Oct 21, 2022 22:58
deff feel they should give Toby the morph and then get her input re other hork bajir
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Oct 21, 2022 23:19
quote:
"Okay! Okay!" Jake held up his hand. "We don't have time for this. Ticktock. We need ideas."
Sentences that hit as unexpectedly cursed a generation later.
Epicurius posted:
1. Non-human primates. Would Yeerks be willing to puppet chimps, gorillas,, maybe even monkeys? it's not ideal, but it's a step up from Gedds.
quote:
2. As was talked about before, some sort of time sharing agreement between the Yeerk and the host? it works for the Peace Movement, and for fans of the Stargate TV show, it's the way the Tok'ra work with their hosts. Other than Yeerk aggression and a sense of their own superiority, there's no reason they can't form a symbiotic relationship with their hosts.
Logistically the best solution really is the one they use. It is, as you say, a bloodless genocide but one weirdly recurrent theme with Applegrant's aliens is just how many of them are abominations that should not fucking Be.
Yeerks, Taxxons, Howlers, The Five, fucking Father, all of them just... really quite impossible to live and let live. I don't think they had a thematic thesis attached to these conceptions, I think Applegrant was just really good at conceiving of awful biological antagonists whose sole evolutionary function is to wreck the lives of those around them. With that kind-of creature, however it manifests, it really is "them or you" no matter how much you want to fine out a precise solution.
Oct 21, 2022 23:21
I've mentioned that I think Eva was being neglected but I quite liked this chapter - she's the only parent who's already been involved in this war, but also at the end of the day she basically spent five or so years as a hostage, nothing else. She's a great source of intelligence but she hasn't been leading a guerilla war for three years like Jake has. He really is the best option here.
Also saying they've lost contact with Tidwell and the Yeerk resistance movement is a bit handwavey but I appreciate that, for the first time in 20 odd books, they at least acknowledge their existence.
Hmmmm. If only there were some sort of technology that would allow Yeerks to permanently change their bodies without having to enslave others.
end spoilers:
Re: bloodless genocide, do you mean how the Taxxons become anacondas? For the Yeerks themselves I'm pretty sure they just get blockaded and permanently imprisoned in the pools. Which I appreciate being realistic because too much shit has happened for the Andalites to hand over the morphing tech to them now, but it bothers me that - IIRC - nobody even laments that it could've been the perfect solution 50 years ago if war and politics hadn't got in the way. Other than that it fits pretty well with everything else that goes on at the end as a deeply imperfect ending (to the war, not the series) because real life is messy and shit and that's just how things turn out a lot of the time.
Also saying they've lost contact with Tidwell and the Yeerk resistance movement is a bit handwavey but I appreciate that, for the first time in 20 odd books, they at least acknowledge their existence.
Capfalcon posted:
The problem with this is: what does a deal even look like? At the end of the day, the average yeerk has to have a living being that they're puppeting to have a remotely reasonable standard of life. It's a cruel biological fact, but it's still the crux of the issue.
Ending spoilers:
I know how it shakes out at the end of the series, but that's 1. Effectively a bloodless genocide and 2. The kind of terms victors get to dictate to the defeated.
Hmmmm. If only there were some sort of technology that would allow Yeerks to permanently change their bodies without having to enslave others.
end spoilers:
Re: bloodless genocide, do you mean how the Taxxons become anacondas? For the Yeerks themselves I'm pretty sure they just get blockaded and permanently imprisoned in the pools. Which I appreciate being realistic because too much shit has happened for the Andalites to hand over the morphing tech to them now, but it bothers me that - IIRC - nobody even laments that it could've been the perfect solution 50 years ago if war and politics hadn't got in the way. Other than that it fits pretty well with everything else that goes on at the end as a deeply imperfect ending (to the war, not the series) because real life is messy and shit and that's just how things turn out a lot of the time.
Oct 22, 2022 02:52
TBH since there doesn't seem to be a limit to how many times the cube can be used, giving the power to everyone and giving them an easy-to-control morph is worth it just for the healing powers.
Plus Toby or whoever could definitely use a cockroach/flying morph.
The only reason against it (assuming the cube is limitless) is potentially giving the Yeerks more morphing hosts.
Plus Toby or whoever could definitely use a cockroach/flying morph.
The only reason against it (assuming the cube is limitless) is potentially giving the Yeerks more morphing hosts.
Oct 22, 2022 08:13
Even if there was a peace the Yeerks and humans would accept, Jake would have no authority to carry it out. He can't exactly show up at the zoo, flash his Animorph badge and tell them to hand over all the chimps. And the Yeerks know that the Andalites wouldn't respect any deal they had with the humans anyway, they'd vaporize the chimp Yeerks as soon as they showed up
Oct 22, 2022 08:21
OctaviusBeaver posted:
Even if there was a peace the Yeerks and humans would accept, Jake would have no authority to carry it out. He can't exactly show up at the zoo, flash his Animorph badge and tell them to hand over all the chimps. And the Yeerks know that the Andalites wouldn't respect any deal they had with the humans anyway, they'd vaporize the chimp Yeerks as soon as they showed up
I mean, that's the thing. It would require the Yeerks publicly revealing themselves to mankind and would no doubt be fraught with difficulty.
Oct 22, 2022 09:10
freebooter posted:
Hmmmm. If only there were some sort of technology that would allow Yeerks to permanently change their bodies without having to enslave others.
Yeah this is the only way there could be any peace for the Yeerks, I think.
Oct 22, 2022 09:52
Ravenfood posted:
Yeah this is the only way there could be any peace for the Yeerks, I think.
But its also not something you can give an active belligerent. Sure, a guy with a high powered gun, much less an alien disintegration beam, is a good match for a guy who can turn into a tiger in a battle situation, but the guy who can turn into a tiger can also sneak into your base as a fly, jump your CO, and start giving terrible orders. It's something that can't even be discussed everyone has put down the guns and is just talking about what the post war world looks like.
Oct 22, 2022 19:47
Chapter 9
So what do you all think of Jake's plan?
Also, two things. I assume that Yeerks don't kill actual human controllers who get cancer or lose a limb, just their hosts, with the Yeerk going back into a pool until they can be put into a new host.
Also, if the Yeerks kill hosts who lose a limb, that puts the whole Animorph/Ax habit of cutting of hands and arms in a new light. The Animorphs can say they try to avoid killing human hosts, but...
Chapter 10
The Yeerks are pretty clearly on the ball. Also, a costume shop?
quote:
"The Yeerks don't infest people like your mom was before she could morph," I said honestly. "The Yeerks don't want a blind Controller. They don't want a disabled Controller. Deaf people, people in wheelchairs, people with serious illnesses."
"She's right," Rachel said slowly. "I've never seen a Controller in a wheelchair. And I bet any human-Controller who gets cancer or loses a limb is killed. No joke."
<Hundreds, thousands of people,> Tobias said. <The Yeerks just write them off. So do a lot of humans.>
"So do a lot of aliens," Marco added, giving Ax a look.
<It makes sense that the Yeerks would not recruit the permanently sick or injured. Those people are defective. Vecols. They would not be useful in a battle,> Ax responded coldly.
"Not every species measures an individual's worth by the ability to fight," I said.
Ax nodded. "I understand. But the Yeerks do not."
Marco laughed. "If a guy in a wheelchair could morph a grizzly, he could fight. He could kick some serious butt."
Rachel frowned. "The thing is, morphing will only restore you to the way you were born, right, Ax?"
Ax nodded and Rachel continued. "One of the disabled kids might miss the two- hour time limit. Let's say someone with only one leg. She might have to demorph in the middle of a battle. And she'd be helpless to save herself. To get away."
"No more helpless than we've often been in that kind of situation," Jake said thoughtfully.
Before I could stop it, the air seemed to leave my lungs. How could we live with ourselves if one of the new and very inexperienced Animorphs got seriously injured in battle? Died, even? There was something wrong with the whole idea.
"We're not doing this," I said quietly but with conviction.
<It was your idea,> Tobias pointed out gently.
"No," I protested. "I was just thinking out loud. I wasn't suggesting we actually do it. It's not right."
Jake cleared his throat. "Cassie, recruiting handicapped kids, or differently abled kids, or whatever we should say, might be our only chance of survival."
"Our chance of survival. What about theirs? We're going to use kids less fortunate than us to keep us alive? Why are we so important? Why are we more important than anyone else?"
"That's not what we're saying, Cassie." Jake's voice was low but firm. "Handicapped people live on this planet, too. When I say 'our' chance of survival, I'm including every human being on Earth. Everyone has a stake in this fight. Why not give other kids the power they need to fight back?"
I didn't know what to say. Jake was right.
Suddenly, a revelation. I was thinking like my mother. She was right about the emergency living conditions the Hork-Bajir had built.
Still, she couldn't get over thinking her job was to take care of the Hork-Bajir. It wasn't. her job was only to help the Hork-Bajir help themselves.
Would we be doing the same by giving handicapped kids the power to morph? Helping them to help themselves? Arming them to defend their homes, their families, their worlds? Or would we just be burdening them with an unendurable load of misery, guilt, and pain?
"It's not like we'd force anyone to accept the technology," Rachel murmured. "It would be every kid's choice."
Marco nodded. Like he was convincing himself the scheme was a good thing. The right thing. "Tell them what's going down," he said. "Offer them a way to fight back. To resist. If they don't want to get involved, fine. All right, more Animorphs means more of a security risk, but at this point, I'm not sure that's such a big deal."
"Wait a minute," I said. "There's something else. Look at what happened with Loren. She was blinded in an accident. Tobias gave her the ability to morph, and now she's not blind. Like Rachel and Ax said, morphing repairs DNA."
<But wait - it didn't give her back her memory,> Tobias pointed out. <She still has amnesia.>
"That's my point," I pressed. "We don't know exactly how morphing works in every situation. With each individual."
<There is no uncertainty in Andalite morphing technology,> Ax said firmly.
"Maybe not for Andalites," I argued. "Though we know some Andalites are allergic to the technology. Remember Mertil. But maybe there's uncertainty for humans. We just don't know. No one's done studies. And our doctors don't know everything there is to know about the causes of human diseases."
"Conclusion?" Rachel asked.
"That some of the kids we give the morphing technology to might be cured. And then what? Then where do they go? How can you ask someone who can walk for the first time in years to pretend she can't? To stay in a hospital? I mean, the Yeerks notice someone who could only get around in a wheelchair is suddenly running marathons, the person's cover is blown. She's taken, infested, gives up everyone else. Or else she's forced to disappear."
"Cassie's got something there, Jake," Marco said. "From a practical standpoint we don't need more refugee Animorphs. We need soldiers we can trust to stay undercover for as long as possible. Can we count on a kid who's suddenly healthy to give up his newfound freedom for the sake of a mission that sounds like a Star Trek plot? I'm just saying there's a major trust issue here."
Jake nodded. "Okay. So this idea isn't clean. It's risky. Maybe even morally suspect." He looked at me. "If you want to think about it. But I don't think we have that kind of time anymore. I say we do it. Marco?"
Marco hesitated then nodded.
"Tobias? Rachel?"
"I'm in."
<I'm in, too.>
"Ax?"
<Yes. I am also in.>
Jake grinned. For a minute he seemed like the old Jake again. Full of energy and confidence. That should have made me happy. But if didn't.
Because I didn't like what we were about to do. And because it was clear that in this situation, Jake didn't care what I thought.
Jake and I are closer than just friends. We care a lot about each other. Or at least we used to.
Now everything was changing. Everybody was changing. I didn't know who was who anymore.
Sometimes, I didn't even know what I felt.
"Ax, Marco, get on the Web," Jake said. "Find us a way to reach some likely candidates. Remember, they have to be kids. Locate a clinic. A physical rehab hospital. Whatever."
Jake looked to Rachel and Tobias. "Just be ready, you two. Keep an eye on the parents. And don't let them get wind of our plan. I'm betting it would seriously freak them out."
"We're on it, fearless leader." Marco.
The fire of determination - of possibility - burned in Jake's eyes. "We'll start out with a small test group. If it works, we'll expand. And if we can expand enough, we'll have Yeerks chasing Animorphs everywhere."
The others scattered, hurrying to carry out orders.
Finally, Jake looked at me. Some of the old, inspirational Jake in his expression.
"Cassie? You're with us, right?"
I was angry. And I was hurt.
But what could I do?
I'd been the one to insist we follow Jake.
My Jake.
How could I refuse now?
So what do you all think of Jake's plan?
Also, two things. I assume that Yeerks don't kill actual human controllers who get cancer or lose a limb, just their hosts, with the Yeerk going back into a pool until they can be put into a new host.
Also, if the Yeerks kill hosts who lose a limb, that puts the whole Animorph/Ax habit of cutting of hands and arms in a new light. The Animorphs can say they try to avoid killing human hosts, but...
Chapter 10
quote:
Marco had a lead. A rehab center for kids in a town not too far away.
We decided that Jake, Marco, and I would go. It was too dangerous for all of us to travel together now that the Yeerks knew who we were. And someone needed to stay at camp in case of a surprise Yeerk attack - to look after the parents in case we didn't make it back.
We traveled in our bird-of-prey morphs, together but apart. Jake, as peregrine falcon. Marco and I, osprey. Ax had broken down the morphing cube so that each of us could carry a small piece.
One problem. Jake had suggested that we not fly directly to the rehab center. That we make a detour, in case we were being watched.
It made sense. But I couldn't understand why Jake insisted on such a roundabout - and dangerous - path. When Marco challenged the idea -"You're joking, right, dude?" - Jake reacted with anger.
"You agreed to the plan. So we do it my way. End of story."
Marco is Jake's best friend. He's also very smart. He knows how to pick his battles.
"Hey, sorry, you're right. Your wish is my command."
And then he looked at me and I knew he'd be on extra high alert.
We landed and demorphed in an alley behind a bicycle shop only a few blocks from the rehab center. Over time we'd learned to morph slightly more clothing than too-small spandex. In this instance, a few pieces of ratty cycling gear was exactly right. Three kids in bike shorts hanging around outside a bicycle shop means squat. Okay, we still hadn't learned to morph shoes but ...
At least twenty bicycles - mountain bikes, road bikes, and hybrids - were parked against a long rack on the sidewalk in front of the shop. Some weren't locked. Helmets hung from the handlebars of about ten of the bikes.
"So, Jake. Let me get this straight." Marco. "We snag three bikes and ride over to the rehab center." And then, as if to convince himself: "Okay. Nobody will pay any attention to us. Everyone rides bikes."
Jake nodded. "We hide in plain sight."
"Getting back to the bikes," I said. "By 'snag,' I assume you mean 'steal.'"
Marco rolled his eyes. "Semantics. I prefer to use the word 'borrow.' We'll try to return the bikes as soon as possible."
Jake glanced up and down the street. "This is it," he said.
I couldn't help myself. I protested, again. "Jake ..."
Jake shot me a look. It wasn't a friendly one.
I was stung. I looked away.
"I've never stolen a bike," Jake said to Marco. "Any suggestions?"
Marco pretended to look hurt. "What makes you think I know how to steal a bike? However, I would suggest we, er, just pick three unlocked bikes and casually ride away."
"What if somebody comes out of the shop and sees us?" I asked.
"Pull a Lance Armstrong. Smoke them. Ride away really, really fast." Marco strode forward and removed a red road bike from the rack.
We were out in the open. Vulnerable. I'd been in a hundred horrible battles with a mind-boggling array of aliens. But I swear, my heart was beating faster now than it ever had when I was in morph, facing down battalions of intergalactic monsters. Just as I was slinging my leg over the bar of a black hybrid, I heard it.
"Andalites! Rebels!"
Tseeeew! Tseeeew!
Three human-Controllers came bursting out of the bicycle shop. Dracon beams singed my hair. Of course the Yeerks would have every inch of every local town covered. The one bicycle shop, the three Starbucks, the massive Barnes & Noble, the four McDonald's. of course they would be
waiting for us.
Why had Jake insisted on this obviously dangerous scheme? Why had Marco and I catered to his need for - what? Danger? An adrenaline rush? For a split second I thought the impossible. That Jake really had lost his ability to think clearly as a leader. That by pushing him so hard I'd sent him careening over the edge.
Not the time for contemplation.
"Let's go!" he yelled.
We were off!
Wham! WhamWhamWham! The slam of car doors. The Controllers were going to follow us by car. They would overtake us in seconds.
"Get off the street!" Jake ordered. He bumped up the curb onto the sidewalk. Tore into an alley too narrow for a car to follow.
Marco and I followed him, pedaling furiously.
The alley was only about twenty feet wide. We raced past overflowing garbage cans, a sleeping cat, an abandoned couch. Bumped over crumbled concrete, broken glass, and an empty can of gasoline. Rode like crazy until the alley came to a dead end. Now what?
Slapslapslapslap!
Footsteps ringing on the pavement behind us! The human-Controllers were on foot now. Getting closer.
"Morph," Jake ordered.
"Battle morphs?" Marco dropped his bike with a clatter.
"No." Jake nodded toward one of several doors that led from the alley into the various shops that faced the street. "Roach."
This time, the morph started almost before I got the full picture of a roach in my mind.
WHOOSH!
I shrank to the dirty ground.
SCHLOOP!
A mini-Cassie. Small enough so that shard of glass seemed like a boulder.
At the speed of a fast-forwarded videotape, the roach's exoskeleton covered my body. The body segmented. Sprouted antennae and all the other nasty parts that made the roach nearly invincible.
The morph was done almost before it had started.
All around me, I felt the vibration of the Controllers' pounding feet. Too late. We slipped through a crack beneath a doorway and disappeared.
Demorphed and surveyed the area.
The space was dark and dusty. I fought the urge to sneeze. Voices and light came from an adjoining room. The door was partly opened. Jake motioned for silence. We peered around the open door.
And saw an elderly lady holding a big sword.
"Now this is very popular," she told a group of kids about our age. Maybe a bit older. "Pirates are very big right now."
I stepped back, turned, and found myself face-to-face with a pale woman with long red hair. I almost screamed, then caught myself.
Not a person. A wig on a styrofoam head.
Marco pulled an obviously fake rabbit out of a top hat.
Jake reached for a Spider-Man mask.
We were in the storeroom of a costume shop.
The Yeerks are pretty clearly on the ball. Also, a costume shop?
Oct 22, 2022 21:08
The plan is... reckless and a bit of a gamble, but the books have really hammered home how they don't feel they have any other option. I'm liking/not liking how Ax is a smug dickhead about Andalite superiority despite apparently having a caste system where they don't let Andalites use the morphing cube to repair disabilities? What kind-of shitfuck politics are going on there bro?
Oct 22, 2022 21:17
mind the walrus posted:
The plan is... reckless and a bit of a gamble, but the books have really hammered home how they don't feel they have any other option. I'm liking/not liking how Ax is a smug dickhead about Andalite superiority despite apparently having a caste system where they don't let Andalites use the morphing cube to repair disabilities? What kind-of shitfuck politics are going on there bro?
As we have seen in real life, people will totally uphold a bad system and find ways to justify it, even when it's causing harm to them as well.
Oct 23, 2022 00:03
Aximili the Ableist rears his ugly head one final time before the end of the series.
Oct 23, 2022 00:38
I like how they jump straight to disabled kids rather than adults for... no discernable reason.
Also how are the roaches carrying bits of the morphing cube?
Also how are the roaches carrying bits of the morphing cube?
Oct 23, 2022 06:29
freebooter posted:
I like how they jump straight to disabled kids rather than adults for... no discernable reason.
Also how are the roaches carrying bits of the morphing cube?
No idea about your second question, but they talk about recruiting adults vs kids.
Oct 23, 2022 11:41
freebooter posted:
Also how are the roaches carrying bits of the morphing cube?
Oct 23, 2022 11:50
The kids vs adult recruits makes a dark amount of sense. Kids are gonna be easier to manipulate and control and will definitely buy in more.
This is a ridiculous escalation in terms of horrifying things the war has pushed these kids to consider and do.
This is a ridiculous escalation in terms of horrifying things the war has pushed these kids to consider and do.
Oct 23, 2022 17:37
Epicurius posted:
No idea about your second question, but they talk about recruiting adults vs kids.
Eh, they addressed why they don't want to recruit their parents specifically, but this...
quote:
"It's got to be kids," Marco said musingly. "Adults are too reality-bound. It's too hard for them to suspend disbelief. Even when the new reality hits them in the face."
<Right.> Tobias. <Remember, we had some degree of acceptance from those campers a while back. They thought we were cool. Okay, they also thought we were aliens, but still.>
"Yeah," Jake said. "We look for other kids."
...is the sum total of the "adults or kids" decision-making process and IMO is pretty handwavey. I get it, it's a YA series so whatever, but I feel like they could've come up with something better than this. (The campers isn't even a good example - half of them were adults!)
Oct 23, 2022 17:57
The Yeerks vaporize bike thieves with deacon beams? Maybe I was too hard on them.
Oct 23, 2022 18:08
freebooter posted:
Eh, they addressed why they don't want to recruit their parents specifically, but this...
...is the sum total of the "adults or kids" decision-making process and IMO is pretty handwavey. I get it, it's a YA series so whatever, but I feel like they could've come up with something better than this. (The campers isn't even a good example - half of them were adults!)
I think it works a little better than you seem to think. They've already seen the thoughts and reactions of the adults who trust them more than anybody else in the world would, and, uh, they weren't super helpful. If you pick other adults, you have to get past the "why would they believe you?" part before you can even try the "even if they believe you, why would they go along with what you five kids tell them they should do?" It certainly might be flawed reasoning - they make flawed decisions all the time! - but I don't think it's handwavey.
Oct 23, 2022 18:16
OctaviusBeaver posted:
The Yeerks vaporize bike thieves with deacon beams? Maybe I was too hard on them.
Eh, the movie's not that bad.
Oct 23, 2022 19:35
Chapter 11
So, they got in, at least, with the "Revellers", and probably found a floor with older kids.
Chapter 12
So I don't know about you, but personally, i think these kids have potential.
quote:
"I feel stupid."
"You look stupid," I confirmed.
Marco's magician's outfit was seriously cheesy. A shiny polyester jumpsuit that was supposed to look like a tux. It looked more like a Las Vegas showgirl's outfit, complete with voluminous gold lamé cape.
I looked pretty stupid myself, dressed up like a fortune-teller from a classic B-movie.
"Sssh!"
The bangles would have to go, I realized. Too much noise.
"Sorry," I whispered to Jake. I slipped off the cheap jewelry and placed it on a shelf.
Marco grunted. "How come he's the only one who doesn't look like a total fool?"
It was true. The only costume Jake could find that fit him at all decently was modeled on that of a 1950's Beat poet or something. Black turtleneck, black jeans, black shoes, a black beret. Even a phony goatee.
"Soul patch, I think," Marco corrected.
I volunteered to carry the reassembled morphing cube in one of the interior pockets of my manylayered shirt.
We'd come up with a plan. As always, it was risky. But we didn't have a lot of choice: We could go back into the alley as roaches and get crushed under the heels of waiting human-Controllers. We could walk out into the alley as humans and be captured. Or, we could storm out in battle morphs, be forced to fight, and maybe never make it to the rehab center.
Our immediate mission was clear. Locate more potential Animorphs. Get home alive.
So we slipped out of the storeroom and fell in with the group of about fifteen variously costumed kids as they left the shop.
They called themselves the "Revelers." They were students at a local magnet school for the performing arts. And they were on their way to put on a show for the kids at the rehab center. It was almost too good to be true.
Marco made a few remarks about guys in tights.
Jake reacted like the old Jake. Afraid there might be Yeerks in the group.
A reasonable concern, given recent events. Controllers seemed to be everywhere. But Yeerks on a recruiting mission wouldn't be headed to a place that housed sick and disabled humans. I hoped.
The rehab center adjoined a large hospital complex. I counted sixteen floors above ground. We followed at the back of the troop of entertainers. Right through the front door, past the nurse at the admissions desk and the guards roaming the lobby.
No one questioned us.
Finally, we reached a ward at the back of the ground floor.
The ward was full of little kids.
The oldest was maybe seven. Some were in wheelchairs. Some wore casts. Some were in hospital beds.
Even so, you could still feel all that wiggly, giggly little-kid energy.
The kids squealed and laughed and applauded as we entered.
The troop launched right into some hokey song about sunshine and flowers, smiles and showers.
They'd choreographed a simple dance for the song. Simple if you were a dance major at a school for the performing arts.
Marco gave me his exaggerated panicked look.
"Stay in the back," I mouthed.
"Sneak out," Jake added.
"Sunshine is just fine all the time!" sang the Revelers.
And as the group began to step-step-step to the left, I step-step-stepped right. Out the door and into the hall.
A few steps later, Marco and Jake joined me.
Jake glanced back the way he'd come.
"No good," he said. "These kids are too little."
"The older kids might be on another floor," Marco said.
"Okay. We go from floor to floor until we find them. Keep up the entertainment act."
I laughed. "Yeah, that'll be easy."
Marco spread open his gold lamé cape. "Easier than you think," he said. "Voilà!" He reached inside and pulled out a pigeon. A live pigeon.
"Where did you get that?" Jake hissed.
Marco smiled. "It was on the sidewalk. Something's wrong with its wing. But it doesn't seem to be in pain. I figured if we recruit anybody today, they'll need a morph that will get them out of here without attracting attention."
Gently, Marco replaced the pigeon back in his cape.
Jake's face froze. I knew what was going through his mind. Knew he was beating himself for not having thought of this contingency. For the fiasco outside the bike shop.
"What?" Marco pouted. "You've got something better? Maybe a fluffy bunny?"
"Maybe we should just get out of here," Jake said tightly. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this. I don't ... We'll try again tomorrow."
A harried nurse came striding toward us. Shoes squeaking on the polished floor. She smiled and continued on. Clearly, a bunch of kids in costume were not her priority.
When she had passed, Marco frowned. "Jake, I've been hanging in there until now. But I'm going to fight you on this one. After what happened earlier, this may be our last chance to get in here without basically advertising our plan to the Yeerks. Or making this staff suspicious. I say we take the chance, finish the job. Now."
Marco was right.
I scooped up an armload of magazines from a table next to a lumpy couch. Distributed them among the three of us. "Here," I said. "Follow me."
We got to a bank of elevators. I pushed the button. The doors opened with a ding! And we stepped inside. A doctor looked up from a clipboard and gave us an amused smile. I smiled back brightly. And for a moment wondered if I were staring at a Yeerk.
We rode in silence until the door opened at the third floor. The doctor stepped forward and, before leaving the elevator, spoke. "Look in on the fifth floor if you have time. Some of those kids are about your age. They could use some company."
"Okay," I said, still smiling.
The door began to close and Marco pushed the button for the fifth floor.
Jake put his hand against the elevator door to keep it from closing. "Maybe he's setting us up."
I took Jake's hand from the door and let it close. "You're right, Jake. It could be a trap. We've walked into them before. Let's try to deal with this and try not to choke. Okay?"
"Are you patronizing me?" he asked, unbelievingly.
"Yeah, Jake. I am."
Marco pushed the button again and smiled bleakly. "Take it from me, Jake-meister. You get used to it after a while."
So, they got in, at least, with the "Revellers", and probably found a floor with older kids.
Chapter 12
quote:
The door opened on the fifth floor. At one end of the hall, just before a set of double doors, was a sort of communal area. Several severely disabled kids sat in wheelchairs, watching TV and playing cards. The rest of the hall was empty.
Those who could, looked over to see who was coming.
No wiggly, giggly excitement here.
Basically, the mood was pretty down.
But the kids were about our age. That was something.
We glanced uncertainly at one another. Then I stepped ahead and led Jake and Marco toward the group at the end of the hall. "Hi!" I said brightly. "Anybody want a magazine?"
One boy, almost completely immobilized, pressed his right finger against the switch on his power chair and scooted away without a word.
His rejection shouldn't have hurt but it did.
Two girls in wheelchairs were playing cards at a small table.
"Did I say something wrong?" I asked them.
One of the card players, a pale girl with short blonde hair, gave me a cool look and lifted her brows disdainfully.
"No. He's just afraid you guys are going to sing."
The other cardplayer at the table laughed. She was wearing an Olympics T-shirt and sweats with a NIKE logo printed down the outside of the right leg.
"Sorry," Marco said. "I left my harmonica at home. But I can do magic tricks. Sort of."
The pale girl looked at Marco steadily. "I've seen David Copperfield in New York. Siegfried and Roy in Las Vegas. And Penn and Teller in Los Angeles. You really think I want to see your act?"
Then she turned her attention back to the cards.
The girl in the sweats smiled. "Come on," she said. "He may not be a pro, but everybody deserves a shot."
"Yeah and some people deserve to be shot," the cold girl snapped.
We were getting nowhere with this entertainment approach. And we were getting there fast.
"Okay," Marco muttered. "Remind me again why we're here?" Then he turned to an Asian boy witting in a wheelchair to the right of the blonde girl. "What about you? Can I interest you in a few one-hundred-percent-guaranteed-to-fail amateur magic tricks?"
I'd seen the boy's head bobbing slightly as he divided his attention between the card game and the TV. I guessed he had cerebral palsy.
Now his face contorted and his body stiffened with effort. "D ... d ... d ..."
The pale girl with the cards calmly and patiently rearranged her hand. And waited.
The boy's attempts to speak were painful to witness.
"Dii ... diii ... diiiii ..."
Jake and Marco looked panicked. Confused. I guess I did, too. What were we supposed to do now? Wait for the boy to finish? Leave? Pretend we didn't realize he was trying to say something?
I looked to the blonde girl for help. She lifted her eyebrows. Okay. It was clear she expected us to finish what we had started.
The Asian boy took a last shuddering breath and expelled a word. Just one word, but he expelled it triumphantly.
"DITTO!"
The pale girl burst into laughter. The boy giggled. Both were delighted with their own rudeness.
"He was supposed to have it an hour ago. He's in pain."
I turned toward the sound of the voice. It was young but mature. And angry. And it belonged to another kid in a wheelchair. I noticed he had nice hair. Kind of gold-brown and wavy.
"How do you know he's in pain?" a male nurse argued.
"It's his eyes. If you'd take the time to look, his eyes will tell you a lot."
"James, I know you're Pedro's roommate, but ..."
"I'm not just his roommate," the kid - James - snapped. "I'm his friend. And since he can't talk to you, I'm doing it for him. If you guys can't get the medication here on time, just leave it on his night table. I'll give it to him."
The pale girl backed her wheelchair away from the table. "I'll be back," she told the other two.
We followed her partway down the hall, uninvited.
"Look," the nurse said. "We're short-staffed. I'm sorry Pedro had to wait, but we can't let you give him his medication. You're not authorized."
"I've been here longer than you have," James retorted. "I've been here longer than anybody," he added dryly. "I would think that gives me some rights."
The nurse hesitated a second, then reluctantly nodded. "Okay. Okay. I'll get it right now." He hurried away.
The girl wheeled up beside James and spoke quietly.
James looked around and saw us hovering. "Well?" he said angrily. "Who's the show here? Us or you?"
So I don't know about you, but personally, i think these kids have potential.
Oct 23, 2022 21:15
Even by the standards of this series, everything in this book is so supremely fucked up. The Animorphs - at the suggestion of Cassie, its kindest and most empathetic member - are recruiting child soldiers to help fight in their extremely dangerous and destructive guerilla war. And not just that, but they're specifically targeting kids uniquely vulnerable to their sales pitch.
Of course, they're desperate. The Yeerks are closing in. The invasion is accelerating. They need more bodies, more people willing and able to fight. And they're also right about who to target: These are not hosts the Yeerks would have any interest in whatsoever. As kids, they're not going to question the mission or Jake's authority the way an adult unquestionably would. And they're also not old enough to truly realize the risks and consequences of what they're signing on to until it's too late.
Of all the series' overarching themes, one of the biggest and most importance is the loss of innocence. This group of five children have been irrevocably changed and scarred by everything that's happened since they walked through the construction site, and each of them has become a trained and hardened soldier-demonstrated amply in this very chapter, when they quickly and efficiently use their morphs and their wits to dodge the detection of hostile controllers. What happened to them is a crime. But now, they are about to commit that very same crime, for the very same reasons that it happened to them. And it's only going to go even further downhill from here.
Of course, they're desperate. The Yeerks are closing in. The invasion is accelerating. They need more bodies, more people willing and able to fight. And they're also right about who to target: These are not hosts the Yeerks would have any interest in whatsoever. As kids, they're not going to question the mission or Jake's authority the way an adult unquestionably would. And they're also not old enough to truly realize the risks and consequences of what they're signing on to until it's too late.
Of all the series' overarching themes, one of the biggest and most importance is the loss of innocence. This group of five children have been irrevocably changed and scarred by everything that's happened since they walked through the construction site, and each of them has become a trained and hardened soldier-demonstrated amply in this very chapter, when they quickly and efficiently use their morphs and their wits to dodge the detection of hostile controllers. What happened to them is a crime. But now, they are about to commit that very same crime, for the very same reasons that it happened to them. And it's only going to go even further downhill from here.
Oct 23, 2022 22:52
I agree with people saying that the recruiting children thing kinda makes sense. Can you imagine them giving the morphing power to 50 adults and them still being willing to follow Jake?
Oct 24, 2022 19:42
More chapters tomorrow
Oct 24, 2022 23:31
Acebuckeye13 posted:
Even by the standards of this series, everything in this book is so supremely fucked up. The Animorphs - at the suggestion of Cassie, its kindest and most empathetic member - are recruiting child soldiers to help fight in their extremely dangerous and destructive guerilla war. And not just that, but they're specifically targeting kids uniquely vulnerable to their sales pitch.
Of course, they're desperate. The Yeerks are closing in. The invasion is accelerating. They need more bodies, more people willing and able to fight. And they're also right about who to target: These are not hosts the Yeerks would have any interest in whatsoever. As kids, they're not going to question the mission or Jake's authority the way an adult unquestionably would. And they're also not old enough to truly realize the risks and consequences of what they're signing on to until it's too late.
Of all the series' overarching themes, one of the biggest and most importance is the loss of innocence. This group of five children have been irrevocably changed and scarred by everything that's happened since they walked through the construction site, and each of them has become a trained and hardened soldier-demonstrated amply in this very chapter, when they quickly and efficiently use their morphs and their wits to dodge the detection of hostile controllers. What happened to them is a crime. But now, they are about to commit that very same crime, for the very same reasons that it happened to them. And it's only going to go even further downhill from here.
I agree that it's fucked up but wouldn't call it a crime - either what Elfangor did or what they're doing now. The Yeerk invasion is an existential threat (even moreso for the disabled kids - if the Yeerks win, what do we think they're going to do with "unfit" hosts?) and giving the unwitting victims of that threat the knowledge and the means to fight back is the right thing to do.
Oct 25, 2022 02:22
You are absolutely right, but let's not kid ourselves-- Jake, Cassie, and Marco are dressed up in costumes as subtext; they're putting on the face of recruiters, not being wholly honest with the kids about exactly what they're dropping them into. Just one book ago Marco had his face ripped off.
Oct 25, 2022 04:44
freebooter posted:
I agree that it's fucked up but wouldn't call it a crime - either what Elfangor did or what they're doing now. The Yeerk invasion is an existential threat (even moreso for the disabled kids - if the Yeerks win, what do we think they're going to do with "unfit" hosts?) and giving the unwitting victims of that threat the knowledge and the means to fight back is the right thing to do.
Recruiting children to fight in an armed conflict is literally a war crime.
Oct 25, 2022 13:47
Your honour, my client pleads necessity
Oct 25, 2022 13:51
Acebuckeye13 posted:
Recruiting children to fight in an armed conflict is literally a war crime.
Oh, so Elfangor gets away with war crimes, but Alloran wastes one little species and its all GREAT SHAME this, DISHONOURED that...
Oct 25, 2022 14:45
Acebuckeye13 posted:
Recruiting children to fight in an armed conflict is literally a war crime.
Being forcefully invaded and occupied by an oppressive force means that a lot of stuff is on the table. This isn't two armies marching into battle against one another, this is a tiny insurgency facing off against a vastly more superior force. Destroying the Yeerk pool early on probably ought to have been considered a war crime if the Yeerks were facing a symmetrical enemy.
End of series spoilers: I suppose it's telling how forgotten the auxiliary Animorphs were that Visser One never accuses Jake of this particular war crime.
Oct 25, 2022 19:32
Chapter 13
I mean, i guess if Collette likes high risk stuff, she's a good Animorphs candidate.
Chapter 14
James, meanwhile, is the type of person who's pissed and tired of being fucked with. Also, a good Animorphs candidate.
quote:
Marco swept his cape in a glittering arc. "We are," he said quickly.
James and the girl gave him a long, level stare.
"My infamous charm doesn't seem to work in this place," Marco said under his breath.
Then there was a sound from the room behind James.
"See you later," James said. The pale blonde girl nodded and wheeled back toward us.
James turned abruptly and wheeled into the room. Again, we followed.
A boy lay on the bed closest to the door. His dark hair had been badly cut, at places way too close to his head. His eyes followed James closely. The rest of him was still.
James wheeled himself over to the boy's bedside. "The nurse is coming with your medicine, Pedro. Don't worry. It'll be here soon. You want to hear some music?"
Pedro's eyes closed then opened.
"Rock?"
Pedro stared, unblinking.
"Country western?"
Pedro's eyes flickered, the lashes fluttered.
"Country western it is," James said, wheeling himself over to the radio. "Though I don't understand how you can listen to that stuff, man," he leased. "Sure I can't talk you into some Blink 182?"
We backed away from the door.
"What now?" Jake whispered. "How are we going to get through to these kids?"
"We're not." Marco. "They hate us."
"Sorry about the rude reception." It was the girl in sweats. "I'm Collette."
"Hi. I'm Cassie. This is Marco. And this is Jake. We came to entertain but, um, we seem to be going about it the wrong way."
"Yeah," Marco added. "The little kids seemed glad to see us. What's with the big attitude up here?" Collette began to wheel back toward the group. We walked beside her.
"Let me tell you something," she said. There was no anger or bitterness in her voice. "A disabled kid is like the kitten who becomes a cat. You're a kitten, everybody wants to pet you and play with you. You get a little older, you're just a nuisance. Some of the people here haven't been home in years."
She pointed back toward James's room. "About all he has to look forward to is a nursing home when he's too old for this place. And he's been here since he was a little kid. He got hit by a drunk driver when he was four. His mother brought him in to be operated on and never came back to get him."
"Okay." Marco. "He can have all the attitude he wants."
Jake cleared his throat. I heard what Jake had heard. James, coming out of his room. He wheeled past us and on down the hall.
"Where's he going?" I asked.
"There's another lounge further down the hall. Through those double doors. It's a good place to go if you want some privacy. The door shuts. James spends a lot of time there."
"Think we could talk to him?" I asked.
"You could try," Collette answered. "James isn't too friendly. But he's cool. He's the one who makes sure we get what we need. He's the man. Even the nurses and doctors listen to what he says."
"A leader," Jake said.
"Yeah. He's gone to bat for me a couple of times. Not that I really need much help," Collette added quickly. "I've got family and stuff."
"So, how come you're not giving us the cold shoulder?" Marco asked.
She patted the sides of her chair. "This is just a temporary thing for me. I'm not usually in a chair. I had a skiing accident and this place has the best pediatric orthopedic staff around. I came in for some surgery on my knees. Any of you guys ski?"
"Once," Marco answered. "Didn't like it. Too cold and chicks don't dig it when you fall, like, every three seconds."
Collette made a face like Marco was nuts. "Oh man. You're missing the greatest sport there is. Maybe you're more into skating? I like skating but it's a little tame for me. I'm into the extreme, highrisk stuff."
"Collette!" At the end of the hall the pale girl beckoned. "You want to play cards or not?"
Collette put her hands on her wheels. "I need to get back. That's Kelly. She's got cystic fibrosis. It makes her so weak sometimes, she can barely shuffle the cards. We play a lot when she feels strong.
The other guy is Timmy," she added. "Stop by before you go." Collette winked at Marco. "I like company."
"If she's only recently injured, it's possible she's a Controller," Jake said as Collette rejoined Kelly."
True," Marco answered with a grin. "But I don't know. She's just too cute. Did you see that? She winked at me!"
"Don't get attached," Jake said tiredly. "Life is probably going to be a lot shorter than you thought it would be."
Marco's grin faded. "You know what, Jake? You don't have to remind me about that."
For about a split second, Jake looked embarrassed. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"It's okay, dude. It gets to us all."
"Come on," Jake said quickly. "Let's find James."
I mean, i guess if Collette likes high risk stuff, she's a good Animorphs candidate.
Chapter 14
quote:
James's expression never changed.
Not once.
Not when Jake told him that aliens called Yeerks had invaded the planet.
Not when Jake told him about finding the crashed spaceship.
Not when Jake told him about Elfangor, the Andalites, and the morphing cube.
Not when Jake told him about how Visser One, then Visser Three, had killed Elfangor and eaten him.
Just continued to watch Jake with an unblinking stare. Completely unmoved. Supremely unimpressed.
He didn't even change expression when Jake told him we were looking for a few good Animorphs.
When Jake finished, there was a long, long silence.
Finally, James looked away from Jake to Marco. Then to me. Then he sighed heavily, bored and contemptuous.
"I'm sure when you talked about this at school, it seemed like a really good joke. But when you go back, you can give your friends a message from the 'gang-of- pathetically-grateful-for-attention-kids-at-the-rehab-center.'"
"But ..." I began.
He cut me off. His voice was more than sarcastic.
"You can tell your idiotic little friends that yeah, we have our problems. But at least we don't get our kicks by dressing up like refugees from a fifth-rate school play and playing tricks on people in wheelchairs."
"You know what?" Jake said, with a bitter laugh. "I don't need this. I'm telling you the truth. You can believe me or not. It's your funeral."
James's face went red. He started to wheel himself out of the room but Jake grabbed his arm.
"Wait!"
Marco and I stepped back. Stunned by Jake's harsh words.
James wrenched his arm out of Jake's grasp. "Don't touch me, man," he warned. "I may be in a chair but I can kick your butt if I have to."
Jake reached for James again. With a lightning quick motion, James grabbed Jake's other arm, angled his chair so that it caught Jake behind the ankle, and flipped him to the ground.
"Umpff!"
Had I used the word helpless in describing kids like James?
James looked down at Jake and cocked an eyebrow. "You don't even want to know what Kelly can do to you, you make her mad enough."
Jake lay sprawled on the floor, like a guy who'd just had a bucket of cold water dumped on him.
He started to climb to his feet. "Look ..." then he stopped and shook his head. "Demonstration time."
Marco crossed his arms. "Go for it, dude. We've got nothing left to lose."
Jake closed his eyes.
Watching Jake morph while standing next to somebody who had never seen the process was a little like watching it for the first time.
It was horrible, ugly, grotesque, and fascinating all at once.
First, Jake's throat bulged out like he'd swallowed an orange. Whole. Then huge cords in his neck knotted and stretched as if something alive were trapped in his throat. Then, in one swift movement, his human face was remolded into that of a powerful feline. Human features reimagined.
I looked down at James.
He didn't seem afraid. Just alarmed. Concerned.
He wheeled a few feet backward. "Calm down, man," he mumbled. "Just take it easy."
Jake's legs shortened and bent at a seemingly impossible angle.
"I'll get a doctor." James turned his chair sharply toward the door.
"No!" Marco grabbed the handles of James's chair and turned him back to face Jake.
POP! POP!
Jake's eyes bulged and gleamed like yellow marbles. The sockets pouched out and flattened. The bridge of his nose and his cheeks melded together. Tufts of black- and-orange fur appeared randomly, then sprouted faster and faster in a striped blur.
Two and a half seconds later the morph was complete.
There we were. A gypsy. A magician. A kid in a wheelchair. And a tiger.
"I think I took the wrong medication," James gasped. "I'm seeing things. Actually, why don't you guys get a doctor? For me." The door opened and we
heard a gasp.
"Amazing!"
James whirled around. Collette sat in the doorway, her mouth open. "Allow me to apologize on Kelly's behalf. I don't think even Siegfried and Roy could sneak a tiger by the front desk at this place."
James blinked. "You see it, too?"
Collette wasn't listening. She wheeled slightly closer to Jake. "Is he totally tame? Can I pet him? Wow! I'm so impressed. I'm going to get the others."
"Hold it!" James maneuvered his chair so that it blocked her exit.
"What?"
<If she goes out and tells people there's a tiger on the floor, any human-Controllers on staff will know right away we're here.>
Collette was startled. "Who said that?"
James pointed at Jake. "he did," he answered weakly.
"You're a ventriloquist?" Collette asked Marco.
Marco took a deep breath. "We'd better go through this one more time."
James, meanwhile, is the type of person who's pissed and tired of being fucked with. Also, a good Animorphs candidate.
Oct 25, 2022 20:13
James rules.
Oct 25, 2022 20:45
Yeah, James and Collette have incredibly strong introductions here.
Oct 25, 2022 21:03
Jake (Jacob) and James are the same name, so I can see James being the leader of this new group already. Collette is totes Rachel.
Oct 26, 2022 01:05
James and Collette own.
Feeling real bad for Kelly though. Cystic Fibrosis ain't washing out with a morph cube
. Very clever touch to include it as a seed that "this is going to help some, but it is not a panacea and do not expect a high."
Feeling real bad for Kelly though. Cystic Fibrosis ain't washing out with a morph cube
. Very clever touch to include it as a seed that "this is going to help some, but it is not a panacea and do not expect a high."
Oct 26, 2022 02:09
It seems becoming extremely nihilistic is Jake's way of coping with all the terrible things that have transpired recently. He just told Marco '"life is probably going to be a lot shorter than you thought it would be" and said to James "You can believe me or not. It's your funeral."
Oct 26, 2022 09:26
Jake was in it to save Tom, and now that looks basically impossible and he feels responsible for his parents being taken.
Oct 27, 2022 14:00
Sorry, all. Was in the hospital last night.
Oct 27, 2022 14:07
Epicurius posted:
Sorry, all. Was in the hospital last night.
Oh shit! Hope you're okay, man.
Oct 27, 2022 20:23
Epicurius posted:
Sorry, all. Was in the hospital last night.
Stay safe, heal