Tellion worked tirelessly with the assortment of various tools she held in her many grips. Connecting vital circuitry to radiation emitters, welding power conduits to the energy core, fine tuning the particle projectors to give the radiation waves as tiny of a wave band as possible; all being done at once. And all done with a nearly unnatural grace that hardly was becoming of the cumbersome Nahara form she possessed. After a few more bits of tinkering, Tellion finalized the assembly of the small Kandrona ray projector and placed it on testing frame. She connected it to a series of cables that were linked to the primary power source for the main Kanadrona ray generator.
She activated her testing programs for her computation device and turned on the miniature Kandrona ray projector. All tests proved more than adequate, the proper level of Kandrona radiation was emitting without any issues. She had constructed a fully functional mobile Kandrona ray that could be used absent of the main bases' power supply. The tenth one this month. Far exceeding all of her supervisor's expectations. Not that Tellion really cared.
Work was about all she had left in her existence.
Ever since the Andalite attack on the Yeerk pool, things all around her had become…strained.
Visser Three was furious that some of the Andalites had survived the loss of their dome ship, and had become even more sadistic and cruel than he already was.
Tellion had personally recalibrated the Visser's own Kandrona Ray generator (he was far too good to swim among the common Yeerks in the main pool) and had brought it back to his personal chambers while he had been in the middle of a very intense inquisition of several scanner technicians. The advantage for Tellion was that, being so low in rank made her almost invisible in his eyes. All she had to do was keep her head down, and listen.
And she wished that she had never stayed that day.
Answers! Visser Three roared in his thought speak at the handful of techs assembled before him. I want to know how exactly these blasted Andalites survived the battle!
Tellion watched with two of her rotating eyes as the head of the scanner section of the Pool Ship nervously stepped out in front of the group. His host was of a male native body, and Tellion could easily see the fear that radiated all through his frail form.
"Well…Visser, we reviewed all of the long range scanning recordings of the battle, and we found…"
Show me! he growled, his tail blade whipping back and forth impatiently.
Tellion said and did nothing to make her presence even known as she quietly set up Visser Three's personal Kandrona ray generator, she just watched in silence. A detailed, three dimensional projections of the battle against the Andalite played out before her. She was able to see the swarm of her own side's interceptors go head to head against the Andalite dome ship's own fighters. It was a maddening melee of death between both sides, but more so for her side. As the battle raged on, Tellion watched the Andalite dome ship closing in on the planet, and the Pool Ship. As the distance between the two great vessels decreased, a smaller, but deadly looking ship appeared from behind the Andalite dome ship, coming from the planet's sole terrestrial satellite. The Visser's Blade ship.
As Tellion continued to observe in her quite little space, the large dome section of the Andalite ship separated from the main stalk. As the Dome drifted towards the planet, the engines for the stalk section flared to life as it began to turn to face the Blade ship. Before stalk section of the ship could manage even half of the rotation, the Visser's Blade ship fired on the engine section. After only a few devastating barrages of the main Dracon cannons, the stalk of the dome ship exploded in a silent miniature supernova. The residual shockwave knocked the dome section away from the battle and into a gravitational pull that sent it spiraling towards the planet. As the Visser's Blade ship joined in on the rapidly turning tide of the space battle, five of her own side's fighters broke away from the fight and gave chase to dome section. From behind them, three Andalite fighters also broke away in pursuit.
In the next few tense minutes, Tellion watched as the three Andalite fighters engaged the five interceptors of her side. After two of her force's fighters were shredded, one of the Andalite fighters was hit from a glancing Dracon beam. It crashed into the other Andalite fighter that flew by its side and the two became interlocked in a death spiral, both plummeting to the planet's surface. In just a few moments of wild spinning, they vanished into the atmosphere. The final Andalite fighter (which Tellion just somehow knew was Elfangor's fighter) blasted apart two more of her side's interceptors, saving the dome section from destruction as it entered full free fall of the planet's gravitational pull. But in turn, the fighter had left its rear exposed to the last Yeerk interceptor that had circled around and came up from behind. The interceptor was only able to fire once before it overshot the Andalite fighter, but it was enough to hit it near the main engine and send the last surviving Andalite fighter limping down towards the planet.
Tellion didn't know why, but she felt herself moved by the actions of Elfangor. Even in a hopeless situation, he had fought till the very end. He had left himself open to be shot down in order to save those that were still in the Dome. It was such an act of selfless sacrifice. Tellion wondered to herself if Visser Three had ever, or would ever, do such a thing for any of his troops. Tellion had serious doubts about that.
That's enough. Visser Three said. I know what happened next.
He looked away from the projection and at the scanner technician. You were in command of the scans, was the Dome destroyed?
"It…it should have burned up in the atmosphere." he weakly assured the Visser. "The trajectory, and rate of fall…it must have crashed into the ocean off the coast of this part of the planet, it couldn't have…"
Did you observe its destruction? It's breaking apart in the atmosphere? Visser Three demanded.
Terror was clear on his face as he meekly answered. "N…no Visser. We lost track of it after it entered high altitude."
Fool! Visser Three screamed. The Dome section of those ships have emergency reentry thrusters to deal with situations like this! It easily could have survived the descent. There could have been an entire squad of Andalite warrior cadets in that dome, they always send them there in a battle!
The poor tech was stuttering and mumbling under his breath. Tellion very much doubted that he would have any kind of answer that Visser Three would find satisfactory. Even cowering in her own little dark corner of the room, Tellion couldn't help but feel sympathy to him, and his helpless host.
Visser Three began pacing towards the trembling technician. The other two Andalite fighters, what happened to them?
"They crashed, Visser." he protested. "You saw them. There's no way that they could have survived a fall like that."
So you informed our forces about them? You dispatched a recovery team to the suspected crash site to verify that they were indeed dead?
"No…they couldn't have survived…"
So you didn't do anything. Visser Three said in a low voice that was completely devoid of emotion. You just…what?
"I…I didn't…" he stammered. "They…couldn't have…I…"
You did what? Visser Three asked again, his voice much lower now. I want to hear you say it to me.
"I…I assumed…"
You…assumed. Visser Three cut him off. Against a costly won battle against the Andalites, the only enemy we face that has any chance of defeating us, you just…assumed that we had killed them all. And clearly we haven't, or else the events of yesterday would not have happened.
"But…" he pleaded. "we were tracking Elfangor's fighter, just like you informed us to. We made sure to pinpoint its exact landing spot."
And that means that you couldn't keep track of several other targets at the same time? What good are you as a scanner section leader if you can't even do that?
Visser Three pointed the tip of his tail blade at the terrified controller. You failed the Empire. You failed ME.
"No! I…"
Silence! Visser Three blasted his thought speak throughout everyone's minds that were present, even Tellion. The Visser's tail blade danced about behind him as he slowly folded his arms across his thin chest. He stepped in front of the trembling tech, swinging his tail about and pressing the tip of its bladed end against the side of the controller's profusely sweating head.
Just admit to me that you failed in your duties. And tell me you're sorry.
Tellion gripped the frame of the Kandrona ray generator in her tentacles as she waited to see what would happen. So did all of the other controllers present. None dared to do anything that would interrupt this moment between the Visser and terrified subordinate.
"I…" he mumbled, barely able to find the voice that he so desperately needed. "I failed in my duties."
There was a very, very long moment where Visser Three didn't say anything. He didn't even so much as a vibration of any portion of his powerful Andalite body. Then, just when Tellion was sure that he would kill the tech, Visser Three eased his blade from the tech's head.
There, he said, backing up a step. honesty is much better than feeble excuses. Isn't it?
The tech collapsed to his knees before Visser Three. "Visser, I swear I will never fail you again!"
Of course you won't. Visser Three said as he turned his head away. I believe that I've clearly made my point to you of the importance of thoroughly carrying out your duties.
The tension in the room finally dissipated, and Tellion found herself huffing a sign of relief in unison with the terrified tech. She turned several of her eyes and attention back to making the final adjustments to the Visser's personal Kandrona ray generator. The still trembling controller weakly rose to his feet, the relief all across his face clearly visible to all.
Visser Three's tail continued to dance about in slow, almost lazy arches as he appeared deep in contemplation. As his tail swung back around for the countless time, it suddenly lashed out, so fast that it was all over just as Tellion was dropping her tools in shock. Her eyes rotated over to tech in time to see him stumble back, red blood spurting from deep gashes in both of his shoulders. His cry of pain both startled and bewildered Tellion. Even as he stumbled back, Visser Three's tail blade flashed again in devastating succession. More crimson red spilled from his knee joints, causing him to collapse to the floor.
Tellion didn't move. Neither did any of the other assembled controllers. None dared to do anything to draw the Visser's attention to them. She could do nothing but shrink back into her tiny little space and watch on helplessly as Visser Three loomed over the tech he had just injured.
I believe that you learned your lesson. But I don't think the others have. So I think a proper demonstration of the consequences of failing me is in order.
With only a slight nod from Visser Three, one of his Hork-Bajir guards grasped the wounded tech by his ankle and hoisted him upside down into the air. As he feebly flailed about in the air, Visser Three looked on in obvious disgust.
Such a pathetic and frail species. he said. If there wasn't such an abundance of host bodies, this world wouldn't even be worth the trouble of conquering.
Visser Three paced over to a large and open section of his chambers, where a massive circular port was built into the floor. He kept his tail blade poised, as if ready to strike again at a moment's notice. The blade itself was saturated with red, a steady dribble of blood drops falling to the floor as the Visser worked his multiple fingered hands over a nearby control panel. A moment later, the doors on the floor opened. Scuttling and savage clicks echoed up from the miniature chasm that had been breeched, sending cold tremors racing all through Tellion's Nahara body.
They all knew what those sounds were. The wounded tech's eyes widened in terror. Visser Three seemed to take amusement with his fear.
Wild Taxxons. he said, looking down in the hole. Their hunger is so voracious that no Yeerk can control them. They are quite useless to the Empire, but I find that they do have at least some use to me.
Visser Three dangled the end of his tail over the hole, flicking its end several times. Even at her distance, Tellion could see the droplets of red fall down in that dreadful opening. Almost instantly, the scuttling and clicks grew wilder and more voracious.
Ah. They've got the taste now. They're at the point of insanity, so much so that they'll start eating each other if they're not fed.
Visser Three's head slowly rotated over to glare at the helpless tech.
They've really developed a fondness for native flesh.
With some signal that Tellion didn't see, the Hork-Bajir guard carried the flailing tech over to the hole. His cries made Tellion's spirit sink into a depth that she had never felt before.
"Please Visser!" he pleaded. "Don't do this! It was a single mistake, it'll never happen again!"
Of course it won't, I'm about to make sure of that. Visser Three said with a sadistic trace of humor in his voice. You'll feel every last little bit of agony as your host body is eaten alive. Then, just before your host dies, you'll instinctively try to leave it to save yourself, and you'll be eaten as well. Think of it as…dying twice.
The Hork-Bajir held the bewildered controller over the opening. His eyes darted from what was laying below him to Visser Three.
"Visser!" he screamed in absolute desperation. "Give me one more chance! I'm begging you!"
I am not in a giving mood this day. Visser Three said with a slight wave of his hand.
With that gesture, the Hork-Bajir released his grip, and the tech plummeted to his grisly doom below.
Tellion felt a sickness deep in the pit of her Nahara stomach as she heard the horrific screams of the tech being eaten alive. The other scanner techs, even the Hork-Bajir guards, looked like they were going to be sick. Only Visser Three remained unfazed by the sights and sounds of the tech's death in the Taxxon filled hole. Not once did any of his four eyes shift from the execution he had just ordered. It was only after his screams died away that he finally closed the hatch and turned back to the trembling techs.
Let this be a lesson to all of you to take your duties more…diligently.
His stalk eyes twisted around behind his head to face Tellion.
Are you done setting up my Kandrona ray generator?
Just seeing those pair of absolutely cruel eyes made Tellion cower in her place. It was as if the Visser could pierce through Tallaxia's skull and glare right at Tellion in her natural state. She tried to respond to him, but her voice died in the back of her throat, causing only a feeble slurping noise to sputter past her mouth tentacles.
Answer me! Visser Three roared, all sense of patience gone from his mental voice.
Tellion meekly nodded her head to him.
Then get out! he shouted, turning his head to the remainder of the scanner techs. All of you! I have Andalites to hunt.
Tellion moved out of the room as fast as any Nahara could possibly move, beating everyone else to the exit. She continued her quick hobble away from Visser Three's chambers, and the horrific sight she had just witnessed. No matter how fast she moved, Tellion kept hearing his screams from down in the bottom of that hole.
That could have been me. she thought in terror. That will be me if they ever find out that I let an Andalite escape.
And you still think that I'll tell them? Tallaxia asked in a nearly mocking voice. You think the Visser would even bother to pull you out of me before they executed you?
Tellion didn't answer. She knew that she could trust Tallaxia to keep their secret safe, but that only made her feel a slight bit of relief from the terror of grisly death that hung over her.
That horrific ordeal had only been the very beginning of it. In the months since the Andalites had first attacked the pool, they struck the Empire's forces again and again. Tellion only knew what Aftran was able to disclose to her or what she heard other Yeerks speaking of events, but it was all bad.
At first, Visser Three had tried desperately to keep the fact that several Andalites had survived the battle and were still causing trouble hidden from the council. He had almost captured an Andalite that had been spying on one of his higher ranking officers, but the others had rescued their comrade and had destroyed an interceptor while it was on the ground. The breaking point for Visser Three had been when the Andalites had somehow managed to destroy one of the Pool Ship's three tanker ships while it had been on a supply run. After that, Visser Three had been forced to reveal the truth of the situation to Visser One and the council.
Things had progressively deteriorated when the Visser had found the remains of the dome ship deep in the ocean off the coast, and had failed to stop the remaining Andalites from escaping.
It was even worse when Aftran had told Tellion about how Visser Three had captured most, if not all, of the Andalite bandits and brought them to the Pool ship for Visser One to personally see before executing them. And they had managed to escape right from under his grasp.
Despite having no way to prove it, Aftran had told her that Visser One must have helped the Andalites escape in a diabolical act to keep Visser Three from gaining anymore standing with the council. If nothing else, Tellion felt herself sickened when she heard that.
Such petty internal strife. Risking the success of the invasion, and possibly even putting all of their lives at risk, just to hold on to a power that they had become accustom to. How could Yeerks ever unify the galaxy if they themselves could never be truly unified? Was this what they had truly become? An army that constantly conspired, and plotted, and betrayed each other. All in selfish aspirations to overthrow and replace those above them, and to keep those below them from doing the same to them in turn. What kind of future was there for her, for all of her people, when faced with that realization?
Once she had completed the construction of the Kandrona ray generator and packed it to be shipped out for the ever increasing long range operatives, Tellion returned to the Nahara section of the Yeerk Pool. There were only seven other Nahara controllers operating planet side, so the living quarters that Tellion called home was very small. Thankfully, Tellion saw that she was alone. She was the sole Nahara controller that worked on Kandrona rays and the Yeerk Pool. The other controllers were clearly busy performing their duties.
Tellion quietly went over to the section that was hers and sat on the bunk. It was small and cramped, with no luxuries afforded to any low ranking Yeerks like herself. But it was 'hers'. There was little in room other than the sleeping quarters and a small work bench with an assortment of tools dispersed across its surface. She focused two of her eyes on the flimsy door that shielded her from the rest of the Yeerk 'community', and all other prying sets of eyes. Tellion felt the weariness in Tallaxia's body.
Tellion had pushed herself hard over the last few days, her host's body really needed rest. While Tellion herself never truly 'slept', she did enter a semi-dormant state when Tallaxia's brain entered its dream cycle. It was a strange sensation for Tellion. Not being fully aware of the world around her, but at the same time not being closed off from it as well. In this sense, Tellion envied Tallaxia. Even though she was connected to her host on almost every level physically imaginable, she never experienced the things that Tallaxia called dreams. They were not part of her physical thought process, nor did they ever appear in the corners of her brain that memories were formed and stored in until after they had passed.
But dreams were not the things that were going through Tellion's thinking. Her thoughts were on something else. Something that had been troubling her for a very, very long time.
"Tallaxia," Tellion whispered in such a low voice that she almost didn't hear it herself. "are you there?"
There was period of silence, and Tellion wondered if Tallaxia would even both to speak to her. She hadn't in a while, which only caused Tellion even more emotional grief.
What do you want? Tallaxia finally asked, her mental voice low and weary.
Tellion brought all four of the tentacle ends of her arms together to have the multiple ends squirm over each other. She rotated another pair of her eyes down at the constantly fidgeting ends as she contemplated what she was about to do next.
"I want to talk to you." Tellion said.
What is there for us to talk about? Tallaxia growled.
Tellion drew in long, deep breath before the next words flowed from the back of her throat.
"Tallaxia, I've been thinking, a lot lately."
About what?
"About us."
There is no 'us'. Tallaxia hissed. I'm your slave. You make me a prisoner in my own body. YOU are a life stealer.
"I never wanted to steal your life." Tellion pleaded to her. "I just wanted…to be more than what I am."
And now you are. Tallaxia growled. You're no longer just a lowly slug. Now you're a slave master.
"But I don't want to be!" Tellion blurted out. "Not anymore…"
The silence in the room was maddening to the point that Tellion feared she would lose her sanity.
What nonsense are you going on about? Tallaxia demanded.
Tellion raised all four of her arms so that she could look at them before placing the tentacle ends on the side of her head.
"Tallaxia," Tellion said. "I owe you my life, and I want to thank you for that."
Don't thank me. Tallaxia grumbled at her. I was saving myself more than you. I just couldn't do it without saving you too.
"But you still did." Tellion said. The tentacles that shielded her mouth weakly entwined over each other. "And I want to give you a gift."
There's nothing that you can give me that you haven't already taken from me. Tallaxia said.
"No!" Tellion shouted. "That's not true Tallaxia! I can give you something."
Tellion couldn't stop her whole Nahara body from shaking as she found the strength to speak what she knew in her spirit that she needed to say next. This was something that, as far as Tellion knew, no Yeerk had ever dared to do before. It was a terrifying thought to process, but deep within the core of her very being, she knew beyond all doubt that this was the right thing, the only noble thing, that she was capable of doing.
"Tallaxia…" Tellion whispered. "I want to give you back…your freedom."
Tallaxia said nothing for what felt like forever to Tellion.
You lie. she said in an almost disbelieving tone.
"No. I'm not." Tellion said. "Tallaxia, we have been bonded for a long time. I have done many things that I am not proud of, and I am many things that cause me deep…guilt. But you know me. You know that I don't lie. Not to you."
I don't believe you, slug. Tallaxia cursed, the doubt all too clear in her mental voice.
Tellion sighed and laid herself out fully across her bunk to prepare herself and Tallaxia for what was about to come.
"Tallaxia." Tellion said as she stared up at the jagged rocky ceiling. "I'm not your slave master anymore. You're free."
With that final statement, Tellion found the courage to do what she had secretly wished she had the strength to do since the first time she had connected herself to Tallaxia's brain. With one last internal sigh, Tellion began to withdraw the bulk of her control tendrils from their nerve connections to Tallaxia's mind. She kept the ones that were connected to the nerve and sensory centers of Tallaxia's brain so that she could still see and feel everything that Tallaxia experienced, but everything else Tellion severed.
Against all of her teachings, against everything that she had ever known, against everything that her Yeerk instincts warned her, Tellion surrendered all of her control over Tallaxia, and made herself the slave for once in her existence.
Her vision changed as she did this. No longer did she clearly see everything from up close. Now all sight was viewed from as if she were looking at it from a distance. While it was still viewable to her, nothing was as clear as it had once been. But it was a sacrifice that Tellion willingly accepted for what she was giving to Tallaxia. The same came from all of the other sensory nerves. Everything was still able to be felt, but it was all diminished.
Some time passed as they each felt the transformation passing between them. Then, something happened that Tellion had no words to describe. 'Her' Nahara body shuddered, then slowly rose to sit up on the bunk.
Only…it wasn't her doing it. Tellion had done nothing to make the body move. Everything that was happening, it was all from Tallaxia's own movements. The tentacle ended arms all rose to the head, each of the countless micro-tentacles running their lengths over the smooth surface of the Nahara head. There was a sense of almost doubt with the movement of those ends, and the sensations that were running through Tallaxia and into Tellion.
"My…" Tallaxia spoke in a weak voice, as if she wasn't sure that she was wake or asleep. "My body…it's mine. It's mine again."
Yes. Tellion told her. It's how you were always meant to be. And…I'm happy to give this to you Tallaxia.
Tallaxia swung her legs over the edge of the bunk and gently, cautiously, pressed them against the floor as she stood up. She wobbled slightly, clearly trying to find her balance again. To Tellion's delight, Tallaxia quickly found her natural footing and stood confidently on her own two bulky feet. She took one clearly terrified step, as if daring to take that one leap into something else would shatter the illusion that had just happened. After that barrier had been crossed, Tallaxia began to weakly walk around the small room.
"W…" Tallaxia mumbled to find the right words to make sense of everything. "Why would you do this?"
Tallaxia. Tellion said as she watched her 'host' move about the room for the first moment of true freedom that she had known it countless years. I don't want to rule you. I…I never did. All I ever truly wanted…was to be something more than what I was naturally born as. But if the price of gaining that freedom comes at what I've done to you, then I don't want any part of that. Tallaxia, I want us to find a way to live together.
Tellion paused as she searched for the courage to tell Tallaxia what she truly felt.
I want…I want us be able to find a peace.
Tallaxia stopped moving when she heard this. All of her body's movements stopped, even her eyes stopped rotating as she contemplated the proposal given to her. All of her arms lifted so that she could look at all of her squirming tentacles. Tentacles until just a short time ago she had no control over.
"So then…" Tallaxia said with a sense of sadness in her voice. "You'll still stay inside of me? Even though I have my body back, you'll still live inside my skull, wrapped around my brain?"
There isn't any other way. Tellion told her. Sooner or later, the other controllers will realize that you're not infested, and another Yeerk will be put into you.
"I see…" Tallaxia said in a low voice.
You'll almost never know that I'm here Tallaxia. Tellion assured her. I'll only speak to you when you want me to. And…I'll only control you when I need to perform my duties.
"So you'll take over me again?" Tallaxia asked.
Only for a short time every once and a while. Tellion said. Just enough to not raise suspicions about us. I'll even teach you how to work the machines, so you can have more time to your own body. You'll have the greater freedom, but we'll share it.
"Share...control of my body?" Tallaxia asked.
It's the best that I can do for you, Tallaxia. Tellion said. If there was any other way, some way that I could live like you without having to control you or another, I would do it. But this is the most ideal outcome that I can see for both of us.
"I just don't understand why you did all of this." Tallaxia said. "I don't understand why you would do this, for me."
Because Tallaxia. Tellion told her. That day that the Andalites came…I felt your hope. It was such pure joy, the best thing that I had ever felt in my entire existence. And I wanted to feel that again, but not at the fear of losing my own life. I wanted you, I wanted us, to feel that kind of joy. I wanted that hope and joy to be from something good that I did for you Tallaxia.
"You're not like any other Yeerk that's infested me." Tallaxia said, almost disbelieving her own words.
I don't think I'm like any other Yeerk that exists. Tellion told her. And I'm ok with that.
"This…" Tallaxia said as she began to nervously move around the room. "This day, I dreamt of it for so long, I almost forgot what it was like to be…free."
Tallaxia almost playfully spun around several times with her four arms held out in a near praise. Tellion could feel her the joy radiating up from Tallaxia's mind and into her. It such warmth, such comfort, it was indeed the greatest thing that Tellion had ever felt. It made her so happy.
"Freedom." Tallaxia murmured in the faintest breath as she continued to spin around. "My only dream…my only hope…"
This…this moment. This was what Tellion knew she had desired to know since the moment of her birth. Until now, her entire existence had been only that of a soldier in an army/society. To feel, to believe that there was something better than that, was an experience that in a strange way made Tellion feel liberated herself.
Although Tellion had surrendered control to Tallaxia, she felt freer now than she had ever been before.
Tallaxia… Tellion said to her. I really hope that we can…
Tallaxia lunged from her playful spinning towards the nearby work table before Tellion could finish what she was saying.
The unexpected move caught Tellion completely off guard. She had no idea what Tallaxia was doing. Then, through her connection to Tallaxia's eye nerves, Tellion saw her scrambling to grasp any of the multiple tools laid across the surface of the workbench.
Terror surged all through Tellion's small body as it dawned on her what Tallaxia was going to do. She instantly began spearing out her control tendrils again as fast as her Yeerk body would allow her in a desperate effort to stop Tallaxia. As the first of her tendrils began to sink once again into the folds of Tallaxia's brain, Tallaxia wrapped tentacles around a long drill rod. Squeezing the power switch, the drill rotated to life with a terrifying mechanical whirl.
The arm nerves! Tellion thought to herself as she pushed her control tendrils down into the brain folds. The arm nerves!
Too late.
With the most powerful cry that Tellion had ever heard Tallaxia roar, Tallaxia plunged the spinning drill's end upward towards her own head. Towards her own brain. And Tellion.
Even looking at what was happening from afar in the back corners of Tallaxia's mind, Tellion felt as if time itself was slowing down as she watched that rotating drill spiraling upwards towards her to enact her own imminent extinction.
At the last moment, Tellion felt her control tendrils connect to the nerve centers of the brain, but not the ones that could stop Tallaxia. In one last desperate bid to save both Tallaxia and herself, Tellion sent an impulse command from herself, down through her control tendrils, and into Tallaxia's brain.
A fraction of a moment before the drill plunged into the elongated skull to kill them both, Tellion commanded the head to jerk to the side. It wasn't enough to stop Tallaxia. The drill just barely missed its mark. Instead of piercing through the skull and into both herself and Tallaxia's brain, the end of the drill scrapped along the length of her head, gouging out a large track of flesh as it scrapped along the surface of Tallaxia's skull, just barely missing two of her eyes in the process.
The searing pain of that wound exploded up through every single part of the nerve endings, up through Tallaxia's brain, and into Tellion herself. It was a horrific agony that she had never experienced, and it was harder on her than she had ever, could ever imagine. Or maybe she had just never wanted too.
Even as Tallaxia lost control over her body once more, she continued to fight with a strength that Tellion never could have contemplated was possible from any Nahara, let alone her own host. As the body staggered and fell to the floor, and Tellion reeled from the pain that was coursing through her, Tallaxia lifted the drill high over her head and tried to finish what she had started. Tellion lifted one of the eyes she regained control over and watched with terror as the drill was plunged once again, this time to finish what had been failed at a moment ago.
Tellion finally regained control over the primary arm that held the drill, even as it plunged downward. She sent a desperate, wild command to halt the arm. When the strength of the arm began to fail in its endeavor, Tallaxia roared with renewed vigor. Her other three arms, each still momentarily under her control, reached up and all of their tentacle ends wrapped around the shaking drill. With a snarl of absolute fury, Tallaxia pushed with all her might to plunge the drill down. Tellion desperately tried to stop her, even as her control tendrils continued to regain more and more power over Tallaxia's body.
The drill end slowly, menacingly, dropped towards them. But as it neared their profusely bleeding head, the strength began to drain from Tallaxia's other arms.
"NO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she struggled against her own failing body to kill the both of them. "Nnnnooooo!
When Tellion finally got enough control, she sent an impulse command up into the arm that held the spinning drill. With her own mental cry, Tellion willed the arm to throw away the drill. It spun wildly through the air, clattering against the nearby wall.
With the threat of immineant death averted, Tellion lost all strength in her control over Tallaxia's body and slumped against the wall. A deep sigh of relief passed from her mouth tentacles as she tried to make sense of the understanding that she had just somehow managed to save her life. The pounding pain surging through her head caused Tellion to reach up with a hesitant tentacle ends to touch the injured area. Tellion felt horribly sick when she saw the dozens of slithering ends each saturated with blood. She had been so close, almost a minute fraction of a moment, from being dead. And it was all from the one with whom she had just shown the greatest amount of compassion that she had ever given to any living being in her life.
Tellion sat in disbelief as the wound on the side of her head leaked down across the whole side of the body that she now called her own once again. All of her six eyes darted about, but several focused on the drill that lay nearby, it long spiral length coated in a mixture of blood and gory flesh. Tellion was beside herself as she glazed at it.
"Tallaxia…" she gasped, still reeling from the sensation that she had almost been killed by her host. "Why…why did you do that?"
I wanted to be free! Tallaxia roared. Free of all of this. Free from you!
Tellion could barely comprehend the anger and…hatred, that came from Tallaxia as she screamed at her. It left her completely at a loss for understanding. It dampened the excruciating pain that pounded all across her the head that she now had control over once again.
"But…" she said in a faint whisper. "I…I gave you freedom Tallaxia."
Freedom! she roared. A freedom that you can give…and take at your whim, that's not freedom Tellion! It's just another sadistic form of control, even if you can't see it!
"But that's not true!" Tellion said, not sure if she really understood herself what she was saying.
Why did you do this to me?! Tallaxia roared. Why did you torture me like this?
"I…" Tellion searched for the right answer. "I just wanted us to be…friends."
Friends! Tallaxia screamed at her. As if I would ever be friends with a filty, disgusting creature like you!
"What…" Tellion pleaded with her. "What do you want me to do Tallaxia?"
I want you to die! Tallaxia screamed, a hatred that was far beyond any primal rage that Tellion was shaken to core of her very existance. I want you to crawl out of my ear, so that I can stomp and grind you under my feet, and then the other controllers will kill me so that I'll finally be free!
Tellion muttered an incoherent response, but Tallaxia didn't relent in her verbal assault.
You, she roared. are a parasite! A sadistic slave master! A monster!
Tellion shuddered at Tallaxia's words, because deep within herself, she couldn't find the words to refute anything that Tallaxia was screaming at her.
You, Tellion, are the physical incarnation of evil! Tallaxia screamed. You are an abomination to all of creation. And you will never be anything other than that! I HATE YOU! I'll hate you until the very last breath I draw.
Tellion didn't respond. She just sat there as she both heard and felt all of the anger, and sorrow that poured from the depths of Tallaxia's being into her own. What she heard next, was far more painful than anything that Tellion had ever experienced.
I just want to go home! Tallaxia wailed, the cry of a spirit finally breaking into a shamble of what it had once been. I want my family back! I want MY life back!
As she continued to wail in a pain that was far too deep for Tellion to even try and comprehend, Tellion delved into Tallaxia's memories. And it only took her a moment of searching to wish that she had never looked into those visions of the past. For in that moment, Tellion saw Tallaxia's most horrific and sorrowful day of her life. Tellion saw the day that Tallaxia had first been infested.
But it wasn't because of the infestation that had destroyed her life. It was who had done it.
On that horrific night, the one that had dragged Tallaxia kicked, screaming, and pleading down into the Yeerk pool on her home world…had been her own mother. Tellion couldn't understand the bond of a mother and child, her own three parents had died when they formed together and had splintered into hundreds of pieces in the natural birthing process of the Yeerk species, of which one of those many pieces had been Tellion herself.
Tellion watched with a grim silence as she watched the memory as if she had lived it herself. She watched as the Hork-Bajir controllers had grasped Tallaxia and pulled her over to the edge of the Yeerk Pool, how she had looked back at her mother, and how the one being in all the cosmos that she should have looked to for protection had watched on without the slightest shred of sympathy or remorse as her head had been plunged down into the metallic surface, and moments later she lost her freedom.
It was then, in that moment, that Tellion truly understood the absolute evil that was the Yeerk Empire.
To destroy the life of a child. To destroy all that had ever been good in her innocent life…was a nightmare that one could never wake up from. Not for Tallaxia.
Not even for her.
Because…despite all of her claims of wanting to be something better, Tellion knew that she was just as guilty of the acts of evil her people engaged in. She had done nothing to oppose it, she had gone along with it all. She had, and was, aiding in the suffering of countless other beings that had lost everything that they held dear in their lives.
As she sat there, hearing Tallaxia's wails of pure agony, Tellion couldn't help but believe that Tallxia was right.
She, Tellion, was an abomination. She was a parasite. A slave master. An incarnation of all that was wrong in the eyes of all creation. And it was completely foolish of her to think that she could ever, or would ever, be anything other than that.
Sitting in that sad, lonely corner of her miserable world, Tellion was so tempted to honor Tallaxia's request to crawl out of her and be crushed. Just to end the pain and suffering of which she could see no end to.