Chapter 16
It was a few liters of water. Eight, maybe a couple more or less. With our Human technology, it could take a few minutes to heat it to near-boiling.
With Andalite technology, it was achieved in seconds. The box buzzed hideously, and I felt the increase in temperature radiate into the control panel beneath my fingers.
"Ah…" the Yeerk grunted, the realization of what was happening bringing a reaction, even if it came with no surprise. "Ah! You'd better not!"
It heated and heated. Esplin's gasps of discomfort were becoming shouts of distress. I bent my knees and looked inside the box. The Yeerk was huddled to the left side, stretching desperately for the top where the water did not reach.
"I can stop it," I said. "If you just tell me what you know about the Kelbrids."
176 degrees. I could feel the heat with my hands near the box, and no doubt it was becoming unbearable for him.
"Turn it down!" he screeched. "It's too hot! I'll die in here!"
I lowered the temperature by a mere thirty degrees to stop him from shouting. "Tell me about the Kelbrids."
"You are nothing but a lowly, despicable Human!" he snapped, too embroiled in his anger to think of saying anything else. "A disgusting murderer!"
((Still clear.))
"Me?!" I exclaimed. "You would turn on your own without hesitation! You butchered your own soldiers and slaughtered your slaves like they were dirt on your slimy Yeerk fins! I'm not the murderer, Esplin 9466. You are!"
I raised it back to 176.
"Ah! Ahhh!" he groaned, his body writhing against the glass. I raised myself, unable to watch any further, but I kept my fingers locked to the controls.
"Tell me," I reiterated. "And it will stop."
After a couple more bellows, he answered, "I'll tell! I'll tell…"
I dropped the temperature back to normal, eager to hear what he had to say. His gasps of pain decreased with the heat, and he was silent for a little while after.
"What do you know?" I repeated, impatience returning.
His reply came with a mocking snarl. "I know that they're going to wipe that smug look off your face! Ha! And when they've freed me, I'll be there to finish you off! I'll finish the job I've been planning for years!"
I smiled to myself, and I hoped that my voice conveyed it. "The Kelbrids will never rescue you. They can't cross the border."
"That's what you think!" he retorted, his laughter coming around again.
"Tell me what you know about them, Esplin!"
He continued to snigger. "They'll free me. And I'll kill you!"
My smile dissipated, but I still didn't believe him. "How could they possibly free you?"
"I'll kill you, Jake Berenson! I'll take control of that foolish Andalite scum once more and dice you into the tiniest little pieces that even the worms could swallow whole!"
He wasn't cooperating. It was just a ruse. I needed to try harder…
200 degrees.
((Still clear.))
It was close to the boiling point of water, but the viscous brown liquid was made of different chemicals, and it still looked some way off boiling yet. However, that did not make too much difference to the inhabitant.
"No! Ahhh! Stop it!" he screamed, the sound more pained than before.
I could feel it. My fingers tensed, my teeth gritted, and my eyes closed. I was burning him. I could almost hear the skin turning through the crackling speaker, and I could feel my own singeing with it.
"Tell me, and I'll stop!" I offered.
"Turn it down!" he screamed. "Turn it down!"
"Tell me!"
"Kelbrids...! Kelbrids…"
It was my cue to turn the temperature back down, to bring an end to the round. I breathed heavily and bowed my head. For Ax.
"Kelbrids what?" I asked.
He took a moment to recover. When he spoke, his voice was considerably weaker. "They… We found them. We couldn't take them."
Couldn't take them? My mind scrambled but then jumped to what seemed to be a solid conclusion. I pressed for clarification. "Why?"
"Their bodies are covered. Covered in… toxin. It killed us."
"Why would they want to free you?" I requested, softening my voice to refrain from another threat.
"Because I am Visser One!" he screeched defiantly.
"Tell me why," I commanded, trying to push by his feeble attempts to propel his fragile ego.
"They will destroy the Andalites, and they'll take you meddling Humans down with them!"
I felt like he was holding something but giving me nothing besides the mockery. "What are they doing, Esplin?"
"That's Visser to you, Jake Berenson, slaughterer of the innocent. You will beg for mercy on your knees."
He just wouldn't let up, with each moment that his ego outgrew his pain. I had to reverse it again.
240 degrees.
The water began to bubble. I could hear it coming from the box, but the noise was soon drowned out as the screams of the Yeerk became harsher and more unstable. They were broken screams, cracked by the lavishing of steaming water on fragile Yeerk skin.
"Just tell me, and it will stop, Esplin."
I was on the verge of pleading with him, hoping he could hear me over his own frantic, slurred screams of agony.
"Stop it! Turn it off, turn it off! I can't- Ahh!"
"What are they doing, Esplin?!"
"War!" he screeched. "War! They want war!"
I turned the temperature back down again. This time, his recovery lasted much, much longer. I let him, pushing back my impatience.
"War?" I spoke.
"You're going to kill me, you fool!" he shrieked. His voice was stuttered, weakened beyond simple exhaustion.
"The Kelbrids want war?"
"War with the Andalites," he spat. "We moved information."
"What information?" I pressed.
"Plans. Strategies. Every weakness that they have. The Kelbrids know all about the Andalites…"
I was fed up with drifting around my biggest concern. I was getting answers, and it was time to get what I came for. "What is The One?"
"The One…" he spoke, almost a whisper. "I haven't heard of such a thing!"
"You're lying…" I muttered. "I know you're lying to me."
I started to change the temperature again, but he stopped me. "Okay! Okay, yes! I do know! I do!"
"What do you know?"
He was still in such pain, and it meant longs gaps between his responses. "The One is how they win. The One is like no technology the Andalites will ever come up with!"
"What is it, and what does it do?"
"Minds and motors…" he uttered. "The minds of many and the motors of a machine built to conquer."
"Stop being vague, Esplin!" I urged. "Tell me what it is, or I will raise the temperature again!"
"You're an evil, deplorable Human…" he snarled.
"Are you going to tell me?"
"It was created on Kyritlyp with the intention… the intention to win a war."
"A war with the Andalites," I assumed.
"And they will win," he coughed a laugh. "And I will be standing alongside them in victory."
"Where do the minds come from?" I asked, ignoring his fantasies.
"They connect them to the machine. Brilliant minds, great fighters and skilled leaders!"
"Where are they kept?"
"The main base is on Kyri-… I know why you're here."
"Kyritlyp?!" I tried to confirm. I couldn't let him drift.
But he forgot my questioning. "I know why you're here, Jake Berenson! They took one of you, didn't they?!"
"Don't make me raise it again, Visser!"
He was laughing again, and I just couldn't take it. I couldn't stand his mockery, his self-aggrandizing, and his stupid delusions of rescue from his rightful cell.
"I hope it swallows you whole, Jake Berenson!"
260 degrees.
((You'd best start moving, boss!))