I don't know what I was expecting to see inside the tent, but I was certain that it was nothing like whatever I had imagined it to be. It was just like the National Guard command tent with a map and markers for the units deployed on the field, except the map was actually a massive table-sized screen and the markers were holographic projections instead of actual plastic thingamabobs. The symbols on the map screen thing were also very much alien to me and nothing like regular or actual map markings, meaning that this table map thingy had to be of either Andalite or, judging by the people around it, Yeerk origin. A short woman and a man who was of normal height but looked much taller in comparison to the woman were standing around the table pointing at places and moving the holographic units around as they talked in a combination of English and Galard. The woman wore a long dress that went down right to her ankles while the man had on a plaid shirt and dad jeans. Both wore bulletproof vests over their civilian clothes. And then right on cue, Ken Fuchs, host of Yibey Nine-One-Five, looked up from the map and saw me. "Jen! Yemra!" he said, the surprise obvious in his voice. "You made it! Both of you!"

"Yeah, I did," I replied quietly. At that moment I felt like an automaton, a robot moving, working and operating on autopilot. I knew that I should have already felt safe that time but instead all I could feel was a cold numbness that hung over me like a dark and heavy raincloud.

"Are you all right?" Emily (surname redacted by order of the Department of Homeland Security), host of Tarash Five-One-Four, the former Visser Five, asked me. "Did you say anything to the nothlits? Charegh had told me that the nothlits had used the Anti-Morphing Ray on you to make you talk."

"I'm okay, Visser," I said. "The nothlits didn't break me. I didn't tell them anything. I didn't know anything about what they wanted to know from me but still, I didn't tell them anything."

"Speaking of which, where is Charegh?" Emily, or rather Tarash, asked. 'Her last communication said that she was coming back with you and another human. Where is she? And where is the other human?"

It was just an innocent, innocuous question. Tarash just wanted to know where her spy in the Nothlit State was. But it was often the simple things that set off all the other bigger things. She had just asked me a question, but just like that, everything that I had gone through in the past few days came rushing back to me. It was like I was being hit by the pain ray once again. I remembered Charegh getting hit in the leg and then deciding to sacrifice herself so that Amanda and I could escape, and then I also remembered in excruciating detail the look on Amanda's face as that sniper's bullet went through the car window and her head to claim her life. Tarash couldn't have known that this was what I had gone through. Neither could Yibey. And neither Emily nor Ken could have known that those few words were going to trigger an outburst of sadness and negativity from me.

"Cherry's dead!" I suddenly shouted. "Charegh's dead! Amanda's dead! They're all dead! I'm the only one who made it! You have no idea what I saw out there, what I did out there! I listened to someone make a last stand before she got killed where she stood just so I could escape the Pool! I watched someone die right before my eyes, saw the exact moment the light went out from her eyes! So guess what? Maybe I'm not actually okay, Visser! Not even after I killed the bastards who killed Cherry and Amanda! Immib, Wassoub, whoever that third guy was, I killed them all! Immib almost killed me but I killed him in the end too! So I hope that that answers your question, Visser. Yes, three of us got out of the Yeerk Pool, but I was the only one who made it all the way here!

"It's not fair, I know!" I continued. My mind was now connecting things faster than I could comprehend in my rage, and my motor mouth did the duty of spewing all of those thoughts out. "It's not fair! But life has never been fair, is it? It's not fair, it's never been fair, and it will never be fair!" Hot tears streamed down my cheeks throughout my outburst, and I didn't make any move to wipe them away because I didn't want to. I wanted to cry. I needed to cry. And I didn't care who I was crying in front of or who I was shouting at. I was bawling my eyes out in front of a Visser and a Sub-visser, and I didn't care. Their ranks didn't mean anything to me, not in this world that I lived in right now. And I also didn't care that I had all but chewed out the highest-ranking hosted Yeerk on planet Earth. I was just that mad and frustrated at my situation.

Through my tear-blurred eyes, I saw Yibey nod his head at Tarash, who nodded her head back in silent reply. Tarash/Emily then walked over to me and softly laid her hand on my shoulder. "Just let it all out, Jen," she said. "Let yourself cry. Don't stop yourself. Let it all out."

"You wanna know what really sucks?" I said. "I promised Amanda that I was gonna take her to meet you so you could hook her up with a new Yeerk. She lost her Yeerk when Jake vented the Pool ship, Amanda. And she had been going around the country applying for re-infestation once it was finally legalized but no one would accept her because she had been through rehab and was on meds! She was angry at the Controllers, angry at us, and she joined the Nothlit State because of it! Cherry and I got her to switch sides because she believed me when I told her that I was gonna get a Yeerk back in her head soon, but just as we got out of the community center, she… fucking bites the dust!"

"Oh, Jen, I am so sorry," Tarash/Emily muttered softly. "That must have been horrible for you to see. And I am also sorry to hear about both Charegh and Amanda. They did not deserve their fates. But the Kandrona will shine upon them forevermore for what they have done."

"And so it shall," Yibey continued, completing the Yeerk ritual of offering condolences to the deceased, specifically those who had died in battle. "That name does sound familiar though," he added. "Amanda. And her story also rings a bell, but I cannot put my finger on it at the moment."

"I'm not surprised that you don't remember her, Yibey," I said. "She tried to approach the Visser herself but Tarash was apparently in Europe at the time promoting the Yeerks there, so she had to deal with you. But she told me that you forgot to mention her to Tarash at all. So what is it, Yibey? Did you really forget about her or did you actually decide not to mention her to the Visser?"

Ken's eyes widened as both he and Yibey finally remembered why they had recognized Amanda's name in the first place. He then put a hand over his face as it begun to sink in that, indirectly though it may be, he had played a role in someone's death. "Oh, by the Kandrona!" he whispered angrily to himself. "There was this woman, Visser. She came here while you were in Europe and asked; no, begged to become a host. She had lost her Yeerk during the Pool ship venting and had wanted to be infested again. But I didn't think that she would have passed our criteria for consideration because of a prior history of substance abuse and rehab for said abuse."

"Yibey, you know that the requirements were already being revised even while Emily and I were in Europe," Tarash told him. "Under the new rules, Amanda would have been considered for infestation. In fact, she would have gotten priority over others because of her prior history. Why didn't you tell us about her when Emily and I got back?"

"I'm sorry, Visser, I forgot about her, honest," Yibey replied, seemingly determined to avoid Emily's gaze. "And maybe I also thought that she wouldn't have been worth your time," he admitted.

"This must never happen again, Yibey," Tarash said. "We must always be there for those who ask for our help. This is how we will convince even more humans that we Yeerks, the ones who are stuck here at least, mean no harm to them."

"Yes, Visser," Yibey nodded.

Tarash then turned her attention to me. I wasn't the shortest girl in the world, let alone the city, and by that point I was already sitting down on a folding steel chair, but Emily was still able to look me in the eye without even bending down a little. "You did good out there, Jen," she told me. "You did very well to make it back here in one piece. And yes, it would have been better if all of three of you had made it back alive, but Charegh knew the risks. She knew what her mission was, and I had ordered her to save you once she told us that you were with the nothlits. And Amanda… it's a shame about Amanda. I would have loved to have met her. But you have done everything that you can to survive, Jen, Yemra, and now it's time for the both of you to rest."

"No, I can't!" I said. "I can't rest! What about them? What about their bodies? Cherry and Amanda deserve a decent burial. They don't deserve to be left behind like this! Someone has to tell the world about them! They can't be forgotten! They don't deserve to be forgotten!"

"And they won't be," Tarash assured me. "I just know that you will not let them be forgotten. But my point still stands. You have to rest. Get some sleep. Yibey will take you to your sleeping quarters. And Yemra, if Jen doesn't want to rest, make her. Do you understand?"

Yemra took control of me and made me look at Tarash and Emily right in the eye. "Yes, Visser, I understand," she said in my voice.

"Good girl," Tarash said, patting my shoulder. "Now go get some rest."

"Yes, Visser," Yemra repeated.

"Come with me, Jen," Yibey/Ken said. "I'll show you your place for the night."

Yemra gave control back to me, and I stood up from my chair to follow Ken, backpack still clutched tightly in my arms. He led me out of the Yeerks' command tent and towards a larger and longer tent, inside which we stepped. I saw two long rows of metal frame beds set up on either side of the tent. I noticed at least four humans (three men and one woman) lying on the cots, and one Hork-Bajir (who had to be Shal Guree) who appeared to be sleeping while sitting up straight on his bed. Maybe that was how Hork-Bajir slept. I don't know; I'm not a Hork. Ken pointed me in the direction of a cot beside a man whom I recognized to be George Islington. "Jen, Yemra, you heard the Visser," he told me. "Get some sleep, and then tomorrow maybe we can talk about what you saw and heard while you were with the Nothlit State."

I nodded my head silently, and Ken made sure that I was sitting down on my assigned bed before he walked away. "Good night," he said softly, and then he went out of the tent. I took a deep breath and finally let go of my backpack, which I had been clutching close to my chest for almost the entirety of my stay at this camp up to this point. I dumped my pack on the side of my bed, and then I bent down and untied my boots and left them on the ground. I hitched up my socks so that they wouldn't roll down my legs and feet while I slept, and then I laid down on the bed's thin mattress and settled my head on the pillow. I have to say that this was a very massive upgrade from my sleeping arrangements with the Nothlit State though.

All right, Jen, you heard what Tarash and Yibey told me, Yemra said. We both need to sleep. Now I know a way to make you fall asleep immediately so if you want, you can get into a more comfortable position. Or would you like to go to sleep like this?

((Okay, hang on, just let me get a little bit more comfortable,)) I said, and then I grabbed my backpack and embraced it again before I turned to my side and curled up into a semi-fetal position. ((All right, I'm ready,)) I said. ((Good night, Yems.))

Good night, Jen, Yemra said back, and then I closed my eyes and just like that, I slipped into a dreamless sleep.

A/N: Okay, so this was another short chapter from me, but this time I well and truly intended for this one to be short. You could say that I simply didn't see the need to extend this chapter further than that point. Anyway, if you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions about my work then feel free to leave a review or a comment. It only takes a few minutes of your time at most and I will appreciate it. Thank you! – GR