Categories > Books > Animorphs > The Progression
DISCLAIMER: See Ch. 1.
A/N: Now is the time for even more explanations, as we now see something from Cassie's POV!
IMPORTANT NOTICE! I'm now back at college, and with the exception of my copy of The Ellimist Chronicles/, all my /Animorphs books are back at home, so please forgive me if I make any errors! Also, I'll try to update this at least once a week, but no promises there.
This chapter is dedicated to Gryphinwyrm7, for his loyal reading and enthusiastic reviews, not to mention his constructive and thought-invoking questions as well! Be sure to check out his AU /Animorphs series crossover with Stargate SG-1/, "The Animorph Chronicles," as well as its future sequels!
This chapter is also dedicated to Wavecrest, for allowing me to use her writer name as that of a Leeran ship! Take a look at her Animorphs series of fanfics, "Transformers"!
A dedication for this chapter also goes out to Myitt, since her stories about peaceful Yeerks have also been favorites of mine!
CHAPTER 12
Cassie
It took yet another week to put things back together, during which time the Andalites and Kelbrid hastily finished the talks and meetings with us humans as we had all originally planned.
The day after the Leerans helped us drive back "Lord Esplin" and his forces, we had an impromptu meeting with the Leerans. We met on ships out on the ocean, where their spacecraft touched down; it seemed their spaceships also worked well for moving through or on water. A somewhat egg-shaped ship in various tones of yellow and other warm colors splashed down and sailed up to the carrier we were on, a ship which the Leerans called the /Wavecrest/.
However, before we could start these talks with the Leerans, the President had to address the nation and say what was happening...
"My fellow Americans. It has long been the duty of this great office to make public those developments which may affect our nation's fate. I regret to inform you that such a development took place this past week. Furthermore, the consequences of such events may not affect only the American people, but all the people of the planet Earth.
"During only the second day of the summit with the Kelbrid ambassador, an attack took place, led by combined Yeerk and Skrit Na forces, believed to be the only remnants of the Yeerk Empire. The attack on the summit was only a diversion, while a small task force headed for a special prison facility in Kansas, and consequently broke out a Yeerk named Esplin Nine-Four-Double-Six - otherwise known as Visser One.
"Our intelligence confirms that he now works for an evil entity named Setheon, who calls himself 'The One,' and has been granted the power to morph. Visser One, or as he now calls himself, 'Lord Esplin,' now works for Setheon. It should go without saying that regardless of whoever he works for or pledges his loyalty to these days, Esplin is a threat to /everyone - human or otherwise. Now, he is simply too powerful to be left alive and kept prisoner. Esplin 9466 is a Yeerk so evil he could probably contest with some of human history's most infamous people./
"I will be meeting shortly with my fellow world leaders, as well as our Andalite allies, to discuss this crisis and decide upon how we shall appropriately handle this situation.
"In the meantime, I would like to issue a request for calm and hope that you might join me in a prayer that our predicament is not as terrible as it seems...
Of course, fear was the first reaction, followed by hope, and then determination. After all, the human race had, technically, driven off an entire alien race before. Surely it could do it again? Besides, the first time, it was just a group of human teenagers - also with the help of a young Andalite warrior, and help from various pockets of resistance from other alien races. Now, the whole human race was aware of the threat, which was certainly an advantage.
In the meantime, we welcomed the Leerans into our circle as we were finally able to finish our talks with the Kelbrid, albeit under more discrete circumstances than how we had started them.
There was some apprehension, mostly among the Andalites, about involving the Leerans in all this because of their telepathic abilities. However, the Leerans told us that with some practice, they were able to train their minds to "turn off" the ability to hear thoughts from other creatures, especially those that weren't Leerans. Just like how a human can open or close his or her eyes, the Leerans could accept or refuse hearing the thoughts from other sentient beings. They themselves explained that while they had mouths to consume their food (underwater plants, if you must know), they evolved with no vocal cords, and so they instead developed thought-speech telepathy. They had just been so used to communicating among themselves that they didn't realize they could "turn off" the telepathy; especially since with little or no contact with other species who weren't telepathic, and so they had had little incentive to try and figure out ways to "turn off" their own telepathy.
Of course, the Andalites, and eventually the Kelbrid and us humans, were not entirely sure about this, but just as the Andalites had to take the Kelbrids' word about not having the morphing technology, we had no choice but to accept the Leerans' word that they wouldn't just hear all our thoughts which we didn't want to be known.
Both the humans and the Andalites were pleased that another species was willing to fight alongside us, in order to return the favor for when us Animorphs helped save their world from the Yeerks - and at the same time, my fellow humans were grateful to us Animorphs for making this so, and likewise, Ax's Andalite superiors were grateful to him.
However, it was some of the Leerans' friends which really shocked just about everyone.
What appeared to be a spindly robot walked up to us on four legs, with the narrow "torso" in the center. It had four mechanical arms, which ended in five-fingered robotic hands with one opposable thumb each, like human hands. It had what looked like a human head, with two glowing mechanical eyes where human eyes would be, a panel for a mouth, and two eyes on mechanical stalks, much like Andalite stalk eyes. This machine obviously had a thing for the number four. In fact, it made me thing of some strange cross between a human, an Andalite, a Leeran and a Chee.
"Hello," the robot said, in a somewhat electronic-sounding voice. "I am not a robot, as you might think, but am really an organic, sentient being, inside this machine. However, I ask that none of you be alarmed or angered by who or what I am."
And with that, the material which the head was made out of went from opaque to transparent, except for the face - Ramonite. Everyone then got a closer look at the inside of the head. It was filled with water that seemed a little dirty, but the real shock was seeing some living, slimy green thing wrapped around what was probably the CPU...
Galuit hissed. The other Andalites all tensed up and raised their tail-blades, while my fellow humans didn't look so happy either.
"Wait!" the Yeerk said from inside the "robot," if it could be called that. "I was part of the Peace Movement! I helped the Animorphs! My name is Illim 871..."
My head snapped up so fast I thought I nearly cricked my neck. "Illim?" I asked, somewhat shocked by this unexpected return from an old ally.
The robot turned to look at me, its eyes glowing a pleasant sort of green. "Long time, no see, Cassie," Illim said to me.
Galuit demanded.
Before I even realized what was doing, I was standing protectively in between Illim and two approaching human guards.
"Don't do anything to him!" I said. "Illim helped us! He was on our side! He's probably as much a hero as anyone who's fought the Yeerk Empire!"
She's right, Galuit, said one of the Leerans whom I assumed had more power and authority then his fellow Leerans. We were able to sense this Yeerk's honesty and good intentions with our telepathy.
Galuit looked towards the Leeran leader uneasily.
But you absolutely refuse to work with any member of the species which is responsible for the deaths of your wife and children, I know, said the Leeran, whose name was apparently Shan Chib and was a Military Leader. But much has changed since the Yeerk War ended years ago, and since you and your people have withdrawn from all fronts, Galuit. I know the effects of the Yeerk War have left their mark in this part of the galaxy, and it will be a long time before much of the hatred and animosity ebbs from the Yeerk Empire's former enemies, but there is another side to the story which you and everyone else from all our peoples must hear, learn and know. The Yeerk Empire was just a renegade, evil portion of the Yeerk race, governed by greedy and corrupt leaders. You cannot judge and condemn an entire race, based on the misdeeds of a few of its members.
There was an uneasy silence as the Andalites all considered this, but it was obvious to everyone present that they would much rather cut up Illim and his robot rather than listen to him, even for a second.
"I agree with everything this Leeran has said," I added, addressing the Andalites present, "and I will personally vouch for this Yeerk."
Galuit finally said grudgingly.
Perhaps I should let Illim explain. With that, Shan Chib backed off, and Illim walked forward, the Ramonite becoming opaque again as he did so.
Pausing for only a moment, Illim began to explain.
Illim 871
"My name is Illim 871. I am a Yeerk. I am also a member of the former Peace Movement.
"I, like all Yeerks born and living under the rule of the Empire, was taught since I was a grub that my race was good, and others - namely our enemies - were evil. One thing I learned for myself and discovered time and again how one's own superiors can be biased towards their own causes. I think all people, regardless of race or species, like to consider themselves good and their enemies evil. The Yeerk Empire was certainly biased with what it taught its subordinates. I mean, they even ranked Andalites as lower than Gedds on their intelligence scale; if that isn't biased, then I don't know what is."
Here, a few humans stifled their laughter while the Andalites looked incensed at that. After it died down, I just continued talking.
"Even with these words, I cannot undo the damage caused by the Yeerk Empire or bring back everyone ever killed by it. I can't change the past, but I can try to help the future with the information I have to tell you.
"Even before I helped start the Peace Movement here on Earth, there have been other Yeerks who have been around since before the Council of Thirteen ordered the revolt on Prince Seerow and the other Andalites stationed on our home world, Yeerks who were about as noble and decent as they come. They knew the truth, and found the idea of enslaving other innocent and sentient species to be sickening and horrible. Just because they hypothetically could infest and enslave other sentients, that didn't mean they wanted to.
"In dangerous times, wise people say nothing, and so that was their policy throughout the war. They couldn't tell the truth for fear of their own lives; the Council of Thirteen and its loyal underlings had visions of a Yeerk-controlled galaxy, and would have happily killed anyone who dared speak against it or question it, and they even gave those biased lessons to younger Yeerks born after the uprising, who didn't and wouldn't have known otherwise. I know human history has had its infamous leaders who acted much the same way, and for all I know, the Andalites, the Leerans and maybe even the Kelbrid have had their own infamous historical figures as well."
I purposely didn't name such infamous people, for the sake of trying not to offend any of the humans present. However, Hitler almost immediately came to mind as an example, followed by Stalin as a close second. Adam Tidwell had been my host long enough for me to know enough about human history and culture.
"Since the end of the Yeerk War, those Yeerks like myself have done our best to undo as much of the Empire's damage as we could after we narrowly escaped the defeat here at Earth. I don't think the Andalites have noticed because, understandably, they were all too happy to return to their home world and return to peacetime. Me and the other Yeerks in the movement needed to start somewhere in order to fix as much as we could - but where could we start, and who would be willing to trust us?
"Then it occurred to us: The Leerans. With their telepathic abilities, they would be able to sense our honesty and good intentions. We arrived at their home world, greeted them, and told them our plan. They allowed us to start at their home world, where, as a sort of act of restitution, we helped try to restore parts of their home world that were damaged or ruined by the failed Yeerk invasion there, and provided them with enough information to build their own spaceships."
"Hold it," Jake said, interrupting me. "Weren't you basically repeating Seerow's mistake right there?"
I would have smiled right then and there, if my robotic vessel had allowed me to do so. "Don't think that didn't occur to us, Jake. However, I should point out right now that there was very little information we needed to give them. Before the Yeerk War, the Leerans were about technologically on par with the human race, but that doesn't mean both their race and yours made the same scientific discoveries and advances in the same order, or that they had all the sorts of technologies you have. One big difference was that they had already discovered Zero-space, although they didn't focus so much on space exploration as humans did. Besides, we only gave them suggestions and ideas; they actually wanted to build their spaceships all on their own.
"Anyway, while the Leerans were fixing and improving their own home world, we also tried to make up for the Empire's atrocities on the home worlds of two other species who were enslaved: The Taxxons and the Hork-Bajir.
"The Empire had used the Taxxon home world for its industrial purposes: Building spaceships, weapons, that sort of thing. We tore down and destroyed all those factories and facilities, except for the scant few we needed for our 'restoration project.' There had been some rebellious Taxxons, who refused the Yeerk Empire's overwhelming promises of food in return for service, and we made some sort of restitution with them. Using biological methods we had picked up from the Arn, we were able to quickly breed all kinds of animals to eat, as well as slightly alter the Taxxon's anatomy as to suppress their insatiable hunger and slow down their metabolism, which meant that they could go longer without food and not have to eat each other. We also built a basic orbiting defense system around their planets and moons, fully automatic, just to give them some peace of mind."
"The Arn?" a human general asked, looking confused. "Who are they?"
A female Hork-Bajir stepped forward to explain - Toby Hamee. "The Arn created my people. Thousands of years ago, about the same time that Earth was in its last Ice Age, a massive asteroid struck their home world, wiping out almost all of them, except for some survivors who remained frozen in stasis for years on one of the planet's moons while the dust settled. The Arn didn't excel at physics and spaceflight, because they were more interested in biology, which they were experts at. The planet had changed radically since the impact; after the asteroid slammed into the planet's northern pole, it opened up interconnected impact valleys all around the equator. Using their genetic skill, the Arn created massive trees taller than those on any other known planet so the impact valleys wouldn't die too, and created the Hork-Bajir in order to tend to those trees."
The Andalites looked bored at Toby's explanation, the Kelbrid seemed intrigued by such knowledge and the information, and the humans (with the exception of the Animorphs) all looked stunned at the idea of the Hork-Bajir having been /created/.
Alloran said with something like regret in his thought-speech voice, no doubt remembering his actions all those years ago.
"An educated guess, Alloran," I said, "But not the truth."
Alloran jolted and focused all four of his eyes on me. he asked incredulously.
Again, I would have smiled. "Remember how I mentioned those few Yeerks even before my time who tried to undermine the Empire as best as they could? Well, the leader of that group actually managed to help the Arn commandeer a Yeerk ship and escape to some far-off planet well beyond the Empire's reach or knowledge. I don't know how many Arn escaped with her help, but I would guess the number to have been fifty at the least, a hundred at the most.
"With our help, the Arn returned to their home world, as well as whatever Hork-Bajir we were able to rescue and liberate, and we helped restore both species' home regions as much as we could. We helped plant and grow new trees, restore some old ones... Well, you get the idea.
"Finally, we returned to one last species' home world: Our own. You would hardly believe what we had learned about what had happened since the uprising all those years ago; as a matter of fact, we could hardly believe it ourselves at first. There was no clear information or knowledge about the uprising, but knowledge that over a quarter million Yeerks had been taking by something or someone, and hadn't been heard from since. Older Yeerks were even telling younger Yeerks sort of 'ghost stories' about what could have happened to all those missing Yeerks.
"Using various methods of communication, including the telepathy from our new Leeran allies, we were able to establish contact with all the Yeerks from various pools across the planet. We told them about the Yeerk Empire and the war which had been fought all those years. They were shocked, even /aghast/, to say the least. They didn't know any of this, not even about the Andalite fleet parked above the planet. And now they learned that their brothers and sisters had been fighting in an interstellar war, and now their species was feared and hated throughout this arm of the galaxy. Some Yeerks couldn't even understand why anyone would want to infest any species other than Gedds, let alone alien species, considering infestation of alien species to be something like 'unnatural.' It was depressing, to say the least. You could even use a memory probe on me if you don't believe me, but I am telling the truth, however hard you may find to believe it."
I paused for a moment, allowing these words to sink in. Most of the Andalites remained as skeptical and as hard-faced as ever, but looking closely, I could see their skepticism giving way to contemplation. The humans mainly looked confused and torn, my story conflicting with whatever their Andalite allies had told them long ago and what they had chosen to believe based on what they knew of us Yeerks. The Kelbrid remained as intrigued as ever.
"As for the Council of Thirteen... Well, believe it or not, it never really existed before the uprising against Seerow. With so many Yeerks all over the planet, in pools as big as some of Earth's biggest lakes, and approximately three and a half billion Yeerks in all those pools put together, there was no real government, let alone any sort of way to govern them all. We just had our own way of life, and crime as all of your species might know it wasn't possible, considering there really wasn't much we could maliciously do to each other. The so-called 'Council' was just a group of thirteen evil, greedy Yeerks who lied to and took advantage of Seerow. The disgraced Andalite prince may have made a seriously unwise decision in so naïvely trusting those thirteen Yeerks who claimed to be his friends, but those same thirteen Yeerks hold just as much blame, if not more, for all they've done since then."
Alloran asked.
"Oh, those thirteen Yeerks have survived throughout the entire war, mainly because they took such great pains to protect themselves and had no qualms about letting their fanatical underlings all die for their warped causes. One of the first things Movement Yeerks did after the war was hunt down and capture them. Ever since then, we've had all thirteen of them in custody, essentially under what humans would call 'house arrest' - although technically, in our case, it was more like 'pool arrest.'"
More stifled laughing from some of the humans.
"Since then, Movement Yeerks such as myself have talked to other Yeerks from all over our planet. An overwhelming majority of Yeerks - nearly 100 percent of our entire race - says they're willing to commit to such causes as to help whatever races that have been negatively affected by the Yeerk Empire to prove that we're not like them. We have the numbers to help significantly, and we have just started manufacturing prototype robotic vessels just like this one."
Had I been in an organic host, I would have drawn breath before saying, "In short... we, the Yeerk race, wish to fight alongside the humans, the Andalites, the Kelbrid and the Leerans against The One."
Utter silence. You could hear a pin drop well enough as though it were a bomb exploding.
Aximili said after an almost painful silence.
"We have reports from a few of our own spies who believe that The One wants to enslave the Yeerk race and coerce it into enslaving other species. Furthermore, you wouldn't believe how highly some of my students think of you and your friends and fellow heroes, Prince Aximili," I said. "Quite a few of my students are, and I quote, 'Indebted to the Andalite race for fighting against our rebellious, malcontent brothers, and are impressed with the human race for helping to bring an end to their evil regime.' In fact, Aximili, one of my students worships you and wants to meet you face to face, he's that impressed."
Aximili looked flabbergasted - or at least as flabbergasted as an Andalite can appear. Smirking to myself, I recorded that image in my vessel's memory databanks. My colleagues back at the pool would be laughing their flukes off when they saw that image. Off to one side, I could see Marco trying desperately to hold in his laughter.
"I realize that the human and Andalite peoples have plenty of reasons to hate us... although, I must reiterate, this whole war was a misunderstanding - a major misunderstanding that led to countless deaths, but a misunderstanding nonetheless. We are willing, almost restless, to prove ourselves to you. If you give us the chance, we could get much done and be of much help for you, and we are willing to do it all under your supervision, since we really have nothing to hide from any of you. If you wish, we can arrange for the initial rebellion leader to speak on our species' behalf. Her name is Arklan Two-Five-Six, and she was actually a good friend of Seerow's, unlike the lying Council of Thirteen. Besides, you don't have to decide on all this right away. We Yeerks can wait a few days. Can you at least think about it?"
There was a moment of silence as the humans, Andalites and Kelbrid all conferred. I passed that time by talking with Shan Chib.
I privately asked this Leeran who had been something of a friend to me for the past few years, projecting my thoughts loud enough for him to hear. Not only did Shan Chib not use his telepathy on our conferring hosts for the sake of his ethics, but even then, with their amazing mental powers, the Leerans cannot predict the future.
Well, having us Leerans being able to determine the truth with our telepathic abilities was a good guarantee. The Andalites definitely trusted us that much in such instances. Besides, if what I've heard from my sources is true, then the Andalites would be willing to trust us in order to make up for when they retreated during the battle on our planet. They really didn't look very good after that, I must confess.
At least Galuit and his troops stuck by us. I worked with him a lot during the invasion of our home world, and I respect him as much as he respects me. I didn't want to tell him this, but I've come to trust you just as much. I didn't think he would take it too well.
Finally, they were done talking. Jake spoke on everyone's behalf. "It's been decided that your request to be heard will be considered over the next four days. In the meantime, this Arklan 256 of yours may want to write up a good speech and report; she's going to have several billion people of different alien races to convince."
"That goes without saying, Jake," I said in response. "I cannot begin to thank you all enough for at least listening to us. See you in four days, then."
With that, Shan Chib and I walked back to the Wavecrest/, accompanied by our entourage of Leeran bodyguards armed with traditional poisonous /haru//-chin spears. On my way out, I could distinctly hear Aximili say, even from that distance,
TBC//...
A/N: So, who saw this coming? An even better question: Was this believable enough?
Note about the Presidential speech: Sorry if this just didn't sound good or right or anything. But hey, I tried my best there...
Note about the Leeran language: It definitely sounded a bit Oriental to me in /The Decision/, like maybe Chinese, with mainly monosyllabic words. So, I'm kind of designing it like that.
Note about Illim's name and designation: Did we ever learn Illim's number in /The Sickness/? I know I saw the "871" somewhere... I just can't remember exactly /where/...
Next chapter is where we take yet another look at the bad guys as yet another old enemy of the Animorphs comes before The One... -Quillian
/STORY SNEAK PEEK!/
This story is /Post-Animorphs #01: The Progression/. Currently, the title for the sequel to this story looks to be /The Unthinkable/. However, as I'm ironing out my plans for that fic, I'll be writing my first "Chronicles" fic: /The Yeerk Chronicles/. It will be told from the POV of my Yeerk OC, Arklan 256.
A/N: Now is the time for even more explanations, as we now see something from Cassie's POV!
IMPORTANT NOTICE! I'm now back at college, and with the exception of my copy of The Ellimist Chronicles/, all my /Animorphs books are back at home, so please forgive me if I make any errors! Also, I'll try to update this at least once a week, but no promises there.
This chapter is dedicated to Gryphinwyrm7, for his loyal reading and enthusiastic reviews, not to mention his constructive and thought-invoking questions as well! Be sure to check out his AU /Animorphs series crossover with Stargate SG-1/, "The Animorph Chronicles," as well as its future sequels!
This chapter is also dedicated to Wavecrest, for allowing me to use her writer name as that of a Leeran ship! Take a look at her Animorphs series of fanfics, "Transformers"!
A dedication for this chapter also goes out to Myitt, since her stories about peaceful Yeerks have also been favorites of mine!
CHAPTER 12
Cassie
It took yet another week to put things back together, during which time the Andalites and Kelbrid hastily finished the talks and meetings with us humans as we had all originally planned.
The day after the Leerans helped us drive back "Lord Esplin" and his forces, we had an impromptu meeting with the Leerans. We met on ships out on the ocean, where their spacecraft touched down; it seemed their spaceships also worked well for moving through or on water. A somewhat egg-shaped ship in various tones of yellow and other warm colors splashed down and sailed up to the carrier we were on, a ship which the Leerans called the /Wavecrest/.
However, before we could start these talks with the Leerans, the President had to address the nation and say what was happening...
"My fellow Americans. It has long been the duty of this great office to make public those developments which may affect our nation's fate. I regret to inform you that such a development took place this past week. Furthermore, the consequences of such events may not affect only the American people, but all the people of the planet Earth.
"During only the second day of the summit with the Kelbrid ambassador, an attack took place, led by combined Yeerk and Skrit Na forces, believed to be the only remnants of the Yeerk Empire. The attack on the summit was only a diversion, while a small task force headed for a special prison facility in Kansas, and consequently broke out a Yeerk named Esplin Nine-Four-Double-Six - otherwise known as Visser One.
"Our intelligence confirms that he now works for an evil entity named Setheon, who calls himself 'The One,' and has been granted the power to morph. Visser One, or as he now calls himself, 'Lord Esplin,' now works for Setheon. It should go without saying that regardless of whoever he works for or pledges his loyalty to these days, Esplin is a threat to /everyone - human or otherwise. Now, he is simply too powerful to be left alive and kept prisoner. Esplin 9466 is a Yeerk so evil he could probably contest with some of human history's most infamous people./
"I will be meeting shortly with my fellow world leaders, as well as our Andalite allies, to discuss this crisis and decide upon how we shall appropriately handle this situation.
"In the meantime, I would like to issue a request for calm and hope that you might join me in a prayer that our predicament is not as terrible as it seems...
Of course, fear was the first reaction, followed by hope, and then determination. After all, the human race had, technically, driven off an entire alien race before. Surely it could do it again? Besides, the first time, it was just a group of human teenagers - also with the help of a young Andalite warrior, and help from various pockets of resistance from other alien races. Now, the whole human race was aware of the threat, which was certainly an advantage.
In the meantime, we welcomed the Leerans into our circle as we were finally able to finish our talks with the Kelbrid, albeit under more discrete circumstances than how we had started them.
There was some apprehension, mostly among the Andalites, about involving the Leerans in all this because of their telepathic abilities. However, the Leerans told us that with some practice, they were able to train their minds to "turn off" the ability to hear thoughts from other creatures, especially those that weren't Leerans. Just like how a human can open or close his or her eyes, the Leerans could accept or refuse hearing the thoughts from other sentient beings. They themselves explained that while they had mouths to consume their food (underwater plants, if you must know), they evolved with no vocal cords, and so they instead developed thought-speech telepathy. They had just been so used to communicating among themselves that they didn't realize they could "turn off" the telepathy; especially since with little or no contact with other species who weren't telepathic, and so they had had little incentive to try and figure out ways to "turn off" their own telepathy.
Of course, the Andalites, and eventually the Kelbrid and us humans, were not entirely sure about this, but just as the Andalites had to take the Kelbrids' word about not having the morphing technology, we had no choice but to accept the Leerans' word that they wouldn't just hear all our thoughts which we didn't want to be known.
Both the humans and the Andalites were pleased that another species was willing to fight alongside us, in order to return the favor for when us Animorphs helped save their world from the Yeerks - and at the same time, my fellow humans were grateful to us Animorphs for making this so, and likewise, Ax's Andalite superiors were grateful to him.
However, it was some of the Leerans' friends which really shocked just about everyone.
What appeared to be a spindly robot walked up to us on four legs, with the narrow "torso" in the center. It had four mechanical arms, which ended in five-fingered robotic hands with one opposable thumb each, like human hands. It had what looked like a human head, with two glowing mechanical eyes where human eyes would be, a panel for a mouth, and two eyes on mechanical stalks, much like Andalite stalk eyes. This machine obviously had a thing for the number four. In fact, it made me thing of some strange cross between a human, an Andalite, a Leeran and a Chee.
"Hello," the robot said, in a somewhat electronic-sounding voice. "I am not a robot, as you might think, but am really an organic, sentient being, inside this machine. However, I ask that none of you be alarmed or angered by who or what I am."
And with that, the material which the head was made out of went from opaque to transparent, except for the face - Ramonite. Everyone then got a closer look at the inside of the head. It was filled with water that seemed a little dirty, but the real shock was seeing some living, slimy green thing wrapped around what was probably the CPU...
Galuit hissed. The other Andalites all tensed up and raised their tail-blades, while my fellow humans didn't look so happy either.
"Wait!" the Yeerk said from inside the "robot," if it could be called that. "I was part of the Peace Movement! I helped the Animorphs! My name is Illim 871..."
My head snapped up so fast I thought I nearly cricked my neck. "Illim?" I asked, somewhat shocked by this unexpected return from an old ally.
The robot turned to look at me, its eyes glowing a pleasant sort of green. "Long time, no see, Cassie," Illim said to me.
Galuit demanded.
Before I even realized what was doing, I was standing protectively in between Illim and two approaching human guards.
"Don't do anything to him!" I said. "Illim helped us! He was on our side! He's probably as much a hero as anyone who's fought the Yeerk Empire!"
She's right, Galuit, said one of the Leerans whom I assumed had more power and authority then his fellow Leerans. We were able to sense this Yeerk's honesty and good intentions with our telepathy.
Galuit looked towards the Leeran leader uneasily.
But you absolutely refuse to work with any member of the species which is responsible for the deaths of your wife and children, I know, said the Leeran, whose name was apparently Shan Chib and was a Military Leader. But much has changed since the Yeerk War ended years ago, and since you and your people have withdrawn from all fronts, Galuit. I know the effects of the Yeerk War have left their mark in this part of the galaxy, and it will be a long time before much of the hatred and animosity ebbs from the Yeerk Empire's former enemies, but there is another side to the story which you and everyone else from all our peoples must hear, learn and know. The Yeerk Empire was just a renegade, evil portion of the Yeerk race, governed by greedy and corrupt leaders. You cannot judge and condemn an entire race, based on the misdeeds of a few of its members.
There was an uneasy silence as the Andalites all considered this, but it was obvious to everyone present that they would much rather cut up Illim and his robot rather than listen to him, even for a second.
"I agree with everything this Leeran has said," I added, addressing the Andalites present, "and I will personally vouch for this Yeerk."
Galuit finally said grudgingly.
Perhaps I should let Illim explain. With that, Shan Chib backed off, and Illim walked forward, the Ramonite becoming opaque again as he did so.
Pausing for only a moment, Illim began to explain.
Illim 871
"My name is Illim 871. I am a Yeerk. I am also a member of the former Peace Movement.
"I, like all Yeerks born and living under the rule of the Empire, was taught since I was a grub that my race was good, and others - namely our enemies - were evil. One thing I learned for myself and discovered time and again how one's own superiors can be biased towards their own causes. I think all people, regardless of race or species, like to consider themselves good and their enemies evil. The Yeerk Empire was certainly biased with what it taught its subordinates. I mean, they even ranked Andalites as lower than Gedds on their intelligence scale; if that isn't biased, then I don't know what is."
Here, a few humans stifled their laughter while the Andalites looked incensed at that. After it died down, I just continued talking.
"Even with these words, I cannot undo the damage caused by the Yeerk Empire or bring back everyone ever killed by it. I can't change the past, but I can try to help the future with the information I have to tell you.
"Even before I helped start the Peace Movement here on Earth, there have been other Yeerks who have been around since before the Council of Thirteen ordered the revolt on Prince Seerow and the other Andalites stationed on our home world, Yeerks who were about as noble and decent as they come. They knew the truth, and found the idea of enslaving other innocent and sentient species to be sickening and horrible. Just because they hypothetically could infest and enslave other sentients, that didn't mean they wanted to.
"In dangerous times, wise people say nothing, and so that was their policy throughout the war. They couldn't tell the truth for fear of their own lives; the Council of Thirteen and its loyal underlings had visions of a Yeerk-controlled galaxy, and would have happily killed anyone who dared speak against it or question it, and they even gave those biased lessons to younger Yeerks born after the uprising, who didn't and wouldn't have known otherwise. I know human history has had its infamous leaders who acted much the same way, and for all I know, the Andalites, the Leerans and maybe even the Kelbrid have had their own infamous historical figures as well."
I purposely didn't name such infamous people, for the sake of trying not to offend any of the humans present. However, Hitler almost immediately came to mind as an example, followed by Stalin as a close second. Adam Tidwell had been my host long enough for me to know enough about human history and culture.
"Since the end of the Yeerk War, those Yeerks like myself have done our best to undo as much of the Empire's damage as we could after we narrowly escaped the defeat here at Earth. I don't think the Andalites have noticed because, understandably, they were all too happy to return to their home world and return to peacetime. Me and the other Yeerks in the movement needed to start somewhere in order to fix as much as we could - but where could we start, and who would be willing to trust us?
"Then it occurred to us: The Leerans. With their telepathic abilities, they would be able to sense our honesty and good intentions. We arrived at their home world, greeted them, and told them our plan. They allowed us to start at their home world, where, as a sort of act of restitution, we helped try to restore parts of their home world that were damaged or ruined by the failed Yeerk invasion there, and provided them with enough information to build their own spaceships."
"Hold it," Jake said, interrupting me. "Weren't you basically repeating Seerow's mistake right there?"
I would have smiled right then and there, if my robotic vessel had allowed me to do so. "Don't think that didn't occur to us, Jake. However, I should point out right now that there was very little information we needed to give them. Before the Yeerk War, the Leerans were about technologically on par with the human race, but that doesn't mean both their race and yours made the same scientific discoveries and advances in the same order, or that they had all the sorts of technologies you have. One big difference was that they had already discovered Zero-space, although they didn't focus so much on space exploration as humans did. Besides, we only gave them suggestions and ideas; they actually wanted to build their spaceships all on their own.
"Anyway, while the Leerans were fixing and improving their own home world, we also tried to make up for the Empire's atrocities on the home worlds of two other species who were enslaved: The Taxxons and the Hork-Bajir.
"The Empire had used the Taxxon home world for its industrial purposes: Building spaceships, weapons, that sort of thing. We tore down and destroyed all those factories and facilities, except for the scant few we needed for our 'restoration project.' There had been some rebellious Taxxons, who refused the Yeerk Empire's overwhelming promises of food in return for service, and we made some sort of restitution with them. Using biological methods we had picked up from the Arn, we were able to quickly breed all kinds of animals to eat, as well as slightly alter the Taxxon's anatomy as to suppress their insatiable hunger and slow down their metabolism, which meant that they could go longer without food and not have to eat each other. We also built a basic orbiting defense system around their planets and moons, fully automatic, just to give them some peace of mind."
"The Arn?" a human general asked, looking confused. "Who are they?"
A female Hork-Bajir stepped forward to explain - Toby Hamee. "The Arn created my people. Thousands of years ago, about the same time that Earth was in its last Ice Age, a massive asteroid struck their home world, wiping out almost all of them, except for some survivors who remained frozen in stasis for years on one of the planet's moons while the dust settled. The Arn didn't excel at physics and spaceflight, because they were more interested in biology, which they were experts at. The planet had changed radically since the impact; after the asteroid slammed into the planet's northern pole, it opened up interconnected impact valleys all around the equator. Using their genetic skill, the Arn created massive trees taller than those on any other known planet so the impact valleys wouldn't die too, and created the Hork-Bajir in order to tend to those trees."
The Andalites looked bored at Toby's explanation, the Kelbrid seemed intrigued by such knowledge and the information, and the humans (with the exception of the Animorphs) all looked stunned at the idea of the Hork-Bajir having been /created/.
Alloran said with something like regret in his thought-speech voice, no doubt remembering his actions all those years ago.
"An educated guess, Alloran," I said, "But not the truth."
Alloran jolted and focused all four of his eyes on me. he asked incredulously.
Again, I would have smiled. "Remember how I mentioned those few Yeerks even before my time who tried to undermine the Empire as best as they could? Well, the leader of that group actually managed to help the Arn commandeer a Yeerk ship and escape to some far-off planet well beyond the Empire's reach or knowledge. I don't know how many Arn escaped with her help, but I would guess the number to have been fifty at the least, a hundred at the most.
"With our help, the Arn returned to their home world, as well as whatever Hork-Bajir we were able to rescue and liberate, and we helped restore both species' home regions as much as we could. We helped plant and grow new trees, restore some old ones... Well, you get the idea.
"Finally, we returned to one last species' home world: Our own. You would hardly believe what we had learned about what had happened since the uprising all those years ago; as a matter of fact, we could hardly believe it ourselves at first. There was no clear information or knowledge about the uprising, but knowledge that over a quarter million Yeerks had been taking by something or someone, and hadn't been heard from since. Older Yeerks were even telling younger Yeerks sort of 'ghost stories' about what could have happened to all those missing Yeerks.
"Using various methods of communication, including the telepathy from our new Leeran allies, we were able to establish contact with all the Yeerks from various pools across the planet. We told them about the Yeerk Empire and the war which had been fought all those years. They were shocked, even /aghast/, to say the least. They didn't know any of this, not even about the Andalite fleet parked above the planet. And now they learned that their brothers and sisters had been fighting in an interstellar war, and now their species was feared and hated throughout this arm of the galaxy. Some Yeerks couldn't even understand why anyone would want to infest any species other than Gedds, let alone alien species, considering infestation of alien species to be something like 'unnatural.' It was depressing, to say the least. You could even use a memory probe on me if you don't believe me, but I am telling the truth, however hard you may find to believe it."
I paused for a moment, allowing these words to sink in. Most of the Andalites remained as skeptical and as hard-faced as ever, but looking closely, I could see their skepticism giving way to contemplation. The humans mainly looked confused and torn, my story conflicting with whatever their Andalite allies had told them long ago and what they had chosen to believe based on what they knew of us Yeerks. The Kelbrid remained as intrigued as ever.
"As for the Council of Thirteen... Well, believe it or not, it never really existed before the uprising against Seerow. With so many Yeerks all over the planet, in pools as big as some of Earth's biggest lakes, and approximately three and a half billion Yeerks in all those pools put together, there was no real government, let alone any sort of way to govern them all. We just had our own way of life, and crime as all of your species might know it wasn't possible, considering there really wasn't much we could maliciously do to each other. The so-called 'Council' was just a group of thirteen evil, greedy Yeerks who lied to and took advantage of Seerow. The disgraced Andalite prince may have made a seriously unwise decision in so naïvely trusting those thirteen Yeerks who claimed to be his friends, but those same thirteen Yeerks hold just as much blame, if not more, for all they've done since then."
Alloran asked.
"Oh, those thirteen Yeerks have survived throughout the entire war, mainly because they took such great pains to protect themselves and had no qualms about letting their fanatical underlings all die for their warped causes. One of the first things Movement Yeerks did after the war was hunt down and capture them. Ever since then, we've had all thirteen of them in custody, essentially under what humans would call 'house arrest' - although technically, in our case, it was more like 'pool arrest.'"
More stifled laughing from some of the humans.
"Since then, Movement Yeerks such as myself have talked to other Yeerks from all over our planet. An overwhelming majority of Yeerks - nearly 100 percent of our entire race - says they're willing to commit to such causes as to help whatever races that have been negatively affected by the Yeerk Empire to prove that we're not like them. We have the numbers to help significantly, and we have just started manufacturing prototype robotic vessels just like this one."
Had I been in an organic host, I would have drawn breath before saying, "In short... we, the Yeerk race, wish to fight alongside the humans, the Andalites, the Kelbrid and the Leerans against The One."
Utter silence. You could hear a pin drop well enough as though it were a bomb exploding.
Aximili said after an almost painful silence.
"We have reports from a few of our own spies who believe that The One wants to enslave the Yeerk race and coerce it into enslaving other species. Furthermore, you wouldn't believe how highly some of my students think of you and your friends and fellow heroes, Prince Aximili," I said. "Quite a few of my students are, and I quote, 'Indebted to the Andalite race for fighting against our rebellious, malcontent brothers, and are impressed with the human race for helping to bring an end to their evil regime.' In fact, Aximili, one of my students worships you and wants to meet you face to face, he's that impressed."
Aximili looked flabbergasted - or at least as flabbergasted as an Andalite can appear. Smirking to myself, I recorded that image in my vessel's memory databanks. My colleagues back at the pool would be laughing their flukes off when they saw that image. Off to one side, I could see Marco trying desperately to hold in his laughter.
"I realize that the human and Andalite peoples have plenty of reasons to hate us... although, I must reiterate, this whole war was a misunderstanding - a major misunderstanding that led to countless deaths, but a misunderstanding nonetheless. We are willing, almost restless, to prove ourselves to you. If you give us the chance, we could get much done and be of much help for you, and we are willing to do it all under your supervision, since we really have nothing to hide from any of you. If you wish, we can arrange for the initial rebellion leader to speak on our species' behalf. Her name is Arklan Two-Five-Six, and she was actually a good friend of Seerow's, unlike the lying Council of Thirteen. Besides, you don't have to decide on all this right away. We Yeerks can wait a few days. Can you at least think about it?"
There was a moment of silence as the humans, Andalites and Kelbrid all conferred. I passed that time by talking with Shan Chib.
I privately asked this Leeran who had been something of a friend to me for the past few years, projecting my thoughts loud enough for him to hear. Not only did Shan Chib not use his telepathy on our conferring hosts for the sake of his ethics, but even then, with their amazing mental powers, the Leerans cannot predict the future.
Well, having us Leerans being able to determine the truth with our telepathic abilities was a good guarantee. The Andalites definitely trusted us that much in such instances. Besides, if what I've heard from my sources is true, then the Andalites would be willing to trust us in order to make up for when they retreated during the battle on our planet. They really didn't look very good after that, I must confess.
At least Galuit and his troops stuck by us. I worked with him a lot during the invasion of our home world, and I respect him as much as he respects me. I didn't want to tell him this, but I've come to trust you just as much. I didn't think he would take it too well.
Finally, they were done talking. Jake spoke on everyone's behalf. "It's been decided that your request to be heard will be considered over the next four days. In the meantime, this Arklan 256 of yours may want to write up a good speech and report; she's going to have several billion people of different alien races to convince."
"That goes without saying, Jake," I said in response. "I cannot begin to thank you all enough for at least listening to us. See you in four days, then."
With that, Shan Chib and I walked back to the Wavecrest/, accompanied by our entourage of Leeran bodyguards armed with traditional poisonous /haru//-chin spears. On my way out, I could distinctly hear Aximili say, even from that distance,
TBC//...
A/N: So, who saw this coming? An even better question: Was this believable enough?
Note about the Presidential speech: Sorry if this just didn't sound good or right or anything. But hey, I tried my best there...
Note about the Leeran language: It definitely sounded a bit Oriental to me in /The Decision/, like maybe Chinese, with mainly monosyllabic words. So, I'm kind of designing it like that.
Note about Illim's name and designation: Did we ever learn Illim's number in /The Sickness/? I know I saw the "871" somewhere... I just can't remember exactly /where/...
Next chapter is where we take yet another look at the bad guys as yet another old enemy of the Animorphs comes before The One... -Quillian
/STORY SNEAK PEEK!/
This story is /Post-Animorphs #01: The Progression/. Currently, the title for the sequel to this story looks to be /The Unthinkable/. However, as I'm ironing out my plans for that fic, I'll be writing my first "Chronicles" fic: /The Yeerk Chronicles/. It will be told from the POV of my Yeerk OC, Arklan 256.
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