Title: Something Else or Not?
Rating: PG for typically disturbing Yeerk images.
Summary: One of the Animorphs is born as a Yeerk.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Animorphs or anything related to them, I would buy myself a nice big house. And cars. And I would write Animorphs stories all day long. And I would get New Line to make a really, really good Animorphs movie. I'd probably have PJ direct it, too. With good, CG aliens, not guys in plastic suits. I would also sign books and have adoring fans everywhere aspiring to be me. Oh ... but I don't own Animorphs. KAA does. We're clear on that, right? Good. On with the show.
.
.
.
.
Prologue:
.
.
.
.
.
What if I had been born a Yeerk?
I mean, there's not really a good reason why I should have been born human. I guess it comes down to what "I" am. Am I a soul, that would have been quintessentially me even if I were a Yeerk? Or am I just a product of my experiences? Am I a combination of my upbringing, my education, my friends, my secrets, and my accomplishments? Am I who I am because I am an Animorph, or because on a deeper level, I am myself? What makes a person who they are?
INTERESTING QUESTION. The voice was voiceless. It was like an epiphany in my brain. Like I had just figured out that two plus two equals four for the first time. It was the "voice" of a superdimensional being.
I know. I've met a few in my time. And I can tell you one thing. It's not good when your mind starts wandering and superdimensional beings listen in.
I looked upward. Ellimist? I asked silently.
NO.
My pulse raced. Crayak?
NO.
Who are you?
ANOTHER INTERESTING QUESTION. BUT IT'S MORE INTERESTING WHO YOU ARE.
I'm just tired, I protested. Don't...
.
.
.
SOMETHING ELSE, OR NOT?
-----------------------------------------
By The Drode
.
.
.
My name is Elash 562, of the Sunim Nus pool. And I don't know why I was assigned to Earth. My rank is quite low, and I'm not suited to combat situations. In fact, I've never performed particularly well in any field. Biology vaguely interests me, but the Empire isn't looking for scientists these days. It's looking for soldiers.
I reiterate: Why was I on Earth?
My best guess was that the Empire was just shipping all available Yeerks to the planet. Apparently, there were an abundant number of hosts on the planet - enough for my entire species to make use of, and still have over a quarter of the population untouched. Humans were supposed to be our greatest weapons against the Andalites, by force of sheer numbers.
I made the entire trip hostless. In a cramped pool with a stale kandrona, trying not to go out of my mind with the insane boredom. Waiting in line for days on end for fifteen minutes with the virtual eyes. Stick your palps into the slots and "see" for a moment or two. It's almost as good as the real thing. Well, it's supposed to be. But I'd take even a Gedd's eyes over that thing.
At least you get three days in a Gedd.
After who knows how long of motionless stagnation, a current altered the flow of the pool. I slapped palps around me. {What?} I asked, in the limited vernacular of palp communication.
{Earth,} came the reply from all around me.
We were here. I would finally get to see it with my own eyes.
So to speak.
But after that initial change in current, a second change in temperature, then a third change in the taste of the water as we were transferred to a larger pool, there was nothing. I discovered that we were, in fact on Earth. But a fat lot of good it did me. I was still in a pool. Still blind. Still waiting. Waiting for my very first human host.
At last, the palps brought the message I had been waiting so long for. {Elash 562. Pier Eight.}
That was all the information I needed. I stretched, scrunched, and squeezed my way through the water to the pier. My time had come. At last I would have a human of my very own. I had heard their senses were excellent - especially vision and taste. My two favorites.
Pier Eight. I rubbed against the nub, alerting the guard that I had arrived. A violent surge in the water, as air bubbles disturbed my weak sonar. That would be the head of the host being thrust under the surface. I reached out, and made contact with the ear. It was a good ear. On the smaller side, but very exciting. I scooted forward, secreting a generous dose of painkiller. I didn't particularly want to hurt the host. I wriggled, squirmed, and forced my way through the ear canal. I had trained in some simulators before coming to Earth, so I had a good idea of what the passage would be like. I reached the ear drum, and noted with interest that no hole had yet been bored to access the brain. I was getting a fresh host. This was both exciting and unpleasant. Exciting, because this would be a mind that had not yet been tapped and broken by my people. My first unconditioned host. Unpleasant, because this would be a mind that had not yet been tapped and broken by my people.
Yes, I know I just repeated myself. It was intentional.
Then I touched the brain.
I am not even going to try and describe that experience. You cannot comprehend it unless you yourself have been there. The best analogy I can come up with is coming out from a dark and musty cave into one of Earth's rain forests. Going from the dark, confined nothingness into the utter vibrance and brilliance, with too much to take in and a feeling of intoxicating unfamiliarity and danger in every crevice of the brain.
I was so concerned with consuming as much of the senses as possible that I almost didn't pay attention to the identity of the host. It wasn't until I had played back every major sensation-oriented memory I could find that I realized she was screaming at me. She wanted me to get out of her head.
Well, she would just have to learn to deal with the fact that I was in charge. I was the Yeerk, and she was just some little human girl named Jordan.
Rating: PG for typically disturbing Yeerk images.
Summary: One of the Animorphs is born as a Yeerk.
Disclaimer: If I owned the Animorphs or anything related to them, I would buy myself a nice big house. And cars. And I would write Animorphs stories all day long. And I would get New Line to make a really, really good Animorphs movie. I'd probably have PJ direct it, too. With good, CG aliens, not guys in plastic suits. I would also sign books and have adoring fans everywhere aspiring to be me. Oh ... but I don't own Animorphs. KAA does. We're clear on that, right? Good. On with the show.
.
.
.
.
Prologue:
.
.
.
.
.
What if I had been born a Yeerk?
I mean, there's not really a good reason why I should have been born human. I guess it comes down to what "I" am. Am I a soul, that would have been quintessentially me even if I were a Yeerk? Or am I just a product of my experiences? Am I a combination of my upbringing, my education, my friends, my secrets, and my accomplishments? Am I who I am because I am an Animorph, or because on a deeper level, I am myself? What makes a person who they are?
INTERESTING QUESTION. The voice was voiceless. It was like an epiphany in my brain. Like I had just figured out that two plus two equals four for the first time. It was the "voice" of a superdimensional being.
I know. I've met a few in my time. And I can tell you one thing. It's not good when your mind starts wandering and superdimensional beings listen in.
I looked upward. Ellimist? I asked silently.
NO.
My pulse raced. Crayak?
NO.
Who are you?
ANOTHER INTERESTING QUESTION. BUT IT'S MORE INTERESTING WHO YOU ARE.
I'm just tired, I protested. Don't...
.
.
.
SOMETHING ELSE, OR NOT?
-----------------------------------------
By The Drode
.
.
.
My name is Elash 562, of the Sunim Nus pool. And I don't know why I was assigned to Earth. My rank is quite low, and I'm not suited to combat situations. In fact, I've never performed particularly well in any field. Biology vaguely interests me, but the Empire isn't looking for scientists these days. It's looking for soldiers.
I reiterate: Why was I on Earth?
My best guess was that the Empire was just shipping all available Yeerks to the planet. Apparently, there were an abundant number of hosts on the planet - enough for my entire species to make use of, and still have over a quarter of the population untouched. Humans were supposed to be our greatest weapons against the Andalites, by force of sheer numbers.
I made the entire trip hostless. In a cramped pool with a stale kandrona, trying not to go out of my mind with the insane boredom. Waiting in line for days on end for fifteen minutes with the virtual eyes. Stick your palps into the slots and "see" for a moment or two. It's almost as good as the real thing. Well, it's supposed to be. But I'd take even a Gedd's eyes over that thing.
At least you get three days in a Gedd.
After who knows how long of motionless stagnation, a current altered the flow of the pool. I slapped palps around me. {What?} I asked, in the limited vernacular of palp communication.
{Earth,} came the reply from all around me.
We were here. I would finally get to see it with my own eyes.
So to speak.
But after that initial change in current, a second change in temperature, then a third change in the taste of the water as we were transferred to a larger pool, there was nothing. I discovered that we were, in fact on Earth. But a fat lot of good it did me. I was still in a pool. Still blind. Still waiting. Waiting for my very first human host.
At last, the palps brought the message I had been waiting so long for. {Elash 562. Pier Eight.}
That was all the information I needed. I stretched, scrunched, and squeezed my way through the water to the pier. My time had come. At last I would have a human of my very own. I had heard their senses were excellent - especially vision and taste. My two favorites.
Pier Eight. I rubbed against the nub, alerting the guard that I had arrived. A violent surge in the water, as air bubbles disturbed my weak sonar. That would be the head of the host being thrust under the surface. I reached out, and made contact with the ear. It was a good ear. On the smaller side, but very exciting. I scooted forward, secreting a generous dose of painkiller. I didn't particularly want to hurt the host. I wriggled, squirmed, and forced my way through the ear canal. I had trained in some simulators before coming to Earth, so I had a good idea of what the passage would be like. I reached the ear drum, and noted with interest that no hole had yet been bored to access the brain. I was getting a fresh host. This was both exciting and unpleasant. Exciting, because this would be a mind that had not yet been tapped and broken by my people. My first unconditioned host. Unpleasant, because this would be a mind that had not yet been tapped and broken by my people.
Yes, I know I just repeated myself. It was intentional.
Then I touched the brain.
I am not even going to try and describe that experience. You cannot comprehend it unless you yourself have been there. The best analogy I can come up with is coming out from a dark and musty cave into one of Earth's rain forests. Going from the dark, confined nothingness into the utter vibrance and brilliance, with too much to take in and a feeling of intoxicating unfamiliarity and danger in every crevice of the brain.
I was so concerned with consuming as much of the senses as possible that I almost didn't pay attention to the identity of the host. It wasn't until I had played back every major sensation-oriented memory I could find that I realized she was screaming at me. She wanted me to get out of her head.
Well, she would just have to learn to deal with the fact that I was in charge. I was the Yeerk, and she was just some little human girl named Jordan.