Encyclopedia of Concepts and Imagery in Andalite Thought-Speech
Entry: The Electorate
«Hand makes the shape of a question»
«Tally marks carved by tail blades into the bark of a great tree»
Aftran Plisam Pool
#Newcomers
Welcome to the Aftran Plisam Pool! Our Pool culture is still a work in progress, but we'll do our best to integrate you into it. Ask questions and get acclimated here. This is an all-ages well, so if you have a question about a topic that is restricted to the adult well, please take it up in a private message.
Sulp Niar
Hello? Is this working?
Arklin
[Emoji of a Pool turbulent with new Yeerks swimming into it. Indicates greeting and welcome.] You've got it! Welcome, newcomers! I hope the journey wasn't too difficult.
Sulp Niar
Oh, believe me, it was terrifying. I thought I was going to get caught or left out to dry at any moment.
Arklin
But you made it! We thought you all would. Illim and Tidwell haven't let us down yet.
Grr'rnr Herder
Not all of us made it. Eftrof was caught gathering Yeerks during one of their Pool-cleaning rounds. All of them will be tortured for information. I won't let you forget Eftrof. They were my friend.
Generation Freedom
Oh no! Eftrof didn't make it?
[A flood of sadness emojis.]
Hrerr
I hate to bring this up so soon, but do we have to worry about an information breach from Eftrof and the others who were captured?
Eslin 825
No. This is why we have so much information security. Eftrof knew where to hand off the Yeerks and what the pass-phrase was, but not who they were supposed to be meeting.
Bandit
So… can we really talk about whatever we want in here?
Eslin 825
Thank you for bringing that up, Bandit. We're just starting to work on what the law of the Aftran Plisam Pool should be. All are welcome to join us in the #Governance message well and have a say in the discussion.
Jake
I managed not to interrupt at any point during the completely insane story about what happened on board the Ralek River.
Rachel interrupted a lot. She said, "Oh my God, you stole an Andalite ship without me?" and "This Arbat sounds like the galaxy's biggest douchebag," and "Damn, Cassie – just, damn."
I spent the whole time pacing back and forth, Merlyse flitting from branch to branch overhead, neither of us saying anything. When it was over, I said, "Where are the camp chairs? I need to sit down."
Rachel brought over a camp chair. Merlyse landed on the arm. I sat down and folded over, rubbing my face with my hands, giving my thoughts time to settle. Merlyse said it first in my ear, then loud enough for everyone to hear. "This could be it. If Estrid does what she promised, if we play our cards right, this could be the way we win the war."
«By using a biological weapon,» Tobias said. «We've been over this before with the instant maple and ginger oatmeal. We decided it wasn't worth the cost. What's changed?»
"This doesn't addict the Yeerks, or destroy their minds," Cassie said. "It doesn't trap hosts into Yeerk enslavement forever."
"It could," Rachel said, "if Estrid double-crosses us. Which it sounds like she would if she got half a chance."
What's really changed, Merlyse thought, is that we got more desperate. We lost the hope of the Andalite fleet coming to save us. But that was something she didn't dare say out loud. Instead, I said, "More than that. What happens if we let this virus loose in the Pool, even if Estrid makes it just like we want it? Human-Controllers will start getting back control, and they'll have Dracon beams in their hands. They'll turn them on the Hork-Bajir-Controllers who dragged their dæmons down the infestation pier." I remembered the agony I went through under Temrash's control. "Or on themselves."
"And what happens to all the immigrants and homeless people and disabled people the Sharing is taking care of right now?" Rachel said. "Or the people they're giving health care to? Julie, here in the Valley, she told me the Sharing covered her epilepsy meds. The Sharing falls apart, all those people are left in the lurch."
«Exactly,» Tobias said. «All of that was true when we had the oatmeal, and it's just as true now with this virus. More true, since Eva and Aftran started all those new Sharing initiatives.»
Marco wrapped Dia around his wrists and sneered. "Oh, sure. Blame them for this. Like having Mr. Andalite Collector in charge would be so much better."
«I'm not saying that.»
I straightened in my chair. Marco was simmering just under the boiling point. Cassie held Quincy up to her mouth and blinked rapidly to hold back tears. It was like David's murder all over again – the best solution we had, in all its horror, from the one person who least wanted to carry it out. Except this time, it was on a whole other scale. "This is too big for just us to decide," I said. What I didn't say was that the last time the Animorphs voted on something without consulting anyone else, we'd decided on giving Tom the morphing power, and look how that had turned out. "If we're going to do this – "
"No," Merlyse interrupted. "Don't be vague about it. Let's say it. If we're going to spread this virus to all the Yeerks on Earth and in orbit, we're going to need all of the Guardians of the Galaxy to pull it off. It's not just our decision. It's everyone's."
I looked up at Toby. "We need to have a meeting circle. All the Hork-Bajir. The human new-frees. Mertil. The Chee. We're going to lose them, aren't we? If we vote yes. The Pemalites were killed by the Howlers' biological weapons."
Marco nodded. "That's what Lourdes said."
"What about the Aftran Plisam Pool?" Cassie said. Everyone turned to look at her. "Some of the Peace Movement Yeerks died to get their hosts here to Kref Magh. They're part of the Guardians of the Galaxy too. The ones in the main Pool can't be part of this, but Illim and the Aftran Plisam Pool can."
"They're probably not going to be thrilled about this plan," Marco said.
"I don't know about that. Aftran must have told me a dozen times how much she wished she could have gotten the same treatment the Yoort did. Anyway, even if they all vote no, we still can't leave them out of this. They deserve a say." Cassie looked at me and Toby.
I sighed. "You're right. They're part of this, too. If any of them are on board, they might even be able to help."
"My people will not like it," Toby said, "but I will make their case. But how will we do it? They can't exactly come to the meeting circle."
Loren spoke up. "The Aftran Plisam Pool has internet now. The Chee could set up a secure connection. Illim and Tidwell could act as a go-between."
"What?" Marco said. "The Yeerks have been going on the internet? Since when?"
«Since Ax set it up for them a few weeks ago,» Tobias said. «The Chee monitor it to make sure they don't post anything incriminating.» When we all stared at him, he added, «It was a make-up gift to me. For… you know. All the Yeerk stuff.»
I had noticed that Loren, Ax, and Tobias were getting along as a family again. Now I knew why. "Uh… do you know what they've been doing on the internet?"
Loren shrugged. Marco smirked. "Posting on gardening forums about how they should give slugs a chance. Reading the Anarchist's Cookbook. Oh! Ordering those motorized aquatic dæmon tanks on eBay so they can get in and go on joyrides."
We all laughed, even though it wasn't all that funny. It broke the tension, like it was supposed to. Tobias said, «I'll go find a Chee so we can get started.»
"I will spread the word among my people," Toby said.
"I'll go find Mertil," Loren said.
"Do our families get to vote?" Rachel said.
My head started to pound. I didn't want to think about how my parents would react to all of this. "Yeah. They do. They're a part of this. Whether we like it or not."
Rachel nodded. "I'll go tell Mom and Dad."
That left me, Marco, and Cassie. They both looked at me. I could tell they wanted to talk to me alone. I even understood why. But I wasn't ready.
Coward, Merlyse said.
I know. I got up from the camp chair, folded it up, and tucked it under my arm. "Guess we better round up the humans for the meeting circle."
Cassie nodded, but Quincy hid his face behind a wing. Marco raised an eyebrow at me. I immediately felt like an asshole.
"Later," I told them. "After the vote. I promise."
#Governance
This is the official message well for governance of the Aftran Plisam Pool. In addition to in-person discussions, we will conduct official governance business in this message well as a record for posterity of how we reached communal decisions. Please read the Rules before joining the discussion. This is an adult message well.
[Admin] Illim
[Alert emoji] All right, everyone. The Guardians of the Galaxy have called us in for a vote.
Janath
We get a vote in what they do? Since when?
Eslin 825
Since now, apparently.
[Admin] Illim
This is how the vote is going to work. There are five factions that each get a vote: us, the Animorphs, the Chee, the free Hork-Bajir, and the refugees they're sheltering. Each faction decides on its own how to decide their vote internally. Each comes up with a Yea or Nay on the issue at hand, and whichever gets more of the five carries.
Grr'rnr Herder
Wait a second. There are free Hork-Bajir?!
Eslin 825
Illim, I hope there is time before this vote to get the newcomers up to speed.
[Admin] Illim
Yes, there's time. I have to travel to deliver the Aftran Plisam Pool's final vote in person, and the Chee need time to set up the secure remote connection.
Janath
And what is the issue we have this big official vote on?
[Admin] Illim
I assume everyone here knows Aftran's story about Garzh and the Iskoort.
[A flood of agreement emojis.]
[Admin] Illim
I thought so. Remember the story about the Circle of Friends and the treatments they gave the Yoort to make them unable to enslave other species?
[Admin] Illim
It seems like there is a way to produce that treatment here on Earth.
Jake
I never realized just how many people were living in Kref Magh until the vote at the meeting rock. It would have felt like a party if everyone hadn't been so hushed.
Absolutely everyone was there. All the Hork-Bajir, even the children, clinging to their parents' backs and asking questions in high rough voices, even the sick, like poor Inti Bejoo. Through the crowd of blades and scales I caught a flash of blue: Mertil was with them, close to Elgat Kar's side with his stalk eyes scanning nervously around. Mr. King and Bachu were there representing the Chee, sitting on the meeting rock with Mr. Tidwell to set up a jury-rigged screen and satellite internet connection. Robin and Julie and all the other former Peace Movement hosts were on picnic blankets and camp chairs, passing around water bottles and playing with the human kids, who shouted and threw balls back and forth, their shouts breaking through the murmurs. And the Animorphs were here, of course, with our families.
With. Sort of. All of us stood a little apart from ours, a little closer to each other, except Tobias, Ax, and Loren, who never really had a divide between family and the war. I used to be sorry for them because of that. Now I was weirdly jealous. At least they could understand each other.
Merlyse cawed down at me from her perch on Tom's forehead blade. Well, she was right about that. There were people in my family who understood me.
Toby went over to talk to the Chee. They started broadcasting a drumming noise, and all the Hork-Bajir instantly started drumming along, even the little kids. Marco and some of the other humans clapped along to the beat. Quincy turned around on Cassie's shoulder and whispered, "What are you doing?"
"This is how the Hork-Bajir do it," Dia said. "And it's fun. We're allowed to have fun for like thirty seconds. Who knows when the next time'll be?"
I started clapping too, then Rachel and Loren. The other humans seemed to take their cue from us, and most of them joined in.
Toby and Bek stood up on the meeting rock and called everyone to attention, Toby in English and Bek translating to Hork-Bajir. They explained how the vote was going to work, with the five factions. I wished Eva and Aftran could have weighed in too, but contacting them was always difficult and dangerous – Bachu had told us before the meeting that she might be able to open up a short window later today or tomorrow, but not now.
Then, Toby went back over the details about the virus, even though we'd all been briefed in advance so we could all think about it before the vote. The kids playing and asking if there would be cake stood out even more during that part, each outburst soon quieted. Toby finished, "Does anyone have questions about the plan or about the Ralek River before we start deliberation?"
Peter raised his hand. Toby called on him, then she and Bek repeated his question louder in both languages so everyone could hear. "Who is this scientist? Can she be trusted?"
All eyes turned to Cassie. I noticed Quincy landing on Diamanta's head, just for a moment, before flying ahead of Cassie to the meeting rock. She stood up on it and said, "Her name is Estrid-Corrill-Darrath. She's a prodigy – a scientific genius, only a little older than Ax. And no, she can't be trusted, not after she engineered a killer virus – and it wasn't because she was forced to, either. Chee-pulim has already agreed to help keep an eye on her in the lab, to make sure she doesn't try to develop something really nasty. She may have agreed to cooperate, but she definitely needs a constant armed guard to hold her to her promise."
Walter, Cassie's dad, asked a question next. "Toby said the virus is unstable and could make the jump to other species. How do we know this new virus won't be unstable and have unpredictable effects?"
Cassie took a breath and kept her voice from shaking, but I saw how she held Quincy just a little too tightly in her hand, and knew she was only just holding it together. "We don't. We can try to buy Estrid enough time to work out the kinks, but she's just one scientist in an old lab, not a whole team with state-of-the-art technology. The virus could mutate. It's a real risk."
A Hork-Bajir asked a question, which Toby translated. "Kam Jedet used to serve aboard the Pool ship. He wants to know how we could send the virus to the ships in orbit."
Cassie stepped down from the rock and looked at me. I held out my arm for Merlyse, who flew down from Tom's blade and joined me in Cassie's place. I looked down from the rock at the Hork-Bajir gouging up the grass with restless tails, and my mom and dad looking up at me like they'd finally decided I was supposed to be the general after all, and all I wanted to do was tell them the truth, that I had no fucking clue and I needed a nap. Instead, I said, "We have contacts in orbit who we can work with closely on this. And we do have an Andalite spaceship now."
Mr. Tidwell's head snapped up from his screen. "Contacts in orbit? Who?" Then he seemed to suddenly take notice of me and the other Animorphs, and his eyes widened. I realized he'd never actually seen us in our own forms before.
I thought about it from Illim's perspective: our contacts in orbit had to be Peace Movement, and he didn't know about them. It had to sound weird. But Aftran was way too important a secret. "Sorry, I can't say," I said, searching my brain for a word from a military history book I read. There it was. "Operational security."
Tidwell looked down at his screen, then back up, and said in his firmest teacher's voice, "Hrerr, from the Aftran Plisam Pool, wants to know how you can justify using a biological weapon against the Yeerks after what the Andalites did to the Hork-Bajir."
I looked down at Cassie from the meeting rock, who pressed her lips together and looked away. Quincy sent up a pleading look.
"Tell her to get up here," Merlyse hissed in my ear. "If she can come up with this plan, she can damn well defend it herself."
But I looked down at Cassie, so overwhelmed and sad, and couldn't bring myself to drag her up on the rock to answer for herself. So I said what I thought she might have said, if she'd had the courage. "Here's what I want to tell you. I want to tell you that when we met the Iskoort, they were all glad they'd been genetically modified to not be able to enslave people anymore. They were ashamed of all the bloodshed and war they had to go through to spread the gene mods through the species, but they thought it was worth it. None of that is a lie. But I can't really tell you that that's my justification, because I know there isn't really any. Mostly, I just think it's our best chance to win this war."
Tidwell nodded, and made some weird noises into a headset he had on. I had no idea what he was doing, but the Chee must have set up some way for him to communicate with the Aftran Plisam Pool.
"With that," Toby said, "I think it's time for deliberation. Everyone, do whatever you see fit to decide your vote. Talk within your faction or to other factions. Bek will come around to check on whether you've made your decision. When everyone is ready, we'll all come together to announce our votes."
I stepped down from the meeting rock and joined the little circle of Animorphs sitting cross-legged in the grass. Tom was with them. "I'm voting with the Hork-Bajir," he said, "but I want to hear what you guys have to say."
«Ax isn't here,» Tobias said. He was perched in Loren's lap, taking up Jaxom's usual spot. Jaxom paced back and forth, pawing at the ground with his hooves. «But he wanted to pass on his vote. He says Cassie's plan is our best shot.»
"I'm with Cassie," Marco said, though I'd known that already. "I was with Cassie before she was even done saying out loud what the plan was. This is going to sound insane. But I think the Ellimist was playing a super long game when he sent us on that mission. He didn't just do it because he wanted to save the Iskoort. He did it because he needed us to hang out with them and find out what their deal was."
"So you're saying we should do this because the Ellimist wants us to?" Loren demanded.
Diamanta hissed. "No!" Marco said. "Because he showed us how this goes. Because we saw the Iskoort go through all this bullshit already."
«You're going to have to explain a little more,» Tobias said. «Loren wasn't there, remember?»
Diamanta slid off Marco's shoulders and slithered around in the grass. Marco sighed. "Fine. I'll spell it out for you. The Iskoort didn't become the way they were because all the Yoort suddenly decided to play nice. Some Iskoort forced that gene treatment on Yoort who didn't want it. The road to that big old mind-meld crazy-town wasn't easy. This? What Cassie is saying? This is how they gave up being slavers. When the Yoort said no, the Iskamel took their slaves away and fucking made them."
"Like the Civil War," I said. "The South was never going to give up slavery without a fight. With the virus, we can force the Yeerks to do it."
Cassie covered her face with her hands. "Guys. This is a biological weapon we're talking about. Don't make it into the Emancipation Proclamation."
"All right, fine," Rachel said. "Let's forget all the big ideals right now. What helps us win?" She stood up and slung an arm over Abi's neck. "Estrid's killer virus could wipe out the Yeerk Pool on Earth, but it would probably make the Yeerks up in space freak the fuck out and start open war on Earth. So even if we didn't care about what was right or wrong at all, Arbat and Estrid's plan is obviously stupid."
«And if we use Cassie's virus on the Yeerk Pool, they'll still probably freak out and start open war,» Tobias said.
"Don't call it my virus!" Cassie yelled. Everyone went quiet. Cassie doesn't yell. She gets angry, but she doesn't yell. Nobody knew what to do, not even me – especially not me.
Except Marco did. Dia slithered a wide circle around her in the grass, and he smiled crookedly and said, "Yeerk Kryptonite." And that was what made Quincy put his fangs away.
Rachel looked relieved. "But there's a difference," she told Tobias. "With the Kryptonite, the Yeerks who don't like the Empire are still alive and can take the wheel. Actually, the Peace Movement Yeerks are in a better position than anyone to take the wheel, because they already don't enslave their hosts."
«What about voluntary Controllers who do like the Empire? The Taylors of the world. There's plenty of those,» Tobias said.
That was when Tidwell joined our group, carrying his dæmon's tank as a backpack. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Um. Hi." He looked around the group. "You all go to my school. Except…" He looked at Loren, then back around at the rest of us. "I'm really sorry the Andalites got you mixed up in all of this."
"Believe me," Marco said, "we're even sorrier. Did you have something for us besides a pity party?"
"Sorry," he said. "I couldn't help but overhear you talking, and I just wanted to say – there probably aren't as many voluntary Controllers as you think, when it comes right down to it."
I raised my eyebrows. "We've been to the Yeerk Pool. We've seen the voluntary lounge."
Tidwell coughed. "I might know a little more about that than you. I was a full member of the Sharing. Voluntary. Before I ever knew about the Peace Movement."
"Excuse me?" Tom said.
Merlyse flew to his forehead blade and talked quietly in his ear. He went quiet but glared at Tidwell.
"The Sharing didn't give me the whole story when they offered me membership," Tidwell said. "I just thought I was signing up for an alien to take over my life for me. My life was going pretty badly at that point, so it sounded like an improvement. And then Illim told me that one of my friends was infested with a Yeerk against his will, and I… stopped volunteering. Fought back every second I could." He shrugged. "But a lot of voluntaries fall somewhere in between, I think. They sign up thinking they know what they're in for, they find out the Yeerk Empire isn't what they thought it was, it scares the hell out of them, but they don't want to get put in a cage so they just… keep on cooperating. Even though they know it's wrong. But if their Yeerks couldn't control them anymore, they'd flip sides."
"Let's ask Mr. Tidwell," I said. "What do you think would happen in the Pool complex if the Yeerks got infected with the Kryptonite?"
Tidwell laughed at Marco's name for the virus like it was the funniest joke he'd ever heard. Maybe it was. God knows I've laughed at Marco's jokes way more than they deserved when I was neck-deep in shit. But then his face evened out, and I wondered if it was Illim behind the wheel now. "I don't know. It's hard to imagine. But I have to think that the Peace Movement would be the only ones to be truly prepared for it. If anyone in that chaos would know what to do, it'd be us."
"That's the difference, Tobias," I said. "The Kryptonite gives power to the Peace Movement."
That made everyone stop and think for a minute. Tidwell nodded and went to talk to the former Peace Movement hosts. Tom said, "I'm gonna go talk to the Hork-Bajir." Merlyse flew down to my shoulder. It was just the Animorphs left, except for Ax, who was keeping watch over three other Andalites who were trapped on Earth and would have to learn to accept it, the way he had.
"Well," Merlyse murmured. "Not exactly the way he did, I think."
"So," I said. "Are we ready to vote?" Everyone nodded. "Okay. We know Ax and Marco say yea."
Cassie looked down at Quincy in her hands. "This is all my idea. So." She couldn't say the word yes, but we all heard it.
Rachel leaned back against Abineng. "Let's do it."
Loren and Tobias were the ones I wasn't sure about. I watched them. Jaxom stopped pacing and butted his head against Loren's shoulder. "It's four out of seven already, so we're doing this no matter what I say," she said, quietly angry, her fist clenched in the fur along Jaxom's neck. "But just so you know what I think – nay. Using biological weapons is wrong. There has to be another way."
«I'm with her,» Tobias said. He gave Rachel an almost guilty look. She was going red in the face, and I could guess why. Rachel hates when any of us act like we have some kind of high ground she doesn't, and coming from Tobias, it had to be worse. «If we use this, we're no better than the Andalites. Not to mention, what if they get a hold of this virus from Estrid? What will they do with it next? No. I'll follow your play, Jake, but I don't think this is a good idea.»
Rachel stood up and faced away from him, her hand on Abi's back. Tobias looked ready to bolt. I didn't want him to, not now, even though I was halfway along to Rachel's anger that Tobias and Loren could take the noble stand we couldn't. "Thank you for telling me," I said, choking back my bitterness. "I vote yes. But I do think you have a point, and I won't forget what you said."
The other groups around us were taking longer to vote, since they had more people. Except the Chee, probably, who operated way faster than our brains ever could. Merlyse said in my ear, "Speaking of the Chee…"
I looked up. Bachu had come over. She didn't have her hologram up. "There will be a window of time to call Eva and Aftran tomorrow afternoon. We won't have long."
Cassie hugged Quincy to her chest. "Lourdes said the Chee would leave the Guardians of the Galaxy if we went with my plan."
"We will," Bachu said. "Except for her. You'd have to find your own way to contact Eva and Aftran. But either way, I'll arrange this call for you."
Marco's mouth moved like he might say something, then closed. This was the first time Bachu had been able to arrange a live call to Eva since she'd left Earth with Aftran. I knew how much this had to mean to him. But he never knew how to talk about stuff like that. So I said, "Thank you."
"What about the Aftran Plisam Pool?" Cassie said.
"I didn't say we would abandon them," Bachu said. "They would die without us to maintain the Pool. You are welcome to visit them, if they allow it. But don't come knocking at my door otherwise." With that, she moved on, leaving Cassie blinking back tears.
Rachel held up her index fingers. "One yes, one no."
"We'll find out which way it goes soon enough," Loren said.
The next fifteen minutes expanded through the distorting lens of my own brain. I know Merlyse didn't spend an hour fluttering around the human refugees, trying to catch what my parents were saying in the debate, but it sure felt that way. She came back and said, "I didn't hear anything, but Tz'irah stamped her foot a lot and Mom gave you this look like…" She fell quiet. I didn't ask her to explain any more.
I must have spent another hour watching Jara Hamee act out what I guessed was the scene from the story of his grandfather where the quantum virus hit the Hork-Bajir. He cut shallow gouges under his own eyes to make it look like he was crying blood, and he moaned and fell slowly to the ground while reciting something rhythmically in Hork-Bajir. He had a rapt audience around him. One of the audience got on all fours and raised her tail high, and I realized she was pretending to be Aldrea, reacting in horror to what her people had done.
The not-hour ended with a warm weight on the shoulder where Merlyse wasn't perched. "You don't have to watch that," Cassie said from behind me.
"What else am I supposed to do?" I said. I didn't turn around, but Merl did.
"Marjorie the lunch lady brought snacks from the kitchen," Marco said, and that did make me turn around. He held up a platter of ants on a log like a waiter at a fancy restaurant. "Can't make world-changing life-or-death decisions without snacks!"
Rachel swiped two and crunched into them harder than she strictly needed to. I noticed that Loren and Tobias had gone to talk to the Peace Movement refugees, leaving Rachel behind. I hate celery, but I decided that if Marco went to the effort of bringing the snacks over, I should just take one, and I let the stupid green strings catch between my teeth. My reward was the subtle relief on Cassie's face as she watched me eat.
After a lot of tail-thumping from the Hork-Bajir, Toby called for silence. Loren and Tobias came back to our group. It was time for the vote to begin.
"The Hork-Bajir of Kref Magh say yea," Toby said. "We don't want a single Hork-Bajir more to be a slave to the Yeerks, and Cassie's plan would make sure the Yeerks cannot. What do the Animorphs say?"
I stood up and did my best to project my voice. "The Animorphs say yea. We think it's the best chance we've got to win the war."
Toby turned toward Luis, who was helping Tidwell with the connection to the Aftran Plisam Pool. "What do the Chee say?"
He straightened up. He still had his hologram on. "The Chee say nay. And if the yeas have it, we will leave Kref Magh and the Guardians of the Galaxy, permanently. Our creators were exterminated by biological weapons. We want nothing to do with this."
Toby turned to Tidwell next. "What does the Aftran Plisam Pool say?"
Tidwell looked up from the screen, blinking. I was sure it was Illim who said, "Nay. My people can't accept the risk that the Andalite scientist will sabotage the virus in some way."
It came down to the refugees of Kref Magh. The former Peace Movement hosts. The Animorphs' families. The odd ones out, Ruby and Mertil. The whole valley seemed to hold its breath. Sara had her face hidden in Naomi's skirt. Takuya knelt on the ground to be on a level with his granddaughters; he held the protective capsule for his dæmon up to his lips, leaned his head against his older granddaughter's, and blinked back tears. My parents looked at me, grim and determined, like they were about to prove something to me. I studied them all, acid curdling in my stomach, trying to guess what they would say. Do you want them to say yes or no? Merlyse asked.
If they say yes, they're fucked in the head, I thought. If they say yes, they don't even understand what yes means. If they say no – that means they can see –
If they say no, Merlyse said, how do the two hundred people in this valley win against an empire?
Julie stepped forward from the group of refugees, holding her colorful snake dæmon to her chest. She tried to speak, and it came out a rasp. She coughed, swallowed hard, then said, "The refugees of Kref Magh say yea. We're tired. And we want to give the Peace Movement a fighting chance."
Toby looked down from the meeting rock at me and nodded. When she spoke, it sounded so calm. I hoped she was faking it, that she didn't actually feel at peace in the face of this. "Okay, Jake. It looks like we're doing this."
The meeting was officially over, but the meeting circle stayed eerily quiet. The Hork-Bajir started rounding up their children, drumming their tails softly against the trees to call them. The sick were led to the creek to drink and recover themselves. Some Hork-Bajir stayed, gathering around Jara Hamee, touching their forehead blades together. Next to me, Loren stormed off, red-faced and crying, and Tobias flew after her.
Luis turned and said something I couldn't hear to Tidwell, who looked grim and said something into his speaker set-up. Then he powered it down, and he and the Chee started packing up the equipment they'd used to communicate with the Pool. There were people coming toward me. My parents, Tom. I walked past them to Tidwell. "Wait."
He looked over his shoulder at me. "The Chee are leaving. They're offering to carry me and Kaly out of the valley as they go."
"Illim. Mr. Tidwell. I know your people voted against this. I know the Chee are leaving. But are you still with us?"
Tidwell turned and blinked. "You… don't want me to leave the Guardians."
"No," I said. "I mean, I understand if you want to. But you've been a good ally to us."
"Good," Tidwell said – or maybe it was Illim. "I want to stay. The majority of the Aftran Plisam Pool voted against, but it was something like sixty-forty. Lots of us were in favor. And I – both of us," Illim said, gesturing vaguely at his head, "were among them. We want to help you do this."
"Okay," I said. "Good. We'll stay in touch."
Tidwell shook my hand goodbye. "Got to go. Don't want to miss my ride." Mr. King and Luis were leaving. Of the Chee, only Bachu stayed behind, for our phone call tomorrow. As they walked south toward the easiest approach in and out of the valley, Marjorie's older son Nicky ran after them, his dæmon buzzing all around him as a dragonfly. "Mr. Turner! Mr. King! Are you going to get more food? Can you bring Fruit Loops next time? All we ever get for breakfast is stupid oatmeal!"
Mr. King knelt down to Nicky's level. "Sorry, Nicky. We're not coming back this time. Mr. Turner and I are going home."
Nicky's dæmon turned into a puppy and whimpered. "But why!"
Mr. King just shook his head. "We have to go."
Nicky hugged his dæmon to his chest and sniffled. The Chee turned away. Tidwell looked like he wanted to stop and explain, but Marjorie came over to talk to him quietly, and with one last pained look, he left with the Chee.
"He's here," Tom said, and I turned around and saw him with Mom and Dad.
Dad rested his hand on Tz'irah's back. He took a deep breath. "Jake. We just wanted to say – we get it now. When we heard that you called this vote, that you finally had a plan to stop the Yeerks and end this, we saw why you're the leader around here. We just want you to know that we voted yes, and we're behind your plan one hundred percent."
"The Yeerks won't be able to do what they did to Tom ever again," Mom said, her eyes bright. "We're so proud of you, Jake."
I stood frozen, staring at them, my throat and eyes burning. Merlyse dug her claws into my shoulder through the fabric of my shirt. I couldn't believe what my dad was saying. My dad, the doctor, who talked softly to children in the waiting room of his office, who I once saw do CPR on a woman who had a seizure at the local pool. He was saying this plan, which would rip the Yeerks' control of their own bodies away from them at best and kill thousands of people at worst, was a good one. That he supported me. I wanted to make him take it back. I wanted to press rewind so I could run away from them before they could say these things to me. But I couldn't, so I just stood there, staring, totally unable to act like a son or a general or anything at all.
Over Mom's shoulder, I watched Cassie find her dad, hug him sideways, rest her head against his arm. Quincy clung to Emeraude's neck with his feet and wing-fingers. Marco found his dad too, picked up Mirazai's tank for him and led him back toward the human camp. I wanted to tell Cassie that none of this changed how I felt about her. I wanted to tell Marco I'd feel more at home with him and Peter right now than with my own family. Except Cassie didn't know how I felt about her, and Marco didn't know that his family had always been home to me. Even I hadn't known how much I felt all of that, until I saw them both have to carry the weight of this awful day without me.