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

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freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I always appreciated this chapter because I'd wondered, back in book 4, how the hell Ax managed to acquire a tiger shark when he was stuck in the dome.

Epicurius posted:

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.

In the real timeline, I think book 5 is only a month or so after they meet Elfangor, and she may have been on/around Earth for a bit before that. Plus I think in this book it's also been about the same length of time since they didn't go through the construction site, if Ax is only now taking it upon himself to escape the dome ship.

# ? Apr 18, 2022 04:07

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# ? May 24, 2024 03:08

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

I just reread this book and it seriously loving rules.

# ? Apr 18, 2022 04:19

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

So is it AX-i-MIL-i or ax-IM-il-i?

# ? Apr 18, 2022 04:41

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

Ax-ih-mee-lee

# ? Apr 18, 2022 04:51

Zonko_T.M.: Jul 1, 2007; I'm not here to fuck spiders!

It's really easy to make alternate-reality stories like this really dull when you know a reset button is going to be hit before the end, but I'm enjoying hope so far this acts as kind of a character study-who are these kids without the baggage of becoming the animorphs? It gels nicely with the overall series theme of how the war changes them, and as a refresher on where they each came from.

Aximili being all alone and friendless on Earth while the yeerk invasion goes unopposed is really bleak.

# ? Apr 18, 2022 07:06

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

freebooter posted:

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.

And yeah, that's always stuck with me

# ? Apr 18, 2022 07:17

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 10-Rachel

quote:

I don�t know why I ran after Marco, but I did.

He was chasing a woman who he couldn�t possibly be chasing. Maybe I wanted to help him. But that�s not what it felt like. It felt like � I don�t know, like I liked chasing someone.

That�s dumb but it may be the truth.

He raced down the escalator, trying to shove past people. I raced down the steps that paralleled the escalator. I hit the floor first.

�There!� he pointed.

I saw a blond woman fast-walking away through the crowd. A woman pushed a stroller into her path. Marco�s ghost shoved the stroller aside and kept moving.

Marco and I pounded after her. No question now, she was running away from us. She was the antelope and we were the wolves.

Of course maybe that�s why she was running. Many people would find it disturbing to be chased by a couple of demented teenagers.

In the main foyer she broke into a flat-out run hampered only by the fact that she was punching numbers into her cell phone.

She had maybe a hundred-foot lead. No way some thirty-something mommy was going to outrun me. She ran for the revolving door.

�Hey!�

A man slammed into the glass. She�d knocked him aside.

She was slow getting through the revolving door. Stupid, I told myself. She shouldn�t have taken the revolving door Now we we got her.

Marco and I reached the revolving door while she was still inside it, just exiting. Marco jumped into the next open section. That�s when the woman yanked hard back on the door, spun it backward, caught Marco off balance and nailed him in the face with the brass push-bar.
Marco sat down hard. He grabbed his face. Blood leaked through his interlocked fingers.

�Hey! You okay?� I yelled to him.

�After her! Stay on her!� he yelled and scrambled to his feet.

All right, I told myself. The boy can focus.

I went through a side door. There were stone steps, about a dozen, two hundred feet wide, heading down to the busy street.

Business people bustling on the sidewalk below. People coming up and down the steps. Groups. Individuals.

No blond woman.

She couldn�t have gotten away. No way. Not enough time. She was here, here in view, one of the three or four dozen bodies in motion.

Wig. It was a wig. The realization came to me in a flash. Marco raced up, stopped, panting beside me.

�She has dark hair,� he gasped.

�I guessed that.�

He looked back and forth. �I don�t see her.�

�Has to be here.�

�Look for whatever she wouldn�t be doing,� he said. �Should be alone, should be going down the steps, look for the opposite.�

I nodded. Yeah, he was right. He was upset, he was desperate, he thought he was chasing his dead mother, and he still figured that out. Maybe I would go out with him. The little guy had a brain in there.

�There!� I yelled.

She was brunette now, moving with a slow group of old people coming up the stairs.

For a split second I met her gaze. Rage. Fury. I hesitated a split second. But a split second later, my own anger answered hers.

You don�t scare me, lady.

The wolves were on the scent again. The antelope ran. Onto the sidewalk, shoving, slamming, barreling through businessmen and -women and UPS drivers and hot dog vendors and bike messengers.

We raced along the facade of the museum. She turned a hard right, straight out into traffic.

Give the lady points. She didn�t scare easy.

Yellow cabs screeched. Drivers cursed. Fingers were thrust skyward.

She ran, we chased, and we gained.

She ducked into an alleyway. Now we had her. The crowds were her cover. She�d be alone.

I turned the corner first, Marco inches behind me. Dumpsters and overflowing trash cans. A pile of empty bottles all in racks.

She was not in sight. Only two places she could be. Behind the Dumpster. Or behind the stack of bottles.

I looked at Marco. We reached unspoken agreement. He walked softly, sneakers squishing in filth, toward the Dumpster.

�Lookout!�

The tower of bottles tipped.

CRASH!

Wham!

Something hit the side of my face. Hard. My eyes rolled in different directions. Tears blurred my vision. A dark shape, moving fast right for me. A bottle in her hand.

Swing!

I ducked, kicked instinctively, and caught yielding flesh. My vision was clearing but I was still wobbly.

She was down on her butt.

She slammed the bottle down on the ground. It shattered, leaving her holding a broken bottle, all jagged, ripping edges.

A deadly weapon.

I backed up, heard Marco yell, �Get your hands off me!�

Someone had him. A man. A large man.

This was going very bad very quickly.

I spun, a nice pirouette. Much easier on the ground than on the balance beam.

I snatched up a bottle and nailed the elbow of the man holding Marco.

�Ah!�

Marco slipped free.

�RUN!� I yelled and yanked him with me. We ran. Back toward the street. But suddenly two new figures loomed in our path.

The cell phone. The woman had called for help. Even then some part of my scared, adrenaline saturated brain wondered what kind of woman could make a call and have tough guys showing up within seconds.

�Back!�

We turned. Trapped. Two big guys behind us. One guy with a sore elbow and Marco�s mother ahead of us.

Think fast, Rachel. I slid the toe of my shoe under one of the bottles and flipped it up at the woman. She flinched and we shoved past her.

Great. Now all four of them were behind us. And I didn�t see any way out of the alley.

Straight ahead a blank wall. The alley turned right. We turned right, scrabbling and panting and now very seriously scared.

Dead end!

Walls. Walls. Walls.

I tried a door. Locked. Marco tried another. Locked.

Overhead, a fire escape, the kind that lowers on springs when a person is descending. It was drawn up, hanging in midair. Seven feet up?

The three men turned the corner. The woman was gone. I had a feeling it didn�t matter. The men looked very serious. Determined.

I stopped short of the tantalizing fire escape. �Marco! Stand right there!� I pointed at a spot on the ground, ten feet away from the fire escape.

I raced over to stand beneath the black-painted wrought iron. Turned, cupped my hands together below my waist.
�Are you crazy?� Marco demanded.

�You have a better idea?�

�Ahhhhhh!� Marco yelled and ran straight at me. Jumped, seated his foot in my cupped hands. I heaved up, timing the movement to use his momentum.
Up he went. Not far. Just enough. He grabbed the bottom of the fire escape, drew it down with his weight. The thing screeched with the strain of rusted metal on rusted metal.

I caught it before it hit the ground and we blew up the stairs, crowding each other, frantic. The springs lifted up.the stairs after us out of reach of our pursuers, but we weren�t going to stop and toss off any clever comic book, �Take that, villain!� lines.

We were going to climb till we ran out of stairs.

Three stories.

BLAM! BLAM!

At first I couldn�t figure it out. What was that incredibly loud noise?

BLAM! BLAM!

�They�re shooting at us!� I yelled in outrage.

�Yeah. RUN!�

We topped the fire escape and tumbled over the parapet onto the roof just as something really disturbing happened.

The men stopped firing guns.

They started firing lasers.

So, totally by chance, Rachel and Marco have run into Visser One and her bodyguards, which is just unlucky.

Chapter 11 - Aximili

quote:

I stood in the empty air lock. The Blue Blade was long gone. It was time for me to be long gone, too. I considered waiting. But I was waiting for nothing, and I knew it.

More waiting would just be cowardice. No one was coming to rescue me.

I was frightened. There is nothing wrong with admitting that. A warrior who is not afraid when he goes toward danger is a fool. Fear is the reflex that keeps us alive.

I focused on the image of the Blue Blade. Tried to see it in every detail. It was not difficult. I had spent quite a while observing it.

I focused and I began to change.

My four legs dwindled swiftly. They melted up into my body. The floor rushed up toward me.

Suddenly my stalk eyes went dark. I could only see directly ahead of me.

<No!>

I reversed morph. Demorphed. A momentary panic, that was all. I had felt suddenly blind. The three-dimensional world had gone flat.

Stupid. I was annoyed with myself. Obviously the creature I was to morph had only two eyes. I should have been prepared.

I took a last look around. Through the transparent wall into the dome, at the familiar trees, at the grass that had nurtured me. I might never return. I might never again stand on any part of Andalite soil.

No point in being sentimental, I told myself. You are a warrior now.

Unprepared, yes. Without a prince or a mission. Too bad. That was how it was. I was alone on an alien world that might be infested with Yeerks. And would, most likely, offer me no viable means of returning to my home world.

A movement. Something out past the door, past the shell of the dome in the ocean itself. It was distorted by the lenses of water and plex.

Distorted, warping in the filtered green sunlight.

Bug fighter!

The shock knocked the wind out of me. Bug fighter! Yeerks! They had found me. They were here.

Coming. Yeerks!

I fought the instinct to run back into the dome. NO. That is where they would kill me. Without shields up, with nothing but a weak force field it would be child�s play to blow holes through the dome and drown the trees, the grass, and anything else that required air.

Morph. Morph. It was the only way. And quickly.

My ears flattened against my skull and melted away. My arms slid down the length of my torso, hands flattening, stiffening, sharpening, till they formed matched fins.

Following my orders the computer was filling the air lock with water. Cold.

Hurry!

I was almost on my belly. My four hooves remained, absurd remnants. Then, they, too, disappeared and I was a growing, elongating cylinder.

My upper body tilted down, coming into line with the cylinder. My tail blade split in two, forming an upper and lower triangle.

My nostrils drifted across the fluid surface of my face, seemed to crawl across liquefied flesh to stop just behind my stalk eyes, which had, themselves, slid down to opposite sides of my head.

I heard the sickening slurp and slush of internal organs reforming, relocating, disappearing altogether, being replaced by more primitive structures.
My fur that had been melting wax now hardened and congealed, forming the stiff, abrasive skin of the Blue Blade.

Faster! Hurry! It was taking too long. The Yeerks would see the air lock opening. They would see me emerge.

I was almost complete. Only one change remained, and it came last.

My face split open horizontally. A gash. An open wound. Muscles attached themselves to jaw bones. And from those jaw bones grew teeth. How many? Too many to easily count.

The mouth, my mouth opened, shut. Opened, shut again with sudden, savage force.

And then, one last thing. One last change, one last gift from the Blue Blade.

Instinct. The mind that went with the mouth.

The hatch opened. I swam out into the unbounded ocean.

My ocean.

Ax finally got out of the ship! And he's dealing with only having two eyes. Now he just has to get away from the Yeerks.

# ? Apr 19, 2022 02:52

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

wow, I am loving this Rachel Marco buddy cop team to, it's a synergy we don't really get to see like that in mainline animorphs

some part of my brain finds this au really distressing, but I think feeling uneasy and distressed is kind of the entite tonal goal of this book so far

# ? Apr 19, 2022 07:54

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

FlocksOfMice posted:

wow, I am loving this Rachel Marco buddy cop team to, it's a synergy we don't really get to see like that in mainline animorphs

Yeah, remixing the characters like this is a lot of fun. (Except for Tobias, I skipped his chapters. Noooo thanks.)

# ? Apr 19, 2022 07:58

kiminewt: Feb 1, 2022

FlocksOfMice posted:

wow, I am loving this Rachel Marco buddy cop team to, it's a synergy we don't really get to see like that in mainline animorphs

some part of my brain finds this au really distressing, but I think feeling uneasy and distressed is kind of the entite tonal goal of this book so far

I guess it's just the fact that they're, at least eventually, going to encounter that same war - only this time without any weapons.

# ? Apr 19, 2022 11:49

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Sorry about this. Today has been a very long and stressful day for me. Chapters tomorrow.

# ? Apr 20, 2022 03:54

Rosalie_A: Oct 30, 2011

Epicurius posted:

Sorry about this. Today has been a very long and stressful day for me. Chapters tomorrow.

you've been disgustingly consistent for over two years now. Take whatever time you need.

# ? Apr 20, 2022 06:45

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

Speaking of consistency
It must bug the Yeerks no end that their three-day pool cycle meshes so poorly with the seven-day cycle human society seems to be built around.

(srsly though, as said above, thanks for a consistently excellent thread)

# ? Apr 20, 2022 08:26

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I'd also like to say thanks, this has been a regularly enjoyable read/discussion through two very lovely cabin-fever years.

We'll even let you have a full week off after Animorphs ends before you have to start posting The Remnants

Tree Bucket posted:

It must bug the Yeerks no end that their three-day pool cycle meshes so poorly with the seven-day cycle human society seems to be built around.

Boon for the Animorphs, though, that the morphing time limit is exactly two hours, not one hour and forty-nine minutes and eight seconds.

Though actually - how did the 24-hour clock become universal? Nations cannot agree on distance measurements or power sockets or even seasonal calendars, but no matter where you go an hour is always an hour and a minute is always a minute.

# ? Apr 20, 2022 08:36

Tunzie: Aug 9, 2008

freebooter posted:

Though actually - how did the 24-hour clock become universal? Nations cannot agree on distance measurements or power sockets or even seasonal calendars, but no matter where you go an hour is always an hour and a minute is always a minute.

They're everyone's minutes, Ax.

# ? Apr 20, 2022 09:20

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

freebooter posted:

Boon for the Animorphs, though, that the morphing time limit is exactly two hours, not one hour and forty-nine minutes and eight seconds.

the time limit seems fairly flexible. there's a few occasions where they came up against it and had difficulty turning back, like it was a more gradual solidification rather than an instant wall. I think Cassie talked Marco through in one of the David books when they'd gone past the limit?

also ellimist did it

# ? Apr 20, 2022 09:36

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

freebooter posted:

Though actually - how did the 24-hour clock become universal? Nations cannot agree on distance measurements or power sockets or even seasonal calendars, but no matter where you go an hour is always an hour and a minute is always a minute.

Looks like various cultures originally divided days into 12 hours each, and nights into a different set of 12 hours each. This has the obvious problem of making daylight and nighttime hours different lengths, which vary from day to day over the course of a year and from place to place, unless you happen to be precisely at the equator. Eventually they decided to divide a full day-night cycle into 24 equal-length hours, instead. Minutes and seconds are 1:60 because the Babylonians, like their Sumerian predecessors, loved the number 60; it has a bunch of factors, and counting on your finger joints lets you count to 12 or 60 easily, a practice still used in Asia today.

The number 12 was apparently chosen because there are roughly 12 lunar cycles in a year, each of which was numbered and called a month; and the number of months then carried over when these cultures all transitioned from using lunar to solar based calendars, necessary because the lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar. This wasn't quite universal, though; pre-Imperial China had a decimal system with days divided into 100 marks, but they eventually went over to a 24-hour system, apparently also inspired by the lunar year as well as the Chinese zodiac. India started with days 60 hours long, each of them divided into 24 minutes, or 30 hours of 48 minutes each; eventually when they went to a solar calendar they too adopted first a 12-hour day and 12-hour night system, then eventually a 24-hour day. And Southeast Asia traditionally divided days into four equal-length periods of 6 hours each, which is just a 24-hour clock by different names. Napoleon, and other imperialism generally, spread the 24-hour clock with them in places that weren't using it already.

Fuschia tude fucked around with this message at 10:02 on Apr 20, 2022

# ? Apr 20, 2022 10:00

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

This might be my favourite thing about these forums; you can say "hmm, I wonder why--" about any given topic and a helpful goon will immediately emerge to supply concise, well-researched and entertaining answers.
It's like being an ancient monarch, able to clap your hands to summon court scholars and poets as needed.

# ? Apr 21, 2022 02:54

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 12-Aximili

quote:

I kicked my tail and surged into the water.

How to describe the feeling of the creature�s mind beneath and within my own? I sensed no intelligence worth noting. This seemed to me a creature of pure instinct.

The Blue Blade was a creature made up of razored triangles in mind as well as body. The instincts were as clean and elegant as a crystal dagger.

Move. Move. Move.

Kill. Eat.

Move.

And to accomplish these utterly basic ends I discovered a whole array of weapons that had not been visible from the outside.

The Blue Blade had startlingly acute senses. Smell. Hearing. And some new sense, something that seemed to be a sort of electrical field awareness. It was as if every living thing near me was pulsing with a distinct radio emission and I was a receiver.

I heard the Bug fighter. Moved away from it. Fear? No. It was not prey. And there would be no prey near it.

A school of smaller finned creatures passed by, off to my right, running from the Bug fighter. Too small for a meal.

I swam, swam, moved, moved, this way and that, casting about for a scent that would jolt my brain. WHHUUUMMMPPPPFFF!

A noise that filled the ocean. The part of me that was still Andalite understood. The Yeerks had imploded the dome. It was filling with water, I could hear the bubbles erupting, the tons of seawater rushing in. I could hear the trees snapping like twigs.

No going back. Only forward now.

I swam.

Sounds behind me. Pursuit. Meaningless. I was not pursued. Nothing pursued me. I pursued.

More sounds. The Bug fighter blew past me, rocking me with its wake.

Tseeeeeew!

A blast of energy that set my electrical field senses on fire.

I turned.

Tseeeeeew!

Heat! Irrelevant. Pain! Irrelevant.

I turned and dived.

Tseeeeew!

This time the Dracon beam missed by a larger margin.

They fired again. Sliced part of my tail off. But it was an uneven fight. In the water the Bug fighter was slow in the turns, sluggish. I turned in my own body length.

The Bug fighter dove beneath me. I rose toward the surface. Shadows on the bright barrier of the surface. Something flying low and slow.

Pah-Loosh! Pah-Loosh!

They fell from no great height into the water just fifty feet away. I, the Andalite me, recognized them instantly, though I had never actually seen one except in holographic displays at the academy.

Taxxons.

The only species ever to agree en masse to be infested by the Yeerks.

They were large worms. Worms that moved on dozens of sharp, pointed legs set in rows down the lengths of their bloated, vile, pulsating bodies.

I could clearly see the hungry red mouths, the red jelly eyes.

When they lectured us on Taxxons at the academy they emphasized two things: that any Andalite could slaughter an endless number of Taxxons in direct combat. The other thing they emphasized was that if we fell before the Taxxons our fate would be horrifying.

The Taxxons do not accept surrender. They eat the wounded. Even their own.

There were six of the big worms in the water ahead of me. Six arrayed in battle formation against one of me.

I attacked. I raced for the nearest one. The Blue Blade sliced through the water, rolled onto its side, opened its mouth, and dug triangular teeth into too-yielding flesh.

I ripped a two-foot hole in the worm.

�Sreeeeeyah!�

Taxxon blood and organs and bile billowed in the water. Air bubbles seeped from its mouth.

A second Taxxon. Chomp!

A third, a fourth, more, more, more! I was mad with killing rage, slashing, darting, flailing like an insane thing, hitting, biting, ripping, tearing.

Out of control!

The morph had taken over. The creature was directing the action. No, that made it sound as if it was thinking. It thought nothing. Even its low level of intelligence was wiped away, erased by a screaming, demanding urge to massacre anything it could reach.

Six Taxxons were in pieces, floating.

More were dropping into the water, but these new arrivals saw what was happening and swam directly away from me.

No more targets! Nothing left to kill.

I flailed at nothing, bit and slashed the empty water. I would have bitten myself if I could.

And then, suddenly, it was over.

The madness gone, replaced by ice-cold indifference.

I swam away. My Andalite mind regained control. For now.

My first battle. Six Taxxons. And I had learned one thing: If the rest of Earth�s species were anything like this Blue Blade, the Yeerks had picked the wrong planet.

It's a recurring theme in the books just how dangerous Earth is compared to other inhabited planets, which is kind of interesting, I guess, because sort of take Earth for granted, so the fact that aliens tend to see it as some sort of dangerous hell world kind of amuses me.. Also, good timing Ax got out when he did.

[b]Chapter 13-Jake
Day 31/b]

quote:

�Aren�t you coming?�

I shrugged. Tom was framed in my bedroom door. He looks a lot like me; at least that�s what people say. They always say they can tell we�re brothers.

�I wasn�t going to,� I said. I pointed at the books on my desk. �Homework.�

He looked disappointed. �Oh, man, that�s too bad, man. I figured you�d be there. There�s some people I wanted you to meet. One of the high-up guys in The Sharing is coming.�

�Yeah?� I said, trying to sound interested.

�Mr. Visser himself.�

I had a sudden mental image � a vision, almost. Strange. A picture that had popped into my head. A head without a mouth. Eyes on something like snail stalks.

Whoa. Then it was gone. �Weird name,� I said.

�Yeah, well, he�s an unusual guy. But very smart. Very cool. Look, who�s the homework for? Old Lady Hanna?�

I smiled, despite myself. �Yeah. For Ms. Hanna.�

�Tell you what, you come to the meeting with me tonight, I�ll guarantee Old Lady Hanna will give you an �A.��

�Say what?�

He shrugged. �She�s a member, little brother.�

�That doesn�t mean she�ll let me blow off homework,� I said.

Tom considered for a moment. He blinked and kind of looked away, almost like he was embarrassed. �No. I don�t want you thinking that,� he admitted. �Tell you what, though, come to the meeting and I�ll help you do the homework when we get home.�

Strange having Tom ask me for anything. It was like he was pressuring me. Maybe he was nervous himself and wanted me around as his security blanket.

�Okay,� I said. I shut my book.

The phone rang. Tom stepped into the hallway to grab it.

�It�s your honey pie,� he said.

I flushed. I couldn�t control it. I shot him a dark look that just made him laugh. I grabbed the receiver from his hand.

�Hi.�

�It�s me, Cassie.�

�Yeah? Um, hi. What�s up?�

�I � I, uh, I was wondering if, I don�t know � �

In the background I heard a voice I knew. Rachel. �Good grief, do I have to do it for you?�

�Do you want to study together?� Cassie blurted out in a rush.

�Is Rachel there?� I asked.

�Yes, but she�ll be leaving. Sooner than she thinks, if she doesn�t watch out.�

I sighed. On the scale of things I wanted to do, study with Cassie was about a nine, going to The Sharing was about a one. A minus one. But I�d already told Tom I�d do it.

�Cassie, I really would like to but -�

�Oh! No problem!� she said, too quickly. �I was just, it was only that -�

�Cassie, there is nothing I�d rather do than study with you. Really. Except maybe get some tips from Michael Jordan. But I promised Tom I�d go to this stu �� I stopped myself. Tom could be right out in the hall. �This meeting.�

�A meeting?�

�Yeah. It�s this thing called The Sharing.�

Silence.

�Are you there?�

�Yeah.�

�Is something the matter?�

�I ��

�What is it?�

�I don�t know,� she said. She sounded confused. Worried. �I don�t know. I really don�t.�

I relaxed a little. Not much. �You know, maybe you�re just upset over this thing with Rachel and Marco.�

�Over them going out?�

�No, over the whole thing that happened with them. You know, Marco thinking he saw his mom and all. The guys with the guns.�

�The what?�

I slapped my forehead. �Rachel didn�t tell you?�

�Tell me what?� Cassie demanded. Then, obviously to Rachel, �What didn�t Rachel tell me?�

�I thought you�d get all worried,� Rachel said in the background.

�Sorry,� I said. �Marco hasn�t shut up about it, and I just assumed Rachel told you.�

�Jake, I have to go and cause Rachel serious bodily pain.�

�I understand. Listen, Cassie, how about tomorrow night? I mean, for studying together.�

�That would be great.�

�Yeah.�

�Yeah.�

�Go kill Rachel now.�

I stepped back out into the hall and hung up the phone. Cool. Cassie, tomorrow night. My insides were churning. Oh, man, what was I going to talk about with her?

Maybe we could talk about why Rachel would keep something secret that Marco wouldn�t stop bringing up.

And maybe we could talk about why Cassie got weird when I said the words, �The Sharing.�

We're going to meet the mysterious Mr. Visser himself. I hope he's nice.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Apr 22, 2022

# ? Apr 21, 2022 03:59

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Epicurius posted:

Chapter 12-Aximili

It's a recurring theme in the books just how dangerous Earth is compared to other inhabited planets, which is kind of interesting, I guess, because sort of take Earth for granted, so the fact that aliens tend to see it as some sort of dangerous hell world kind of amuses me.. Also, good timing Ax got out when he did.

[b]Chapter 13-Jake[
Day 31/b]

We're going to meet the mysterious Mr. Visser himself. I hope he's nice.

Eh, it's just Dutch. Means "Fisher." No big deal. :shrug:

# ? Apr 21, 2022 06:24

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

Please, Mr. Visser was my father. Call me Yolandi.

# ? Apr 21, 2022 16:06

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

Fuschia tude posted:

Eh, it's just Dutch. Means "Fisher." No big deal.

Ever met a Dutch fisherman? They are the exact opposite of "no big deal."

quote:

And I had learned one thing: If the rest of Earth’s species were anything like this Blue Blade, the Yeerks had picked the wrong planet.

Ax is smart and perceptive.

# ? Apr 21, 2022 21:46

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

I like the confirmation that Rachel and Marco's clashing is the kind of energy that toes the line between anger and attraction and in a timeline where she never gets closer to Tobias, the two date

# ? Apr 22, 2022 02:32

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 14-Tobias

quote:

I was used to the place now. I felt comfortable there. Weird feeling. Weird to be comfortable. I�d been to several meetings of The Sharing. Once some new kids started teasing me, but the real members shut them down fast.

No one gave me any grief at The Sharing. They acted like I was an equal. Like I belonged. Or at least like I could belong.

Tonight was the night. I had to decide. Join or not. Become a full member or stop coming. It wasn�t that hard a decision for me. What else did I have going on? Where else was I going to go?

And there was another factor.

Three days ago I�d run into Andy and Tap-Tap again. In the gym locker room. There were maybe two dozen other kids in there, so I�d figured I was safe even though this wasn�t my regular class and I was only there because I�d missed gym two days in a row. I figured wrong.

They started to stuff me into one of the taller lockers the football team uses. I was yelling, kids were laughing. Not just Andy and Tap-Tap. It was like every kid in there wanted to see me get humiliated.

Then these guys, these two ordinary kids I�d seen at The Sharing, came over. I didn�t even know their names. I still don�t.

One guy said, �Hey, let him go.�

Andy stopped stuffing my face back with his hand. �Are you talking to me?�

�Let him go.�

These two Sharing guys didn�t have Jake�s easy ability to convince people they were serious. But they were determined. The other guy walked over to a weight rack. He picked up about a twenty pound weight and carried it back to Andy.

�Let him go, or I�ll bury this weight in your head.�

Andy blinked. Tap-Tap giggled.

Class was changing. New kids were arriving. One of them was Sharing, too. He didn�t even ask what was going on. He just moved in beside his two friends. Now it was three of them against Andy and Tap-Tap.

They let me go.

My rescuers didn�t even hang around long enough for me to say thanks.

They�d made their point. That�s what it meant to be Sharing, not throwing your weight around or anything like some gang or whatever, just the knowledge that there were people backing you up. Looking out for you.

Bill was still my advisor. Only now I was beating him at pool.

�I�m going to do it,� I said to him. Then I nailed the four ball.

�Do what? Kick my butt by running the table?�

I laughed. �No. I want to join. I want to be a full member.�

He put down his cue, came over, and gave me a sort of arm�s-length hug. He held me out to get a good look at me.

�That�s cool, Tobias.�

�Yeah,� I said. I was feeling kind of embarrassed.

�Now, you know this is a big step, right? I mean, we want you to join. We all want you to be a full member. But there are responsibilities that go along with it. It�s not just games and fun all the time.�
I nodded. �I know. Some Sharing guys saved my rear end the other day. I know what it�s about.�

�The individual has to give up something to get something in return,� he said.

�Yeah. I know. I�ve been listening to the speeches and all.�

�You trade a little bit of freedom for a lot of belonging to something bigger than yourself.� He moved closer and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. �Bigger than you can imagine.�

I felt wary. What was he talking about?

�A full member of The Sharing is a special person,� Bill said. �A rare and special person.� He waved his arm around at the room full of kids and adults. �This is just the surface, Tobias. We are about bigger things. We are going to make this a better world.�

�Yeah?�

�Yeah. Change is coming, Tobias. And you�ll be part of it. You have no idea. You think you�re just some kid, some kid going to school. You have no idea of the untapped potential deep inside yourself. You have no idea what you can become. What you can accomplish.�

I nodded like I had some clue. I didn�t. But it excited me. Scared me, too, a little. But there was something about The Sharing they don�t tell you right at first: You have a few weeks, a month even, but then you have to choose. You can stay and be a full member, or you have to leave.

Leave The Sharing. And do what? Go back to my lovely life?

I spotted Jake. He came in with Tom. Tom gets a lot of respect at the meetings. Even adults are respectful to him.

I caught Jake�s eye. He came over to see me. Cool. For once I wasn�t running to him like a little puppy dog. He was coming to see me.

�What�s up, Tobias?�

I shrugged. �Nothing much. Except I guess tonight is the big night for me.�

�Yeah? Why�s that?�

�I�m going to become a full member.�

He looked at me kind of sideways. �Congratulations, I guess, right?�

�Sure. You should do it, too.�

�Uh-huh. That�s what Tom keeps telling me.�

�So why don�t you?� I asked.

He looked uncomfortable. �I don�t know. I guess it�s just not my thing.�

�Oh, you�re too cool?�

He looked sharply at me. �I wasn�t trying to offend you, man.�

�You didn�t offend me,� I said, sounding offended. �Not at all. I�m just curious. Why don�t you want to join? Tom�s a member, so it�s not like it�s just for losers like me.�

That came out much harsher and more pathetic than I�d intended.

�Tobias, you�re not a loser,� he said.

Which just made it worse. It�s bad enough being a loser. You don�t want the winners like Jake feeling sorry for you.

�Hey, join or not, no problem,� I said.

�It�s just �� He looked down at the floor, then over at Tom who was shaking hands and laughing with a group of guys and girls. �I don�t know. People start talking about how the individual has to give way to the group, I just, I don�t know. I get kind of � jumpy. Besides, how can I join any organization where Mr. Chapman is a member?�

He meant that last part as a joke. But I didn�t want to laugh. �Don�t you want to be a part of something big and important?�

He shook his head very slightly. �No. I don�t want to be �a part.� Maybe it�s just me. Maybe it�s just my own mental block. But anytime someone starts talking that stuff, I start looking for the exit door.�

�You�re a part of lots of things, Jake,� I said. �You�re part of a team. You�re part of your country.�

He nodded. �No, I didn�t make the team,� he said darkly. He forced a happy face. �Hey, I�m just down because of this conversation I had. Cassie. Kind of bothered me somehow. Not your problem, though. So how about I say congratulations, and wish you luck and all.�

�Okay. Cool.�

�Yeah.�

The fundamental difference between Jake and Tobias is, because of their experiences, Jake knows who he is in himself. He'll be a part of a team, but he doesn't need to be, because he's secure in who and what he is.

Chapter 15-Tobias

quote:

There were four of us slated to become full members. There was a police officer named Edward. There was a newspaper reporter named Kiko. There was a guy who managed local bands. His name was Barry.

And then, there was me.

Why me? The question was impossible to avoid. How did I fit into this group? Was it really true that The Sharing didn�t care if you were young or old, male, female, black, white, Asian, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, straight, gay, rich, or poor?

I mean, that�s what they said. But lots of people say that. They don�t always mean it. Mostly people look for ways to treat other people like dirt.

They put us in a small room, dimly lit. Like a dentist�s waiting room only with mood lighting and no magazines. There was the door we came in. And a door that hadn�t opened yet.

I looked at the others. Edward and Kiko paid no attention to me. Barry nodded. They must have been wondering what some kid was doing there. Adults have an automatic prejudice against kids. They never take kids seriously, even when they pretend to. At least that�s my experience.

I said hi to Barry.

�Hi, kid. What�s your name?�

�Tobias.�

�Good name. You like music?�

�Sure.�

�Ever hear of Format Cee�s Colon?�

I shook my head. He looked disappointed. �Yeah, well, you will. Next big thing. You heard it here, first. They just need a break. We�ve got a video, but we can�t get any play on MTV.�

I nodded like I cared. �I guess you need that, huh?�

�Absolutely. They say they can help.�

�Who?�

�The Sharing. Who else?�

�Ah.�

The door opened. The door that hadn�t opened before. Mr. Chapman. Our vice principal at school. So far my meetings with Mr. Chapman had been in his office. Him asking me to tell him who had beat me up. Or who had pantsed me and shoved me into the girls� bathroom. And me refusing to
tell.

�Kiko?� Chapman said. She jerked to her feet. Straightened her trim skirt. Chapman gave me a friendly wink and led
Kiko away.

Barry fell silent. He was nervous.

The policeman wasn�t in uniform, but I knew he was a cop. My uncle has been arrested a couple of times in his life and cops are the one thing he really gets passionate about. He�s always pointing them out. So I know a policeman when I see one.

Basically, I figured if my uncle hated them, they were probably all right. It set my mind at ease a little seeing him there. I mean, if he was joining it had to be okay. Right?

The door opened again and I jerked involuntarily.

It was Bill. �Hey, switch to decaf, man,� he joked.

�Sorry.�

�Let�s go.�

I stood up. Barry gave me a nod of encouragement. The cop just stared blankly ahead of him. I walked through the door.

Bill led me down a hallway. Suddenly, in the middle of the hallway he stopped and gave me a mysterious look. He pressed his hand against a small rectangular panel set about chest-high.

Suddenly a door appeared. It opened on darkness.

We stepped through. Not completely dark. There was a red light. Metal stairs, leading down.

I hesitated. Bill laughed. �Don�t worry, it�s just a bit of melodrama.�

Down. Not far. Three flights. To a landing, and another door, and another hallway. Another door.

Open. Inside, a table. Six chairs. Chapman sat at the head of the table. Beside him, imperious, impatient, almost menacing, was the man who had spoken at the meeting earlier. Mr. Visser.

Kiko sat to Chapman�s right. She smiled at me. A weird smile. The side of her face spasmed suddenly, but then she was smiling again. In one corner was a sort of metal tub. Like the whirlpools the football team uses. Stainless steel, just big enough for one person. There was some sort of harness or whatever on the lip of the tub, and a steel chair.

�Tobias,� Chapman said.

�Yes, sir?�

�Bill tells us that you are ready to become a full member of The Sharing.�

I nodded.

�Why do you wish to join us?�

I shrugged. �Because � I � because you know, what they�re always talking about. What Mr. Visser was saying. Being part of something greater than myself. Part of something big.�

Chapman glanced at Mr. Visser. Nervously, I thought.

Mr. Visser took a deep breath. �Is all this necessary?�

Chapman said, �Receptivity is helpful, Visser. There is less chance of � of problems later.�

�Yes, yes, but get on with it.�

Chapman forced his features back into a pleasant smile. �Are you ready, Tobias? Is this what you truly want?�

What I wanted? I wanted to fly. To spread my wings, catch the breeze, feel my talons leave the branch, soar as the thermal raised me up to the clouds.

What?

Bill nudged me. �Yes,� I said.

�And you will surrender yourself to The Sharing?�

�Yes.� The image had been so strong. So real.

Flying high, seeing through eyes that were like telescopes.

Chapman nodded to Bill. Bill held my shoulders from behind and guided me to the whirlpool thing.

�Sit there,� he said.

I sat. The chair was cold. The surface of the liquid in the tub was still. Dark. Heavy-looking, as if it maybe wasn�t water.

No big deal, I told myself. Lots of organizations have weird initiations and stuff. No problem.

But I felt off now. The vision, what was it? Some desperate fantasy?

�Place your right hand here,� Bill said.

I placed my hand in what could only be a shackle. A handcuff. My insides were churning now. I was placing myself totally in their power. What was I doing? What was I doing?

Bill fastened the cuff.

�Now your left hand.�

No, no, this was insane. No, this was wrong. No. No. Handcuffs? I looked pleadingly at Mr. Chapman. He was the vice principal, he wouldn�t be part of anything bad, would he?

But Mr. Visser was in the way. It was his bored face I saw.

I placed my left hand. Bill fastened the cuff.

�Now lay your head down, sideways, in the harness,� Bill instructed.

�What is this?� I asked. �What are you doing? I mean, what�s going to happen?�

�Your whole world is going to change, Tobias,� Bill said soothingly. �You will see and know and understand everything.�

�I don�t think I �� I couldn�t breathe. A voice in my head was screaming, Run! Run! My mind was reeling. �I think I changed my mind.�

Bill suppressed a smile. �You want to leave The Sharing? You want to leave all of us? All your friends? After all we�ve done for you? Okay, Tobias. But what will you do, then? Where will you go? What�s your future?�

My heart was pounding. �I don�t know,� I said desperately. �I just � I ��

�There is no �I,� Tobias. What are you? One lonely, messed-up kid. No one loves you. No one cares. No one but us. Put your head in the harness.�

I shook my head, wildly, firmly. �No. No. I don�t want to do this.�

Bill smiled. He laughed. �Well, guess what? It�s too late.�

He grabbed my head in his two hands and shoved it down.

�No! Mr. Chapman! No!�

Chapman got up and came over. He helped force me down. I was screaming, crying, yelling now. Helpless. My hands held firm.

�Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!�

The harness was closed over my neck, around my head. I couldn�t move it. I could barely move my mouth to beg for mercy.

Bill and Chapman stepped back. There was a whirring motor somewhere close. The side of my head was forced down toward the surface of the liquid.

�No! No! No!�

�You see, in the end we have to use force,� Mr. Visser said.

�True, Visser, but we only have this problem in twenty-one percent of the cases of willing members. And there are sixty-four percent fewer incidents of contested control with voluntary hosts.�

�I know the statistics,� Mr. Visser snapped. �Just do it. I have thirty minutes left before I have to demorph.�

I heard all this like it was coming from far away. I listened hoping to hear some note of mercy, some sense that maybe this was all a terrible joke, a hazing, something.

My ear touched the water.

A moment later, something touched my ear.

It's done.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 04:11

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

Poor Tobias. Just wanted to escape from his life.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 04:41

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

Poor Tobias. Just wanted to escape from his life.

And he succeeded.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 05:25

ANOTHER SCORCHER: Aug 12, 2018

I love how thoroughly unenjoyable Visser Three finds voluntary or semi-voluntary infestation to be.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 07:50

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

I'm wondering whether it would be have been the more interesting choice for Tobias, in this alternate timeline, to actually willingly go through with it and be a voluntary host. The Tobias we know of course would never do that, but on paper the pre-Animorph Tobias is (at least outwardly) a prime candidate for it. In a sense it's a nature/nurture thing: how much was Tobias always a strong person on the inside even if he was a dweeb at school, and how much did becoming one of the Animorphs make him a strong person? Which is even more arguable when the character in question is thirteen.

(Better Call Saul has just started its final season, and that fundamental element of change exists for both Saul in BCS and Walt in Breaking Bad: did the person actually fundamentally change, or were they always really that person deep down and only their circumstances changed? I'm inclined to believe the latter for Walt, but Jimmy/Saul is way more greyscale.)

It's also really interesting how driven Tobias is to belong, to be accepted, to be part of something, when - despite his the sense of belonging he finds with the Animorphs - being a bird of prey (as opposed to any other animal he could have been trapped as) is very much about being solitary, both literally and symbolically.

quote:

�You trade a little bit of freedom for a lot of belonging to something bigger than yourself.� He moved closer and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. �Bigger than you can imagine.�

I felt wary. What was he talking about?

�A full member of The Sharing is a special person,� Bill said. �A rare and special person.� He waved his arm around at the room full of kids and adults. �This is just the surface, Tobias. We are about bigger things. We are going to make this a better world.�

�Yeah?�

�Yeah. Change is coming, Tobias. And you�ll be part of it. You have no idea. You think you�re just some kid, some kid going to school. You have no idea of the untapped potential deep inside yourself. You have no idea what you can become. What you can accomplish.�

If they weren't a front for a covert alien invasion, this would be the red flag that this life pathway ultimately ends when FBI agents storm your secluded desert compound.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 08:18

Crespolini: Mar 9, 2014

Not very voluntary compared to the first example we got a few books back, where the recruit was told explicitly what was going to happen beforehand. Tricking them into "Surrendering themselves to the sharing" might be a fun prank, but it doesn't seem that different from just grabbing them.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 15:34

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Crespolini posted:

Not very voluntary compared to the first example we got a few books back, where the recruit was told explicitly what was going to happen beforehand. Tricking them into "Surrendering themselves to the sharing" might be a fun prank, but it doesn't seem that different from just grabbing them.

I'm assuming the "Let us implant a parasite into your brain and turn you into a meat puppet" pitch was a harder sell than originally anticipated. But, especially looking at Chapman's numbers,. the type of person who honestly believes their life isn't important compared to the greater good and is willing to let themselves be chained to a chair and have their head dipped into a Yeerk pool probably is more likely to be ok with being infested than the general public.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 16:24

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

Crespolini posted:

Not very voluntary compared to the first example we got a few books back, where the recruit was told explicitly what was going to happen beforehand. Tricking them into "Surrendering themselves to the sharing" might be a fun prank, but it doesn't seem that different from just grabbing them.

I think that's exactly what Visser Three is talking about when he's frustrated with the charade.

Though to be fair he's also running it differently from Visser One.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 16:49

FlocksOfMice: Feb 3, 2009

I still say if the yeerks weren't cartoonishly evil (that isn't a complaint they have a real hosed up society that self perpetuates itself believably like that, they are a believable cartoon evil) but if they weren't cartoonishly evil they could probably go open and go gangbusters with willing hosts if they weren't dicks about it.

Get a cool alien in your head! Yes, it controls your actions, but that way you learn how to do weird alien science hands-on! Having trouble with executive dysfunction, with drug addiction, with this or that? Get a yeerk! Our one-step-program will get your life in gear! Never be alone again! And like, we've seen yeerks CAN give up control while remaining inside? You can do online yeerk dating, find the right yeerk for you, share a life together!

But like you know Animorphs is a realistic setting because like in real life it'd be great if we also solved homelessness with the same kind of "we can do this, why don't we just do this?" but since Applegate is a good writer it's a bureaucracy of assholes where you have to be an even bigger rear end in a top hat to survive so it generates infinite jerk yeerks (jyeerks) and the obvious easy solution is never really easy or viable because the system that would allow it to work is instead a system of jyeerks.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 17:08

gourdcaptain: Nov 16, 2012

ANOTHER SCORCHER posted:

I love how thoroughly unenjoyable Visser Three finds voluntary or semi-voluntary infestation to be.

Why is he even here? What made him show up for this routine infestation? Just to mess with his subordinates?

Maybe they found Elfangor's letter to Tobias? Not that it's really important.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 17:11

Crespolini: Mar 9, 2014

Epicurius posted:

I'm assuming the "Let us implant a parasite into your brain and turn you into a meat puppet" pitch was a harder sell than originally anticipated. But, especially looking at Chapman's numbers,. the type of person who honestly believes their life isn't important compared to the greater good and is willing to let themselves be chained to a chair and have their head dipped into a Yeerk pool probably is more likely to be ok with being infested than the general public.

It just seems like half-assing the concept, to the point where I probably wouldn't feel like bothering if I was in charge. Though if those statistics given were true, I guess it's more useful than not.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 18:58

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

gourdcaptain posted:

Why is he even here? What made him show up for this routine infestation? Just to mess with his subordinates?

Maybe they found Elfangor's letter to Tobias? Not that it's really important.

It makes sense later.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 20:31

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

Crespolini posted:

It just seems like half-assing the concept, to the point where I probably wouldn't feel like bothering if I was in charge. Though if those statistics given were true, I guess it's more useful than not.

To be fair, if Visser Three is half-assing anything in the invasion, it's definitely the touchy-feely "Let us become one with you for mutual gain!" garbage that only an experienced human-knower like Visser One could actually pull off.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 21:11

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

FlocksOfMice posted:

I still say if the yeerks weren't cartoonishly evil (that isn't a complaint they have a real hosed up society that self perpetuates itself believably like that, they are a believable cartoon evil) but if they weren't cartoonishly evil they could probably go open and go gangbusters with willing hosts if they weren't dicks about it.

Get a cool alien in your head! Yes, it controls your actions, but that way you learn how to do weird alien science hands-on! Having trouble with executive dysfunction, with drug addiction, with this or that? Get a yeerk! Our one-step-program will get your life in gear! Never be alone again! And like, we've seen yeerks CAN give up control while remaining inside? You can do online yeerk dating, find the right yeerk for you, share a life together!

But like you know Animorphs is a realistic setting because like in real life it'd be great if we also solved homelessness with the same kind of "we can do this, why don't we just do this?" but since Applegate is a good writer it's a bureaucracy of assholes where you have to be an even bigger rear end in a top hat to survive so it generates infinite jerk yeerks (jyeerks) and the obvious easy solution is never really easy or viable because the system that would allow it to work is instead a system of jyeerks.

Especially if you lean into the whole "The Sharing is a kooky New Age alien cult" or "Scientology meets the Boys & Girls Club of America" thing an enterprising Yeerk and/or PR mind could very easily sell the idea of the Yeerks as "Your new alien companion." Presenting it to the public as a symbiosis thing because you don't know you're a meat puppet until the Yeerk actually takes the wheel and you become a meat puppet.

If the Yeerks had but a little more patience and a lot more capacity for forward thinking and playing the long game, you could pull off a V 2009-style situation where you implant a fuckton of people with essentially sleeper agent Yeerks ordered to stay in "read only" mode, because it's been established that a Yeerk can read a host's mind by default, but the host can't read the Yeerk's thoughts. And then just wait until enough people have been Yeerked and put out a signal for everyone to go active and spring the trap on humanity. Like the Reapers in Mass Effect waiting until galactic civilization has becoming cripplingly dependent on their technology before they shut the power off and harvest everyone.

At that point all you need to worry about largely is just maintaining OPSEC and troop discipline to make sure none of the sleeper Yeerks start blabbing to anyone "ha ha! You stupid humans, we're actually here to invade you, and you've fallen into our trap!" like dipshit Yeerks have been known to do quite liberally.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 21:28

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

The one problem with the Yeerks playing the long game, from the Yeerk perspective, is that they're in the middle of a war with an enemy that wants to wipe them out. The Yeerks are suffering from a massive host shortage now, and they're worried that at any time, the Andalites can discover Earth and the Yeerk presence on Earth, and wipe them out or wipe humanity out. So time is their enemy here. They have to get Earth Yeerk controlled and defended ASAP. Publically revealing themselves and hoping they can get enough people who would voluntarily agree to get a Yeerk implanted in their head is pretty risky, because it requires them to assume 1. There are no Andalites on earth undercover, 2. Humanity won't consider them a threat and wipe them out, and 3. They'll actually be able to convince people to put Yeerks in their heads. Really the two safest plans are Visser One's or Visser Three's. Either you do this entirely through innocent looking front organizations that shuffle people into an infestation path, or you do a massive surprise attack to wipe out human resistance and force people into the pools and hope you can do it fast enough so that it's done before the Andalites find you.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 21:51

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

You could probably buy some time, on that front at least, by again putting that PR brain to use and just lie with the truth. Sell humanity on the idea that the Yeerks are a desperate refugee species with something to offer humanity and they're being hunted across the galaxy by an evil empire run by a xenophobic warlike race known as the Andalites who are bent on the extermination of the Yeerks and anyone who would dare harbor and aide them, even tangentially, which now includes humanity by default.

The prospect of painting the Andalites up front as basically the Covenant, an empire of alien monsters coming to glass Earth if they ever find its location could do wonders for uniting a bunch of people not just together against a common enemy, but in solidarity with their new "ally". But then again, humanity couldn't even come together to face the global threat of a loving virus before people started actively working on behalf of the virus through madness and stupidity, so who really knows at this point.

# ? Apr 22, 2022 22:00

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# ? May 24, 2024 03:08

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

I think that kind of approach requires more gumption than Yeerks are capable of when dealing with a relatively sophisticated and hostile species as humans.

e: a worf

HIJK fucked around with this message at 22:30 on Apr 22, 2022

# ? Apr 22, 2022 22:07

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

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