"What does the transmission say, Ayla?" I asked tenitively.
"Ummmm" Ayla muttered, not wanting to answer.
"Ayla!"
"She's beckoning you. She wants to meet with you in private."
"Fuck . . . . . . No."
"I agree." Ayla said. "She is still a controller. 91% chance that this is a trap."
"It's always a trap." I muttered. "Where's the source?"
"Her room. A device hooked up to an otherwise human computer. The computer has AIM. Log onto screenname AngelEyes014."
"New screenname." I noticed. I noticed that Steph's new screenname was similar to the name I gave Cassie: AngelEyes018. "Ayla, secure line. Log in."
"This is a mistake." Ayla said condescendingly.
"Just do it!"
JadedLion: What do you want, Sub-Visser?
AngelEyes018: Just throwing caution to the wind, morph-human?
JadedLion: I have nothing to worry about. You on the other hand.
AngelEyes018: So I hear. You've been causing quite a stir. Haven't been seeing a lion lately. Wondering if you're still in the game.
JadedLion: What do you want?
AngelEyes018: Is that anyway to talk to an ex-girlfriend?
I hit the warn button on my dialogue window.
AngelEyes018: Don't be a dick, David!
JadedLion: Then tell me what you want, Aftran. I won't ask you a third time.
AngelEyes018: I want out. I want out of this ridiculous host and a new assignment. I want a Garatron!
AngelEyes018: Rumor has it you have a Bug Fighter at your disposal. One which cannot be traced. So, I'm going to call a taxi and my fare will be this host. If you do not take me to the Garatron Home World, I will kill this host.
JadedLion: Why should that bother me?
AngelEyes018: Please. Do you expect me to believe you care nothing for this girl?
JadedLion: Why should I care for a person I never met?
She was typing for a long time but her next message was simply this:
AngelEyes018: Oh, right. Silly me. Hee-Hee.
"David," Ayla said. "She originally typed: 'What the hell are you talking about? You were in love with this stupid hu' and then she erased it and typed this message she sent."
"That's odd." I said.
JadedLion: Besides, do you expect me to believe you'll kill your host? If you kill your host, where will you go?
AngelEyes018: To a better body. Maybe I'll steal a Hork-Bajir. Then use my Dracon Beam to vaporize the pretty blonde cunt that was your first! You remember my handy Dracon Beam, don't you?
"She's bluffing." Ayla said. "Visser Three revoked her weapon issue following her failure ten months ago. She's strictly a recon unit now."
JadedLion: Ha Ha Ha. You may think you have secrets from Andalites. Secrets from the Yeerks. Secrets from me. But you don't.
JadedLion: If you really want a reassignment, I'll e-mail the good visser and tell him that I ain't never going back to Shit Haven, and tell the visser to go ahead and give you your weapon issue back. Then you can vaporize the entire southeast of Georgia for all I care! I don't give a flying fucking fig!
AngelEyes018 has signed off 11:03:43
"I must say. These yeerk attempts at bluffing are pathetic. Not when I have the ability to access any computer in the known galaxy." Ayla boasted. "I am one sexy bitch."
"What have I done, Ayla?" I said worriedly.
"Do not worry. Following Visser Seven's death before he could file his inspection report, the Council of Thirteen sent another Council candidate, along with Councilor Eight to investigate with a blue band regiment at their side."
"So Visser Three won't try anything." I realized. "Which means all the yeerk forces are under high scrutiny."
"It helps that Councilor Eight and Visser Three are friendly."
"So Stephanie's plan . . . ."
"I theorize with a projected 73% accuracy that Sub-Visser five-hundred-nine's proposal was a desperate attempt to escape the judgment of a Councilor."
"That would mean she was telling the truth. It wasn't a trap." I figured out. "And what about that business with forgetting that I never met the real Stephanie. Shouldn't she remember that shit?"
"The Sub-Visser seems to be in a lot of stress."
"Yeah, I guess, but still, it makes me wonder." I sighed to myself. "Oh, Stephanie."
"Incoming Instant message from Fluffer126."
Fluffer126: David? Where are you?
Melissa.