Controller
by Sinister Shadow
(I don't own Animorphs)
Chapter Nine
FIVE EARTH YEARS LATER
Earth date: 1989
Andalite date: 8564.8
Yeerk date: Generation 687, early cycle, year 2125.4
Orifix
I can still remember that day now. The day where I was reunited once more with my two Yeerk friends. How we had been happy to see each other (with the exception of Edriss, of course, who was quite happy to hear us)!
That was one of those days, a day with a rare, beautiful sun going down on the usually stormy Yeerk Homeworld. It was like the sun came out just for us, shining with all its might.
Yes, that day was just one of those days you realize that for just those few moments, those few small, short moments, you have not a care in the world...
It was one of those days that I'll never forget.
And then, like the stars zooming by when you're on a spacecraft, two point five Yeerk years (or five Earth years) passed. We were still at Mitar base. All of us.
Kitek, Essam, Anati and the rest of Tehlit's crew were all safe and sound. They had organized a party for the three of us the day after Tehlit returned.
But now, life was basically back to normal.
And I liked it.
I was eleven Earth years old now. Or five point five Yeerk years. I was still a child by Yeerk standards, as the age of adulthood begins at seven point five years (fifteen Earth years old). But I had matured a lot.
And my host, Oketo, had grown bigger and stronger- although not much smarter- and he was also older.
( You stay here forever? ) he asked me one day.
( Probably, why? )
( Because if you here, I not be controlled by other Yeerk. ) he replied. ( You nice Yeerk. Edriss nice Yeerk. Oketo think Vec like Edriss. )
( Yeah? Well, you're nice, for a host. ) I said, ( I've heard some Hork-Bajir and Taxxons yell at their Yeerks and threaten them. I'm glad you're not one of those. )
( Orifix friend, ) Oketo simply answered.
I smiled. I couldn't help it. It's nice to know that even your host likes you...
Oketo and I talked a lot. We still do, even now. But more back then, when the only thing to do was live...
I spent most of my free time in my room. The beautiful room at Mitar base, with its hologrammed night sky and great dark blue walls. It was the room I had been given, here at the base. And it was all mine!
Edriss came to visit me a lot. She was lonely all the time. I felt sad for her because she was always sad. She felt left out with the other females because she was blind and they weren't. So I kept her company.
Tehlit did also, but some things did change... Tehlit was thirteen Earth years old now. He was always gone to training. Not Sub-Visser training, just training to fight, and to obey orders if he had to.
Edriss and I, children still, didn't have to worry about that yet. And Edriss would probably never have to worry about it.
I would, though. It scared me a little. I'd have given anything to switch places with her sometimes...
And that... that one thought... was what gave me the greatest idea I ever had.
" Okay, Edriss, that's it..." I said, " A bit more to the left."
It was the next day. Edriss had come to visit me, like usual. We were sitting on my bed, silent. Well, for a while at least. Until I told her my idea.
She moved left... moved closer, closer to me, until our ears touched.
I had double-locked the door. Closed the window. Placed a hologram over the window and the door frame, both making it seem like the lights were off and that I was soundly sleeping on my bed.
" Am I here?" asked Edriss. Then, she added, guilt in her voice, though her face wasn't showing it, " You know... You really don't have to do this, Orifix..."
" I want to," I replied simply. " You're there."
" Okay, here goes, then."
I knew she was going along with the plan. This was what she wanted more than anything. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of this before!
I started moving. Moving out.
( Take care of her, ) I told Oketo.
Then, I slithered out of my free ear. I landed with a soft thud on my bed. And... and there was no liquid! No water!
My Yeerk instincts were in a panic. I needed water... Needed to breathe... Help!
Help! Help me, Edriss! Oketo! Anybody!
It was like she heard me. I knew she was in there already. And, even though I couldn't hear it, I knew she was screaming of joy.
She picked me up. Or at least I hoped it was her... She lifted me into the air.
Suddenly, I felt an opening. I squirmed inside, my Yeerk mind in a state of emergency...
After what seemed like crawling forever, I finally emerged into an electric space.
The brain.
Vec's brain.
That's right. Edriss and I had swapped hosts. We had agreed to stay in each other's host bodies for one feeding cycle, three days. That was because we couldn't keep up the act for more time than that.
If we were in each other's hosts, I'd have to pretend to be her... And she'd have to pretend to be me.
And if we went to feed coming out of each other's hosts, we'd be discovered. This whole idea would have to proceed in complete secret.
So I proceeded quickly into the young Hork-Bajir's mind quickly, hoping no one would find their way into this room.
I slowly opened my control over Vec. Opened the senses. This Hork-Bajir had unusually good hearing! I heard my - no, Edriss's - voice.
" Orifix? Are you inside? Can you hear me?" I could hear the shrill excitement in her voice as she spoke.
I could notice sounds I could never have noticed, should I still have been in Oketo's body.
I moved Vec's hands. Moved her legs. She did not have an extraordinary sense of smell. No Hork-Bajir does.
But the touch... Yes, the sense of touch was fabulous. I could identify objects and people simply by touching them. Could feel where I was by the temperature, texture and height/length of things. It was absolutely fantastic!
I guess those great senses made up for the loss of sight.
I opened Vec's eyes last. Nothing. Only blackness everywhere.
I decided to test Vec's ability to walk. I stepped forward on smaller legs than I was used to. Crashed into a low-floating table.
" Hah!" Edriss laughed sweetly, " Now do you see what I live every day?"
It was strange to hear her speaking in my voice. And equally as strange to hear myself speaking in this voice. This voice I always recognized as hers...
" Yes," I replied, " It isn't pleasant..."
Suddenly, I heard Edriss moving nearby. Her front horns touched mine briefly,
then she pulled away.
( Hork-Bajir kiss, ) Vec said, knowing my confusion.
" Thanks, Orifix." said Edriss in an uncharacteristically soft voice, " Thank you for doing this for me."
" You're welcome!" I replied, almost falling over in surprise. Edriss had just kissed me! I mean, it was a Hork-Bajir kiss, but still! Would I be okay? " I... I have long dreamt of doing this... Swapping hosts, I mean... Eu... Look, Edriss... you're... as to say, you are... eum..." I dropped it with a sigh. " Very, very welcome."
She was speechless for a moment.
" Yes, well... I sort of figured I was welcome the first time you said it," she finally said. Then she laughed.
I felt my face flush. For a moment I wished I were still in my old body, so that Edriss couldn't see me blushing.
... What sort of rotten excuse for an Andalite was I? I mean, what in the universe did I intend to accomplish by babbling like some... Hork-Bajir...?
Sorry, Vec and Oketo.
I was ashamed of my behavior lately. Very un-Andalite. Couldn't even talk straight, and to a Yeerk, of all creatures!
Edriss is more than just a Yeerk, Orifix, and you know it! I reminded myself. And so is Tehlit. And Anati and Essam. They are your friends! They saved your life! You would be dead without all of them. What would happen if they died? You would be sad, Orifix. Admit it.
And I did admit it. Somewhere deep down, I really, truly did. And I also admitted now that not only my body had permanently turned into a Yeerk.
A part of my soul would always be Andalite. But, just as surely, another part would always be Yeerk.
" You must be kidding me with this!" Tehlit whispered from over the table. " Okay, Edriss, enough fooling around. I know that's you in there."
" It isn't! It's me, Tehlit! Orifix!" I begged him to believe me.
" No way. There is no -"
" Oh, hi Tehlit!" Edriss ran, with my body, over to our table. Once she arrived, she added, more quietly: " Hi, Orifix!"
We were sitting, all three of us now, at our usual table in the Hork-Bajir cafeteria at the base. Even after two point five Yeerk years, the place had not drastically changed. It was still the same, big circular room, with a bunch of circular floating tables and five adjustable floating chairs at every table. Through the ceiling of the cafeteria, you could see the sky. Today, Edriss gladly took the job of telling me it was dark and cloudy. The usual, when you live on the Yeerk Homeworld.
All around, Hork-Bajir-Controllers chatted while eating. So we could be very sure no one would be paying any attention to our conversation.
Also sitting at the table, right beside Tehlit, sat Kitek Eight-Nine-Three, a female Yeerk who is sort of Tehlit's partner. But now, the two had become more than just partners. It seemed that, over time, Tehlit had developped a certain affection for Kitek. The two of them gave each other Hork-Bajir kisses all the time. Their kisses lasted quite long. But that was a normal thing for them to do now.
My whole life as a Yeerk, I never imagined I would be getting a Hork-Bajir kiss! Let alone from Edriss!
... Yes, you are very correct in assuming I still hadn't gotten over that.
" Well, I think they may be sincere," Kitek said, still a bit skeptical, " I mean, why would Edriss pretend to be Orifix? That just isn't like Edriss."
" No, that isn't like me at all!" exclaimed Edriss with my voice, " Now can we please drop it? Orifix and I swapped hosts. Period. Now! Tehlit, how was training? Commence at the beginning. Finish at the end."
I heard her set her elbows on the table. Felt her cupping her face in her hands, and knew she was staring attentively at Tehlit while chewing on a piece of bark.
Tehlit laughed. " Okay, okay, that does it... Now, I am absolutely certain that that is Edriss. Only Edriss actually wants to listen to stories about my training. And only Edriss says "commence"!"
I smiled, relieved that the two of them believed our story.
I picked up a small piece of bark and chewed it thoughtfully.
" So let me get this straightà " Kitek said, " You guys have switched hosts? For how long?"
" For three days," replied Edriss. " That's all we will be able to do. We cannot exit our current hosts to feed, because the Sub-Vissers and the others in charge of hosted Yeerks will recognize us. They will know we are not in our rightful host bodies."
" Very true." said Kitek.
" So," Tehlit leaned across the table to speak to Edriss in a lower tone. " How are you enjoying sight so far?"
Edriss sighed and relaxed her arms on the table. " It's wonderful," she said simply.
" It is the most wonderful thing in this universe. To have been deprived of it for so long! It seems like life was incomplete for all those years since, and before, the fifteen minutes I once had. It's too bad it has to end in three days... But I have three days! Three whole days! Not fifteen minutes. So it's great."
She stopped after that. I didn't hear a word from her for a long time after that. I suppose she was contemplating the world around her, amazed by its beauty.
That was exactly what I had done when I first got my host. Thanking all the lords in this universe that I could once again see...
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. Yes, Edriss and I would have to live each other's life. In other words, I would get to see (well, not really) how Edriss Five-Six-
Two lived each day. And Edriss would get to see how Orifix One-One-Four-Four lived each day. She'd be me. And I'd be her.
Somehow, that thought disturbed me...
" Hey, guys, what's going on around here?" a new voice said.
" Oh no!" I heard Edriss mutter.
And then, I immediately knew who this Yeerk had to be...
" What do you want, Essam?" asked a very annoyed Tehlit.
" I was bored with Akalis over in the common room, so I came here to see if you people were doing anything more interesting."
I heard a soft squish as Essam climbed into the last remaining chair of the table. He took a piece of bark from the stack we had and munched on it.
" Hey, Orifix," he said in a mock sad tone, addressing Edriss, of course. " Buddy! Aren't you glad to see me?"
" I'm not Orifix, you dimwit!" whispered Edriss icily. " I am Edriss. And, actually, I am quite glad to see you. Except for the fact that it's you."
" Edriss?" Essam coughed, almost choking on his bark. " But how -"
" Never mind how." Edriss said, " Tehlit! You have training tomorrow, right? I'm coming to watch!"
" But you... Edriss..." Tehlit sighed, then finally conceded. " Oh, alright. But don't even ask if you can participate!"
" No, please don't!" I added, " You may want to be a Visser, Edriss, but it doesn't interest me in the least! I don't want to be stuck going to those training sessions for a long, long time now..."
Please review if you want me to continue!