An Alternative
(Author's Note; kind of a sequel to "The Only Way Out." Not as tragic. You CAN read it freely, but I suggest you read "The Only Way Out" first...)
What do you think? Rheith, also known as Visser Four, asked. Is it a good plan?
Jake refused to answer. But Rheith read his mind and laughed when he found that the plan was "faultless".
It can't fail, Reith agreed, self-amused. Can it?
Jake didn't reply. He had long since stopped acknowledging the Yeerk's presence. And he wasn't about to start. Only…
Answer me, human! You know the price for ignoring me!
Jake knew. He knew very well. Rheith had an ugly habit of replaying the worst moments of Jake's life. The defeat. The first time he got infested. The time… the time he killed Cassie.
For her own good. Yeah, Jake thought. For her own good. He had to keep on to that belief, or he'll loose whatever Rheith hadn't already stolen of his mind.
Pitiless slug! he said weakly. No. It… can't fail.
Rheith laughed. He muttered something about pathetic human, and started speaking to the Hork-Bajir. Giving out orders. Jake felt repulsed every time he heard his own voice, because he knew it wasn't his. He felt weak and helpless to know that the voice would never be his again.
"And I don't want to hear about any failures!" Rheith finished. "Whoever -"
But Rheith stopped speaking suddenly. He saw the astonished faces of the Purple-Banded Hork-Bajir, saw one of them burst into nothingness as a dracon was fired, and spun around.
"Too late," a familiar voice hissed. The owner pulled back a iron-gloved fist and aimed.
Jake saw with terror-mixed happiness when the fist struck it's goal. Then things went blurry. Another blow sent him drifting into blackness.
Jake knew even before he'd woken up who that was. He could hear Rheith's voice muttering in his head, and he could feel his head ringing as if it was a bell.
Tobias! Rheith hissed. You saw, didn't you, you pathetic human? You saw who that was! Who was it? Tell me who it was!
Tobias, Jake agreed. He was waking up more, now. Enough to know he was tied to both feet and hands with an "unbreakable" force field rope. Morphing wouldn't get him out this time.
Not that Jake himself had any intentions of getting away. He was more worried about what Rheith thought. Rheith was in charge, whatever Jake thought of it.
I know his Yeerk. Kelrok one-nine-two, Sub-Visser Six. Kelrok would never let go of a host like that once he's got his hands on him. So it's still Kelrok, Rheith reasoned. Jake could feel anger steaming from the Yeerk. Kelrok! How dare he!
He was in a transport. In the luggage room of a transport. It was dark, but Jake had been in enough Yeerk transports to know one. They had a special smell about them; especially when there was an old Yeerk pool there.
We're trapped, Jake said. He knew Rheith was tugging at the force-ropes. But Jake laughed joylessly. We're trapped! I'm trapped!
Then the lights were turned on.
"Hey. You awake yet?" Tobias - Kelrok - walked into sight. He held an aimed dracon gun. He gave Jake one look, and Rheith twisted Jake's head around to meet his gaze. Tobias sighed.
"I almost thought I'd hit you too hard. I'm not too strong, but a metal glove aimed properly tends to knock people out." He smiled. "Don't try anything. I know you're not yourself. Hang on in there."
"Traitor!" Reith called. "Don't you know who I am? I'll have you starved for this!"
"No," Tobias replied. "No. No, Yeerk. That's where you're wrong. I'm not Kelrok any longer. I'm not a Controller at all. I'm free." Another smile. "And you will be, too, Jake. Soon."
Tobias walked out again, and turned the lights of on his way out.
He's going to starve me out, Rheith hissed. He plans to starve me. ME! Doesn't that fool know who I am!? I'm Visser Four! He can't do this to me!
Yes, he can, Jake replied. For the first time in a very long time, he felt hope. HOPE. It seemed so foreign and so odd that it made him giddy. He can.
Shut up! Rheith commanded.
Not this time, Jake sneered. This time, you've lost your advantage. Read a few of my memories. You're so good at it. Remember what happened to Temrash one-one-four… of the Sulp Niar pool. He was in my head. If Tobias and the others could starve him out, Tobias can starve you out.
Reith growled. Then he brought out the painful memories from deep inside Jake's head and played them over and over again until long after Jake had started screaming and begging for him to stop.
"We're heading to the Andalite hide-out," Tobias said, later that day when he brought in water and what food the spacecraft offered. He didn't untie Jake's hands, so fed him it piece by piece. Rheith had tried refusing to eat, but only to find that refusing to do anything is hard when you're tied up. "Rumour says that that's where Marco is."
"Marco?" Rheith made Jake chuckle. Then some water got stuck in his throat and the chuckle turned into a cough. "Marco is dead! He's lost in combat."
"He was captured by the Andalites," Tobias corrected. "I was there. They might have killed him. Or they might have starved the filthy Yeerk out. People claim to have seen him among the Andalite fighters. We can only hope."
"Hope is pitiful."
"Not when it's all you've got."
At the end of the second day, Tobias stormed into the room. "He's still there? Yeah, I guess. I'm holding you for a full three days to make sure."
"You… can't do this to me," Rheith said with Jake's voice.
"Can so," Tobias snapped. "Shut up, slug. Listen, Jake; I don't have any time to wait until this creep in your head is dead. We're almost there. So I'm telling you my little story now. I've escaped, as you could've guessed."
Tobias sat down in front of Jake. He still held the dracon aimed. "I… just took control. I don't know how."
"Impossible!"
"I know. I was half aware. Dizzy. Kelrok had put me in that state; he did that now and then. Then my dad… Elfangor… came. It was like that time I was caught long ago. With the Anti-Morphing Ray, you know. That time Elfangor came, as well. Ax called it some type of genetic memory. An Utzum. Elfangor was just there… in my mind. The Yeerk saw it all. He freaked. And Elfangor told me to be strong, and then I took control. I forced the Yeerk out."
Rheith shook Jake's head in disbelief. Shook it wildly. "No… it's impossible! Impossible! Impossible!"
"I thought so too," Tobias said. "But here I am - free. It's amazing, after all this time. Anyway. A few minutes before my dad arrived to help me - however that happened - I got a message. I was monitoring an old Andalite frequency. One they use often. Me and this Taxxon pilot in a camo-bugfighter. Near that planet where the remaining free Andalites are hiding. That's when a really interesting thing arrived. A Hirac Delest."
"A what?" Rheith muttered.
"I don't know, exactly, what it is. But it's Elfangor's Hirac Delest. And Jake… it reveals where the Time Matrix is. It's on Earth. We can go back, Jake! We can change it all!"
Jake felt as if he was floating. Time Matrix. Go back. Change. Maybe win the war. Maybe avoid the Yeerk victory.
Let Cassie live.
If he went back, Cassie would live. If he went back, he could change things so that he never had killed her.
Alive.
Cassie. Alive. All that mattered.
Yes: Floating. That was it. Relief jumbled with happiness inside him. Both were foreign, unfamiliar feelings.
Hate to burst your bubble, human, Rheith hissed. But let me remind you of one thing. The Time Matrix is on Earth. Remember who controls Earth…
Jake felt as if he'd fallen from a cliff and, after flying freely through soft air, suddenly hit the ground. And the ground was not soft. Yeerks.
Yes, Rheith laughed. And my best friend. The glorious, wonderful, first Andalite-Controller. Visser One.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note;
Well, that was it. Or not. I'm continuing to write on this; I've got a few ideas, but I have so many ideas nowadays that I won't bother finishing it unless you readers out there want me to. So send in a review or mail me and tell me to put up some more of it...
(Author's Note; kind of a sequel to "The Only Way Out." Not as tragic. You CAN read it freely, but I suggest you read "The Only Way Out" first...)
What do you think? Rheith, also known as Visser Four, asked. Is it a good plan?
Jake refused to answer. But Rheith read his mind and laughed when he found that the plan was "faultless".
It can't fail, Reith agreed, self-amused. Can it?
Jake didn't reply. He had long since stopped acknowledging the Yeerk's presence. And he wasn't about to start. Only…
Answer me, human! You know the price for ignoring me!
Jake knew. He knew very well. Rheith had an ugly habit of replaying the worst moments of Jake's life. The defeat. The first time he got infested. The time… the time he killed Cassie.
For her own good. Yeah, Jake thought. For her own good. He had to keep on to that belief, or he'll loose whatever Rheith hadn't already stolen of his mind.
Pitiless slug! he said weakly. No. It… can't fail.
Rheith laughed. He muttered something about pathetic human, and started speaking to the Hork-Bajir. Giving out orders. Jake felt repulsed every time he heard his own voice, because he knew it wasn't his. He felt weak and helpless to know that the voice would never be his again.
"And I don't want to hear about any failures!" Rheith finished. "Whoever -"
But Rheith stopped speaking suddenly. He saw the astonished faces of the Purple-Banded Hork-Bajir, saw one of them burst into nothingness as a dracon was fired, and spun around.
"Too late," a familiar voice hissed. The owner pulled back a iron-gloved fist and aimed.
Jake saw with terror-mixed happiness when the fist struck it's goal. Then things went blurry. Another blow sent him drifting into blackness.
Jake knew even before he'd woken up who that was. He could hear Rheith's voice muttering in his head, and he could feel his head ringing as if it was a bell.
Tobias! Rheith hissed. You saw, didn't you, you pathetic human? You saw who that was! Who was it? Tell me who it was!
Tobias, Jake agreed. He was waking up more, now. Enough to know he was tied to both feet and hands with an "unbreakable" force field rope. Morphing wouldn't get him out this time.
Not that Jake himself had any intentions of getting away. He was more worried about what Rheith thought. Rheith was in charge, whatever Jake thought of it.
I know his Yeerk. Kelrok one-nine-two, Sub-Visser Six. Kelrok would never let go of a host like that once he's got his hands on him. So it's still Kelrok, Rheith reasoned. Jake could feel anger steaming from the Yeerk. Kelrok! How dare he!
He was in a transport. In the luggage room of a transport. It was dark, but Jake had been in enough Yeerk transports to know one. They had a special smell about them; especially when there was an old Yeerk pool there.
We're trapped, Jake said. He knew Rheith was tugging at the force-ropes. But Jake laughed joylessly. We're trapped! I'm trapped!
Then the lights were turned on.
"Hey. You awake yet?" Tobias - Kelrok - walked into sight. He held an aimed dracon gun. He gave Jake one look, and Rheith twisted Jake's head around to meet his gaze. Tobias sighed.
"I almost thought I'd hit you too hard. I'm not too strong, but a metal glove aimed properly tends to knock people out." He smiled. "Don't try anything. I know you're not yourself. Hang on in there."
"Traitor!" Reith called. "Don't you know who I am? I'll have you starved for this!"
"No," Tobias replied. "No. No, Yeerk. That's where you're wrong. I'm not Kelrok any longer. I'm not a Controller at all. I'm free." Another smile. "And you will be, too, Jake. Soon."
Tobias walked out again, and turned the lights of on his way out.
He's going to starve me out, Rheith hissed. He plans to starve me. ME! Doesn't that fool know who I am!? I'm Visser Four! He can't do this to me!
Yes, he can, Jake replied. For the first time in a very long time, he felt hope. HOPE. It seemed so foreign and so odd that it made him giddy. He can.
Shut up! Rheith commanded.
Not this time, Jake sneered. This time, you've lost your advantage. Read a few of my memories. You're so good at it. Remember what happened to Temrash one-one-four… of the Sulp Niar pool. He was in my head. If Tobias and the others could starve him out, Tobias can starve you out.
Reith growled. Then he brought out the painful memories from deep inside Jake's head and played them over and over again until long after Jake had started screaming and begging for him to stop.
"We're heading to the Andalite hide-out," Tobias said, later that day when he brought in water and what food the spacecraft offered. He didn't untie Jake's hands, so fed him it piece by piece. Rheith had tried refusing to eat, but only to find that refusing to do anything is hard when you're tied up. "Rumour says that that's where Marco is."
"Marco?" Rheith made Jake chuckle. Then some water got stuck in his throat and the chuckle turned into a cough. "Marco is dead! He's lost in combat."
"He was captured by the Andalites," Tobias corrected. "I was there. They might have killed him. Or they might have starved the filthy Yeerk out. People claim to have seen him among the Andalite fighters. We can only hope."
"Hope is pitiful."
"Not when it's all you've got."
At the end of the second day, Tobias stormed into the room. "He's still there? Yeah, I guess. I'm holding you for a full three days to make sure."
"You… can't do this to me," Rheith said with Jake's voice.
"Can so," Tobias snapped. "Shut up, slug. Listen, Jake; I don't have any time to wait until this creep in your head is dead. We're almost there. So I'm telling you my little story now. I've escaped, as you could've guessed."
Tobias sat down in front of Jake. He still held the dracon aimed. "I… just took control. I don't know how."
"Impossible!"
"I know. I was half aware. Dizzy. Kelrok had put me in that state; he did that now and then. Then my dad… Elfangor… came. It was like that time I was caught long ago. With the Anti-Morphing Ray, you know. That time Elfangor came, as well. Ax called it some type of genetic memory. An Utzum. Elfangor was just there… in my mind. The Yeerk saw it all. He freaked. And Elfangor told me to be strong, and then I took control. I forced the Yeerk out."
Rheith shook Jake's head in disbelief. Shook it wildly. "No… it's impossible! Impossible! Impossible!"
"I thought so too," Tobias said. "But here I am - free. It's amazing, after all this time. Anyway. A few minutes before my dad arrived to help me - however that happened - I got a message. I was monitoring an old Andalite frequency. One they use often. Me and this Taxxon pilot in a camo-bugfighter. Near that planet where the remaining free Andalites are hiding. That's when a really interesting thing arrived. A Hirac Delest."
"A what?" Rheith muttered.
"I don't know, exactly, what it is. But it's Elfangor's Hirac Delest. And Jake… it reveals where the Time Matrix is. It's on Earth. We can go back, Jake! We can change it all!"
Jake felt as if he was floating. Time Matrix. Go back. Change. Maybe win the war. Maybe avoid the Yeerk victory.
Let Cassie live.
If he went back, Cassie would live. If he went back, he could change things so that he never had killed her.
Alive.
Cassie. Alive. All that mattered.
Yes: Floating. That was it. Relief jumbled with happiness inside him. Both were foreign, unfamiliar feelings.
Hate to burst your bubble, human, Rheith hissed. But let me remind you of one thing. The Time Matrix is on Earth. Remember who controls Earth…
Jake felt as if he'd fallen from a cliff and, after flying freely through soft air, suddenly hit the ground. And the ground was not soft. Yeerks.
Yes, Rheith laughed. And my best friend. The glorious, wonderful, first Andalite-Controller. Visser One.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Author's note;
Well, that was it. Or not. I'm continuing to write on this; I've got a few ideas, but I have so many ideas nowadays that I won't bother finishing it unless you readers out there want me to. So send in a review or mail me and tell me to put up some more of it...
