Chapter 10
"Come now, comrades," the Sub-Visser crooned. "What do you have to lose by helping me?"
(Our lives,) I said.
(Our brains?) Marco added.
(Our planet?) Prince Jake added with affirmation.
Sub-Visser Thirteen raised a barely-visible eyebrow in something akin to amusement. "Such bravado," she said sceptically. "Andalite soldiers have changed since the days of Seerow."
She looked to each of us; myself and my friends in their morphs with a cynical expression, and began to walk over to the computer where Erek was hiding.
(Stop!) I shouted.
The Sub-Visser did not stop. She walked up to the console and stood in front of it with her eyes focused on me.
How had she not seen Erek?
I glanced about the room, and soon found the answer. Erek was standing in a corner of the lab, behind a collapse girder, huddled up as small as he could go. His skills of stealth were compromised without his hologram, but he was still invisible to the Sub-Visser, which was the most important thing.
The Sub-Visser typed something in to the computer, stopped, and then looked at me triumphantly.
I knew why.
She had just used the same computer that Erek had used to reprogram the biofilters…she knew!
"Interesting," Sub-Visser Thirteen said dryly. "My sensors say that there is only one Andalite in this room, when there are clearly five other individuals in morph right in front of me…"
The Sub-Visser spoke with such confidence that there was no doubt she knew our secret in its entirety.
She would have to die.
As if intercepting my thoughts, Rachel was upon the Yeerk in seconds. Half a tonne of grizzly bear squared up to sixty kilos of human with a snarl.
(Make one move, and I'll make your spine look like a slinky toy,) Rachel said fiercely.
"Point taken, human," the Sub-Visser said, quite seriously.
(So, you know,) Prince Jake said angrily, slinking forward to stand in front of the Sub-Visser. (I think you should also know that if you try to leave this room, we have someone who'll break you in two,) he said, motioning to Erek with his head.
The canine android stepped out from his hiding place with what I surmised was a bemused expression.
"Morph-capable humans," the Sub-Visser mused. "I don't suppose you have the Escafil device on hand?"
(Not for you,) Cassie hissed.
"Well, even if only one of you is an Andalite, you will do, I suppose."
(You seem disappointed,) Marco sneered. (We're the ones holding off your little 'invasion'.)
"Only because Visser Three is in control," the Sub-Visser shot back.
(One more reason for us to simply kill you, and be done with it,) Rachel said, raising her claws.
(Better the devil you know,) Tobias agreed.
Sub-Visser Thirteen remained stoic. "I am the only one who can get you through Pool security. If you want to get Visser Three, and stop him from killing any more Controllers, I am the only one who can help you."
She grinned. "You need me. But, I also need you."
(What for, aside from spilling the blood?) Marco asked.
"I cannot access Visser Three's personal files," the Sub-Visser confessed. "I cannot divine his access codes, and I need them if I am to discover what he has done to himself. Do this for me, and I will take you to him."
(Erek?) Prince Jake said.
"On it," Erek replied, rushing to the computer, and pushing the Sub-Visser aside. His hands whirled over the keys faster than even my eyes could keep up with, and seconds later he stopped. "Done," he announced.
(And?) Prince Jake inquired.
"Okay, here's the low-down," Erek began. It is amusing to hear him speak. Despite the fact that Erek King is an ancient android so advanced that he makes Andalite starships look like steam engines, he speaks like a teenage human.
"Visser Three has come across a piece of machinery called a Genotron, and he's been playing with it."
(A Genotron?) I asked. (I have not heard of that device. What is its function?)
"It's an Arn invention," Erek said. "A machine that messes about with DNA. This one is a smaller version of the computer the Arn used to design the Hork-Bajir."
Sub-Visser Thirteen chuckled to herself. Evidently she knew of such machines.
"According to his research notes, Visser Three and Chapman have been blending the DNA of more than ten races into one in order to create a new, super-host to serve in the Yeerk armies," Erek continued. "And, being the egomaniac that he is, Visser Three demanded the first Hybrid, as he calls them, for himself."
"But it didn't work," Erek said with a wry smile on his metal features. "The Genotron has not only created a mix of the bodies of the different aliens, it has created separate consciousnesses inside the body, and Visser Three can't control them."
(That explains why I was speaking to both Visser Three and Alloran-Semitur-Corrass,) I said.
"Is that it?" the Sub-Visser demanded.
"Not quite," Erek replied. "Visser Three's last entry in the research log states that he is planning to leave for the Yeerk capital on the Hork-Bajir planet to show his new creation to the Council of Thirteen."
(I'm sure he'll give them a first hand demonstration of how effective it is at killing," Prince Jake said bitterly.
(Not our problem,) Rachel snorted.
(I beg to differ,) I interjected. (Under the leadership of the Council of Thirteen, Yeerk resources are spread thinly and deployed cautiously, as per Visser One's plan. It is the reason the Andalites are able to hold them off, despite vast Yeerk numerical superiority.)
"If the Visser kills the Council, he will no doubt assume command of the fleet, and order a direct attack on the Andalite homeworld with everything we have," the Sub-Visser said with a sardonic smile. "The Andalites will fall."
(We will not,) I said with pride. (But the losses to my people would be terrible, and we would have nearly no warning. It is my duty as an aristh to stop Visser Three.)
"Very well," Sub-Visser Thirteen said. "We shall destroy Visser Three, together, and then I shall assume control of the Earth invasion."
(We would want that, why exactly?) Rachel asked with a scoff.
"Because I want the invasion to take as long as possible," the Yeerk replied. "If I am in control, I can delay the invasion until my research is complete, and then order a withdrawal."
She was lying; I knew she had to be.
(That's bull,) Marco said harshly. (No way would she just give up.)
"Actually, I would," the Sub-Visser said.
(Yeerks want power,) I pointed out. (if you withdraw the invasion, you will have lost the Empire the class-five species that Visser One found for you; the only class-five species. You will be executed for treason.)
"No, you moron," the Sub-Visser snapped. "I will be hailed as a hero. These invasions are costly, both in terms of life and in resources. I am working on developing genetically engineered hosts for use by Yeerk symbionts in place of stolen hosts."
(Like yours?) Marco sneered.
"My host is a voluntary one," Sub-Visser Thirteen hissed.
"And what reason do we have to trust you?" Erek asked sceptically. "I know I'm just a machine, but I'm not stupid. It would take decades for you to clone enough hosts to even satisfy the Yeerks on this planet alone."
"Very true," the Sub-Visser agreed. "But I am prepared to order a withdrawal from this world nonetheless if we kill Visser Three. Do we have a deal or not?"
(We cannot trust her, Prince Jake,) I said in private thought speak. (No Yeerk would give up potential for power so easily.)
(What about Aftran?) Prince Jake replied seriously.
I didn't reply. Aftran 942 was a Yeerk who had once tried to kill Cassie in revenge for Cassie murdering her Hork-Bajir controller brother, but in the end, most, ironically, Aftran and Cassie made their peace, and Aftran herself became the leader of a small dissident group calling themselves the Yeerk Peace Movement.
I wondered then if the Sub-Visser could be a member of that group…no, it was impossible. I reminded myself that Aftran was now swimming in the ocean. The Peace Movement was leaderless.
(Your point is well taken, Prince Jake,) I said embarrassedly.
Prince Jake looked to everyone one after the other, and said (time to demorph.)
Moments later, Sub-Visser Thirteen's laboratory was no longer a zoo, but home to an Andalite, a Chee, a Yeerk, four humans in ridiculous artificial skins, and one red-tailed hawk.
"A nothlit?" the Sub-Visser said imperiously, looking at Tobias. What a shame, a poor, innocent human falling victim to crude Andalite technology…and as for the rest of you, well…" Sub-Visser Thirteen practically fell over laughing. Humans frequently nearly fall over, you see. "You are children!" she shrieked in excitement. "If only the Council knew!"
(They are not to know,) I said forcefully. (It would mean the end of the human resistance.) I swayed my tail from side to side, making sure the light caught my blade. (We do not want that to happen.)
"Yes, resistance is so much fun," the Sub-Visser snickered. "I myself am something of a dissident, you know."
Was it possible?
"The Peace Movement?" Cassie blurted out. "You're a member of the Yeerk Peace Movement?"
Sub-Visser Thirteen snorted indignantly. "Nothing so crude," she said disgustedly. "I am the founder and leader of the Evolutionist Front."
"What?" was the resounding reply from my human friends, and myself for that matter. Except for Prince Jake. His face betrayed a look of recognition, for just a second.
"The Evolutionist Front, or EF, is a group I founded some ten years ago, when Yeerk expansion was at its peak. The Front's aim is to develop a genetically engineered host superior to all others, to eliminate the need for violent expansionary campaigns."
(It would appear that Visser Three has accomplished your goal, Sub-Visser,) I said acidly. (His host seems far superior to any I have encountered before.)
Sub-Visser Thirteen looked almost offended. "Superior, you say?" she said distantly. "That monstrosity is not superior. It is strong, yes, and it is fast and powerful, but it is not superior."
Prince Jake looked exasperated. "Look, Erek gave you the information you wanted! Now we want Visser Three."
"To the point," the Sub-Visser nodded. "I like you. Very well, I will take us to Visser Three."
She tapped a few keys on her computer. "Thanks to the modifications your friend made to the biofilters, Visser Three is showing up quite clearly on the Pool's sensors. He is moving through the corridors surrounding the central complex, heading toward the starport."
(Visser Three intends to leave the planet!)
"Very astute," the Sub-Visser said acerbically. She leaned down over the computer console, and cleared her throat. "This is Sub-Visser Thirteen to all forces. Seal off the starport. No one is to leave or enter until I arrive," she said forcefully. "If anyone is left outside the Pool or the starport when I arrive, they will die."
A rasping Hork-Bajir voice responded with something I assume was a 'yes'.
"I'll follow you later," Erek said. "I need to get a message out to my people first, and I'll follow once I'm fit to." And then, Erek King was gone in a blur of speed.
"Come, you fools!" Sub-Visser Thirteen barked, walking to the remains of the door Visser Three had used to escape.
"How are we meant to catch Visser Three?" Cassie asked. "He's got a big lead on us."
The Sub-Visser tapped the side of her nose. "Have you not already learned that I deal in surprises?"