Review Responses:

LOKid: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

Korean Pearl: Nice long review! You were right about the way Yeerks reproduce. They obviously die in the process. I would think that they might get one girlfriend/boyfriend before the other. That's just my interpretation, though! I'll probably be cutting back on the romance a bit later. I don't plan to include any reproduction (yeerk or otherwise) in this fic, so the romance is mainly just for fluff, and because I want to have a go at writing it! I would guess that Yeerks wouldn't exactly rush into reproduction if they were going to die, anyway. Thanks for giving me a long and rewarding review to read, anyway!

Author's note: I'm skipping a few months as I can't see the point of writing a long, boring load about a load of battles and boring duties. Plus I feel a bit safer on the grounds of a human, rather than alien, host. So this chappies when Aftran reflects on the battles and decides to volunteer for Karen. This has been re-drafted with Aftran and Jaolin's parting and a few slight changes to her conversation with Karen. Hope you enjoy it Anonymous-cat!

A little Disclaimer: I obvously do not own Animorphs, but also I do not own Karen's last name, Richards. Mersang owns that. Thanks very much Mersang, if you're reading this!

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It had been four months since my first battle in a Hork- Bajir. Leyan had not spoken to me since that conversation in my first three days as a guard. Yet he looked at me with hatred in his eyes, and I felt as though he was looking for any exscuse to have the Visser get me killed. I was probably just being paranoid, but it was easy to be after so many battles. In each one I felt guiltier than the last, and I just had to get out of being a Hork- Bajir.

So what were my other choices? Back to a Gedd? No thanks. A Taxxon, with eternal hunger and every minor injury putting me at risk from the other Taxxons? I didn't much fancy that option either. So my only other choice was a human. But they tended to be given to those higher up than me. When I first felt I had to leave, I thought that I would be waiting for years before I could get a human host.

However, my opportunity to get out of the war presented itself a lot sooner than I had hoped for. A young girl's curiosity had led her to investigate the full member's Sharing meeting when she had gone with a Controller friend. It had been a piece of very good luck. She was the daughter of the billionare Unibank president. Every plan tried had failed to get her father infested. She was the next best thing.

As soon as I could get away after hearing the news, I went straight to Sub- visser 19's command room to volunteer for the duty. As I was the first volunteer, he said I could infest the girl if no- one of Sub- Visser rank wanted the duty within the next two feeding cycles.

I waited for six agonising days for the news that my attempt to get out of fighting had been sucessful. Finally the news came, one hour before I was due to go into the pool to feed.

(Bye Aftran, I'll miss you.)

(I know, I'll miss you too, but I couldn't...)

(I understand. Maybe we'll meet again sometime?)

(Perhaps.) I slid out of Jaolin's ear and never went back.

For the entire feeding time, I had been swimming around in circles excitedly, driving everyone mad. Eventually, the time came for me to go to the infestation pier. A human ear was thrust under the water.

I squeezed through the ear canal, letting out the anastetic fluid as I went. The fit was a lot tighter than Jaolin's ear. I pushed bones and tissue aside, but carefully. I did not want to damage the senses of my new host. Finally I found what I was looking for. Her brain. I spread myself out over the surface, sinking into the cracks. Once I connected with her neurons, I could "hear" her yelling at me.

(What are you? GET OUT OF MY HEAD! What on Earth are you doing?)

(What's your name?)

(I asked you first!)

(I am Aftran 942. As for what I am doing, I am going into your brain to take over everything you can do.)

(Hey! I will not be taken over by anyone! And what are you?)

(I am a Yeerk. The only way we can see the world around us, or move properly, is to take over the bodies of others.)

(You're blind?)

(Yes. We have poor hearing, but a good sense of smell and touch.)

(Can you communicate?)

(Only between each other in squeaks.)

(So, you decide to become slave masters instead? You have a tough life, but that's just...wrong.)

(I know. I'm sorry.)

(Sorry means "I won't do it again." You still seem to be in my head.)

(I've no other choice.)

(There's always a choice, Yeerk.)

(Look, what's your name?)

(I won't tell.)

(Fine, now let me see... Oh yes, you're called Karen Richards.)

(How do you know, you slug!)

(I can read your mind, Karen.)

(How?)

(Your memories and knowledge are mine to look at, as though they were all printed in a book.)

She started to mentally cry. I felt guilty all over again. She was only young, by human standards. 10 years old, to be precise.

(Just go away. Please.) She sobbed.

(Karen, please. I have to do this. Or I must live blind, in a prison. Maybe we can be friends?)

She ignored me, and continued to cry. I could feel her pain, and it hurt me. But I had to do this. What other choice did I have?

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I know it's a bit short, but if I'd carried on with it it I would have made even more of a mess of it than I did! Promise the next chappy will be longer. Now REVIEW!