Kalran put the final test tube into the centrifuge, then walked tiredly towards the door of the artificially-lit lab with its shiny white surfaces. Pulling off her safety glasses and shrugging off her lab coat, she put them both away in their proper place before heading to the toilets to wash her hands. A few minutes later, she was out of the building, carrying her lunchbox with her and heading towards the park across the street. The day was a little overcast, but Kalran always ate her lunch outside, except during thunderstorms. Not only did it allow her to appreciate the beauty of Earth more than she could in the dingy break room or clinical canteen, it also avoided her having to make small talk with her work mates. Most of them, in fact all of them bar the managers who'd hired her, thought she was human, and maintaining that ruse would be difficult if they got too friendly.

She settled herself on a bench that overlooked a green clearing surrounded by trees. A man dressed in brightly coloured lycra jogged doggedly past her, and she had to stop herself from following him with her eyes to admire the bright neon green of his T-shirt. That could lead to an awkward conversation if he saw her staring, she thought to herself, concentrating instead on the bright pink petals on a nearby bush. She pulled out her lunch- a pasta salad today- and settled back against the hard surface of the bench.

Before she had time to bring the first forkful to her mouth, however, the cell phone in her pocket rang. She took a moment to enjoy the sound of it as she pulled it out, but forced herself to answer it quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey, slimy. How's it going?"

Kalran smiled slightly. The voice was Sara's, the nickname one of many slug or snail related ones she used from time to time.

"OK. How're you?" she said, then added a muttered: "monkey-brain." Even though there was nothing in that comment that would reveal her identity, she still glanced around nervously and kept her voice low.

"I happen to be descended from apes, not monkeys," Sara said in a mock-offended tone. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. There's a new Mexican place opened downtown, we should go before the Andalite tourists eat them out of enchiladas."

Kalran gave a snort of laughter.

"You can't talk. I still haven't got over last time, when you got ridiculously excited about the way the wine glass caught the light."

Kalran smiled at the memory, but the joy was short-lived. "Does this mean you've forgiven me?"

"For the wine glass? Never. It was extremely embarrassing."

Kalran shook her head automatically, even though Sara couldn't see her. "For not telling you about Carla."

"I already did. You said sorry a week ago, like three times."

Sara's voice was hard to read, and Kalran wished at that moment she was inside her head, so she could feel her host's emotions more clearly. "You were still angry then, though. I could sense it. It's harder down the phone."

"It's fine, honestly," Sara said emphatically, sounding sincere. "I wasn't angry with you, really, I was angry with her."

Kalran shifted uncomfortably on the bench. "If you knew her…"

"You're not going to change my mind, so don't even try. Do you want to go to this Mexican place tomorrow or not?"

"Sure. And thank you, Sara. You don't know how much I need this."

"No problem."

There was silence for a few moments, which Kalran didn't feel any need to fill. When you'd shared a mind with someone for so long, you could share silence comfortably. After a few seconds, though, Sara spoke again.

"This meal… it isn't just me."

That surprised Kalran. Hastily swallowing down the mouthful of pasta she'd been chewing, she asked: "Who else is going to be there?"

Sara took a deep breath, which Kalran recognised as the precursor to a long explanation. "The other day I was at the mall, and I ran into a couple of other ex-hosts. Not peace movement ones. We got chatting and eventually I ended up telling them about you and Oglud, and what happened at the Pool the other day. You remember Elsa from my memories, right?"

"I remember her from mine," Kalran said cautiously, unsure where this was going. "She threw a sweater at Visser Three and nearly got executed for it. Most of us remember that incident."

Sara snorted. "How could I forget that one? Anyway, she was absolutely incensed on your behalf."

Kalran almost choked on a mouthful of her lunch. "What?"

"No, no, really… I'd told her the three of you were part of the peace movement and what had happened and how someone had tried to attack… well, she said a lot of stuff, but it basically boils down to she thinks humanity in general should show the peace movement a bit more appreciation for what they did, and she wants to take you to dinner."

"What?!"

Sara laughed. "Is that so odd? Elsa and the others want to say thank you. You risked starvation, torture and death every day for two years to fight for their freedom… our freedom. People should treat you differently to the rest of your species. I'm glad I'm not alone in thinking that."

"Maybe I should escape being spat at in the street and called filth, then, but there's really no need to treat me to enchiladas. I only did what was right."

"Elsa wants to. And that girl is stubborn as hell, so you'd better just give in gracefully."

The next day, Kalran waited outside the apartment block, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Even the sunset, with all its pinks, golds and reds, was failing to distract her. A small yellow car drew up after what seemed like an hour's wait, but was probably more like five minutes. Elsa had kindly offered to give her a lift, given the length of time it took to get the bus to the city centre from Kalran's neighbourhood. Kalran took a deep breath, clenching her fingers against her palm, and stepped towards the door.

It opened before she reached it, Elsa reaching over from the driver's seat to pull the handle. Sara was sitting in the back, one leg crossed over the other knee, which was an unusual position for her. Kalran looked at her host's face to get a better read on her emotions; anxiety, definitely. That made Kalran try to force down her own nerves; the last thing Sara needed was to pick up on Kalran's fear, too.

"Hi," Elsa said from the front, and Kalran turned her attention to her. The girl's long chestnut hair was loose around her shoulders, and she reached up to brush it away from her eyes. "Are you getting in?"

"Sorry," Kalran murmured, clambering into the front seat clumsily and pulling the door shut behind her.

Elsa smiled at her. "You can relax. Tonight's a thank you, remember?" She slid the car into drive and pulled away from the roadside.

"Okay," Kalran said hesitantly, trying to look less anxious.

"Huan, Alma and Kelly are meeting us there, and Illim and Adam are picking Ilkiss up," Sara said from the back. "That's everyone, Kal. There were more ex-hosts that wanted to come but I figured more than that and you might feel a bit outnumbered."

"I still don't like ex-host as a title," Elsa muttered. "I've yet to come up with a better one, though. Didn't Ilkiss have a host? Are they coming?"

"Sak's a Hork-Bajir," Sara pointed out. "I don't think they do bark fajitas, and he lives in Yellowstone."

"What about Oglud's host?" Elsa asked.

"Taxxon," Kalran answered. "Srynala lived with Ilkiss for a while, but she was lonely, she was the only Taxxon for miles. She went to join her fellows in the rainforest a few months ago."

"Poor Oglud," Sara muttered. "She'll miss her."

Elsa let out a bark of laughter, then seemed to realise how inappropriate it was. "Sorry. It's just that my Yeerks would have loved it if I'd disappeared off to the rainforest, they wouldn't have been able to hear all the names I was calling them." Her face became more serious, and she glanced curiously at Kalran. "Would you miss Sara if she went off somewhere like that?"

Kalran nodded. "Yes." A smile appeared on her face. "By the Kandrona, it still feels amazing to say that out loud without fearing execution."

"Aww," Sara teased. "I'd miss you, too. Who would I use all my brilliant snail puns on?"

Elsa snorted as she turned off into a narrower network of streets, heading towards the multi-storey car park. Kalran felt herself relaxing slightly, and allowed her eyes to stray out of the window, watching the bustling of humans moving back and forth. It was that time in the early evening when the crowd was very mixed: the odd few stragglers still dressed in office clothes and people heading back with bags of shopping mingled with others heading out for the night.

As Elsa parked the car Kalran felt the knot in her stomach return, though she was soothed slightly by the promise that Ilkiss and Illim, and Illim's host Adam, would be there. She followed Elsa and Sara down the stairwell and out into the street, glancing nervously around her. The attack on the Pool had made her feel more fearful when walking around the city; it had only gone to show just what lengths humans might go to to hurt her. But her fear for herself was eclipsed by her terror for Oglud, who was so much more vulnerable.

A few minutes later, they were all sitting around a round, white-clothed table, listening to the sounds of cutlery clanking all around them, and cheerful guitar music playing quietly in the background. Kalran made eye contact with Ilkiss, who looked even more terrified than she felt, and tried to give him a reassuring smile, before taking a sip of wine.

Once they had ordered their food, Elsa looked around at them all, patiently waiting for a lull in the conversation between Sara and Alma before she spoke.

"Thanks for coming, everyone. I think all us humans know why we're here. We heard what some idiot tried to do to the Pool and… well, personally I realised it was long overdue that I said thank you to at least some of the Peace Movement. I… I know the risks you took to help all of us here were enormous, and I just wanted you to know that I appreciate what you've done. I think we'd all like to tell Kalran and Ilkiss that we want to help Oglud, too. From what Sara's told us she was in the peace movement as well, you all fought for us, and we'd like to help you in return."

Kelly, Huan and Alma nodded in agreement. "It's not fair, what's happened to you two especially," said Kelly, gesturing between Kalran and Ilkiss. "Not that I have any idea how Yeerk relationships work, but it can't be good."

Kalran glanced briefly at Ilkiss, but couldn't hold the eye contact. She wasn't sure exactly what Sara had told the others, but the separation from Oglud wasn't their only problem. Neither of them were sure if it was due to Oglud's absence or because they could no longer interact in their Yeerk form, but her and Ilkiss' feelings for each other had rapidly deteriorated after they'd trapped themselves as humans. Six months ago they'd mutually agreed not to refer to each other as mates anymore. Kalran felt a lump of tears forming in her throat at the thought. Yeerk tripartite bonds were meant to be built up over a lifetime; they were strong, and breaking them was incredibly painful, the more so the longer they'd been together. She supposed the same was true of humans, but human long-term relationships were much more likely to dissolve than Yeerk ones.

She felt a hand touch hers under the table, and glanced sideways to see Sara looking at her sympathetically. She squeezed her host's hand in an attempt at reassurance, and tried to force herself to tune back into the conversation.

"So I want to say thank you, too," Huan was saying, looking between the three Yeerks.

Alma must have said something as well while Kalran was lost in thought, as the humans fell silent after Huan's comment.

"You really don't need to thank us," Ilkiss said slowly. "It was the right thing to do, not a special extra that deserves gratitude."

Kalran nodded in agreement. "And our hosts deserve recognition too. They could have asked us to leave them and we would, of course, but they would have struggled to escape without being recaptured and revealing who we were. They didn't ask that of us. Most of them chose to fight… to accept infestation, which I'm sure you'll all agree is no small feat."

Sara shook her head emphatically at that. "Much as I'd like to accept the credit, and more importantly the free food, it was in our best interests to fight to save our own freedom. We didn't have much to lose. You had everything to lose and you could quite easily have stuck to the Empire line and not risked execution, but you made the right choice. That's why we've done this, so stop pretending you don't deserve it."

Kalran was saved from having to respond by the arrival of appetizers. She dug in hungrily to the pile of nachos, glad that the food meant she didn't have to find something else to say.

By the time the appetizers were finished, the conversation had turned to lighter topics.

"What are you doing now, then?" Elsa asked Kalran, apparently genuinely curious. "Do you work?"

Kalran nodded. "As a technician at the university's biology lab. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone that, though. All my colleagues think I'm human."

Elsa frowned. "Any ex-hosts among them?" she asked, her tone forceful for the first time.

That hadn't really been a complication Kalran had thought of, but she could see Elsa's point. "Not that I know of. But if we told everyone who we were…"

Elsa nodded. "It's difficult, I guess. I imagine you'd get a lot of hate. But I wouldn't want to be working with a Yeerk and not know."

Kalran bit her lip and looked away. The idea of telling her colleagues that she was a Yeerk was unappealing at best and dangerous at worst, but Elsa's words had made her wonder whether it was a moral imperative. She didn't think that any of the people she worked with were former Controllers, but she didn't know for certain.

"Should I tell them?" she asked hesitantly, dreading the answer.

Elsa frowned and bit her lip, clearly undecided. "Not if you think it might get you hurt. You don't deserve that."

"I wouldn't." Sara came to Kalran's defence. "It could be dangerous, and even if it isn't it would probably make work miserable."

Elsa nodded slowly. "I understand that. Sorry, Kalran. I thought the work question would be light-hearted and avoid anything awkward. Should have thought more carefully." She paused. "So… er, seen any good TV lately?"

Kalran looked up at her, swallowing the last of her nacho. "I watch a lot of Discovery Channel. You know, natural history documentaries. Earth really does have fascinating biology."

Sara grinned in a way that told Kalran she was about to be teased. "She was moaning the other day that mammals were over-represented, though. We need to feature more molluscs, apparently."

Elsa laughed, and Kalran relaxed enough to smile. When the main course came, she was calm enough to feel hungry, and dug into her fajita with enthusiasm.

Kelly, who had been chatting to Illim and his host Adam, turned towards her.

"It's good food here, right?"

Kalran nodded. "Wonderful. It makes a change not to have cooked it: I'm usually the chef at home."

Kelly frowned slightly. "You know, I've been wondering how on Earth they found you guys all housing."

Kalran shifted uncomfortably. She knew there'd been a lot of ill feeling about this when they'd first been given the morphing power. While the influx of wealth California had received from trade deals with other planets and tourism associated with the Animorphs had helped with housing, some people were still resentful of Yeerks taking up homes and employment that, in their view, belonged to humans. The problem was made worse as human authorities had refused voluntary hosts as an option, and had given Yeerks the choice of morphing humans or non-sentients, as Hork-Bajir were considered incapable of consent. Kalran, who had had a Hork-Bajir host, disagreed with this. While Hork-Bajir might not be able to explain what DNA exactly was or how it worked, they understood the concept of making a copy of someone's body. And not all humans understood DNA either.

"I'm not sure. They managed. I'm in an apartment with five others: we share rooms in pairs."

"Did you get to choose who to live with?" Huan asked.

His question made Kalran belatedly realise that most of the table was now tuned into her conversation with Kelly, though Illim and Adam were still talking quietly to each other.

"No," Kalran answered. "They placed us at random, although they did make sure we shared rooms in same-gender pairs. The gender of our morphs, that is. Because obviously we're all the same and there couldn't possibly be any problems putting Yeerks of vastly differing political opinion together, but heaven forbid I have to share a room with a boy."

Kelly snorted with laughter, which was a relief. Kalran had realised as she was saying it that she might sound ungrateful, and was concerned about how it would be received.

"That's humans for you."

Feeling calmer, Kalran took another bite of fajita, trying to concentrate on the flavours, the sensory pleasures she was usually so grateful for. It was hard, though, as she still felt very nervous.

When they were nearly finished with their main courses, Elsa cleared her throat again, looking around until the other conversations died out. Kalran nervously put down her cutlery; Elsa was looking directly at her.

"Kalran, Ilkiss, we all want to help you campaign for a better deal for Oglud, and the others in the Pool. We wanted to say thank you today, but we also wanted to ask what we can do to help. Maybe if there was anyone willing to volunteer themselves as a host body… not that I'm signing up for that. But I'll help fight for other people's rights to do it, and given the number of voluntary hosts there were in the war there'd surely be some people willing to give Oglud and the others a chance."

"I'd do it," Sara said quickly. Adam nodded and made a noise of assent as well. "Only for the peace movement ones, but you could probably find hosts for the others."

Elsa nodded. "I'm sure we could. What can we do to help that happen?" She looked expectantly between Kalran and Ilkiss.

Kalran shook her head slowly. "Nothing. There's no point trying. Not that it isn't very generous of you to offer, but they'll never allow it."

Sara groaned frustratedly, burying her head in her hands. "You see how difficult she is?"

Kalran glanced sideways at her host. She was impressed that Sara was so keen to fight for a Yeerk's chance to see the world, to interact with their mates, but she also wished Sara would just give up on it. Every time she raised it felt like a blow to Kalran's chest.

"Who's they?" Kelly asked.

"The government, and more importantly the Andalites," Ilkiss said slowly. "They hate us."

Elsa stared at him. "The Andalites? Excuse me, but whose planet are Oglud and the others on?"

"Yours," Illim said hastily. "But they still wouldn't be very happy with the humans if…"

"They weren't exactly happy with us about the nothlit Yeerks, either," Adam pointed out. "And in fairness that is their technology. They've got a lot less right to complain about this."

Ilkiss shook his head. "The Andalites are disgusted by the idea of infestation. Any infestation, voluntary or…" he glanced at Elsa, Kelly and Huan, and trailed off.

Elsa smiled. "Yep, I'm with them on that one. Don't like the slug in the ear thing at all, not planning on ever signing up for it. Other things I don't like and will never willingly do include parachute jumps, touching spiders and eating spinach. But no-one is forcing me to do them, and no-one is going to force the Andalites or anyone else to host a Yeerk if they don't want to. If other people want a Yeerk that's their decision, isn't it? As long as we make sure it actually is their decision."

"I can't imagine the Andalites agreeing with you," Kalran argued. "Although your attitude does you great credit, all of you, after everything you've been through."

"It's nothing to do with the Andalites," Huan said calmly. His dark eyes radiated steady purpose, resolve, something Kalran felt had disappeared from her own soul. "It's our soil, it's our planet, and it's our people's brains. If the Andalites want to ban their own from ever willingly taking on a Yeerk that's their business, but if we say it's OK for humans to do then they can't contradict us."

"I don't think the human government will ever say that," Ilkiss argued.

Elsa nodded. "It'll take work, sure. But we can try and campaign, pester them until they do something. Especially if you guys help."

Kalran felt like she was caught in a strong current, pulling the centre of her body down to the base of the Pool, away from the life-giving light of the Kandrona. "I can't. I've no strength left… it's like I've finally freed myself from klisamu weeds, but the struggle has so exhausted me that all I can do now is sink." She looked between Illim and Ilkiss, the only two who would understand the simile.

The humans seemed to get the gist of it, though, as Sara touched her arm, and Elsa, Kelly and Huan looked at her pityingly. "I'm sorry, Kal," Sara muttered.

"What about you, Ilkiss?" Kelly asked. "Can you work with us?"

Ilkiss shook his head slowly.

"I can," Illim piped up from the other end of the table. "The Animorphs know who I am, too. That might help."

Kalran felt like she was fighting a weight on top of her head as she raised it to look at him. "That's very kind of you, schrellatie," she murmured. She saw the humans frown at the unfamiliar word, but didn't feel she had the energy to explain it.

Illim smiled, waving a hand to dismiss her praise. "I know people in there too," he said. "Not as close as you maybe, but a couple of siblings… some friends… I do worry about how vulnerable they are. The security seems to be good, for the most part, but they'd be safer dispersed in hosts, or in a few Pools in different locations. And trapped in the Pool forever without even the prospect of a host… it seems very unfair, after everything the rest of us have got."

Sara nodded. "Exactly." She glanced across at Kalran, the puzzlement and exasperation clear in her eyes.

Kalran looked away across the restaurant. Sara just didn't seem to understand how impossible even simple things felt at the moment, a feeling that was only getting worse with time. Sometimes Kalran struggled to even get out of bed; the thought of fighting a national, maybe even international campaign to make voluntary infestation legal made her feel so tired she wished she could curl up and sleep right there.

Kalran jumped slightly at a touch on her arm. Elsa was looking at her, and when she met the girl's eyes she saw at least an attempt at understanding in them.

"You okay?"

Kalran nodded slowly, even though she felt very far from okay. "Thank you," she said simply.

A slight upward movement played at the corner of Elsa's mouth. "Do you know what I did this afternoon? I took my little sister shopping for a few hours. I took her. Me. Not Innis, because he was feeling a bit bad after all my begging, or even worse, Filit, because my parents had noticed I'd been spending no time with my family and she was worried about her cover. No, I took her, and wandered round what seemed like an endless loop of stores and bought her a ridiculous top and chatted with her over ice cream. Thank you for fighting for my freedom to do that."

"It wasn't just us… the Animorphs…"

"I reckon they get enough thank-yous. Marco Garcia's made millions from the war. You're shoved into a tiny apartment with other Yeerks you might not even get on with and have to hide who you are half the time and… well, I imagine you don't get much gratitude for what you've done."

"From Sara, sometimes," Kalran said, trying to keep her tone light. "When she's got enough breath to spare from all the slug puns."

"Well, I do have a whole host of them," Sara piped up. "Get it?"

Kalran looked despairingly at Elsa, who was smirking. "That has to be one of your worst ones."

"Seriously, though," Sara continued. "We'll make sure Oglud's safe and we'll find them a host, Kal, whether you can help or not. Between the two of us we've enough stubbornness to sort out anything." She gestured between herself and Elsa.

Elsa laughed. "Yep. Though my stubbornness machine needs dessert first."

She passed a menu across to Kalran, who felt the first unforced smile she'd given in days appear on her face.

"So, what're you having?"