Chapter Four

I stared at him, my jaw hanging open. His thoughts told me that he was glad to see me, that he wasn't mad at me. He believed I had taken to offer so that I could keep close to the Visser and spy on him. Well, it was true enough, now.

(Da'niroth!) I cried in thought-speak, finally breaking the silence. I rushed forward and hugged him. It wasn't a warrior-like thing to do, or even a Haniro behavior, so I was pleasantly surprised when he hugged me back.

(I missed you, too, Malia,) he assured me. (But I am not here just to hug you and be assured that you are well.) He let go of me and moved toward the tank. He peered down into the depths and was silent for a long time. (You are aware of the breeding programs?)

I had heard of the breeding programs. The Yeerks had started them to create the next generation of hosts, a generation that would know nothing but slavery. A generation that would think what the Yeerks did was right and the only way.

(I know of them,) I whispered with a bowed head. The Visser had plans for me in the breeding program, but he had yet to try anything.

(I have a friend who is part of it. About three weeks ago, they took her children from her, twins. They are somewhere on this ship.)

I had a vague idea of where he was going with it, but I didn't like it. I didn't say anything, though. I wanted him to continue on his own.

(She knows that you are my sister and she knows that you have access to the children produced from the program. She wants you to find a way to rescue them.)

There it was. At least that explained part of the weird dream. I must have been picking up his thoughts. I thought about what it would mean for me if I helped. If I got caught, I wouldn't be a very good source of info for Erik. On the other hand, if it worked, there would be some hope for my people. I could help get more than just the twins out.

(I'll do it,) I told him, keeping my head bowed. (Get about five other Malianiths together. Let me know when you have them. I'll give you more information. Until then, make regular visits with me so that our meetings will not seem suspicious.)

(Thank you, Malia. I will do as you ask. With business out of the way, let us speak of what we've been doing.)

And we did. We spent the rest of the time speaking about how we had faired since the invasion. It seemed that I had been doing better than him. Before Da'niroth had been transferred to Earth, he was on a pool ship orbiting the Taxxon homeworld. That was where he had met Bul'chikar, a Nagi female about the same age as myself and the friend he had mentioned.

She was also part of the Yeerk's Malianith breeding program. Apparently, the Yeerks wanted Da'niroth and Bul'chikar to mate. Both of them had other plans, though. She had also been transferred to Earth, and had escaped the moment they came close to the planet. Now, she was somewhere on the planet, swimming free in the ocean and praying for her children.

Then, the Hork-Bajir came and 'escorted'Da'niroth back to the holding tanks. It seemed to require a lot of kicking and dragging. When they had left, I punched the nearest wall. My hand hurt like hell, but it helped to imagine that I had just punched the Visser in the face. I stewed over every sorrow he had caused.

I went to bed angry. When I woke up, I was still angry. I was angry as I escorted the Visser around the ship. Then, I found out what had happened at the Matcom building. The bandits had been successful. That cheered me up a bit. The next time I saw Erik, he took me aside and put his hologram around me.

"Thanks," he told me in a solumn voice. Even though his face couldshow no emotion, his voice gave away plenty. He had killed. I could see his thoughts. It had been horrible, beyond description. I shuddered and turned my abilities on other minds. I won't even try to describe what I saw in the Chee's mind.

"I wish you could forget it," I told him, trying desperately to shut out the aweful images. "I wish I could forget it."

He nodded in understanding. "We've been in contact with some of the Nagi scientists that were on Project Protector. As a goodwill token, we're giving you some info. I told them about your recent problem with your telepathy. The head scientist knows what's wrong."

That peaked my interest. Dag'bithar had been kind to me, but treated me as an experiment. "What did he have to say?"

"When they were mapping out the human DNA that was used to create you, they found some interesting codes that seemed to be inactive. So when they combined the human DNA with the Malianith DNA, they made the codes active."

"What were these codes for?" Now I was just getting nervous.

"Apparently, they were dormant traits. The thing is, they couldn't find these traits in any of the other samples."

"Just tell me what the damn traits are!" I screamed at him. He was really wearing my patience thin, and it wasn't exactly perfect to begin with.

"Well, you know how the humans have all those theories about ancient visitors from the stars? It seems that at least one of them was true."