Chapter 4
"All right people. Quiet down now," Chapman said into the microphone with all the authoritativeness that one expects to hear in the voice of a Vice Principal. "What we have to say here is really important."
He waited as the milling crowd took their seats and settled in to listen. They quieted much more quickly than you'd expect a group of people to quiet down. There was a good reason for that.
"Good." Chapman nodded approvingly at the crowd. "As most of you know, we have something really big to tell you about. In fact, it's one of the biggest projects we've had so far." He was about to go on, then stopped suddenly at a glance from Taylor. "I could no doubt tell you all about it, but this isn't really my project. So instead, I'm going to hand the mic over to the Sub-Visser." He stepped back apologetically and took a seat on one of the chairs that were arranged in a line at the back of the stage.
Taylor then stepped up to the mic and gave the crowd a smile. It was almost a gruesome smile, not because she was ugly, she could almost have been a supermodel, but gruesome because of the coldness and evil that smile reflected.
"Well, I know that most of you don't have any clue about what I'm going to tell you. This project, like Chapman said, is going to be one of our biggest yet. We will need everyone's support and assistance.
"As those of you with teenage hosts or whose hosts have teenage children probably know, this town is in the process of building a new high school. It will be not only the high school for this town, but the children of other surrounding towns will attend this school as well, making it a multi-city high school serving thousands of students.
"What many do not know is that our own Visser 3 is a main contributor to the building. He has donated funds, and is in charge of construction. All those working on this building are, or will soon be made, our people."
She paused for effect and left many of us wondering why in the galaxy would the Visser have any interest in helping to build a high school. I got the feeling that Illarim had an idea; I could feel a sense of foreboding and dread hanging over him, but he would not tell me what he thought Taylor was going to say.
"When we first found out about the building of this high school, I was struck by an idea."
I couldn't help but wonder if her idea was actually the idea of some other lowly Yeerk, but she was taking the credit for it...
"A high school like this would be a prime opportunity to get many, many new hosts. Of course, it was tried with this school, rather unsuccessfully, but with a few necessary modifications to our plan it would be simple enough to make all of the students in the entire school hosts."
I inhaled sharply at this statement, then looked around nervously, afraid someone might have heard. Joey, who was sitting nearby, gave me a disapproving glance, but everyone else was waiting with baited breath to hear the rest of what Taylor was about to say and seemed not to have noticed.
"The plan is to construct a new pool to be located below the new school, as it will be too far away for us to merely extend the current pool. This new school, as mentioned before, will be a multi-city school. It will be located a few miles to the north of this town, and a new pool will be constructed beneath it. Work has already begun on the new pool, and our Taxxons are anything if not efficient. The construction is already progressing much more quickly than expected.
"The school should be completed this summer and students will begin attending when the next school year begins. The pool should be completed by then, and we will have thousands of new hosts."
"All right people. Quiet down now," Chapman said into the microphone with all the authoritativeness that one expects to hear in the voice of a Vice Principal. "What we have to say here is really important."
He waited as the milling crowd took their seats and settled in to listen. They quieted much more quickly than you'd expect a group of people to quiet down. There was a good reason for that.
"Good." Chapman nodded approvingly at the crowd. "As most of you know, we have something really big to tell you about. In fact, it's one of the biggest projects we've had so far." He was about to go on, then stopped suddenly at a glance from Taylor. "I could no doubt tell you all about it, but this isn't really my project. So instead, I'm going to hand the mic over to the Sub-Visser." He stepped back apologetically and took a seat on one of the chairs that were arranged in a line at the back of the stage.
Taylor then stepped up to the mic and gave the crowd a smile. It was almost a gruesome smile, not because she was ugly, she could almost have been a supermodel, but gruesome because of the coldness and evil that smile reflected.
"Well, I know that most of you don't have any clue about what I'm going to tell you. This project, like Chapman said, is going to be one of our biggest yet. We will need everyone's support and assistance.
"As those of you with teenage hosts or whose hosts have teenage children probably know, this town is in the process of building a new high school. It will be not only the high school for this town, but the children of other surrounding towns will attend this school as well, making it a multi-city high school serving thousands of students.
"What many do not know is that our own Visser 3 is a main contributor to the building. He has donated funds, and is in charge of construction. All those working on this building are, or will soon be made, our people."
She paused for effect and left many of us wondering why in the galaxy would the Visser have any interest in helping to build a high school. I got the feeling that Illarim had an idea; I could feel a sense of foreboding and dread hanging over him, but he would not tell me what he thought Taylor was going to say.
"When we first found out about the building of this high school, I was struck by an idea."
I couldn't help but wonder if her idea was actually the idea of some other lowly Yeerk, but she was taking the credit for it...
"A high school like this would be a prime opportunity to get many, many new hosts. Of course, it was tried with this school, rather unsuccessfully, but with a few necessary modifications to our plan it would be simple enough to make all of the students in the entire school hosts."
I inhaled sharply at this statement, then looked around nervously, afraid someone might have heard. Joey, who was sitting nearby, gave me a disapproving glance, but everyone else was waiting with baited breath to hear the rest of what Taylor was about to say and seemed not to have noticed.
"The plan is to construct a new pool to be located below the new school, as it will be too far away for us to merely extend the current pool. This new school, as mentioned before, will be a multi-city school. It will be located a few miles to the north of this town, and a new pool will be constructed beneath it. Work has already begun on the new pool, and our Taxxons are anything if not efficient. The construction is already progressing much more quickly than expected.
"The school should be completed this summer and students will begin attending when the next school year begins. The pool should be completed by then, and we will have thousands of new hosts."