I still remember the next few weeks and months (I guess that would be the appropriate human approximation for the time units that had passed) after my fateful conversation with Gershi One-Five-Five. I still remember the nervousness and fear that I experienced every time a guard or a sub-visser would approach me, whether I was on duty or not. My mind was running away from me; I kept thinking that Gershi had reported me to our superiors and that it was only a matter of time before I was hauled away to an asteroid prison pool for having host sympathies. I was wincing and jumping just about every time that another Yeerk would approach me, and even though all that they would tell me was to perform some sort of duty or other, my own feelings and emotions would keep my host's heart racing until well after the Yeerk who had approached me had left.

I was pretty much still in a paranoid state of mind when the thing that I had feared the most finally happened to me. I was feeding in the Pool, soaking up Kandrona rays when the ultrasonic announcement came in: ((Yemra Six-Four-Zero, report to the transport pier immediately.))

There were three piers in any given Yeerk Pool. The infestation and feeding piers, I believe you already know. But it's the third pier, the transport pier, which has been all but neglected in terms of being mentioned by the Animorphs books, mostly because it serves no purpose in the storytelling of those books whatsoever. But the transport pier is actually a very important piece of infrastructure in terms of the movement of Yeerks. Simply put, the transport pier is exactly what it is: it is the pier to where Yeerks who are to be transported to another place (usually reassignment to another Pool but sometimes also used as a way to quietly detain a suspected host sympathizer without attracting too much attention from the rest of the Pool) swim and await transport. When I heard that announcement calling me over to the transport pier, I literally froze. If I had a body, my blood would have run cold and my heart would have skipped beat or two.

Reluctantly, I made my way to the transport pier. If I could have run away or even just remained in the Pool without being detected, I would have done it. But there was no way that I would not be detected, not after my name had already been called to proceed to the transport pier. A tube-like container was already waiting for me underneath the transport pier, and I had no choice but to swim into the container and await my fate.

The container sealed itself behind me, and I could feel the tube being lifted up and carried to wherever I was destined to go. These tubes had a small Kandrona generator at the other end of the tube with only enough power to generate these vital Kandrona rays for a short amount of time, usually just enough time to carry the Yeerk inside from one Pool to another, usually on the same planet or in a Pool ship docked on the same planet as the origin Pool. I was in this transport tube for perhaps about five minutes (the approximate amount of time in human terms), and then I felt the tube being lowered once again. The tube opened, and my body immediately sensed that the liquid outside had a higher concentration of Kandrona rays than inside the tube, and I shot out towards the higher concentration of rays.

As I soaked up the Kandrona rays, I sent out sonar pings at my surroundings. It appeared that I was in some sort of small Pool, smaller than the communal Yeerk Pools but larger than the Pools used to transport Yeerks with host sympathies and other such crimes and transgressions to the Yeerk Empire onboard Pool ships. It also appeared that I was the only Yeerk in this particular Pool, with no other Yeerks swimming around with me. Curiosity eventually got the better of me and replaced my initial apprehension and fear. This wasn't usually how the Empire dealt with host sympathizers. No, that involved taking the offending Yeerk away from any Kandrona source almost immediately and being placed in starvation and deprivation tanks where they were forced to go through the maximum three Earth days without Kandrona rays and sometimes even further, with the jailers giving only enough Kandrona ray doses to keep the Yeerk barely alive. After weeks or even months of repeating this process, during which the Yeerk would be interrogated to determine the "severity" of their sympathy with their host (yes, severity is the most appropriate word for this, and it just goes to show how criminalized the act of host sympathy was within the Empire, at least before we had discovered Homo sapiens), this information would then be used to determine the appropriate punishment for the offender. The lightest sentences involved keeping the offending Yeerk in a small Pool barely big enough to swim around in inside a penal colony, never to infest another being again and experience sight, smell, taste and all the other senses. More often than not though, the punishment for host sympathy was death by Kandrona starvation. And the Empire had developed ways to make the sentenced Yeerk starve for much longer than the standard three days. Some Yeerks who were found to have sympathized so much with their hosts were practically given a life sentence, meaning that they would have to live the rest of their days constantly on the edge of starvation.

So you can imagine my apprehension when I had been brought to this small Pool with only myself for company. Was this supposed to be some new punishment for a host-sympathetic Yeerk? Am I to become a test subject for whatever new experimental procedure that the Empire's scientists have cooked up yet again to prolong an accused Yeerk's suffering?

My questions were answered when two more transport tubes were lowered into the Pool. I sensed two Yeerks come out and begin swimming around, soaking up the Kandrona rays like I was. One of these Yeerks swam towards me, although once he was close enough he turned apprehensive and didn't seem too keen to approach me. Perhaps he was thinking the same thoughts that I was, that we were about to become part of some strange experiment. Eventually he lowered his guard and we twisted our palps together, the standard Yeerk greeting while in our real bodies. ((Hello there)), he said to me. ((Did they take you from the transport pier as well?))

((Yes, as a matter of fact, I did come from there,)) I replied. ((Yemra Six-Four-Zero of the Zek Danet Pool. And you are?))

((Karel Five-Two-Seven of the Bil Zaped Pool. Do you know why we were taken to this… Pool? This is a pool, isn't it? I assume we must be here for some purpose.))

((I am sure someone will come along and explain everything to us,)) I replied. ((And I think that we should be safe here, unless a Vanarx comes along and sweeps us up in its maw. But surely there wouldn't be any Vanarxim on this planet, would there?))

((I can only hope that you are correct,)) Karel said with a nervous sonar click. (In human terms, that would be the equivalent of someone laughing to ease some of their internal tension.)

The other Yeerk who entered the Pool via the transport tube at the same time as Karel finally swam over to us, and the three of us twirled our palps together in a tripartite greeting. ((I see that you two have finally met,)) he said. ((I can only hope that the two of you haven't told each other your full names and designations just yet.))

((Why?)) Karel asked nervously. If he was human then he would probably be sweating and rubbing his hands together in anxiety. ((Is that important?))

((Yes, I would say that it is extremely important,)) the Yeerk replied.

((But why is it important?)) I asked. ((And what will happen to us if I told you that we had already introduced ourselves to each other?))

If the Yeerk had a head then he would probably been shaking it at this point in our conversation. ((Oh, that is unfortunate news indeed,)) he said. ((And it probably shouldn't matter anyway, but I have been told by a very reliable authority that it does. I just hope that it won't end up backfiring spectacularly on either of you or both of you.))

((Who are you? Can I ask you who you are?))

((Yes, you can. The cat is already out of the bag between the two of you; I might as well throw my hat in and introduce myself to the two of you as well.)) (Jen: Of course, he didn't actually say these word for word, but Yemra did tell me that these were the closest analogues to the idioms that he had used in that fateful meeting.)

((So who are you, sir?)) I asked, both curious and afraid of the answer he was about to give me.

The Yeerk lifted his palps up to almost 45 degrees, the equivalent of a human puffing his chest out proudly. ((I am Yibey Nine-One-Five of the Culat Hest Pool,)) he said, ((Vex'not of Sub-visser Nine-hundred-Seventy-two.))

Jennifer Carson had always felt an attraction, a calling even, to the University of Notre Dame. No explanation, she says, even until now. She just said that she liked it, and that she wanted to go there for college. I was the first one to know about it, mostly because I was right there inside Jen's head when she made the realization. I was also the first one to whom she talked about it, with her primary concern being if her parents could afford it. I told her not to worry about it at the moment, to focus on graduating from high school first because she wasn't going to go to Notre Dame (or anywhere else for that matter) if she didn't make it through high school first. And, thank the Kandrona and thank God, Jen did graduate on time, mostly due to her own hard work and effort but sometimes with me nudging her to do her projects when she would have procrastinated otherwise or even outright taking control when Jen wasn't in the mood to do anything at all.

I have to say though that Jen's friends were actually surprised when she finally told them that Notre Dame was her dream university during one of those conversations where they were all now planning for the future (at the very least, their collegiate future). Their concern very much centered on the possible monetary limitations, whether Jen's parents could afford to send her there or not. Jen told them the same thing that I had told her when we first talked about it: that she was not going to worry too much about it, and that she was going to do the best that she could so that she could become one of the two thousand or so accepted every year by Notre Dame. And, wouldn't you know it, Jen did get accepted into Notre Dame, not only because she had passed all of the requirements but also because of her high school soccer career, most notably that state championship game where they won 4-3 after being three goals down in the first half.

And now we get to the point of this particular story. Needless to say, Jen was very excited when she went to train with the Fighting Irish women's soccer team for the very first time. Allison Torres, another one of Jen's friends and soccer teammates who was also admitted to Notre Dame, was with her when they went to the training ground. They introduced themselves to their new teammates and they talked, and some questions inevitably led to me, aka Yeerks, because Jen had mentioned being a Controller in her application and it got around to the Fighting Irish team as it inevitably always does. Her new teammates asked the usual questions: how does it feel like, who's in control right now, who gets to be in control most of the time, that kind of stuff. Overall I got the impression that they were okay with me being in the head of one of their new teammates and that they didn't really mind me being there at all. Heck, it was even easy for me to sit back and listen to their conversations.

And then came the moment that would define Jen's college soccer career.

"Jennifer Carson?" a loud and deep voice called out. "Is Jennifer Carson here?"

"Right here," Jen called out, raising her hand and turning to face the caller. When she had first heard the voice, she had imagined its owner as looking something like Arnold Schwarzenegger because of the deepness of the voice and the German accent, but when she saw the owner of the voice, she was surprised to find out that it was actually a black man.

"Okay," the man said, nodding his head. "And Allison Torres? Is she here?"

"I'm here," Allison (or Sonny as her nickname was) replied.

"I'm Coach Karl," the man said. "Karl Holzbacher. Welcome to the Fighting Irish," he said as the three of us shook hands. "Now I don't want to interrupt your bonding session with the rest of the team, girls, but there are some things that I'm afraid we have to talk about right now. Walk with me, please?"

Jen and Sonny followed Coach Karl into the facility beside the training ground. We passed by the locker room, the changing room, and the shower room before we went into a small office marked only by a single plaque: COACH. "Come in, please, and sit down," Coach said, and Jen and Sonny sat down on the two chairs in front of the desk where there was another plaque which gave out Coach's name and his position in the team. There were relatively few decorations in the office, and the one that caught Jen's attention was a picture of Coach Karl wearing a purple soccer uniform and sitting on his haunches alongside other people who were also sitting down and wearing purple uniforms.

"Ach, yes, me in my playing days," Coach said when he noticed where Jen was looking at. "I like to think that I was a good player. I did well with Tennis Borussia Berlin, if you two were wondering what my team was. I could have played for the United States, you know, because of my father. He was serving in the Fulda Gap when he met my mother, and then I came along, and then my father was reassigned to Vietnam where he was shot down by the Viet Cong…" Coach then made the sign of the cross silently before he continued. "But enough about me. Ms. Carson, let's talk about you now. I understand that you are a… how do you call it again? A Controller?"

Jen took a deep breath and sighed. ((Here we go again, Yems,)) she said to me, and then out loud, she said, "Yes, Coach, I am." If she was to be honest, Jen was already dead tired of having to tell people that yes, she had an alien body-snatching slug in her head, and having to explain why she chose to live that way. But she also knew that it was part and parcel of me living in her and that she would have to keep doing it so long as we both lived, and Jen just didn't feel like not doing it.

"So you have one of those, um, aliens in your head right now?" Coach asked.

Jen instinctively scratched her left temple. "Yeah, I have," she replied. "Would you like to see her?"

Coach Karl shook his head. "That's not important right now," he said. "But what is important is that you have in your head, what is for all intents and purposes, another sentient being."

"Oh, so it's going to be that issue," Jen said loudly before she realized that she was speaking physically and not mentally, and I felt her heart immediately start beating faster.

"Ah, so you do understand the problem that I have, that we as a team have, because of the alien in your head right now," Coach said.

Ah, yes, the eternal question: if you have a Controller sportsperson playing soccer, football, basketball, or any other sport, then does that count for just one player or two players on the field or the court? Many arguments have been made for both sides. People who argued against letting Controllers participate in their sports with their Yeerks in their heads claimed that the Yeerks would give the sportspeople an unfair advantage by basically acting as a coach from whom the player or athlete could get advice on what to do or updates about what was happening; that the Yeerks would enhance their hosts' reflexes and reactions; and that a Yeerk, being a sapient being (one who recognizes that they are and are able to reason with another), technically counts as an extra player. People who argue for letting Controller athletes keep their Yeerks in their heads during the game or the event (who more often than not are the very athletes with Yeerks in their heads) claim that the other side's arguments are poppycock, to put it mildly. First of all, they say, Yeerks are not performance-enhancing drugs, and they are most certainly not like some science fiction parasites that give their host super strength or super speed or super agility or some other superpower at the expense of something like the host's life or sanity. Secondly, since the Yeerk can only live inside their host, they cannot possibly be counted as an extra player, and thirdly, these athletes are so well-trained that their Yeerks don't need to coach them during the game.

Personally, I agree with the side arguing for letting Controllers play with their Yeerks. I should know what they're talking about because, in case you couldn't tell, I'm a Yeerk. Aside from the fact that we Yeerks do indeed not enhance their host body in any capacity whatsoever, I have personally never had to coach Jen during a game. She's such a natural at soccer that it's almost instinctive for her. And I enjoy the experience and all of the feelings of playing soccer as well. Well, maybe except for the tackles and the falling onto the grass. Those parts of playing soccer, I can live without. And I will also admit to warning Jen if I could see someone rushing her out of the corner of her eye. I don't know what other athletes' Yeerks do during games, though.

"Excuse me, Coach, can I say something about this?" Sonny said. When Coach Karl nodded his head, Sonny continued, "I'm sorry, but I just don't see what the problem is right here. Nobody said anything about Yemra back when we were playing in high school."

Jen laid a hand on Sonny's arm. "Sonny, calm down," she said. "Just take it easy, all right? Remember the thing about Yeerks." One of the unspoken conventions in our post-war, voluntary Yeerk infestation era was that Controllers and their family and friends never talked about the Controller's Yeerk in casual conversation with other people who may or may not know about the Controller. This was from the days when people were still angry at Yeerks and were looking for retribution in whatever way they can. Today, such a thing wasn't really possible without severe consequences from the law, but there was still the fear of being stalked and/or the person who wasn't supposed to hear about the person's Yeerk letting it slip that said person was hosting a Yeerk. This was especially damaging for those people who had applied to host a Yeerk and wanted to keep it a secret as much as possible (yes, there are still people who wanted to keep their infestations a secret, even if it is completely voluntary). And even though Karl Holzbacher didn't feel like the kind of person who would take advantage of Jen's status as a Controller, this particular convention was just something that Controllers did.

"Stay calm? Take it easy?" Sonny repeated. "No, I'm not going to stay calm and take it easy! We never had this problem when we played in high school! Not even after Jen got her Yeerk! Nobody cared when Jen played against them! Nobody said anything about our team fielding twelve players at once!"

To his credit, Coach Karl waited until Sonny had finished with her tirade before he replied to her statements. "I hear you, Ms. Torres," he said. "And I understand what you're trying to say. But you also have to understand it from my point of view. I believe it makes sense that you can get away with fielding a player with a Yeerk in high school. Hang on a minute now, I'm not finished!" he said with a raised finger when Sonny made to retort. "That was high school. This is college. There will be scouts watching each and every one of you for every game that you play with us. And these scouts will come not just from the clubs around the country but also from the USSF, the United States Soccer Federation. And if these scouts take notice of you, you might be selected for the women's national soccer team. And that is liable to open up an entirely new can of worms because then, FIFA is going to get involved, and when FIFA gets involved, so too does money, no matter what decision FIFA will take in the end. You must understand that this is a very unique conundrum that, right now, is applicable only to the United States. We are the only country in the world so far to have Yeerks living within our borders and letting them live inside our own citizens as well. So this is a very sensitive area for everyone involved, and everyone would like to keep it in the back burner until a solution, any sort of solution, is reached."

Sonny Torres scoffed. "I'm sorry, Coach," she said, "but there's simply no way that Jen is gonna do what you want her to do. Right, Jen? Right?"

To be fair to Jen, she was prepared to take my side and fight for my right to be in her during soccer. But then Coach Karl mentioned the possibility that Jen could get called up to the US women's soccer team, and just like that, her mind was gone, off to Imagination Land where Jen saw herself standing alongside the likes of Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, and Hope Solo representing the United States and scoring the goal that won the US the Women's World Cup. At least the girl had dreams, right?

Jen! I called out, and that finally snapped her out of her daydream. Jen shook her head, turned to Sonny, and asked her, "You were saying?"

"Jen, you're not seriously thinking about giving up Yemra just so you can play soccer, right?" Sonny asked back.

"Well, I mean… I'm not literally giving Yemra up," Jen replied slowly. "I just have to put her away in some water when I'm playing, and then once the game's done, I just pop her right back into my head, right?" she asked Coach Karl.

"That's the general idea, yes," Coach replied noncommittally. "But in the interests of full disclosure, you have to let your Yeerk out during training sessions as well. We are trying to cover all bases, after all."

I guess I should have known that this was the choice that Jen would make. Soccer was, after all, her first and foremost interest. It was what she wanted to do, and I wouldn't, couldn't possibly begrudge Jen something that she had always wanted to do all her life. Besides, like she said, she wouldn't give me up permanently. I was just going to stay in a glass of water for at least two hours, maybe three and a half if the game went all the way to a penalty shootout. Still, I was going to miss the feeling of being right in the middle of the action live. Accessing the most recent memories was all well and good, but nothing still beats experiencing things as they happen. Well, once again, maybe not the tackles and the fouls and the landing and rolling on the grass parts.

"Okay, Coach, I'll do it," Jen replied. "I'll do what you want me to do."

"Good," Coach Karl said with a nod. "I'm glad that we were able to settle this without much argument and dispute. I guess that means that I will be seeing the two of you later this afternoon. That is all, thank you, you may go. Oh, and Ms. Carson, remember: training counts as well."

"Yes, Coach," Jen replied, nodding her head as she and Sonny stood up.

"You're crazy," Sonny said as the two of them walked back out to the training field. "You're crazy, Jennifer Carson, you know that? You didn't have to say yes to what Coach wants you to do. You didn't have to give up Yemra just so you could become the next Alex Morgan. You had the chance to stand up for your fellow Controller athletes, Jen, and you blew it! You blew it, and you know it!"

"You know, Sonny, for someone who's never had a Yeerk in her head her entire life, you're quite defensive when it comes to them," Jen said.

"Dude, why wouldn't I be?" Sonny said back. "You guys have always had the short end of the stick! You Controllers were barely better off than the nothlits after the end of the invasion. Remember those days when people were hunting down Controllers and roughing them up before turning them over to the cops and sometimes even killing them? And some of those people who did that are still out there and proud that they did it! Hate crime, my ass! People would still be beating Controllers up had that kid who got his brains and Yeerk beaten out of his head by those two other kids not gone nationwide! And now these people who have no idea what you Controllers have been through tell you that you can't play with a Yeerk in your head? Give me a break!"

"Okay, um, did we just do a Freaky Friday and switch bodies, because since when have you been this talkative, Sonny?" Jen asked once she was finally able to get a word in between Sonny's tirades. "And since when have you been this passionate about the plight of the Controllers?"

"Oh, come on, Jen! It's like you don't know me at all! I've always been pro-equality for all, even crazy and stupid people who actually want to have a body-snatching alien slug inside their heads. Everyone deserves equal rights, even the body-snatching aliens who now have to live on this planet because they've got no choice!"

"You know, you really should consider a career as a lobbyist," Jen told Sonny. "You've already got the mindset and the mouth for it. Why not go all the way?"

"How about Yemra, Jen? Aren't you worried at all that something might happen to her?" Sonny asked. "What if someone decides to drink the water with Yemra in it?"

"That's the good thing about the whole thing, Sonny," Jen said. "I don't have to keep Yemra in some water before a game. A new Pool just opened up in South Bend near the university so I can just pop Yemra there before the game and then pick her up after. In fact, I'm gonna do that right now, or rather two hours later because the first practice is, what, in three hours? Don't worry about me or Yemra, Sonny. I got this. We got this."

As it would later turn out though, Jen actually did not got this.

If I had had a stomach the moment that Yibey had introduced himself, it would have probably tied itself in knots. As it was, I was feeling pretty tense myself. My own little Yeerk body could probably have become a Gordian knot of its own accord. But it was nothing compared to Karel beside. He was positively shaking in Yibey's presence. I could sense poor Karel exuding fear pheromones, and I couldn't help but feel slightly disgusted as well. (A Yeerk exuding fear pheromones is the equivalent of a human urinating or defecating themselves in response to a stressful situation.)

((You are… you're… you're a Vex'not, sir?)) Karel asked shakily, his body trembling the whole time.

((Yes, I have already introduced to you who I am,)) Yibey replied with the Yeerkish equivalent of a shake of the head. ((And I am sure that you are both wondering why we are here talking privately in the sub-visser's Pool.))

This is it, I thought to myself. I am about to be arrested and sentenced to the asteroids. All because I had blabbed about that damned Hork-Bajir to Gershi. Accepting your fate is always easier when you know that you were the one who led yourself to it in the first place. And I was prepared to accept it with dignity. Not Karel though. He was the type who would do anything to avoid punishment, especially the one reserved for those with host sympathies.

What Karel did next was something that could have come straight out of a human comedy. ((I did nothing!)) Karel immediately cried out. ((I said nothing! I know nothing! I am a loyal soldier and supporter of the Yeerk Empire! We will crush the Andalites under our thumb! We are Yeerks! We will rule over all in the galaxy!))

It was fair to say that I could not have seen how funny that scene was at the time because I had no idea of the concept of comedy, but it also has to be said that Yibey found Karel's outburst amusing at the very least. ((You can stop spouting the imperial propaganda now, Karel,)) he said. ((I have already heard it enough times to be sick of it. And you know exactly what you said, Karel. As do you, Yemra. You know exactly what you said as well. Just because I am presently dealing with Karel here does not mean that I have forgotten about you, Yemra.))

((So it is Gershi who reported us!)) Karel shouted. ((Sir, I'll have you know that whatever it is that Gershi said that I said to him, he has also told me, and much more! If anyone in here should be arrested for host sympathies, it should be him! Unless the very reason why you have not yet arrested Gershi is because you are using him to report other sympathizers to you!))

((You know, Karel, this is all amusing to watch,)) Yibey said, unable to control the humor in his voice. ((However, if you will just shut up for a moment and listen to me,)) he continued, now turning serious, ((then I can finally explain to the both of you what exactly is going on here.))

((I am not here to arrest either of you,)) Yibey said once Karel had managed to shut himself up. ((On the contrary, I am here to congratulate the both of you for having the courage to speak out against the policies of the Yeerk Empire.))

Now that was something that I was not expecting. ((Excuse me, what?)) I asked.

((You two, Karel, Yemra, have come to the realization that the wellbeing of our hosts is vitally important to our race,)) Yibey replied. ((Yes, it is an inescapable fact of our lives that we need to have hosts if we are to defeat the Andalites and liberate our brothers and sisters still trapped on our homeworld, but that does not give us the right to treat our hosts like vermin and use them only as vehicles to achieve our ultimate goal. And why should we stop there too? Why do we have to approach our potential hosts as invaders and enemies, not friends? Surely if we showed them that we can be good and compassionate to them then they will be more likely to agree to let us infest them and not resist as hard as everyone else has against us before? Then we need not expend even more resources fighting against our potential hosts and killing them instead of incorporating them peacefully into our empire. This is a simple idea, and yet the Emperor and the Council of Thirteen cannot think of anything other than total conquest because they have become too obsessed on the idea of defeating the Andalites through conquests of our own. But it doesn't have to be that way. There is a way for our empire to expand peacefully. We as a species only have to realize, as you two and I already have, that it is better to have a friend for a host than an enemy.))

Yibey then floated over closer to Karel and I and extended his palps over to us. ((You might think that I am asking too much of you,)) he said, ((and you might be right. But if the Yeerks are to advance as a species and as a nation then we must be skilled at both peace and war. And I know that while our number is small right, there are many other Yeerks out there who believe all that I have told you even if they might not speak of it for fear of being accused as a host sympathizer. We only have to find them and let them know that they are not alone. So, who's with me?))

Karel and I were both very reluctant to take Yibey at his word just yet. For all we knew, he was the one who was pretending to be sympathizing with the sympathizers and then, once we had twisted our palps together (a gesture similar to a handshake in human terms), that would be the signal for the guards to scoop us out of the Pool sludge and throw us on a ship bound for the asteroids. Yet I could also feel a sincerity emanating from Yibey, that he sincerely believed his words and was not just reciting lines from memory. And if this was indeed the start of a genuine movement to raise awareness of our treatment of our hosts across the Empire then I didn't want to miss out on it. So I made the first move, and I twisted one of my palps around one of Yibey's, and then I extended my other palp towards Karel. He was more hesitant to twist palps; as you may have noticed, he was quite paranoid. But the Yeerk instinct towards community eventually got the better of him and he twisted his palps with Yibey's and mine as well.

((Thank you, my friends,)) Yibey said once we had untwisted our palps. ((Now I give you both a mission: find these other Yeerks who believe in our ideals. If you know someone who believes, talk to them, but as much as possible do not mention outright you are part of our group because these other Yeerks might be the ones that Karel here is deathly afraid of. But if you believe that they are truly sincere in their statements and beliefs then all well and good. When you have found two of these Yeerks who believe in our ideals, find a place and an opportunity for the three of you to get together and induct them into the group. Then once they are a part of the group, tell them what I told you and send them out to find two more Yeerks who believe.))

((Why only two, Vex'not?)) I asked. ((Why not recruit as many Yeerks as we can?))

((As you can tell by the fact that the three of us are meeting privately at the sub-vissers' Pool, secrecy is of the utmost importance for our group,)) Yibey replied. ((If we as a group expand very quickly then that is sure to attract the attention of the Vissers. One member recruiting two new members has been judged as the best method of expanding membership in our group while at the same time still keeping it a secret. Now, are there any other questions that any of you would like to ask? None? Then may the Kandrona shine down upon us all.))

And that was the story of how I became part of the Yeerk Peace Movement. Of course, back then it wasn't called that. I don't think it even had a name back then; we all just called it "the group", perhaps intentionally to confuse those who weren't supposed to be listening to us, but mostly maybe because we didn't know what to call ourselves until we had discovered Earth and began infesting humans. I can tell you that this was a decision that I had never ever regretted in my whole life, not like a certain someone who thought that she could get away with dropping me off at a Pool before she played soccer. But that's another story for another time.