Jacob Nyles:
I woke up to find a purple deer-girl watching me expectantly. I groaned, "What time is it?" I mumbled, trying to stretch the kinks out of my back.
((The artificial sun has been up for thirty minutes))
"Terrific," I grumbled, but the girl endured my grumpiness, and eventually I was in a state fit for social interaction.
((Not really…)) Esplin remarked unhelpfully.
We played six more games of Chess. I came closest to winning in the first game, and steadily less with each game. Finally, in the sixth game, when I lost, having only taken six of her pieces, I called a halt.
"I have nothing left to teach you, my young apprentice," I intoned ominously.
The girl shrank away, unnerved, and I laughed while Esplin rolled her eyes at me, bored.
"I'm just joking," I told her, "But on a serious note, don't abuse the power you've gained, alright? It wouldn't be very responsible of me."
((Power? What power?)) the girl asked, confused.
"I assume there are other youngsters here, right?" I asked.
((Yes…)) the girl answered warily
"And there isn't a whole lot to do, right?" I continued.
((Usually…))
"And now, you have mastered a new game that your friends have never heard of… in a very boring place… with nothing else to do…" I hinted, and her eyes suddenly lit up as she realized what I was implying.
((Oh! I understand!))
I rubbed my eyes, "I've only got a handful of games left, that I know well enough, anyway, to teach someone else, but Chess was the best one."
((You know other games?)) the girl asked eagerly.
((Most of the others are card games, and I doubt strip-poker would catch on here)) Esplin noted wryly.
"Well, there's Uno, Monopoly, Jinga, Go Fish, Spades, Solitaire, Hop-scotch, Spoons, Stratego… hmm… there might be a few others floating around, but I can't think of them right now," I counted off carefully. I know there was at least one other game I knew, but I couldn't…
((Spider Solitaire?)) Esplin suggested.
"Oh, and Spider Solitaire," I threw in, "But it's been a long time since I've been able to play them with someone else."
((Why?)) the girl asked, guileless.
"Because, honey, as a rule, Yeerks don't play games. They're usually too busy trying to subvert the galaxy…" I said sadly.
((Oh. I'm sorry)) the girl told me quietly.
((I play games)) Esplin said indignantly.
((You aren't the rule, Esplin)) I told my friend quietly.
"Which game sounds interesting?" I asked.
Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:
I stared at the computer screen, feeling a moment of satisfaction.
DECRYPTION COMPLETE
((Access files, and index)) I commanded. The computer took several seconds to do so, and then brought up a menu, organizing the information. There were nodes for the craft's system data, another for sensor records, internal recordings, flight plans, maintenance logs, combat efficiency, and a few other trivial groups. Some of the files had been corrupted, which surprised me. Yeerk computer components were crude, but more resilient than most Andalite equivalents. To damage a Yeerk memory crystal… only a handful of possibilities came to mind. Ionizing radiation, incompetent memory purge, major physical trauma…
I scrolled through the flight logs, nothing really of note. The craft had patrolled the same region of space for several months… until… the crystal's retrieval was incomplete for the last several months recorded. Annoyed, I scanned the maintenance record, and noted that there was no official maintenance after a point three and a half months ago. The computer had noted major structural damage, and undocumented modifications to ship systems. Three and a half months ago. With rising alarm, I accessed the internal records. I saw the human pull himself into the interior of a bugfighter, obviously without gravity. He dropped the Dracon beam in his hand, I noticed that it was half-depleted.
He awkwardly powered up the fighter, and I checked external logs as well. The human proceeded to destroy all of the other fighters in the hanger bay with him, before blasting the hanger door, and flying out into space.
I back tracked through the log, replaying the interior log from when I had left off:
~"Relax. I don't plan on getting captured – Looks different from the other side, huh? –
What, now you don't want to talk? – Oh, come on, if our roles were reversed you would have done the same. I was born free, and I plan on dying free. – I can live with that. You'll just be my shoulder demon."
A few moments later, my stomach squirmed in disbelief. Over the next three months, the computer had recorded continued verbal exchanges with an unknown entity. Either the human was insane or…
Where was my niece?!
Esplin 1894:
"Uno," Jacob said grimly, glancing from his red seven, to the red three he had placed over Sonili's green three. Her delicate fingers caressed one of her holographic cards and she glanced at him slyly. He had seen that look repeatedly,
"Oh no… what do you have?" Jacob groaned.
((I predict it is a Wild Draw 4)) I said brightly.
((It's a draw 2, a skip, or a reverse, it has to be)) Jacob argued.
Sonili placed a wild card down, ((Uno, and Blue)) she said. Jacob exhaled, held his breath, then drew a card. He peeked at it, then slammed it down in relief, "Uno and Red" he said, taking his hand off a second wild card.
((Thank you)) Sonili said, letting her red zero drop onto the pile. Jacob stared at the card in surprise.
((Admit it. She manipulated you)) I said smugly.
((Aren't you mortal enemies or something? Shouldn't you be on my side?)) Jacob complained.
"Well, that is possibly one of the most intense games of Uno I have ever played," Jacob said wryly.
((Do you want to know what else you could have done?)) Sonili asked, her eyes still twinkling.
Jacob groaned, "This is a card game. It's all about chance. You can't change chance."
((No, but you can factor probabilities, based on what cards have already been played))
Jacob's jaw dropped, "You were counting Uno cards?"
((Sonili!)) a voice roared, and the big Andalite burst into the room, a shredder clenched in one fist. He saw his niece, and charged, shoving her behind him, so that he was between his brother's daughter and us. His alien nostrils flared heavily, he must have galloped here.
((This doesn't look promising)) I said darkly.
The Andalite leveled the shredder at us, ((How?!)) he demanded
"How… what?" Jacob asked bemused.
((How do you still live, yeerk?)) the Andalite roared.
"Oh, that how." Jacob said calmly, he sat back down on the grass, "do you want the long, or the short version?" he asked.
((Any version will do, before I disintegrate you, parasite!)) the warrior snarled.
Jacob shrugged, "I was an experiment, a test."
The andalite had begun to calm down, slightly, now that he knew his niece was safe. ((Explain!))
Jacob rolled his eyes, "Your Quantum Virus nearly annihilated—"
((Alleged Quantum Virus)) the warrior interrupted.
"Fine," Jacob sighed, "For some inexplicable reason, most of the Hork-bajir suddenly died in a most painful fashion, from effects identical to a Quantum virus, which coincided with the retreat of the routed Andalite forces…"
The Shredder whined as the Andalite raised the power setting.
"—which created a sudden, crippling shortage in the yeerk's pool of combat capable hosts. Now, a planet was discovered a few years later, and samples were seized. I was a sample. Now, this new species was adaptable, capable of speech, war, and fine manipulation of equipment… but compared to Andalites, or even Hork-Bajir, they were inferior, though plentiful…
The bastard they put in my head sought to improve my race's usefulness. Thankfully, some of your ships crippled the base where he was working. Four days later, yeerk rescue teams found me, pinned underneath a girder. Esplin 469 was dead, but I still had some of his memories. So they put his assistant, Esplin 1894 into my head instead. My knowledge was too valuable to dispose of me. She was… polite, to me." Jacob faltered, trying to choke back the black bile that had risen, with mention of his previous tormenter.
((He can't hurt you anymore, Jacob)) I whispered.
Jacob looked at me, ((If only that was true…))
"The experiments were carried out, successfully. During the field evaluation, I realized something extraordinary," Jacob came to the force field, and stared at the Andalite, only a few feet separating them.
"I had free will," he hissed. Jacob paced to the back of his cell and slumped down.
((That does not explain how the yeerk still lives)) the Andalite reminded us sharply.
"You talk to him," Jacob said tiredly, "You have a better idea of it than me."
"Fine," I said sullenly, Jacob let me turn his head, and I saw the loathing in the Andalites eyes, "Yeerk infiltrators are handicapped by the seventy-two hour limit before Kandrona starvation. If this could somehow be nullified, or circumvented, then there would be no way to detect or thwart our agents. My mentor envisioned turning the pink monkeys, as he termed them, into devastating agents of the Empire, without ever needing to visit a Yeerk pool. The kandrona implant has an… unfortunate side-effect, which renders it useless to a yeerk," I said sadly.
((What is this side-effect?)) the Andalite asked suspiciously.
"It weakens our control somehow, allowing the host to ignore us almost entirely, when they wish."
((There, I talked to him, now you finish)) I said tartly.
((Why should I believe any of this?)) the warrior demanded.
((Esplin, do you trust me?)) Jacob asked.
((Why?)) I asked, afraid.
((Do. You. Trust. Me?)) Jacob asked gently.
The answered terrified me:
((Yes))
Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:
The controller went quiet for a moment, then looked me in the eye. "You ask for proof, of my control? Very well." The human cupped one of his ears, and a yeerk wriggled out, into his hand.
"Now do you believe me?" the human asked, clutching the parasite to his chest, as one might hold a child. Disgust filled me.
((Kill it)) I demanded.
The humans eyes hardened. "No."
I raised the shredder, my hand poised over the containment field controls.
((That was not a request)) I threatened.
"I won't let you hurt my friend," the human said quietly putting the hand with the slug behind his back, shielding it with his body.
((Yeerks don't have friends. They have slaves))
"This yeerk has a friend. Please, don't make me kill you. Your niece needs you." The human pleaded.
((Kill me? Unlikely)) I scoffed, missing the glint in the human's eye. He held his hand to his ear, "I warned you," the human said sadly.
((Enough, this farce ends here)) I slapped the controls, which dropped the field, and fired. The blast scoured the back wall of the cell, but the human was not there. In that split second he had dropped to all fours, and lunged beneath the shredder beam. In that terrible, slow-motion dance, I saw him rise beside me, even as I sought to turn the weapon, and I felt my fingers break as the human twisted the weapon away from me. My tail-blade snapped forward, to decapitate my attacker, but the human's free hand caught my tail below the blade, trapping it.
Time returned to normal, and I could smell burning flesh and fur. The hot tip of my shredder was shoved under my chin… but the human had not fired.
((Please Jacob, do not do this)) my brother's daughter begged.
"What else can I do, Sonili?" the human asked quietly, "If I let him go, next time, he will be sneakier, and kill us when we cannot fight back."
((Why wait?)) I roared, trying to ignore the throbbing ache in my hand.
The human looked at me quietly, "You are a coward in your heart. You fear to hope."
His thumb flicked, and everything turned white.
Jacob Nyles:
I looked down at the crumpled warrior.
((Uncle!)) Sonili screamed.
"He's only stunned, girl." I said quietly. The girl knelt awkwardly, holding her Uncle's torso, which rose and fell as he breathed.
"I'm sorry," I said. She didn't hear me.
((I can probably fly an Andalite craft)) Esplin offered hesitantly.
"We have to find it first." I muttered darkly. The alarm wasn't raised for another two minutes.
((Turn left here, I think)) Esplin said. I stepped around the corner of the spacious corridor, almost colliding with two males and a female. I snap fired, catching the bigger warrior on the right in the gut, dropping him. This tangled up the other warrior, leaving only the female (for the moment). I lunged forward, past her hasty strike. Although her blade was smaller than a male's, I still didn't want to get hit by it. I shot her, and then stunned the struggling warrior on the ground. A claxon began to ring, and I scrambled away. It took us five more minutes to discover the hanger…
((()))
((I can't let you escape)) Sonili said quietly, standing in my way. Behind me, the warriors pounded at the observation window, trying to cut through the hardened material into the hanger itself with their shredders. They had to use a low power setting, or risk cooking us by accident. (I doubt they were concerned about me.)
I had seconds.
"Please don't make me hurt you, girl,"
Sonili stepped closer and looked me in the eye, ((You're my friend, Jacob. You won't hurt me))
"I'm your friend, and I don't want to hurt you, but Esplin is also my friend, and your Uncle wants to kill her."
((If you take that ship, they will destroy it remotely, with you onboard. All of the vessels here have that safeguard built in)) Sonili explained.
((That's it then…)) Esplin said glumly.
"Well at least we tried," I sighed. I killed power to the shredder, and offered the weapon to Sonili, grip-first. Behind me, the window blew out, and I could hear a dozen shredders humming angrily, ready to fire. Only my proximity to Sonili stayed their hand. I glared hard at the Andalites, "Twelve of you, and not a single warrior brave enough to fight an unarmed human? What are you, tailless?" I thought the insult a bit much. It did the trick though, the youngest, dumbest warrior jumped into the landing bay, and I slumped into a fighting stance, watching him warily.
"I'd rather die on my feet, if it's all the same to you," I snarled.
((Don't be a fool)) the warrior told me. I lunged forward, startling him. I swear, you'd think humans were a bunch of tottering invalids, the way Andalites treat me. They always seemed amazed that I don't fall over tying my shoes… or doing a jump kick to their face. He was not waking up anytime soon. I looked at the other warriors, "Who else wants some?" I challenged.
((I'm sorry))
A stun blast hit me between my shoulder blades, and I collapsed. It had certainly taken her long enough.
((Patience)) Esplin said tensely. I was fighting for her life too, after all. I could hear the dainty clop of hooves approaching across the landing bay. They stopped nearby, and something nudged me in the ribs, hard. I didn't respond.
((Find the Security Chief)) someone barked. There was a scramble nearby, which rapidly receded. I could only hear four other creatures breathing nearby. I lunged up off the floor, snatching the shredder from Sonili's startled hand, and stunned two of remaining warriors. The third shot me, and I ducked away from most of it, but the beam took a chunk out of my arm. I stunned him in the face.
"Damn that stings," I hissed, clutching my arm.
((Get away from my daughter, yeerk))
I looked up, catching sight of the female I had stunned earlier. She had a shredder this time, and looked fairly pissed off.
"I'm trying, damn it!" I snarled, "She keeps following me!"
That was not the answer she wanted apparently. I barely dodged her shot, and my own return fire overloaded the shredder in her hand. She tossed the weapon aside before it exploded.
Sonili grabbed my arm, ((Don't hurt my mother, please))
"Bad arm, bad arm," I gasped, light-headed.
((Oh, sorry))
She let go, and I nodded, "I'll see what I can do."
I squinted at the female Andalite, between me and the door.
"I don't suppose asking politely would convince you to step aside?" I asked, walking towards her slowly. Her stalk eyes surveyed the room warily, while her main eyes stayed glued to mine.
((What do you want?)) she stalled.
"Life, for me and mine," I answered. I reached my objective, and curled my toes under one of the pieces of transparent material, then kicked it up in her face, just as she slashed at my face. In the ensuing fracas, I escaped through the blown-out observation window, back into the corridor.
((We're bleeding)) Esplin commented, as we left bloody footprints in the grass.
"One problem at a time," I muttered. Someone blue came around the corner, and I shot them. I ripped a computer panel off one of the walls, "Do your thing. We need an exterior escape route." I said, giving Esplin my eyes and left arm. She hacked into the lower level processes, and brought up a schematic of the facility. She tapped through the details.
((Uh… the facility… it's underwater…)) Esplin said.
"How much water?" I demanded
((Approximately two hundred and eighty-seven meters)) a familiar voice told me coldly. I glanced over at Sonili's Uncle, who was glaring at me from the end of the hallway.
"Go back to sleep," I called, then ignored him,
"Is there anyway to tell if these really are the schematics?" I murmured.
((Not from here))
"Alright, assume the schematics are true, they have to have some sort of emergency evacuation route. Can you find it?"
((Sure, give me fifteen minutes, both arms, and a proper terminal)) Esplin said sarcastically.
"How about fifteen seconds?" I countered.
((You cannot succeed, yeerk)) the Security officer growled.
"Please stop talking. I promised your daughter I wouldn't hurt you, but stunning you again doesn't count," I snarled.
((Jacob, I need a real terminal)) Esplin reminded me.
"Fine, I'm on it," I grunted, turning away from the wall. I caught a flash of something whipping towards me, and I raised the Shredder, blocking the strike on its hardened alloy casing, which gave the sneaky andalite bastard quite a nasty shock. I yanked the weapon off his blade before he could finish frying himself, and snatched his own shredder from his twitching fingers.
My own hand was still numb from the force of the blow, so I switched the shredder to my left hand. I felt me ears pop.
"What just happened?" I asked apprehensively.
Lywerav-Ontoul-Yrbon:
I watched the human attempt to bypass the lockout on the bulkheads which had descended, to seal off the section of the complex he stood in.
((Computer, initiate countermeasure ninty-seven)) I ordered.
((Andalite life-forms detected in junction thirty-six. Do you wish to proceed?)) the computer asked politely.
((Execute command)) I said bitterly. Verozine gas began to pump into the sealed compartment. It was silent, scentless, and invisible. It was also a fairly deadly nerve-agent. It was lighter than standard atmosphere though so it would take several minutes to reach my downed warriors. I had to hope the human would be incapacitated before they inhaled the biological agent.
I peered intently at the human, who suddenly opened fire on the ceiling. ((He's cutting into the ventilation system!)) I snarled. If he breached it…
((Computer, discontinue countermeasure, begin decontamination sequence!))
The human jumped up, and scrambled into the vent. An alarm sounded, indicating that the ventilation seals between sections had been breached, energy weapon discharges had been detected. I sighed, the metal was thinner in the vents. It hadn't been deemed necessary to reinforce them to the same extent as the bulkheads...
((Alien life form detected in ventilation system)) the computer informed me. This was a nightmare. Our energy weapons were ineffective, he was too fast for tail combat, and he was outthinking us and outmaneuvering us.
((Shredder in cascading overload detected, level nine, section J)) the computer reported.
((Explosion detected)) I felt the deck tremble beneath my hooves.
((Computer, location of alien life form?)) I demanded.
((Alien life form is in ventilation shaft nineteen, section E))
((Estimate life form's current heading)) I queried.
((Life form is stationary))
I dispatched a security team to the life form's location, fully expecting a trap. Every ten seconds I clarified that the life form still hadn't moved.
Five minutes later, Cheegan raised me on his communicator,
((Sir, the human… he's crumpled at the bottom of the shaft))
((Can you get a scanner on him?)) I asked.
My brother's wife stalked into the security station at that moment, Solini in tow. Helaine had murder in her eyes.
((Routing telemetry to your console)) Cheegan reported. I called up the streamed data, to avoid the wrath of my brother's wife, for a few moments, at least. She stood at my shoulder, trembling with suppressed anger… but she did glance at the scanner readings.
((It's the Verozine. He must have inhaled some climbing into the ventilation shaft)) Helaine determined.
((What should we do, sir?)) Cheegan asked.
((The least you can do is let me study him, Security Officer)) Helaine hissed at me in private thought-speak.
((Recover the human, take him to laboratory seven. Dr. Helaine will meet you there))
I left Cheegan in charge of distracting Solini while I oversaw Helaine's activities. Strapped to the examination table the human seemed… smaller… some how. Green veins around his face and neck clearly marked his Verozine exposure, but he was still breathing.
((This is remarkable engineering. Look, do you see how the immune system has been retasked, to selectively target the Verozine? Crude, but brilliant in its simplicity))
Good. She was distracted. ((Does it only attack Verozine?)) I asked.
((Don't be ridiculous, of course not. Somehow, the Verozine triggered this immune response, possibly from a cached template, but maybe… by causing damage, the body was alerted…)) Dr. Helaine's train of thought wandered as she tried to pin down exactly how the yeerks had done what they had, yet every string she unraveled became just another tangle in the confusing web.
((My daughter is heartbroken, Lywerav. Do you know this alien has paid more attention to our daughter than you have over the past few days? He's like some sort of hairless pet to her now))
I thought this somewhat hypocritical, since I spent more time with Sonili than her own mother.
"It's not too hard. You just have to care," the human croaked painfully.
((Exactly!)) Helaine growled, glaring at me.
((Doctor, can we remain objective here? There is a yeerk agent—))
"Alleged," the human interjected.
((— on your exam table, who's injured half a dozen of our best warriors—))
"You're missing some fur under your chin, did you know? It's hardly noticeable, but from this angle…" the human coughed.
((Be silent, or I will kill you)) I snapped, then glared at my brother's wife, ((Now, I—))
Something snapped behind me, and Helaine shouted, but something grabbed my head, and I was staring at a rather sharp piece of metal, inches from my eyes.
"Listen carefully, bastard. I'm between a rock and a hard place here, and you aren't making things any easier. I'm not your enemy, but you're doing your damndest trying to be mine. The only reason you're not dead, is because your little girl made me promise. How about we make a deal of our own. Are you listening?" the human growled in my ear.
((You have my undivided attention)) I said carefully.
"Good. You stop trying to kill my friend, who happens to be a yeerk, and stop trying to kill me… then I will cooperate. I'll be the perfect model prisoner, and I won't make you look like some chicken running around with his head shoved up its ass."
((I promise)) I gritted out.
"I want you to swear it," the human continued quietly.
((Fine, I swear that I will abide by your terms!)) I snarled.
"And you. You're his wife, right?"
((The last time I checked that was not the case)) my brother's wife answered coolly. Despite my offer to take my slain brother's place.
"Will you please hold him to his word?" the human asked politely.
((I gave you my word!)) I protested angrily.
"Shut up, chicken-shit. You lost all respect when you tried to kill me with gas. And some of your men were in that hallway!"
((I will ensure my husband's brother keeps his word, human))
The vise around my head vanished, and I stumbled away. A fairly long blade of metal, or something similar, was held loosely in the controller's hand.
((I trust you will not be using that weapon on us?)) Helaine remarked.
"Why, I seem to have misplaced my shank…" the human said in mock surprise, letting the bit of metal fall to the deck, "And now, after all that excitement and gas" he cracked one eye to glare at me, "I need to take a quick nap."
I left quickly, lest I break my word, and went to check on my warriors. I was not a fool however. Three heavily armed warriors remained in the lab.
((()))
((We were fortunate, sir. The most serious injuries it seems were accidentally self-inflicted)) the medic said quietly. She gestured with one of her stalk-eyes to the medical table, which held the aristh, Torfan. I had reviewed the security footage already. The cadet had initiative, and courage, but a very poor sense of timing. I had been forced, by the evidence at hand, to come to a single conclusion: for whatever reason, the yeerk was not permitted to inflict casualties, only injuries upon us.
I trotted over to the next bed, which held a second aristh. Yaigeir had a very large, mottled lump on his face, from where the human had hit him with his foot. I had examined the footage several times, but the acrobatic feat had not been a fluke. Although tail-less, and having only two legs to balance upon, the human possessed excellent balance and spatial awareness. In some ways, he was actually more versatile than Hork-bajir. The young warrior still hadn't properly recovered from the embarrassment. The human had felled him with a single, surprise attack, in front of his superiors. He was probably the laughing stock of the barracks by now.
Jacob Nyles:
I woke up from my nap, and actually… felt pretty good. I stretched, as much as the restraints would allow, and stared at the ceiling.
((Good morning)) Esplin said, distracted. She was listening intently, trying to glean information.
((How goes the espionage?)) I asked idly.
((Inconclusive)) Esplin replied.
I grunted, and looked around. The guards had rotated out, leaving three new faces glaring at me.
The door chimed, and one of the guards checked the visitor. After a silent conversation to his boss, the guard let my visitor in.
((Hello, mother)) Sonili said cheerfully. 'Mother' looked irritated, but after another private conversation, the Andalite girl was allowed to approach.
((Hi Jacob)) she said shyly, uncertain.
((She did shoot us in the back, after all)) Esplin commented wryly, trying to see what the scientist was doing.
((Are we still friends?)) Sonili asked.
I sighed, "Do you have any sevens?" I asked.
Her eyes twinkled, in the way only a species without a mouth can achieve,
((No. Go fish))
"Excuse me, Sonili's mom?" I said.
The scientist looked up from her computer console, trying to tease another genome sequence apart.
((What is it?))
"Two things, no, actually three: First, what's your name?"
((Why do you need to know?)) the woman asked suspiciously.
"Because calling you Sonili's mom, miss scientist, or chicken-shit's not-wife are all kind of a mouthful," I replied honestly.
Her stalk eyes twisted weirdly, but she didn't seem pissed (well, more than usual)
((My first name is Helaine))
"Okay, Dr. Helaine, my second question; as long as I stay on the scanner table, can I do without the restraints?"
She looked closely between her daughter and me.
((Yes)) she raised a medical isolation field around the scanner table.
((It's weaker than a security grade containment field, but the difference only matters if we have a shredder, or dracon beam)) Esplin observed.
The restraints disengaged, and I sat up painfully. I looked at Sonili, "Which game?"
Her eyes glinted evilly, ((Chess))
I sighed, "Okay… I can't show you anything else in Chess… but Esplin can. Do you want to play against me, or her?"
((Who beat my Uncle?))
I grinned, "Esplin,"
((Then yes, I would like to play against your… friend…))
A pair of game boards appeared, just like before.
((You're assuming I want to play right now)) Esplin said, still intent on Dr. Helaine's work.
((Just humor me, please? You're not getting anything useful from her right now, are you?)) I asked.
((Well…)) the yeerk trailed off in annoyance.
((Listen, play with her daughter, and I'll see if I can convince the doctor to let you in on her work. I know how much you like to play with computer models)) I said lightly.
Esplin bristled until she realized I was teasing.
((Fine)) she growled, ((Left arm, please))
The game began, and the girl looked at us. ((Ah… your left hand again. Is the game I saw you playing earlier really a single person game?))
I laughed, "No, but we were bored, and at the time I didn't have a yeerk in my head, remember?"
((Which color was your friend?))
"Esplin wanted to be blue," I answered.
((Why?))
I shrugged "It's her favorite color."
You'd think I'd dropped a bomb in the room. Everyone's eyes fastened on us, and since everyone else had four eyes, that was a lot of eyes.
"Wrong answer?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in question. Slowly, the other aliens went back to what they were doing. I leaned in, "Why did everyone freak out just now?" I asked.
Sonili shrugged, ((It was just so… normal…))
((I'll have her mated in four moves)) Esplin chuckled.
"Pay attention, Sonili. Esplin think's she's about to crush you," I warned.
Alerted, the Andalite realized the trap, and quickly escaped. Esplin growled at me, but she didn't particularly mind drawing the game out.
((Jacob… I have a question…)) Sonili said hesitantly.
"Yes?"
Apparently she lost her nerve, and blurted out, ((Can I bring a friend?))
"Ask your mother," I told her evenly.
The room grew quiet, and the tempo of the game increased.
((This "Checkers" game you played with Esplin. Did you play it before coming here?)) Sonili asked.
"When we could. Months ago, after I escaped, I kind of… crashed… the fighter on a very nasty world. The whole planet was covered in thick mist, and everything that moved tried to eat you… we played a lot of board games there…"
((Antios III?)) one of the guards asked, curious.
"Say again?"
((The world you describe, it sounds like Antios III)) the guard clarified.
"Just a sec, I'll ask,"
((Well?))
Esplin skipped back through my memories, better than any biographer, and once again, we were aboard a crashing bug-fighter, staring at the sensor readings of a distant planet, as asteroids hammered into us. She read the galard again, but it made no mention to the planet's name. ((Sorry))
I shook my head, "Esplin doesn't know, and neither do I. There was a very thick asteroid field around the planet though, that's what crippled our fighter," I offered.
The guard approached, and manipulated the holographic controls, temporarily suspending the chess game.
((Here are some of the life-forms found on Antios III)) the guard said, and a creature from our nightmares appeared, life-size, crouched before us. My reaction was instantaneous, and primal.
"YAAAH!" I clenched my fists, and threw an all-out attack at the monster.
Sparks erupted, and I was repulsed from the field, dizzy.
((Did you see that?))
I gasped like a fish until the tingling stopped, and I could breathe again.
"Yeah, I've killed those bastards before," I panted, trembling with adrenaline. The Hell-spider disappeared, and the guard looked troubled.
((How long were you on Antios III?)) the guard asked.
"Seventy-three days," I whispered.
((()))
The next morning, Dr. Helaine had something new for me.
"What… is this?" I asked warily, staring at the bowl of… slime.
((I finished my analysis, and realized that your body has been suffering from long-term nutrient deficiency. I synthesized the optimum ratio to meet your dietary requirements))
"Umm… thank you?" I hazarded.
((()))
"Who's your friend, Solini?" I asked. The smaller girl partially hid behind my friend.
((This is Bellai. She's the only other girl here)) Solini said briskly.
I strongly suspected Solini had been forced to twist her arm a bit.
"So, Bellai, do you like games?" I asked gently. Solini give her a nudge, and the little girl nodded reluctantly.
