This chapter is a little strange.
"One Least Likely" turned one-year-old last month. Happy Belated Birthday!!!
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??? ??:??
I didn't know where I was. I didn't know who I was. When, where . . . these issues weren't important to me.
I walked, which also felt foreign to me, toward what appeared to be a small chamber. I felt infinity above me, but I did not look up. Not important. Everything that was important was right in front of me.
But it wasn't important to me.
I walked into a room. I saw a chubby, reddish man sculpting. Not really a man, a boy. An old boy. He was sculpting something, looked humanoid.
I knew the boy's name. It was David Hunting. He is a human.
Why this detail was important me is unknown. The boy is David Hunting.
So who was I?
I went up to the boy. "What are you doing?"
"She's gonna cause pain for me." Was all he said.
"Who?"
"Her." The boy said pointing to the statue. I recognized the girl. Her name was Melissa Chapman, also human.
"It's gonna end up badly. She's tied to the people who break me."
"Break you?"
"She used to be the only one for me." The boy said pointing to a statue of excruciating detail but covered in dust. The name was Stephanie Gimble.
"She was the only one. Even as I made this, she was the only one." The 'this' the boy spoke of was a third statue in the room, unfinished, but clean. The name was Cassie Verenda.
"She's not one of them." The boy said pointing to Cassie. "She is. She did this to me." The Boy said pointing to Stephanie. He turned around and I saw that half his face was horribly scarred. Long lines wracked his face, arms, chest . . . He was scarred. It looked like he was . . . . broken.
Amongst the statues there was a face plate. It boasted a face and a pair of hands, but that's all it was. The face and hands were that of Taylor Jane Perkins. I knew this by ways unknown.
"She had soft hands." the red, chubby and scarred boy named David said about the face plate. "I'll always have a place for her, but I make this now." He said returning to his statue of Melissa. "She'll break me too in the end. I know this."
"You're David's heart." I realized.
The boy, David's heart turned around and faced me. "Who are you? You don't belong here!" With that David's Heart turned into a being of black stone. "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!!!!!!!"
David's Heart grabbed me and threw me violently into the ceiling where I ripped threw it like paper. I floated toward the infinity above me. I didn't want to go into the infinity, but I did, against my will. I landed into the infinity and was swallowed.
I opened my eyes. I was on the floor. I got up and dusted my dress off.
What? Dress? I wasn't supposed to be in a dress. I was a human. I was Traci Lee, but that's not right, I'm usually a Hork-Ba--
I remembered who I was. I am Calvca Two-Nine-Three and I hold the rank Sub-Visser One. The highest of the low.
David Hunting. I'm supposed to be in his body. What am I doing in Traci Lee's body? Where am I?
I looked around. I was in a castle of some sort. The walls were black, much like the black of that Stone David.
David's Heart. What did I mean by that? Where was I before? Did I just dream that up?
What was I doing in this castle? Wasn't I just in the Yeerk Pool?
You ask too many questions.
"Who's there?"
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA. She's the intruder, and she asks who I am. That's rich.
"Intruder? I don't even know where I am!" I shouted. "And I'm a he."
You're an IT! Yeerks don't have genders.
He's right, of course, but we yeerks most often become so wrapped up in the gender-identity of a gender-specific creature, we 'become' said gender.
I have been a male hork-bajir for so long, I had taken offence to being called a she.
"Is that you David?"
Debatable.
"I have no time for rhetoric."
YOU HAVE AS MUCH TIME AS I WANT. David roared. It was him. I was sure of if. No, you're right. You don't have time.
"Where are you?"
Where am I not?
"Stop that. I don't know how I got out of your body, or where it is you've taken me, but I know all your secrets, David the Animorph. Your leader Jake. Rachel, Marco, your beloved Cassie. Tobias, Aximili, even your precious Ayla! I know about them all. The Androids. The Dayangs. I will break free from you and tell the Empire what I have found. I will be a Visser at last!!!"
You seem to have absorbed a lot. Especially for someone who doesn't remember accessing any of my memories.
He's right. I don't remember accessing any of his memories.
Of course I'm right, you slug.
What? Can he read my thoughts?
Duh.
"How are you doing that?"
Asked the master to his pupil.
"Shut-up and FACE ME!!!!"
I felt a punch at my face. I fell to the ground tearing my dress. I looked up and I saw David. He wore green karate pants and a black belt.
He was not a black belt, but he wore one just the same.
"Fight me, Yeerk. Prove your impotence and inferiority."
I charged at him. I was taller at seven foot, but he seemed to possess a supernatural speed that I could not match. I charged my blades at him and he blocked me blow for blow.
Wait a minute. Blades?
I looked at my body. I was Nomwa Teff, my Hork-Bajir host. How did I go from one host body to another? Was I dreaming?
"You're not dreaming. I can assure you that."
"Why is my body changing?" I said in Nomwa's gruff (even by Hork-bajir standards) Hork-bajir voice. "WHERE AM I?"
"When did you meet me, Calvca?"
"Answer my question, human."
"When did you meet me, Calvca?"
I indulged him. "When my soldiers carried your sickly, weak body to me and Visser Three."
"Eeeeeh! Wrong! Try again, annelid from hell."
The answer came to me all of the sudden. "The dance a few hours ago. YOU WERE TERRY STEVENS! The 'yeerk'. There is no Esplin One-zero-one-two is there?"
"There might be. But he ain't me."
"You deceitful, evil creature."
"I'm evil. That's rich."
"You are. Even if you don't want to admit it."
I quickly found a malformed claw at my throat. David grew some dangerous looking appendage and held me down with it. His entire appearance changed. He grew to be two feet taller than me. He had spikes growing out of his shoulders. His teeth were razor-sharp. His skin was green.
This was not a morph. This was David, in a way I didn't understand.
"You're the evil one. You're the slavemaker. You take away a person's free-will. Making them sub-living. Inferior."
"You're insane."
"No," David said letting me go and shifting back. "Only delirious. I'm sick, remember?" David replied with devilish, mischievous laughter.
"You can find freedom from your insanity in me. With us. The Yeerks."
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Are you trying to seduce me to the Dark side?"
I suddenly heard the breathing sounds of Darth Vader.
"You are in no position to negotiate, Calvca." David continued.
"How did you know my name was Calvca?"
"How did you know I was Terry Stevens?"
"How did . . ." I didn't have an answer.
"In fact, I'm betting you know everything about me. As I know everything about you."
"That's impossible." I said.
Two chairs sidled up to us. David sat down. He was shaven bald, wearing a faux fur coat and a tank top that said 'Brown Sugar'.
The same thing Brad Pitt wore at the end of Fight Club.
How did I know that?
I sat my Hork-Bajir body down in the chair. David sat in his chair. We faced each other eye-to-eye.
"Come on." David said. "Tell me something about me."
"You were born in Detroit, Michigan. April 7, 1984. You were premature, but as large as an average baby carried to term."
"You were born in a pool on the Korla-Mak homeworld. You scored so well in your first infestation test you were given a Mak instead of a Gedd as your first host."
"You've lived in over twenty cities in your life."
"You've been assigned three different hosts: the Mak, and two different Hork-Bajir, but you tried them all, secretly. Nahara, S-s-s-stram, Taxxon, even a Gedd. You even got a chance to try out one of the old Ongachic bodies. And one of those Leeran bodies the Empire had for a while. Oh, and of course, human you've tried."
"You lusted over your leader's girlfriend."
"You have been stealing credit from your underlings findings in order to get promoted."
"You hate your father."
"You hate the Empire and once tried to assassinate a councilor."
HOW DID HE KNOW THAT? I had to match him. I had to destroy him with his own memories. As he used mine against me. How did he have access to my memories? How did I have access to his? "You once felt up a girl after she passed out at a party."
"You killed your partner, Yildar Two-six-five, in his sleep so you would get full credit for killing that Gervasid rebel."
He found a great shame of mine, but I found a great shame of his. "You molested your cousin, Kelly, when she was nine and you were ten. You blocked it from your memory; you don't even remember that."
David didn't flinch. "You killed a subordinate and took his male S-s-s-stram host so you could rape your superior in her female S-s-s-stram host." David matched. Well played. "You remember that everyday of your life." My reaction was not as well played.
I grabbed his throat with my hork-bajir hands.
"HOW DO YOU KNOW ALL THIS ABOUT ME?!!!!"
"How do you know all that about me?"
"HOW THE DAPSEN SHOULD I KNOW?????" I let go of his throat.
"You see. This is how it should be. Equals. Symbiotes. Human and Yeerk. Parasite and Host."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"This is how it should be." He repeated. Word for word. Tone for tone. It was like a recording. "Equals. Symbiotes. Human and Yeerk. Parasite and Host."
"That isn't your decision to make."
"Yes it is. You're my host."
"You're MY host!"
"Am I?"
"Wait. What am I talking about? We're in two separate bodies."
"Are we?" David said. As his body melted into what looked like green brain matter and integrated into the floor.
"What the Dapsen is going on here?"
Think back Yeerk. David's thought-speech rang in my head. What happened after your soldiers carried my sickly, . . . weak . . . body to you and Visser Three?
"I brought you to the sick bay and left Traci Lee to infest you. You were babbling and carrying on about something. Gibberish. Nonsense words. I entered you in your ear. That's when I started to feel groggy . . ." David's memory reinterpreted this particular happenstance. "YOU ACQUIRED ME!!!!!"
That's right, slimeball. Although the damndest thing happens when I acquire morphs.
David's memory once again supplied the answer. "You automatically morph a part of the creature. The part that does the acquiring."
In this case my ear. However, my flu seems to be affecting my morphing as it did to my roomie . . .so . .
"More of your parts morphed Yeerk. Specifically your . ."
Brain.
The realization hit me like a Dracon Beam.
And just imagine the paradox. David continued. A Yeerk brain tapping a Yeerk brain. Which would do the tapping? Which would do the Controlling?
"I was entering your brain. I was the Yeerk. You were the brain, even if it was an oversized Yeerk Brain. I did the entering."
That you did. But there's one problem. A giant stone-like face of David appeared from the walls of the castle. "NOW YOU'RE STUCK!!!!"
"Stuck?"
The result of a Yeerk Brain attempting to tap a Yeerk Brain was a contest of wills. I don't know who 'won' exactly, but the end result was your mind getting sucked into mine. And since I demorphed it also got . . . how you say . . . . trapped.
"Trapped?"
That's right, Brainslug. Welcome to Cabesa de David. Stick around for a while. But not for too long.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Think about it! The quick-change bodies. The mutual telepathy . . . Your mind is trapped in my mind. I'm about to send you back where you came from.
It was a lot to absorb. All this time I've been a ghost in some else's mind, thinking it was a tangible place. I've been in other people's minds, but to be trapped in one and have it manifested into something like this . . . . .David is insane.
"If you send me back to my old body, I become the Yeerk, and you the brain. Everything will be just as it should be, with me controlling you."
Yes, you would 'control' me for a few hours.
"Few hours? I'm gonna be your yeerk for life, human. Why have a hork-bajir when I can change into a Hork-Bajir. Or an Andalite. Or a S-s-s-s-stram. Or anything I want. I'm your master for life."
For the rest of your life, yes, a few hours.
"What?"
Did you forget you were at the end of your feeding cycle? David mused. Oops. I guarentee you: when I do send you back, it'll be well into the fugue. Ha Ha Ha Ha.
"What if you don't send me back?"
Then you'll be a ghost in my head forever, much like your hosts were to you.
"What if I send you back in my place?"
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. As if.
"I have time. I can break you in a day."
You don't have a day. You have three hours. Which won't last very long, I promise.
An imaginary clock appeared. It showed three hours counting down. Counting down fast.
"It's counting down too fast."
Well, I had to adjust. Our brains seem to work much slower when in a feverish coma. Ha Ha Ha. David laughed manically again.
"I'll break you, David James Hunting!"
Give it up. I have the home team advantage. You have no hope. This battle was over before it started.
"We could be symbiotes. We could secure Terra Firma. Destroy the Yeerk Empire. Defeat the Animorphs and the Andalites."
You and I will never be symbiotes, Calvca. Not the way I see it.
That's when I saw it. David's vision. David's almost elegant solution. It shook me up.
"It'll never work."
You lie.
He was right. I was lying. It would work. It might work. Too many yeerks are tired of the war. Thirty straight years will do that.
But he'd be destroying everything the Contemporary Yeerk Society stood for.
"You can't expect everything to go your way. Something will go wrong."
We'll see.
"You can't do that. You'll never find someone who can build them."
I know of a group who could. But they're extinct. Or are they?
No. One was sighted three months ago.
A-ha.
My Hork-Bajir body which was no body at all was filled with vigor.
"I won't let you do it. I won't let you carry your insane vision. And I won't go back to my dying body! I can't go back there!"
Oh, but you can. "Oh, but you will."
I turned around and saw the very essence of David's vision face me. His Ultimate creation. ULTimate.
"Look above you." the mouth of David's vision said with David's voice.
I looked up and the 'sky' turned the grayish-yellow-green of yeerk flesh.
"You go up there, it's back to your Yeerk body. Certain Death. I go up there. Then you're stuck in my body forever, and I die in your stead."
"Sounds good."
"This is your first night at Fight Club, so . . . . . You have to fight."
Fight we did. The struggle was long. Epic. A battle of wits in mortal combat. I worried that my body may die without either of us in there.
"This fight is fruitless, David Hunting. You and I are the same. Megalomaniacal. Ambitious. We are equals. One of us will never prove to be the stronger."
"You are wrong, Calvca Two-Nine-Three. If there is one thing I have learned from Jake Barenson, Rachel Barenson, Marco McCabe, Tobias Van Gore, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, and especially Cassie Verenda, it is this: when you fight for someone else, you are stronger. You fight for yourself, thus you only as strong as yourself. I fight for the UNIVERSE. Thus I am as strong as myself TO AN INFINITE POWER!!!!!" With that he lifted me high in the 'air' toward the yeerk flesh sky that symbolized the road back to a terminal body.
"You will never cross that line, David Hunting."
With his last words, my final fate came of no surprise, and I came to accept it with tranquility and peace.
THERE IS . . . NO . . . .LINE.
Kandrona Starvation is a horrible ordeal. David had been kind enough to send me back during my final minutes of life. But in these final moments it is hard to think of David as kind when these are his last words to you:
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
I do not take it personal. After all he is delirious. And sick. And I don't just mean from the flu.
I wonder if-