I am not happy, my laptop; not happy! (Those that can tell me what that is paraphrased from will get a surprise.)

I decided to do some side chapters from the POVs of Anjinnl, Arbron and Alan/Elfangor covering things that I would have skipped over and covered in the beginning of the next part.

This is from Elfangor/Alan's POV shortly after the events of book #15.

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I can't believe that I hacked the computers of a Yeerk Facility. I had sworn on what was left of my honor that I would never endanger my family in such a reckless manner.

At first I was only curious to know if I could hack into the Yeerk Facility in the waters of the coast of the State my family and I call home. I knew from Yeerk comm chatter that this facility was being used to increase the brain capacities of sharks to make them more suitable for infestation. They are planning to then use the Shark Controllers to help enslave the Leeran Race. Interesting enough Visser One is there overseeing the project.

I can destroy the facility and prevent them from using the sharks as Controllers but I hesitate to do what needs to be done and kill the wife of a dear friend but the painful memories of what happened on Dezè, the Taxxon home world, how I had allowed the Yeerks to get the upper hand on my people.

The Eva I knew would hope to die so her enslavement could end; just like War Prince Alloran.

What happened on Dezè will haunt me until the day I die. Only four life forms know what I did that hot day and the mistake that only a child or being with minimum mental capacity could make.

I had not questioned things too deeply, not at first. But it was far too late when I did remember the importance of Prince Alloran's question and the danger we were all in if our two passengers had been infested.

Something hadn't been quite right in the ship's cabin. I had chalked it up to Loren and Chapman being afraid of the Hork-Bajir that Sub-Visser Seven controlled, my worry for Arbron's safety and Prince Alloran's concern being on a planet under the control of the Yeerks and having a smarter Yeerk on his ship.

When I saw the recordings of what had happened in our absence I had told him that not enough time had passed for Loren and Chapman to have been taken to the Yeerk Pool and infested. I had even added that Loren's long hair was completely dry with no sign that it had gotten wet and they didn't smell like a Yeerk Pool.

/There are more than one way to infest a Host then to enter from a Yeerk Pool./ Prince Alloran had told me as he had come over to look at the recordings himself.

I had not completely understood what he had meant and didn't have time to think about it since Sub-Visser Seven attacked us before Prince Alloran had the opportunity to look at the recordings.

My first hint should have been the expressions and the actions of Loren and Chapman when I and Prince Alloran killed the Sub-Visser during the attack on my Prince. Loren's actions to Chapman and his actions to her didn't fit with how they acted to each other before. I just assumed that they had bonded through their terrifying experiences.

Prince Alloran and I had pushed the remains of the Hork-Bajir out of the airlock. I had been horrified that he had attacked us knowing that he wouldn't stand a chance.

Some of his blades had damaged the screen and controls so we couldn't look at the recordings. That should have been another clue but I just assumed that the damage had been coincidental not calculated damage.

Then next there was a personal and private discussion that Prince Alloran and I were having within firing range of a Yeerk transport that contained Yeerks waiting for Hosts. I argued that the Yeerks were defenseless and didn't pose a direct threat to us. Prince Alloran told me that the Yeerks were not as helpless as one would think. How in their pools they could use special computers to help their fellow Yeerks in different tasks. How Gedd Controllers had murdered our warriors with stolen Shedders on Yad before stealing some ships and other technology. The warriors hadn't stood a chance because Seerow had told them that the Gedd Controllers didn't pose a threat and were harmless.

And that over Hayashi, the Hork-Bajir home world, he had hesitated to attack a transport with no weapons and minimal shields. It had the look of a simple science vessel that belonged to the Koth; it turned out to be an elaborate trick. A good warrior died that day when the transport revealed itself to be a Yeerk Ship and more than capable of handling the three fighters that had been sent to investigate.

How he wondered if he had not hesitated if we would have lost Hayashi. He could tell himself that he would never know. He still wondered though if he had destroyed that transport if the Electorate would have still pushed him to do the unthinkable; then refused to say that they had ordered it to be done.

I had asked him if he was the one that had released a dangerous agent into the atmosphere of Hayashi. He told me that he had it in his possession and had orders to release it but hesitated to do so; he thought that if the Yeerks knew about about it they would hesitate and maybe leave. It had been stolen and released accidently by Aldrea, Seerow's daughter before he could decide whether he should threaten the Yeerks with it or do as the Electorate commanded. But he had been punished since she had gotten passed his passcodes and stolen it.

I had hesitated and looked at the transport. I couldn't decide if I could or should fire.

Before I could decide Chapman attacked Prince Alloran and I knocked my Prince out without a second's thought. I didn't think of why Chapman would attack a War Prince especially since he had just seen what an Andalite Tail Blade had done to a Hork-Bajir. I had just been grateful that I didn't have to decide the fate of the Yeerk transport at that moment.

I had assumed that he and Loren had seen Prince Alloran becoming upset and were worried about my safety. And their words seemed to back that up.

I quickly gave Prince Alloran a sedative and a calming agent since he had become upset talking about the past. I was shocked by his admission and horrified if it was the truth.

I thought that if could retrieve the Matrix and locate Arbron before Prince Alloran woke up he would be pleased about two less things to worry about and then the need to escape would overpower the possibility of destroying a Yeerk transport and slowing them down.

I was a stupid child that knew nothing of war or just how cunning the enemy could be.

It wasn't until I had moved the Matrix from the twisted remains of the Skrit Na ship to an outer storage bay on the Jahar that Prince Alloran's comment of there being more than one way to infest a potential Host and the events leading up to the comment came back to me.

Both Loren and Chapman had been dragged from the captured Jahar towards the entrance of the Yeerk Pool. They had disappeared into the tunnel but less than two minutes later they managed to escape and run back to the Jahar and a minute later I had arrived.

Prince Alloran had arrived a moment later and captured the Sub-Visser.

A Taxxon told us that Arbron had talked the Taxxons that resisted the Yeerks into attacking the space port. He also told us that Arbron had important information for us but that Arbron wanted to give it to us in person. He told us that Arbron was waiting for us at a Taxxon Hive some distance to the west protected by rebels.

Prince Alloran thanked the Taxxon and we had taken off.

Prince Alloran had then asked me to look at the recordings but he never got the chance to examine them. It was then that I had gotten the sinking suspicion that in the time that Loren and Chapman couldn't be seen the Yeerks had restrained them, held Yeerks up to their ears and been infested. No head dunking so there would be no wet hair or the smell of a Yeerk Pool.

When I thought of that then Loren and Chapman's reactions to Sub-Visser Seven's demise made sense. The Yeerks in them had just witnessed the death of their superior.

I quickly slipped back towards the wreckage of the ship; grateful that the Matrix hovered when touched so the Yeerks in Loren and Chapman wouldn't know for sure that I had moved it.

I stunned both of them when I saw them move not far from the Jahar. I was relieved and started to move to them when I froze at another memory

Shortly after landing I had been separated from Prince Alloran and Arbron. I had been quickly captured by Sub-Visser Seven. While I was in his custody he informed me that he was one of the Yeerks' leading biologists on creatures that could be useful Hosts. How he had agreed with earlier findings that the Hork-Bajir would be useful Hosts and was also one of their leading experts on my people. He even told me that he aspired to be one of the first Andalite Controllers but he was reluctant to have an adolescent for a Host; but how my superior might suit him.

Horror filled me as I thought of the possibilities.

I barely had the reaction time to shoot, and just miss completely stunning Prince Alloran. But I knew that he was no longer in control; I could see it as the Yeerk controlling him looked at the Shedder that had fallen to the sandy ground from a now limp arm.

I knew before he even said anything that it was Sub-Visser Seven.

The Sub-Visser mocked me for being so smart for figuring it out but so stupid at the same time. How Prince Alloran had had suspicions about the two humans being infested but decided that some actions could wait. But Prince Alloran had known for sure when Chapman attacked him but I had knocked my superior out before I could be warned.

I know I should have killed them both but I had hoped to starve the Yeerks out of my Prince and Loren. I would restraint all of them but keep Chapman and Prince Alloran unconscious until the Sub-Visser starved out.

I had drugged and securely restrained all of them before I began to move them. My mistake was not moving my Prince to safety first; I moved Loren and Chapman first. I had not even moved my Prince far when I heard the engines of the Bug Fighters. I panicked and fled to the Jahar leaving the scene before the Yeerks could arrive.

By the time I regained my wits nearly a day later I knew I couldn't return to Dezè. Arbron would most likely not be in that area anymore and the Sub-Visser would have been freed by his fellow Yeerks.

I knew I could go back to my people and beg for mercy. I had the Matrix so the Electorate might brush my actions aside but Prince Alloran's words haunted me about how they had ordered him to destroy the Hork-Bajir but punished him when they learned that the toxic agent had been stolen from him and the agent's release had been accidental on the thief's part.

What was worst was that I had promised my captain, Feyorn-Gahar-Isfall that I would make sure that Prince Alloran returned from that mission. Prince Alloran would never return to Nyumbani, the home world, to help settle on a name for his coming second child.

I had decided that it might be better everyone if I just disappeared.

After Loren was free of the Yeerk she told me how Chapman had made a deal with the Yeerks. He traded the Human Race for his freedom.

When we reached Earth I erased Chapman's memories and dumped him in the country called the USA. Chapman had told Loren he was from there like her.

I told Loren that I wasn't returning to my people; not after what had happened. She asked me to join her on Earth. She would help me fit in on Earth and I would be able to keep an eye out for Yeerk activity.

We had carefully created a story of how she had been abducted and I helped her escape from them in Mexico. We would then do a mixture of walking and hotwiring different cars to get to officers from her country.

I acquired several DNA samples from different humans and preformed the Frolis Maneuver. After we were ready I sent the Jahar to a predetermined place in the area were Loren lived.

It turned out we drove the hotwired cars more than we walked; it was just too hot to do too much walking.

I had been amazed that we were able to fool the officers with our story but it was believable and Loren was soon reunited with her family. Her parents insisted that I come with them when I told them that I had run away from a cult like environment.

I had quickly learned how to live as a human and entered the world of computers so I could help find any signs of Yeerks on Earth.

Loren and I married just before we graduated with degrees in computer programming and other such things.

We have five beautiful children. I had been worried about having children and if they would have Andalite DNA. My children do have some Andalite characteristics and they all have Thought Speech to a degree.

Tobias's ears are slightly pointed, he likes animals, asks questions about all sorts of things and he used to ask me about life on other planets; he stopped after the destruction of the Andalite Dome Ship in orbit. Tobias does have Thought Speech and has allowed others to feel his emotions but he rarely does either one.

Leilani's eyes are a more almond shaped and when her hair came in some of it was a violet color. Loren and I hid her hair under an infant hat until Leilani was old enough for us to dye it. Leilani's Thought Speech kicks in for the most part when her mouth is slower than her brain.

Hoshi has a build that reminds of a growing Andalite female. She could almost be one given a human body and features. Until Hoshi was almost two years old she used mostly Thought Speech with a few spoken words. I thank any higher power that might exist that only Loren and I were the ones she was directing her thoughts to. Loren and I found a way to get her to speak and that was more or less the end of her using Thought Speech.

Rio loves staring at the stars. He likes nature but prefers the conveniences of living in a modern society. But he gets very claustrophobic in tight spaces and in large crowds.

Hayden has no obvious Andalite features or characteristics but those could come in where she is older. She does have Thought Speech which she uses to say harder words but with encouragement she says them out loud.

Yeerk chatter was nonexistent for years but nearly three years ago brief transmissions would be either sent from Earth or received by a Yeerk on Earth. They slowly increased over the years and became longer. Now there are always transmissions being sent to the Yeerks here to the Yeerks in other places.

I record what I can and have discovered disturbing things: the Yeerks have taken more Andalites and they are slowly infiltrating the ranks of my people.

Sadly I can't do anything with this information. I know that if I warn my people my transmission could potentially be picked up and if it is then I will be hunted down. I would have to uproot my family and live on the run.

We could flee to Nyumbani but I have no idea what they will do to me or my wife and children. Andalites have a superior complex and the thought that I have been passing as a lowly human for some twenty years, married a human woman and have human children will anger many.

For my cowardly actions on Dezè I most likely will be banished or killed in an underhanded manner that can't be traced back to the Electorate.

If I am not banished and my family and I are allowed to stay Loren and the children will never fit in. I will be pitied for having a child that is considered a vecol both on Earth and there.

Leilani for all her difficulties learning and interacting properly with others is very intelligent. She loves to learn about new things and working with computers. I had to restrict access to my work computer and the computer filled with Andalite Technology with passcodes to prevent her from doing anything to them or discovering that there was more to them than met the eye.

Leilani will do great things one day; Einstein did.

I watched as the computers at the facility are accessed by what I know to be an Andalite. I follow their progress as they remove the devices to increase the intelligence of lesser creatures from apparently their fellow Andalites and then program the containment fields to fail in ten minutes but failed to put in the means to prevent a high enough ranking Yeerk from preventing the failure.

A quick look at a few recordings of high ranking Yeerks schedules and I learned that Visser Three was due soon at the facility.

I vowed then if the containment failure was stopped I would start it again with no time to escape for the unprepared; only morph capable could stand a chance. It would be a way to end Eva's suffering and if I was lucky Prince Alloran's as well.

I waited as the minutes ticked by; waiting to discover if I was needed.

With fifty seconds left Visser One stopped the containment failure and I got to work. It was probably foolish of me but I put an Andalite phrase wishing anyone that saw the message that the containment failure was seconds away a good day when it announced that they had only ten seconds to live but I made sure that no one could reverse what was done.

I knew that the facility was destroyed when my connection to their computers was severed.

I stared at the screen for a few minutes just breathing.

I hoped that the Andalites would have had the sense to evacuate or had been able to morph in time.

The door to my home office opens and Loren comes in. I can see the worry in her eyes.

"I destroyed a Yeerk facility." I told her. "Eva was in it." I continued after a moment.

Loren pulled me into an embrace and cried with me.

"Death can be just as good as liberty at times." She whispered to me.

We stayed there for a long time. The children at home were entertaining each other so we had time.

I heard the front door open and close. A minute later Tobias peered into my office.

"I'm home," he announced with a smile before heading upstairs to his room.

I have been worried about my eldest child. He has been different in a way I can't understand. I am a little worried about the friend of his that I see now and then; the one called Max. I know Max is no ordinary teenager; a regular teenager doesn't nearly completely rewrite complex computer software that deals with even more complex mathematical equations and algorithms. Only an Andalite would stand a chance at rewriting the software and not damage it.

That Andalite was very lucky I was able to make it look like it was happenstance that the modifications were made. If I wasn't so worried about being discovered I would give his superior a piece of my mind.

"I think it's time to spend some unscheduled time in the middle of nowhere for four to five days." I told Loren. "No technology or anything; just us with the children in the middle of the woods with the dogs, sleeping in tents on either the ground or air mattresses and roasting marshmallows over a campfire."

Loren smiled.

"That sounds very fun; we used to do that before the major slug outbreak." She told me.

I returned her smile.

"Let me secure my computer and my other assignments before we start packing." She whispered as she patted my right shoulder.

"The children can't have time to tell anyone that we are leaving. If a note is left saying we're on a trip that is fine." I told her as I moved to close out of my work and secure my computers and set my eavesdropping equipment to continuous recording.

I quickly composed an email to my boss saying that I would be gone for a few days with my family but that my projects were ahead of schedule and I would send a progress report shortly after I returned from the trip.

Loren and I carefully packed the children's bags grateful that they all were in the living room watching a movie.

Loren and I took the back way into the garage to pack the SUV. Soon we were ready to leave.

All the children were surprised by the unexpected camping trip but only Tobias seemed to think he was being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

I confiscated all the electronics the children had while Loren wrote a note explaining we were camping to put on the front door. I ordered my computer via Thought Speech to send the email as I drove the SUV down the driveway.

We drove away from the house and I felt good about the camping trip. It would be a good chance to reconnect.

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Sorry for any mistakes that I might have made in writing this.

I am working on another chapter from Arbron's POV which most likely revolve around the events of book #16 and some of his thoughts.