Disclaimer: Animorphs belongs to KAA and Scholastic, and are being used without their expressed permission (although KAA did encourage fans at the end of #54 who wrote fanfiction…). That being said, I am not making any money whatsoever on this fanfic. Please do not sue me-I am a poor librarian, and am still living at home with my parents.

Karase five-one-four considered herself to be an average Yeerk: the "514" after her name and not preceded by a "visser" or even "sub-visser" put her at civilian level, perhaps a little higher. She had, until recently, infested a teenage male host. He had been voluntary, which she had preferred in a host, but she would have felt no qualms about infesting the same human had he been involuntary. Karase was not a member of the Peace Movement, nor did she hold any of their views, privately or publicly. Most Yeerks, she knew, preferred a voluntary host over a rebellious, involuntary one. This was for practical reasons: it made it easier to perform your task and maintain your host's cover when he or she was not screaming at you in your head or, far worse, attempting to fight for control. Still, if it came to infesting an unwilling host or not having a host at all, she would take the unwilling host without a second thought.

She would also deal with any misbehavior by that host as she had been trained.

Karase had been what was known as being "in between hosts" for the past week. This was not a voluntary decision, as she was not part of the Peace Movement. Unfortunately, with so many Yeerks and so few hosts readily available, there would always be some waiting period after being reassigned to a new host.

She hadn't been entirely sure why she had been reassigned. Karase preferred to stay out of trouble with her sub-visser, which meant performing her role well enough to avoid punishment, but not excel to the point where she could be seen as a threat. Her former host's primary role had been to monitor his family and friends for potential members of the Sharing. She had been able to convince ten of them to attend a Sharing meeting, and of those ten, eight had become full members. That meant that eight of her brothers and sisters (figuratively speaking, as the Yeerks were not from her pool of origin) now had human hosts. Probably, most of these Yeerks had held other humans beforehand, or Hork-Bajir. Those hosts would be given to lower Yeerks, and the ones before that, to even lower ones.

Keeping track of hosts for infestation purposes was a complex one, and Karase knew that she did not have the aptitude (nor, she would admit only to herself, the willingness) for such a task. She suspected that such Yeerks received assistance from other Yeerks. She could easily envision such a conversation.

*Excuse me, Talgar 153, but I heard that there was another voluntary host to be made available for infestation.*

*Yes, Colgat 536, do you have anyone in mind?*

*My host's brother's Yeerk was speaking about wanting a new host, because his has become difficult to manage. Would you be willing to consider giving this human to him?*

*Your brother is Astrid 653?*

*Astrid 655, Talgar.*

*Of course. Yes, I can't promise anything, but I will see what I can do.*

Such an exchange would make the decision of who would infest the newest available human slightly less complicated, though the Yeerk making the decision would still have to deal with the question of the former host, and so on.

Karase knew that, due to the population of the planet they were invading, there might be a time when there would be free humans because all available Yeerks had suitable hosts. This day, however, would still be many years away. In the meantime, due to her low status, she would have to wait when she was reassigned to a new host. She just hoped that her next one would be as easy to control, preferably voluntary, and that she would be able to remain with the host for longer than a year. She found waiting for new hosts to be both unproductive, and the loss of the extra senses to be detrimental. What Yeerk would choose blindness and near deafness after having eyes? Even the eyes of a Gedd were preferable to no eyes at all.

Many Yeerks took advantage of the waiting period to spend time with other hostless Yeerks. To find and provide gossip. To learn the newest methods of "taming" an unruly host. Even to speculate about the identity of the Andalite Bandits who were posing such a threat to Visser Three's plans to dominate the planet.

Karase wasn't exactly a loner, but there was only so much news available at any given time, and she found it tiresome to hear the same thing more than once. Especially if the stories were contradictory. There was some speculation was that at least one of the Andalite Bandits was actually a human. Recently, though, there had been talk about the Andalites now managed to create new technology which made the two hour morph rule invalid.

Andalites could switch from one form to another, provided that they returned to their Andalite form within two hours. However, the visser had recently attempted to create an "anti-morphing ray", and the capture of one of the Andalite Bandits, and forced use of the machine on this creature, proved to be ineffective. Not only did he remain in the form of a hawk, but well after two hours, he was able to return to his Andalite form.

Of course, this was speculation rather than fact, and Karase had little patience for what she considered to be rumors. Besides, how would this help the Yeerks take over Earth any faster?

Finally, Karase heard the computer generated voice telling her to report to the infestation pier.

Karase five-one-four, prepare to infest your new host, came the monotone. Repeat. Karase five-one-four, prepare to infest your new host.

As though I would be stupid enough not to listen the first time, Karase grumbled to herself as she swam towards the infestation pier, but as she had somewhat of a far distance to travel, perhaps the second repetition was not entirely unwarranted.

She located the head without any difficulty, released a suitable amount of numbing agent, and proceeded to enter the ear and take control. She was relieved that the human was not thrashing around in the water. Either the human was voluntary, or the Hork-Bajir was particularly effective at holding the head down.

Before long, Karase had reached the brain. She pressed down among the crevices and felt the connection. She opened the host's eyes and was relieved to be able to see again.

The Hork-Bajir guards were now helping Karase up. Karase continued to look inside the human's brain. She hadn't bothered with searching the memories yet, but rather trying to be aware of any emotions so that she could determine how much of a fight, if any, her new human would put up.

At first, Karase was pleased to see that her host's mind seemed to either lack comprehension of what was going on, or else she had accepted it without complaint. There was a strong sense of depression and fear, but many humans felt this during infestation. Her new host might be new to Yeerk control entirely, or she might still be upset about losing her personal freedom. It was immediately clear that the host mind gave no resistance to Karase's presence. The host was certainly aware of the Yeerk's existence within her mind, but did not rebel against it. Karase was relieved. Either this host was voluntary, or she had been taught not to rebel against her Yeerk. Karase prepared herself to introduce herself to her host-it was not exactly encouraged, but Karase never liked to ignore a host entirely, especially if they did not object to a Yeerk's presence in their mind-when a sort of dazed emotion filled the human's mind. Puzzled, Karase focused on the "background noise" of her new host's subconsciousness. She could sense some crying in the background, but it was faded.

She decided not to say anything immediately. Once Karase left the Yeerk pool, she could converse with her host without risk of drawing attention to herself, and Karase had let enough time pass as she determined the mental state of her host.

When she was out of the Yeerk pool and walking in the direction of her host's home, Karase began her introduction.

Hello. My name is Karase five-one-four. You may call me Karase.

There was no answer.

I said, my name is Karase five-one-four. You may call me Karase, she repeated herself.

Sometimes, she knew, hosts wouldn't answer immediately. Especially if they were new to infestation. But she also knew, instinctively, that her host was all too familiar with infestation.

Because with the sudden surge of panic at the sound of an alien voice in her head, combined with the added knowledge from her host that she could no longer control her body, Karase recognized the signs. Normally, a host would begin to scream, or wail, or something equally futile. Her host's reaction of controlled panic, of not saying anything despite the fear of another alien body inside of her mind (as well as the recognition of what this alien body was, and what it could do to her). Karase had never experienced anything like this before, and it had never been specifically instructed to her, but somehow, she knew what it was.

This host had been broken.

Karase managed not to gasp too audibly upon realizing this. Karase briefly hoped that she had been mistaken. This couldn't be. She had heard of hosts that had given up, but they were quite rare. Even the ones who belonged to the vissers were either voluntary or, at least, conscious. Hosts might give up hope and wish that they could die, but to be broken…

Being broken was essentially what happened after a host underwent a severe amount of torture for long periods of time. Long as in months at a time. The host's mind still existed, but it was so faded that it might as well not exist.

It was something Yeerks sometimes threatened to do to unruly hosts, but the threat was enough to receive its desired result of compliance.

Even though Yeerks didn't measure data on this sort of thing, Karase imagined that less than one in one thousand hosts had been broken. Even then, it was a last resort. A host had to be uncontrollable in order to experience this treatment. Most hosts could be silenced with a few hours of torture.

Breaking a host was almost taboo. It reflected poorly on the Yeerk as much as the host. Yeerks who had to break their hosts almost never became higher than sub-vissers. It indicated, for lack of a better term, a lack of control over the all too common problem of a disobedient host.

Besides, it was very time consuming. The precise amount of torture that needed to be applied, the concentration, the knowledge of which memories to replay and how often...not to mention that it often required depriving the host of sleep, and while human bodies could sleep while their host's minds were awake, this was not ideal for optimal rest. It would reflect on the body's condition. Even if everything went perfectly in the process, Karase imagined that the process of breaking a host could take weeks, even months.

Besides, breaking hosts was rarely necessary. Most hosts would become docile after a few hours of torture.

Most Yeerk ceased to torture their hosts after the host's mind became docile enough. Because Yeerks—well, most Yeerks—viewed torture only as a means to an end and preferred a quiet host who had given up to one who could not function on their own. To do anything else was, quite frankly, sadistic. Yeerks did not enjoy inflicting pain. They were not Andalites. They simply required host bodies, and the host minds should be grateful that they could control their bodies for a few hours every three days.

There were much worse fates.

Karase wondered if this human been one of the few uncontrollable ones? She checked the human's memories, but all evidence indicated that the human had started as voluntary.

Speak, human, she commanded, hoping against hope that the sternness of the order would alleviate the situation.

There was a faint stirring in the human's mind. Images seemed to flash through her head. Violent ones. Ones of extreme mental torture. Not just replaying of horrible memories, but showing the fantasies of an incredibly sadistic Yeerk.

Now the host screamed. Even that sounded weak to Karase's mind.

Silence, human, Karase commanded. Then, she added in a more gentle tone, I won't hurt you.

The host mind receded into blankness. Karase sighed audibly, then ignored the human briefly, realizing that her most pressing problem was returning the host to her home. She found her car, got inside, and began the relatively short drive back to the apartment.

She began to pry into the human's memory for more information. The human was a female, though Karase had guessed as much. She was almost twenty-seven years old. Her name was Daisy. She worked as a teacher at a high school. She lived by herself in an apartment complex which she bought with part of her savings and most of the money she had been given from family for graduating college, but was new to this area. Her father lived several hundred miles away with her younger sister. Her mother had died last year. Daisy had joined the Sharing to meet people, though partly it was to meet nice men. She had never been in a relationship, as humans called it, but wanted to find a suitable spouse and have children at some point.

Each memory brought more pain on the host, but this "Daisy" creature had been trained well enough not to protest (audibly, anyway) when her Yeerk was searching her memory. Karase felt her pain, though, and stopped at the last memory of her agreeing to join the Sharing.

Karase, very briefly, felt pity for this human. She had done nothing wrong, after all.

She had been a host for over two years. Karase had no idea who her former Yeerk was, since he never bothered to introduce himself to Daisy and often kept her in such a state that she was unaware of what went on outside of her head.

Karase had no idea if Daisy was reparable. She had reservations about trying to help too much. These days, it was quite easy to find oneself sentenced to Kandrona starvation. Karase was not exactly ambitious, but she did want to live. Besides, Daisy might prove to be a handful if she ever healed, and Karase did not want to spend her time fighting this host for control.

On the other hand, Karase could not help but feel as though she needed to help Daisy. There was something about her helplessness that softened Karase.

Surely, she would not fight me if I helped her, she reasoned to herself.

But how, exactly? They didn't teach this sort of thing to Yeerks. She knew how to make a host's life unpleasant, but not how to undo the damage inflicted by a sadistic Yeerk. Well, she recognized that she would have to be kind to her new host. Gentle, even. Perhaps, present herself as a friend to the human? The thought did not exactly make her ill, but it was unsettling. Karase was not usually patient, nor was she gentle.

How did one go about repairing a host?

Probably by doing the reverse of whatever broke the host. Which meant a steady diet of positive memories.

Karase search through Daisy's memory. Pleasant ones were plentiful enough.

After Daisy healed, would it be possible for her and Karase to form some sort of symbiotic relationship?

This would, after all, be the only reason for Karase putting forth such effort.

Karase only knew her instincts and believed that the answer was yes. Daisy would be a good host once she was restored.

Could Daisy become a friend?

Karase started. Where had that thought come from? Hosts were inferior. Friendship with them did not matter.

Karase saw that Daisy had been asleep for the past several minutes.

Wake up, human.

Daisy panicked as she struggled to regain consciousness. This time, she was more relaxed and more able to speak.

You…?

Karase made her voice as gentle as she knew how to. My name is Karase five-one-four. You may call me Karase, if that's easier for you to remember.

The human did not seem terribly reassured.

Unless you refuse to cooperate with me, I promise not to use torture, Karase added with a mental smile.

The effect was hardly reassuring: Daisy shrank into a corner of her mind. She wept softly.

Author's Note: I'm revising this fic, so if you wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to leave feedback, that would be great.