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

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Flowers For Algeria: Dec 3, 2005; I humbly offer my services as forum inquisitor. There is absolutely no way I would abuse this power in any way.

JesusSinfulHands posted:

I've always imagined that in the completely unrealistic scenario where Animorphs ever got a Game of Thrones level TV adaptation, it would be around 6 seasons, with a slow and leisurely, character-building adaptation of most of the first 26 books or so, while skipping obvious filler like 14 with the Yeerk-infested horses or 25 with the adventure to the North Pole. After that a ton of filler books in the 30s and 40s could be skipped, not skipping the important Aftran/Yeerk Peace Movement stuff, everything with Marco and his mom, and the Tobias & Taylor stuff. Then nearly everything from 45 onward is basically an entire big-budget last season on its own...actually 45 would be a great episode to end the previous season on.

Not sure how the Megamorphs or Chronicles come in, something like the dinosaurs one or the time matrix shenanigans seems unrealistic to ever make even in this hypothetical world where Animorphs was a global phenomenon. Ellimist Chronicles would simply be unfilmable.

Don�t diss book 14 it�s hilarious when you�re 9. Alien toilets! Theme parks! It�s great as a lighter Yeerk-plot-of-the-week episode.

# ? Aug 12, 2022 07:23

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# ? May 25, 2024 14:14

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

I think I'd do three seasons. Season 1 is setup, meeting Elfangor, learning to morph etc. It would end with the plot of book 7 where they meet the Ellimist and destroy the Kandrona, but I'd shuffle things around so they meet Ax and Eric first. So that would be a mostly triumphant arc where they gain confidence and overcome fear. Season 2 would be darker, where they're really struggling and also getting back story for the different races. You'd have the Hork Bajir / Alloran back story revealed by Toby, see the Andalite traitor on Leera, Tobias gets captured, Cassie meets the Yeerk resistance. The would end with the aircraft carrier fight and Ax's decision. Third season starts with Marco blowing his cover and goes through the final arc.

Also full length feature films for each of the Chronicles books.

# ? Aug 12, 2022 14:09

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I think you could just leave out the Ellimist entirely, and probably the Chee too. They provide way too many outs for the Animorphs to get away with.

Or if there must be Chee, Erek should be the only one they ever meet and he gives the Animorphs a lead on where the Kandrona machine in the hotel tower instead of the Ellimist.

Excluding the Ellimist means that Tobias is permanently stuck as a hawk, so either we need another reason for him to regain his morphing ability or just accept that he's a nothlit forever.

Star Man fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Aug 12, 2022

# ? Aug 12, 2022 17:07

Zore: Sep 21, 2010; willfully illiterate, aggressively miserable sourpuss whose sole raison d�etre is to put other people down for liking the wrong things

Removing the Ellimist isn't a good idea imo. It has too many knock-on effects and completely sidelines Tobias for the series. It also removes a ton of the more interesting conflicts he has with being Elfangor's son, the Hawk vs Human stuff and the plots of his last 4 books which are all highlights of the series. Like what do you even do with a theoretical nothlit Tobias after the initial horror and first 'Hawk v Man' we cover in book 3?

It does make things a bit weirder and more complicated, but the series as a whole does a lot of weird and experimental things. Adapting it should keep at least some of that intact.

# ? Aug 12, 2022 18:31

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Zore posted:

Removing the Ellimist isn't a good idea imo. It has too many knock-on effects and completely sidelines Tobias for the series. It also removes a ton of the more interesting conflicts he has with being Elfangor's son, the Hawk vs Human stuff and the plots of his last 4 books which are all highlights of the series. Like what do you even do with a theoretical nothlit Tobias after the initial horror and first 'Hawk v Man' we cover in book 3?

It does make things a bit weirder and more complicated, but the series as a whole does a lot of weird and experimental things. Adapting it should keep at least some of that intact.

The way you get around that, just for the sake of argument, is to either have Tobias stay human for far longer and become a nothlit as the hammer to either season 1 or season 2's ending. And/or establish some kind of Andalite Science sort-of cure for nothlit-ism that works the same way the Ellimist's deal does: restoration of morphing abilities with the nothlit form becoming default, and the ability to resume one's original form as a morph, but if you nothlit yourself twice in the name of permanently becoming your old self again, that's it, there's no fixing that.

An Ellimist-less hypothetical TV show could work, you just need the right sort of creative mind to pull it off and make sure all the threads don't unravel, because there's a LOT of them.

# ? Aug 12, 2022 18:48

Vandar: Sep 14, 2007; Isn't That Right, Chairman?

Nah. Nah. At it's core, Animorphs is a fuckin' weird series, and removing the Ellimist from the plot loses a lot of that unique weirdness from the story. The Ellimist stays and that's that. :colbert:

# ? Aug 13, 2022 01:08

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 19 - Isaiah Fitzhenry

quote:

Dusk, and still no sign of Forrest�s forces.

Will he wait until dawn?

Forrest has a reputation to uphold. That�s hard to do in darkness. Strike at night and bravery and flamboyance go unseen.

The Negros drilled once more, then stacked their rifles and returned to the earthworks to finish the job.

When I walked down to inspect the works, I found the men singing a low, rhythmic song.

�Lieutenant,� Jacob called. �My men are mighty happy with the training and the food.�

�We�d have won the war a year ago with more volunteers like you.� I paused. �Jacob, do you and your men wish to be mustered in?�

�Sir?�

�Sworn into service as Union soldiers. All the white men are and I thought that perhaps -�

�Just tell us what we need to do,� he said eagerly.

The singing stopped. Heads began to turn my way.

�Just gather �round, I suppose. I�ve, uh � I�ve never done this before.�

I had a copy of the oath in a beat-up pamphlet found among Major Shaw�s effects.

I pulled it from my pocket.

The hardworking, sweat-covered men gathered close.

�Raise your right hands, I would guess.�

Thirty strong and calloused hands lifted into the air.

�Now, I�ll just read the oath a line at a time. You repeat it back, see? It starts with your name, so go ahead and fill that in yourself � . Let�s see, now ��

I cleared my throat and flipped to the watersoiled page entitled �Oath of Muster.�

I imagined I was Lincoln. I summoned the most presidential voice I had.

��I, Isaiah Goodhue Fitzhenry, do solemnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the United States of America, and ��

�Lieutenant?�

�Samson?�

�Can you stop there?�

�Of course.�

I let the men repeat back the phrase. They filled in their own names - a sound, to me, sweet as music.

Jacob, Samson, Moses, Washington, Jackson, Jefferson, and Tennessee �

Thirty men to replace my own.

Tomorrow we would fight.

And stand or fall together.

I continued the oath.

��And that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against all their enemies and opposers whatsoever ��

Is General Forrest in his tent now, playing cards, sipping gin, or writing home, perhaps? Confident that he will crush the boys in blue up on this mountain?

��And observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me ��

The orders we have might be the last we ever receive. May it not be so.

��According to the rules and articles for the government of the armies of the United States.��

The men repeated back the last phrase. A momentary silence while I checked the page, then told

them that was all.

They were soldiers.

Wild cheers erupted.

The men jumped and hollered and I lost myself in their joy.

Let their clapping hands chase away the dread.

Let their voices, which broke slowly into song, draw me home, until that�s all I saw.

The crackling fire.

My sister, curled up with a book on the floor before the hearth.

Ma in her rocking chair, with her mending bag.

The smell of bread baking in the kitchen, the feel of Rover�s fur on my fingers. The taste of ale.

The sound of Ma�s gentle soprano humming in the corner. I was home.

If I fall in battle, I might be home again by sundown tomorrow.

Isaiah, having cheery thoughts of the battle ahead,

Chapter 20-Jake

quote:

We started to demorph. Based on their current position, the Yeerks had chosen to attack at dawn. It was showtime.

<Tobias, what did you see?>

<You know my eyes aren�t great at night. But I could make out at least one company of heavily armed Hork-Bajir. More than a hundred strong. And they have blue bands around their arms.>

My heart began to pound. The Blue Bands. Visser One�s own elite guards.

�Tell me that�s all you saw.�

<Can�t lie, Jake. There are almost as many Taxxons.>

My stomach knotted.

<Oh. And one Andalite.>

Visser One. Our old nemesis, the former Visser Three. Andalite-Controller. Commander of every Yeerk on Earth. Only a mission of the highest importance draws Visser One to the scene.

�It wouldn�t be a party without the Earl of Evil,� Marco said solemnly.

I sent Tobias ahead to the Hork-Bajir camp. We followed, racing through the trees and down the hill. When we arrived, Tobias was announcing the news.

<The Yeerks are coming and coming strong. Everyone take up battle positions.>

Thought-speak was still new to the campers. Emily touched her hands to her head in confusion.

�No, you�re not losing your mind,� I said. �Morphs let us communicate telepathically. That was Tobias.� I pointed up through the trees.

<Hey, I can see those campers a mile away!> Tobias said privately. <Tell them to lose the yellow coats. They�re sitting ducks.>

�You people have to blend in,� I said. �Bury your coats and anything else yellow or orange or fluorescent green. Then get some camouflage. Anything but earth tones will get you killed.�

The campers covered their gear.

Lewis took up position on a battle platform with a Hork-Bajir warrior. A guy whose right arm had been blown off during one of the free Hork-Bajir�s raids on Yeerk facilities.

The air crackled with prebattle tension. Bodies gave off the strong smells of fear and adrenaline. Richard stared silently up at his son.

�Move anyone who�s hit up behind the boulders,� I shouted. �Anyone who�s killed on the field, we�ll have to leave until later. Until after.�

Richard walked over to me, still wearing his bright yellow vest, his face clean.

�When you say �killed,�� he asked quietly, �you mean �killed� as in �stunned� or �captured,� right?�

�Unfortunately, Mr. Carpenter, I mean killed as in dead.�

Richard�s eyes widened, and I knew it was the first phase of panic. I�d made the dangers of this mission clear, hadn�t I? Yes. This was just a guy who�d let the excitement overwhelm him. If he panicked, he could screw up everything.

�Oh, my God,� he whispered, voice harsh. Like he�d thought all along that my graphic warnings were just part of some game, some dialogue from a Deep Space Nine episode. �I didn�t realize. I�ve seen enough. We�re going home. Lewis! Emily! Get down from there!�

I put a hand on his arm, tried to calm and silence him. �It�s too late,� I said. �You can�t leave now.�

�I�m not going anywhere!� Lewis shouted from the tree platform. �These guys need our help.�

Richard shook off my hand. �Come down now or you lose all privileges for a month!� he shouted wildly.

�No, Dad.� Lewis�s voice was strong. �I�m staying.�

<Quiet!> Tobias yelled. <They�re close.>

�Battle morphs. Now!�

Richard stared at me. Paralyzed, panicked, scared. Waiting for me to save him.

I started to go tiger. �Get out of here, Richard,� I told him while I still had a mouth. �Get up behind those boulders. You�ll be all right. Just stay out of the way.�

He glanced up at his son, then back at me. His mouth opened but nothing came out. Then he turned and ran up the hill.

The sky in the east glowed a pale and brightening blue. The sun would appear in minutes. Free Hork-Bajir were hunched in the trees and crouched low in trenches. We were in battle morph. Tiger, gorilla, grizzly, and wolf. Ax was stationed at the dam.

There wasn�t a sound in the camp except a gentle rustle of wind in the treetops. We waited. My heart pounded like a rock in my chest.

This would be a losing battle. It had to be.

Jake also having cheerful thoughts of the battle ahead.

# ? Aug 13, 2022 02:57

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Sorry about yesterday. I had a fever and needed to sleep.

Chapter 21

quote:

Near silence. The light from the sun grew brighter. A gray mist rose off the earth.

Kwreeek!

A snapping twig.

<Quiet!> I commanded. Our defense depended upon surprise. Without it �

Movement!

And another sound.

Quick rhythmic footfalls striking moist earth. I searched through the mist. A glint caught my eye. A blade. Attached to a seven-foot-tall Hork-Bajir.

He paused at the edge of camp. Turned slowly, pointed his Dracon beam everywhere he looked.

More footfalls. More blades. More Hork-Bajir with blue bands on their arms until the edge of camp overflowed with soldiers. They paused and scanned. Searching.

Then, a smaller Hork-Bajir walked toward the center of camp. It was the free Hork-Bajir captured on the raid and now infested. The Yeerk in his head had led the enemy here. It was his job to turn over the free Hork-Bajir. To betray his people.

<Steady!> I warned.

The weapons we had - spears and arrows, teeth and claws - would only work at close range. Our attack had to come at the last possible second.

<On my word �>

The Blue Bands began to move forward. In seconds they would fall into our camouflaged trenches. In moments, they would be close enough to touch.

The newly infested Hork-Bajir brought something that looked like a cell phone to his mouth.

�All gone, Visser.�

Unbelievable. He�d reported we weren�t there! Maybe the soldiers would give up, turn away, retreat �

But then he raised his eyes into the trees, and froze. We�d been spotted.

<ATTACK!>

Pthoo! Pthoo! Thoo, thoo, thoo, thoo!

A rain of heavy spears, arrows, and sharp rocks pelted the enemy before they could fire.

�GhaaaaaLhaaaa!�

Cassie bounded across the dirt. Clamped her wolf jaws around a Hork-Bajir ankle.

<Ah!>

A gash bloodied her flank. She didn�t let go.

<Heeyahhh!>

Marco, a hulking gorilla charging into the advancing line of Blue Bands.

Whoompf! Whoompf!

His wrecking-ball fists slammed two warriors to the ground.

Thwoosh! Thwoosh, thoosh, thoosh!

Toby slashed into the fray, nimbly slicing the enemy with wrist, knee, and ankle blades. Skillfully anticipating strikes before they came.

The free Hork-Bajir screamed. Jumped from tree platforms onto the backs of the enemy. Drove their ankle blades deep into the backs of the Blue Bands.

ZING ZING ZING!

The sound of blades whipping through the air as Hork-Bajir battled Hork-Bajir in a sad civil war.

I lunged. Gripped the small Hork-Bajir in my jaw. Dragged him back behind our line. Two free Hork-Bajir were waiting with restraints. They would bring him to Marco�s parents, tending the wounded. They�d hold him. Hide him. Hope that, in the end, they could starve the Yeerk from his head.

I raced back to the battle.

Sprang at the biggest Blue Band I could find. Sank my fangs into the back of his neck. Felt his muscles slacken, watched him fall.

Tseeew!

The air over my head crackled with the sound of Dracon fire, flashing blue and white like lightning.

I lunged for another Blue Band.

Bam!

Slammed him against the trunk of a tree.

Thumph!

We crashed to the dirt and rolled.

Knocked into fallen Hork-Bajir. Bodies were beginning to cover the floor of the valley. Those with blue bands and those without.

Rachel�s grizzly galloped into view. Charged a Hork-Bajir pointing a Dracon beam into the trees.

Wooomph!

Tseeew!

Bam!

She clobbered him, drove him into a rock. But he�d discharged his weapon. The tree burst into flames. A battle platform incinerated!

Agonizing cries, �

Another flood of arrows and spears pounded the ground. Bounced harmlessly off blades. Sank lethally into flesh.

�Ghaaaaaah!�

The air was thick with this deadly rain. Lewis and Emily. Meg and Chloe. The other campers and Hork-Bajir. Heaving spear after spear.

And the Blue Bands ducked and ran � back the way they had come.

Retreat?

A moment of stunned silence. Then, the free Hork-Bajir began to shout. To jump up and down. To dance. Those on the ground emerged from the battle trenches. Cries of triumph filled the air. Warriors shook their spears above their heads. Even the campers began to smile. The few captured Dracon beams were fired into the air.

I knew better. Marco, the others. We weren�t celebrating. The victory dance was premature.

I�d just spotted him, through the trees and mist, silently approaching as the Hork-Bajir and campers cheered.

Visser One. In a morph I hadn�t seen since all of this first began. Eight fire-breathing heads. Legs thick as trees. Serpentine necks. Eyes like gobs of molten lava.

I staggered back.

Because behind the mammoth, monstrous visser came an undulating line of Taxxons. A lumbering line of death.

<Positions!> I screamed above the naive yells of victory. <Stop! Look! They�re coming again!>

The joyous voices fell silent. Laughter tumbled into desperate, flustered cries as warriors rushed to ready their weapons. To draw fresh sticks and spears from piles.

And then came the voice. That crackling, roaring, crushing voice.

<You are outnumbered! Surrender at once. Or die!>

Hey, it's Visser One's first morph in the series.

Chapter 22 - Isaiah Fitzhenry

quote:

Christmas morning.

A shrill bugle call startled me from sleep. There was a pounding on the door of headquarters where I slept, fully dressed, in the corner.

I jumped to my feet, grabbed my long gun and revolver, and opened the door.

�They�re here,� Raines said, eyes wide, face calm. �A small force in the trees, same as yesterday.�

We threw our guns on our shoulders and ran.

The bugle stopped and, for a moment, the only sound was the pounding of boots on the dirt as

Union men converged on the works. Rifles rattled as they ran. Flasks and canteens knocked together.

Spears was already there, loading the one artillery piece we�d managed to tow with us.

�Looks like a frontal attack, Lieutenant,� he gasped as he and Price released the massive ball into the barrel.

I raised my field glass and focused on the Rebel line formed in the trees. My heart began to hammer. I could see the panting horse noses, the gray flannel coats, the shining saber sheaths. Why weren�t there more than yesterday?

Could the Rebel prisoner have been wrong? Could the force not number more than the hundred troopers Spears had seen?

�Lieutenant!�

I turned toward town. A group of ten men loped toward our line, shotguns and pitchforks in tow. Joe Miller waved.

�This is our town and, by God, we�ll fight to keep it.�

It was nearly all the men from Sinkler�s Ridge. Even the drummer boy and penny whistler had revolvers in their hands.

My smile was faint but genuine. �It�s good to see you, Joe. It�s a frontal attack. Would you serve as flankers?�

Joe directed five men to the east end of the line and took the rest with him to the west.

�TAKE AIM!� I ordered.

The Rebels edged out from the trees. Why didn�t they charge? What were they waiting for?

I raised my field glass again, ran it down the Rebel line, and picked out a face among the branches. A thin man, with dark hair and prominent cheekbones that stretched his skin almost violently. Stars dotted his collar. The horse beneath him was the only equine not chafing at the bit. Shadows concealed the man�s eyes. Strung across his chest was not one carbine, but two.

Was it Forrest?

Why didn�t he charge? Why?

�Raines? Spears? Are you ready?�

�Yes, sir, Lieutenant!�

�Jacob?�

�Ready, sir.�

Would this be the day that Forrest fell?

Joe Miller crouched behind the works, steadying his aim against the piled dirt.

We were ready. Yet I felt that something � something was wrong � .

�CHARGE!�

The Rebel troopers pulled out from the woods, whooping, hollering, galloping over and around slashed trees.

�TAKE AIM!� I repeated nervously.

The Rebs raised their guns.

�SPEARS, FIRE!�

BA-BAMMM!

The cannon whistled.

Ka-boom!

�Ahhh!�

Two horses and troopers were thrown into the air.

�FIRE!�

BAMM! BAMM!

For one instant, pride swelled my heaving chest. This was the largest force I had ever commanded � .

�FIRE!� the Rebel commander yelled.

Lead shot cut the frozen air. An indiscriminate wave of death.

�Yahhh!�

�Ahh!�

�Ah-ahhhh!�

Men were falling, crying, screaming.

Samson was down. And Spears.

�STEADY, MEN! RELOAD!�

I heard the wild rattle of ramrod and hammer.

�FIRE!�

We shot again. The Rebels galloped on. Screams and cries met my ears as we brought the enemy to the ground.

�RELOAD!�

�FIRE!�

The Rebels wavered, drawing back short of our trenches.

All at once it began to rain. Icy drops splattered my face.

�They�re retreating!� Raines yelled.

Was it possible?

Forrest would sooner die than take defeat.

No. Something in this was wrong.

All wrong.

Tactical retreat to try to throw off the army?

# ? Aug 15, 2022 02:32

kiminewt: Feb 1, 2022

The Yeerks really need to get a Dracon machine gun

# ? Aug 15, 2022 06:47

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

kiminewt posted:

The Yeerks really need to get a Dracon machine gun

Can't you just... hold down the trigger?

# ? Aug 15, 2022 06:59

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

nine-gear crow posted:

The way you get around that, just for the sake of argument, is to either have Tobias stay human for far longer and become a nothlit as the hammer to either season 1 or season 2's ending.

In retrospect I get why they did it the way they did, but it would also have been interesting to see Tobias remain human throughout books 1-3 but show a disinterest into morphing anything but hawk and a troubling fascination with pushing the morphing time limit to the brink, and then he gets stuck as nothlit at the end of 3 and it underscores the others' suspicion that maybe he did it half-deliberately.

And while we're armchair re-storyboarding the books: the concept of this one, with some pretty serious plot beats like the battle for the free Hork Bajir and the first revelation of their human identities to ordinary civilians (who I don't remember but suspect are about to get killed) and the friction over Ax's decision and the presence of Marco's parents*, all feels like it looked good on a storyboard or in basic notes provided to the ghostwriter but would have been a lot better coming directly from the Applegates. Or even, maybe, being a Megamorphs book with more room to breathe.

*also lol at Marco's dad apparently not being on a first-name or even any-name basis with anyone, let alone Jake

# ? Aug 15, 2022 10:22

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

freebooter posted:

with more room to breathe

Is the brevity of these books (compared with, say, even the shortest Harry Potter volume) a product of scholastic wanting to churn stuff out on a monthly basis? Or was it just assumed that kids would never read anything of more than a hundred pages?

# ? Aug 15, 2022 10:45

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I know I'm being that guy, but...

You don't storyboard a book.

# ? Aug 15, 2022 13:16

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Tree Bucket posted:

Is the brevity of these books (compared with, say, even the shortest Harry Potter volume) a product of scholastic wanting to churn stuff out on a monthly basis? Or was it just assumed that kids would never read anything of more than a hundred pages?

Combination of both. Scholastic wanted to get these out fast, but at the same time, recommendations for length for middle school literature is that they should be between 70-150 manuscript pages (which is different from published pages)

# ? Aug 15, 2022 15:44

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Star Man posted:

I know I'm being that guy, but...

You don't storyboard a book.

You know what I mean - for lack of a better term.

# ? Aug 15, 2022 21:22

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

freebooter posted:

You know what I mean - for lack of a better term.

An outline

# ? Aug 15, 2022 21:56

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 23

quote:

The rain came in a torrent now, turning the works to mud.

The Rebel line broke and scattered back toward the trees.

It couldn�t be victory.

Jacob poured a powder charge and ripped a patch from his shirt.

�Jacob,� I called. �You�ve done your fighting. You�ve shown you can stand with the white men and not fail. Now go! Escape to the hills!�

Jacob continued loading.
Men all around us, black and white, were moaning.

All were bloody. Some were motionless.

The men who�d been spared did what they could.

Tied makeshift bandages around the wounds.

Offered drinks from canteens.

�Listen to me, Jacob! Forrest will be back. He�ll make prisoners of us, but he will kill you. Do you hear me? Save your men, Jacob. It�s your duty as a leader.�

Jacob looked up now. I�d gotten through. �I want all you men who still can to choose life. Get back up into them hills and stay alive to fight another day.�

No one moved.

�Move out!� he cried, shaking his arm. Still, no one moved. Suddenly, a drum beat from the east.

We froze. Me, Jacob, everyone. Another drum beat from the west. To our east and west was nothing but craggy rock, terrain impossible to climb on horseback.

�We�ll be staying,� Jacob said.

�You�ll die.�

�Lieutenant, the Lord may take me whenever he chooses. But I choose whether to die a free man fighting for what�s mine, or a coward enslaved by fear.�

The Rebel yell rose like the cries of a thousand demons.

Through the curtain of rain, I watched horse after horse strain and struggle up and over the rocky pass.

�They�re attacking on the west!� Miller yelled from the other end of our line.

�And the south!� Raines shouted. �They�re riding up from the south again!�

�TAKE AIM!�

The mud sucked at my boots, the rain pounded my back.

�Aim where?� Raines yelled.

�At the closest target!�

The men raised their rifles.

Townsmen raised their shotguns.

Our line stood firm as Rebs galloped at us from three sides, powering through the rising fog.

�FIRE!� I yelled.

Our lead blasted east, west, south.

There were cries from the enemy. We�d shot well. They were falling!

But not enough.

From the east alone, no less than a hundred troopers poured from the gap in the rock.

�RELOAD!�

The motion was almost futile in the rain. Water poured down our barrels, soaking the powder.

�FIRE!� the Rebel leaders cried.

Suddenly, time stopped.

I fired my revolver at the swarming mass of animals and men.

They were closing in on our melting fortifications �

Closing in �

WHAM!

The impact threw me to the mud.

My chest!

I reached for it. No need to open my coat. The blood was there. Already on the surface.

Just under my heart.

Flowing through my fingers.

Gushing down my ribs.

�No,� I breathed.

I turned my head, looking for hope. For help �

The Rebs had broken our line to the west �

I can see Jacob fighting. Swinging his musket like a club, like he swung his shovel on the first day.

Striking the troopers streaming though.

No, behind you! Jacob!

Bamm!

Jacob. Shot in the back.

His eyes catch mine �

As he falls �

And I fall �

Together.

Everybody bleeds the same color, at least.

Chapter 24-Jake

quote:

The retreating Hork-Bajir-Controllers stopped just beyond the range of our spears. Turned. Aimed their Dracon beams at the trees and picked off one free Hork-Bajir at a time.

Free Hork-Bajir screamed. Scrambled down from the platforms. Flames devoured tree after tree. Along with the brave warriors who didn�t make it in time.

Then �

�Ssssssny-ssssnit-ssssnit-sssnnnaaaaaa!�

Taxxons poured through camp.

�Skreeeeeeeeeeeeee!�

The first tumbled into the pits, impaled by the wooden spears. The skewered bodies, two and three layers deep, made a bridge for those who followed. The Taxxons surged toward the fallen Hork-Bajir. Some stopped to feast on their own dead. Some didn�t.

�Rrrrrrrrroaaaagh!�

I leaped. Sank my teeth into slippery, puffy skin. Disgusting. Like piercing a balloon filled with something hot and foul.

I stumbled away from the deflated body.

Saw Rachel squeeze a Taxxon until it burst.

Heard Cassie snarling frantically. Marco bellowing.

<Tobias!> No answer. I broadcast my thought-speak as loud as I knew how. <The water! Tell Ax. NOW!>

Hork-Bajir elders and youth ran chaotically. Crying, howling. The forest burned around them. Sniper fire sprayed the trees, the ground.

Everywhere, the free Hork-Bajir were falling.

Dying.

<Out of the camp!> I yelled. <Everyone get into the hills. The water�s coming!>

But how could I be sure? Why hadn�t Tobias answered? Was he down? Would Ax get the message?

A Taxxon reared up behind me. I leaped into a turn. Sank my fangs into its miserable, bloated mass.

The battle was a mess and I was responsible. I turned and raced up the valley, toward the dam that Ax would open with his tail blade. If he ever got the order.

Suddenly �

ZWIIIP! ZWIIIP!

Streaks of blinding orange stuff raced through the air. Flying fireballs.

Visser One!

I froze.

Eight colossal legs, thick as trunks, stormed through the woods. The ground shook! Full grown trees snapped like toothpicks.

Eight horrific heads with simmering orange eyes belched balls of flame.

Then �

�Tseeer!�

<Tobias! No!>

Tobias, diving at the monster again and again. Scratching eyeballs with his talons. Ripping flesh with his beak.

But he was no more than a flea to the visser�s giant monster, inflicting more annoyance than pain.

The monster�s eight spindly arms clutched at the air. Unless Tobias flew to safety, the tentacles were going to catch him!

<Tobias, stop! That�s an order!>

I felt my throat closing. My mouth clenched with fear. I sent another desperate thought-speak message to Ax. Prayed he would hear.

<Open the dam! Send the water! NOW!>

A horrible screech!

Tobias was hit! Slapped off by a tentacle. Hurled into the trees!

The visser�s monster morph stomped closer to the fleeing Hork-Bajir. Fireball after fireball flew from its mouths. Young and old alike, instantly incinerated.

No choice. I charged. Bounded over the fallen bodies of sagging Taxxons and burnt Hork-Bajir. And in one gigantic leap of pure power, all my strength and speed concentrated in one blow �

I smashed into the visser. Sank my four-inch fangs into one of the monster�s eight serpentine necks. <You�re pitiful,> he growled. <You will die.>

I bit harder, jaw tightening like a vice. Extended the claws on all four paws so they pierced the bleeding neck.

Barely hung on as the neck whipped the tiger through the air like a rag.

The monster�s red-hot blood burned my mouth.

But as long as I held on, the visser couldn�t fire at me. If he did, he�d burn himself.

He could, however, strike at me with the teeth of neighboring heads. Teeth that glowed hot as branding irons.

Tssssss!

<Ahhh!>

I twisted and dodged, dug deeper with my claws. Barely enough strength to hold on! Tssssssssss!

Hot teeth burned a hole in my back! Flesh scalded! Muscle seared! It was agony!

WWUMPH?

I lost my grip. Fell to the ground. Rolled onto the bank of the stream.

I struggled to get up, but a tremendous weight pushed me back down. Crushed me so I could barely breathe.

<At last,> the visser roared. Two of eight clawed hands closed around my neck. Three of eight heads breathed scalding breath into my face.

And I knew I was dead.

Well, that's the series everybody. Jake's dead. Didn't really think it would end that way, but...

Oh, there are still two more chapters in the book. Ok.

# ? Aug 16, 2022 03:41

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

I can't help but feel like they would have done better against Forrest if he'd actually loving fought instead of standing there writing like a maniac. Still, points for recording his own death, I admire that kind of single-mindedness.

# ? Aug 16, 2022 03:57

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I can't help but feel like they would have done better against Forrest if he'd actually loving fought instead of standing there writing like a maniac. Still, points for recording his own death, I admire that kind of single-mindedness.

<Confederate cavalryman levels his carbine>

Isaiah: Could you hold on a second? I'm just finishing this paragraph.

Confederate: Look Yankee, it's Christmas morning, I really want to get this over with so I can go back to camp and celebrate. Captain got his hands on some hams

Isaiah: I just have one more sentence.

Confederate: You're lucky I respect diarists for providing a record to future generations of historians...

# ? Aug 16, 2022 04:11

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

Comrade Blyatlov posted:

I can't help but feel like they would have done better against Forrest if he'd actually loving fought instead of standing there writing like a maniac. Still, points for recording his own death, I admire that kind of single-mindedness.

Yeah, I was going to say. A lot of his chapters felt way too novelistic, describing things that no one actually in the scene would say, not to mention failing to capture the voice of a Union commander; it's almost as if it was written in third person and then someone went through and changed all the pronouns just before publication. But that bit took the cake.

# ? Aug 16, 2022 04:42

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

Lovecraft was the all-time champion for having his first-person narrators awkwardly describe their own doom. "Good Lord! It is Coming through the Window! I dare not Describe its Monstrous Form! Oh No---"

# ? Aug 16, 2022 04:47

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Star Man posted:

An outline

I dunno, when I write I think of it as a storyboard because I can shuffle key scenes around chronologically if need be

But anyway yeah lol at the idea of Ancestor Jake lying there shakily scribbling in his diary while bleeding out

# ? Aug 16, 2022 08:26

Remalle: Feb 12, 2020

"Perhaps he was dictating-" "Oh, shut up!"

# ? Aug 16, 2022 09:47

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

Tree Bucket posted:

Lovecraft was the all-time champion for having his first-person narrators awkwardly describe their own doom. "Good Lord! It is Coming through the Window! I dare not Describe its Monstrous Form! Oh No---"

he who is valiant, and pure of spirit, may find the holy grail in the castle of Auuuuugggghhhh

# ? Aug 16, 2022 10:35

nine-gear crow: Aug 10, 2013

Mazerunner posted:

he who is valiant, and pure of spirit, may find the holy grail in the castle of Auuuuugggghhhh

Indiana Jones and the Castle of Auuuuugggghhhh

coming soon from LucasFilm!

# ? Aug 16, 2022 18:53

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Just to give you an idea about where we are with Animorphs and the schedule going forward. We have two more chapters in this book. They'll be added tomorrow, around 10 pm eastern time. (To give you an idea for people in other time zones, it's about 10:15 pm eastern here now). I'm then going to take off a few days....there will be no new Animorphs until Sunday the 21st. The reason for this is that I have a bunch of personal stuff going on, both work and medical (For instance, I have about 7 hours of work meetings on Thursday), and I just need a little bit of time to rest and recuperate,. and we all know that weekends tend to be fairly slow in this thread anyway. On Sunday the 21st, we're going to start the last of the Chronicles Books, the Elimist Chronicles. After that book, we have 7 more books in the series.

I just wanted to give you a heads up so that if you didn't see new Animorphs after tomorrow for a few days, you wouldn't think I abandoned you. Obviously, continue talking about the books, for those who haven't read them before, how do you think this thing is going to end? The thread works when we talk about it, and I'll just say it's been an honor so far to be able to talk about Animorphs with you, and I hope this will continue as we wind our way to the end.

# ? Aug 17, 2022 03:29

OctaviusBeaver: Apr 30, 2009; Say what now?

The Ellimist Chronicles is really, really good. Looking forward to that one.

# ? Aug 17, 2022 04:05

Malpais Legate: Oct 1, 2014

The Ellimist Chronicles is probably my favorite in the series. It's the only book of it I still own.

# ? Aug 17, 2022 04:08

WrightOfWay: Jul 24, 2010

I never read the Ellimist Chronicles, but the other Chronicles books were great and I am curious to have more background on our knockoff Q.

# ? Aug 17, 2022 04:38

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Epicurius posted:

Just to give you an idea about where we are with Animorphs and the schedule going forward. We have two more chapters in this book. They'll be added tomorrow, around 10 pm eastern time. (To give you an idea for people in other time zones, it's about 10:15 pm eastern here now). I'm then going to take off a few days....there will be no new Animorphs until Sunday the 21st. The reason for this is that I have a bunch of personal stuff going on, both work and medical (For instance, I have about 7 hours of work meetings on Thursday), and I just need a little bit of time to rest and recuperate,. and we all know that weekends tend to be fairly slow in this thread anyway. On Sunday the 21st, we're going to start the last of the Chronicles Books, the Elimist Chronicles. After that book, we have 7 more books in the series.

I just wanted to give you a heads up so that if you didn't see new Animorphs after tomorrow for a few days, you wouldn't think I abandoned you. Obviously, continue talking about the books, for those who haven't read them before, how do you think this thing is going to end? The thread works when we talk about it, and I'll just say it's been an honor so far to be able to talk about Animorphs with you, and I hope this will continue as we wind our way to the end.

I've also really enjoyed revisiting this and talking about it with everyone, and want to thank you again for doing this over the last few years, and wish you the best with your health.

Re: Ellimist Chronicles, I remember it as being one of the best books in the series and probably the only one that could just be read as a standalone sci-fi story. It's a banger and I'm looking forward to it.

Re: the end of the series, obviously I've read them before, but at the time as a kid I honestly believed - and think I still could believe, if I were reading them as an adult for the first time - that they could end any way you could think of. Triumphant hero's ending, or brutal and hopeless conquest of Earth by the Yeerks, or something anywhere in between. Everything in the series so far had demonstrated that the Applegates were totally prepared (and Scholastic was totally not paying attention, lol) to tear up the rulebook and cross any boundaries they wanted.

# ? Aug 17, 2022 10:06

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Chapter 25

quote:

Thoooph! Thoooph! Thoooph!

Fireballs shot from his mouth!

I shut my eyes and screamed.

<Ahhhhhhhhh!>

Then �

A cool, tingling sensation from the tiger�s head to tail.

And I was tumbling. Swept mindlessly away by a forceful current. Body spinning, out of control �

Was this death by fire? Strange. Was this the end?

<Aaaaaarrgh!>

Visser One�s voice, raging in my ear. What?

I opened my eyes. Not flames. Water!

The opened dam!

And then I saw the visser�s monster swept off its feet.

Eight ludicrous legs waved in the air.

Eight long necks, whipped by the current into knots.

The monster�s fire was squelched.

<Ahhhhhh!>

His roar filled the valley, the forest.

I had to save myself!

Coughing. Choking. Drowning.

The world rushing past like super-fast-speed film.

Couldn�t get a grip, couldn�t slow down!

The tiger spun and whirled. Gulping water, sipping air.

The visser�s monster was traveling downstream with me. Tentacle-like arms smacked me. Serpentine necks slapped. He�d entangle me again if he could. Pull me down!

Even if we both drowned in the process.

Get to the bank, Jake!

Hork-Bajir tumbled in the water all around me. Blades grazed the tiger�s stomach and back. It was a water slide to hell.

Then I saw � Coughed. Gasped. No!

I was headed toward a massive tree trunk! But maybe �

<Yaaaah!>

I stretched out my front legs. Gripped the trunk with extended claws.

Had to hold on! But I was slipping!

The current dragged my body forward.

Had to find a way to use my back legs and claws, too.

Hug the tree for life.

WHAP!

One of Visser One�s tentacle arms smashed the tree just over my head. The arm fell away, limp. And the monster swept past me, fires extinguished, voice raging.

Still I hung on. Back throbbing, mouth numb.

Slowly �

The force of the current began to lessen.

The water level dropped until, finally, finally I could let go of my desperate grip. Found myself standing in mud.

I dragged my body into the camp, splashing through mud and water and blood.

Fallen Hork-Bajir lay everywhere.

Drowned Taxxons sprawled like popped balloons.

Yeerk slugs slithered from their fallen hosts.

I spotted Rachel, still in grizzly morph, climbing to her feet in the mud. Out from under her massive legs crawled the youngest free Hork-Bajir. Jara Hamee and Ket Halpak�s newest child. Rachel had kept him alive.

<Jake!> Cassie and Marco limped toward me. One of her legs was bleeding badly. The skin on his chest was raw and burned.

We demorphed.

�Ax did it,� I said quietly, human again. �We did it.�

But it didn�t feel like victory.

How could it, with so many bodies from both sides lying lifeless?

I spotted Lewis and Emily, struggling to their feet.

A few of the other campers, holding each other tight.

<Jake!>

I looked up. A hawk circled overhead.

�Tobias! You�re alive!�

<Yeah. I morphed. Ax is okay, too. But Jake? There are a lot who didn�t make it. Mr. Carpenter, Jake. Richard. Emily and Lewis lost their dad.>

So, maybe this genie is out of the bottle after the whole carrier thing, but how do you explain Richard Carpenter's death? I mean, maybe he drowned in the flood, but if there's actual battle death, I'd think that would be hard.

[b]Chapter 26[/b[

quote:

The aftermath of battle.

I heard sobbing up on the hill. Emily sat with her hands covering her face. Lewis stared at his sister, blank-faced and lost.

Tobias and Cassie had broken the news.

I wouldn�t have known what to say.

Toby had a diagonal slash across her chest and blood dripping from her fingers, but she was seeing to her people.

Comforting, commending.

Explaining that it was time to leave the valley.

At least for a while.

Marco�s parents acted as the primary medics, tying tourniquets and organizing the uninjured to help the wounded.

Those warriors too hurt to walk were dragged in stretchers made of branches, bark, and rope.

Everyone mourned the dead, but the colony knew it had to move out quickly.

Now that the trees had burned, Visser One might be back with Bug fighters. He might be mad enough to risk detection.

It would be a long and painful march up and out of the valley and into the hills.

I pulled Toby away from her preparations.

�You know they�ll be back. Not today, but soon.�

She nodded.

�I know, Jake. But we won today. It may not feel like victory, but the valley is ours now. Forever. We�ve paid for it.�

She took a deep breath.

�We�ll stay away until the war is over. We know we have to. We had our chance to fight for freedom. That�s all we really wanted.�

�Toby,� I said softly, �I don�t know how the war will end.�

�No. But it will. And someday �� She hesitated.

She knew as well as I that if the Yeerks won out, she and the other free Hork-Bajir would be enslaved.

I finished her thought for her.

�Someday,� I said, �you�ll be able to return.�

She looked at me, eyes full of hope.

After the free Hork-Bajir headed out of the valley, Marco and his parents leading the way, I flew to Cassie�s farm.

Demorphed and walked home in the early afternoon sun.

Tobias had promised that by the time I got to my house, the Chee covering for me would be gone.

Just.

My parents - and Tom - would know nothing.

I was shaking and weak by the time I reached the front door. Yes, I was hungry and tired, but it was more than that.

I slipped quietly in through the front door. Mom, Dad, and Tom were in the backyard, hanging by the grill.

I headed for the basement. It was dark and quiet.

I felt safe there, among the boxes of accumulated memories.

Memories of times and battles past.

I flipped to the last page of Fitzhenry�s journal.

�Hooves trampling the dirt all around � screams and wails of bloody, dying men � unending nightmare. Cannot get a full breath � numbness spreading down my arm. Vision blurring � growing narrow like a field glass, a darkening tunnel � .�

�Jake, honey? Lunch is ready.�

I jumped. Mom�s voice had startled me.

�Coming, Mom,� I called. �I�ll be right there.�

�You�d better, Midget,� Tom yelled down the stairs. �Or I�ll eat your burger.�

I looked at the diary�s last words, where blood and rain had smeared the ink.

�I fear I am killed. I hope I have done my best. I hope ��

Those were the last legible words.

Fitzhenry had tried and lost.

How would my last page read?

How would my story end?

�I hope I have done my best.�

�Yeah,� I whispered, closing the book. �Me, too.�

I mean, say what you want about FitzHenry, the man was dedicated to his diary. So, the Free Hork-Bajir have lost their home for now. I hope they'll find someplace new, but I don't know where they're going to go. What did everybody think of the book? While there were certainly better books in the series, I didn't hate it.

Sunday we're going to start the Ellimist Chronicle. It's going to be a wild ride, as the chronicles tend to be. I think people will enjoy it.

# ? Aug 18, 2022 03:16

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

I'm chuckling at the thought of five traitorous rebels stabbing him over and over as he's trying to finish the page.

# ? Aug 18, 2022 03:25

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

Yeah I really thought there was gonna be one more chapter where FitzHenry survived the battle and so would be able to reasonably finish his diary.

Also I find it pretty funny that this is the book with the beaver on the cover.

# ? Aug 18, 2022 10:32

disaster pastor: May 1, 2007

I give it credit for trying something new, but splitting the book up makes it feel shorter and incomplete, and the gimmick really only works the first time you read it IMO. It's not a bad book, but it's just kinda there, and after the one-two punch of Marco's and Ax's book it falls flatter than it should.

Glad we're doing Ellimist Chronicles next, because that's a great book, and otherwise we'd be doing Rachel's next book, which is decidedly not.

# ? Aug 18, 2022 11:58

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

disaster pastor posted:

I give it credit for trying something new, but splitting the book up makes it feel shorter and incomplete, and the gimmick really only works the first time you read it IMO. It's not a bad book, but it's just kinda there, and after the one-two punch of Marco's and Ax's book it falls flatter than it should.

Glad we're doing Ellimist Chronicles next, because that's a great book, and otherwise we'd be doing Rachel's next book, which is decidedly not.

Yeah, I feel like the interleaved chapters structure of the gimmick rob it of its effect. If it was just a glob of several chapters straight of this guy's diary dropped in the middle of the book, and the Jake takes those ideas and applies them in his life, that might work and be interesting. But this approach kind of trivializes both.

It's interesting how many people say EC is the best of the Chronicles books. It's also the only one I haven't read, so I'm looking forward to it.

I have a vague idea how the series ends, which I picked up from osmosis reading various fan discussions, despite trying to avoid spoilers. Also I know some about the big dramatic event in the last(?) book because I couldn't help myself from reading spoilers in a retrospective thread in GBS a few years afterwards. But I'm interested to see how the series closes out and how it handles all the details.

# ? Aug 18, 2022 17:26

HisMajestyBOB: Oct 21, 2010; College Slice

disaster pastor posted:

I give it credit for trying something new, but splitting the book up makes it feel shorter and incomplete, and the gimmick really only works the first time you read it IMO. It's not a bad book, but it's just kinda there, and after the one-two punch of Marco's and Ax's book it falls flatter than it should.

Glad we're doing Ellimist Chronicles next, because that's a great book, and otherwise we'd be doing Rachel's next book, which is decidedly not.

Agreed. I also found the ending rather abrupt. Another chapter fleshing out what happened to the campers would be nice.

# ? Aug 18, 2022 17:38

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Fuschia tude posted:

It's interesting how many people say EC is the best of the Chronicles books. It's also the only one I haven't read, so I'm looking forward to it.

It's basically a very fun (well, "fun," it wouldn't be Animorphs without a genocide or ten) space opera fairly divorced from the main story. I think it probably has a lot of concepts which will be more familiar to seasoned sci-fi readers reading it again now, but which blew my mind when I was 12.

I would probably rank it alongside Visser, but they're very different books, Visser swings the pendulum all the way in the other direction in being intrinsically tied to the contemporary plot.

# ? Aug 19, 2022 08:31

freebooter: Jul 7, 2009

Also I love the idea of Fitzhenry licking the nib of his pen, lying there with his guts spilled out while the battle rages around him, and muttering to himself "...growing narrow like a field glass, a darkening tunnel... Hmmm... should that be growing narrow, or narrowing? Hmm..."

# ? Aug 19, 2022 08:33

Epicurius: Apr 10, 2010; College Slice

Ok, You want to hear about the Ellimist? I know you do! So, here we go.

The Ellimist Chronicles
Prologue

quote:

The human child called to me. The human child was dying, and nothing I could do within the rules of the game would change that fact.

The human child, one of those who called themselves Animorphs, asked me to explain. In that final moment, the human wanted to know: Was it all worth it? The pain, the despair, the fear. The horror of violence suffered, and the corrupting horror of violence inflicted, was it all worth it?

I said I could not answer that. I said that the battle was not yet done.

�Who are you?!� the child raged. �Who are you to play games with us? You appear, you disappear, you play with us, you use us, who are you, what are you? I deserve an answer.�

�Yes,� I said. �You do. To this question I will give all the answer I know. And when you know me, you will ask another question. And I will answer that question, too. And then ��

I point out "dying", which is a bad sign.

First Life

Chapter 1

quote:

My full name is Azure Level, Seven Spar, Extension Two, Down-Messenger, Forty-one. My chosen name is Toomin. I like the sound of the word, which is all the reason you need for a chosen name. My �game� name is Ellimist. Like Toomin, it doesn�t mean anything in particular. I just thought it sounded breezy. Never occurred to me when I chose the name that it would follow me for so long, and so far. The Pangabans were an interesting race well adapted to their unusual world. They lived beneath an eternally gray, clouded sky. They had never seen their own sun clearly, had no notion of stars or other planets. This was particularly ironic because their own planet was in fact a moon that orbited a much larger planet well suited to life.

Had they been blessed with an occasional break in the clouds they might have become a very different race. It is hard to imagine that any species could have lived beneath the sky-filling arc of the main planet, with all its obvious lushness, and not become obsessed with a desire to learn space travel. But the Pangabans knew nothing of this, nothing at all of anything beyond their own damp and gloomy world.

The Pangabans were six-legged, which is a common enough configuration. They carried their heads high above the slender, muscular body that was little more than a junction of the six long legs. They were skimmers. Their feet were large, webbed, and concave, which allowed them to walk on the water that covered most of the planet aside from a few soggy islands. They fed by lowering a sort of net from their body down into the water and trolling for microscopic plants and animals of which there was an abundance.

They were intelligent. Not Ketran intelligent, perhaps, but self-aware. They knew who they were. Knew that they existed. Had a language. A culture, mostly involving amazing water dances, feeding rituals, and a religion that centered on belief in underwater spirits that either gave them food or withheld food.

DNA analysis indicated a potential for development. The Pangaban world received a decent dose of radiation, nothing deadly, just enough to cause a respectable rate of mutation. And despite their awkward physiques and the limitations of their planet�s natural resources, I believed they could be brought to a level of technology equal to, say, the Illaman Confederation.

There was one possible problem: The main planet around which the Pangabans revolved was populated by an aggressive species of four-legged, two-handed rodents called the Gunja Wave. The Gunja Wave were primitive creatures, only dimly self-aware. But their DNA held promise, too. And their aggressiveness might give them an edge if the two races ever collided.

Still, I had an instinct. I memmed my friend Azure Level, Nine Spar, Mast Three, Right Messenger Twelve. His chosen name is Redfar. His �game� name is Inidar.

�I�ll take the Pangabans, if you choose to accept.�

�Gladly,� he memmed back. �You underestimate the value of sheer aggression. You�re an idealist, Ellimist.�

�Oh? Well, step into my lair, said the dreth to the chorkant.�

Inidar laughed. The laugh worried me a bit. He seemed very confident. But I wasn�t going to show him my own doubts. �Shall we immerse?� It was the ritual challenge of the game.

�On the other side,� Inidar agreed, accepting the challenge.

I checked my real world position, checked to see whether there were any pending memms for me to deal with. I didn�t want to be interrupted. Then I opened the shunt and was all at once inside the game.I floated bodiless above the Pangaban world. Drifted above an endless gray-green soup choked with seaweeds and algae and gliding eels that could reach lengths of three miles. I skimmed above one of the mossy islands, brushed one of the squat, stunted, unlovely trees, and found a colony of Pangabans.

The Pangabans were trolling as always, but also playing at something. A game that involved moving in slow, ever tighter circles around one central individual. Not a complex game, certainly not in comparison with the game I played.

Still, I was heartened. Surely an ability to conceive and execute a game was a good sign in any species. It was a gentle, slow, and nearly pointless game, but one that could evolve. Games had evolved on other planets, among other peoples, my own people, the Ketrans, being perhaps the preeminent example.

I wondered what Inidar would do with the Gunja Wave. The essence of the game was minimalism: Do the least thing needed to accomplish a goal.
I knew the least thing. I knew what I would do. A single, simple movement: I would part the clouds and cause the skies to become ten percent clear on any given day. If I had understood fully, if my instincts were correct, that single change in the parameters would launch a revolution among the
Pangabans.

I slowed, floated, righted, deployed my wings, and settled down to stand upon the water, invisible to the solemn, slow-moving Pangabans.

I like to feel the texture of the game. I like to be inside it. Only there, only with the alien wind in your wings and the ground beneath your pods (or water, in this case), can you fully know the place. And the place is integral to the species.

I looked up at the unbroken blanket of gray clouds. I couldn�t let in too much light or the entire ecosystem would collapse. Just a glimpse.

I felt a thrill of anticipation. The Pangabans were on the verge of an experience they could not even guess at. Their eyes would be opened for the first time. Their universe would expand by a factor of a billion percent.

I smiled. And I memmed the game core: Part the clouds. And the clouds parted.

It was night. The clouds tore apart, a slow, silent rip. And above the Pangabans the stars appeared. And into that swatch of speckled blackness rolled the planet, all green and blue and orange scarred.

Slowly, one by one, fearful, the Pangabans did what none of their species had ever done before: They looked up.

They looked up and moaned their gurgling cries.

I heard Inidar�s memm in my mind. �Shall we accelerate?�

�Fire it up,� I answered and memmed the game core.

A hurricane! A hurricane of wind and water and earth and time itself, A swirling madness of change. This was the ultimate moment in the game. We had made our changes and now watched time reel forward.

I broke out the displays: DNA mutation, climate changes, technology index, population. For the first two hundred thousand years there was very little change. Then I began to spot the DNA differences in sight and body shape. The Pangabans were selecting for longer range vision, for color vision, for neck length.

And then, all at once, trouble. The algae count was dropping like a stone. It couldn�t be! Increased sunlight almost inevitably means an increase in flora. But it was true, the seas were dying. And then, as I stood untouched amidst the hurricane of change, the first of the carnivore eels emerged to attack the Pangabans. The Pangaban population was decimated in a flash of time.

DNA evolution began to come to the rescue of the Pangabans. They selected for size, downtrending. The smaller were faster, able to evade the eels. Smaller and smaller till the oncetowering Pangabans were scarcely larger than one of us Ketrans.

The eel threat diminished. And now at last came the first fluctuation in the technology index. The Pangabans had learned to make a tool. A weapon, of course. A simple spear that could be used to turn the tables on the eels. In short order Pangabans were hunting and eating the eels. Primitive seine fishers had become true predators.

A million years passed and a very different species now crossed the planet�s seas armed with spears and bows. They formed hierarchies dominated by warriors. Their culture shifted ground, favoring a sky god who brought the gift of weapons.

Yes, yes, it was working well enough. Another million years. Perhaps two, and they would learn to move beyond weapons, to �

And then, in a flash so sudden it was barely a blip of time, every index went flat. The Pangabans had disappeared. Extinct.

I cursed and heard Inidar�s memmed laughter.

I reeled back and slowed the playback speed. There it was: The Gunja Wave, still rodentine, but now walking erect, arrived on the Pangaban world in astoundingly primitive spacecraft and promptly killed and ate the Pangabans. They hunted them to extinction and left the planet devoid of its only intelligent species.

�Shall we call the game?� Inidar offered.

I sighed. �What was your move?�

�Oh, a very small one,� Inidar said. �I increased their rate of reproduction by a very small percentage. This heightened their natural aggression. And guessed that your move would be to open the Pangaban skies. Population growth pressures, a limited food supply, and the ability to see the Pangaban surface very clearly � my Gunja Wave wanted to eat your species.�

�Yes, and they did,� I said. �I call the game.�

�You have to learn to avoid na�vet�, Ellimist. It�s not the good and worthy who prosper. It�s just the motivated.�

�Yes, and you can go surface,� I muttered. �See you at the perches for free flight?�

�I�m there, Ellimist.�

I shut down the game and opened my eyes to the real world around me.

So, I have bad news. The Ellimist is a gamer.

Epicurius fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Aug 22, 2022

# ? Aug 22, 2022 02:13

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

competitive spore

# ? Aug 22, 2022 06:03

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

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