Chapter 15

I avoided staring into the brown water. It was an innate fear. Fear of an action that would have no consequence other than to instill an image into my head. I didn't want him to sense me, but I knew that he figured who I was from my voice alone. I couldn't stare at the Yeerk slug in the box.

"Esplin 9466," I said again, hiding any lack of confidence with the experience of disguise I had accumulated over the years. "I believe you might know something that we would like to know."

The laugh that he gave back to me was bitter, not as proud as it once used to be. Mad as he was, being stuck in a tiny box with no influence on the world around him wasn't going to continue without some effect. "You aren't a guard. Who are you? Tell me now!"

Still the same quick-to-anger, blunt Visser as he had always been. Not even the box could change that. "Esplin 9466, I'm just here to ask you a few questions. I've been given express permission from the United States government to do so."

"Oh, have you now?" he sneered.

"Yes, Esplin."

My insistence on calling him by his real name was no accident. With each instance, his tone would drop, his audible pride would shrink. He became more realistic and much less frightening.

"Questions about what? What could you possibly ask me about that isn't the inside of this infuriating box?!"

"We want to know of some experiences you may have had during the war, Esplin 9466."

"Stop calling me that!" he barked.

I huffed. "What would you prefer to be called?"

He fell silent.

"Very well," I said. "Nothing."

"What is your name, since you're so insistent on using mine?" he demanded bitterly.

"Strickland," I responded without a moment's hesitation. "Now, can we discuss what I came to discuss?"

"Why should I tell you anything?!" he argued.

"Why shouldn't you?" I asked back.

"It doesn't help me."

"Nothing is going to help you. You have nothing to lose."

He was definitely not content with the situation. But neither was I. It was a pertinent truth at the time, but it felt so much like kicking a man - or Yeerk - when he was down. I didn't like it, even if he probably deserved it.

((Still clear.))

"Well?" he grunted impatiently. "Get on with it! Ask me. Talking with you is torture enough already."

"We want you to tell us about Kelbrid Space," I explained. "We know that the Yeerks were a force across the Gratt Border that separates the Kelbrids and the Andalites."

"Kelbrid Space?" he muttered. "Strange how you would want to know about Kelbrid Space. Why would you ask me, of all Yeerks?"

"You once held a very high rank. We thought you would have some valuable knowledge."

His laughter returned. "There were some higher ranked than I. Did the Andalite scum get rid of them? Why not ask them?"

"We asked them. Information was fuzzy," I improvised. "Thought we'd ask you, too."

To my annoyance, he fell momentarily quiet.

"Esplin, what do you know about the Kelbrids?"

"Yes, your voice is very familiar…" he murmured.

"What do you know about th-"

"I know who you are!" he exclaimed. "The famous Jake Berenson. I recognize that dull, monotonous voice and that smug self-important tone!"

I had to hide my nerves and my identity. "My name is Andy Strickland, Esplin 9466."

"You are a liar!" he growled back. "Jake! Jake, the Human who was a thorn in my side far longer than any pathetic Andalite had been! A Human!"

"You are wrong, Esplin!" I countered. "Quit the delusions and tell us what you know about the Kelbrids."

"Why would the hero Jake Berenson want to know about the Kelbrids…?" he pondered with a mocking sneer. "On behalf of the Andalites, too? How unusual. What's going on here?"

"What do you know about the Kelbrids?" I insisted, refusing to be side-tracked. I rested both hands on the corner of his Kandrona cell.

"I know some things. I don't know other things. Andy," he said, following with a laugh.

"Do I have to remind you," I began, starting to lose my patience. "That we have full control of your Kandrona cell? If you refuse to give us the answers that we require, we'll be forced to make you."

I hated myself for saying it, but he wasn't cooperating. I had to make a threat.

"We?" he scoffed. "I only hear Jake Berenson. Jake Berenson, the Yeerk murderer!"

My hands gripped the corners of the box tightly, and I clenched my teeth and my lips.

He continued, his voice growing in power with each purposeful stab. "How many? Seventeen-thousand in one go! Powerless, defenseless brethren of mine that you mercilessly flushed from the ship!"

"This is not Jake Berenson…" I seethed through my teeth.

"Others, too, I would assume!" he added. "You are nothing but a war criminal, Human! You are no better than I! Maybe they should stuff you in a cell just like mine!"

My right hand inched sideways, hovering over the control panel that dominated my field of vision. "Tell us about the Kelbrids, Esplin 9466."

"I hope they all haunt your dreams for every night that you're still breathing."

I flashed, momentarily losing my reigns. "Nothing Jake Berenson could do would ever compare to the evils that you committed, Esplin 9466!"

"I beg to differ…" he replied with disturbing calmness.

"Tell me about the Kelbrids," I ordered.

"No. Jake Berenson does not deserve answers."

"You will tell me, Esplin, or I will make you. I don't want to have to do it, but I will."

He laughed, but this time with a deliberated restraint. "Of course you will. I don't doubt that."

I pushed a finger to the controls. I removed the default temperature limitations with increased breathing and a rushing mind. I rubbed a hand through my hair, brushing the sweat from my forehead into it.

((Still clear.))

"You're nothing, Esplin 9466," I growled before grinning and shaking my head at the absurdity of being talked down to by such a lowly monster. "A pathetic worm inside a tiny box. Built by Andalites, too. How does it feel?"

"More comfortable than the cell you built for yourself."

I was struggling, and I pulled myself away from the box with that realization. I exhaled loudly and held my head back, giving me momentary relief from the box and its revolting inhabitant. How could I be finding it so difficult?

Why couldn't I shake off the absurd comparison?

I arrived back at the cell. "Last chance, Esplin. What do you know about the Kelbrids?"

"Jake Berenson, the murderer…" he whispered.

I closed my eyes. Then I opened them as my fingers operated the buttons on the control panel. 176 degrees.

"What do you know about the Kelbrids, Esplin?"

((Still clear.))