Encyclopedia of Concepts and Imagery in Andalite Thought-Speech
Entry: Surrender
«Head back, throat bared»
«Tail blade buried in dirt»
Aftran Plisam Pool
#CheeChat
The Chee only enter other message wells in the Pool intranet for administrative purposes. This is the message well where we can chat with any Chee who happen to be logged in to the intranet. This is an all-ages well, so if you want to talk with a Chee about a topic that is restricted to the adult well, please take it up in a private message.
Mielan 19
These robots the Chee are building are so amazing! Maybe if we give them all robot hosts, the Empire won't have to fight anymore, and we can all go see our friends in the Grash Akdap Pool.
[Chee] Luis and Zefirita
I don't think it'll be quite as simple as that, Mielan 19. But I do hope that when the Empire finds out about these new kinds of hosts, they'll start to see that there's a better and easier way.
Janath
[Emoji of a Yeerk scrunching up. The equivalent of a human eye-roll emoji.] Or they'll just build an army of robot hosts and keep on doing their Empire thing.
Mielan 71
Oh no. [Sadness emoji] Why can't they learn to be nicer to other species like we learned how to be nicer in the Aftran Plisam Pool?
Fighting Every Rane
The Grash Akdap Pool is not a good place to learn how to be nice, is it? Things are going to have to change there in a big way for that to happen.
Green Sky
No offense meant to Luis and Zefirita or any other Chee, but is it really ethical to make a robot just to be our companions?
Green Sky
I have been reading a human book called Frankenstein, at the recommendation of my Internet friends. It's about a young scientist who makes a creature out of dead human body parts. When the creature comes to life, its dæmon curses the scientist for creating it.
Green Sky
What I'm trying to say is, what if your creation resents the purpose you made it for?
[Chee] Luis and Zefirita
You know, you sound exactly like Pulim right now.
[Chee] Luis and Zefirita
Seriously, though, it'll be fine. I'm making them to be companions, not weapons or monsters or anything bad. If anyone knows what it means to be a companion robot, it's a Chee.
Mielan 71
What if we bred humans and Taxxons and stuff to be companions?
Fighting Every Rane
Mielan 71 You need to log off right now and come talk to me in the Pool. This is not acceptable behavior. You know better than this. You've already gotten two demerits for this kind of talk.
Mielan 71
What? How is that different from making robots to be companions?
Fighting Every Rane
You've already learned how breeding works in different species. It's something very personal and very important, and not something you should ever force anyone to do.
Mielan 71
Essa 283 says if we just had some more generations to breed our hosts, we could get them to like being infested.
Eslin 825
Listen, Mielan 71. Please log off and come speak to me and Fighting Every Rane. We need you to tell us everything Essa 283 told you. You won't get in trouble.
Mielan 71
Promise?
Eslin 825
Promise.
Aftran Plisam Pool
#Adults
If your spawn-name is Mielan, you should not have access to this channel. If you do, somebody will find out, so log off now before you get in trouble.
Eslin 825
Feedback is solicited from all adult Yeerks in the Pool. Essa 283 has been found in serious violation of our policies about how to raise our children. The Aftran Plisam Pool has never before seen a rule broken in such a grave manner, so we've never had to think about how to deal with Yeerks who break our rules. We must do so now. Especially since some of us are arranging to smuggle new arrivals into our Pool soon.
Vanarx Hunter
Could we subdivide out an adults-only section of the Pool? Clearly we can't allow them anywhere near the children.
Hrerr
For how long?
Vanarx Hunter
Until they learn to follow the rules.
Generation Freedom
We can't make a prison in here! We all fled the Grash Akdap Pool because it WAS a prison!
Akdor's Worst Nightmare
Then how are we supposed to keep them from corrupting the children with their horrible Empire propaganda?
Vanarx Hunter
A guard?
Arklin
Oh yeah, and are you ready to do a shift guarding that little dapsen? For how long?
Deinfestation
We should never have allowed them in this Pool in the first place. We should have known the Vissers would only put a completely loyal lieutenant in an Animorph's parent. We could have just left them for the Animorphs to deal with.
Vanarx Hunter
I'll guard Essa 283 for as long as we need if it will keep them from being KILLED.
Janath
Eslin 825, do you know of any traditional methods of dealing with rulebreakers on the homeworld?
Eslin 825
My stories say that rulebreakers are supposed to "study the law" until they learn it properly. But we don't really have our own law to study, do we?
Eslin 825
Maybe we need to make our own law. Before our new arrivals come. And maybe Essa 283 needs to be involved in making it.
Ax
As I morphed to fly along with the other Animorphs, all I could think was that Toby was right about my people, though I could not bring myself to admit it to her.
We were liars. We were war criminals. We never learned from our worst excesses, but repeated them endlessly. We told our children stories about honor to teach them to sacrifice their lives for a war that had none.
Did I even have a people anymore? Could I bear to think of myself as an aristh any longer?
«If we use this virus as a weapon – even if we modify it,» Tobias argued, «what makes us any better than the Andalites? We're doing the same thing!»
«It's the only way the Yeerks survive this,» Cassie said. «The Andalites will never let them live so long as they can take people over against their will. Except maybe in the Pools back on their homeworld – but the Andalites have them blockaded, so God knows what they're doing there – maybe they don't even let them exist on their own planet.»
Only yesterday, I would have insisted to Cassie that what she suggested was impossible. Today, I could not.
«So we offer it to Yeerks who want it – we don't stoop to the Andalites' level,» Tobias said.
«Tobias,» Loren said gently. «Maybe we can talk about how terrible the Andalites are some other time?»
«He may if he wishes to,» I said. «I do not disagree.»
«You don't? You think we can do better than Cassie's plan?»
«I meant I do not disagree that Andalite military has sunk to unspeakable depths. Cassie's plan has great strategic merit.»
«So does this ship's plan,» Tobias said, «if you don't care about morals at all.»
«Are you suggesting that Cassie has no moral concern for Yeerks?»
Tobias fell silent. No one else rushed to speak. I was grateful. We were all fully morphed. Finally, Cassie said, «Let's go to the second tier.»
Lourdes might have evacuated the oxygen from the ship already; my fly body would be unaffected in any case. The ship did seem very quiet as we flew down the drop shaft, though perhaps it was only my imagination. Loren said to me, «I'm sorry. I wish – you deserve better people than this.»
«Do I? I think back to who I was before the Dome ship crashed and I – I wonder how much I would have objected to this. Did I really know better? Or would I have just been glad to cleanse the galaxy of the Yeerk scourge, no matter how it was accomplished?»
«I told you about what Elfangor did, right? When he challenged Alloran's order to flush all those Yeerks into space? You weren't so different from him, were you?»
«Early in my time on Earth, before we met you, Prince Jake ordered us to boil a pool of Yeerks to death. None of us challenged him. I am sorry, Loren. I am not Elfangor.»
When we reached the second tier, the supposedly sealed-off mobile lab slid its doors open. Chee-pulim stepped out. "The oxygen has been evacuated. Mostly."
A silence fell. «Prince Marco?» I said.
«Oh, right, I'm Prince Marco. I should really get one of those swishy capes and a tiara, buuuuut instead I get four knocked-out Andalites. Great start to my reign. So. Six of us plus Lourdes. We'll need to separate the Andalites as much as we can so they can't make secret plans with private thought-speech, so let's all pick an Andalite and take a romantic moonlight walk. Two each for three Andalites, one for the fourth… hmm…»
It was a relief to take orders, to put my trust in my prince, to defer the looming and terrible knowledge of who my people were and what that meant about me.
«Okay, Ax, Estrid got all buddy-buddy with you, so you go with Cassie to get her with the program. Loren, you're flying solo with Gonrod – you know Andalites, you'll be fine. Tobias and Toby, you deal with Arbat. Lourdes, you back me up with Aloth. Let's go find some unconscious Andalites.»
Estrid turned out to be with Arbat in his quarters, which raised a number of questions I did not look forward to answering. At Marco's request, Pulim carried Estrid to her own quarters. "I'll turn the emergency lighting on when the oxygen levels start to come back up," Pulim said, and left us there as flies.
«How will we do this?» I said. I looked at Estrid, vast and fragmented in my fly vision, her smell alien.
«You're angry at her because she used you,» Cassie said. «Start from there. Make it personal. I'll figure her out from her reactions.»
«Cassie,» I said, «have I ever mentioned that I am glad to be on your side?»
The emergency lights flashed. Cassie and I demorphed, and she went on to wolf morph instead of her usual moose, which would not have fit in Estrid's quarters. I held my blade to Estrid's throat and waited for her to wake.
Her main eyes opened first. Her nostrils flared, dragging in air. Then she felt my tail blade on her throat, and her stalk eyes flew open, focusing on Cassie as her main eyes fixed on me. «Is this one of your pet humans?»
«Cassie is not my pet,» I said. «She serves as my equal.»
«Traitor!»
I flicked my fingers in contempt. «It is very bold of someone who has violated the 8566 Convention on War Ethics to tell another Andalite that he is a traitor.» Estrid's face hardened as she realized I had learned about her secret lab. «You never cared about Firi Dria at all, did you? That entire display was intended to manipulate me. What for?»
«We need the location of the Yeerk Pool,» Estrid said. «It is too well protected. Our sensors cannot detect it. If you could just tell us – »
«So you can re-enact our disgrace on the Hork-Bajir homeworld?»
«We successfully prevented the Yeerks from obtaining even more highly dangerous and effective – »
I pressed my blade a little into Estrid's throat, raising a shallow line of blood. «That is all the Hork-Bajir are to you?» I demanded. «Shock troops to the Yeerks?»
«The universe is a vast place, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. We cannot afford to be sentimental about one species. There is too much at stake.» Her main eyes lit with the fire of true passion. «Aximili, if you only understood the elegance of the equations. If you could grasp the mathematical beauty... We are on the verge of deploying a weapon that, once it is perfected, will make us invulnerable! We will have absolute power throughout the galaxy! We can destroy the Yeerks. But not only the Yeerks. We can stop all wars, all destruction, annihilate all enemies of decency and goodness before they can carry out their evil!»
«So the Andalites are decency and goodness, and the Yeerks are the evil we must eradicate?» I thought of Aftran and Illim, looked into Estrid's eyes burning with zealotry, and knew despair. The moment realization came, I spoke it. «You are brilliant. Programming a quantum virus all by yourself – the only Andalite I have heard of with such skill is Escafil herself. But I have met Yeerks with more decency and goodness than you, Estrid-Corrill-Darrath.»
Estrid recoiled. «You are a traitor. You have defected from your own people to serve humans, Hork-Bajir – even Yeerks, by your own admission!»
I shook my head, even though it was a human gesture only Cassie would understand. «No. I have learned something in my time on Earth. These are my people. Anyone who believes in freedom, anyone who resists tyranny, anyone who pursues peace is 'my people.' Andalite, Hork-Bajir, human – and yes, perhaps even Yeerk.»
Estrid tilted her head back, baring her throat even more to my blade. «Then kill me. Better that than to serve the Yeerks alongside you.»
«Did I say I served the Yeerks? I do not. But neither do I serve the Andalite War Council on Apex Level Intelligence missions. That is why you were in Arbat's quarters, isn't it?»
«Arbat and I will be honored as heroes by the War Council when we rid the galaxy of the Yeerk scourge!»
At long last, Cassie spoke. Her voice was gentle, almost pitying. «Oh. Is that what they told you?»
Estrid's nostrils flared. «What would you know about it, human?»
«So you don't know that you're listed in the ship's data banks as missing in action,» Cassie said, and at last I understood what she meant.
«Arbat meant her to die once she had fulfilled her purpose,» I said.
«What! You're lying! Show me!»
«Lourdes is with Marco right now,» Cassie told me privately. «We can't get into the files without her.» In public thought-speech she said, «Do I really need to, Estrid? The War Council didn't send you on a Dome ship with a full crew and a big ceremony. They sent you in secret, on a beaten-up junker, with Arbat and two convicted criminals. Take it from me, one female warrior to another: they're going to forget all about you and give the man all the credit. If Arbat even lets you live long enough to be competition.»
«What does your human want from me?» Estrid demanded.
«Once again, she is not my human,» I said. «She has a proposition for you.»
«I'm going to demorph for this part,» Cassie said, «so you can see who I really am.»
I thought the wolf morph was a perfectly fine representation of who Cassie was for Estrid's purposes, but I would not contradict Cassie in this. «If you try to take advantage of her vulnerable human form, you will regret it.»
«Oh, will I?» Estrid sneered. Her main eyes narrowed. Then her tail pulled on my left hind leg, sending me wildly off-balance. She had moved her tail within reach of me without my notice! Cassie was mid-morph and unable to intervene. By the time I regained my balance, Estrid was up on her feet. She executed a perfect hald-wurra, landing me on the floor under her tail blade, when moments earlier it had been the other way around.
Cassie, fully human now, folded her arms across her chest. "Am I going to have to morph again to take you down, or can we all talk like reasonable adults – or, um, reasonable teenagers. If such a thing even exists."
«Is this human your prince?» Estrid said.
«No. My prince is a different human. However, I suggest you listen to Cassie.»
«Very well,» she said reluctantly, and gave me space to get on my feet, stinging from my loss to a female I had had on the ground at my mercy. «What is your proposal, human?»
"First of all, my name is Cassie. My dæmon is Quincy, if that means anything to you," Cassie said, as Quincy flared out his wings on her shoulder.
«The humans' vaunted secondary bodies?» Estrid asked.
«That is what we are taught, but it is not entirely accurate. It is more accurate to say they are Guide Trees in the form of animals. Guide Animals, if you like.»
«They take their Guide Trees with them everywhere? Even into battle? How terrible! I would hate to expose Surra Erf to such danger.»
"Not really," Quincy said. "We're in morph during battle."
«Nonetheless. A Guide Animal of your size could be snatched away at any moment.»
Quincy bared his fangs and mantled his wings. «I do not believe she meant that as a threat,» I told him privately, and Cassie nodded her understanding.
Estrid may have let me go, but her tail was still high and ready to strike. «I repeat: what do you want from me?»
Cassie held her main eyes. "What if I told you there's a way to program the quantum virus so that it takes away the Yeerks' ability to forcibly take over other species's minds? Without killing them?"
«I would say it is impossible, and even if it were possible, there is no way your primitive human understanding of biotechnology could grasp at such a concept.»
"It's possible, and we can prove it," Cassie said. "Some of us have acquired DNA from Yeerks that were genetically modified this way. We can give you blood samples."
«Cassie is correct,» I said, in case my words would have any more weight with Estrid than Cassie's. «I observed this myself.»
«Where could you have possibly found such a thing? Who accomplished this?»
"It's a long story, but the point is, it was somewhere a long way away from here, and no one here knows about this or how it was done. But I saw your work on the ship's computer, and I'm pretty sure you could figure it out if we gave you the blood samples as a template to work with."
«And why should I dedicate my scientific genius to this project of yours,» Estrid said, flicking her fingers in contempt, «when I can end this war, and any other war that may arise, with the quantum virus I already have?»
"You know," Cassie said, "I could give you a whole speech about how genocide just creates more conflict instead of stopping it. I could back it up with all kinds of examples from human history. I could point out to you how my solution turns millions of Yeerks into possibly useful allies, who've already proven they can develop from the Stone Age to almost Andalite-level technology in just forty years – and don't tell me that was all Prince Seerow. I mean, humans are well past the Stone Age, but if an Andalite gave us a spaceship, it would take us a decade to figure out how to make another one, and the Yeerks did way more than that starting with way less. Those are people I want on my side.
"But you wouldn't really listen to any of that, would you? So I'll put this in terms that actually matter to you. You're not the only smart girl in this room, so I'm going to tell you something from experience. If you help us modify the virus, you'll be the female scientist who defeated the Yeerks through her brilliant feats of genetic engineering. They'll call you 'The Girl Genius.' If you massacre the Yeerks to extinction with another quantum virus? Even if Arbat thanks you instead of killing you and taking the credit, everyone will just call you 'The Evil Bitch.'" She looked back and forth between me and Estrid. "Did that last word translate for you?"
It had, perhaps even better than Cassie had anticipated – for an Andalite, being likened to a female predator is a grave insult indeed. Estrid looked so incandescent with rage, I prepared myself for a fight. «And what prevents you from killing me and taking the credit?»
Cassie smiled. "Who would believe that a group of primitive human teenagers was able to develop this virus? We've gathered some allies over the course of this war, but believe me, if you join us, you'll be the only one who could possibly engineer something like this." Quincy flashed fangs. "Don't get me wrong. We have an ally who can understand what you're doing, and she'll be keeping an eye on you to make sure you're not developing anything else. But she's only able to follow along, not innovate the way you can."
I realized Cassie was referring to Lourdes, and she had an excellent point. We would need Lourdes to keep constant watch over Estrid to make sure she was delivering as promised. Estrid could perhaps be convinced to work with us on this, but that did not mean she could be trusted.
«I must speak with Arbat,» Estrid said. «To verify some of what you have said.»
"He'll just lie to you," Cassie said. "Let us show you the personnel files. They really do say you're missing in action."
«If he has lied to me, then I will have him answer for it!»
"Tell us you'll work with us first," Cassie said firmly.
«You have control of the ship,» Estrid said sulkily. «I do not see how I have any choice.»
«We can prevent you from returning home. But we cannot force you to develop the virus in the way Cassie has proposed,» I said. «That must be your choice.»
«If you can give me the DNA samples that you claim exist,» Estrid said, «then yes, I will do it.»
"What do you think, Ax?" Cassie said. "You know Andalite body language better than me. Is she for real?"
«She is intensely curious about the Yoort. Those are the genetically modified Yeerks,» I explained to Estrid. «If for no other reason than her need to understand how it was done, I believe she will do as we ask.»
"All right," Cassie said. "Then we wait for this door to open."
«You cannot open it yourself?» Estrid said.
"We didn't know how this interview was going to go. No one in this room can open the door. And our friends are going to ask us some questions before they open it, just in case you decided to knock us out and acquire our DNA."
Estrid asked me, «Did Cassie come up with this plan?»
«No. That was a different human. Marco, our commander for this mission.»
«These humans who fight alongside you,» Estrid said, «are dangerous. The War Council may try to assassinate them, if they learn just how dangerous they are.»
«Thank you for the warning,» I said. «And for confirming all my worst suspicions of the Andalite War Council.»
«They would be wise to do so,» Estrid went on. «If this insane scheme of yours should come to fruition, it will derail all of their plans for the war and what may come after.»
"Good," Cassie said. "From what we've seen of them so far, I bet we'd hate their plans."
There was a faintly audible knock at the door. My stalk eyes snapped toward it. Marco said, «Anyone alive in there?»
«We are all alive and well,» I said.
Cassie morphed wolf from the neck upward, a ghoulish look that nonetheless earned open admiration from Estrid, her stalk eyes spread wide apart to take it all in. «We're good. Estrid's on board.»
«Okay, security questions. Ax, what's the website I like to hang out on at your scoop?»
«A discussion forum analyzing obscure aspects of Marvel comic books.»
«Cool. Never tell Rachel about that. If she asks, tell her I look at Baywatch fan shoots. Cassie, which monument are we gonna tear down and replace after the war?»
«The Washington Monument,» Cassie said, a laugh sparkling in her thought-speech. «Ours'll be way better.»
«Congratulations! You're really you and not Estrid pretending to be you! Hi, Estrid, how's it going? You ready to get your science on?»
«I have demands and pre-conditions,» Estrid said, «which include access to the ship's restricted personnel files.»
«So, 'yes, but I'm going to be whiny about it.' I'll take it. Come on out, everyone.»
The door opened. Marco was there in gorilla morph, holding a Shredder, presumably Aloth's. Aloth was with him, professional and inscrutable. I could not see Pulim, but could only assume she was present under a hologram. «I thought you were going to say that,» Marco said, «so I already have yours pulled up at the computer terminal on the bridge. I'll see you down there in a few.»
«Aloth?» Estrid said. «You are cooperating with the humans as well?»
«Arbat meant to have us all killed on this mission,» Aloth said. «You may verify this for yourself in your personnel file. I like my chances with the humans better.»
«We don't call ourselves "the humans,"» Marco said. «Especially since we're not all human. We're the Animorphs. Our whole resistance group on Earth is the Guardians of the Galaxy. Now, are you gonna go to the bridge to read all the dirt, or are you coming with us to check on the rest of the crew?»
Estrid asked me privately, «Marco is in a morph, correct? It resembles a human, but larger and hairier, and no visible… Guide Animal.»
«Correct. Also, humans cannot thought-speak.»
Public now, Estrid said, «I will come with you. I am honestly curious to see how the rest of your… 'interviews' have proceeded.»
«As I do not particularly care,» Aloth said, «I will go the bridge myself.» His main eyes went to Marco. «If I am permitted to do so.» I wondered what Marco had done in his interrogation to secure such respect from a ruthless assassin.
«Go ahead,» Marco said easily. «Loren and Gonrod are in that grass room, which is your Andalite cafeteria, I guess. Let's see how that's going.»
As we approached the sealed-off door to the feeding area, we began to sense public thought-speech from the other side, which I took to be Gonrod's.
«…Elfangor's belief in military interventionism.» A pause. «You claim to have been his mate and you disagree?» Another pause. «Well. That is certainly true among Andalites. It is the same for humans, then?»
«Hey guys,» Marco said. «Sorry to interrupt what sounds like a cozy little chat, but it's time to check in.»
There was a pause. Then Loren said, «Gonrod and I… have reached an understanding. I think.»
Marco said to me, «You wanna do the honors of checking it's really her?»
I said, «What was the last meal you served me and Tobias at your home before you were forced to flee?»
«Thanksgiving dinner,» Loren said. «It was a little sad. I made the stuffing from a mix.»
«I enjoyed the stuffing.»
«I know,» Loren said dryly. «You made a kind of… weird slurry out of the mix and the cranberry sauce.»
«It was – »
«Gross,» Marco said. «We're done! Satisfied! I am opening the door before I have to hear about one more thing Ax put in his mouth.»
As the door opened, we saw Loren morphing back to human. She and Gonrod stood in the rich blue Andalite grass. «I will not oppose you,» Gonrod declared. «But I will not serve under an aristh as my prince.»
«Good news,» Marco said. «Ax isn't actually our prince. Our prince is a human, and definitely not an aristh in your academy.»
Gonrod took a step forward. «Listen to me, human. I joined this mission on the Ralek River to clear my military record. I will do nothing to jeopardize my position.»
Estrid sneered, «He joined this mission to prove the Wurilit aren't the cowards everyone knows they – »
«Enough!» I snapped at her. «You were sent to die on this mission, the same as he was.» Estrid quietly sulked at being placed on the same level as Gonrod.
«They might have promised you a clean slate, buddy, but they didn't mean for you to come back alive,» Marco said. «Loren went over this with you, right? Whatever you thought you were gonna get out of this, you can give it up now. We're offering you a chance to actually survive this war. Maybe. If you help us. Big maybe. I'm not so sure myself, but a guy's gotta dream, right?»
«My crewmates have agreed to this?» One of Gonrod's stalk eyes focused on Estrid. She drew herself up in a proud strut.
«Aloth and Estrid have,» Marco said. «We haven't gotten to Arbat yet. They're smart enough to realize we have lots of reasons to want you alive, while the Yeerks and the Andalite military both want you dead.»
Gonrod deflated, his posture slackening. «Loren says you need the Ralek River for its laboratory.»
«That's right. No going home for you guys, at least for now. We've locked down the ship's space capability, just in case our impeccable logic doesn't get through to you. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll keep you busy. Come on, let's go talk to your big creepy spy buddy, Arbat.» Marco knuckle-marched down the corridor to Arbat's quarters, and we followed him, Gonrod a little reluctantly. Marco pounded the thick reinforced metal door with his gorilla fist. «Hey! How's it going in there?»
There was a pause in which my hearts skipped a beat. Then Tobias said shakily, «Um. Bad?»
«Do you need backup?» Marco said.
«No,» Tobias said. «We just need to get out of here.»
«Bad?» Estrid demanded. «Arbat? Arbat, what have the humans done!»
«Calm down everybody, first Tobias and Toby gotta win my game show, Animorph or Ani-Faker. Tobias, what's that really funny joke I told you and Rachel when Jake wasn't there to be all disapproving about it?»
«You got out a salt shaker and told us if either of us hurt the other you wouldn't be afraid to use it,» Tobias said. «Also, it wasn't that funny.»
«Ding ding ding! Okay, Toby, what did we do together at my hralathu-ka?»
«She says you tried to teach her to salsa but the height difference made it kind of tough,» Tobias said. «Can you please open the door now?»
Presumably, Lourdes opened it, though we could not see her. Beyond the door was a scene of carnage. The reek of death roiled through the air: fresh blood, spilled digestive fluids, and burnt flesh. Arbat lay on the floor, mauled by Hork-Bajir blades, the smoking ruin of a Shredder blast between his forelegs. Tobias was in his Ket Halpak morph, holding a Shredder. Toby dripped with blue Andalite blood, and there was a ruin of green blood and clear jelly where her left eye should have been.
I shut my nose to the awful smell. Gonrod reared, backed down the hallway, and raised his tail in a defensive position. Estrid cried out and moved to attack Toby. Marco punched her at the base of her torso, her center of gravity, sending her flying backward. His thought-speech came out low and dangerous. «No. I have no time for this. What the fuck happened in here?»
«The second Arbat was conscious, he started morphing small to try to escape. So I stunned him with his Shredder,» Tobias said, hefting the weapon for emphasis. «When he came to, he started demanding we tell him where the Yeerk Pool is, so he could end the war once and for all. I told him we knew about the virus, and there was no way we were going to tell him, and didn't he care that it might mutate and attack humans and Hork-Bajir too? Then he said it didn't matter how many primitive species had to die as long as the Andalites won the war, and Toby, uh… kind of lost her temper.»
"This Andalite was a genocidal maniac and the galaxy is better without him," Toby said, glaring at Estrid.
Gonrod eased his stance, just a little, but kept his tail between himself and Toby. Estrid studied Arbat's corpse with her main eyes, and fixed a loathing stare with one of her stalk eyes on Toby, but didn't argue. I didn't either, though this marked the second occasion in recent days that I had seen Toby act as judge, jury, and executioner for a prisoner of war. Now was not the time to raise my concerns.
«All right. Estrid and Gonrod? Listen up,» Marco said. «I definitely didn't want our little talks to get all murder-y, but since one of them did, let's turn this into lesson time. I don't care what you two chucklefucks think you know about the Hork-Bajir. They are extremely badass, all of them lost pretty much everything escaping the Yeerks, and our survival as a resistance group on Earth one hundred percent depends on them. Oh, and they haven't forgotten about the last time you all tried your hands at genocide. They tell stories about it around the campfire. So I'm gonna make a teensy little suggestion that you show them respect. You might want to pass that on to Aloth, too, since he's not here to see Exhibit A.»
Toby growled, low in her chest, and Estrid turned her staring eye away.
"Toby," Cassie said gently. "Maybe you should morph off all that damage."
"Right. Of course," Toby said, shifting to her Frolis Maneuver Hork-Bajir morph. A new eye, green to Toby's natural yellow, burst out of the ruins of the old.
«There is a washroom across the hall to clean up all this gore,» Gonrod said stiffly, indicating the room with a bend of his stalk eye. «We must maintain shipboard hygiene, whatever our mission may be. Do you understand, Hork-Bajir?»
Toby bared her teeth and said nastily, "I'll be sure to be very hygienic while disposing of your esteemed commander's corpse."
«You will do no such thing,» Estrid said, incensed. «What would you know about how to show due respect to an Andalite's remains?»
«Toby,» Tobias said warningly.
"Fine. Do what you will." Toby went to the washroom. Estrid strode toward the safety kit in Arbat's quarters and began pulling on personal protective equipment.
«You ready to pilot this thing, Mr. Hotshot?» Marco said.
«Where are we going?» Gonrod said.
«Somewhere more convenient than here,» Marco said. «We can't go renting a motorboat every time we need to talk to you guys.»
In the end, we directed Gonrod to the site of my former scoop in Los Padres National Forest, as Toby stated in no uncertain terms that she would not allow the Ralek River or its crew in Kref Magh. We also instructed him to use all possible stealth, despite the ship's formidable cloaking ability, since it would not obscure the Ralek River from Hork-Bajir hrala-sight.
While Gonrod piloted the ship, with admittedly impressive skill, the Guardians of the Galaxy conferred on the bridge in private thought-speech.
«We're going to need a constant guard on this ship,» Marco said. «They may be cooperating to save their pointy butts for now, but I don't trust any of these three clowns.»
«Especially not Estrid,» Cassie said. «We'll need Lourdes here basically all the time, since she's the only one who can possibly understand what Estrid is doing in that lab.»
«But she needs backup, because she can't fight,» Tobias said.
«We can establish a rotation of my warriors and Animorphs as guard when we return to Kref Magh,» Toby said.
«And inform Rachel and Prince Jake of what has transpired here,» I added.
A collective groan rose from the group.
«I will stay behind with Lourdes on the Ralek River while the rest of you settle matters in Kref Magh,» I said. «If Prince Jake wishes to know my assessment of Cassie's plan, tell him I think it is the best chance at victory we have found so far. Victory as we perceive it, not as Arbat did.»
«Thank you, Ax,» Cassie said.
Before Toby, Tobias, Loren, Cassie, and Marco left, Estrid demanded blood samples from Tobias and Marco, who had acquired Yoort DNA. Reluctantly, they agreed. Lourdes and I stood in the lab with Estrid as she carefully pipetted subsamples of blood from the vials into smaller centrifuge tubes. Lourdes was invisible, while I felt all too obvious. Estrid said, «I saw the Animorph you call Tobias morph directly from Hork-Bajir to hawk. How did he do this?»
«It is the result of a complex and unlikely series of events. However, in summary, Tobias became a hawk nothlit, and an Ellimist restored the morphing power to him afterward. Therefore, hawk is now his base form for the purposes of morphing.»
Estrid sneered. «An Ellimist did it. Do you think I am a stupid child? What will you tell me next, that you acquired an Escafil Device by plucking it like a fruit from the branch of a magic tree?»
«It is the truth. I have no proof other than its very impossibility.»
Estrid held up a tube of Tobias's blood up to the light, then slotted it into her centrifuge. «Very well. If you will not tell me the truth, then I will discover it for myself.»