Chapter Thirty-One:
"In local news, the city is still talking about how the King Kong legend came alive last Tuesday. Three days ago, a giant, crazed gorilla named BoBo took a girl hostage and scaled a local water tower. His trainer, an unknown young person, was unable to calm him. When the gorilla had disappeared from sight, the crowd began to grow restless. A riot ensued, resulting in the destruction of the main water tower for the city. Authorities now conjecture that the disturbance was caused when environmentalist forces clashed with those who were advocating a violent end to the conflict.
"The identity of the kidnapped girl is still a mystery, as her face was concealed from the cameras by the ape. It is believed that both girl and gorilla were killed in the destruction of the tower, although no remains have been found at this point. The area is still cordoned off. Water is being carefully rationed, as the mayor has declared a citywide emergency until the free-flowing water is contained, and can be re-deposited into the water and sewage system.
"Further details on the King Kong Disaster at News at Noon. Thank you for joining us, I'm Michael Harrigan. Until next time."
"What," I chuckled. "He'll be somebody else next time?"
The six of us were in the Chee park - a sort of huge field underneath the city, full of dogs and flowers and sunshine. Cassie once described it as the Anti-Pool.
I like that description.
It had been our home for the past three days, as we made sure that we were all really Yeerk-free. Rachel's capture had scared us, and we were all eager to prove to each other that we were not infested.
Rachel's Yeerk had not died well.
We had spent the first day recovering from the "King Kong Disaster." We had spent the first half of the second day figuring out exactly what had happened.
"I was infested as soon as they got me in the truck," Cassie explained. We knew that she, at least, definitely was not a Controller any more. "The Yeerk made me morph cockroach when he figured out what you were doing. After he 'proved' that I wasn't a Controller, we were about to fly home. He . . . we morphed osprey, and he grabbed one of the surviving Yeerks in my bill. Carried it home. There, he hit Rachel as she was coming through a door, and infested her with his friend.
"The two Yeerks," she continued, "decided it would be better to present all of us as prisoners before Visser Three. More glory and honor. But Rachel's Yeerk changed her mind, and double-crossed mine. She promised she would take it feeding during her watch, and never did. She wanted the glory for herself."
I nodded, already knowing this. "But why did Rachel's Yeerk take her up to the tower?" I demanded.
"Ironically enough, she wanted to disarm the dracon cannons," Rachel said wryly. "She couldn't, since the access codes had been changed. But that was her goal."
Why?
"So that her prize "Andalite bandits" wouldn't get hurt when they stormed the tower."
"But," I objected, "there were a million things that could go wrong with their plan. Why not just take the safer and more certain route of reporting us early, even if it did mean a little less impressive of a display? Some accomplishment is better than none, right?"
"Well, Marco," Cassie said thoughtfully, "these weren't exactly the geniuses of the Empire. They were really just regular foot soldiers. They weren't supposed to get important hosts, just teenagers. They weren't supposed to have to think for themselves."
"They were grunts," Rachel interjected. "We almost got destroyed by the potato-peelers of the Yeerk army."
Since the water tower had been downed, and there was a citywide emergency, almost all business had been interrupted. One of those halted industries, Erek reported, was that of Driver's Ed. Somebody, he said, had gone into each Yeerk-affiliated office and deliberately rearranged, mixed, or erased half their files, then swapped out the other half with driving schools. The whole system was in total chaos.
Somebody. Well, I was just glad that burning paperwork didn't come under the Chee heading of violence.
The Chee had taken our places at home for the past three days. I was expecting some interesting conversations with my dad when I got home.
As it was, the time passed very pleasantly, if a little slowly. One of the Chee, who had helped build the first Model T, gave us the remainder of our driving lessons. With their holographic technology, they provided very, very scarily realistic driving practice for us.
Ignore Rachel's little jokes. I was bored with driving. That's why I got in those three accidents.
I lay on my back in my little circular cage. We had asked the Chee to create strong force fields around each of us, isolating us in case we were infested. I chewed a piece of grass thoughtfully.
"Jake," I said.
"Mmm?" He was half-asleep in his circle, a relaxed smile planted on his face.
"How do we know they won't just erect another one?"
He opened an eye. "Another water tower?"
"Another projector."
"I asked Erek the same thing. According to him, the technology was a prototype. Can't be duplicated without significant resources being dedicated to it."
"In other words, it'll cost a lot and take a long time before the Yeerks can ever try anything like this again."
"Right."
I looked around the circle of circles. Jake was mostly asleep. Ax was grazing - the Chee had rigged his circle to move so he could run over their grass. He commented that it was far better than most Earth grasses. Cassie was running towards us, clutching a Frisbee she had just extracted from some dog's mouth. She had a big grin on her face. So did the dog that was loping after her. Rachel and Tobias were talking quietly. Too quietly for me to hear them. Or tease them.
Too bad.
"Jake," I said.
"Yeah, Marco?"
I thought about the things I could say. I could tell him how I was sorry that I hadn't seen that Rachel was a Controller. I could tell him I hoped that the war would be over before the Yeerks tried this stunt again. I could tell him to loosen up around Cassie, to just admit his feelings and start dating like a normal human. I could talk to him about how fast to go through a right turn at a red light. I could ask him if he missed being at home.
"Think we can get a Nintendo down here?" I asked. "I think you deserve another shot at Mario Tennis. You were making some pretty bold claims about your abilities last Saturday."
The dog caught up with Cassie, and wrestled her playfully to the ground. Rachel laughed, apparently at something Tobias had said to her. Ax was standing, simply standing and breathing the clean air.
"We should see if we can get a racing game," Jake said. "It's as close as any of us will get to the driver's seat for a long, long time."
The End.
"In local news, the city is still talking about how the King Kong legend came alive last Tuesday. Three days ago, a giant, crazed gorilla named BoBo took a girl hostage and scaled a local water tower. His trainer, an unknown young person, was unable to calm him. When the gorilla had disappeared from sight, the crowd began to grow restless. A riot ensued, resulting in the destruction of the main water tower for the city. Authorities now conjecture that the disturbance was caused when environmentalist forces clashed with those who were advocating a violent end to the conflict.
"The identity of the kidnapped girl is still a mystery, as her face was concealed from the cameras by the ape. It is believed that both girl and gorilla were killed in the destruction of the tower, although no remains have been found at this point. The area is still cordoned off. Water is being carefully rationed, as the mayor has declared a citywide emergency until the free-flowing water is contained, and can be re-deposited into the water and sewage system.
"Further details on the King Kong Disaster at News at Noon. Thank you for joining us, I'm Michael Harrigan. Until next time."
"What," I chuckled. "He'll be somebody else next time?"
The six of us were in the Chee park - a sort of huge field underneath the city, full of dogs and flowers and sunshine. Cassie once described it as the Anti-Pool.
I like that description.
It had been our home for the past three days, as we made sure that we were all really Yeerk-free. Rachel's capture had scared us, and we were all eager to prove to each other that we were not infested.
Rachel's Yeerk had not died well.
We had spent the first day recovering from the "King Kong Disaster." We had spent the first half of the second day figuring out exactly what had happened.
"I was infested as soon as they got me in the truck," Cassie explained. We knew that she, at least, definitely was not a Controller any more. "The Yeerk made me morph cockroach when he figured out what you were doing. After he 'proved' that I wasn't a Controller, we were about to fly home. He . . . we morphed osprey, and he grabbed one of the surviving Yeerks in my bill. Carried it home. There, he hit Rachel as she was coming through a door, and infested her with his friend.
"The two Yeerks," she continued, "decided it would be better to present all of us as prisoners before Visser Three. More glory and honor. But Rachel's Yeerk changed her mind, and double-crossed mine. She promised she would take it feeding during her watch, and never did. She wanted the glory for herself."
I nodded, already knowing this. "But why did Rachel's Yeerk take her up to the tower?" I demanded.
"Ironically enough, she wanted to disarm the dracon cannons," Rachel said wryly. "She couldn't, since the access codes had been changed. But that was her goal."
Why?
"So that her prize "Andalite bandits" wouldn't get hurt when they stormed the tower."
"But," I objected, "there were a million things that could go wrong with their plan. Why not just take the safer and more certain route of reporting us early, even if it did mean a little less impressive of a display? Some accomplishment is better than none, right?"
"Well, Marco," Cassie said thoughtfully, "these weren't exactly the geniuses of the Empire. They were really just regular foot soldiers. They weren't supposed to get important hosts, just teenagers. They weren't supposed to have to think for themselves."
"They were grunts," Rachel interjected. "We almost got destroyed by the potato-peelers of the Yeerk army."
Since the water tower had been downed, and there was a citywide emergency, almost all business had been interrupted. One of those halted industries, Erek reported, was that of Driver's Ed. Somebody, he said, had gone into each Yeerk-affiliated office and deliberately rearranged, mixed, or erased half their files, then swapped out the other half with driving schools. The whole system was in total chaos.
Somebody. Well, I was just glad that burning paperwork didn't come under the Chee heading of violence.
The Chee had taken our places at home for the past three days. I was expecting some interesting conversations with my dad when I got home.
As it was, the time passed very pleasantly, if a little slowly. One of the Chee, who had helped build the first Model T, gave us the remainder of our driving lessons. With their holographic technology, they provided very, very scarily realistic driving practice for us.
Ignore Rachel's little jokes. I was bored with driving. That's why I got in those three accidents.
I lay on my back in my little circular cage. We had asked the Chee to create strong force fields around each of us, isolating us in case we were infested. I chewed a piece of grass thoughtfully.
"Jake," I said.
"Mmm?" He was half-asleep in his circle, a relaxed smile planted on his face.
"How do we know they won't just erect another one?"
He opened an eye. "Another water tower?"
"Another projector."
"I asked Erek the same thing. According to him, the technology was a prototype. Can't be duplicated without significant resources being dedicated to it."
"In other words, it'll cost a lot and take a long time before the Yeerks can ever try anything like this again."
"Right."
I looked around the circle of circles. Jake was mostly asleep. Ax was grazing - the Chee had rigged his circle to move so he could run over their grass. He commented that it was far better than most Earth grasses. Cassie was running towards us, clutching a Frisbee she had just extracted from some dog's mouth. She had a big grin on her face. So did the dog that was loping after her. Rachel and Tobias were talking quietly. Too quietly for me to hear them. Or tease them.
Too bad.
"Jake," I said.
"Yeah, Marco?"
I thought about the things I could say. I could tell him how I was sorry that I hadn't seen that Rachel was a Controller. I could tell him I hoped that the war would be over before the Yeerks tried this stunt again. I could tell him to loosen up around Cassie, to just admit his feelings and start dating like a normal human. I could talk to him about how fast to go through a right turn at a red light. I could ask him if he missed being at home.
"Think we can get a Nintendo down here?" I asked. "I think you deserve another shot at Mario Tennis. You were making some pretty bold claims about your abilities last Saturday."
The dog caught up with Cassie, and wrestled her playfully to the ground. Rachel laughed, apparently at something Tobias had said to her. Ax was standing, simply standing and breathing the clean air.
"We should see if we can get a racing game," Jake said. "It's as close as any of us will get to the driver's seat for a long, long time."
The End.