Disclaimer: I don't own Animorphs, but I do own the original characters in this story. If you do read this...kindly review :)
"I'm a rollin' stone, all alone and lost
For a life of sin I have paid the cost
When I pass by all the people say
Just another guy on the Lost Highway."
-Lost Highway, Hank Williams Sr.
Begin Transmission 32551.02
Accessing Data Files…
Prompt: T-gl - - - - - - - - -
Prompt Accepted…Loading…
My name is Myitt 195.
And I am a Yeerk, if you didn't realize that from my name and designation.
I was born on my homeworld, in the pool we call Taon Yerralash, during the time of Peace between Andalite and Yeerk, the time before the Rebel Revolution.
An ironic title for the event.
I and my friends and siblings were taken from the only world we ever had known, and began our life anew as soldiers of the fledgling Yeerk Empire.
I am told that it is considered, among humans, to be a mark of conceitedness to write down one's life story. Some of you out there might expect this sort of thing from a Yeerk. Yet it is my hope that whoever reads this will understand something more about my people, and if nothing else walk away with the assurance that we are not all evil. We are not all representative of those who lead us.
And if you still think I'm conceited, I don't care.
What follows is the story of my life, the story of my brethren, and of how I came to Earth.
Yeerk Date: Generation 685, mid-cycle
Earth Date: 1966
It was night again. I could sense it. Whenever night fell, the acid rain came with it. I didn't mind the rain; it was all that I knew. Kandrona rays shone less strongly, reflected by Madra, the younger sibling, the life-giver—the moon of our homeworld. I was blind, in my natural state, of course. I had never had a host body. Civil law dictated that all Yeerks fresh from grubhood are to attend training, mainly to memorize geometry and the new written script born out of the Yeerk-Andalite alliance, and at the completion of training we were taught to infest.
I and the others my age had not yet finished, and I was anxious to leave my studies behind and experience the world beyond my home. It was wishful thinking, I knew, for a Yeerk as young as I. And I knew that far off above a sky I had never seen orbited a massive Andalite fleet. The Andalites had sent emissaries to my pool almost a Generation ago, but our remote location prompted few visits from these strange creatures.
They appeared to be a benevolent race, certainly very advanced, but also extremely arrogant. The most eminent mathematician in Taon Yerralash, Nastram 452, was barely given any notice by these aliens, who claimed to care about our society. Already there was a lot of mistrust. Dissatisfaction. The feeling that we were being talked down to. Seeds that would grow and send their roots deep into the hearts and minds of many people. Apparently the Andalite Prince Seerow at their main encampment believed differently, he realized what we had already accomplished as a people, but his crew hardly seemed to realize that the limits of our bodies did not parallel limits of the mind.
I swam, blind and helpless but content amidst the comforting warmth of the Kandrona, thinking mainly about my studies. My mind kept drifting, imagining what the new Andalite theorems and models of space flight would mean to our people. I delighted in the complexity of the new equations, and at how circular they were. It seemed the universe was full of circles, and my homeworld with its circular currents a microcosm of it. Those were times of great enlightenment among my people, and amidst the discontent there was a certain amount of gratitude to the Andalites for opening up new ways to apply what we had learned, and for allowing us to experience technologies that, even in our strongest Gedd bodies, would have taken another thousand years to develop.
Some saw a deeper truth in the new technology, and it marked the end of life as we knew it.
On that day so long ago I sought my brother Reven 599. If anyone could take my mind off of mathematics and politics for a little while it was him. Taon Yerralash, as most natural Yeerk pools, was an almost perfect circle pressed into the rich dark soil of our homeworld. With a diameter of what would equate to around 120 meters, and my own body being less than 17 centimeters, it took me some time. Yerralash was a middle-sized pool, with a population of approximately 4,000. My people are a genderless species, yet we become accustomed to one gender or another as we receive hosts. At the time we knew of such things but did not mentally identify with any one gender, and never had. However it is by force of habit that I refer to my siblings as "brother" and "sister" here.
I eventually found my brother through scent and sonar, loitering around one of the deep spots and conversing with, of all people, our sister Larin 141. She was quite the opposite of Reven, bold and confident, and she rarely cared for anyone but herself. Andalite bashing was her new favorite hobby. We spoke in Yeerkish, naturally—a language that is a complex series of ultrasonic squeaks in its most primal form--but the text will be in English for human convenience. If nothing else we Yeerks have extraordinary memory. I remember it as clearly as if I was there now, in a simpler time, with nothing but the sweetness of the homeworld in my skin and my siblings around, when my biggest worry was passing my training.
All around us, in the utter blackness, dozens of my people darted about their business. We were not bothered.
Reven! I said. Greetings, I am glad I found you. I've had a lot on my mind lately, it's no good to keep it all to myself.
And you expect me to entertain your jargon again, Myitt? He laughed, a pleasant series of clicks. I don't think so.
Your loss, khaf-brain, I muttered good-naturedly. And I don't think about training all the time.
You don't give yourself enough credit, little one, said Larin. Of course, I've been preparing constantly myself, old Nastram isn't easy on slacker grublings when the end of the cycle comes around.
No, I suppose he isn't, I admitted. Speaking of Nastram, do you think he's been granted audience with the Andalite scientists? You heard how excited he was about the similarities between loop theory and Andalite Harmonics.
Here we go again, Reven sighed.
I actually haven't bumped into him all day, not since yesterday's lesson, said Larin. It isn't like him to disappear, especially not this close to our infestation.
Maybe he's in Hett Simplat, it rained enough last night, said Reven. The Andalites are more numerous there.
Perhaps, I said. You don't suppose he got as far as Culat Hesh? Straight to Seerow himself? I would expect that from old Nastram. Tenacity.
The canals did not flood straight through to the third sector, otherwise we would have heard from Hesh during this morning's traffic, said Reven. I have a feeling something has happened to him.
What could possibly happen? Nastram's far too quick for a Vanarx, said Larin. She shivered, sending off erratic electrical impulses.
Don't speak of them at night, I said. I'm sure the old timer is fine.
A faint rumbling suddenly began, shaking the foundation of the pool.
What is that? It feels like a massive thunderclap, said Reven.
That's no thunderclap, I said, growing uneasy as the rumbling became stronger. Something is landing here. A ship, something large.
Around us our brother Yeerks were noticing the same thing we had. I heard someone I didn't recognize shouting angrily to someone else about an unscheduled landing as they darted past, his ultrasonic sentence hitting us at the same time.
The rumbling quieted, and there was a long stretch of silence. Nothing but the sound of the water swirling.
I swam downwards and pointed my palps up towards the surface, firing sonar. The familiar sense of the water surface was immediately apparent, but something felt very wrong.
Kandrona, whispered Larin. Do you feel that? It's very weak. What's happening?
I don't know, I said. I think something has—
There was a brain-aching thud and the grinding of something metal against the grit of soil. A different-toned rumbling began.
Has…, I continued, stunned, and admittedly afraid. It feels like the surface of the pool has been covered with something.
What? Why? Is it the Andalites? said Reven, and I "saw" him in broken, line-like etches turn upwards.
Before I could answer there was a deep rumble that spread like a large wave through the floor of the pool, and there was an immediate sensation of motion. The next thing that happened was the most incredible—we, not just myself and Reven and Larin, the entirety of our home pool was elevated upward dramatically. It felt like…in retrospect, what I would imagine being sucked up through a giant straw might feel like. It wasn't too far from the truth.
What is happening! shouted Larin from somewhere behind me. I couldn't answer. I heard nothing but rumbling until I felt a gentle downward gradient, and the bizarre sensation of air unexpectedly brushing past my palps. Whatever this thing was it was circular in shape, and confining.
I tumbled and fell into an open space. A pool! There was a sudden jolt as Kandrona began flooding my body once more.
I stretched my musculocytes and swam cautiously out into this new environment. I was firing sonar right at something flat and dull. It smelled…well, it didn't smell like much at all. I swam up to it, away from the deposition of the rest of my pool from the strange circle-tube, and felt around.
Metal, I muttered. What kind of pool is this?
Nothing like we're used to, said a voice. It was Reven, coming up from farther along the rim of this metal boundary.
There was an electronic chirr and suddenly an electronic message began broadcasting to the entire pool.
Do not be alarmed. You are safe, and aboard Number Three Ship of the Yeerk Rebellion. We have cast off the bonds of our planet and rebelled against the Andalite scum that oppress us. In your new home you shall find peace and prosperity as we, under the ordinance of the great and wise Council of Thirteen take our rightful place as travelers of the stars.