(I'm sorry,) Aftran sighed.
Cassie's confusion showed. (For what?)
(For my role in it,) Aftran explained, voice hardening a little. Breaking. (For not fighting back sooner. For getting caught. There's really no end to it.)
Cassie shrugged, shifting her weight so she was laying on her side on the couch. (You did a lot more than most, Aftran. You would have died for us, too.)
Aftran managed a laugh. (Mostly the result of being in your head, Cassie,) she teased.
(Anyway, it's over, now. The empire, I mean. It's better. We have peace with Yeerks-enough that we're actually reaching out to the Yeerk nothlits and allowing them a chance to get their bodies back, and the possibility of infesting humans. I honestly never thought that would happen. I believed that the best thing we could do was give Yeerks new bodies, so they wouldn't have to take over someone's freedom in order to experience the types of senses that we take for granted. I didn't realize-none of us did-that there were many humans who had a very happy partnership with their Yeerks, and that the idea of the Yeerk body itself as a problem was-) Cassie's voice trailed off.
(Contrary to their nature? Their biology?) Aftran asked, thoughtfully.
(Yeah. Something like that,) Cassie agreed, nodding her head.
Aftran was quiet for a minute. (I suppose that your personal experience with individual Yeerks was limited. Illim, and myself. I made it clear that I hated my body, but I realized after freeing Karen that this was just empire propaganda. Listening to the tales from the Yeerks who were born on the home world, a host was something to be treasured, but those Yeerks who lived their lives without one didn't view themselves as deprived or lowly creatures. It's true that I missed Karen's senses when I left her body, but life in the pool wasn't the prison I had anticipated. We have senses as Yeerks, and methods of communication that are, in some ways, more advanced and intimate than when we communicate via our hosts.)
(You would have been happy to stay a Yeerk for your whole life, without a host?) Cassie queried. (Even over being a whale?)
Aftran considered this. (When you allowed me back into your head after saving me, I remembered what I had gone without for nearly a year. But I knew that it would be too dangerous, then, to stay in your head.)
(You didn't answer my question,) Cassie chided.
Aftran laughed, gently. (I accepted that I would spend the rest of my days without a host when I freed Karen. But I would have welcomed sharing control with a willing host-preferably not a Taxxon, though-if some sort of compromise could be made. If the empire fell.)
Cassie seemed satisfied with that answer. (Sharing control,) she mused. (How does that work? Isn't it just either the host or the Yeerk who can use the body at one time?)
(That's what I was taught,) Aftran admitted, (but there are Yeerks who discovered how to utilize their host's body without preventing the host from accessing their senses.)
(You mean,) Cassie asked, and Aftran could feel the excitement in her voice, (you could be moving my body, but I could still have control at the same time?)
(I believe so,) Aftran responded, cautiously. (I've never done it. Whenever I gave Karen control, at the end, I did so by disconnecting from her mind. Not entirely, of course. I was still connected enough to feel her emotions and her senses. To-to be able to intervene if I needed to do so. But I was not connected in that I could, in that state, operate any of her body.)
Cassie sat up from her relaxed position. (Which is how you are now. Connected to my senses, but disconnected to accessing them. Because I'm in control now, obviously.)
(Yes,) Aftran confirmed.
(Then, there's a middle ground,) Cassie guessed. (Where we are, literally, sharing my body.)
(Yes,) Aftran repeated. (But, as I said, I've never attempted it.)
(Could you? Now?)
(Well, yes, I could,) Aftran told her, feeling a mix of hesitance and excitement. (But, Cassie, if it doesn't work, immediately or otherwise, you may feel...powerless. Trapped.)
Cassie nodded, wincing a little at the idea. (Right. Okay. Still, you know how to disconnect if you can't-share control?)
(Of course,) Aftran replied, sending her host a mental smile.
(Okay. Then, let's do it,) Cassie told her.
It would, Aftran mused, have been more accurate for her host to say "Do it", but she knew that Cassie was "summoning" Rachel, figuratively speaking, and made no comment.
Instead, she simply felt her way around, stretched out her body around Cassie's brain the way she had been taught so many year ago, pressing down on the areas that would allow her to access the motor functions. But, somehow, Aftran knew to keep her palp "touch" on these areas light. To access them, yes, so that she could utilize her host's body. But not, contrary to everything she had been taught, to prevent her host from doing the same.
Once done-it had taken a few seconds, longer than taking full control would have taken-she stood up and took a few steps in an arbitrary direction.
(Cassie? Do you think you can move?) she asked.
(I-I think so,) Cassie replied, tone uncertain. (Keep walking, Aftran.)
Aftran obeyed, and, immediately, she felt Cassie push back, both on her mind and her body. It didn't hurt-of course-but Aftran was aware of her host's...what was it, exactly? Power? But before Aftran had time to come up with the appropriate word, she felt her host's body changed directions under Cassie's direction.
It wasn't the same as a successful host rebellion, Aftran knew. Not that she had ever experienced one in any of her hosts, but she'd been taught about them enough to know what to expect.
No, this was more like two minds were competing-except, it wasn't really a competition-over use of the same body.
(Wow!) Cassie laughed, still walking around the room. (We're literally sharing a body!)
Aftran felt a sense of guilt at having thought of Cassie's actions as "competition". Her host was right-it was far more like sharing a body.
Perhaps, she mused, she'd been out of a host for too long. Had she been able to remain a Yeerk, alongside the other Yeerks of the Peace Movement, this knowledge and thought process would have come to her naturally. Over time.
(It would seem so,) Aftran mused.
She took a few steps in the opposite direction, once again, without overriding Cassie's control. Simply attempting to word alongside it.
(Well, we know we can walk,) Cassie teased, and planted her feet firmly on the ground. (Should we try something else?)
(Perhaps something basic, like your eyes,) Aftran suggested.
(Our eyes,) Cassie corrected. (Yeah, okay.)
Aftran focused them towards the window, watching the trees outside. The birds.
Cassie, without moving her head, turned their focus to the sky. It was not a cloudless day, but Cassie did not think it would rain that afternoon.
They continued like this with various other body parts for at least a half an hour. By the end, both felt tired and dizzy by the experience.
Cassie sat down on the couch again.
(Okay. I can see that this is going to take some getting used to,) she admitted.
(No kidding,) Aftran said, placing a hand to Cassie's temple.
(Do you think it gets easier with practice?) Cassie asked.
Aftran shrugged, internally, having disconnected from the control centers of Cassie's brain.
(It's possible,) she allowed. (I think it would be difficult to exist this way for every waking hour of every day, though. Perhaps, I should limit this to certain occasions. Like, with my fellow Yeerks. Giving you time to agree, of course.)
Cassie shrugged back. (Maybe. Keep in mind, though, that we kind of just spent the last half hour fighting for control. Maybe, if you're in control, even if you're technically sharing my body, I should just-sit back,) Cassie offered.
Aftran considered this. (Perhaps. As it is, I you need to be in control most of the time. Perhaps,) Aftran continued, speaking as she thought these words, (for a small amount of time each day, I could use your body, without preventing you from using it? I mean,) she added, (it's not like I will need to use it to communicate with my fellow Yeerks for most of the time. Right?)
Cassie chewed on her lip, thinking about this. (I guess. Of course, when we are with them, they might want you to be in the public, at least in the beginning. You're sort of a hero, Aftran.)
Aftran smiled inwardly. (Still, Cassie, that's hardly a daily occurrence.)
(No,) Cassie allowed. (But it is probably a weekly one.)
She stretched. (I'm starving. You want to have dinner?)
Aftran smiled inwardly, having been aware of Cassie's hunger for the past ten minutes. (As long as it's not fish.)
(Yeah, you've probably had enough of that for a lifetime!) Cassie grinned. (I was craving pizza. We ordered some last night, and there's a few pieces left.)
The mental image was enough to make Aftran salivate. (Sounds delicious.)
(And then, afterwards, maybe swim in the pool?) Cassie sent her another image of the large pool outside their house.
(I'd like that,) Aftran agreed. (Thank you, Cassie.)
Author's note:
Despite intending for this to only be a couple of chapters long, my characters have forced me to expand it considerably. Still, while I think we're nearing the end, there are a few more events that need to take place.
If you've read this far, please take a few minutes to leave a review! I can't tell you enough how much your written feedback means to me.