PART THREE OF THREE

Nagrit was waiting, like always, when I left the room.

(You're beaming,) he said.

(Am I?) I asked with a light laugh. (Perhaps it is from sexual frustration.)

(Shall I keep my distance?)

I stared into his brown eyes and felt my smile widen. (They're mine, Nagrit. Sessil is scrambling for power, but it's too late. We've done it.)

(Stop thinking that way, Terliss.)

(I'm frustrated with them. I don't like compromising with people who disagree simply to assert themselves.)

(It is the only way to maintain the kind of rule you want.)

I sighed. (Has anyone contacted Visser Three yet? I wouldn't want him shooting us down in misunderstanding.)

(I informed him we were headed toward the Earth solar system, but I decided to leave the particulars of it to your care.)

(How very sweet of you, Nagrit.)

(I aim to please, sir. In fact, I have completed my study of the uninfestables. I apologize for getting this to you past the deadline.)

(No, it's all right. We barely discussed them. The Council was more focused on telling me how to run my ship.)

(You gave me a mission that I failed, sir. It won't happen again.)

I looked up at him. Swooned a little bit, still surprised at how attractive he was, how much it affected me. Then I noticed the sincerity in his deep eyes. It made me love him more and forgive him completely.

(Very well, Sub-Visser. What did you find?)

(I think it's better if I show you.)

He began walking towards the brig, handing me a small viewscreen. It was the classified service record of the short Andalite. Trylast-Pallatin-Ertiss: six cycles, two years, four months old. Born in the foothills of the Antarctic mountains. Mother and father both disowned him ten years before his legal maturation.

(It took longer to decrypt the classified personnel files than I expected,) Nagrit said. (Even information so insignificant is greatly protected. I don't know if this level of Andalite paranoia is inborn, or if it's just developed since the beginning of the war, but it serves them well.)

(What are "deviances?") I asked, reading his file, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

Nagrit stopped as well. (That's part of the problem. All of the language in these reports is deflective, politically correct. Ultimately meaningless. I questioned the Andalite, and I—)

(You mean you tortured him,) I said bluntly. I didn't know why I was so harsh. Nagrit winced.

(No matter what I did, he wouldn't explicate. Whatever "deviances" means, it's bad. Something he's desperate to keep concealed, no matter what.)

(Including cooperation with us?) I asked.

(That's what he indicated,) Nagrit said. We continued walking.

(The tall Andalite was much easier. I didn't even have to breach his classified file. He's dying.)

(Pity,) I said noncommittally.

(He requires daily doses of an Andalite delicacy to mollify the pain,) Nagrit explained. (Getting that medicine was not a problem before. But now we control it.)

(So he's agreed to cooperate as well?)

Nagrit waved his stalk eyes, something like an Andalite shrug. (He said "Very well" when I asked him. But…he's strange, Terliss. It's almost like he's not involved in any of this, mentally or physically. Like he doesn't really care either way.)

(So there does seem to be some sort of commonality between them,) I said. (Pain. Hidden shames. Secrets. They're very exploitable. Very weak, it seems. Yet, it's the kind of weakness that spawns strength.) I was thinking hard, and didn't even realize we'd reached our destination.

We stopped outside of the brig. A middle-aged female, also oddly familiar, was waiting for us. She was holding a medical kit.

(I take it she is something else you discovered?)

(The doctor's wife,) Nagrit explained. (The only other medical officer on this ship. Sub-Visser 238, show your Empress the proper respect.)

(I will have to threaten your life occasionally,) I said to her. Sort of a joke. I tried to keep the mood light when introducing myself to subordinates. Her eyes were blank, her posture relaxed and expressionless.

(Yes, sir,) she said, not even acknowledging my lame attempt at humor. I eyed her worriedly.

(Does he know she's infested?) I asked Nagrit.

(I'm sure he's figured it out by now. But to my knowledge, he hasn't seen her since the takeover. The other two have agreed to cooperate, but this is vital. I think he's their leader. I think it's most important to break him. That's why I waited for you, Terliss. This is your specialty.)

Nagrit was wrong. I couldn't even question Sofor without trembling like an amateur. This was a gift. His way of rebuilding my confidence. His way of telling me that he thought that had been a hiccup. Uncharacteristic. He'd caught my kill in a cage and was going to let me claim it. I got the sudden, chilling feeling that I didn't deserve this.

Or him.

(Very well. Thank you, Nagrit.)

I entered the brig alone.

The doctor was sleeping, shivering from infection in the long wound on his flank. I took a charge from the Hork-Bair guard and flung it at his force field. A burst of red lightning and loud noise. He snapped violently awake, banging his head on the bulkhead and bruising his stalk eye.

(What—) he started. He swooped his gaze around as the smoke curled toward the ceiling, found me, and glared. (Haven't you harassed me enough for one week?)

(That cut looks bad,) I said. (It must itch terribly.)

(I'll be fine,) he snapped.

(Even I can see that's not true,) I said. He bowed his head in resignation. (Why not just morph it away?)

(Aren't you the one who gives orders to these guards?) He growled impatiently. He tried to rise to his hooves to face me, but stumbled and settled back on the ground.

(Well, I can't have you go morph something microscopic and fool them. Hork-Bajir sight is not great, as you know. And you know how useless you'd be to me if you chose to become some pathetic nothlit. Like a djabala or hoober. I'd auction you off as a morsel to my Taxxons, if that were the case.)

(What do you want?)

(I want you alive, Doctor. Nagrit! Bring her inside!)

The door opened, and Nagrit ushered the woman inside, hand on her shoulder. I felt a terrible, pointless spike of jealousy. Even the thought of his hand touching someone else enraged me.

(Oh,) the doctor moaned, scuttling backward. (Please, no. Just let her go. She doesn't have to see this.)

(She can help you,) I said. (She can heal you.)

Nagrit disengaged the force field, and the woman stepped almost catatonically inside.

(I know you're there, my blossom, my Garibah…) the doctor said. His tone was vulnerable and sincere, pathetic to someone who couldn't sympathize. (I know you're all right. I know you're still in there. I know you're not foolish enough to give up all hope, just because of this temporary nightmare. I know that you know it's not your fault. That I love you so much, that I'll do everything in my power to get you back. That I...oh for Elder's sake, let her go!)

Nagrit faltered slightly, but quickly righted himself.

She knelt carefully beside him, pressing her hands deftly on the wound. Inspected it gently. He winced from the pressure. She withdrew some disinfecting agent from her kit, sprayed it over and around the site of clotted blood, the raw swelling. Then she took out a dermal regenerator which hummed quietly, like an electric razor, and ran it slowly across his flank, pinching the skin together with her fingertips. About halfway across the arc, she stopped. Shivered. Bowed her head just slightly. And though it was almost silent, she whimpered.

I waited a moment, stepped forward deliberately, and pressed my tail blade to the back of her neck.

(You really are a bitch, you know that?) Terenia growled quietly in my head.

(All right,) the doctor sobbed. (All right, just let her go and I'll do anything you want. Just don't hurt her. She's done nothing. She's innocent. I'll help you. I'll build your Yeerk Pool, please, just let her go.)

(Finish your work, Sub-Visser,) I ordered her.

(Forgive me, sir,) she responded, her voice brittle but recovered.

She finished closing the wound, replaced the regenerator, and then emptied a syringe of some antibiotic into his arm. He gently grazed her elbow with his fingertips, reaching toward her hesitantly, and his gaze never broke from her eyes.

(I'll need to give him another dose in twelve hours,) she said. (But he'll be fine.)

(Thank you, Sub-Visser. You may go.) She rose to her hooves, and just as ghost-like as before, paced out of the cell.

I stared down at the prisoner for a few moments. (I'm holding you to your word, Doctor,) I said. (You do anything that even mildly displeases me, and I'll kill her. She's our only infested doctor, yes, but you don't strike me as the type to let your brethren suffer and die just because they're infected with Yeerks. She's meaningless to me. I have your medical expertise, and that's all I need.)

The doctor was staring out of his cell, almost as catatonic as his wife. (All right,) was all he said.

Nagrit reengaged the force field. (Well done, Terliss,) he said privately to me. It took almost all of my self-control not to smile like a child being praised by her parents.

Nagrit and I left the brig. He still had a lot of work with the duty rosters to finish, but he walked slowly with me, close enough that I could feel the warmth from his flanks radiating over to me.

(We don't know exactly why they can't be infested, but they're under control,) I said. (We'll figure it out with more time.)

(Actually, Terliss, there was one other thing I wanted to mention about—)

I stopped walking and felt another sudden wave of nausea pass over me. The rope had come back alive. I didn't know why.

(Is something wrong, sir?) Nagrit asked, turning a little and watching me with his stalk eyes.

(I don't know.)

(Let us go to your quarters and discuss it,) he offered.

(Who did we put in charge of the military officers, the Andalites, on board this vessel?)

(There are only a handful of them. And I've interviewed each personally. They're fine, Terliss.)

(Has anyone reported difficulty controlling their hosts?)

(No reports of that, sir, though your plan did dictate weekly check-ins with Yeerks who obtained Andalite hosts, since they would be loath to admit any trouble and risk losing them.)

(Yes, I remember that.)

(It really was flawless, sir. I'm incredibly proud of you.) His smile was wide and sincere.

I continued walking slowly down the hallway, placing a hand over my abdomen from another flare of nausea. (Thank you, Nagrit.)

(Something is wrong, sir.)

(What is it? What haven't you told me?)

Nagrit smiled. (Something is wrong with you.)

(We have done the impossible, Nagirt,) I sighed, rubbing the nausea away. (We have committed an act so unlikely it was only explored to denounce me.)

(I know, sir.)

(If we can do that, why can't we find a single, Andalite girl?)

(We will find Jennor, sir. You worry about her so much.)

(Yes. I worry about Jennor.)

We reached my quarters and Nagrit opened the door, allowing me inside first.

I stepped inside, feeling the nausea recede, feeling that raw, powerful desire sink down into my body, and as soon as the door was closed, Nagrit descended upon me.

(You are the single greatest living Yeerk in the galaxy,) Nagrit said, fingering my jaw and ear, pressing my back hard, pushing me into him. (You've led an entire race to victory on multiple counts, organized them into an effective, fearsome group, and now you have made history, exploiting such an obscured weakness of our nemesis that no one else could even see it. You are historic, godly, and so beautiful.) He nuzzled my neck at this, and rubbed a spot on my back that made me arch and purr. (And we haven't even heard Jennor's name from anywhere other than within our own circle. She is no one. She is so anonymous that she remains hidden within the folds of her own people's failure. You are a whale of power fighting against a single krill in a school. She is defenseless.)

My hands joined forces in front of me, exploring the muscles between the joints of his front legs, massaging away the tension, which he seemed to enjoy greatly, bucking into my grasp when I grappled something tense and knotted. (Then why do I feel this way?)

Nagrit pulled his arms forward and cupped my face in his hands. (You are a perfectionist, Terliss. It is one of your few flaws. Let us enjoy this tonight, and worry more tomorrow.)

I readied myself for rest, anxious to bury my face in his chest for the remainder of the night, but pulled away at the last moment, remembering an unfinished task.

(Give me five minutes,) I told him. He watched me curiously. (I have a gloating call to make to Earth.)