"I was expecting four new technicians," she said, calmly looking them both over. "Where are the other two?"

Marco just stood there, staring. She was just about to say something, something that the Human-Controller in front of them since that was what she obviously was would find reassuring, when the woman spoke again.

"Where are the other two who were supposed to come with you down from the Pool ship?"

Before she could begin to think of a plausible, reasonable explanation for someone that she suspected was an inherently unreasonable person, Marco literally shook himself out of his reverie and started to speak.

"The other two? The other two technicians? Oh. Um. They well, they had a bit of a problem. I think Visser Three killed them for doing something wrong."

It was, quite possibly, the most pathetic lie she had ever heard anyone tell in her life. It would have never passed muster with her father. And yet, for some odd reason that she wasnt stupid enough to start questioning, this woman believed it.

She raised an eyebrow, an expression of contempt clear on her face. "If that clown Visser Three thinks he can damage me in the eyes of the Council of Thirteen by sabotaging this project, hes a bigger fool than I thought."

She heard Marco gulp, overlaid by the sounds of combat just outside the walls of the office. They were much louder to her than they would have been to anyone else, she knew, and for a moment she felt the urge to contact her brother and ask how he and the others were doing. That wasnt possible, though; aside from the fact that she would space out and potentially miss whatever other information this Human-Controller might give her, she knew that telepathy made a Teknomans eyes glow when they used it.

Glowing eyes werent anything that could remotely be considered humanlike.

"Were having a bit of a problem with the Andalite Bandits that Visser Three has still failed to exterminate," she said calmly, and Shara remembered just where she had seen this woman before: this was the woman she had seen riding that strange, transparent submarine, the one Rachel had called Visser One.

"I see," she said, in response to Marcos nod. "Obviously your host mind is giving you some trouble. Im sure you are aware that your host body is the biological son of my own host body."

This was said completely without emotion; Darkon would have at least been amused by the plight of his slaves, given the impressions she had gotten of him while she had been trapped in that hellish place he called his own. This was better in some ways, and worse in others. Knowing what she knew now did make her feel a swell of sympathy for what Marco had to be feeling, but she wasnt going to express it in the usual ways.

To say nothing of their current predicament, Marco was enough like Cain that she knew he wouldnt appreciate the sentiment he was likely to mistake her sympathy for.

XXX

She knew; that was all he could focus on. Shara knew now; Visser One had told her outright, and now she would pity him for what he was going through. Just like Cassie, or any of the others would if hed allowed them to find out. He was starting to wish hed reacted faster, shutting her out of the room before she could lead him in.

"You seem rather well-disciplined," hi- Visser One said, turning her pitiless gaze on Shara. "See that you keep him in line, if he starts to lose control of his host."

"As you command, Visser One," Shara said, calmly enough that he almost turned to look at her.

"As for you," she said, after giving Shara a nod and an actual approving smile. "You must learn to control your host more completely. My own host is creating an awful racket," she said, tapping her right temple. "But I do not let her weeping and wailing distract me."

"No, Visser," he said, whispering so that his voice wouldnt shake. "I will try harder to control my host."

He hated that filthy slug; hated it with every fiber of his being, and wanted to rip it out of his mothers head and grind it into paste under his heels. He was surprised that both Visser One and Shara couldnt seem to feel the black hatred that was slowly consuming him. To him, it was a nearly-tangible presence in the room.

Hot, thick, and corrosive, the way all hatred seemed to feel.

Attacking would likely be fatal; if not for him and Shara which, given the weird superpowers that Shara had demonstrated against the sharks, he doubted it would be them then to his own mother. He didnt want her dead, not after all he had gone through to save her, so he couldnt attack. All he could do was stand there, arms at his sides, and listen to Visser One herself mock the pain and anguish his mother must have been feeling at seeing her own son as a Yeerk host.

The room reverberated with the sound of something heavy being slammed into the wall, and he tried not to react. He could clearly imagine one of the many Hork-Bajir in this base being tossed aside by a rampaging elephant. The others were clearly raising hell out there.

Visser One barely reacted. "Well then. I suppose I had better see to this little problem outside," she said, sounding only mildly weary. "I have to wrap up this shark project and have a thousand shark-Controllers ready for use on the Leeran home world within two months. I dont need to be pestered by Visser Threes leftover Andalite problems. That incompetent fool will be arriving soon; I only wish these tiresome Andalite bandits would remove that particular annoyance from my life."

She stood up, straightening her hair the way he could always remember her doing before. And he stood there, looking into her eyes, wishing he could say one of the thousands of things that were swirling around in his head; how he was still free, how he was still fighting, how he was going to kill Visser One for what she had done to their family. But any of those would have been fatal to any number of people, and besides that, hed never been the type to do stupid, impulsive, emotional things.

There were times that he wished he was, but it just wasnt in him.

"Get to the lab, the both of you," Visser One said. "Go to work."

She walked out past them, as if shed already dismissed them from her thoughts; as if they were as insignificant as gnats to her. Come to think of it, they probably were. Holding his breath as she made her way out into the hall, he was relived to find that Ax and Tobias were nowhere in sight.

He was relieved; he didnt pause to consider just why, but he was.