that�s optimistic,> I said.

I dodged left. Slipped into the shadows.

A moment later, leaped out onto the back of a Hork-Bajir. Wrestled him to the ground.

<Aaahh!>

Before I could get to my feet, my victim�s buddy brought his elbow blade down onto my shoulder. It went deep.

FWAAP!

Gafinilan!

<Thanks, man,> I said, wrenching the detached blade of the now incapacitated Hork-Bajir from tendon and muscle.

<You are welcome, Marco,> he replied. <But I would advise you to watch your back more closely.>

I swear if the guy had a mouth he would have been grinning.

 I promised.

The cut was bad but I�d lived through worse.

<Marco!> Rachel cried. <A little help, please! I can�t turn around in here!>

I knuckle-ran over to Rachel. Somehow she�d gotten herself in a too-narrow alley between train cars.

I tore the Hork-Bajir from her flank. Flung him behind me, into the side of a caboose.

<Back out, Rachel. I�ll watch your, uh �>

<Don�t say it,> she snapped. <Just don�t say it.>

But I was already gone, hurling oncoming Hork-Bajir left and right. The wound on my shoulder throbbing, my head now bleeding, too. I touched the damage and felt bone.

It was so dark and suddenly, there were so, so many.

I stumbled, backed away from the Hork-Bajir coming ever closer. Trapping me in a small corner from which there�d be no way out.

I realized I�d lost Jake and the others, though I could hear their grunts and howls through the terrible roar and brittle clash of battle.

Okay, I thought crazily, I got myself into this. Now I �II get myself out.

The question was how.

They're definitely outnumbered and in danger. This is true. But one of the more interesting things (and it does make sense, really) is how much more effecitve Ax and Gafinilan are fighting side by side. This is, of course, what Andalites do.

# ? Apr 10, 2022 03:36

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Sorry. No new chapters tonight. We'll pick it up tomorrow. What did you all think about the weekend's chapters?

# ? Apr 11, 2022 03:47

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

Andalites on Earth seem like the other castaways that would show up on Gilligan's Island. It's interesting when they appear and give you hope things will change, but by the episode it's status quo as normal.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 06:10

pile of brown: Dec 31, 2004

It seems like my earlier theory has been discounted, but it seems really weird that in an advanced spacefaring society that having a missing or damaged limb provokes such a deep hatred from a child. Especially when juxtaposed with the idea that such a thing wouldn't matter at all if they didn't ALSO lack the ability to morph. It's a weird decision and I'm really trying to understand what the point of the "vecol" character is, besides just making Andalites another step towards totalitarian eugenicists. If my earlier theory had been correct it would have made more sense with everything else we previously knew about Andalites.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 07:14

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

I feel like a lot of their society is just deeply backward and obsessed with ~honourable manly tail fighting~, and any factor that shuts you out of the warrior culture shuts you out of any chance at respect.

There's also another factor which IMO explains why they're like this that hasn't come up yet.

# ? Apr 11, 2022 19:11

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Not to get all biotruth here, but part of it is that Andalites are grazers who lived in herds, and for a long time, were pretty low on their planet's food chain. Like Aldea's mother said in the Hork-Bajir Chronicle about Andalites:

quote:

<We no longer have predators to attack us,> she�d said, <but evolution does not just throw away adaptations that were necessary once. The animals we evolved from were prey for millions of years. They lived in vast herds, always watched by hungry predators. This was before we developed our tail blades and we had no protection but speed. We still feel the need to watch for predators. It may be a million years before we lose that instinct.>

I think subconsciously, Andalites have this instinct to protect the herd, and I think that, while that leads to good things like camaraderie (Ax is extremely loyal to his friends, and will pretty much do anything for them, especially Jake, who he recognizes as leader) it can also promote a certain kind of xenophobia and intolerance for difference. So, that means the different, the sick and the weak can't be allowed to endanger the herd. I don't think it's so much that the society is obsessed with tail fighting....Ax is, but he's a warrior cadet. It's obsessed with being safe, and promoting the good of the community over the rights of the individual.

I will say, too, that this isn't just an Andalite thing. If you look at most of human history, strangers were shunned and considered dangerous, those people with physical and mental disabilities were ostracized and sometimes even killed....weak babies would be abandoned at birth, etc.

I'll also say about Andalite society is that this is a place that's been in what they consider to be an existential war for the past twenty years (which started because Seerow trusted aliens and acted on his own initiative). That has to have an effect, and we don't know that the Andalites now have the same culture that they did 30 years ago.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Apr 11, 2022

# ? Apr 11, 2022 21:07

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 21

quote:

I bellowed! Pounded my fists against my gorilla chest. It was a display of totally false machismo.

But it worked.

Gave me the split second I needed to slip through the partially open door of a boxcar, slam it shut behind me.

Scramble across the dirty floor, bumpy with rat droppings and crunchy with broken glass, and tear open the door on the other side of the car.

Drop to the ground, slam the door shut behind me.

Take a deep breath �

Uh-oh.
And realize I was facing another onslaught of Hork-Bajir.

Hard to tell exactly how far away in the heavy dark.

I leaned up against the side of the car. Held perfectly still.

Hoped the gorilla�s dark hair and skin would help camouflage me. Keep me hidden, just a darker spot in the shadows.

When you�re a kid, you know how you close your eyes and convince yourself that because you�re blind you�re also invisible?

Well, it doesn�t work when you�re surrounded by seven-foot-tall, horned and bladed lizardlike enemies.

Hork-Bajir vision isn�t spectacular in the dark, but their hearing is keen. From the beating of my heart and the hot breaths pumping in and out of my nostrils, they�d know I was here.

I got ready to start swinging. And then �

Something made me glance to my right, almost over my torn shoulder.

A ladder rung. Built into the train car wall. Maybe I could grasp it, swing out from it, adding force to my punches and kicks.

Unless �

A ladder rung is part of a ladder.

Ladders lead to places where you are not.

The first two Hork-Bajir were on me! I grabbed them by the necks and smashed them together. The daggerlike horns on their heads stabbed into each other�s flesh. Got stuck.

Then, as the next two Hork-Bajir skidded to a stop a few feet from their fallen buddies, I scrambled up the ladder. Ignored the searing pain in my shoulder.

And was almost immediately on top of the train car.

Fantastic! From here I could see the clearing. The remains of the bonfire and the U-Haul truck, still parked.

But not for long.

<Everyone!> I screamed. <They�re moving the truck!>

And we were still too far from the clearing to stop it.

Maybe � if we headed toward the main entrance, maybe we could cut it off before it hit open road.

Maybe.

<I�m going for the main gate!> I called.

<Whoever can, meet me there!>

<Where the heck is the main gate?> It was Rachel.

Good question. I scanned the old train yard. Spotted the dark hulk of the old station. Figured that the parking lot for cars would have been close to the station. Convenience. Figured the main entrance/exit would lead off the parking lot.

<Okay,> I shouted, <all the way left. Probably behind the old station. Just go!>

<I�ll follow the headlights,> Tobias said.

<Ax is back with Gafinilan,> Jake cried. <He�s losing it. We�re down two soldiers so look sharp.>

Going overland was definitely the way.

Thud thud thud thud�

I made my way to the other end of the roof. The roof of the next train car to the left was about ten feet away. Too far for me to jump.

I scanned. Okay. There was another way across the tops of the cars. A way that would get me close to if not right at the old station house. A slightly circuitous path, a weird, twisting metal road over a sea of battle. If I weren�t stopped by Hork-Bajir, I could make it before the U-Haul left the
yard.

If �

Thud thud thud thud �

Closer. Roof to roof. Moving ahead, then, slowly, bit by bit, to the left, toward the station.

<Marco!> Tobias called. <You�re gonna intercept the truck in about a minute. Hurry!>

Thudthudthudthud �

<Marco, I�m just behind you, on the ground,> Rachel said.

<You�re on your own, Marco!> Jake. <Cassie and I got caught up by a few Hork-Bajir. We�re � > Jake�s thought-speak disappeared.

A light. Two. Round and small. Yeah, there was the truck, moving slowly with only its own headlights to guide it. I dropped close against the roof of the train car. Crawled the last few feet to the
edge.

And prepared to drop onto the roof of the truck.

<When I give the word, buddy,> Tobias called.

<I�m on it>

<Go! Go! Go!>

I flew! Launched my big gorilla body down onto the metal roof of the U-Haul.

WHUMMPF!

Landed in a crouch and allowed my weight to fall quickly to the side.

Safe.

And still only going about twenty miles an hour.

<Driver heard something,> Tobias reported. Well, duh. I�d left a big ole dent in the metal roofing. This was a surprise attack.

I crawled forward across the cargo bay and onto the roof of the truck�s cabin. Peered over the side into the driver�s seat. Saw a very nervous human-Controller.

I tore open his door. Reached for him.

Too slow! The driver slammed on the brakes. The truck stopped moving.

I didn�t.

Conservation of momentum can be a bastard..

Chapter 22

quote:

Forty feet through the air!

WHOOF!

I hit the ground. Rolled another twenty.

Finally, came to a stop. And not a pretty one, let me tell you.

Hurt but alive.

Thanked the stars for the helmetlike gorilla skull.

SCREEEEEEE!

The driver hit the gas!

Now he was going to hit the gorilla.

Closer! Closer!

The grill of the truck loomed.

The stench of burning rubber.

I scrambled unsteadily to my feet.

Then �

CRAAAAAASSSHHH!

A train car! It smashed right into the path of the speeding truck, stopping it dead.

Above the sizzling wreckage I heard Rachel�s trumpet of triumph.

<Nice, Rachel.> I knuckle-walked toward the smash. <Get Mertil into a train wreck.>

<You�re welcome for saving your life,> she replied. <Again.>

The cab of the truck was completely impacted. A twisted and bent remnant. The front two wheels were off the ground, resting on the top of the flattened boxcar.

The driver�s door was open. I don�t know how he managed to survive the crash. But he had and he�d been Yeerk enough to get away.

<Mertil!> I called, loping around to the back of the truck, now in real blackness again because the truck�s headlights were destroyed. <You okay?>


Great. Another Mr. Philosophy.

<Let�s get this open,> Rachel said. <Before the gas tank blows or something.>

I wrapped my thick gorilla fingers around the gate latch on the back of the truck and pulled.

Yanked.

Nothing. The muscles in my chest and arm strained as I tried again.

Still nothing. Now my shoulder was really on fire.

<Let me try my trunk,> Rachel said.

<Be my guest,> I muttered.

<Marco! Rachel!>

It was Jake, slinking out of the shadows, bloody, but I�d seen him worse. Cassie, Ax, and Gafinilan were with him. Each bearing evidence of the fight.
A second later, Tobias fluttered silently to the top of a nearby caboose.

<We�re trying to get Mertil out,> Rachel explained.

Gafinilan stepped forward. <ls he � ?>

 Mertil answered.

<Though still in this box.>

 Gafinilan said.

He moved into place directly behind and facing the rear door.

CLAAAANG!

I jumped. Couldn�t help it, the sound was enormous.

Gafinilan�s battle-ax tail blade had punctured the steel door.

The guy might be dying, but he was still inconceivably strong.

SKKREEEEEUUUUULLLL!

Cassie�s wolf whimpered involuntarily at the awful sound of Gafinilan�s tail blade tearing a long gash down the steel door.

<Very cool,> Rachel said.

When he�d created a sort of tall, elliptical slit, Gafinilan stepped back.

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

And Mertil kicked his way out.

So against all odds, our heroes succeeded in their prison break. And now we get to meet Mertil.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 04:23

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

One little thing I really enjoy about this book is how, after Elfangor, Alloran, the crew on Leera and Arbat's crew, the kids are all like "we know how big Andalite adults are." And then Gafinilan shows up from the far end of the bell curve and Marco just can't get over the size of this guy.

# ? Apr 12, 2022 12:23

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

a quick reminder that Katherine Applegate is very cool

https://twitter.com/kaaauthor/status/1513905624144400391?s=21

# ? Apr 12, 2022 16:54

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

(1/16)

# ? Apr 12, 2022 17:12

pile of brown: Dec 31, 2004

HIJK posted:

(1/16)

She posts the letter in chunks as tweets

# ? Apr 12, 2022 17:56

kiminewt: Feb 1, 2022

It's actually a normal length tweet, the font is just huge

# ? Apr 12, 2022 19:53

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

The Animorphs books have a certain style. Looks like it's very much Applegate's. A particular rhythm. Because even when she's writing a letter, she keeps that same cadence.
A long phrase. Then short.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 01:20

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 23

quote:

We had found Mertil. Probably saved his life. His dear friend Gafinilan had gone to terrible lengths to set him free.

Mertil must have been pleased. On some level, in some way. But he didn�t look all that happy.

We were in the woods. Far safer than hanging around the train yard, waiting for a stray Hork- Bajir-Controller to find us.

 Mertil said plainly, <that you were willing to risk your lives for me. As I am.>

He held the stump of his tail down, as flat as it could go against his body. As if he were ashamed. The position had to be uncomfortable.

<We don�t know what you mean,> Cassie said kindly.

 Ax said. <He means he is surprised that we normal, healthy warriors risked our lives for a mere vecol.> He paused. Turned a stalk eye to me and added, <Or, as Marco says, someone who is �differently abled.�>

<Jeez, can�t we just get over this issue, please?> Rachel said. <It�s not like it�s Mertil�s fault he got injured. Or that he has an allergy or something. Man, I can name a few people I know who are perfectly healthy and a total waste of oxygen. In my opinion.>

<I�m down with that,> I murmured. Mertil and Gafinilan remained silent.

<Ax,> Jake said. <You consider Gafinilan a hero of Andalite culture. Right?>

Ax nodded. One of his favorite adopted human gestures.

<Maybe the fact that he�s able to overlook physical imperfection is one of the reasons he�s a hero. What do you think?>

<Prince Jake, I think the reason Gafinilan is able to overlook his friend�s deformities is because he sees through the eyes of friendship. This is exceptional behavior. Under ordinary circumstances, in general Andalite society, it is simply not natural to show such concern for a vecol.>

<So, friendship isn�t natural?> Rachel snapped. <It�s abnormal?>

<What is �normal,� anyway?> Cassie asked, rhetorically.

<The norm. The standard. The average,> I said.

Tobias glared. <Okay, I�m getting a complex over here. I�m a nothlit. A freak. Whatever. My best friend is an alien with blue fur. My girlfriend is human - when she isn�t in morph. How about we don�t talk about �normal� anymore. Or �average� or �natural.� Please.>

More weird silence. I, for one, was dying to hear what would happen next.

<Mertil-Iscar-Elmand,> Ax said. Respectfully. <It has been an honor to meet you. I will always remember you as you were.>

Well, it was a start.

<We should get out of here,> Jake said.

<Gafinilan, we�ll help you and Mertil get back.>

<Thank you.>

And again I saw the trembling I�d seen before. Only worse. And I remembered Gafinilan�s not being sure he�d seen the human me that first night. Peering closely at his own printed labels in the greenhouse. He was going blind.

When the trembling ceased, Gafinilan went on. <And then, you will be so kind as to let us be. My time is running out. I would like to end my days honorably and in the company of my dearest friend.>

Mertil, who was no lousy specimen of Andalite warrior himself, stood tall. <As Gafinilan has cared for me, so now I will care for him. It is my duty.>

<The visser might not leave you alone,> Jake pointed out.

<The visser has proven he has no use for either of us,> Gafinilan retorted.

<He�s right, Jake,> I said. <If the visser comes after anyone it�ll be us. For spoiling his plans.>

<Oh, goody,> Cassie said dryly. <You always know how to finish on a high note, Marco.>

<Thank you,> I said.

On July 25th, 1990, President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. The law prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public facilities and public accommodations, and required employers to provide "reasonable accommodations", which are changes to procedures that allows someone either permanently or temporarily disabled, to do their job, so long as it doesn't create undue hardship for the employer. While the law isn't perfect, and there still is discrimination against people with disabilities, it's a step, and a big one, and helped people live richer, more satisfying lives.

Chapter 24

quote:

You know that old party game, �Who Am I This Time?� Or that nursery rhyme about a doctor, lawyer, baker. Whatever. People tend to get identified by what kind of hat they wear during the day. By what is visible, noticeable, obvious about them.

So, if you�ve got one arm or get around in a wheelchair or are blind, you�re a handicapped person. Maybe you�re also a poet or scholar, a sinner, or a saint. But first and foremost in people�s minds, you�re handicapped.

Not a lot you can do about it, either.

My mother is - was? - host to Visser One. Originator of the Yeerk invasion of Earth.

Everyone, including my dad and his new wife, thinks she�s dead.

Maybe she is.

Maybe she isn�t.

Maybe she can be saved.

Maybe she can�t.

I just don�t know, after the last time we came face-to-face. In a Taxxon tunnel off the main Yeerk pool. During her trial by the Council of Thirteen.

Most times, I don�t even pretend to want to know. Though if a call comes again �

Well, I�ll wait until that happens to decide. And then I�ll do what I have to do.

Anyway, for the time being, I am �the boy with a dead mother� to people on the outside. To / my friends, I�m �the kid with the big mouth and mother stolen by aliens.�

Can�t get away from it.

vecol, mentally challenged, handicapped. Dumb, psycho, gimp.

You just learn to live with it. Jake�s the responsible leader.

Rachel�s the gorgeous warmonger.

Cassie�s the tree-hugger.

Tobias, Bird-boy.

Ax, resident alien.

Gafinilan is the one with the fatal disease.

Mertil �

So we rescued Mertil and agreed to leave him and Gafinilan in peace. We were pretty sure the Yeerks were going to back away from them, too. At least for a while.

I mean, like Gafinilan said, what had either Andalite done for them? Nothing. Except exhibit a depth of loyalty totally puzzling, totally incomprehensible to Visser Three and his minions.

So given the fact that in the Yeerk opinion Gafinilan was, essentially, a dead man and Mertil useless, we figured they stood a fair chance of living unmolested.

At least until Gafinilan died and Mertil was all alone in Henry McClellan�s house. Unable to morph. A virtual prisoner in a foreign land.

How would he survive?

Maybe I shouldn�t have done it � How often do I say that? A lot.

Maybe I shouldn�t have done it, but I did.

Paid one last, unauthorized visit to the McClellan house. In osprey morph, and while Gafinilan/Henry was at work.

I am not totally stupid.

I found Mertil in the greenhouse. Called out to him from a distance so he wouldn�t be scared and zap me with a shredder or something. Identified myself as the handsome gorilla from the other night.

<The others don�t know I�m here, so, uh, I�d appreciate it if this visit is our little secret>

<Of course,> Mertil answered, his voice a bit strained. 

<Well, I don�t know about that,> I said. <But, look. I just want you to know - I mean, we just want you to know that if � uh, when Gafinilan, you know, dies. That you should look us up. And, well, maybe I can check in on you, too. Play some video games, whatever. Being alone, man, it�s not good and � well, we could use all the allies we can get.>

Nothing. I shifted on my perch in the big old oak tree where Tobias had sat during our first visit to the house.

Noted a honeybee winging its way toward the greenhouse.

Waited.

Maybe I�d offended the guy somehow. I hadn�t meant to but sometimes my mouth gets in the way of sentiment.

The silence was awful.

And then, suddenly, his voice came booming out at me. Strong and energetic and quivering with something that sounded a lot like pride.

<Thank you, Aristh Marco. Perhaps I will do so.>

And with that, we end the book. What did you all think?

Next up is Megamorphs Book 4, Back to Before, writen by Applegate herself (and, of course, Michael Grant, who often times doesn't get enough credit for cowriting these books with her)

# ? Apr 13, 2022 04:18

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

It felt preachy to me. Like the author wanted to teach us a lesson first and the story followed from that. I did like Mertil and the one who started with "G" though. Wish we saw more of them and got an ending other than "and they lived happily ever after".

# ? Apr 13, 2022 04:33

Crespolini: Mar 9, 2014

OctaviusBeaver posted:

It felt preachy to me. Like the author wanted to teach us a lesson first and the story followed from that. I did like Mertil and the one who started with "G" though. Wish we saw more of them and got an ending other than "and they lived happily ever after".

kinda agree

# ? Apr 13, 2022 04:51

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

It's decent. A nice little adventure of the week with an interesting mystery, but it is a bit awkward to have it right next to the previous "Andalites are here and it's mysterious" book, though.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 04:52

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

Capfalcon posted:

It's decent. A nice little adventure of the week with an interesting mystery, but it is a bit awkward to have it right next to the previous "Andalites are here and it's mysterious" book, though.

Honestly I think that's the biggest issue. Two books with the general concept of "more Andalites on Earth!" is the max you could do without it starting to feel gimmicky, but having them be like five books apart is really weird.

The next one is... interesting, from my memory. It's less a big action setpiece than the other Megamorphs; you could probably do it in a regular book if getting chapters from all the characters' POVs wasn't essential.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 05:08

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

I'm.... calling BS. There is no way Visser Three would leave anyone to live in peace, let alone two Andalites.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 05:15

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I'm.... calling BS. There is no way Visser Three would leave anyone to live in peace, let alone two Andalites.

Especially one he'd captured already. The book doesn't mention how he managed that in the first place, does it?

# ? Apr 13, 2022 07:58

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

I like it, it's good for what it is. It's somewhat heavy handed but otoh some anvils need to be dropped and the target audience is still kids who say nasty poo poo in the classroom and on the playground. I can imagine grown adults who would read this and not understand the point despite all that.

I don't mind the two Andalite books being close together, it's not so bad. I like this book because it gives us insight into a part of alien culture which rarely gets depicted. The only other scifi property I know of that tackles stuff like this is Star Trek. There's an episode of Next Gen where Geordi is stranded on a planet with a Romulan and when the Romulan finds out Geordi is blind he lets out a stunned "Your parents let you live!?" And that's when you find out Romulans regularly euthanize disabled babies. It's a valuable insight into Romulans and their militaristic Spartan-inspired culture. It's a heavy handed episode but on the other hand there's a certain grace there too in the way it contrasts two cultures. I wouldn't be surprised if this book was inspired by that episode.

On the whole, I liked it. It even contrasts disabilities -- Mertil is chronically disabled and is visibly injured by the loss of his tail; but ultimately he will live. Gafinalan is not someone you would expect to be disabled with his physical stature and prowess, but he has an invisible disability in the form of a chronic illness that is slowly killing him, including physical side effects like progressive blindness.(The label reading detail was a nice touch for that.) And I think in addition to the gay subtext there is another layer: being disabled is just incredibly isolating so when you meet someone else like you, you can become very attached very quickly since they understand what you're going through.

I don't think this is the best book but it's decent for what it is and I think it depicts the characters with respect and underlines a good message.

If there's any criticism I want to make its that the fight scene was handled with the same hand wavy-ness of the ending. Why introduce the idea of "endless enemies" if you're just going to whiff on them at the end? That could have been handled better.

HIJK fucked around with this message at 09:06 on Apr 13, 2022

# ? Apr 13, 2022 09:03

Remalle: Feb 12, 2020

Yeah, and like, even if Visser Three inherited Alloran's prejudices about Mertil, it's still strategically advantageous on at least three levels to infest him. He's got more up-to-date insider intel than Alloran, he's still an ace fighter pilot, and it's a slap in the face that the Yeerks have now infested two Andalites. It doesn't even take away your leverage with Gaf, because nobody ever has to know he was infested at all.

...I really hope Mertil wasn't secretly infested.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 09:22

Ravenfood: Nov 4, 2011

Remalle posted:

Yeah, and like, even if Visser Three inherited Alloran's prejudices about Mertil, it's still strategically advantageous on at least three levels to infest him. He's got more up-to-date insider intel than Alloran, he's still an ace fighter pilot, and it's a slap in the face that the Yeerks have now infested two Andalites. It doesn't even take away your leverage with Gaf, because nobody ever has to know he was infested at all.

...I really hope Mertil wasn't secretly infested.

Eh, Mertil can't really leave the house to easily come back to the pool regularly. It does make sense to infest him while waiting for Gafinilian to come rescue him or bring him Andalite bandits to infest, even if only for information like you said, but the Yeerks really dont seem to do that kind of short-term infestation.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 09:52

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Animorphs-Megamorphs 4, Back to Before
Chapter 1, Jake

quote:

�Help me.�

I tried to get up. There was a body lying on me. Hork-Bajir. His wrist blade was jammed against my side.

I tried to lift up with all four legs, lift the dead thing off me. But I only had three legs. My left hind leg lay across the bright-lit floor, a curiosity, a macabre relic. Tiger�s paw.

I tried to slide. That was better. The floor was wood, highly polished. Slick with blood, animal, alien, human. I reached out with my two front paws, extended the claws, and dug them into the wood.

They didn�t catch at first. But then my right paw chewed wood and I gained traction.

A voice said, �Help. Please help me.�

I dragged myself slowly, carefully, gingerly out from beneath the bladed alien. The pain in the missing leg was intense. Don�t let anyone ever tell you animals don�t feel pain. I�ve been a lot of animals. Mostly they feel pain.

<Jake? Jake?>

It was Cassie. <Yeah. I�m here.>

With a lurch I was free of the weight pressing me down. I rose, shaky on three legs. Looked around through the tiger�s eyes.

It was a fabric-cutting room. A design house. You know, dresses no one actually wears. The kind of stuff you see on Style With Elsa Klensch as you�re flipping channels.

Fashion? Strange front organization for the Yeerks. Why?

There were hugely wide, long tables covered in cloth. One tilted up weirdly, one leg had been broken off entirely. Kind of like me. There were big rolls of patterned fabrics on that end that weighed the table down and made it balance, like a seesaw, not up, not down.

Overhead there were banks of brilliant fluorescent lights. Splashes of stylish neon on the bare brick walls. Bodies everywhere. Blood. Slashes of it.

<Cassie?>

I saw the wolf limp out from behind an overturned cart. She was alive.

I felt a wave of relief. The last I�d seen of Cassie she was in trouble.

In the distance, out through the big doors, down the dark hallway, I heard the hoarse vocals of a grizzly bear. Rachel. Not fighting, not anymore, just raging, raging. Roaring with the frustration of a mad beast looking for fresh victims and finding none.

Marco was already demorphed. A kid. My age, but he looked so young to me. My best friend.

He�d demorphed to human because the alternative was bleeding to death from the gash across his gorilla throat.

Demorph to human. All better. No pain.

�I�m cold. I�m cold, help me,� the voice called.

<Make sure he can�t see you,> I warned Marco.

Rachel came lumbering back into the room, eight hundred pounds of shaggy brown fur and railroad spike claws and a vaguely quizzical grin that hid sharp canines. <Where�s Tobias?>

I didn�t answer. I didn�t know the answer.

Rachel began shoving and lifting Hork-Bajir bodies. She found Tobias, a crumpled hawk. He was breathing.

<Tobias, morph!>

I heard the clop, clop of delicate hooves. Ax was behind me. As alien as any of the dead lying around us. A dainty centaur. The body of a blue deer or antelope, with an upper body not so different from humans. A head that was very different, mouth less, with two extra eyes perched atop movable stalks. His long, dangerous tail was wet with gore.

We�d been in many fights. This one was bad. This one would invade my sleep and wake me sweating and crying.

<Tobias! Listen to me! Go to human!>

�Someone � so cold � help ��

Cassie trotted over to Rachel. She demorphed swiftly.

So good to see her. Healthy. Whole. Beautiful in my eyes.

�He�s okay,� Cassie assured Rachel. �I think he�s just stunned.�

As if to prove her right Tobias ruffled a wing and said, <Hey! What? Oh. Oh. I�m alive.>

<More or less,> Rachel growled. <That was a crazy thing to do, you idiot! You dive-bomb a Hork-Bajir?>

<You know?> he said. <Thinking back now, it was crazy.>

<Idiot,> Rachel said. But she managed to put an awful lot of affection into that one insult. Tobias had saved her life, nearly ending his own.

I limped over to the one injured human in the room. A human-Controller. An enemy. A man, maybe twenty years old. A human with an alien slug in his head.

�Help me,� he said to the tiger�s face looming above him. �I�m cold. Help me.�

He was cut. Badly. It was a Hork-Bajir slash. Friendly fire, that�s what it�s called when one of your own troops accidentally injures you. Kills you. Hork-Bajir in the middle of violence slashed one of their comrades.

<Leave him, Yeerk,> I said. <Let him alone, at last. Get out of his head. Let him do this last thing as a free human being.>

His face was pale. White. Waxy, like a white candle. Someone had smashed his head, mangled his ears. I recognized the marks of a tiger�s claw. His brown eyes stared up at me.

�I can�t get out,� the Yeerk inside his head said to me. �The ears are blocked. Can�t get out. I�m trapped.�

<We have to get out of here,> Ax said. <They may send reinforcements.>

�I�m cold,� the human-Controller said. �Just � just get me a blanket or ��

<Prince Jake,> Ax prodded.

�I�m scared. Does that � does that make you happy, Andalite?� the dying man said.

To the Yeerks we were Andalites. The morphing technology is Andalite science, far beyond anything a human was yet capable of. So to them we were Andalites, a misunderstanding we deliberately fostered.

Ax was the only true Andalite in our group.

<No. It doesn�t make me happy,> I said.

�The pain � can�t you help me? Cold. Help me.�

<Come on, Jake.> It was Marco. He�d re-morphed. To osprey this time. We needed to escape.

The air was our surest way out. Grow wings and fly. Fly and put it all behind us. Pretty soon we�d be joking. Laughing. Trying anything that would make us forget what we�d seen.

What we�d done.

�Help ��

<Let�s go,> I said.

I demorphed. Out of sight of the doomed Controller. Then I grew falcon�s wings and flew out through a window Rachel opened with her fist.

It's interesting. Jake has killed Yeerks before, but with the exception of Tom's first Yeerk, I don't think he's ever talked to one while it was dying, and he's never talked to one he''s actually fought in battle. That's got to have an effect

Chapter 2-Jake

quote:

My name is Jake.

I live in a normal American city, in a normal American state.

I love my mom and my dad. I even love my big brother, Tom. I like basketball and hate math and get a little down when it rains for more than one day. I think those little Audi TT�s are cool but if Ihad the money, and was old enough, I�d probably drive a Jeep.

I live on burgers and fries and have never voluntarily consumed a brussels sprout.

My room is a mess. My homework is late. My class notes are so disorganized they cannot be read by anyone except Marco, who has been living off my notes for five years or more, and sometimes has to interpret them for me.

I cried the day Michael Jordan retired. And I can still tell you what time it was, what day, week, month, hour, minute, and second, what I was wearing and what I was eating when Mark McGwire banged his record homer.

I�m a kid. A kid with a dog and parents and teachers and friends. Just a kid.

I have these nightmares. Sometimes I�m a termite, trapped inside a piece of wood, can�t get out and the clock is ticking, ticktock, ticktock, can�t escape, wooden walls and blackness all around me, pressing me tight.

Sometimes I�m falling. Flying and my wings just aren�t there and I�m a mile up in the sky, falling, and thinking, I can�t fly! I can�t fly!

Sometimes still, even now, I see the dark red eye of Crayak and feel his malice reaching for me all across the millions of light-years.

But the worst dream is just me and Cassie. And we�re standing in the forest somewhere. She�s outlined in light. You know, like there�s a bright light hidden behind her. And it�s almost like she�s shining. And there�s this cave. And I�m telling her to go in, and she�s looking at me with trust in her eyes, looking at me and loving me and believing in me and trusting me and I�m telling her to go into the cave.

I�m the leader of the Animorphs. I don�t know how that happened. It was some doom pronounced by Marco. Why me? Because, Marco said. Because it has to be.

We were five kids taking a shortcut home from the mall at night. There was a ship. There was an alien. There was the destructive worm of knowledge: You are not alone. You are not safe. Nothing is what it seems. No one is who they seem to be.

The knowledge of betrayal and terror. The awareness of evil.

And then, the power.

The power made us responsible, see. Without the power the knowledge would have just been a worm of fear eating up our insides.

Bad enough. But it was the power that turned fear into obligation, that laid the weight on our unready shoulders.

We could become any animal we touched, the Andalite told us.

Power enough to win? No. Power enough to fight? Ah, yes. Just enough, little Jake, here is just enough power to imprison you in a cage of duty, to make you fight.

�Help me. I�m cold.�

Another battle. Another horror.

Couldn�t anything make it end? Was there no way out? Was I trapped, fighting, fighting till one by one my friends died or went nuts?

I lay on my bed. Stared up at the ceiling.

�Help me. Please. I�m cold.�

Into the cave, Cassie.

All for what? For nothing. To delay the Yeerks, but never to win. And someday, to lose. Was there no way out?

�There�s always a way out, Jake the Mighty,� a voice said. �My lord Crayak holds out his omnipotent hand to you, Jake the Yeerk Killer. Jake the Ellimist�s tool.�

I sat up. I knew the voice.

The Drode stood by my desk. It wasn�t large. It perched forward like one of those small dinosaurs. It had mean, smart eyes in a humanoid head. It was wrinkled, dark green or purple maybe. So dark it was almost black. The mocking mouth was lined with green.

The Drode was Crayak�s creature, his emissary, his tool. Crayak was � Crayak was evil. A power so vast, so complete that only the Ellimist could keep him in check. A balance of terror: evil and good checking each other, limiting each other, making deals that affected the survival of entire solar systems.

�Go away,� I said to the Drode.

�But you called me.�

�Go back to Crayak. Leave me alone.�

The Drode smiled. He got up and moved closer. Closer till his face was only inches from my own.

�There is a way out,� the Drode whispered. �Say the word and it never was, Jake. Say the word, Jake, and you never walked through the construction site. Say the word and you know nothing. No weight on your shoulders. Say the word.�

�Go away,� I said through gritted teeth.

�How long till your cousin Rachel loses her grip? You know the darkness is growing inside her. How long till Tobias dies, a bird, a bird! How can he ever be happy? How long till Marco is forced to destroy his own Controller mother? Will he survive that, do you think? How long, Jake, till you kill Tom? Then what dreams will come, Jake the Yeerk Killer?�

�Get out of here. Crawl back under your rock.�

�It will happen, Jake. You know that. The cave. The day will come. You know what the cave is, Jake. You know what it means, that dark cave. You know that death is within. When she dies, when Cassie dies, it will be at your word, Jake.�

I covered my face with my hands.

�My master Crayak offers you an escape. In his compassion Great Crayak has struck a deal with that meddling nitwit Ellimist. Crayak would free you, Jake. Crayak would free you all. All will be as it would have been if you had simply taken a different path home.�

I saw that moment again. At the mall. Deciding whether to take the safe, well-lit, sensible way home. Or the route that would take us through the construction site, and to a meeting that would change everything.

Undo it. Undo it all. No more war. No more pain and fear and guilt?

�Just one word, Jake,� the Drode whispered. �No � no, two, I think. One must not sacrifice good manners. Two words and it never was. Two words and you know nothing, have no power, no responsibility.�

�What words?�

�One is Crayak. The other is please.�

I wanted to say no.

I wanted to say no �

I wanted �

Hey, it's everybody's good friend, the Drode!

# ? Apr 14, 2022 04:35

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

gently caress yeah it's AU time!

Love this book, it's the last one I remember with any clarity.

# ? Apr 14, 2022 09:14

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

Hell. Yes.

# ? Apr 14, 2022 09:40

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I quite like this one. A good Treehouse of Horror episode. Nothing like the bittersweet feeling of suddenly not being important in the middle of a story that still is.

quote:

A man, maybe twenty years old.

I doubt this was intentional, but for me it really underlines how young these poor kids are that they consider a 20-year-old a "man."

# ? Apr 14, 2022 11:59

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 3-Cassie
Day One

quote:

We hooked up at the mall. I was there with Rachel.

Rachel is my best friend. No one knows why, least of all either of us. We could not possibly be more different.

Here are Rachel�s priorities in order of importance: shopping and gymnastics.

Me, I�m into animals.

Rachel is every cover girl from every Mademoiselle or Seventeen you�ve ever seen. Tall, thin, blond hair and flawless complexion, and approximately four hundred shiny white teeth. To make matters worse, she can�t just be written off as another fashion bimbo.

She�s not mean. She�s not a snob. She is not a member of any clique. She is her own, one-girl clique. That�s the power she has: to be everyone�s vision of physical and intellectual perfection and not to care.

Sometimes I wonder where she gets it from. Not the hair, or the clothing, or even her eerie ability to never be messy, dirty, or wet. I wonder where she gets the indifference. I wonder how she can have every boy in school throwing himself in her path, and be indifferent.

Not that she�s humble. No. You wouldn�t call her humble. She knows she�s special. But she�s impatient with the whole idea of being popular or whatever.

I get the feeling with Rachel that she�s waiting. Impatient. Looking for something more. Moving through life in search of a very different destiny.

Her sports are gymnastics and shopping. She knows she�ll never be a great gymnast; she�s already about twice as tall as the average gymnast. That part of her interests me but not as much as her shopping.

See, it�s not about the stuff with her. It�s hunting.

I could never be friends with someone who went out and hunted animals. Sorry, but people who want to shoot deer are not going to be my friends. But when I�m with Rachel at the mall I see the excitement in hunting: the combination of knowledge and instinct and the thrill of stalking and closing in for the kill.

The girl makes the pursuit of a forty-percent-off sweater in just the right size and just the right color seem like a safari to track down a man-eating lion.

�Twenty-five percent off at Express, that�s fine,� she said. �But, same basic sweater, better mix of fabrics, forty percent off at Structure? Plus, the point is, this sweater goes with the jeans on sale at The Gap or the jeans on sale at the department store, and the Express sweater only goes with The Gap
jeans.�

�I know I�m going to be sorry I asked this,� I said, �but how can one sweater that is almost identical to another sweater not go with a pair of basically identical jeans?�

Rachel gave me the look. The look of incredulity and confusion.

�Cassie, you know I love you, but did you just get in from Uzbekistan?� she asked.

�Yes. Yes, Rachel, I just flew in from Uzbekistan.�

�Shape. Color. Cut. Waistline.� She shook her head in mock pity. �How do you expect to get through life without an appreciation of what goes with what?�

�I expect life will just be one long struggle.�

Rachel laughed. No one was more amused by her obsession with shopping than she was.

Like I said, Rachel was waiting for something else. She didn�t know what. I sure didn�t.

�Don�t look,� I hissed. �It�s Jake.�

�I can�t look at my cousin?�

�You can look, just don�t look, that�s all I�m saying.�

�You mean, don�t look at him in a way that will somehow convey to him that you are hot for him? That you want his lips pressed against yours? That you want his big, strong arms wrapped all around you?�

�Yeah, Rachel, that�s what I meant. That is exactly what I meant.�

Jake is cute. Not cute in a little itsy-bitsy he�s-so-cute kind of way. He�s a big guy. Not hulking big, just like he�s two years older than he really is. He�s also smart and funny and modest.

I think he likes me. We sit together on the bus sometimes. Sometimes we seem to accidentally end up near each other at assemblies, or in class.

He�s never asked me out. I�ve never asked him out. Needless to say Rachel finds all this touching, funny, and completely idiotic.

I asked her once, �Do you think he�s okay with me being African-American and all?�

She said, �Cassie, I�ve known Jake all my life. Believe me, he doesn�t know you�re black. That�s how little he would care. Jake is the one guy out of a thousand who really does care about who you are, not what you look like.�

�So, how do I look?� I asked anxiously.

�Like you should be singing eee-yi-eee-yi-oh. You�re wearing Wal-Mart overalls with bird poop on the cuffs. You have no makeup on and there�s dirt under your fingernails � that is just dirt, isn�t it?�

I looked down at my fingernails and tried to remember. �Probably dirt. Possibly manure.�

�Yeah, well, you compensate for your Old MacDonald clothing sense by being pretty, very smart, very cool, and the most completely real person I�ve ever met.�

�Thanks. Thanks for the last half, anyway.�

Jake was with his best friend, Marco. Marco and Jake were not as mismatched as Rachel and I, at least from what I knew. I don�t know Marco much at all, just to say �hi� to.

He�s small, especially alongside Jake. He has fairly long, dark hair and an olive complexion and a permanently amused expression.

Marco is a comedian. Not a class clown, not a guy who wants to make the teacher mad. He just seems to think the world is funny. I guess a psychologist would call it a defense mechanism. His mom died a couple years ago. Anyway, maybe that�s it. Or maybe he�s just funny. Anyway, if Jake likes him he must be okay.

Yeah, I don�t sound too much like someone with a crush.

There was a third guy with them. This kid named Tobias. He�s kind of an unknown to me. He seems like he�s kind of latched onto Jake. Jake is too nice to ever tell him to go away, and I could see he was trying to include Tobias in the conversation and all. But Tobias was still standing a little apart. Looking a little uncomfortable, trailing a little behind.

The three of them were coming out of the video game place. Marco looked like he was teasing Jake.

Jake spotted us. For a moment he had a deer-in-the-headlights look. Then he put on his nonchalance.

�Hey, Rachel. Hi, Cassie.�

Rachel whispered, �Can I look at him now?�

�You guys going home?� Jake asked. �You shouldn�t go through the construction site by yourselves. I mean, being girls and all.�

This was a mistake. Jake knew it as soon as the words were out of his mouth, I could see it. But it was too late.

�Are you going to come and protect us, you big, strong m-a-a-a-n?�

Jake started to form a word, but Rachel had him now.

�You think we�re helpless just because -�

I cut her off. �I�d appreciate it if they did walk with us. I know you�re not afraid of anything, Rachel, but I guess I am.�

Rachel shot me a harsh look. I was spoiling her fun.

To get home from the mall we could either go a long way around, which is the safe way, or we could cut through this abandoned construction site and hope there weren�t any ax murderers hanging around there.

We took the long way.

Ten minutes of mostly silent walking later, Tobias said, �Hey, what�s that?�

I turned and looked in the direction Tobias was pointing. A streak of light, off to our right.

�Meteorite?� Jake suggested.

�Great,� Marco muttered. �A meteorite falls out of the sky and totally misses the school. That is so not fair.�

We kept walking.

But I had the strangest feeling. Like � like going into a room you know, where you�re familiar with every stick of furniture, and it�s your room, and it�s just like it always has been, only somehow, in some way that only appears as a tingling on the back of your neck, it�s different.

I shook it off. I had other things to focus on. Like whether Jake was ever going to even hold my hand.

So, Crayak granted Jake's request, and, while in the first book, we saw the time at the mall and the walk home from Jake's perspective, now we're seeing it from Cassie's, along with the hint that even as far back as then, she had a crush on Jake. Also, of all of them, Cassie is the most emotionally intelligent, and she sizes up everyone's fundamental personalities there.

Chapter 4-Tobias
Day Seven

quote:

I woke up.

Great. Another day.

The couch I was sleeping on was saggy in the middle and smelled of cigarette smoke. But my uncle had gotten drunk and passed out on the floor in my room. So I took the couch.

It was okay, at least that way I could watch TV till I fell asleep.

I was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. I needed to find something to wear. My uncle doesn�t do laundry, I do. So I knew exactly what I had available. A nice collection of stuff that could make me look like a complete dork or a complete lowlife, my choice.

My uncle also doesn�t buy a lot of stuff for me. I�m what you�d have to call �low priority� in his life. Half the stuff I had was stuff he�d thrown away. Or else stuff I�d picked up from my aunt�s attic whenever I was shuttled off to be with her for a few months.

The food was better at my aunt�s. She didn�t pass out in my room. She had her own brand of fun. She�d work me like her own personal slave. That�s how I knew what was in the attic: I cleaned it out.

And she�d keep me out of school to run errands for her or just to �be there� in case she needed me.

At least my uncle let me go to school. He�d have let me go to Australia and not cared. Not a nice feeling knowing that if you were ever kidnapped or whatever, there was no one around to bother and call the cops.

But, hey, that�s life. It�s worse for lots of kids. Marco�s mom died. His dad is a wreck. Marco does everything.

My mom probably died, too. And my dad. I don�t know. Everyone just says my mom ran off.

Everyone says my dad ran off before I was born. Or sometimes they make up stories, like they both died in an accident. Sometimes I make up stories. The truth, if there ever was any truth, was lost a long time ago.

Doesn�t matter.

I put on the least pathetic clothes I could find and headed for the bus stop. That part was okay. No major hassles at the bus stop, usually. It�s not till I�m on the bus that it started. This kid named Andy and his creep sidekick who for some reason was called Tap-Tap, enjoyed kidney punching me.

They�d wait till we were getting off the bus, find some way to get up behind me, and when I was all crammed in, they�d nail me once or twice in the back.

I am what they call a bully magnet. I don�t know why. I just am.

Used to be these two other guys who had the job of torturing me. Their thing was swirlies. You know, they�d grab me by the ankles and knees and dip my head in the toilet while they flushed.

Used to. This guy named Jake came into the boys� room while they were doing it. He told them to step off. That was it, but he had a way of saying it, I guess.

Those two haven�t bugged me since.

I don�t think Jake has a big reputation as a tough guy or anything. He�s kind of quiet, actually. Almost shy. But there�s something about him that makes you take him seriously.

I hung around with him for a while. Totally lame on my part. Jake has a best friend who doesn�t like me, I don�t think. After a while it was kind of obvious that I wasn�t going to be part of that circle of friends.

That was okay. I was still grateful. I guess Jake is who I�d like to be if I could be someone else.

But there was a long list of people I�d rather be than me.

I managed to avoid Andy and Tap-Tap on the bus. Which just meant they�d lie in wait for me some other time. Probably it would have just been better to take my beating and move on, without all the suspense of wondering when they were going to get me.

Yeah, right, Tobias. That�s a good way to live. I had to wait all day. Sixth period. I headed for the boys� room. The boys� room is always dangerous for me, but I couldn�t hold out all day.

I went in, hoping against hope that a monitor would be in there. But it was me, and two guys I didn�t know, and Andy and Tap-Tap.

�Toby, Toby, Toby,� Andy called out. �Hey, man, I missed you on the bus this morning. I thought we were friends.�

I felt the surge of fear. The ice in my stomach. The urgent desire to wet myself. Tap-Tap moved fast to get behind me, block my escape.

Tap-Tap grabbed me by my shoulders from behind. Should I beg? Would begging do any good?

�Why don�t you guys find someone else to pick on,� I said. Yeah, that�ll work. Whining. Whining will work.

Andy laughed. �But you�re so nice and easy,� he said. �No one else is as big a wuss as you.�

Tap-Tap joined in the laughter. �You�re the man, Toby.�

Tap-Tap shoved me suddenly forward. Off balance I slammed into Andy.

�Hey! He attacked me, Tap-Tap!�

�Sure did. Toby, man, what�s up? Are you getting all violent and stuff?�

�He pushed me,� Andy said in mock incredulity.

Wham!

The punch caught me low in my gut.

Wham! Wham!

I was down, twisting my legs around, pretzeling to keep from peeing.

Thunk!

A kick that caught me in the ribs. I rolled over, rolled onto crushed paper towels, head against one of the stall uprights.

Thunk!

A second kick. The pain was shocking. I was scared. They�d really hurt me, this time. Oh, God, they�d really hurt me, who was going to take me to the hospital?

I lay there groaning, back wet from splashed toilet water puddles. I lay there groaning and didn�t even realize my tormentors were gone till I saw the faces of the other two guys, the two guys who�d witnessed the whole scene, looking down at me.

�You okay down there?�

I couldn�t talk. The pain. The rage. The humiliation choking me.

�Your life doesn�t have to be like this,� one of them said. �You don�t have to be a victim all the time. There�s a way out, man.�

The other one drew a small card from his back pocket and handed it down to me. �You don�t have to be all alone, man. You don�t have to be anyone�s punching bag.�

They walked away. After a while I managed to stand up.

I threw up in the toilet.

I rinsed my face in the sink. I was late for class. Great. That meant a trip to Vice Principal Chapman.

I cried. I was there alone, what did it matter? I cried.

After a while I splashed more water on my face. And then, I looked at the card.

It read THE SHARING.

This is the most direct depiction we get of Tobias's pre-hawk life, which is just basically this unending cycle of emotional and physical abuse, and this, more than anything else, explains why Tobias was ultimately ok with (and maybe voluntarily chose) being a hawk nothlit. It also, along with him being Elfangor's son, explains why he felt so close to Elfangor and why of all of them, he was happiest and most eager to be an Animorph. But in this timeline goes the other way.. He doesn't have that in this world....he doesn't have anything bigger than himself to believe in, to hope for, to fight for. All he's got is pain and unhappiness and the prospect of more pain and unhappiness. And that makes him a prime candidate for Sharing recruitment.

# ? Apr 15, 2022 03:30

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

Megamorphs posted:

I asked her once, “Do you think he’s okay with me being African-American and all?”

She said, “Cassie, I’ve known Jake all my life. Believe me, he doesn’t know you’re black. That’s how little he would care. Jake is the one guy out of a thousand who really does care about who you are, not what you look like.”

love too write black characters

# ? Apr 15, 2022 04:00

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

And that makes him a prime candidate for Sharing recruitment.

I remember thinking how perfectly this fit, even though it had never occurred to me beforehand. Sort of like in Lost when (spoilers for Lost if you care 12 years later I guess) Jack and Locke have a gigantic schism on the island because Locke's paraplegia was miraculously healed but he never tells anyone about it, and then when they go into the alternate dimension in season 6 where the plane crash never happened they chat at the airport and Jack gives him his business card, because of course: he is and always has been a spinal surgeon.

Interesting also that Tobias thinks Marco doesn't like him. I'm not sure that, aside from a brothers-in-arms camaraderie, they particularly like each other either in the main timeline either.

# ? Apr 15, 2022 04:24

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

freebooter posted:

Interesting also that Tobias thinks Marco doesn't like him. I'm not sure that, aside from a brothers-in-arms camaraderie, they particularly like each other either in the main timeline either.

I don't think they're best friends, no. I think part of that is because Marco is pretty sarcastic and teasing, and Tobias is, given his background, really sensitive to insults. I think also, honestly, Marco has a little bit of a crush on Jake, or at least a really, really, close friendship, and he, especially at first, kind of resented Tobias "butting in" on their time together.

# ? Apr 15, 2022 04:42

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

Tobias made some friends that want him in their club! :3:

# ? Apr 15, 2022 05:02

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 5-Cassie

quote:

I jerked awake.

Eyes wide open.

My covers were a mess. My sheet was twisted around my legs. My pillow was damp with sweat, but the room was cold.

It had happened again. The call. Like a voice, but not a voice. Speaking without words. Images.

Pictures, fuzzy, distorted, meaningless.

A wide, grassy field. A glass dome. Trees with pink and blue leaves. And water. Everywhere, water.

It gave me the creeps.

�You have a serious case of the willies,� I whispered to myself.

I got up, went to the bathroom, drank some water, and spent five minutes rearranging my sheets and blankets.

But I couldn�t go back to bed. I was wide awake now. Adrenaline awake.

I could work on some homework. Work on that paper.

No.

I pulled a pair of overalls on over my sleep shirt. Stuck my bare feet into a pair of muddy, unlaced boots. Then I took the boots back off. Boots were not going to make it easy to sneak past my parents� bedroom.

I tiptoed down dark stairs to the living room. The blue display on the VCR was blinking 00:00 again and again. There was a glass on the coffee table. My dad�s. I picked it up and carried it to the kitchen and deposited it in the sink.

�That�s right, Mom and Dad, I couldn�t sleep so I decided to get up at three A.M. and clean house.� Yeah, that would work. That wouldn�t seem too insane.

Was that it? Was I going crazy?

They say schizophrenia usually appears first during the teen years. I told my mom that once. She said, �Honey, how can anyone tell the difference between a crazy teenager and a regular teenager?�

My dad had laughed, then caught himself.

�Not that we�re saying we expect you to be wild or anything, let me make that perfectly clear. We�re not saying it�s okay.�

�Okay, Dad. I�ll stop my wild and crazy ways.�

They laughed. I laughed. We all knew I was not exactly the definition of a wild and crazy girl.

I told the story to Rachel. She said, �Wow, it must be cool to have your parents actually trust you. Man, that would be great if my mom trusted me like that.�

�Because then you could get away with anything?�

�Exactly.�

I smiled as I was remembering that. I opened the freezer. Hello Ben. Hello Jerry.

No. What if Jake wasn�t asking me out because of my thighs?

I staggered, gripped the refrigerator door. It had hit in a wave. The voice. The soundless, wordless voice. Calling from the water.

Oh, man, I really was going nuts.

And it wasn�t just the voice. There was this sense of � of what? Strangeness? Of things being wrong in some way I couldn�t figure out?

Not funny. Not really. What if I was actually mentally ill?

The animals. That was it, I�d go check on the barn.

I went out into the night, out through the kitchen door rather than the front door because my parents were less likely to hear me.

Our barn is the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. Both my folks are vets. My mom works with large animals at The Gardens. My dad handles the clinic, with some help from me.

I guess to a lot of people the barn at night would have seemed eerie. Not to me. There were rows of cages, most full. We had muskrats and raccoons and geese and bats and foxes and deer and a forlorn eagle. All were injured or sick. Many wore bandages. Some were in one form of restraint or another, to keep them from chewing or pecking their own wounds.

They smelled, I guess. Anyway, that�s what Marco said when he came -

No, no, he�d never been to the barn. Why would he have ever been to the barn?

�Forget it, Cassie. It�s late. It�s dark. You�re just confused.�

My hands shook a little as I tunneled a handful of grain into the goose�s cage. She didn�t need it, really. I just wanted to do something. Something normal.

�How are you feeling? Huh? Yeah, I know, that wing still hurts, doesn�t it?�

I went down the row of cages. Tried not to think. Tried not to believe that I was hearing things, imagining things, remembering things that had never happened. The familiarity of the barn soothed me. But within that very familiarity lay a new, unsettling sensation. I saw Jake, pacing. I saw Rachel, restless. Marco lolling on a bale of hay. And up there, up in the rafters, a bird. A hawk.

I could almost see him. Almost.

Madness. I was losing my mind.

I was losing my mind.

Spoiler. I don't think Cassie is losing her mind. I also continue to like Cassie's easy relationship with her parents.

Chapter 6 - Aximili
Day Ten

quote:

I raced at full speed, all out, hooves flying, tail tucked down, upper body bowed, stalk eyes straight back to watch the ground that receded from me.

I raced straight for the target, a bundle of sticks tied together to form an extremely crude representation of a Hork-Bajir-Controller.

I ran. Waited. Reveal nothing. No subtle �tells,� do not give anything away, he is ready to react to the slightest clue. Would I go left or right? Stop and strike or shoot past and tail whip him?

Fwapp!

I shot past, caught the �head� of the Hork-Bajir with my blade, and watched it topple onto the ground.

I was panting. Gasping for air. It was my ninth attack. I was tired.

Or maybe it was all in my head. Maybe it was the billions of pounds of pressure, the water that pressed down from all directions.

There was very little hope left within me new. Too much time had passed. If anyone had survived, if my brother Elfangor had survived, he would have found me.

The dome was still intact. It rested on the floor of one of Earth�s oceans. It was at a slight angle. I noticed the incline whenever I raced across the vast, open field of grass.

I was not sure hew far down I was, hew deep. All the instrumentation, the main computers and so on had been in the main section of the ship, spread out along the long corridors, the seemingly endless stalk that connected the dome to the distant engines.

Likewise all small craft. The fighters, the transports, the scout ships. Anything that would fly. All left behind when the dome separated and fell, atmosphere-shrieking and burning, down Earth�s gravity well.

Life support was intact. The low-power force field that kept the transparent dome from being crushed by the ocean�s pressure, all that was intact. The energy plant would last for a hundred years.

The grass would grow, the trees would bloom. The pond had spilled out during a temporary loss of artificial gravity, but it had mostly refilled.

I could live out my life down here. Live out my life in this habitat meant to duplicate life at home. Except that I could not do that.

Elfangor was probably dead. All the brave warriors with him. We had come out of Zero-space, expecting at most to encounter a few scattered Yeerk ships. But they had been waiting. A full Pool ship with its legion of Bug fighters. And more dangerous still, the sleek black Blade ship of Visser Three. Our warriors had slaughtered the Yeerks. But we had lost some fighters. And then, the Blade ship had appeared.

Maybe Elfangor had survived, somehow. But if he had, where was he? A fighter�s sensors would have located me without great difficulty.

And, unfortunately, the same would be true if the Yeerks were still present in orbit. Sooner or later they would find me. Some Taxxon watching a sensor display would catch the blip of trapped air beneath the waves.

Unacceptable.

I was alone. Without a prince or a partner. A single Andalite aristh alone in the submerged dome of a once-great ship. How many light-years from home? What did it matter? I had no ship.

I had called out in bursts of thought-speak. I had used all my energy, all my strength, to fire bursts of thought-speak, seeking Elfangor.

There had been no answer.

No answer for so long.

I let my momentum carry me past the decapitated stick figure, on through the pink-leafed trees. To the dome wall.

It rose up at an angle. I pressed my hand against the plex. Outside, out in the alien ocean, creatures swam by. The variety was startling. I had seen perhaps fifty different species in all, large and small, some apparently harmless and some seemingly dangerous.

Earth.

Elfangor had said little about the place. It was not a major planet. There had been some speculation that its dominant race was on the verge of achieving spaceflight, but aside from a few hundred primitive orbital satellites there had been no evidence.

One thing was sure, the Yeerks in orbit had not been bothered by Earth-based craft.

A long, gray-blue creature swam close by. It scraped the dome, just a short distance from my splayed fingers. It had fins at its sides, a triangular fin that rose from its back, a raked, aerodynamic tail, and eyes that were small, black, and empty. It also had something called a mouth. Many species on the home planet did as well. But this mouth seemed designed as a weapon. There were several rows of jagged triangular teeth.

The fish swam away into the murk. Even when Earth�s sun was high in the sky the light down here was dim, rippling, green-blue. During planetary night the dome was so dark that I could stand and watch the faint phosphorescence of passing creatures, like slow comets crossing my personal sky.

Aximili, you have to decide, I told myself.

I could stay in the dome and wait, a week, a month, a year till the Earthers or the Yeerks spotted me.

Or I could venture out of the dome. I had the morphing power. If I could acquire one of these passing creatures I could leave, reach some shore, demorph, and look to make a life among the aliens.

<You have to decide. Stay or go. Wait or leave.>

I did not want to be afraid. But I was, I had to admit that. The morphing power is only good for two hours at a time. More than that and you are trapped. How far was the shore? How hostile were the inhabitants? Could I hope to survive? The Earthers might be savages. There might be diseases. Predators.

And there was the very real possibility that the Yeerks were already there in force.

You have to decide, I told myself again. But not yet.

I headed back toward the target. I stopped still and stared. The head was back in place. Hadn�t I �

I had. I had seen the head fall. Impossible.

Decide soon, I told myself. The isolation is having psychological effects.

Ax, of course, with no one to rescue him, is still in the Dome Ship.

Chapter 7 - Tobias
Day Twenty-One

quote:

Line up on the cue ball, then draw the line back through your cue, and forward through the ball you�re trying to hit, then on to the pocket, right?�

He said �right?� a lot.

�It�s all about angles. Pool is geometry. A series of collisions, all at precise angles.�

His name was Bill. He was a high-school guy, older than me, obviously. He was my �guide.�

That�s what they call it. When you attend your second meeting of The Sharing they assign you a guide.

Someone to answer your questions, someone to hang with you, talk to you.

At first I thought it was some kind of pity thing. You know, that Tobias kid is such a loser we better put someone with him.

But everyone gets a guide at their second meeting. A guide is a full member of The Sharing. I�m still not sure what that means, a �full member.� Bill is a little vague about it.

What he�s not vague about is pool. They have two tables in the back of the meeting hall. He has his favorite.

I gripped the cue. Aimed. Tried to see the angles. Tried to see the impacts: cue tip on cue ball, cue ball on seven ball, seven ball on bumper.

�Okay, now relax into it,� Bill said. �You want to aim like your life depended on it, then relax like it doesn�t really matter, and let your shoulder and arm and hand and eye all work together.�

I tried to relax.

Thock!

The cue ball rolled, hit the seven ball that hit the bumper and then curved away from the pocket.

�Sorry,� I said.

�What do you mean, sorry? You were off by two percent, maybe. You�re getting better. You have an eye for this. You can think in three dimensions. That�s good. You wait, when you become a full member you�ll be thinking in four dimensions. Five. N-dimensional space.�

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I felt my face redden. Pleasure. His compliment may have been sincere or not. I wasn�t sure, but I�d take it for what it was worth. There hadn�t been all that many compliments in my life.

�Take the next shot,� he said. �I want to see how you handle it.�

The assumption that I would someday become a full member of The Sharing, that was strange. I�d only attended two meetings. The first time I just kind of wandered around lost, feeling like a dork. I filled out some form with my name and address and social security number and all. The form asked me some personal questions, too. Nothing too personal, but enough to make me uneasy.

But at the same time, even while I was feeling lost, no one made me feel bad. They were kind of welcoming, like me showing up was a cool thing. They didn�t press me, didn�t try to sell me anything, just kind of let me hang out, watch some kids playing video games, watch other older guys playing basketball out back of the building on a half-court.

When the first meeting was over this guy, this college guy or whatever, came up and shook my hand and asked me personally to come back.

I was back. And now I had Bill teaching me to shoot pool.

I snapped the shot. Cue hit cue ball, hit ball, hit bumper. My ball rolled into the pocket.

�Ah!� I yelled, way too excited.

Bill clapped his hand on my back and gave my shoulder a squeeze. �Cool! Good job, Tobias. That was not an easy shot.�

We played pool some more till at last some other guys came up and jokingly demanded the table.

�No problem,� Bill said. �My boy Tobias here is getting too good for me already.�

It wasn�t true. But I was better.

�I never played pool before,� I said.

�Well, each of us has talents and abilities hidden within us,� Bill said. �Who knows what you can do, Tobias? Have you ever had a chance to find out? That�s what The Sharing is all about, man. The whole point is we all help each other to become the best people we can become.�

I wanted to ask, �Why?� Why would any bunch of people want to get together to help me play pool, or whatever? I mean, what did they get out of it?

But that was just me being cynical. That was me thinking the whole world was like my uncle. It was possible that some people were just nice, right?

There was a chime. A ringing bell, not too loud, but insistent.

Bill groaned. �Time for the �sit down,�� he said.

�What�s a sit down?�

�That�s just what I call it. Every couple of meetings or so they have us all get together, talk to us about stuff.�

�Like what?�

�You know, like the purpose of The Sharing, and our philosophy and all.� He winced. �I shouldn�t complain. I mean, The Sharing has totally turned my life around.�

�Yeah?�

�Yeah.�

�Like how?�

He shrugged and started us toward the main meeting room. �I used to be messed up, man. My folks had a really bad divorce, you know? It was this total mess. Fighting and yelling and lawyers trying to drag me and my sister one way or the other. Sick.�

I nodded like I understood.

�Anyway, I got kind of weird up behind all that. Depressed or whatever. Thinking maybe I didn�t want to go on living. But The Sharing took me out of all that.�

�Yeah?�

He spread his hands wide and smiled. �Not depressed anymore, right? I�m moving on. Dealing with it. Now I have my own plan for the future, you know? Get past all the stuff, get on with my own life, right?�

�Right.�

We sat down on folding chairs. There must have been about forty or fifty people there. Kids, older people, white and black and Asian. People in expensive clothes and people more like me. Cool kids, nerds, jocks. All sitting together, talking, like age or race or whatever didn�t matter.

I spotted someone I hadn�t noticed before. Jake. He was sitting two aisles up, next to his brother Tom.

I was surprised. �That guy up there,� I pointed. �Is he a member?�

�Who, Tom? Yeah, Tom is a very senior full member.�

I hadn�t been talking about Tom, but the information surprised me. �You mean like a senior kid member?�

Bill smiled. �There�s no such thing as old or young, not in The Sharing. We don�t draw lines like that.�

I watched the back of Jake�s head as a speaker mounted two steps to a low stage. I watched him as the speaker talked to us about how the lonely individual in society had been overemphasized in our culture. There was no true achievement unless you were part of something greater. You had to serve in order to achieve. You had to join with a larger reality.

�That�s why we are called The Sharing,� the speaker said. �Together we achieve happiness, fulfillment, meaning. Together, holding each other up, supporting each other, working together to overcome individual weakness, individual failing and pain and hurt.�

It sounded good, I guess. I kept watching Jake. I don�t know why.

I don�t think he knew I was there.

I guess it was pathetic but I thought that if he was a member and I was a member, somehow, someway, stupid thought, lame idea, but somehow I could become him. And not me. Have his life, and not mine.

Shockingly, "Bill" knows about multi-dimensional space. It's actually interesting, because, from what he said, and I don't think the Yeerk is lying about this, Bill had almost the opposite problem as Tobias does. Tobias's problem is that he doesn't have anyone who wants him, while Bill's was that he was tugged back and forth in a custody hearing. Here we also see Tobias's envy of Jake....Jake is cool, Jake is self confident, Jake is here with a member of his family who actually wants to spend time with him. He's got everything Tobias wants but can't have.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Apr 17, 2022

# ? Apr 16, 2022 05:11

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I know we've been there before but the bubble of the Dome ship's landscape sitting there at the bottom of the ocean - with poor Ax trapped all alone inside it - is such a memorable, striking visual image.

# ? Apr 16, 2022 08:04

Strom Cuzewon: Jul 1, 2010

Ah yes, pool. That famously three dimensional game.

# ? Apr 16, 2022 09:47

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Please note, I goofed, in that I left out Chapter 5, so instead of new chapters today, I've appended Chapter 5 at the beginning of the last group of chapters. Happy Easter and Passover to those who celebrate, and Happy Ramadan and easy fast for those who are fasting for Ramadan

# ? Apr 17, 2022 04:10

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# ? May 25, 2024 04:04

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 8-Marco
Day 24

quote:

�You know, you should go out with me,� I said.

For a full five seconds Rachel didn�t say anything. She just sort of narrowed her eyes and stared straight ahead.

I grinned. She was trapped. Couldn�t get away. We were on a field trip to the natural history museum. We�d already looked at the big stuffed elephant. We�d looked at the diorama showing early man cooking barbecue out with the lions. We�d gaped up at the suspended fiberglass whales.

Now we were in the theater where they were about to show us an I MAX film entitled DNA: Miracle Molecule. Or some such thing. It was narrated by Paul Shaffer, from Letterman. Weird. The screen was about the size of an old drive-in theater�s screen, but it was so close I could practically reach out and touch it.

So, anyway, we were in the seats next to each other, me and Rachel. Beside her was one of her friends, Melissa Chapman, daughter of the vice principal. The theater was totally full. Rachel was trapped.

�I don�t think so,� she said at last.

�Is it because I�m roughly three feet shorter than you?�

No answer. Stoic stare.

�Is it that you think I�m cuter than you?�

�Yeah, that would be it.�

On-screen Paul Shaffer was saying, �DNA is a fabulous molecule.�

An electron microscope slide appeared, showing a DNA molecule as long as a train.

�You know, girls love a guy with a sense of humor.�

�Yeah. If he�s Leonardo DiCaprio. Adam Sandler, not so much.�

Despite myself, I laughed. She could throw it back at me. I liked that.

�Still, we should go out. Do a movie. Eat some burgers. I could make you laugh.�

�Actually, I think the mere memory of that suggestion will supply me with plenty of laughter.�

She was fast. Sharper than I thought. I�d always assumed she was just this total babe. But she was cool. Funny.

Wow. Fantastic looks and she was funny? How often does that happen?

�You know, I could supply references, Rachel. Plenty of females have enjoyed the company of Marco the Magnificent.�

�Females? What species?�

I barked out a laugh and got a loud �shush� from a row back. I guess someone back there really cared what was happening to the five-story green-and-red amoeba pulsating behind Paul�s bald head.

I shot a look at Rachel. Was that a faint shadow of a tiny, possibly imaginary smile I saw on her perfect lips? Or was it just a trick of the amoeba light?

I fell silent. Wait. Wait.

�Paul never gets credit for being as funny as he is,� she said.

Hah! She was enjoying talking to me. She started it up again. Hah! Well, well, well.

What would Jake say if I started going out with his cousin? He was my best friend. Had been forever. He�d always been there for me. He was the one guy in the world I could absolutely count on. So if he didn�t approve of me and Rachel, hey, it would make me real sad to say �Bye-bye,
Jake.�

Hah! She liked me. Or at least my sense of humor. No problem-o.

Then �

Paul Shaffer�s head flickered and melted, erupting in brown goo that merged with what I believe was an invertebrate.

�Awwww, man!�

The film had caught and burned. The house-lights came up.

�Now we�ll never know what happened,� I complained. �Did Dave ever make a cameo appearance? Or at least Bif Henderson?�

We all stood up. The kids all managed to control their disappointment. We filed outside, out into the brighter light of the museum proper. I had to struggle to stay up with Rachel. Somehow, and don�t ask me to explain it, she had an ability to move easily and quickly through a crowd without ever touching anyone, or being touched in return. Like she was surrounded by a force field.

But I stayed up with her. And by amazingly good luck Melissa made a girls� room run. By herself. Without Rachel. Which is not something you see very often, a pretty girl left vulnerable without some member of her girl gang around to fend off losers.

�So. What do you think?� I asked Rachel. Up close it was hard to ignore the fact that I was looking almost directly up at her. While she was looking at the top of my head.

�I think many things,� she said cryptically.

�I mean about � abou ��

My mouth stopped moving. My throat seized up. I stared. Stared, heart pounding on no oxygen, stared, pushed Rachel aside when she got in the way.

�It�s her,� I said. I was aware that my voice had cracked. I knew I looked like an idiot. Didn�t care. I was far away. I was in some frozen universe watching would could not possibly be.

�Who?� Rachel snapped.

�Mom,� I whispered.

�Your mom? So go say hi.�

I shook my head slowly, slowly coming out of my paralyzed trance. She had appeared. Simply appeared. Like materializing out of the air. Like she�d been
transported down from the Star Trek universe. She was wearing a blond wig, but I wasn�t wrong. It was her.

She looked shocked, confused. Lost. Angry. Scared.

Then she was moving away, quickly. Heading for the escalator. Her back was to me.

�My mom! My mom! I have to catch her!�

�Your mom? Isn�t she ��

�Mom! Mom!� I yelled. I took off. Took off running like an idiot, yelling and running.

So much for Marco's attempt to be cool in front of Rachel. But what's his mom doing here in this timeline? If you remember, in the "real" timeline, she first shows up after the Animorphs are captured by Visser Three, to set them free to embarrass the Visser. Then, she shows up after that as part of the shark project, to control sharks so she can use them as shock weapons on Leera.

Chapter 9-Aximili

quote:

It took a great deal of patience. Days of patience.

I waited hour after long hour, hope rising and falling, watching the air lock through the transparent bulkhead.

The big creatures would come toward the open air lock, nearer, nearer, but never all the way in.

The air lock was big enough to accommodate four space-suited Andalites. That was its original function, to allow technicians to access the outer surface of the dome.

The only creatures that came into the air lock were smaller finned creatures. These did not seem to possess any natural weapons. Unless, somehow, their fins were far more formidable than they appeared.

In my weeks under the alien ocean I had learned one thing: Earth creatures could be fiercely predatory. The large ate the small.

In this environment there was not much point in being small and weak. I could afford to wait for a chance to acquire something strong. Strong and fast enough, I hoped, to make it safely to the nearest shore, wherever that might be.

So I waited. Waited and invented names for the various creatures who ignored the open cave of the air lock.
Big Mouth. Runny Eyes. Swimming Bird.

And the creature I was after, Blue Blade. This creature seemed to be composed of triangles. Triangular tail, triangular fins, triangular teeth. Its entire body reminded me of a long, flattened triangle. It was blue, the blue-gray of wet steel, not so far different from my own color.

Three days I had waited and waited to spring my trap. Not that I had anything better to do. I exercised. I conjured up absurd scenarios of how Elfangor was alive, had crash-landed among the aliens, and even now was forming an effective guerrilla organization to fight the Yeerks. If anyone
could do it, Elfangor could.

But I knew he was dead. Knew it.

<Ah!>

I slapped the panel.

The door materialized. The creature was trapped!

Now what? In order to acquire the creature�s DNA I had to physically touch him. He did not look as if he would enjoy being touched. He had to be alive at the moment of acquisition. What if the removal of water killed him instantly?

I instructed the air lock computer to draw off ninety percent of the water. This took a few minutes. When it was done the creature was still able to move, but only in two dimensions. His dorsal fin and part of his back were exposed to the air. His belly scraped the floor.

He kept moving, restless. Afraid? Impossible to say.

<Air lock computer, create a force field to contain the water and prevent its spilling into the outer chamber. Allow me to enter the air lock.>

The computer erected a force field just three feet high, just enough to hold in the water and the creature. Above that three-foot wall of energy was open space. I could easily leap over.

However, leaping back out would be harder. The water would be halfway up my side, submerging my legs.

I waited, watched, timed the creature�s movements � leaped!

I flew over the invisible wall, splashed into the water. My hooves slipped, I sagged down into the water, the creature whipped toward me, lightning quick.

It surged at me. I stuck out my right hand and pressed its snout. Acquisition usually creates a trance in the acquired creature. Maybe it would work with this creature.

Eventually.

The monster jerked its head, broke contact, swam away, turned in a flash and arced toward me. Fwapp!

I hit it, flat-bladed, on the snout. It turned away, but came right back. And now its mouth was open in a grin of triangular teeth.

Fwapp!

I hit it again. And jumped aside a split second before it could bite my front left leg. <Yah!>

I leaped clear out of the pool and sprawled clumsily on the floor. Water drained off me. Blood, too. Mine. The creature had swiped my haunch with a fin I now realized was quite sharp.

The creature was fast. Aggressive. Not easily discouraged. Perfect for my purpose. Assuming I lived long enough to worry about my purpose.

<Computer, form a force field that will constrict the creature into a narrow rectangular space.>

The water receded from both side walls. The creature slammed into the force-field, retreated. Tried to turn and suddenly could not.

The Blue Blade was now held within what amounted to a very narrow tank. There was dry floor on either side of him.

<You might have thought of this earlier, Aximili,> I chided myself. I had long since accepted the notion of solipsistic conversation. It was part of a general psychological decay. On at least three occasions I had seen things that were almost certainly not real. Either that or the structure of time itself was different on Earth.

I jumped into the dry space. The creature lay sullen, the vertical gashes behind his mouth worked, open, close, open, close. The one eye on this side glared at me.

I reached and touched the creature�s skin. I pulled away surprised. It was rough-textured. I could have abraded the skin from my hand.

I touched him again and focused as we are trained to do when acquiring DNA.

Sharp teeth, sharp fins, speed, aggression, and armored skin - I didn�t know how dangerous Earth�s oceans might be, but I felt this creature would be safe in them.

There's a very little touch in this book that I appreciate. In the other Megamorph books where chapters switch character perspectives, Ax's chapters are always headed with Ax. In this book, because the Animorphs never were around to free him and give him that nickname, all his chapters are Aximili.

# ? Apr 18, 2022 03:21

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

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