PROLOGUE
It was funny. No ironic. Ironic that it wasn't humanity that devastated
itself, ironic that man hadn't by then destroyed himself by all his selfish
desires and utterly egocentric thinking. Yes, man had only cared for himself,
never more than himself. Back then; man had never cared for himself as a whole.
As a people.
But even then there was a difference, a difference between man, human and
the people.
Man is the definition of extreme living. And I needn't tell you that,
you only have to open any news channel in any part of the world to see this.
The people are different too. But
to know who are the people you have to know the human.
A human is a smart, cunning, rational creature. People are the opposite,
people are humans grouped together, and humans grouped together are anything but
smart, cunning and rational. People are stupid, dumb, irrational things.
You want to understand this better? Think of it this way; if I placed a
human in a situation, this situation being that I have just informed it that all
hell is going to break loose, the first thing it will do is demand for an
explanation. Then act.
You tell people that all hell is going to break loose their first
reaction is a primitive one, a simple question is asked; flight or fight? And
the second one of them had decided which one to employ the rest will
follow regardless. After that, then they will ask for an explanation,
after all of what could be destroyed is destroyed after all…
But does it matter? Did it matter? At that time, could all this have been
changed? Of course not, that would have been impossible.
He said it was a curse, everything on Earth was at war, and everyone and
everything on it had a reason to fight. Right up to the galactic war between
aliens. War between man himself, his brain. War between man and man. War between
man and the wild. All the way down to war between the wild and the wild.
Something had to give; the careful violent balance had been distorted.
Distorted by the humans, distorted by the aliens. The balanced snapped,
all of it. And something had to give way.
It was like a dam breaking. And it was not. It was like a dam because the
water that burst from it's wounded walls flooding, had destroyed everything.
And it was not like a dam because only a human could construct a dam
But humans learned to construct dams by learning and watching, by
watching beavers.
Likewise, man had stood silent, watched, stole and constructed from many
other creatures and many other things than just the beavers. Yes, man was smart
because man was selfish for himself, and because of his selfishness, there is a
need to live, a need to survive this all. But how?
Like I said, by watching silently. After the defeat we stole.
We were just a couple hundred, no more. Nothing compared to the billions
we used to be, and what we did was scale-up the food chain, we grabbed what we
could, we adapted.
We stole technology, and no doubt you know what I am talking about.
History repeated itself in a crude way. Very crude.
For it was Yeerks who stole from Andalites and by doing so wanted to
destroy them. And so did the humans steal from the Yeerks, they too wanted to
destroy them.
But here is where new history is being written, for as a smart human once
said, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'
The Andalites were not the humans' friends, but because they were
enemies of our enemies, therefore they are our friends. For the time
being. Because human will not forget, no, not forget the terrible stain between
these two different races, which to the eyes of a stranger seem so similar.
Yes, but one side realized the similarities and apprehended that after
the war with the greatest enemy is won, there will be a new war…
But the new war is after.
You want to know what was after…after the before.
After the before. A phrase that will mean nothing to someone who had not
known what was after, and what was before.
All I could tell you about this is that after the before; where before is
'before the defeat'. And after is 'after'. So now I could simplify and
tell you that after the before is simply after the defeat.
But it is terrible for a human to admit this. No, sorry, a human can
admit this. People couldn't, and you have to please the people to survive.
After the before, man had found a beaver, it was a new and unfamiliar
thing. He found it building something. And what was it? A dam. A dam was
something new and useful. He saw the dam and smiled.
He saw the tools, he mimicked. He saw the skills, he learnt. And he built
a dam.
But the dam he built was not a silly puny thing constructed with twigs
and trees. No, it was massive. It was made with concrete and metal. It was new
and powerful. Improved.
Yes. You understand where this is heading clever little human. No? You do
not understand this? It is okay, I will tell you.
The humans saw something new and extraordinary. Like the dam. The humans
watched. They saw the tools, and mimicked. They saw the skills, and learnt. And
what they came up with was something massive; it was made with new metals. It
was something new and powerful. Improved.
But what had the humans saw?
The humans saw a ship.
A spaceship.
And when they saw it they smiled.
And all the Andalites could do about this was dread. All they could do
was pretend to be the allies they should be. Because they apprehend that
'after' there will be a war. A new war.
And it wasn't like the little 'primitive' humans did not know this.
The Andalites knew that the humans understood.
The humans understood perfectly, they saw it from end to end.
But what did they do?
They mimicked their allies. For they too became allies as well, temporary
allies.
And as the war played out and the humans were no longer primitives; all
the Andalites stood back their dread grew stronger.
The humans were smart, cleaver, ruthless, cunning. And there were no
longer a corrupt people to please. Humans had evolved intellectually.
Yes, for now when you brought a group of humans together and said all
hell is going to break lose. They will stand fast, demand a reason, then they
will evaluate and act upon this.
And if you brought a human and told it that all hell is going to break
loose…ah…a human will say "If there is a hell around here, I will
break it loose."
But what if you brought an Andalite? And told it that al hell is
going to break loose? That after the great enemy, the Yeerks had been defeated,
all hell is going to break loose.
The Andalites will act smartly, plead and try to find a way out, to
negotiate, even though it is too late. Even though it was too late.
But a human is rational. Even though the people are not…
