1Responses to reviewers: Probably just Jareth has this information, and he's currently hostless.

GenesisDragon: That would be too mean to do. :)

AllOrNone: Thanks. This is the final chapter.

Onto the final chapter...

The rest of the day went by fairly quickly, which was surprising but probably happened because I was nervous. Classes got out at 2:30, so I spent the following hour and a half in the library, doing my homework. At 3:55, I left the library and head outside.

I recognized the car fairly quickly from how Tidwell had described it. It was the only blue car in the parking lot.

He pulled up to the curve, slowed down, and honked. I opened the door to the back seat and put on my seatbelt.

We didn't say much during the whole trip. I guess there was nothing to say. At one point, I asked if he knew who my new Yeerk would be, but Tidwell said that he didn't know. Since I would be initiated into the Sharing that day, I would get some random Yeerk who was in between hosts. I was a little uncomfortable with how much chance went into the whole thing, I reasoned that my new Yeerk couldn't be worse than Jareth.

It was impossible.

Of course, if my new Yeerk was bad, there would be no escaping. Then again, the Yeerks probably would kill or infest me after a few days, anyway, so there didn't seem to be a better option.

We arrived at the Sharing around 4:30. A regular meeting was going on, so we needed to wait for that to end. After that was over, Tidwell took me to the Yeerk pool.

"You just need to put your ear in the pool and a Yeerk will take over," Tidwell explained. "The new Yeerk will pretend that he was your old one until your old one gets a new host."

I laughed. "Sounds a little confusing."

"It's just in front of some of the Yeerks in charge of infestation. Most Yeerks won't have any idea what happened."

"Okay."

I knelt down and put my ear to the pool. It occurred to me that I could pull the same stunt that I had pulled before, but the end result would still be the same.

A minute later, I felt something touch my ear. I started to feel pain, but then the Yeerk must have sprayed some kind of painkiller because then the pain deadened.

This was a good sign. Jareth hadn't used any kind of painkiller when he had first infested me.

I felt myself start to lose control of my body, but it was very slow and gradual. Almost gentle, if you could consider someone being gentle while they took over your body.

Hello? I asked after the Yeerk had connected.

Voluntary. Good, was the response. I hate involuntary Controllers.

I gave a mental nod.

I'm Ackbar 572, the Yeerk explained. What's your name?

Jason.

He began to sort through my memories. Not painfully, as Jareth had done on so many occasions. Just curiously.

Your first Yeerk was a real jerk, Ackbar told me. I'm glad you were able to escape him.

Will he be back? I wondered as he nodded to Tidwell and began to walk past the cages and past the Yeerk pool.

I'll make sure that he doesn't return, Ackbar promised. I'm glad that you realized that not all Yeerks are like that.

After him, any Yeerk would have been better, I explained. I didn't see how anything could be worse.

He probably is the worst type of Yeerk, Ackbar confirmed. We're not all like that. I'm a member of a group that prefers to take voluntary hosts, but most Yeerks would be alarmed by his behavior.

Maybe he got teased as a kid?

As a grub, you mean, Ackbar corrected, with a laugh. It's possible.

So, what are the rules? I asked. What can I expect?

Partial control, mainly in private but if you prove to need to perform your daily functions, then that can be arranged. No torture unless you are extremely unreasonable, but this shouldn't happen. I will look through your memories but you will be able to see mine as well.

This sounded more than reasonable.

Deal, I agreed.

Things were going to turn out okay after all.